The Watchtower, April 15, 1967

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The Watchtower — April 15, 1967

Source: jw.org

Contents

Why Jehovah’s Witnesses Call at Your Home

Mankind’s Millennium Under God’s Kingdom—Why Literally So

The Benefits of Mankind’s Millennium

The Most Urgent Warning Ever Given

“A Theatrical Spectacle to the World, Both to Angels and to Men”

Questions From Readers

Announcements

Why Jehovah’s Witnesses Call at Your Home

Why Jehovah’s Witnesses Call at Your Home

MANY persons wonder why Jehovah’s witnesses keep calling at their homes. Perhaps you are one of those persons. Really, the answer is simple. Jehovah’s witnesses love God, and in his Word the Bible he has instructed those who serve him to talk to other people about him and his loving purposes. Furthermore, they love you as their neighbor. For that reason they want to share with you something that has brought them peace of mind, an understanding of the significance of world conditions and a reliable hope for a permanently peaceful world.

The Bible long ago foretold the turmoil and trouble that the nations have experienced since the outbreak of World War I as well as the outcome. (Luke 21:10, 11, 31) It also outlines the course that we must take as humans during this crucial time in order to have God’s approval and be preserved to live in his new system of things. (Zeph. 2:2, 3) It is urgent to act. Your life and the lives of your family are involved. That is one reason why Jehovah’s witnesses call at your home, knowing that, if your heart is righteously inclined, you will be grateful for their visit.

Of course, not everyone appreciates it when Jehovah’s witnesses call. There are persons who, as the Lord Jesus said, “have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were wicked.” (John 3:19) The message of the Bible disturbs them, and they push it away. Even some who are deeply religious react harshly when Jehovah’s witnesses call. As they hurriedly shut the door, they frequently remark that their priest or minister has told them to slam the door on Jehovah’s witnesses and not to listen. But why? Some of them begin to wonder. Is there something in the Bible that their clergymen do not want them to know?

Other persons are simply indifferent. They are so concerned with materialistic pursuits that they have no time for spiritual interests. They are like those people in the days of Noah concerning whom Jesus Christ said: They were “eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away.” Jesus said that it would be the same in our day. (Matt. 24:38, 39) But while there is yet time, people have the opportunity to heed the message of warning about the impending destruction of this wicked system of things. With earnest concern for their welfare, Jehovah’s witnesses continue to call on them.

Jehovah’s witnesses do not force their message on anyone. If a person does not want to listen, they go on to the next door. But when they are back in the territory again, they do not show any hard feelings against those who were indifferent or unkind to them last time. They call at their doors again. Perhaps some of them will be willing to listen. Circumstances in life cause attitudes to change. Such has been the case in countless thousands of instances.

Apparently you are not a person who shoves away the Bible’s message as published by Jehovah’s witnesses; that is why you are reading this magazine. As shown on the inside cover of this issue, there are millions more like you, because 4,850,000 copies are regularly printed in seventy-one languages. If you enjoy this magazine, there is something else that we believe you will enjoy just as much, and it does not cost even as much as the small contribution that you gave for this copy of The Watchtower. In fact, it is a service that is absolutely free.

What we have in mind is a free home study of the Bible, an hour each week, at a time convenient to you. Just what could you expect to learn in the course of perhaps a year of such weekly Bible discussions? Well, in a carefully planned program currently being used by Jehovah’s witnesses world wide, these points are covered:

Evidence that God is indeed alive and that the Bible truly is his Word. This is followed by a condensed coverage of the entire Bible, highlighting the principal ideas and showing how it all ties together and how it makes clear the purpose of God. Having laid this fine foundation, they focus attention on specific Bible topics and questions that have perplexed people everywhere; for example, How did the universe and living creatures, both human and spirit, come into existence? What does the Bible show the soul to be? What happens to that soul at death? Why must man die? Will it always be this way? Does the Bible’s promise of a resurrection mean that you will actually be able to enjoy the companionship of your deceased loved ones again? Where will they be raised​—in heaven or on earth? What conditions will prevail then? How do the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures and accounts concerning such men as Abraham, Moses and David affect us today? Is God a person, or three persons in one God? Are you obligated to keep the Law given through Moses? What about the Ten Commandments? the sabbath day? Why has God permitted wickedness to continue for so long? Will unrighteousness come to an end? When? How can we be sure? This is only a sampling of the stimulating questions that are given satisfying answers.

It is to provide to all persons, whether they belong to a church or not, such fine instruction from their own copies of the Bible that Jehovah’s witnesses call at their homes. Jehovah’s witnesses in your community would count it a privilege to conduct such a free home Bible study with you. Next time they call at your door, ask them about it. It is with a desire to be of service to you in this way that they call.

Gaining such Bible knowledge is vital to you and to your family now. Jesus Christ and his apostles showed that it can open up the way to everlasting life in God’s righteous new system of things. But the time left in which to act is short. Avail yourself of the opportunity now. Jehovah’s witnesses will be glad to help you.​—John 17:3; 2 Pet. 3:13.

Mankind’s Millennium Under God’s Kingdom—Why Literally So

Mankind’s Millennium Under God’s Kingdom​—Why Literally So

1. To what is the word “millennium” applied, and what question arises as to it?

MILLENNIUM means a time period of a thousand years. This long word is made up from two Latin words that we find in the Latin version of the last book of the Holy Bible, in Revelation 20:2-7, namely, mille anni, meaning “a thousand years.” According to these Bible verses, Jesus Christ must reign for a thousand years over mankind. Because he resembles the first man on earth, namely, Adam, he is called “the last Adam.” However, the “first man Adam” sinned against God and lived less than a thousand years, or 930 years. (Gen. 5:1-5; 1 Cor. 15:45-49) As the book of Revelation is a prophetic book written largely in symbolic language, the question has been much discussed as to whether the thousand years of Christ’s rule as king are literal or figurative, symbolical.

2. What does Revelation 20:4-6 say about the millennium?

2 In proceeding to get the answer to this important question, let us read the prophetic verses about Christ’s reign, in Revelation 20:4-6: “And I saw seats: and they sat upon them: and judgment was given unto them: and the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not adored the beast nor his image, nor received his character on their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In 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.”​—Roman Catholic Douay Version.

3, 4. (a) Why is the question raised as to whether the period of “a thousand years” is symbolic or not? (b) How long did John think the millennium would be, and to which early Christian do we go for reference?

3 In the Re 20 verses 4-6 just quoted the “beast” and “his image” are symbols of something else. So, are the “thousand years” also symbolic, meaning a longer period than just a thousand years? Well, how did the writer, the Christian apostle John, himself understand it? We have no straight comment from John himself, but there was a man of the second century, named Paʹpi·as, who knew associates of the apostle John; and about Paʹpi·as the eleventh volume of The Catholic Encyclopedia (edition of 1911), page 308, under the title “Millennium,” has this to say:

4 “Papias of Hierapolis, a disciple of St. John, appeared as an advocate of millenarianism. He claimed to have received his doctrine from contemporaries of the Apostles, and Irenæus narrates that other ‘Presbyteri’, who had seen and heard the disciple John, learned from him the belief in millenarianism as part of the Lord’s doctrine. According to Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, III, 39) Papias in his book asserted that the resurrection of the dead would be followed by one thousand years of a visible, glorious earthly kingdom of Christ, . . .”a

5, 6. (a) To what did Paʹpi·as and other Christian elders look forward because of the apostle John’s vision? (b) Christ’s millennial reign does not begin before what “day”?

5 The apostle John, who received the prophetic vision of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and of his congregation of 144,000 redeemed followers, accepted the vision as setting out the truth. John believed the millennium to be a time period literally one thousand years long. In proof we have the testimony of the martyred Paʹpi·as and of other Christian elders, “‘Presbyteri,’ who had seen and heard the disciple John.” They looked forward to the resurrection of the 144,000 members of his redeemed congregation, in order that they might live and reign and serve as priests during his reign of one thousand years.

6 They looked forward to the coming of the “last day” for this to occur, inasmuch as the apostle John wrote down Jesus’ own words to this effect: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I shall resurrect him at the last day.” (John 6:53, 54) And Martha, the sister of Jesus’ beloved friend Lazarus, said to Jesus: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:24) So the millennial reign of Christ would not begin before that “last day.”

TIME FOR REIGNING

7. (a) How did Jesus show he was willing to wait till God’s due time for him to reign? (b) What question arose about his followers, and what attitude did Paul show toward this?

7 Jesus Christ was willing to wait till God’s appointed time for him to rule as king for a thousand years. When Satan the Devil tried to tempt him in the wilderness and offered him all the kingdoms of the world, he refused to bow down to Satan the Devil in an act of worship in order to gain those earthly kingdoms. (Luke 4:1-8; Matt. 4:8-11) But the question arose, Would Jesus’ footstep followers be willing to wait until God’s due time for them to reign with his Son Jesus Christ, in the meantime enduring all the persecution and suffering? The imprisoned apostle Paul wrote to a fellow Christian: “I go on enduring all things for the sake of the chosen ones, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in union with Christ Jesus along with everlasting glory. Faithful is the saying: Certainly if we died together, we shall also live together; if we go on enduring, we shall also rule together as kings.” (2 Tim. 2:10-12) Yes, Paul was willing to wait, but to certain ambitious Christians in Corinth he wrote:

8. As regards waiting, what did Paul write to certain ambitious Christians in Corinth?

8 “You men already have your fill, do you? You are rich already, are you? You have begun ruling as kings without us, have you? And I wish indeed that you had begun ruling as kings, that we also might rule with you as kings. For it seems to me that God has put us the apostles last on exhibition as men appointed to death, because we have become a theatrical spectacle to the world.”​—1 Cor. 4:8, 9.

9. What words of Paul show whether he was reigning when he died?

9 The apostle Paul did not die reigning as a king on earth, but from prison he wrote: “I have run the course to the finish, I have observed the faith. From this time on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me as a reward in that day, yet not only to me, but also to all those who have loved his manifestation.”​—2 Tim. 4:7, 8.

10. (a) What words of the apostle John show whether he was reigning at death? (b) What question arises, then, regarding certain religious leaders of Christendom?

10 Likewise the apostle John, who also loved the future manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ, did not die ruling as an earthly king. Toward the end of his long earthly life, he wrote: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world​—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—​does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.” (1 John 2:15-17) How is it, then, that religious popes and patriarchs, archbishops and bishops have been reigning in Christendom for many centuries, seated on gorgeous thrones and making a showy display of themselves in regalia fit for kings? How is this?

11. What have such men evidently imagined, and what question comes up about the pope of Rome?

11 Have these religious officials of Christendom imagined that the millennial reign of Christ has already begun and that they are therefore entitled to reign with him on earth, although he is up in heaven? And has the invisible Christ been reigning on earth by means of a visible human representative, of whom the National Catholic Almanac says: “His Holiness the Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, . . . the Archbishop and Primate of the Roman Province, the Sovereign of the State of Vatican City”?

12. How long have these religious officials of Christendom been reigning, and have they personally fulfilled Revelation 20:4-6?

12 These religious officials have thus been reigning for more than a thousand literal years, ever since the days of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great or shortly thereafter,b even Pope Leo I (440-461 C.E.) saying: “I will revive government once more upon this earth; not by bringing back the Caesars, but by declaring a new theocracy, by making myself the vicegerent of Christ, by virtue of the promise made to Peter, whose successor I am, . . . Not a diadem, but a tiara will I wear, a symbol of universal sovereignty, before which barbarism shall flee away, and happiness be restored once more.”c And yet not one of these reputed vicars of Christ or archbishops or bishops personally reigned on his episcopal throne for a thousand years, each one reigning as long as Jesus Christ himself will. Thus not one of them has fulfilled what Revelation 20:4-6 says about reigning with Christ.

RUNNING AHEAD OF THE TIME

13-15. (a) What questions, therefore, arise as to a change in understanding of Revelation 20:4-6? (b) How does what The Catholic Encyclopedia says about Augustine help to clear up these questions?

13 Well, then, when did this change in understanding of Revelation 20:4-6 take place, and how and why? When and why did religious leaders make a symbolical interpretation of the millennium and put it ahead of Christ’s return and make it a rule on earth, in the flesh, and on man-made material thrones? The Catholic Encyclopedia helps to clear up the question. Volume Ten, edition of 1911, page 309, has this to say under the heading “Millennium”:

14 “St. Augustine finally held to the conviction that there would be no millennium. The struggle between Christ and His saints on the one hand and the wicked world and Satan on the other, is waged in the Church on earth; so that great Doctor describes it in his work De Civitate Dei [Concerning the City of God]. In the same book he gives us an allegorical explanation of Chapter 20 of the Apocalypse. The first resurrection, of which this chapter treats, he tells us, refers to the spiritual rebirth in baptism; the sabbath of one thousand years after the six thousand years of history, is the whole of eternal life; or, in other words, the number one thousand is intended to express perfection, and the last space of one thousand years must be understood as referring to the end of the world; at all events, the kingdom of Christ, of which the Apocalypse speaks, can only be applied to the Church.d . . .

15 “This explanation of the illustrious Doctor was adopted by succeeding Western theologians, and millenarianism in its earlier shape no longer received support. . . . Moreover, the attitude of the Church towards the secular power had undergone a change with closer connexion between her and the Roman empire. There is no doubt that this turn of events did much towards weaning the Christians from the old millenarianism, which during the time of persecution had been the expression of their hopes that Christ would soon reappear and overthrow the foes of His elect. . . . The Middle Ages were never tainted with millenarianism; it was foreign both to the theology of that period and to the religious ideas of the people. . . . The Protestantism of the sixteenth century ushered in a new epoch of millenarian doctrines.”

16. Why did religious leaders come to feel no need for a future millennial reign of Christ, and how did they justify themselves in not following his example?

16 There we have it! When the religious leaders of the fourth century gained official recognition from the Roman Empire and accepted appointments to religious positions of power and authority and thus their religion became allied to the political state, what happened? The religious leaders felt no need for a future literal millennial reign of Jesus Christ with his glorified congregation in heaven. They were already reigning in prominent religious capacities with the backing of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, to justify themselves in not following Christ’s example but in accepting rulership before resurrection from the dead and while still in the flesh on earth with the politicians, they applied Revelation 20:4-6 as being fulfilled in themselves. They persuaded their religious flocks to give way to the same change of sentiment toward Christ’s thousand-year reign over mankind. This fact is supported by the religious Cyclopædia by M’Clintock and Strong, Volume 6, page 265, column 2, of which says:

17. In support of the above, what does the Cyclopædia by M’Clintock and Strong say?

17 “One great reason of this remarkable change of sentiment is to be found in the altered condition and prospects of the Church. Christians at first yearned for the reappearance of the Lord. Moreover, it was impossible for them to raise their faith and hopes so high as to expect the conquest of the Roman empire by the moral power of the cross, independently of the personal and supernatural interposition of Christ. But as the Gospel made progress, the possibility and probability of a peaceful victory of the Christian cause over all its adversaries, by the might of truth and of the Spirit, gained a lodgment in the convictions of good men. It is believed that Origen (born 180, died 254) is the first of the ancient ecclesiastical writers to affirm the practicableness of such a triumph of the Gospel through its own inherent efficacy.”

18, 19. (a) Due to its relations with the political state, where did the Church of Christendom think that it was living? (b) What Latin religious father helped along such thinking, and how?

18 As the religious organization of Christendom had the protection of the political government, and as the religious organization had such good relations, power and influence with the political state, even using its mailed fist for the forcible conversion of the pagans to Christendom’s religion, it was now claimed that Christendom’s Church was already in the millennium foretold by the apostle John. Doctor Augustine’s treatment of the subject of the millennium gave to men’s religious thinking a powerful push in that direction. Says the above Cyclopædia:

19 “Augustine’s treatment of the subject marks an epoch. He says (De Civitate Dei, XX, 7) that he had once held to a millenarian Sabbath; nor does he consider the doctrine objectionable, provided the joys of the righteous are figured as spiritual. But, proceeding to discuss the subject, he advocates the proposition that the earthly kingdom of Christ is the Church, which was even then in the millennial æera, and on the road to a glorious ascendancy over all its enemies. It would seem that this modified interpretation of prophecy, sustained as it was by the authority of the principal Latin father [Augustine], gave color to the mediæval speculations on this subject.”​—Volume 6, of 1890 edition, page 265.

20. (a) A literal millennium upon the Roman Catholic Papacy was thought to to fulfilled during what time? (b) How were the troubles that followed understood, but why could this not be right?

20 This Latin religious father, Aurelius Augustine, who spread such an interpretation of Revelation 20:4-6, lived 354-430 C.E. In harmony with his view that the millennial reign of Christ was being fulfilled in the Roman Catholic Church on earth, it was later thought that the millennial reign of the Roman Catholic Papacy in a literal way was from the year 800 C.E., when Pope Leo II crowned Charlemagne in Rome as king of the Holy Roman Empire, to 1799 C.E., when Pope Pius VI, already deposed by Napoleon Bonaparte, was taken as a prisoner from the Vatican on February 20, and deported to Valence, France, where he died on August 29, 1799.e The trouble that followed upon the Roman Catholic Church was viewed as marking the “little time” during which Satan the Devil was to be loosed at the millennium’s end. (Rev. 20:1-3, 7, Dy) However, it is now 168 years since the year 1799. That is not a “little time” for the Devil to be loosed; and yet the troubles on the Roman Catholic Papacy are worsening. And now the destruction of Babylon the Great, of which the Papacy is the most powerful member, threatens that religious empire in the near future.

FIGURATIVE MILLENNIUM PROVED WRONG

21. How is Augustine today proved to be wrong as to a glorious ascendancy of the Church of Christendom over its enemies?

21 How wrong the Roman Catholic “Saint” Augustine was can now be clearly seen. The Church of Christendom has never been in any “millennial æera,” smashing to pieces the political kingdoms of her enemies. Today no one can rightly say that, in Augustine’s words, the Church of Christendom is “on the road to a glorious ascendancy over all its enemies.” The pagan world is growing at a faster rate than the Church system of Christendom. Also, atheistic Communism is spreading even in Roman Catholic territories. Augustine’s giving a figurative or allegorical meaning to Revelation 20:4-6 regarding the thousand-year reign of Christ has glaringly proved to be false. Under Christendom’s Church system mankind has never enjoyed the promised millennial blessings.

22, 23. (a) What about the hopes of those religious leaders about a peaceful victory of the Christian cause over its foes? (b) What objection of theirs to Christ’s pre-millennial return is now exposed as foundationless?

22 So what about those religious leaders who rejected the need of the reign of Christ’s heavenly kingdom for a literal thousand years? Dashed to pieces lie their hopes of “a peaceful victory of the Christian cause over all its adversaries, by the might of truth and of the Spirit.” Their idea was that the world could be peacefully converted by the missionaries of Christendom and that there was no need for the glorified Jesus Christ to intervene forcibly from heaven to bring in the millennium. This idea has proved to be a wrong interpretation of the Holy Bible. The objection that such religious leaders had raised against the need of Christ to return in Kingdom power before his literal millennial reign is now exposed as being without foundation. As to that objection, the Cyclopædia by M’Clintock and Strong (Volume 6, page 266) says:

23 “The tendency of the millenarian theory to chill the hopes, and thus repress the missionary activity of Christians, by exhibiting the world as in a process of deterioration, and by representing the efforts of Christians to convert mankind as fruitless, until the coming of Christ, constitutes not the least serious objection to such opinions.”​—Edition of 1890 C.E.

24. (a) In view of events from 1914 on, what questions are asked regarding that religious objection? (b) How does the history of the Watch Tower Society show no repression of effort or chilling of hope?

24 That last expression was published away back in 1890, or seventy-seven years ago; but what about the world since the year 1914? Is it “in a process of deterioration”? Have the efforts of Christendom to convert the whole world before the coming of Christ proved fruitless, in vain? The trend of world conditions answers Yes! But have the preaching and missionary activities of Christians who wait for a literal thousand-year reign of Christ for mankind’s blessing been repressed and their hopes been chilled? History for the past eighty-eight years thunders out No! The magazine Zion’s Watch Tower appeared in the year 1879; and in 1886 the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society began to publish the series of volumes known as “Studies in the Scriptures,” which were at first called “Millennial Dawn,” volumes one to six. Today, in spite of being persecuted during two world wars, the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania has ninety-five branches around the globe. It publishes the good news of Christ’s coming millennial reign in 164 languages. It has missionaries and publishers in 199 lands. Yearly the number of Kingdom publishers increases.

25. (a) How did Augustine once refer to the millennium? (b) What do modern chronologies indicate as to man’s existence on earth?

25 Fifteen centuries ago the Roman Catholic “Saint” Augustine spoke of six thousand years of history and referred to the millennium as a “Sabbath,” the seventh-day rest period. But he did not hold to this. For centuries now the Bible chronology as worked out by Archbishop James Ussher has been followed by both Catholics and Protestants. This chronology reckons that the first man Adam was created in the year 4004 before Christ, and so six thousand years of human existence on earth will end before this twentieth century ends, or in 1996 C.E. According to a more recent calculation of the Bible timetable, six thousand years of man’s existence will end in the latter half of the year 1975, which is well within this century. The Bible millennium is ahead of us, and, according to the count of time and the events of world history, it is approaching. It is not ending, as Roman Catholic comments on the Bible would make us believe. In the Murphy edition of the English Douay Version of the Holy Bible, Apocalypse 20:1, 2 reads:

26, 27. (a) According to the footnotes of the Murphy edition of the Bible, when did Satan begin to be bound? (b) Also, when is the time of the millennium, and during it, what do the martyred saints do?

26 “And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”

27 The footnote on the expression “bound him, &c.” reads: “The power of Satan has been very much limited by the passion of Christ.” Then the footnote on the expression “for a thousand years” reads: “That is, for the whole time of the New Testament: but especially from the time of the destruction of Babylon or pagan Rome, till the new efforts of Gog and Magog against the church, towards the end of the world. During which time the souls of the martyrs and saints live and reign with Christ in heaven, in the first resurrection, which is that of the soul to the life of glory; as the second resurrection will be that of the body, at the day of the general judgment.”​—Baltimore (Md.) edition.

28. How long is it now since the passing away of “pagan Rome,” and what do facts of history indicate as to whether Satan is in the bottomless pit?

28 However, it is now more than a thousand years since “pagan Rome” gave way to papal Rome in the fifth century. Today the facts of history belie that Satan the Devil has yet been bound and cast into the abyss, as foretold in Apocalypse (Revelation) 20:3 (Dy), saying: “And he [the angel from heaven] cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the nations, till the thousand years be finished. And after that, he must be loosed a little time.”

29. Where does the Revelation locate the battle of Armageddon, and what, in that connection, proves whether the Dragon Satan the Devil is yet bound and in the bottomless pit?

29 The Apocalypse or book of Revelation unmistakably lines up the battle of Armageddon as taking place before Satan is bound and cast into the bottomless pit or abyss. The Bible account describes Satan the Devil as having a direct part in gathering the nations to that battlefield, saying that out of the mouth of the Dragon Satan the Devil an unclean spirit comes forth and joins the unclean spirits out of the mouths of the beast and the false prophet in going to the kings of the whole earth and gathering them to the battle of the great day of God the Almighty, which is to be fought at Armageddon. Now is when those three spirits of devils from those three sources are going to the earthly rulers. Now is when those rulers and their armies are on the march to Armageddon, as we have so frequently been warned by prominent men. Logically, then, the Dragon Satan the Devil could not now be bound and be in the bottomless pit unable to seduce the nations any more, if the unclean spirit out of his mouth is joining in the gathering of the earthly rulers and their armies to Armageddon.​—Rev. 16:13-16, Dy.

30. (a) What respecting Satan’s earthly political tools argues that he is not yet sealed up in the pit? (b) What will happen to those political tools at Armageddon, and when will Satan join them there?

30 No, Satan the Devil has not yet been bound and sealed up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. The symbolic “beast” and the “false prophet” are yet on the earth. Likewise Satan the Devil is yet in the vicinity of our earth and using the “beast” and the “false prophet” as his tools to gather the earthly rulers and their armies to their destruction in the war of the great day of God the Almighty. The Apocalypse or Revelation, chapter nineteen, describes the battle of Armageddon on God’s great day, and the chapter locates it just before the binding of Satan and the casting of him into the bottomless pit or abyss. In that coming battle the “beast” and the “false prophet” are cast to their destruction in the symbolic lake of fire and brimstone; and Satan the Devil joins them there first after the thousand years of Christ’s reign over all mankind.​—Rev. 19:11 to 20:3, 7-10, Dy.

31. Why, then, must the millennial reign of Christ yet be future, and what grand fact about it is there today?

31 So, then, just as the battle of Armageddon is yet future, the binding and casting of Satan into the bottomless pit is future, for these acts follow the battle of Armageddon. In view of that, the thousand-year reign of Christ must yet be future, for it follows the casting of Satan into the bottomless pit and continues during the thousand years that Satan is imprisoned in that bottomless pit or abyss. Thus again the anti-millenarian teachings of Augustine and other religious leaders of Christendom are proved to be false. We must yet have a real millennial reign of Christ. The grand fact is that it is very near, for our relief.

[Footnotes]

In confirmation of the above The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 21 (edition of 1929), page 268, says: “PAʹPI·AS, Christian writer, bishop of Hierapolis. He is described by Irenæus and later writers as a ‘hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp.’ He suffered martyrdom at Pergamos in 163 A.D. He was one of the earlier believers in the millennium, that is, the personal reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, and was the author of five books of commentaries on the sayings of the Lord (Lógōn Kyriakôn Exegesis), a few fragments of which are extant. It is from them that we learn that Saint Matthew’s Gospel was traditionally believed to have been written in Hebrew, and the evangelist Mark to have been the interpreter or amanuensis of Peter in writing the Third Gospel.

Says M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia, Volume VIII, page 396: “Before the time of Constantine the clergy were not recognised as holding any distinct rank in the state; but when Christianity was adopted as the religion of the Roman empire, its ministers were considered as occupying the place of those heathen priests whose superstitions had fallen into disrepute.”

See pages 244, 245 of Volume III of Beacon Lights of History, by John Lord, LL.D., New York edition of 1884, in Chapter XXX, entitled “Martin Luther: The Protestant Reformation.”

See Doctor Augustine’s De Civitate Dei, XX, 5-7; in the edition of Jacques Paul Migne, “Patrologiae cursus completus,” XLI, 607 and following pages, in Latin.

Concerning the religious controversy over the millennium during the preceding century, the third century, see Mosheim’s Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Chapter III, entitled “History of Theology,” Section 12, and footnote by James Seaton Reid, D.D., London edition of 1848.

See The Time Is at Hand (Volume Two of the Studies in the Scriptures), page 356; also, Zion’s Watch Tower, as of December 1881, pages 6, 7; as of May 1882, page 8; as of August 1889, pages 3, 4.

[Picture on page 231]

“If we go on enduring, we shall also rule”

[Picture on page 232]

The pope of Rome​—already in regal splendor

[Picture on page 234]

Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne as king of the Holy Roman Empire

The Benefits of Mankind’s Millennium

The Benefits of Mankind’s Millennium

1. (a) What does the Bible indicate as to whether the battle of Armageddon will leave all earth without inhabitant? (b) Who will be the first subjects over whom Christ will reign during the millennium?

DOES the destruction of Babylon the Great and the battle of Armageddon mean wiping out the human race? Will those events leave all earth without inhabitant? Will not even the remnant of Christ’s faithful congregation of 144,000 be left on the earth in vindication of Almighty God’s protective power over them? In answer the Holy Bible strongly indicates that a remnant of these heavenly Kingdom heirs will be preserved through the war of Armageddon for earthly service before their earthly demise and their resurrection and glorification in the heavens. Also, a “great crowd” of dedicated, baptized Christian companions will survive Armageddon with them. These latter will be the first of the human subjects on earth over whom Christ will reign for mankind’s blessing. What is a kingdom without subjects?​—Prov. 14:28.

2. Who make up this “great crowd,” and what does Revelation 7:14 mean in saying that they come “out of the great tribulation”?

2 The Apocalypse or book of Revelation itself shows that there will be human survivors of the war of Armageddon and the imprisoning of Satan in the abyss. Revelation, chapter seven, makes it plain that these survivors are different from the 144,000 spiritual Israelites, the associate kings of Jesus Christ. They are an international “great crowd” who acknowledge themselves as subjects of God and his Christ; and Revelation 7:14 states that “these are the ones that come out of the great tribulation.” This means more than that they have come out in favor of God and his Christ during the time of the “great tribulation” with which this worldly system of things ends. It means that they also survive that tribulation under God’s protection and live on into the new system of things that follows on earth. They worship and serve God at his spiritual temple and follow the Lamb Jesus Christ like a Shepherd, who leads them to life-giving waters.​—Rev. 7:9-17.

3. How did Jesus, at Matthew 24:21, 22, 37-39, strongly indicate that there would be survivors of the battle of Armageddon?

3 In his prophecy concerning the end of this system of things the “Fine Shepherd” Jesus Christ indicated that there would be survivors of the “great tribulation,” when he said: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” And when Jesus added that, as it was in the days of Noah, so it would be in the days of his invisible second presence, he strongly suggested that there would be survivors of the great tribulation, inasmuch as both Noah and the seven members of his family survived the flood with which the ungodly world of his days was destroyed. (Matt. 24:21, 22, 37-39) After the flood, when Noah and his family came out of the ark into the cleansed earth, God told them what to do. (Gen. 9:1-17) No less so will the survivors of the great tribulation need new and suitable instructions.

4. What state of affairs will make it fitting that Christ step in and begin governing the survivors of Armageddon?

4 Certain prominent persons of today will not survive the destruction of Babylon the Great and the destruction of the earthly kings and their armies and supporters in the war of Armageddon. There will be no survival for the religious rulers of the Babylonish world empire of false religion or for the political and military rulers who war against the heavenly kingdom of God and his Christ. (Rev. 17:14; 19:19-21) Thereafter, by being imprisoned in the abyss, Satan “the ruler of this world,” “the god of this system of things,” will be removed from all touch with mankind. (John 12:31; 14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4) That state of affairs will make it most fitting that Jesus Christ step in and fill the need of those surviving on earth for a new, righteous, perfect government.

5. What does Revelation 20:4-6 say about this needed government?

5 Revelation, chapter twenty, after describing the casting of Satan into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, tells us of this needed government, as the apostle John says: “And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.”​—Rev. 20:4-6.

6. What is this “first resurrection,” when does it take place, and why?

6 In those Re 20 verses 4-6 the “first resurrection” does not mean a symbolical resurrection, that is, the spiritual rebirth of Christians in water baptism, as the Roman Catholic father Augustine says in his book De Civitate Dei. (See page 232, paragraph 14.) It is a literal resurrection of those happy and holy ones. It takes place, as Jesus said, in “the last day,” at his second coming and presence in an invisible way. It is then, at the call of his voice, that these dead holy ones ‘come to life’ and begin ruling with Christ in his heavenly kingdom. (John 5:28, 29) Certainly it is not before water baptism that they are executed with the ax for bearing testimony about Jesus and speaking God’s Word. It was certainly not before water baptism that they had passed the test of not worshiping the “wild beast” and his “image” and of not receiving the characteristic mark of either beast or image in their forehead or in their hands. This testing came after baptism.

7. (a) Why is this resurrection called the “first”? (b) How do those participating prove worthy of such a resurrection?

7 This “first resurrection” is called such to differentiate it from the resurrection of the “rest of the dead,” who are said not to come to life “until the thousand years were ended.” So the resurrection of the happy and holy ones is “first” in point of time and in importance, for “over these the second death has no authority.” At their resurrection from the dead they are clothed upon with immortality, deathlessness, together with incorruptibility. This, in fact, is the resurrection described by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapter fifteen, verses thirty-five through fifty-four. It is the resurrection of which Paul there says: “It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body.” For such a first-ranking resurrection these happy and holy ones must be proved worthy by suffering martyrdom by being executed with the ax and by refusing to worship the “wild beast” and its “image” and to receive the mark of such things in their foreheads or their hands. Till their death in the flesh they must faithfully give their testimony about Jesus Christ and speak the Word of God as set out in the Holy Bible.​—Rev. 2:10.

A HEAVENLY GOVERNMENT

8. Will they reign in earthly Jerusalem, and where will their subjects be found during the thousand years?

8 Being resurrected with spiritual bodies, they will be able to reign with the King Jesus Christ in the heavens, unseen to their human subjects on earth. Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God the heavenly Father in His throne. Concerning the location of His throne Jehovah God says: “The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” (Isa. 66:1; Acts 7:48, 49; Ps. 110:1; Acts 2:34-36; 1 Pet. 3:22) Where, then, will Jesus Christ reign with his resurrected happy and holy followers for a thousand years? In the thronelike heavens, and not on earth, not in earthly Jerusalem which today is held by Mohammedan Jordanians. These Christians have approached “a Mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem.” (Heb. 12:22) The earth will be as a footstool to them, and here on the footstool is where their human subjects will be found during the thousand years.

9. Religiously, what kind of kingdom will that be?

9 That will be truly a Christian kingdom, and not a kingdom of Christendom such as has oppressed the people and stained the earth with wanton bloodshed, even in the name of religion.

10, 11. (a) Who has ruled mankind invisibly for millenniums, and through what visible agency? (b) Despite what political worship have peace and security failed to come, but when will they come?

10 For thousands of years mankind has suffered from the rule of the invisible Satan the Devil, “the ruler of this world,” together with his “wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.” (John 12:31; 14:30; Eph. 6:11, 12) His visible political system through which he has ruled mankind is likened to a wild beast. The “image” of that symbolic wild beast has been and is another political organization to turn away worship and service from Jehovah God to the political “wild beast.”

11 After World War I that “image” was set up in the form of the political League of Nations, and after World War II in the form of the League’s successor, the United Nations. But, even though the peoples of earth now worship the political “wild beast” through its political “image,” the United Nations, world peace and security do not come to the earth. So the people’s worship of the political state proves vain. Only after the war of Armageddon destroys the “wild beast” and its political “image” will peace and security be ushered in, and that for a thousand years. Then Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords will prove worthy of his foretold title, “Prince of Peace.”​—Isa. 9:6, 7; Rev. 19:16-21.

12, 13. (a) Amid this militarized system, what prophecy concerning the “final part of the days” are followers of the Prince of Peace fulfilling? (b) Their displaying the peaceful Christian spirit instead of beastliness was prefigured in what Messianic prophecy?

12 Even now, before the end of this militarized system of things controlled by the diabolical “ruler of this world,” the truly dedicated, baptized followers of the “Prince of Peace” are fulfilling the prophecy concerning this “final part of the days,” namely: “Out of Zion law will go forth, and the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem. And he will certainly render judgment among the nations and set matters straight respecting many peoples. And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:2-4) Already among themselves, in their God-ruled congregations around the earth, these formerly divided peoples cultivate and display the peaceful Christian spirit toward one another, instead of beastliness. This was prefigured in the following Messianic prophecy:

13 “The wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra; and upon the light aperture of a poisonous snake will a weaned child actually put his own hand. They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”​—Isa. 11:6-9.

14. (a) With what condition will survivors of Armageddon and Satan’s abyssing start out, and how long will this continue? (b) What work will take the lead in all human activities, and with what result?

14 If now, during these war-torn years of this “conclusion of the system of things,” such an ideal condition can obtain among Christ’s true followers, how much more will this peaceful condition prevail without interference among the survivors after the battle of Armageddon removes the earthly rulers and their armies and after Satan and his demons are sealed up in the abyss! Those who survive the battle of Armageddon and the abyssing of Satan will start out with absolute peace, and the heavenly kingdom of Christ and his glorified congregation will preserve that peace on earth for a thousand years. What a time that will be for men to examine the Holy Bible to ascertain more accurately how its prophecies have been faithfully fulfilled! Education concerning the living and true God Jehovah will take the lead in all human activities. The entire earth will literally “be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”

15. (a) How did Jesus in prayer emphasize the vital importance of such education? (b) Such education is really a work of whom, and who will be provided for it?

15 The vital importance of such education can be appreciated from Jesus’ words of prayer to his heavenly Father: “You have given him authority over all flesh, that, as regards the whole number whom you have given him, he may give them everlasting life. This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:2, 3) The educating of his subjects on earth in the knowledge of the only true God and his provision for everlasting salvation through Jesus Christ​—this is really a priestly work. Education of the people in God’s law was part of the duties of the priesthood of Israel till the first coming of Christ. Such work fits the fact that the glorified Jesus Christ will be not only a king but also a priest, in fact, God’s High Priest. His resurrected congregation in heaven will be his underpriests. That is why it is prophesied that “they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6) Education by such priests will lead the earthly subjects of the Kingdom to everlasting life on a paradise earth.

16. What priestly work in behalf of sins will be carried on, and toward what condition will this help the grateful, obedient ones?

16 The priests of Christendom have misrepresented God’s High Priest, Jesus Christ. They will disappear from the earth when Babylon the Great is destroyed just prior to Armageddon. Afterward Christ’s resurrected congregation in heaven will do lifesaving priestly work with him. During the thousand years they will apply the benefits of his perfect ransom sacrifice to mankind. (Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6) Their sins that they commit due to weakness traceable to their first human father Adam and of which they repent will be forgiven them. The condemnation of sin will be removed from them through Christ’s ransom merit. As illustrated by Jesus’ healing work when he was on earth, physical and mental benefits will result from the forgiveness of sins. The Kingdom will maintain righteous conditions on earth and direct the people in the way of righteousness. Also, the priestly work will bring spiritual and physical healing. This will help the grateful, obedient ones back to human perfection such as Adam had when he was created in the paradise garden of Eden.​—Matt. 8:14-17; 9:1-12.

HA’DES AND DEATH WIPED OUT

17. How will this priestly work affect the human dead, and what does Revelation 20:5 indicate concerning the “rest of the dead”?

17 Such priestly service will reach down and benefit even the billions of dead humanity. Jesus Christ, God’s High Priest, was himself resurrected from the dead in order to render priestly service for all those for whom he died. His congregation of underpriests are also raised from the dead in the “first resurrection” to share in Christ’s millennial priestly work for mankind. Their resurrection is a guarantee that the rest of the human dead in Haʹdes or Sheol will be raised to life under the Kingdom, during the course of the thousand years. (Acts 17:31; 1 Cor. 15:20-26) This explains why Revelation 20:5 says that “the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.”

18, 19. (a) By the end of the thousand years, in what condition will the obedient subjects find themselves? (b) What action will Christ take at the end of mankind’s millennial sabbath under his kingdom?

18 By that time both those who survive the battle of Armageddon and who need no resurrection and those who will be resurrected to life on earth will, if obedient, be lifted to the fullness of perfect human life. No condemnation to death for imperfection will rest upon them then. (Heb. 7:22-27; 5:5-10) With that end in view, Revelation 20:11-14 describes the resurrection of the dead from Haʹdes and the sea. This resurrection marks the beginning of the priestly work in behalf of those who are dead in Haʹdes and the sea.

19 At the end of his priestly work of a thousand years Jesus Christ will turn over the completely healed, purified, perfected subjects of his kingdom to Jehovah God, the final Judge of all. (1 Cor. 15:24-28) There mankind’s millennial sabbath under God’s kingdom by Christ will end. What relief that sabbath has brought!

20. Why must all these perfected humans be then put to the test, and why will Satan the Devil be loosed for a little while?

20 Yet, what immediately follows is important for all mankind. True, they are in human perfection then in a paradise earth. But the right to everlasting life has not yet been bestowed upon all mankind who now stand in perfection and righteousness before the Supreme Judge, Jehovah God. They will all have to prove worthy of being granted that right, just as the perfect Adam and Eve in the paradise of Eden had to prove whether they deserved the right to everlasting perfect human life in an earthly paradise. Just as Adam and Eve were tested out by Satan the Devil, just so all their earthly descendants must be put to the test at the hands of the same Tempter at the close of the thousand years. This is the reason for the loosing of Satan the Devil out of his abysmal prison for a little while after the millennium ends.

21. What question now arises concerning Adam’s perfected descendants, and how does prophecy answer?

21 By then all the wicked work of Satan during the past six thousand years will have been undone. But will the loosed Satan and his demons now be able to turn all perfected mankind away from God as Universal Sovereign just as he turned away mankind’s first human parents in the paradise garden of Eden? Prophecy answers No! There will be those who, under this final crucial test, will stay loyal to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. These will vindicate God. He will judge them worthy of everlasting life and bestow that right to it upon them, writing their names in his “book of life.”

22. What will be the outcome for those failing under the test, and also for the Tempter, and what will be the result to all heaven and earth?

22 There will be others who will fall under the test. They will make up the unpredicted number of the hosts of Gog and Magog and will be destroyed in the “second death,” from which there is no resurrection. Then Satan the Devil, having now lost in his long controversy with God, will be forever destroyed along with his demons. (Rev. 20:7-10, 15; Matt. 25:41, 46) At last all heaven and earth will be found cleansed of all wickedness and its disastrous consequences. In perfect righteousness, Jehovah God, then fully triumphant, will reign over all forever and ever!

23. What kind of provision is that for the thousand-year reign of Christ, and why should we spread the good news?

23 Viewed from this completed picture of things, O how loving and marvelous is God’s provision for the thousand-year reign of his Priest-King Jesus Christ! O spread the good news that all who love righteousness may rejoice and may prepare themselves for it, because that millennium of deliverance and blessing is near!

[Picture on page 241]

The Millennium, a time for education concerning the true God, Jehovah

The Most Urgent Warning Ever Given

The Most Urgent Warning Ever Given

NO MATTER how well you like what you are doing, no matter how satisfied you are with your situation and no matter what your plans are, you will immediately leave all these and run to a place of safety if you are convinced that the danger of sudden death is staring you in the face.

Of course, the warning of such a thing, to be strong enough to motivate you to flight, would have to be from a reliable source and attended by other circumstances that would convince you that the warning was a true one. That is exactly the case with the warning that we speak of here, and there are reasons why it can truly be said to be the most urgent warning ever given. First, it is from God, who has given reliable warnings in the past; who, as man’s Creator, has a genuine interest in the people’s welfare. He himself considers it the most important warning ever sounded. Second, it is not confined to a locality or even to a nation, but it is worldwide. There is no means of escape aside from the one God provides. Third, it takes time to extricate yourself from the dangerous situation and to get to the place of safety, even if you heed the warning immediately, and, fourth, the peril of which it warns is so very near! Bible chronology and prophecy with the events piling up that demonstrate its nearness show that the warning must be given with the greatest urgency and acted on with all possible speed. It is to come within the generation that has already seen two world wars and it is only a few short years ahead of us.

The warning is found in the last book of the Bible. The apostle John had just been shown a vision of a harlot with the name of “Babylon the Great.” In recent articles in this magazine we have shown that this harlot represents an organization claiming to be divine and to represent true religion. She has been shown to represent the world empire of false religion, which has prostituted herself by having political aims and ambitions for power and has meddled in politics and governments of the world for centuries. Now here in the vision to John she is represented by a city. John writes:

THE ONE IN CHARGE OF THE PROCLAMATION

“After these things I saw another angel descending from heaven, with great authority; and the earth was lighted up from his glory. And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: ‘She has fallen! Babylon the great has fallen, and she has become a dwelling place of demons and a lurking place of every unclean exhalation and a lurking place of every unclean and hated bird! For because of the passion-arousing wine of her fornication all the nations have fallen victim, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the traveling merchants of the earth became rich due to the power of her shameless luxury.’”​—Rev. 18:1-3.

The urgency of the warning is emphasized by the fact that the angelic announcer of Babylon’s fall and destruction has great authority and is used as the chief publicity agent for getting this warning declared. To identify him personally, he is actually none other than Jehovah’s archangel, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. He occupies a position pictured by King Cyrus the Persian, who conquered ancient Babylon in 539 B.C.E., after which the city gradually declined until her complete destruction and desolation. Now for about forty-eight years, since as long ago as 1919 C.E., people have been fleeing from Babylonish false religion, for at that time she lost her power to maintain control over those in her who were deceived and held in a slavelike position by her false doctrines. Just as Cyrus conquered Babylon and she later went into decay, so the Greater Cyrus will see to it that Babylon the Great will be completely destroyed. As the archangel of God, his name in heaven is Michael, which means “Who Is like God?” This points him out as the vindicator of God’s name, the one to remove the reproach that has been brought by this great false religious empire upon God and upon true worship and those practicing true worship. “The earth was lighted up from his glory.” (Rev. 18:1) The destruction of Babylon the Great would immeasurably brighten the earthly situation for Jehovah’s people, his Christian witnesses, for they have been misrepresented, defamed and persecuted by the world empire of Babylonish religion.​—Dan. 10:21; 12:1; Rev. 12:7; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.

YOU MAY BE IN DANGER

If you are affiliated with a religious system of Christendom it would be a deliberate denial of your profession of Christianity to ignore the warning and fail to contemplate the ruin of worldly religion described here by Jehovah’s chief angel. It is not something to turn aside lightheartedly. Jehovah is serious and means to do what he says and kindly gives us an opportunity to escape what the great religious organization of this world is facing. He describes her as becoming like a ruined city without human inhabitant or domestic animal, a haunted ruin in whose desolation only wild animals, reminding one of demons, would make their dwelling place. He actually brought the ancient city of Babylon to this debased state. How closely Revelation’s language follows what Jehovah said to ancient Babylon and which came literally true in her case:

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