New World society, enjoying the truths it publishes and the clean Christian fellowship, but who, while saying nice things, refuse to dedicate themselves to do God’s will and then be baptized in symbol thereof.

Far from being like such, let us rather take the step of dedication and prove ourselves to be among the ‘wise that cause many to understand’ by teaching others. Should persecution cause us to stumble, still thereby we shall become refined and made white, all to Jehovah’s glory and our eternal welfare. So let us continually seek to do the divine will on earth now, regardless of opposition.

Part 25—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”

In the third year of Cyrus king of the vast Persian Empire of the sixth, fifth and fourth centuries before Christ, Jehovah’s prophet Daniel received his final vision through an angel, which Daniel describes for us in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of his prophetic book. First, the prophetic vision foretells the passing away of the Persian Empire, the fourth world power of Bible history. It would fail to overpower Greece. In fact, it would at last fall before Greece, because, said the angel, “a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.” (Dan. 11:3, JP) That Grecian king proved to be the famous Alexander the Great. By him the Grecian Empire was established, as the fifth world power of Bible history.

12. How long did Alexander enjoy world rulership, and when was his kingdom broken?

¹² Alexander’s enjoyment of world rulership was short-lived. Jehovah’s angel foretold this: “And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion wherewith he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside these.” (Dan. 11:4, JP) At the height of his career, when but in his thirty-third year, the carousing Alexander was struck down by malarial fever at Babylon in 323 B.C., and his plans to make this Scripturally doomed city his world capital collapsed. His vast empire in Europe, Asia Minor, Asia, the Middle East and Egypt broke up to the four winds of the heavens. His body was transported into Egypt and buried in Alexandria by his General Ptolemy, the satrap of Egypt.

13. How did the prophecy prove true that the kingdom should not be divided to Alexander’s posterity?

¹³ The empire did not pass to Alexander’s posterity. He had left behind in Macedonia an incapable brother, Philip Aridaeus. He reigned for less than seven years, and then was murdered by his own mother in 317 B.C. Alexander’s legitimate son by Roxana, Alexander Allou, followed and ruled but about six years. In 311 B.C. he too met violent death at the hand of one of his father’s generals, Cassander, who now usurped the throne of Macedonia and Greece. Alexander’s illegitimate son, Heracles, undertook to rule in his father’s name, but was murdered in 309 B.C. With him the line of Alexander the great bloodspiller died out, in blood. The dominion had departed from his house. The angelic prophecy proved true.

14. How was Alexander’s kingdom divided for a time “toward the four winds of heaven,” and how was this reduced later on to three?

¹⁴ The Alexandrian Empire was plucked up for men other than Alexander’s posterity to rule. His generals quarreled among themselves and grabbed for territory; and the broken kingdom was for a time divided four ways, “toward the four winds of heaven.” One-eyed General Antigonus tried to set himself up as lord of all Asia and finally took the title of king, claiming to be the heir of Alexander the Great. He had to meet the confederacy of the three other generals against him, Cassander, Seleucus and Lysimachus. He fell in battle against them at Ipsus in Phrygia, Asia Minor, in 301 B.C. The four Hellenic empires that resulted were (1) that of General Cassander in Macedonia and Greece; (2) that of General Lysimachus in Asia Minor and European Thrace, including Byzantium; (3) that of General Seleucus Nicator (the Conqueror), who secured Babylon, Media, Syria, Persia and the provinces eastward to the Indus River, and (4) that of General Ptolemy Lagus, who secured Egypt, Libya, Arabia and Palestine and Coele-Syria. In a few years the male line of General Cassander died out, and in 285 B.C. General Lysimachus took possession of the European part of the Macedonian Empire. However, in 277 B.C. Antigonus Gonatas, the grandson of one-eyed General Antigonus, gained possession of the throne of Macedonia. This reduced the Hellenistic empires to three, till Macedonia became dependent upon Rome in 168 B.C. and ended up as a Roman province in 146 B.C.

15. How did General Seleucus the Conqueror become master of the Asian territories, and what cities of apostolic interest did he establish?

¹⁵ In 281 B.C. General Lysimachus fell in battle before General Seleucus Nicator and thus left Seleucus practically the master of the Asian territories. Seleucus became the founder of the Seleucidae or house of Seleucid kings in Syria. Shortly after the decisive battle of Ipsus he founded the city of Antioch in Syria, naming it after his father Antíochus. As a seaport for it he founded a coastal city, which he named after himself, Seleucia. Centuries later the Christian apostle Paul used the seaport of Seleucia and taught Christian truth in Antioch of Syria, where the followers of Jesus first came to be called Christians.—Acts 11:25-27; 13:1-4.

16. To where did Seleucus transfer his capital, and with him what long warfare began, as described in this final vision?

¹⁶ Seleucus transferred his seat of government from Babylon to his new Syrian capital, Antioch. He was assassinated in 280 B.C. The Seleucid dynasty of kings that he left to succeed him continued in power until 64 B.C., when the Roman General Pompey made Syria a Roman province. Long before he died Seleucus gave to his son Antíochus I the sovereignty over all the lands beyond the Euphrates River as well as the title of king. With King Seleucus Nicator the long warfare between the Biblical “king of the north” and the “king of the south” began. Foresightedly Jehovah’s angel left the names of the “king of the north” and the “king of the south” unmentioned, because the nationality and