God the Almighty,” we do not know what cataclysmic forces will be operated by Jehovah God to overwhelm this world and blot it out. The political, military, commercial and religious elements of this world are certain to quake with fear at the sights and sounds and to grow frantic at the sure prospect of destruction for themselves. We under God’s kingdom shelter need not fear. We may naturally be frightened, as Moses was at Mount Sinai, but we shall not share the world’s fear. (Heb. 12:21) We know God is controlling the forces of destruction and we know at whom he is directing them, not at us but at his enemies, our enemies. We have made him our refuge and shelter, and he will safely shield us, passing us over just as his destroying angel passed over all the homes in Egypt marked with the blood of the passover lamb.

17. Why shall we not pass away with this world then?

¹⁷ His act of destroying the old world is the “strange act”, the act of God, for which we have been looking, yes, praying. Our hope and trust are not misplaced in any things created by man’s ingenuity, because we know they are doomed and will pass away with this old world. We have long witnessed and suffered amid this old world and now it will pass away from us because we are not of it. But we ourselves shall not pass away with it, for we are of the new world of righteousness. We belong to God’s theocratic organization under his kingdom. His visible organization will not pass away, but is as stable and permanent as his kingdom. Therefore, come what remarkable, violent changes may in the earth’s physical appearance at the end of Satan’s world, we will not fear.

Early Help for Surviving the World’s End

1. What is the state of world capitals, and why?

THE world capitals are all full of tension in the world’s crisis. They are the scenes of conferences of frightened statesmen, motivated to action by the extreme urgency of the threatening situation. Alarm fills the capitals and they are moved to assume greater powers over the lives and destinies of the people. Uneasiness pervades them all. They have nothing substantial to assure them of good in the immediate future. In none of them is there any real, deep-down gladness, not even in the capital of the United Nations, nor in the religio-political capital, Vatican City.

2. What city, though, is enjoying refreshment and gladness, and how was it foreshadowed?

² One city, though, is enjoying a refreshment and a gladness that the world does not know and cannot understand. It is the new world city toward which the true Christians have been traveling for the past nineteen centuries, God’s capital of the universe. Now it has established its power over our earth. This is the city which the apostle means when he writes: “But you have approached a mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels, in general assembly, and the congregation of the firstborn who have been enrolled in the heavens, and God the Judge of all, and the spiritual lives of righteous ones who have been made perfect, and Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling which speaks in a better way than Abel’s blood.” (Heb. 12:22-24, NW) Jerusalem on earth was once the symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem, in the days when faithful kings of the lineage of David sat on the “throne of Jehovah” on one of its mountains called “Mount Zion”. By establishing his temple there God placed his name Jehovah at that city, and so the city foreshadowed God’s capital organization of the universe. Christ Jesus and his faithful congregation of joint heirs glorified make up that capital organization.

3. Why, then, is there unity among the widespread witnesses of Jehovah, and also unusual gladness?

³ In 1914 Christ Jesus, the Chief Son in God’s organization, was enthroned and thus brought forth to active Kingdom authority. He reigns at his heavenly Father’s right hand, and the ancient prophecy addressed to him now applies: “Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” (Ps. 110:1, 2, AS) So now there is unusual gladness in the heavenly Zion. It is no wonder, then, that Jehovah’s witnesses on earth who represent his kingdom are also glad. They may be spread all over the earth for the purpose of giving a pre-Armageddon witness before the world ends, but they are bound together in unbreakable unity by a theocratic organization under the King Christ Jesus. It matters not that they are in the midst of their enemies. They know their King is now ruling in the midst of these enemies and will shortly dash them to pieces like striking a potter’s vessels with an iron rod. They do not mourn over the end of this world which the handwriting on the wall announces to the nations. They rejoice with the holy hosts of heaven over the bringing of God’s kingdom to birth to rule the righteous new world. So the source of their joy and gladness is a secret to this world, and it makes all the nations marvel that no world woe dries it up.

4. What does Psalm 46:4 disclose to be the source of their irrepressible gladness?

⁴ The psalmist discloses the source of the irrepressible gladness of Jehovah’s witnesses: “There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.” (Ps. 46:4, AS) This river is vital to the life of the visible organization of God’s people, for it means life-giving refreshment to them. It is a river of divine blessings to them, a river of truths about his kingdom long ago promised and now set up. Along with this river goes the joyful privilege of spreading its Kingdom truths to all who seek good government, security and lasting peace. Today the American nation is facing a serious shortage in its water resources. The latest Water Resources Report reveals there are serious wastes in the nation’s precious water supply. In the face of increasing water needs it constitutes a national peril. However, Jehovah’s witnesses are not wasting the precious waters of Kingdom truth and are not wasting the precious opportunities of reviving the spiritually parched people of good will. Forth from the throne of God and of his reigning King at his right hand the life-giving river of truth flows, in fulfillment of the vision given to the apostle John, who described it in these words: “And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its broad way. And on this side of the river and on that side there were trees of life producing twelve crops of fruits, yielding their fruits each month. And the leaves of the trees were for the curing of the nations.”—Rev. 22:1, 2, NW.