The Next Rulership for All the Earth

1. Lovers of righteous rulership are thrilled at the thought of what? Why?

LOVERS of righteous rulership are thrilled at the mere thought of it. The day of the long-promised world government is dawning. Within our favored generation that government will rise like the sun in a cloudless sky to flood the earth with its welcome light, ushering in a time of radiant living for all mankind. What is brought to light should delight our eyes.

2. What delights our eyes about the state of human relationships?

² A transformed scene brightens before our eyes. Human relations were once so difficult. But look! What happens under the greatly needed world government when in control? Everywhere the oneness of the human family is acknowledged and abided by in all honesty and happiness. Everyone is a friend to everybody else. The bonds of family relationship are felt to the depths of each one’s soul. Along with this enjoyable fellowship, there is a fine spirit of helpfulness with sincere interest in the others’ welfare. Divisive racism is no longer rampant. All make up one human race, with common blood ties, all being of one origin.

3. Why is it that they all understand one another when speaking?

³ Listen! All the subjects of the world government are understanding one another. They are speaking a common world language! Why, that is like going back to the original speech pattern of the human family! Back until some forty-one centuries ago all humans spoke the same language. All men had the one vocabulary, making it possible for them to understand one another’s speech. This made it easy for them to work together in any common project. Then, suddenly, there came a confusion of language. Many languages sprang up! Local dialects developed. O what division this brought! National languages became a treasure jealously guarded and insisted upon for preservation. This is something that only the world government can deal with successfully. It will!

4. Of what are they citizens, and what is their language?

⁴ The world government takes away all language barriers between its subjects. National pride of language is wiped out. National distinctions are gone! No one is a citizen of this or that nation. All are world citizens, yes, citizens of one new world. The one language that they all speak for mutual understanding is the language recognized and used by the world government, the official language. It is mankind’s original language, which everybody on earth spoke for the first eighteen hundred years of human existence. That original language was developed to a high degree and it never did really die out, for a small minority of people persisted in its use, also the greatest book on earth preserving it.

5. What changes are there for those who must travel far from home?

⁵ Oneness of language makes it easier for traveling abroad. Does a person’s occupation or profession call for him to do some traveling to parts of the earth distant from his home? How wonderful it is, how easygoing it is for him to have no further need of a passport! He does not need to have a health certificate; he does not have to cross international borders and go through immigration checkpoints and through customs inspection. There is no tax on imports. There are no money exchange rates to worry about and to figure out, there being no different currencies in use in the territories formerly under national rulerships. For a person to escape going through entrance or exit formalities along with visas of permission, he would formerly have had to get off the earth. But who wants to do this? However, world government brings a change on that score.

6. What about world government and conflicting laws here and there?

⁶ Surely, though, there must be different laws and ordinances for the different localities on earth. No, not at all! That used to be the case when there were city, county, state or provincial and national lawmaking bodies. At that time the public sale and drinking of alcoholic beverages were unlawful in one county, but in the adjoining county there was no prohibition. In one country the importation of certain harmful drugs was strictly forbidden, but in another the growing of plants and the production of harmful drugs and the sale and exportation of such drugs were legal operations and brought financial income to the government that legalized such. In one land dominated by a certain religious faith it was perfectly all right for a man to have two or more wives, but in another land a man could be brought into the law courts and punished for being merely a bigamist. Laws differed from country to country, and the legal profession, the lawyers, the barristers, the legal consultants abounded. But now in the new order under world government, there is but the one set of laws for all the earth.

7. What is to be said about the “medicine” then administered?

⁷ Another thing is also very noticeable under the new world government. The general health of the people appears to be getting better all the time. There is no mistaking this. The health of the obedient subjects of the world government is really improving. Why, aches and pains are vanishing, wrinkles are disappearing from once worried or timeworn faces. Even those bent over from weakness and old age are gradually straightening up and walking with graceful erectness. All around us there are signs that the persons of advanced years are returning to the days of their youth. Evidently, everyone is enjoying the privilege of living, and each new day is greeted with thankfulness for the added day of life. Bodily infirmity is not increasing as time goes on. Physical forces are building up, and the bodies are not wearing out. Whatever the “medicine” it is that the world government is administering, its medical aid is producing wonders. It will finally bring human perfection.

8. Earth’s changing appearance shows what about weather control?

⁸ Even mankind’s natural environment is getting better and better. All nature is being rejuvenated. The whole earth is becoming one global beauty spot. The world government has an expert weather bureau that is never wrong. It really has complete weather control. From no part of the earth is there any report of drought or rainfall in ruinous downpours, or cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons. All the forces of nature are being brought into a perfect balance for making the whole earth an exquisite place in which to live. There is no lack of food anywhere, for the earth is yielding its products to the full. Human needs in the way of food are being amply met, and all of this is contributing to the improving health of the people. Freedom from fear of want prevails. The spirit of neighborliness moves all to liberality, to mutual helpfulness and sharing. All speaking the one language, all feeling the close bonds of family relationship, all being fellow citizens subject to the world government, all are joining together in making their earthly home as beautiful a place as possible in which to live together forever.

PERFECT HEALTH FOR ENJOYING LIFE

9. What bodily inequalities will exist at first as to one’s enjoying life?

⁹ In order to bring an equality to all its subjects for the physical enjoyment of living, the world government engages in a repair work of the bodies and minds of all its loyal subjects. Who is there of us that does not have something wrong with him? As respects body and mind, some are worse off than others. Think of those who have lost one or more limbs of the body. Think of those who have their limbs but who through paralysis derive no pleasure from the use of them. Think of those whose internal organs have been impaired so that their bodies do not function normally. The world government’s take-over of the full management of human affairs may find individuals still afflicted with hideous diseases. Some have eyes that do not literally see, others have ears but live in a soundless realm, others have the organs of speech but cannot use them to communicate with others who can hear articulate speech. Imagine all the bodily inequalities that are bound to exist at first with regard to everyone’s sharing fully in all the joys and blessings of living under the established world government!

10. How is ability to meet the health needs of all demonstrated?

¹⁰ How ably this new rulership proves itself equal to the needs of the situation! What a grand contribution it makes to the human perfection that works for perfect living by all its devoted subjects! The lame walk, yes, skip around for joy. Lost arms and legs are miraculously restored. The blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak and sing for sheer joy. Unsightliness about human form and figure disappears. For personal appearance it is a generation of mankind of which the government can rightly be proud. What wonder, then, that there are no hospitals to be found, no insane asylums, no quarantined colonies where persons afflicted with dread contagious diseases are isolated!

11. How did time favor the generation thus enjoying such things?

¹¹ Ah, indeed, life will be worth living then! But why should a generation of mankind that merely happened to be living at a certain time in human history be so favored with the precious opportunity of living in human perfection in a perfect earthly environment? What about the previous generations? What about near relatives who have died of natural causes or other circumstances, yes, the ancestors of all these living subjects of the world government? They yet live in the memories of these living sharers in the blessings of the righteous new order. No less so the world government has in mind those who have returned to the dust of the ground from which the first man was originally taken.

12. How will the world government show itself aware of the dead?

¹² The world government does not need any tombstones, mausoleums or other grave markers to remind it of those who were relentlessly claimed by mankind’s common enemy, Death. It is a government for the benefit of not just the living subjects, but also the countless human dead, compared with which the yet living ones are but a small fraction. It has grand purposes for the dead also. It has instilled in the hearts of the living the hope of welcoming back to life under the world government those who sleep the sleep of death in the dust of the ground. It stands ready to give instructions to its living subjects to make warm, loving preparations and provisions for the return of the dead. The world government wants the whole earth comfortably filled with subjects, and the resurrection of the human dead is the main way for carrying out this marvelous government project. In view of its superhuman power, no problem is posed for it by such a thing as the resurrection of all the victims of death.

13. What question about religion does the resurrection stir up?

¹³ What, though, of all the religious beliefs, ideas and tendencies that the resurrected ones will bring back with them? During their former lifetime on earth, religion had been the most divisive force plaguing mankind. Because of the religious background of the resurrected ones, will not their restoration to life result in a terribly divided world, reviving religious prejudices, hatreds and hostilities of a violent kind?

14. Why will resurrection correct religious thinking of persons raised from the dead?

¹⁴ Well, as we look at the earthly scene under the world government, we ask ourselves: ‘Where are the steepled or highly domed religious structures, cathedrals, basilicas, mosques, shrines, the imposing religious images and statues?’ They are gone! Members of today’s generation that are still alive are getting along in unity without all those religious adjuncts. Their form of worship conforms to actual truth. Their faith and practice are what the world government approves of, for these are free of all man-made fables, myths and fanciful legends and fraud. As for the resurrected dead, O how they will be disillusioned, especially those who at death expected to find themselves as angels in heaven or as conscious souls in the flames of a purgatory or hell of eternal torment, or undergoing a transmigration or in a state of Nirvana! Resurrection to life on earth will certainly be a mighty corrective to their religious thinking and understanding.

15. How will resurrected ones be enabled to worship correctly?

¹⁵ The resurrected ones will learn that the world government is one of truth, tolerating no religious error. So, they will now be taught the truth and nothing but the truth. Unitedly the whole human race will be able to worship with truth as well as in all sincerity.

16. Why do we see none parading around like priests or clergymen?

¹⁶ We have already taken note of the absence of buildings of the former kind that were devoted to religion out of line with truth. So, too, now we see no men and women going around dressed in queer garb like a priestly or clergy class, demanding special treatment and favors and reverence. Those who are resurrected from the dead will not be restored to their former religious stations, with a renewal of religious confusion and strife. Gone are their privileged positions that exalted them over the common people for whom they officiated in palatial religious edifices. Salvation of the ordinary man, woman and child used to be considered dependent upon the services of such dignitaries. But now the world government is charged with caring for the eternal salvation of its earthly subjects in perfect health and happiness upon a Paradise earth. The government’s ability to remove bodily infirmities and even raise the dead to life proves that fact. It is human nature to worship something, and the world government is filling that need by teaching its subjects the pure worship that is life sustaining.

LOCATION OF WORLD GOVERNMENT

17. Despite its location, how does the government prove real?

¹⁷ By now we may be wondering, Where on earth is the capital city of this world government? Look where we will on earth, we do not locate it. It has to be somewhere. Yes, but not here on earth. And reasonably so! A world government that can do such grand things of lasting benefit to its subjects certainly ranks higher than any type of human government that has ever ruled on earth. This comparison holds true even in our age of modern science, technology, advanced medicine, mechanized farming and nuclear power. A world government that has to its credit all the marvelous accomplishments discussed earlier displays that it has superhuman power, yes, supernatural abilities. It proves itself to be more than a man-made government. Here on earth, among men, is therefore not the place to look for its location. Its location must be higher than on earth. It must be above us, up in heaven. That is why it is invisible to us here on earth. But by all the good it does to its earthly subjects, it demonstrates itself to be real, existing!

18. Its being heavenly has what effect on its subjects?

¹⁸ The fact that the world government is so highly elevated above its earthly subjects serves to increase man’s respect for it. Its rulings are taken more seriously by earthling man. The rightfulness of its sovereignty over all the earth is appreciated, hence submitted to in a humble way. Its wisdom is seen to be far superior to that of any earthly rulership in human history. It has unselfish interest in its earthly subjects. So its running of human affairs is better than that by any earthly government during the preceding six millenniums of man’s history.

19. (a) Why are we earthlings revolving around the Creator of the universe? (b) Why can he set up a world government for us?

¹⁹ Well, then, should it seem strange that the world government is heavenly? No; for we should bear in mind that man is not the monarch of all he surveys. Man’s planet Earth is not the center of the universe, but its invisible heavenly Maker is. As a planet, it revolves around a visible center, namely, the sun, some ninety-three million miles away. Our earth and its sun are part of the Milky Way and, as such, they are slowly revolving around the axis of this same magnificent galaxy made up of billions of brilliant suns. Necessarily, then, we who live on earth find ourselves also revolving around the heavenly Maker of our earth, of our solar system, of our Milky Way galaxy, yes, of all galaxies that are known to modern astronomers by means of the most powerful telescopes. Even in a physical sense we inhabiters of tiny Earth are controlled, governed by physical laws of the universe. Why should anyone question, then, that the Maker of all those physical laws that keep the enormous universe in such awe-inspiring harmony and unity is able to set up a perfect government for all the world of mankind?

20. (a) Why is it needful for man’s next rulership to be that world government? (b) What is its primary purpose?

²⁰ Unless the next rulership for all the earth were the world government established by the Maker of all the heavenly galaxies and of us on earth, the human family would be doomed to eternal extinction. The next rulership for all the earth needs to be, indeed it has to be, that of the Creator of all the universe, or else all is lost for us. How glad we can be that it will prove to be the long-promised Government issuing from Him! Every government ever in existence has had a purpose for its being set up and operating. The incoming world government, too, has a purpose, the most glorious of all purposes. First of all, it will prove to man on earth that there is an intelligent, all-wise, all-powerful, all-just, perfectly loving God, the Creator and Sovereign of all the universe. The proof of that, the verification of that, is of first importance, for all things everywhere, living and lifeless, seen and unseen, depend upon Him; they exist and are maintained by Him.

21. What is the secondary purpose of this government, and why?

²¹ The secondary purpose of this incoming world government is the rescue of the human race from the final outcome of all wrongdoing, namely, death, yes, endless destruction. Not that we puny humans are so important to God, not that he could not get along without us on earth. He could easily do so, but he does not want to do so. Why? All because he loves all of us as his creatures, the work of his hands, and he made us to be perfectly happy in him as our heavenly Father and to be an honor to him.

22. So, what are we interested in knowing, with what benefit?

²² Should that not make us want God’s world government to be the next rulership for all the earth? All of us whose hearts are not hardened and embittered by all the badness of fallen human society should be warmed at heart to the point of saying Yes! We whose hearts are still sensitive to undeserved expressions of divine love will be keenly interested in knowing what assurances from Him we have for expecting him to bring in this righteous world government. Why, also, will He do this within our own generation? Most certain it is that our taking in this knowledge of Him and his greathearted purpose will contribute to our gaining life everlasting in blessed relationship with the incoming world government.

The Governor Who Knows the End from the Beginning

1. Unlike politicians, where must we look to know of the future?

THROUGHOUT all the ages from the days of ancient Babylon till now, political rulers have consulted astrologers and clairvoyants or spirit mediums to find out what the future holds. They have sought supernatural foreknowledge to aid them in governing their peoples with success. Political history down till into the last quarter of the twentieth century proves that all information thus gained has failed them. So the state of worldly politics is a mess. The governors of human affairs do not know which way to turn. The nations are in anguish and are resorting to high-handed measures, and the people have every reason to fear the worst. For a real remedy they can turn to no one on earth. The only successful direction in which to turn is away from astrologers, spirit mediums and the occult source of their misleading information and look up to the Supreme Governor of all things, the Most High God from whom the incoming world government comes!

2. Proof of godship rests upon what ability as to prophecy?

² No historian, no well-informed person, can deny that from the earliest times the nations of the world have had their gods, visible and invisible. Why, shortly after the end of World War II in 1945 the emperor of Japan renounced the claim that he was a god, the descendant of the Japanese sun-goddess Amaterasu, and yet, to this day, many traditional religionists hold on to emperor worship in the Land of the Rising Sun. These so-called “gods” of the nations have had their prophets on earth. For instance, in the tenth century before our Common Era, the prophets of the god Baal numbered four hundred and fifty in the Middle Eastern nation of Israel, during the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, as reported in the book of 1 Kings, chapter eighteen, verse twenty-two. Such prophets made predictions of the future in the name of their god. If the prophecy made in the name of a god did not come true, it proved the god to be false, a no-god. In fact, the proof of a true god rested upon his ability to fulfill his prophecy!

3. Prophets should be witnesses for their gods in what respect?

³ Under this crucial test of prophecy, who is it that proved to be the real God, the living and true God? The prophets of the gods of the nations stood as witnesses to produce the facts about their gods and to point to the prophecies that their gods had made come true. Have any of these national gods made prophecies that are of value today, that are coming true in our modern times? Can anybody, can any historical authority, offer as evidence one such prophecy? Nobody today can do so! And yet there is one God that offers himself as willing to submit to the test of prophecy, to prove that he is the one living and true God who has foreknowledge and can foretell the future and whose prophecies have all along come true. He can produce his witnesses with historical proof in support of his being a God of true prophecy. Who is He? What is His name?

4-6. What challenge does Isaiah 43:9 pose to the national gods?

⁴ One of his prophets who lived in the eighth century before our Common Era was Isaiah the son of Amoz, a subject of the Middle Eastern kingdom of Judah. The spirit of inspiration came upon him and he was thus used as a mouthpiece to issue the following challenge to all the gods of the nations, saying:

⁵ “Let the nations all be collected together at one place, and let national groups be gathered together. Who is there among them [the gods of the nations and peoples] that can tell this? Or can they cause us to hear even the first things? Let them [as gods] furnish their witnesses, that they [as gods] may be declared righteous, or let them [the nations and national groups] hear and say, ‘It is the truth!’”​—Isaiah 43:9.

⁶ In those words, the gods of the nations and of the national groups are challenged as to their prophetic powers. Who among such national gods is able to declare prophetically what has been foretold in the preceding verses of this chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy? Who among those national gods can cause us to hear in advance the very first things that are to happen in the immediate future, not to speak of the final things of the future?

7. Who should serve as their witnesses and who should hear them?

⁷ Let these national gods furnish their witnesses on earth to testify that these gods have done these things of a prophetic kind with accuracy, so as to prove by these witnesses that they are true, reliable gods and deserve to be declared right, righteous, fully justified in being worshiped as gods with ability to forecast the future unfailingly. Or, let the gathered nations and national groups hear such witnesses of the gods and pass upon the testimony of those witnesses and say that what they are testifying is correct, is truth, is historical fact. The challenged national gods have proved unable to produce such witnesses. There are no witnesses of theirs of whose testimony we can say: “It is the truth!”

8. Who does the challenger identify himself to be?

⁸ And now comes the declaration of the challenger: According to the American Standard Version (AS) of the Bible, the challenger identifies who he is by name, saying: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God. Yea, since the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who can hinder it?”​—Isaiah 43:10-13; see also the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.

9. Whom has Jehovah made his witnesses, and how?

⁹ Boldly the One who raised the challenging questions identifies himself as Jehovah. Whereas the challenged gods cannot produce their witnesses to furnish evidence of their godship, Jehovah can produce His witnesses. His witnesses are on the scene. He has furnished them, and he addresses them and reminds them of how they came to be His witnesses. Who are they? Jehovah speaks of them as a unit, calling them as a group, “My servant whom I have chosen.” They stand in contrast with the nations and national groups whose many gods Jehovah challenges. Jehovah’s witnesses are his own servant, his own chosen nation. That this nation might be his unanimous witnesses, Jehovah has made it his servant class that they might get acquainted with him: that they might know him and believe, have faith, in him, and hence understand that he is the same One, the unchanged, everlasting God. In this way they could be equipped to serve as his witnesses before all the idolatrous nations of the world.

10. How is it that there was no god formed before Jehovah?

¹⁰ Before this God, Jehovah, there was no such person or thing as a god formed. Not that Jehovah God himself was formed by someone. If, like modern atheists, we were to insist that Jehovah God was formed, we should be obliged logically to ask, Who formed Jehovah God? This would lead to the question, Who, then, formed the former of Jehovah God? Also, Who formed the one that formed the former of Jehovah God? In fact, we should never get to the end of asking that same question over and over again. Thus the mystery about Godship would only thicken, get more complicated and lead to no satisfaction of an intelligent mind. The question of formation could only cease to be asked when it reached an unformed Former who had always been, a Former without beginning. The prophet Moses, who was one of the witnesses that made up Jehovah’s “servant” class, settles the matter in a most simple timesaving way, saying to the Lord Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth: “Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”​—Psalm 90:1, 2, AS.

11. Why is it that there was no god formed before Jehovah?

¹¹ Why, then, did Jehovah say: “Before me there was no God formed”? (Isaiah 43:10) It was because the idolatrous nations of the world had formed their own false gods, but they had not formed Jehovah as God. They were not ahead of Jehovah’s existence in forming a single false god of theirs. Jehovah, as the Creator of the earth and its inhabitants, was ahead of any and all the nations. For that reason, there was no god formed by the idolatrous nations before Jehovah.

12. Why will there be no god formed after Jehovah?

¹² Not only that, but, says Jehovah, “neither shall there be after me.” (AS) Jehovah being God “even from everlasting to everlasting,” he will never pass off the scene. The idolatrous nations, not being everlasting, will pass off the earthly scene during the world’s greatest trouble just ahead, whereas the everlasting Jehovah will survive to everlasting. So, the nations will not be here after Jehovah, but He after them. Hence, it is impossible for the idolatrous nations to continue forming their false gods after Jehovah. Their formed or man-made gods will perish with them. (Isaiah 2:18-21) But Jehovah the true God of prophecy lives on everlastingly. Also, his faithful witnesses will live on eternally, ever on hand to testify vocally in support of the Godship of Jehovah.

13. In what cases have no gods continued to be after Jehovah?

¹³ Many of the ancient nations, Babylon, Assyria, Medo-Persia, Edom (Idumea), Moab, Ammon and others, have long since been out of existence, and their manufactured gods passed away with them. As regards those national gods, Jehovah God can say: “After me there continued to be none. I​—I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior.”​—Isaiah 43:10, 11, NW.

THE CREATING OF WITNESSES

14, 15. How did Jehovah create his witnesses, doing so unaided?

¹⁴ To have witnesses, this beginningless God who had no one that formed him would have to do, say or prophesy something, and this before observers or in front of those who benefit therefrom. He did create witnesses by doing something for them, so that they could truthfully say something about him. In fact, he saved these witnesses, as he had told forth that he would do. And this he did without the assistance of any so-called “god.” In this way he visibly demonstrated that he was God, the only living and true God. This is what he went on to call to our attention in the further words of the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵ “‘I myself have told forth and have saved and have caused it to be heard, when there was among you no strange god. So you are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and I am God. Also, all the time I am the same One; and there is no one effecting deliverance out of my own hand. I shall get active, and who can turn it [my action] back?’”​—Isaiah 43:12, 13, NW.

16. To whom were the saved ones obliged to attribute salvation?

¹⁶ The saved ones were unable to attribute their salvation to anyone else but the One who had said beforehand that he would do it. His act of salvation he caused to be heard abroad. So his saved ones were under obligation to be his witnesses, in order to verify what others had merely heard about. He had proved himself to be God, and so he was not a god without valid witnesses to this truth.

17. When He takes action, why can nobody else turn it back?

¹⁷ Furthermore, he was God Almighty, for nobody could deliver himself or deliver anyone else out of Jehovah’s hand. When Jehovah takes action, nobody is able to turn it back or reverse it. What he foretells or prophesies, he is powerful enough to make come true.

18. How did Jehovah repeat salvation, but on a grander scale?

¹⁸ Jehovah saved his “servant” class of witnesses once before, in 1513 B.C.E., and he can do it again, even on a grander scale. He had saved Israel from the Egyptian Empire, when it was a world power, the First World Power on Bible record. Even the later Babylonian Empire, the Third World Power in Bible history, would not be strong enough to block a second salvation of Jehovah’s servant. Looking ahead to such a salvation in the sixth century before our Common Era, the Almighty God went on to say by his prophet Isaiah two centuries ahead of time: “This is what Jehovah has said, the Repurchaser of you people, the Holy One of Israel: ‘For your sakes I will send to Babylon and cause the bars of the prisons to come down, and the Chaldeans in the ships with whining cries on their part. I am Jehovah your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.’”​—Isaiah 43:14, 15.

19. How did the Repurchaser Jehovah make Chaldean seamen whine?

¹⁹ Thus, as if the salvation of his captive people Israel had already occurred, the God who was responsible for the creation of that nation speaks of himself as its Repurchaser, its Redeemer from the Babylonian World Power. For their sakes he would send the combined military forces of the Medes and the Persians, under Cyrus the Great, to overthrow the Babylonian Empire in the year 539 B.C.E. All the ships of Babylon on the Euphrates River, whether military or commercial, would not be able to halt Babylon’s downfall. In place of shouts of triumph, the seamen would give way to whining cries. Why should this not be the case as their ships got stranded when the military strategist Cyrus caused the waters of the Euphrates River to be turned aside from their regular channel in order for his troops to slosh their way down the riverbed and thus gain entrance to the city through the waterfront gates?

20. For whom did Cyrus the Great break the prison bars, and how?

²⁰ Ancient Babylon as a political world power had refused to open her prison system by which she held the deported Israelites in exile, isolated a thousand miles from their desolated homeland, Jerusalem and the land of the kingdom of Judah. But, in carrying out his foretold role according to the prophecy of Isaiah (44:28–45:4), Cyrus the conqueror was moved to act to break the prison bars and let liberty-loving Israelite exiles return to their desolated country in 537 B.C.E. Jehovah God, the Fulfiller of prophecy, let his debt to the Emancipator Cyrus be charged to His account. As Israel’s Repurchaser he duly rewarded Cyrus.​—Isaiah 43:3, 4.

21. Who thus proved Himself to be the King of freed Israel?

²¹ At the heartbreaking destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E., Israelite kings ceased to sit on “Jehovah’s throne” at that capital city. (1 Chronicles 29:23) But now, by his deliverance of his exiled people from Babylon in 537 B.C.E., Jehovah God proved that he was still their heavenly King. (Isaiah 52:7; Matthew 5:35) Their God, not some human creature, was their King. They were, first of all, His subjects. They owed their loyalty to Him, even as they owed their release from Babylon to Him, and not to his earthly agent, Cyrus the Persian. He had foretold his repurchase of them from the prison-keeper Babylon, and he could never break his given word. So, now, not only their ancient forefathers, but they themselves also were His witnesses.

22, 23. (a) In what respect can Jehovah rightly say, “I am the first and I am the last”? (b) Where are his witnesses to this fact?

²² If all of this did not prove that He was the one living and true God, what more could be required of him? From first to last, from all times past to all times future, he alone holds the field of Godship. Witnesses on earth to his Godship are not lacking. Confidently from his supreme position of Godship, he can make his further challenging declaration before the gods of all nations:

²³ “This is what Jehovah has said, the King of Israel and the Repurchaser of him, Jehovah of armies, ‘I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God. And who is there like me? Let him call out, that he may tell it and present it to me. From when I appointed the people of long ago, both the things coming and the things that will enter in let them [these gods] tell on their part. Do not be in dread, you people, and do not become stupefied. Have I not from that time on caused you individually to hear and told it out? And you are my witnesses. Does there exist a God besides me? No, there is no Rock. I have recognized none.’”​—Isaiah 44:6-8.

24, 25. Why is it an honor to be addressed as His witnesses?

²⁴ How do we today feel about this matter? Would any of us feel honored if the God of the Holy Bible, Jehovah, were to say to us: “You are my witnesses”? We would have reason to feel honored, for this would place us in a highly honored class.

²⁵ The prophet Isaiah himself was one of Jehovah’s witnesses, was he not? Certainly the prophetic book of Isaiah, sixty-six chapters in length, and the many quotations from it as found in the inspired Christian Scriptures, from Matthew to Revelation, all prove that Isaiah was outstanding as a witness of Jehovah. And what about Jesus Christ himself? Can anyone in heaven or on earth deny that he, too, was a witness of Jehovah? Nobody anywhere and of any time outranks him as such a witness. As a born Jew or Israelite, Jesus Christ was part of that nation to whom the words of Isaiah 43:10 were addressed: “‘You are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘even my servant whom I have chosen.’” If no other man does so, the apostle John calls him “Jesus Christ, ‘the Faithful Witness.’” And John also quotes the resurrected Jesus as saying: “These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God.”​—Revelation 1:5; 3:14.

MODERN-DAY WITNESSES OF JEHOVAH

26, 27. (a) Why should real Christians also be Jehovah’s witnesses? (b) From what imperial organization has he delivered them?

²⁶ Since Jesus Christ was and confessed to be Jehovah’s witness, is it at all out of order that faithful disciples of Christ today should recognize themselves as Jehovah’s witnesses and confess to being such? Of course not! These faithful imitators of Jesus Christ endeavor to live up to their profession of being Jehovah’s witnesses by bearing witness to Him and His kingdom world wide, in compliance with Jesus’ words of prophecy at Matthew 24:14. Jehovah, whose witnesses they are, is the Being whom they worship as the one living and true God. They recognize Him as the One who delivered them from a politico-religious organization more powerful than ancient Babylon on the Euphrates River, namely, from what the last book of the Bible calls Babylon the Great.

²⁷ Many Bible students have thought that Babylon the Great symbolized the Roman Catholic Church with its capital at the seven-hilled city of Rome. Others have thought her to symbolize bloodstained Christendom with its babel of religious sects. But the Bible identifies Babylon the Great as the world empire of false religion, Christendom included.​—Revelation 14:8; 17:3 through 18:4.

28. Who is the Greater Cyrus, and how has he been like an eagle?

²⁸ The Bible Christianity, not Christendom, stands absolutely separate and distinct from Babylon the Great. There are true Christians today who can bear witness to Jehovah as having delivered them from the religious world empire of Babylon the Great. They know from the Bible prophecies that Jehovah foretold this modern-day deliverance, even as he also foreshadowed it by delivering the repentant remnant of Israelites from ancient Babylon in 537 B.C.E. They know that to deliver them Jehovah has used someone mightier than ancient Cyrus the Great, who came from the east of Babylon to overthrow her as a world power. Jehovah used as the deliverer of His modern-day witnesses the one whom He anointed with His holy spirit at his baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus Christ. This anointed one is the antitypical Cyrus, and he speeds like an eagle to the act of delivering Jehovah’s modern witnesses from Babylon the Great. The liberated witnesses are grateful to Jehovah for calling this Greater Cyrus to swoop down like a bird of prey upon Babylon the Great and free them from her religious prison.

29, 30. What can Jehovah’s witnesses testify as to His counsel?

²⁹ The faith of these delivered witnesses in Jehovah as God has been strengthened. In themselves they know for a fact that he foretold their deliverance long ago and that he has actually brought it about. It is faith strengthening to them to know that the counsel that he long ago took with himself to carry out he has indeed followed to brilliant success today. Ask them, and they will bear witness as to how true their God has proved to be to his prophetic declaration in Isaiah 46:8-11, where we read:

³⁰ “Remember this, that you people may muster up courage. Lay it to heart, you transgressors. Remember the first things of a long time ago, that I am the Divine One and there is no other God, nor anyone like me; the One telling from the beginning the finale, and from long ago the things that have not been done; the One saying, ‘My own counsel will stand, and everything that is my delight I shall do’; the One calling from the sunrising a bird of prey, from a distant land the man to execute my counsel. I have even spoken it; I shall also bring it in. I have formed it, I shall also do it.”​—NW; see also The Jewish Publication Society of America Bible.

THE ONE WHO KNOWS THE END FROM THE BEGINNING

31, 32. How did Jehovah hold to his counsel against Assyria?

³¹ This is the kind of undefeatable God that all the nations of the earth have to deal with today. Because he is the God of infallible counsel, he is the Divine One “telling from the beginning the finale, and from long ago the things that have not been done.” (Isaiah 46:10) It is high time that the earthly nations took this God Jehovah seriously and considered his purposeful counsel that stands plainly written in the Holy Bible. He is able to take on as an opponent any world power that exists today, no matter how mightily armed with nuclear weapons it may be. In the sixth century B.C.E. he took on the Babylonian World Power, which was mercilessly oppressing his witnesses. Before that he took on another attacker of his witnesses, namely, the Assyrian World Power, and sent what was left of its invading armies reeling back to its capital city Nineveh in military disgrace. In the words recorded in Isaiah 14:24-27, he foretold what he would do to warlike Assyria, saying:

³² “Jehovah of armies has sworn, saying: “Surely just as I have figured, so it must occur; and just as I have counseled, that is what will come true, in order to break the Assyrian in my land and that I may tread him down on my own mountains; and that his yoke may actually depart from upon them and that his very load may depart from upon their shoulder.” This is the counsel that is counseled against all the earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. For Jehovah of armies himself has counseled, and who can break it up? And his hand is the one stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

33, 34. How did Jehovah’s executing his counsel affect Sennacherib?

³³ Today, more than 2,700 years later, it is our right and privilege to ask, Did things occur just as Jehovah had thought and come true just as he had counseled with himself? Did Jehovah of armies break the Assyrian invader in Jehovah’s own Promised Land and tread him down in the mountains of that land? For an answer, all we have to do is to turn back to that night in the year 732 B.C.E. King Sennacherib’s delegation had served his final proposition upon Jerusalem. Jehovah by his prophet Isaiah then sent his own derisive reply back to Sennacherib, who was then besieging Libnah, about twenty miles (32 kilometers) westward from Jerusalem. Then one hundred and eighty-five thousand of Sennacherib’s warriors retired for the night to sink into so sound a sleep that they never woke up. With a silent death-dealing blow Jehovah’s angel struck them.

³⁴ On arising in the morning, boastful Sennacherib must have been terrified at the sight of his military camp. Crushed, he finally realized that he could not contend with success against such a God as Jehovah. So with what troops survived that horrendous night he scurried out of the land of Judah and back to the Assyrian capital, Nineveh. If Jehovah could do such a slaughter to Sennacherib’s troops at a distance of twenty or more miles from Jerusalem, what could this God do to the Assyrian army at close range in a siege right at Jerusalem? It was too horrifying for Sennacherib to think about. He never tried to threaten the city of the Great King Jehovah again.​—Isaiah 36:1 through 37:38; 2 Chronicles 32:20-22.

35. For executing what counsel is his hand now stretched out?

³⁵ Here in this actual happening of ancient history there is plenty of food for thought on the part of the modern Anglo-American World Power, yes, on the part of the Communist bloc of nations, also on the part of all the nations of today no matter of what sort of political complexion they may be. They are dealing with the same God as the One who carried out his own counsel toward King Sennacherib the ruler of the Assyrian World Power, which dominated the world during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. This same God, Jehovah, has made known his thoughts concerning all the nations now acting on this twentieth-century world stage, and what he has thought concerning them is what we of this generation are certain to see occur in our time. His own private counsel he has revealed to us. We find it recorded on the pages of the Bible, and who is there on earth today that has the ability to break up His counsel? His almighty hand is now being stretched out for the execution of his judicial counsel, and not even all the nations combined can turn his hand back and ward off destruction.

HIS GOOD PROMISES SURE

36. Why are His thought and counsel on government no vain ideas?

³⁶ Today mankind is faced with destruction by a nuclear Third World War and the ruination of man’s natural environment. So what about Jehovah’s counsel concerning a world government? From the very time that man went wrong and set out on a course of self-government independent of his heavenly Father, Jehovah God has thought about a world government as the only solution to mankind’s increasing troubles and problems. He immediately counseled in favor of such a global government, with himself as the Supreme Governor. His thought and counsel are not vain ideas of his mind. He knows exactly how to bring what he has thought and counseled to reality. He knows how his thought and counsel will be worked out, and he knows what the end will be. He has all the power and dynamic energy by means of which to reach that glorious end. Hence he is “the One telling from the beginning the finale.” He is the Governor who knows the end from the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10) Because of his accurate foreknowledge of what He will do, he is “Jehovah, who is doing these things, known from of old.”​—Acts 15:17, 18; Amos 9:12.

37, 38. What do Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 11:15-18 show about Jehovah’s knowledge regarding government?

³⁷ In the very book with which the Bible begins, at Genesis 3:15, the Almighty Governor of all creation made known his basic thought regarding the world government that would be the vital need of all earth’s inhabitants. In the very book with which the Bible ends, at Revelation 11:15-18, the rightful Governor over all mankind gives prophetic description of his take-over of his long-suspended governorship, saying:

³⁸ “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 [the woman’s “seed” as foretold in Genesis 3:15], 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.’”

39. In what way must Jehovah make his kingdom manifest to us?

³⁹ As we look at world conditions today, do we not feel that it is high time for the Lord God Almighty to bring to ruin those ruining the earth? We do not want it to be ruined to the state where we people cannot live on it anymore! It is absolutely necessary for “the kingdom of the world” to become the kingdom of the Lord God Almighty, with “his Christ” as his associate in government. He must rule as king forever and ever, and he must make his kingship manifest to all of us on earth by ruining those who ruin his property, the earth. Revelation 11:15 speaks of it as a dead certainty, as if it had already occurred. That declaration is a divine promise that is beyond recall. It will never fail!

40. Why are his promises, grander than those to Israel, certain?

⁴⁰ It is a God-given promise that betokens good for all those of our generation who yearn for a united world of mankind under a world government managed by one who faithfully keeps his word. True, he promises things almost unbelievable. He now promises things far greater than the things that were promised to Jehovah’s people Israel, more than fifteen centuries before our Common Era. Yet, Jehovah is powerful enough to fulfill such grander things.

41, 42. For Joshua 21:44, 45 to be recorded, Jehovah did what exploits?

⁴¹ To release his enslaved people, Israel, it required Jehovah to break the grip of the Egyptian World Power. Then he had to part the waters of the Red Sea for his liberated people to cross on dry land. He then had to let the waters engulf the pursuing Egyptian cavalrymen and chariots and their haughty Pharaoh. Forty years later Jehovah had to dam up the floodwaters of the Jordan River in order for his people to cross over into the Promised Land. Then for six years he had to fight in their behalf, tumbling down the walls of Jericho and subduing the larger part of the land so as to apportion it out to the twelve tribes of Israel. In spite of all the formidable obstacles, God, who does not lie, carried out his promise to his people. Testifying to that historical fact, Judge Joshua, the successor of the prophet Moses, recorded the following memorable words:

⁴² “All their enemies Jehovah gave into their hand. Not a promise failed out of all the good promise that Jehovah had made to the house of Israel; it all came true.”​—Joshua 21:44, 45; 23:10.

43. What time nears when we shall testify, “It is the truth!”?

⁴³ Now the grand day approaches when the then-living members of our generation will be able to testify that not one promise out of all the good promise of God concerning a righteous world government has failed. He will have made it all come true. So with full confidence in Him we can address ourselves to an examination of his marvelous promises that have to do with world government. Happy will we be if we can finally become his witnesses and say regarding his promise: “It is the truth!”​—Isaiah 43:9, 10.