day some had crept in and were “feeding themselves without fear”. (Jude 12) Perverse and apostate men they were. Coveting the approval and praise of men, and desiring the sheep for themselves, they raided the Good Shepherd’s fold and drove disciples off to their own religious quarters. “Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.” (Isa. 56:11) As shepherds without understanding they fleeced the sheep even in the wintertime. As greedy dogs who are never satisfied they continually fed themselves at the expense of the sheep.

18. How have they exalted themselves? In what religious systems?

¹⁸ The important yet humble position occupied by a servant or slave in the Lord’s congregation was looked down upon with scorn and contempt by these puffed-up and pompous ones who presumptuously assumed shepherdhood over the sheep. Proud and haughty, they pushed aside the privilege of being servants, installed themselves as the clergy (a class not provided or arranged for by either Christ or the apostles), and took upon themselves flattering titles, such as bishop, archbishop, metropolitan, pope, sovereign pontiff, etc. (Matt. 23:5-11) With force and with cruelty they ruled their flocks. Such was the state of affairs by the time Constantine the Great laid the foundation of the Catholic church in the fourth century A.D., and down through the centuries since then, Christendom’s multitudinous sects and cults have continued to hold sheeplike persons in their parish folds, where they are plundered, exploited, fleeced and devoured for the pleasure and profit of the false shepherds. “My people have been lost sheep,” says Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, “their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their restingplace. All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah.”—Jer. 50:6, 7, Am. Stan. Ver.

19, 20. What will Jehovah do for the sheep and to the false shepherds?

¹⁹ They may not think so, but the Great Shepherd Jehovah does hold the false shepherds guilty for leading the sheep of his flock astray, and his burning wrath and fierce anger are ignited against all such, as he says: “Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock.” (Zech. 10:3, Am. Stan. Ver.) Yes, long ago Jehovah promised that in his own due time he would visit his flock of scattered sheep and would justly punish the false shepherds.

²⁰ Jehovah the Great Shepherd by the hand of his Chief Shepherd, the Greater David, is fully capable of separating the sheep from the oppressive horned ones. So, when he came to deliver his flock from the power of the wicked shepherds he also separated them from the horned oppressors who horn and butt the sick and weak and who trample underfoot the message of the Kingdom and muddy up the clear water of truth. Delivering his sheep from all these evils Jehovah sets them in good pastures amid the Kingdom heights of his mountain.—Ezekiel 34.

REGATHERING SCATTERED FLOCK

21. How has Ezekiel’s prophecy on the “one shepherd” come true?

²¹ The facts that have come to pass in “the cloudy and dark day” of this twentieth century show beyond all doubt that the complete fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy has taken place in our day. Jehovah has gathered the “remnant” of his people out of the far countries of Christendom where they were scattered. Over them God has set up “my servant” Christ Jesus the Greater David, and this “one shepherd”, the Chief Shepherd, is feeding them. For some time prior to A.D. 1918 the preparing of the Lord’s way was going on and then suddenly the Lord came to his temple, there to take account with his servants rewarding those that had been faithful and punishing the unfaithful. This is described for us by Jesus in his great prophecy on “the end of the world” in Matthew 24:42-51. As Malachi foretold, it would be a time of fiery judgment and one that would last for some time, until all the evil servants were purged and cleaned out from among the Lord’s remnant.—Mal. 3:1-3.

22. How since 1918 has the Theocratic organization been restored?

²² The gathering together of the remnant, the visiting of evil upon their oppressors, the installing of the Chief Shepherd as King, and the reestablishment of the Theocratic organization as it existed in apostolic times were also foretold by still another prophet, namely, Jeremiah. (Jer. 23:1-8) With Christ Jesus the Shepherd-King in charge since the regathering of the remnant after 1918, things moved along rapidly toward the setting up among them of a Theocratic organization similar in design to that in existence 1,900 years ago. This meant they all recognized the fact that Jehovah is the Great Shepherd over and above all; that Christ Jesus, the enthroned and reigning King of the heavenly Theocratic government, is Jehovah’s Chief Shepherd; that here upon earth the “faithful and wise servant” organization has been placed in charge of all the Kingdom interests, and that in such Theocratic arrangement mature and faithful brethren have been appointed as various servants to look after, wait upon and care for the needs of the Lord’s sheep.

23, 24. How do we account for the great flock today? Who feed them?

²³ At first the flock that followed Christ Jesus were few in number, only a “little flock”, and when the regathering work began after the Lord’s coming to the temple in 1918 there was only a small remnant of this little flock remaining on earth. (Luke 12:32) However, today there is a great and mighty flock of sheep, meek and teachable people, following the Good Shepherd, even as Jesus said there would be. “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold [not of the “little flock” fold]: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:16) The parable of the “sheep and goats” reveals that Christ Jesus would begin to gather and “bring” these “other sheep” following his enthronement as King in 1914 and his coming to the temple for judgment in 1918. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.”—Matt. 25:31, 34.

²⁴ In such separating work, now progressing among the nations, the “other sheep” class are placed on the King’s right hand of favor. The Revelation vision given to John describes these “other sheep” as a “great multitude” of persons of good-will who have been gathered together in recent years and are now joyfully singing: “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Never again will they hunger or thirst, “for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.” (Rev. 7:9-17) Some sheep have been in this one flock organization of the Lord for twenty or thirty years, others for a much shorter time, and still others, like newborn lambs, are now studying this Watchtower magazine for the first time. But all together, Jehovah and Christ Jesus are feeding the “sheep”, whether they be young or old. “Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, . . . He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arm [“with his arm”; His right arm Christ Jesus (Septuagint, Bagster; Douay; Leeser)], and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those that have their young.”—Isa. 40:10, 11, Am. Stan. Ver.

25. What do the clergy now do, but the faithful servants do?

²⁵ This gathering of the half-starved “other sheep” out of Christendom’s dried-up strongholds by the Good Shepherd has progressed so rapidly since the Lord came to the temple that it has filled the clergy and the principal of their flocks with fear and anguish and has caused them to howl out in bitter rage. They see that this righteous work of the Lord is dividing off and bringing out from their ecclesiastical pens all the “sheep”, leaving only the “goats”, and so they weep and curse and gnash their teeth in anger over this loss in membership and revenue. “Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.” (Jer. 25:34-36) Better that they howl now, for shortly, when this work is completed, Armageddon’s slaughter of Christendom’s false shepherds will silence them forever! Hence all you faithful servants, feed now the flock!

Divine Requirements Resting on Servants

1. How do servants prove their love for the Shepherd, happily?

AS THE Lord gathers more and more sheep into his fold he adequately provides for their every need by appointing servants who lovingly help and assist the flock in the way the Lord directs. Such Theocratic way is set forth in the Bible. The apostle Peter, it will be remembered, had very forcefully impressed on his heart and mind the necessity for him to prove his love for Christ by feeding and caring for the Lord’s sheep. Peter never forgot this truth, for, thirty years later, he earnestly exhorted other servants of the Lord to likewise prove their love by feeding the “sheep. This letter of Peter’s, as well as Christ’s direct commandments to servants in general, has been preserved for the instruction and guidance of those having special responsibilities in the Theocratic organization today. Servants do well, therefore, if they both study this counsel and put it into practice. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them,” said Jesus.—John 13:17; Phil. 4:9.

2. Who are the “elders” whom Peter tells to feed the flock?

² “I appeal therefore to those who are elders among you; I am their brother-elder,” is the way Peter begins his counsel. (1 Pet. 5:1, An Amer. Trans.) The “elders” (Greek: presbytérous, older ones) do not refer to “elected elders” made so by the popular vote of some congregation after a heated political campaign. Peter is addressing himself to the older or elder ones in Christian growth, to those that are mature and well versed in Theocratic law and organizational requirements. They are not necessarily those old in body and mind or those who have been a very long time in the truth, but rather those mature in spiritual growth and development. Timothy, though a youth perhaps in his late teens, was nevertheless mature in spiritual growth, hence an elder. It