OVERCOMING THE WORLD

24. Living now with a Christlike faith includes what proper attitude toward this present world?

²⁴ It requires faith to be a witness for Jehovah. Read Hebrews 11:1 to 12:3 and note that from Abel, the first to die for the worship of Jehovah, down to Jesus Christ it required faith to be one of Jehovah’s witnesses. It was their faith that enabled them to overcome the existent world by seeing a righteous new world under God’s kingdom and therefore refusing to become part of the present world and to live like it and for it. The Christian that has become a spiritual son of God must conquer this world, and he can do so only by unshakable faith. Says the apostle John: “Everything that has been born from God conquers the world. And this is the conquest that has conquered the world, our faith.”—1 John 5:4, NW.

25, 26. How and why do present-day witnesses of Jehovah conquer the world?

²⁵ In 1914 the promised kingdom was born of God and it will yet conquer the world. It conquered Satan and his demons by casting them out of heaven and down to our earth, and now it goes on conquering in the Kingdom witness work on earth, and it will complete its conquest over Satan’s present world at Armageddon. (Rev. 6:1, 2, NW) On earth today there is a remnant of spiritual Christian sons of God, and they will not prove false to the stated rule that everything born from God conquers the world. They will show their faith in God’s kingdom by preaching it till the end of this world comes. There are also prospective earthly sons of God with us today, a constantly growing “great crowd” of them, who hope for life as His children in the glorious paradise of the “new earth.” They, too, must conquer the world just as the ancient, pre-Christian witnesses of Jehovah from Abel to John the Baptist did. To do so they must make the same practical display of their faith in Jehovah God and his kingdom. But though we are surrounded by so great a cloud of ancient, pre-Christian witnesses of Jehovah, we are especially looking at Jehovah’s greatest witness in the universe, his faithful and true Son Jesus Christ, for he was the greatest conqueror of this world, even by a martyr’s death on the torture stake at Calvary. He said: “I conquered and sat down with my Father in his throne.” (Rev. 3:21, NW) By him Jehovah God won a grand triumph over the enemy governments and authorities. We read:

²⁶ “God made you alive together with him. He kindly forgave us all our trespasses and blotted out the handwritten document [the law of Moses] against us which consisted of decrees and which was in opposition to us, and He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the torture stake. Stripping the governments and the authorities bare, he exhibited them in open public as conquered, leading them in a triumphal procession by means of it.”—Col. 2:13-15, NW.

27-29. (a) What ancient pagan ceremonial is recalled by Paul’s reference to Jehovah’s triumphant conquest through Christ Jesus? (b) How and against what wrongful accuser did Jehovah act to enable willing humans to share Jesus Christ’s triumphant conquest?

²⁷ Ever since that victory nineteen centuries ago, Jehovah God has been leading a glorious triumphal procession. According to the original Greek word that the apostle Paul used here, the picture is taken from the time of the pagan Roman conquests. To the pagan Romans a triumph was an imposing ceremonial in honor of a general who had gained a decisive victory. He was allowed to enter the city crowned with laurel, bearing a scepter in one hand, and a branch of laurel in the other, wearing an embroidered toga, and riding in a four-horse circular chariot of a peculiar form. He was preceded by the Roman senate and magistrates, musicians, the spoils, the captives in fetters, etc., and followed by his army in marching order. The procession advanced to the Capitoline Hill, where sacrifices were offered and the general was entertained with a public feast.

²⁸ In connection with God’s triumph nineteen centuries ago the apostle Paul mentions the “handwritten document.” This was God’s law through Moses, and it “consisted of decrees” and it “was in opposition to us.” It was “against us,” for it condemned all of us, Jews and non-Jews alike, as sinners deserving of death, because of our inherited imperfection and our inability to keep God’s law. But who are the governments and authorities that Paul says were stripped bare? They are the invisible governments and authorities of Satan and his demons. Moffatt’s Bible translation calls them “angelic Rulers and Powers.” Once these could accuse us before God. Why? Because we sought to worship and serve God perfectly but failed to do so, as proved by the Jews’ inability to keep the Mosaic law. That law could not make us perfect, even by its animal sacrifices. It exposed us as being sinners whom the Devil could tempt and whom he could accuse before God. But what we could not do God did, in order to overcome that accusation of Satan’s governments and authorities against Jehovah’s witnesses. He put Jesus Christ on the earth as a perfect man, and Jesus measured up perfectly to God’s law. Jesus did so although his preaching of God’s kingdom brought against him the opposition of all of Satan’s governments and authorities, visible and invisible. Jesus died unconquered by this world and perfectly loyal to God’s universal sovereignty. He died not only as a martyr or faithful witness to Jehovah’s kingdom but also as a perfect human sacrifice. Upon the basis of this sacrifice God could forgive and cancel the trespasses of which the Mosaic law condemned us. Thus Jehovah God nailed the Mosaic law to Jesus’ torture stake, canceling this “handwritten document against us,” the torture stake being a symbol of Jesus’ sacrificial death.

²⁹ In ancient times living captives from among the defeated were often stripped naked and led in the triumphal procession before the conqueror’s chariot, as the prophet Isaiah was used to illustrate by walking about naked and barefoot for three symbolic years. (Isa. 20:1-4) So when Jehovah God triumphed over the accusing satanic governments and authorities by letting Jesus die faithful and then resurrecting him for his faithfulness, Jehovah in effect stripped those enemy governments and authorities, disarming them and rendering them naked, completely exposed, as conquered. Jehovah was now within his right to forgive the trespasses of his Christian witnesses and to justify them or declare them righteous that they might gain the heavenly kingdom with their Leader Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:1, 6-9, 18, 19) So those satanic governments and authorities could no longer condemn them as sinners already condemned by God’s own law through Moses, for by faith in Christ’s sacrifice they were forgiven and cleansed and declared righteous, and were thus given a good conscience. “Who will file accusation against God’s chosen ones? God is the One who declares them righteous. Who is he that will condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, yes, rather the one who was raised up from the dead, who is on the right hand of God, who also pleads for us.” (Rom. 8:1, 33, 34, NW) As a High Priest who has been admitted to God’s most holy presence with the life value of his perfect human sacrifice Jesus pleads and wins justification from sin for those who become his faithful, spirit-begotten, anointed followers.

30, 31. (a) Since Pentecost, what governments and authorities has Jehovah’s triumphing act kept on exhibiting as conquered and powerless? (b) For whom has such exhibition been progressing?

³⁰ Hence the condemnation of them by Satan’s demon organization does not affect them in God’s sight. In a clash with man-made laws of worldly governments under Satan’s invisible rulership men heap condemnation upon them for keeping God’s perfect law rather than man’s imperfect, ungodly law; but that does not stop them or take away their “good conscience,” for they know they have God’s approval and are suffering for righteousness’ sake. All this unfair, unjustified condemnation of them by men exposes the shame of the worldly governments and authorities, for these have been stripped naked as being enemy governments under Satan and as now being conquered, silenced by God’s justifying arrangement for his faithful servants. Thus the persistent faithfulness of his loyal servants of unbreakable integrity shows that the enemy accusations do not count, and by this Jehovah exhibits these stripped governments and authorities in open public as conquered.

³¹ Ever since Pentecost A.D. 33, when he poured out his holy spirit upon his servants in divine approval, Jehovah has been leading those enemy powers as in a triumphal procession before the gaze of men and angels, and this by means of the torture stake and the One who faithfully died on it. Those satanic governments and authorities may have kept on operating since Pentecost, but still they remain beaten, conquered, and the faith of Christ’s followers conquers them and shames them as being satanic powers of this world with which Christ’s followers cannot be friends and of which they can be no part. So we see those satanic powers for what they nakedly are, and our faith gives us the conquest over them and holds us true to God’s kingdom now born in the heavens. At the battle of Armageddon God’s conquest of them will be completed. Jehovah God will not preserve them alive as captives to be led in a triumphal procession after Armageddon before the eyes of the Armageddon survivors, but he will wipe them out and bring no enemy captives out alive on earth from that universal battle.

PERFUMING THE WAY OF THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION

32-34. (a) Since 1914, what more has been viewed by the God-favored spectators? (b) Under the figure of odors, pleasant and offensive, what other aspects of Jehovah’s triumph are clarified by Paul?

³² Jehovah’s magnificent triumphal procession moves on through this “time of the end” of this system of things, especially now that the Kingdom, born in 1914, has won the victory in the war in heaven between its Archangel King Jesus Christ and Satan the Devil and his angels. These defeated governments and authorities have been cast down to this earth to be detained here for a “short period of time” until they are abyssed and put out of the way at the climax of the battle of Armageddon. Now Jehovah’s triumphal procession is marching along to superb victory at Armageddon. How do we know that? By the odor of the knowledge of Jehovah God that is being spread more and more heavily throughout the earth by the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” on the part of Jehovah’s witnesses, the anointed remnant and the “great crowd” of companion witnesses.

³³ Not all the spectators view the triumphal procession in the same way and not all breathe in the heavy fragrance accompanying it with the same appreciation. To those who are a part of this world and to all who are friends of this foul, doomed world, the odor that is diffused by the Kingdom-preaching accompanying the triumphal procession is offensive, unbreathable, for God’s kingdom means a plague, death, to this world. To those who long for deliverance from this corrupt world and who perceive that God’s kingdom is the only hope of deliverance, that odor is welcome, sweet, delightful. The apostle Paul described it nineteen centuries ago when he was preaching about God’s coming kingdom, but what he says applies more forcefully now during the actual presence of the established kingdom. He had gone to Troas in Asia Minor to declare the good news about Christ, and there a door of opportunity to preach was opened to him. Despite that he left there and went to Macedonia across the Aegean Sea to meet Titus sooner. There, too, he was helped to spread the knowledge of Jehovah God. So in gratitude he exclaimed:

³⁴ “Thanks be to God who always leads us in a triumphal procession in company with the Christ and makes the odor of the knowledge of him perceptible through us in every place! For to God we are a sweet odor of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the latter ones an odor issuing from death to death, to the former ones an odor issuing from life to life. And who is adequately qualified for these things? We are; for we are not peddlers of the word of God as many men are, but as out of sincerity, yes, as sent from God, under God’s view, in company with Christ, we are speaking.”—2 Cor. 2:14-17, NW; 2 Co 7:5-7.

35. From 1919 to the present, why, figuratively speaking, has Jehovah’s triumphal procession included exulting preachers of “this good news of the kingdom”?

³⁵ What an uplifting thought! If we dedicate ourselves to Jehovah God through Christ and then engage as witnesses of Jehovah in preaching the good news of his established kingdom, he leads us in his triumphal procession with Christ the now reigning King. He leads us, but not as captives to our shame and public humiliation. Paul does not say here, as he does of the enemy governments and authorities at Colossians 2:15, that the triumphant Jehovah strips us naked and exhibits us in open public as conquered. No, but Jehovah leads us as a victorious general leads his army in a triumphal procession along a perfumed route through the welcoming capital. He leads us as sharers in His victory through Christ. Yes, he leads us as those by whom he is gaining further victory by making perceptible everywhere through us the knowledge of himself, by our publishing of the Bible and its message of the hour. Since 1919 Jehovah has given us this Kingdom message and wherever we preach it it triumphs. It gains victories, transforming many who formerly were enemies of God by wicked works into witnesses of Jehovah and preachers of the good news of his theocratic kingdom.

36-38. (a) As a repulsive stench, to whom and why are heralds of Jehovah’s kingdom unsatisfying? (b) What is denoted by such Kingdom heralds’ being, to others, “a sweet Christian odor”?

³⁶ Not only is the diffused or published knowledge of God an odor in the midst of which we march triumphantly behind Jehovah God and in company with Christ the King as we make that divine knowledge perceptible to others, but we are also ourselves an odor. But as respects us, noses in this world differ. Not that we of our own accord want to be offensive to anybody on earth, for we seek to be helpful and of benefit to everyone. But all this world is Jehovah’s enemy. So if we dedicate ourselves to Jehovah God through Christ and He uses us in his service as bearers of his kingdom message, then we cannot avoid being, yes, we must expect to be, offensive to many, the many who are the enemies of Jehovah and his theocratic government by Christ. Paul, who tried to please all people in all things for their advantage that they might be saved, had that experience. We ourselves cannot escape it, now especially when the establishment of the Kingdom has made the issue of universal sovereignty the burning question before all people. On this issue we cannot be the friends of this world.

³⁷ As Christians we witnesses of Jehovah copy Jesus Christ, we follow his steps bearing his reproach, we advertise him as now reigning King, and so, as it were, we exhale or give out the odor of Christ. In this respect we wish we smelled sweet to everybody, but we do only to the smaller number of people, to those who are being saved. To these we are like a sweet Christian odor. To these we are as an odor that issues from a life-giving source and that therefore leads to life in God’s new world. Why are we a sweet, life-breathing odor to these? Because it is plain to these few people that Jehovah God, the Source of life, sends us and so we come to them, not for death-dealing purposes, but unselfishly for life-giving purposes. These people are nauseated with this putrid world and its disappointing promises and its desperate, selfish efforts to keep itself in and God’s righteous world out. The message that we preach of God’s present kingdom is really “good news” to them. It breathes of life to them, and it shows them the way to happy life in God’s world of new heavens and a new earth, with now the opportunity of even surviving the battle of Armageddon.

³⁸ As if breathing in a delightful odor, they turn to us and receive us to themselves as Christians sent from God. They listen to our message and accept our Bible literature and our offer to study it with them. They act on our invitation to attend our meetings at area studies and at Kingdom Halls, become a part of the New World society by dedication to God through Christ and then join with us in breathing out this delightful, life-giving odor to others that they too may be helped to everlasting life. Jehovah as represented by his ruling King Jesus Christ is no “stone of stumbling” or “rock of offence” to them. They accept Jehovah as Universal Sovereign, the great Rock of the universe, whose activity is perfect. (Deut. 32:3, 4, NW; Isa. 8:13, 14, AS) The triumph of Jehovah’s kingdom message over these persons of good nose is for their life.

39. Figuratively again, to and from what are noses of lovers of “this world” turned, and why?

³⁹ On the other hand, the prophecy foretold that others, even Christendom itself, would stumble on this great Stone and get offended at this great Rock and hence would fall and be broken and be caught in a snare and be taken for death. (Isa. 8:15) To these the preaching witnesses of Jehovah are a stench, “an odor issuing from death to death.” Our Kingdom message bodes no good to them. It is like a foul smell issuing from a dead thing and contaminating and deadly to breathe in. It issues from a death-dealing source and it spells death to them. Why? Because they are a part of this world and love it and do not want to break loose from it. They do not want to reform and become reconciled to God through Christ. They prefer the company of his enemies, including Christendom with her orthodoxy and human traditions, which tickle their noses as well as their ears. But we preach the “day of vengeance of our God,” and therefore the coming destruction of this world and of all those who remain a part of this world. So we stink to these world-lovers. To them we are pestilential, we are death-dealing, we ought to be buried out of sight, out of smelling and out of hearing. This message of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and of his new world and of the destruction of this old world is an offense to them and puts us in bad odor with them. We give them no promise of life in the eternal future.

40, 41. How do such offended ones act, and with what effect?

⁴⁰ Jehovah, who put Christ in Kingdom power, has become a great Stumbling Stone and an offensive Rock to these. They try to remove the stumbling stone and to overturn the offensive rock by their worldly schemes of conspiracy against Jehovah God and his reigning Christ. In harmony with this they try to silence the Kingdom message proclaimed by Jehovah’s witnesses so foul-smelling to them. They may remove the name of Jehovah from translations of the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible, but they cannot remove Jehovah the Rock from his position of Universal Sovereign. Hence they will be squashed flatter than a pancake by that great Stone at Armageddon.

⁴¹ Just as they can never remove the great Rock from his royal sovereignty over this earth, so they have not been able and never will be able to silence the Kingdom message and destroy its preachers. Till now they have had to smell Jehovah’s witnesses, and they will have to keep on smelling us, until their own noses are mashed in at the coming day of the ‘war of God the Almighty’ at Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14-16, NW; Matt. 21:42-44) It is Jehovah the almighty Unconquerable that leads us, and it is in his triumphal procession that he leads us in company with his King of kings and Lord of lords, the winning King and the winning Lord. The message of Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ has already gained grand triumphs throughout the earth because He backs up and blesses the preaching of this “good news” by his witnesses in all the inhabited earth. It will continue to triumph under his protection and guidance of us until Armageddon, when his own triumphant act of vindication will cause all the earth’s atmosphere to be permeated with the sweet, life-giving odor of the knowledge of God for every praiser of Jehovah that then breathes.—Hab. 2:14, AS.

Oh, for a Fragment of Faith!

In Kirkcaldy, Scotland, a pioneer witness of Jehovah was having a Bible study with a young lady who was interested in the name “Jehovah.” The witness determined to procure a copy of the Scriptures in Hebrew so that she could show her the tetragrammaton in its original form. She felt that the person most likely to have a copy would be a clergyman; so she visited one in the town. After listening with interest to her reason for wanting the book he willingly loaned her a copy. Then he said that if his, or any other church in town, could boast of having one, yes one, Bible student with a fragment of the faith displayed by every one of Jehovah’s witnesses, they might be hopeful of being on the right pathway. He confessed that the churches were in a hopeless darkness and that he had spoken openly to other clergymen about the manifest faith of Jehovah’s witnesses at a time when God’s true witnesses should be expected to display such outstanding faith. The Bible gives this reply: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”—Prov. 29:18.