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WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street -   - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S A

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N. H. Knorr, President          W. E. Van Ambuboh, Secretary

“And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - haiah 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 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

HIS journal is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-will.

It arranges systematic Bible study for Its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid In such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.

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

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“REASONABLE SERVICE” TESTIMONY PERIOD

The final month of the current Watchtower campaign, April, is. listed on the year’s service calendar as “Reasonable Service” Testimony Period. This means reasonable service to God, and the Watchtower magazine is devoted to God and the interests of His kingdom and hence the putting of this magazine in the hands of the people is a part of His “reasonable service”. The offer for this final month will have a new feature added, namely, the new 64-page, colored-cover booklet "Be Glad, Ye Nations’’. This will be offered, together with the regular bound book, as a premium with each new year’s subscription for The Watchtower at the regular rate of $1. Doubtless many more readers of this magazine will want to get in on the closing month of this special activity; and we invite all such interested ones to wnte us, if necessary, in order to be teamed up with others in this “reasonable service”. The Society expects a report to be made in the accustomed way by each one out in the field service during this Testimony Period.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of April 7: “Let Us Keep the Feast,” fl 1-21 inclusive, The Watchtower March 1, 1946.

Week of April 14: “Let Us Keep the Feast,” fl 22-40 inclusive, The Watchtower March 1, 1946.

“BE GLAD, YE NATIONS”

The above title designates the new 64-page booklet published by the Watch Tower Society. The two treatises therein contained are closely related and complementary to each other, the first one being on the subject “Be Glad, Ye Nations”, and the second being on the people with whom to be glad, namely, “Jehovah’s witnesses in the Crucible.” Both these presentations, delivered by the Society’s president to great public audiences, have made profound impressions. Reading this booklet will leave you glad, we are certain. "Be Glad, Ye Nations" is published in a special cover of artistic beauty, and is now available at 5c a copy, mailed postpaid. Release of this booklet for campaign distribution is announced elsewhere.

MEMORIAL CELEBRATION

This year the time for celebrating the Memorial will be after sundown or after 6 pun., Standard Time, of Tuesday, April 16. At an. announced hour, each company should assemble on that night, and the anointed ones of them partake of the Memorial emblems, their companions the “other sheep” being present as witnesses. Before the emblems axq partaken of, let some competent brother offer a brief speech extemporaneously or else read paragraphs selected from recent Watchtower articles on the Memorial to those met together. Since the breaking of the bread and drinking of the wine both symbolize the death in which the members of Christ’s body share, the bread and wine should both be served together at partaking. Unleavened bread and red wine should be served, to harmonize with the course of Jesus and his apostles. We expect all companies to notify us concerning their celebration, reporting both the number attending and the number of partakers.

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

PRELIMINARY TO THE FEAST

"For even Christ our

JEHOVAH provides the feast. For nineteen centuries it has been running its course and is now nearing its climax. In the remaining time for it, who will take part in it? It is a feast of deliverance and liberty. The present privileges of freedom which it offers are just a foretaste of the ‘glorious liberty of the sons of God’, which liberty will be complete in the new world following the battle of Armageddon, now near. Those taking part in the feast enjoy a freedom broader and deeper than the measure of political and economic democracy that some boast of. This freedom’s holy light will never dim or flicker out amid the gross darkness that is rapidly enveloping the democratic as well as other governments of a chaotic world. The blessedness and joyful exercise of it will not be removed and wrecked by the increasing corruption and burdens of the worldly nations in this atomic age. No future international combine or world government, growing ever so strong and acting under heavy pressure from powerful men or demons, -will be able to crush it; for the power behind this freedom is invincible and everlasting. The freedom enjoyed at this feast burns as a beacon-light beckoning cheerily to all lovers of true liberty who struggle to loosen themselves from the bog of woe and destruction into which all the nations together are hopelessly sinking.

² There was an ancient prototype of this feast. It was celebrated in the sixteenth century before the Christian era, or 3,458 years ago, for the first time; but its wonderful prophetic teaching is for our day especially. The apostle Paul’s words, partially quoted above, call attention to that ancient feast and make plain its inward meaning for us: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5: 7, 8) It is very plain that the apostle is not here referring to what he later on calls “the Lord’s supper”, even though such supper is rightly celebrated each year on the anniversary of the original passover supper. The Lord’s supper is the memorial of Christ’s death in vindication of Jehovah’s name. This year those who strictly hold to the Scriptural rule, Jehovah’s witnesses, -will celebrate it on the night of Tuesday, April 16. That date is the anniversary not only of the day of the month on which Jesus instituted the Memorial but also of the passover first observed in Egypt, namely, the fourteenth day of the month Abib (or Nisan), which is the first month of the year according to the decree of Jehovah God.

’ The feast that the apostle Paul calls upon his brethren to keep is something to celebrate every day of the year. How? By taking the correct and proper course in life in view of the fact that Christ Jesus, the Son of God, has died as the passover Lamb. According to the apostle’s urgent instructions the course of action should be one of freedom, as the sensible, logical follow-up to the death of the real passover Lamb, “which taketh away the sin of the world.” By the term “feast” the apostle is not referring to the passover supper which the Israelites celebrated down in Egypt. If he does not refer to that supper nor refer to the Christians’ partaking of the sacrifice of the “Lamb of God”, Christ Jesus, then why does he refer to the Christians’ course of action in life as a “feast”? It is because, after the ancient celebration of the passover on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, there followed a feast of seven days, called “the feast of unleavened bread”. This feast followed as the outcome of the passover day, and it was marked by taking a certain required course of action according to Jehovah God’s will. This week-long feast is important because it is a type for us.

* For the refreshment of our minds on the subject we here quote God’s law on the feast, showing its connection with the eating of the passover supper, from Exodus, chapter twelve: “And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Jehovah’s passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah. And the blood [of the lamb, sprinkled on doorposts and lintels of the Israelite homes] shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I ■will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.

' “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever. In the first month [Nisan or Abib], on the fourteenth day of the month [passover day] at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days [or the fifteenth to the twenty-first day, inclusive] shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.”—Ex. 12:11-20, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ⁶ The apostle Paul shows that it is this seven-day observance which he uses as an illustration, because he puts special emphasis upon unleavened bread rather than upon the passover lamb. The feast of unleavened bread hinged, of course, upon the passover. Therefore if we, as Christ’s followers, partake of the antitypical passover Lamb, the sacrificed Christ Jesus, then we must and should, of right, observe also what is typified by the seven-day feast of unleavened bread, and especially so now in this postwar era.

^T Let us have in mind clearly the circumstances of the first passover down in Egypt and what is taught by it for our instruction today. By mentally putting ourselves back there under those circumstances, it is the year 1513 B.C. We are in Egypt, along the eastern margin of the delta of the Nile river, in the section known as Goshen, the very best part of Egypt. It is the spring of the year. The first floodstage of the yearly inundation of the Nile is yet three months off. For us the twenty-four-hour day begins at sundown, and the evening of the fourteenth day of Nisan has begun. In the cloudless sides of the Egyptian night the moon is seen to be at its full. From now on that moon will be known as “the Paschal moon”, or passover moon. Look! Why are those Israelites so active on this particular evening? See, there an Israelite father, with his family assisting, is slaying a lamb. It is a beautiful, unblemished creature, not over a year old, and its blood is being caught in a basin. Over there another Israelite father is dipping a bunch of hyssop in the bowl of lamb’s blood held by his firstborn son and is splashing it upon the sideposts and lintel overhead of the door of his home. After having so done, he and his family retire within the house and shut tight the door. Very soon all the streets in this solid Israelite section of Egypt are deserted. What a strange portent! Every doorpost and lintel is bespattered ■with blood, except where a small Jewish household has moved over to a neighbor’s house to join with another small Israelite household on this occasion.

’ The Paschal moon beams down upon tens of thousands of such marked houses. The strange proceedings of these Israelite sojourners become known to the Egyptians, including Pharaoh and all his courtiers. In his palace he stations a special guard over his firstborn son. He feels special concern for him this night. It is all because of what that Israelite prophet Moses, speaking through his brother Aaron, has said. Why, he warned the mighty Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that Jehovah, the God of the Israelites, would slay this his firstborn son at midnight, together with all the firstborn of the Egyptians. Pharaoh remembered how angry Moses was on leaving his courts. But Pharaoh’s heart stayed hard. He trusted in all the gods of Egypt and defied this Jehovah, the God of Moses.—Ex. 11:4-8.

• ⁹ Inside the Israelites’ houses, under cover of the passover victim’s blood, the victim has been roasted with fire and is set upon the table. Along with it are placed bitter herbs, and the bread to be eaten therewith is without any yeast or leaven. All the house has been scrupulously cleansed of every trace of leaven. All things for the supper being now upon the table, in each home the celebrators gather round. Instead of sitting down, squatting upon the ground with their shoes off, every feaster is standing, with shoes on, as if expecting notice to leave the house, with his flowing garments tucked up out of the way by a girdle around his loins and with a staff in the hand not occupied by the eating. Standing thus around all the household tables are some six hundred thousand men twenty years old and upward and who are all fit for call to war. Besides these are standing the many women and children, and feeble old men past military age. What a host they are, between two and three million at least! Not surprising that as long as eighty and more years before this Egypt had grown afraid of the miraculous increase of these Israelites and Pharaoh had said: “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.” Hence that Pharaoh and his taskmasters reduced the Israelite sojourners to serfs and slaves, and now the present Pharaoh refused to let them go at Jehovah’s demand.—Ex. 1: 7-14.

• ¹⁰ In addition to the Israelites, all the males of whom had been circumcised for the occasion, there were also many bought servants and also many strangers, sojourners, all non-Israelites. These, too, had submitted to circumcision out of good-will to Jehovah God and his people, in order that they might partake of the passover under the protection of the blood-sprinkled Israelite doorways.

• ¹¹ The hour of midnight approached, with all the obedient Israelites and their good-will servants and sojourning strangers dipping the unleavened bread in the sauce of bittei' herbs and eating of the flesh of the passover victim. Care was taken not to break a bone of the carcass, and no one cracked a bone in order to extract the tender marrow inside. There was no time for that, and it was against the straight passover instructions as delivered by Jehovah’s prophet Moses. No one made a move to carry any part of the passover flesh outside the house. There is danger outside on the streets of Egypt, out from under the passover blood!—Ex. 12:1-10, 43-50.

• ¹² Now midnight! . . . Thank Jehovah God! not a firstborn member of the Israelite feasters and their good-will fellows suddenly falls in death, smitten by some invisible death-dealing plague. Surely, then, outside in the Israelites’ stalls not an animal of their herds and flocks must have been lost either! No, not the tongue of a single dog is heard howling dolefully at the death of one person in one Israelite home. Anubis, the canine-headed god of Egypt, cannot move his tongue in triumph over a single Israelite death. Jehovah’s destroying angel has seen the blood and has passed over the houses of all the obedient Israelites of faith and has not smitten any of their households with the plague of death.

• ¹⁸ But now listen! Hear that over there at the fringe of the Israelite section adjacent to the Egyptian quarters? Of a sudden Israelite ears can hear dog yelpings outside the Egyptian homes unmarked by blood. Yes, and shrill human shrieks and frantic cries are arising, first inside the homes, and then outside as the crazed Egyptians rush out onto the streets. All Egypt joins in a chorus of wailing and weeping. Never such a mighty cry as that; “for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” Pharaoh’s own house has not been spared; his firstborn lies dead. Where are all the gods of Egypt? Where are all the demons, of whom Satan the Devil is the prince, and who are worshiped as gods by these Egyptian religionists? Jehovah God has vindicated himself against all these gods of Egypt. He has executed judgment upon them, proving that they are false gods and that no salvation, protection and deliverance can come from them. (Ex. 12: 30,12) But Jehovah has spared the oppressed Israelites alive. He has preserved those under the passover lamb’s blood, thus giving witness that He is the Supreme and Almighty One, the true and living God, the only God of salvation.

“LET US KEEP THE FEAST”

THAT first passover night down in Egypt in the far-distant past was a prophetic drama. In its outstanding importance and mighty effects it is surpassed only by the corresponding event that it foreshadowed. The great God who staged that ancient drama is the same One as supervises its wonderful antitype, namely, Jehovah God. His own written Word makes clear for us who the antitypical passover lamb is. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” With those words John the Baptist directed his Jewish disciples to Jesus of-Nazareth, whom John had recently baptized. (John 1:29,36) Paul confirms this identification, saying: “For our Passover Lamb has been sacri-

1. Whom did that passover lamb down In Egypt foreshadow, and In what respects?

ficed—Christ! Therefore let us keep our festival.” (1 Cor. 5:7,8, Weymouth) When he died, hanging upon the tree outside Jerusalem, not a bone of his body was broken by the soldier guard, although that was done with the bodies of the dying criminals alongside Jesus. He was unblemished, like that young passover lamb of old, and hence was free from taint of sin and imperfection. Thus he was acceptable as a ransom sacrifice to God, to redeem from condemnation and death all human sinners accepting him as “the Lamb of God”.

• ² For this reason the apostle Peter reminds the Christians: “Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from

• 2. What does Peter say In identifying the antityplcal Lamb? your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world {the new world; as is proved by the passover lamb in Egypt many centuries before Christ], but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”—1 Pet. 1:18-21.

’ Therefore Egypt, in which the passover lamb was slain about thirty-five centuries ago, pictures this world. Hence the curious saying, at Revelation 11:8, namely: “Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” Pharaoh, the tyrannical enslaver of Jehovah’s people Israel and who withstood God’s prophet Moses, was therefore a type of Satan the Devil, the wicked one, concerning whom it is said: “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19, Moffatt) Showing why Almighty God has permitted the wicked Devil to exist till now, but with his end due soon at the coming battle of Armageddon, Jehovah caused Moses to say to Pharaoh after six destructive plagues upon Egypt: “For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, so that you would have been effaced from the earth; but this is why I have spared you: to show you my power, and to have my fame recounted throughout all the earth.” (Ex. 9:15,16, An Amer .Trans.; Leeser) Pharaoh’s magicians and astrologers, his economic and business managers, his military captains, and his political princes and taskmasters pictured, therefore, the religious clergy, the commercial lords and military officers, and the politicians who together make up the visible section of this world, which lies under the Devil’s power.

• ⁴ The Israelites were no part of Egypt. They were merely sojourners, and the time had come for them to be a people taken out of Egypt and a people for Jehovah’s name. They were the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, with all three of whom Jehovah made a solemn covenant pertaining to the blessing of all the families of the earth. So the Israelites, as their descendants, were God’s covenant people, concerning whom he said to Pharaoh: “Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Let my people go.” (Ex. 5:1, Am. Stan. Ver.) When Pharaoh refused to let them go forth unhindered, Jehovah brought them out by his power, immediately after the Passover celebration. After that the Israelites pictured those whom Jehovah God has taken out of all nations of this world to be a “people for his name”. (Acts 15:14) Such people he has been taking out since the death of the “Lamb of

• 3. Hence, back there, what did Egypt and its organization picture’ 4. How were the Israelites m Egypt God’s covenant people? and whom did they picture?

God”, whose sacrifice takes away the sin of those who gain eternal life in the new world.

• ⁵ The Israelites, in slaying the passover lamb, picture how those who become Jehovah’s name-people see and confess their need of the sacrifice of His Lamb to provide them with protection from death under God’s judgment against sin and against this world. The sprinkling of the lamb’s blood upon the doorway pictures how those who become Christians or spiritual Israelites make open confession of their faith in the ransoming power of the Son of God who was slain; and how, through belief, they have their hearts and consciences cleansed from the guilt of sin by the application to them of the merit of his blood. (Heb. 10:19-22) No blood was splashed upon the doorstep or threshold of the house. This was because those who keep faith in the power of Christ’s blood do not trample underfoot the Son of God by denying their redemption through his sacrifice.

• ⁸ The eating of the flesh of the passover lamb pictures how the Christians feed upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ by following his example and thus being strengthened for God’s service. As he said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51) Eating the passover lamb’s flesh with bitter herbs, down there in the midst of Egypt, typifies how such believers and followers of Christ suffer the bitterness of persecution and reproach from this wicked world because they are a people for Jehovah’s name and follow the faithful example of the Son of God in declaring God’s name and proclaiming His kingdom. Hence it is written to them: “If, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable ■with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” (1 Pet. 2:20,21) Standing up, girdled and full-shod, while eating the passover lamb, pictures how these spiritual Israelites are called out of this world and are no part of it but must be separate from its religious, commercial, political organization and must be obediently committed to the Theocratic rule of Jehovah God.

^T Furthermore, as the Israelites down in Egypt obeyed Moses and were then brought into a covenant of divine law through the sacrifice of the passover lamb, so the spiritual Israelites obey the Greater Moses, Christ Jesus. Hence they are brought into a new covenant with Jehovah through the sacrifice of the “Lamb of God”, his sacrificed Son. This new covenant is better than the old Mosaic law covenant

• 5. What was pictured by the Israelites’ slaying the passover Iamb and sprinkling its blood?

• 6, What did the Israelites’ eating the passover lamb with bitter herbs and all ready to leave, picture?

• 7. As in the case of Israel and the law covenant, how are spiritual Israelites brought into a new covenant? and why is it better? with the Jews. By it they receive true forgiveness of sin and become the children of God and a “people for his name”; and they gain everlasting life in God’s kingdom of the new world, together with their Mediator, Christ Jesus. Accordingly it is written: “Now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” (Heb. 8:6) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”—1 Tim. 2: 5, 6.

• ⁸ What was pictured by the passover celebration in Egypt must be carried out throughout the life of the genuine Christian. From this fact it is clear that the passover was not a type of the “Lord’s supper” or Memorial of Christ’s death, for that Memorial supper is celebrated, according to Jesus’ commandment, only once each year on a certain night. However, the passover does fix the particular time or night of the year on which to celebrate the Memorial supper. How so? Because Christ Jesus, immediately after finishing celebrating the last passover with his faithful apostles on Nisan 14 of the year 33, set up the Memorial supper with the bread and wine.

• ⁹ That unleavened bread did not correspond with the passover Lamb, but pictured something larger. It stands for the “body of Christ”, of which “body” Jesus is the Head and the church makes up the members under him. Hence, partaking of the Memorial bread by all who are members of the “body of Christ” pictures their taking part with Christ Jesus in his reproaches and afflictions as members of his ‘Tody”, faithfully even to the death. As for the Memorial wine, this is handled differently from the blood of the passover lamb, because the wine is drunk, whereas the blood was not drunk, but sprinkled on the doorway. True, the wine pictures Christ’s blood; but shed blood represents death, and Jesus Christ suffered death not only for the sins of humankind but primarily for the vindication of Jehovah’s name. Hence the drinldng of the Memorial wine by those who are his body members pictures their communion in or participating with him in his manner of death for the vindication of God’s name. Says Paul, at 1 Corinthians 10:16,17: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one-bread [one loaf], one body: for we all partake of the one bread [the one loaf].” (Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Therefore none but those who are consecrated, justified members of the “body of Christ” should partake annually of the bread and wine.

• 8 Why does the passover not picture the Lord’s Memorial supper? but how does It fix the date therefor?

• 9 . What does partaking of the Memorial bread and wine symbolize? and who should do so?

THE PRESENT "FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD”

• ¹⁰ Having come now to an understanding of how the true Christians celebrate the real passover with Christ Jesus as God’s provided Lamb, what next? This: we should come to an understanding of how these same Christians “keep the feast” of unleavened bread in the real way, because that feast is the one to which Paul refers at 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8, saying: “For our Passover lamb is already sacrificed; it is Christ himself. So let us keep the festival, not with old yeast nor with the yeast of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth.” (AnAmer. Trans.) The typical passover was celebrated according to Jehovah’s command on the night of Nisan 14. It caused the Israelites to be passed over and spared from the tenth plague which struck all Egyptian homes and stalls, laying low in death all their firstborn. This terrible national calamity broke Pharaoh’s hard heart and made him issue the order for the Israelites, with flocks and all, to get going out of Egypt on their three-day journey into the wilderness to worship their God Jehovah. The week-long feast of unleavened bread followed this memorable day, namely, from Nisan 15 to 21, inclusive. How the Israelites passed this eventful week observing this feast we shall now see. It was as a free people, a redeemed people.

• ¹¹ The Israelites, then about to enter upon their freedom, had a long-standing debt to collect from Egypt for all the unpaid slave labor they had rendered her for about a century. So, at God’s orders, they asked and demanded (not “borrowed”) various valuables from the Egyptians as settlement of the debt. This doubtless occurred before the Israelites entered their homes to celebrate the passover and thus before grief over the death of the firstborn at midnight frenzied the Egyptians. “And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians.” (Ex. 12: 35, 36, Am. Stan. Ver.) With these riches the Israelites marched forth, but even then with only a part of their dues, we may be sure.

• ¹² How the circumstances combined to launch the Israelites off into their feast of unleavened bread is told us in these words: “The Egyptians became urgent with the people in their hurry to get them out of the land; ‘For,’ said they, ‘we shall all be dead.’ So the people snatched up their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-bowls being wrapped up in

• 10. To what feast does Paul refer at 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8? and after what did the Israelites begin celebrating it?

• 11. On what debt did the Israelites collect before leaving Egypt? and how? 12. How were the Israelites launched off into their feast of unleavened bread? and what did its seven-day length picture? their cloaks upon their shoulders.” (Ex. 12: 33, 34, An Amer. Trans.) Forty years later, when telling the Israelites how they were to celebrate the passover and the seven-day feast of unleavened bread in the Promised Land, Moses said: “Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.” (Deut. 16: 3) Nicely, the feast was seven days long, for seven symbolized a complete or perfect period.

• ¹³ Also, the bread’s being unlightened by yeast made it a symbol of affliction due to abandoning the world symbolized by Egypt. Unleavened bread is hard and heavy, “sad,” so to speak. It was therefore a good reminder of the distress, hardship, persecution and pressure under which one breaks off from connections with and servitude to this world. Moreover, in thus breaking off, it is no time or occasion for us to think of making ourselves comfortable or pampering the selfish cravings of our flesh. The Godgiven liberty is the tiling to be appreciated, no matter what the hardships tied in with it, and it is to be seized promptly as a precious prize.

• ¹⁴ The way in which the Israelites passed their first feast of unleavened bread, or the week that corresponds with it, helps us to see what to expect in the antitypical feast. The first day of it, or Nisan 15, was to be a day of holy convocation, or solemn assembly, with no work to be done except what was simply necessary for eating. Disposing of the passover supper remains, the Israelites left their homes, under pressure from the fearful bereaved Egyptians. They left in no wild rout, jostling, crushing or trampling one another to death, but in good order and to the assembly place that had been agreed upon. This was at the city called Barneses, doubtless in the land of Goshen and being the same as the storage city Raamses that they had been forced to build as slaves. Here they rendezvoused as an assembly of Jehovah’s freedmen.

• ¹⁵ The journey from here to Pi-hahiroth (Mouth or Bay of Hiroth) on the Red sea was said to be ninety or one hundred Roman miles, and, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Israelites made this march in three days. It may not be reasonable to believe this possible for a caravan of two or three million Israelites, with women, children, elderly people, and flocks and herds, and the distance may not have been that long. But doubtless the Israelites did cover the journey within the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread. Pi-hahiroth was on the

• 13. What does the bread’s being unleavened picture?

• 14. How did the Israelites spend the first day of this feast?

• 15. How did they cover the journey from Eameses to the stopping-place on the Red sea?

Gulf of Suez, which is the western arm of the Red sea; and in ancient times this arm of the Red sea extended up much farther north and west than is shown on the present-day maps.* Hence the distance from Rameses to Pi-hahiroth may not have been so great, if Pi-hahiroth was then farther to the north. But regardless of that, reasonably, the marching Israelites would cover the distance within the week of the festival of unleavened bread.

• ¹³ Moses describes the route, at Numbers 33:1-8, saying: “These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Jehovah: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand [triumphantly] in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born, whom Jehovah had smitten among them: upon their gods also Jehovah executed judgments. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth. And they journeyed from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they encamped before Migdol. And they journeyed from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness: and they went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah [in Arabia].”—Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹⁷ Whether the first lap of the tramp, from Rameses to Succoth, was made within the first day of the feast, Nisan 15, is not said, “Succoth” means “tents”. This may have been the general name for a district of Bedouin booths or else the place was so named because here the Israelites first pitched their tents. Notice, please, the great multitude of friendly nonIsraelites within the encampment, who have east in their lot with these God-favored Israelites. They picture the people of good-will of today who unite themselves with Jehovah’s present-day remnant of true spiritual Israelites. “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and *Says Professor Flinders Petrie in his (1912) book entitled “Egypt and Israel”, page 39 f 2: “Formerly the gulf of Suez extended up through the lakes past Ismailiyeh to Ero, otherwise Pithom. They were thus ‘encamped by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth’.” See his “map of sites between Egypt and the Red sea”, on page 29 of the book.

16 How does Moses describe the route, at Numbers 33:1-8?

17 After Rameses, where did the Israelites first encamp? and who along with them?

flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.” (Ex. 12:37-39) The procession of them was some miles long, no doubt.

• ¹⁸ By the shortest route it would have been a landjourney of about two hundred fifty miles from their rendezvous up to Jerusalem in the Promised Land; but that would have taken the Israelites along the Mediterranean seacoast and along by the land of the Philistines; and in former times their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had had difficulties with the Philistines. “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: but God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed [or, by fifties] out of the land of Egypt.... And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.” Here at least, as they faced the wilderness, if not earlier, a miracle appeared. “And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; that they might go by day and by night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, departed not from before the people.”—Ex. 13:17-22, Am. Stan.Ver.; also Young.

A FORESHADOWING OF ARMAGEDDON

• ¹⁹ Now mark the strategy of Jehovah of hosts in leading the hosts of his redeemed people so as to execute a final judgment upon organized Egypt before he made his people completely free of these persecutors. “And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon: over against it shall ye encamp by the sea.” This route, it appears, led them in between high ridges of mountains on their right and their left hand and which terminated at the sea, at Pi-hahiroth.* This place was on the west shore, or Egyptian side, of the Red sea, whereas Baal-zephon may have been on the east side, or Arabian side, and somewhat to the northeast instead of directly opposite Pi-hahiroth. It is estimated that at the crossing point the arm of the Red sea was *Thos. Shaw’s Travels, or Observations, Relating to Several Parts of Barbary and the Levant (1738). See edition of 1808, Volume 2, beginning at page 91; also map therein showing route.

• 18 . (a) Why did Jehovah not lead them by the shortest route to Palestine? (b) What miracle appeared eaily on the route?

• 19 In turning them bark from the wilderness of Etham, where did Jehovah have the Israelites proceed? and what were the geographical features there?

about ten to twelve miles wide. It was not shallow here, for the Bible shows it was deep enough to engulf an Egyptian chariot with its horses and its two charioteers, the driver and the armed bowman,* and even an Egyptian astride a horse.

• ²⁰ But why bring Israel into this hemmed-in place ? Jehovah made it plain to Moses, saying: “And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah.” Ah yes, it was that He might bring about the vindication of His name at the expense of Satan’s world power. So, led by the pillar of cloud, the Israelites followed Moses to Pi-hahiroth at the seaside.—Ex. 14:1-4, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ²¹ Spies reported to Pharaoh about the line of march of the Israelites and that evidently they were leaving Egypt for good, with no intention of returning to Egypt after worshiping Jehovah their God in the wilderness. “And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: for the children of Israel went out with a high hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before [in front of] Baal-zephon.”—Ex. 14:5-9, Am.Stan. Ver.

• ²² Everything worked out as stated by Jehovah God. Realizing the economic hurt to commercial Egypt by the loss of so much Israelite slave labor, Pharaoh’s greed and his lust for revenge made him go forth with his mightiest armed forces in pursuit. The Jewish historian Josephus puts the pursuit forces at six hundred chariots, fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand footmen, or more than a quarter of a million expert soldiers.! In their grief-embittered hearts burned the thoughts: “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.”—Ex. 15: 9.

• ²⁸ The Egyptian hosts covered ground fast, and •See Breasted’g A History of Egypt, page 381.

tJosephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, Book 2, chapter 15, 13.

• 20. Why did Jehovah bring the Israelites into this hemmed-in place? 21. On news of this, what did Pharaoh do?

• 22. By what motives were the Egyptians driven on?

• 23. (a) Why did the plight of the Israelites now become desperate? (b) How did the Israelites now conduct themselves? and what did Moses say? bore down upon the Israelites after they had apparently entered a land trap between mountains and the sea. Now the Egyptians blocked their rear exit, and doubtless also closed up all the difficult sidepasses through the mountains. With those bloodthirsty Egyptians behind them and the impassable Red sea in front of them, it was worse for these millions of trapped Israelites than the Dunkerque of May-June, 1940, which involved only some three hundred thousand Britishers on the French shore of the English Channel and with hundreds of various vessels coming over to rescue them. Behind the Israelites the tumult and thunderous rumbling, ever growing nearer, caused them to look back and catch sight of their mighty pursuers. Fear paralyzed the hearts of many. Their cries of complaint to Moses indicated lack of faith and the suspicion that God had mismanaged their escape in letting them come into this trap. Then Moses, in a true type of the Great Prophet and Leader today, Christ Jesus, sought to quiet them: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he ■will work for you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”—Ex. 14:10-14, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ²⁴ In a modern situation like this, what should Jehovah’s remnant and their multitude of good-will companions do"? We hear our instructions from this living, talking motion-picture drama of Bible history: “And Jehovah said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.” (Ex. 14:15-18, Am. Stan. Ver.) Once again God lets us know that his holy name is involved, and that this world and its god, symbolized by Egypt and its Pharaoh, must know that Jehovah is the Almighty God and the Sovereign of all the universe.

• ²⁵ For the moment it looked as if the pursuing body of persecutors would pounce upon the helpless Israelites, but then came a delaying action! Jehovah became rearguard to them, even as he was their Leader by his mighty unseen angel. Night was coming on. “And the angel of God, who went before the

• 24. Wbat Instructions did God then give Moses? and showing what divine purpose?

• 25. Why did not the Egyptian hosts immediately overtake the Israelites? camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud removed from before them, and stood behind them: and it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and the one came not near the other all the night.” (Ex. 14:19,20, Am. Stan. Ver.) Foiled again, those persecutors!

• ²⁸ On the enemy side the darkness of the great intervening cloud made of no worth the weak beams of the waning moon. On the Israelite side the massive cloud to their rear was as a towering curtain of light whose glow lighted up the waters of the Red sea ahead. No mere ebb of the tide could draw off that vast body of water ahead of them. No hurricane of wind from the east could cut a path through that deep sea -without having to be so violent as to injure the Israelites on the western shore. Only a miracle of Almighty God could cut a path through those watery depths. Now the Israelites watched in the miraculous light. “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” God’s miracle parted the waters and piled them up right and left, and then the torrid -wind from the east quickly dried off the sea bottom. “Go forward!” Moses bade the transfixed Israelites. “And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” The night was far spent as the last of the Israelites neared the opposite shore, the side of freedom and security. The cloud lifted from between pursuers and pursued, and now Pharaoh and his hosts saw the Israelites escaping by Jehovah’s miracle. In final defiance of Jehovah, Pharaoh orders his men forward.

• ²⁷ “And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.” It was now in the fourth and last watch of the night, between 3 and 6 a.m., and the great cloud hovered over the Israelites.

• ²⁸ “And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Jehovah looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians.” (Ex. 14: 21-24, Am. Stan. Ver.) At last the time had come for him to vindicate his name and sovereignty by a demonstration against his enemies and thereby provide an unforgettable type of his eternal vindication at the final war of Armageddon now approaching. His miraculous power, focused upon the waters of the Red sea, had parted them asunder as if frightening them to get out of the way that His chosen people might pass

• 26, 27. (a) How was a safe crossing now made available for the Israelites? (b) When did Pharaoh’s hosts go in after them?

• 28. Now bow did God slow up the advancing Egyptian hosts? over and be forever witnesses of Jehovah’s all-performing power. Now the Egyptians are hurrying through the great water trough, when suddenly the floor-bottom beneath them trembles most violently with an earthquake. Above them the darkened skies peal with fearful thunders. Then torrents of water pour down and muddy up the sea bottom for Egyptian chariot-wheels and galloping hoofs and tramping feet. Lightnings flash and crackle, and firebolts dart downward at the confused hosts of Satan the Devil. “The waters saw thee, 0 God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” —Ps. 77:16-20.

• ²⁹ Now the Egyptians begin to know the God of Jehovah’s witnesses: “And he took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians.” But could the Devil speed their retreat and flight fast enough to salvage at least a remnant of his hosts from the sea-depths'? No more than he 'will be able to do so at the battle of Armageddon! “And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians ; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore. And Israel saw the great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared Jehovah: and they believed in Jehovah, and in his servant Moses.”—Ex. 14:25-31, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ³⁰ Thus the Israelites were baptized by Jehovah, “all baptized unto Moses in the cloud [above them] and in the sea [on either side].” (1 Cor. 10:1,2) On the other hand, the Devil’s hosts were baptized in a terrific destruction; and the Israelites despoiled the

• 29. What final action did Jehovah take against the Egyptian hosts, and Auth what effect upon the Israelites?

]Q. (a) What baptisms there took place? (b) What did the Israelites :hus become and then do immediately? bodies of those who were washed ashore dead. These Israelites became the living witnesses of Jehovah, concerning his supremacy and his sovereignty and Godship. Under the leadership of Moses, seconded' by his sister Miriam, all the delivered Israelites joined in singing. Theirs was a song of praise to their Savior, Jehovah God, and it ended upon the high theme: “Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever.” (Ex. 15:18, Am. Stan. Ver.) What an initial way for Jehovah’s people to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread!

KEEPING THE FEAST NOW

• ^S1 From the above description of the first celebration of the feast, and from what the apostle Paul says in connection ■with it at 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, how is the typical feast of unleavened bread fulfilled by Christ’s followers ? It is fulfilled by the way they live their lives after accepting him as their passover Lamb and thereby gaining deliverance from this world and its sin and condemned state. How the apostle came to refer to that typical feast and its present fulfillment was this way: One of the members of the Christian congregation at Corinth was reported to him to have committed a gross sin. This professing Christian, be he converted Jew or Gentile, had taken his own father’s wife and committed impurity with her. She was at least his stepmother; and from the apostle’s statement at 2 Corinthians 7:12 some think that his father, against whom this wrong was committed by this son, was still alive. Such a practice was contrary to the will of Jehovah God as expressed in his dealings with the Israelites. His law, which was a shadow of a right course of action now, said: “The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.” —Lev. 18: 8.

• ³² Long before that law was given, Jacob’s firstborn son Reuben committed adultery with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, the handmaid of his father’s beloved wife Rachel. For this reason God took from Reuben the firstborn son’s birthright. He also inspired Jacob on his deathbed to pronounce words of disapproval upon Reuben. (Gen. 35:22; 49:1-4; 1 Chron. 5:1) After the above law of Leviticus 18: 8 was given, Absalom purposely broke it for political reasons and upon advice of King David’s traitorous counselor Ahithophel. Absalom turned rebel against his father, King David, and caused him to flee from his palace in Jerusalem. Then, to show that he had taken over the entire establishment of his ousted father, Absalom took Kung David’s concubines and openly committed adultery with them. (2 Sam. 16:20-23) Absalom died a violent death amid battle defeat. After King David’s death, 31. (a) Generally speaking, how la the antltyplcal feast of unleavened bread fulfilled? (b)IIow did Paul come to refer to this?

• 32. What previous examples of suchlike sin are given in the Bible? his ambitious son Adonijah tried to get compensation for being barred from succeeding to David’s throne. He asked for his father’s concubine Abishag. For this presumptuousness King Solomon had Adonijah put to death.—1 Ki. 1:1-5; 2:13-25.

• ³³ Thus the practice of taking a stepmother for sex relations, whether her husband was alive or dead, was definitely condemned in God’s Word. However, the congregation at Corinth was not concerned about such a thing’s being committed in their midst, which even the pagan outsiders condemned. They were so taken up with contentions over men as teachers and leaders, such as Cephas (Peter), Paul, and Apollos, that they had no time for cleansing the congregation from the defiling presence of this base sinner. They put on airs, thinldng that by having had one man as an instructor as against another instructor, it made them differ from other brethren; and so they were puffed up and put on airs. (1 Cor. 1:11-13; 4: 5, 6) Hence the apostle wrote to them as follows, in order that the spirit of the Lord God might be saved and preserved within that congregation:

• ³⁴ “It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one of you hath his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him that hath so wrought this thing.” What judgment did the apostle render on the matter? “In the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good [that is, This is no matter to boast of]. Know ye not that a little leaven leaven-eth the whole lump? [Hence the danger to the spirit of the Lord within this congregation.] Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither -with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”—1 Cor. 5:1-8, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ³⁵ In the ancient feast of unleavened bread the first day and the seventh day were observed by a holy convocation and laying off from works for personal gain. And for the congregation at Corinth, and for any Christian congregation and the men of goodwill among them now, to observe the antitypical feast of unleavened bread, they must cleanse from their midst anyone who is active among them like

• 33. Why was not the Corinthian congregation concerned that such a thing was committed in their midst?

• 34. What, therefore, did Paul write them at 1 Corinthians 5:1-8? 35. How does a congregation properly observe this antitypical feast? a lump of leaven in a batch of dough. He must be “cut off”.

” Since the death and resurrection of the Lamb of God, A.D. 33, the Christian believers have been entering into the obligations of the antitypical feast of unleavened bread. But more so from A.D. 191S is this true, because in that year the prophecy (Malachi 3:1-4) underwent fulfillment that Jehovah’s Messenger, Christ Jesus, should come to the temple and cleanse it. In fulfillment of his own prophecy, at Matthew 24:48-51, concerning this end of the world, Christ Jesus at the temple has cleansed his faithful remnant of followers from the presence and influence and power of the “evil servant” class. This is particularly so since A.D. 1932, in which year “elective elders” as a class disappeared from among Jehovah’s witnesses. And just as the feast of unleavened bread began first after the passover and after the ten plagues had been poured out upon ancient Egypt, likewise by 1932 the modern counterpart of the ten plagues had taken place against “Christendom”. This was by God’s “strange work” through his holy angels and also by the preaching done by his active witnesses on the earth. By these antitypical plagues the power and control of this world and its “firstborn” has been smitten and killed so far as affecting Jehovah’s faithful remnant and their companions of good-will.—See extensive explanation in the book Jehovah, pages 55-99; also The Watchtoicer of February 15,1944, pages 58, 59.

• ³⁷ Therefore, whether as a Christian congregation or as individual Christians and witnesses of Jehovah, we must lead clean lives. Remember that Christ Jesus, when instituting the Memorial supper, used the loaf of unleavened bread to represent his church, which is his body, saying: “Take, eat; this is mv body.” (Matt. 26: 26; 1 Cor. 11: 23, 24) Only by thus keeping pure can the remnant of Christ’s body members have a part in the antitype of the feast of unleavened bread. The unleavened state of the bread signifies purity. The Israelites began eating this bread when parting company with oppressive Egypt and its servitude to Satan’s visible organization. Like those ancient Israelites, so Jehovah’s consecrated people must now be clean from the leaven of this world. Its leaven represents its teachings, its habits, its standards, and its practices. It represents religion, as is shown by Jesus' warning concerning the leaders who were devotees of “the Jews’ religion”. He said: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” “Then understood they that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matt. 16: 6,12, Am. Stan. Ver.) Being an unleavened lump 30. Since when in general has this feast undergone antitypical fulfillment, and in particular since what years⁹

• 37. As a congregation or individuals, how do Christians keep clear of the symbolic leaven?

or a fresh lump of dough symbolizes that we must be no part of this world and not have any of it among us. The leaven of this world can have no part with the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”.

• ³⁸ We cannot avoid having contact or material dealings with those of this world. To do so altogether, we should be obliged to get off this planet. So says the apostle, at 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. But we can watch to do what the apostle says, namely, not to seek their association and company, and “not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat”. (1 Cor. 5:11, Am. Stan. Ver.) We cannot help being in the world, and Jesus pointedly said he did not pray God to take his followers out of this world before the battle of Armageddon. But while necessarily in the world, we can be as Jesus was, namely, “not of the world.” (John 17:14-16) The world is outside of Jehovah’s Theocratic organization. Although we deliver a testimony against it and publicly foretell its fate as predicted by God’s Word, we must let this world run and regulate its own organization and affairs and go its depraved way. Those of God’s organization must look conscientiously to their personal inward affairs and to the things within Jehovah’s organization. As the apostle wrote the Corinthian congregation: “Outsiders it is no business of mine to judge. No, you must judge those who are inside the church, for yourselves; as for outsiders, God will judge them. Expel the wicked from your company."—1 Cor. 5:12,13, Moffatt; see also Deuteronomy 17: 7; 19:19.

• ³⁹ Keeping the feast, then, during this postwar era means conducting ourselves as God’s servants and witnesses without spot from this world; “not with the old leaven [of religion either of Jewry or of ‘Christendom’], neither with the leaven of malice and

• 38. Is it necessary to go out of this world in order to do so? or how is it Dow done?

• 39. What, then, does keeping this feast during this postwar era mean? wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity [purity, innocence] and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:8) Eating leavened bread was punished by the eater’s-being cut off; hence those of God’s organization must avoid defilement by the symbolical leaven. The leaven of malice and wickedness would include not only the things the apostle directly names, fornication, covetousness, idolatry, railing, drunkenness, extortion, etc., but also meddling in this modern world’s affairs, giving moral or other support to its proud, Goddefying schemes for a world-government of this planet and for “creating a better and finer world” independent of God’s way and kingdom. Jesus’ urgent advice is that we flee to the mountains of God’s kingdom at the sight of such a worldly "abomination of desolation”.—Matt. 24:15-20.

⁴⁰ The unleavened bread Jehovah God called “the bread of affliction”. We may be sure, then, that as we celebrate this feast, eating this bread by keeping disconnected, unspotted and free from this postwar world and by preaching the Kingdom truth, we shall suffer great affliction from Satan and his demons and from his visible organization of politics, commerce and militarism, and organized religion. We can no more stop the pursuit of us by these persecutors than the Israelites could halt the Egyptian hordes at their heels. But despite all the bread of affliction we eat, we abe free of antitypical Egypt; we are Jehovah’s freedmen by Christ Jesus. Under their leadership and protection, we are celebrating the feast of holy freedom as we march forward to the New World of righteousness, singing their high praises and calling upon all peoples of all nations to be glad with us and to join us in the march. The Red sea of Armageddon just ahead will not stop us. It will stop our persecuting pursuers dead in their tracks, not so much as one of them remaining. Then, Armageddon past, we shall sing Jehovah's praises by Christ Jesus everlastingly in the New World of absolute liberty of all servants of God.

• 40. (a) As we eat this antitypical unleavened bread what are we certain to undergo? (b) In spite of that, what is our present condition, and when shall we enter the state of absolute liberty?

FIRST POSTWAR GRADUATION

AT A time when delegates from fifty-one nations were assembled in London, England, getting the United Nations Organization in operation, and when the creation of a special commission to devise controls of atomic energy was approved by the Political and Security Committee of the UNO Assembly, a remarkable resolution was passed by the graduating class of a college in America, on Monday, January 21. Because of the important issues it raises, we reproduce it in full below :

RESOLUTION

“Whereas we, the sixth class of the Watchtower Bible College of Gilead, recognize the fact that the Kingdom has been fully established, and that Jehovah now reigns through his invincible King, Christ Jesus; and

“Whereas we realize that the established Kingdom gives positive evidence that Satan has been cast down to earth with his demons, and that he is now putting forth his every effort to thwart the establishment of the ‘new earth’, and that this effort has brought about a war-torn world and is causing the hearts of millions of suffering humanity to fail them for fear of the future possibility of the atomic bomb and other demoniacal schemes of Satan to destroy mankind; and

“Whereas in view of this perplexing world condition we recognize the need of now heeding Jehovah’s command to go and disciple all nations so that those of good-will the world over may flee to God’s kingdom and live; and

‘Whereas we appreciate that Jehovah in his perfect foresight has established this College of Gilead for the very purpose of equipping His ministers to speedily bring this urgent message of life to those who are sighing and crying for the abominations done in the earth, and that we are deeply grateful to the Most High God Jehovah for the privilege of attending this college of highest learning;

“Therefore, be it resolved : That we, the first postwar class of Gilead, are determined, by God’s grace, to join with the past graduates and those to come and with all of Jehovah’s faithful publishers the world over in pushing this global educational work to the ends of the earth and thereby prove worthy of this special training which we have received;

“That we 'will use this added knowledge to aid us in our future studies and that we will personally help other publishers and persons of good-will who have not had the privilege of attending the Watchtower Bible College of Gilead;

“That we will press forward with greater zeal than ever before, always keeping before us the stirring examples of faith and integrity of our brethren in Europe, who under the most adverse conditions remained ‘immovable for right worship’;

“That we will not be moved from this course of faithful service, regardless of all the pressure that Satan, his demons, and the whole ante-Armageddon arrangement can bring to bear;

“That we will not be deceived by the fancy schemes and enticements of men and particularly the United Nations Organization and its empty promises;

“That, in view of this UNO ‘abomination of desolation’ (Matthew 24:15) which is encircling the globe like a giant octopus and sweeping down upon the defenseless people of good-will, we are more than ever determined not to be deterred from pointing to the Kingdom as the only hope of the world; and

“That we will forever preach this gospel in whatever assignment we are sent to and thereby aid the ‘strangers’ in all four corners of the earth to ‘be glad with his people’.”

The above Resolution was read by a student-graduate from Missouri to the gathering of 544 in the beautiful auditorium of the College, and was enthusiastically moved, seconded and adopted by the graduating class of 91 students. The rest of the assembly, made up of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts and friends of these graduates, looked on with evident approval and endorsement.

This student action took place immediately after the presentation of the diplomas by the College president, N. H. Knorr, of Brooklyn, New York, who is also president of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc., sponsoring the College. The first of the 86 graduates to be favored with the diploma of merit was a young lady from Arizona, who had been doing special pioneer work in California as a minister of the gospel before entering the College. The last to step up to the podium and accept a diploma was a young man from Alabama, who was also doing full-time ministerial work in the field like all the other graduates before taking up the special training course of five months at the College. Included among the graduates were five Canadian girls, a young man and a young lady from Argentina, a young man from Brazil, a young man from the island of Jamaica, and, of course, many from various other national extractions besides American. There were three fine representatives of the colored race.

Most Watchtower readers are familiar with the preamble and stated purposes of the Charter of the United Nations Organization, Hence they will now read with interest the wording of the diploma bestowed on these graduates; and, while they do so, may they mark the superior objectives stated therein which concern the eternal life interests of mankind in the New World which Jehovah God will create after the UNO fails and is destroyed as He foretold.

DIPLOMA

“Hereby be it known that [the student], an ordained minister of the gospel, has completed the full course of study and training of this college, with merit. He [or, She] is therefore graduated as specially qualified to engage in educational work, promoting good-will and working in behalf of permanent peace and the law of perfect order and righteousness, among all peoples. He [or, She] is specifically recommended for service as a representative of the founders of this college, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, to colabor with them in preaching the gospel of Jehovah God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus.”

One of the young ladies graduating was slated for work in Guatemala, Central America, beginning March 1; and those graduates from foreign countries were destined for resumption of the gospel work in their respective lands; whereas the others were assigned to various vital spots in the United States, with the prospect of being transferred to foreign fields as soon as access thereinto can be gained with approval of the national governments involved.

ADDRESSES

The two-and-a-half-hour graduation exercises were a great pleasure to attend, and very affective of one’s emotions. The hundreds of visiting relatives and friends of the graduates felt more than repaid for braving the icy climate, winds and sleet, and the glaciated roads, to get there. About fifteen autoloads arrived late, having been marooned at the bottom of a slippery hill until a state-operated roadgraveling truck came along shortly after the exercises had opened. At 9:05 a.m. the president, N. H. Knorr, opened the morning’s program, calling for the gathering to sing, “Examine Me, O God.” A prayer, offered by one of the male student-graduates, followed, and then the president’s words of welcome to all. Thereafter, in turn, each of the four instructors of the College was invited on the platform and gave a word of appreciation and of farewell to this muchloved sixth class. Second up, the Spanish instructor addressed them entirely in Spanish. The fourth instructor, being also the College registrar, read cabled and telegraphed greetings from graduates of the previous five classes, from their present stations in El Salvador, Cuba, Canal Zone, Chile, Uruguay, Nicaragua, and Paraguay, as well as in the United States.

The College being located on the agricultural-model Kingdom Farm of 700 acres, near South Lansing, New York, on which the College students did various assignments of work after classes, the Farm servant was next to speak. After him the vice-president of the Watchtower corporation of New York, being also the Society’s legal attorney, spoke on the supreme law of God as distinguished from and superior to man’s legal code. Next up was the vicepresident of the Watch Tower corporation of Pennsylvania, who spoke on the objectives set before the graduates and also gave Scriptural admonition regarding foreign and domestic assignments of service.

An extemporaneous address on “Proving Your Faith” followed for the next hour, being delivered by the president, Brother Knorr. He reminded the graduates that their faith, which is based upon knowledge, had been reinforced by their five-month study course at the College. They had acquired more knowledge and intensive training under the most favorable of conditions. Unlike them, their European brethren during the Nazi-Fascist era of domination in Europe had undergone strenuous training in and development of faith “in the hard way” under intolerant totalitarian governments and in horrible concentration camps. Brother Knorr had just completed a business trip in Europe since November 4, through France, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, as well as England and Scotland, and had landed on America’s shores by PAA plane at 1 p.m., Wednesday, January 16, just in time to arrange for attending the College graduation. Hence he was well qualified to grip the attention of his audience with extensive, detailed and personally observed facts and information concerning the proving of the European brethren’s faith during those crucial years. On concluding, he expressed the confidence that the graduates had been so built up in faith toward God and His kingdom by Christ Jesus that, no matter what developed in the postwar future in their assignments for service, they would never weaken. They would never lose faith, but would hold fast their integrity to God and his King, to the vindication of the divine Name and Sovereignty. Elaving unburdened himself so forcefully of this most opportune and strengthening exhortation, Brother Knorr then proceeded to the happy task of handing out the diplomas.

After that came the above-quoted Resolution, and a concluding song, “Jehovah Be Thy Fear,” followed by prayer by Brother Knorr; and then it was all over, at 11: 40 a.m. A joyful dinner was the next treat of the day for the College group and the Kingdom Farm family together. In the auditorium sandwiches and a hot drink were served freely to all the visitors. Then the exodus of the graduates got under way, to continue over several days. The prayers and loving wishes of their brethren throughout the entire earth go with them and will continue with them at their posts of active duty. May God and his King Christ Jesus bless their efforts with rich and abundant fruitage everywhere, to His praise and also to the spiritual comfort and relief of “men of good will” in all places.

FIELD EXPERIENCES

PROGRESS IN SANTIAGO, CHILE

“A special pioneer sister has been holding a book study with a girl of eighteen for the past two months. This young Jonadab is alert and intelligent and has advanced rapidly in gaining knowledge. She is now attending the Watchtower studies at the Kingdom Hall regularly and offers intelligent answers to the questions. After just two months’ study she already sees her privilege of service and has already started out. Her second attempt resulted in the placing of eleven books and other literature. Last Sunday she asked for an application for pioneer service. Although still under the parents’ care, the Lord will, we hope and pray, open the way for this young ‘sheep’ to enter unrestrained into His service.”

“Mrs. N----in.Penaflor obtained some booklets. As she

manifested interest, I agreed to return and discuss more. We agreed on. Saturday at 7 p.m. All the family met with us and had various questions concerning the Kingdom. M_rs. N----having the desire to know more, I proposed to

return the following Saturday to meet with the director of the church to which they belonged as Pentecostals. On meeting with the director he manifested that he did not believe a study was necessary due to the fact that there was the church to which one could go and hear. A good opportunity presented itself to expound the truth, and at the end Mrs. N----rose and said in a loud voice in front of all: ‘I am with you, even though they condemn me.’ She took the book 'The Truth Shall Make You Free’ and now rejoices with all her family and various others that are coming out of the binding prisons of religion.”—A company publisher.

SINCE THE BAN’S LIFTING IN CANADA

“With keenest joy we are again privileged to carry the Watchtower publications to the people of good-will. With heartfelt gratitude I went forth in Jehovah’s service with a goodly supply this afternoon in the pouring rain, but with umbrella overhead and rubbers on foot. It being Saturday, I thought to give some of my back-call interest who have children of school age a good witness and an ample opportunity to look through the sets of books, six as samples, for their libraries. As I expected, the children were at home, so I displayed the books and explained the pressing need of Bible education in the home. I placed a full set of 14 to 18 bound books in this house, the lady giving me one dollar in advance and telling me to deliver them whenever I had the full set available or whatever copies could be had, as she would be in her new home in six weeks’ time and wanted to start her children with the right kind of reading. I proceeded to my next back-call, having now convinced myself that the sets could be placed. I displayed the six books as a set, along with the No. 10 Watchtower Bible, and explaining briefly the theme of each. I immediately had the man say, 'Are those beautiful books only $2.50 for the set?’ So those were put on his shelf at once; and as he contributed the money, he thanked me for calling on such a wet day, as it was still raining. The next call a gentleman, whom I knew, had several books. As I had a book study with him rather periodically, I approached him not too sure he would feel like filling in his set. But I explained that today I was offering the publications, and would he please let me know what he now had, so I could check on what I could offer him. He did so; and I took his order for eight bound, which I could supply him, and he contributed for them on the spot. As I left I had only six, so I approached a lady who I knew was receiving the magazine and had been given one bound book at the time of subscribing. So I displayed the six, drawing attention to the fact that they were prewar stock, clothbound and linen finished, also nice white paper, large print, colored pictures, and, most important, the subjects covered in each, and displaying the subject index in back. I explained the No. 10 Bible in detail and placed my last set (6 bound and 1 Bible) on a $2.50 contribution. I then had only a Salvation book and two others left. I made two more calls, and placed one bound, and next call was a person who had all the books but two; so they ordered and contributed for two. So, in the four hours, I had placed 39 bound books in homes where I feel they will be appreciated. I find it easier to place them in sets than by individual copies.”—Pioneer.

GENUINE INTEREST FAVORABLY IMPRESSES (SOUTH AFRICA)

“On the street work, when magazines were offered to a certain man, he remarked: T have read many, but won’t take more, as my wife is against them.’ When the territory where he lived was worked, it transpired that the wife was quite interested and keen to learn and not opposed. A book study was arranged at once. After a few studies, when I went one day, the husband met me at the door, saying they had decided to stay in the church. I was surprised and pointed out that they were allowing a great privilege to slip by. After a friendly 'Good night’, I left; but I felt that the wife should be visited again. Next day two other publishers went to see her. She said: ‘I felt so upset because my husband put off the study that I hardly slept a wink last night for disappointment. Do beg the witness to come again. Meanwhile I shall persuade my husband to continue with it. If he won’t, well, then I shall sit and study with him alone.’ The result was that the study was resumed, and this time the husband too joined in and is showing interest, and sometimes others also attend the study.”

AMONG THE COLORED IN THE DEEP SOUTH

“We have contracted for the use of the county courthouse to begin a series of talks here [Quincy, Fla.]. We have found much interest, and many are sincere searchers for the truth. I have conducted book studies with several colored men, and the one has been doing much witnessing to others. He owns much property here and thus contacts many people. At our last study he related an experience. He had been witnessing to a white man who is a city official and very well-to-do. This white man invited the colored man to his home and became interested and wants him to keep coming. He even served the darky his supper. He has a good knowledge of the Scriptures and told the white man that God has a government and the Devil has governments too and we have to choose between serving one or the other. A colored woman is also telling others what she learns at our studies. She works in a tobacco factory, and a white man listens as she explains the Scriptures to her companions. He asked how she obtained such a good knowledge of the Scriptures, and she told him about the studies I have been having at her home. He told her to tell me to come to see him. I got in touch with him at his home, and as he was just leaving I made an appointment to be there again when he would have a free evening. He is a Watchtower subscriber, having obtained the magazine and book in the recent campaign, but, being busy, has not read enough in it to know what it is. I never dreamed, when conducting studies in these humble homes of the colored people, that they would be able to witness to some of those who live in beautiful colonial homes to whom I have not been able to witness because of their activity in the business and social world. Although living in a trailer in isolated territory, we have a nice garden and 32 chickens and, what with spiritual nourishment in abundance, our joy is complete.”

“On Sunday we stopped at a newly built home. Upon reaching the door I spoke to the gentleman near and glanced inside. The house was full. Getting permission to play the phonograph, I then proceeded. All gathered around to listen. It was thrilling to see eighteen listening and nodding their heads as the message was heard. I then briefly explained to them the work we were doing. This was a home of 18 Barbadians, all men. We placed 4 books, 14 booklets, 1 Bible, 3 magazines, and took an order for 17 more Bibles, which were to be delivered two weeks later. We returned, as they asked us, two weeks later. Some of the boys had gone, as they were somewhat dissatisfied and returned back home. We carried extra lecture recordings and songs. This time we placed 13 Bibles, 14 bound books, 22 booklets, including question booklets, and have an invitation to return later for a book study. This, of course, may be somewhat hard, as they cannot all speak English so plain.” —North Carolina.

“I went to the next house and worked there, after which I returned to the caf6 I had passed up. The music box had stopped, but the men were still sitting at the table gambling. Some were drinking. Anyway, I knew I had to work that caf6; it would not be right to skip over this caf6 because those folks were gambling and drinking. I walked in and went straight to the counter to reach the proprietor. I presented to him ‘The Kingdom Is at Hand', also ‘The Meek Inherit the Earth". He went on to state he had already taken a book for his wife and now he would get one for himself. So he did. I asked those in this caf6 did they wish to listen to a fine Bible lecture. They all said that they would. I was just about to start my phonograph, when the boss of the place said I could play the lecture on his Autophone. I handed him the recording 'Comfort All that Mourn’. Then Judge Rutherford’s voice went ringing throughout the entire neighborhood. All persons, men, women, and children, looked in and listened to the lecture. I was so thrilled I said to myself: ‘Surely, this is the work of Jehovah.’ I placed one book and some booklets. Some promised to study."