The Watchtower, November 15, 1967

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The Watchtower — November 15, 1967

Source: jw.org

Contents

What Place Does Jesus Hold in Your Heart?

Make Up Your Mind Now as to Whom You Will Serve

“Let Down Your Nets for a Catch”

Orders for Worldwide Fishing

Assemblies That Promote Disciple-making

Questions From Readers

Announcements

What Place Does Jesus Hold in Your Heart?

UNDOUBTEDLY you have affection for a great many persons, but who holds an especially warm place in your heart? Who stands out as particularly beloved? Can you, without any hesitation or difficulty, identify the one you love and prefer above all others?

It is natural that close relatives might be among the ones you cherish. But is there anyone who means more to you than your marriage mate, or your father or mother or son or daughter? If you profess to be a Christian, there should be others who hold an even more treasured place in your heart. Who could they be?

One is the person who laid down his life for the purpose of rescuing you from the deadly effects of sin, Jesus Christ. (Matt. 1:21; Acts 4:12) What unselfish love prompted his sacrifice! (John 15:13) Appreciation for what Christ did for you should cause to grow in your heart a love for him that surpasses the affection you hold for any human, living or dead.

LOVE FOR JESUS

When sending out his twelve apostles, Jesus explained their need of greater love for him, saying: “He that has greater affection for father or mother than for me is not worthy of me; and he that has greater affection for son or daughter than for me is not worthy of me.” (Matt. 10:37) Later Jesus emphasized this again, telling the great crowds who were following him: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own soul, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26) Jesus, of course, did not mean that Christians must literally hate their relatives, but, rather, that they must love them less than they love him; and sometimes relatives interpret this to mean that the Christian actually hates them.

It is understandable why those who walked and talked and lived with Jesus came to love him and hold him in such high esteem. Everything that he did was with the best interest of others at heart. And although he possessed superhuman powers, he was, nevertheless, mild of spirit, humble, kind and friendly. Indeed, everything about him was lovable, causing associates to place him in their hearts above every other human acquaintance.

Even persons who had never met him came to have this excelling love for Jesus. To ones living in widely scattered areas of the Roman Empire, the apostle Peter wrote: “Though you never saw him, you love him. Though you are not looking upon him at present, yet you exercise faith in him and are greatly rejoicing with an unspeakable and glorified joy.”—1 Pet. 1:8.

These widely scattered peoples had become acquainted with Jesus through the preaching of his disciples and by reading the available Gospel accounts concerning his life. They were moved by the love that Jesus showed in willingly coming down from heaven and eventually suffering a painful, ignominious death in order that others might have everlasting life. (1 Pet. 2:24) It is this very information about Jesus Christ that also causes many persons today to reserve such a precious place in their hearts for him.

Do you, too, treasure the now resurrected Jesus above every human associate? Does he hold first place in your heart? Is it proper that he should? Let us see.

THE ONE JESUS LOVES ABOVE OTHERS

Jesus’ disciples held a very cherished place in his heart. So great was his love for them that the apostle Paul encouraged: “Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it.” (Eph. 5:25) Yet, as Christian husbands should have greater affection for Jesus Christ than even for their own wives, so also Jesus loves someone more than he does his congregation of footstep followers.

This one is the Father, Jehovah God. Jesus repeatedly directed persons to his Father as the primary One to be loved and worshiped. When he was asked what was the greatest commandment of the entire Mosaic law, Jesus said: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.” (Mark 12:30) Jesus obeyed this commandment and loved his Father above everyone and everything else. Jehovah held first place in his heart.

Jesus happily submitted to his Father, the ‘One who sent him’ to the earth, saying: “A slave is not greater than his master, nor is one that is sent forth greater than the one that sent him.” (John 13:16; 8:42; 14:28) He willingly did his Father’s will, always manifesting the attitude: “Not my will, but yours take place.”—Luke 22:42.

Jesus was moved to love and serve his Father because God had demonstrated such great love and affection for him. Repeatedly Jesus acknowledged this, saying: “The Father has affection for the Son.” “You loved me before the founding of the world.” “As the Father has loved me and I have loved you, remain in my love.” (John 5:20; 17:24; 15:9) It was only proper that Jesus respond to the love and affection from his Father, and this he did.

Do you, too, have reason to love Jehovah God? Should you imitate Jesus Christ in giving God exclusive devotion? Has the Father done anything that should endear Him to you above everyone else?

WHY HE SHOULD BE FIRST IN YOUR HEART

Jehovah God not only gave life to his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, but he also gave it to all humankind, including you. And just as the Son is grateful for the loving provision of life and has affection for the Father, so should you too.—Ps. 36:9; 100:3.

Furthermore, when the first human pair sinned and brought the sentence of death upon themselves and their yet unborn offspring, Jehovah God made an arrangement for their rescue from sin and death. Love was what prompted Him, as the Bible explains: “God loved the world [of mankind] so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” “The love is in this respect, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent forth his Son as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins.”—John 3:16; 1 John 4:10.

Although the Son willingly obeyed his Father and came to earth as a ransom sacrifice, note that it was Jehovah God who conceived and initiated this life-giving provision. How this should move us to love Him! He should hold first place in your heart! Jesus Christ emphasized this fact by continually directing attention to his Father, stressing that “it is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” (Matt. 4:10) Really, it grieves Jesus, the obedient, humble servant of his Father, when persons endeavor to put him above Jehovah.

PROOF OF YOUR LOVE FOR JESUS

Therefore, the first way to prove that you truly love Jesus Christ is to honor and serve the One whom he worships, Jehovah God. Accepting Jesus as your savior and living a clean, moral life is also important, but Jesus explained that more was necessary, telling his disciples: “He that has my commandments and observes them, that one is he who loves me. . . . If anyone loves me, he will observe my word.” “You are my friends if you do what I am commanding you.”—John 14:21, 23; 15:14.

Thus, what place Jesus holds in your heart is not demonstrated simply by words, but by actions—by the effort you make to obey his commands. Jesus was a preacher of the kingdom of God, and his command for all who would be his followers is: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19, 20; Mark 1:38; Luke 4:43) Are you sharing in this activity?

Notice how Jesus related one’s love for him with doing the ministerial work. The occasion was a morning following his resurrection, and seven of his disciples were gathered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus appeared to them and, turning to, the apostle Peter, he asked: “‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him: ‘Yes, Lord, you know I have affection for you.’ He said to him: ‘Feed my lambs.’”—John 21:15.

Although Jesus asked whether Peter had love for him [Greek, agápe, which refers to an unselfish, principled love], Peter answered by saying that he had affection for Jesus [Greek, philía, which refers to the strong affection between close friends]. Peter professed more than principled love or agápe for Jesus. He claimed to hold Jesus dear to his heart, having greater affection for him than for even his own mother or father or wife.

So as to emphasize the importance of ministering to others, Jesus again asked Peter: “‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him: ‘Yes, Lord, you know I have affection for you.’ He said to him: ‘Shepherd my little sheep.”’ (John 21:16) Note that Jesus again used agápe when asking Peter if he loved him, while Peter stressed that he had philía or deep affection for Jesus. If it was really true that Peter reserved such a cherished place in his heart for him, Jesus said he should prove it by ministering to others.

Note how, for the third time, Jesus addresses Peter. This time he, too, uses the intimate term philía, asking: “Do you have affection for me?” And again Peter responds, being quite grieved now that Jesus should so persistently question his love: “Lord, you know all things; you are aware that I have affection for you.” If you truly hold such a warm place in your heart for me, Jesus answered, “feed my little sheep.”—John 21:17.

How clear it is that Jesus wants his followers to feed his sheep—to minister to others! Have you been doing this? Does your course of life reveal that you truly love Jesus, that you treasure him in your heart, and that, with him, you love Jehovah God above all others? If you are not presently equipped to obey Jesus’ command to preach to others, Jehovah’s witnesses will be happy to assist you to become qualified. Accept their invitation for a free Bible study in your own home, where you will receive practical instruction on how to explain precious Bible truths to others.

Make Up Your Mind Now as to Whom You Will Serve

WE ARE living at a time when men are becoming more and more definite as to how they stand on issues. Issues are more clearly drawn and men are quicker to express themselves, often violently, in supporting their cause. Pressure is applied to induce or force others to manifest themselves as to the position they take.

This situation is especially noticeable in the field of worship. The issue is becoming sharper. In the past people were reluctant to challenge God or religion, but now they are bold in proclaiming their atheistic and evolutionary theories. This puts a special responsibility on those who do believe in God. But there are many, especially in the churches of Christendom, who have a vacillating, weak-kneed or apathetic attitude. Their faith is practically gone.

In view of how the state of affairs stands today, if there is any love of righteousness in a person’s heart, he cannot continue to stay in the churches of Christendom or in any of the non-Christian religious organizations. Why not? Because the leaders thereof are declaring that “God is dead,” they are approving homosexuality, free love, lawlessness and disrespect of authority. If one claims to be a servant of God and does not get out and declare himself against these practices and the organizations that condone and even approve them, then he is no servant of God at all. He may as well go the whole way with the crowd that is against God, for he will die with them soon when the living God and Universal Sovereign violently manifests his stand on the issue.

God is letting affairs develop to the point where those not serving him are becoming wholly corrupt and deserving of nothing but destruction. God tells us that they become “empty-headed in their reasonings,” given up to uncleanness, “that their bodies might be dishonored among them.” They have “exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created . . . That is why God gave them up to disgraceful sexual appetites, . . . working what is obscene and receiving in themselves the full recompense, which was due for their error.” Yes, they are reaping the fruits of loathsome diseases, mental breakdown and violence, leaving only their execution at God’s hands to clear the earth of them.—Rom. 1:18-32.

“DO NOT TREAT PROPHESYINGS WITH CONTEMPT”

One who claims to be a Christian, a dedicated servant of Almighty God, and who then goes along with the world and its corrupt, godless course is not only partaking of its corruption but, adding to such sins, he is treating prophesyings with contempt. (1 Thess. 5:20) He is ignoring all the words that God has caused to be uttered through the mouths of His prophets and spokesmen. Such a professed Christian has these words from the God he claims to serve; he has the Bible, but ignores it in favor of men’s ideas, which appeal to his selfish desires. To do this is to insult God, to be a hypocrite and more reprehensible than the unbelievers. It is a suicidal course, doubly incurring the burning anger of God.

Some may say, But what can I do? Where can I go to serve God? First, you should get out without delay from the false religious system of Babylon the Great, that is, Babylonlike false religious organizations that defame God’s name. (Rev. 18:4) If you wait you will eventually suffer complete loss of faith in God. Furthermore, the prophecies state that God is going to execute judgment. The final opportunity is here for those who wish to save their lives.

WHERE TO SERVE GOD

There is a place to which to flee. There is a body of people who really serve God and who observe his prophecies. Jesus foretold them when he said he would appoint a “faithful and discreet slave” to give his people spiritual food at the proper time and that he would appoint this “slave” over all his belongings. You can find this “slave” class in the organization of the modern-day Christian witnesses of Jehovah.—Matt. 24:45-47.

In the last chapter 22 of the book of Revelation, the command is given: “Worship God.” And then the apostle John, the writer of the Revelation, evidently refers to Jesus Christ himself, saying: “He [Jesus] also tells me: ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, for the appointed time is near.”’ (Rev. 22:9, 10) The prophecy of Revelation is powerful and most important to listen to now. (Rev. 1:1-3) God’s servants are commanded not to seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll. This command has been obeyed by Jehovah’s witnesses.

In the very first issue of their official magazine, which began publication July 1879, and was then known as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, a goodly number of comments were made on this last book of the Bible in the article “Why Will There Be a Second Advent?” Since that time, in all their publications they have quoted copiously and freely from the book of Revelation and have offered an explanation of it. The Finished Mystery, published in 1917 by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, was a running commentary on the entire Revelation to John. In 1930, two volumes entitled “Light” were published, which brought a more up-to-date explanation of the Revelation, and very recently, in 1963, the book “Babylon the Great Has Fallen!” God’s Kingdom Rules!, a book of 704 pages. This provides an extensive and detailed commentary on Revelation, chapters 14 to 22 particularly.

All these publications have received worldwide distribution and have not been revised or altered to please the religious beliefs nor the customs and practices of different peoples of earth. No, the unadulterated truth of the prophecy has been proclaimed to all.

A SHARP DIVISION

Christ Jesus next shows that two groups emerge in the judgment: “He that is doing unrighteousness, let him do unrighteousness still; and let the filthy one be made filthy still; but let the righteous one do righteousness still, and let the holy one be made holy still.” (Rev. 22:11) These commands are not urgent appeals to those practicing unrighteousness to repent and to clean up. Rather, the thought is, let them go ahead in the course that they have pursued, if that is what they want. If a bad course, let them know that they will get their due recompense for this course, at the latest when the Lord Jesus comes to fight “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”—Rev. 16:14.

Jehovah considers holy those who have made a dedication to him through Jesus Christ and who are practicing righteousness. His name is upon them. If one of these makes a practice of unrighteousness, he is therefore bringing reproach on Jehovah’s name. Consequently, he is of no value to Jehovah or to his fellowman and will lose all the credit that he has built up in previous righteousness and holiness. (Ezek. 18:24) On the other hand, if a man has practiced corrupt things, but turns from these to become a dedicated servant of God, if he keeps on in righteousness and holiness, he will at last have an accumulated credit with God. “He will positively keep living,” is the utterance of the Lord Jehovah.—Ezek. 18:5-9, 21, 22.

Jehovah God himself next speaks to John, revealing the critical situation, the extreme danger if any one of God’s anointed ones becomes lax in the least way toward righteousness. Jehovah says: “Look! I am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to render to each one as his work is.”—Rev. 22:12.

So now is no time for one who is in the way of holiness to be walking uncertainly or seeing how close he can come to the borderline of righteousness, toying with or even contemplating the idea of immorality or wrongdoing. He is like a man walking on the crumbling edge of a cliff. Jehovah God, sitting in judgment, accompanied by his Son Jesus Christ, is a God who cannot tolerate unrighteousness in his presence. There is no appeal from his judicial decisions, for he is the last resort, the Alpha and the Omega, figuratively speaking. (Hab. 1:13; Rev. 1:8; compare Deuteronomy 23:14.) Jesus Christ as Judge merely executes the judgments of Jehovah “the Judge of all.” (Heb. 12:23) He spares only those who are unswervingly determined to hold on unswervingly to their course of righteousness.

God the Almighty has taken his power and begun ruling as King, and the time is here for him to reward his slaves the prophets and the holy ones and those bearing his name and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth. (Rev. 11:17, 18) Jehovah’s “coming” for execution of judgment upon his foes is very quick in the sense that it is only a few short years ahead, and it will seem exceedingly short to those who are caught wandering off the way of righteousness as in the dark, as if they were asleep. If they should die while practicing filthy things, the judgment will have caught up with them then, for they will receive no resurrection.

KEEP PROVING WHAT YOU ARE

Let no one think that he is an exception. Everyone must watch what he is doing, because God is absolutely just and thoroughly impartial and renders to each one only according to what his work is. Even if we do not knowingly carry on any bad practices, we should nonetheless carefully examine what our works are, to be sure that we are not approving ourselves by claiming or professing to be what we are not. (1 Cor. 4:4) Remember, “the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and their marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.”—Heb. 4:12.

We should keep checking up on ourselves by his Word. (2 Cor. 13:5) We may feel that we have the right spirit or mental inclination, but is our soul, that is, the life we live, measuring up to God’s standard and are we really guided by Jehovah’s spirit? Are our works those that will endure? (1 Cor. 3:12-15) What we are will be clearly brought into the open, for “there is not a creation that is not manifest to his sight, but all things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of him with whom we have an accounting,” (Heb. 4:13) We should keep in mind that “Jehovah knows those who belong to him,” and: “Let everyone naming the name of Jehovah renounce unrighteousness.” (2 Tim. 2:19) We cannot deceive Jehovah, and he lets our works actually show what we really are so that there is no excuse for us, and so that all others can see it. We may deceive ourselves, but we cannot fool God as the final Judge.

JEHOVAH PROVED TO BE THE ONLY TRUE GOD

Jehovah goes on to say: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev. 22:13) Those who have studied the Bible along with world history know that this fact was proved beyond doubt centuries ago. No God has existed before him and none have been able to establish themselves as God Almighty after him. Neither is he a God that is invented by his worshipers. He is the Creator, the God of Israel and of Jesus Christ and the God of Christians. (John 20:17; Rom. 3:29) If we do not treat prophesyings with contempt, we will appreciate reading what Jehovah said over 2,600 years ago, over 800 years before the book of Revelation was written: “This is what Jehovah has said, . . . ‘I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.’” (Isa. 44:6, 7) “To no one else shall I give my own glory. Listen to me, O Jacob, and you Israel my called one. I am the same One. I am the first. Moreover, I am the last.”—Isa. 48:11, 12; 41:4.

In the past Jehovah has fought against other gods and shown his superiority, and what gods have ever been able to stand or remain before him? He showed the gods of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and of all the other nations to be impotent. And where are those gods today? They are remembered only as relics of the dim past. Only a few know of them at all. But Jehovah’s name lives to be more prominent than ever today. Jehovah will soon exercise power to show that he is the beginning and the end in the controversy over godship. The present-day gods, science, evolution, Communism and nationalism, he will bring to an end, proving them all to be false gods. He will also humiliate the worshipers of such gods and will reveal Jehovah’s witnesses to be truthful in representing Him as the only true God.

ADMISSION TO THE HOLY CITY

Jehovah now focuses attention on the faithful 144,000 followers of Christ who have heavenly hopes and who have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and have by faith been loosed from their sins by means of his blood so that they may appear free from sin in God’s sight. (Rev. 1:5; 1 John 1:7) He says: “Happy are those who wash their robes, that the authority to go to the trees of life may be theirs and that they may gain entrance into the city by its gates.” (Rev. 22:14) This is a heavenly city. These who have remained faithful to the end, becoming conquerors, have been baptized into Christ and into his death and have completed that baptism, dying a death of integrity like his and being resurrected in the spirit. The paradise here spoken of is, of course, not literal, but symbolic. The faithful overcomers are granted to eat of the “trees of life.” This denotes their being given the right and title to enjoy immortal life forever in the heavenly paradise of God.—1 Cor. 15:44, 52-54.

The city into which they enter, the holy city New Jerusalem, has twelve angels on guard at its twelve gates of pearl. These angelic guards recognize who these 144,000 faithful spiritual Israelites are and let them enter into the golden city. But for those in whom any form of unrighteousness is found entry is impossible, just as Adam and Eve could by no means get past the flaming sword of the angelic guards stationed at the east of the earthly garden of Eden to reach the tree of life in the middle of the garden.—Rev. 21:12, 13, 18; Gen. 2:9; 3:24.

THE UNDESIRABLES WHO ARE KEPT OUT

Take notice, please, who are the ones against whom Jehovah the Almighty God’s anger burns and who in his sight are detestable and filthy. Their end will be in the symbolic lake that burns with fire and sulphur, that is, the second death. (Rev. 21:8) The kind of persons described are even today receiving the approval of the clergy of Christendom, many of the clergy being themselves such ones. Revelation names them, saying: “Outside are the dogs and those who practice spiritism and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone liking and carrying on a lie.”—Rev. 22:15.

Outside the city, like scavenger dogs of the streets, are those who practice homosexuality, sodomy, Lesbianism, viciousness and cruelty. (Deut. 23:18; Ps. 22:16, 20; Matt. 7:6; Phil. 3:2) Spiritists, who get in touch with the demons, are excluded from the city. This would include astrologers, fortune-tellers and necromancers. Mentioned also right along with such are the adulteresses, the harlots and the men who commit sexual immorality with them, the murderers and haters, whose hatred is equivalent to actual murder.—1 John 3:15; Deut. 19:4.

Kept outside also are the idolaters, who give their allegiance to or attribute their salvation to either a literal idol or a symbolic one such as the “wild beast” and its image or who use religious statues in a form of so-called “relative worship.” Materialists and those who degrade their bodies and minds in the cult of hallucinatory drugs such as LSD are left to wallow in the corruption they prefer. Magazines and newspapers that give favorable publicity to such persons, making them appear respectable, are “carrying on a lie.” Those who look to personalities or to nationalism for salvation or who support a system built on lies find themselves barred from Jehovah’s clean governmental “city.”

ROOT OF DAVID AND MORNING STAR

Frequently it is those who consider themselves wise in this system of things who uphold and practice the things described above and who even advocate such practice by others. Why, then, should we believe what Revelation says? For the reason that its source of information is the highest. John is told next: “I, Jesus, sent my angel to bear witness to you people of these things for the congregations. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star.” (Rev. 22:16) He is “the faithful and true witness” and the One whom the Almighty God of the universe has set as the Leader and Commander of the peoples.—Rev. 1:5; 3:14; Isa. 55:3, 4; Gen. 49:10.

Jesus Christ was an earthly offspring of ancient King David of Jerusalem. He is called “the root of David” because he is the important descendant of King David in whom the genealogy from Abraham through David really ends. (Rev. 5:5) No Jew today can prove descent from David. Jesus Christ was designated by God as the One whom he approved as David’s heir to take the throne of the Kingdom. (Ezek. 21:27; Matt. 3:17; Acts 2:29, 30, 36) In fact, the underlying reason for bringing the house of David into existence was to produce the Messiah. That has been accomplished. Jesus being the permanent heir, the One who possesses the throne forever, the line of David is really rooted in him.

He is also the “star” foretold at Numbers 24:17. In ancient Judah the kings of Judah were looked upon as “stars of God,” for they sat on “Jehovah’s throne.” (1 Chron. 29:23) The king of Babylon felt that he had permanently lifted his own material throne up above the royal “stars of God” when he took Zedekiah of the line of David off the throne in 607 B.C.E. Neither ancient Babylon nor its modern counterpart Babylon the Great prevented God, in his due time, from causing this “bright morning star,” Jesus Christ, to rise out of the house of David and sit on a throne infinitely higher than that of mighty King Nebuchadnezzar of ancient Babylon. (Isa. 14:4, 12, 13) Babylon the Great has sat as a queen on a throne, but she is to be overthrown completely and Jesus Christ must reign forever, not on an earthly throne as did David, but on a heavenly throne as King like Melchizedek forever. The 144,000, by sticking to their faithfulness, receive the reward of being associated with him, the “morning star,” in the heavenly Kingdom. In this way he will “give” such ones “the morning star.”—Rev. 18:7; 2:26-28.

God’s requirements for his heavenly kingdom government emphasize the cleanness and respectability of that government. The requirements for those who will get life under that government can be no less righteous and lofty. Therefore, everyone who serves Jehovah God, whether it be with heavenly hopes as one of God’s 144,000 spiritual Israelites or as a member of the “great crowd” of “other sheep,” with hopes of living in a new order on a paradise earth under the Kingdom, must keep the determination made at his dedication to follow a course of strict righteousness. There is no time to waste. There is no time to dabble in unrighteousness or to strain our relations with Jehovah God by even so much as thinking of an unrighteous course. The judgment is on and the Great Judge is determining eternal outcomes on the basis of our works. Therefore, every one of God’s people must say, with the firm determination of ancient Judge Joshua: “As for me and my household, we shall serve Jehovah.” They must reply like the people answered Joshua: “Jehovah our God we shall serve, and to his voice we shall listen!”—Josh. 24:15, 24.

“Let Down Your Nets for a Catch”

“He said to Simon: ‘Pull out to where it is deep, and you men let down your nets for a catch.’”—Luke 5:4.

1. How are men likened to fish by Solomon and Amos?

THE common expression “You poor fish!” is not found in the Sacred Writings. However, the Holy Bible does use real fish to picture men. The famously wise King Solomon of Jerusalem, who in his three thousand proverbs spoke about cedar trees and hyssop, beasts and flying creatures, and other moving things and fishes, said: “Man also does not know his time. Just like fishes that are being taken in an evil net, and like birds that are being taken in a trap, so the sons of men themselves are being ensnared at a calamitous time, when it falls upon them suddenly.” (Eccl. 9:12; 1 Ki. 4:32, 33) To the oppressors of his people in the ninth century B.C.E., the prophet Amos said: “The Lord Jehovah has sworn by his holiness, ‘Look! There are days coming upon you, and he will certainly lift you up with butcher hooks and the last part of you with fishhooks.”’ (Amos 4:1, 2) Without fail the enemies of Jehovah God will be caught like unfortunate fish suddenly at a time on which they did not reckon.

2, 3. (a) Where and why did Jesus use a boat as a speaker’s platform? (b) What did he say in his parable of the dragnet?

2 Sometime after the passover celebration of the year 31 of our Common Era a fishing boat that lay not far from the shore of the Sea of Galilee in the Middle East was used for another purpose than for catching fish. Jesus Christ used it as a speaker’s platform from which to give a series of prophetic parables to a great crowd that had practically forced him offshore. On finishing his wonderful speech, he dismissed the crowds, came ashore and went into a house. There his disciples asked him to explain the parable that he had given about the weeds that had been oversown by an enemy in the wheatfield. Jesus not only gave the desired explanation but also added a number of new illustrations, including the following one about the dragnet:

3 “Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet let down into the sea and gathering up fish of every kind. When it got full they hauled it up onto the beach and, sitting down, they collected the fine ones into vessels, but the unsuitable they threw away. That is how it will be in the conclusion of the system of things: the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous and will cast them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.”—Matt. 13:47-50.

4. (a) Who are pictured by the “fine” fish that are put into vessels? (b) Who are pictured by the “unsuitable” ones that are thrown away?

4 Jesus’ illustrations of the kingdom of the heavens all have to do with persons who will be heirs with him in the heavenly kingdom. Accordingly, the “fine” fish that are collected into vessels for profitable use picture those from among mankind who prove themselves suitable for reigning with Jesus Christ in the kingdom of the heavens. (Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5) God’s kingdom of the heavens was established at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. The faithful apostles and many others of the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ had died before then. Who, then, are those symbolic fish who are caught and then sorted out and put, as it were, into vessels in the conclusion of the system of things, in which we now find ourselves? They are merely the remnant of Kingdom heirs, who today make up the “faithful and discreet slave” class on earth. (Matt 24:45-47) The “unsuitable” symbolic fish that are cast into the symbolic fiery furnace to be destroyed are those Christians who prove unfaithful to the heavenly calling, thus becoming “wicked,” and who deserve to be destroyed.

5. Who are pictured by the ones fishing with the dragnet, and why?

5 In the fulfillment of the parable of the dragnet, who are the ones that do the fishing and the hauling of the dragnet up onto the beach and then sort out the fish? They are the angels. Certainly the Christians on earth are not the ones that separate the fine symbolic fish from the unsuitable, and cast these latter ones into the symbolic fiery furnace. The anointed Christians are not the ones authorized to determine who is suitable for God’s heavenly kingdom and who, on the other hand, should be everlastingly destroyed. They are not the judges of those who have become God’s anointed servants. (Rom. 14:4) The angels who accompany the glorified Jesus Christ when he comes into his heavenly kingdom at the close of the Gentile Times are the ones that do this separating work under the direction of Christ. (Matt. 13:40, 41; 24:30, 31; 25:31, 32) What, then, is the dragnet?

6. What, then, does the dragnet picture?

6 As Jesus’ parable depicts it, a dragnet gathers in fish and sea creatures indiscriminately. The Jews who were in a national covenant with Jehovah God were forbidden to eat certain fish and sea creatures. (Lev. 11:9-12) So Jewish fishermen had to sort out what a dragnet brought up. What was forbidden by God’s law they would throw away. In view of all this, the dragnet would symbolize an instrument in the hands of the holy angels under the direction of Jesus Christ. The dragnet symbolizes the earthly organization that professes to be God’s congregation that is in the new covenant with God through the Mediator Jesus Christ. So it claims to be the spiritual Israel, the holy nation that is anointed with God’s spirit to reign with Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom. It includes the true professors and the false or unfaithful professors. Logically it includes Christendom, with its hundreds of thousands of professed Christians, belonging to hundreds of sects called Christian.

7. For the symbolic dragnet to gather in all sorts of fish, who must be employed under the angels, and how have “fine” fish been collected?

7 It is true that the symbolic dragnet is in the hands of the angels as a team of workers. But for the “dragnet” to gather in symbolic fish of all kinds, persons who belong to the “dragnet” organization have to work. They have to do a gathering work on earth in the name of Christianity. The heavenly angels do only an invisible work, but the organized members of the “dragnet” do the direct visible work. Only the smaller number of this “dragnet” organization really fish according to God’s instructions through Christ and according to Bible principles. As a result, only those workers would gather in true Christian “fish,” suitable for the heavenly kingdom. This fact the heavenly angels under Christ make manifest in the “conclusion of the system of things,” in which we find ourselves since the close of the Gentile Times in 1914. They have gathered the fine “fish” into symbolic vessels.

8. How did “fine” fish go into captivity to Babylon the Great during 1914-1918?

8 Years before the “conclusion of the system of things” began in 1914 the “fish” of the true Christian quality began gathering away from Christendom. Here and there around the globe they formed congregations separate from Christendom. But along came World War I, which was fought during 1914-1918 mostly by the nations of Christendom. During this war these separated congregations of truly dedicated, baptized Christians came into bondage to Christendom. Thus, since Christendom is the most powerful part of religious Babylon the Great, they went into a captivity like that of the Jews who went into exile in ancient Babylon after Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 607 B.C.E. But would they stay there?

9. Why was the “conclusion of the system of things” not the time for the “fine” fish to stay in captivity to Babylon the Great?

9 No! The Gentile Times had ended in 1914, the year in which World War I broke out, and as a consequence the “conclusion of the system of things” had set in. Jesus’ illustration of the dragnet marked this period the time for the separation of those who professed to be anointed heirs of the “kingdom of the heavens.” It was the due time for the heavenly angels under Christ to get busy and haul that symbolic dragnet up onto the beach and throw away the “unsuitable” ones and put the “fine” ones approved by God’s law into congregational “vessels.” This is what they did.

10. (a) When did the “fine” fish start coming out of such Babylonish exile, and how? (b) What experience are the “unsuitable” fish already having, and why?

10 From the spring of the year 1919 onward there was a coming out of the true Christians exiled in Babylon the Great. The call from heaven went forth: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4) Religious Babylon the Great is the world empire of false Babylonish religion, and it includes Christendom, which has tried to mix Christianity with Babylonish religion. So the call from heaven had to include their getting out of Christendom. The hundreds of millions of “unsuitable” symbolic fish that stay in Christendom are shortly to be cast into the symbolic “fiery furnace” and completely destroyed. Already, they are headed in that direction, since the hypocritical Christians are giving way to “their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth.” (Matt. 13:50) Why? Because they have not got out of Great Babylon as God’s true people should do; and so they are sharing in her sins and are already feeling the forerunners of her destructive plagues. Shortly they will perish with Babylon the Great and her political paramours at God’s due time.

11. What proportion of professed Christians came out of Babylon the Great, and how were they collected “into vessels”?

11 Back there, in noteworthy contrast to those lovers of Babylon the Great, the anointed Christian witnesses of Jehovah responded to the heavenly call, in 1919. They were but a minority of professed Christians, a mere remnant of the true Christian congregation that Jesus Christ has been building during these past nineteen centuries. (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:1-42) Under angelic direction they were collected “into vessels,” as it were, that is, into congregations of liberated Christians, to be reserved for the service of Jehovah, the God and Father of Jesus Christ.

12. Why was this remnant of “fine” symbolic fish not taken at once to heaven?

12 Though this remnant of the “fine” symbolic fish have hope of a share in the “kingdom of the heavens,” they were not taken at once to heaven, a thing that they had been expecting. In this “conclusion of the system of things” they had a work to do on earth before the end comes upon Babylon the Great and her political paramours and the armies of these.

13. (a) What besides giving a witness is accomplished by the Kingdom preaching? (b) From 1919 forward, why did the work of apostolic days need to go on?

13 Every quarter of the earth now knows what the true Christian work of the remnant is, for they have carried forward their work to the ends of the earth, in fulfillment of Jesus’ words: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matt. 24:14) The giving witness to all the nations is not the only thing that is accomplished by the Kingdom preachers. There is also a separation work that results from such Kingdom preaching, and this under angelic direction. (Matt. 24:30, 31, 40-42) The separation work was not all accomplished in the liberation year of 1919. No, but in order for the foreordained number of 144,000 Kingdom heirs to be redeemed from the earth, more of the “fine” symbolic fish needed to be caught and put into the congregational “vessels.” The work that Jesus Christ began in the days of his twelve apostles needed to be continued on into this “conclusion of the system of things,” namely, fishing work. A grand catch was guaranteed!

A MIRACULOUS CATCH!

14. (a) What were some of John the Baptist’s disciples professionally, and how did Jesus meet four of them at the Sea of Galilee? (b) What was the best time for their occupation?

14 Nineteen hundred years ago a number of Jesus’ apostles were professional fishers at the Sea of Galilee. They were disciples of John the Baptist, and some days after his own baptism in water Jesus Christ became acquainted with them in the upper Jordan River valley, late in the year 29 C.E. (John 1:35-44) Some months later, in the following year, Jesus came in contact with these professional fishers right there at the Sea of Galilee. By then John the Baptist had been imprisoned by King Herod and Jesus had begun taking up the message of John the Baptist and proclaiming: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” (Matt. 4:12-17) One day Jesus was preaching God’s kingdom to crowds of people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee near where four professional fishers had been toiling with nets. Back there the most popular way for the Jews to fish was by means of nets of various sorts, four sorts of which are mentioned in the Holy Bible. (Hab. 1:15, 16; Eccl. 9:12; Ps. 33:7, 8) Nighttime was considered the best time for fishing, after sunset and before sunrise.

15, 16. (a) What was the occasion when Jesus told Simon and those in the boat with him to let down their nets for a catch? (b) What was the immediate effect of what then happened?

15 “On one occasion,” as Luke 5:1-10 narrates to us, “when the crowd was pressing close upon him and listening to the word of God, he was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret [Galilee]. And he saw two boats docked at the lakeside, but the fishermen had got out of them and were washing off their nets. Going aboard one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to pull away a bit from land. Then he sat down, and from the boat he began teaching the crowds. When he ceased speaking, he said to Simon: ‘Pull out to where it is deep, and you men let down your nets for a catch.’ But Simon in reply said: ‘Instructor, for a whole night we toiled and took nothing, but at your bidding I will lower the nets.’ Well, when they did this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish. In fact, their nets began ripping apart.

16 “So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and assist them; and they did come, and they filled both boats, so that these began to sink. Seeing this, Simon Peter fell down at the knees of Jesus, saying: ‘Depart from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.’ For at the catch of fish which they took up astonishment overwhelmed him and all those with him, and likewise both James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were sharers with Simon.”

17, 18. (a) What did the four fishing partners realize had happened? (b) Why did Jesus not do as Simon asked him to do, but what did he do?

17 There were others with Simon Peter in his boat, particularly his brother Andrew, and possibly their father John. James and John were with their father Zebedee and hired men in the assisting boat. Peter, Andrew, James and John realized that Jesus had performed a miracle, suddenly causing a huge catch of fish from an area of waters where there had been none all night.

18 This increased their appreciation of Jesus Christ, whom they already knew personally. Peter, feeling now more than ever his sinfulness because of having such a holy man of God aboard his boat, asked the Lord Jesus to depart from him. But Jesus was not disposed to be alone in abandoning the boat. The time had come for him to have steady, regular followers in a literal sense. So Jesus calmed Peter’s fright due to his sinfulness, as the account tells us: “But Jesus said to Simon: ‘Stop being afraid. From now on you will be catching men alive.’” By this statement Jesus was comparing men with fish. But with whom was Peter to be catching men alive like fish? Why, with Jesus Christ himself, for then Jesus asked Peter to follow him in fishing for bigger game, namely, “men alive.” Jesus also invited Peter’s brother Andrew to follow him on this new enterprise. They both did so.

19. Meanwhile, what did James and John begin doing, and how long did they continue in this?

19 Meantime, as their nets had ripped apart at the miraculous catch of fish, almost overloading their boats, Peter’s sharers in the fishing business at Galilee, namely, James and John, along with their father Zebedee in the boat, began mending their nets. Then Jesus, followed by Peter and Andrew, came down the lakeshore and called out to James and John in their boat and invited them also to follow him in a larger fishing business. They did do that, for the account informs us: “So they brought the boats back to land, and abandoned everything and followed him.”—Luke 5:10, 11.

20. How do Matthew and Mark describe the calling of the four fishermen?

20 The apostle Matthew and the disciple Mark describe this calling of the four fishermen in a more condensed form, but Matthew and Mark show that Jesus issued a direct invitation to all four to become fishers of men. Mark 1:16-20 says: “While walking alongside the sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting their nets about in the sea, for they were fishers. So Jesus said to them: ‘Come after me, and I shall cause you to become fishers of men.’ And at once they abandoned their nets and followed him. And after going a little farther he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in fact, while they were in their boat mending their nets; and without delay he called them. In turn they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went off after him.”—Matt. 4:18-20.

21. (a) How was Jesus, a professional carpenter, qualified to teach those four to fish for men? (b) What example assured them not to worry about making a livelihood as fishers of men?

21 Jesus himself there caught four human fish. Although he had been a professional carpenter in inland Nazareth, not a professional fisher, he knew how to catch symbolic fish of a human kind. Here he began doing so, more than six months after he was baptized in the Jordan River and anointed with God’s holy spirit. As an experienced man he knew also how to teach others to fish for men and catch them alive. With this end in view he called the four professional fishers to follow him personally and receive training. For this reason they had to abandon their fishing business at the Sea of Galilee. An ordinary fisherman can sell the fish he catches and thus make an earthly living. However, a fisher for men cannot sell men and thus make a livelihood off them. So how were Peter, Andrew, James and John to make their living as fishers of men, continually following the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest Fisher of them all? Well, Jesus himself had abandoned everything at the time that he went to John the Baptist to be baptized and he never resumed his carpenter work, and yet Jehovah God took care of him as a Fisher of men.

NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT LIVELIHOOD

22. (a) Why was there no reason to doubt making a success in fishing for men? (b) Why was this fishing for men not wrecked because of Jesus’ death?

22 There was no reason for these exfishermen to doubt that they would be successful in catching men as long as they acted under the direction of the Chief Fisherman, Jesus Christ. At his bidding Peter and Andrew had in faith let down their nets into the Sea of Galilee for a catch, in what were apparently barren waters, and yet they came up with such a catch that they had to call for the assistance of their partners James and John. Then their nets began ripping apart and the quantity of fish hauled aboard threatened to sink two boats. Now since Jesus could produce such successful fishing in the case of the scaly, finned creatures of the waters, he could likewise make successful catches in the case of human symbolic fish. Jesus’ death on the torture stake about three years later did not damage or put an end to this more important work of fishing for men. On the third day he was raised from the dead and was then in a position to revive the fishing operations of his faithful followers.

23. (a) Because of Jesus’ resurrection to the spirit realm, were the apostles in a worse position to fish for men? (b) How did seven disciples come to find themselves at the Sea of Galilee after Jesus’ resurrection?

23 True, Jesus was absent from them in the flesh, inasmuch as he had been raised from the dead as an immortal spirit Son of God and thenceforth confined himself to the invisible spirit realm. But he was now in a better position to make this work of fishing for men a complete success on a worldwide scale. He gave an encouraging assurance of this on one occasion more than a week after he was raised from the dead on the sixteenth day of the lunar month Nisan of the year 33 C.E. Through angels who appeared to certain disciples on his resurrection morning he told his faithful apostles to leave Jerusalem and the province of Judea and go north into the province of Galilee. There he would appear visibly and give them further instructions. (Matt. 26:32; 28:7-10, 16; Mark 16:6, 7) So it came about that on one occasion seven of Jesus’ disciples found themselves together near the Sea of Galilee, which was also called the Sea of Tiberias.

24, 25. After a period of fishing, what were the seven obliged to answer a questioner on the shore? (b) What did he tell them to do, and how did they afterward get to shore?

24 When Peter said that he was going fishing, the six others said they would join with him. All night long they tried to net some fish but caught absolutely nothing. Then, at dawn, a figure stood on the shore. His voice carried to them across the waters to their little boat: “Young children, you do not have anything to eat, do you?” They called back No! Well, then, did he say to quit?

25 Here is what we read: “He said to them: ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ Then they cast it, but they were no longer able to draw it in because of the multitude of the fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus used to love said to Peter: ‘It is the Lord!’ Hence Simon Peter, upon hearing that it was the Lord, girded about himself his top garment, for he was naked, and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not a long way from land, only about three hundred feet away, dragging the net of fishes. However, when they disembarked onto land they beheld lying there a charcoal fire and fish lying upon it and bread. Jesus said to them: ‘Bring some of the fish you just now caught.’ Simon Peter, therefore, went on board and drew the net to land full of big fishes, one hundred and fifty-three of them. But although there were so many the net did not burst.”

26. (a) Why might a question have been raised then as to who he was? (b) How was this the third time that he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection?

26 At the time of this manifestation of Jesus he was not in the same materialized body as previously. This is why we read: “Jesus said to them: ‘Come, take your breakfast.’ Not one of the disciples had the courage to inquire of him: ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after his being raised up from the dead.” (John 21:1-14) That is, this was the third time that Jesus had appeared to his apostles when all of them or more than half of them were together. On the first such occasion, on the evening of the Sunday of his resurrection, Jesus materialized and ate some broiled fish to prove to his apostles that it was not a spirit that they were seeing.—Luke 24:22-43; John 20:19-25.

27. Why was it appropriate for Jesus to demonstrate his power by twice causing miraculous catches of fish?

27 It was very fitting that twice Jesus Christ should demonstrate his power by filling the nets of his apostles with miraculous catches of fish. He is “the last Adam,” and the first Adam in the garden of Eden was one who in certain respects bore “a resemblance to him that was to come.” (1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 5:14) To the first Adam and his wife the command was given by God the Creator to “have in subjection the fish of the sea” and all the other lower animals of the earth. (Gen. 1:26-28) It was foretold in Psalm 8:4-8 that the “last Adam,” Jesus Christ, was likewise to have even the fish in subjection to him, and we do have recorded evidences that he did exercise such power, to further the interests of God’s kingdom. (Heb. 2:5-9) One such instance was when Jesus, faced with the paying of the temple tax, said to Simon Peter: “Go to the sea, cast a fishhook, and take the first fish coming up and, when you open its mouth, you will find a stater coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”—Matt. 17:24-27.

28. (a) In view of such miraculous catches of fish, what was it logical for them to reason as to fishing for men? (b) Why after that second catch did Jesus not need to invite them to become fishers of men?

28 Remembering that Jesus had called them to become fishers of men, the apostles must have had their faith strengthened for such a work by the two miraculous catches of fish. Under the command of the Chief Fisher, Jesus Christ, they had not in vain let down their nets for a catch. It was logical for them to reason that when, in fishing for men, they let down their nets at his command, they would not bring up their nets empty; there would be those who would be gathered in for the kingdom of the heavens. However, after the second miraculous catch of fish at the Sea of Galilee Jesus did not need to repeat his invitation to them to follow him and become transformed from catchers of fish into fishers of men. For this reason, the resurrected Jesus now turned to another figure of speech, because the quality of love was now to be taken into consideration. Thus John 21:15-17 tells us:

29. What questions and answers did Jesus and Peter then engage in?

29 “When, now, they had breakfasted, Jesus said to Simon Peter: ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him: ‘Yes, Lord, you know I have affection for you.’ He said to him: ‘Feed my lambs.’ Again he said to him, a second time: ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him: ‘Yes, Lord, you know I have affection for you.’ He said to him: ‘Shepherd my little sheep.’ He said to him the third time: ‘Simon son of John, do you have affection for me?’ Peter became grieved that he said to him the third time: ‘Do you have affection for me?’ So he said to him: ‘Lord, you know all things; you are aware that I have affection for you.’ Jesus said to him: ‘Feed my little sheep.’”

30, 31. (a) Why is it difficult to know what Jesus meant by the pronoun “these” in his first question to Peter? (b) Hence, how do some modern translators render the question?

30 Fishers do not love fish, but shepherds do love sheep, in the land of Jesus’ earthly sojourn in particular. Also, a shepherd held himself responsible for sheep in his care. But just what Jesus had in mind when he asked Peter: “Do you love me more than these?” is not certain. In the Greek Bible text the demonstrative pronoun “these” is in the genitive case, plural number, and in the Greek language this case of the pronoun has the same form for all three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. For instance, the New Testament translation by K. S. Wuest (1961) reads: “Do you have love for me . . . more than these (fish)?” Thus Jesus would be asking whether Peter loved him more than this professional fishing business in the Sea of Galilee. The same thought is suggested by the Bible translation by G. M. Lamsa (1957), which reads: “Do you love me more than these things?”

31 The Bible translation by James Moffatt (1922) provokes a different thought, reading: “Do you love me more than the others do?” (Also, An American Translation; James Murdock’s) On the night of Jesus’ betrayal to his enemies Simon Peter had boasted that he loved Jesus more than the other apostles did, but shortly afterward he failed to show this superior love. (Matt. 26:31-35, 55, 56, 69-75) But at the Sea of Galilee Peter did not boast about the superiority of his love for Jesus. But The New English Bible (New Testament, 1961) reads: “Do you love me more than all else?”

32. For gaining people, whose qualities should Peter show, and for keeping those gained, what quality must Peter show?

32 Whatever the pronoun “these” here means, Jesus proceeded to indicate to Peter how he could show his love on earth for his invisible resurrected Lord and Master, namely, by taking loving care of the Master’s “sheep” on earth. Toward gaining people for God, Peter must display the qualities of a fisher; but toward keeping within the organization those brought inside, Peter must show the tender love of an undershepherd for his Master’s sheep.

Orders for Worldwide Fishing

1. Where afterward did the resurrected Jesus appear again to his apostles, and, according to Matthew, what did he say to them?

EVIDENTLY it was some short time after the above that the resurrected Jesus reappeared to his disciples in Galilee, this time to all eleven faithful ones, and this time not by the seaside but in a mountain. The apostle Matthew was there and writes this about it: “The eleven disciples went into Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had arranged for them, and when they saw him they did obeisance, but some doubted. And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: ‘All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”

2. (a) Was the discipling work to be confined to the eleven faithful apostles, and what evidence is offered in answer? (b) In what fishing grounds was the work to be carried on?

2 Likely there were many more in the mountain than just the eleven faithful apostles. (Matt. 28:16-20) This may be the occasion to which the later apostle Paul refers, when he says: “After that he appeared to upward of five hundred brothers at one time, the most of whom remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep in death.” (1 Cor. 15:6) Unquestionably the discipling work was not to be confined to the eleven faithful apostles, and the later Bible records show that it was not limited to the apostles. The fishing for men was to be carried on by all the disciples, including the newly made disciples, and Jesus’ parable of the dragnet proves this. The fishing grounds were not to be confined to the small pool of the natural Jews but were to include the whole sea of mankind, “people of all the nations.” This was to continue down to the “conclusion of the system of things,” in which we are now.

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The Watchtower, November 15, 1967