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    The Watchtower, July 1, 1947

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    The Watchtower—1947

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    They shall know that I am Jehovah.”

    -Ezekiel 35:15.

    Vol. LXVIII Semimonthly No. 13

    JULY 1, 1947

    CONTENTS

    Judgment of Church and World

    “That Day”

    Before the Tribunal of Christ

    Sentence upon Christendom

    Trial of the Quick and the Dead

    Thousand-Year Day of Test

    “Unto the Resurrection of Damnation” 203

    “Written in the Book of Life” Convention and Memorial in

    the Fab East.......................

    “Alt, Nations Expansion" Testimony Period ..............

    Use Renewal Subscription Blank .... 194

    “Watchtower” Studies .............

    Rooming Committee Address fob Los Angeles Assembly

    .. 194

    Published Semimonthly By

    WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street - « Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S.A.

    Officers

    N. H. Knobb, President Grant Suiter, Secretary

    “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 54:13.

    THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES

    THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent in creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of His universal sovereignty;

    THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon it; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God's law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;

    THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;

    THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege it Is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed In the Bible;

    THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan's uninterrupted rule, ended A.D. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth”;

    THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act Is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.

    ITS MISSION

    HIS journal Is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed In the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah's witnesses and all people of good-wllL It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid In such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.

    It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King-It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.

    Holies to BubBoribers: Remittances should be sent to office in your country in compliance with regulations to guarantee safe delivery of money. Remittances are accepted at Brooklyn from countries where no office is located, by international money order only. Subscription rates in different countries are stated below in local currency. Notice 0} expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two issues before subscription expires. Change of address when sent to our office may be expected effective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.

    Please address the Watch Tower Society in every case.

    Offices Yearly Subscription Rate

    America (U. B. ), 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N. Y.

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    Translations of this journal appear in many languages.

    ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year is required by the postal regulations.

    Printed in the United States of America

    Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N, Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

    “ALL NATIONS EXPANSION” TESTIMONY PERIOD

    The entire month of August is a special testimony period designated as above, and the theme of expansion will be forwarded as Kingdom publishers everywhere enlarge their witnessing activities to take in the extensive rural sections of territory. The favorable weather of this midsummer month in the Northern Hemisphere invitingly calls for concentrated work in the countryside, and the offer is worthy of our best effort. For the third consecutive month the featured presentation will be three bound books on a $1.00 contribution, this to include, if at all possible, the Bible handbook “Equipped for Every Good Work” and the revealing textbook on fundamental Bible doctrine, "Let God Be True”, along with any other Watchtower bound-book publication. “Equipped for Every Good Work” will continue to be placed alone on a 50e contribution. By means of this offer during August the message of God’s established Kingdom will spread and expand in many nations. You, as a Watchtower reader, may share in the expansion work. A postcard or letter will bring us to your aid in putting you in touch with others near you active in this work, or in instructing you how to proceed. Please report your work accomplished during August, that the record of expansion in all nations may be complete.

    UBE RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTION BLANK

    The renewal blank sent you prior to the expiration of your Watchtower subscription should be filled out and returned to the Brooklyn office or to the Branch office in the country where you reside. Servants in the companies, and individuals, when sending in renewals for The Watchtower, should always use these blanks. By filling in these renewal blanks you are assured of the continuation of your Watchtower from the time of expiration, and without delay. It will also be a great help if you sign your name uniformly, and note any recent change of address, on the renewal slip.

    “WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

    Week of August 3; “Judgment of Church and World,” fl 1-15 inclusive, The Watchtower July 1, 1947.

    Week of August 10: “Judgment of Church and World,” fl 16-27 inclusive, also “Trial of the Quick and the Dead,” fl 1-3 inclusive, The Watchtower July 1, 1947.

    Week of August 17: “Trial of the Quick and the Dead,” fl 4-19 inclusive, The Watchtower July 1, 1947.

    ROOMING COMMITTEE ADDRESS FOR LOS ANGELES ASSEMBLY

    Watchtower readers planning to attend the national convention in Los Angeles, California, August 13 to 17, are hereby informed that the address of the Rooming Committee for that assembly is Watchtower Convention Rooming Committee

    106 W. Venice Boulevard

    Los Angeles 15, California

    Kingdom publishers will please see the June Informant for further details.

    ANNOUNCING

    Vol. LXVin

    JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

    July 1, 1947

    No. 13

    JUDGMENT OF CHURCH AND WORLD

    "For Jehovah will judge his people." "He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." —Deut. 32:36, Am. Stan. Ver.; Acts 17:31.

    CCTEHOVAH is our judge, Jehovah is our law-| giver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us,” J sang the prophet Isaiah to the nation of Israel about twenty-seven centuries ago. (Isa. 33: 22, Am. Stan. Ver.) In the first century of our so-called “Christian era” Jehovah judged the Jewish church in a final way, as shown in our last preceding issue of The Watchtower.

    2 Properly that time of accounting caught up with Jewry because in every way they had been advantaged far above the Gentile nations by the mercy and favor of Jehovah God. In the wilderness at Mount Sinai in Arabia the circumcised Israelites had been given his Theocratic law through his mediator Moses the prophet. “This,” said Stephen to the Jewish Supreme Court, “is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel that spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us.” (Acts 7: 38, Am. Stan. Ver.) And Paul writes to Christians at Rome in the first century and asks: “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God.” “My kinsmen according to the flesh . . . are Israelites; whose is the adoption [by God], and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God [be] blessed for ever. Amen.” (Rom. 3:1, 2 and 9: 3-5, Am. Stan. Ver.) In view of those peculiar blessings ahead of the uncircumcised Gentiles a judgment day was due to arrive upon the Jewish church-nation at the coming of the Messiah, the Christ.

    3 When the blessed privileged position with Jehovah God was vacated by the Jewish church because of their rejecting His promised Messiah, the newly organized church under Jesus Christ the Head succeeded to the favored place as the spiritual Israel of God, his “new creation”. They have the circumcision of the heart, inward cleanness of mind, in

    1, 2. When did God judge the Jewish church finally, and why?

    3. How did the Christian church come under heavier responsibility? place of the outward circumcision of the flesh; and they are the ones meant in the words of blessing: “As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” (Rom. 2:28,29; Gal. 6:16) Upon them are fulfilled the special blessings foretold in the oracles of God which had previously been held only by the Jewish church. For this reason the new “church of God” under Jesus Christ came under a special responsibility, even heavier than that which had rested upon the Jewish church because of the greater and higher favor bestowed upon Christians. They must be judged by God according to the grander privileges and opportunities that He conferred upon them, and on account of this the apostle Peter writes: “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:16-18) Christians entrusted with the gospel of God are put in a very responsible position.

    4 From the time of becoming members of God’s household under his Head Son Jesus Christ the Christians are due to be judged by Jehovah God according to what they do henceforth till the day of their death in the flesh. Their judgment for eternal life or eternal death will not be based upon any opportunity to do righteousness after the resurrection from the dead under God’s kingdom. No second chance for them in the New World! Nineteen centuries ago at the day of Pentecost (A.D. 33) the time came or arrived for the members of God’s household of sons to become accountable for what they did henceforth. Upon their acts from then on in the flesh the final judgment upon them must be based. If they kept their integrity to God the Father by living up to His gospel which they had accepted through Christ, then the final judgment would be for their

    4. How did judgment begin? and with what chance for salvation?

    salvation. But it would be a difficult thing for them to remain righteous in Christ and gain everlasting salvation: they would scarcely or with difficulty be finally saved, because it is a narrow way in which the Christians must walk through this world. Those professed Christians who grow careless and loose and then become ungodly and sinful because of disobedience to the gospel can hardly be expected to keep their integrity to God and win a favorable decision from him as Judge and be saved to eternal life. They will appear on the condemned side because of not having kept integrity.

    5 Since the house of God, his church, comes under judgment first it is such a serious matter for all the members thereof, and none can afford to fall back into disobedience, ungodliness and sin like a worldling. Because judgment begins at the house of God’s spiritual sons due to the exceeding favor into which they have come, it proves that their judgment precedes that of this world and of its inhabitants. This world is condemned to destruction; and with the best of reasons, therefore, the Christians are warned not to come into the condemnation resting upon this world. They are instructed to examine themselves carefully to see if they are staying true to Christ as members of his body, the church, or whether they are getting weak in Christian faith and getting spiritually sick and falling asleep as to their Christian opportunities and obligations toward God. They should especially judge themselves thus or search themselves through carefully at the season when they partake of the supper memorializing Christ’s death. Their self-examination should prove them to be worthy to partake of the Memorial bread and wine, because they are continuing dead to sin and crucified to this world.

    8 This is written to the “house of God”: “But let a man examine himself, and thus let him eat of the bread, and let him drink of the cup; for he eats and drinks judgment to himself, who eats and drinks not discriminating the body. Through this, many are weak and sickly among you, and some sleep. If, however, we examined ourselves, we should not be judged; but being judged by the Lord, we are corrected, so that we may not be condemned with the world.” (1 Cor. 11:28-32, Diag.') This statement shows that there is some distinction between judgment and condemnation, and that a judgment need not necessarily be condemnation to destruction. For a Christian of the “house of God” to be condemned with this world it would mean his destruction in the “second death”, without possibility of a resurrection from the dead. Going back to the ways and companionship of this world of which Satan the Devil is god and prince is most serious. “For if after they have

    5. Why should they judge themselves? and when?

    6. What would condemnation of them with the world mean? escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” (2 Pet. 2: 20, 21) If this world were not condemned to annihilation, then condemnation with the world would not be so calamitous for those of the "house of God”. But the world is condemned to destruction!

    "THAT DAY”

    1 It is true that 'judgment began with the house of God’ back there at Pentecost of A.D. 33, because the spirit-filled Christians became directly responsible to God for what they did from then on. They were finally to be judged accordingly and to have their eternal destiny determined on that basis. But this does not signify that there would not come a specific day or season in the future when there would be a special judgment time of the house or church of God. There was such a final judgment-time that come upon the Jewish church with the Messiah’s arrival, and that was a prophetic picture of what must likewise come upon the Christian church that succeeded to the place of God’s favor when the Jewish church was finally cast out for unbelief and disobedience. Thus a day or period would come in which all the church together would be put on judgment and the decisions finally rendered and the rewards or recompenses be handed out by the divine Court. This would be at the time that the great Judge, Jehovah God, or his judicial Associate, Christ Jesus, would come for the holding of judgment, beginning with the “house of God”. This would be when its prospective membership of 144,000 is complete and its last members are on the earth.

    8 The apostle Paul repeatedly refers to this judgment day upon the church, when the decision of the great Judge is to be disclosed to all creation. Paul spoke of it as “that day”. He was confident of a favorable decision toward himself because of the faithful life he had lived and according to which he was to be judged, for he said during his last imprisonment : “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto ail them also that love his appearing.”—2 Tim. 4:6-8.

    ’ In the day of judgment upon the Jewish church

    7. Why must a final period of judgment come upon all the church? 8. How did Paul speak of that Judgment day to Timothy?

    9. Why will It be a “day of wrath” for many Christian professors? nineteen centuries in the past the judgment went against them. Hence the day wound up in an expression of God’s wrath against them, and only the believing remnant of Jews that accepted the Messiah escaped condemnation with it. They were rewarded with the divine favor and were entrusted with God’s service and with the world-wide preaching of the gospel of His kingdom by Christ Jesus. So, too, as respects that day when Paul hoped to receive the crown of righteousness at the hands of the Lord, the righteous Judge: this will be a “day of wrath” for many of those who profess to be the “house of God” or his church. Christendom professes to be that house or church, and therefore she must be judged upon the basis of her claims and appearances. Here is how the apostle describes that day:

    10 “We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practise such things. And reckonest thou this, 0 man, who judgest them that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? [As when religious organizations condemn gambling and yet practice it in their consecrated buildings themselves.] Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, [he will render] eternal life: but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; but glory and honor and peace [shall be] to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: for there is no respect of persons with God.” (Rom. 2:2-11, Am. Stan. Ver.) “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”—1 Cor. 4: 2-5.

    11 Plainly this judgment day comes with the arrival of the great Judge Jehovah in the person of his judicial representative, Christ Jesus. Since it is a day of wrath against this world, it comes at the end of this world. It is now in progress, for since A.D. 1914

    10. What exposures, rewards and recompenses will then be given? 11. When comes such day? and why with resurrection of Christians? we are living in the “time of the end”, as is proved by all the visible signs and events that were foretold to mark such time. This means the arrival of a time of judgment upon all the church or house of God. Inasmuch as the members of his house of the past centuries were dead by the time that the "time of the end” began and the Judge came, the resurrection of the dead faithful members of God’s house was timely and necessary. Their awakening out of the death state in the graves was foretold to fall due at the “time of the end” of the world and its nations, for it is written: “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord [Jehovah God], and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever. ... We give thee thanks, 0 Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast; because thou hast taken thy great power, and didst reign. And the nations were wroth, and thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth. And there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven.”—Rev. 11:15-19, Am. Stan. Ver.

    12 The anger of the nations began A.D. 1914, World War I beginning then. Particularly since then the nations, and outstandingly those of Christendom, have been corrupting and destroying the earth. Forasmuch as judgment time begins at God’s house first, the time came for the dead members of it, the “saints”, to be awakened from the dead in order to receive their heavenly reward. Their resurrection has not been discerned by the angry nations because they are resurrected as spirit persons to be united with Christ Jesus in the invisible heavens. They are part of the church or body of Christ of which we read: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body”; and human eyes cannot see a spiritual body. (1 Cor. 15:44) Our time, then, is “that day” on which Paul and all those that love the Lord’s appearing receive the crown of righteousness laid up for them. This is the day in which the “temple of God” in heaven is opened, in order that his judicial representative, Christ Jesus, might come there and take his seat and start off the judgment beginning with the house of God. On this account it was foretold to us that, at his coming to the temple, “the dead in Christ shall rise first.”—1 Thess. 4:16.

    “ Just before his own resurrection A.D. 33 Christ Jesus came to his Father’s house in Jerusalem, the temple, and cleansed it by casting out the religious racketeers, and this cleansing was three and a half years after he was baptized and anointed with the spirit in the fall of A.D. 29. Parallel to this, his promised coming to the spiritual temple of God 12. Why did not the nations see the resurrection of these ?

    13. How do we calculate when the Judge game to the temple? would be three and a half years from when the “time of the end” began in the fall of A.D. 1914, at which time the 2,520 years of the Gentile times ended and Christ Jesus was enthroned in the heavens as Jehovah’s anointed King. That means he came to the temple as Judge of the dead and the living in the spring of A.D. 1918, and all the events since then in church and world verify that conclusion as correct. This was long ago foretold by Jehovah’s prophet, at Malachi 3:1-4. That, then, is when the dead begin to rise according to God’s time-schedule.

    BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF CHRIST

    14 Faced with such a prospect, the apostle wrote: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (2 Cor. 5: 8-10) Christ Jesus sits upon the judgment seat after his enthronement in the kingdom of God, which enthronement was in 1914; and the service as Judge is one of his kingly duties. He is “the Son of David”, hence heir of the Kingdom covenant that Jehovah God made with David when king in Jerusalem. One of King David’s responsibilities was to serve as judge for the nation of Israel, and concerning him we have it reported: “David reigned over all Israel; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people.” (2 Sam. 8:15) When wise young Solomon came to the throne of Israel at his father David’s death, he prayed to God and said: “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” And in Solomon’s first recorded sentence as royal judge he made a reputation for himself, so that we read of him: “All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.”—1 Ki. 3: 9, 28.

    15 Fittingly, too, Christ Jesus undertakes the judgment proceedings after he becomes God’s acting King in 1914. Then on coming to the temple in 1918 he starts judgment first at God’s house. Hence the thoughts of the apostle were properly put together when he wrote of his hopes of the crown of righteousness in “that day” and said to Timothy: “I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.” He associates judgment with the kingdom and the appearing of the Judge at the temple.—2 Tim. 4:1, 8, Am. Stan. Ver.

    14 Why does his sitting as Judge come after his enthronement? 15. When, therefore, did he start judgment at God’s house?

    ” Christ Jesus himself indicated that judgment work at God’s house would follow his entrance actively upon the duties of the Kingdom. In parables he illustrated how he would start judgment with those of his responsible servants yet alive in the flesh on earth at his coming to the temple in 1918. One of these parables, that of the pounds, he spoke as he went up to Jerusalem because the people thought he was about to set up God’s kingdom then-at his first coming. The record says: “And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds [for example, £10], and said unto them, Occupy [or, Trade with this] till I come. . . . And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound [£1] hath gained ten pounds [£10]. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.”—Luke 19:11-17.

    11 This proves that the Kingdom did not get established at Jesus’ first coming and that the final judgment of his servants, his followers, did not begin at the “house of God” back there in the first century. However, back there he did begin entrusting the valuable treasure of gospel service (the pound to be used in active trading) to his consecrated followers upon earth. And as these consecrated believers have entered the ranks of his followers down the centuries to this year 1947, Christ Jesus has entrusted to them the symbolic pound, the precious gospel ministry. By the use of this pound each one might prove his zeal and devotion to his Lord and King down till the time of finishing his earthly course and making his final appearance before the judgment seat of Christ Jesus the enthroned King and Judge. Back in the first century the apostle said concerning this: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2 Cor. 4:7) Thus, even since his coming into the Kingdom in 1914 and then coming to the temple for judgment in 1918, he entrusts the symbolic pound of the Kingdom interests to the remnant of his consecrated brethren of the house of God. The remnant must each “trade” with them or put them to use in God’s service till death occurs and till their case comes up for final decision at the bar of Christ the Judge.

    16. How did Jesus illustrate such succession of events?

    17. What does that parable prove as to Kingdom, judgment, pounds?

    18 The same thing is illustrated and taught in Jesus’ like parable of the talents, which he inserted in his lengthy prophecy on the signs that would appear at this end of the world. His including it in his prophecy on the end of the world argues that the fulfillment of the final part of this parable of the talents occurs in the “time of the end” of this world, namely, since 1914. Jesus said to his disciples: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.. . . After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth [or, settles accounts] with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matt. 25:13-21) This is further proof that final judgment of the church takes place in “that day”, a long time after his ascension to the "far country” of heaven, and first after he becomes a ruler and suddenly comes, at an unpredicted day and hour, to the temple to judge the "house of God”.

    19 Many faithful servants died before his becoming Idng and arriving at the temple for judgment, but had faithfully used their precious talents or pound for the increasing of the Kingdom interests. These were resurrected, of course, into the presence of their reigning King and Judge at the temple. Their resurrection and uniting with him there was an expression of judgment toward them, a judgment of approval. By “patient continuance in well doing” they had sought for “glory and honour and immor-tality”, and now they were judged worthy and were raised to eternal life in inseparable union with Christ Jesus in the heavens. (Rom. 2:7) They have risen first; but the remnant of His servants yet alive in the flesh must continue faithful until death before they can join in that “first resurrection” and appear before him face to face. They must keep on using the pound or talents of precious Kingdom service diligently in order that Jehovah God may bless it with increase to the approval of their Judge Jesus Christ. This remnant found alive on earth from and after his coming to the temple in 1918 are brought together as a united, co-operative servant-body under him their Head, and accordingly they are likened to a 18, What does the parable of the talents show as to order of events? 19. How are the faithful dead and faithful living then dealt with? composite servant that is faithful and discreet.

    20 As regards how this remnant fares in the end of the world at Christ’s sudden arrival at the temple, Jesus said further in his parable on the world’s end: "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” (Matt. 24:45-47) From this it is plain that even before the members of the remnant complete their earthly course, they have a measure of judgment executed toward them by the Lord at the temple, in that he retains them in his service because he finds them faithful at their duties in the household of God. He executes judgment against the evil, slothful, self-seeking servant by taking away from such a class the talent or pound of service privileges inside Jehovah’s Theocratic organization and by then putting them out of the organization, to be condemned with the world and to share its tearful fate. —Matt. 24:48-51; 25: 24-30; Luke 19:20-26.

    21 However, the “faithful and wise servant” class is rewarded now even on this earth while they are in the flesh. They are appointed to be the visible servant with whom Jehovah God deals by Christ Jesus and through whom, therefore, God does his Kingdom-witness work in the earth. They are made his visible channel, and under Christ Jesus their Head they are given the “meat in due season”, all the Kingdom truths revealed from time to time, in order that they may minister this to all of God’s household of sons and to all the consecrated persons of good-will in all nations of this world. (Ps. 75: 6,7; Luke 12:42-44) But one sober fact must not be overlooked: the members of this “faithful and wise servant” class must each be faithful on his own part with the pound and talents placed in his personal care. Each must be faithful till death in order to continue a member of that approved class and in order to be found worthy of a resurrection into the exalted, majestic presence of the Judge in the heavenly temple. By this course alone can they avoid being shifted over to the ranks of the evil, slothful servant class.

    SENTENCE UPON CHRISTENDOM

    22 This judgment at the house of God in the “time of the end” is the one referred to at Psalm 50:3-6: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by

    20, 21. (a) How are the faithful servant and the unfaithful-servant class handled? (b) What must members of the servant not overlook’ 22. Why must Christendom then be judged, too? sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself.” Christendom with her hundreds of religious organizations sanctimoniously claims to be God’s people, or saints. She must therefore be judged to prove publicly whether she does make up his saintly people or is a hypocritical religious liar.

    “ Under judgment since A.D. 1918, Christendom is found to be a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. She is a modern counterpart of the Jewish church cast away in the first century. The words of Isaiah fit her: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that deal corruptly! they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are estranged and gone backward. Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant [Jehovah’s witnesses], we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: . . . And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood [of two world wars and other bloodguiltiness].” (Isa. 1:4,9-11, 15, Am. Stan. Ver.) Christendom, disturbed at her own internal condition, cries out imploringly for “more religion”. At the same time she scoffs at the Kingdom message proclaimed by the "very small remnant” of Jehovah’s witnesses who say His kingdom by Christ Jesus is the only hope of lovers of life, peace and happiness. During World War I Christendom knocked into a dead appearance the work of Jehovah’s witnesses in her midst with the result foretold, namely: “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom.” (Rev. 11:8) After World War I ended Jehovah brought his witnesses to life again, but to date Christendom fights their Kingdom message.

    24 At this late date Christendom, or organized religion, is yet like the “great whore”, “the mother of harlots,” described at Revelation 17. Shining up to the “kings of the earth” in this atomic age and letting them use her religious organization for their unclean worldly purposes, Christendom has saddled herself upon the monstrous man-made creature of many heads, the United Nations organization. She has no faith or desire toward God’s kingdom as proclaimed in all nations by Jehovah’s witnesses, and she would gladly kill them all off if Almighty God would only let her. She is already “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus”, many of whom she killed since 1914. The Revelation says about the kings of the earth with

    23. Of what is Christendom proved to be a modern counterpart? 24. How is she pictured in Revelation 17, and with what fate due? whom she commits religious fornication to buy their favors and protection: “These shall make war with the Lamb [Jesus Christ], and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” (Rev. 17:6,14) Seeing that she will not have Jehovah’s anointed King reign over her, but sides with his enemies in this time of judgment, she will have executed upon her the sentence of the Judge: “Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” (Luke 19:27) Thus in this trial period she is publicly proved not to be God’s saintly people and will suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, fiery overthrow.

    25 This world, under Christendom’s political, commercial and religious leadership, will no more be spared by Jehovah God the great Judge than was the old world of Noah’s day or Sodom and Gomorrah. This sure destiny is made certain for this world by the apostle’s words, at 2 Peter 2:4-9: “For if God . . . spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample [unto whom?] unto those that after should live ungodly; and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:... the Lord know-eth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” (Also Jude 7) Will any serious student of the Bible deny that since 1918 we are in the day of judgment of the nations? When was Christendom ever in a more responsible time before God, “the judge of all the earth”? Almighty God has let the imitation-Christian nations of Christendom exist on down to this day of judgment, because it was for this day that he was reserving them to be punished with destruction in the final end of this world.

    26 But, as with Noah and Lot, Jehovah God has faithfully kept his little band of witnesses. He will deliver them out of this crucial period of world temptation and will bring them alive through the catastrophic end of this world and over into the everlasting righteous new world to follow. Their eyes will be gladdened with the sight of what the aged apostle John saw in symbol by the help of God’s angel. He writes: “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her

    25. How does Peter show this world will meet certain destruction? 26. What will become of God's witnesses, and what will they see? fornication.... the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” Then the world rulers making up the world combine long dominated by organized religion will themselves be crushed with their world league by Jehovah’s King and Judge, for “in righteousness he doth judge and make war”.—Rev. 17:1,2,16; 19:11.

    27 Jehovah God now issues his challenge to the nations to come down to the low place of opposition to his kingdom where he will execute his righteous

    27. What is foretold to happen at the "vallev of Jehoshaphat”? judgment upon them, saying: “Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. . . . Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat [the name means 'Jehovah is Judge’]; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. . . . for their wickedness is great.” (Joel 3:9-13, Am. Stan. Ver.) They will never leave the valley alive. It will spell the end of their world in total destruction, and Jehovah’s universal sovereignty will be vindicated by his King by whom he makes war and executes his judgment upon all opposers.

    TRIAL OF THE QUICK AND THE DEAD

    WHILE the nations are being assembled to the symbolic valley of Jehoshaphat for the showdown fight over world domination, another judgment procedure is in motion. The very small remnant of Christ’s brethren of the house of God are proclaiming the message of salvation by God’s kingdom throughout the habitable earth. It is for a witness to all nations. (Matt. 24:14) Who will accept the witness and act upon it? Those who are teachable and leadable and inoffensive like sheep will do so, no matter of what nationalities they are. Jesus’ final parable in his prophecy on the end of the world illustrates this comforting fact; and again in the parable he underlines the truth that it is as King that he acts as Judge. That is to say, after the Kingdom of God has been set up, then Christ Jesus the enthroned King comes to the temple for the judgment of the quick as well as the dead. Note the words: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them [the individuals of all these nations] one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” This testing time determines who are “sheep” and who “goats”.—Matt. 25:31-33.

    2 This is not the same judgment process as that pictured at Revelation 20:11-15. Those divided as 'sheep” and “goats” are not individuals brought back from the unconscious, inactive death state in the sea or in hell (the grave). These are the peoples of the nations living since the Bang’s coming to the temple in 1918. They are included among the “living” or the ‘quick”, whom the Scripture says he will judge together with the dead at his kingdom and appearing. The time is the time of the Kingdom, because the

    l. What other judgment-procedure is now in progress, and why?

    3 . (a) Why is this different from the judgment at Revelation 20:11-15? (b) Who are the “sheep”, and how are they rewarded? Bang says to those who prove to be “sheep”: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34) These “sheep” do not inherit a place on the heavenly throne alongside of Christ Jesus. They are not members of the “house of God”, the spiritual brethren of the King. They become children of Christ Jesus, “The everlasting Father.”—Isa. 9: 6.

    ’ The “sheep” are these who do good to the King’s brethren, such as giving them something to eat or wear, housing them, relieving them in illness, or aiding them when under arrest or in prison for preaching the good news of the Kingdom. They are not the remnant of the Bang’s brethren, because in doing the aforementioned kindnesses they confess they did not realize they were in fact doing such things to the King. Because they thus showed they were in favor of the kingdom of God by Christ, and because they lent support and active co-operation to the remnant of his brethren in increasing the Kingdom interests under hardship and opposition, the King judges them worthy of everlasting blessing on the earth in the new world and under the kingdom of heaven. —Matt. 25: 35-40.

    4 Those who turn out to be “goats” are also included among the “quick” or living ones whom the King judges after coming to the temple in 1918. In condemnation he says to these on his left hand: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25:41) Because they are condemned with the world, including Satan the Devil and his demon angels, Christ Jesus the King will not preserve these in the everlasting fire, as God preserved the three faithful Hebrews in Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace in Babylon. He will everlastingly destroy them therein just as the fire from that ancient fiery furnace destroyed the mighty army-men that threw the three Hebrews into it.

    4, 5. (a) What evidence condemns the goat class? (b) What is their punishment, and how is it everlasting?

    (Dan. 3:20-27) "Jehovah preserveth all them that love him; but all the wicked will he destroy.” (Ps. 145: 20, Am. Stan. Ver.) The damaging evidence that condemns the goatlike ones is that they did not love God’s kingdom and lent no support to it. Oh, the "goats” may blubber to the King that they did not know they were not helping him by not helping the remnant of his brethren of the "house of God” who were acting as ambassadors of the Kingdom upon the earth and preaching it. But if they had really loved the King, whom men cannot see, they would have loved the message of his kingdom and they would have loved his brethren whom men can see and hear. (1 John 4:20, 21; Matt. 10:40-42) Therefore the King says to those accursed ones: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”—Matt. 25: 45.

    5 The “goats” inherit no earthly blessings under the kingdom of heaven in the new world. As it is written: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment [kolasis}; but the righteous into life eternal.” (Matt. 25: 46) The punishment that is everlasting upon the “goats” is destruction without end, a total cutting off from all life in contradistinction to the “life eternal” that the “sheep” inherit in the new world. For this reason The Emphatic Diaglott reads here: “And these shall go forth to the aionian cutting-off [kolasis]; but the righteous to aionian life.” And this agrees with how it reads at 2 Peter 2:9: “The Lord knows how to rescue the pious out of trial, and to keep the unrighteous for a day of judgment to be cut off [kolazo].” This carries as its consequence that the “goats” will not survive the end of this world as Noah and his household survived the watery end of the old world, or as Lot survived the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah. At this world’s end in the “battle of that great day of God Almighty” they suffer destruction as ungodly creatures, together with the invisible and visible parts of the Devil’s world organization. Concerning this the apostle Peter writes: “But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Pet. 3:7,8, Am. Stan. Ver.) Our literal earth, the Lord’s good creation, will survive the fiery destruction which will rage about it to consume Satan’s world of demons and wicked men.

    THOUSAND-YEAR DAY OF TEST

    ’By the destruction of Satan’s demonic heavens and corrupt earthly organization at the close of the judgment of the nations, Satan the Devil is bound 6. When does the thousand-year day of test start? and whom does it affect?

    for a thousand years. (Rev. 19:19-21; 20:1-3) Then follows a thousand-year day of test which will affect even the dead. The prophetic vision of this is given at Revelation 20:11-15, in these words: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades [the concealed state of those buried in the ground] gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”—Am. Stan. Ver.

    1 The One seated upon the great throne the whiteness of which symbolizes purity and righteousness is Jehovah God (Rev. 20:12); but at this time of judgment he is represented by his anointed and enthroned Son, Christ Jesus. No one should marvel at this. Long ago Jesus said concerning this: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”—John 5: 26-30.

    8 Now, in a return to consideration of Revelation 20:11-15: The dead pictured as coming from out of the sea, death and Hades (or buried condition), do not include the 144,000 members of the “house of God”, the spiritual brethren of Christ Jesus the Head. Jesus said regarding these consecrated followers of his: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death -unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” (John 5: 24, 25) These faithful Christians were once under condemnation of death with the rest of sinful mankind, but the Kingdom gospel was preached to them and they believed on Jehovah God and his King. “For, for this cause was the gospel

    7. Who site upon the white throne? and who judges for him?

    8. Why Is the church not included in that judgment of those dead? preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Pet. 4:6) And the apostle John writes to these, to say: “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother [hence the world that hates Christ’s brethren] abideth in death.” (1 John 3:13,14) And John also shows, at Revelation 20:4-6, that these take part in the “first resurrection”, ahead of dead humankind in general, and that, at the beginning of the thousand-year-long day of judgment, they are enthroned with Christ Jesus and the privilege and power of judging with him as the Chief Judge is conferred upon them. —1 Cor. 6:2, 3.

    ’ Besides these faithful brethren of Christ who live and reign with him for the thousand years, others will come forth from the graves “unto a resurrection of life”. Many will be the devoted people of God who lived prior to Christ’s death and resurrection but who suffered for their faith and devotion to God, “that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Faithful ones, from Abel to John the Baptist, are here meant. (Heb. 11: 35) Besides that, there are sheeplike persons of good-will who have appeared during this “time of the end” and thus during the present judgment of the nations. They have manifested faith like those men of old, but some have died and will yet die faithful before the fiery end of this world in Jehovah’s great battle for vindicating his sovereignty. These modern-day “sheep” as well as the faithful ones of old will come forth to a “resurrection of life” on earth. At once on coming forth from the graves they will step onto the way to everlasting life, and the King will have nothing against them, just as he will have nothing against the “sheep” that survive the Battle in which this world ends. However, for them there is yet a final test to pass, and that is, when Satan the Devil will be loosed for a ‘little season” to test those dwelling upon the earth under the Kingdom.

    “UNTO THE RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION”

    10 So, then, for the others of dead mankind that come forth from the graves, or from the sea and Hades, there remains the provision for them to hear the voice of the Son of man, the Judge, and to “come forth . .. unto the resurrection of damnation”. This is because they “have done evil” in this life and have never come under God’s favor for exercising faith and obedience toward him. The old English word ‘damnation” is out of date, because the King James Version Bible translation was published in 1611. The modern-day translations render the original Greek

    >. Who besides them will come forth to a “resurrection of life"? 0. Who come forth to “resurrection of damnation"? “Goats”?

    word (krisis) at John 5: 29 no more by “damnation” but by “judgment”, and speak of the “resurrection of judgment”. The cursed “goats” of the present “time of the end” will not come forth in this “resurrection of judgment”. Why not! Because, at the destruction of all the “goat” class by the time of Jehovah’s battle to destroy this world, the King-Judge appoints them to the destructive “fire reserved for the Devil and his angels” and they go into “everlasting cutting off’’ from all life. They, at death, go into the symbolic “lake of fire”, namely, “the second death,” from which there is no redemption by Christ Jesus, because he has died only once.—Rev. 20:14,15; Heb. 9:28. .

    11 The “resurrection of judgment”, or standing up to judgment, does not mean that those who are reserved for this are damned or condemned right at the start and that there is no show for them during Christ’s thousand-year reign. There is a difference between “judgment” and “condemnation”. Proving this, Jesus said: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” And the apostle Paul wrote: “Thou art inexcusable, 0 man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”—Luke 6: 37; Rom. 2:1.

    12 This distinction between mere judgment and condemnation shows that the “day of judgment” need not necessarily be a day of condemnation for all, and the judgment meant in the “resurrection of judgment” does not necessarily mean the “judgment of Gehenna” such as the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day could hardly escape. Jesus said to them back there: “Serpents, progeny of vipers! how can you escape the judgment of the Gehenna?” But he will not say that to those coming forth from the graves to the “resurrection of judgment”. (Matt. 23: 33, Diaglott) If he were to do so, why, then, should he call them forth, seeing that Gehenna is the same as the symbolic “lake of fire” or “second death”? Those of the scribes and Pharisees back there that did not escape the judgment of Gehenna at the time when their nation was judged did not at death go to sleep in the graves to await a resurrection, but were forever destroyed. They are not included in the dead “in the graves”, or in the memorial places, who are to hear the voice of the Son of man and to come forth.

    13 It is because Jesus Christ came to “give his life a ransom for many” that “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth” by a resurrection. Consequently, Paul said, “there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

    11. Does judgment mean their condemnation right from the start? 12. Why will it not mean a “judgment of Gehenna” for all then? 13, 14. (a) Because of what provision do the “unjust” come forth? (b) According to what will they be judged, and why?

    (Matt. 20:28; Acts 24:15) The unjust are the ones that come forth to the resurrection of judgment, to be “judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”. The ‘things written in the books’ do not mean the records of all their past unjust lives and all the evil they have done before dying and descending into the graves. True, such evil lives and things of the present will have a hindering effect upon them in the thousandyear judgment day, because they will be the same personalities in the resurrection. But those things are in the past, just as a Christian’s life before accepting Christ and consecrating to God is a thing of the past and Christ’s ransom sacrifice takes care of all that. So the future is what counts for them.

    14 Christ’s “ransom for many” opens up the way back to everlasting perfect human life for those coming forth in the resurrection of judgment. Only now, under the thousand-year rule of Christ the Judge, they have to be tested to prove themselves worthy of a decision of everlasting life in their favor. How the judgment will go in their case will depend upon their works, not their works in the past when Satan and his demons were on the loose, but their works henceforth under the righteous Kingdom. If their works are in harmony with the “things which were written in the books”, then the judgment rendered toward them will be to justify them to everlasting life on a paradise earth. The books are therefore not personal-record books, but are God’s books setting forth God’s will concerning humankind during the Kingdom rule. Those things of God’s law are the things worth reading and being published, and by these things which the Judge Jesus Christ publishes for all mankind’s guidance they will be able to learn righteousness that tendeth to everlasting life. Such books undoubtedly symbolize something additional to the present-day “Bible” or “Holy Scriptures”. —Isa. 2:2-4.

    …