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    The Watchtower, April 15, 1948

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    The Watchtower—1948

    SHeWATCHTOWER,

    Published Semimonthly By

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

    Otticess

    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

    THIS 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.

    notice to Subscribers: Remittances should be sent to office la 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 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 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.S.). 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N.Y.

    Australia, 7 Beresford Rd., Strathlleld, N. S. W.

    British West Indies, 21 Taylor St, Port of Spain, Trinidad fl.25 Canada, 40 Irwin Ave., Toronto 5, Ontario

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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 ui 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, ISIS,

    DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES IN NORTH AMERICA

    The splendid success of the first District Assembly, in Atlanta, this past March, heightens the interest of all in those next in the 1948 series. For the information of those in the areas embraced, we here announce completion of arrangements for the following assemblies:

    Houston, Texas: May 7-9, Buffalo Stadium, Corner St. Bernard and Coyle Sts.

    Convention Committee

    2029 Harold St., Houston 6, Texas

    Oakland, California: May 28-30, Exposition Building, 10th and Fallon Sts.

    Convention Committee,

    2205 Fourteenth Ave., Oakland 6, Calif.

    Vancouver, Canada: June 4-6, The Forum

    Watchtower Convention Committee,

    1696 W. 7th Ave., Vancouver, B.C.

    Juneau, Alaska: June 11-13, Masonic Temple

    Watchtower Convention Committee, Box 2891, Juneau, Alaska

    Winnipeg, Canada: June 18-20, Amphitheatre Rink Watchtower Convention Committee,

    63 Martin Ave., Winnipeg, Man.

    Ottawa, Canada: June 25-27, Coliseum, Lansdowne Park

    Watchtower Convention Committee,

    113 James St., Ottawa, Ont.

    Halifax, Nova Scotia: July 2-4, The Forum

    Watchtower Convention Committee,

    127 Maynard St., Halifax, N. S.

    All persons of good-will are urged to attend these assemblies, and should at once write the Convention Committee concerning rooming accommodations. The president and other official brethren of the Watchtower Society will serve on the programs of these assemblies.

    "WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

    Week of May 23: “The God of Hope,” 1-17 inclusive, also “A Living Hope”, fl 1-3 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1948.

    Week of May 30: “A Living Hope,”

    fl 4-23 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1948.

    ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

    Vol. LXIX Apbil 15, 1948 No. 8

    “THE GOD OF HOPE”

    'Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing."—Rom. 15:13.

    JEHOVAH is the “God of hope”. About six thousand years ago, when the basic cause for the perplexing world situation of 1948 was laid, the need of a hope for all future mankind arose. At that early time Jehovah God in his mercy gave it.

    2 The first human pair, Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, were then about to be sentenced to death for rebelling against the law of their Creator and Ruler, Jehovah God. Adam, as a perfect man created by God, had received his life from God and was a “son of God”. God’s own Word speaks of him as having been such. (Luke 3:38) No heavenly, angelic, spiritual hope was set before this creature of flesh and blood. He was earthy and hence of the earth. As long as he continued in innocence and obedience toward God he had set before him the hope of eternal life in an earthly paradise. Only in the day that he broke the simple law of his Creator and showed rebellion would he die: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) When sentence was pronounced upon Adam and his wife, Jehovah God told the man that he would not die at once on that 24-hour day, but would work long and hard at the soil outside the garden of Eden until he returned to the dust from which he was taken. He had been meant to be father to the human race, and he would still become father to the race, because God then told his wife that she would become the mother of many children; she would have a multiplied conception of children, but with much pain.—Gen. 3:16-19.

    3 No perfect human race would now come into existence. Instead, a sinful, imperfect, degenerate, dying race would be born to parents that had been dismissed from the family of God due to sinful disobedience. As God’s Word describes the outcome of matters: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”—Rom. 5:12.

    * Why, then, did Jehovah God let Adam and Eve live for centuries and produce children and thus our race of mankind come into existence? God’s condemnation rested upon Adam and Eve. By the laws 1, 2. When did the need of a hope for all mankind arise, and why? 3, 4. Subject to what did God let mankind be born, and why? of heredity that he had established, all their offspring, all human creation, from birth on, would be subject to vanity, or to human frailty and corruption, to leanings toward perverseness, foolishness and empty unprofitableness. All the pleasures of existence would be fleeting because of the certainty of death for the imperfect, condemned human creature. To this day, about six thousand years since the birth of the first human child, mankind has been unable to escape this “vanity”, by human efforts. By permitting human creatures to be born under such conditions the Almighty God, Jehovah, was subjecting all human creation to such “vanity” without our willing it. But why? Was not this an injustice to us all, tantalizing us with a brief taste of existence under such vain conditions? Not at all! It was an unspeakable mercy to us all. God did not instantly destroy Adam and Eve childless, but mercifully let the human creation be born subject to all this “vanity” because of the precious hope that he set before all human creatures.

    s One of Jehovah’s inspired writers calls our attention to this in a letter to the Christian congregation at Rome. He says: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. ... For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."—Rom. 8:18-25, American Standard Version.

    6 We were certainly subjected to this vanity not according to our own will. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobediently fell from perfection and departed from the family of children of God. We had nothing to do with it. Of our parents’ will we were

    6, 6. How, without our willlug it, did God subject mankind in hope? born into this vanity, and none of us as children of God. How, then, did God subject all of our human creation to vanity, but in a hope by which we could be saved? And when? His Word answers us. He subjected our human creation in hope by saying what he did there in the garden of Eden just before he sentenced Adam and Eve to hard labor, painful reproduction of children, and death. Before sentencing Adam and Eve, Jehovah God as judge addressed himself to Satan the Devil, who had used the deceptive serpent to induce Eve and Adam into deathdealing disobedience to God. Jehovah said to the Devil, represented by the serpent: “Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:14,15, Am. Stan. Ver.) That statement against that old Serpent, Satan the Devil, summed up a great hope, a positive hope that the great introducer of wickedness and all those follow’-ing him would be destroyed by a deliverer.

    IIS

    7 It was first after distinguishing himself as the “God of hope” by sentencing Satan the Devil with those words that Jehovah God spoke to Eve and Adam about bringing forth children. If it were not for this hope of salvation there would have been no profit for the human creation to be born from Adam and Eve. If it had not been for this hope of deliverance by the Seed of God’s “woman”, Almighty God would not have permitted the disobedient human pair to live further and bring forth the human creation subject to the present vanity. But the hope that He set forth in his mercy made it worth while for those men and women to be born who would believe the hope, act upon it and gain salvation by it. Their being subject for the few years of this life to the vanities under the Devil’s rule was better than not coming into existence at all. It opened up a wonderful opportunity, and subjection to vanity would not be worthy of being compared with the future blessedness and glory that God’s hope would make possible for them as free sons of God.

    THE ONE APPOINTED AS OUR HOPE

    ’As soon as Jehovah God announced the Seed of his “woman” that promised Seed became the One whom He appointed as the only hope of all mankind that would be born. That Seed alone would be God’s instrument or servant to deliver the human creation from the “vanity” to which they were subject by descent from the condemned sinners Adam and Eve. That Seed or Offspring would be by God’s “woman” and hence would be the Son of God. Almighty God the Father would produce him and give him power to crush the head of the Serpent, Satan the Devil, after

    7. With what la our subjection to vanity not worth comparison?

    8. Whom did the ‘God of hope” appoint aa mankind's only hope? he had suffered a heel-wound from that old Serpent. Because the promise in Eden came from Jehovah God, and because the final fulfillment of it rests with him, Jehovah is the “God of hope” and is primarily the hope of all human creation for deliverance from the vain bondage of corruption into the glorious lasting liberty of sonship to God. Hence, from the days of Abel, second son of Adam and Eve, Jehovah God has been the hope of all believing, faithful men and women.—Jer. 14:7,8 and 50:7, Am. Stan. Ver.

    9 Jehovah’s promise to provide a Seed from his “woman” was a promise to set up a righteous worldgovernment with the Seed as its King. For centuries the forefathers of the nation of Israel kept looking to Jehovah in hope that he would provide the royal Seed. Among the faithful forefathers was Abraham of the twentieth century B.C., and in his days Jehovah God gave fresh proof that he had not forgotten or swerved from his Edenic promise to raise up the royal Seed of deliverance. When Abraham was seventy-five years old God brought him into the land of Palestine and promised to give this childless Abraham a seed to whom He would give the land. (Gen. 12:7) Abraham grew twenty-four years older, but yet he had no seed by his woman, his wife Sarah. Still he held on to Jehovah’s promise or covenant that his seed would be like the stars of heaven. (Gen. 15:1-5) The apostle Paul says of Abraham: “Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”—Rom. 4:18-21, Am. Stan. Ver.

    10 At a hundred years of age Abraham became father to a son by his woman Sarah, namely, Isaac. Years later, when Isaac was a stalwart lad, Jehovah God foreshadowed that the Seed of his “woman" was to be bruised at the heel by the Serpent and die a sacrificial death. At that time God called upon Abraham to sacrifice his beloved Isaac upon an altar at Mount Moriah, near Jerusalem. At Mount Moriah Abraham proceeded to do so, without losing faith in God’s promise of the Seed. Why? Because Abraham believed in God’s power to resurrect the dead. Again the apostle Paul writes of Abraham’s faith and says: “By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; even he to whom it was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: account-

    9. Why waa Abraham obliged, in hope, to believe against hope? 10. Why must the Seed be Abraham's and be resurrected from death? ing that God is able to raise up, even from the dead; from whence he did also in a figure receive him back.” (Heb. 11:17-19, Am. Stan. Ver.) After Jehovah’s angel stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac and provided a ram for the altar instead, Jehovah said to Abraham: “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 22:17,18) This covenant or solemn promise proved not only that God held to his original Edenic promise concerning the woman’s Seed but that the Seed would come through Abraham’s line of descent. When Abraham received his son Isaac as if from sacrificial death, it pictured that God would raise his own Son from the dead after his heel-wound.

    11 Since all nations and families of the earth are promised to be blessed in the Seed of the “woman”, the Seed of Abraham, this Seed is the One that Jehovah God has appointed in whom all the nations, including those of A.D. 1948, must hope. Who is that Seed of hope? It is a descendant of Abraham through King David of Jerusalem. For that reason he is called “the Son of David” and is the heir of the everlasting throne and kingdom that Jehovah promised to fix in the royal line of David. (2 Sam. 7:12-17) It was not left for crooked politicians and worldly religious priests and clergymen to identify who this Seed of the “woman”, this Seed of Abraham and Son of David, is. Speaking to a multitude of the Jews at the temple in Jerusalem, the apostle Peter under inspiration of God’s spirit identified the Seed as Jesus Christ and said: “Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” (Acts 3:25,26, Am. Stan. Ver.) Years afterward Paul wrote under inspiration and said: “Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many [seeds]; but as of one [seed], And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Gal. 3:16, Am. Stan. Ver.) There is no room for uncertainty: Jesus Christ, the Son of David who was the son of Jesse, is the Seed for blessing all the nations and in whom all the nations must hope.

    THE CHOSEN SERVANT

    12 Jesus Christ, then, was definitely the One whom Jehovah God meant when he said by his prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the

    11 Whom did Peter and Paul Identify Abraham’s Seed to be?

    12 How do we know in whose name the nations must hope? nations. ... he will bring forth justice in truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.” (Isa. 42:1-4, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) All human, private interpretation of this prophecy is avoided when we turn to the inspired account of the apostle Matthew, who tells of Jesus’ many miracles of relieving the sick and ailing and then says: “He healed them all, and charged them that they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall declare judgment to the nations.... till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the nations hope.”—Matt. 12:15-21, Am. Stan. Ver., margin.

    15 Paul was an apostle of the hope and spoke of himself as “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope”. (1 Tim. 1:1) That all nations might make Jesus Christ their hope, Paul went preaching among the Gentile nations. To back up his preaching to these non-Jews he quoted a number of Bible prophecies and added that of Isaiah 11:10, saying: “And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, and he that ariseth to rule over the nations; on him shall the nations hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the holy spirit.” (Rom. 15:12,13, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Manifestly Christendom’s religious clergy do not obey God’s command through Isaiah nor do they follow the apostle Paul’s example. In this world crisis they declare the hope of the world to be the United Nations or some other man-made makeshift for God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus, the Seed of his “woman”. Jehovah God will not fill such religionists with all joy and peace and abounding hope, inasmuch as they do not believe in Jehovah’s appointed Servant, “our hope.”

    RESURRECTION OF THE SEED

    14 Jesus Christ on earth was not subject to vanity along with the rest of human creation, and he needed no deliverance from it. This was owing to the fact that he did not receive his life from Adam, but was the Son of God from heaven, and his heavenly life was transferred to the womb of a virgin descended from King David. As his life was from God, no condemnation, sinfulness, corruption and deathliness attached to Jesus by birth from the Jewish virgin, but he grew up to be a mature man in perfection. He was thus able to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice on God’s altar in behalf of mankind and thus

    13. Why, »\ith good backing, did Paul prea<-h among Gentile nations? 14. Why oan Jpjsub a« High Priest free us from sanity and bondage? become a true High Priest to Jehovah God. God’s Word accordingly says of him: “Such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who . . . offered up himself.” (Heb. 7:26,27) This vital fact makes it all the more necessary that we put our hope in him. Only by means of him can we be delivered from the vanity and bondage to which we are subject from birth.

    15 The Son of God came down and became a perfect man that he might taste death as a sacrifice and vindicate God’s promise as to the Seed and undo all the wicked work of that old Serpent Satan the Devil by bruising the Serpent’s head. All those from among the human creation who were to become children of God were partakers of flesh and blood, and so to deliver them from the bondage to the corruption of death the Son of God must become flesh and blood also, but not subject to vanity and corruption. His death must be due, not to mankind’s inherited bondage to death and corruption, but to being bruised at the heel by the Serpent for his faithful integrity to God. To be a sacrificial death for the ransoming of enslaved mankind his death must be that of an innocent perfect man acceptable to God. God’s Word explains it to us thus, saying: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death [for every man] he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” (Heb. 2:14-16) Satan the Devil was permitted to wield the power to persecute and inflict death upon those who turned to God. For this reason many men and women, out of fear of such death at the Devil’s hands, were held in bondage to sin and the Devil. But now Jesus, by his sacrificial death, could nullify the death inflicted on men by the Devil, because Jesus could raise them from the dead.

    18 Jesus had no fear of death at the instance of the Devil and his wicked seed; but in obedience to Jehovah’s promise in Eden he yielded to being bruised at the heel by the Serpent. He knew that the Serpent, Satan the Devil, could kill or inflict death only upon the human body, but had no power over his future life or soul. He feared Almighty God, who was able 15, 16. (a) What kind of death must there be to bring Satan to nothing? (b) How does Jesus free men from lifelong bondage in fear? to raise him out of death. That God might be pleased to do so, Jesus remained innocent and faithful to God to the cruel death at the hands of Satan’s seed. But by his very death he proved himself worthy to be the victorious Seed of God’s “woman” to bring to nothing the wicked Serpent, the Devil, who has always misused the power of death. Jesus Christ the Seed will undo all the death that the Devil has inflicted throughout the centuries upon those choosing God’s free service. Because of this power to nullify the power of the Devil, Jesus Christ the Seed now frees many men and women who, because of fearing the devilish power of death, were in slavery to him and sin all their past lifetime. These now enjoy the liberty of the children of God.

    11 Jesus’ destiny as the Bruiser of the Serpent’s head depended on the resurrection power of Jehovah God his Father. A small remnant of the Jews of Jesus’ day had pinned their hope to him as the chosen Servant of God who was to establish the kingdom of God and deliver his chosen nation of Israel. But when Jesus died on the torture stake, seemingly forsaken of God and, as it were, bruised at the heel by the Serpent, it appeared as if all hope had been crushed for such remnant of believing Jews. On the third day following his death and burial his disciples said: “The chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we hoped that it was he who should redeem Israel.” (Luke 24: 20,21, Am. Stan. Ver.) But when Jesus disclosed himself to them as resurrected from the dead on that third day, their hope became alive again. It became a ‘diving hope”. But they still needed to be set straight as to what to expect and upon what to fix their desire. When the apostle Nathanael first met Jesus he said to him: “Thou art the Son of God; thou art King of Israel”; and till now the apostles had in mind the earthly nation of natural Israel. Hence on the fortieth day after Jesus’ resurrection and just before he ascended back to heaven, they “asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (John 1: 49; Acts 1: 6, Am. Stan. Ver.) After his ascent to heaven, then they realized he would not be an earthly king over Israel. Only a heavenly king at God’s right hand could bruise the mighty superhuman Serpent’s head. Jehovah’s resurrecting of Jesus as an immortal spirit person made it possible for Jesus to be King at God’s right hand to do that.

    17. Upon what power did Jesus’ destiny as “our hope” depend?

    ‘A LIVING HOPE’

    AFTER Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven as a glorified spirit creature, what became the correct hope of his faithful disciples on earth? And is this the hope that all persons 1. To what does Peter say the Christians were begotten? By what? of good-will today, nineteen centuries later, may entertain? Writing to Christians in the first century the apostle Peter says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith into a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ: whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (1 Pet. 1: 3-9, Am. Stan. Ver.) It was to a "living hope” that the first and early members of the Christian congregation were begotten again by God, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the death state had an important connection with it.

    2 Peter’s words make it most clear that the living hope is that of eternal life in heaven for the faithful Christian congregation of Jesus’ footstep followers. The salvation of their souls with which their faith was to be rewarded was, not to life on a paradise earth, but to life in heaven. In heaven, says Peter, is where the incorruptible, undefiled and unfading inheritance is reserved for them; and it is to heaven that Jesus Christ went after his resurrection. This is why they no longer saw him, and this is why the later believers in him have never seen him, not even in the flesh. He is no longer flesh and blood, a perfect man, for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” and no man can see God and live.—1 Cor. 15: 50; John 6:46; Ex. 33: 20.

    3 Peter plainly tells us that Jesus was not resurrected as the human creature that he once was. In this same letter Peter writes: "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death [howl] in the flesh, but made alive [howl] in the spirit; in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” (1 Pet. 3:18,19, Am. Stan. Ver.; Douay) Consequently Jesus Christ is not a human King, but a heavenly King, a spirit King, just as Jehovah God is a spirit and is a spirit Sovereign over all the universe. Jesus said: “God is a spirit.” At his resurrection from the dead Jesus became glorious like God his Father, "the express image of his person," and "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels”. (John 4:24; Heb. 1:3,4) Being mightier than the angels of heaven, the glorified Jesus Christ is far more powerful than the Serpent, Satan the Devil, 2 Where, then, is their hope to be realized, and why?

    3. How was Jesus resurrected, and made better than whom? and can bruise him and all his demons in destruction. (Matt. 28:18) He will do so.

    * The kingdom of the Seed of God’s “woman” for which we may hope according to God’s Edenic promise is a heavenly kingdom. The hope of the faithful congregation of Christ’s footstep followers is to be associated with him in that kingdom. In harmony with this hope they keep out of the politics of the governments of this world and ‘seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness’, as Jesus’ sermon on the mount instructs them. (Matt. 6:33) Peter tells us that when Jesus ascended to heaven then Psalm 110:1 was fulfilled, which says: “Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” (Acts 2: 32-36; Ps. 110:1, Am. Stan. Ver.) Hence Jesus set a heavenly hope before his victorious footstep followers when he said in the Revelation to the apostle John: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”—Rev. 3: 21.

    6 To entertain hope of a place with Jesus Christ in his heavenly kingdom is a limited privilege, for this same Revelation discloses that only 144,000 faithful overcomers will be enthroned with him in the Kingdom, which kingdom is symbolized by Mount Zion where King David once ruled. Revelation 14:1,3 reads: "Lo, a Lamb [Jesus the sacrificed One] stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and . . . no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.”

    HOW BEGOTTEN AGAIN TO IT

    ' Peter tells God’s elect, or those chosen for the Kingdom, that God the Father begot them again to this living hope by resurrecting Jesus from the dead. It is not by Jesus’ resurrection that his joint-heirs in the Kingdom are begotten again to the living hope. Jehovah God the Life-giver is the One that begets, produces, or becomes the Father of spiritual children for the heavenly kingdom. But the resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ was a basis for him to beget such additional spiritual children. How so? Because by the resurrection the bruised Seed of God’s “woman” was brought back to life and could ascend to heaven and sit down at God’s right hand. Also he could thus appear in the presence of God as His Higli Priest and could present to God the value or merit of the human sacrifice that he laid down. By this sacrifice he could redeem his devoted followers from the

    4. What kind of throne must it be that Jesus promised Christians?

    5. How many will gain that throne? and bow do we know this9 0. How is ft that God begets them by Christ’s resurrection?

    “bondage of corruption” and “vanity” to which they were subjected through the sinner Adam. (Heb. 9:24) In a mighty argument to Christ’s joint-heirs for the Kingdom the apostle writes: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:17-22) The faithful Christians, therefore, have hope in Jesus Christ, not only in this life, but also in the promised kingdom.

    T Not by Christ’s resurrection in itself, but in view of that resurrection God the Father begets again the inheritors of a living heavenly hope. In his same first letter to the heavenly heirs Peter shows another powerful thing that enters into the matter of begetting them again. It is the Word of God, from the days of Eden onward. Peter says to these spiritual children of God: “Love one another from the heart fervently: having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth . . . for ever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you. Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation.” (1 Pet. 1:22 to 2:2, Am. Stan. Ver.) That “milk” is from God’s Word.

    8 To become heirs of an incorruptible inheritance reserved in heaven with Jesus Christ the King, it is necessary for the 144,000 to be begotten again by God the Father. Why begotten again! Because they, to begin with, had been begotten by Adam, and Adam could not beget anyone to spiritual, heavenly inheritance. Adam was of this earth, earthy, and he had only earthly human prospects set before him by God his Creator. By natural procreation Adam’s children cannot rise higher in the scale of life than he their father. Moreover, when Adam did beget children by his wife Eve, it was after they both had sinned and come under divine sentence and had fallen from human perfection into corruption. Through Adam death came upon all mankind. All his descendants were born to a dying existence, in bondage to corruption and subject to vanity. For them to be saved to everlasting life as human souls it would first be necessary for them to be redeemed from condemnation and death by a ransom sacrifice; and to provide this the Son of God “was made flesh”, “was made a little lower than the angels.” (John 1:14; Heb.

    1 lUtuugh what must the 144,000 be begotten again or anew? 8. 0 IIo‘\ do they enter the heavenly inheritance9 and what follows? 2:9; Ps. 8:4, 5) But for 144,000 of Adam’s condemned offspring to become inheritors of the heavenly kingdom with Jesus Christ now ‘made so much better than the angels’, they must not only be redeemed but also be begotten by a father different from Adam, a heavenly father who can bestow spirit life and a spiritual inheritance in heaven. To this end Jehovah God, the Father of Jesus Christ, has begotten them again, thus adopting them as his heirs.—Gal. 4:4-7.

    9 These 144,000 Christian believers consecrate themselves to God and undertake to follow Jesus’ steps till death. Their being begotten again is what makes them spiritual children of God and his heirs with a heavenly hope. As Jesus their Redeemer entered into the heavenly inheritance by laying aside his earthly human existence and by being resurrected from the dead, so too with the 144,000. They must enter their inheritance above by laying down human life and by being resurrected from death to life in heaven at the time that God’s kingdom is established with the Seed of his “woman” in the throne. Then these spiritual children of God will be revealed or manifested in heavenly power with Jesus. Following this revelation the earthly blessings will be poured out upon all nations and families of the earth, all human creation. Hence God inspired the apostle Paul to write these words to the 144,000:

    10 “The spirit itself testifies together with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, also heirs; heirs, indeed, of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed, we suffer together, so that we may be also glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of the present time, as unworthy of comparison with the future glory to be revealed in us. Indeed, the earnest expectation of the creation longs for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to frailty, (not voluntarily, but by him who placed it under;) in hope that even the creation itself will be emancipated from the slavery of corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together till the present time. And not only it, but ourselves also, possessing the first-fruit of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for sonship [adoption],—the redemption of our body. For we were saved by the hope.”—Rom. 8:16-24, Emphatic Diaglott.

    11 Peter speaks of the 144,000 kingdom heirs as “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God.” The seed of procreation by which Adam begot our race was corruptible seed, with corruption operating in it through sin, and bearing with it the condemnation of death.

    10. Why and with what seed does God beget them again?

    11, 12. Besides spirit, by what else does he beget, and why?

    But when God the Father begets the consecrated, believing ones of humankind to be spiritual sons or children, he begets them again by incorruptible seed. That is to say, he regenerates them by incorruptible means of giving life and existence, namely, the power of his spirit or active force. In order to see and enter the heavenly kingdom of God, they must be begotten anew or regenerated by. His spirit or active force. Jesus told Nicodemus: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ... Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” (John 3:3-6) Being thus given a start in spiritual life while in their corruptible flesh on earth, but continuing faithful to death, they will be fully born of the spirit in the resurrection. Then the body of 144,000 faithful followers of Jesus Christ “shall all be changed, . . . the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” So the apostle Paul writes to the 144,000 body members, at 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.

    “BY THE WORD”

    11 Peter says that God begets the 144,000 again to a living hope “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. He also says they are begotten again of incorruptible seed, but “by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever"’. “This,” he says, “is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Pet. 1:3,23,25) God the Father begets them again by his spirit, or active force, but this begetting must be in connection with his word which has been written down and which lives on and is preached till this day.

    15 In order for the 144,000 to get in intelligent touch with God they must get a knowledge of his Word of the gospel or good news. This gospel Word must be preached or presented to them, that they may know God’s purposes through his Seed of his “woman” and that they may know the glorious heavenly opportunity that he sets before 144,000 creatures' from among mankind. It is God’s Word that sets out the heavenly hope; and only by getting to know his Word could they have such a hope formed in their hearts after taking the steps toward it that God requires. As Paul writes, at Romans 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) Hence for the 144,000 to be begotten again to the living heavenly hope it was necessary that God the Father send his Word as well

    13 What is the water with which they are born as well as the spirit? as his spirit. In view of this we can understand James’ statement to the 144,000 of God: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” —Jas. 1:18; John 6:63.

    “In the Holy Scriptures God’s Word is pictured as pure water, because of the cleansing power of His Word. Agreeable with this, Paul writes: “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” (Eph. 5:25,26) The “pure river of water of life” to which all the thirsty and willing are invited to “take the water of life freely” undoubtedly refers to the revealed Word of God. (Rev. 22:17) Not the water of baptism, but the water of the revealed Word of God, was what Jesus meant when saying: “Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Baptism in literal water is only a momentary act, but the 144,000 need the cleansing Word of God as well as His spirit all through their earthly course till death. If God’s Word and spirit abide in those of the 144,000, then His seed abides in them and they will not make a deliberate practice of sin; as it is written: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest.” (1 John 3:9,10) They lead clean lives by the help of God’s spirit and his purifying Word. Their hope, based upon God’s Word, is not a mere mental exercise, but is an active, motivating force in their lives, a purifying hope. Hence it is written to the 144,000: “We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [the Lord God] is pure.”—1 John 3: 2, 3.

    HOPE FOR THOSE OUTSIDE THE 144,000

    ” Pages 22, 23 of the 1948 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses tell that during the service year of 1947 an average of 181,071 witnesses or ministers of the gospel went out into the field every month of the year, preaching the good news of the Kingdom “publicly, and from house to house”; indeed, in one particular month as many as 207,552 went out, worldwide. Call to mind, now, that there are to be only 144,000 joint-heirs with Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom; and also that Jehovah God has been begetting, preparing and proving these for the past nineteen centuries, so that today only a remnant could be needed to fill up the full membership of Jesus’ joint-heirs. Apparently not all of the abovenumbered 207,552 gospel-publishers, or 181,071 regu-

    14 . How does God’s seed remain in them? With what effect? 15 What questions does the published number ot 207.552 gospel' preachers today raise ? lar monthly publishers, could gain the Kingdom or be in line for it and find a vacancy in it, for these present-day numbers far exceed the predetermined number of 144,000. What, then? Are these more than two hundred thousand of today destined to fall away, leaving only the small remnant required for the Kingdom? No; because prophecy indicates these numbers should increase in coming years to a figure not yet known or foretold. Well, then, are the great majority of these hundreds of thousands of gospelpublishers due to be disappointed in their hope by failing to gain entrance into the heavenly kingdom? No; not one of those outside the faithful remnant will be disappointed in his hopes for the approaching new world of righteousness. Explain!

    16 Well, on Sunday, April 6,1947, at the celebration of the memorial of Christ’s death a total of 339,125 attended, world-wide, but only 26,745 partook of the Memorial emblems of bread and wine to confess they were members of the spirit-begotten remnant of Kingdom heirs. That meant that less than one twelfth of the total Memorial attendance confessed to being in line for the Kingdom or entertaining the hope of gaining it by faithfulness to death. During that same month of April there were 201,009 gospelpublishers out in the world-wide field as against 26,745 partakers of the Memorial emblems. So, then, what hope shall we hold for the more than 174,000 other gospel publishers? God’s Word, with which He formed the Kingdom hope in the hearts and minds of the 144,000, shows the earthly hope set before these "other sheep”.

    17 Turn to Revelation, chapter 7. There Jesus Christ, by an angel, gave a revelation to the apostle John concerning this “great multitude”, whose hope is for eternal life in Paradise that God’s kingdom will restore on earth. First, Christ’s angel gives John a vision to show that 144,000 spiritual Israelites are sealed for the Kingdom. Right after this vision of the Kingdom class, John says: "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. . . . These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne [namely, God] shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb [Jesus the sacrificed

    16. About how many world-wide hold the Kingdom-membership hope? 17. Where is this eartblv crowd foretold, and how described?

    One, the Good Shepherd] which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”—Rev. 7:9-17.

    18 Today’s multitude of persons of good-will who already outnumber the entire membership of the Kingdom class belong to the above-described “great multitude” of God’s "other sheep”. They have made their appearance at the due time in fulfillment of the above vision. Reasonably it was the due time for them to appear when practically the entire membership of the 144,000 had been chosen and sealed, and only a fractional remnant of that number remained upon this earth. Because just this remnant would be needed to complete the Kingdom class, this would be one of the many indications of our day to show that God’s kingdom by his Seed of the “woman” was established and that the final end of Satan’s old world was at hand.

    19 Accordingly a tremendous world-wide witness concerning God’s kingdom would be due, but it would be a larger work than the Kingdom remnant on earth could themselves alone accomplish in fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. Hence the Good Shepherd gathers this “great multitude” of “other sheep” into the fold in company with the remnant in order to share with these in the wondrous privileges of the Kingdom witness. (John 10:16) By sharing in the witness work the “great multitude” hail Jehovah God upon his throne of universal sovereignty and also his reigning King, the Lamb Jesus Christ; and they cry out that their hope of salvation in this time of great tribulation lies in no man-made institution but solely in Jehovah God and his beloved Lamb Jesus Christ. By virtue of consecrating themselves to God and proclaiming the kingdom of the Seed of his “woman” they are pictured as having a favorable standing before God’s throne and as serving him day and night in his temple, in unity with the spiritual remnant. Many of the "great multitude”, by continuing faithful till the final war of Armageddon, will be preserved and will survive this end of the world to enter into the earthly blessings of the righteous new world without dying. Those dying faithful before then will be resurrected to eternal life on earth under Christ’s thousand-year reign.—John 5:28, 29.

    KNOWING YOUR HOPE

    20 Today, how does a person consecrated to God know whether he is of the Kingdom remnant or of the “great multitude” of “other sheep” with an earthly destiny? It is not a matter of feeling. It is a matter of hope, a matter of God’s testimony to a

    18, 19. (a) Why was it the due time for them to appear? (b) How do they stand before God’s throne and serve him in bis temple?

    20. How do the spiritual pfimnant know what their hope is? person through His revealed Word. The remnant know they are in line for the Kingdom because they have fulfilled the preliminary requirements in God’s Word. He has begotten them by his spirit or active force to be his spiritual children, and by his Word which he has revealed to them they know what their hope is. In harmony with their “living hope” of eternal life in the heavenly kingdom all prospects of everlasting life on earth under the Kingdom have faded from their minds and desires. They look forward confidently to Christ’s receiving them to a place with him on the throne by resurrecting them from the dead. (Titus 3:7; 2:13) They confidently confess their hope to all that ask of them a “reason of the hope that is in you”, but they do so with meekness and with fear lest they should prove unfaithful and unworthy before the prize is won.—1 Pet. 3:15.

    21 By the same token, namely, by the hope set before them in God’s revealed Word, the present multitude of “other sheep” know what to look for, and they are overjoyed and sustained by the vivid hope of eternal life on earth under His kingdom. It was in 1935 that Jehovah God through his Seed Jesus Christ revealed to all his consecrated ones on earth that the “great multitude” of Revelation, chapter 7, is a human class with an earthly eternity ahead of them under the kingdom of Jesus Christ with his 144,000. (See the article “The Great Multitude” in the Watchtower issues of August 1 and 15, 1935.) In the service year following that (namely, September 1935 to September 1936) there were in the United States alone just 25,435 that partook of the Memorial bread and wine out of a total attendance of 35,172. This shows that the vast majority of those in the United States of America at the Memorial celebration last year (10,795 partakers, 105,897 attending) have taken up the earthly hope of the “great multitude” of “other sheep”. Since A.D. 1918, when World War I ended, there have from time to time been flashes of truth concerning

    21. How do the “great multitude” now know their hope? this earthly class now being gathered for endless life in the paradise home on earth. But that flash of truth in 1935 upon Revelation 7:9-17 was specially clarifying to the vision. It cast clearer brightness upon the earthly hope for this multitude of consecrated servants of God and Christ. These hailed it with joy as the hope that Jehovah God set before them for their comfort, joy and sustaining strength.

    22 The great multitude’s hope is a hope from God’s Word, illuminated by the revealing power of God’s spirit. And as the psalmist says four times in Psalm 119, so they say: “I have hoped in thy word.” (Ps. 119:74, 81, 114, 147; also 130:5) They know the times in which we are living. They know this is the time of crossing over from the old world of Satan the Devil to the new world of Jehovah’s Seed of his “woman”. They know the spiritual remnant will all of them soon pass into the realization of their heavenly hope, but that Jesus Christ the Seed will bruise the Serpent’s head at Armageddon and usher the faithful great multitude into the delightful privileges of the cleansed earth in the righteous world without end. It is their valid hope. With good reason they hold it fast, in expectation of a full realization of it in God’s due time.

    2S Together now, the spiritual remnant and the “great multitude” of “other sheep” openly confess everywhere that Jehovah God and Jesus Christ are the only Ones on whom hope can be centered by this groaning creation. By their continued witnessing throughout all the earth they bring God’s revealed Word to countless others. Thereby others of good-will are now imbibing and will continue to imbibe the true hope that God’s kingdom by Jesus Christ is the only governmental means by which all our fond desires, whether heavenly or earthly, will surely be realized to our everlasting satisfaction, and with all thanksgiving to Jehovah God by Jesus Christ.

    22. Why Is theirs a valid hope, to be held fast?

    23. What hope do the remnant and multitude impart to others, and bcm ?

    WHY WILL SATAN

    COVETOUSNESS on the part of Satan the Devil led to the commission of the greatest and most heinous crime of all time. The result was the defamation of Jehovah’s great name, and also poverty and death upon the human race. So many years have passed since the commission of that crime, and so completely has this arch criminal covered his slimy tracks, that in this day it is difficult for men in general to understand and appreciate the enormity of the crime. Only those persons of goodwill toward God, and who desire to know and to do what is right, fully understand.

    To covet means to have and to indulge in an inordinate

    THE DEVIL DIE?

    desire to possess that which belongs to another. Coveting means a wrongful desire for gain, and the determination to get that desired thing by plunder or other unjust and wrongful means. It is the outgrowth of extreme selfishness. The creature that wrongfully desires to possess that which belongs to another or who, in his efforts to satisfy his inordinate desire, resorts to fraud, plunder or other unjust methods, thereby discloses a maliciously wicked heart that is fatally bent on injury to others.

    Let us in simple manner summon the facts that are disclosed by the Holy Scriptures and that relate to the commission of the great crime. They are these: In the exercise of God’s unlimited power, perfect wisdom, and boundless love, he had created the heavens, consisting of his firstborn Son and other spirits known as cherubim, seraphim, angels, and celestial powers and principalities, all of which show forth God’s glory. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge,” says Psalm 19:1, 2. God had created the earth also, and his due time came to create man to inherit the earth. That mankind might have a desirable place in which to reside God made a portion of the earth a veritable paradise, which God called “Eden”. Out of the earth’s elements God created a perfect creature called Adam, or “man”, and made him a living, moving thing endowed with intelligence. God placed this man in the perfect Eden as his home and instructed him concerning the divine law and the penalty that would result from the breaking of that law. God created and gave the man a helpmate, a perfect woman, and clothed that perfect pair with the ability and power to bring children into existence. If the man would be faithfully obedient to God’s law, the earth was to be his home forever and he would enjoy riches in abundance.—Genesis, chapters 1 and 2.

    In the language of the psalmist, man is “fearfully and wonderfully made”. God created man, and this psalmist says to God: “Marvellous are thy works.” (Ps. 139:14) The perfect man was the crowning or highest part of God’s earthly creation. In Jehovah’s invisible or heavenly realm there was a spirit creature to whom Isaiah’s prophecy applies the name “Lucifer”; and God made Lucifer the invisible overlord over man. He is also the one meant in Ezekiel’s prophecy, to whom God said: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” —Ezek. 28:14.

    The term cherub means one of God’s anointed creatures commissioned to have charge over a certain part of his organization. The description of Lucifer, "the anointed cherub that covereth,” shows clearly the high position he occupied. God had appointed him and made him to fill that high office in God’s “'mountain” or universal organization. Ezekiel’s prophecy shows that Lucifer had charge over Eden, the perfect man and the home of this perfect man, by saying: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.” (Ezek. 28:13) Concerning Lucifer’s “covering” including beryl, onyx and gold it is interesting to note that Genesis 2:10-12 says of Eden: “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium [pearls] and the onyx stone [or beryl].” From the symbolic description, Lucifer was a beautiful creature and his appearance was glorious: “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Ezek. 28:15) This shows that Lucifer was perfect and continued so until he became lawless, that is to say, rebellious against God.

    When Lucifer became perverse, lawless and wicked, God changed his name, and from that time onward he is designated in the Scriptures under four names, to wit, Serpent, which means Deceiver; Satan, which means Opposer; Dragon, which means Devourer; and Devil, which means Slanderer. While perfect, Lucifer was the god over the world that included the earth; that is to say, he was its mighty one, and that office was not taken away from him immediately upon his becoming wicked. For centuries he has been the “god” or invisible ruler of the world which he has made wicked like himself; in proof of which see Jesus’ words at John 12: 31 and 14: 30.

    …