49. Who are those “ambassadors” that serve the notification, and why is their mission now more urgent than ever?

⁴⁹ Who are these “ambassadors”? These are the dedicated, baptized, spirit-anointed Christians who are described by the apostle Paul’s words in his second letter to the 2 Corinthians, chapter five, verses nineteen and twenty: “God was by means of Christ reconciling a world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and he committed the word of the reconciliation to us. We are therefore ambassadors substituting for Christ, as though God were making entreaty through us. As substitutes for Christ we beg: ‘Become reconciled to God.’” Now that Jehovah God the Almighty had taken to himself his great power and begun to reign by means of his newborn Messianic kingdom in the heavens, it was more urgent than ever for earthly human society to become reconciled to God. The complete removal of the entire worldwide system of things was now impending, and its “time of the end” had begun. (Daniel 12:4) The question is, Who will escape destruction with it?

50. How did the symbolic “earth” react to the notification served upon it by the Kingdom ambassadors?

⁵⁰ How did the symbolic “earth,” the war-afflicted human society, react to the notification served upon it by the “ambassadors” of God’s established kingdom in the hands of His Christ? Did the earth quiet down, in peaceful reaction to the invitation to become reconciled to Jehovah’s newborn kingdom by Christ? The history of those years of World War I answers No! The war-torn “earth” was rocked, shaken, set in commotion by such notification. As Revelation 11:18 foretold: “The nations became wrathful,” that is, against the Kingdom ambassadors. They tried to use the earth-wide wartime conditions to suppress these Kingdom ambassadors. They even resorted to violent persecution, in some cases even to the death of ambassadors. This was the experience of the dedicated, baptized, anointed Christians then known as International Bible Students, but today known as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses.

51. (a) What may be said further about this serving of notice by the Kingdom ambassadors and the effects thereof? (b) How has the cause of this been just as stated in Hebrews 12:26?

⁵¹ On the pages of history stands written the shameful record that the symbolic “earth” made for itself as it rocked, shook, became filled with violent commotion in hostility to Jehovah’s Kingdom ambassadors. The notification served by the faithful ambassadors of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has continued to this day, on an ever-widening scale, and the symbolic “earth” is still being rocked, shaken, set in commotion by the notification and its challenging significance. As a proof that this notification tells the truth we see fulfilled the things that Jesus Christ said would mark this “time of the end”: “There will be great earthquakes, and in one place after another pestilences and food shortages; and there will be fearful sights and from heaven great signs.” (Luke 21:11) But in a symbolic way it has been just as Hebrews 12:26 says concerning Jehovah’s presence at Mount Sinai when giving the Ten Commandments: “At that time his voice shook the earth.” In these days the delivery of the message from his written Word by means of his Kingdom ambassadors has shaken the symbolic “earth.”

52. What is pictured by the “sea” and by the “dry ground” that are also to be rocked?

⁵² All elements of human society on earth have been made to rock and shake. It is just as the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Yet once​—it is a little while—​and I am rocking the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry ground.” (Haggai 2:6) On the upper crust of our earthly globe there appear the sea and the dry ground; the sea being constantly in motion and the dry ground being quite stable, except for a local earthquake. The prophecy of Haggai 2:6 having a symbolic meaning, as in the case of the “heavens and the earth,” the symbolic “sea” would be that part of human society that is unsettled, restless, tossing up, as it were, “seaweed and mire,” unpeaceable, desirous of radical changes, continually beating against the “dry ground.” (Isaiah 57:20) In contrast, the symbolic “dry ground” would be that part of human society that is settled, stable, conservative, trying to keep the status quo, opposed to radical changes.

53. How is it shown whether these two elements of human society have been rocked?

⁵³ Nevertheless, both of these elements of human society desire rule of the earthly globe by men rather than by God, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. Hence they also have been rocked by the serving of notice upon them by the spiritual ambassadors, announcing that the “appointed times of the nations” have expired and that Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ now reigns in the heavens and that the time fast approaches for the utter removal of this whole earthly system of things in a great tribulation such as mankind has never experienced before. (Matthew 24:3-22; Mark 13:4-20) Showing that they are being rocked by the message from God’s Word, both elements of human society, the conservative and the radical, have become “wrathful” against the proclaimers of the divine message, the Kingdom ambassadors.

Since 1914 C.E. he has sent his Kingdom ambassadors to notify all the nations of the critical change that has taken place in the universal status quo. The outcome has been just as Jesus Christ predicted in his prophecy on the “conclusion of the system of things”: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:3-14) All the nations are obliged to confess that they have become wrathful against the Kingdom ambassadors. The historic record testifies against the nations. But the being wrathful on the part of the nations is not yet over. In the decisive showdown that is yet ahead, the Kingdom ambassadors will continue to stick to Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and to live up to their God-given message. Therefore, as foretold in God’s prophetic Word, the wrath of all the nations is due to burst forth in a final expression.

3. To what extent will Jehovah rock the nations, and hence what about any religious tolerance by them at present?

³ The hostility of the political nations of earth will be shown to its fullest, and accordingly Jehovah of armies will rock all those nations until they crumble in ruin and are removed forever. Hence any religious tolerance of the nations toward the Kingdom ambassadors at the present is merely temporary. Let no one be deceived by it.

4. Have the nations, as whole political establishments, fulfilled the prophecy of Haggai 2:7, and what proves whether?

⁴ Before the final outburst of wrath on the part of all the nations and then their violent removal, what are we to expect, according to the prophecy of Haggai 2:7? This: “‘The desirable things of all the nations must come in; and I will fill this house with glory,’ Jehovah of armies has said.” Well, then, what do the historic facts show regarding the fulfillment of this prophecy up until now? They do not show that all the political nations as whole nations, as political establishments, have come into Jehovah’s true temple of worship and have brought with them as voluntary gifts the desirable things of their nations. After all that has happened since 1914 C.E., the nations still do not renounce their own earthly sovereignty and come out in favor of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. After the end of World War II in 1945 they set up the United Nations as the international organization for world peace and security. To this they tenaciously hold, in desperation, down till this day. That international organization stands in outright opposition to Jehovah’s sovereignty.

5. How have individual citizens within the rocking nations reacted, and with whom have they associated themselves?

⁵ Yet, what about individual citizens in all the nations that have been going through a strong rocking during which they have been trying to hold themselves together? Well, down till now there have been tens of thousands of individuals who have reacted to the Kingdom preaching in a way different from that of their political governments and that of religious organizations mixed up in politics. They have come to see that there is no happy, peaceful, prosperous future for themselves under such man-made political governments. They have come to see that the only hope of being saved from destruction with the political nations of this system of things is the Messianic kingdom of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. They keenly feel that Satan the Devil is the “god of this system of things” and they do not want to worship that false god by worshiping the political nations. They recognize that all sovereignty rightfully belongs to the Most High God. Hence they have dedicated themselves wholly to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah to worship him at his true house of worship. They have associated themselves with His ambassadors.