Chapter 1

The Superhuman Source of Holy Spirit

1. Why was holy spirit in operation in the Garden of Eden when man and woman first met?

WHEN man and woman first met, they felt a force​—the force of attraction. They fell in love with each other immediately. Although naked, unclothed, this first man and first woman were holy. That is to say, they were bright, clean, pure, perfect in body, mind and heart. For that reason they felt no embarrassment and could have uninhibited relationship with their Creator, God. They enjoyed their childlike relationship with Him in a clean and holy place. It was a place of pure pleasure, rightly called the Garden of Eden or Paradise of Pleasure. All the things that were around them to affect them were healthful and good. Holy spirit, God’s holy active force, was fully in operation there.

2. Why did the Source of holy spirit prove to be superhuman?

² The man and the woman, our first earthly parents, were human, that is to say, of the earth, of things that are found here at the earth. But what about their divine Creator? This One had to be superhuman. He was infinitely higher than man in the level of His heavenly existence. He was higher, too, in the kind of intelligent Person that he was. He was, to say it simply, of finer stuff than man was. This is why he was invisible to man, whose powers of vision are limited in range. Naturally, then, the first man and woman never saw their Creator, their Life-Giver, their heavenly Father. Because of his superhuman, heavenly, invisible existence, he was what we call today “spirit.” Because he is an individual Person, just as much as his creature man is, the Creator can be called “a Spirit.” Outstandingly he is The Spirit. He is the unseen Source of holy spirit, for He himself is holy.

3. To whose activity does Genesis 1:1 point?

³ Before our earth and the heavens about it existed, this spirit Person existed and was active. The holy Book that gives us the historical account all the way back to before man’s beginning opens up with these pointed words: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”​—Genesis, chapter 1, verse 1.

4, 5. Why is God not to be worshiped in any man-made building at any particular place on earth?

⁴ Such a creative God is higher even than the heavens that he created and therefore so much higher than earthling man. So he is spirit in essence or in what he is. Thousands of years after the creation of man, the Founder of true Christianity called attention to that very fact. Alongside a well at the foot of Mount Gerizim in ancient Samaria he said to a Samaritan woman: “God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.” (John’s Gospel, Joh chapter 4, verse 24) The true God does not need to be worshiped in any man-made religious building in any particular place on earth, not even at Jerusalem in the Middle East. Less than twenty years after the foregoing statement, an apostle of Christianity stood before the Supreme Court of the city of Athens, where many temples were to be found, devoted to the gods and goddesses of their religion. He said:

⁵ “The God that made the world and all the things in it, being, as this One is, Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade temples, neither is he attended to by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives to all persons life and breath and all things. And he made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth.”​—Acts 17:24-27.

6. How did the builder of the first temple at Jerusalem show that he knew that fact about God’s worship?

⁶ More than a thousand years earlier that fact about the true God, who is a superhuman, super-earthly Spirit, was known to the builder of the first known temple at Jerusalem in the Middle East. When dedicating this temple that he had built for God’s name, the then king of Jerusalem said to Him in prayer: “But will God truly dwell upon the earth? Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, themselves cannot contain you; how much less, then, this house that I have built!”​—1 Kings 8:27.

GOD THE SOURCE OF ALL ENERGY

7. In what way cannot even the “heaven of the heavens” contain God?

⁷ The speaker of the above words, Solomon the son of King David, was the wisest scientist of times before our Common Era. When he said that even the heaven of the heavens could not contain the God to whom he had built a temple, he spoke the scientific truth. Our earth is a tiny part of a universe the limits of which the scientists are unable to reach or bring to view even with today’s most powerful telescopes. Still, this as yet unmeasured universe cannot contain the true God. It cannot restrict or confine him. What already exists of the present universe, seen and unseen, the true God can surpass. He can go beyond it and create yet other things for the enlargement of the universe, out beyond its existing borders, out into endless space. What does this mean?

8. How enduring is the Creator’s Godship, and why is nothing impossible for Him?

⁸ It means that God is bounded by neither time nor space. His life in times past is boundless. His lifetime in the future is unbounded. To this unbounded One the foremost lawgiver of pre-Christian times, Moses said: “Even from time indefinite to time indefinite you are God.” (Psalm 90:2) This God lives to endless time, to keep on producing and creating beyond the present universe, expanding it. This signifies that he is the bottomless reservoir of all energy. All the things of the universe are bundles of particles of energy from him. These have been brought together into masses large and small. The twentieth-century scientist Albert Einstein worked out this formula for it: energy equals mass times the speed of light squared (or, E=mc²). Little wonder, then, that this Source of all energy finds nothing impossible for himself.

9, 10. How is it that God brings forth the army of the stars “by number” and not one of them proves to be “missing”?

⁹ For example, note the almost unbelievable claim that He makes for himself, as he tells us to raise our eyes to the skies by night and admire the stars. He says: “Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.”​—Isaiah 40:26.

¹⁰ Astronomers of today, with their most penetrating telescopes, can merely estimate the number of stars that they can bring within vision. Not so with the Creator of the heavens and the earth. “He is counting the number of the stars; all of them he calls by their names.” (Psalm 147:4) He likens all the stars of heaven to an army of vast size. He knows how many are in this army of his. He knows each member of this army by name. By memory he can go through the roll call of them. When he calls the roll, not one member of this starry army fails to answer. Each one answers to its name and gives an accounting of its performance. Each one He finds fulfilling the purpose for which it was created. None is missing.

11. Why is it that the Creator is not played out and will not let the universe wear out or run down?

¹¹ The “abundance of dynamic energy” that God has is immeasurable. It is inexhaustible. When we think just of the energy tied up in the sun of our solar system, which is a furnace of nuclear explosions like the explosion of hydrogen bombs, we are utterly amazed. And then when we think of the unnumbered billions of stars many of which are larger than our sun, we get some idea of the outflow of dynamic energy from God that the present starry heavens represent. And yet God is not played out, not exhausted. So, in full harmony with the facts it is said: “He is giving to the tired one power; and to the one without dynamic energy he makes full might abound.” (Isaiah 40:29) He will never let our expanding universe wear out or run down. Forever it will remain to carry out the purpose for which it was created. Poetically an ancient observer of the stars said: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling. One day after another day causes speech to bubble forth, and one night after another night shows forth knowledge.”​—Psalm 19:1, 2.

12. Why are men inexcusable for ignoring God and responsibility they have toward Him?

¹² Happily for us, God is invisible to mankind. Yet, in spite of this, he gives us so much evidence of his existence that the world of mankind is without excuse for denying or ignoring his existence and their responsibility to him. “For,” as one Biblical writer wrote, “his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable; because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God.” (Romans 1:20, 21) In the face of all the evidence, they cannot successfully argue that God does not exist any more than argue that “God is dead.” He still lives and has all the dynamic energy and the perfect memory to carry out his stated purposes, which have been declared and published now for six thousand years. How glad we can be for this!

13. Of what else, besides dynamic energy, is God the Source, and why?

¹³ We do not join the modern-day scientists in their denying that God is the Source of all energy now in operation. We know that he is also the Source of something else that scientists deny, not knowing anything about it. What is that? It is “spirit.” And why should he not be the Source of spirit? “God is a Spirit,” or, “God is spirit,” as Jesus Christ pointed out nineteen centuries ago.​—John 4:24, and marginal reading.

14. What is “holy spirit,” and who gives it?

¹⁴ From God there goes forth an invisible active force by means of which he gets his will done. It is not a mere influence such as a man might exercise over others by his powerful personality. It is a force that is operative, and it issues forth from God who is holy, that is to say, absolutely clean and righteous. He sends it forth to accomplish what is holy. So it is correctly called “holy spirit.” It is so spoken of in God’s written Word. Jesus Christ himself recognized God as the Source of holy spirit. In evidence of this, he said to human fathers of his day: “If you, although being wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so will the Father in heaven give holy spirit to those asking him!”​—Luke 11:13.

15. What spirit would we, like King David, like to have operate toward us?

¹⁵ A royal ancestor of Christ also recognized God as the Source of holy spirit. This recognition became manifest when he confessed his wrongdoing before God, begged forgiveness and said: “Do not throw me away from before your face; and your holy spirit O do not take away from me.” (Psalm 51:11) For King David to be deprived of holy spirit would mean for him to be cut off from its Source. The results of this could be only very serious, disastrous. If we today have faith that God exists and is the Source of holy spirit, then, if we ask him for it, he will make it possible for us to get it. It is the force that we would like to have operative toward us, is it not? If this is what we would like, God will be able to accomplish much good through us and to preserve us holy in a very unholy world.

A FORCE, NOT A PERSON

16. How is it shown that the Hebrew word for “spirit” is quite descriptive?

¹⁶ In God’s written Word, the Sacred Scriptures, the word chosen to name this invisible active force from God is appropriate, it being quite descriptive. In the opening book of those Scriptures it is called ruʹahh. The earliest Greek translation of the first Bible book called it pneuʹma. Because the Hebrew word ruʹahh contains the idea of action and movement, English translators have rendered it as “blast, breath, breeze, tempest, wind, active force,” as well as “spirit.” For this reason the setting in which the Hebrew word finds itself helps to determine whether the word should be translated as “spirit” or otherwise.

17. What does An American Translation say instead of “the Spirit of God” in Genesis 1:2, thereby indicating what about ruʹahh?

¹⁷ For instance, in the second verse of the Sacred Scriptures Ge 1:2 the word ruʹahh occurs for the first time. How should it be rendered into another language? Well, the popular English version of the Bible, the King James Authorized Version, renders Genesis 1:1, 2 in this way: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” However, An American Translation, copyrighted by the University of Chicago in 1939, reads: “When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was a desolate waste, with darkness covering the abyss and a tempestuous wind raging over the surface of the waters.” Here, instead of the word “Spirit,” the word “wind” is used, and the expression “the Spirit of God” is rendered as “a tempestuous wind.” Thus An American Translation indicates that the word ruʹahh means something invisible and in motion or in action.

18. How does the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures show that no person called “the Spirit” moved over the waters?

¹⁸ Holding in view that ruʹahh means an invisible force in action, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures puts Genesis 1:1, 2 into English in this way: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep; and God’s active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters.” Thus this translation as well as An American Translation makes it clear that no person called “the Spirit” was moving invisibly over the waters that covered the entire globe. Rather, it was the impersonal active force of God that was moving to and fro over the unlighted surface of the waters.

19. What shall we say as to whether God’s spirit or active force was moving over the waters for nothing?

¹⁹ Whatever manifestation of itself the invisible active force of God made, we do not know; it is not detailed in the original record. Certain it is, though, that God’s active force was not moving to and fro for nothing, without positive effects. Possibly it served to remove any cosmic dust cloud in which earth may have found itself and which prevented the light from our sun from reaching the surface of the watery deep all about the earthly globe.a

20. How did God move forward with his purpose for our earthly parents to see by the light of Day?

²⁰ At any rate, after such movement of God’s active force back and forth over the surface of the watery deep, for an unstated length of time, the divine command followed: “And God proceeded to say: ‘Let light come to be.’ Then there came to be light. After that God saw that the light was good, and God brought about a division between the light and the darkness. And God began calling the light Day, but the darkness he called Night. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a first day.” (Genesis 1:3-5) Thus, in harmony with God’s holiness, his active force or spirit operated in a good way, for a good purpose. It proved to be “holy spirit.” By means of it God went ahead with his purpose for our first parents on earth to see by the light of Day.

21. In view of how God has operated his holy spirit, why are we moved to feel like the writer of Psalm 143:10?

²¹ From the very first mention of God’s active force, he has used it for man’s benefit. In appreciation of that fact we are drawn to the heavenly Source of holy spirit. The Biblical record of its operation over many thousands of years reveals that God has always employed it in a holy way. It has served God’s righteous purpose. Never should we want to be in opposition to that invisible active force of God Almighty. We should feel like the Bible writer who said to him: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me in the land of uprightness.”​—Psalm 143:10.

Chapter 2

Holy Spirit Active in the Invisible Heavenly Realm

1. Why is it important for us to know how holy spirit has functioned in the invisible heavenly realm?

MAN MAY feel more interested in how God’s holy spirit functions in the visible, material realm or universe as man knows it. However, what has taken place in the invisible, heavenly realm has greatly affected human affairs. How holy spirit is to be set in motion in the near future, within our own generation, is linked with what takes place in the invisible realm and is highly important to man. We should therefore want to understand how holy spirit works in such a connection so important to us now.

2. In what way does Psalm 104:29, 30 show how dependent mankind is upon the invisible heavenly realm?

² Modern-minded man may not like to acknowledge it, but mankind is dependent upon the invisible heavenly realm. If God the Creator were to turn away his face from us on earth, become “dead” to us, as it were, what would become of us? The Bible psalmist had it right when he said to God: “If you conceal your face, they get disturbed. If you take away their spirit, they expire, and back to their dust they go. If you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you make the face of the ground new.” (Psalm 104:29, 30) Consequently the principal study for man is not man himself, but, rather, the Creator, God. As far as God is pleased to reveal to us something about the invisible heavenly realm, this fundamentally deserves study by us.

3. Why would it be shortsighted and unreasonable for us to imagine that God dwells alone and without agreeable environment in heaven?

³ Let us always keep in mind that “God is a Spirit,” or, “God is spirit.” (John 4:24, and marginal reading) Correspondingly, he dwells in a spirit realm. All alone, and without an agreeable environment? No! It would be shortsighted and unreasonable for us to imagine that God can create only material things visible to us and has not also created things in the invisible heavenly realm. Such things of a higher realm would be of a composition higher than that of the material creation of which we humans are a part.

4. Why is the invisible heavenly realm not dependent upon our sun for light?

⁴ When we think of all the wondrous, beautiful things that God has put here in the material realm, it fills us with awe when we try to think of all the wonderful, glorious things that he has created in the spiritual realm. There is no dependence upon the sun of our solar system for light up there. No night there! The Creator of the light-giving suns is himself a heavenly Sun, a source of light. Literally and figuratively, morally, it is true: “God is light and there is no darkness at all in union with him.” (1 John 1:5) Long before the saying of the Bible writer John, the psalmist described the Creator as being as welcome as the sunlight of day, when he wrote: “Jehovah God is a sun and a shield; favor and glory are what he gives. Jehovah himself will not hold back anything good from those walking in faultlessness.”​—Psalm 84:11.

5. What kind of persons does God have in the invisible heavenly realm with him, and how do they differ from men?

⁵ It is not just reasonable to believe so, but the Holy Bible itself testifies that God has with him in the invisible spirit realm intelligent persons of a spirit composition. With these he can have direct contact. They can see him even as he sees them. Being of higher, superhuman composition, as to their makeup, they are not dissolved, disintegrated, annihilated at the mere sight of him. They can be in direct touch with him, serving in his personal presence. (Luke 1:19) Not to angels, but to men, God said: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.” (Exodus 33:20) So God said even to his prophet Moses.

6. According to Revelation 4:11, how did those spirit companions of God get there?

⁶ How did those spirit companions of God get there? Well, how did the first human couple get here? We shall take the answer as given by those whom the Bible writer John saw in a vision, worshiping God in heaven. We quote these words of theirs: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, for you created all things; by your will they existed and were created.”​—Revelation 4:11, An American Translation.

7, 8. On resurrection day, what did Jesus say that a spirit does not have, and what did he do about the body in which he appeared?

⁷ God made the first human couple flesh and blood. Prior to this, God had made his heavenly companions spirit, of a composition superior to that of man. On this point, Jesus Christ made a clarifying statement on the day of his resurrection from the dead. He appeared to his disciples in a locked room in Jerusalem. To do this, he appeared in a materialized body like that in which he had died, but they thought they were seeing a spirit. Well, what did he say to them? This: “A spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you behold that I have.”​—Luke 24:36-39.

⁸ After conversing with those amazed disciples, the resurrected Jesus vanished. He dematerialized or dissolved that clothed human body. He did not take that body and its clothing into the spirit realm with him. Had it been possible to do so, it would mean that a spirit person in heaven does have flesh and bones, at least in the case of the glorified Jesus Christ.​—1 Corinthians 15:50.

9. Directly of what composition did God create his heavenly companions?

⁹ In view of all those facts, the Lord God made his heavenly associates directly spirit. He did not transfer human creatures of flesh, blood and bones from our earth to keep him company in the invisible heavenly realm. To describe what kind of persons God created directly in heaven, the Christian apostle Paul writes: “He makes his angels spirits, and his public servants a flame of fire.” (Hebrews 1:7) Here the apostle Paul was quoting the psalmist David when he speaks of Jehovah God as “making his angels spirits, his ministers a devouring fire.” (Psalm 104:4) Accordingly, the testimony of God’s own written Word is that he has power to create spirit creatures as well as human creatures.

10. How does Genesis 1:26 indicate that the creation of spirit persons preceded that of human creatures?

¹⁰ The creating of spirit creatures predates the creating of human creatures. God’s own words as disclosed to us in the first chapter of the Bible indicate this. There we read: “God went on to say: ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26) Now, when God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness,” he was not talking to himself as if he were a two-in-one god or a three-in-one god. He was talking to at least one other heavenly person separate and distinct from himself and was inviting that spirit person to join him in the producing of an earthly, human creature.

11. How does Job 38:1-7 indicate that there were more than one other person with God at the time of man’s creation?

¹¹ However, at the time of the creation of man and woman, there were more than one spirit person in association with God. There were spirit persons whom God had created even before the creation of the earth. This fact was called to the attention of faithful Job of the land of Uz, when God said to him: “Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you do know understanding. Who set its measurements, in case you know . . . or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars joyfully cried out together, and all the sons of God began shouting in applause?” (Job 38:1-7) That occurred many thousands of years before the final part of God’s sixth creative day, at which time God created man and woman. (Genesis 1:27-31) Consequently those joyful “sons of God” were not creatures that had first been on the earth as humans and thereafter transferred to God’s presence in heaven. They were God’s spirit creatures from the start of their existence. God never populated the heavens from the earth’s inhabitants.

12. How do men and angels compare as to level of existence and of powers?

¹² Those godlike “sons of God” are superior to man. Hence the psalmist David, after recognizing the highness of God above the heavens, went on to say: “What is mortal man that you keep him in mind, and the son of earthling man that you take care of him? You also proceeded to make him a little less than godlike ones.” (Psalm 8:4, 5) Who are those “godlike ones”? They are angels, for the Bible writer, when making an application of Psalm 8:5, says, in Hebrews 2:6-9: “You made him a little lower than angels.” So, as regards level of existence and of powers, man is unchangeably lower than those “sons of God,” those heavenly angels.

ASSEMBLIES OF SPIRIT PERSONS IN HEAVEN

13. Where do we have the first record of heavenly assemblies, and at these who presided?

¹³ Assemblies of those “sons of God” take place from time to time and the Most High God presides over them. He has revealed that fact to us in his written Word. The earliest reports that we find of such heavenly assemblies are recorded in the first two chapters of Job. “Now,” in the earlier part of Job’s life, “it came to be the day when the sons of the true God entered to take their station before Jehovah, and even Satan proceeded to enter right among them. Then Jehovah said to Satan: ‘Where do you come from?’ At that Satan answered Jehovah and said: ‘From roving about in the earth and from walking about in it.’” Some verses later, in the next chapter, a second assembly of Jehovah with his heavenly sons is reported on, and again that spirit person called Satan takes advantage of the opportunity.(Job 1:6, 7; 2:1, 2) Those assemblies, invisible to our sight, are purposeful, and Almighty God maintains order at them. All present have to answer to him as to their whereabouts and their doings. Even the individual called Satan has to be respectful, even though he is what his name brands him to be, the outstanding resister of Jehovah God.

14. What heavenly assembly is referred to in Hebrews 12:22, 23?

¹⁴ As regards such assemblies of spirit “sons of God” in heaven, we read further, in Hebrews 12:22, 23: “You,” Hebrew Christians, “have approached a Mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels, in general assembly.” All those myriads of angels, who remain faithful to their heavenly Father and refuse to imitate Satan, make up one big heavenly family of God.

15. How does Paul refer to such a heavenly family in Ephesians 3:14, 15, and what relationship do the members hold to one another?

¹⁵ The Bible writer Paul refers to this heavenly family. When writing to Christians who recognize Jehovah God as their heavenly Father, Paul says: “On account of this I bend my knees to the Father, to whom every family in heaven and on earth owes its name.” (Ephesians 3:14, 15) Every family owes its name to its father, and it should live up to the dignity and worthiness of that name. Having but one Father, those heavenly “sons of God” are all brothers.

16. What heavenly assembly did the prophet Micaiah see in vision in the latter part of the tenth century B.C.E.?

¹⁶ A heavenly assembly took place in the latter part of the tenth century before our Common Era. The Israelite prophet Micaiah had a vision of it. Describing it, Micaiah said to two allied kings, Ahab and Jehoshaphat: “Hear the word of Jehovah: I certainly see Jehovah sitting upon his throne and all the army of the heavens standing by him, to his right and to his left. And Jehovah proceeded to say, ‘Who will fool Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And this one began to say something like this, while that one was saying something like that. Finally a spirit came out and stood before Jehovah and said, ‘I myself shall fool him.’”​—1 Kings 22:19-21.

17. The army then alongside God was made up of what kind of persons?

¹⁷ Let us note that the angel who proposed the successful method for fooling wicked King Ahab to his ruin in battle is called “a spirit.” This signifies that all that “army” at God’s right hand and left hand are likewise spirits, yes, intelligent spirit creatures. They are differentiated from us human creatures.

18, 19. What judicial court session in heaven did Daniel see in vision, scheduled for our twentieth century?

¹⁸ Are we humans of today aware of the fact that a judicial court session was long ago scheduled to be in heaven during our present twentieth century? A miraculous vision of this was given to the prophet Daniel while he was a captive slave in Babylon more than two thousand five hundred years ago. In his description of this he writes:

¹⁹ “After this I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! a fourth beast, fearsome and terrible and unusually strong. . . . I kept on beholding until there were thrones placed and the Ancient of Days sat down. . . . There were a thousand thousands that kept ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand that kept standing right before him. The Court took its seat, and there were books that were opened. . . . I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”​—Daniel 7:7-14.

20. Which heavenly son of God is it that is so highly honored as the one spoken of as “a son of man” in Daniel’s vision?

²⁰ Is there any other spirit son of God in heaven who is honored so highly as this one who appears in Daniel’s vision as “a son of man”? No! Who, then, is he? The psalmist identifies him. In Psalm 89:26, 27 he says: “He himself calls out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.’ Also, I myself shall place him as firstborn, The most high of the kings of the earth.” This statement of Jehovah does not refer to King David, with whom God made a covenant for an everlasting kingdom in his royal family line, nor to David’s royal successor, Solomon. Neither of these kings were the firstborn sons of their fathers. (Psalm 89:28-37; 2 Samuel 7:4-17) The later facts show that Jehovah was referring prophetically to his own “firstborn” in heaven, the Son who had been with him for time indefinite before Jehovah God created man.

21. According to Revelation 3:14, did God have a heavenly wife at the time that he brought forth his “firstborn” son?

²¹ Naturally someone may ask, How could God have a “firstborn,” when He had no wife in heaven at that time? In answer to that question, the one who proved to be that “firstborn” speaks for himself. In the Bible’s last book, in Revelation 3:14, he says: “These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God.” The speaker of those words was the resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, who is a “faithful and true witness” and who does not lie about the matter. He himself says he is “the beginning of the creation by God.” Hence God could have no wife before the one whom He created first.

22. What did Jesus, although a creation, speak of God as being to him?

²² Although he is a “creation” and not the child of a mother, Jesus continuously speaks of God as his own Father. (Revelation 3:21; 14:1) He also speaks of his Father as being his own God. In Revelation 3:12 he says: “The one that conquers​—I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and . . . I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God.” This agrees with what he said on the day of his resurrection to Mary Magdalene near the empty tomb: “Be on your way to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17) This was on Nisan 16, 33 C.E., the third day after he had cried out on the torture stake on which he had been impaled to die: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And, finally: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.”​—Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:46; Psalm 22:1; 31:5.

THE “ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON”

23. In being God’s “only-begotten Son,” Jesus Christ would rank where in the order of creation by God?

²³ In words addressed to the Jewish ruler Nicodemus, what did Jesus Christ speak of himself as being? Listen: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) In speaking of himself as God’s “only-begotten Son” he was identifying himself as God’s “firstborn.” God’s direct, unshared creating of things out of nothing began and ended with this “firstborn,” “only-begotten Son.” In addition to Jesus’ calling himself “the beginning of the creation by God,” the apostle Paul adds a similar designation to him, saying: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) So, after God created “the firstborn of all creation,” all things that were brought into existence afterward were other creations. When creating all those other things, God took into his employ his “only-begotten Son.”

24. According to Colossians 1:15, 16 and John 1:1-3, by means of whom were all other things created by God?

²⁴ In bearing out this thought, the apostle Paul first mentions the “firstborn of all creation” and then goes on to say: “Because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible.” (Colossians 1:16) Now we can understand the apostle John’s words in John 1:1-3: “In the beginning the Word [Greek, Logos] was, and the Word [Logos] was with God, and the Word [Logos] was a god. This one was in the beginning with God. All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.” In the Bible’s last book, also written by John, he tells us that the glorified Jesus Christ bears the title “The Word of God,” not God the Word: “And the name he is called is The Word [Logos] of God.”​—Revelation 19:13.

25. Why and in what way did the Logos have the “preeminence”?

²⁵ Upon the one called “the beginning of the creation by God” were conferred the dignity and rights of God’s “firstborn,” “only-begotten Son.” As “firstborn” Son, this one had the preeminence over all future “sons of God.” (Colossians 1:18) This included his being taken into association with his heavenly Father in bringing all other things into existence in heaven and on earth.

26. Why are the spirit creatures who were brought into existence by means of the Logos not called his sons?

²⁶ When the Word or Logos was used as the means by which all these countless “sons of God” were brought into being, holy spirit from God his Father must have operated powerfully upon him and through him. It was with him and active in his behalf. The manner of operation must have been there as it was later on when he became a perfect man on earth and performed miraculous cures. Hence he said that he expelled demons by means of God’s spirit. (Luke 11:20; Matthew 12:28) Because the spirit of Jehovah God likewise operated by means of the Logos up in heaven, those “sons of God” that were brought into existence through him consider, not him, but Jehovah God as their Creator and Father. They are not called the sons of the Logos. They are termed “sons of the true God.”​—Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7.

27. At man’s creation, to whom did God say, “Let us,” and why was He the proper one to say this?

²⁷ It is now evident, therefore, that when God said on his sixth creative day, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness,” he was speaking to his “firstborn,” to “his only-begotten Son.” (Genesis 1:26-31) God might also have said “Let us” to this Son when God contemplated creating the heavenly angels, including the cherubs and the seraphs. Jehovah God as the Most High and the Creator of all things was the One to determine upon what should be brought into existence. The angels were to be sons of His. As a prospective Father, he exercised his will as to when to have more heavenly spirit sons. His spirit was the only active force by means of which further things could be made to exist.

28. What “sons of God” did the expelled Adam and Eve see at the garden’s entrance, and what operated the continually turning sword there?

²⁸ In course of time cherubic “sons of God” became visible at the entrance of the Garden of Eden. Why? Well, the first human couple, Adam and Eve, rebelled against God and were driven out of their Paradise home. So the cherubs were stationed at the garden’s entrance to prevent the two sinners from getting back in to try to counteract the death penalty. (Genesis 3:24) What Adam and Eve saw were materialized cherubs. The “sword that was turning itself continually” at the garden’s entrance was certainly kept in motion by God’s holy spirit, in order to keep out unholy humans.

29. What kind of sons of God did Isaiah see in vision, and, later, what kind did Ezekiel see?

²⁹ In the eighth century B.C.E. the prophet Isaiah saw in vision seraphic “sons of God.” These seraphs were attending upon Jehovah God in his temple. (Isaiah 6:1-7) In the following century, the prophet Ezekiel in Babylon was given a vision in which he beheld cherubic “sons of God.”​—Ezekiel 1:1-25; 9:3; 10:1-20; 11:22.

30, 31. What indicates that the cherubs are speedy in flight when God sends them on errands, and with what government are they associated?

³⁰ Cherubs, as “living creatures,” must be very speedy in flight when God sends them on errands. So, in response to an appeal to God for help, “he came riding upon a cherub and came flying, and he came darting upon the wings of a spirit.”​—Psalm 18:10.

³¹ Evidently in the spirit realm tremendous distances must be covered in a short space of time. Distance did not keep speedy help from coming to King Hezekiah of Jerusalem after he went to the temple in a time of national crisis. He prayed: “O Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, sitting upon the cherubs, you alone are the true God of all the kingdoms of the earth.” (Isaiah 37:14-37) To Jehovah God the cherubs are subject, as if he sat above them; and they will be associated with his kingdom that is to bring speedy relief to all mankind in its direst need. In accord with this blessed fact are the opening words of the prophetic psalm: “Jehovah himself has become king. Let the peoples be agitated. He is sitting upon the cherubs. Let the earth quiver.” (Psalm 99:1; also Ps 80:1) Jehovah’s superior position with regard to the cherubs was portrayed in the ark of the covenant that the prophet Moses was commanded to construct.​—Hebrews 9:5.

32. How was Jehovah’s position with regard to the cherubs shown in the case of the golden ark constructed by Moses?

³² This golden ark or chest was used as a receptacle for sacred articles. It had a cover surmounted by two golden cherubs with wings spread out to cover the mercy seat or propitiatory. When this ark was placed in the Most Holy of the tabernacle or temple, a miraculous light (the Shekinah light) appeared above the wings of the cherubs. (Exodus 25:10-22; 2 Kings 19:15) Thus Jehovah was represented as throning above the cherubs and giving instructions from there. Moses tells of his own experience in this regard, when he writes: “Now whenever Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, then he would hear the voice conversing with him from above the cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubs; and he would speak to him.”​—Numbers 7:89.

AN UNSEEN PLACE OF ACTIVITY

33. Why must heaven be a place of activity greater than that which is going on throughout the earth today?

³³ Heaven is no place of ease and lounging around, like dangling one’s feet over the edge of a slow-moving cloud. The most active Person in all the realm of existence, the central Source of all dynamic energy, is there! His holy spirit as an active force is pervading all the unseen heavens. The activity of those inhabiting that realm and serving Jehovah must exceed by far all the activity that is going on throughout our earth today. Distances inconceivably greater than those possible on our earth or from here to the moon need to be covered in the service of the universal Sovereign, Jehovah God. Numberless are the things to be done, besides the giving of attention to our comparatively tiny planet, Earth. May we not blind ourselves to heavenly activities just because our weak eyes cannot actually see them. Every basis there is for us to see them by the eye of faith.​—Hebrews 11:1, 27.

34, 35. How did the psalmist David express his recognition of the superior capabilities of heavenly angels, and what lesson can we humans learn from them?

³⁴ In harmony with the purposes of the Lord God, his heavenly sons lead a most active life. They are capable of accomplishing far more than we humans can. They are superhuman. Their power we cannot measure. According to Bible history, they have, by holy spirit, been enabled to do things for which Science cannot account.

³⁵ David recognized their superhuman ability when he lifted his attention to them and said: “Bless Jehovah, O you angels of his, mighty in power, carrying out his word, by listening to the voice of his word. Bless Jehovah, all you armies of his, you ministers of his, doing his will.” (Psalm 103:20, 21) In doing Jehovah’s will, those armies of heavenly angels set an excellent pattern for earthly man to imitate. If such mightily powerful superhuman creatures do not consider themselves to be too qualified in themselves to serve their Creator, then we frail, short-lived humans down here ought not to be so self-conceited and self-admiring as to be rebellious against Jehovah God, feeling absolutely no responsibility to him. Better is it for us to bless him.

36. How does holy spirit express itself in all the heavens, and why will unity up there not be sundered?

³⁶ Holy spirit from god expresses itself in all the heavens as his only-begotten Son, his cherubs, his seraphs and all his angels lovingly serve him, the one living and true God. His spirit, imparted to all these loyal ones, produces among them a “oneness of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace,” to borrow a phrase from Ephesians 4:3. They all cooperate together under the Most High God, Jehovah. By their united service in all the variety of their duties, they are really worshiping him. Such unity of service and worship will never be sundered, not even by demons.

37. Who takes the lead in heaven in worshiping and serving God, and how was appreciation of that fact displayed in John’s vision in Revelation 5:11-14?

³⁷ Taking the lead in rendering such unswerving service and worship to God is Jehovah’s “firstborn,” “his only-begotten Son.” This one was once willing to serve as a sacrificial Lamb here on earth. No less so than we Christians, the faithful heavenly throngs appreciate such self-sacrifice. In confirmation of this, the apostle John is given a vision of the heavenly scene that now finds fulfillment in our twentieth century, as follows:

“And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘The Lamb that was slaughtered is worthy to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth and on the sea, and all the things in them, I heard saying: ‘To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever.’ And the four living creatures went saying: ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.”​—Revelation 5:11-14.

38. In view of that vision, what choice is there for us to make, and in what case will we be favored with holy spirit?

³⁸ How about us who are now on the earth, yes, on the earth’s surface and not yet “underneath the earth” in burial places? There is a choice for us to make. Shall we take part in fulfilling that prophetic vision by joining in with the myriads of myriads of holy angels and giving due honor to the Lamblike Son of God and giving our heartfelt devotion to the One sitting on the throne, Jehovah God? If we choose to do this of our own free will, then, like the glorious heavenly throngs, we shall be favored with holy spirit from the Giver of every perfect gift, Jehovah God.​—James 1:17.

Chapter 3

The Spirit Behind the Present Old Order

1. What question arises as to the spirit that has pervaded the present old order of things, and what must we conclude?

THE PRESENT order of things is old​—thousands of years old. Throughout all those millenniums of time one spirit has pervaded the human order of things. Has it been holy spirit? No one will talk so contrary to the facts of history as to claim that holy spirit from Jehovah God has been the invisible force activating all human society in its pursuits, or in its style of life. If it had been holy spirit that all along had been backing up and motivating this old system of things, the results would be far different from the world state of affairs today.

2. (a) By what kind of laws do people who go along with this old order have to be controlled? (b) What are the “works of the flesh,” and of what does the “fruitage of the spirit” consist?

² Holy spirit from Jehovah God, when at work in the lives of people, produces an identifying fruitage. Judged by the fruitage that it has had ample time to produce, this old order is not being led by God’s holy spirit. The mass of mankind who go along with this old order show themselves to be persons needing to be restrained by laws that are enacted for criminally minded people, laws that therefore command them to refrain from all sorts of wrongdoing. Nineteen hundred years ago there was a man who had come out from under such a code of laws. He wrote a letter to show that we need a better inducement, a superior force to be active in our lives, if we want to be different from the present old order. We need the spirit, the invisible active force that comes from One who is far better morally than this old world order, far better than any lawgiver of human society. To the holy force that can activate us aright the letter writer pointed, saying:

“Keep walking by spirit and you will carry out no fleshly desire at all. For the flesh is against the spirit in its desire, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, so that the very things that you would like to do you do not do. Furthermore, if you are being led by spirit, you are not under law.

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct, idolatry, practice of spiritism, enmities, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects, envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these. As to these things I am forewarning you, the same way as I did forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s kingdom.

“On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”​—Galatians 5:16-23; note also 1 Timothy 1:8-11.

3. Those looking forward to inheriting the blessings of God’s kingdom do not practice what works?

³ Quite a list of opposites, is it not? Certainly those who are producing the fruitage of God’s spirit are not practicing the things called “the works of the flesh.” They are looking forward to God’s kingdom with a sincere desire to inherit its blessings.

4. Why do we ourselves not need to point out the faults of the old order, and why will that old order not help people to inherit God’s kingdom?

⁴ What, though, about the present old order? We do not have to point out its faults. That is done for us by its newspaper reports, its magazine articles, its police records, the general insecurity due to a rising crime rate, the high-priced hospitals for mental ailments as well as dread social diseases, the political tensions along with the mounting threat of a global nuclear war. Innumerable other things could be cited to incriminate the old order as one abounding in the “works of the flesh.” This old order will never help people to “inherit God’s kingdom.” It has no connection with God’s kingdom. It is not pervaded, motivated or backed up by holy spirit from God. It is by no means holy, not even that part of it that is called Christendom.

5, 6. Why is the natural desire of the flesh to do things that are opposed to the Creator’s spirit not traceable to God?

⁵ How is it that God’s spirit is back of no part of this old order? How did human flesh get into the state where it naturally desires to do works that are opposed to God’s spirit? Human flesh was not that way at its start. At that time it was motivated by its Creator’s spirit. God would never impart to newly created flesh that which is bad and in opposition to him. He is not the Source of badness. As a champion for the cause of right, the prophet Moses cleared Jehovah God of all responsibility for the wrongful tendencies in human flesh. Moses said: “Perfect is his activity, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he. They have acted ruinously on their own part; they are not his children, the defect is their own.”​—Deuteronomy 32:4, 5.

⁶ The defect in mankind is not traceable to God. He made the first man perfect, a credit to His creative ability. There is no defect about God. With the cooperation of his only-begotten Son, God made the first man “in our image, according to our likeness.” The first man, Adam, was an image of divine perfection, and so, to be a true image, he had to be perfect.​—Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7, 8.

7. At the time that Adam was in Eden, what state existed between heaven and earth to make God happy?

⁷ In the paradise Garden of Eden the first man walked according to God’s holy spirit. On occasion he had conversation with God. In a way unseen to human eye and yet perceptible to the man Adam, God walked in that lovely Garden of Eden. There was unity between God and man. At that time there was unity between things heavenly and things earthly. Why? Because God’s spirit was all-pervasive. All this made Jehovah God happy. He is “the happy God.”​—1 Timothy 1:11.

8. Because of what kind of sin do we not have on earth today a perfect order of things, and by whom was that sin committed?

⁸ Here, now, was the groundwork for the development of a perfect order of things that would never grow old and get ready to pass away. But today we do not have a clean, righteous, perfect order of things. Why is this? It is because there occurred a sin against the holy spirit. Committed by whom? Committed by the one whom Jesus Christ identified when he was talking to men who were eager to kill him for telling God’s truth. To these would-be murderers Jesus said: “You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie.”​—John 8:44.

9. Who is the spiritual father of a practicer of sin, and why?

⁹ The first sinner against holy spirit is also identified by Jesus’ disciple named John, who writes: “He who carries on sin originates with the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning.” (1 John 3:8) The practicer of sin could have no other spiritual father than the one who started him off.

10. How did the first liar make himself a Devil?

¹⁰ This calling the first liar in all creation a devil indicates that his lie was against God, for the name Devil means Slanderer. He left the truth and cultivated in himself the disposition to lie. In slanderous contradiction of what God had told Adam, the Devil told Adam’s wife, Eve, that the penalty for eating from the forbidden tree would not be death: “You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” (Genesis 3:1-5) The liar made himself a Devil, primarily with respect to God.

11. How might the Devil have schemed to keep God from carrying out his word if Adam and Eve sinned?

¹¹ The Slanderer against God could not guarantee that Adam and Eve would not positively die if they ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. His word was not mightier than God’s. (Hebrews 4:12; Genesis 2:16, 17) But likely the Devil thought that he could maneuver Jehovah God into an embarrassing position where it would be inconsistent for God to put Adam and Eve to death, especially if the Devil directed the sinful couple to eat of the “tree of life” before divine sentence could be pronounced upon them.​—Genesis 2:9; 3:22, 23.

12. How did the Devil become a manslayer, and what awaits him now?

¹² Despite all this maneuvering, the Devil turned out to be a liar. His victims did die as human souls, for Jehovah God the Judge sentenced them to death and kept them from getting to the “tree of life” by driving them out of the paradise Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3:17-24) Because of unlovingly inducing the death of the first man and his wife, the Devil became a “manslayer.” For this he deserved to be put to death according to the rule stated by the Founder of Christianity: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:42, Revised Standard Version) Exactly so, endless destruction does await the manslayer, the Devil.

13. To what did Jehovah liken the Devil, and before this one is put to death what is he allowed to produce?

¹³ Such an end for the Devil was indicated when the Judge of all, Jehovah, likened him to the serpent that had been used to deceive the woman Eve into eating the forbidden fruit contrary to God’s command. Directing the words really to the symbolic Serpent, Jehovah said: “Because you have done this thing, you are the cursed one out of all the domestic animals and out of all the wild beasts of the field. Upon your belly you will go and dust is what you will eat all the days of your life. And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Genesis 3:14, 15) Thus the Devil became the one cursed of God. So it lies with God to have this cursed one put to death. But this would not occur before the cursed Serpent had the opportunity to have a “seed,” offspring in a figurative or spiritual way. As a spirit, the Devil has no inherent reproductive powers like man.

14. What did the figurative crawling on the belly mean for the Devil as the Great Serpent, and by whom was he later joined in his abasement?

¹⁴ Jehovah likened the Devil to a serpent that crawls on its belly and eats food dusted with particles of soil. Thus he indicated the deep abasement into which the cursed Devil was now thrown down. As it was the lowest station in existence, it was compared to the place that came to be called Tartarus. In course of time the Devil came to be joined in this place by other spirits, by other angels who renounced the Fatherhood of God and adopted the fatherhood of the Devil. These spirits became his “seed.”

15. What do Peter and Jude say about the angels who joined the Great Serpent in sinning?

¹⁵ In reference to this spiritual seed of the original Serpent, the Christian apostle Peter wrote: “God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.” (2 Peter 2:4) The Christian disciple Jude refers to the same angelic “seed” of the Serpent, when he writes: “The angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day.”​—Jude 6.

16. Why did the Devil act single-handedly in tricking Eve into sin, and why do some think that he had been a cherub?

¹⁶ At the time that the Devil tricked Adam’s wife, Eve, into rebelling against God her heavenly Father, there was no “seed” of the Great Serpent. The Devil acted single-handedly. He did not choose to have an angelic associate who could become a rival in claiming control over the offspring of Adam and Eve. He coveted the sole control over all mankind. What position he occupied in God’s original organization we do not precisely know. Many Bible students have understood the prophecy of Ezekiel 28:11-19 concerning the king of ancient Tyre to apply also to Satan the Devil, and hence they reason that the self-made Devil was originally a “cherub” among the heavenly “sons of God.” If this is so, then the degree of his abasement as the Great Serpent is all the greater.

17. In what way do rebel angels share Tartarean darkness with the Devil?

¹⁷ The other angel rebels against God, who became the “seed” of the Serpent, share the Tartarean darkness with him, like cursed serpents. They no longer have the light of God’s favor and counsel. At their rebellion God took his holy spirit away from them.

18. (a) Why is the future pitch black for the Devil and his angels? (b) What was the question of mystery that was now raised?

¹⁸ The future is pitch black for the Great Serpent and his angelic “seed.” God’s day of judgment awaits them, with the prospect of their being ‘bruised in the head.’ God will use the “seed” of his “woman” to do the bruising. (Genesis 3:15) The bruise inflicted is no mere scalp wound. It is the crushing of the head, which results in death to the Great Serpent and his “seed.” There is no room for misunderstanding about this, for, at Romans 16:20, it is written to Christ’s disciples: “The God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” This is sound reason for Satan and his “seed” to be at enmity with the “seed” of God’s “woman.” At God’s mention of the “seed” of his “woman,” a mystery confronted both heaven and earth. The mystery or sacred secret that now roused universal curiosity was, Who is this woman’s seed?

AN EARTHLY “SEED” OF THE SERPENT

19. Why are Christians exhorted to be the opposite of Cain, the firstborn son of all mankind?

¹⁹ The mysterious “seed” of God’s “woman” did not prove to be Eve’s firstborn son, whom she named Cain. Cain’s being the firstborn son of all mankind did not give him the right to serve as that promised “seed.” Moreover, Cain’s heel never did get bruised by the Great Serpent, the Devil. As for bruising anyone in the head, Cain murdered his God-fearing brother Abel, possibly by striking him a crushing blow on the head. Instead of being blessed by God and receiving God’s holy spirit, Cain became the second one in the Bible to be called “cursed,” the symbolic Serpent or the Devil being the first one. (Genesis 3:14; 4:11) In this manner Cain made himself a part of the earthly “seed” of the Great Serpent, the Devil, whom he imitated in lying and committing manslaughter. He loved neither his brother, whom he could see, nor God, whom he could not see. Followers of Christ are exhorted to be the opposite of Cain, in the following words:

“We should have love for one another; not like Cain, who originated with the wicked one and slaughtered his brother. And for the sake of what did he slaughter him? Because his own works were wicked, but those of his brother were righteous.” (1 John 3:11, 12) “Too bad for them, because they have gone in the path of Cain.”​—Jude 11.

20, 21. Cain imitated the Devil in committing what kind of sin, and in view of what manifestation was this possible for Cain?

²⁰ Cain imitated the Devil, his spiritual father, “the wicked one,” in sinning against God’s holy spirit. This does not mean that Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, ever had the holy spirit. His earthly parents had lost holy spirit because of willfully breaking God’s commandment. But Cain saw the operation of holy spirit. When and how?

²¹ This was at the time that Cain presented to God an offering from his farming, whereas his younger brother Abel presented to God a sacrifice from slaughtered animals of his flock of sheep. Were the presentations of both of these brothers acceptable to God? Genesis 4:4-7 tells us: “Now while Jehovah was looking with favor upon Abel and his offering, he did not look with any favor upon Cain and upon his offering. And Cain grew hot with great anger, and his countenance began to fall. At this Jehovah said to Cain: ‘Why are you hot with anger and why has your countenance fallen? If you turn to doing good, will there not be an exaltation? But if you do not turn to doing good, there is sin crouching at the entrance, and for you is its craving; and will you, for your part, get the mastery over it?’”

22. What manifestation of holy spirit did Cain observe?

²² Of course, God did not appear to Cain and Abel on this occasion. How he looked with favor upon Abel and his sacrificial offering, we are not told. But there must have been some visible evidence of this. An operation of God’s holy spirit this was. Cain saw this and, also, with no word from God. So he grew hot with great anger and his countenance fell. He did not react humbly and with repentance at the visible operation of holy spirit from the God to whom he was making an unacceptable offering.

23. Cain’s sin against holy spirit took what form, and why?

²³ Plainly, Cain was not doing right. God’s voice out of the invisible explained to him the situation. Too proud to humble himself, Cain did not repent and turn to doing good, even though sin was crouching as if at the door of his home and craving to seize him as its victim. He did not want to get the mastery over it, no matter what God’s holy spirit indicated to him. Not wanting an exaltation of his countenance, he schemed against the one approved by God and killed him. Thus he sinned against holy spirit.

24. What can be said about whether the one now the Devil had holy spirit and saw the operation of holy spirit?

²⁴ This displeased God and brought his curse upon Cain. But it pleased the Great Serpent, the Devil, for he now saw an earthly son of his who acted in true copy of his spiritual father. The Devil himself had sinned against holy spirit. Besides seeing God himself, the one now the Devil had seen all the operation of holy spirit with regard to the heavenly realm and with regard to the creation of the earth and of perfect man upon it. (Job 38:7) During the time of being free from all selfish enticement, he himself had a due measure of his heavenly Father’s spirit. What this holy spirit had enabled him to do, he knew. He also saw the “spirit of undeserved kindness” expressed by God toward Adam and Eve in providing for them to enjoy perfect human life in an earthly paradise. And yet what did the heavenly ‘son of God’ do?​—Hebrews 10:29.

25. How did that ‘son of God’ proceed in sinful action against holy spirit and thus what did he make of himself?

²⁵ He misrepresented the “spirit of undeserved kindness” by telling Eve that it was motivated by selfishness on God’s part. Also, that the prohibition that God placed upon the eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad was motivated by God’s fear that his human creatures might gain the ability to make decisions independently of him, decisions as to what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. So, when the spirit ‘son of God’ willfully and designedly twisted the plain facts of the case and lied to deceive Eve into sinning, he sinned against the holy spirit, a sin that has no forgiveness. He had let himself be enticed by the selfish prospect of wielding sovereignty over the earth and its human inhabitants and then acted to seize that sovereignty. At that he lost God’s holy spirit. The fruitage of God’s spirit in his life shriveled up and died. He made a Devil of himself, fit only for destruction.​—Hebrews 12:29; 6:7, 8.

26. How did the Devil become the “ruler of the demons,” and why will those practicing spiritism have no share in God’s kingdom?

²⁶ This first sinner against holy spirit made a demon of himself. Angelic “sons of God” who later joined him in rebellion against God became demons like the Devil. These demons became the “seed” of the Great Serpent, and thus the Devil became the “ruler of the demons,” who came to be called Beelzebub. (Matthew 12:24-27) These are the promoters of demonism, to turn people away from worshiping the one living and true God, Jehovah. They are classed as “unclean spirits.” (Matthew 10:1, 8; 12:43-45) The practice of spiritism under the influence of these demons can result only in spiritual uncleanness to the practicer and make him unclean in God’s sight. The practice of spiritism is one of the works of the fallen flesh and will debar a person from having any share in the kingdom of God and its blessings. The unclean spirits are opposed to God’s holy spirit, and he condemns a person for having anything to do with unclean spirits.​—Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Galatians 5:19, 20; Revelation 9:20, 21; 21:8.

WHAT KIND OF “SPIRIT” IT IS

27. Why should we by now be able to determine what kind of spirit is behind the present old order?

²⁷ It is of the highest importance to us to know the above things. By knowing them we can understand the reason for the present state of mankind. Here we are today, in our twentieth century, a century that started off so promisingly from the human standpoint. By the count of time according to the Sacred Scriptures, we have progressed practically six thousand years from when the self-seeking ‘son of God’ rebelled against Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and led Adam and Eve into a similar disobedience to God. After these two human rebels were put out of the paradise of Eden, a new human order was set up on earth, one different from what God their Creator has purposed for our planet Earth. So by now we should be able to determine what kind of spirit is behind the now old order.

28. In speaking about the spirit behind the old order, what do we mean by “spirit”?

²⁸ By “spirit” we mean an invisible active force, an animating, enlivening, energizing force that moves human society in common. It influences their course in life. It moves them in a certain common direction. Thus the people in general carry on in quite a uniform way almost unconsciously, without really giving thought to it. Things that they do become almost instinctive, moved by some inner urge so as to follow a regular routine and to weave a certain pattern of life. There may be little variations depending upon individual differences in personality, yet life and its aims have a common aspect that brands it as characteristic of human society now under the present system of things.

29, 30. (a) Who is the invisible ruler of this old order, and has he been alone in such rule? (b) The effects of such invisible rule have been of what kind?

²⁹ Such a spirit behind today’s old order of things has been greatly affected by unseen superhuman personalities that dominate this order of things and have taken over its administration. There can be no question as to who the predominating one is who controls the whole order. Down as far as into the fifth millennium of the old order, Jesus Christ declared that Satan the Devil is “the ruler of this world,” with whom he had no friendly dealings. On the last night of his life on earth as a man, Jesus Christ said to his apostles: “The ruler of the world is coming. And he has no hold on me.” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) In the invisible rulership of mankind Satan the Devil is not alone. He has demon angels associated with him as their sovereign. All these demon powers have had their hand in the affairs of the present old order of human society.

³⁰ The effects of their superhuman rule have been harmful. Testifying to this there is the prophecy written down by the apostle John with respect to the then future ouster of the demons from the holy heavens. This prophecy, as found in Revelation 12:7-12, reads:

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. . . . ‘Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.’”

31. According to Revelation 13:4, in what worship has Satan the “dragon” misled all the inhabited earth?

³¹ One of the things into which the Deceiver, Satan the Devil, has misled the entire inhabited earth is the worship of him himself. Sincere but deceived persons may be shocked at such a revelation, but Revelation 13:4 says respecting people who go in for worldly politics: “They worshiped the dragon because it gave the authority to the wild beast, and they worshiped the wild beast.”

32. Who the “god of this system of things” is becomes clear from what action of his toward the light of the good news?

³² We also have the words of the apostle Paul for it, that the Devil is the main one worshiped by the world of mankind, knowingly or unknowingly. Paul said: “If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.” (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4) This system of things has a “god.” His godship and also his rulership of the world certainly ought to affect the spirit behind the present old order of things.

33. How have all of us naturally been affected by what “the god of this system of things” did near the start of human history?

³³ Near the start of human history the one who is now “the god of this system of things” induced the fall of our first human parents. Adam and Eve were pressured into disobeying their Creator. This was before we were born. We have all felt the ill effects of this. In Romans 5:12 the apostle Paul speaks true to the facts when he writes: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” We came under the divine condemnation to death because of naturally inheriting imperfection, sinfulness and moral corruption. We were as good as dead. To God we did not live.

34, 35. Why were we at that time as good as dead to God, and what was said to be at work in us?

³⁴ Naturally, we were heirs of God’s anger, “children of wrath.” We were “alienated from the life that belongs to God.” (Ephesians 4:18) As Colossians 1:21 also says: “You . . . were once alienated and enemies because your minds were on the works that were wicked.” Because of that state of affairs and at that time, Jehovah God was not working in us. Well, then, who or what was?

³⁵ In answer to that question, the words in Ephesians 2:1-5, written to converted Christians, tell us: “You were dead, through the crimes and the sins in which you used to live when you were following the way of this world, obeying the ruler who governs the air, the spirit who is at work in the rebellious. We all were among them too in the past, living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas; so that by nature we were as much under God’s anger as the rest of the world. But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins.”​—The Jerusalem Bible; An American Translation.

36. According to some Bible translators, the “spirit” spoken of in Ephesians 2:2 means what, and under whose rulership is it?

³⁶ Who is that “spirit who is at work in the rebellious”? He is the original rebel of all rebels against Jehovah God, namely, the Devil, “the original serpent.” But here we should remark that, in Ephesians 2:2, the word “spirit” is viewed by some Bible translators as meaning something impersonal. They view it as an invisible active force that is under the control of the “ruler who governs the air” and that is operating within those who are disobedient to Jehovah God. For example, Young’s translation of Ephesians 2:2 reads: “in which once ye did walk according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” (See also Rotherham’s translation.) Such an impersonal “spirit” would be under the rulership of the wicked user of the “air.” It would energize those who are conducting themselves “according to the system of things of this world,” disobeying God.

37, 38. How does 1 John 2:15-17 show the way in which the spirit behind the present old order manifests itself?

³⁷ Where can we gain some specific idea of what the spirit behind the present old order of things is or how it manifests itself? Well, let us look at what the apostle John writes. In warning Christians against that worldly spirit, he writes: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world​—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—​does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire.”​—1 John 2:15-17.

³⁸ Consequently the spirit of the old order moves worldlings to desire the things so attractive to their eyes and to desire the things that feel so good to the flesh; and, logically, such desires lead to selfish action. Because of selfishly desiring so much that pleases the eye and the fallen flesh, those worldlings accumulate a lot of things that constitute their means of life, for their enjoyment of life. In their pride at possessing things, they like to make a showy display of their means of life so as to impress others. This moves the ones who do not have such means to want to possess such things also for themselves.

39. In what way did first-century Jews refuse to receive God’s spirit, and, according to Romans 1:26-32, what resulted to them for being allowed to go their own way?

³⁹ Back in the first century of our Common Era there were Jews who preferred to be imbued with the spirit behind the worldwide order of things. The temple built by King Herod still stood at their national capital of Jerusalem, and they were acquainted with the Law code given through the prophet Moses. They did not want to receive the spirit of God that was being expressed in the pure Christianity then being proclaimed throughout the inhabited earth. Hence Jehovah God let them go their way, like apostate Israel of old. With what results to them? In Romans 1:26-32, the apostle Paul informs us, saying:

“That is why God gave them up to disgraceful sexual appetites, for both their females changed the natural use of themselves into one contrary to nature; and likewise even the males left the natural use of the female and became violently inflamed in their lust toward one another, males with males, working what is obscene and receiving in themselves the full recompense, which was due for their error. And just as they did not approve of holding God in accurate knowledge, God gave them up to a disapproved mental state, to do the things not fitting, filled as they were with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, badness, being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malicious disposition, being whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, self-assuming, inventors of injurious things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, false to agreements, having no natural affection, merciless. Although these know full well the righteous decree of God, that those practicing such things are deserving of death, they not only keep on doing them but also consent with those practicing them.”

40, 41. With the spread of Christianity, was the spirit behind the old order displaced, and what did Paul predict in 2 Timothy 3:1-12?

⁴⁰ In that apostolic age of the first century C.E. the true Christian faith was being proclaimed, and so would not God’s holy spirit replace the spirit behind the old order of things as Christianity spread? And was not this more especially the case after Christendom was established by the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, in the fourth century C.E.? Was not then a morally clean, religiously holy, new spirit infused into the progressing human society? No, not according to what the imprisoned apostle Paul wrote, about the year 65 C.E. or so. In his last letter, as addressed to his long-time companion, Timothy, he predicted:

⁴¹ “In the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; . . . In fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.”​—2 Timothy 3:1-5, 12.

42. Why do we not want to have the spirit that is behind the backers of the old order?

⁴² All the foregoing array of qualities expresses the spirit that motivates the mass of mankind in general as they back up the old order of things. Is that the kind of spirit that we desire to have as the impelling, guiding force in our lives? No; not if we have to judge by the fruitage of their spirit that backers of the old order are harvesting today! We sincerely desire to have a different spirit, a spirit that is active in behalf of a better order of things. This requires that we have the only other spirit that there is​—holy spirit.

Chapter 4

Holy Spirit in Action upon Persons of Earlier Times

1. How does the Bible in itself as a book disprove those who deny that there is such a thing as holy spirit?

IT IS useless for materialistic men of today to argue that there is no such thing as holy spirit. A product of its operation upon men of earlier times is still with us, world wide. That product has survived the efforts of men and nations to destroy it. What is it? An indestructible book called The Holy Bible. In spite of fierce opposition by men and demons, that sacred Book has the widest circulation among all the books written by men. There are men and women who will defend that Book with their very lives.

2. Why is the Bible not different from other books as regards the hands used in writing it?

² The Holy Bible is admittedly different from all other books. Why? Not in its being written by mere men of our human family. Nobody claims that the Bible was written by hands other than those of mere men. But what kind of men were they? Were their writings of their own origination? This bears on the matter.

3-5. (a) What does the Bible tell us about how it was written? (b) How does Peter confirm this in 2 Peter 1:15-21?

³ The Bible itself tells us that its contents of sixty-six smaller books were written by men. The Bible itself tells us the kind of men that its writers were. It also shows what was the invisible force that actuated those men to do the writing. There was spirit behind them when doing the writing. That spirit is not to be attributed to Satan the Devil, for all along he has been bent on misleading the entire inhabited earth. The spirit behind Bible writing was not the spirit that is behind the present old order of things. But as respects the kind of men that did the writing and as respects the spirit that moved them to write, let us note the brief statement of the apostle Peter, a martyr to true Christianity:

⁴ “So I will do my utmost also at every time that, after my departure [in martyrdom], you may be able to make mention of these things for yourselves. No, it was not by following artfully contrived false stories that we acquainted you with the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it was by having become eyewitnesses of his magnificence. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when words such as these were borne to him by the magnificent glory: ‘This is my son, my beloved, whom I myself have approved.’ Yes, these words we heard borne from heaven while we were with him in the holy mountain.

⁵ “Consequently we have the prophetic word made more sure; and you are doing well in paying attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and a daystar rises, in your hearts. For you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.”​—2 Peter 1:15-21.

6. What corroboration is there of Peter’s reference to the transfiguration of Christ, and what made his two letters inspired writings?

⁶ Peter himself became one of those men who wrote and spoke from God “as they were borne along by holy spirit.” Because of this fact, Peter gave a faithful witness to what he and the apostles James and John, as eyewitnesses, had seen and heard when Jesus Christ was transfigured before them on a lofty mountain in Palestine. Three other disciples of Christ furnish a written record of that transfiguration of Jesus Christ some months before his violent death outside the walls of Jerusalem. (Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36) So Peter’s testimony is corroborated by trustworthy men. In the Bible, two letters bearing Peter’s name were written by him, a man; but this fact did not make his letters writings of mere human manufacture. Peter’s letters had holy spirit behind them. Hence they were inspired by Jehovah God, the Source of holy spirit.

7. In 2 Peter 3:15, 16 how did Peter show that he ranked Paul’s writings as part of the inspired Bible?

⁷ In his second letter Peter ranks the writings of the apostle Paul as being part of the inspired Bible writings. Peter said: “Consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him also wrote you, speaking about these things as he does also in all his letters. In them, however, are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unsteady are twisting, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:15, 16) Today there are critics who argue that a mere man (Paul) wrote those letters, so that they are of man’s invention. Such critics are twisting the Scriptures, “to their own destruction.”

8. Concerning the Scriptures written by men who spoke and wrote from God, what did Paul say in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17?

⁸ With regard to the Sacred Scriptures written by men who wrote and spoke from God, the apostle Paul had this to say: “All Scripture is inspired of God [literally, God-breathed (theópneustos)] and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.”​—2 Timothy 3:16, 17, and Kingdom Interlinear.

9. By references to those Scriptures what was Paul able to prove about the basis for Christianity?

⁹ Paul himself was such a competent “man of God.” He was thoroughly conversant with the ancient Hebrew Scriptures. By means of references to those inspired Scriptures Paul was able to prove the God-given basis for true Christianity.​—Acts 17:3.

10. Why have Bible prophecies continued to come true even till now, although men did not know how God would work prophecy out?

¹⁰ There is a reason why prophecies contained in the Bible continue to come true, even in our twentieth century. The reason is that these prophecies are not the predictions of mere men who try to make private interpretations as to how the trend of world affairs will work out. To the contrary, the Bible prophecies are from God, these being given through men devoted to Him. God works out his prophecies although men are ignorant of just how God does it. This point was stressed by Peter, when he said to a crowd of Jews in the temple at Jerusalem: “In this way God has fulfilled the things he announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer . . . whom heaven, indeed, must hold within itself until the times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” (Acts 3:18-21) The Bible records the prophecies of the God who does not lie, even though he spoke by means of prophets.

11. How did Peter, when speaking to the congregation of one hundred and twenty disciples in Jerusalem, emphasize that God’s prophecies simply had to come true?

¹¹ Because Bible prophecies are from God by means of his holy spirit, they simply have to come true. That fact was further voiced by Peter when he said to a congregation of about one hundred and twenty disciples of Christ in Jerusalem: “Men, brothers, it was necessary for the scripture to be fulfilled, which the holy spirit spoke beforehand by David’s mouth about Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.”​—Acts 1:15, 16.

12. How did Peter and other disciples join in prayer and indicate that Psalm 2:1 written by David had to come true?

¹² Later, Peter joined his fellow disciples in a prayer that emphasized how another prophecy by David had to come true. Acts 4:24, 25 says: “They with one accord raised their voices to God and said: ‘Sovereign Lord, you are the One who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them, and who through holy spirit said by the mouth of our forefather David, your servant, “Why did nations become tumultuous and peoples meditate upon empty things?”’” (Psalm 2:1) Thus those first-century Christians realized that the sacred Hebrew Scriptures were the product of God’s holy spirit in action upon men of earlier times.

13. (a) According to 2 Samuel 23:1-3, who was to be credited for the parts of the Hebrew Scriptures composed by the anointed David? (b) What were the things responsible for the outworking of prophecies by means of David?

¹³ Since the psalmist David is here directly mentioned by name, we may well ask: How did he feel about speaking and writing things that were made part of the sacred Hebrew Scriptures? He does not take the credit for his writings, which have been preserved as of special value and importance even to us today. In proof of this, here is the record concerning this anointed king of all Israel, as preserved for us in 2 Samuel 23:1-3: “And these are the last words of David: ‘The utterance of David the son of Jesse, and the utterance of the able-bodied man that was raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, and the pleasant one of the melodies of Israel. The spirit of Jehovah it was that spoke by me, and his word was upon my tongue. The God of Israel said, to me the Rock of Israel spoke.’” So the things that worked for the coming true of prophecies by means of David were not his long-range foresight and his ability to make private interpretations of matters. God’s spirit that was active upon David and God’s maneuvering of matters were responsible for outworkings.

14. Besides David, how did Isaiah and Jeremiah indicate that their recorded parts of the Scriptures were not their own compositions?

¹⁴ David is not the only one to confess that his recorded parts in the Holy Bible were not of his own original composition. Other prophets, whose inspired books are preserved in the Bible, honestly admit that it was the word of Jehovah God that came to them. For instance, Isaiah opens up his major book of prophecy by saying: “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz that he visioned concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for Jehovah himself has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:1, 2) Jeremiah introduces his major book of prophecy, saying: “The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin; to whom the word of Jehovah occurred in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reigning.”​—Jeremiah 1:1, 2.

ANCIENT DEEDS OF VALOR BY MEANS OF HOLY SPIRIT

15. How has holy spirit that was responsible for Bible writings shown itself mightier than the sword of powerful military leaders?

¹⁵ Let nobody sniff contemptuously at the things produced by holy spirit in the form of sacred writings. The pen that was moved by God’s holy spirit in the hand of Bible writers has proved to be far mightier than the sword of Caesar, of Napoleon Bonaparte, of Adolf Hitler. In fact, holy spirit has been capable of accomplishments far more spectacular than writing with pen and ink. Men of ancient times are on record as having done valorous things by means of this mighty force from the invisible Almighty God.

16, 17. (a) When Moses held out the rod over the Red Sea, from where did the dynamic energy issue to split the sea waters? (b) How does Isaiah 63:11-14 verify the correct answer?

¹⁶ As an illustration, let us take the writer of the first five books of the Bible, Moses. Back in the year 1513 B.C.E., he stood on the western bank of the Red Sea. He stretched the rod in his right hand out over the sea. Look! The waters parted and let the Israelites cross through before the pursuing Egyptians could catch up with them. Did any dynamic energy that issued forth from Moses cause that miracle? Impossible! Not from the prophet Moses, but from the heavenly Source of all dynamic energy came the irresistible force able to split the water barrier that had blocked escape for the Israelites from great danger. (Exodus 14:21 through 15:21) So today, when Jehovah’s people are being disciplined and find themselves in trouble, it is just the time for them to call to mind Jehovah’s ancient act and to raise the question:

¹⁷ “‘Where is the One that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds [Moses and Aaron] of his flock? Where is the One that put within him His own holy spirit? The One making His beautiful arm [of strength] go at the right hand of Moses; the One splitting the waters [of the sea] from before them in order to make an indefinitely lasting name for his own self; the One making them walk through the surging waters so that, like a horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble? Just as when a beast itself goes down into the valley plain, the very spirit of Jehovah proceeded to make them rest.’ Thus you led your people in order to make a beautiful name for your own self.”​—Isaiah 63:11-14.

18. Similarly, how is the same God about to make a “beautiful name” for himself in our twentieth century?

¹⁸ Those verses from Isaiah’s prophecy point back to when Moses’ people were delivered from their enslavement to the ancient Egyptians. There, in the spring of the year 1513 B.C.E., God made an imperishable name for himself, a name of matchless beauty. But now, too, in our twentieth century, the time has come for this same God to make a ‘beautiful name for his own self.’ On a vastly grander scale he will perform a deliverance resembling what he performed at the Red Sea. Happy will all persons be to whom God’s name Jehovah will then become “beautiful.”

19. As indicated in Hebrews 11:29, it was according to what quality of Moses that things happened?

¹⁹ Hence let us not underestimate the dynamic energy of Jehovah’s holy active force. It is equally as powerful today as it was thirty-five centuries ago. The prophet Moses did not underestimate its potency. He had faith in the Divine Source of that miracle-working spirit. According to Moses’ faith was the way that things happened: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, but on venturing out upon it the Egyptians were swallowed up.” (Hebrews 11:29) In such a manner it was demonstrated that God rewards those who exercise faith in him. (Hebrews 11:6) Note further the record at Numbers 11:16, 17, 24-29 regarding faithful Moses and the spirit.

20, 21. (a) Why must those in ancient times who proved faith in God have had some measure of holy spirit? (b) What three men of faith are mentioned in Hebrews 11:4-7, and what does it say of them?

²⁰ Faith is part of the “fruitage of the spirit.” So it says in Galatians 5:22, 23. Evidently those proving faith in God must have a measure of his spirit. A partial list of men and women of faith during ancient times is given us in Hebrews, chapter eleven. They form part of a “so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.” (Hebrews 12:1) The list of witnesses goes all the way back to the first reported witness for Jehovah God, namely, Abel, the younger brother of Cain the son of Adam and Eve. There were other witnesses of Jehovah during those days before the global deluge of 2370-2369 B.C.E. The names of three antediluvian witnesses of the Most High God were given in Hebrews 11:4-7. We read:

²¹ “By faith Abel offered God a sacrifice of greater worth than Cain, through which faith he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness respecting his gifts; and through it he, although he died, yet speaks. By faith Enoch was transferred so as not to see death, and he was nowhere to be found because God had transferred him; for before his transference he had the witness that he had pleased God well. Moreover, without faith it is impossible to please him well, for he that approaches God must believe that he is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him. By faith Noah, after being given divine warning of things not yet beheld, showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; and through this faith he condemned the world, and he became an heir of the righteousness that is according to faith.”

22. From the facts, why is it evident that each one of those three men had a measure of holy spirit?

²² Abel, Enoch and Noah are specially named because they were foremost in the exercise of faith. Still, there were Noah’s wife and three sons and three daughters-in-law who entered into the ark with Noah and were preserved through the global deluge. (1 Peter 3:19, 20) Abel must have had a measure of holy spirit, for he had one of its fruits, namely, faith. There can be no question that Enoch the son of Jared also had a measure of holy spirit, for, in the light of what Jude 14, 15 tells us, God used Enoch to give the first recorded prophecy uttered by man. (Genesis 5:18-24) Noah was also used as a prophet of Jehovah. He was a “preacher of righteousness.” (2 Peter 2:5; Genesis 9:24-29) Who can deny that Noah did a noteworthy deed of valor amidst a world of ungodly people? Yet, he did not perform this courageous exploit in his own strength. Behind him there was God’s holy active force.

23, 24. (a) What quality of God was being exercised while Noah’s ark was being built? (b) According to Genesis 6:1-3, what determination did God make, and why?

²³ In Noah’s day God’s spirit was also active toward mankind. That time of building the ark was marked by the “patience of God.” (1 Peter 3:20) God was exercising great self-control, forbearance, this allowing for wayward men to repent as they saw the construction of the ark going on and heard Noah ‘preach righteousness.’ But who responded to the activity of God’s spirit? Just Noah and his wife and their sons Shem, Ham and Japheth along with their three wives. God did not purpose to put forth special efforts in behalf of men indefinitely, striving, as it were, with them for their sakes. Genesis 6:1-3 tells us what God determined upon and the earthly circumstances under which he made the determination:

²⁴ “Now it came about that when men started to grow in numbers on the surface of the ground and daughters were born to them, then the sons of the true God began to notice the daughters of men, that they were good-looking; and they went taking wives for themselves, namely, all whom they chose. After that Jehovah said: ‘My spirit shall not act toward man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a hundred and twenty years.’”

25. When time was up, what would God do to give mankind a fresh start?

²⁵ That crossbreeding intermarriage of the materialized “sons of the true God” and the “daughters of men”​—how shocking it was! Such a turn of events should not go on indefinitely! That was what God determined upon. So for only one hundred and twenty years more his spirit would express itself in patience as it had been doing toward mankind. When time was up, he would bring a tremendous change! His long-exercised self-restraint would be lifted. Intermarriage of materialized spirit angels with women of flesh would be terminated by a global deluge that would bury even the mountaintops! Afloat in the huge waterproof ark, Noah and his family of pure, uncontaminated human stock would pass safely through the cataclysm, to give mankind a fresh start. No longer would that world of ungodly people be allowed to vex, grieve God’s spirit. He would not grant them exemption from punishment.​—Note Ephesians 4:30; Isaiah 63:10; Hebrews 10:29.

26, 27. (a) More than eight centuries after Noah built the ark, what other building project did God back up? (b) How did Noah’s ark compare with the sacred tabernacle and its courtyard?

²⁶ Thus by means of the God-fearing survivors of nonhybrid human stock God gave the human family a new, righteous start. To this end God had backed up Noah’s building operations. More than eight centuries later God backed up another building project of importance. In the code of laws given to the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai, God called for the building of a sacred tabernacle.

²⁷ At this holy tent of meeting the twelve tribes of Moses’ people, the nation of Israel, were to meet regularly with their God, and his priests were to serve in offering sin-atoning sacrifices for the whole nation. This tabernacle and its fenced-in courtyard were not the huge construction such as Noah’s ark was. Noah’s ark was of such a size that it could have accommodated nine courtyards, three tabernacle courtyards to each of the three stories of Noah’s ark. The construction of Noah’s ark called for a great deal of engineering skill, which God could supply to Noah and his sons. Israel’s tabernacle called for artistic skill.

28. How is it manifest from Exodus 31:1-6 that God backed up the building of the tabernacle with his spirit?

²⁸ Since God ordered Israel’s tabernacle of worship to be built, he backed up the construction of it. Just how? For an answer we turn to Exodus 31:1-6 and note references to God’s active force:

“And Jehovah continued to speak to Moses, saying: ‘See, I do call by name Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah. And I shall fill him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in every kind of craftsmanship, for designing devices, for working in gold and silver and copper, and in working of stones to set them and in working of wood to make products of every kind. As for me, look! I do put with him Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan, and in the heart of everyone wise of heart I do put wisdom, that they may indeed make everything I have commanded you.’”

Thus the master workman Bezalel was filled with God’s spirit.

29, 30. (a) The operation of what from God brought about the completion of the tabernacle structure in good time? (b) When and how did Bezalel and Oholiab see God’s approval upon their work expressed?

²⁹ With such an energetic force from the Source of all dynamic energy behind the workers, the construction of the sacred tabernacle and of all its furnishings was certain to be carried out to completion. By the end of the lunar year all things were ready to be assembled, and the tabernacle was ready to be set up. Exodus 38:22, 23 records this thrilling accomplishment, saying: “And Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah did all that Jehovah had commanded Moses. And with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan, a craftsman and embroiderer and weaver in the blue thread and the wool dyed reddish purple and coccus scarlet material and fine linen.” For Bezalel and Oholiab the first day of the new lunar year (Nisan 1, 1512 B.C.E.) must have been a heart-satisfying day. On that day it was that the “tabernacle of the tent of meeting” was set up at Jehovah’s command, and Bezalel and Oholiab beheld a miracle:

³⁰ “The cloud began to cover the tent of meeting, and Jehovah’s glory filled the tabernacle.” This was an evidence to Bezalel and Oholiab that they had done their work well and that Jehovah approved of it. His spirit had worked through them.​—Exodus 40:1-34.

31, 32. (a) For how long did that tabernacle serve God’s purpose? (b) How is it evident that holy spirit backed the constructing and completing of Solomon’s temple?

³¹ This tabernacle of the tent of meeting stood and served its purpose for 485 years, until King Solomon completed a temple in Jerusalem in 1027 B.C.E. and inaugurated it for God’s worship.

³² Construction of this temple by Solomon the son of David was also backed up by God’s spirit, for David received the architectural plan of this new structure by inspiration. As 1 Chronicles 28:11-19 states: “He gave insight for the entire thing in writing from the hand of Jehovah upon me, even for all the works of the architectural plan.” When this magnificent temple was inaugurated on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, Jehovah displayed his approval of the new building for his worship: “The house itself was filled with a cloud, the very house of Jehovah, and the priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of the true God.”​—2 Chronicles 5:13, 14.

33. What, then, is behind God’s pure worship?

³³ So, let us be sure of one vital thing: Holy spirit is behind Jehovah’s pure worship. It is powerfully active in favor of those who practice and uphold the clean worship of the one true God. Illustrations of this presented themselves during the time when specially chosen judges governed Israel in the Land of Promise.

ITS STIRRING ACTIVITY WHEN JUDGES GOVERNED

34. How did holy spirit operate through Judge Othniel?

³⁴ For departing from pure worship, the Israelites came under the oppressive power of the king of Syria. “And the sons of Israel began to call to Jehovah for aid. Then Jehovah raised a savior up for the sons of Israel that he might save them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb. What took place now? “The spirit of Jehovah now came upon him, and he became the judge of Israel. When he went out to battle, then Jehovah gave Cushan-rishathaim the king of Syria into his hand so that his hand overpowered Cushan-rishathaim. After that the land had no disturbance for forty years.”​—Judges 3:9-11.

35. How did holy spirit operate in the case of Judge Gideon?

³⁵ In the course of time circumstances became such that they called for Jehovah to raise up another judge for the deliverance of his people Israel. “And all Midian and Amalek and the Easterners gathered together as one and proceeded to cross over and camp in the low plain of Jezreel. And Jehovah’s spirit enveloped Gideon so that he went blowing the horn, and the Abiezrites got to be called together after him.” (Judges 6:33, 34) By the use of this man of faith, Jehovah gave a remarkable victory to his people, a victory that is referred to in later Bible history.​—Isaiah 9:4-6; 10:26; Psalm 83:9-12; Hebrews 11:32, 33.

36. What did holy spirit accomplish through Judge Jephthah?

³⁶ Again and again the holy active force from Jehovah became operative in behalf of men of faith whom He used to do famous things in history. The time was when the oppressed Israelites had to confront the aggressive Ammonites in battle. “Jehovah’s spirit now came upon Jephthah, and he proceeded to pass through Gilead . . . to the sons of Ammon.” Eager for victory to Jehovah’s praise, Judge Jephthah vowed a vow that proved costly to him. So Jehovah used him to trounce the Ammonites.​—Judges 11:29 through 12:7.

37. Whom did Jehovah raise up to save the Israelites out of the Philistines’ hands, and by means of what?

³⁷ Years later, the Philistines became especially oppressive to the Israelites. Hence God provided for the birth of an unusual man named Samson. He was to “take the lead in saving Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” To that end, God’s active force backed him up. “In time Jehovah’s spirit started to impel him in Mahaneh-dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.” Thus it was not by Samson’s own physical powers that he manifested the greatest strength of any man ever yet on earth.​—Judges 13:5, 25.

38. What did Samson do when he encountered a roaring lion, and how did he settle matters when Philistines acted unfairly in solving his riddle?

³⁸ Once, as Samson was walking alone, suddenly there appeared before him a “maned young lion roaring upon meeting him.” How did unarmed Samson fare? “Then Jehovah’s spirit became operative upon him, so that he tore it in two, just as someone tears a male kid in two, and there was nothing at all in his hand.” Shortly thereafter the Philistines tricked him over a riddle so as to put him to great expense. This boomeranged upon the Philistines. Again, “Jehovah’s spirit became operative upon him, so that he went down to Ashkelon [in Philistia] and struck down thirty men of theirs and took what he stripped off them and gave the outfits to the tellers of the riddle.”​—Judges 14:5-19.

39. What happened when the Israelites turned Samson, bound with new ropes, over to the Philistines?

³⁹ Even new ropes proved to be none too strong for Samson when he was being turned over, bound, to the malicious Philistines. “Jehovah’s spirit became operative upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms came to be like linen threads that have been scorched with fire, so that his fetters melted off his hands. He now found a moist jawbone of a male ass and thrust his hand out and took it and went striking down a thousand men with it.”​—Judges 15:11-15.

40, 41. How did Samson kill more Philistines at his death than he had killed during his judgeship of Israel?

⁴⁰ God’s greatest accomplishment by means of Samson against the Philistine worshipers of the false god Dagon was the final one. It demonstrated that God’s spirit does not tire out and weaken.

⁴¹ Betrayed by the woman Delilah and blinded by the vengeful Philistines, Samson stood in between two pillars in the temple of Dagon at Gaza, Philistia. In that key position “Samson braced himself against the two middle pillars upon which the house was firmly established, and got a grasp on them, one with his right and the other with his left hand. And Samson proceeded to say: ‘Let my soul die with the Philistines.’ Then he bent himself with power, and the house went falling upon the axis lords and upon all the people that were in it, so that the dead that he put to death in his own death came to be more than those he had put to death during his lifetime.”​—Judges 16:23-30.

42. With whom is Samson’s name associated in Hebrews 11:32-34?

⁴² Samson is listed among those men of earlier times who had that faith in God which is a fruit of His spirit. “And what more shall I say?” So the writer of the book of Hebrews asks in chapter eleven, and answers: “For the time will fail me if I go on to relate about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David as well as Samuel and the other prophets, who through faith defeated kingdoms in conflict, effected righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, stayed the force of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from a weak state were made powerful, became valiant in war, routed the armies of foreigners.”​—Hebrews 11:32-34.

JEHOVAH’S ANOINTED ONE

43. What change took place with David right after Samuel anointed him with oil at Bethlehem?

⁴³ A notable name that the writer of Hebrews mentions is that of David the son of Jesse of Bethlehem. When he was a teen-age shepherd boy, David was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel to be the king-designate of all twelve tribes of Israel. What immediately followed his anointing? “The spirit of Jehovah began to be operative upon David from that day forward. Later Samuel rose and went his way to Ramah. And the very spirit of Jehovah departed from [the then reigning king] Saul.” (1 Samuel 16:13, 14) Finally unfaithful King Saul turned in desperation to a spirit medium, for her to put him in communication with the dead, if possible. Shortly thereafter he died in battle with the Philistines.

44. How did God deal with David after King Saul died in battle?

⁴⁴ As for David, he began to enter upon the kingship to which he had been anointed by Samuel. The God whom he steadfastly worshiped empowered him to do exploits, even to subduing all the Promised Land. Not only that, but God inspired him to speak and write prophecy. He turned out to be a true prophet: Hence “it was necessary for the scripture to be fulfilled, which the holy spirit spoke beforehand by David’s mouth.”​—Acts 1:16; 4:24, 25.

45. For all those exploits of faith the praise goes to whom, and, in proof of his word in Zechariah 4:6, what event did Zerubbabel and High Priest Joshua celebrate?

⁴⁵ For all the extraordinary exploits performed by those men of earlier times the praise must go to the God of inexhaustible dynamic energy. Such exploits include the writing of the thirty-nine books of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures, from Genesis to Malachi. In the prophetic book of Zechariah an encouraging word is given to Governor Zerubbabel, who was charged with rebuilding at Jerusalem the temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 607 B.C.E. The word to the temple rebuilder was: “‘Not by a military force, nor by power, but by my spirit,’ Jehovah of armies has said.” (Zechariah 4:6) Backed by something more powerful than a military force or other physical force, Governor Zerubbabel and his colaborer, High Priest Joshua, braved the enemy opposition and so were privileged to celebrate the complete rebuilding of Jehovah’s temple at Jerusalem in the year 515 B.C.E.

FOREGLEAMS OF EXPLOITS OF OUR TIMES

46. In what way are those human exploits by means of holy spirit more than mere facts of history?

⁴⁶ The word of encouragement to Zerubbabel was given under inspiration more than half a millennium before our Common Era. Yet it is just as meaningful to us today as it was away back there in the prophet Zechariah’s day. Why so? Because we believe in Jehovah as the Divine Source of superhuman dynamic energy. The exploits of valor and faith that the Almighty God performed by the action of his holy spirit upon men and women of earlier times are more than facts of history. They were also foregleams of exploits that He would accomplish from the time of his Messiah, his Anointed One, onward, even down to our own generation.

47, 48. (a) The foretold Messiah was introduced by a man of what unusual birth? (b) With what was Messiah’s forerunner to be filled from his mother’s womb forward, and what would he do?

⁴⁷ The foretold Messiah was introduced nineteen centuries ago by another man whose very birth was also extraordinary. His birth was not due to the normal procreative powers of his father and mother. They were then past the age of producing children. Their reproductive powers needed to be revived in order to produce their one and only child, a son whom the father, priest Zechariah, was to name John.

⁴⁸ In telling of the coming of the greatly desired son, the angel Gabriel said to Zechariah at the temple: “He will be filled with holy spirit right from his mother’s womb; and many of the sons of Israel will he turn back to Jehovah their God. Also, he will go before him with Elijah’s spirit and power, to turn back the hearts of fathers to children and the disobedient ones to the practical wisdom of righteous ones, to get ready for Jehovah a prepared people.”​—Luke 1:5-17; compare Malachi 4:5, 6.

49. So, was the true Messiah to introduce himself or be introduced, and how?

⁴⁹ Being introduced by such a forerunner, the true Messiah was not to be some ambitious person who would assume to be the Messiah and who would announce himself to the nation of Israel and go around heralding himself so as to attract a body of followers. (Isaiah 42:2-4) Rather, he would be formally introduced to seekers for Messiah by a man sent by God and having God’s backing.​—Isaiah 40:3-5; John 1:6, 7.

50. What did Joel 2:28-32 say would take place after Messiah came?

⁵⁰ After Messiah’s coming the stirring prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 was to be fulfilled: “And after that it must occur that I shall pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will certainly prophesy. As for your old men, dreams they will dream. As for your young men, visions they will see. And even on the menservants and on the maidservants in those days I shall pour out my spirit. And I will give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun itself will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah. And it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will prove to be the escaped ones, just as Jehovah has said, and in among the survivors, whom Jehovah is calling.”

51. (a) In view of Joel’s prophecy, what questions is it high time for us to ask? (b) Why should one now call upon the name of Jehovah?

⁵¹ It is now high time to ask, Who are the ones that receive what Jehovah promised to pour out on every sort of flesh? Under the driving force of that which is poured out such ones must prophesy. Their prophesying is very timely inasmuch as it is to precede and foretell the “coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.” Persons who heed such prophesying may find themselves among the escaped ones. They may be among the “survivors.” If we judge by all the circumstances of our times since 1914 C.E., the “day of Jehovah” that is ahead of us portends to be indeed “great and fear-inspiring.” Do we desire to “get away safe”? If that is our desire, then it becomes advisable for us to ‘call on the name of Jehovah,’ the One whose spirit is behind the coming new order.

Chapter 5

The First One Anointed with Holy Spirit and Power

1, 2. (a) The promised Messiah was to be anointed by whom and with what? (b) What prophecy of Isaiah was he to quote and apply to himself?

KINGS and high priests of ancient Israel were anointed to office by the pouring of official oil upon the head. Was the promised Messiah to be anointed in that way? No! The genuine Messiah was to be one whom God would anoint “with holy spirit and power.” (Acts 10:38) He would be the one who was authorized to quote and apply to himself the prophetic words of Isaiah 61:1-3:

² “The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to those taken captive and the wide opening of the eyes even to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah and the day of vengeance on the part of our God; to comfort all the mourning ones; to assign to those mourning over Zion, to give them a headdress instead of ashes, the oil of exultation instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of the downhearted spirit; and they must be called big trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, for him to be beautified.”

3. Why did men of earlier times toward whom God’s spirit became active not prove to be the promised Messiah?

³ Men of earlier times had God’s spirit envelop them or become operative upon them or were filled with it. But they were never anointed with it. Hence they did not prove to be the longed-for Messiah. This was true even of John the Baptizer, of whom the angel Gabriel had said to his father, priest Zechariah: “He will be filled with holy spirit right from his mother’s womb.”​—Luke 1:15.

4. What did John the Baptizer, although filled with holy spirit from his mother’s womb, confess about the Christ?

⁴ Priests and Levites were sent from Jerusalem to have John himself tell them who he was officially because of the work that he was doing. How did John react? “He confessed and did not deny, but confessed: ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him: ‘What, then? Are you Elijah?’ And he said: ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you The Prophet?’ And he answered: ‘No!’ Therefore they said to him: ‘Who are you? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said: ‘I am a voice of someone crying out in the wilderness, “Make the way of Jehovah straight,” just as Isaiah the prophet said.’”​—John 1:19-23; Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 4:5, 6; Deuteronomy 18:15-19.

5, 6. (a) What did God send John to do with reference to the Christ? (b) How did John contrast himself with the true Messiah or Christ?

⁵ Thus John, although filled with holy spirit, denied that he was the Promised One anointed with God’s spirit. He did not try to be a false Christ, but confessed to being merely the forerunner of the true Christ or Messiah. In fact, God sent him to baptize the true Christ or Messiah in water.​—John 1:29-34.

⁶ Further testifying to John’s honesty in the matter is the record in Luke 3:15-17: “Now as the people were in expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John: ‘May he perhaps be the Christ?’ John gave the answer, saying to all: ‘I, for my part, baptize you with water; but the one stronger than I am is coming, the lace of whose sandals I am not fit to untie. He will baptize you people with holy spirit and fire. His winnowing shovel is in his hand to clean up his threshing floor completely and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with fire that cannot be put out.’”

7. Why would one’s being baptized with fire be less desirable than one’s being baptized with spirit?

⁷ John’s words made it plain that the Messiah would not only be baptized or anointed with God’s spirit but also be able to baptize others with holy spirit. Far better would it be for a person to be baptized with holy spirit than to be baptized with fire that would destroy a person just like worthless chaff that is destroyed in a fire that is not put out until the chaff is all consumed.​—Matthew 3:7-12.

8. Why were the people then in expectation of Messiah’s appearance, and why was the matter urgent for them?

⁸ Not strange that “the people were in expectation.” Likely they had figured out from the Scriptures that the time was due for the Messiah to appear. So they fell to reasoning on whether John the Baptizer was the promised Messiah or not. (Daniel 9:24-27) The matter of the Messiah or Christ was an urgent one. God, the Sender of the Messiah, was not dragging out the time indefinitely. He had determined upon sending the Messiah, and he had a marked time for putting his determination into effect. He is no procrastinator, but he holds to his time schedule as given in his Word.

9. How does Galatians 4:4, 5 show that God is no procrastinator?

⁹ Galatians 4:4, 5 says: “When the full limit of the time arrived, God sent forth his Son, who came to be out of a woman and who came to be under law, that he might release by purchase those under law, that we, in turn, might receive the adoption as sons.”

10. From where did God send his Son on time, and to come out of a woman of what nationality?

¹⁰ The apostle Paul, the writer of those words, had considerable to say about times and seasons in God’s arrangements. He says that the Son of God was to be a releaser of the Jews by means of a purchase. For this reason he was to be their Messiah, the Christ. From where did God send him? Why, from heaven, where this “only-begotten Son” had been ever since God created him long, long ago. His coming to be “under law” meant that he was born as a Jew, an Israelite, a member of the nation that was in the Law covenant with Jehovah for which Moses had been the mediator. So the woman out of whom the Son of God came to be had to be a Jewess, herself under the Mosaic law.​—Galatians 3:19-25.

11. In view of difference in locations of God’s Son and the woman, what was necessary in order for the Son to become the Messiah?

¹¹ A miracle had to take place, which only God the Almighty could perform. His “firstborn” Son, the Word or Logos, was up in heaven as a mighty spirit person, whereas the woman, out of whom he had to come if he wanted to be the Messiah, was down here on earth. The Son could not, as he was, get into the womb of this Jewish woman. What, then? Well, the Son had to empty himself of everything that he was while being “in God’s form.” He had to have his life transferred from the invisible heavens to the woman’s womb. Thus he would come to be born “in the likeness of men.” This required God’s Son to humble himself greatly. (Philippians 2:5-8) But the Son was willing to do this out of love for his Father and for the purpose of serving his heavenly Father’s aims.

12. Who was the “woman” whom God picked, and why did the Messiah have to be her “firstborn”?

¹² How did the heavenly Father perform this miracle? By what means? It involved a “woman.” Many Israelite women, particularly those of the tribe of Judah, may have wanted to be the mother of the promised Messiah. But it was not their prerogative to choose for themselves to be the Messiah’s mother. The heavenly Father of the Messiah was the only One who could do the choosing in this case. He did so. The woman whom he picked was an unmarried “maiden.” (Isaiah 7:14) If she had already been married and had had children, this would have raised questions as to fatherhood and inheritance and rights. So the “maiden” whom God picked proved to be a “virgin.” (Matthew 1:22, 23) The birth of God’s “firstborn” as a perfect man of blood and flesh needed correspondingly to be a birth of the woman’s “firstborn” also.​—Colossians 1:15; John 3:16, 17.

13. Whom did God send Gabriel to on a second errand, and how did Gabriel make himself visible to her?

¹³ The woman chosen needed to be also a descendant of King David the son of Jesse. In such a relationship to King David, the woman could confer upon her firstborn son a natural right with regard to David’s kingdom over the twelve tribes of the “house of Jacob” (Israel). Appropriately, the woman chosen had been born in “David’s city,” the city of Bethlehem, in the province of Judah. (Luke 2:11) But at the time that God made known to the woman that he was going to favor her highly, she was living in the Galilean town of Nazareth. About six months before this, God had sent the angel Gabriel to announce to priest Zechariah the coming birth of a son to be named John, and fittingly God now sent Gabriel to the future mother of the Messiah whom John was to introduce. The woman was the Jewish virgin named Mary, the daughter of Heli of the royal line of David. Gabriel materialized in human form to appear to Mary. His greeting startled Mary. Why did this sudden visitor say that Jehovah was with her? Why with her?

14. What did Gabriel say in explaining to Mary why God was with her?

¹⁴ It was because Jehovah had chosen her to become the mother of the glorious Messianic king. So Gabriel said: “Have no fear, Mary, for you have found favor with God; and, look! you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus. This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.”​—Luke 1:26-33.

15. What did the angel say was to go into operation upon Mary, and with what effect?

¹⁵ How could this happen to an unmarried “maiden,” a “virgin”? This was Mary’s question, and it would have been ours also. So now let us note what was to go into operation upon Mary. “In answer the angel said to her: ‘Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.’”​—Luke 1:34, 35.

16. (a) Why was what was born of Mary to be something “holy”? (b) How might Mary have responded to Gabriel, but how did she do so?

¹⁶ “Holy spirit” was to go into action, and this would result in the birth of something “holy.” This would be a virgin birth. For God this was not an impossible miracle to perform, for the angel Gabriel concluded by saying to Mary: “With God no declaration will be an impossibility.” (Luke 1:37) How did Mary respond to all of this? She could have said: ‘But, look here! I am already engaged to marry the carpenter Joseph the son of Jacob, of the royal house of David. I am obligated to become the mother of his children. I cannot break my engagement to Joseph. You will just have to excuse me!’ Thus there really did seem to be complications, but God also knew about these. So, in faith, Mary responded to Gabriel: “Look! Jehovah’s slave girl! May it take place with me according to your declaration.”​—Luke 1:38.

17. What now happened to God’s “firstborn” Son in heaven, and what was Mary’s fiancé Joseph told to do?

¹⁷ Conception on Mary’s part by a miracle of God Almighty was now in order. Suddenly, unknown to Mary on earth, God’s “firstborn” Son disappeared from heaven. His life-force was transferred down to the virgin body of Mary. So, “during the time his mother Mary was promised in marriage to Joseph, she was found to be pregnant by holy spirit before they were united. However, Joseph her husband, because he was righteous and did not want to make her a public spectacle, intended to divorce her secretly. But after he had thought these things over, look! Jehovah’s angel appeared to him in a dream, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife home, for that which has been begotten in her is by holy spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you must call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”​—Matthew 1:18-21.

18. Whose son really was Jesus, and how was his name prophetic?

¹⁸ The name Jesus was prophetic. It is the shortened form of Jehoshua, meaning “Jehovah Is Salvation.” Appropriately, the bearer of this name was to “save his people from their sins.” He was to be, not Joseph’s son, but “God’s Son,” as Gabriel said.

19. Why was Mary’s son Jesus not a new Son of God, and why was he not “God incarnate” or “a God-man”?

¹⁹ Mary’s miraculous firstborn son was not to be a new Son of God, but was in fact the already long-existing Son of God whose life was transferred from heaven to earth through Mary as a human mother. Logically, he could not be called what many religionists of Christendom call him, “God incarnate,” an expression not to be found in the inspired Bible. In heaven God’s “firstborn” Son had borne the title the Word (or, Logos). Hence, in John 1:14, we read: “So the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of his glory, a glory such as belongs to an only-begotten son from a father.” The clergy of Christendom are wrong in calling him “a God-man,” for, in 1 Timothy 2:5, 6, he is called “a man, Christ Jesus.” He never claimed to be, and he could not claim to be, the Most High God.​—John 20:31; Luke 1:32.

ANOINTED BY WHOM AND WITH WHAT?

20. Where was Mary’s firstborn son born, and why?

²⁰ During the reign of Caesar Augustus, emperor of the pagan Roman Empire, Jesus was born in Bethlehem-Judah, to fulfill the prophecy of Micah 5:2. This was in the early autumn of the year 2 before our Common Era. While Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem for registration purposes, “she gave birth to her son, the firstborn, and she bound him with cloth bands and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the lodging room.”​—Luke 2:7.

21. Who were made earthly eyewitnesses on the night of Jesus’ birth, and how?

²¹ The Messiah-to-be had come! That was the thrilling news that a glorious angel of God announced to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night out in the fields near Bethlehem. “The angel said to them: ‘Have no fear, for, look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” Although the newborn Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem was not aware of it, “suddenly there came to be with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: ‘Glory in the heights above to God, and upon earth peace among men of goodwill.’” Then the informed shepherds went looking for the babe in the manger and found him, and thus they were rewarded with becoming eyewitnesses of the birth of Jesus that momentous night.​—Luke 2:8-20.

22. When was it that Jesus became what the angel called him, “Christ the Lord,” and how?

²² When did this Jesus become actually “Christ the Lord”? Not on the eighth day of his birth, when he was circumcised. He was not anointed on that day. It was when he was thirty years old. He went to John the Baptizer, who was then baptizing at the Jordan River. He did not ask John to anoint him with any official oil to be the Messianic king over all twelve tribes of Israel. He asked to be baptized in water, as many other Jews had done during the months of John’s public activity. “Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized and, as he was praying, the heaven was opened up and the holy spirit in bodily shape like a dove came down upon him, and a voice came out of heaven: ‘You are my Son, the beloved; I have approved you.’”​—Luke 3:21-23.

23. How did John the Baptizer bear witness as regards how Jesus was made to be Christ?

²³ Afterward the prophet John bore witness of this to disciples of his, to whom he said: “Even I did not know him, but the very One who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘Whoever it is upon whom you see the spirit coming down and remaining, this is the one that baptizes in holy spirit.’ And I have seen it, and I have borne witness that this one is the Son of God.”​—John 1:33, 34.

24. Whom did Andrew tell his brother that he had found, and what acknowledgment did Nathanael make of Jesus?

²⁴ Some forty days after Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, John called the attention of two of his disciples to Jesus. They followed Jesus and accepted Bible instruction from him. Overwhelmed with joy at his marvelous find, one of them, Andrew, found his brother named Peter and said to him: “‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means, when translated, Christ).” A little later a man named Nathanael was brought to Jesus. After listening to Jesus, Nathanael said to him: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel.” This was, in effect, a confirmation by Nathanael that the anointed Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ.​—John 1:35-49.

A SPIRITUAL MESSIAH OR CHRIST

25. In spite of John’s baptism being for sinners, why did Jesus get baptized by him?

²⁵ Since Jesus when on earth was a purely human Son of God and had no sins over which to repent, why did he get immersed by a man who was preaching the baptism of repentance and for the forgiveness of sins? He did so for the purpose of fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 40:6-8. His baptism in water symbolized the full presentation of himself “to do your will, O God,” as that will would thenceforth be revealed to him. (Hebrews 10:5-10) That divine will would direct him as to how to act as the Messiah or Christ.

26. What God’s voice was heard saying from heaven marked what change in Jesus’ life, and why was this necessary for him?

²⁶ As Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, God’s voice was heard from heaven, saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” (Matthew 3:17) This marked a change in Jesus’ life. In what way? God’s declaration meant that he had now begotten the thirty-year-old Jesus to be a spiritual Son of God. Thus the way was opened up for this Son of God to return to heaven. This was necessary even for Jesus. It was just as he later explained to the Jewish ruler Nicodemus, saying: “Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . Unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What has been born from the flesh is flesh, and what has been born from the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel because I told you, You people must be born again.”​—John 3:3-7.

27. God’s announcement from heaven regarding his Son indicated what with reference to Jesus, and how did Jesus’ relationship to Mary now change?

²⁷ By the declaration made from heaven Jehovah God announced that he had brought forth a spiritual Son having the prospect of entering into the heavenly kingdom of God. Mary, the mother of what was flesh, was not the mother of this spiritual Son of God, and thereafter Jesus is never reported as addressing her as “mother.” Accordingly Jesus is spoken of as “the One born from God” who keeps watch over his disciples, his followers. For instance, in 1 John 5:18 we read: “The begotten Son of God protects him, and the Evil One does not touch him.” (The Jerusalem Bible) “It is the Son of God who keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot touch him.” (The New English Bible) So Jesus’ relationship toward his earthly mother, Mary, changed. Henceforth he devoted himself to spiritual things, not to carpentering in Mary’s town of Nazareth.

28. Jesus was thus anointed to be what kind of Messiah, and to reign from where?

²⁸ Upon the spiritual Son of God, who had just been brought forth, God’s holy spirit descended, to anoint him as the Messiah or Christ. He was to be mightier than a mere human Messiah of flesh and blood. He was to be a spiritual Messiah, who would eventually reign in the heavenly kingdom of God. At the ascension of this Messiah to heaven the “throne of David his father” would be exalted to heaven. So it has to be from a heavenly throne that “he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever.”​—Luke 1:32, 33.

29. What title could Jesus as the Anointed One have attached to his name, and with what was it that he was anointed?

²⁹ After being anointed with God’s holy spirit at the Jordan River, Jesus could have attached to his name the title Messiah or Christ, and rightly he became called Jesus the Messiah or Jesus Christ. Months later, when Jesus was on his way back to Galilee, a Samaritan woman said to him: “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. Whenever that one arrives, he will declare all things to us openly.” Then Jesus quietly said to her: “I who am speaking to you am he.” (John 4:25, 26) As Messiah or Christ, Jesus was anointed, not with official oil poured upon his head, but with something that only God could pour out upon him as a spiritual Son. With what, then? The apostle Peter answers: “God anointed him with holy spirit and power, and he went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil.”​—Acts 10:38.

30. As in David’s case, how was Jesus affected immediately after his anointing, and why did he not lose holy spirit?

³⁰ Here we recall that, after the shepherd boy David was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel, God’s active force became operative upon him to his doing notable things. Just so when Jesus became anointed from heaven, by God. Luke 4:1, 2 testifies: “Now Jesus, full of holy spirit, turned away from the Jordan, and he was led about by the spirit in the wilderness for forty days, while being tempted by the Devil.” Mark 1:12 says: “Immediately the spirit impelled him to go into the wilderness.” Happily, because of Jesus’ faithfulness in the wilderness under test by the Devil, he did not lose holy spirit; he did not cease to be Messiah or Christ. He proved true to what his water baptism symbolized.

31. After John’s imprisonment, Jesus returned to Galilee under what power, and what did he do there?

³¹ In the year 30 C.E. John the Baptizer, Jesus’ forerunner, was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. So Jesus left Judea and passed through Samaria and returned to Galilee. Here Jesus applied to himself the Scriptures by means of which he could be identified as the Messiah or Christ. (Matthew 4:12-17) “Now Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee. And good talk concerning him spread out through all the surrounding country. Also, he began to teach in their synagogues, being held in honor by all.” (Luke 4:14, 15) God’s anointing upon him helped him as he taught the people the Holy Scriptures.

32. In the Nazareth synagogue, what prophecy of Isaiah did Jesus read aloud, and what was his comment thereon?

³² In the synagogue of his hometown Nazareth, Jesus called attention to the fact that he had been anointed by God in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-3 as regards the Messiah. About this we read in Luke 4:16-21, as follows:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been reared; and, according to his custom on the sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue, and he stood up to read. So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, and he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.’ With that he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were intently fixed upon him. Then he started to say to them: ‘Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled.’”

33. The “good news” that Jesus was commissioned to declare was about what, and to what extent was he sent to declare it?

³³ What a beautiful course Isaiah’s prophecy foretold for Jehovah’s Anointed One! How graciously Jehovah’s active force with which he was anointed was to operate through him! All through the remaining three years of his Messianic service on earth he lovingly carried out that prophetic commission from God. The “good news” that he declared to the poor was the message of God’s Messianic kingdom. To a spiritually hungry crowd who wanted to detain him he said: “Also to other cities I must declare the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this I was sent forth.”​—Luke 4:43.

34. Who accompanied Jesus when he went preaching from place to place?

³⁴ The later record tells us: “Shortly afterwards he went journeying from city to city and from village to village, preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve [apostles] were with him, and certain women that had been cured of wicked spirits and sicknesses, Mary the so-called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s man in charge, and Susanna and many other women, who were ministering to them from their belongings.” Despite the hostile attitude of those religionists, Jesus healed a helpless paralytic, and the deeply impressed people said: “We have seen strange things today!”​—Luke 8:1-3.

35. How did Jesus enlarge the evangelizing activity?

³⁵ Not only did Jesus himself proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom, but he sent out disciples of his to do similar preaching. After more than a year of training with him, his twelve disciples were sent out on their own to proclaim the kingdom. Luke 9:1, 2 tells us: “Then he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to cure sicknesses. And so he sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God and to heal.” The following year Jesus added seventy others to the evangelizing force: “After these things the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. Then he began to say to them: ‘. . . Also, wherever you enter into a city and they receive you, eat the things set before you, and cure the sick ones in it, and go on telling them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”’”​—Luke 10:1-9.

36. What was to be behind those evangelizers when they were testifying before ruling authorities, and so why has the Kingdom preaching proved irresistible in our time?

³⁶ God’s active force was behind the anointed Jesus in doing his preaching. It was also to be behind these evangelizers whom Jesus sent forth. It would not fail them when they were called before ruling authorities. Said Jesus: “Do not become anxious about how or what you are to speak; for what you are to speak will be given you in that hour; for the ones speaking are not just you, but it is the spirit of your Father that speaks by you.” (Matthew 10:18-20; Luke 12:11, 12) This was to be true of the preachers of the good news of God’s kingdom even during the present “conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:3, 9-14) It is because the spirit of God is behind the preaching of the Messianic kingdom now established in the heavens in the hands of the Messiah Jesus that the preaching has proved to be irrepressible by men.​—Mark 13:10-13.

37. What case is reported on in Luke 5:17-26 to show that the curative power of Jesus was not weakened by religious opposition?

³⁷ Since Jesus had his anointing, not from men, but from his heavenly Father, he “went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil; because God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) Malicious opposition by religious leaders did not weaken the force that was operative for miracles. With respect to one outstanding case, it is written: “In the course of one of the days he was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come out of every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem were sitting there; and Jehovah’s power was there for him to do healing.”​—Luke 5:17-26.

38. To whom did Jesus give the credit for his miracles, and concerning what sin did he warn his false accusers?

³⁸ For his miraculous cures, Jesus gave the credit to the One really responsible for them. So, to those who accused him of being in league with Satan the Devil, whom they called “Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons,” Jesus said: “It is by means of God’s spirit that I expel the demons.” Consequently, he warned the opposers that “the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. . . . “whoever speaks against the holy spirit, it will not be forgiven him, no, not in this system of things nor in that to come.” The opposers had committed that unforgivable sin by maliciously attributing to the Devil what was plainly a miraculous operation of God’s holy spirit.​—Matthew 12:24-32.

CALLED “GOD’S SON ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT”

39. Contrary to the common Jewish thought, what had their Hebrew Scriptures announced beforehand about Messiah’s experience?

³⁹ Back there in Jesus’ day there were wrong views as to what sort of person the Messiah would be and what course had been marked out for him. The opposers of Jesus did not see that it was written in their own Hebrew Scriptures that the Messiah had first to suffer according to God’s will, even to the death. As the principal one of the “seed” of God’s “woman,” his “heel” had to be ‘bruised.’ (Genesis 3:15) After the Hebrew prophecies had been fulfilled in this regard, the apostle Peter pointed out this fact to a crowd of Jews in the temple at Jerusalem: “In this way God has fulfilled the things he announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that the Christ would suffer.”​—Acts 3:18.

40. By what remarks to his apostles did Jesus show that he knew that the Messiah had to suffer and die?

⁴⁰ From the Hebrew Scriptures Jesus knew that the Messiah had to suffer and die. Although his apostles recognized him as the Messiah, he caused surprise by telling them that he had to suffer a disgraceful death. When the apostle Peter objected to such an idea, Jesus said to him: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.” Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptizer, suffered at the hands of enemies what they wanted to do to him, and, said Jesus, “in this way also the Son of man is destined to suffer at their hands.”​—Matthew 16:21-23; 17:12, 13.

41. In the first century C.E., how was the congregation of Christ’s disciples regarded because of the way in which he died?

⁴¹ Finally Jesus was put to death like a blasphemer against God and a seditionist against the Roman Empire. This proved to be a great stumbling block to both Jews and Gentiles, as far as their accepting Jesus as the promised Messiah is concerned. More than twenty-five years later, Jews in Rome expressed their attitude toward the congregation of Jesus’ disciples by saying to the imprisoned apostle Paul: “Truly as regards this sect it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”​—Acts 28:22.

42. As illustrated in the case of the apostle Paul, what was it necessary for Christians to prove from the Scriptures about the Messiah?

⁴² Consequently it became necessary for Christians to prove that Jesus’ death on a torture stake outside of Jerusalem, rather than discrediting him as the promised Messiah of the Holy Scriptures, really proved that he was the true Messiah, the Christ of God. For instance, let us take the case of the apostle Paul in the synagogue at Thessalonica, Macedonia: “According to Paul’s custom he went inside to them, and for three sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving by references that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying: ‘This is the Christ, this Jesus whom I am publishing to you.’” (Acts 17:1-3) Years later, the apostle Paul stood as a prisoner before the Roman governor Festus and the visiting king Agrippa to state his case. At the climax of his defense he said:

“Because I have obtained the help that is from God I continue to this day bearing witness to both small and great, but saying nothing except things the Prophets as well as Moses stated were going to take place, that the Christ was to suffer and, as the first to be resurrected from the dead, he was going to publish light both to this people and to the nations.”​—Acts 26:22, 23.

43. Of what miracle by God did Paul become a witness, and how does Peter show why this was God’s greatest miracle?

⁴³ Paul had become a witness of the resurrection, as he boldly declared before Festus and Agrippa. (Acts 26:12-18) Also, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul testifies that, previous to his own conversion, there were “upward of five hundred brothers” who were eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. This resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day of his death proved to be God’s greatest miracle. But God had the dynamic energy to perform it. Why was this the case? The apostle Peter indicates why, when he writes: “Christ died once for all time concerning sins, a righteous person for unrighteous ones, that he might lead you to God, he being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit. In this state also he went his way and preached to the spirits in prison.”​—1 Peter 3:18, 19.

44. According to Peter, Jesus had been made alive as what?

⁴⁴ What did Peter mean? This: That Almighty God did not resurrect Jesus as a human person but raised him as a spirit person, an incorruptible, death-proof or immortal spirit person.

45, 46. (a) After the descent of God’s spirit upon him at the Jordan River, what was Jesus declared to be? (b) By his resurrection from the dead Jesus was declared to be God’s Son according to what?

⁴⁵ Jesus’ physical body had been sown in death, as a sacrifice for God to dispose of. Hence Jesus was raised to heavenly life with a “spiritual body,” glorious, clothed upon with immortality, never to die again. (1 Corinthians 15:42-54) Earlier, on the day of Jesus’ baptism in water, Jehovah God begot him by means of His holy spirit to be henceforth a spiritual Son of God with a heavenly inheritance in view. To testify to Jesus’ begettal, God spoke from heaven, announcing that the anointed Jesus was His beloved, approved spiritual Son. (Matthew 3:13-17) But on the day of Jesus’ resurrection out of death God declared him to be a fully born spirit Son of God. That is why Paul writes:

⁴⁶ “God’s good news, which he promised aforetime through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who sprang from the seed of David according to the flesh, but who with power was declared God’s Son according to the spirit of holiness [how?] by means of resurrection from the dead​—yes, Jesus Christ our Lord.”​—Romans 1:1-4.

47. In Ephesians 1:19-21, how does Paul speak of the stupendousness of God’s miracle in resurrecting Jesus?

⁴⁷ Bearing witness to the stupendousness of Jehovah’s miracle in resurrecting Jesus Christ as an immortal spirit, the apostle Paul writes further: “It is according to the operation of the mightiness of his strength, with which he has operated in the case of the Christ when he raised him up from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above every government and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this system of things, but also in that to come.” ​—Ephesians 1:19-21; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Peter 3:21, 22.

48. Who is the “woman” meant in Genesis 3:15, and by resurrecting Jesus what wound did God heal?

⁴⁸ By performing this wonderful resurrection of Jesus Christ, the heavenly Physician, Jehovah, healed the wound that the Great Serpent, Satan the Devil, had inflicted on the “heel” of the “seed” of the “woman” by means of his wicked earthly organization. (Genesis 3:15) The “woman” in this mystery of God was, not the sinner Eve or the virgin Jewess Mary, but God’s wifelike heavenly organization composed of holy spirit creatures. Such organization provided God’s only-begotten Son for service here on earth as the promised Messiah.​—Compare Galatians 4:25, 26.

49, 50. What is the Principal One of the “seed” of God’s “woman” now in a position to do, and what things do we hail that are to come through him?

⁴⁹ The Principal One of the “seed” of God’s “woman” is now in a position to bruise the Great Serpent, Satan the Devil, in the head and to crush him and all his “seed.” No longer do we, whether Jew or Gentile, need to look for the coming of the true Messiah in the flesh to our earth. He did come and fulfill his role on earth in the first century of our Common Era. (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7) Now he is rewarded with glory in heaven. He is a spiritual Messiah or Christ, able to do far more than an earthly human Messiah or Christ.

⁵⁰ All glory to Jehovah God, who anointed his Son Jesus “with holy spirit and power” to be the precious Messiah! All hail to the grand everlasting blessings that are promised to come to all mankind through the glorified spiritual Messiah, the Christ of God!​—Acts 10:38; Genesis 22:18.

Chapter 6

A Congregation Anointed for Kingdom Proclamation

1. What were questions about world salvation two thousand years ago?

QUESTIONS of world importance confront us today. They are related to questions that we would have faced if we had lived nearly two thousand years ago, in the Middle East. Back there those questions were of world importance because they revolved around a world savior, a Messiah! The time was then due for him to make his first appearance. Hence interested people were in expectation of him. At his appearance would he be hailed with delight by all the world of mankind? Or would he disappoint them in doing what he was commissioned to do at that time? Who would be convinced that he was the Messiah who did exactly what the Holy Scriptures foretold about him, and so follow him as their Leader? Who would not be offended at him but be drawn to him? Who today are being drawn to the world-saving Messiah, and how?

2. (a) The Principal One of the “seed” of God’s “woman” was to fulfill what role? (b) The other ones of the woman’s “seed” were to be who, and be taught by whom?

² For our safe guidance today, let us remember that the true Messiah was to be the Principal One of the foretold “seed” of God’s “woman,” and was to be ‘bruised in the heel’ by the Great Serpent, Satan the Devil. The “woman” or mother of the “seed” is God’s wifelike heavenly organization made up of holy spirit creatures, angelic “sons of the true God.” The woman’s promised “seed” is made up of sons of hers, the Principal One thereof being the Messiah and the others being his spiritual followers. With respect to these lesser members of the woman’s “seed” we have these words of Isaiah 54:13 as addressed to the symbolic “woman”: “And all your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah, and the peace of your sons will be abundant.” Properly, the “sons” would be taught by the woman’s heavenly Husband, Jehovah, the Father of the “seed.”​—Isaiah 54:5.

3. To whom did Jesus apply the word “sons” in Isaiah 54:13, and how are these now taught without the Teacher’s being visible?

³ The Principal One of the woman’s “seed,” Jesus Christ, made an application of the words addressed to the woman in Isaiah 54:13. In what connection? Well, when talking to Jews who were not drawn to him as the Messiah and so were murmuring against him, Jesus said: “No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him; and I will resurrect him in the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by Jehovah.’ Everyone that has heard from the Father and has learned comes to me.” (John 6:44, 45) Of course, Jehovah is not the visible Teacher of any of us, but he has provided an inspired Textbook for us. So by means of this and by the operation of his holy spirit, he teaches us the facts about the Messianic “seed” of his “woman.” In this way he drew the lesser ones of the “seed” to the Principal One thereof, the Messiah, and forms a congregation.

4. By the third year of Jesus’ public activity, how did the views of Jesus’ apostles compare with those of the people as to who he was?

⁴ By that time, in the third year of Jesus’ public activity, the Jewish people should have come to some decision as to who this miracle worker was in God’s purpose. How many of them showed that they were being “taught by Jehovah” with respect to his Messiah? It was timely for Jesus to ask his apostles about this:

“He questioned them, saying: ‘Who are the crowds saying that I am?’ In reply they said: ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah, and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has risen.’ Then he said to them: ‘You, though, who do you say I am?’ Peter said in reply: ‘The Christ of God.’ Then in a stern talk to them he instructed them not to be telling this to anybody, but said: ‘The Son of man must undergo many sufferings and be rejected by the older men and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised up.’”​—Luke 9:18-22; compare Mark 8:27-32.

5. According to Matthew 16:16-19, what did Jesus say to Peter in response to his answer to the question?

⁵ The apostle Matthew’s account enlarged on the matter, saying: “In answer Simon Peter said: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ In response Jesus said to him: ‘Happy you are, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in the heavens did. Also, I say to you, You are Peter, and on this rock-mass I will build my congregation, and the gates of Haʹdes will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you may bind on earth will be the thing bound in the heavens, and whatever you may loose on earth will be the thing loosed in the heavens.’”​—Matthew 16:16-19.

6. What shows that Peter did not misinterpret Jesus’ words about the “rock-mass,” and who did Paul say was the “rock-mass”?

⁶ From this commendation given to Peter it is evident that he was one who had been taught by Jehovah and had learned from Him. So he was drawn to Jesus and came to him as the Messiah or Christ. Peter’s name means “stone,” or “piece of rock.” But this did not mean that he was the “rock-mass” upon which Jesus would build his congregation. Neither was the “rock-mass” the confession that Peter had made: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The “rock-mass” was Jesus himself. Peter did not misinterpret Jesus’ words. Never did he claim to be the “rock-mass” (Greek, petra) according to 1 Peter 2:4-10. Furthermore, the apostle Paul, whose writings Peter recognized as part of the inspired Scriptures, wrote: “For they [the Israelites in the wilderness] used to drink from the spiritual rock-mass that followed them, and that rock-mass meant the Christ.”​—1 Corinthians 10:4; 2 Peter 3:15, 16.

7, 8. (a) What did the apostles mistakenly think the kingdom of the Messiah was to be? (b) To whom were the “keys” of the kingdom of the heavens to be given, but upon whom was the congregation to be built?

⁷ When Jesus spoke to his apostles about the kingdom, they thought of a kingdom based upon the government that would have its capital at Jerusalem, where King David had ruled. They expected Jesus as the Messiah to set up his government at Jerusalem, as a successor to King David. As an evidence that this was their idea, they said to Jesus after his resurrection from the dead: “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” (Acts 1:6) For the time being, before the festival day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., they did not understand that the kingdom of the risen Christ was to be a superhuman one ruling over far more than the earthly nation of Israel. That being the case, it was quite in order for Jesus, after Peter’s confession of him as the Christ, to bring up the subject of “the kingdom of the heavens.”

⁸ The “keys” thereof he was giving to Peter. (Matthew 16:19) Still, the congregation was to be built by Jesus Christ on the royal “rock-mass,” the Messianic king. And, just as the “gates of Haʹdes” would not overpower the foundation “rock-mass” but Jesus Christ would be raised from the grave on the third day, so those “gates of Haʹdes” would not overpower the Messiah’s congregation. It too must rise from the dead.

THE INVISIBLE HELPER OF THE CONGREGATION

9. Christ’s followers were to be brought together to form what, and yet what would they also be, like ancient Israel?

⁹ Unlike Christ’s apostles, the nation of Israel remained confused as to who Jesus was in Jehovah’s purpose. Hence the individual Israelites who accepted him as Messiah or Christ would be brought together to form a new nation. This nation would be as much a congregation as ancient Israel had been. They would be a congregation of proclaimers of the Messianic king and his kingdom!

10. In 1 Peter 2:8-10, how did Peter point out that striking fact, and what is included among the “excellencies” that are to be declared abroad?

¹⁰ This striking fact was learned by the apostle Peter as one who was “taught by Jehovah.” One of the last things he wrote to fellow believers contained these words: “To this very end they [the unbelieving Israelites] were also appointed. But you are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies’ of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:8-10) The “excellencies” of that wonderful One would include his ability to carry out his purpose regarding his Messiah in spite of all the antagonism of those who rejected his Son as Messiah. His “people for special possession” are obligated to praise Jehovah for his Messianic kingdom.​—Isaiah 43:21.

11, 12. Why did Jesus promise to send his disciples a “helper,” and what did Jesus say about the helper?

¹¹ Such an obligation the new “holy nation” could not carry out in their own strength amidst a hostile world. Jesus, knowing this, said to his faithful apostles before he was taken away from them under arrest by his enemies: “I shall not leave you bereaved. . . . But the helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and bring back to your minds all the things I told you.” Also: “When the helper arrives that I will send you from the Father, the spirit of the truth, which proceeds from the Father, that one will bear witness about me; and you, in turn, are to bear witness, because you have been with me from when I began.”​—John 14:18, 26; 15:26, 27.

¹² Jesus also added: “If I do not go away, the helper will by no means come to you; but if I do go my way, I will send him to you. . . . when that one arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things coming. That one will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and will declare it to you. All the things that the Father has are mine. That is why I said he receives from what is mine and declares it to you.”​—John 16:7, 13-15.

ARRIVAL OF “THE HELPER,” THE HOLY SPIRIT

13. The promised “helper” was to be imparted in whose name, and to the believers in whose name?

¹³ Not quite five hundred years before Jesus Christ made that promise to his apostles, Governor Nehemiah at Jerusalem recorded the prayer respecting God’s dealings with the Israelites: “You were indulgent with them for many years and kept bearing witness against them by your spirit by means of your prophets.” (Nehemiah 9:30) And now, during the physical absence of Jesus the Messiah from his disciples, that same spirit of Jehovah God was to come to their help. It would be imparted to them only in Jesus’ name. It would be imparted only to those who would believe that Jesus was the name of the true Messiah. When was it first imparted?

14, 15. (a) Jesus climaxed his forty days after his resurrection by promising his disciples what thing different from John’s baptism? (b) What question would there be about this promised baptism?

¹⁴ For forty days after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on Sunday, Nisan 16, 33 C.E., he remained here at the earth, but invisibly so. At times, he did like holy angels of old, materialize in human form, to furnish his disciples the proof that he was indeed risen from the dead, but as a spirit. On such appearances to them he kept “telling the things about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:1-3) Some of the apostles had been disciples of John the Baptizer. And now on the fortieth day, the day of his ascension to heaven, Jesus Christ made his disciples highly expectant when he said to them: “John, indeed, baptized with water, but you will be baptized in holy spirit not many days after this.” (Acts 1:4, 5) John’s baptism of the repentant Jews had been in symbol of their repentance over their sins committed against God’s law through Moses.

¹⁵ Such water baptism may have given them a sense of relief together with a good conscience. But what would be the effect upon Jesus’ disciples from being “baptized [immersed] in holy spirit”? It ought to be energizing, because God’s holy spirit is his holy, invisible active force.​—Matthew 3:11.

16. According to Jesus’ words in Acts 1:6-8, what was the holy spirit to energize them to do?

¹⁶ On its arrival, what would God’s holy spirit energize the receivers to do? Just before his ascension to heaven, Jesus said to his disciples: “You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8) In those words lies the answer to our question: Energize the receivers of holy spirit to give a worldwide witness to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.

17. On the fiftieth day from his resurrection, under what circumstances was Jesus’ promise to his disciples fulfilled?

¹⁷ Jesus Christ ascends to heaven. Ten days pass. The fiftieth day from his resurrection arrives! At Jerusalem the Jewish festival day of Weeks or Pentecost (meaning “Fiftieth” as applying to a day) proceeds. Early in the morning about one hundred and twenty disciples are met together, not at the festive temple, but in an upper chamber, waiting. “Suddenly there occurred from heaven a noise just like that of a rushing stiff breeze, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting. And tongues as if of fire became visible to them and were distributed about, and one sat upon each one of them, and they all became filled with holy spirit and started to speak with different tongues, just as the spirit was granting them to make utterance.”​—Acts 2:1-4.

18, 19. As explained by Peter, what prophecy began to come true on that day of Pentecost, and how long after its utterance?

¹⁸ Ah, at last, after more than eight hundred years since its utterance, the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 had begun to be fulfilled. Startled Jews gathered to observe the phenomenon. Some charged the disciples with being drunk. Boldly the apostle Peter said to them:

¹⁹ “On the contrary, this is what was said through the prophet Joel, ‘“And in the last days,” God says, “I shall pour out some of my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams; and even upon my men slaves and upon my women slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. And I will give portents in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and smoke mist; the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and illustrious day of Jehovah arrives. And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.”’”​—Acts 2:16-21.

20. What baptism there took place, and whom did Peter identify as the one used to do the baptizing?

²⁰ Baptism in holy spirit had taken place, just as Jesus had promised. The spirit’s being said to be ‘poured out’ would harmonize with the fact that it is like a fluid element for baptism or immersion. We remember that God gave John the Baptizer the sign regarding Jesus, to show that “this is the one that baptizes in holy spirit.” (John 1:33) True to this fact, the apostle Peter identified the glorified Jesus Christ as being God’s agent in pouring out the holy spirit upon these first Christians. Said Peter further to those Jewish celebrators of Pentecost: “This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses. Therefore because he was exalted to the right hand of God and received the promised holy spirit from the Father, he has poured out this which you see and hear.”​—Acts 2:32, 33.

21. How could Peter say that they saw and heard that which the glorified Jesus poured out?

²¹ They saw and heard the operation of holy spirit, in that they saw the tongues as if of fire above the heads of the disciples and heard the foreign languages miraculously spoken by the disciples.

22. What else then took place with the disciples, to correspond with what took place upon Jesus after his baptism in water?

²² However, more than a mere baptizing of Jesus’ disciples in holy spirit had taken place on that day of Pentecost. The anointing of them with holy spirit had also taken place. Just as Jesus was anointed with holy spirit after his baptism in water and he thus became Christ or Anointed One, so too with his disciples. They were anointed with that in which they are baptized.

23. Also, with what were the disciples sealed, as explained by Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22?

²³ Furthermore, they were sealed with that spirit in token of their spiritual inheritance to come. This accords with what the apostle Paul said to the Christian congregation in ancient Corinth, Greece: “He who guarantees that you and we belong to Christ and he who has anointed us is God. He has also put his seal upon us and has given us the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit, in our hearts.”​—2 Corinthians 1:21, 22.

24. What did the apostle John later write about the anointing in 1 John 2:20, 27?

²⁴ The apostle John, who was there at that Pentecostal outpouring of holy spirit, understood what had taken place. So this is what he wrote to fellow believers: “You have an anointing from the holy one; all of you have knowledge. And as for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to be teaching you; but, as the anointing from him is teaching you about all things, and is true and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in union with him.”​—1 John 2:20, 27.

BEGETTING BY HOLY SPIRIT

25. For a baptized Christian to have a heavenly inheritance in view, what operation of holy spirit was it necessary for him to undergo?

²⁵ There is another feature about this operation of God’s active force. Jesus indicated it when he said: “Unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, 5) A Christian with a heavenly inheritance in view must imitate his Master Jesus by being baptized in water. In this way he symbolizes the dedication of himself to Jehovah God, to do the divine will. (Matthew 28:19, 20) But there must also be an operation of holy spirit upon him. Why? Because, as the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:50, “flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.”

26. After writing about the anointing, the apostle John speaks about what relationship of the anointed ones with God?

²⁶ If the disciples are to be put in line for entrance into God’s heavenly kingdom, they need to be “born again” and thus become spiritual sons of God. As in Jesus’ own case, it is the spiritual son of God that is anointed with holy spirit. This accounts for it that, after speaking about the anointing, the anointed apostle John goes on to say, in 1 John 3:1-3:

“See what sort of love the Father has given us, so that we should be called children of God; and such we are. That is why the world does not have a knowledge of us, because it has not come to know him. Beloved ones, now we are children of God, but as yet it has not been made manifest what we shall be. We do know that whenever he is made manifest we shall be like him, because we shall see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope set upon him purifies himself just as that one is pure.”

27. How is it shown in John 1:11-13 that human parents have nothing to do with a Christian’s being “born again”?

²⁷ Human parents do not have anything to do with a person’s being “born again.” Out of a person’s own conviction he has to accept Jesus as the Messiah and follow him as the one anointed by God to be the King in the heavenly Messianic kingdom. Then it rests with God’s will as to whether to beget such a follower of Christ by holy spirit. Not human parents, but God begets children for heaven. That is what the apostle John says. Here are John’s words: “He,” that is, Jesus Christ at his coming to the Jewish nation nineteen centuries ago, “came to his own home, but his own people did not take him in. However, as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name; and they were born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.” (John 1:11-13) By God’s begetting they become his spiritual sons. He does not beget them in a mother’s womb.

“A NEW CREATION”

28. Who is it that determines that there shall be spiritual children for God, and how are these, in a sense, “firstfruits of his creatures”?

²⁸ Do not human parents decide for themselves about having children of their own flesh and blood? Yes! So, too, God decides about whom he will beget to be his spiritual son with a heavenly inheritance. “Because he willed it, he brought us forth by the word of truth, for us to be certain firstfruits of his creatures.” So writes the disciple James to Christians whom he calls “the twelve tribes that are scattered about.” (James 1:1, 18) In agriculture, “firstfruits” are taken out from a new crop and are dedicated to God as something holy and something due him. Who, then, are the spiritual firstfruits? Those whom the heavenly Father begets according to his own will and by means of the “word of truth.” These he takes out from the human family to be a heavenly Kingdom class.

29. For a Christian to be able to enter into the heavenly kingdom, what does 1 Peter 1:3, 4 show to be required of him?

²⁹ To the same “firstfruits” class the Christian apostle Peter wrote: “You have been given a new birth, not by corruptible, but by incorruptible reproductive seed, through the word of the living and enduring God.” (1 Peter 1:23) The “new birth” or the being “born again” is required for a Christian’s final entrance into the heavenly kingdom. Hence Peter writes: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for according to his great mercy he gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance. It is reserved in the heavens for you.”​—1 Peter 1:3, 4; note also 1 John 3:9.

30, 31. (a) Those who have received the “adoption as sons” make what outcry to God? (b) Those having such an adoption are in what covenant and form what kind of nation?

³⁰ To Christians in the Roman province of Galatia who had received the “adoption as sons,” the apostle Paul wrote: “Now because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts and it cries out: ‘Abba, Father!’ So, then, you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, also an heir through God.”​—Galatians 4:5-7.

³¹ Christianized Jews, like Paul himself, were no longer slaves under the Law covenant that had been mediated by the prophet Moses. They were now spiritual sons of God and were in the “new covenant” mediated by Jesus Christ, a Prophet greater than Moses. That new covenant produces what the old Mosaic Law covenant failed to produce, namely, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5, 6; Hebrews 8:6-13; 1 Timothy 2:5, 6) The “holy nation” that is in the new covenant is therefore a spiritual Israel, made up of Christians who are Jews or Israelites inwardly. These have been circumcised in their hearts rather than outwardly in the flesh. So we read in Romans 2:28, 29.

32. According to 2 Corinthians 5:16-18, why do we know no Christian, not even Christ himself, according to the flesh?

³² In the face of all these new features about the spiritual sons of God, can we be surprised at all that the apostle Paul speaks about “a new creation”? No! It is just logical for him to do so. Reasoning from the fact that Jesus Christ had been raised up from the dead as a heavenly spiritual Son of God, the apostle Paul says: “Consequently from now on we know no [Christian] man according to the flesh. Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, certainly we now know him so no more. Consequently if anyone is in union with Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away, look! new things have come into existence. But all things are from God.”​—2 Corinthians 5:16-18.

33. To gain entrance into the heavenly kingdom, is circumcision in the flesh necessary, or, if not, what is?

³³ From all of this it follows that fleshly circumcision of a person as a fleshly descendant of the patriarch Abraham or as a natural Jew is not a requirement for us to gain salvation through the Messiah, Christ. In the case of those persons who expect to go to heaven, what really is necessary? The inspired apostle Paul answers with these straightforward words: “Neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but a new creation is something. And all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:15, 16) This whole “Israel of God” is a “new creation.”

34. For a settlement of the dispute on whether fleshly circumcision was necessary for eternal salvation, what did the Antioch congregation do?

³⁴ Today some persons who have the fleshly circumcision may dispute those words of the inspired apostle Paul, a Christianized Jew. But even for sixteen years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ there were those who argued for fleshly circumcision as being necessary to eternal salvation. This proved to be the case in Antioch, Syria, where Christ’s disciples were first called Christians. (Acts 11:26) So, what then? The Antioch congregation sent Paul and his missionary companion Barnabas and others “to go up to the apostles and older men in Jerusalem regarding this dispute.” (Acts 15:1, 2) So a council of the apostles and elders of the Jerusalem congregation took place, to render a decision as to whether non-Jewish believers in Christ needed to be circumcised outwardly in the flesh.

35. What did holy spirit have to do with the decree issued by the Jerusalem Council, and what did the decree say?

³⁵ Finally, after much discussion and the producing of evidence bearing on the case, the disciple James appealed to the pertinent words of Amos 9:11, 12 that had been inspired by God’s holy spirit and that were already being fulfilled under the guidance of the holy spirit. Plainly this was the direction of God’s holy spirit that outward circumcision in the flesh was not necessary for Gentile believers who had been taken out from the nations for Jehovah’s name. Undoubtedly God’s holy spirit had called up this deciding scripture in James’ mind and also guided him as to recommending the salient points to be covered in the resolution to be issued by the Jerusalem Council. Here is how the Council’s decree read:

“The holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you!” (Acts 15:3-29; 21:25)

Thus it was decided that what was necessary for Christians to realize a heavenly inheritance was, not outward circumcision in the flesh, but one’s being a “new creation.”

36. By their anointing, it is incumbent upon the spirit-begotten congregation to carry out what commission, and with respect to that what does Jehovah teach them?

³⁶ Back there in the first century C.E. the Christian believers rejoiced over that decision of the Jerusalem Council. We ourselves today can still rejoice over that same inspired decision. From the Holy Scriptures we recognize that the spirit-begotten Christian congregation as a “new creation” is anointed with Jehovah’s spirit, just like the Chief One of that congregation, Jesus Christ. So now it is incumbent upon that congregation to do what that anointing commissions them to do, namely, “to tell good news to the meek ones.” Jesus Christ himself did not sidestep the obligation to do this but set the pattern for all his followers. (Isaiah 61:1-3) As spiritual sons of God they are taught by Jehovah what to tell out as “good news” from Him. (Isaiah 54:13) By the faithful example and words of his Son Jesus Christ, Jehovah teaches the Christian congregation that the lifesaving news to tell out everywhere is the good news of the Messianic kingdom of God.

Chapter 7

The “New Creation” Goes into Action!

1, 2. (a) What creation, of less than two thousand years ago, was more wonderful than that of man and woman? (b) According to Jesus’ words in Luke 24:46-48 and Acts 1:8 the anointing of the “new creation” was for what purpose?

THE CREATING of the first man and woman around six thousand years ago was wonderful. (Genesis 1:26-28) The birth of a “new creation” under two thousand years ago was still more wonderful, still more meaningful for all mankind. That birth took place on the day of Pentecost of 33 C.E. with the birth of the congregation of Christ’s disciples, all of them anointed with God’s holy spirit for the proclamation of his Messianic kingdom.

² Less than two weeks before that historic day of Pentecost, the resurrected Jesus Christ said to his disciples:

“In this way it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from among the dead on the third day, and on the basis of his name repentance for forgiveness of sins would be preached in all the nations​—starting out from Jerusalem, you are to be witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48) “You will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.”​—Acts 1:8.

3. How big was that assignment of territory, and when did the disciples begin witnessing to it and from where?

³ Could there be any assignment of territory for witnessing bigger than this? It was global. How about reaching all this territory with the Messianic witness? This would require time, yes, persistence, courageous effort. Yet, no sooner had the promised holy spirit arrived upon them on the day of Pentecost than they went into action as witnesses to others at Jerusalem, first.

4. How did things begin to happen on that day of Pentecost just as Joel 2:28, 29 had foretold?

⁴ Things happened just as Joel 2:28, 29 foretold: the spirit-filled disciples began to prophesy, even in foreign languages, miraculously! Thousands of Jews who were in Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost gathered to witness the spectacle. They heard the small congregation of Christ’s disciples “speaking,” as they said, “in our tongues about the magnificent things of God.”​—Acts 2:11.

5. How did Peter use the first of the two “keys of the kingdom of the heavens” on that day of Pentecost?

⁵ In order to explain the occasion, the apostle Peter used the first of the two “keys of the kingdom of the heavens” by taking the lead in addressing the inquiring crowd. (Matthew 16:19) He bore witness to Jesus as the Messiah, the one rejected and killed by the Jewish leaders but resurrected on the third day and now glorified at God’s right hand. The conscience-stricken Jews now asked: “Men, brothers, what shall we do?” Peter’s response was: “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit. For the promise [of Joel 2:28, 29] is to you and to your children and to all those afar off, just as many as Jehovah our God may call to him.”​—Acts 2:14-39.

6. The repentant Jews who got baptized had what occur with them, and from what did they get saved?

⁶ Those accepting Jesus as the Messiah or Christ obediently got baptized in water. Thus on that one day about three thousand souls were added. The glorified Jesus Christ baptized them with holy spirit, and they were born again as spiritual sons of God. They were transferred from under the Mosaic Law covenant to under the new covenant as mediated by Jesus Christ. In this way they heeded Peter’s urgent advice to “get saved from this crooked generation.” Doing this, they escaped from being baptized with fire at the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. at the hands of the Roman besiegers under General Titus.​—Acts 2:40; Luke 3:16, 17.

7. In what way were the anointed ones to imitate Jesus Christ, and the doing of the work that he foretold opened up the way to what for the believers?

⁷ From that day of Pentecost onward, the anointing with holy spirit came upon more and more of those believing in Jesus as the Messiah. What to do now? As anointed ones, they were obliged to imitate the example of Jesus Christ. What did he do after his anointing at the Jordan River? He went throughout the land and preached the kingdom of God. (Matthew 4:12-17) The preaching of God’s kingdom would not stop at his death. A few days before his martyrdom at Jerusalem, he foretold the destruction of that city by the Romans but said that, even before that national calamity, “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14-22) Come Pentecost, accompanied by their being anointed with holy spirit, the anointed ones lost no time in getting to work! This Kingdom preaching opened up the way for the believers to become joint heirs with Jesus Christ in his heavenly kingdom.

8. How was the Kingdom preaching directed to the Samaritans, and with what results?

⁸ Violent persecution broke out. The disciples were scattered from Jerusalem. But this scattering of the congregation merely worked for the spreading of the Kingdom proclamation. As foretold, the witnessing was carried into the province of Samaria. Forced out of Jerusalem, the disciple Philip turned his attention to the Samaritans. “When they believed Philip, who was declaring the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, they proceeded to be baptized, both men and women.” Later, on the visit of Peter and John to Samaria, the baptized Samaritans received through these apostles the holy spirit.​—Acts 8:1-17.

9. (a) What unexpected conversion now took place among the Jews? (b) How did Peter use the second of the two “keys of the kingdom of the heavens”?

⁹ Suddenly now, wonder of wonders! The leader of the persecutors turns Christian. Saul of Tarsus is converted to Christianity. He becomes a foremost proclaimer of God’s kingdom in the hands of Jesus the Messiah. (Acts 9:1-30) His former name, Saul, is dropped and he becomes known as Paul the apostle. After that remarkable conversion, there came an outstanding conversion of another kind. It was the conversion of the first uncircumcised Gentile or non-Jew. This occurred when the holy spirit directed the apostle Peter to use the second of the two “keys of the kingdom of the heavens.” (Matthew 16:19) Peter did so by preaching in the home of the Italian centurion Cornelius in Caesarea. At Acts 10:44-48 we read:

“While Peter was yet speaking about these matters the holy spirit fell upon all those hearing the word. And the faithful ones that had come with Peter who were of those circumcised were amazed, because the free gift of the holy spirit was being poured out also upon people of the nations. For they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter responded: ‘Can anyone forbid water so that these might not be baptized who have received the holy spirit even as we have?’ With that he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

10, 11. (a) From the home of Cornelius, the Kingdom preaching spread out how far, and for whose benefit? (b) Though Peter pioneered the way into the Gentile world, how and why did Paul outrank him?

¹⁰ From the home of the Gentile centurion Cornelius the preaching of the good news spread to “the most distant part of the earth.” This was for the benefit of Gentiles as well as for natural Jews.

¹¹ Whereas Peter pioneered the way into the Gentile world, the apostle Paul outranked all others in preaching the Word of God to the uncircumcised Gentiles, in his day. He was not ashamed to call himself “an apostle to the [Gentile] nations.” He did not minimize this fact. He glorified this ministry of his and so he worked hard at it.​—Romans 11:13.

12. To what distant point did Paul want to go to preach, but how far in that direction did he get and what did he do there?

¹² Paul wanted to carry the good news even into Spain, but the last that we hear of him is during his detention in Rome, Italy. With regard to his first arrest and his detention in his own hired house in Rome, we read of Paul: “So he remained for an entire two years in his own hired house, and he would kindly receive all those who came in to him, preaching the kingdom of God to them and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with the greatest freeness of speech, without hindrance.”​—Acts 28:30, 31; Romans 15:24, 28.

CREATION-WIDE WITNESS BEFORE 70 C.E.

13. Because they acted according to their anointing, what could Paul write to Christians in Colossae, already by about 60-61 C.E.?

¹³ Many were the Christians who imitated the apostle Paul and the other apostles in preaching the good news of the Messianic kingdom. The spirit-begotten congregation as a “new creation” was anointed to do such preaching. (Isaiah 61:1-3; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22) They were filled with zeal and kept on the move in spreading the best news on earth to as many others as possible. Little wonder, then, that about the year 60-61 C.E., or some years before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its gorgeous temple in 70 C.E., the apostle Paul could write from the house of his detention in Rome to the Christians in Colossae, Asia Minor, and say, already at that time: “That good news . . . was preached in all creation that is under heaven. Of this good news I Paul became a minister.”​—Colossians 1:23.

14. The accomplishment of that first-century congregation serves as an example to whom today, in view of what obligation on such today?

¹⁴ That creation-wide proclamation of God’s Messianic kingdom by the first-century congregation of anointed disciples of Christ serves as a worthy example for the anointed congregation of our twentieth century. This spirit-begotten congregation, as a “new creation” of God, needs to finish the worldwide witness to the established kingdom of God before the “great tribulation” comes upon all the world, and hypocritical Christendom is baptized with fire in its destruction with all the rest of this wicked system of things.​—Matthew 24:14-22; Mark 13:10.

WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT CONCERNING SONSHIP

15. What did Paul write to the Roman congregation about the witness of the spirit, and what question now arises about those who today expect to go to heaven?

¹⁵ Back there in the first century C.E., the Christian Bible writers and their fellow disciples were in no doubt as to their relationship with God and their responsibility toward Him. They really had the conviction that they were the spiritual sons of God, and they had a heavenly inheritance in view. So, before the apostle Paul ever got to Rome, he could, in no uncertainty, write to the congregation there and say these confident words: “You received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which spirit we cry out: ‘Abba, Father!’ The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children. If, then, we are children, we are also heirs: heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ, provided we suffer together that we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:15-17) Who today, who says he expects to go to heaven, has such a witness of God’s spirit with his own spirit?

16. What kind of interaction was there between God’s spirit and the spirit of the first-century Christian congregation?

¹⁶ Certainly God’s spirit would not bear such a witness to a professed Christian who is actually not an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ. For every action there is a reaction. The reaction can be either responsive or unresponsive, repellent. In Romans 8:15-17, the apostle Paul speaks of a responsive reaction. He describes a harmonious interaction between God’s spirit and the spirit of the real spiritual child of God. Well, now, how did God’s spirit bear witness with the spirit of the members of the first-century Christian congregation, that “new creation”?

17. (a) Did the first-century congregation dispute the testimony of God’s spirit to them through his inspired servants? (b) Hence, how did the congregation in Thessalonica regard the message presented by Paul?

¹⁷ If God’s spirit bears witness to us about our Christian identity and our tie-in with God and his provisions for us, then we ought to agree with that spirit and not dispute it. So, when the first-century Christians had a letter from an inspired apostle or disciple of Christ read to the congregation of which they were baptized members, they accepted what that letter said to them and about them as to their standing, their obligations, their hopes for the future in God’s arrangement. They recognized that God’s spirit was active in such authoritative apostles and disciples and that it acted and wrote by means of these human instruments. The apostle Paul’s letter to the first-century Christian congregation in Thessalonica, Macedonia, bears out that fact. They knew the truth of it when Paul wrote: “When you received God’s word, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but, just as it truthfully is, as the word of God, which is also at work in you believers.”​—1 Thessalonians 2:13.

18. To be consistent, how would those Thessalonian Christians accept Paul’s written word, and why had God chosen them, according to what Paul said?

¹⁸ Hence it would be consistent for these believers to accept also the written word of Paul to be likewise “the word of God.” In this letter Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers about God’s “choosing” of them. Why had they been ‘chosen’? “Because the good news we preach did not turn up among you with speech alone but also with power and with holy spirit and strong conviction, just as you know what sort of men we became to you for your sakes; and you became imitators of us and of the Lord, seeing that you accepted the word under much tribulation with joy of holy spirit.”​—1 Thessalonians 1:4-6.

19. The imparting of gifts of the spirit by means of the apostles would signify what relationship of the recipients to God?

¹⁹ They knew that, by means of holy spirit, God had spoken to his chosen people in pre-Christian times. Similarly, in their own first century C.E., God could speak by means of the same active force through the inspired apostles of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, God was using those very apostles to transmit to the baptized believers the various gifts of the holy spirit. Certainly the reception of those gifts would indicate to the receivers that they had been made God’s spiritual children.​—Acts 8:15-18; 19:2-6.

20. How, through the letters of the Christian Bible writers, was holy spirit bearing witness to the first-century congregation that their relationship to God was of a specific kind?

²⁰ Were those apostles and other Christian Bible writers setting before the baptized believers an earthly hope, the hope of becoming the children of the Eternal Father, Jesus Christ, and living on a paradise earth forever? No! They were setting before those to whom they preached and wrote the hope then of those begotten as children of God, the sons of Jehovah. (Isaiah 9:6, 7) In the inspired Christian writings the disciples of the day were assured that they had the calling to a kingdom that was heavenly and that their hope was that of being joint heirs with Jesus Christ above. (Colossians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; 2 Peter 1:10, 11) Only one thing was set before them; they were left in no uncertainty. In this way holy spirit was bearing witness to those first-century disciples that they were children of God, heirs of God. This meant that, at the same time, they were joint heirs with the glorified Jesus Christ.

21. How did the spirit of such first-century Christians react to the witness-bearing of God’s spirit, with what effects upon them?

²¹ Their own inward urge, their own spirit, responded harmoniously to that witness-bearing by God’s holy spirit. The heavenly Father’s spirit was encouraging and strengthening them as his spiritual children and heirs. He had implanted in them, not a sense of sonship to their earthly father, but a sense of sonship to their heavenly Father, a spiritual sonship.

22. (a) No longer did the Christianized Jews feel themselves under what covenant, in what condition? (b) In response to God’s spirit, how did the spirit of the Christians move them to demonstrate that they were God’s spiritual sons?

²² No longer did the Christianized Jews or Israelites feel that they were slaves under the old Mosaic Law covenant and still waiting for the Messiah. They felt, they knew that they were the spiritual sons of the God whom they worshiped according to the new covenant. Their own spirit, the impelling force that issued from their hearts, moved them to react to the operations of God’s spirit. Spontaneously, as sons, they cried out to God, “Abba, Father!” Their Father’s commandments for his spiritual sons they applied to themselves. His assigned work for his sons they lovingly took up. His heavenly promises to his spiritual sons they accepted and strove to prove worthy of the fulfillment of these in their case. The heavenly hope that he held before his sons they entertained, and by this hope they endeavored to live. Willingly they suffered mistreatment at the hands of this world.

23. For what hope were they willing to suffer with Christ and to die in the likeness of his death?

²³ They knew that they were to become the glorified sons of God together with Jesus Christ, “provided we suffer together.” (Romans 8:17) So they were willing to suffer for living in harmony with their heavenly hope. They accepted the fact that they must die in the likeness of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, in order that they might share in the likeness of his resurrection.​—Romans 6:5-8.

24. (a) Their spirit joined with God’s spirit in a united testimony over what fact? (b) Their prayers and lives harmonized with what hope, even to what eventuality?

²⁴ In that way the spirit of those first-century spiritual sons of God joined his holy spirit in the united testimony that they were God’s children, by a second birth and with an inheritance reserved for them up in heaven. Accordingly their own spirit acted as an impelling force in their lives so as to fashion their prayers to their heavenly Father in perfect harmony with the witness that His spirit bore to them and not contrary to it. They wove the Scriptures that pertained to their heavenly inheritance into their prayers to God. Such prayers brightened their hope of entering into the heavenly inheritance. So they lived, thought, spoke and acted in accord with their prayers and their hope. Their prayers strengthened them to endure trial and persecution in order to gain an approved standing with God; and they knew that this approved standing with Him builds up a hope that will never be disappointed. They knew that, in order to realize their heavenly hope, they must prove themselves “faithful even to death.”​—Romans 5:3-5; Revelation 2:10.

25. Why should the foregoing serve as a guide to a dedicated, baptized Christian in determining his relationship to God, especially since the spring of 1935 C.E.?

²⁵ All the above should serve as a guide today for dedicated, baptized Christians to determine whether God’s spirit is bearing witness with their own spirit that they are His spiritual children and his heirs, as well as joint heirs with Jesus Christ in his heavenly kingdom. This has to be the case, especially since the spring of 1935 C.E. Why since then? Because then the “great crowd” described in Revelation 7:9-17 was explained to be an earthly class that is not “born again.” Instead, it has set before it the prospect of surviving the world’s “great tribulation” that is just ahead and coming out of it into God’s righteous new order, there to enjoy an earthly paradise under the heavenly kingdom of Jesus Christ and his 144,000 joint heirs. (Luke 23:43) By being obedient to the Kingdom and proving their devotion to the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God under the final test, they need never die in the flesh from off the surface of the earth. They belong to the “other sheep” of whom the Fine Shepherd Jesus Christ spoke in John 10:16.

HOLY SPIRIT AS INTERCESSOR

26. According to Romans 8:23-27, what other function does holy spirit serve in behalf of “holy ones”?

²⁶ Besides being a witness-bearer to God’s spiritual children, this holy active force serves another function. The apostle Paul calls attention to this function in his letter addressed to the congregation in Rome, which, Paul says, was composed of Christians “called to be holy ones,” these being also “heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 1:7; 8:16, 17) Paul writes:

“Not only that, but we ourselves also who have the firstfruits, namely, the spirit, yes, we ourselves groan within ourselves, while we are earnestly waiting for adoption as sons, the release from our bodies by ransom. For we were saved in this hope; but hope that is seen is not hope, for when a man sees a thing, does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we keep on waiting for it with endurance.

“In like manner the spirit also joins in with help for our weakness; for the problem of what we should pray for as we need to we do not know, but the spirit itself pleads for us with groanings unuttered. Yet he who searches the hearts knows what the meaning of the spirit is, because it is pleading in accord with God for holy ones.”​—Romans 8:23-27.

27. Under what circumstances do Christians need holy spirit as a pleader?

²⁷ In this connection the words of Proverbs 13:12 are quite fitting: “Expectation postponed is making the heart sick.” In the midst of this groaning human creation, Christians who are God’s spiritual children are hoping for their release from the imperfect human body and their entrance into their heavenly inheritance. At times it is a problem for them to express themselves clearly in prayer to God, not knowing exactly what to pray for under distressing circumstances. Here is where they need an intercessor, namely, God’s holy spirit, as a pleader.

28, 29. (a) In the case of the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures, why was it as if holy spirit were doing the speaking and writing? (b) How do those Hebrew Bible writers compare with members of the Christian congregation as to emotions and infirmities?

²⁸ The apostle Paul says that “we ourselves,” that is, Paul and his Christian brothers who are begotten by God’s spirit, “have the firstfruits, namely, the spirit.” (Romans 8:23) Paul here means having the invisible holy active force of God. This active force has inspired men to speak and also to write down what they have spoken. It was as if the spirit itself were speaking and writing. In harmony with this fact, we read: “No prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20, 21) The inspired Hebrew Scriptures that were quoted from by Paul in support of Christianity were written by mere human creatures. They had the same emotional feelings and physical weakness that members of the Christian congregation have. So we can feel akin to them in these respects.

²⁹ “We also are humans having the same infirmities as you do.” So said the apostle Paul and his missionary companion Barnabas to idol-worshiping pagans who mistook them to be superhuman, gods appearing in flesh to men.​—Acts 14:15.

30. (a) The Bible writings are really expressions of what force and hence of what profitableness? (b) The situations and conditions of Bible personages covered what areas needing more than human help?

³⁰ The inspired Bible writings were in reality expressions of God’s holy spirit. For that reason those inspired writings are “beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) Included in those “beneficial” writings there were prayers offered to God, not alone by Bible writers, but also by other persons who were devoted to Jehovah God. Under all sorts of circumstances those prayers had been offered to God. Those persons with our common human infirmities felt the pressures of the special circumstances and threatening conditions that existed. Their needy situations were varied enough to correspond with situations in which genuine Christians even of today may at times find themselves. These become cases in which more than human help is needed. How, then, shall we pray?

31, 32. (a) Thus to what extent are the Christians at a loss as to how to pray? (b) How, then, does the spirit that inspired Bible writings plead for the Christians, and how does God understand and answer?

³¹ In our helplessness and perplexity “we ourselves groan within ourselves.” (Romans 8:23) We just do not know how to petition or supplicate God with properly formed sentences or what utterance to make to our heavenly Helper. However, God understands our situation and perceives exactly what we would sincerely like to have.

³² If we ourselves cannot formulate prayers, well, prayers have already been framed for us. Where? In the prophetic Holy Scriptures that were inspired by God’s holy spirit. God is fully acquainted with the prayers recorded in his Word. He knows the “meaning” of them. He knows the ones that befit us who want to pray aright. So God considers such appropriate recorded prayers as if they were being offered by the groaning Christians themselves. Such prayers were not uttered by the needy Christians themselves, but God hears as if the holy spirit were pleading with him according to the spirit-inspired prayers in the Bible. Likely he answers in a way similar to the way in which he answered the recorded prayer of long ago, in Bible times.

33. So how does the spirit join in with help for our weakness, and with what success?

³³ Since the holy spirit inspired the recording of the original prayers in which pleading to God is done, it can be said that the spirit is pleading “in accord with God for holy ones.” In this manner “the spirit also joins in with help for our weakness.” (Romans 8:26, 27) God does not fail to respond to such pleadings by his holy spirit as an intercessor.

34. What do we find about what is expressed in prayers recorded in the Bible, and why are our “groanings unuttered,” not in vain?

³⁴ So it is not strange that, if Christians examine the inspired prayers that are recorded in the Psalms and other parts of the Holy Scriptures, they will come across prayers that express just the way that they felt, prayers that say just what they wanted to ask of God either for themselves individually or collectively as a Christian congregation. They are stirred to the bottom of their hearts at finding such prayers that were prompted by holy spirit to say things with such precise fitness. Their own “groanings unuttered” have not been in vain, have not been misunderstood or disregarded. Thus from the spirit-inspired Scriptures they come to know the articulate words with which the “spirit” has pleaded for them before God. They themselves are strengthened in the conviction expressed by the apostle Paul as he goes on to say: “Now we know that God makes all his works cooperate together for the good of those who love God.”​—Romans 8:28.

35, 36. (a) What force is powerfully operative as God makes all his works cooperate together for his lovers? (b) What release is at hand for the “new creation,” and what does this also signalize for groaning mankind?

³⁵ Powerfully operative in the cooperation of all God’s works together for the eternal good of those who love God is his holy spirit. What a grand provision this holy active force from God is! God’s spirit, which expresses itself so powerfully through the inspired Bible, is infinitely more effective than any pagan prayer wheel or any prayer book compiled by clergymen of Christendom with specially worded prayers to be read off for specific occasions, circumstances or personages.

³⁶ The old human creation of mankind does not have this spirit, and in this twentieth century it is groaning as never before, seeking in some way to be liberated from the bondage of corruption under the old system of things. But nineteen centuries ago God’s “new creation” came alive and went into action. It did so under the energizing force of God’s holy spirit, which began to be poured out on the festival day of Pentecost of 33 C.E. Vain have been the efforts of the majority of the old human creation to destroy God’s “new creation,” the spirit-begotten Christian congregation. Today that “new creation” nears the time of its release from its earthly body of corruption. The nearness of its glorious release signalizes great good for all mankind. It signalizes that the deliverance of groaning mankind is also at hand. It signalizes that there is now at hand a righteous new order backed by God’s holy spirit.

Chapter 8

“Spirit of Life from God Entered into Them”

1. According to Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:18-20, what specialized operation of holy spirit will stop shortly?

A SPECIALIZED operation of God’s holy spirit has been going on now for nineteen centuries and is shortly to stop. When it stops, then the making of disciples of the Messiah Jesus will stop. The resurrected Son of God referred to this when, at a mountain in the Roman province of Galilee, he said to his apostles: “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”​—Matthew 28:18-20.

2. Besides the glorified Jesus Christ, what else was to be with his disciples down to the “conclusion of the system of things”?

² Those apostles were well acquainted with that holy spirit in the name of which they were commissioned to baptize all those becoming Christ’s disciples out of all the nations. During their years of intimate association with their Master Jesus, they had observed its operation mightily through him in Kingdom preaching, teaching and performing of miracles. (Acts 10:38) On their last Passover night with him on Nisan 14, 33 C.E., he said to them for their comfort: “I will request the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, the spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive.” (John 14:16, 17) So, not only would the resurrected, glorified Jesus Christ be with his disciples down to the “conclusion of the system of things,” but their active helper, the holy spirit, would likewise be with them till then, for it would be with them “forever.”

3, 4. (a) Why is the question raised as to whether Jesus Christ has been with Christendom all the days till now? (b) What did Jesus say was the factor that determined whether holy spirit was with a professed Christian?

³ That interests us today! Here we are in that time period called “the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:3) Since the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the events in the world as well as among Christ’s disciples are fulfilling what Jesus foretold in his prophecy as set out in Matthew 24:3 through 25:46. (Also Mark 13:3-37; Luke 21:7-36) Jesus Christ, wielding “all authority” in heaven and on earth, has been with his disciples “all the days” till now. The promised “helper,” the holy spirit, has also been with them. But nowadays many claim to be Christ’s disciples or Christians. According to the latest published figures, Christendom has more than nine hundred million church members. Shall we look, therefore, to Christendom for the evidence of Christ’s presence with her? Has holy spirit operated in her?

⁴ Well, in this case, is the question to be answered merely according to the number of those who profess to be Christians? No, for Jesus said the determining factor is godly works:

“By their fruits you will recognize them. . . . Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire. Really, then, by their fruits you will recognize those men.

“Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will.”​—Matthew 7:16-21.

5. Does Christendom today abound with the “fruitage of the spirit” or with the “works of the flesh”?

⁵ From the time that Christendom was established in the fourth century C.E. by the unbaptized pagan Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, her fruit has not been fine. After sixteen centuries of opportunity to cultivate the “fruitage of the spirit,” her religious organization does not abound with “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.” Rather, “works of the flesh” mark Christendom.​—Galatians 5:19-23.

6, 7. In what respects is Christendom like the congregation in Laodicea, and has she repented and taken Jesus’ advice to that congregation?

⁶ Christendom, reportedly bulging with church members, is today comparable to the “congregation in Laodicea.” In Revelation 3:14-18, the glorified Jesus Christ says to that congregation:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or else hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say: ‘I am rich and have acquired riches and do not need anything at all,’ but you do not know you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich, and white outer garments that you may become dressed and that the shame of your nakedness may not become manifested, and eyesalve to rub in your eyes that you may see.”

⁷ Has Christendom repented and taken such advice from Christ? Her active share in two world wars, her persecution of religious minorities, her materialism, her looseness of morals, her meddling in politics in order to control and perpetuate the present old order of things, all these and many other things answer No!

8. Why is the glorified Jesus obliged, as it were, to vomit Christendom out of his mouth and not use her in today’s work?

⁸ During this “conclusion of the system of things,” Jesus Christ has had no other course to take but to “vomit” her out of his mouth. Spiritually, she is neither refreshingly cold nor stimulatingly hot to him. He cannot swallow her so as to make her of benefit to him. She is “lukewarm” in compromisingly claiming to be Christian and at the same time making herself a friend and tool of this world. This the reigning King Jesus Christ cannot stomach. He recognizes her as an enemy of God his Father. (James 4:4) He has no association with his Father’s enemies. She is in no spiritual paradise with him. So he cannot use her in the work that he foretold for his true disciples at this time.​—Matthew 24:14.

9. Because of carrying on her operations in the name of religion, did Christendom make herself an object of international hatred, or against whom did she direct such hatred?

⁹ Christendom has performed her works and carried on her operations in the name of religion. Have these activities made her an object “of hatred by all the nations on account of my [Christ’s] name”? (Matthew 24:9) To the contrary, she has taken the lead in making others such an object of hatred. Whom? Modern history points to them. During World War I there was an international group of students of the Bible who were showing from the inspired Scriptures that the “times of the Gentiles” ended in the year in which World War I erupted​—1914. (Luke 21:24, Authorized Version) Hence all the nations, those professing Christianity and those not doing so, were to be destroyed for their opposition to the established kingdom of Jesus Christ, the King now reigning in heaven at God’s right hand. All those desiring to escape destruction with Christendom needed to come out of nominal Christianity, out of the churches of Christendom. Such bold teachings by these conscientious students of the Bible aroused worldwide hatred for them.

10. During World War I Christendom aimed at exterminating what religious minority, and by what means?

¹⁰ This hated religious minority was composed of Christians known as International Bible Students. In their Bible study and publicity work they used the publications of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the headquarters of which are in Brooklyn, New York. On these Bible students Christendom concentrated her fire during World War I. She aimed at exterminating them. Her clergymen falsely accused them and prevailed upon political and judicial elements of this world to take repressive measures against them.

11. Because of what did the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society become implicated?

¹¹ Bans on publications of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society followed. In various lands proscriptions against the Bible Students were enacted. In places the patriotic citizenry was roused up to infuriated mob action against this misrepresented peaceable minority. In the spring of 1918 outstanding men who were associated with the Society’s Brooklyn headquarters were railroaded off to imprisonment in a federal penitentiary, under false charges!

12. What does Revelation 11:7-12 show as to whether Christendom had killed the witness work permanently?

¹² Now that the president and the secretary-treasurer of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and six other prominent co-workers were out of the way in prison like felons, Christendom felt that she had killed the organization of the faithful witnesses to God’s established kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ. But had the deathblow been dealt? For a time the bodies of Kingdom witnesses appeared quite dead. But were they permanently out of action? The symbol language of Revelation 11:7-12 answers:

“And when they have finished their witnessing, the wild beast that ascends out of the abyss will make war with them and conquer them and kill them. And their corpses will be on the broad way of the great city which is in a spiritual sense called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also impaled. And those of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their corpses for three and a half days, and they do not let their corpses be laid in a tomb. And those dwelling on the earth rejoice over them and enjoy themselves, and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those dwelling on the earth.

“And after the three and a half days spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon those beholding them. And they heard a loud voice out of heaven say to them: ‘Come on up here.’ And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.”

13. From Christendom’s viewpoint, what was the future for the witness organization, but what force did she not take into account?

¹³ For a short time, like three and a half days, the organization of these proclaimers of Bible prophecies and witnesses to God’s established kingdom were in public disgrace. The people who had been tormented by the preaching of Bible truths rejoiced over the suppression of the Kingdom witnesses. From Christendom’s viewpoint, the organization of the witnesses was ‘dead.’ But had the spirit of God been killed, put to death? It had not proved to be dead when the body of the impaled Jesus Christ lay dead in the tomb for parts of three days. So, nineteen centuries later, it did not prove to be ‘dead’ after the organization of the Kingdom witnesses had lain dead “for three and a half days,” relatively speaking.

14. For the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14, what was necessary, and what took place in the spring of 1919?

¹⁴ The time had now gone into the fifth year of the “conclusion of the system of things.” Jesus’ prediction, in Matthew 24:14, still had to be fulfilled: “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 24:14) Christendom, with the bloodstains of world war, was not disposed or clean enough to fulfill that prophecy. What, then, was there to do? The spirit of God Almighty needed to go into action. It did so, not in behalf of bloodguilty Christendom, but in behalf of the seemingly ‘dead’ Kingdom witnesses. True to the picture in Revelation 11:11, “spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet.” The spring of the postwar year 1919 was the time for this revitalizing of them.

15. Who went to work on being released, and what attention was given anew to Matthew 24:14?

¹⁵ Surprisingly, late in March of 1919, the officers of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and their fellow prisoners were released on bail and went to work. Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:14 got renewed attention. Startling comment was made on it in the July 1, 1920, issue of The Watch Tower, pp. 199, 200. It made clear that the foretold preaching world wide was not a preaching carried on through the past nineteen centuries of the “Gospel Age,” of a coming kingdom. It was the preaching of an already established kingdom. Hence the preaching was a worldwide publicity work to be carried on from 1914 C.E. onward.

16. How did that revelation affect the witnesses, and by what event was the year 1919 climaxed?

¹⁶ This revelation by the “spirit of the truth” put new life into the Kingdom preaching of the witnesses. As a grand climax of 1919, the year of revitalization, the first postwar general convention of the Kingdom witnesses was held for eight days at Cedar Point, Ohio. Thousands from the United States and Canada attended. The president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, who was now exonerated from the false wartime charges, announced the new Kingdom work ahead. To an audience of 7,000 he gave a public talk.

17. What reason was there for the enemies to fear at the elevation of the witnesses from a dead condition?

¹⁷ At the surprising revivification of the witnesses of God’s established kingdom, great fear fell upon the enemies of the Kingdom, particularly upon Christendom. If the enemies had reason to fear then, even though the Kingdom witnesses were a small remnant, they had far greater reason to fear later on. Those witnesses were to be given a worldwide prominence such as has not been accorded to Christ’s disciples at any previous stated time. They were beckoned to such high prominence as if by a loud voice from heaven, saying to them: “Come on up here.”

18. How in 1922 did the witnesses show that they did not shrink back from the work that was to bring world prominence?

¹⁸ From entering into a Kingdom proclamation that was to lift them to heaven-high public prominence, they did not shrink back. Spurred on by God’s energizing spirit, they fearlessly launched out onto the work. Enthusiasm mounted at the second general convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1922, when the Watch Tower Society’s president attained the climax of his keynote speech and boomed out the call, “Advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom”! The thousands of conventioners thundered with applause in response to this dynamic call to Kingdom preaching to the finish!

THE DUE TIME FOR WORLDWIDE KINGDOM WITNESSING

19. Why was the account in Revelation 11:15-18 an appropriate one for John to give after his account of the reviving of the witnesses?

¹⁹ It was for such worldwide Kingdom preaching that “spirit of life from God” had entered into the suppressed witnesses in 1919 C.E. Quite appropriately, then, the apostle John immediately follows up his account of the exalted two witnesses with the following account:

“And the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And loud voices occurred in heaven, saying: ‘The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.’

“And the twenty-four elders who were seated before God upon their thrones fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying: ‘We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king. But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time for the dead to be judged, and to give their reward to your slaves the prophets and to the holy ones and to those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.’”​—Revelation 11:15-18.

20. (a) Was that loud proclamation news for heaven only? (b) In view of Jesus’ prediction, there now arose a need for whom?

²⁰ That loudly proclaimed announcement, “The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever,” deserves to be reechoed now on earth by Jehovah’s anointed witnesses. He took up his kingship of the world at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914. This was news for more than heaven only. It involved the world of mankind. They deserved to hear it. How would they hear it without preachers, proclaimers? Jesus prophesied that it would be preached earth wide before the end of this system of things came. The remnant of his anointed disciples were the ones assigned to undertake the preaching from the time of their spiritual reviving in 1919 onward.​—Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10; Romans 10:14, 15; note Isaiah 32:15.

21. Why are the anointed disciples of Christ not presumptuous in doing the Kingdom preaching, as Christendom might claim, and why must Zechariah 4:6 be true regarding them?

²¹ The remnant of the anointed disciples of Jesus Christ are the ones delegated and sent to do the preaching. (Isaiah 61:1-3) If Christendom charges that they are presumptuous in doing this Kingdom preaching, then why does not Christendom herself do the preaching? But she is not doing so. She takes part in worldly politics and gives her blessing to the unchristian United Nations. Since the remnant is so small in comparison with the hundreds of millions of church members of Christendom, it has to be true of the anointed remnant as Jehovah said in Zechariah 4:6: “Not by a military force, nor by power, but by my spirit.”

22. To judge from the Kingdom preaching that is being done, who are the ones upon whom Joel 2:28, 29 has been fulfilled?

²² The holy spirit, which Jehovah prophesied that he would pour out in the last days, has not ceased to operate, for the remnant are still baptizing disciples of Christ in the name of that spirit. (Matthew 28:19, 20; Joel 2:28, 29; Acts 2:14-21) The announced purpose behind God’s pouring out of his spirit upon all sorts of flesh was that the recipients thereof might prophesy. The facts substantiate that the remnant of Christ’s anointed disciples have been doing that prophesying to all the nations for a witness in favor of God’s kingdom. Logically, then, they must be the ones upon whom God’s spirit has actually been poured out. That spirit is behind their worldwide preaching. Why argue about it?

23. During the following twelve years of such prophesying, witness to whom was given, and why was this needed?

²³ After twelve years of such prophesying about God’s kingdom, the anointed remnant had become better informed upon Jehovah God, the heavenly Source of the outpoured spirit. They had increased their witnessing about him and had everywhere publicized his name as being the greatest Name in all existence. They had really set themselves to be His witnesses and to live up to their being “a people for his name.” (Isaiah 43:10-12; Acts 15:14) Let us not downgrade the importance and timeliness of this bearing witness to Jehovah as well as to his Messiah Jesus. In line with the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 it had to precede “the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.” Unless the people were informed, they could not call upon the right person for salvation during that “day.” Joel 2:32 advises us that whoever “calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe.” Witness to Jehovah had to be given!

24. In 1931 what new designation of themselves was embraced by those of the anointed remnant, and why was this no idle gesture?

²⁴ So it was no mere coincidence that on Sunday, July 26, 1931, at the international convention of the International Bible Students Association at Columbus, Ohio, the many thousands of conventioners wholeheartedly adopted a resolution for themselves to be called by a meaningful, Scriptural name. The name that the conventioners embraced by adopting the Resolution was “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” After the action taken at the international convention in Columbus, the congregations of the International Bible Students Association around the globe adopted a similar resolution. Thereby they declared themselves to be Jehovah’s Witnesses. This was no idle gesture on the part of the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites. By carrying out the responsibilities that the name entails upon them, they have lived up to this new designation of themselves.

25. How have the revitalized Kingdom witnesses been elevated to an outstanding position in connection with the divine name, and with an acceptance of the obligation of Isaiah 43:10-12?

²⁵ Incontrovertibly, the “spirit of life from God” had entered into the anointed remnant and he had called them to an outstanding position before all their enemies. Without fear of those enemies, they had responded to God’s invitation, “Come on up here.” (Revelation 11:11, 12) They have not been ashamed of bearing the divine name, the name most holy. Their preaching and prophesying from house to house and from city to city on the basis of that name has resulted in magnifying that name all around the earth. Here at last are modern champions of the greatest name in the universe! Sad to say, the ancient nation of natural Israel failed to be what the prophecy of Isaiah 43:10-12 said, first of all, to them: “‘You are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘even my servant whom I have chosen, . . . there was among you no strange god. So you are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and I am God.’” Hence the present-day remnant of spiritual Israelites gladly accept the obligation to be Jehovah’s Witnesses.

26. Into what spiritual condition as illustrated in the congregation of Sardis, Asia Minor, do the revitalized remnant not want to relapse?

²⁶ Now that the remnant of spiritual Israelites have been revitalized by the “spirit of life from God,” they do not want to relapse into that condition that was illustrated by the congregation in ancient Sardis, Asia Minor. Jesus Christ said to it:

“These are the things that he says who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, ‘I know your deeds, that you have the name that you are alive, but you are dead. Become watchful, and strengthen the things remaining that were ready to die, for I have not found your deeds fully performed before my God. Therefore, continue mindful of how you have received and how you heard, and go on keeping it, and repent. Certainly unless you wake up, I shall come as a thief, and you will not know at all at what hour I shall come upon you.’”​—Revelation 3:1-3.

27. To guard against losing what privilege do the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites heed Jesus’ words in Revelation 2:5?

²⁷ In this religiously bedarkened world the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites want to shine as illuminators, shedding light on God’s name and on his purposes for saving mankind. They are on guard against losing the privilege of being, collectively, a spiritual lampstand. They take heed to the words of the glorified Jesus Christ to the congregation in ancient Ephesus:

“Repent and do the former deeds. If you do not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”​—Revelation 2:5.

A “GREAT CROWD” CALLS UPON THE NAME

28. During World War II, when the wild beast out of the abyss again made war upon the anointed remnant, why did the experience of theirs during World War I not repeat itself?

²⁸ In 1939-1945 C.E. a second world war wreaked havoc on mankind. But did the experience during World War I repeat itself with regard to the reanimated remnant of spiritual Israelites, who, since 1931, have been known as Jehovah’s Witnesses? Despite the worst religious persecution during World War II, when the “wild beast that ascends out of the abyss” again made war with the remnant, the records answer No! Violent persecution did not succeed in putting to death the Kingdom witnessing carried on by the anointed remnant. They kept on “getting filled with spirit” from their heavenly Life-Giver. (Ephesians 5:18) They held on to life spiritually by activity in Kingdom witnessing, underground, if necessary. When forbidden by political and militarized governments to preach the good news of Jehovah’s established kingdom, they prayed to him for courage to carry on faithfully in fulfillment of the commission to preach.

29. How has the result of the foregoing been to the remnant like in the case reported on in Acts 4:31?

²⁹ The result to them was like in the case of the Jerusalem congregation, after the apostles had been ordered by the religious authorities to stop preaching Christ. “And they were one and all filled with the holy spirit and were speaking the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31) Similarly, to this day, the remnant give expression to their being filled with holy spirit and powerfully go on “speaking the word of God with boldness.” Consequently, the “lampstand” of the remnant has not been removed from its place.

30. (a) What do the anointed remnant do about God’s name? (b) Why, in view of Revelation 6:14-17, is there reason that people ask whether the remnant are the only ones able to “get away safe” on Jehovah’s day?

³⁰ The anointed remnant themselves ‘call upon the name of Jehovah’ and proclaim it world wide. Yet, are they the only ones today who hope to “get away safe” during the approaching “great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah”? (Joel 2:31, 32) This is a question that many who are not of the remnant would like to have answered, for as respects that “fear-inspiring day” Revelation 6:14-17 says:

“And the heaven [the lofty political governments over men] departed as a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and every island were removed from their places. And the kings of the earth and the top-ranking ones and the military commanders and the rich and the strong ones and every slave and every free person hid themselves in the caves and in the rock-masses of the mountains. And they keep saying to the mountains and to the rock-masses: ‘Fall over us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

31. (a) What is the answer to the question of the above-described persons about getting away safe on Jehovah’s day? (b) Who do not join the kings of the earth and their partisans in calling out for earthly protection?

³¹ The answer to the question of all those described above who have failed to call on Jehovah’s name for salvation is, Not one of them will stand approved and be spared alive on His “great day.” The symbolic windstorm that is to destroy them is referred to in the book’s next chapter, in Revelation 7:1-3. After that reference, we are informed of the 144,000 slaves of God who are sealed in the forehead with the “seal of the living God.” These are classified as Israelites, not fleshly natural Israelites such as those who approved of the slaughter of the Lamb of God, but spiritual Israelites who follow the Lamb Jesus as the Messiah. (Revelation 7:4-8; 14:1-5) Right after the sight of these, what is unsealed to our vision? An undetermined number of persons who do not join the kings of the earth and their partisans in calling upon the governmental mountains and rock-masses to hide them from the wrath of God and of his Lamb. They do not fear divine wrath.

32. To whom do this “great crowd” ascribe their salvation, and with what benefit to themselves?

³² As we read Revelation 7:9-17, let us note that this unnumbered “crowd” is said to “come out of the great tribulation”:

“Look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: ‘Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’

“ . . . ‘These who are dressed in the white robes, who are they and where did they come from?’ . . . ‘These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are before the throne of God; and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will hunger no more nor thirst anymore, neither will the sun beat down upon them nor any scorching heat, because the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them, and will guide them to fountains of waters of life. And God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.’”

33. What are some things that differentiate this “great crowd” from the previously mentioned 144,000 spiritual Israelites, and why are they fit to serve God in his spiritual temple?

³³ That numberless “great crowd” is not a part of the numbered 144,000 spiritual Israelites. They are not sealed in their foreheads with the “seal of the living God.” They are not envisioned as standing on the heavenly Mount Zion with the Lamb of God. They are not spoken of as being “bought from among mankind as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” As to nationality, in comparison with the 144,000 spiritual Israelites, they are Gentiles, as people of all the nations. Yet they have come to know Jehovah God and to recognize him as seated on the throne of the universe, as Universal Sovereign. They know and confess who the slaughtered Lamb of God is, for they exercise faith in the purifying, cleansing power of his blood in order to get a clean appearance before God on his throne. Thus cleansed, they render sacred service to him day and night in the earthly courtyards of his spiritual temple.

34. The “great crowd” is classified as being made up of which “sheep,” and what hope do they have for future life?

³⁴ What about the hope that they hold in common? It is not a heavenly hope. Revelation 7:17 likens them to sheep, of whom the Lamb is their Shepherd. The “fountains of waters of life” to which he guides them are “fountains” bubbling forth divine provisions for perfect human life in the promised earthly paradise. They are part of the figurative “sheep” for whom the Fine Shepherd has surrendered his human soul. After he spoke about the “fold” into which John the Baptizer as “the doorkeeper” opened the door in 29 C.E., Jesus went on to say: “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; these also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:3, 16) Accordingly, the “great crowd” of Revelation 7:9-17 consists of “other sheep” who are alive today and who commit themselves to following Jesus Christ, the Fine Shepherd.

35. With whom does the “great crowd” become “one flock” under “one shepherd”?

³⁵ With whom, then, did this “great crowd” become “one flock” under “one shepherd”? It is with the “sheep” of the other “fold,” namely, the remnant of the “little flock” of spiritual Israelites. (Luke 12:32; 1 Peter 2:25) Although the “great crowd” are not in the new covenant that Jesus Christ mediated for spiritual Israel, he unites them with the anointed remnant as of “one flock” in one pen. From when onward has the Fine Shepherd been doing so?

36, 37. (a) By what event was the beginning of the gathering of the “other sheep” marked? (b) What prospect was set before them, to their great joy?

³⁶ From 1935 onward. At the end of May of that year a five-day convention of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses was in session at Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.A. There were specially invited to this convention persons who associated with the anointed remnant and yet who were interested in surviving the “great tribulation” and entering, without dying, into God’s new order with its earthly paradise. They had no heavenward aspirations. Everlasting life on a paradise earth would completely meet their heart’s desire.

³⁷ Great, then, was their joy at that Washington convention when the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society discussed the subject of the “great multitude,” spoken of in Revelation 7:9-17, Authorized Version. He made it clear that the “multitude” was no spiritual or spirit-begotten class; it would not attain the angelic nature in heaven so as to assist the 144,000 joint heirs with Christ. It was distinctly an earthly class with hope of endless perfect human life in the earthly paradise under Christ’s kingdom. Now, by means of the Fine Shepherd Jesus Christ, Jehovah God was beginning to gather this “multitude” into active service with the anointed remnant.

38. How did the “spirit” of those of the “great crowd” react to the hope set before them, and what hope has since been held forth prominently before all seekers of God?

³⁸ The hearts of hundreds present at that Washington convention had never been warmed by a prospect of joint heirship with Christ. But now at the making clear of the earthly hope contained in Revelation 7:9-17, their “spirit,” the reactive force within them, surged forth in heartfelt responsiveness. They hailed such a hope with vigorous applause. Later on, when thousands of others read in the columns of the Watchtower magazine the reproduction of the discussion of the “great multitude,” their “spirit,” too, responded. Ever since, the hope of the “great multitude” has been prominently held out to all seekers of God earth wide. Hundreds of thousands have been baptized in the name of God’s Son and have been put in line for realizing such a beautiful hope.

39. In view of what differences between them and the anointed remnant is the question raised as to whether the dedicated, baptized “other sheep” have holy spirit upon them?

³⁹ Of course, these dedicated, baptized “other sheep” of the “great crowd” have not been begotten to be God’s spiritual sons, with a heavenly inheritance. They are not spiritual Israelites. They have not been taken into the new covenant with the opportunity to become God’s “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5, 6) They have never been sealed with God’s spirit as an advance token of their heavenly inheritance. They have not been anointed with God’s spirit as prospective joint heirs with Christ in his celestial kingdom. (Isaiah 61:1-3; 1 John 2:20, 27; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22) But do they nonetheless have holy spirit on them?

40. What Scriptural proof is there to show whether a person on earth who is devoted to God has to be begotten of God’s spirit in order to have holy spirit operate on him?

⁴⁰ Overwhelmingly the facts answer Yes! Especially since 1935 C.E., the “great crowd” have worked with the spirit-begotten, anointed remnant. They have given convincing evidence that God’s holy spirit is operative upon them. A person on earth does not need to be begotten by God’s spirit in order to have His active force go into operation upon him. Look at the prophet Moses, at Judge Othniel, at Judge Gideon, at Judge Samson, at King David, at John the Baptizer. Yes, look at all the pre-Christian prophets upon whom Jehovah’s spirit came to inspire them to write the Bible books from Genesis to Malachi. Granted that no heavenly hope was set before such ancient persons, yet Jehovah God put his spirit upon them because they devoted themselves to him and lovingly offered themselves for his service. God enveloped them with his active force. He filled them with his holy spirit. It operated on them.

41. In view of the small number of those making up the anointed remnant today, how has God seen to it that the Kingdom preaching and disciple-making work is carried out on a worldwide scale?

⁴¹ Today, the remnant of spiritual Israelites anointed with holy spirit number how many? According to the number of those who partake of the emblematic bread and wine at the annual celebration of the Lord’s Supper, they number at present around 10,000. But those baptized Christians whose spirit responds appreciatively to the hope of everlasting life in a paradise here on earth number more than two million. Who, then, do the major part of the Kingdom preaching and disciple-making world wide? (Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20) The aging anointed remnant, being so few in number, could not possibly carry the bulk of the work. So, God’s spirit, operating mightily upon the “great crowd” of “other sheep,” has enabled them along with the anointed remnant to do a worldwide witness work without equal in Christian history.

42, 43. (a) For the accomplishing of the worldwide proclamation of the Messianic kingdom, to whom do the participants therein give the credit? (b) In view of what scriptures do they believe that they have had angelic guidance?

⁴² Proclamation of the Kingdom Gospel now resounds all around the globe in 210 lands and islands of the sea. More than 38,000 congregations of active Kingdom proclaimers flourish in a spiritual paradise earth wide.a

⁴³ This far-reaching proclamation of God’s kingdom for his new order, even to the most distant parts of the earth, required a lot of hard work on the part of those engaged in the proclamation, and all this free of charge. (Matthew 10:8) But these Kingdom proclaimers, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, do not take the credit to themselves for this magnificent accomplishment. They confess that they are merely instruments in God’s hands. The courage and strength to do this foreordained work they ascribe to God’s spirit. They discern that they have also had angelic backing and guidance while doing God’s approved work. They believe in what Hebrews 1:14 says in speaking about the heavenly angels as being “spirits for public service, sent forth to minister for those who are going to inherit salvation.” Also, regarding our particular time, “the conclusion of the system of things,” Jesus said: “He will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.”​—Matthew 24:3, 30, 31.

44. (a) Why is such a usage of heavenly angels not strange? (b) For the separating of imitation Christians from the true, and for the gathering of the “great crowd” of other sheep whose unseen aid was foretold?

⁴⁴ Is there anything strange about that? No! Why, in ancient, pre-Christian times heavenly angels came to the aid and guidance of faithful worshipers of Jehovah God. (Genesis 32:1, 2, 24-30; Exodus 14:19, 20; 2 Kings 6:15-17; Isaiah 37:36; Psalm 34:7) Today it is the time for the gathering together of the true heirs of God’s kingdom and for the separating of these from the imitation Christians of Christendom, and so for this critical time the anointed remnant were to have angelic aid, according to Matthew 13:39-43, 49, 50, and Revelation 14:6. Accordingly, the angels under Christ the King take an unseen directive part in the gathering of the remnant of his anointed disciples, “his chosen ones.” The angels under his command he also uses in gathering a multitude far greater than the anointed remnant, namely, the “great crowd” of his “other sheep.”​—Matthew 25:31-46; John 10:16.

A FIGURATIVE RESURRECTION

45, 46. (a) Why is there no basis for despising the day of small things in view of God’s marvelous miracle as prefigured in Ezekiel 37:1-14? (b) In behalf of the resettlement of the exiled Israelites upon their own soil, what would Jehovah put within them?

⁴⁵ So, then, does there remain any basis for anyone to ‘despise the day of small things’? (Zechariah 4:10) What an amazing chain of accomplishments began to be forged when, back in 1919 C.E., “spirit of life from God entered into them,” that is, into the apparently dead anointed remnant! (Revelation 11:11) It was a modern-day miracle of resurrection on the part of Almighty God. It finds its correspondency in what the prophet Ezekiel saw, when he had the vision of the low plain that was full of dry, disassembled bones of dead Israelites. The bodies of those Israelites were restored, but the bodies still lay dead. Then, in obedience to God’s command, Ezekiel prophesied over them. What happened? “The breath proceeded to come into them, and they began to live and stand upon their feet, a very, very great military force.”​—Ezekiel 37:1-10.

⁴⁶ Would Ezekiel’s vision be fulfilled upon God’s chosen people then languishing in Babylon? To reassure them that this restoration vision would be fulfilled, Jehovah inspired Ezekiel to say: “I will put my spirit in you, and you must come to life, and I will settle you upon your soil; and you will have to know that I myself, Jehovah, have spoken and I have done it.”​—Ezekiel 37:11-14; compare Isaiah 32:15-18.

47. (a) Upon restoring his anointed remnant, for what purpose did he put his spirit upon them? (b) How have the reanimating effects of this been in harmony with Romans 8:11?

⁴⁷ In our twentieth century, after the end of World War I in 1918, the anointed remnant were revitalized spiritually and marched out from captivity to Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, in order to resume their Kingdom service. To that end, Jehovah restored them to their rightful estate on earth, to an approved relationship with him. He put his spirit upon them, to act with freedom, with outspokenness, in Kingdom service. “Where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17) Since then, what aliveness the liberated remnant have displayed in his royal service, and also, later, the “great crowd” of their sheeplike coworkers! Jehovah’s holy active force has been responsible for this, just as Romans 8:11 reminds us, saying: “If, now, the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his spirit that resides in you.”

48. What force is with the united remnant and “great crowd”?

⁴⁸ Forward, then, unitedly, O remnant and “great crowd”! The invincible force that is behind God’s coming new order is with you. (Zechariah 4:6) Your continued preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” will bring further suffering and reproach. But your undergoing this for the sake of Jehovah God and his Christ is the highest honor possible. Remember: “If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy, because the spirit of glory, even the spirit of God, is resting upon you.” (1 Peter 4:14) Reproach from foes of God’s kingdom is no sign of his disapproval. Your endurance of it is proof that you have God’s spirit. Having his spirit resting upon you glorifies, not disgraces, you. It dignifies you and makes you Christlike. It marks you as worthy of glorious service in God’s coming new order. So count yourselves happy, highly favored!

[Footnotes]

Chapter 9

The New Order That Is Backed by Holy Spirit

1. In spite of Ecclesiastes 1:9, why will the coming order backed by holy spirit be something really new?

WHEN we speak about a coming order that is backed by holy spirit, we can really say: “See this; it is new.” Even wise King Solomon will not be able to apply to it his stated rule: “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10) Solomon’s saying has proved to be true till now with regard to the life pattern of man and woman and with regard to the rise and fall of man-made governments. But the order of things that the Creator of heaven and earth will bring in shortly will indeed be something new, something never experienced before in all human history.

2. Why is it to be expected that holy spirit would be behind the promised new order?

² Holy spirit will be behind the coming new order. And why not? It was behind the writing of the Holy Bible, and this inspired book fairly overflows with the good news about the peaceful new order for trouble-weary mankind. When it is at last brought in within this generation, all those entering into the enjoyment of it will delightedly say: “This is new!” The omnipotent God, Jehovah, will prove true to his promise to mankind: “Look! I am making all things new.”​—Revelation 21:5.

3. (a) What are new things about which the book of Revelation speaks? (b) Why will God’s new order not be a patched-up job?

³ Revelation, the last book of the Bible, speaks about new things, a “new name,” a “new song,” “new heaven and a new earth,” and “New Jerusalem.” (Revelation 2:17; 3:12; 5:9; 14:3; 21:1, 2) These are exhilarating things about which to think and talk. And when a person appreciates the nature of the new things that are in store for mankind, it moves him to “sing to Jehovah a new song.” (Psalm 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1) His new order will not be a patched-up job, a repairing of mankind’s old order, a trying to preserve as much of the old order as is possible and merely adding some new touches to it, thus using man’s old order as a base. This would never work. Jesus Christ himself said:

“No one cuts a patch from a new outer garment and sews it onto an old outer garment; but if he does, then both the new patch tears away and the patch from the new garment does not match the old. Moreover, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; but if he does, then the new wine will burst the wineskins, and it will be spilled out and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”​—Luke 5:36-38.

4. Why will the old rebuilt Jerusalem not play a part in the New Order?

⁴ In accord with this illustration, what God has foretold for mankind will be brand new. Old Jerusalem in the Middle East will not figure in it at all. When God executed his adverse judgment in the year 70 C.E., he had the Jerusalem of Jesus’ day destroyed. The Jerusalem that has been built since has not been built by His command nor by his approved people. (John 4:21) The New Jerusalem is the thing! This will be no city structure here on earth, on the site of the old Jerusalem. New Jerusalem will be heavenly. All we have to do is examine its description as given in Revelation 21:9 through 22:3, and we shall see that, because of its dimensions and features, it would never fit in with the terrain of old Jerusalem. In the inspired description, the New Jerusalem is called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

5. The New Jerusalem is likened to whom, and how does this correspond with the language of Zechariah 9:9?

⁵ “I saw also,” says the apostle John, “the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2) Just as here the New Jerusalem is likened to a woman, a bride, a wife, so the old Jerusalem was likened to a woman. For instance, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Nisan 9 (March 27), 33 C.E., as if he were a king-designate riding to his coronation, the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 came true: “Be very joyful, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Look! Your king himself comes to you. He is . . . riding upon an ass, even upon a full-grown animal the son of a she-ass.”​—Matthew 21:4, 5.

6. How will New Jerusalem compare with the old city as to loveliness, and how does it come down out of heaven from God?

⁶ Ancient earthly Jerusalem was called “the city of which they used to say, ‘It is the perfection of prettiness.’” (Lamentations 2:15; Psalm 48:1, 2; 50:2) Still, in beauty and glory, it could never compare with the heavenly New Jerusalem. This glorious new city comes down “out of heaven from God.” In what way? In that this new governmental body originates with God and it extends its power and authority down from heaven to the earth, for the all-time good of mankind.​—Revelation 21:2.

7. In what way is the holy city, New Jerusalem, “the Lamb’s wife”?

⁷ In what way is the holy city “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”? In that it is made up of the congregation of Christ’s anointed disciples, his joint heirs in the Messianic kingdom. (Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7, 8; 22:17) With reference to each of these the glorified Jesus said: “I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God, and that new name of mine.” (Revelation 3:12) Members of the “bride” are spiritual Israelites, in the new covenant, and they number 144,000. Jesus Christ builds them upon himself as the “rock-mass,” and his twelve apostles rest like complementary foundation stones upon him.​—Matthew 16:18; Revelation 7:4-8; 14:1-5; 21:14.

8. Why will Christ’s 144,000 joint heirs be a body of rulers that is brand new?

⁸ The 144,000 joint heirs with the heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ will include no worldly politicians, not even political and ecclesiastical kings that have reigned in Christendom. They are a distinct heavenly body of rulers, something brand new. Being no longer of human nature, they have the “divine nature.” They are a “new creation.” (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17) They have met the requirements for a disciple on earth to enter into the heavenly kingdom. They were “born again,” “born from water and spirit,” “born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.” (John 1:12, 13; 3:3, 5) In Romans 6:5, 8 the spirit-begotten disciples of Christ read: “If we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection. Moreover, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”

9. Christ’s resurrection was of what kind, in the likeness of which resurrection his 144,000 joint heirs are to be united with him?

⁹ What is “the likeness of his resurrection”? Well, how was Christ resurrected? In 1 Peter 3:18 we are told: “Christ died once for all time concerning sins, a righteous person for unrighteous ones, that he might lead you to God, he being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit.”

10. (a) What was God’s purpose in ‘preparing’ a body of flesh for his Son Jesus on earth? (b) For Jesus to live again after being put to death in the flesh concerning sins, how would he have to be resurrected?

¹⁰ By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, God had humbled his Son, making him “a little lower than angels.” (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 2:7-9; Psalm 8:5) But God did not purpose for his only-begotten Son to remain a creature of flesh and blood forever, inferior to heavenly angels. God purposed to glorify him more highly than angels for his faithfulness to death in the flesh. So the perfect human body that God miraculously “prepared” for Jesus on earth was the body that Jesus offered to God once for all time in sacrifice. It was given for mankind to feed upon like bread; just as Jesus said: “The bread that I shall give is my flesh in behalf of the life of the world.” (Hebrews 10:1-10; John 6:51) So, after his being “put to death in the flesh,” Jesus, if he were to be raised to life again, had to be “made alive in the spirit,” as a heavenly spirit Son of God.

11. For Christ’s spirit-begotten disciples to be in the likeness of his resurrection, in what must they be “made alive,” and how does this harmonize with 1 Corinthians 15:42-54?

¹¹ Like Jesus Christ, his spirit-begotten disciples must be “faithful even to death” in the flesh. (Revelation 2:10) For them to be united with him “in the likeness of his resurrection,” they also, like him, have to be “made alive in the spirit,” as spirit creatures. In 1 Corinthians 15:42-54, we read of their kind of resurrection:

“It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised up in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Nevertheless, the first is, not that which is spiritual, but that which is physical, afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is out of the earth and made of dust; the second man is out of heaven. As the one made of dust is, so those made of dust are also; and as the heavenly one is, so those who are heavenly are also. And just as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one.

“However, this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Look! I tell you a sacred secret: We shall not all fall asleep in death, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. But when this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and this which is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up forever.’”

A NEW RESURRECTION

12. (a) Since the resurrection of the 144,000 is in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection, this argues for Christ’s having what kind of resurrection? (b) Why is this a new resurrection, and what makes it the “first resurrection”?

¹² Such a resurrection to incorruption and immortality in a “spiritual body” is what Romans 6:5 calls “the likeness of his resurrection.” This means that Jesus Christ himself had such a resurrection, not to life in a physical body that is corruptible and mortal and lower than angels, but in a spiritual body and as “a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45) Now we can understand why, after his resurrection, Jesus had to materialize human bodies with the material clothing in order to make himself visible to his disciples during the forty days up till his ascension back to heaven. This is indeed a new resurrection, one invisible to human eyes. It has preceded the coming resurrection of mankind in general. It is also of first-class importance. So it is called “the first resurrection.” It is what the apostle Paul calls “the earlier resurrection.” Christ’s 144,000 joint heirs share in it. (Philippians 3:11) These are the ones spoken of in Revelation 20:4-6:

“They came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years. . . . This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.”

13. What kind of governmental organization will that first resurrection provide for mankind’s good, and how is it spoken of in 2 Peter 3:13?

¹³ Thus the members of “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” experience the same kind of resurrection as the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, had. Does it dawn upon our appreciation just what such a resurrection will produce? It provides a body of incorruptible, immortal rulers for the good of all mankind. None of man’s earthly rulers has had immortality. (1 Timothy 6:15, 16) Jesus Christ and his 144,000 fellow kings and priests will outrank any earthly government that mankind has had during its six thousand years of existence. It will be the very best and highest kind of government that God could give to mankind. It will displace all the human governments that have been manipulated by Satan the Devil and his demons. God will use it to usher in upon the earth his new order, for it will be a new governmental “heavens.”​—2 Peter 3:13.

14. (a) What must happen to the present old “heavens” over mankind? (b) In what way will the new government be a “heavens” in a real way?

¹⁴ The man-made governmental “heavens” must go, along with their invisible backer, Satan the Devil, “the ruler of this world.” (John 12:31) They are nearing their destruction in the “great tribulation” that will reach its maximum destructive fury at Har–Magedon, when the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” results in crowning victory for Jehovah, the Sovereign of heaven and earth. (Revelation 16:14-16; 19:11-21; Daniel 2:44) The new governmental “heavens” must come into undisputed power and control. They must be heavenly, not merely in a figurative way, but in a real way, by being made up of spirit rulers having the “divine nature” and being immortal, incorruptible. (2 Peter 1:4) Blessed will our eyes be when we see in reality what the apostle John saw in vision. His description thereof is captivating:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’”​—Revelation 21:1-4.

THE SPIRIT BACKS UP THE KING OF DAVID’S LINE

15, 16. (a) Who was the natural source of David and his line of kings over Israel? (b) How did that natural source become like a tree stump and its root system, and in whom did that natural source reach its objective descendant?

¹⁵ Later in the vision to John, the heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ said: “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16) King David’s father was Jesse of Bethlehem and of the tribe of Judah. So Jesus was a descendant of Jesse through David. Also, Jesse was the natural source of King David and of David’s line of kings over Israel.

¹⁶ The Davidic kingdom was like a tree with its base and roots in David’s father Jesse. In the year 607 B.C.E., at the destruction of Jerusalem and the removal of her king to Babylon, that kingdom tree was cut down. The Davidic kingdom was never restored to Jerusalem. What remained was like a tree stump with its root system. This pictured David’s father Jesse. Jesse was left without a descendant actively ruling as king over Israel. But there was still vitality in that tree stump and its roots, for Jesse’s line of descent through King David still continued on. It reached its objective member in Messiah Jesus.

17. (a) How did Jesus Christ revitalize the kingdom that had its source in Jesse? (b) When was that kingdom put in power, and what force activates the King who is the offspring of Jesse through David?

¹⁷ By being born through the virgin Jewess Mary at Bethlehem, Jesus became like a “twig” out of the stump of Jesse and like a “sprout” out of Jesse’s roots. As such he could revitalize the kingdom that was based on Jesse, the father of kings over Israel. When Jehovah God anointed Jesus with holy spirit, this symbolic “twig” or “sprout” became the King-Designate for the Davidic kingdom. At the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, God enthroned him as King in heaven. Concerning his activity Isaiah 11:1-5 says:

“And there must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse; and out of his roots a sprout will be fruitful. And upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah; and there will be enjoyment by him in the fear of Jehovah.

“And he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. And he must strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death. And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

18. (a) How does the symbolic “twig” strike the earth with the rod of his mouth? (b) How does he put wicked ones to death with the spirit of his lips?

¹⁸ During the coming “great tribulation” the symbolic “twig out of the stump of Jesse” will indeed “strike the earth with the rod of his mouth.” Royal orders issuing from his mouth will become like a rod that smashes to bits the earthly social arrangement of mankind, the old order of things. His commands are forceful, urgent, stirring to action, and they are propelled from his lips with death-dealing effect upon his obstinate earthly enemies.

19. How does the King, backed by God’s spirit, deliver the meek and lowly ones from the wicked oppressor forever?

¹⁹ This speaking with the authority of an executioner against wicked enemies corresponds with the “sharp long sword” pictured as protruding out of the King’s mouth in order to “strike the nations with it, and he will shepherd [the nations] with a rod of iron.” (Revelation 19:11-15) By doing this, the Messianic king, backed by Jehovah’s spirit, delivers the meek and lowly ones on earth. When he reigns with his 144,000 fellow kings, he will not permit the wicked oppressors to come to power again on earth.

20. In Isaiah 11:10-12 the regathering of whom is foretold, and into what are they regathered and into what conditions?

²⁰ Since his enthronement in the heavens at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, the symbolic “sprout” out of the roots of Jesse has served for the fulfilling of a further part of Isaiah’s prophecy, chapter eleven. He has brought about the regathering of the remnant of his anointed joint heirs from all parts of the earth to which they had been scattered by persecutions during and after World War I. He has brought them into a spiritual paradise, where they enjoy peace and harmony with God and produce abundant “fruitage of the spirit.” (Galatians 5:22, 23) The beastliness of the world is kept out! (Isaiah 11:6-9) Isaiah looked ahead to the regathering and restoration of spiritual Israel, and said:

“And it must occur in that day that there will be the root of Jesse that will be standing up as a signal for the peoples. To him even the nations will turn inquiringly, and his resting-place must become glorious.

“And it must occur in that day that Jehovah will again offer his hand, a second time, to acquire the remnant of his people who will remain over from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. And he will certainly raise up a signal for the nations and gather the dispersed ones of Israel; and the scattered ones of Judah he will collect together from the four extremities of the earth.”​—Isaiah 11:10-12.

21. The symbolic “sprout” out of the roots of Jesse is here spoken of as being what, and how has he been made to serve as a “signal” to the nations?

²¹ Here the symbolic “sprout” out of the roots of Jesse is spoken of as being the “root” itself of Jesse. At the close of the Gentile Times in 1914 this Messianic king was raised up in royal power. Being advertised world wide, he has served as a “signal” to which all the scattered remnant of spiritual Israelites must assemble, inasmuch as he is the reigning King. These regathered and restored ones have since carried out their anointing to make prominent to all mankind the Messianic king and his kingdom.

22. To whom have individuals of the nations now turned inquiringly, and who have answered their inquiries, with what result?

²² Hundreds of thousands of individuals from among all nations have now turned inquiringly to the signal-like Messianic king. They have satisfied themselves that the glorified Jesus Christ is really Jehovah’s promised Messiah. The anointed remnant, with the answers to their inquiries, have helped them to do this. Jubilantly they have gathered to the side of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom, hailing it as the only hope for all mankind. Already they form a “great crowd,” the final number of which by the time of the “great tribulation” we do not know.​—Revelation 7:9-17.

“A NEW EARTH”

23. How securely will Jehovah put the new heavens and new earth in place, and what kind of action may it require for him to bring his people into the New Order?

²³ The wicked old order, which has entrenched itself so deeply in the earth, must go​—into destruction! Jehovah is now getting all things ready for the glorious new order! He has ‘planted’ the new governmental “heavens,” embedding them so fixedly in his universal organization that they cannot be pulled up by men or demons. The “new earth” that he inaugurates he will put upon such a firm foundation that nothing can make it wobble or totter to its ruin. Into this new order he will bring the remnant of spiritual Israel and the “great crowd” even if he has to do as at the Red Sea back in Moses’ day, stirring up the waters and making them boisterous so as to cut a corridor for his liberated people to get through. Here is what he says in Isaiah 51:15, 16:

“I, Jehovah, am your God, the One stirring up the sea that its waves may be boisterous. Jehovah of armies is his name. And I shall put my words in your mouth, and with the shadow of my hand I shall certainly cover you, in order to plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth and say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

24. In whose mouth has Jehovah put his word, and why has he covered these with the shadow of his hand?

²⁴ No obstacle put in His way by the enemies will prove to be insurmountable for Jehovah. Just as at Mount Sinai He put his word in the mouth of his chosen people through the mediator Moses and thereafter he led them under the protective shadow of his hand into the Promised Land, so he has done for the remnant of spiritual Israel. He has put his word, his message of the hour, into the mouth of the spiritual remnant for them to confess openly before all the world, for their own salvation and for that of responsive hearers. A “great crowd” of “other sheep” have acted favorably upon what they have heard and have taken God’s word into their mouth. Because all of these have become his Christian witnesses, Jehovah covers them with the shadow of his hand for their protection in this world.

25. (a) Of what will Jehovah make the protected remnant a part, and what acknowledgment will He make to them? (b) What will God make the protected “great crowd” to be, and whose people will they be said to be?

²⁵ Jehovah has an objective in this line of action. His objective is to make the faithful remnant eventually a part of the new governmental “heavens” as joint heirs with the King Jesus Christ. As for the “great crowd” of “other sheep,” Jehovah will make them the initial part of the “new earth,” the new earthly society in the New Order. By preserving the faithful remnant of spiritual Israel through the coming “great tribulation” he will be saying to these spiritual Israelites who are ‘approaching the heavenly Mount Zion and heavenly Jerusalem,’ “You are my people.” (Hebrews 12:22; Isaiah 51:16) Also, the protective “tent of God” will begin to be with the surviving “great crowd,” and, as Revelation 21:3 says, “they will be his peoples.”

26. What spirit will be absent from the New Order, and with what do the prospective entrants into it get filled now?

²⁶ Holy spirit will operate and prevail in the globe-encircling new order. Jehovah will have cleansed away the polluting “spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” Such “sons of disobedience” will have perished in the “great tribulation” and Satan the Devil and his demons will have been abyssed. (Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 20:1-3) In preparation for the New Order, the prospective survivors of the coming “great tribulation” keep on “getting filled with spirit” from God.​—Ephesians 5:18.

27. In the New Order what will take place that even advanced medical science of today cannot match?

²⁷ We can only try to imagine how it will be here on earth after the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon and after the imprisoning of Satan and his demons in the “abyss.” Then holy spirit will have free reign earth wide. We are reminded of how amazingly holy spirit operated in the days of Jesus Christ and his apostles on earth nineteen centuries ago. Astonishing miracles took place, to the unspeakable joy of the people who benefited therefrom. Advanced medical science of today has nothing with which to match the instantaneous cures and healings that then took place by holy spirit. There were even resurrections of persons from the dead! Better than that, there was also spiritual healing by means of the proclaiming and teaching of the good news of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom. There was a liberating of those held in bondage to false, traditional, death-dealing religion.

NEW ORDER PROSPECTS!

28. What part on earth will the surviving remnant have in the activities of the New Order, and until the time for what event?

²⁸ Marvelous indeed were those miracles that took place during the days when the Christian congregation was being founded. But they were merely foregleams of what is to be accomplished by holy spirit in Jehovah’s new order. We may expect the surviving remnant to participate in the thrilling activities at the start of the New Order. But for how long, we do not now know from the Holy Scriptures. They have a “marriage” to look forward to​—the heavenly marriage of the Lamb to his complete bridal congregation. At the time that this is to be realized, they will pass off the earthly scene and be rewarded with a happy part in the “first resurrection.” So they must prove faithful to the death.

29. Will the “great crowd” see the resurrection of the Bride class, or the resurrection of whom?

²⁹ The resurrection of the Bride class will be invisible to the eyes of the “great crowd” of tribulation survivors, who hope to reside forever in the paradise restored to the earth. But there will be resurrections on earth that will be visible to the “great crowd” at the “hour” for God by Christ to raise the human dead.

30. In the case of the ransomed human dead, upon what does it depend as to whether their resurrection will lead to everlasting life or to a judgment of condemnation?

³⁰ Jesus Christ himself awaits that hour. He foretold it when he was discussing the day of world judgment and said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:27-29) In the case of all those resurrected by virtue of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it all depends upon their future course under Christ’s kingdom as to whether resurrection leads eventually to everlasting life on a paradise earth or leads finally to a judgment by which they are condemned to everlasting destruction. Those who then yield to the prevailing holy spirit and let it become the directive force in their lives will gain eternal life in Paradise. Those who resist the holy spirit then so evidently in operation will suffer the penalty for sinning against the holy spirit, namely, eternal death.

31. What promise made on the day of his death does the King Jesus Christ still feel obligated to carry out, and when will the “hour” for this strike?

³¹ The heavenly King, Jesus Christ, still feels under obligation to carry out the promise that he made to the sympathetic evildoer who died alongside him at Calvary, on that dark day of Nisan 14, 33 C.E. Of course, that impaled evildoer is now dead and remembers nothing. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) But the glorified Jesus Christ remembers his words to the sympathizer: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43) In view of this reference to Paradise, the “hour” for Jesus to let the evildoer in the memorial tomb hear his voice will not strike until the restoration of Paradise to earth is well along and the resurrected evildoer can notice the change in the earthly scene. By conforming his life to the holy spirit that comes from God through Jesus Christ, the evildoer can make his resurrection the kind that eventuates in eternal life in the earth-wide Paradise.

32. Among those received back from the dead to earthly life there will be what “cloud” mentioned in Scripture?

³² We then on earth will receive back from the dead not only our redeemed relatives and friends but also the faithful men and women of ancient times who were witnesses of Jehovah and who were moved by holy spirit. These will include the “so great a cloud of witnesses,” running from John the Baptizer all the way back to the first martyr for Jehovah, namely, Abel. (Hebrews 11:2 through 12:1) These will likely have an influential part in the New Order.

33. What official position will men from that “cloud” be given along with others, and for what communication may they serve as intermediaries?

³³ From among these the King Jesus Christ will take those men whom he will “appoint as princes in all the earth.” (Psalm 45:16) There will already be “princes” on earth before them. Who? Those men from among the “great crowd” of “tribulation” survivors who will have been appointed as such at the start of the New Order. (Revelation 7:9-17; Isaiah 32:1, 2) But all the “princes” will be the visible earthly representatives of the “new heavens,” the new heavenly government of Jesus Christ and the 144,000 joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Doubtless these “princes” will serve as intermediaries for communication between the invisible Kingdom and the visible terrestrial society of redeemed mankind, the “new earth.”a

34. In the New Order how will Jesus Christ carry out his title role of “Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace”?

³⁴ The New Order will be one of undisturbed peace to the four corners of the earth. It will be under the royal rule of the one whose heavenly Father appointed him to bear the titles “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace,” and “to the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6, 7) He will become an Eternal Father, for his “princely rule” will be a paternal one, giving life to all his obedient subjects as his children. He will be a Mighty God, for he will be a Godlike Judge; but he will not be worshiped as such by his earthly beneficiaries.​—Psalm 82:1-6; John 1:1; 10:33-36.

35. Who only will then be worshiped as God?

³⁵ Jehovah alone will then be worshiped, for it is written of the New Order: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 21:3, 4) Satan the Devil, “the god of this system of things,” will not be the god of the New Order. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Devil worship, demon worship, will be abolished. Jehovah will be worshiped as God.

36. What fruitage will enrich the New Order, but who will put in an appearance at the end of the thousand years of Christ’s reign?

³⁶ Holy spirit will permeate the entire New Order. (Psalm 139:7-10) Earth’s Paradise will be enriched by the “fruitage” of that spirit, such as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22, 23) Such a spiritually fruitful condition will flourish to the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign. But then what? Up come Satan and his demons out of the abyss, these being released “for a little while.” By deception they will try to have all the earth again dominated by the “spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” To what extent will they succeed against the prevailing holy spirit of God?​—Revelation 20:3.

37. (a) In the New Order what inroads do Satan and his demons make upon the prevailing holy spirit? (b) How is Jehovah forever vindicated?

³⁷ Only to the extent of inducing a number of restored mankind to commit the unforgivable sin against the holy spirit. Thus they cut themselves off from the heavenly Source of the spirit of life, Jehovah God. This spells everlasting death for them, “the second death.” But what about the vast majority of mankind in their lovely Paradise home? Ah, the holy spirit will gloriously triumph in their case. In an everlasting love of holy spirit, they will resist Satan’s tempting deceptions. Unwaveringly they will stay loyal to the rightful Sovereign of all the universe, their God Jehovah. Their faithfully passing this final test works for Jehovah’s eternal vindication. It brings to a final decisive settlement the hotly contested controversy of the ages, over the unselfish integrity of Jehovah’s creatures toward him as the Universal Sovereign. Satan’s false accusation is overwhelmingly disproved, and Jehovah is proved true first, last and all the time. (Romans 3:4) Satan’s “little while” of release is now up. So, then, let him and all his “seed” be crushed into nonexistence in fulfillment of Jehovah’s Edenic promise. (Genesis 3:15; Revelation 20:7-15) Hallelujah!

38. How will the future of those men and women who then remain filled with holy spirit be eternally happy?

³⁸ Shall we ourselves be there to witness the eternal destruction of all wickedness from heaven and earth and then live on with a future ahead of us? Happy will that endless future be for all those men and women who will have remained filled with holy spirit in unbreakable devotion to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Judged by Him as worthy of the gift of eternal life, they will enjoy perpetual youth in human perfection amid a Paradise of unfading beauty and never-failing provisions for joyous living. Always they will want to live in harmony with the holy spirit that has ever been behind such a God-honoring new order. Oh, may we prove worthy of that new order! In harmony with that heartfelt desire, may our constant prayer be that of the psalmist David as addressed to God in the midst of a hostile world:

“Deliver me from my enemies, O Jehovah. I have taken cover even with you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me in the land of uprightness.”​—Psalm 143:9, 10.

39. What do we say, in closing, to those even now desiring to live in harmony with God’s spirit?

³⁹ Sincerely, then, to all persons desiring even now to live in accord with God’s sanctifying active force we say, in closing: “The undeserved kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the sharing in the holy spirit be with all of you.”​—2 Corinthians 13:14.