The Watchtower, February 1, 1944

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“FEED THE FLOCK” TESTIMONY PERIOD

February, expected to be the blackest month of the Northern winter for food supplies, will not want for spiritual nourishment. The month has been named “Feed the Flock” Testimony Period. Great effort to reach the scattered sheep with “meat in due season” will be made by Jehovah’s witnesses and their companions. February will open a great three-month house-to-house campaign where- ever the magazine is permitted circulation, to increase the subscription list of The Watchtower A special offer will be authorized of a year’s subscription for this journal, together with a copy of “The Truth Shall Make You Free" and Freedom in the New World as a premium, at the regular subscription rate of $1 00. For anyone's part in this special campaign considerable preparation is required. Jehovah’s witnesses and companions having accordingly planned and prepared will now launch out at the opening of the campaign fully equipped and instructed, eager to exceed anything that has been attained heretofore in such an effort for 100,000 new American subscribers.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of March 5: “The Seed of God’s ‘Freewoman’,” 1-17 inclusive, The Watchtower February 1, 1944.

Week of March 12: “The Seed of God’s ‘Freewoman’,” 18-33 inclusive, The Watchtower February 1, 1944.

Week of March 19: “The Seed of God’s ‘Freewoman’,” 34-47 inclusive, The Watchtower February 1, 1944.

“THE WATCHTOWER”

The Watchtower is a magazine without equal in the earth, and is conceded this rank by all that have been faithful readers thereof during its more than sixty years of publication. The Watchtower has increased in importance with the progress of the years, and never has it been more valuable than today, at this world crisis, when the destiny of each intelligent human creature is being decided. The getting of correct information and instruction, just such as is required for the times, to decide your course wisely to a happy destiny, was never more vital than now, for “where there is no vision, the people perish”. Informed persons well acquainted with the consistent contents of The Watchtower agree that those who want to gain life in peace and happiness without end should read and study it together with the Bible and in company with other readers. This is not giving any credit to the magazine's publishers, but is due to the great Author of the Bible with its truths and prophecies, and who now interprets its prophecies. He it is that makes possible the material that is published in the columns of this magazine and who gives promise that it shall continue to publish the advancing truths as long as it continues to exist for the service of the interests of his Theocratic Government. Carefully and prayerfully read this issue of The Watchtower. Then do not delay to mail in your subscription, that you may receive it regularly, twice a month, twenty-four copies the year. It is $1.00 in the United States; $1.50 elsewhere.

VOL. LXV | FEBRUARY 1, 1944 | NO. 3

THE SEED OF GOD’S “FREEWOMAN”

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel"-Gen. 3:15.

JEHOVAH’S “freewoman” is an organization of free creatures. It is the mother of the sons of God, who are free, and never brings forth any children unto bondage. It is the mother of the beloved Son of God, who brings eternal freedom to all them that in faith wait upon God to effect complete deliverance from sin, imperfection, death and the Devil. Four thousand years after the above promise of Jehovah God in Eden concerning the Seed, his “freewoman” brought forth the promised Deliverer, who shall shortly bruise the head of the mighty enslaver, Satan the Devil, thereby destroying his power. The bringing forth of the promised Seed was a most joyful time to God and his “woman”; and to her he says: “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” (Isa. 62: 5) During the time that God’s “freewoman” was sterile of such Seed the faith of men of old who believed God’s promises was sorely tried. Now in this day the faith of other men who likewise believe Jehovah’s promises is being severely tried until the Promised Seed fatally wounds the head of the wicked Serpent and thereby vindicates the name of Jehovah God and his word of promise.

2 What now follows is a continuation of the theme of our article of the January 15 issue, entitled “God’s Freewoman”, which it would be well to read first. The “freewoman”, God’s holy organization above, was foreshadowed or typified long before she brought forth the Seed. The faithful woman Sarah was used to typify her. Sarah’s husband, Abraham, “the friend of God,” was used to typify or represent Jehovah God. According to God’s covenant with that faithful patriarch, the promised Seed was to come through Abraham. That was only another way of saying that the Seed of God’s woman was to come forth from God, whom Abraham represented, and that he was to be the Son of God. The Seed was to be no mere human son of God, such as the perfect man Adam in Eden was, but was to be a heavenly Seed or Son. Hence only God’s “freewoman”, which is his heavenly or spiritual organization, could produce the Seed. To make a proper picture of coming events, the son of Abraham that would typify or foreshadow the real Seed must be his child, not by his concubine Hagar, but by his true wife, Sarah, a freewoman.

1 (a) What is God’s “freewoman", and whom does it bring forth for Jehovah's service? (b) As respects her. how was the faith of men of old tried, and how is faith tried today?

2 Who were used to typify Jehovah God and his "freewoman", and therefore by whom must her Seed be typified?

3 Till Sarah’s seventy-fifth year she had stayed sterile, and a son by her could not be any longer by natural means. So she thought to acquire seed by having her handmaid Hagar serve as her husband's concubine and then adopt the child legally as her own. Abraham accordingly begot a son by this Egyptian bondwoman Hagar, which son was therefore born “after the flesh” and was the son of a bondmaid. For such reasons Hagar and her son could never picture the “freewoman”, “who is above,” and her Seed. Hagar pictured simply the organization of the nation of Israel. Her son pictured the offspring or members of that organization, which covenant people God brought forth out of Egypt and put under a law covenant. The Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai were the fundamental laws of their organization. The Israelites, the offspring of the Hagar organization, sought to attain to the heirship of the Abrahamic promise and to qualify themselves to be the promised seed of Abraham, by their own works, the works of the law. Moreover, being naturally Abraham’s descendants by fleshly ties, they felt they were further entitled to be the Seed. The self-seeking Israelites, who prided themselves on their works of the flesh and justified themselves by such, got a great shock. It came when the true Seed of God’s “freewoman” appeared, blasting their selfish hopes. This had been foreshadowed.

4 Hagar’s son grew to be a youth and she thought him sure to be the heir to the birthright of the Abrahamic promise. So did Ishmael himself. But, being the son of the bondwoman and being born after the flesh and not according to God’s promise, Ishmael was not acceptable to God as Abraham’s heir. So, when Ishmael was thirteen years old and Abraham was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah God sent this word to Abraham: “As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. . . . Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”-Gen. 17:15, 16, 19.

3 (a) How did Abraham get his first son, and why could this son and his mother not picture God’s “woman" and her Seed? (b) Whom, then, did they picture, and when did they get a great shock, and why?

4 Why was Ishmael not acceptable to God as Abrahams heir? and when did God first state who should be the proper heir?

5 God thereby set the bondwoman’s son aside. The next year Isaac was born. Ishmael now considered Isaac his rival claimant to the birthright, and when Isaac was weaned Ishmael took occasion to persecute him at the feast of celebration, mocking him. Observing this persecution, which boded a threat to Isaac’s life in the future, Sarah asked her husband Abraham to dismiss Hagar and her son from the household: “Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” (Gen. 21: 10) By such words Sarah, who was already serving as a prophetic figure, now becomes in fact a prophetess of what should be said and done in the great dramatic fulfillment.-Gal. 4:30.

6 Sarah’s words were of the Lord, for he approved her words and said to Abraham, who was grieved for Ishmael: “In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.” (Gen. 21:12,13) Thus Ishmael’s mother pictured the nation of Israel as an organization under God’s law covenant, and Ishmael pictured Abraham’s natural descendants who were members of the nation of Israel. From Mount Sinai, where God ratified the law covenant with that nation, God led them forty years through the wilderness and settled them in the Promised Land. Then, lacking faith and impatient at waiting till God’s due time to bring forth his promised King and set up the true kingdom of God over earth, the Israelites desired a visible government over them in the form of a kingdom. Their second king was David. In the eighth year of David’s reign he made Jerusalem the capital city of the Theocratic kingdom. He reigned there on Mount Zion, in the stronghold which was called “the city of David”. - 2 Sam. 5:5-9.

BONDWOMAN'S SEED CAST OUT

7 The offspring or members of the Hagar organization, the nation of Israel, demonstrated that they were not the children of God’s freewoman, which is above and heavenly. How? In that they repeatedly fell away from God’s covenant and came into the bondage of religion, demonism. Finally, in 606 B. C., Jehovah God overturned the typical kingdom, permitting Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to destroy the city of Jerusalem and its temple, and its stronghold of Zion. After seventy years’ desolation of Jerusalem a remnant of the exiled Jews in Babylon were permitted to return and rebuild the city and a temple. Jerusalem was never thereafter a free city, but was always subject to a Gentile ruler. In spite of their severe experience during Babylon’s rule the restored Israelites again fell away to religion, and this time through a more subtle temptation, due to yielding to the traditions of religious clergymen and thereby pushing the teachings of God and his written Word into a corner. Their keeping of the feasts of the law covenant and the various ceremonies of sacrifice was merely the shadow of obedience to the true sense or substance of God’s law. It was merely outward formalism, and it blinded their eyes so that they did not recognize the true Seed of God’s “freewoman” when he arrived and presented himself.

5. What attitude and action did Ishmael take toward the rightful heir, and what did the heir's mother then request?

6. (a) What did God then instruct Abraham, and whom did Hagar and Ishmael thus picture? (b) How did the Israelites get kingdom rule, and what city did their first faithful king make his capital?

7. How did the children of the Hagar organization demonstrate they were not children of God's “freewoman", both before Jerusalem's destruction and after that?

8 The true Seed of Abraham is at the same time the Seed of God’s woman pictured by Abraham’s wife Sarah, and is Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:8,16) Up till his presenting himself to the Israelites, barrenness had marked God’s “freewoman” or his universal organization of faithful heavenly creatures as concerns God’s promise. This was prefigured by Sarah’s barrenness for eighty-nine years. The earthly Hagar organization seemed to have the children of the Kingdom, and the Israelites did think themselves the children of the kingdom, that is, in line for the kingdom of God. (Matt. 8:12) As for God’s heavenly “freewoman” pictured by Sarah, she might as well have been a widow, without a husband, because of the seeming reproach and shame of her barrenness. But now God’s time came to reverse matters.

9 It is written: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Gal. 4:4,5) True, Christ Jesus was born of a Jewish virgin that was under the law and a member of the Hagar organization. Nevertheless, Christ Jesus was not a child of the bondwoman organization, because his life did not come through that organization. He said: “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8: 58) He was and is the Son of God, and he came forth from the “freewoman”, God’s heavenly organization, of which he was and is the chief member. To come to earth and prove his integrity toward God under test and so vindicate God’s name, the Son of God merely took on human nature through the virgin Jewess, Mary. Thereby he became “the Son of man”. This expression shows he was not directly created a man by God’s power as Adam had been, but that he was born as a man, but perfect as the first man Adam in Eden. He was not a descendant of the sinner Adam, but was grafted onto the human race through a female descendant of faithful Abraham. His life was from God, and hence he was born as a perfect, sinless man. In this state he was heir to all the earthly, human privileges and rights which Adam had forfeited.

8. What was pictured by Sarah's barrenness while Hagar had a son?

9. Although being born a Jew, why was Jesus not a child of the Hagar organization, and how was he “the Son of man’’?

10 As a free Son of God Christ Jesus was foreshadowed by Isaac, the son of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Isaac was born in Sarah’s old age by God's miracle, causing the dead womb of Sarah to conceive. Likewise, Christ Jesus was sent forth to earth by a miracle of God and became “the Son of man”. He is nowhere called “the Son of woman”, that is, of Mary. Nowhere is Jesus recorded as calling Mary his “mother”. Always he addressed her as “Woman”, even when dying on the tree. (John 2:4; 19:26) Mary the Jewish virgin was not typified by Abraham’s wife Sarah. No; but God’s “freewoman”, which is his heavenly spiritual organization above, was typified by Sarah. Said Jesus to the Jews: “Ye are from beneath; I am from above.” - John 8:23.

11 At what time or event, then, was the Seed of God’s “freewoman” brought forth? Not at his human birth through Mary, but thirty years later. Till thirty years of age he was, of course, a member of God’s universal organization. This accounts for it that, at twelve years of age, when he visited the temple at Jerusalem, he said to Joseph and Mary: “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” As God’s Son he was of God’s household or organization. Up till his coining the way had not yet been opened for the Jews of the Hagar organization to be adopted into the household of the sons of God.

12 Till thirty years of age Jesus was the Son of God as a perfect man. Then, becoming of age, he abandoned his carpentry at Nazareth and consecrated himself to the real mission whereto God had sent him to earth. Immediately he went to John the Baptist at Jordan river and was immersed beneath the waters in symbol of his full consecration to God and to God’s purpose as now due. “Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the holy [spirit] descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph.” - Luke 3: 21-23.

10 How did Isaacs birth correctly foreshadow that of "the Son of man", and did Isaac’s mother typify Mary the virgin, or whom?

11. At what time or event was the Seed of God's "woman” brought forth, and what did bis youthful interest in his Father's business show?

12 On becoming of age as a man, what did Jesus do? and what things took place at bis giving a symbolic testimony thereto?

13 At such time and event God’s “freewoman” brought forth the Seed. How so? Because there the Son became spiritual, being begotten of God’s spirit to hope of life in the spirit and being audibly confessed by God as His Son. At the same time Jesus was anointed with God’s spirit and became God's Anointed One or Christ. He was anointed both to preach the kingdom of God and also to become the King of that Theocratic Government. He was now Christ Jesus, a new creature, and it was as such that God’s “freewoman” brought him forth. His prospect of life henceforth was that of life above, in the heavens, as a member of God’s spiritual organization above. He knew he must lay down his earthly life as a proof of his faithfulness and integrity toward God to the death and also as a ransom sacrifice for humankind. Said he: “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth.” - John 6:62, 63.

14 Henceforth on earth Jesus must directly feel the enmity of the Serpent and his seed and must suffer at their hands as if by a bruising of his heel. Enduring such enmity and suffering without breaking integrity toward God, Christ Jesus would prove himself to be indeed the actual seed of the “woman” and worthy to be made God’s executioner to bruise the Serpent’s head. At his resurrection by the most mighty miracle of Jehovah God, Christ Jesus was in a special sense brought forth or affirmed to be the Son or Seed of God’s woman. As written at Romans 1:3,4: “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared [determined] to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Also, at Acts 13:32; 33: “The promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” -Heb. 5:5.

15 The Anointed Jesus began proclaiming that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, because he the King thereof was present in their midst. What action did the religious leaders of the Hagar organization then take toward him? Hail him as the long-promised Seed of Abraham? No; they took the same course as Hagar’s son Ishmael took toward Abraham’s heir, Isaac, and mocked and persecuted Christ Jesus. They looked upon themselves as Abraham’s rightful heirs and therefore the “children of the kingdom”. Jesus they viewed as an intruder who would deprive them of their ruling position among the Jewish people. In a parable of the vineyard Jesus likened such religious rulers and clergy to husbandmen unfaithful to God: “But last of all he [God] sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.” Foreknowing that the religious leaders and clergy would do this to him, Jesus added: “Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Then the record states: “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude.”-Matt. 21: 33-46.

13. Why or how was it that at such time and event God's "freewoman” brought forth the Seed?

14. (a) How and why must he thereafter feel the Serpent’s enmity? (b) When do the Scriptures show Jesus was brought forth or specially affirmed to be the "woman's” seed?

15. At Jesus’ preaching, what course did the leaders of the Hagar organization take toward him, and what warning did Jesus therefore give them?

16 Shortly thereafter, while at the temple, Christ Jesus as chief one of Jehovah’s universal organization exclaimed: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matt. 23 : 37, 38) Here, in effect, was the antitypical Sarah, God’s “woman” or organization, saying through her chief mouthpiece: “Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.”-Gen. 21:10; John 8: 35.

17 Such facts show that the Hagar organization did not produce the children of the Kingdom, and that those haughtily thinking themselves in line for it and having a right to it according to their flesh were cast off. No one could become a member of the Kingdom and an associate of its King, Christ Jesus, by the mere fact of having been a member of the Israelite organization, antitypical Hagar. Yes, of course, the natural Israelites were given the first opportunities to become heirs of the kingdom of heaven, but they could become such solely by coming out from under the Hagar organization and no longer trusting to their flesh as natural-born Israelites. The children of the Hagar organization do not inherit with the freewoman's Son, even with the antitypical Isaac, Christ Jesus.

16 . When, in effect was the order given to cast out the antitypical Hagar and her son?

17. Though the natural Israelites were given first kingdom opportunities, yet in what sense does the “son of the bondwoman" not inherit with the antitypical Isaac?

18 Those who do inherit with Jesus must become children of God’s freewoman, namely, spiritual children of God and members of his spiritual or heavenly organization. This they do by accepting Jesus Christ as the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of God’s “woman”, and then through him devoting themselves in full consecration to God to do the divine will. Being found acceptable through Jesus’ sacrifice, God adopts them as His children, begetting them, not after the flesh, but by his spirit, thus bringing them forth as his spiritual sons. Thereby they are brought into God’s spiritual organization, being given places of service and duties therein, and so they become her children. As such sons of God’s organization or freewoman they become, by adoption, a part of the Greater Isaac, Christ Jesus, the Seed of God's “woman”. As it is written concerning Jesus and his followers: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man [as Ishmael was], but of God.”-John 1:11-13.

INSPIRED INTERPRETATION

19 Now the marvelous prophetic drama of Abraham becomes understandable to us according to its anti- typical fulfillment and as interpreted by the inspired apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul was once a member of the Hagar organization and acted like Ishmael. By God’s mercy he converted and came out from under the bondage of that organization and took the side of the Seed of God’s “woman”. Writing to others who had taken a like course, Paul said: “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. . . . Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar [Hagar], For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answer- eth [corresponds] to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

20 “For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” - Gal. 4: 5-7, 22-31.

18 How, then, do those who do inherit with Christ Jesus become children of God’s “freewoman”?

19 , 20. By what course did Paul take the side of the Seed of God’s “woman”, and how did he explain the allegory of Abraham and bis two sons by the two women ?

21 At verse 27 quoted above the apostle Paul takes verse one of Isaiah 54 and applies it to “Jerusalem which is above”. He shows thereby that she is the antitypical Sarah, the “wife” of the Greater Abraham, God’s “freewoman” who produces the Seed that bruises the Serpent’s head. It is thus established that Isaiah 54:1 and its context of verses 4-6 are addressed to God’s spiritual organization which is above. The prophecy says: "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded ; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.”

22 For four thousand years since his promise in Eden, and for two thousand years since his covenantpromise to Abraham, God’s woman had not borne the Seed, Christ Jesus, nor any of his faithful associates, God’s adopted sons. Though being God’s “wife” from her youth, yet for those millenniums of time, as far as the Seed is concerned, she had been barren, like a wife refused, as a widow, as desolate without a husband, as one with whom Jehovah God was not dealing at all. For any Israelitish woman on earth such a state would be a cause of shame and reproach to her. Meantime the natural Israelites were delivered from Egypt and the law was given at Mount Sinai, and hence the earthly organization below, the Hagar organization of which the city of Jerusalem on earth finally became the capital, appeared to be God’s married woman. She seemed to be producing the children of the Kingdom, and that “after the flesh”. But now with the casting out of the Hagar organization (including earthly Jerusalem) and her offspring she was seen to have brought forth no children of the Kingdom. On the other hand, at the bringing forth of the spiritual sons, Christ Jesus and his apostles and associates, the “Jerusalem which is above” and which “is free” is seen to have more children of the Kingdom than the bondwoman organization. No doubt existed now that God’s “freewoman”, his universal organization above, is His true “wife”. Let her break forth into singing!

21. In his explanation, from what prophecy does Paul quote, and to whom does he apply it? and what does the prophecy say to the one to whom Paul applies it?

22. How did the Hagar organization appear to be the one having the husband? but how did the facts show in due time that the one that seemed desolate bad more children than the other?

23 As Abraham taught Isaac, so Jehovah God as Father teaches the children of his “freewoman”, the antitypical Sarah. Therefore Isaiah’s prophecy goes on to say to her: “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isa. 54:13, Am. Rev. Ver.) That this prophecy applies to the consecrated followers of Christ Jesus who become his associates in the Kingdom, the Master plainly showed, saying: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” (John 6: 44, 45) Such inspired testimony of the Son of God proves that his faithful followers are made members of God’s universal organization and hence are spiritual children of God’s “freewoman”, “Jerusalem which is above.”

DAUGHTER OF THE “FREEWOMAN”

24 As respects such spiritual children of free Jerusalem above, God’s Word discloses that, although members of His universal organization, yet they also have been given a special place or position therein. Hence they make up a distinct organization separate from the rest of the universal organization. This special organization is likened to the human organism, Christ Jesus being compared with the head of it and all his faithful spiritual followers, the church, being compared with the body of it. God’s Word teaches us: “As we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.” (Rom. 12:4-6) “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” (1 Cor. 12:12, 27) God’s mighty power “wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” -Eph. 1:19-23.

23. Who is the teacher of the children of the “freewoman" organization, and bow is this fact proved?

24. What position in God's organization are the children of the free Jerusalem given, and with what living thing are they compared?

25 The body (the church) goes with the Head (Christ Jesus); and by thus exalting Christ Jesus to the highest place in the universe next to himself and at his own right hand, Jehovah God made the Christ organization to be the capital over all his universal organization. (Phil. 2: 9-11; Col. 1:18,19) Such capital organization is God’s offspring and also the Seed of his “freewoman”, Jerusalem above. “Capital” means “chief”, as being the seat of the general government. Hence the Christ organization, made up of Jesus the Head and the church his body, is the Kingdom of heaven, which kingdom has no earthly part or “phase”. It is at the top of the universal organization and rules it, the seraphim, cherubim and angels being subject to it. Necessarily, the earthly part of the universal organization, being lower than the angels, will also be subject to the Kingdom or capital organization. Only Jehovah God, as supreme, is above the Kingdom, for he is the Head over all The Christ.-1 Cor. 11: 3.

26 Peering back into the distant past of types and shadows, we mark that Sarah’s son Isaac at the age of forty years married Rebekah, his mother’s grandniece. So Rebekah, as Isaac’s wife, became the daughter-in-law of Sarah, although Sarah had died before the marriage of her son. Likewise Christ Jesus, the Seed of the Greater Abraham and the Seed of his “freewoman”, is pictured as taking to himself a wife, that is, an organization in subjection to himself and serving as his associate and helpmeet. Such organization, or “bride”, is his church, the members of his body, over which he is the Head. (John 3: 29) The apostle Paul writes to the members of Christ’s body and says: “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2 Cor. 11: 2) He enlarges on this relationship of the church organization to Christ Jesus, in these words:

27 “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body [the church]. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. For we are members of his body, ... This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” -Eph. 5: 23-27, 30, 32.

25. How has Jehovah made such the capital organization, does it have an earthly “phase", and is anyone above it?

26. Whom did Isaac take as wife to himself, and what does this picture?

27. How does Paul enlarge upon this relationship of the church to Christ Jesus?

28 Such church, or “bride” of Christ Jesus, was foreshadowed by Isaac’s wife, Rebekah. Being composed all of spiritual children of God’s universal organization or “freewoman”, Christ’s bridal body or church is, as an organization, the daughter of God’s “woman”. She is the daughter organization of “the Jerusalem which is above”.

29 The mother organization is pictured, symbolically, at Revelation 12:1,2,17, as a “great wonder in heaven [above]; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. . . . the remnant of her seed ... keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. The daughter organization is symbolically described, at Revelation 21:9,10, 2, in these words: “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

30 The mother organization is called “Jerusalem which is above”. Mark that God’s Word names the daughter organization with the name of its mother, namely, “new Jerusalem,” “the holy Jerusalem.” Thus the daughter takes her mother’s name and is called by it. Like her mother she is above, spiritual, heavenly, and hence extends her power downward to the earth over which she rules. Quite fitly, as the capital city of the nation of Israel was earthly Jerusalem, so the capital organization of God’s universal organization is called Jerusalem. God Almighty and Christ Jesus are the temple of it.

31 The above truths help us to understand how prophecies which in the old Hebrew Scriptures are addressed to God’s universal organization or “freewoman” have also a direct application to the remnant of the members of Christ’s body on earth today. During the centuries since Jesus was on earth the only members on earth of God’s universal organization (“Jerusalem which is above”) have been those produced as her children, namely, the members of Christ’s body, the church. Necessarily, then, the prophecies pertaining to God’s universal organization, Jerusalem above, have at the same time application to Christ’s body members as her sole representatives on earth. Her representatives are at once the members of her daughter, the espoused virgin or bride of Christ, and are heirs to a place in God’s capital organization, New Jerusalem. Thus prophecies concerning the capital organization apply to Christ’s bride, the members of his church. Although while in the flesh they are on earth, the members of Christ’s body have been begotten of God’s spirit to heavenly hopes and are spiritual. The remnant of the seed of the mother organization who yet remain on earth are likewise spiritual. Down till this remnant, all the children or representatives of God’s universal organization, the mother, have been spiritual.

28. What, then, does the church constitute as respects God's universal organisation?

29. How are such "mother” and “daughter” Pictured in Revelation?

30. What Is the daughter's name, and why fitly so? and from whom does she get her name?

31. How is it that prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures which are addressed to God’s universal organization or “freewoman” apply also to the remnant of Christ's body today?

32 No earthly part of that organization was existing, and no earthly part therefore had anything to do with bringing forth the spiritual seed. So the apostle Paul rightly says to the members of Christ’s body: “Jerusalem which is above [heavenly, spiritual] is free, which is the mother of us all.” (Gal. 4: 26) The Hagar organization, which included Jerusalem in Palestine, was earthly. How could she produce a spiritual seed? She was not the mother of the Jewish remnant that accepted Christ and became his body members. They parted company with that Hagar organization so as to become associates of Christ Jesus, and were adopted into God’s spiritual organization, Jerusalem above. “Jerusalem which is above,” being universal and including cherubim, seraphim and angels, is more general and inclusive than the “new Jerusalem”, which is exclusively the bride of Christ and hence restrictive, not universal.

33 Under God’s kingdom in the hands of his Seed, Christ Jesus, the universal organization does become enlarged to include an earthly or human part. Then Christ Jesus, the Seed of Abraham in whom all the nations shall be blessed as foretold at Genesis 22:18, becomes the “Everlasting Father” by giving everlasting life to such blessed ones out of all nations of the earth. (Isa. 9: 6, 7) They become his sons and daughters and thereby are taken into the universal organization of Jehovah God, becoming members of it. In such manner God’s woman, the mother of The Seed of the Greater Abraham, becomes, as it were, the grandmother to such earthly children of her organization. Then Jehovah’s universal organization in heaven and in earth will operate in grand unity and harmony to his praise and will obediently serve Him in subjection to his Theocratic law and rule. The “other sheep”, the earthly people of goodwill, whom Christ is now bringing into his fold in relationship with the remnant of the spiritual “little flock”, are even now being brought into relationship with God’s universal organization and working with it. - John 10:16.

32. Why, then, is it true that “Jerusalem which is above” is the mother of the spiritual seed? and how is she more inclusive than the “new Jerusalem” ?

33. When and how does the universal organization become enlarged to include a human part, and what does she thus become in relationship to them?

ZION AND JERUSALEM

34 Ancient Jerusalem, which was below, on earth, came to be called “Zion”, after King David captured the hill and fortress of Zion and took up his residence there and brought the ark of God’s covenant thither. (2 Sam. 5:5-9) Zion was at first called “the city of David”, but, it being the dominant part of the city of Jerusalem, the name Zion was finally applied to the entire city. So the city was called interchangeably by both names, Jerusalem and Zion. (Ps. 48:1,2; Lam. 2:15; Mic. 4:7, 8, 2; Zeph. 3:14-16; Zech. 9:9) On the same principle, the name Zion as well as Jerusalem is applied in God’s prophetic Word not only to Jehovah’s universal organization but also to the daughter thereof, the capital organization. -Mic. 4:1, 2.

35 At Isaiah 60:1, 14, 17 it is written: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.” Those words are addressed to Zion, the mother organization, God’s universal organization or “woman”. However, since the spiritual remnant of Christ’s body are the members also of God’s universal organization and represent it on earth now, Isaiah’s prophecy here applies to that remnant of God’s “little flock”. He has arisen upon them. His glory is reflected upon them by Christ Jesus the Head of the capital organization, and hence the enlightened remnant are the ones commanded to arise and shine with God’s light of truth and freedom. That remnant was greatly afflicted, broken up and scattered A. D. 1918 during World War I, and it is they that Jehovah God thereafter organizes, vastly bettering their earthly condition as gold is better than brass, silver than iron, brass than wood, and iron than stone. He appoints the oversight of such remnant to Peace and Prosperity, and the setting of their organization tasks to Righteousness. He does so by bringing their newly constituted organization under Theocratic rule of operation. His “other sheep” bend themselves in subjection to that organization.

34. To what were and are the names Zion and Jerusalem Interchangeably applied, and why?

35. To whom is the prophecy of Isaiah 60:1, 14, 17 addressed, but why does it now apply to the remnant of Christ’s body, and how?

36 Isaiah’s prophecy, chapter fifty-four, is likewise addressed to the once-barren universal organization of God, and closes with the words: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness which is of me, saith Jehovah.” (54:17, Am. Rev. Ver.) The remnant of the “little flock” of Christ’s body being children and earthly representatives now of God’s universal organization Zion, this promise applies to them and to the organization that God has established among them to enable them to do his work and will. Because the organization and its work are not of men, but are of God, Satan’s seed among men cannot overthrow it. In fighting against it they are fighting against God. “And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.” (Acts 5: 38, 39; Jer. 1:19) The weapons forged against it in the coming postwar era shall surely fail.

37 Concerning Jehovah’s woman, “Jerusalem which is above,” it is written, at Isaiah 62:1,2: “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name.” (Am. Rev. Ver.) The remnant of Christ’sbody members being part of Jehovah’s universal organization Zion or Jerusalem, then in not keeping silent and not resting for his tcoman’s sake Jehovah does not keep quiet or rest until he has brought the remnant under Christ Jesus forth before the full view of the nations of earth and their kings or rulers. These behold the remnant to be clothed, as it were, in the “garments of salvation” and covered with the “robe of righteousness”. (Isa. 61: 10) They are seen to be the people saved of Jehovah God and the only ones righteous and approved in his sight and engaged officially in his service, because they are part of his organization. The “new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name”, also applies to such remnant as part of His organization.

38 A name describes a condition or stands for a position or office. What is that “new name” from God’s mouth? To Zion or Jerusalem, his universal organization, Jehovah God then explains the change of name, saying to her: “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken [woman]; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate [land]: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah [meaning ‘My delight is in her’], and thy land Beulah [meaning ‘Married’]; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” (Isa. 62:4,5, Am. Rev. Ver.) This prophecy had its complete and final fulfillment from A.D. 1914 onward, in which year God’s woman above gave birth to the Kingdom, the Government of the New World. (Rev. 12:1-5) But as regards the “remnant of her seed”, the remnant of Christ’s body members on earth, the prophecy particularly applies from and after 1918, when God’s Anointed King came to the temple to judge the house of God, including the remnant. Judgment means not merely testing of their heart devotion and integrity, but also deliverance to the remnant after passing the judgment favorably.

36. Likewise why does Isaiah 54:17 also apply to the remnant, and how is it fulfilled toward them?

37. How does Isaiah 62:1 concerning Jehovah’s not resting and also Zions righteousness and salvation have fulfillment toward the remnant?

38. How was the prophecy of Isaiah 62:2 concerning the “new name” from God’s mouth fulfilled toward his “freewoman”. and to whom does it also apply from and after 1918?

39 At the Kingdom’s birth in 1914 Christ Jesus took the reins of government in God’s capital organization and began exercising his rod of power against the Serpent and his seed. Then indeed “Jerusalem which is above” was vindicated before all the universe as the wife of Jehovah God and as the mother of His royal Seed. It was evident that his delight was in her and that he was married to his organization and had made her fruitful with Kingdom fruitage. But on earth, during the years of World War I, the spiritual ones of God’s organization were “hated of all nations for my [Christ the King’s] name's sake”. Their land or field of activity as Kingdom announcers was desolated by the worldly powers, the Serpent’s seed. Such spiritual ones were reproached and it appeared as if they were not a part of God’s spiritual organization but were abandoned of God and under his displeasure and wrath. Their name appeared to be “Forsaken”, “Desolate.” But the remnant of such spiritual ones endured the reproaches for the Kingdom’s sake. They cleaved to God and his Royal Government, and therefore passed the judgment at the temple and were anointed as ambassadors for the Kingdom and sent forth to declare God’s name and his kingdom by his Son. - Matt. 24: 14.

40 Then it became public, world-wide, before Gentile nations and their rulers, that this remnant were the “people for his name”. (Acts 15: 14) Their bringing forth the fruits of the Kingdom made it plain that, call them by what despicable names the nations chose, yet Jehovah’s delight was in this remnant who were publishing his name. Yes, too, their land or organization was part of the universal organization that is “married” or unbreakably united to Jehovah God. Jehovah, by anointing them as his witnesses and using them to hold forth to people of good-will the fruits of the Kingdom, demonstrated that he was rejoicing over them with the joy of a bridegroom over his virgin bride. Men could not understand that Jehovah was back of all this change of the remnant’s condition except as his name was called upon them. The married woman takes the name of her husband; and if the remnant’s land was now “married” to Jehovah God, his name should be borne by them. And if he delighted in her, then he would not divorce her but his name would stick to her.

39. Why was the “new name” fitting toward God's "freewoman", and why did a change of name become proper for the faithful remnant on earth?

40. How did it become plain that the names Hephzibah and Beulah applied to the remnant? and how only would it be understandable to men that Jehovah was back of such change of condition?

41 Merely by the name “Christian” the faithful remnant could not be distinguished from the hundreds of millions of religionists who misuse the name by applying it to themselves. Providentially, long ago Jehovah’s mouth had prophetically directed these words to his remnant: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen.” (Isa. 43: 10, Am. Rev. Ver.) This prophetic designation he now drew to their attention. Hence it was in full keeping with his prophecy that the remnant, in 1931, recognized the name Jehovah’s witnesses and intelligently chose to be called by it because the name was from God’s mouth. The name showed they are members of the organization that is married to Jehovah God, and that their land is fruitful with testimony or witness to his name and kingdom. The name has stuck, because God’s mouth has called it upon the spiritual children of his “woman”.

HONOR TO PARENTS

42 Through such divine revelation as to the identity of God’s “woman”, the mother of his Seed, the following proverb of Jehovah’s anointed king, Solomon, can be well understood: “My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: for the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” (Prov. 6: 20, 23) Wise King Solomon there pictured the principal one of God’s universal organization, her beloved Son, Christ Jesus. It is this royal Son of God’s “freewoman” who speaks such proverb to the members of his body, who are sons of God by his "woman”. The substance of such proverb is contained in the first and fifth of the Ten Commandments; namely: “I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.” (Ex. 20:2,3,12, Am. Rev. Ver.) The First Commandment required that full due honor be given to Jehovah the Father, who is the only true and living God. The Fifth Commandment required that proper honor be accorded not only to God the Father but also to his “woman”, his holy universal organization, because she is his “wife” who serves his purpose. God has specially decreed that all living creatures should honor particularly the chief one of that organization, namely, his beloved only begotten Son, Jesus Christ: “That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” (John 5:23) “Fear God. Honour the king.” - 1 Pet. 2:17.

41 How could the Christian remnant be distinguished from those who misnamed themselves “Christian", and what was shown by such means of distinguishing the remnant?

42 Whom does the writer of Proverbs 6:20, 23 picture, to whom are the words therefore addressed, and how do the first and fifth of the Ten Commandments agree therewith?

43 To “honour thy Father” means more than just to take God’s name upon the lips and mention it with outward respect at a gathering of God’s people. Said God to the Hagar organization and its children whom he rejected: “This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” (Isa. 29: 13) Honour means worshiping and fearing him as the Supreme One, the only true and living God and Fountain of life. It means keeping his commandments with loving obedience, specially his commandment to be his witness. One who honors God is not ashamed to bear witness to him; for silence would be a failure to confess him. Further, honor would mean the son’s keeping integrity by unswerving faithfulness to the Father, that God the Father may thus have an exemplary son by whom to give answer to Satan and his seed who reproach Jehovah God.-Prov. 27:11; Isa. 58:13,14.

44 To “honour ... thy mother” means to show due consideration or respect for God’s woman, his organization, as the one through whom he as Father gives life to his children, particularly through his firstborn Son of that organization, Christ Jesus. Such honor means giving heed to the education, the instruction, coming from God the great Teacher through his woman or organization. Doing so will keep the teachable son or member from turning to other organizations and being misled by such into sin and death: “to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.” (Prov. 6: 24) Such son will appreciate and abide by the fact that God his Father teaches all his children by one channel, his “woman” (Prov. 31:1); which means that he does not use creatures outside his organization to impart the truthful teaching and instruction.

45 We may not always see the members of his organization that the Father uses to hand on or impart the spiritual food. God often uses the invisible members of his organization, such as seraphim and cherubim and angels under Christ Jesus, to send the needed information, counsel and guidance to us. In the wilderness the Israelites did not see the invisible ones whom God used to produce the manna on which they fed for forty years; but they knew it came in fulfillment of His word, and they accepted it and nourished themselves with it. (Ex. 16:13-35) If the spiritual food or teaching comes through his organization, then, whether we see the agency through which' it comes or not, we honor the “mother” organization by giving first and most serious attention to such food, feeding at her table.

43. What, then, does ‘honoring the Father' mean?

44 What does ‘honoring the mother' mean, and from what misleading course does it keep us?

45 As regards the provision of spiritual food, how do we 'honor the mother', even though not seeing the agency directly used to bring the provision?

46 The son that honors his “mother” will respect the organization, which is God’s “woman”, and will not try to break it up or cause disturbance therein. He will faithfully and peacefully abide in it and seek to do all things decently and in order, anxiously carrying out organization instructions, lest his Father (the Theocratic Organizer) and his “mother” (the Theocratic organization) be displeased with him. In meekness he will accept God’s reproofs through her, knowing that such a course tends to life. (Prov. 29:15) He will pray for her peace and prosperity. (Ps. 122:6-8) He will not slander or speak against her other sons. (Ps. 50:20) He will safeguard the interests of the organization, being on constant guard against giving out any information that would betray the organization and expose it to danger from the enemies of “Jerusalem which is above”.

46 As respects the good order, prosperity and protection of the organization, how do the ‘honor the mother’?

47 The faithful and wise son, that rejoices the heart of his father and makes glad his mother, will so deport himself before men and angels that he will not bring any shame upon the organization and its name. (Prov. 23:22,24,25; 19:26) By such a course he is sure to abide as a beloved member of God’s organization universal, and to have a part with God’s “woman” and her chief Son, Christ Jesus, in vindicating the honorable name of Jehovah God the Father. Also, now, his “other sheep” will honor God's “woman”, joyfully serving under her direction at present, looking forward to the blessed hope of being adopted after the battle of Armageddon as her beloved earthly children through Christ Jesus.

47. (a) How does a son make sure of abiding as a member of the organization and sure of a part with it in vindicating God’s name? (b) How do the “other sheep" now honor God’s “woman", and to what do they look forward?

ELDERS FEED THE FLOCK

AT THE very beginning of the time-period of Jehovah’s taking out from the nations a “people for his name” Christ Jesus delivered a Theocratic law to one of the first of that people, the apostle Peter. To him Jesus said: “Feed my lambs.” “Feed my sheep.” Peter was one of the “very chiefest apostles”, and hence was one of the chief elders in those apostolic times. Those who are elders by virtue of Christian growth, being mature, well versed in Jehovah's Theocratic law, and fulfilling his commandments by the course of action they take, properly set the example for the associate Christians This being so, the course they are admonished to pursue will likewise be the rule of action for all those devoted to The Theocratic Government.

Bearing this in mind, note the exhortation to elders, recorded at 1 Peter 5:1-3: “The elders which are among you I exhort, . . . Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” The people Jehovah takes out for his name are his heritage. Of this heritage there remain on earth just a remnant. All of them must be elders. Hence all of them must “feed the flock”.

The earthly number of such anointed ones, however, is continually decreasing through death, only a small remnant of that “little flock” remaining. But the Good Shepherd has “other sheep”, persons of good-will consecrated to obey Theocratic law, and who hope to abide forever on earth. And though multitudes of this class are still to be gathered from all the nations whither they have been scattered by demon rule, many thousands have already taken their stand for the new world, and this class comprise the greater number that are today following the Good Shepherd.

Many of the “other sheep” have been companions of the anointed remnant in Theocratic service for years. They have become mature, well trained in the teaching of the Lord, obedient to Theocratic law. In many places they have been appointed to positions of responsibility in the company service organizations because of their maturity or eldership. With only a spiritual remnant still left on earth who must in due time pass on to complete the membership of the free nation in heaven, there need to be associated with God’s visible organization devoted companions who arc glad to take on the various responsibilities, such as those of company servant, assistant company servant, back-call servant, etc Therefore the Theocratic rule set forth at 1 Peter 5 1-3, to “feed the flock”, applies now, not only to the “elders” who are the remnant of the “body of Christ”, but also to their matured earthly companions.

Whence does the food come that is to be ministered unto the flock! At the Society’s central headquarters under Christ; and by means of the “elders” or anointed ones, all of the “one flock” of God are fed with “food convenient”. It is brought to them from the written Word of God and under the faithful direction of the Good Shepherd, Christ Jesus, now at the temple. Such food is passed on to Jehovah’s organized people world-wide through the Society’s publications, particularly the Watchtower magazine. Foodshortages are unknown in God’s organization. Thus supplied, all local servants must feed the flock among them.

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