WATCHTOWER.

Published Semimonthly By

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

OFFICERS

J. F. Rutherford President W. E. Van Amburoh Secretary “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” • Isaiah 54:13.

THE SCRIPTURES CLEARLY TEACH

THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God, is from everlasting to everlasting, the Maker of heaven and earth and the Giver of life to his creatures; that the Logos was the beginning of his creation, and his active agent in the creation of all things; that the Logos is now the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, clothed with all power in heaven and earth, and the Chief Executive Officer of Jehovah.

THAT GOD created the earth for man, created perfect man for the earth and placed him upon it; that man willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life.

THAT JESUS was made human, and the man Jesus suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for all mankind; that God raised up Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every creature and above every name and clothed him with all power and authority.

THAT JEHOVAH'S ORGANIZATION is called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the world; that the anointed and faithful followers of Christ Jesus are children of Zion, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are his witnesses whose duty and privilege it is to testify to the supremacy of Jehovah, declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible, and to bear the fruits of the kingdom before all who will hear.

THAT THE WORLD has ended, and the Lord Jesus Christ has been placed by Jehovah upon his throne of authority, has ousted Satan from heaven and is proceeding to the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.

THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples of earth can come only by and through Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has now begun; that the Lord’s next great act is the destruction of Satan’s organization and the establishment of righteousness in the earth, and that under the kingdom all those who will obey its righteous laws shall live on earth forever.

ITS MISSION

THIS journal is published for the purpose of enabling tho people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible- instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good will. It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.

It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.

Yearly Subscription Price

United States, $1.00; Canada and miscellaneous foreign, $1.50; Great Britain, Australasia, and South Africa, 7s, American remittances should be made by Postal or Express Money Order or by Bank Draft. Canadian, British, South African and Australasian remittances should be made direct to the respective branch offices. Remittances from countries other than those mentioned may be made to the Brooklyn office, but by International Postal Money Order only.

Foreign Offices

British ......... 34 Craven Terrace, London, W. 2, England Canadian......40 Irwin Avenue, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada

Australasian . . 7 Beresford Road, Strathfield, N. S. W., Australia South African......Boston House, Cape Town, South Africa

Please address the Society in every case.

(Translations of this journal appear in several languages.)

All sincere students of the Bible who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting It. We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year Is required by the postal regulations. Notice to Subscribers: Acknowledgment of a new or a renewal subscription will be sent only when requested. Change of address, when requested, may be expected to appear on address label within one month. A renewal blank (carrying notice of expiration) will be sent with the journal one month before the subscription expires.

Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N, Y., under the Act of March S, IStS.

“HIS ULTIMATUM”

The midsummer testimony period, August 6 to August 14 inclusive, is named “His Ultimatum’’. The message, of the book Enemies is very fitting to this name, and during the period this book together with another bound book of the series will be offered to all on a 50c contribution. This being the season generally for vacations from secular employment, many should be able to arrange their vacation to coincide with the testimony period, thereby to be able to devote extra time to delivering the Lord’s ultimatum before the fast approaching final battle. The season will be excellent for work in the rurals. Arrange for shipments of the needed literature as early as possible, besides making all other arrangements as to territory, etc. Your prompt reports will be awaited with interest, for the record.

VACATION

Notice is hereby given of the closing of the Brooklyn factory and office for the two weeks beginning Saturday, July 30, and concluding Sunday, August 14. This will enable the Bethel family after a year of consistent strenuous activity here to get away for a temporary change from their regular daily production work and to enjoy opportunities of field service in common with the other Kingdom publishers. All publishers will therefore order in advance sufficient supplies of literature to last them over the Bethel vacation period, and to the end of August. Do this in good time to allow for shipment from here before tho factory closes Friday evening, July 29. No orders will be filled and shipped, nor mail be opened and answered, during this vacation period.

CORRESPONDENCE

All brethren should write to the Society in English whenever possible. Letters written in foreign languages, such as Italian, Greek, Polish, etc., require extra time and work to handle. The suggestion is offered that foreign-speaking companies select as secretary some young brother or sister who speaks and writes English as well as the foreign language. This person can then write all letters to the Society in English at the dictation of the company servant, and when written the company servant can sign the letters. This will result in more prompt handling of your orders and letters.

Brethren who live in countries outside of the United States and in which countries there are branch offices of the Society should write to such branch offices rather than to Brooklyn.

VOL. LIX

June 15, 1938

NO. 12

ORGANIZATION

PART 2

‘‘Instead of bronze I will bring in gold; and instead of iron I will bring in silver; and instead of wood, bronze; and instead of stones, iron; and I will appoint the oversight of thee to prosperity, and the setting of thy tasks to righteousness.”—Isa. 60:17, Rotherham.

JEHOVAH knew the end from the beginning, and, foreknowing the establishment of his church upon Christ, the Chief Corner Stone, he began the building thereof with the faithful apostles. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, grow-eth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit.”—Eph. 2:20-22.

² He foreknew and foretold through his servant “a falling away” before the coming of Christ Jesus to the temple. (2 Thess. 2:1-3) He caused his prophecy to be written long ago in full accord with such conditions. All the Bible testimony is to the effect that with the coming of Christ to the temple there is a change for the betterment of the consecrated, in this, that the consecrated are shown what is the right and propel* course for them to take. The temple judgment puts the consecrated to the test, and the approved ones are brought into the temple, enlightened, and plainly directed in the way that they must go. It is then that they begin to learn and appreciate the fact that God’s organization is a theocratic government. There is no reason to attach blame to the consecrated of the past because of the course taken by them during the Elijah period. The Lord permitted such for his own good reason. The question is, Who will gladly and willingly get in line with the Lord and walk in his way when the true situation is made known to such? God’s people came out of Babylon with spotted garments, which spots are not removed instantly, but gradually, as the Lord sheds his light upon his Word. It now definitely appears that the Lord God causes his people to have a part in the fulfillment of his prophecy, and then later and in his own due time and way reveals to them the evidence showing such fulfillment and the part they play therein. The increased light brings great joy to the anointed, because such is clear proof that they are in the Lord’s hand, being guided by him.

⁸ The prophecy at Isaiah 60:17 describes conditions that were to exist and did exist for a long period of time and then a change to a better condition within the Lord’s visible organization, during which they would be brought to a better understanding and keener appreciation of their relationship to the Lord. The prophecy does not describe the relationship of the remnant to the outside world, which is Satan’s organization, but does describe the relationship the anointed bear to Jehovah and Christ Jesus and hence to one another. Mark well the words of the prophecy showing that Jehovah brings about the change, to wit: “I [Jehovah] will brirg...I [Jehovah] will... make.” (Authorized Version) Clearly this shows that the members of the various companies have nothing to do with the change except to get in line when they see it. Jehovah declares that he will bring in a better condition and that he will make the officers, servants or overseers, to occupy a close relationship to him. For convenience of the Watchtower readers various translations of this prophecy are here set out. “For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. I will also make thine officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. ’ ’ (Isa. 60:17, Authorized Version) “For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.” (American Revised Version) “Instead of brass I will bring gold; and instead of iron I will bring silver; and instead of wood brass; and instead of stones iron; and I will make thine inspectors peace, and thy magistrates, righteousness.” (Barnes, New Translation) “Instead of the copper will I bring gold, and instead of the iron will I bring silver, and instead of wood copper, and instead of the stones iron; and I will set peace as thy authorities, and righteousness as thy taskmasters.” (Leeser) “And instead of brass I will bring thee gold; and instead of iron I will bring thee silver; and instead of wood I will bring thee brass; and instead of stones, iron; and I will give thy rulers in

peace, and thy overseers [episZcopotis] in righteousness.” {Septuagint) “For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver; and for wood brass, and for stones iron: and I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers justice.” {Douay) “Instead of bronze I will bring in gold; and instead of iron I will bring in silver, and instead of wood, bronze; and instead of stones, iron, and I will appoint the oversight of thee to prosperity, and the setting of thy tasks to righteousness.”—Rotherham.

* In the foregoing prophecy at Isaiah 60:17 the word “officers” (the Authorized Version) is translated from the Hebrew word phakad, meaning “to superintend, oversee”. The same Hebrew word phakad is translated in other texts of the Greek Septuagint Version by the Greek word “episkopos”: Numbers 4:16; 31:14; Judges 9:28; 2 Kings 11:15,18; 2 Chronicles 34:12,17. The word in the Authorized Version rendered “exactors” is translated from the Hebrew word “nahgas”, meaning “to urge, impel, drive”; and hence the noun “taskmaster”, the same as rendered in some other English translations. In the Greek Septuagint Version the same word is rendered episkopos, or overseer or superintendent. The Scriptures disclose that all the apostles were overseers. The meaning of the word episkopos is indicated by the following texts: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the holy [spiritJ hath made you overseers [(Greek) episkopous], to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop [(Greek) episkopos; Overseer {A.R.V., margin)] of your souls.” (1 Pet. 2:25) (See also 1 Peter 5:1,2.) The prophecy of Isaiah and other scriptures, therefore, show that in God’s due time he would bring about a condition with reference to the service and servants in the church, showing the faithful more clearly their own relationship to the Lord and their proper duties and obligations.

PEACE

⁸ For a long while there was more or less strife, contention and lack of peace and harmony among the professed people of God; in some companies, much more, and in some, less. When Christ Jesus came to the temple and the faithful were gathered to him, all then are at unity in Christ (Eph. 4:13,15), and therefore a better condition must be brought in. Where there is unity, there of necessity must be peace. So in the prophecy Jehovah says: “I will . . . make thy officers [overseers] peace.” That must mean that the time comes when there is peace in the organization of the Lord all over the earth. God commands that it shall be so, and therefore it is his will that peace must exist. That means that unity and harmony exist amongst those of the temple company. There is unity and harmony in action in the organization, in the field service, in the methods of study, in the assemblies together, and in all activity, and there must no longer be strife, clashes and boycotts, or any such thing, which existed in times past when the “elective elders and deacons” held titled offices and ruled arrogantly. Those who are in the temple will appreciate this situation and, knowing the responsibility upon them, will diligently put forth their best endeavors to walk humbly with God.

⁸ The prophecy clearly indicates a change, therefore, for the better, in this: as gold is better than bronze, silver better than iron, bronze better than wood, iron better than stone, even so by comparison and contrast a better condition is brought about because, the Lord Jehovah, by this prophecy, says, “I will appoint the oversight of thee to Prosperity,” “setting of thy tasks to righteousness,” “thine exactors [(A.R.F., margin) thy taskmasters] righteousness. ’ ’ In harmony with this the Lord puts in the mouth of the consecrated the prayer applying particularly to the “day of Jehovah”, when the Lord comes to the temple, and the temple company pray: “0 Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.” (Ps. 118:24,25) Prosperity must be accompanied by peace and harmony. The prophecy, therefore, of necessity must mean that those assigned to service in the companies or organizations are committed to peace and that they pray for it and work for it and maintain it. (Psalm 122) It is made certain that those in line for the kingdom who do not strive to maintain peace and to work in harmony to the advancement of the kingdom interest, the angels of the Lord will gather out and cast into darkness. (Matt. 13:41) It is no time for any controversies or strife in God’s organization, but all must be at complete unity.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

’Furthermore says the Lord in the prophecy: “I will . . . make . . . thine exactors righteousness.” (A.R.V.) “Thine exactors” (see different translations as above) means (Greek) episkopous, overseers, taskmasters, drivers or progressive ones, and who push the war against the enemy, and that all shall be servants of righteousness. Surely this must mean that righteousness shall be the urging, driving, impelling force in the Lord’s organization now on the earth, and this particularly so since the cleansing of the sanctuary in 1932. “Righteousness” would therefore mean that there could be no more oppression such as practiced by the “elective elder” bosses, who feel and manifest their importance and browbeat others. There must be no more misguided efforts in wrong directions, such as character development, kowtowing to the would-be higher powers of the world, adulation of individuals or creatures, and therefore ‘no longer the rod of the wicked resting on [and ruling over] the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hand unto iniquity'.—Ps. 125; 3.

⁸ Righteousness means doing gladly according to the will of God by measuring up to and carrying out the commission which God has given to his anointed people. That does not mean the driving of the unwilling, but that the love of righteousness is the driving or impelling force, that is to say, the moving cause. It is the love of God and the vindication of his name that impels such to proceed to push on with the work of fulfilling the commission God has given them. Therefore all must be fully united in action and harmoniously ‘serving him, day and night, in his temple’, willingly and with unspeakable joy. The right motive, therefore, drives or moves God’s people into harmonious action. It is such works of righteousness and such workers that obtain the approval of the Lord. Examples of such, who receive the Lord’s approval, are these: Zerubbabel, the governor; Joshua, the high priest; the prophets Zechariah and Haggai; Ezra the scribe; Nehemiah, the governor; who were associated with the Jewish remnant returned from Babylon, first, to rebuild the temple, and then the walls of Jerusalem. (Ezra 5:1,2; 7:1-10; Neh. 5:6-19) Also other approved examples are the apostles, who worked for peace and righteousness in the Lord’s organization. All that are now at the temple and who remain there must also be workers of righteousness.

• Appointments by the Watch Tower Society are not what religionists call “ordinations”. Men who translated the Bible, as well as others, have misapplied the word “ordained” and hence used the word contrary to the real Scriptural meaning. The manner of using the word “ordained” by religionists is in the nature of a declaration or claim that there exists in God’s organization an arrangement called “orders” and that the persons assigned to such “orders” are superior to and in a different class from others of the church; and such is the basis for the use of the office and title employed by clergymen and other “exalted ones” in religious organizations. The religionists call such “holy orders”. The conferment of such “orders” or offices is held to be a sacrament conferred upon the one receiving such by the action of a bishop. Such is entirely contrary to the Word of God, and it is the wily and seductive influence of the Devil that led men to make such an arrangement as “orders” or “ordinations” and to hold and teach that some men might ordain others by conferring upon them titles, honors and dignities above their fellow men.

• ¹⁰ According to the Scriptures the word there translated “ordain” means “to appoint, to designate, constitute and set in order”, but never means rank or class distinction. Says the apostle: “Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3: 28) God hath set the members in the body as it pleascth him. (1 Cor. 12:18) In the body of Christ there are no such “orders”, as that term is employed by religionists. Different ones in the company perform different functions in the body of Christ. There are many members, but one body. (1 Cor. 12: 20) As the hand does not perform the functions of the eye, so one member of the body does not perform all the functions of the body of Christ, but all are on the same level. There is no authority or need for “the Society” today to employ the ceremony of “laying on of hands” upon those appointed to places of service. The mere designation, appointment and endorsement by the Society, given through the mail, by telegraph or by telephone, is allsufficient and meets the requirements. Nor is there any need for a representative of the Society to be present and go through any hand motions or other ceremonies at such appointment. Such personal presence could add nothing to the appointing power and effect before the Lord. The apostles were clothed with certain specific power delegated to them by the “higher powers”, but on the earth today there are none who are clothed with such special delegated power as that conferred upon the apostles.

• ¹¹ In the early days of the church the elders in laying on of hands or hand-stretching were merely giving their expression of mature judgment of approval of the ones put forward to serve. Now, since the gathering into the temple and the anointing, all of the temple company have come to eldership or maturity in Christ. In the place and stead of the apostles or others clothed with such authority, who acted in the absence of Christ Jesus, there is now at the temple Christ Jesus himself, Jehovah’s great Apostle, who is in full control. (Heb. 3:1) Christ Jesus is clothed with absolute authority, and, being in complete control of the organization of Zion, he directs the operation thereof. Therefore Christ Jesus, the Head of Zion, now at the temple, fills all the offices, to wit: Great Elder and the Elder Brother in the church (Heb. 2:11,13; John 21:5); great Deacon (diakonos), minister (Matt. 20:28; Rom. 13:4); the great Pastor or Shepherd (John 10:11; 1 Pet. 5:1-4) ; the great Bishop or Episkopos (1 Pct. 2:25); the great Evangelist or Proclaimer of good news (Matt. 4:23; Luke 4:18,43); great Teacher (Isa. 30:20; John 13:13, 14) ; great Prophet (Matt. 21:11; John 4:19; Acts 3: 22, 23; Rev. 19:10); the great Judge (John 5: 22, 26-30; Acts 10:42; 17:31) ; and the great Counselor (Rev. 3:18; Isa. 9:6). In sending Christ Jesus to the temple Jehovah has, by one act, fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 1:26, to wit: “And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Thus Jehovah sets up Zion, his faithful city or organization, with Christ Jesus being the absolute ruler as the Executive Officer of Jehovah God. Therefore ‘the government is upon the shoulder of Christ Jesus'. (Isa. 9:6) He is the Higher Power next to Jehovah, the Supreme Power. (Rom. 13:1,4) He is the Ruler in spiritual Israel. (Matt. 2:5,6) That part of the Lord’s organization on earth, therefore, acts under the direct supervision and control of the Lord Jesus Christ at the temple, who is the Head of Zion.

• ¹² Jehovah God is the great Theocrat, and Christ Jesus performs all the official acts of Jehovah, including the appointment and discharge of servants. The organization is God’s, and not man’s; and since the Society is the Lord’s representative on earth, he uses it for his purpose. As King Solomon exercised like power in a typical manner, so now the Greater-than-Solomon, Christ Jesus, exercises full power and puts out the “evil servant” and raises up and puts into office and action the “faithful and wise servant”, which latter he uses for his purpose.—1 Ki. 2:1-6, 26-35; Matt. 24:45-51.

• ¹² The kingdom is actually here, and the King is performing his functions, and, that being true, there could be no further occasion to employ the “Elijah period” method or democratic form of government in the companies or congregations of God’s people by voting for or against those put forward for service. “God ruleth in Jacob [his anointed ones] unto the ends of the earth.” (Ps. 59:13) Since the coming of the Lord Jesus in 1918 there is therefore a reorganization of the Lord’s servants, even though the consecrated come to a knowledge thereof some time after the change is made. It is the sole prerogative of the great Theocrat to appoint the members and set them in their places in the body of Christ as it pleases him. (1 Cor. 12:18,28) He acts by his Chief Officer, Christ Jesus, who is the great Judge for our time. (Acts 17:31) He is pouring out his holy spirit upon “all flesh”, that is, all of the temple company in the flesh, from A.D. 1922 onward, and therefore God has not set up a separate and superior clergy-class or so-called “holy orders”, but all of Zion are on a common footing, and “one is [their] Master [(Greek) kathegetes, guide, leader, director, commander, and teacher], even Christ”.—Matt. 23: 8, Parkhurst.

• ¹⁴ All share in one general fulfillment of the commission God has given to the remnant, but necessarily there are different places of service in the theocratic government, just as there were in the tabernacle service. Officers or titles are nothing, because the service can be performed in one name as well as in another. The Head, Christ Jesus, properly bears any and all titles. He shows his complete submission to the great Theocrat. Christ Jesus joyfully bears the name “elect” “servant”, “my servant.” The remnant constitute “the feet of him”, and therefore all are properly called servants. In harmony therewith tht Society, in the recent past, has designated all in the organization as “servants”, and that without reference to the place one fills. The assignment and designation of a certain one in a certain place means that the servant is assigned to certain duties within a restricted area, and all the servants are working harmoniously to one end.

• ¹⁸ The Lord has gradually revealed to his people the proper meaning of “his organization”, and now it clearly appears from the Scriptures that all servants in the various positions of the organization of the remnant or anointed ones of God’s people on the earth are properly named by the Society as the visible representatives of the Lord at the temple, and that such obligation of naming their servants is not laid upon each separate company, to act in the democratic fashion of casting votes for and against. The company of God’s people at London, England, some time ago saw this situation and by resolution requested the Society to appoint servants of the company. Therefore, acting in obedience to the Scriptures and in harmony with such request, the London company was organized as one company, composed of several units, and one company servant appointed over all units and a captain or unit servant for each of the units which composed the company. The Greater New York company, the Chicago company, the Los Angeles company, and other companies, have been organized and are now operated in a like manner. At the request of each of the companies the Society has reorganized the service organization and appointed the servants. It therefore appears to be entirely Scriptural, and in order, that a company of God’s people may request the Society to carry out this organization arrangement, and this may be done for each and every company of the Lord’s people. Each local company may properly suggest the names of those who appear to be best qualified to fill the respective positions of service, and then place before or send such request to the Society at the Brooklyn headquarters or to the headquarters in the various countries of the earth, and such names will be considered in making such appointment. The anointed have full faith that the Lord will direct that the proper course may be taken. That will not mean that there will be no mistakes, because some, after being appointed, may prove unfaithful, and the Lord has made full arrangements in removing such. Let all companies of God’s people who see that such is the proper and Scriptural arrangement adopt a brief resolution and send it to the respective headquarters above mentioned, which resolution may be in the following form, to wit:

“We, the company of God’s people taken out for his name, and now at , recognize that God’s government is a pure theocracy and that Christ Jesus is at the temple and in full charge and control of the visible organization of Jehovah, as well as the invisible, and that “The Society” is the visible representative of the Lord on earth, and we therefore request “The Society” to organize this company for service and to appoint the various servants thereof, so that all of us may work together in peace, righteousness, harmony and complete unity. We attach hereto a list of names of persons in this company that to us appear more fully mature and who therefore appear to be best suited to fill the respective positions designated for service.”

• ¹⁰ Surely it must now appear to all of God’s people that the time is here for a better and more completely harmonious organization for the service of the Lord and that now is the time for peace and righteousness in God’s visible organization, and in which time everyone in the organization and in the service should maintain peace and righteousness in the advancement of the kingdom interest of the Lord’s organization. A harmonious organization is required by the Lord, and full unity in action must be maintained. Such is the Lord’s commandment, and his commandments must be obeyed. (Acts 3:23) Does it not, therefore, clearly appear to the anointed that Jehovah God has now fulfilled the terms of the prophecy at Isaiah 60:17, and that as gold is better than silver and the other materials therein named by way of comparison, so now God has brought in a better understanding and condition in his organization and that now he has brought forward and made his approved servants peace and righteousness and that he requires of all full and complete harmony and unity in action ? In times past many who have ruled amongst the professed people of God have ruled with force and with cruelty. God promised that he would cause such a condition to cease, and therefore he said: “With force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to ecase from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.”—Ezek. 34:4,10.

• ¹⁷ This prophecy applies to all who have manifested the wrong spirit amongst the people of God, and specifically including the clergy and the ‘ ‘ elective elder ’ ’ element and others who have showed the disposition to boss and ‘lord it over God’s heritage’. Occasionally a report comes to the Society that in a certain company the ‘‘elective elder” or boss spirit is manifested by some claiming to be anointed, and who act arrogantly toward both the remnant and the Jonadabs. Let it now be clearly understood that it is the duty of the servants in the church, and in fact all of the temple company, to comfort one another and to comfort the ‘‘other sheep”. In the commission given to the anointed temple company these words appear: ‘‘To proclaim . . . the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” Therefore it is the clear duty of the remnant to declare the day of God’s vengeance and to do this with absolute unity in action • and it is likewise the duty of the remnant to comfort ‘‘all that mourn”, which specifically refers to those of good will who are in distress because of the conditions that prevail about them. (Ezek. 9:4) The Lord will not tolerate bosses, troublemakers, mur-murers, harsh or cruel rulers in his organization or any part thereof, whether factory, farm or field service. The Lord now clearly reveals his purpose to have peace and righteousness in his organization, and it therefore follows that all who will not joyfully get in line in obedience to this commandment the great Executive Officer by his angels will gather out. (Matt. 13:41) It is the time of war against the enemy, and therefore the time of united action of all of those in God’s organization. It is the time of peace, righteousness and complete unity, and hence harmonious action in service amongst all of those devoted to Jehovah. Let everyone in God’s organization see to it that he thus walks humbly or obediently with his God (Mic. 6:8), that is, with Christ Jesus, ‘‘the Mighty God,” and with Jehovah, the Supreme One.

HIS DUE TIME

• ¹⁸ In his own due time Jehovah reveals to his faithful people whatsoever it is his will they should know, and this he has proved by his manner of dealing with them during the past few years in particular. He has now shown his people that it is his time when they shall rise up against the enemy in war. There must of necessity, therefore, be complete harmony in the ranks of God’s organization. Let all quibbling, strife and discord cease. Zion is now builded up, and all of Zion must know and do the will of God. King Solomon was a type of Christ Jesus, who is the builder of the real temple of God, and what was recorded concerning the building of the typical temple, amongst other things, ‘happened unto them as ensamples, and they were written for our admonition’ . . . ‘and were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.’ (1 Cor. 10:11; Rom. 15:4) By having this clear and positive information the following comparison of what came to pass with reference to Solomon and the typical temple, and what has been performed by Christ Jesus, the Greater-than-Solomon in the real temple, may be considered with profit.

• ¹⁹ ‘ ‘ And it came to pass, in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif [bloom] which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.” (1 Ki. 6:1) The time here mentioned was 1035 B.C., and the second month thereof, second day (2 Chron. 3:1,2), appears to correspond with the year (A.D.) 1918, about the 15th of April of that year, about the time of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ at the temple. In the year 1918 the Memorial was celebrated on the 14th day of the first Jewish month, or, to wit, our time, March 26,1918. Jewish kings were formally enthroned and erowned in the spring of the year. Hence though the “seven times” of “the times of the Gentiles” ended in the fall of 1914, about October 1, yet according to the Jewish type Jehovah would induct into office his reigning King in the following spring, to wit, A.D. 1915. Therefore the “fourth year” of Christ’s reign, corresponding with Solomon’s beginning the temple, would begin in the spring of A.D. 1918; and “the second month” thereof would begin shortly or about one-half month after the Memorial of that year, or, to wit, about the middle of April 1918, marking the beginning of the building of the antitypical temple by the Lord. Mark then the progress of the typical temple building: “ In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zif: and in the eleventh year, in the month Bui [rain], which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.”—1 Ki. 6:37,38.

• ²⁰ The feast of tabernacles and the dedication of the temple followed. “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.” (1 Ki. 8:2) (See also 2 Chronicles 5:3.) “Also, at the same time, Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt. And in the eighth day [the day after the seven-day tabernacle feast] they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days [total fourteen days]. And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people. Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king’s house: and all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.” (2 Chron. 7:8-11) (See also 1 Kings 8:62-66.) Said “eleventh year” mentioned at 1 Kings 6: 38 was seven years after 1035 B.C., when Solomon began to build the temple, or in 1028 B.C., and the temple dedication in the seventh month thereof would correspond with October, A.D. 1925. The dedication was about seven years and five and one-half months after the temple building was begun. The Memorial in 1925 was celebrated April 8, 1925. Hence the seventh Jewish month was about coincident with October 1925. The completion of the temple in the “eighth month” of the same year was about seven years six months after the building was begun. The completion thereof would therefore correspond with November 1925.

“ At the dedication of the temple King Solomon prayed and in his prayer referred to the “stranger”, or foreigner, that should duly come to Jehovah’s temple for mercy because of Jehovah’s great name. (See 2 Chronicles 6: 32, 33; 1 Kings 8: 41-43.) Such “strangers” would foreshadow or correspond with the Lord’s “other sheep”, or Jonadabs or people of good will, who go to make up the “great multitude”. Note now the facts showing God’s beginning to reveal to his people the great multitude.

• ²² In the “eleventh year” after 1914 (to wit, the spring of 1915, when Jehovah would induct his reigning king into office, as above stated) or seven years after the coming of the Lord Jesus to the temple and his beginning to rear up the temple, God’s consecrated people were assembled in convention at Indianapolis, Indiana, and on the 29th day of August 1925 that assembly of God’s people adopted a resolution entitled “Message of Hope”, and which was the first and only one of the seven resolutions adopted over a period of seven years that was addressed “To All People of Good Will”. In this connection note that the “great multitude” (Rev. 7: 9,10), being people of good will, joined with God’s anointed remnant of the temple company in celebrating the great antitypical feast of tabernacles. Interesting, therefore, it is to note that the fourteen-day celebration, of the feast and the dedication of the building, in the seventh Jewish month of 1028 B.C. embraces not only the Jewish atonement day (on the 10th day) but also the entire seven-day feast of tabernacles (the 15th to the 21st, inclusive) with its booths and temple gatherings, with palm branches being waved by the people.

• ²³ After the feast and dedication celebration King Solomon completed the temple in the eighth Jewish month, and this corresponds with November 1925. The aforementioned resolution, “Message of Hope,” addressed as it was “To All People of Good Will”, began to be distributed by the millions of copies all over the earth on Saturday, October 31, 1925, and continued for some time thereafter, and thus the “Message of Hope” was taken to the “people of good will”. Did the-Lord direct this matter? Surely!

• ²⁴ The temple at Jerusalem was typical of Jehovah’s “anointed” company of people taken out for his name, of which company Christ Jesus is the Head. (Matt. 3:16,17; 1 Cor. 3:16) At the modern or antitypical fulfillment of Solomon’s dedication of the temple it was fitly appropriate that the attention of God’s anointed people be called to the outpouring or anointing of God’s holy spirit upon all of the approved ones. By the Lord’s grace and guidance, at the aforementioned convention at Indianapolis in 1925 there was then and there called to the attention of those assembled, by an address publicly delivered, the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2: 28, 29 concerning the outpouring of the holy spirit upon “all flesh”, including those who came to the knowledge of the truth and who were gathered into the temple following A.D. 1922. It is true that only a few thousand heard that public proclamation or discourse, but in due time, to correspond with the completion of Solomon’s temple, The Watchtower, in its issue of November 15, 1925, published the article previously verbally spoken, to wit, “The Holy Spirit Poured Out.” No man prearranged these things, but the Lord undoubtedly did direct them.

“At the dedication of Solomon’s temple the glory of the Lord was made manifest. It was on the first day of the temple dedication, that is to say, the seventh month, the eighth day of the month, 1028 B.C., when the ark of the covenant was brought into the most holy or “oracle” of the temple, at which time there were temple songs and other music by the priests, and “then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God”. (2 Chron. 5:13,14) Then Solomon prayed and in that prayer made mention of “the stranger”, and “when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever”.—2 Chron. 7:1-3.

• ²⁰ The facts which the Lord caused to be brought to pass in the year 1925 show the fulfillment of this prophetic ceremony. In that year the name of Jehovah began to come to the fore and it came to be appreciated that Jehovah would now make a name for himself. In the beginning of the first Hebrew month The Watchtower of March 1, 1925, published the article “The Birth of The Nation”, meaning the kingdom had begun to function. An editorial committee, humanly provided for, then was supposed to control the publication of The Watchtower, and the majority of that committee strenuously objected to the publication of the article “The Birth of The Nation”, but, by the Lord’s grace, it was published, and that really marked the beginning of the end of the editorial committee, indicating that the Lord himself is running his organization. Following that, to wit, at the Indianapolis convention in 1925, the resolution “Message of Hope” was published and, among other things, contains these words: “The time has come for God to make for himself a name in the earth, and for the peoples to know the truth concerning the divine [purpose], which is the only means of salvation for the world. Therefore, in the name and in the spirit of the Lord the standard of God’s truth and righteousness is here lifted up against the enemy, and for the benefit of the peoples, which standard is, to wit: That Jehovah is the true God, the Most High, the Almighty, the author and finisher of his great [purpose] for the salvation of man, and is the rewarder of all that diligently seek and obey him.” That was the first public occasion that announcement was made that Jehovah’s purpose is to make a name for himself. Thus at that time the glory of Jehovah began to be seen in the real temple and in a new relationship to his people, and that vision of God’s glory increased until it was seen that God’s chief purpose is the vindication of his name. Shortly thereafter, to wit, in January 1,1926, issue of The Watchtower, there was published the article “Who Will Honor Jehovah?” thus calling attention to the glory of Jehovah’s name and stressing his manner of making a name for himself. (2 Sam. 7:23) This glorious purpose of Jehovah was therefore called publicly to “Christendom’s” attention at the proper time by the distribution of the “Message of Hope”. Like the fourth plague described in Revelation 16:8,9, and the fourth trumpet (Rev. 8:12), that “Message of Hope” began to dim the glory of Satan’s crowd on earth and show forth the Lord’s glory, and God’s people were greatly lifted up and rejoiced.—Light, Book One, page 130.

• ²⁷ At the dedication of the typical temple Solomon prayed, and, amongst other things, his prayer contained these words: “Moreover, concerning a stranger that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name’s sake: (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house: hear thou in heaven thy dwellingplace, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name. If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name.”—1 Ki. 8:41-44.

• ²⁸ Parallel thereto, the “Message of Hope” (paragraphs 12 and 13 thereof) contain these words: “We confidently appeal to the peoples to rally to the divine standard of truth thus lifted up and thereby learn the way that leads to life and happiness. We call upon all the people of good will of every nation, kindred and tongue, to discard the errors invented by the enemy Satan and for many years taught by man, and to receive and believe the divine [purpose] for salvation as set forth in the Scriptures. God’s kingdom for which the peoples have long prayed is at hand. It alone can and will establish and stabilize the world so that it cannot be moved. Its ensign of righteousness is the standard now lifted up for the people. Christ Jesus, as glorified King and great executive officer of Jehovah God, has become the rightful ruler of the world. Let the peoples receive, believe and obey him and his laws of righteousness. All who so do are certain to receive the blessings of peace, prosperity, health, life, liberty and eternal happiness.” Thus is now seen the hand of the Lord guiding his covenant people in the way that they should go as he has promised. (Prov. 3: 5, 6) It was freely announced even before that, that 1925 appeared to be an important year, but its real importance was not seen until the present time.

*• Further interesting facts are these: “But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars [like a cedar forest of Lebanon], with cedar beams upon the pillars. Then he made a porch for the throne, where he might judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.” (1 Ki. 7:1, 2, 7, 8) “And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the king’s house.” (1 Ki. 9:10; 2 Chron. 8:1) The completion of that particular building program of Solomon included the temple, the king’s palace, and the house of the forest of Lebanon for judgment (and also for an armory, 2 Chronicles 9:15,16); which completion took place in the twentieth year after the beginning of the temple, said year being 1016 B.C., and which “twentieth year” ends with the beginning of the spring of 1938, and hence corresponds with the year 1937 which ends in the spring of 1938; and to which attention is here directed.

• ⁸⁰ The year 1937 appears to be a marked year of importance to the people of God, including both the remnant and their “companions”, the people of good will, as if this year may be introductory to something more important. In that “twentieth year”, 1937, there assembled the most constructive and important conventions of Jehovah’s witnesses yet assembled, to wit, in the city of Paris, France, in August, and at Columbus, Ohio, in September, 1937. By means of radio the witnesses in other parts of the earth, to wit, Europe, Africa, Australia, and islands of the sea, had a part in those assemblies. The public address pointing to God’s way of “Safety” was delivered to a visible audience of 30,000 persons and at the same time over many radio stations. (September 18 and 19) Then on September 26, 125 radio stations broadcast the public address “Worshiping God”, wherein was condemned the conduct of the commercial radio stations and operators for improper use of this God-given facility; and then on October 31 thereafter judgment against the commercial radio owners, operators, and controllers of radio stations was expressed by discontinuing of commercially-paid radio programs which relate to God’s kingdom. Was this directed and done at the dictation of the King, Christ Jesus, in the “porch of judgment”? It was not prearranged by any man having in mind the fulfillment of prophecy.

• ³¹ It is of some significance that in the close of this very “twentieth year” the question of Jehovah’s temple and royal house, and who is in it, and their duty and responsibility, is considered and now prepared to be published in The Watchtower and the publication of which will immediately precede what is here written. It also appears certain that as in the “thirteen years” during which Solomon was building his royal palace and his judgment house like a forest of Lebanon, so during the thirteen years from 1925 onward Jehovah’s King'Judge, Christ Jesus, has been expressing his judgments, including ‘the cleansing of the sanctuary’, and also by the arrangement of service organization and work. Individualism of the respective companies has been done away with, and the Society, by the will and grace of Jehovah, has taken its proper place in Jehovah’s theocratic government. The unity of the anointed and the harmonious co-operation with their companions are made manifest today as never before. The Watchtower in this “twentieth year” has set forth the Scriptural proof as to who is of the royal house and who of the “great multitude”, and their relationship to each other and to the Lord. It was in May 1937 that The Watchtower announced that capable Jonadabs are eligible for company service organizations. The Watchtower, as of August 15, 1937, published the article “Companions”, setting forth the relationship of the “little flock” and the “great multitude”. The end of the “twentieth year” in 1015 B.C. (which twentieth year corresponds with 1938) comes in the fulfillment on April 2, 1938. The Memorial for 1938 was celebrated April 15, 1938. The Watchtower for March 1 and 15, 1938, published the “Memorial” article, setting forth clearly who shall partake, and also the article showing the distinction between the anointed and great multitude; and thus “the twentieth year” parallel comes to a close, which matter is seen for the first time as this present article is in course of preparation for publication.              :

• ³² As previously arranged, by the Lord’s grace and guidance, the international testimony period entitled “Companions” began April 9, 1938, and progresses, and during which time the books Riches and Enemies, together with the booklet Cure, are specifically featured and widely distributed. The magazine now Consolation is also put forward in this testimony period. It is quite manifest that the Lord is guiding his people and that his theocratic government is in operation and complete control, so far as his visible organization on earth is concerned. Will everyone who loves the Lord get in line and take his respective and proper place?

WORKERS

• ³³ During the “twenty years” of Solomon’s building program he employed or made use of non-Israelites or foreign laborers. That seems to clearly correspond with the Jonadabs or non-anointed ones’ participating in the service work. The Scriptural evidence may here be considered with interest and profit: “And king Solomon sent, and fetched Hiram [this was not king Hiram, but the son of a widow (see margin)] out of Tyre. He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre [was a foreigner], a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work.”—1 Ki. 7:13,14; 2 Chron. 2:13,14.

^M King Hiram sent his servants to work for Solomon. “And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father; for Hiram was ever a lover of David.” “And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.” “And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did hew them, and the stone-squarers; so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.” (1 Ki. 5:1,12,18; 2 Chron. 2:8-10) Other strangers or proselytes of Israel were brought into service: “And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them [showing that those outside of the land of Israel were unnumbered]; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred. And he set threescore and ten thousand [seventy thousand] of them [strangers or proselytes] to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand [eighty thousand] to be hewers in the mountain [of Lebanon], and three thousand and six hundred [3,600] overseers to set the people a work.” (2 Chron. 2:17,18) This corresponds with extending to the “great multitude”, or Jonadabs, a part in the witness work of the present time.—Rev. 22:17.

*’ Some other interesting facts are these: Solomon began building the temple 480 years after the exodus from Egypt. (1 Ki. 6:1) Hence the twenty-year building program of Solomon ended 500 years after the exodus. Five hundred years before 1938 or, to wit, 1438, there were movements for the release of the people from religious bondage under the Papacy. In the thirty-first session of the Council of Basle, Switzerland, in that year the Council declared Pope Eugenius IV contumacious, suspended him from the exercise of all jurisdiction, both temporal and spiritual, and pronounced all that he should do to be null and void. (McClintock and Strong Cyclopaedia, Volume 1, page 689) The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 5, ninth edition, page 731, says: ‘In the year 1438, Council of Ferrara [an Italian city], convoked by Eugenius IV, opposed the Council of Basle; the Emperor John Palaeologus [of the Eastern or Greek Empire] and the Greek Patriarch were present. The pope was deposed by the fathers of Basle, and the latter were excommunicated at Ferrara.’ The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 10, page 572, tells of the continuous controversy between the pope and the Council of Basle.

⁸⁸ The Scriptures show that, after the twenty years of Solomon’s building program as above set out, he engaged in a nation-wide building program. (1 Ki. 9:10,1.-23; 2 Chron. 8:1-10) Then came the queen of Sheba “from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon”. (Matt. 12:42; 1 Ki. 10:1-10; 2 Chron. 9:1-9,12) This suggests the question : What is in the immediate future for the people of Jehovah on earth? With full confidence we will wait, and we shall see.

’’ By way of contrast or comparison we now see that Jehovah has brought in a better condition amongst his people than has heretofore been enjoyed. He has illuminated his prophecy concerning the government of his people. As gold is better than bronze, and silver better than iron, and bronze better than wood, and iron better than stone, so instead of controversies, contentions and arguments usually prevailing at the time of the exercise of the democratic method of selecting servants, now Jehovah, through Christ Jesus, appoints for service in his organization his “exactors”, that is, overseers, officers or servants, for peace, prosperity and righteousness, and all must dwell together and work together in peace and in harmony. Instead of rivalry in the selection of servants, and instead of a rule by bosses or self-exalted ones, Christ Jesus now rules as the special representative of the great Theocrat, Jehovah, and his servants must all be in full harmony with him. Let all contentious persons and troublemakers beware. There is no room for such now in the organization of the Lord. Jehovah’s theocratic government is now in full control of the people of God, and to Jehovah’s great Prophet, King and Judge every knee shall bow and every tongue joyfully confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, King and Ruler, to the glory of God His Father. (Phil. 2:10,11) All of the temple company are one in Christ Jesus, and “in his temple doth every one speak of his glory”. The faithful servants of Jehovah are resting securely in the hand of the Almighty God, and concerning whom it is written: “Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand. ’ ’—Psalm 149: 5, 6.

QUESTIONS FOR STUDY

K 1, 2. How do the facts concerning the temple and the temple judgment show Jehovah’s foreknowledge? Point out results of the temple judgment. What vital question confronts each one for whom the increased light upon God’s Word is now available? How important is a wise decision and course of action in this regard?

H 3,4. Of what is Isaiah 60: 17 a prophetic description? An examination of various translations of this text brings added light on what points in particular?

| 5,6. What is the evidence that Jehovah has been fulfilling his promise that he “will make thy officers peace’’?

K 7,8. Compare former conditions with those of the present, showing that Jehovah’s promise to “make thine exactors righteousness’’ has been in course of fulfillment.

H 9,10. Show that the term “ordained” has been misapplied by translators and religionists. Compare therewith the procedure in providing representatives of the Watch Tower Society, and account for the difference.

H 11-13. The laying on of hands or stretching forth of the hand by the elders in the early days of the church was of what significance? Point out why such procedure is not now in order. With scriptures show that Christ Jesus, now being at the temple, fills all the offices of the organization of Zion and directs the operations thereof. What is here clearly manifest as to the position of the Society in relation to the official part of Jehovah’s organization? Account, then, for the reorganization attending the Society’s activities since 1918.

U 14. Point out the fitness of the Society’s designating all in the organization as “servants”.

1 15,16. What action in line with the foregoing has been taken? and how is such reorganization, with the benefits thereof, available to.others? Compare this condition and arrangement with what Jehovah promised at Isaiah 60: 17.

U 17. ”To whom does Ezekiel 34: 4,10 apply ? Show that Jehovah’s promise therein is having fulfillment. What is now cleatly the duty of all of those of the remnant? How important is it that all in God’s organization understand the commission given to the anointed temple company and be found in line in united and harmonious action in the service of Jehovah?

U 18-20. What definite information kept in mind will be helpful here? When and how has the prophetic picture of Solomon’s building the temple had fulfillment?

U 21-23. Identify the “stranger” referred to in 2 Chronicles 6: 32. Relate facts showing God’s beginning to reveal the “great multitude”.

f 24. How has Solomon’s dedication of the temple had fulfillment as a prophecy?

U 25,26. In what facts is seen fulfillment of the prophetic ceremony recorded at 2 Chronicles 5: 7,13,14 and 7: 1-3 ?

7 27,28. Point out facts parallel to the prophetic matter recorded at 1 Kings 8: 41-44.

U 29. What further interesting facts appear in this prophetic record?

U 30-32. Relate what has taken place in 1937 and 1938 clearly in fulfillment of the completing by Solomon of that part of his building program recorded at 1 Kings 7: 1, 2, 7 and 9: 10, showing that the Society has taken its proper place in Jehovah’s theocratic government and that the Lord is guiding his people and his theocratic government is in operation and in complete control.

fl 33, 34. What was foreshown in Solomon’s sending for nonIsraelites and bringing them into service?

T 35. Relate some facts showing an interesting 500-year parallel.

t 36. What followed the twenty years of Solomon’s building program? What does this suggest?

T 37. What, then, are seen as some of the facts proving fulfillment of Isaiah 60: 17? What will the faithful now be doing, in line with Philippians 2: 10,11 and Psalm 149: 5, 6?

OPENING THE SEALS

CHRIST ^ESUS is the central One of Jehovah’s organization, being far above principalities and powers. (Eph. 1:21) He is the Head over all others. The apostle John, therefore, a^ Revelation five, describes him as “a Lamb, as it had been slain”, and standing “in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts”: “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne [of Jehovah God] and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.” (Vss. 6,7) Thus Christ Jesus is identified and described as the One whose shed blood has redeemed mankind and by whose precious blood alone salvation comes to the human race. He is in the throne of God, that is to say, is the One having the chief authority from Jehovah; and in the midst of the “four beasts” or living ones, which means he is the Chief One in God’s organization. He appears as “having seven horns and seven eyes”, which symbolizes that he has the faculty of discerning perfectly the will of God as this is recorded in the scroll or book “in the right hand of him that sat on the throne”, and is clothed with all power and authority to execute the divine will.

Jesus Christ “came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne ’ ’. Thus he receives from Jehovah and at the hand of Jehovah his portfolio which sets forth the further work now to be done. God seats or installs Christ Jesus upon his throne in Zion and sends him forth to begin action. (Pss. 2:6; 110:2) It was in A.D. 1914 that Christ Jesus took his power and went forth at Jehovah’s command and fought with Satan and ousted him from heaven, according to the description at Revelation twelve. He had overcome in that fight. He comes to his temple, or the house of God, as the High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek and he must receive “the Urim and Thummim” and discern the judgment of Jehovah that he may execute it. His portfolio thus discloses to him God’s work that must be done. Then he begins the opening of the “seals”, disclosing God’s will concerning the work to be done on earth. This marks the inauguration of the work of the church as foreshadowed by the prophet Elisha’s work. Then he sends his faithful ones forth with the command to ‘preach this gospel of the kingdom to all the world as a witness before the final end’ of Satan’s rule. —Matthew 24:14.

The divine record then pictures the four beasts and the four and twenty elders falling down before the Lamb, every one of them having a harp and a golden vessel of sweet odors. (Rev. 5:8) Thus is pictured every part of God’s organization, including the faithful ones on earth, being joyfully subject to and submissive to the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s Chief Executive Officer. As 1 Peter 2:17 declares: ‘ ‘ Fear God. Honour the king.” According to the gender of the original word used in the Greek manuscript of The Revelation, each one of the twenty-four elders possesses a harp. In the temple service the harp was used in accordance with the commandment of the Lord. (2 Chron. 29:25) This is proof that the twenty-four elders represented the number of all the ‘‘ royal priesthood” under the Head, Christ Jesus, including the ones who ‘preach this gospel of the kingdom’. Furthermore, it is stated, at Revelation 14: 3 and 15: 2, 3, that the 144,000 faithful members of Christ’s body stand by the “sea of glass” with Christ Jesus, harping upon their harps. This picture includes the remnant on earth engaged in singing the “new song” to the praise of Jehovah God.

The twenty-four elders are described as having golden vials or bowls full of incense, “which are the prayers of saints.” In the tabernacle and temple service of the nation of Israel a golden censer burned in the Most Holy, and was carried there by the high priest on the yearly ‘ ‘ day of atonement ”. (Heb. 9:3,4) This further supports the conclusion that the twenty-four elders are members of the body of the great High Priest of the order of Melchizedek, to wit, Christ Jesus, and that in the picture they symbolically represent all the body members; and the prayers ’ being ‘ ‘ the prayers of saints” is further proof that the twenty-four elders are the 144,000 faithful saints constituting the body of the High Priest. This also shows that prayer is an essential part of the life of the faithful. No one can hope to get on in his faithful service of the Lord without frequent prayer. This being “the last day”, it is the time to “continue in prayer, and watch in the same”. (Col. 4:2) The remnant will not be able to stand without prayer and watchfulness. (Eph. 6:13-18) The Lord hears the prayer of the righteous, and the prayer of the upright is his delight. (1 Pet. 3:12; Prov. 15:8,29) “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense.” (Ps. 141:2) They pray for victory.—Ps. 118: 25.

“And they sung a new song.” (Rev. 5: 9) Thus is pictured that no longer is this a time of weeping, but • the time has come to sing the new song to the honor and glory of Jehovah and his glorious King. The new song in effect says: ‘ A new epoch has begun; the kingdom is here and the tried and precious Stone, Christ Jesus, has been laid in Zion and made the chief Stone of the corner’: “a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” (Isa. 28:16) He is a tried, precious and sure foundation, and the Head of God’s organization, and every member thereof sings his praises and the praises of Jehovah. All these (represented by the twenty-four elders) say: ‘Thou art worthy to receive this portfolio and to open the seals and to reveal the truth; thou hast redeemed us by thy blood and made us unto our God kings and priests. ’ Thus the Lord Jesus is identified as the Redeemer and Savior, High Priest and King, and the twenty-four elders are members of his royal line.

Then John marks that others join in the song of praise. As stated at verse 11: “I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the ciders [that is, God’s organization, including Christ’s body members]: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” Thus is shown the entire organization of Jehovah God giving praise to the Lamb which has received the riches and power and glory at the hands of Jehovah as his reward for faithfulness. The angels mentioned must be that myriad of angels who act as the retinue of servants to the Lord Jesus and who are at the general assembly. (Heb. 12:22,23, Diag.) The song thus begun continues until every creature that has breath and lives praises God. (Ps. 150:6) The living ones of God’s entire organization say “Amen”. And the members of his royal house fall down before Jehovah and worship him for ever and ever. (Rev. 5:14) They are obedient to his orders, and in the ages to come are the recipients of the exceeding riches of his grace through Christ Jesus, the Head of his organization, and the Chief Officer of Jehovah.

Jehovah spoke through his prophet, saying: “I have installed my king on Zion my holy mountain, let him tell my decree!” (Ps. 2:6, Rotherham) The period of waiting ended with A.D. 1914, and there Jehovah installed his King upon his throne and directed him to begin action. (Ps. 110:1,2) When on earth Jesus gave his great prophecy concerning his second coming and the end of the world. (Matthew, chapter twenty-four) Chapter six of The Revelation parallels that prophecy, and is a tableau in which Christ Jesus is the chief actor.

It is Christ Jesus who opens the “seven seals” of the book “in the right hand of him that sat on the throne”, thus proving that no man can open the prophecies; but God permits his men to understand the prophecies after the seals are opened. It does not even follow that a man would understand the prophecies as soon as the seals are open. It can now be seen that the events pictured in the first five seals were fulfilled from A.D. 1914 to 1918, but the meaning thereof man could not understand until after the coming of the Lord to his temple, in 1918. Prior thereto the faithful church had been applying the prophecy of Matthew twenty-four to the events that came to pass from A.D. 1874 to 1914. Not until after 1918 was it understood by the church that these sealed events apply after 1914; and hence the seals were not open to or discerned by the John class, that is to say, by the remnant, until after 1918, and, in fact, very little until after 1922.

JEHOVAH OF HOSTS is the almighty God of Battle. He has a fixed time for war and a fixed time for peace, and by making war he will establish everlasting peace among his creatures. When he sent Jesus Christ forth in A.D. 1914 to reign in the midst of his enemies, war in heaven immediately followed, and Christ Jesus was the victor. The field of military action is then transferred to the earth, and the forces for the great combat must be prepared. In the first vision of the prophet Zechariah (chapter one) there appeared a company of horsemen led by their Chief, who was Christ Jesus, and the first work of which was to make a careful survey or inspection of things in the earth before beginning operations. Horses symbolize war equipment; and that advance company of horsemen spying out the land shows that the Lord’s forces are preparing for the greatest war on earth.

During the building of the temple at Jerusalem after the return of the Jewish remnant from Babylon Zechariah was again given a vision of the militant organization of Jehovah. That means that while Christ Jesus is gathering his true followers to himself into the temple of God these faithful ones are given a vision of Jehovah’s .great war organization. The prophet looked again, and tells what he saw. “And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains ; and the mountains were mountains of brass. ’ ’ (6:1) “Chariots” are symbols of Jehovah’s militant organization, and there being four chariots means that God’s organization is a four-square one, fully equipped to push the enemy from every point and to completely defeat and destroy him. “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his swora will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” (Isa. 66:15,16) “Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.” (Joel 2:5; Hab. 3:8) These war chariots’ coming out from between two mountains of brass symbolizes that they are exceedingly strong, and the “brass” (copper) shows that they are beyond the earthly quality, therefore superhuman, and are sent by Jehovah, and hence are in no way a part of Satan’s earthly government. These chariots picture the fighting organization of Jehovah God under the leadership of Christ Jesus.

In the fire these mountains would not become “a burnt mountain”, such as Satan’s organization will become according to Jeremiah 51:25. The fighting organization of Jehovah will in the fire of battle glow with brightness like the feet of Christ Jesus, as seen in the vision of the apostle John, who writes: “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.” “And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.” (Rev. 1:15; 2:18) Both the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel had a vision of this Mighty One and say that his arms and feet looked like polished brass. (See Daniel 10:6.) Ezekiel 40:3 says of him: His “appearance was like the appearance of brass”. These “mountains of brass” together picture the universal organization of Jehovah and also the capital organization thereof, coming forth with the military equipment after the war in heaven had ended. It is, to quote Daniel 2:34,35, “out of the mountain” or organization universal of God that the “stone was cut out without hands”; whereas the stone or capital organization, symbolic of the anointed King, grew to be “a great mountain [that] filled the whole earth”, and is therefore the capital or chief part of Jehovah’s organization.

The horse-drawn war chariots seemed to appear at the same time, all moving abreast. By having in mind now that the Jews read from right to left, this picture would indicate that the first horses and chariots to be observed would be on the extreme right. “In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses, and in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.” (6: 2, 3) These chariots drawn by horses show preparation for and moving into position for the great battle. The horses on the extreme right are called “red”, according to the Hebrew, and are called “bay”, in verse seven of this chapter. The second chariot is drawn by black horses, the third on the left center by white horses, and the fourth by “grisled and bay [(margin) strong] horses”. The American Revised Version renders this part of the text “grizzled strong horses ’ ’; which horses are on the extreme left and go to the south and which are thus distinguished from bay horses on the extreme right.

The prophet asked the angel the meaning of the chariots and the horses, and the answer is: “And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits [(margin) winds] of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. ’ ’ (6:4,5) These picture the organization of Jehovah God, “who maketh his angels spirits.” (Ps. 104:4) It is a complete organization, because it is symbolized by four, and at the same time is heavenly, and includes the remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses on earth, who have been made to ‘ * sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. (Eph. 1: 3; 2: 6) The faithful remnant in the temple have been ‘delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Jehovah’s dear Son’. (Col. 1:13) The Lord by his angels has gathered out the remnant and brought them together since 1918, “from the four winds, from one

end of heaven to the other.” (Matt. 24: 31; Zech. 2:6) These “four spirits” have an approved standing before Jehovah, and they willingly serve him in this day. (Ps. 110:3) They come forth from presenting themselves unto the Lord, the same as the seven men described in the ninth chapter of Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Babylon is on the north of Palestine, hence is called “the north country”. (Zech. 2: 6, 7; Jer. 10:22) The earthly Babylon was overthrown eighteen years before Zechariah began to prophesy; hence this prophecy must apply to Satan’s organization which bears the name of Babylon, and applies to “Gog, of the land of Magog”, the chief marshal of Satan’s invisible organization, concerning which Ezekiel prophesied. (See Ezekiel 38:2,15; 39:2, R.V.) Zechariah sees “the black horses [which draw the second chariot] go forth into the north country”. (6:6) That division of the Lord’s army takes its position for the assault against the strongholds of Satan’s organization which are led by Satan’s prince Gog and move out for action. “And the white [horses, drawing the third chariot] go forth after them,” (6:6) These two horsedrawn chariots assaulting the north country comport with the facts that two armies under two kings together assaulted and destroyed literal ancient Babylon. As stated at Daniel 5:28: “Thy kingdom [Babylon] is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” There are two divisions of Gog’s army, the invisible and the visible division, both of which are in the conspiracy against God’s anointed people, and both must be attacked and destroyed by the army of the Lord. The two chariots, the second and third, moving against the enemy here picture Jehovah’s sanctified ones, employed to destroy what Zephaniah 3:8 calls “the $arth”. Quoting Isaiah 13:3,5,19: “I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. They come from a far country [from heaven, and are no part of this world at any time], even the Lord [leading his army], and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land [Babylon, the ‘north country’ or stronghold of Satan’s organization], And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”

The grizzled horses wheel their war chariot into position on the south line of battle: “The grisled [(7?o£7i.) spotted] go forth toward the south country.” (6:6) These horses draw the fourth chariot; and in the third verse of the prophecy they are called “grisled and bay horses”. Edom or Idumea (the northern section was also called Tcman), Egypt and Ethiopia, all are south of the Holy Land. The prophecy, therefore, must refer to the antitypes of these countries, because those countries suffered defeat at the hands of Jehovah’s executioner prior to the time of Zechariah’s prophecy. In the prophecy Edom or Idumea pictures the “wicked servant” class, the “man of sin”, “the son of perdition”; Egypt pictures Satan’s visible organization, made up of the commercial, political and religious elements; and Ethiopia represents the hireling military strong-arm squad. All of these shall fall at Armageddon, and Jehovah’s forces are moving into position for the attack. (Jer, 25:15,16) Ezekiel’s prophecy shows that the hireling crowd in particular joins forces with Gog in making the assault on Jehovah's covenant people, and which fact shows a combining of the enemy forces north and south against the anointed of the Lord.—Ezek. 38:3-5.

The bay horses of verse seven represent the remnant of God’s anointed people on the earth. These are the same as those mentioned in verse two as “red horses”. The American Revised Version designates them as “strong” horses, and Rotherham refers to them as “deep red”. These horses are not the grizzled or bay (of verse three) which draw the fourth chariot. These “deep red” horses, of verses two and seven, draw the first chariot on the extreme right and would be the first ones to be observed by the covenant people of God on earth; and this is in accord with the facts. They picture God’s remnant people on the earth who are pictured by Ezekiel under the symbol of ‘the man in linen with the writer’s inkhorn by his side’ who scatters fire over the city. (See Ezekiel 9 and 10.) These horses drawing the first chariot symbolically say: The witness work, or ‘marking in the foreheads those that sigh and cry’, must be done before the battle of the great day is fought. “And the bay went forth, and sought to go, that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth.” (6:7) The fact that these “sought to go” proved that they were willing in the day of the King’s power, ready to obey the command to go through the earth and preach the gospel of the kingdom. (Matt. 24:14; Ps. 110:3) The angel of the Lord said to this remnant: “Get you hence, walk to and fro”; meaning that they must busy themselves in the witness work. This was their signal to go.

Note how the Lord by his angels directs the movements of his people, and that without their knowledge at the time. It was on the 8th day of September, 1922, when a convention of Jehovah’s people had learned that Christ Jesus is at the temple for judgment and that there was much work for them to do, that the Lord caused these words to be spoken to the assembled multitude: “Do you believe that the Lord is now in his temple, judging the nations of earth?” The multitude shouted: “Yes!” The speaker continued: “Do you believe that the King of glory has begun his reign?” “Yes!” responded the multitude. The speaker continued: ‘ ‘ Then back to the field, 0 ye sons of the Most High God! . . . Herald the message far and wide. The world must know that Jehovah is God and Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the day of all days. Behold, the King reigns! You are his publicity agents. Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise the King and his kingdom.” (See The Watchtower 1922, page 337.) In obedience to the Lord’s command the faithful remnant then went forth and walked through the earth proclaiming the message of the kingdom, and are still at that work. They asking how long this work must continue, the Lord makes it known that it must continue until the battle of the great day of God Almighty. (Isa. 6:11) The army of the Lord is on the trek and the day of war draws nigh.

The division of the army that moves against the enemy in the north country does the chief part of the work. “Then eried he upon [unto] me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.” (6:8) The war chariots drawn by the black horses and white horses move against Gog in the land of Magog, and this is pleasing to Jehovah; showing that this is the division of his army that vindicates his name. “These . . . have quieted (the indignation of) my spirit” (Leeser) ; “have settled my spirit,” or, “caused mine anger to rest.” (Roth., footnote) These bring satisfaction to the spirit of Jehovah because they execute his vengeance upon Satan’s organization. (Ezek. 39:6) This work they do after the witness work by the earthly division is completed.

The division pictured by the grizzled horses that move on the “south- country”, the earthly part of Satan’s organization, do their part to the pleasure of Jehovah; but the division that destroys the invisible enemy, Gog and all those of the land of Magog, does the chief executing work. The earthly division of Satan’s army is merely the ally of Gog and in the conspiracy. After the fall of his organization, then Satan the old Dragon is bound and put to death. (Rev. 20:1-3) All of this must be done before Jehovah’s name is completely vindicated. Satan’s organization, head, body and tail, must be destroyed, and then Jehovah will be pleased. (Ezek. 5:13; 16:42; 21:17; 24:13) The fact that the leader of the army of the Lord cries with a loud and positive command to this division moving on Gog shows that the army is moving into action and the noise of battle is on. All of this proves that Jehovah’s witnesses on the earth are not the ones that put the Devil’s organization out of business, but that they must do their witness work before the big fight is really on. The remnant could not accomplish the destruction of the enemy by bearing witness for a million years. They present themselves and perform their part according to the will of God, and then the great war follows.

LETTERS

DECLARE ALLEGIANCE TO JEHOVAH

Dear Brother Rutherford:

We, the Birmingham (England) company of Jehovah’s witnesses, wish to declare our allegiance to Jehovah and to the Society as His channel in providing “meat in due season’’ and instructions in preaching the kingdom message. We rejoice as we see our “companions” coming forward week by week and entering into the ‘joy of the Lord’.

We thank you personally for your interest in the British field, and particularly for changes which have recently added to the zeal and enthusiasm of us all.

The work here is increasing, and never before have we ns a company felt a keener desire to co-operate with the British Branch office, and indeed the Society as a whole, as we do at the present time. We therefore continue to pray for the prosperity of Zion nnd for the peace of Jerusalem that the Lord may continue to show his favor upon us all.

Yours in Jehovah, Birmingham Company of Jehovah’s witnesses.

JEHOVAH HAS GRANTED THE “INCREASE”

Dear Brother Rutherford:

Your recent encouraging letter, calling attention to the importance of the hour and to the message of the Lord that must now be delivered to the people, has given rise to the desire to express our appreciation of the great privilege set before us to have a share in this world-wide work, and out of that desire has come the following resolution:

‘ ‘ That we stand unitedly behind you as president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the Lord’s visible organization on earth, and do wish to convey to you our sincere co-operation in the most important work done on earth today. ’ ’

We are a “young” company, having been organized for a little more than a year, but feel that Jehovah has granted the “increase” which he has promised unto those who are willing to obey his commands. (Matt. 24: 14)

We are indeed grateful for the truths published in the Watch Tower publications and accept same as food convenient to strengthen us at this time.

May our heavenly Father continue to guide and uphold you and your colaborers in your strenuous part of the great work he has entrusted to your hands.

Your brethren by His grace,

John Fischer Irene Moore Andrew Van Dyk Benjamin Miller Florence Mann Ruth M. Shortway

—New Jersey.

SHARE IN THE GREATEST WORK

Dear Brother Rutherford:

May I take a few minutes of your time, to tell you that I enjoy the book Enemies and each issue of The Watchtower immensely. My heart is thrilled as I see the time approaching for the vindication of Jehovah-’s great name.

How grateful one can be to our heavenly Father for all the blessings enjoyed through the columns of The Watchtower. My heart is full of joy as I feed at His table and share in the greatest work ever given to human creatures.

Doily my prayer is that Jehovah may give strength to his people as they go forth in this day of battle.

With sincere Christian love, I remain

Your fellow servant,

Mrs. Jos. Martin, Michigan.