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    The Watchtower, January 15, 1948

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    The Watchtower—1948

    W<CHTOWER

    Announcing

    They snail know that I am Jehovah

    Vol. LXIX

    Semimonthly

    No. 2

    JANUARY 15, 1948

    CONTENTS

    The Signal to the Peoples ............

    What Lifted Up, and Where .........

    To Whom Addressed, and When . The Fixed Sign Identified .............

    Behold, He Has Come! ...................

    “Lift Up” ..........................................

    Forcing an Abominable Substitute

    Resolution .............................................

    “Song of Praise” Assembly

    at Philadelphia...........................

    District Assembly in Atlanta .....

    “The Joy of All the People”.........

    1948 Memorial Date________________________„

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

    ©WTB. &T.5.

    THE WATCHTOWER,

    Published Semimonthly By

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

    Ofi'icbbb

    N. H. Knobs, President Grant Suiter, Secretary

    “And all thy children shall be taudht 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 aud 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 ail people of good-will. 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.

    Notice to Subscribers: Remittances should be sent to office in your country in compliance with regulations to guaiantee 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 of expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two Issues before subscription expires. Change of address when sent to our office may be expected eftective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.

    Please address the Watch Tower Society in every case.

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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 haie The H'atchtovter 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 S, 1879.

    DISTRICT ASSEMBLY IN ATLANTA

    As announced at the Los Angeles assembly last August, the first of the 1948 district assemblies in America will be held m Atlanta, Georgia. The time of this 3-day assembly has been moved up to March 12-14. The contract for the use of the Municipal Auditorium, 30 Courtland Street, Atlanta, Georgia, has now been signed, making possible this definite announcement. The president of the Society and other representatives are expected to serve on the program. All persons of good-will included within the boundaries of this district are cordially invited to attend.

    “THE JOY OF ALL THE PEOPLE”

    The title of this new booklet brings to mind the announcement of the angel at Jesus’ birth. The booklet presents the speech delivered by the president of the Watchtower Society to audiences on five continents and the islands of the sea during the course of his round-the-world tour. It was released to the public at the close of the president’s address to an audience of 28,000 at the recent Philadelphia assembly. The booklet comprises 32 pages and has a cheerful cover. Copies are now at your disposal on a contribution of five cents each.

    1948 MEMORIAL DATE

    The date for celebrating the annual Memorial of Christ’s death in which his faithful body members participate is Nisan 14, that is to say, the 14th day of the first Jewish lunar month, as instituted by Jehovah God. (Exodus 12:1-8) The Watch Tower Society calculates this according to the first new moon that falls nearest to the spring equinox, whether before it or after it. We do not follow strictly the fixed Jewish schedule of 7 intercalary months for every 19-year period. According to due reckoning, then, Nisan 14 begins at sundown of Thursday, March 25, 1948. Ail organized companies and groups of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses throughout the earth should assemble that day after 6 p.m. Standard Time and observe the Memorial, providing the unleavened bread and red wine for any persons attending that profess to be of the remnant of the members of Christ’s body.

    After opening song, prayer, and an explanatory talk on the meaning of the Memorial, and then a single prayer over both the bread and wine together, these emblems should be served together to any and all present that judge themselves worthy to partake of them. After suitable field-service announcements and a final song, the meeting should be closed with prayer.

    “WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

    Week of February 15: “The Signal to the Peoples,” fl 1-13 inclusive, The Watchtower January 15, 1948. Week of February 22: “The Signal to the Peoples,” fl 14-30 inclusive, The Watchtower January 15, 1948. Week of February 29: “The Signal to the Peoples,” fl 31-41 inclusive, also “Resolution”,

    fl 1-11 inclusive, The Watchtower January 15, 1948.

    ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH'S KINGDOM

    Vol. LXIX January 15, 1948 No. 2

    THE SIGNAL TO THE PEOPLES

    “Pass through, pass through the gates, prepare the zoay of the people; grade up, grade up the highway, clear it of stones; raise a signal over the peoples. See! the LORD has made proclamation to the end of the earth.”—Isa. 62:10,11, An Amer. Trans.; Moffatt.

    which homage and salutes and religious ceremonies are rendered. It is Jehovah God who through his prophet commands this so-called “standard” to be set up for the peoples; and he would not command the setting up of that which violates his own holy command: "Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”—Ex. 20: 4-6, Am. Stan. Ver.

    ’Neither by the expression standard are we to understand anything like standards of the ancient nations such as Egypt, Assyria and Rome. Such standards had idolatrous practices connected with them. One cyclopedia* tells us: “The invention of standards is attributed by ancient authors to the Egyptians, and this with great probability, as they had the earliest organized military force of which we have any knowledge.... Diodorus informs us that the Egyptian standards consisted of the figure of an animal at the end of a spear. Among the Egyptian sculptures and paintings there also appear other standards, . . . Among the ancient Assyrians standards were in regular use, chiefly of two kinds—one a pole with a ball and a flag at the top; the other having the figure of a person, probably a divinity, standing over one or two bulls and drawing a bow. The former kind are more likely to have been connected with religious than with military purposes, as they are found standing in front of an altar. . . . The early Greeks employed for a standard a piece of armor at the end of a spear; . . . Greek nations also displayed the effigies of their tutelary gods, or their

    • McClintock & Strong's Cyclopedia, volume 9, under “Standard”.

    3, 4. With what did standards ot ancient nations have a connection! 19

    JEHOVAH God has issued the command in this I marvelous century to raise up a signal to the J peoples of all nations. More than seven centuries before the beginning of our common era his prophet Isaiah foretold the lifting up of this signal of such world-wide importance, and today the signal has been set up. It is becoming visible to more and more of the peoples. The signal is stood up on a high place and given the greatest prominence in order that it may become the assembly place, the rendezvous, to which the people seeking a divine government may gather and render their presence as loyal subjects and supporters. In this “atomic age” marked by the setting up of the organization of the United Nations the people everywhere are being urged to rally to this international organization as the sole remaining hope for mankind. The spokesmen thereof warn us that it is a case of either this United Nations or chaos and the destruction of civilization. Does the prophecy of Isaiah back up that warning? Is this international organization that to which Isaiah pointed as the signal to which the peoples must assemble for preservation and salvation? and are the builders of the United Nations the ones that have raised up the foretold signal, thus making themselves the ones that have fulfilled the prophecy? These questions demand an honest scrutiny of facts and Scriptures for an answer.

    2 The prophecy of the signal as translated from the Hebrew into English in the most popular English edition of the Bible, the King James Version, reads: “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world,” etc. (Isa. 62:10,11) Other translations of more recent date also speak of it as a “standard for the people”, or even an “ensign”. By the expression “standard” we are not to understand anything like a flag or banner in a modern sense to

    1 In this day of the signal and United Nations, what questions demand answer ?

    2 . What must we not understand this “signal” to be?

    particular symbols, at the end of a spear. Some of them had simply the initial letter of their national name.”

    4 As to the Romans, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the eleventh edition, of 1910, volume 10, under “Flag”, tells us: “The Roman standards were guarded with religious veneration in the temples at Rome; and the reverence of this people for their ensigns was in proportion to their superiority to other nations in all that tends to success in war. It was not unusual for a general to order a standard to be cast into the ranks of the enemy, to add zeal to the onset of his soldiers by exciting them to recover what to them was perhaps the most sacred thing the earth possessed. The Roman soldier swore by his ensign.” “Early flags were almost purely of a religious character. In Bede’s description of the interview between the heathen king JEthelberht and the Roman missionary Augustine, the followers of the latter [Augustine] are said to have borne banners on which silver crosses were displayed. The national banner of England for centuries—the red cross of St. George—was a religious one; in fact the aid of religion seems ever to have been sought to give sanctity to national flags, and the origin of many can be traced to a sacred banner, as is notably the case with the oriflamme of France and the Dannebrog of Denmark. . . . The banner of William the Conqueror was sent to him by the pope, and the early English kings fought under the banners of Edward the Confessor and St. Edmund; while the blended crosses of St. George, St. Andrew and St. Patrick still form the national ensign, of the united kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, whose patron saints they severally were.”

    6 On the subject of Roman idolatry before their military standards we quote the religious writer of the second century, Tertullian, of Carthage, North Africa. In his Apologeticus addressed to the pagan Roman magistracy in a defense against false charges hurled at Christianity he says, in chapter 16, page 162: “The entire religion of the Roman camp almost consisted in worshiping the ensigns; in swearing by the ensigns; and in preferring the ensigns before all the other gods.” As a specific instance of the religious worship that the Roman soldiers tendered to their standards, thereby idolizing them, the famous Jewish historian Josephus tells of an incident that took place after the temple of Jerusalem had been set afire by the Roman soldiers on the tenth day of the month Ab (the fifth month) of A.D. 70, contrary to the wishes and orders of their commander Titus. In Book 6 of “Wars of the Jews”, chapter 6, Josephus writes: “Now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple, and set them over against its eastern gate [which would be near the altar]. And there did they offer sacrifices to them; and there did they make Titus imperator, with the greatest acclamations of joy.” Thus we see what was the origin of flag-saluting.

    ’ Well, then, did the Jews or Israelites of Bible times have standards for use in their camp and military organization? The Bible tells us they had what they called a degel, which word has been translated into English by standard; and also what they called ohth, which word has been translated as sign or ensign. In the wilderness through which they marched away from Egypt and to the Promised Land the twelve tribes of Israel encamped in four large divisions about the sacred tabernacle, each division made up of three tribes. Each tribe descended from one common father or head of the tribe. Each three-tribe division had its own degel (or standard), which must have been quite large in order to be seen by the people of all the three tribes who followed it. And then each tribe had its ohth (or ensign), which was doubtless smaller because of not serving such a large number of persons. For the whole Israelite camp there were thus four degel (or standards), and twelve ohth (or ensigns). All these helped to keep the camp together in an orderly arrangement and to march in an orderly manner, the members of each division and of each tribe keeping together and knowing their respective places in the camp and in the line of march.

    7 From the account at Numbers 1:52 and 2:1-341 we see that in the four divisions grouped around the tabernacle the four degel (or standards) were assigned to the leading tribes of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan. (See also Numbers 10:14,17, 22, 25.) Just what the degel or divisional standards were, just what their shape and size were, we do not know. The ancient Jewish rabbis expressed some ideas about them, but these are mere suppositions and wholly unreliable. In time of battle the tribes marched under and rallied around their standards. They used them also for the sake of organization, order and unity; but they absolutely paid no religious respects or idolatrous worship or salutes to them. To have done so would have been a breaking of the second of Jehovah’s Ten Commandments.

    5. What acts of the Romans show the origin ot flag-saluting ?

    6, 7. What standards did Israel have? and for what purpose?

    WHAT LIFTED UP, AND WHERE

    ’ At Isaiah 62:10 the so-called “standard” which is prophetically commanded to be raised up is something different from the degel or standard of the camp of Israel. The prophet gives it a different name (nehs), which name denotes something that is lifted up. That it was something set up upon an eminent place and outstandingly alone, so that it was seen distinctly and from afar, is shown at Isaiah 30:17. In that verse Jehovah God tells the unfaithful Israelites who forsook him and went down to Egypt for help that they would easily be put to flight by their enemies: “Let but five threaten, you shall fly, till few are left of you, lonely like any pole upon the hills, like a lone signal [ne/ts] on a mountain-top.”—Moffatt's translation; also An American Translation.

    9 This signal (or nehs) could have been just a plain pole or stake, with something attached to its top or hung from it to flap and flutter in the wind, and thus to convey some meaning or telegraphic message to those beholding it from afar. For example: In the fortieth and last year of their journey through the wilderness the Israelites fell to complaining because of privations and hardships. To make a prophetic picture of instruction to us today God sent stinging serpents among them, and many Israelites died from serpent bites. When the people appealed to him for deliverance, then, as we read, “The Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole [ne/ts]: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole [nehs], and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”—Num. 21: 5-9.

    10 That serpent upon the pole symbolized the heavenly One who was made to be a sin-offering for us, namely, Jesus Christ as a man. He himself said so, telling us in his private talk with Nicodemus: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14,15) Christ Jesus was thus symbolically associated with a signal pole, to picture how he would be made conspicuous as the Savior of mankind. All those dying from sin and condemnation must look to him with faith and acceptance of him in order for Jehovah God to free them from sin, condemnation and death. If we turn our faces and hearts away from him in complaining, disobedience and unfaithfulness, then no other means of salvation remains for us; only destruction. The apostle Paul warns us against this with these words: “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”—1 Cor. 10: 9-11.

    11 That the signal (or nehs) was something raised or set up and that it was stationary to serve as a point of assembly is shown in connection with the battle of Rephidim in the wilderness journey. The Israelites were attacked by the wicked Amalekites. Under Joshua as field commander the Israelites went out to the fight against the aggressors. The prophet Moses watched from atop a hill, and because he held up his hands in sign of triumph to the end of the battle, the Lord God gave the Israelites victory and the Amalekites a total defeat. The record, as given in An American Translation, reads: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write this as a memorandum in a book, and recite it to Joshua; for I will blot out the very memory of Amalek from under the heavens.’ Then Moses built an altar, and called its name Yahweh-nissi [the Lord is my standard]. ‘Because a hand has been raised against the throne of the Lord,’ he said, ‘the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’ ”—Ex. 17:14-16.

    12 There An American Translation reads the word “nissi” to mean “my standard”,* as though the word were made up of the Hebrew word nehs together with the personal pronoun ending for my. However, the Latin Vulgate translation and the Roman Catholic Douay Version of the Bible read differently here, as follows: “And Moses built an altar: and called the name thereof, The Lord my exaltation.”! (Ex. 17:15) However, the Greek Septuagint Version, which is the oldest translation of the Hebrew Scrip

    * This English word being drawn from the Teutonic word standan, meaning “to stand”, and referring to the fixed pole to which an object or another pole was attached.

    t Understanding the Hebrew to be from nahssas = “to hoist, lift up ”

    11, 12. What did the altar “Jehovah-nlssl" show as to a signal? tures, looks upon the word “nissi”* as meaning something to which to flee, and hence translates this verse still differently, namely: “And Moses built an altar to the Lord, and called the name of it, The Lord my Refuge: For with a secret hand the Lord wages war upon Amalec to all generations.” (Ex. 17:15,16, LXX according to Bagster’s translation; also Thomson) Whether Moses built the altar upon the top of the hill from which he viewed the battle is not stated, but is likely. It was something raised up or exalted, and fixed, stationary; and it bore the name of Jehovah the Exalted One, to whom the sacrifice of deliverance is brought. While not symbolizing Jehovah himself, the altar was distinguished by his name and called attention to him as the Exalted'One, the Most High God, and our Refuge from the deadly enemies that attack Jehovah’s consecrated people in an unwarranted manner.

    13 In view of the foregoing facts, then, when Jehovah God at Isaiah 62:10 commands a highway to be cast up, and the stones of stumbling to be gathered out, and a signal (or nehs) to be lifted up for the people, we should not draw a wrong picture in our minds. We should not think of something like a flag, banner, standard or ensign of today being carried by a standard-bearer or color-bearer at the head of a marching column, and all of these marching people tramping along over the banked-up, stone-free highway to wherever the standard-bearer leads them. The signal (or nehs) was not carried about by some person, but was fixed and stationary. It was not set up in the middle of a highway, but upon a lofty height it was set up; and rather than the people’s following along after it to some destination to which the signal was carried, the stationary signal on the hill was the thing to which the people assembled themselves from all directions. The highway was really cast up to lead to it.

    TO WHOM ADDRESSED, AND WHEN

    18 Jehovah’s stirring command is evidently an assembly call; but to whom is it addressed, and at what time? The answers to these questions appear when we consider that this is part of a prophecy of restoration and reconstruction of Jehovah’s people who are in a covenant with him to do his will. The prophecy, therefore, had a preliminary, miniature, pictorial fulfillment upon God’s ancient chosen nation, the Israelites, after the land of Judah and Jerusalem had lain desolate seventy years while they lingered in exile and captivity in the foreign land of Babylonia. It has its major and final fulfillment upon God’s devoted people in covenant relationship with

    * As if derived from the Hebrew verb “nubs”, meaning “to flee”. him in these days, particularly since A.D. 1919. Hence the prophetic command is a divine promise that after His people have experienced deserved disfavor from the Lord by their captivity in Babylonia they would be restored to their God-given land and would again delight themselves in his favor. For this reason the Moffatt translation, with the thought of the home-coming of the Israelites from exile in mind, renders Jehovah’s command in these words: “Pass through the gates, pass out to make a path for the returning exiles, bank up a causeway, clear out the stones; signal to the nations ... To the very ends of earth the Eternal has proclaimed this: 'Tell the citizens of Sion, their deliverer is coming, bringing his reward with him, bringing his recompense.’ ” —Isa. 62:10,11.

    15 Addressing himself to Jerusalem which was to be rebuilt and to become a praise to Jehovah God in all the earth, the Lord God tells of the prosperity that his restored people would taste, fully enjoying the products of their labor, when he says: “Jehovah hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy grain to be food for thine enemies; and foreigners shall not drink thy new wine, for which thou [Jerusalem] hast labored: but they that have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and they that have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.” (Isa. 62: 8, 9, Am.Stan.Ver.) This denotes that Jehovah’s sanctuary or temple would be restored, and his worship would be re-established in the land. Then he would come to his temple by means of his representative Messenger, the Messiah, and would cleanse his people of all Babylonish impurities of worship. For their faithfulness in his worship he would not let their enemies interfere with their prosperity or rob them of the fruits of their efforts in Jehovah’s service.—Mal. 3:1-5,10-12.

    18 Hence the command to go through the gates and prepare the way of the people is directed to the captives of God’s people in Babylon, at the end of the seventy years of desolation and depopulation of the land of Judah and Jerusalem. They are commanded to go through Babylon’s gates* and get out of her, for, according to the prophecies of both Isaiah and Jeremiah, Babylon is doomed to destruction and she should be forsaken by those who seek God’s favor and his protection and preservation.—Isaiah, chapters 13,46, 47; Jeremiah, chapters 50, 51.

    17 No literal highway was specially built up,

    • It is true that the ancient Greek Septuagint Version says “my gates”, reading: “Go through my gates, and make a way for my people; and cast the stones out of the way; lift up [a filed sign or signal] for the Gentiles." (LXX, Bagster, Thomson) But here “my gates” can be understood only to signify God’s provision for escape from Babylon, namely, by means of His truth and worship.

    15. What do the two preceding verses (Isa. 62:8, 9) show?

    16, 17. Why go through the gates? and how prepare the highway? banked, graded and cleared of stones for the Israelite captives to travel conveniently from Babylon and back over the four-month-long journey to the site of Jerusalem in the land of Judah. However, the way was opened and made freer and easier for them by the decree of Babylon’s conqueror, Ring Cyrus. God’s spirit or active force worked upon Cyrus and led him to decree freedom for the Israelite captives of Babylon to return to Jerusalem’s old site and rebuild the temple of Jehovah. For that purpose he restored all the temple vessels and implements that Babylon had stolen, and he permitted and encouraged contributions to be made to the work of reconstruction of Jehovah’s worship there. The leaders of the Israelites, like Zerubbabel their governor and Joshua their high priest, co-operated with King Cyrus, and the people made contributions to those returning to the work of temple-building. This all helped to make the way back easier for the Israelites, and the king’s decree cleared the way back of hindrances and interferences which enemies along the way might have offered to block them in their good purposes and endeavors.

    THE FIXED SIGN IDENTIFIED

    18 What, then, was the fixed sign or signal that was hoisted or lifted up for the peoples, and which became the goal toward which the Israelites and the people of good-will with them could aim and bend their efforts? It was Jerusalem restored on her own hilltop as the city of the great King Jehovah and with his visible representative governing in her midst and with his official high priest serving at the altar of her reconstructed temple. For this reason the verses just preceding this command to lift up the fixed sign that it might be a signal to the peoples said: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, 0 Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are Jehovah’s remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”—Isa. 62: 6, 7, Am. Stan. Ver.

    18 That ancient miniature-fulfillment took place from and after the spring of 537 B.C. It gave good assurance that the grander and complete fulfillment would take place down here in our time and it helps us to perceive and understand this final fulfillment of the prophecy. The prophecy was fulfilled, in a smallscale way, first upon the Israelite people to whom God said through Isaiah: "Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen.” (Isa. 43:10, Am. Stan. Ver.) And the prophecy is completely fulfilled upon Jehovah’s witnesses of our day. During World War I, of the years 1914-1918, Jehovah’s consecrated witnesses who follow in Jesus’ footsteps were persecuted, imprisoned, killed, and put in a general condition of fear and restraint, and their witness work was desolated by raids, seizures, confiscations, and prohibitions. This corresponded with the desolating of the land of Judah and Jerusalem and the bringing of the Israelites into captivity in Babylon.

    20 After the close of World War I, in November, 1918, Jehovah God had mercy upon his faithful-hearted witnesses in their captive state. The next year, in the spring of 1919, he began reviving his Theocratic organization in the earth. Through it he sent the command to his captive witnesses to abandon their state of bondage in great Babylon, the Devil’s organization of religion, commerce and politics, into captivity to which the fear of men and the obedience to traditions of men had brought them. They must forsake Babylon and return as free Christians to the Theocratic organization and resume Jehovah’s worship according to His organized way and His instructions. They must do so with boldness and freedom from the restraints of fear of men and of servility to this world.

    21 Thus through his visible Theocratic organization, and through the organized efforts and co-operation of his people under Christ, the way was prepared for them to return to their proper place of relationship with God and to their proper freedom in God’s worship and service at his spiritual temple. The stones, that is, the stumblingblocks to progress due to false doctrines, religious traditions, un-Theo-cratic methods, etc., were cleared from the pathway to make easier and quicker their advance. Then Jehovah’s witnesses, just an anointed remnant of them to begin with in 1919, went through the broken-open gates of modern Babylon. Out they marched to Godgiven freedom, and started marching over the way which was gradually banked up and cleared of obstacles ahead of them.

    22 However, where were Jehovah’s witnesses from and after A.D. 1919 headed? Were they destined to wander aimlessly around, frustrated at every turn, and getting nowhere, like Christendom’s religious, commercial and political leaders? Would they, too, prove to be unreliable guides with whom it would be foolish and unsafe to associate and go along? No, not by any means! Jehovah’s witnesses know their destination, for it is marked out for them by Jehovah God. They have clearly in view their blessed goal. It is the fixed sign or signal that Jehovah long ago prophetically commanded to be lifted up for the peoples in these momentous days. And what is that signal which must be lifted up for all peoples that seek freedom from this Babylonish world and that seek prosperity, peace, unity, and the pure worship

    20, 21. Out of what did they march? and how was the way prepared? 22. What and where is the signal to which they were headed? of the living and true God? That great upstanding signal of such prominence is Jehovah’s Reigning King, Christ Jesus ! He is the exalted sign or signal [ne/is] around which all of Jehovah’s witnesses, delivered from Babylon, assemble in earth-wide unity. Around him as Jehovah’s “high priest after the order of Melchizedek” we engage in the unifying worship of the Most High God, Jehovah. Christ Jesus, the glorious Signal, stands upon the lofty height of Mount Zion, the established kingdom of God. There he now reigns in the midst of his enemies in order to vindicate Jehovah’s right to universal sovereignty and in order to bless good-will persons out of all families and nations of the earth. (Rev. 14:1) Let us all join in exalting him with praise!

    23 This is “that day” of which Jehovah by his prophet Isaiah further spoke, saying; “It shall come to pass on that day that the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a signal [nehs] to the peoples—to him will the nations resort, and his resting-place will be glorious. On that day will the Lord [Jehovah*] once more raise his hand to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria and from Egypt, from Pathros and from Ethiopia, from Elam and from Shinar [Babylon], from Hamath and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal [nehs] to the nations, and will gather the outcasts of Israel; and the scattered daughters of Judah will he assemble from the four corners of the earth. Then all jealousy against Ephraim will cease, and those who are hostile to Judah will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not be hostile to Ephraim. But they will swoop down” on their common enemies. —Isa. 11:10-14, An Amer. Trans.; Moffatt.

    24 This prophecy firmly establishes it that Christ Jesus the King is the great Signal that is lifted up for the peoples, for he is the Son of David and the grandson of Jesse, according to the flesh. He was even foreshadowed by King David himself, who was the direct son of Jesse. But Christ Jesus is more than a grandson or descendant of David’s father Jesse according to the flesh. He is the root of Jesse, because the main reason for that God-fearing man Jesse and his son David to come into existence was rooted in the divine promise to produce Messiah or Christ. Thus Jesse and David served as ancestral forerunners of this Messiah or Christ; and because David was directly the son of Jesse he was used as a prophetic type of Jesus Christ. However, Jesus Christ is the “root of Jesse” also in a far more vital sense, in that he died for Jesse and all other Godfearing faithful men. Therefore Jesse’s hope of

    • According to 18 old Hebrew manuscripts this is one of the 134 places where the Jewish copyists or Sopherim changed the text from “Jehovah” of the earlier reading to the substitute “Adonai”. living again is vested in Jesus Christ, who will in due time raise Jesse and also David from the dead. In accordance with this, the glorified Jesus speaks of himself as the life-giving “root”, saying: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” (Rev. 22:16) He is “the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David”.—Rev. 5: 5.

    BEHOLD, HE HAS COME!

    u The identity of the signal with Jehovah’s anointed, reigning King, the Messiah, is shown by the next verses following the command to signal to the peoples. It reads: “Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. And they shall call them The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah: and thou [Zion or Jerusalem] shalt be called Sought out, A city not forsaken,” a new name or designation for Jehovah’s Theocratic organization. (Isa. 62:11,12, Am. Stan. Ver.) This scripture is definitely applied for us under the unerring spirit of God, and it is applied to no other than Jehovah’s great Messenger who comes to the temple where coronations of Israel’s kings took place, namely, to Christ Jesus. In this case where the Bible applies prophecy for us the miniature or preliminary fulfillment of the prophecy is brought to view. It was at the time when Jesus rode the untamed colt of an ass into Jerusalem in the spring of 33 and the accompanying multitudes were hosannaing him as “the Son of David” and were blessing ‘the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of Jehovah’. —Mark 11:7-11; Luke 19: 35-38.

    26 The inspired apostolic writer Matthew tells us that it was then that Isaiah’s prophecy had a fulfillment. Telling of the preparations for Jesus to ride in the ancient style of Israel’s kings into the holy city on the way to its temple, Matthew comments: “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” (Matt. 21:1-5) The apostle John also tells us it was a fulfillment of prophecy, for he says; “And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.” (John 12:14-16) Here

    25. How does verse 11 following Isaiah 62:10 identify the signal?

    26. How do Matthew and John point to a fulfillment of this prophecy? the apostles Matthew and John combine the prophecies of Isaiah with that of Zechariah 9:9, which is also a Kingdom prophecy and which reads: “Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion; shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." This occurred three and a half years after Jesus was baptized and anointed with God’s spirit to be King and became the royal Heir of the covenant for the kingdom made with his forefather David. After riding into the holy city Jesus went into the temple and thereafter cleansed it.

    21 On the basis of these recorded fulfillments of prophecy, the King Christ Jesus is the foretold One respecting whom Jehovah has had proclaimed to the end of the earth, for the benefit of the daughter of Zion, “Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.” He is the One bringing salvation from Jehovah for all those giving faith and loyalty to him; and he is Jehovah’s appointed Judge and Executioner. He is the Signal lifted up for the peoples, and on this account Jehovah God has the proclamation made to the very ends of the earth that all peoples may hear and all meek, believing ones may gather to the Signal which stands up on top of Zion, the established kingdom of God. He is the Signal for all such to draw near and unitedly take their stand on the side of the kingdom of Jehovah God by Christ Jesus. The raising of the fixed Sign or Signal marks the beginning of a great gathering of people from all over the earth to the support of the long-awaited Kingdom.

    28 In the final fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in our day Jehovah is the great Sovereign who raises up the Signal. Jehovah makes him to stand up in power on top of the lofty kingdom or capital organization symbolized by Mount Zion of ancient times. His setting up of the Signal took place A.D. 1914 at his bringing of Christ Jesus forth as acting King and enthroning him in heaven; and this was symbolically foretold to us at Revelation 12:1-5, where we read: “And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman [picturing the mother organization Zion] arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. . . . And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) Such birth of the man-child by the symbolic woman Zion pictures the production of Jesus Christ as reigning King, which divine act results in the birth of the kingdom of God by Christ.

    ” The political nations and governments of earth are filled with the spirit of the Dragon, that old Serpent, Satan the Devil, and like him they do not rejoice at the birth of the Kingdom, but are eager to destroy it. That glorious sign in the heavens means the end of the old world for them, and it is accompanied by the beginning of sorrows upon Satan’s organization and its nations and kingdoms. On this account they mourn and wail, and they persecute Jehovah’s witnesses who call attention to the sign and its import. The grief and anger of the nations at this sign in the heavens, and also the gathering together of his faithful remnant of followers from the ends of the earth after the appearing of this sign, Jesus foretold in his prophecy on the end of the world, saying: “And the powers of the heavens [Satan’s powers] shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”—Matt. 24:29-31.

    30 The proclamation that Jehovah causes to be made to the end of the earth concerning this sign is like a tremendous trumpet-blast to get the people’s attention and to signal to them to gather to the Fixed Sign. The association of a trumpet with the great Signal is further shown to us by Isaiah in his prophecy concerning the same events; where he says: “All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! when a trumpet is blown, hark! At that time shall a gift of homage be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people ... to Mount Zion, the place where is the name of the Lord of hosts.”—Isa. 18: 3, 7, An Amer. Trans.; Moffatt; and LXX, Bagster and Thomson.

    “LIFT UP”

    31 All kingdom appointments come from Jehovah (Matt. 20:21-23), and it is Jehovah that made the great royal Signal to stand up on Mount Zion A.D. 1914. But first from and after 1919 the remnant of Christ’s anointed followers heard the divine command and went out of worldly Babylon through the gates and entered upon the highway. They walked in it according to the Lord’s way for his people and gathered to the great Signal on Mount Zion, Jehovah’s enthroned King, who, three and a half years after the autumn of 1914, had come to the spiritual temple, that “holy place”, for the judging and cleansing of his faithful remnant. (Mal. 3:1) This cleansed

    29. How does Satan’s organization react toward that sign?

    30. What is shown to be associated with the Fixed Sign?

    31. Since when do Jehovah’s witnesses lift up the signal? and how? and anointed remnant are therefore the ones who are also commanded to Tift up a signal to the peoples’. Inasmuch as Jehovah God installed the Signal, Christ Jesus the King, upon Mount Zion, how can they lift up or raise the Signal? They can do it by exalting the King with praise and giving him prominence above all earthly human rulers. This they have been doing since 1919, and are continuing to do it before all the peoples of all nationalities by preaching the good news of God’s kingdom as established in 1914 with Christ Jesus in the throne. By the gospel message they make Jehovah’s royal Signal conspicuous and call the attention of all the peoples to it. In doing so they fulfill the King’s own prophecy: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”—Matt. 24:14.

    32 In the time of the miniature fulfillment of the prophecy in the first century A.D. the apostle Paul was one who zealously took part with his fellow disciples in lifting up and making Jehovah’s great royal Signal prominent and conspicuous to the ends of the then known world. In harmony with Christ’s wishes he specialized upon the Gentile nations, the non-Jewish peoples. In giving us his Scriptural grounds for thus concentrating upon the uncircumcised Gentile nations, Paul also identified the glorified Christ Jesus as the Signal to the peoples. In what way? In that, among his scripture proofs, he quoted Isaiah 11:10 to the effect that Christ Jesus, the “root of Jesse”, will be “standing as a signal to the peoples” and “to him will the nations resort”. Paul, however, quoted the verse word for word the way it read in the ancient Greek Septuagint Version of Isaiah’s prophecy. In arguing for the welcoming of converts from the Gentile nations to the midst of the Christian congregation, Paul quoted the prophecies and said: “That the nations for mercy should glorify God: even as it is written, For this cause will I openly confess unto thee among nations, and unto thy name will I strike the strings; and again he saith, Be glad, ye nations, ivith his people,-and again, Be giving praise, all ye nations, unto the Lord, and let all the peoples repeat his praise; and again Isaiah [11:10J saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, and he that ariseth to rule nations, upon him shall nations hope."—Rom. 15:9-12, Rotherham; Am. Stan. Ver., margin.

    33 The prophecy served both as a divine command to the apostle Paul and as a guide to his course of action. In thus taking part in the fulfillment of prophecy he tells us that he preached the gospel “publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Acts 20:20) We likewise today, in taking part in the final and complete fulfillment of the prophecy commanding us to ‘raise the Signal to the peoples’, do so by preaching the Kingdom gospel in all the habitable earth for a witness to all peoples, “publicly, and from house to house,” in imitation of the apostle Paul and of his great Leader, Christ Jesus.

    “ Christ’s being raised up on the throne to rule now in the midst of his enemies is the divine signal for us to preach. We know it is the right time to do it and that this is the only right thing to do! Since A.D. 1919 the anointed remnant have, with their comparatively few numbers, obeyed the command and lifted up the Signal to world-wide conspicuousness by preaching the Kingdom gospel. Multitudes from among the peoples of earth have seen the signal. They have come from the ends of the earth and converged upon the King Christ Jesus, the Signal on Mount Zion, and have united in pledging him their allegiance as Jehovah’s anointed Commander to the peoples. All jealousy between the members of the anointed remnant has been laid aside, and also all jealousy between the remnant and this great multitude of persons of good-will. With self-denial and with loving devotion to Jehovah’s kingdom, they unite in exalting his King and making him known to all peoples to the end of the earth. We want the Signal of salvation to be beheld by all, in order that all those desiring eternal salvation and deliverance may gather to it now before the outbreak of Armageddon’s fight.

    FORCING AN ABOMINABLE SUBSTITUTE

    "Right after foretelling that this gospel of the Kingdom would be preached at this end of the world Jesus Christ said: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judaaa flee into the mountains." (Matt. 24:15,16) From such close connection of Kingdom preaching with the abomination we conclude that the desolating abomination would stand in opposition to the King, who is Jehovah’s upraised Signal. Already (in fl 4) we have called attention to the Roman standards or insignia. One cyclopedic authority, McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia, under the title “Standard”, says this: “The Roman standard is in the New Testament mentioned distinctly as ‘the abomination of desolation’.” (Volume 9, page 983, column 2) Such standard, however, was only a side-feature of the “abomination" in the miniature fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy and Daniel’s prophecy, upon the city of Jerusalem in the first century.

    34 . Why has there been a gathering, laying aside all jealousy?

    35-37. In a miniature fulfillment] what did standards have to do with the “abomination of desolation”?

    38 We have already remarked (in H 5) how the Roman armies under Titus in the year 70 broke into Jerusalem and into its holy temple precincts, and while the sanctuary of the temple was set afire by fanatical soldiers the Romans brought their standards or ensigns into the temple court and set them up in front of the temple altar. There in the "holy place” of the temple they idolized the standards by offering sacrifices to them as if they were gods, most sacred.

    37 Up till the Roman hordes broke in, the city of Jerusalem was surrounded by their armies carrying such standards, as Jesus predicted, saying: ‘When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judeea flee.” (Luke 21:20,21) Those idolatrous standards or ensigns were abominable to Jehovah God, who forbids idolatry. But they also represented God’s opponent, the Roman Empire and its Caesar or emperor. It was this Caesar that the Jewish religious leaders picked instead of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, when they rejected him with the words: “We have no king but the emperor!” And shortly thereafter Caesar’s representative, Governor Pontius Pilate, joined with the faithless religionists in putting Jesus to death. (Acts 4: 27) This course was abominable in God’s sight. It set up an abomination that could only bring desolation upon the wicked anti-Christ forces. In place of the “root of Jesse”, namely, Christ Jesus, who stood as a Signal to the peoples, these conspirators, religious, commercial and political, chose Caesar and his empire, as symbolized by the Roman standards borne by the soldiery. This was truly the making of a governmental “abomination of desolation” stand in the holy place which should be occupied by Jehovah’s royal Signal, his King. Logically this abominable act was consummated in a very literal way when those Roman hosts, after a long siege, invaded the temple’s “holy place” on Zion and there desecrated it by idolizing and sacrificing to their standards in praise of Rome and its Caesar, Jehovah’s rival for world domination.

    38 Our century, and since the year 1914, is the time of final fulfillment of the prophecy by Daniel and Jesus regarding the abomination of desolation. It may be read in the facts of our day. In 1914, marked as it was by World War I for world domination, Jehovah God showed his actual domination of earth and all the universe by raising up his great royal Signal of his universal domination, namely, Christ Jesus, in the Kingdom. In 1918 Jehovah sent him to the temple, the “holy place”, for judgment work, and he is now in this holy place, in the sanctuary, as Jehovah’s Representative. (Hab. 2:20) The following year, in 1919, Jehovah’s faithful remnant of anointed witnesses began to lift up and exalt this Signal to the peoples. They began a proclamation of God’s established kingdom on such a scale that it has arrested the attention of the whole world. They proclaim Christ Jesus the enthroned King to be the rightful Ruler of this earth. Unavoidably the question has arisen, Who will rally to the heavenly Signal in allegiance to Jehovah’s King?

    38 In defiance the political, commercial and religious rulers of Christendom set up the League of Nations, beginning with 1920, and it has been revived and renovated since 1945 under the form of the United Nations. These rulers of this world have set it up as their standard. They choose and worship it instead of Jehovah’s enthroned King. They glorify their symbol of world domination, their Caesar, instead of Jehovah’s Signal of universal sovereignty, Jesus Christ. Therefore their standard, to whicli they strive to rally all peoples and nations with their backs toward earth’s rightful Ruler Christ Jesus, is an abomination to God. It will bring on all who worship this anti-Christ standard of rulership desolation from the hand of Jehovah God. It stands in the “holy place”, because it commands the reverence and worship of the peoples, which signifies a denial of Jehovah’s royal Signal, Christ Jesus, concerning whom Jehovah now says: ‘Worship him, all ye gods.” (Ps. 97: 7) “Let all the angels of God worship him.”—Heb. 1: 6.

    40 The day of decision is certainly upon us and speedily draws near to its close. The decision lies between Jehovah’s kingly Signal upon Mount Zion and the world’s standard of the United Nations and its related organizations and supporters. Whom will you choose? The abomination of desolation is now seen more clearly than ever to be ‘standing in the holy place, where it ought not’, and it is high time to flee. Not flee to the standard of the abomination of desolation, but flee to Jehovah’s glorious Signal, his King Christ Jesus, on the holy mountain of Zion, the Kingdom capital. To this the people must gather for security and deliverance from the divine wrath in this “day of Jehovah” which comes to its decisive final hour at the battle of Armageddon.

    41 Up, then, with Jehovah’s “Signal to the peoples” 1 Lift it up by songs of praise to the very height of conspicuousness! Be not afraid, for it is our God’s command that we lift it up. Make it possible for all the lovers of peace and godliness to behold it in its glory and attractive beauty and power, that they may assemble to it from the very ends of the earth and may enter into the joy and everlasting blessings of Jehovah’s new world of righteousness.

    39. What did Christendom then make stand In the “holy place”? 40. This being seen now, what must be done?

    41. What are we commanded to do?

    AFTER delivering the foregoing as a speech to the Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses Saturday, 7:30 p.m., November 22,1947, in Philadelphia, Pa., the president of the Watch Tower Society, N. H. Knorr, presented the following resolution to his audience of 20,649:

    2 “Whereas the Holy Scriptures plainly teach and show that the ‘seven times’ of uninterrupted Gentile domination of the earth would end in the year 1914 and that at such expiration date the due time would have arrived for the Universal Sovereign, Jehovah God, to take his great power and reign as such, with Christ Jesus as his anointed King to represent him in the throne and to rule in the midst of the enemies in heaven and in earth (Rev. 11:15-18); and

    ’ “Whereas the world events from and after 1914, beginning with the first World War, fulfill the prophecies concerning the end of this world and thereby disclose themselves as the visible sign of the establishment of Jehovah’s kingdom by his Christ in that notable year (Matthew 24: 3-15; Mark 13: 3-14; Luke 21:7-26); and

    4 “Whereas the evidence continues to grow with the passing of time that Jehovah God has ‘set his King upon his holy hill of Zion’ and has thus set up his reigning Son as the royal Signal for the peoples of all nations, that they may assemble to the promised kingdom of God as mankind’s only means for New World unity, prosperity, abolition of war, justice for all, abundance of food, perfect health and life (Isa. 11:10); and therefore the kings, rulers and judges of the earth have good and sufficient reason for fearing Jehovah and kissing or doing homage to His reigning King and yielding over to him their world power lest their continued resistance should result in their destruction (Ps. 2: 6-12); but,

    6 “Whereas prior to the close of World War II the allied nations drew up the Charter of an international organization known as ‘United Nations’, and successor to the former League of Nations; and on October 24, 1945, which was 31 years after the end of the Gentile Times, this United Nations worldsecurity organization came into existence by the sufficient number of ratifications and its Charter became thereby a part of the law of the nations of this world, and to date the United Nations organization has grown to include 57 member nations, with a population of 1,613,802,000 inhabitants, with hundreds of religions, and embracing 35,562,000 square miles of earth’s surface; and the religious clergy of Christendom put their trust in this political organization for world stability and peace and hold church masses for it and keep on praying for Almighty God to bless it, and the pope believes there should be church participation in the deliberations of the United Nations by having a religious spokesman who would receive a sort of honorary non-voting membership in the U.N. to take part in debates of the General Assembly; and the chief executive of the United States, possessor of the first atomic bomb, declares the United Nations to be not a ‘temporary expedient’ but a ‘permanent partnership’; and

    6 “Whereas this continued conduct of political, commercial and religious rulers is a defiant repudiation of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and an attempt to turn the peoples of the nations away from gathering around Jehovah’s royal Signal to the peoples, Christ Jesus the King;

    ' “Therefore we, Jehovah’s witnesses assembled in the ‘Song of Praise’ convention at Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.A., this night of Saturday, November 22, 1947, do resolve and declare:

    8 “That we have gathered unitedly, regardless of race, nationality, language, color, or previous religious affiliation, to Jehovah’s enthroned King of the new world, Christ Jesus, who now stands on Mount Zion as a Signal to the peoples;

    …