^WATCHTOWER,

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N. H. Knorr, President W. E. Van Amburgh, Secretary “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - hatah 54:13.

THE SCRIPTURES CLEARLY TEACH

THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God and 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 other things, and is now the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, clothed with all power in heaven and earth, as 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 THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient ones of mankind; that God raised up Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and above every creature’s name and clothed him with all power and authority;

THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION Is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the 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 OLD WORLD ended in AD. 1914, 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 the “new earth” of the New World;

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 complete establishment of righteousness in the earth, and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will that survive Armageddon shall carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with a righteous race.

ITS MISSION

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

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

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“WATCHTOWER" STUDIES

Week of May 21: “Power of the Resurrection Hope,” fl 1-19 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1944.

Week of May 28: “Power of the Resurrection Hope,” fl 20-40 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1944.

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ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

Vol. LXV                                     April 15,1944                                         No. 8

POWER OF THE RESURRECTION HOPE

"So also is the resurrection of the dead. . . . Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."—1 Cor. 15:42,58.

TEHOVAH startled and surprised the entire enemy 1 camp when he revealed his purpose to resurrect J the dead. Jehovah is the God of resurrection. To his faithful, only begotten Son he has given the privilege of co-operating with him in resurrecting the dead, but only after he had first raised this beloved Son himself from among the dead. Therefore the Son says: “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”—John 11:25,26.

’ The enemy is the god of death. He cannot perform a resurrection of the dead, nor does he favor such a miracle for others. His wicked purpose is to hide the truth and possibility of a resurrection from humankind, whom he has blinded. According to the false teaching that he uses to deceive it is not necessary that there should be a raising of the dead to life, because, so the enemy teaches, there are no dead, for the dead are more alive and intelligent than ever as immortal souls in an invisible world. For persons blinded with such doctrine it is difficult to believe that God will actually raise those who are really dead, that is, non-existent except for God’s precise memory of them. They think resurrection applies simply to the physical body, but that there must be some essential inward part of man that is immortal and survives the death of the body, and that such essential part ’continues disembodied somewhere until the body is resurrected for it to re-enter and reunite with the body. The great enemy, who is Satan the Devil, and also his invisible demons know that man himself is the human soul, and that there is no essential part of man that survives and enters into the realm of the spirits at death. For this reason it has been a favorite trick of the demons to imper-sonate the dead and, as such, to communicate through spiritualist mediums with the living relatives and friends and thereby deceive them into believing in disembodied souls of the dead. Especially does a wave of such demon trickery sweep over the land in time of warfare with its huge human mortality, as at the close of World War I and now also during this global war.

’ Religion plays directly into the hands of the demons, by not instructing concerning the resurrection of the dead, but filling men with the idea that immediately at death they are hurtled into an eternity of immortality by the escape of an undying soul from the dead body. Religion claims thus to give comfort to the dying and the survivors, and to strengthen those proceeding in the line of their human duties to face dangers against their life or even sure death. It was under the enticement, “Ye shall not surely die,” that the first woman marched directly into death. Such expectation of deathlessness Satan the enemy held out to her, not through the hope of a resurrection from the dead, but by disregard of the word and commandment of Jehovah God. When her husband Adam decided to join her in the descent to death, he did so, but also without any hope of a resurrection out of death. Such a thing was then unknown. Nor did the Supreme Judge hold out to this human pair any hope of resurrection after their commission of willful sin.—Gen. 3:15.

⁴ In the unanswerable argument of the apostle of Jesus Christ in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter fifteen, belief in any “inherent immortality of the human soul” finds no expression. Altogether different therefrom is the hope which the apostle Paul holds forth as that which sustains a Christian to undergo the most extreme hardships and to face violent death confidently and without flinching while he carries on as a witness in the service of Jehovah God. Rather than human immortality, this apostle stoutly contended for the resurrection of the dead as the true Christian hope for future life. That is the point he makes, at verse 29, saying: “Else what shall

they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?”

’ From this strange statement of the apostle religionists are wrongly led to think that in apostolic times there were Christians who got themselves baptized for unbaptized dead friends in the belief that it would benefit them. Such a belief is unscrip-tural, for the apostle is not suggesting the fitness of being baptized for such dead ones as Adam and Eve. It is impossible for one to be baptized for another and have it avail before God for the unbaptized one. Who, then, are these dead ones, and how is it possible to be baptized for such? The dead ones and the ones baptized are the same individuals. Also the baptism here referred to is not water baptism, but is baptism into that which Christ Jesus himself experienced, namely, into a sacrificial death.

• • Keep in mind that in this fifteenth chapter the apostle is discussing the Christians’ hope and future, and not that of humankind in general. (1 Cor. 1:2-9) Such Christians indeed have been baptized in water. (1 Cor. 1: 13-16) Thereby they publicly gave a symbolic testimony of their consecration of themselves to Jehovah through Christ Jesus, to do God’s will as exampled by his Son. God accepting their consecrations and justifying them from their sins through the sacrificial merit of Jesus Christ, he accepted them for sacrifice with their Head and Leader. As Jesus died the death of faithfulness for the righteous vindication of Jehovah’s name, so these too must be “faithful unto death”. In that behalf Jehovah God baptized them into the “body of Christ”, to be his body-members and to follow him their Head in integrity and service toward God down to the very death, by whatever means it came. For no other earthly end, therefore, were these Christians baptized into Christ than for eventual death in faithfulness, to be “dead ones^-’. Thus they were “baptized for the dead”, not, of course, in the expectation of remaining dead for eternity, but in the hope of being raised from the dead in God’s due time as Christ Jesus was raised from death.

^T That such is the true and proper understanding of the apostle’s expression, his own words at Romans 6: 3-11 show: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”

’ It was such an earthly outcome that the Lord Jesus pictured before his disciples for consideration when he discussed the requirements for being with him in the kingdom of heaven. “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.” (Alatt. 20: 22, 23; Mark 10: 38,39; Luke 12:50) At Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, those disciples were “baptized for the dead” by being baptized into Christ, the holy spirit of God then being poured out upon them and anointing them as body-members. (Acts 2:1-18) The Christians at Corinth and at Rome, and other Christians since being likewise anointed with the Kingdom spirit of God, are or have been thus “baptized for the dead”. If there were no resurrection of such Christians out of death at the time of the establishment of God’s kingdom, what would be the sense of their being thus baptized? A Christian may be sincere in saying, ‘Well, even if there were nothing more to it than just this earthly life, the privilege and joy of serving God is so great and blessed that I would be satisfied with just this.’ But the apostle Paul says to fellow Christians: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Cor. 15:19) This shows that the Word of God is expressly written for us to entertain the hope of resurrection as a comforting and staying power in this life.

• • That the ‘baptism for the dead’ means a baptism for a certain course and end as to this life the apostle illustrates by referring to himself, saying: “And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” (1 Cor. 15:30,31) Everywhere are the enemies of those Christians who are members of the “body of Christ”. Satan the Devil and his demons would use his religious agents and other earthly instruments to Jiring about the destruction of every one of such Christians, if they could, to prevent them from acting as Jehovah’s witnesses and preaching the Kingdom gospel publicly and from house to house. Satan thinks he can frighten the remnant of such Christian bodymembers on earth today by threatening them with death; but these are willing to stand hourly in jeopardy, and to risk their lives and to face death daily by keeping on in the work Satan hates. Why? Because they know God can resurrect them out of death if He permits the Devil and his minions to

• 8. How did Jesus set such a prospect before bis disciples, when first were they “baptized for the dead”, and of what benetit to such ones la the resurrection hope?

• 9. How and why do we stand in jeopardy hourly and die daily, and what hope and prospect aids us to do so? kill their bodies. The Devil cannot destroy their souls, that is, their life through a resurrection from the dead into the New World. They know that only God can destroy their souls or life privileges in Gehenna, symbolic of everlasting destruction. (Matt. 10: 28; Luke 12: 4, 5) By going down eventually into their baptism into death in blamelessness and integrity toward God, they maintain their conditional right to life in the New World. That right to everlasting life is made permanent at their resurrection from the dead and into the kingdom of heaven.

DANGERS OF BAD COMPANY

¹⁰ It is not with safety to one’s faith in God and his purpose for a Christian to keep regular company with religionists who do not believe that the dead rise to life in a resurrection, but who have selfish motives of worldly glory, fame and honor for what brave exploits they do with an unconcern for death. To face perils with such motives as the religionists of this world have would be of no advantage and would end up in loss of faith. So the apostle warns, saying: “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Cor. 15: 32-34) There is no reason to think other than that during the years that the apostle Paul spent in Ephesus he was taken by his enemies and put in the arena to fight with wild beasts and was miraculously delivered by the Lord, just as Daniel was saved from the lions. But if he encountered such perils and exposed himself to death from purely the motives of a natural man, and without love for God and belief in resurrection, what would it avail him?

• ²¹ Modern translation brings out better today the sense of the apostle’s words: “If from merely human motives I have fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we are to die. Do not deceive yourselves: ‘Bad companionships spoil good morals.’ Return to a truly sober mind, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.”—Weymouth; also Emphatic Diaglott.

• ²² In the above statement the apostle quoted from Isaiah 22:13, according to the Greek Septuagint Version, which describes the conduct of religionists of Israel despite Jehovah’s call for their repentance: “And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.” Such religionists revealed that they had no knowledge of Jehovah and his truth. The religionists of modern “Christendom”, in giving themselves over to eating, drinking, marriages, and material and commercial pursuits, rather than to God’s kingdom now established, betray that they are just as ignorant of God as were the religionists in the days of Noah before the flood came and destroyed them all. (Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26,27) Mingling with such company for diversion and enjoyment is certain to corrupt one’s belief and one’s Christian course. It throws one off guard, so that the day of the Lord’s final reckoning with this world comes upon one like a snare.(Luke 21:34-36) Let no true Christian be deceived as to the dire outcome of such companionships.—Prov. 6: 27, 28.

¹³ The natural man does not believe in the resurrection of the dead in the day of judgment, and hence the course of self-indulgence in this life appears to be the most reasonable to his natural mind. He has no knowledge of the divine purpose, and hence is insensible to Jehovah God and feels no responsibility before him and that no accounting is to be made to him. At Corinth there were certain ones mingling with the Christian company who had slumped back into such natural-mindedness and were skeptically saying there is no resurrection of the dead. The apostle Paul undertook to answer their argument and wrote these pointed things to their shame. It was time for them, and is time for any suchlike today, to awake as it is right to do, or to awake to sobriety, to a sound-minded, reasonable and Christian view of matters. It is time to cease from the sin of compromise with this world and fellowship with unbelievers and conforming their course of life to this world of selfish eating, drinking and other indulgences. It is life eternal to know the true God and his Christ and to live according to such knowledge. (John 17: 3) Companying with this world does not aid to such knowledge.

WHAT BODY?

²⁴ Proceeding with his exposition concerning the resurrection, Paul continues: “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” (1 Cor. 15:35) The inquirer was a Christian or an associate with the Corinthian brethren. He was not asking regarding the resurrection of humankind in general, for it is self-evident that those of humankind participating in the resur-

• 13. Why does the self-indulgent course appear most reasonable to the natural-minded person, but what is it the right thing for doubting Christians now to do?

• 14. With reference to whom does the inquirer raise the question respecting the resurrection body, and why with respect to them? rection to life on earth would all come forth from the graves in human or fleshly bodies. The inquirer’s concern was as to the Christian dead, to whom Paul referred, saying: “Some are fallen asleep.” (1 Cor. 15: 6) Hence in this chapter, and in what he has yet to say, the apostle does not discuss and describe the resurrection hopes of mankind, but of those whom Jehovah God has taken out from among the nations to be a “people for His name”. As it is written: “These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Acts 15:14; Rev. 14:4) Hence these have a resurrection that is separate and distinct from that of humankind who are not called to a place in the Kingdom with Christ Jesus. At the Lord’s coming and establishment of the New World Government their resurrection precedes that of any of the rest of humanity; and those having part therein are blessed. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:5,6) Their awakening out of death being unto life and glory in the kingdom of heaven with Christ, the question would suggest itself to the searching mind as to their condition in the resurrection.

^1S It appears that the one putting the question was doing so to cast doubt upon the entire subject and was advancing the question for which he thought there could be no reasonable answer. Just so today, men scoff and say: ‘Where is Christ, if he is now present! Where are those of his disciples who have died if he has resurrected them! We see nothing of it with our natural eyes.’ To those of this cast of mind the apostle replies: “Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.” (1 Cor. 15: 36-38) It is foolish to think that Christians should not die, but that their bodies should be transformed and be refined from material flesh into some fine, invisible substance and thus they be joined with Christ Jesus in heaven without dying. It is likewise unreasonable and also unscriptural to think that for them to join him in the heavens they must have some immortal quality or germ within them, and that the human soul is immortal and finally casts off the fleshly body and later returns to join the same body. The apostle argues that what is planted is not what shall be. If the fleshly body was to be raised at the resurrection and reunited with the departed soul, it is unlikely that the question would have been posed as to how the Christian dead are raised and with what body they are raised.

’• Christ Jesus, a few days before his death, said: “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12: 23, 24) Christ Jesus was in a covenant of sacrifice with his heavenly Father, and it was only by finishing his earthly course faithful unto death that he could be raised from the dead to life in the spirit with Jehovah God. If he had not died, he would have failed to provide the ransom sacrifice for humankind, and his disciples would. be without redemption and hence would die and remain dead. But by dying and then being raised from the dead, Christ Jesus procured redemption for them and opened the way for them to be with him in the heavenly kingdom, that thus he should not be alone in the kingdom. “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” Hence, to show that his disciples must follow his course and die like him, Jesus said: “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12: 25i 26) To be quickened to life eternal the members of Christ’s “body” must know the “fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”. Then they shall “know him, and the power of his resurrection”, and shall “attain unto the resurrection of the dead”.—Phil. 3: 10, 11.

^,T The apostle’s discussion deals with classes or classifications. Grain is one class of plant life. There are also several classifications of grains, the apostle mentioning wheat as an example, besides which there are maize, oats, rice, millet, flax, etc. In the case of any class of grain, the seed grains that are sown are not the grain bodies that appear in due time above the ground and that mature ready for harvesting. God has arranged for the development of the plant from the seed, and it has pleased him that there should be no variation in the class of grain produced from the seed sown. If wheat is sown, then grain of the same class is produced therefrom. Thus there is “to every seed his own body”. Likewise as to the members of Christ’s body. They have been begotten by the spirit of God to be his spiritual children and are called with a heavenly calling. Then it must follow that when this class or body of Christians is brought forth to life in the “first resurrection” it would be a body realizing the hope unto which it was begotten and developed of God, namely, 16 (ft) How did Jesus Illustrate and show the necessity of bis own death Id bls disciples' behalf? (b) Why mast his disciples take the course like his, ending up in death?

17. (a) By what reference to plant life does the apostle show he Is not referring to individual bodies In the resurrection? (b) As to Christians, why could not the resurrection ‘body" of them be earthly? heavenly life in the spirit. It could never be an earthly body, and it would be perfectly inconsistent to think that the flesh which crumbled in death would be re-created and rejoined with an immortal soul and be borne to heaven. Such a thing it has not pleased God to do, according to his Word.

• ¹⁹ The resurrection argument continues: “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” (1 Cor. 15:39) Here further classifications are mentioned, that is, of fleshly creatures. Man is in a superior class by himself, and hence of different flesh from all other animal creatures on earth. But even the flesh of the numerous classes of lower animal creation differ one from another in the three general classifications of beasts, fishes and birds. In each of these three generalizations, there are many lesser classes, many being the varieties of beasts, and varieties of fishes, and varieties of birds. Hence, when eaten, the flesh of each variety tastes different, to the pleasure of man’s palate. But each classification holds to its own marked features, and reproduces its kind, for it has pleased God to so determine.

• ¹⁹ “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” (1 Cor. 15:40) Here the apostle discusses other classifications on a wider scope, including heaven and earth. By celestial bodies he does not mean inanimate bodies in the skies, such as the stars and planets that we see. These are all material bodies like our terrestrial globe, containing elements that are in our earth. The apostle refers, rather, to the various heavenly classes of spirit creatures, such as cherubim, serapliim and angels. These groups have each a God-given glory that distinguishes its own particular group or body of creatures. Such celestial glory likewise distinguishes them from visible, material creatures. The angel that descended from heaven and rolled away the sepulcher stone at the time of Jesus’ resurrection had a countenance like lightning and his raiment was of snowy whiteness. The angels who showed themselves at the sepulcher when the faithful women arrived “stood by them in shining garments”. (Matt. 28: 2, 3; Luke 24: 4) The glory of the seraphim is described for us at Isaiah, chapter six, and their name means fiery or burning ones. At Ezekiel, chapter 28, verses 12-15, is symbolically pictured the glory of the cherub Lucifer, and of other cherubim at chapters 1 and 10. (Ezek. 43:2-4; Heb. 9:5) The glory of the highly exalted Head of the “church, which is his body”, appeared to Saul of Tarsus unbearably dazzling, like a “light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun” at midday, and blinding him for three days. (Acts 9:3; 26:13-15) Such is the variety of glory of celestial (heavenly) bodies or classes of creatures.

*° “But the glory of the heavenly, indeed, is one; and of the earthly [ones], another.” (Emphatic Diaglott) The members of the “body of Christ” are, while on earth, in the flesh made from the elements of the earth. As long as its members are in such condition, the “body of Christ”, which is his church, is earthly. It has its glory, nonetheless. It does not glorify itself, but God glorifies it while on earth by conferring upon it the honor and privilege of possessing the glorious gospel of his Kingdom and of acting as his ambassadors to preach this Kingdom gospel to all nations. (1 Tim. 1:11; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; Rom. 8: 30) The body or company of faithful Jews who lived before Christ was also marked by the glory of covenant relationship with Jehovah God and by the knowledge and keeping of his laws, promises, and arrangements, something no other people on earth then enjoyed. Today the Good Shepherd Christ Jesus is gathering out from all nations, kindreds, people and tongues his “other sheep”. The glory of this organized body of consecrated “men of goodwill” is also discernible as they receive the light of truth and let it shine to others by taking part in the witness work with the remnant of Christ’s bodymembers. Such are the glories respectively of the “bodies terrestrial”, or “earthly bodies”, quite different, indeed, from the glories of the “bodies celestial”.

” Then, to illustrate, the apostle refers to the material bodies in the sides which we see, saying: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.” (1 Cor. 15: 41) There are other suns besides our own, which have planets revolving in orbits about them. There are other moons, besides that one revolving about our earth, such as the eleven moons of Jupiter and the nine moons of Saturn. There are star clusters, also, which, because of distance away, appear to the naked human eye as but one luminous body above. Even such inanimate bodies have their particular glories. In the case of the body of Christ, it shall have a celestial glory surpassing anything that is displayed by those visible bodies in space.

RAISING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

” “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown

• 20 What are some of the “bodies terrestrial" and their respective glories? 21. What are some of the bodies visible la the ekies above and how do they compare in radiance with the glorified "body of Christ"?

• 22 . To whom does the expression, “So also Is the resurrection of the dead,” apply, and what “dead” ones are excluded? in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15:42-44) Besides the preceding discussion, the apostle’s description now of this resurrection proves that the expression, “So also is the resurrection of the dead,” does not mean the general resurrection of humankind. It does not include other humans who “have done good” and who “shall come forth unto a resurrection of life” on earth. It means exclusively “the first resurrection”, that resurrection which is in the class of Jesus’ resurrection, and which therefore has the “likeness of his resurrection”. So the apostle is not discussing the subject of resurrection as a whole, as at Acts 24:15, where he says, “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” The resurrection set out in detail in 1 Corinthians 15 includes no unjust ones. Neither could it embrace others who are destined to everlasting life on a paradise earth. It takes in solely those who are members of the “body of Christ”, and who are “partakers of the heavenly calling”. —Heb. 3:1.

“ Minutely examined, this resurrection account also is not a description of individual members and their individual bodies in the awakening to life. The apostle is not discussing individuals, but a class, as a unit, because they all share in the same grade of resurrection. The first fourteen chapters of Paul’s epistle discuss the “body of Christ”, in which epistle more is said about such “body” than in any other of his epistles. He brings the discussion to a high point, saying to the Christians whom he addresses: “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” (See 1 Corinthians 6:13,19,20; 10:16, 17; 11:24,27,29; 12:12-27.) It is the resurrection of this “body” that he now describes in chapter 15, and in that resurrection everyone who on earth remains faithful as a member of the “body” or church shall duly share in God’s due time. Because the apostle treats of the bringing forth of a class, the church, he does not say, 'They are sown, they are raised, they are sown natural bodies, they are raised spiritual bodies.’ He treats of all members of the “body” together, as one unit under Christ Jesus the Head.

** Being called from among Adam’s descendants, who are sinful men under the condemnation of death and needing redemption, the “body of Christ” here on the earth is in the flesh that is corrupting. Hence it, the “body of Christ”, when dying, is sown in corruption. In the first resurrection it is raised free from inherited sin and beyond being “hurt of the second death”. This is the reward of those who, “by perseverance in good works, are seeking for glory and honor and incorruptibility.” (Rev. 2:11; Rom. 2:7, Diaglott) The members of the body here on earth are weak in themselves, and weak as respects having political power and other influence in this world; but they trust for God’s grace to be sufficient for them. They are resurrected in the power of the Kingdom, The Theocracy, with power far exceeding that of God’s “mighty angels”. (2 Thess. 1: 7) While in the flesh they are held in great dishonor by this world, and they suffer shame for Christ’s name. (2 Cor. 6:8; Acts 5:41) But in being awakened to everlasting life, they enter into the glories which God has prepared for them that love him and they appear with the Son of God in glory. (Col. 3:3,4) Finishing their course in the flesh, the members are sown a “natural body”, and, being raised to life in the spirit, they are raised a “spiritual body”. At Christ’s coming to the temple in 1918 all those who had died down till then were raised together in a body.

” This fulfills to the members of Christ’s body that which was spoken at Philippians 3: 20, 21: “For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.”—Am.Stan. Ver.

" Why is there thus a transformation from a natural to a spiritual body! The apostle replies, saying: “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the-heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” (1 Cor. 15: 45-49) The transformation is because the “body of Christ” must be conformed to its Head, Christ Jesus, in heavenly glory since his own resurrection from the dead.

*’ The first Adam, in Eden, did not have an immortal soul, separate and detachable from his body. He was made or became a living soul. (Gen. 2:7) He was a soul. All his descendants were born as human souls, including those who become members of the “body of Christ”. To become the Ransomer of all believing humankind it was necessary for Jesus to come down from heaven and himself become a

25. How does this fulfill what is spokes of nt Phllippians 3 20. 21? 20 Why Is or must there be a transformation from a natural to a spiritual body?

27. Why Is It that that which is natural comes first, an respects this body ?

human soul. His human nature he laid down at Calvary as a ransom, and after his resurrection and ascension he presented the merit of it in the presence of God, first, in behalf of those who should become members of his body. Thereafter he extends the benefits of his ransom sacrifice to those who will attain to everlasting life on the earth underneath his kingdom. So then, in the flesh, the members of Christ’s body form a “natural body”. This state comes first.

• ²⁸ Afterwards, in the resurrection, the “body of Christ” becomes a spiritual one. This fact absolutely disproves the religious claim that the fleshly body which was nailed to the tree was the body that was raised at Jesus’ resurrection, and that he has his human body in heaven with never-healing wounds. Since the church, his “body”, is raised “in the likeness of his resurrection”, and since “it is raised a spiritual body”, then, too, Jesus was raised from the dead a spirit person, “in incorruption,” “in glory,” “in power.” That was why he had been begotten of God’s spirit and acknowledged as the spiritual Son of God after his baptism in Jordan river. (Matt. 3:16,17) Hence Christ Jesus, “the last Adam,” was made a “life-giving spirit”. He was “put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit”. (1 Cor. 15: 45, Diaglott; 1 Pet. 3:18, Am.Stan. Ver.) Those who have never been begotten of the spirit of God to a heavenly hope of life will never experience such a transformation in the resurrection. They will be raised from the dead human, natural. They were never transferred from Adam into the “body of Christ”.

• ²⁹ “The first man was from the ground, earthy, the second man is from heaven.” (Diaglott) Adam in Eden was made from the dust of the ground, and at death returned to the dust out of which he was taken. Christ Jesus, when on earth, was known and spoke of himself as “The Son of man”, and, being born a perfect human by the miraculous power of God his Father, he was the perfect equivalent of Adam in the garden before his transgression. At 1 Corinthians 15: 27, 28 the apostle Paul quotes from Psalm 8: 4-6 and applies it to Christ Jesus the Lord, namely: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? . . . Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” The Lord Jesus having by his ransom sacrifice redeemed all that which Adam forfeited by his disobedience in Eden, it is true that “the second man is from heaven”. Hence the body-members of Christ, who were once earthly like Adam and who therefore bore the image of the earthy, will in the resurrection become heavenly ones like the second Adam, “the second man,” and will bear a heavenly image.

WHY NO HUMANS IN HEAVEN?

• ³⁰ It was needful for Christ Jesus to die, and it is equally necessary for his body-members to die and thereby dispense with the flesh. The apostle emphasizes why, saying: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” (1 Cor. 15: 50) It is purely a devil-inspired, religious imagination that the resurrection of the dead means the reassembling of the human body and the uniting of the immortal soul with it and that then the soul returns to heaven with the body of flesh and blood, which body, they say, becomes spiritualized, refined, or etherealized. Flesh cannot go to heaven, says Paul, and the fleshly body of corruption cannot be etherealized or spiritualized to inherit incorruption. It is therefore a religious falsehood to claim that the descent of the Lord from heaven at his second coming must be in flesh, the body from the tree, and that the natural eyes of man will literally see him. Only with the eye of understanding will everyone then living see, discern or perceive his invisible presence, and that only by means of the visible signs then betokening his return and second presence in the spirit.—Rev. 1:7; Matt. 24: 30; John 14: 19.

• ³¹ In agreement with the fact that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom, which it is the Father’s good pleasure to give to the “little flock” of Christ’s body-members, must be understood the mystery or sacred secret which the Lord next reveals by his apostle: “Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Cor. 15:51,52) The apostle was showing this mystery to fellow Christians, and so his expression “we” cannot be broadened out by religionists to include humankind in general. He means only the members of Christ’s body, of which he also was and is a member. At verse 20 he shows that all the dead in the graves sleep, and at verse 6 he announces that already some of the members of the “body of Christ” have “fallen asleep” in death. Their sleep is because they must await the sounding of the “last trump” in the day of resurrection after God’s kingdom is set up through Christ Jesus the Lord.

• ³² Such “last trump” is not literal, but is symbolic, and denotes a mighty proclamation at the end of this 30. Why, then, Is it necessary for Christ’s faithful followers to die in the flesh? and what does this prove also as to the manner of Christ’s return?

• 31. What is the "mystery” that the apostle then shows us, and whom does he mean by “we” and by them that “sleep”?

• 32. What Is “the last trump , what takes place during its sounding, and what, therefore, do all body-members of Christ now say?

world. The proclamation which is trumpeted forth is that Satan’s lease of power, his uninterrupted rule, has ended, and that the Kingdom of God through Christ has been established. This proclamation began to go forth in A.D. 1914 among the angels in heaven, but was sounded with special volume and emphasis after Satan and his demons were defeated in the “war in heaven” and flung down to the earth. Then the Lord Jesus came to the temple for judgment, amid the sounding of the trumpet by the angels. First then it was, beginning at his arrival in 1918, that the sleeping ones, “the dead in Christ,” were raised first, “raised incorruptible.” (See Revelation 12:1-11; Malachi 3:1-4; 1 Peter 4:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16.) It is then that all the members of the “body of Christ”, those invisibly risen from the dead to life in the spirit and those of the remnant of body-members still in the “natural body”, worship God and say: “We give thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great.”—Rev. 11:16-18.

“ Who, then, are those who do not sleep and yet are changed instantaneously, and how! They are the remnant of Christ’s body-members, who remain alive as his “natural body” on the earth until he comes to the temple in 1918 for judgment of the “house of God”. Again religion drops to the ridiculous by interpreting the Scriptures to mean that members of religious denominations will be caught up in their bodies of flesh and blood to meet Christ in our earth’s atmosphere and will suddenly be changed invisible, their human bodies becoming spiritualized. On the contrary, the Scripture truth is this: Inasmuch as flesh and blood cannot be spiritualized to inherit God’s kingdom nor corruptible flesh inherit incorruptible spirit existence, it is necessary for the remnant to die, whether by violence due to Satan or in natural ways; for “that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die”. They must be faithful even unto death. (1 Cor. 15:36; Rev. 2:10) They must be buried in the likeness of Christ's death, fulfilling to the final end their covenant with Jehovah God by sacrifice. (Ps. 50: 5) Ah, but when so dying, while the “last trump” is sounding out its glorious message, these faithful finishers of their earthly course do not sleep in the tombs as their fellow members were obliged to do. The Lord Jesus having come to the temple and having judged them faithful unto death, he raises them to life as in a moment or twinkling of an eye. Thereby they are changed instantaneously, without a moment of death's sleep, to life in the spirit, in incorruption, glory, power.

⁴⁴ Since corruption does not inherit incorruption, it is plain that the apostle’s further words could not apply to the individual human bodies of Christians. He must be designating the “body of Christ”, the church, when he unveils further the glorious mystery, saying: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Cor. 15: 53) Here is one of the apostle’s strongest arguments against the religious doctrine of the inherent immortality of the human souh How so! Because, when sleeping in death, the members of Christ’s “body” were not immortal. Immortality is not inherent, but “put on”, first at the resurrection, and put on only by the glorified members of Christ’s “body”. Incorruptibility is the companion of immortality, as also stated at 2 Timothy 1: 10: “Christ Jesus, who indeed hath abolished death, and hath thrown light upon life and incorruptibility through means of the glad-message.” (Rotherham) (Rom. 2:7) By such miracle of God’s power the members of Christ’s body become like him “who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see”.—1 Timothy 6:15,16.

*’ Here, now, is what Christ Jesus, the Rock of the members of his body, meant when he said: “And upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell [Hades, the grave] shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18) The resurrecting of his church represents a glorious victory by him who has the “keys of death and of hell” over the stubborn gates of hell (the grave). It represents also a decided setback, a cause for chagrin, to Satan the Devil, who even opposed Jesus’ resurrection. With what a thrill of triumph could the inspired apostle pen the next words: “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is thy sting! 0 grave, where is thy victory! The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” —1 Cor. 15:54-57.

’*In this sublime expression of exultation in the Lord God, the apostle catches up the words of Isaiah 25: 7,8, which apply at the time that the “mountain” or kingdom of Jehovah God is exalted above the tops of all other governments and his hand of power rests 34. What mortal and corruptible thing 1b it that puts on immortality and incorruption? and what does this prove as regards the religious doctrine on “human Immortality”?

• 33. How does such resurrection fulfill what Jesus said concerning his church at Matthew 16:18, and what triumphant words does the apostle pen on account of it?

• 36. From what prophecies does the apostle here quote, and at what time is the fulfillment of such?

in it while he beats the entire enemy organization down to the dust. As it is written: “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth.” With the quotation from this prophecy the apostle conjoins words from Hosea 13:14, which read according to the Greek Septuagint Version that Paul used: “Him will I deliver from the power of the grave, and from death I will redeem them. 0 death, where is thy punishment? Where thy sting, 0 grave? Is comfort hid from mine eyes?”—Pells.

• ³⁷ The oldest and most authoritative Greek manuscripts hurl the apostle's challenge at death in these words: “0 death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55, Am. Stan. Ver.) Death has been like a monster that has prodded all humankind with a death-dealing sting. That sting is sm; for “the wages of sin is death”. (Rom. 6: 23) Sin’s strength has been the law of the Lord God which condemned sinners to death and called for execution of those infected with sin, thus causing a payment of sin's wages. But where, now, as respects the “body of Christ”, is that sting and that victory of death, in view of the redemptive death and the resurrection of Christ Jesus? They are completely nullified, counteracted! And where is any cause for death’s boasting in view of the resurrection of the “body of Christ” which has already begun? As for the remnant of the “body” yet alive on earth and vigorously engaged in Jehovah’s service as His witnesses, the death that may come upon them in concentration camps, dungeons, torture chambers, mobs, or through natural causes, such death can only stop this remnant momentarily, for at death they are changed instantaneously: “and their works do follow them,” in glory, in the Kingdom!—Rev. 14: 13.

• ³⁸ Such resurrection of Christ’s body is not of interest exclusively to the remnant who share therein, but also to all the persons of good-will who now become companions with them in God’s service. Why? Because the remnant’s change is a part only of the “first” resurrection. It is weighty evidence that the Kingdom is here and that the resurrection of other dead ones, yet sleeping in the graves, shall come about in God’s appointed time by the exercise of the power of the King with the “keys of hell and of death”. (Rev. 1:18) It is proof also that the King’s word is near at hand to be fulfilled upon the earthly survivors of Armageddon: “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”—John 11:26.

• ³⁹ What a power this resurrection hope should exercise upon us! “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58) Even for a person of good-will to die now before Armageddon does not mean his labors in Jehovah’s witness work have been thrown away. An earthly ‘resurrection unto life’ for them “that have done good” most truly awaits such a faithful one, according to God’s Word. (John 5: 28, 29) The resurrection hope was not given as merely an incidental hope, which can be viewed with indifference. It is an important feature of God’s all-excelling purpose. It bespeaks an astounding miracle of His almighty power, a triumph over his great enemy Satan and over death, and a vindication of God's holy name and infallible Word. Facing death daily as we do, for the gospel’s sake, we should “comfort one another with these words” regarding the resurrection hope. (1 Thess. 4:13,18) The enemy’s use of the weapon of death against us shall be defeated, by Jehovah’s power in resurrection!

• ⁴⁰ Every reason, then, we have to stand firm and hold our ground in behalf of God’s kingdom as the only hope of the peoples. With unbreakable grip on the anchor of the resurrection hope we can abide unmovable) permitting nothing to lure or sweep us away from The Theocratic Government, for which we have taken our stand. And instead of slacking the hand and letting down on Jehovah’s work through fear of what the enemy may do, who threaten us with death if we do not stop, we have every incentive to ‘abound in the work of the Lord’. Abound here means to overflow, to increase our work, and not be satisfied with the measure of work we have done in the past, but to exceed ourselves. (Acts 16:5; 1 Thess. 4:10) And this we will do, for God’s invincible power assures to us total victory over the worst that all the enemies can or may do toward his faithful ones of unbreakable integrity and unabating zeal.

JEHOV AH is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works. Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. Jehovah preserveth all them that love him; but all the wicked will he destroy.

—Psalm 145:17, 18, 20, A. S. V.

THE existence of creatures implies that there is a Creator. The Creator is the Immortal One, who is “from everlasting to everlasting’', and he is Gon.

(See Psalm 90:2 and 1 Timothy 6:15, 16.) “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) Here God designates the Almighty One. He reveals himself as “Almighty God”, which means the Creator whose power is unlimited; and as “Lord”, which means the Supreme Ruler; and as “Jehovah”, which bespeaks his purpose toward his creatures; and as “Father”, which means the Giver of life; and as “Host High”, which means the One that is over and above all.

According to what is said at Revelation 4:11, God created all things for His pleasure. The beginning of His creation was his beloved One, his only begotten Son, the Word or Logos. Thereafter God used the Word or Logos as his active agent in the creating of all other things that are created. (Concerning this see John 1:1-3; Proverbs 8:22-24; Revelation 3:14; Colossians 1:15-17.) God the Almighty is that great Spirit whom no man has seen and human eyes can never see. (1 Tim. 6:16) He is the only Being, that is to say, the self-existing One, and is therefore properly spoken of as “The Spirit Being”.

God brought into existence many spirit creatures. A spirit creature is one that is invisible to human eyes. A spirit creature has a spirit body or organism. God “maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire”. (Ps. 104: 4) All the host of heaven are spirit creatures and are invisible to human eyes. Such spirit creatures are designated under the names of cherubim, seraphim, and angels. Among the spirit or angelic creation was one whom God named Lucifer. The universal organization of Jehovah God from the beginning of creation consisted of his spirit creatures, and over it Jehovah God was and is Supreme Lord and Ruler.

In due time it pleased God to create the earth, and he created it for his creature man. Thereafter man was created upon it. “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; I am the Lord; and there is none else. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.”—Isa. 45:18, 12.

God created man in his own due time, and called his name Adam, and placed him in Eden. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (Gen. 2:7, 15) God created the woman and gave her to Adam for his wife. Adam and his wife Eve were made a part of God’s organization, and the man was given dominion over the creatures of earth that were of an order lower than he was. Lucifer, the spirit creature, was the overseer of man and of a certain portion of the spirit creation, and was made so by God’s appointment. He was an officer in the organization of Jehovah, which universal organization of Jehovah God is symbolized under the figure of “mountain”. Expressly to Lucifer it is written in the Bible: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God: thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” —Ezek. 28:13, 14.

Lucifer, when made to be the overlord of man, was anointed, or commissioned, he receiving authority from God over man; and it was Lucifer’s duty to see that man performed his obligation to God according to His law. The universal organization of Jehovah God then consisted of the only begotten Son, and all the angelic or spirit creatures, and humankind on the earth; and all of that organization was in harmony with God and obedient to Him the Creator. Everything in the universe was in complete harmony.

The Almighty God Jehovah is the Unselfish One. Therefore, as it is written at 1 John 4:16, “God is love.” That means that God does nothing selfishly, but always for the good of his creatures. God is righteous and holy. “For righteous is Jehovah, righteousness he lovcth, the upright shall behold his face.” “0 Jehovah! in the heavens is thy lovingkindness, thy faithfulness as far as the fleecy clouds: thy righteousness is like mighty mountains, and thy just decrees are a great resounding deep,—man and beast thou savest, 0 Jehovah! How precious thy lovingkindness, 0 God! therefore the sons of men under the shadow of thy wings seek refuge.” (Psalms 11: 7 and 36: 5-7, Rotherham’s translation) “Righteous art thou, 0 Lord, and upright are thy judgments.” “The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: 0 Lord, thou preservest man and beast.” “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.” (Pss. 119:137; 145:17; 36:6; 119:142) “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) Viewed from these scriptures, God can not and will not look with approval upon anything that is unrighteous. As created by him, all parts of Jehovah’s organization were necessarily in harmony with him, and anything or any creature that got out of harmony with God would be expelled from his organization, such inharmonious creature becoming God’s adversary.

Every unrighteous or wicked creature is God's adversary or enemy. Before enmity toward God arose, Lucifer beheld that every creature in the universe gave honor and praise to the Almighty God. Lucifer fell to coveting that honor and praise for himself. To covet means to desire and to seek that which one has no right to have. “Thou shalt not covet.” (Rom. 13:9) Lucifer presumptuously regarded himself as equal to the Almighty God. Concerning this it is written: “0 Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” (Isa. 14:12-14) In Rotherham’s translation this text reads: “How hast thou fallen from heaven, 0 Shining One, Son of the Dawn! Hewn down to the earth, 0 crusher of nations! Yet thou didst say in thy heart, The heavens will I ascend, above the stars of God will I lift up my throne, that I may sit in the

Mount of Assembly, in the Recesses of the North: I will mount on the hills of the clouds, I will match the Most High!”

Lucifer had meditated in his heart, that is to say, his motive was, to gain for himself the honor and praise of creatures to which he was not entitled. To accomplish his covetous design Lucifer did the following: He approached the woman Eve and spoke to her deceitfully. He is therefore likened to the serpent, a beast that was in Eden. Any transgression of God’s law is sin, and God had fixed death as the penalty for the commission of willful sin in Eden. Adam and Eve had been so instructed by the Lord, that sin would result in their death. (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23) Lucifer must have known this law of God and the penalty for its violation. It was his duty to know, but, after its promulgation, he apparently did not believe it, and that disbelief was due to his own improper heart condition. He should have been governed by the word of God, but, regarding himself as equal to the Most High and considering that he could with impunity induce man to violate God’s law, he proceeded to do so. To Eve he said, in substance: ‘Why do you not eat this fruit in the midst of the garden of Edeni’ and Eve replied that God permitted them to eat of the fruit of any of the trees except the one fruit mentioned, that of the knowledge of good and evil, and that God had said to them: “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”—Gen. 3:1-3.

Eve yielded to the seductive influence of the wily Devil and did eat, and gave to Adam, and he ate. Therefore both were lawbreakers. The eating of the forbidden fruit may appear to some to have been a small thing to call forth the death penalty; but it should be remembered that the offense consisted in the violation of God’s law, and in committing such violation after their having been informed that the penalty for such violation is death. Adam himself was not deceived on the subject. (1 Tim. 2:14) For this violation of God’s law man was sentenced to death and was expelled from Eden. (Gen. 3:6-24) All this marked the beginning of the activity of God’s adversary or enemy.

Lucifer was sentenced to death. For good reason Jehovah God gave him a suspended sentence, or, rather, delayed the execution of the death penalty until the due time for the vindication of Jehovah’s name. Lucifer had now become the avowed enemy of God. Every creature from that day to the present time that has willingly taken the side of Lucifer and willfully engaged in the violation of God’s law is the enemy of God. At the time of entering His judgment against the enemy Jehovah changed the name of Lucifer and assigned to him four separate and distinct names, each of which signifies a particular element of his wickedness. Since that time Lucifer has been named by the names of Satan, which means he is the adversary or opposer of God; and Devil, which means he is the slanderer of God, willfully bringing reproach upon God’s name; and Serpent, which means he is the deceiver of creatures; and Dragon, which means he is a devourer of the unfaithful. Therefore he is designated in the Scriptures as “the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan”. (Rev. 20:2) He is the adversary or willful opposer of God, and therefore God’s chief enemy or foe and the enemy or foe of man.

While Satan is the arch enemy, there are many other enemies or foes both of God and of man.

Everything with God, and everything that proceeds from • him, is light and truth. God is the giver of life everlasting. Everything with Satan and proceeding from him is darkness, and the end thereof is death. In the final analysis it will be seen that each and every creature that gets life everlasting in happiness is and must be and must remain on the side of the Almighty God; and that every creature that remains on the side of Satan shall be completely destroyed out of existence.

Always this great truth must be kept in mind, namely, that the purpose of Satan the Devil is to reproach and mock Jehovah God, and to turn all creation against God, and ultimately to plunge all the creation into destruction. Should he be able to do this, he would regard himself as the victor. That is his ambition. Satan the Devil is the great wicked one, and all who are with him and who continue with him are wicked; and the decree of the Almighty Creator is that all the wicked shall be destroyed. “The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.” (Ps. 145:20) This truth coming to the attention of each and every creature, a choice must be made between the Almighty God and Satan, and thus each creature has to do with his own destiny.

From the very beginning of his wicked course it appears that Satan’s purpose was and is to kill all who are on the side of God, the Almighty. Adam and his wife, by authority from Jehovah, began to have children, and their first son was named Cain. Then they had a son whom they named Abel. Genesis 4:1-8 describes how Cain yielded to the influence of the Devil and murdered his brother Abel. Yet Satan is the foremost murderer. He told the first lie, which brought about the death of Adam and Eve. From the very beginning Satan was a liar and a murderer, and it is so recorded in the Bible, at John 8:44. Every murder that has ever been committed has been and is due to the wicked influence and power exercised by Satan over other creatures; and every murderer is the agent or instrument of Satan the Devil. It is written that no murderer shall ever gain eternal life.—1 John 3:15.

Lucifer, now known as Satan, is otherwise properly called “the great rebel”. God appointed him to the high office in His universal organization and gave him authority over certain angels as he had authority over man. It was the bounden duty of Lucifer to be entirely loyal and faithful to God and to exercise the authority of his office toward angels and men in harmony with God’s law. Addressing the erstwhile Lucifer, Jehovah said: “Thou art the anointed cherub that eovereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain [the universal organization] of God.” (Ezek. 28:14) Anointed means that Lucifer was appointed and duly commissioned by the Almighty God to fill that very important position in God’s organization. Cherub applied to Lucifer as one who was assigned to a position of trust to guard the interests committed to his care. (Note Genesis 3:24.) Therefore in that Lucifer was called the “cherub that eovereth” it means that he was over other creatures whose interests he must safeguard in harmony with God’s law. He willfully put himself in opposition to God’s law and thereafter became a rebel and the permanent adversary of God. One of his methods of deception is to induce certain creatures to conclude that the Devil does not exist. By this means he deceives them and blinds them to the truth, while others of the human creatures do knowingly and willingly work with him.

Every creature and organization that Satan has employed and continues to employ to carry on his rebellious and wicked work is the enemy or foe of God and is the foe of all creatures who obey and serve God. Satan the Devil is the chief foe of man, and all creatures, instruments or organizations employed by Satan are man’s foes. To carry forward his wicked work Satan employs and uses both wicked angels and wicked men, formed into organizations, that work unrighteousness. Satan is a spirit creature, therefore invisible to human eyes. Also angels are spirit creatures and invisible to human eyes. Wicked angels and wicked men, organized and unorganized, carry on wickedness under Satan’s command.

The earthly or visible elements that are primarily employed by Satan to carry forward his fraudulent, deceptive and wicked work, are religion, politics and commerce. Religious, political and commercial organizations for centuries have been employed by Satan the Devil to defame and reproach the name of Almighty God and his beloved Son, Christ Jesus, and to deceive the people and to rob them and turn them into the way of unrighteousness and destruction. By keeping in mind the elements named as enemies of God and man, and by being thus able to identify such foes, there will appear to you the way of safety and security, God’s provided way.

SISERA, OVERCONFIDENT FIGHTER AGAINST GOD

| *HE fool hath said in his heart, There is no I God.” (Ps. 14:1) The psalm continues and shows that such foolish denials of God are manifested by abominable works. One of the actions by which they speak this blasphemy is that they “eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord”. (Vs. 4) Sisera was one who was guilty of this transgression, and thus said in his heart and by his actions, “There is no God.” In due time he reaped the reward of all fools. At the close of the account of the life and death of the militarist Sisera the inspired conclusion of the matter is, “So let all thine enemies perish, 0 Lord.” (Judg. 5:31) So or in like manner all Jehovah’s enemies will perish; hence Sisera’s end and events leading up to it are prophetic. This is verified by Psalm 83:2, 9, 10, 15, 17, 18: “Lo, thine enemies make a tumult: ... do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. . . . Let them be put to shame, and perish: that men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”

It is after the death of Judge Ehud that Sisera appears in the Bible account. The Israelites had fallen away from God’s service and become entangled with religion. Having thus lost the favor and protection of Jehovah the God of the free, they fell into bondage unto Jabin, a king of Canaan. Sisera was the captain of Jabin’s army. Under his command were nine hundred chariots of iron, an awesome mechanized force for that day. It was used to keep the Israelites under and to discourage even a thought of rebellion on their part. For twenty years the harsh, anti-Theocratic rule of the dictatorial Jabin prospered. Through his army captain Sisera “he mightily oppressed the children of Israel”. (Judg. 4:2, 3) He and Sisera ‘consumed them like bread’.

Sisera, operating according to the will of his head and lord, Jabin, pictures religion (particularly the Roman Catholic Hierarchy) in combination with political and commercial and military forces, as made manifest specifically in the totalitarian rule of modern times. These are the forces that lead the visible fight against The Theocracy, and their commander-in-chief is the god of this world, Satan the Devil. (2 Cor. 4:4) Sisera’s home town, Haro-sheth of the Gentiles, was an industrial center, doing business with the nations round about. It well pictures the Hierarchy of Authority situated at Vatican City, which claims to be universal, is highly commercialized, and in the name of religion traffics shrewdly with all nations. —Rev. 17:2; 18:3; Ezek. 27.

In time the Israelites cried unto God for relief; he heard their cry. Barak was commanded to assemble with ten thousand Israelite warriors on the heights of Mount Tabor. The divine promise was: "I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.” (Judg. 4:7) Apparently Jehovah would maneuver the enemy forces under Sisera. Subsequent events bear this out. Toadies of Sisera, anxious to ingratiate themselves with the prominent army captain, hurried to him with the news of the rebels’ assembly. “Sisera gathered by cry, or, proclamation” his forces and hastened toward Mount Tabor, that he might close in for an easy kill, a slaughter, and more military honors for himself. (Judg. 4:12, 13, margin) But Barak had on his side a “secret weapon”, one that the fool Sisera did not even believe existed.

“Organized religion” plunges just as heedlessly on to its doom. They are drawn to the slaughter as were Sisera’s hosts. Following World War I religion was strong and entrenched; Jehovah’s witnesses “lay dead in the streets’. (Rev. 11:1-10) Yet thereafter these were gathered and sent to war against religion’s lies. Openly and publicly they took their position in the Kingdom heights as witnesses of Jehovah. Religion marshaled her forces to fight against the truth-proclaimers. As Sisera called up “all the people that were with him”, rounding up everybody “from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon”, to join battle with the typical covenant people of God, so religion agitates for an all-out drive against spiritual Israelites. Catholic Action, commerce, politics, strong-aim squads, servile press, all respond to religion’s outcry. They thus don garments identifying them as enemies of The Theocracy, and prove themselves worthy of the destruction that lies at the end of such a course. Religion drags them into the disastrous and impossible position of fighting against God. Obviously religion is no savior of man, but is a death-dealing foe. Jehovah is drawing his enemies into the open.—Joel 3: 9-14; Rev. 16:13-16.

As the Israelite army on Mount Tabor watched the approach of the mighty force of Sisera that had for twenty years crushed all opposition they must have been struck by the contrast they presented. All foot-soldiers, poorly armed, pitifully outnumbered, untrained, they seemed overmatched in this impending contest. Sisera would feel cocksure of victory over this puny troop. Yet if his power to smash the Israelites seemed great, the almighty power of the One who promised “I will deliver him into thine hand” was far greater. But Sisera was an infidel religionist. He never dreamed that superhuman power would figure in the battle. Had he not run roughshod over the despised Israelites for twenty years, uninterfered with! So far as he was concerned the Israelites’ God Jehovah did not exist. His act of fighting against God’s people was tantamount to his crying out, “There is no God Jehovah!” He showed himself to be a fighting fool.—Prov. 14:16.

As the legions of Sisera crossed the dry Kishon river bed and ranged themselves in battle formation in the valley leveling out below the heights of Mount Tabor, one would be forcibly reminded of the meaning of Sisera’s name, to wit, “battle array.” But as the anti-God army poised to strike, when it appeared at the zenith of its power and on the eve of its greatest triumph, the scene changed with electrifying suddenness. The very windows of heaven seemed to open with the unleashing of a great barrage of rain, lightning and wind. The torrential waters rushed down from the surrounding mountains, overflowing the Kishon riverbanks and piling up at the head of the valley. Caught in the first violent outbreak of the storm, Sisera’s army was finished. It became a tangled mass of plunging horses and overturning chariots and panic-stricken men. Mingled in with the deafening roar of the storm could be heard the shouts and cursings of men, the terrified squeals of the floundering horses, and the cracking and splintering of the useless chariots. As the wall of water swept down over Sisera’s forces and passed on it left a scene of wreckage in its wake. The vaunted hosts of Sisera were no more. They had suffered a complete washout.—Judg. 4:15, 16; 5: 19-22.

This was a most unseasonal thunderstorm, and of extreme intensity. It was the dry season of the year. The Kishon river at its headwaters was ordinarily a dry wash at this time. Sisera thought the terrain was to the advantage of his mechanized troops. His chariots could operate effectively in the dry, level valley; they were not, however, capable of amphibious operations. Floodwaters would be very strange during the dry season. But they came. In like manner Jehovah’s “strange act” of Armageddon will catch religion’s tools unawares, at the moment when it seems they will certainly quash his witnesses; and at that moment their own destruction will come. As it was at the river Kishon, so at Armageddon both inanimate forces and angelic hosts will bring salvation to God’s people and vindication to His name.—Judg. 5:20; Rev. 22:16; Ps. 148: 3,8; Ezek. 38:21-23.

But what of the proud army captain ! Did he perish with his men in the flood or facing the swords of Barak’s ten thousand! No; he did not stick by the ones he had gathered to his side and whom he had led into a deathtrap. He deserted his men, fleeing on foot, all fight gone from him. At one time this proud commander had caused the oppressed Israelites to take to the byways in fear of his tyranny. (Judg. 5:6) Now the tables were turned. Dirty and disheveled, tired and beaten, Sisera skirted the main roads and tried to work his way back to safe territory by little-used trails. Stealing along circuitous routes, he found himself before the tent of Heber the Kenite. Heber’s wife Jael was the only one present, but all principle or common delicacy, if he ever had any, had vanished from Sisera’s code of ethics. He took refuge in the tent of a woman. After making demands as to the satisfying of his personal, bodily comfort, he ordered Jael to lie for his safeguarding: “Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here! that thou shalt say, No.”—Judg. 4:17-20.

Like religion’s leaders, Sisera made lies his refuge, and took hiding behind a woman’s skirts. (Isa. 28:15, Jer. 51:30) Thinking he had fixed things and brought about a measure of “peace and safety”, he fell asleep. His end was at hand. “Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.”—Judg. 4:21.

By way of anticlimax, the reactions of Sisera’s mother are given. She frets because her son’s chariot is overdue; her “wise ladies” comfort her; she winds up talking to herself, trying to bolster her morale. She reasons her son is dividing the spoils of battle. (Judg. 5:28-30) Sisera’s mother pictures Satan’s “woman”, the demon organization that mothers religion and those who set themselves in “battle array” against God’s servants. The visible part, particularly the religionists, are piqued because Jehovah’s witnesses are not summarily silenced. They require pampering in a womanish way by the political and commercial wings of the organization. They are nervous and keyed up as to the outcome of the issue, and are impatient to reap selfish gain. Their only harvest will be death and destruction.—Judg. 5:19; Hos. 8: 7.

The closing words of the account read: “And the land had rest forty years.” (Judg. 5:31) Forty being four times ten, the number is a symbol of the entire reign of Christ that will follow Armageddon’s cleaning-out of evildoers. The victory over religion is sure. Though the totalitarian camp of the Hierarchy and her allies bristle with arms, and though Jehovah’s witnesses neither have nor want carnal weapons to fight religion, the victory is sure to come to Jehovah’s side. (Ps. 20:7, 8; Isa. 31:1; 54:17; 2 Cor. 10:4, 5) It is just as sure as the prophetic defeat of Sisera at Kishon’s headwaters, and that took place over three thousand years ago.

WORKING APARTMENT HOUSES (NEW YORK CITY)

"A few days after having been arrested for ‘annoying tenants’ in a six-story apartment house with the news of God's new world (which charge was dismissed by the magistrate here in Flushing because the superintendent did not have the woman who complained to him in court and whom the magistrate wanted to question), we, the publisher who held the territory and having a lot of interference from different superintendents in a block of large apartments, and myself, entered another next day. On the fifth floor the superintendent saw us and said: ‘You can’t do that in here.’ I said we were preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. He replied: ‘If you want the same thing to happen as over at the Winston House, why, keep it up.’ The Winston was where the publisher was thrown out bodily, falling to the walk, having his phonograph damaged and a record broken. On the fourth floor the superintendent passed while I was playing to a lady, giving the young lady a long look. She appeared frightened and refused any literature. Again on the third floor while playing for a gentleman, the superintendent again passed, smiling at the man. Waiting for an answer at one of the second-floor apartments, a young man stepped out of the elevator and called me, saying: ‘Come over here, for a moment.’ I replied: ‘Just a minute!’ as I was marking down ‘Not home’ on my house-to-house record. This finished, I walked over to him. He said: 'Going through the building!’ ‘Yes, we are calling upon the people here.' He said: ‘Where do you have your meetings t It’s been two months since I have been to the studies and out in the service*; I was wondering if I had to go to Manhattan meeting.’ We informed him of the local Kingdom Hall, and he advised us that the other man who had been interfering had been superintendent, but he was given until Tuesday, as he had been negligent in performance of his duties about the apartment building, and that he was now superintendent. What a contrast! where we expected demonized interference.”

IN CONTRAST WITH JUVENILE DELINQUENCY (PHILADELPHIA)

“We are four young publishers; one is 12, one 14, one 16, and I am not quite 18, and we each hold individual territories, but all work together as a group, both in house-to-house witnessing and in magazine and back-call work. Some of our most interesting experiences occur, we find, in making back-calls, which proves that we must not only place literature, but also ‘follow through’ and make back-calls which will eventually lead to more book studies. Since our territories had been covered thoroughly prior to the convention [‘Free Nation’s’ Theocratic Assembly, August 20-22], we decided to make some back-calls this morning. After making quite a few and finding a variety of ‘sheep’ and 'goats', we decided to call on a woman whose Watchtower subscription had expired. This person had been called upon about a month ago. Finding no one home, we decided to call again. We rang the bell and, when the door opened, lo, and behold, another publisher and his wife had already made a back-call on this person and were leaving. This other publisher had decided to call because he has known this woman for some time and, knowing she was interested, he made a back-call. You can well imagine the surprise on all of our faces. When this other publisher

and his wife left, the woman graciously invited us in. We spoke to her for a while regarding the Kingdom message, at which she replied: ‘May the Lord bless you young folks for your zeal in doing such a splendid work. I just told Mr. R----and his wife that my Watchtower subscription

had expired and that the next time they called I would renew it. Since you’re here, I’ll renew it right now.’ Result: A double witness, a double back-call, one subscription, a good time had by all, and all to the praise of the Most High.”

RESULT OF A HOME BOOK STUDY (ALABAMA)

“Dear Mr. C----: There is a bit of information I have

planned to ask of you for quite a while; but when you are here I enjoy your talk so much that I don’t think of all of it; and furthermore it seems your talk is as valuable to me as anything I could imagine. So by the grace of God I can write you and obtain the information that way and have the whole time of your visits to hear your wholesome instruction just the same. I mentioned the fact that I had started a study in this neighborhood, and I want to know if that is all right. I thought that probably I should have seen you before doing so; but the members of the family were very anxious for it and keenly interested in it, so we began the study after the same manner in which we started here. I mention this because I want to be in perfect harmony with all of the true servants of the Lord in al) of my work. We held our second meeting tonight, 7 : 20 to 8:30, and I noticed that the interest of the people of the house had increased greatly. There were five other visitors and two of them readily took part with us. One of them took a book The New World. The man of the house also took a copy. I believe that there is hope for a permanent class there. I will need a few more copies of The Neu World, as I have only one copy in excess at this time. Of course, you can leave them at any time you are coming this way. My brother asked me to inform you that he is still interested and studying as hard as ever. . . . Just here, a few words of testimony I wish to submit. My mind is thoroughly made up to follow the Lord where he lead-’ me, regardless of whatever snares Satan tries to put in ■my way. It is my purpose to give all that I possess in the hands of the Lord, place my trust in him, let no worldly lusts entice any of the good thoughts or spiritual wisdom he has given me, nor yield, even at the point of death, to any inducement that might be planned, schemed or enacted to overthrow this determination.—W. H. C.”

“KINGDOM NEWS" OPENED THE WAY

San Diego, Calif. : "I first worked my territory with the Kingdom News ‘The People Have a Right to Good News Now’. Next week I started over it with The New World and latest booklet. At a home I presented my Testimony card. The lady carefully read and asked if I had given her literature last week. I replied: Wes, the Kingdom News No. 11.’ ‘()h yes,’ she said, ‘that is it, and I want one of these New World books, and may I have more V She took three, and two Children, and wants the other books. She is sending books home to her parents. I am hoping to start a study with this teachable lady.”

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