mourn over Babylon’s destruction, or even the powerful symbolic ten horns of the scarlet-colored wild beast that God used as convenient instruments to slay Babylon the Great.

Babylon the Great’s destruction is certainly a fine move for complete rejoicing in the marriage of the Lamb, for she has always been the bitterest enemy on earth of those who have been selected to be engaged to marry the Lamb, that is, to be prospective members of the Bride, the body of his 144,000 spiritual joint heirs, his congregation. Babylon has done everything that she can to destroy them and to prevent the marriage, but in doing so she has gone against the God of heaven, the Father who arranges the heavenly marriage for his Son and whose purposes cannot fail. He provides the Bride, just as Abraham arranged for a bride for his son and heir Isaac. So the day of destruction of the great, jealous harlot comes at the time of wedding for the Lamb’s bride. This certainly gives paramount joy to heaven and earth. John says:

“And I heard what was as a voice of a great crowd and as a sound of many waters and as a sound of heavy thunders. They said: ‘Hallelujah, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king. Let us rejoice and be overjoyed, and let us give him the glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has arrived and his wife has prepared herself. Yes, it has been granted to her to be arrayed in bright, clean, fine linen, for the fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the holy ones.’”​—Rev. 19:6-8, margin (1950).

As wedding feasts often are accompanied by singing, so this wedding enjoys the shouting of a great chorus of voices. A fourth Hallelujah resounds throughout the heavens from a mighty chorus of voices, just as if it is on the joyous day of the enthronement of a new king.

A NEW EPOCH IN JEHOVAH’S RULE

Did not Jehovah God take to himself his great power in 1914 C.E. and begin to rule by means of his newly installed Messianic kingdom? (Rev. 11:15-18) Yes. Then why proclaim his becoming king at this late point of time? Because this event marks a new epoch in the reign of Jehovah God for the reason that Babylon the Great has been a religious opposer since his kingdom has been established in 1914 and she has for many centuries assumed the right to anoint and induct kings on earth. In fact, the first human king, Nimrod, the “mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah,” started in ancient Babylon. At the time ancient Babylon fell before King Cyrus in 539 B.C.E. and he released her captives, it was said to Zion: “Your God has become king!” (Isa. 52:7) Now, with Babylon the Great destroyed, Jehovah reigns forever without a religious rival.

Although the Father has made preparations well in advance and has seen to it that his Son has a bride, do the Bride and Bridegroom make any preparation? Assuredly so. First of all, Jesus Christ laid down his life for her, then paid the value of this price, his human life, to Jehovah in heaven. He nourished her and cared for her, in the face of the stiffest opposition of her rival to destroy her by every possible means, including the bringing of political opposition against her. Babylon, in her efforts to overcome the Bride, has brought forth many harlot daughters, her member religious organizations. She has made a special effort to contaminate the Bride and cause her to be a harlot associate of her whorish daughters, by trying to seduce the bride, get her to fall through false doctrine, political involvement, interfaith movements and opposition to the point of death. Through all this fight, the Bridegroom has been with his espoused beloved one and, with his Father’s full cooperation, has seen her through it safely.​—John 17:11, 19, 20; Eph. 5:25-27.

THE BRIDE’S STRENUOUS PREPARATION

On the Bride’s part it has been with great effort. It has taken faith, it has taken courage and determination and love for Jehovah God and for her espoused Bridegroom and she has had to hate wickedness and be completely clean and free from contamination by Babylon the Great in order to gain the victory. With the destruction of Babylon the Great it can be undisputedly said that the Lamb’s wife has prepared herself. She comes through the test wearing symbolic “fine linen,” “the righteous acts of the holy ones.” It is spotless clothing, and these righteous acts are a justification for her to become the Lamb’s “wife.” It has been a matter of integrity on her part, and heaven can rightly bear witness that “it has been granted to her to be arrayed in bright, clean, fine linen.” She has gained the complete victory and now no rival religious organization exists on the earth.

Since Jehovah God the Almighty is the One who makes the marriage for his Son and provides the Bride, it is proper for heaven to “give him the glory,” especially since he foretold and prefigured that there would be such a marriage and he was engaged more than 1,900 years in forming the Bride. He as well as the Bridegroom and Bride has every cause to make this a time of joyful celebration.

SHARE IN WEDDING ASSURED TO FAITHFUL ONES

When the apostle John saw the vision he was still on earth. He was one of those invited to be present as a member of the Bride class at the “evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage.” Correspondingly, when God shortly executes judgment upon the “great harlot,” Babylon the Great, there will be a remnant of faithful, anointed members of the Bride class yet on earth, as was John, who expect to be present at that same great heavenly supper. It is, therefore, of special encouragement and benefit to them to read what Jehovah commanded John:

“And he tells me: ‘Write: Happy are those invited to the evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage.’ Also, he tells me: ‘These are the true sayings of God.’”​—Rev. 19:9.

For those espoused members of the Bride yet on earth there is assurance now that they will yet realize, themselves, a full share in this ceremony. When the great harlot has been executed they will have still more reason to be happy, as John, who saw these things in vision, was:

“At that I fell down before his feet to worship him. But he tells me: ‘Be careful! Do not do that! All I am is a fellow slave of you and of your brothers who have the work of witnessing to Jesus. Worship God; for the bearing witness to Jesus is what inspires prophesying.’”​—Rev. 19:10.

The angel was undoubtedly the one sent forth by Jesus to present to John the revelation “in signs.” (Rev. 1:1) This angel would not permit even what might be termed “relative worship.” He reminded John that only the great Source of the revelation, Jehovah God, was to be worshiped and that all prophecy was inspired to bear witness to Jehovah’s Son and anointed King, Jesus Christ, who is the Truth, for it is God’s arrangement through which the universe will be ruled and through which mankind can gain life. Jehovah is the Inspirer of prophecy, and so the angel commanded: “Worship God.”

THE WEDDING COVERS A PERIOD OF TIME

Evidence from the prophecies of the Bible and their fulfillment in our time indicates that Jesus Christ came with his Father, Jehovah God, to the temple for judgment in 1918 C.E. He first turned his attention to the members of his Bride who were asleep in death and resurrected them. They, of course, joined the Bridegroom at that time. Then Revelation 14:13 says: “Happy are the dead who die in union with the Lord from this time onward. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their labors, for the things they did go right with them.” So when these die they immediately join the Bridegroom in heaven. Of course, even after Babylon’s destruction there will be some of the anointed remnant left on earth. They in time must die to be able to receive the change of nature to the immortal, incorruptible spirit to be with their beloved Bridegroom. When the last of these is resurrected into the heavens, then the marriage of the Lamb will be completely consummated. But before the greatest benefits of the marriage can come to mankind the Bridegroom has a war to fight. Just how he does this and then how he and his Bride settle down to taking care of a “family,” we will wait for succeeding issues of this magazine to describe.​—1 Cor. 15:51, 52.

Letters​—Not Outdated

CHRISTIANS are well aware that letters played an important role in the development and spread of their faith. Many of the books of the Bible originally were letters written to the various congregations. (Col. 4:16) But the time for using letters to spread the Christian message is not past.

On a freezing winter morning, with the temperature below zero, one of Jehovah’s witnesses in Ohio decided to make a return call on a woman who had accepted a Bible and Bible literature from her. Lacking transportation by which to go personally to this woman, the Witness decided to write. She wrote out a Bible sermon, and enclosed a copy of The Watchtower with the letter.

About three days later she received a response from the woman. In part, her letter of appreciation read: “I have read your letter (a very good sermon) several times and also looked up the Bible references. Additionally, I have tried to read some every day and have given up nearly all my worldly magazines so that I will have more time to read my Bible and Bible books. I want to send this letter so that you will get it this week and thank you for thinking of me and sending the magazine.”

Sometimes, as we can see, letter writing can be a source of direct personal satisfaction. At other times the results are just as beneficial, even though the original correspondent may not be aware of it.

One of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York was sharing in the regular house-to-house ministry. At one door she met a man who identified himself as a devout Catholic, quite familiar with Jehovah’s witnesses, and definitely not interested in becoming one. Learning that the householder was quite upset over the recent loss of his wife, the Witness briefly spoke to him about the resurrection hope.

In view of the fact that he had expressed himself so plainly about Jehovah’s witnesses, one might wonder what kind of reception this minister could expect on the return visit. She was much surprised.

The minister soon found that, since she had made the original call, he had received a letter from a Witness who obtained his name and address from the obituary column in the newspaper. Though the man was a stranger to her, she had written a kind letter explaining the Bible’s glorious hope of a resurrection. The man concluded that surely he ought to look into an organization that would take the time to go from door to door and to write letters of comfort to people.

As far as a means to spread the good news of God’s established kingdom is concerned, the letter is definitely not outdated.