The Watchtower, January 15, 1949
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She WATCHTOWER.
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“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 kinguom under Christ, which has begun; that Ills next great act is to destioy Satan's organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth ; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armaceddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth" with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.
ITS MISSION
HIS journal is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed In the Bible. It publishes Bible Instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-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.
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“BLAMELESS MINISTRY” TESTIMONY PERIOD
The ministry of God's Word must be earned forward through cold and heat for God's ministers not to be blamed. Hence February will experience no stoppage of the proclamation of His kingdom publicly and from door to door. The service calendar announces it as “Blameless Ministry” Testimony Period, and it will be the second month of the 1949 campaign for subscriptions for the Watchtower Society’s magazines. The offer that all those who talk God’s kingdom will therefore make to all their contacts will be a year’s subscription for both The Watchtower and Awake! together with the premium of a bound book and a booklet, at just $2 (American money) for the full set. Preferably the latest book, “Let God Be True”, and one of the latest booklets, The Joy of All the People or Permanent Governor of All Nations, should be offered as the premium. Whether in the Northern or in the Southern Hemisphere, February is a difficult month to pull through, but faithful ministers will not come under blame for slacking the hand. Watch tower readers will not want to come under blame for failure regarding the ministry of God’s Word, and so we invite their inquiries and requests as to a share in it. May your report at the end of the Testimony Period prove you blameless.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of February 20: “Earth’s Destiny After This World’s End,” fl 1-21 inclusive, The Watchtower January 15, 1949.
Week of February 27: “Activities of Subjects of the Thousand-Year Reign,”
fl 1-21 inclusive, The Watchtower January 15, 1949.
1949 YEARBOOK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
With gratitude to God for accomplishing thiough his servants the greatest service achievement during this past year, the Society now releases the 1949 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses. It will be really a stirring experience, and not a dull review of data and figures, for you to read the president’s report at length on the year’s activities of Jehovah’s witnesses in more than ninety lands. Also, introduced by his own special comment on the 1949 yeartext, the texts and comments drawn from the latest Watchtower issues provide you with a choice thought for each day of the year. Orders for copies of the 1949 Yearbook, bound in peach-color cloth, with more than 350 pages, should be accompanied by remittances at 50c a copy. Companies should send in combined orders to minimize our work of handling and shipping.
1949 CALENDAR
Again the Lord provides us with a new service calendar, for the year 1949, the text for which is, “I . . . will yet praise thee more and more.” (Ps. 71:14) The picture embellishing it steps into the field of realism by exhibiting under the year’s text a bird’s-eye view of that now world-famous missionary school, Gilead, in its environs, in four colors, and which is mightily aiding today in praising Jehovah more and more. Under the picture the date pad presents the six special testimony periods of 1949 and the alternative months, together with the service theme for each such month. Orders may now be sent in, with remittance to cover, at 25c a calendar, or $1.00 for five mailed to one address.
ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM
Vol. LXX January 15, 1949 No. 2
EARTH’S DESTINY AFTER THIS WORLD’S END
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." —Rev. 20:11 and 21:1.
JEHOVAH is the majestic One who sits as Judge upon the “great white throne’’ in the heavens. It is to him that the prayer has ascended for the past nineteen hundred years: “Our Father in heaven, your name be revered! Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven!” (Matt. 6:9,10, An Amer. Trans.) Manifestly at the time that this model prayer was first taught, the kingdom of Jehovah God the Father had not yet come to our earth and his wfill was not yet being done on earth as it was in the heavens where he resides in righteousness. The heavens and the earth are his creation, and so our planet earth is a place over which his kingdom should rule and where his righteous will should be done among all his earthly subjects, the same as in all the rest of the universe. He had a marvelous purpose in creating the earth, and his purpose will not be blocked and go unrealized. In his own appointed time he will have the earth fully inhabited by perfect men and women, every one of these a devoted subject lovingly doing the divine will. This purpose is indelibly recorded in these words: “For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste [or, not in vain], that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” (Isa. 45:18, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) In keeping with his purpose he has now at last taken to himself his great power to rule and to make the authority of his throne felt by all men on earth.—Rev. 11:17,18.
2 There is no known reason for Jehovah God to destroy our planet earth which is a part of a universe he occupied unknown trillions of years to create. What reason is there for him to destroy the earth after his purpose for it is realized and his holy will is perfectly done on it by all its human inhabitants? Still, you ask, why does the vision given to the apostle John say that when God sits on his great white throne of judgment and turns his face to our
1. What was God’s undcfeatable purpose in creating our earth?
2. Why. despite Revelation. 20: 11, will our earth not pass away*’ earth to give it the attention that it needs, then “the earth and the heaven fled away” from his face? (Rev. 20:11) It is because such earth and heaven are symbolic. They are not the literal earth and heaven that He created. Concerning the heaven and earth which he made and which are therefore good we read: “Thus saith Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” (Isa. 66:1, Am. Stan. Ver.) Reasonably Jehovah God the Creator would not destroy his own throne and footstool. His sanctuary is in the heavens, and the earth is as eternal as it, for we read: “He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath established for ever.” (Ps. 78:69, Am. Stan. Ver.) Seeing that the literal earth and heaven which God created must abide forever, according to his good purpose, then we must understand that the heaven and earth that flee away are symbolical. They have God’s disapproval because they are created by his enemies, and they must make way for God’s glorious kingdom.
3 The fact that “there was found no place for them” (Rev. 20:11) shows that such disapproved heaven and earth are destroyed. Their flight into destruction takes place at the end of this world. Many scriptures show this. For example, the apostle Peter first tells of the end of the pre-flood world in Noah’s time and then describes the end of the present world in a fiery trouble, saying: “You . . . await and hasten towards the coming of the day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved and the elements will melt away by reason of the heat of the fire! But we look for new heavens and a new earth, according to his promises, wherein dwells justice.” (2 Pet. 3:12, 13, Catholic Confraternity translation) It is therefore clear that the flight of the heaven and earth from before the face of God on his great white throne occurs before the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, his Son. That being the case, then the destruction of such heaven and earth corresponds with the things described at Revelation 19:11 to 3. When does the flight of the old heaven and earth take place?
20:3. Why so ? Because the things there described take place in heaven and in earth immediately before the thousand-year reign of Christ begins.
4 With the use of quite a number of symbolic expressions Revelation 19:11-21 describes the appearing of mankind’s rightful Ruler, Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the total war that the “kings of the earth and their armies’’ wage against him. The Revelation makes no political distinctions between any of these earthly kings or rulers, but shows that they are all against him and are all on the side of a symbolic beast and false prophet. They are all a part of this doomed world.
5 Whether this world is acting beastly and following false prophecies contrary to God’s Word we leave it for all honest people to judge. The fact remains that all the “kings of the earth”, whether inside or outside of Christendom, do not want the real, living, personal Christ Jesus to rule over this planet with absolute power. They themselves want to dominate the earth by their respective political forms of government. And in this political effort these “kings of the earth” have the prayers and support of all the religious leaders inside and outside of Christendom. Describing the destruction of all these “kings of the earth” and their supporters and followers at the world's end, Revelation 19:20, 21 says: “And the beast was taken, and witli him the false prophet, who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast, and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone. And the rest were slain by the sword of him [Christ Jesus] that sitteth upon the horse, which proceedeth out of his mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh.” (Apoc. 19: 20, 21, Donay) This denotes that a terrific loss of human life will mark this world’s end and that many bodies will lie around unburied for wild beasts and birds of carrion to gorge themselves upon. It will be the complete fulfillment of the prophecy, at Jeremiah 25: 31-33:
0 “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth. And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
' The prophecy at Ezekiel 39:1-21, which gives details of the fight of Gog and Magog and all of Gog’s allies at this world’s end, refers to the same thing as the above prophecies of Revelation and Jeremiah. All political observers of today must agree that such a wholesale destruction of the “kings 1 2 of the earth” and their backers and followers will mean the end of our present so-called “civilization”, the end of our present earthly organization and arrangement of things. And in this electronic age, with its atomic bomb, who is there to say the end of the present earthly arrangement of human society will not be in a very fiery time both literally and figuratively? Such destruction of all present political, commercial and religious arrangements under God’s disapproval is what is symbolized by the fleeing of the earth from before his face. And if no place is to be found for it any more, then surely it will never again exist upon our planet earth, which is God’s footstool.
8 In harmony with that fact, Revelation 19: 20 foretells that the “beast” and the “false prophet” will be pitched alive “into a lake of fire burning with brimstone”, and Revelation 20:14,15 says: “This is the second death—the fiery lake. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was flung into the fiery lake.” {An Amer. Trans.) Plainly the things symbolized by the “beast” and the “false prophet” are judged unfit to live any further. They deserve annihilation, for they induce the “kings of the earth and their armies” to fight God’s King of kings and Lord of lords.
THE FLIGHT OF THE HEAVENS
9 Even in a physical sense our planet earth is dominated by the heavens from which the sun, moon and stars exercise an effect upon it and cosmic rays beat down upon it unceasingly. In like manner the symbolic earth, the arrangement today of human, society, is affected and dominated by unseen higher intelligences. The organization made up of such superior invisible intelligences is what the Bible speaks of as the symbolic heaven. Since the flood of Noah’s time such heaven has been wicked. It lias exercised upon human society an influence only toward selfishness and wickedness. Many men would like to get rid of the debasing influence of such wicked heaven, but to this day they have been unable to do so. It is impossible for mankind to do away with the unseen domination of such heaven. Almighty God Jehovah is the only One able to do away with it, and he will soon do so by Christ Jesus, his King of kings and Lord of lords. After first describing how the symbolic earth flees away into the land of nowhere, the vision of Revelation immediately shows how the flight of the symbolic heaven from before the face of the Supreme Judge upon his great white throne takes place. At Revelation 20:1-3 the apostle Jolin says:
10 “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent,
9, 10 What Uea\cn flees away, and bow is this pictured’’ which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
11 Thus the vision graphically foretells that at this world's end the Devil will be bound and cast into the abyss. This will be a thousand years before he is cast into the “pool of fire”, where the “beast” and the “false prophet” are. As The Watchtower showed in its issue of October 1, 194S, God’s angel or deputy who binds Satan the Devil and hurls him into the abyss of restraint is Christ Jesus, who has been given all power in heaven and earth. Since the enthronement of Christ Jesus in heaven in the year 1914, Satan the Devil has been cast out of heaven, and his wicked angels with him, and these have been confined to the vicinity of our earth. These are the ones that are responsible for the political, commercial, religious, social and physical woes that have come upon mankind since A.D. 1918. In proof of this, Revelation 12:12 says: "'Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” For thousands of years the wicked angels have worked with the Devil in deceiving the whole world, and hence, if the “dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan”, is not to deceive the nations for a thousand years to come, his angels must also be restrained with him when he is restrained from his deceptive work. Revelation 20:1-3 does not specifically say his angels are put into the abyss with the “dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan”. But his angels were cast down to the earth with him, and it must be that later, when he is abyssed, his angels or demons are restrained in the abyss with him.
12 Binding and abyssing the Serpent, the Devil, is what is meant by crushing the serpent’s head. His angels must be crushed with him. Back there in the garden of Eden God said to the Serpent, the Devil: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for his heel.” (Gen. 3:15, Cath. Conf rat.) The wicked angels or demons are a part of the Serpent’s seed; they are the invisible, spiritual part. Since the Seed of God's woman, namely, Christ Jesus, restrains the Serpent’s seed together with the Serpent, then the restraining of the wicked demons apparently means their being abyssed with the Devil, “the prince of the demons.” All along the demons have feared to go into the abyss. Notice the gospel account of Jesus’ encounter with a man under the control of many such spirit demons: “And when he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do "with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I beseech thee, torment [Greek, basanidzo] me not. For he was commanding the unclean spirit to come out from the man. For oftentimes it had seized him: and he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters; and breaking the bands asunder, he was driven of the demon into the deserts. And Jesus asked him, What is thy name? And he said, Legion; for many demons were entered into him. And they entreated him that he would not command them to depart into the abyss.” It was not then the due time for Jesus to bind and abyss Satan, the prince of the demons. Hence Jesus did not then torment the demons by abyssing them. —Luke 8: 26-33, Am. Stan. Ver.
13 Satan the Devil and his legions of demons have composed a great invisible empire, one not of flesh and blood, but of spirit. These are the ones meant when Paul writes to his fellow Christians: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the Principalities and the Powers, against the worldrulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high.” (Eph. 6:12, Cath. Conf rat.) Since the flood of Noah’s time these organized spirits under the prince of the demons have made up the symbolic heavens, “the heavens that now are,” as the apostle Peter calls them. (2 Pet. 3:7, ibid.) These, then, are the heavens that are destroyed at this end of the world, and not Jehovah God’s creations, the sun, moon, stars and spiral nebulae. Now the vision that John had shows that the destruction of the wicked heavens comes after Satan the Devil witnesses the annihilation of his wicked earthly organization. Therefore the destruction of. the heavens by abyssing Satan and his demon angels is what is pictured by the fleeing of the heaven, never to be organized again as they have been for these thousands of years since the flood. But the glorious sun, moon and stars of the literal skies will remain for all time. In proof, Psalm 72: 5,7 says of the rule of Christ, the “Son of David”:
11 “They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.” And Psalm 89: 35-37 says: “Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed [Christ] shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.”
NEVER A DEPOPULATED EARTH
13 Some religionists wrongly teach that the binding
13, 14. Which heavens are destroyed, and which remain? What proot ' 15 How is Satan s abysms wrongly explained with Isaiah 24 1-63 and casting of Satan into the abyss means he will be given the free run of the earth for the thousand years of Christ’s reign but that during this time the earth will be absolutely void and waste as it was at the beginning, so that Satan will not be in contact with the earthly nations to tempt and deceive them. True, Christ’s thousand-year reign and Satan’s imprisonment in the abyss continue during the same period of time. But it is a religious mistake to apply to the earth during that time the following scripture prophecies:
“Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . The earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly laid waste; for Jehovah hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the lofty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the law’s, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”—Isa. 24:1-6, Am. Stan. Ver.
16 This prophecy had its first fulfillment upon the land of Judah and Jerusalem twenty-five centuries ago, but it has a larger and final fulfillment upon the organization of Christendom at this end of the world. It wms the land of Judah, and not our entire globe, that Jehovah made empty of its unfaithful inhabitants in G07 B.C. To that end he let the mighty Babylonian conqueror Nebuchadnezzar overrun that land and desolate its towns and cities and even its capital Jerusalem, and then deport to Babylon most of the surviving Jews. Even those who were left in the land finally became fearful and fled down to Egypt. Thus Jehovah brought his curse upon the profaned Land of Promise and emptied it of man and domesticated beast, just as if it were a bowl that he turned upside down so as to dump out its contents. He did not then depopulate the entire globe, but left the Gentile nations on the earth that they might dominate the globe for “seven times”, and he scattered the former Jewish inhabitants of Judah among all these Gentile nations. For the next seventy years he left the land of Judah lie forsaken with all its cities in ruin, its temple at Jerusalem robbed and burned, and its fields and forests unattended. So the land became like a primeval wilderness, the haunt of wild beasts and birds.
17 There was, though, a faithful remnant among those Jews who were scattered among the nations, and with regard to these the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah further says: “Therefore the inhabitants
IC. 17. How did Isaiah 24:1-0 have its first fulfillment? of the earth waste away, and few are the mortals that are left. . . . For so will it be in the midst of the earth, among the peoples, as when an olive tree is beaten, or at the gleaning of grapes, when the vintage is over. Yonder, men lift up their voice, they sing for joy, at the majesty of the Lord they shout more loudly than the sea: 'Therefore glorify the Lord throughout the east, on the coast-lands of the sea praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel!’ From the end of the earth have we heard songs of praise: ‘Glory for the righteous!”’ And that the complete fulfillment of this occurs at the time that Jehovah God enthrones his anointed King, Jesus Christ, to rule for him, the last verse of the chapter shows, saying: “For the Lord of hosts will be king on Mount Zion, and will reveal his glory before his elders in Jerusalem.”—Isa. 24: 6,13-16, 23, Amer. Trans.
18 The same is true with regard to the prophecy at Jeremiah 4: 22-28, namely: “For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro. I beheld, and, lo. there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger. For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
19 In these verses Jeremiah is inspired to prophesy first about the seventy-year desolation of the land of Jehovah’s chosen people, the Israelites, from 607 to 537 B.C. During that time the land of Judah and Jerusalem was waste and void and the favor of heaven did not shine down upon it. It was under the divine curse, and “there was no man” in it. For this reason it became a wilderness. Not merely in this fourth chapter, but all through the book of Jeremiah, he describes how this desolate, manless condition of Judah and Jerusalem was to come about by the invasion of the Babylonian hordes, the destruction of the Jewish cities, and the deportation of most of the survivors to Babylon and the flight of the rest to Egypt. For example, Jeremiah 36: 29 reads: “The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast.” At the end of the seventy years of desolation Jehovah’s prophecy by Jeremiah came true: “And
18. 10. How did Jeremiah 4:22-2^ have it<< fir«t fulfillment? fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” (Jer. 32:43; also 33:10-13) And by Ezekiel Jehovah prophesied to the desolate “mountains of Israel”: “I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited after your former’ estate, . . . and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.”—Ezek. 36:8-11, Am. Stan. Ver.
20 Yes, the land of Judah was depopulated for seventy years, but this does not typify an unpeopled, chaotic, formless globe during the thousand years that Satan the Devil is bound. No; but that total desolation which came upon ancient Judah for the unfaithfulness of the Jews prophetically pictured the complete destruction due to be visited soon upon its modern counterpart, the organization of Christendom. Because she professes to be Christian, but is permeated with paganism and brings reproach upon God’s holy name, Christendom will be wiped out at this world’s end. She will never be restored, because the true Christians who are members of the
20, 21, Why will the complete fulfillment of thi:= prophecy not mean a depopulated earth during the tune Satan is bound?
“body of Christ” will enter their heavenly inheritance to reign with him for the thousand years. Thus the true basis for calling any part of our globe “Christendom” will have-been forever removed. The end of this world will result not only in the destruction of so-called “Christendom” but also in the destruction of all the symbolic earth, the Devil’s visible organization of human society. Yet, this will not result in a totally depopulated planet.
21 When predicting the end of this world Jesus said: “But as the days of No'e were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The flood took away in destruction all those who did not know the day and hour of its coming and did not enter into the ark; but did it take away Noah and his household who did enter the ark? No! (Matt. 24:37-39) Likewise, the end of this world will take away in destruction Christendom and the rest of wicked humanity, but those now taking a position in support of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and his kingdom by Christ Jesus have the promise of surviving this world’s end, just as Noah and his household lived through the global flood. Earth’s glorious destiny is only beginning after this world’s end!
ACTIVITIES OF SUBJECTS OF
WHEN Noah and his household emerged from the ark the year following the forty-day rainfall, the repopulating of the dried earth began, in obedience to God’s commandment. We read: “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Gen. 9:1,7) Like Noah’s sons and daughters-in-law, a numberless multitude of persons of good-will, consecrated to Jehovah God through Christ, will survive this world’s end. We are not to suppose that human marriage and childbearing will at once cease, but the survivors will enjoy the same privilege of marriage and rearing children as Noah’s sons and daughters-in-law did. God’s utterance of a mandate to Noah’s household to multiply doubtless pictures that He will issue a like mandate to the good-will survivors of this world’s end. The “new earth” will start then, and from its start the increasing of earth’s population in obedience to the divine mandate to multiply will go forward. The “new heavens” will then pour down blessings.
2 It is therefore clear that the binding and abyssing of Satan the Devil for a thousand years to prevent him from deceiving the nations could not Scriptural-ly mean the reducing of our terrestrial globe to a chaotic, shapeless mass and confining Satan to this uninhabited scorched earth with no one on it for
THE THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN
him to seduce. As pointed out in our October 1,1948, issue, the abyss means a state of isolation for him and his demons in which they will be totally inactive, a state of suspended animation. As the Scriptures say that Jesus went into the abyss when he died and was buried, so, too, when Satan and his demons are put in the sealed-up abyss, it means lifelessness for them.—Rom. 10:7, Am. Stan. Ver.; Cath. Conf rat.
3 These good-will survivors of the world’s end become the first subjects of the millennial King. By beginning his reign over them Christ Jesus begins his reign of a thousand years over the cleansed earth. He will reign from heaven, just as Satan, “the prince of this world,” ruled over this present evil world until he and his demons were cast out of heaven and down to this earth. (Rev. 12:9-13) The faithful members of the “body of Christ” will rule with him from heaven, which is God’s throne; and regarding this Revelation 20:4-6 says: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should
3. From where will Christ Jesus rule the earth, and who with him'4
be finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
* Note that verse four says as to those faithful Christians who sit on the throne with Christ during his reign: “And judgment was given unto them.” This could not mean they would be judged after sitting upon thrones to reign with Christ, for they will have already overcome this Devil-ruled world and will have been accounted worthy to live and reign with Christ as they also suffered and died with him. So the giving of judgment to them means they are appointed to judge others. They were “empowered to act as judges”. {An Amer. Trans.) The apostle Paul pointed forward to this privilege, saying to his fellow Christians: “Do you not know that the Christians are to be the judges of the world? And if the world is to come before you for judgment, are you unfit to decide the most trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to be the judges of angels, to say nothing of ordinary matters?” (1 Cor. 6:2,3, An Amer. Trans.) So when Christ Jesus judges men and angels in the new world of righteousness, these faithful overcomers seated upon the throne with him will act as associate judges with him.
5 Yes, too, they will be “priests of God and of Christ”, says verse six. That means they will join with God’s High Priest Christ Jesus in extending to mankind on earth the benefits of the ransom sacrifice which he provided when he offered up his human life. Christ Jesus was prefigured by Moses’ brother, Aaron, who was made the high priest of the nation of Israel. Aaron had four sons, and these were made his assistants as underpriests. As such, they prefigured the members of the “body of Christ” who are made priests of God and of Christ. On the yearly day of atonement High Priest Aaron offered up sacrifice first for his own sins and those of his house. After that he offered up sacrifice for the sins of the rest of the Israelites. (Lev. 16:11-17) This prefigured that the 144,000 members of the “body of Christ” are first in receiving the direct benefits of Christ’s ransom sacrifice, yes, now during this world. For this reason they are justified now by faith and are granted the privilege of presenting themselves as “living sacrifices” to God through Christ, to suffer and die like him that they might also have a spiritual resurrection, the “first resurrection”, and reign with him in the heavenly throne. Then, just as High Priest Aaron with the assistance of his priestly sons offered up sacrifice for Israel in general, so Christ’s fellow priests will join him as High Priest in dispensing the benefits of his ransom sacrifice to mankind during
4. In what way is ‘judgment gnen to them’?
5. How will they then act as “priests of God and of Christ”? his thousand-year reign. In no other way will men on earth in the new world be able to gain the gift of eternal life, being then fully justified to endless life as perfect humans.
8 At present the imperfect political human rulers reign over all the earth, and all mankind suffers. But the prophecy says the time must come, and it is near, when “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” (Dan. 7:27) During the thousand years of Christ’s reign this prophecy is fulfilled upon the 144,000 members of Christ’s body, for then not only will they sit upon the throne and be priests of God and of Christ but they “shall reign with him a thousand years”.
7 No, they will not reign over a chaotic, shapeless charred earth with the Devil penned up alone in it. Kings must have subjects over whom to reign, and a depopulated earth would not provide them such subjects. So they will reign over mankind who need a perfect government, beginning with the good-will survivors of this world’s end. Under their reign with Christ the entire earth will be subdued for the good of its inhabitants and will become a paradise like the garden of Eden; and the good-will survivors of this world’s end will have a part in that transformation work from its very beginning. How long this will take when all the destroyers of the earth are out of the way and all of Christ’s earthly subjects are his willing and devoted servants, we do not now know. But paradise should be here again when Christ Jesus awakens from the dead the penitent malefactor who died alongside of him. This malefactor said to him: “Jesus! remember me whensoever thou shalt come into thy kingdom.” “And he said unto him—Verily I say unto thee this day: With me shalt thou be in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42, 43, Rotherham; also Lamsa) Such a global paradise will be one of the marvelous benefits to humankind of Christ’s kingdom, and it will demonstrate the vast difference between his reign and that of Satan the Devil.
RESURRECTION
8 The faithful members of Christ’s body of footstep followers are sown at death a “natural body”. But when they share in the “first resurrection” after Christ Jesus comes into the Kingdom power they are raised a “spiritual body”. So 1 Corinthians 15:44 says. When they are resurrected thus as perfect immortal spirit creatures they at once become alive and enter into life, just as Christ Jesus did at his resurrection. No effects of their being born in sin and under death’s condemnation as Adam’s offspring carry over with them, for they forever sacrifice the human nature as their Leader Christ Jesus did. This is what distinguishes the “first resurrection”, and a share in it makes them “blessed and holy”.
9 These facts must be borne in mind when we consider the words: “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Rev. 20:5) The resurrection of these humans from the dead does not make them alive in the complete sense that those sharing in the first resurrection are made alive. Why not ? Because many of the effects of their being born from the sinful dying Adam will still continue with them on coming out of the graves. Hence their not living again until the thousand years were finished does not mean they will not be raised from the grave or abode of death until the thousand years are finished and Satan is loosed again. Take that malefactor who lived a life of crime down till his death alongside of Jesus. What chance would he have if the King Christ Jesus first remembered him and brought him out of the grave at the end of his thousand-year kingdom to confront at once Satan then let loose to go forth to try to deceive mankind once more? In that case the malefactor would not have received any of the benefits toward reform and uplift to human perfection that Christ’s kingdom is meant to afford its subjects. He would not have a real opportunity to be justified-to eternal life and thus ‘live again’.
10 Hence it must be at Jehovah’s due time during the reign of Christ that the following vision of John is fulfilled: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” (Rev. 20; 12,13) This giving up of the dead does not mean that those whom the sea and death and hell discharge get at once the gift of everlasting life. Their future works determine whether they will prove worthy of the right to eternal life through Christ and will thus ‘live again’. Notice, please, that at the beginning of this judgment day of a thousand years the dead raised up are spoken of as “small and great”, or high and low. This may mean that those thus brought back have a higher or lower place in God's arrangement. Some great or high ones may be made “princes in all the earth” to act among men as visible representatives of Christ. Psalm 45:16 includes the faithful forefathers of Christ Jesus the King among such princely representatives, who will become his children because he died for them and raises them from the dead.
9, 10. (a) When are the '‘rest of the dead” brought out of the graves? (b) Who are the “small and great” then standing betore God?
11 When this occurs the symbolic heaven and earth have fled away already. It is the time that John speaks of saying-. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” (Rev. 21:1) The kingdom of Christ and his enthroned footstep followers constitute the new heaven, and the new visible arrangement on our planet for putting God’s will into effect among men constitutes the new earth. The “sea” pictures that unsettled mass of mankind that has spumed up the dirt and mire of sin continually and out of whom the Devil’s wicked visible organization has arisen in hurtful beastly forms. (Dan. 7:3; Rev. 13:1,2) Since that sea is dried up at this end of the world and will be no more, it is a sea different from the literal sea in which millions have drowned and which gives up its dead during the thousand-year reign of Christ. According to this, not all the dead are in “hell”; many are in the sea. If “hell” or “hades” were a fiery place of eternal torture, then Revelation shows not all the dead have been in such a fiery place, but many dead have been in a wet place, the watery sea. Howevei. the Bible “hell” is no place as the religions of Christendom picture, a fiery sulphurous place for eternally tormenting human souls under the surveillance of the Devil and his fiendish demons. It is the abode of the dead, to which Jesus himself went when he died and was buried. God raised him from this “hell” on the third day and committed the “keys of hell and of death” to him thenceforth.—Rev. 1:18.
12 Thus Christ Jesus, as the Judicial Representative of Jehovah God, uses the keys and raises the dead from the sea and hell and from the general death state that resulted from Adam’s sin before we were born. During Christ’s millennial reign the divine will for that time will be made known to all mankind to the four corners of the earth, to the very limits of a paradise which is able to supply food for all of earth’s population. This making of the divine will plain, with no one to hinder or deceive mankind, is what is pictured when the vision says: “And the books were opened.”—Rev. 20:12.
13 So the works according to which they will be judged are not their past works committed when Satan was deceiving the whole world and the vast majority of mankind died without ever hearing about the Bible. The works which form the basis for theii final judgment will be their future works after the “books” are opened. Only that way could they be judged “out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”. Those conforming their lives to the things written and then opened up to their understanding will get the blessings of the Kingdom. They will receive the priestly ministration of Christ’s ransom sacrifice and will be healed from all the death-dealing effects of Adam’s sin. Thus death due to him will be wiped out: “and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev. 21: 4) “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:25,26) This means that all obedient ones will attain to human perfection.
14 But how will they be given a final determinative test of their full consecration to Jehovah God and the unbreakableness of their loyalty to his universal sovereignty? The devilish heavens and earth have fled from before the great Judge’s face and have been non-existent for the thousand years. There is no “beast” or any “false prophet” to deceive with false miracles, for this “beast” and “false prophet” were flung into the “lake of fire and brimstone" at this world’s end. Although paradise has been restored and extended all round the globe, yet there is in it no “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” with which to test mankind as back in Eden. How, then, does the decisive test come to prove anyone on earth worthy of getting his name written in the “book of life” and thus being justified to the gift of everlasting life through Christ Jesus?
THE FINAL TEST OF KINGDOM SUBJECTS
15 The vision answers our question: “And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city.”—Rev. 20: 7-9, Am. Stan. Ver.
18 It is not definitely stated that anyone else is loosed from the prison with Satan the Devil, anymore than it is stated that his demons are cast into the abyss with him. But, consistently, if it is understood that they are abyssed with him, then they are likewise loosed with him from this prison. So as to settle the great issue with regard to mankind on earth, Christ Jesus as Jehovah’s great angel breaks the. seal of the abyss and restores Satan the Devil and his demons to activity. Remember Pharaoh of Egypt, how God reserved him, wicked though he was, as a dishonorable vessel fit for destruction after God had showed all his power over him. So, too, Almighty God has reserved Satan the Devil for this final use of him to test men at the end of the thousand-year reign. (Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:17-22) Releasing the Devil
14, 15. How will not, but how will, the final teat of them come?
16. Whom does opening the abyss let loose, and for what purpose? upon mankind does not mean a restoring of the old wicked heavens, for Christ Jesus and his glorified followers in heaven still have the Devil under their feet, and after they let him go far enough for a full test of mankind they squelch his attempt to restore the devilish heaven over the new earth. Neither does loosing the Devil mean the restoring of the “beast” and the deceptive “false prophet” of the present time, for these were put, not into the abyss, but into the lake of fire from which no condemned victim ever gets out alive. In great wrath the Devil again defies Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and assaults it as in the days of the original Gog and Magog.
17 Ezekiel’s prophecy, chapters 38 and 39, locates the original assault of Gog and Magog as happening at this end of the world, when lying spirits come out of the mouths of Satan the Dragon and the beast and the false prophet to gather the kings of the whole world to the war of Armageddon with which this world ends. (Rev. 16:14-16; 19:18-21) Ezekiel’s prophecy further pictures Gog and the land of Magog as being far distant from God’s approved people and as being evil-minded and covetous and opposed to the faithful worshipers of Jehovah as God. They fight on Satan’s side of the great issue, Who is to rule the world? They prove to be on the losing side and are utterly destroyed at the battle of Armageddon by an “overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone”. (Ezek. 38:22, Am. Stan. Ver.; 39:6) Those who let themselves be led astray by Satan loosed from his prison are likened to such people as Gog and Magog, whom they imitate. Like Satan, who leads them astray, they are willful in their rebellion against Jehovah God and his kingdom by Christ. Just how many there will be of this “Gog and Magog” class the expression “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” does not indicate. It need not be the majority of mankind who have experienced the blessings of Christ’s millennial reign. For example, when the number of Christ’s body-members was unrevealed, they were compared with the sands of the sea for multitude, but the exact number was finally disclosed to John to be just 144,000 together with the Head One, Christ Jesus. (Gen. 22:17; Rev. 14:1; 7:4-8) Thus the multitude of “Gog and Magog” is left just as indefinite in number as the “sand of the sea” and may be a minority of mankind. —See Joshua 11:4; Judges 7:12; 1 Samuel 13:5; 2 Samuel 17:11; 1 Kings 4: 20.
18 In unnumbered multitude Satan’s hordes on earth, symbolized by Gog and Magog, advance to a fight against the thousand-year-old Government of the righteous new world. They are spoken of as surrounding the “encampment of God’s people, and the beloved city”. (Rev. 20:9, An Amer. Trans.) Those of uplifted, perfected mankind who resist Satan’s seductions show they are God’s earthly people, his “saints” or “holy ones”. Their taking the field in support of His rightful sovereignty and in unswerving opposition to Satan’s final assault causes them to be compared to an encampment. The “beloved city” in support of which they muster is the New Jerusalem. It is the Heavenly Jerusalem, made up of the members of Christ’s body of footstep followers now united to their Head, the King of kings. It is God’s capital organization over all the universe, and it has controlled the earth for the thousand years. The assault upon it does not mean that Satan the Devil invades the high heavens. No; for when the newly enthroned Christ cast him out of heaven and down to earth, this made it impossible for Satan and his angels ever to get back up there again: “neither was their place found any more in heaven.” (Rev. 12: 7, 8) Hence the assault against the “beloved city” really means a rebellious movement against the principal representatives on earth of the invisible heavenly kingdom, namely, Christ's “princes in all the earth”. What does this disclose ’ Why, that then the final test of integrity toward God will touch all people on earth, even the “princes”. All those desiring to gain the great Judge’s approval and then to prove worthy of the gift of eternal life in the new world must then show unbreakable devotion.
19 The final assault takes place. Almighty God protects his devoted people of integrity upon earth, but Satan the Devil sees the hosts whom he has led astray destroyed: “and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented [Greek: basanidzo] day and night for ever and ever.” (Rev. 20:9,10, Am. Stan. Ver.) This means the utter destruction forever of Satan the Devil and his demons as well as of the “beast” and the “false prophet", for the fiery sulphurous lake symbolizes the second death. It corresponds with Gehenna, in which Jesus said God Almighty is able to “destroy both soul and body”. (Matt. 10: 28, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) In Bible times jailers were called "tormentors” (Matt. 18:34, An;. Stan. Ver.) Satan’s being tormented with the “beast” and “false prophet” in the lake of fire and brimstone
19. How is defeat administered to the attaches? forever and ever means the jailers will never release him from this state of destruction. He suffers the “second death” at the hands of Christ Jesus. (Heb. 2:14) Thus the final judgment of the wicked angels takes place, and Christ’s body-members share with him in that judgment work.—1 Cor. 6: 3.
29 Certainly, then, those of mankind who side with Satan in assaulting the encampment of God’s holy people on earth and the visible princely representatives of the “beloved city” will not have their names inscribed in the “book of life”. As to this we read: “And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death, the pool of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the pool of fire.” (Rev. 20:14,15, Cath. Conf rat.) Whereas the death state due to Adam’s sin and “hell” (the earthly abode of those dying in Adam) are destroyed, yet the second death symbolized by the lake or pool of fire is not destroyed. It continues for all time as the penalty enforced upon those who refuse to submit to Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ Jesus. Of course, any of mankind who prove willfully unreformable during the millennial reign can be flung into the second death before the millennium ends and Satan is loosed. But those who then join him in his wicked final assault, “Gog and Magog,” will with him be annihilated in the pool of fire, the second death.
21 Since the casting of Satan and his demons out of heaven after God’s kingdom was born in 1914 (A.D.), as pictured at Revelation 12, all sin and wickedness in the universe have been confined to our earth and its vicinity. God never again allows place for it in the heavens. So, at the end of Christ's thousand-year reign, when all the wicked,- both demonic and human, are destroyed, it will result in not only a clean earth but also a clean universe. The new heavens over the new earth will rule forever, and God’s will is certain to be done on the paradise earth for all time, even as it is done up in heaven. God’s favor through Christ will evermore extend to the earth, and its inhabitants will be justified to eternal life. By ever worshiping and faithfully serving Him as Most High God and Universal Sovereign they will never have their names expunged from the “book of life”.
PARENTAL CURBS AGAINST JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
UNDER the present fallen and imperfect conditions in this twentieth century there is, of course, no possibility of the birth of a perfect child. Even fifteen centuries before Christ the righteously disposed Job said: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” (Job 14:1, 4) The psalmist David expressed it as true of all descendants of Adam: “I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Ps. 51: 5) Whatever the world may see or not see in this day of rising juvenile delinquency, we can urge that those people desiring and seeking for eternal life in the coming righteous new world should realize some possibility of alleviating in some measure the stains and weaknesses which belong to our fallen race. They should at least see to it that their children are born with as noble tendencies as they can possibly bestow upon them under the divine arrangement. Fallen their children will be still, and a Savior they will still need, and without Christ Jesus they could never attain either to human perfection or to worthiness of eternal life in the new world. Nevertheless, we can strive for the edification of ourselves and of our children, now.
Strive how he will, the human creature is still natural, “of the earth, earthy,” and hence he can impress upon a wife, and she upon the embryo of her child, only such thought effects and sentiments as they themselves possess. Necessarily these are deficient in respect to the very highest expressions, the spiritual, the Scriptural. If for any reason those who are today consecrated to do God’s will enter matrimonial relations and consider it wise to propagate a human family, they have a great advantage in this respect over natural men and women of this world. They have loftier ideals, grander hopes, nobler aspirations, purer joys. Realizing the influence of their thoughts and emotions and strivings upon the embryo child, such parents would be in position to do for the child very much more indeed than could other parents for their offspring.
The world has gained a selfish wisdom somewhat along these lines. For instance, those interested in fine stock, cattle, horses, sheep, etc., will not only give careful attention to proper mating, but in addition, especially when trying to breed fast horses, give careful attention to the mothers during the period of bearing offspring. Their every need and comfort are provided for, their stables are clean, bright, well lighted; and without knowing to a certainty to what extent the mare may appreciate pictures, her stable walls display pictures of horses racing. Moreover, while in foal she is taken where she can see horses in competition, racing, etc. All this is designed to produce in the mother an ambition, the impression of which reflected upon her embryo foal will be helpful, advantageous to speed, and thus financially and otherwise profitable and pleasing to the owner.
Human parents have no such financial interest in their offspring. But they have or ought to have a deeper and unselfish interest. Their hopes and ambitions on behalf of their children should be to see them well endowed as respects mental and moral qualities. Many children have been begotten by honest, God-fearing parents and have been correspondingly blessed; and this influence, favorable to a high human standard, has gone wherever the good news of God’s kingdom has gone. So, then, when Christians mate and purpose the bringing forth of offspring according to the flesh, they should school their minds and desires so that the moment of begettal should be not only one of mutual love and respect, but one of reverence for the Creator and of appreciation of this God-given power of procreation bestowed upon them. Every day and hour subsequently the interests of the child should be conserved in all of life’s arrangements. It should not be considered a mere incident of life, but a very important thing involving the coming child’s eternal destiny.
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