Chapter 6

The Promise of a Spiritual Paradise

1. (a) What shows that, even when he was facing death, Jesus had Paradise in mind for mankind? (b) Years later, to the Ephesus congregation, what did Jesus say about Paradise? (c) Were both of these references to the same paradise?

THE Messianic Servant of Jehovah God plays a very important role in our gaining a paradise. Even on that sad day nineteen hundred years ago, when Jesus Christ was being counted in with the transgressors in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:12, he had Paradise in mind for mankind. When one of the two robbers, who were impaled on each side of him, said to him, “Jesus, remember me when you get into your kingdom,” he answered: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43; Mark 15:25-27) Sixty-three years later, when speaking to the Christian congregation in Ephesus, Asia Minor, the resurrected Jesus said: “To him that conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7) Since these promises were made to different kinds of persons, the first to a non-Christian and the second to a victorious Christian, two different paradises must here be meant, the first an earthly one, the second a heavenly one. Jehovah’s “Servant” has to do with both.

2. What kind of paradise, foretold by Isaiah, can be enjoyed today, without one’s experiencing physical death and resurrection?

² Each of those paradises was future at the time of Jesus’ mention of them. Also, they were to be enjoyed only after the death of the individual and his resurrection from the dead in God’s due time. But there is a paradise that is being enjoyed by those who are now living on the earth. Since mankind’s earthly environment is more and more being polluted and the surface of the earth is no paradise today, the paradise at present being enjoyed on earth by true Christian worshipers of Jehovah must be a figurative one, a spiritual paradise. The prophecy of Isaiah with reference to Jehovah’s Messianic Servant foretold the establishment of this spiritual paradise for faithful worshipers of Jehovah.

3. (a) Who that was foretold by Isaiah was to have an important role in producing the spiritual paradise on earth? (b) As a ‘son of God,’ what was his relationship to the heavenly organization as a whole?

³ According to Isaiah’s prophecy, the Messianic Servant has to do with the bringing of the spiritual paradise on earth. Before performing his role on earth as prophesied in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, he was a member of Jehovah’s heavenly organization of faithful “sons of God.” (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Daniel 3:25) That heavenly spirit organization acts the role of a “wife” who is married to Jehovah the Creator, just as the ancient nation of Israel, when taken into the Law covenant with him through the mediator Moses, was as married to Jehovah and was pictured as an earthly wife of His. So He plays the role of Husband in this heavenly union. (Isaiah 54:5; 50:1; Jeremiah 31:31-34) Since the heavenly “sons of God” were looked upon as being the children of God’s heavenly organization because of being members of it, the heavenly organization was viewed as their mother, the wife of their heavenly Father. So the Servant mentioned in Isaiah 53:11 is one of her sons.

4. (a) How did Jehovah’s motherly organization in heaven bring forth the promised Messiah? (b) What must have been the reaction in heaven when Jesus was anointed, and later when he was raised from the dead?

⁴ Jehovah selected his principal heavenly son to serve as the Messianic Servant on earth. (Isaiah 52:13; 53:11) So Jehovah’s motherly organization in heaven furnished this one to be the prime vindicator of her Husband’s universal sovereignty. After this one when on earth was baptized in the Jordan River at the hands of John the Baptist, her Husband, Jehovah, poured out His holy spirit upon the baptized Jesus, making him the anointed one, the Christ. In this manner the promised Messiah or Christ was brought forth. What an unspeakable joy that must have been to the heavenly Mother as well as to her Husband! If the angelic sons of God rejoiced at the birth of the babe Jesus in Bethlehem-Judah, they must have had still more joy when he thus became the promised Christ, the Messianic Servant of their God Jehovah. (Luke 2:10, 13, 14; Matthew 3:13-17; John 16:21) When his life was taken away from the earth and he was resurrected from the dead, the motherly organization in heaven received him back as the “firstborn from the dead” and rejoiced to have him once again among her heavenly sons. (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5, 17, 18) Her joy was foretold!

5, 6. (a) At Isaiah 54:1, what reason was given for joy on the part of this heavenly “woman”? (b) Of how many “sons” was she to become the spiritual mother?

⁵ “‘Cry out joyfully,’” says Isaiah 54:1, “‘you barren woman that did not give birth! Become cheerful with a joyful outcry and cry shrilly, you that had no childbirth pains, for the sons of the desolated one are more numerous than the sons of the woman with a husbandly owner,’ Jehovah has said.”

⁶ This inspired scripture is applied by the Christian apostle Paul, not to the Jewish nation after its exile in Babylon, but to Jehovah’s wifely organization in heaven. According to Isaiah’s prophecy, God’s heavenly organization was to have more children than the Messiah Jesus, for whom she had long waited as if in barrenness. She was therefore to become the spiritual mother of the 144,000 associates of the Messiah Jesus. He was to be the Firstborn among these further spiritual sons of hers. Her joy would start when she brought forth or produced the firstborn, the Messiah Jesus, but she would continue on bringing forth all the Kingdom joint heirs of the Messiah Jesus. The apostle Paul was one of these prospective joint heirs of Christ, and he is the one that made the application of Isaiah 54:1 under inspiration.

7-9. In contrasting the Jewish nation with God’s heavenly organization, what application does the apostle Paul make of Isaiah 54:1?

⁷ Contrasting the Jewish nation that had been married to Jehovah God by the Mosaic Law covenant (but that had rejected Jesus Christ) with God’s heavenly wifely organization, the apostle Paul writes: “For example, it is written that Abraham acquired two sons, one by the servant girl [Hagar the Egyptian] and one by the free woman [Sarah his wife]; but the one [named Ishmael] by the servant girl was actually born in the manner of flesh [before Abraham had become impotent], the other [named Isaac] by the free woman through a promise [from God]. These things stand as a symbolic drama; for these women [Hagar and Sarah] mean two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai [through Moses], which brings forth children for slavery, and which is Hagar [the slave girl]. Now this Hagar means Sinai, a mountain in Arabia, and she corresponds with the Jerusalem today, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

⁸ “For it is written [in Isaiah 54:1]: ‘Be glad, you barren woman [the Jerusalem above] who does not give birth; break out and cry aloud, you woman who does not have childbirth pains; for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of her who has the husband.’ Now we, brothers, are children belonging to the promise the same as Isaac was. But just as then the one [Ishmael] born in the manner of flesh began persecuting the one [Isaac] born in the manner of spirit, so also now. Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? ‘Drive out the servant girl and her son, for by no means shall the son of the servant girl be an heir with the son of the free woman.’ Wherefore, brothers, we are children, not of a servant girl, but of the free woman.

⁹ “For such freedom Christ set us free.”​—Galatians 4:22 through 5:1.

10, 11. (a) How does Isaiah 54:13 show that the “Jerusalem above” would have more spiritual children than just Jesus? (b) To whom did Jesus Christ apply that scripture?

¹⁰ That the “Jerusalem above,” of which her Grand Maker Jehovah is the “husbandly owner,” was to have many more spiritual children than the Messiah Jesus, her firstborn, is why in Isaiah 54:13 it is said to her: “And all your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah, and the peace of your sons will be abundant.”

¹¹ Jesus Christ applied that scripture to his own disciples, when he said to the Jews: “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 6:45) It was the Father’s purpose that Jesus should become “the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29) The “Jerusalem above” is the heavenly mother also of all these spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ. With good reason, then, her “husbandly owner,” Jehovah, calls out to her, rather than to the earthly Jerusalem that rejected the Messiah, to “cry out joyfully” and “become cheerful with a joyful outcry” because of finally becoming mother to so many spiritual sons together with the Messiah Jesus.​—Isaiah 54:1.

12. With what strong encouragement to these spiritual sons does Isaiah chapter 54 conclude?

¹² To these spiritual sons the assurance of divine protection and preservation belongs as expressed in these words to the “Jerusalem above”: “‘Any weapon whatever that will be formed against you will have no success, and any tongue at all that will rise up against you in the judgment you will condemn. This is the hereditary possession of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness is from me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.” With such a strong encouragement the fifty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, addressed to “Jerusalem above,” closes.​—Isaiah 54:17.

AN INVITATION TO DRINK AND EAT WHAT IS WORTH WHILE

13. With what appealing invitation does the next chapter of Isaiah begin?

¹³ In the light of all the good things that are to follow from the fulfillment of that beautiful prophecy, a fitting invitation is called out for all to hear: “Hey there, all you thirsty ones! Come to the water. And the ones that have no money! Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk even without money and without price. Why do you people keep paying out money for what is not bread, and why is your toil for what results in no satisfaction? Listen intently to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul find its exquisite delight in fatness itself. Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, and your soul will keep alive, and I shall readily conclude with you people an indefinitely lasting covenant respecting the loving-kindnesses to David that are faithful. Look! As a witness to the national groups I have given him, as a leader and commander to the national groups.”​—Isaiah 55:1-4.

14. (a) From whom does that invitation come? (b) To whom is it directed, and why?

¹⁴ Who alone but Jehovah God the Source of all life could issue such a marvelous invitation and promise? It involves his Messianic Servant, whom he gives as a “leader and commander to the national groups.” Those national groups should become interested in the divine invitation. But, first of all, the invitation is directed to Jehovah’s people who are in a covenant with him but who find themselves in unsatisfying circumstances. Why? Because they are toiling and buying and eating and drinking, but continuing to die hopeless. We get the clue to the situation when we recall that the prophet Isaiah foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the desolating of the land of Judah, and the exile of the Jews in the pagan land of Babylon. The desolation of the land while its native inhabitants were in exile was to last for seventy years, from 607 to 537 before our Common Era.

15. Jehovah had foretold that he would provide release for the Jewish people by means of whom, and why is his role of special interest to us?

¹⁵ Babylon, with its false gods and worship, its imperialism and commercialism, offered the exiled Jews nothing. It offered no hope of release with an opportunity to resume the worship of the true and living God in their homeland: “Is this the man [the king of Babylon] that . . . did not open the way homeward even for his prisoners?” (Isaiah 14:16, 17) Who could break the grip of this World Power, Babylon, and let its Jewish prisoners go free, to return to their homeland and the renewed worship of Jehovah at a rebuilt temple in a restored Jerusalem? This God himself could do so, and he had a servant whom he could use to that end. That earthly servant was Cyrus the Persian, whose very name Jehovah foretold long before his birth. (Isaiah 44:28 through 45:6) This ancient Persian conqueror of Babylon was not merely a historic figure but also a prophetic type of Jehovah’s Messianic Servant, whom He would use to overthrow and destroy modern Babylon the Great, namely, the world empire of false religion.

16. Anciently, what were the things that, in a spiritual sense, were like food and drink for the exiled Jews?

¹⁶ Water, bread, wine and milk are available on which to feed and refresh oneself, even for those who do not have the money with which to pay for what they eat and drink! So says Jehovah God. Of course, he is not speaking about such things in a literal way. He speaks of what corresponds to these things, to keep a person spiritually alive with that which will result in real life, everlasting life with a real zest for living and a purpose for living. Anciently, the vital thing was the provisions made by Jehovah God for the deliverance of his exiled people from Babylon and for their restoration to their God-given homeland. First in order, there was the message of liberation on which to feed an exile’s hope. Then there was the decree of Jehovah God by means of his earthly servant, upon which decree of liberation action must be taken. Then when the action was taken there would be the return to the homeland and the realization of the glorious divine prophecies in their reoccupied beloved land. The joy to be experienced would be like that from drinking the best of wines.​—Psalm 104:15.

17. Who are, in effect, modern-day Babylonians, and on what do they feed?

¹⁷ Today, billions of earth’s inhabitants find themselves under religious, moral, intellectual and social oppressions of Babylon the Great, not just in so-called pagandom but equally as much in Christendom. They are paying money for their religion, according to the commercializing of religion by their many sects and cults. Their religions have not separated them from this world, but have encouraged and approved of their being an active part of this world. Their religions have not turned them away from putting their reliance upon men and man-made institutions. Even the people of Christendom have no outlook except to depend further upon men to work out world problems and bring relief. They are, in effect, modern-day Babylonians, and what they feed upon religiously does not really satisfy or bring true relief.

18. (a) By means of what covenant does Jehovah have a people in relationship with him today? (b) Who are the people that stick faithfully to this new covenant?

¹⁸ Back in the sixth century B.C.E. those who should not have been the “prisoners” of ancient Babylon were those who were in the Mosaic Law covenant with Jehovah God. If they had lovingly carried out their covenant obligations to Him, they would not have been exiles in heathen Babylonia, far away from their desolated homeland. Today, Jehovah still has a people in relationship with Him by a national covenant. Of this covenant, Jehovah’s Messianic Servant is the Mediator, one greater than the prophet Moses. Theirs is the covenant that replaced the Mosaic Law covenant in the year 33 C.E. It is the new covenant, as foretold in Jeremiah 31:31-34. When setting up the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of his sacrificial death, Jesus Christ spoke of his blood as providing the means to seal and validate that new covenant. (Matthew 26:26-30; Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 11:20-26) Obediently Jehovah’s Christian witnesses celebrate this Lord’s Supper each year on its anniversary date. They stick faithfully to Jehovah’s new covenant.

19. By what means did Babylon the Great get Jehovah’s Christian witnesses in her power during the course of World War I, and how did the prospects for them appear?

¹⁹ All of Babylon the Great as a world empire of false religion has unceasingly opposed Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. During the course of World War I in 1914-1918 C.E., she really got them in her power by means of her worldly, secular paramours. By means of political, military and judicial authorities Babylon the Great brought upon these worshipers of Jehovah all manner of persecution, including bans upon their religious literature by means of which they studied the Holy Bible. Their organization for openly spreading the good news of the Bible was badly crippled, particularly when members of the governing body of Jehovah’s visible organization were imprisoned under charges that, after the war, were reversed and thrown out of court. The prospects for a change in the situation were very dim, and the worst was awaited with feelings of resignation and submission to Jehovah’s will. Providentially, the official magazine, The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, continued to be published semimonthly, for the spiritual upbuilding of those to whom it was available, despite wartime conditions.

20, 21. How did the circumstances of Jehovah’s worshipers on earth make the time after World War I an appropriate one for a modern-day application of Isaiah 55:1, 2?

²⁰ However, suddenly, there came an end to World War I. It did not lead on, as Bible students expected, into world revolution and anarchy or the battle of Armageddon. And the sincere worshipers of Jehovah, who were in the new covenant with him through his Mediator Jesus Christ, found themselves still in the flesh on the earth. But still in captivity to Babylon the Great and her political, military, judicial paramours! An unexpected postwar period opened before them, with possibilities for renewing and carrying forward the proclamation of the good news of God’s Word. Here, now, was a most appropriate time for the God whom they worshiped in spite of all the opposition and oppression by Babylon the Great to do something in their behalf and for His own name’s sake. Here was the due time for the modern equivalent of Isaiah’s life-renewing message to be sent forth:

²¹ “Hey there, all you thirsty ones! Come to the water. And the ones that have no money! Come, buy [grain] and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk even without money and without price. Why do you people keep paying out money for what is not bread, and why is your toil for what results in no satisfaction? Listen intently to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul find its exquisite delight in fatness itself.”​—Isaiah 55:1, 2.

22. What was it that then proved to be like water, bread, wine and milk to Jehovah’s modern-day people?

²² Such a message did come from Jehovah God, through his Messianic Servant, Jesus Christ. It was meant to lift His people out of their depressed, negative state of mind and to infuse life and hope into them. What, then, would be like water, to quench their raging thirst for truth and righteousness? Like bread, to feed and strengthen their heartfelt devotion to God? Like wine, to make their hearts rejoice with health-giving joy? Like milk, to fatten and enrich their state of well-being in relationship with the one living and true God? (Psalm 104:15) It was the Scriptural message of deliverance from Babylon the Great by means of the established Messianic kingdom of God! It was the message of their liberation from the slavish bondage to this world, which is the “friend” of Babylon the Great, in order for them to fight for freedom of worship and to proclaim world wide the good news of God’s kingdom for the blessing of all distressed humanity.

23. How did it prove true that this provision was made available “without money and without price”?

²³ The oppressed worshipers of Jehovah God did not have to pay for this message of liberation! They did not have to buy their way out of captivity and bondage to Babylon the Great! The message was offered to them freely to accept, and they must act upon it with courage and conviction! Then it would be like refreshing water, strengthening bread, joy-giving wine and fattening milk. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”​—John 8:32.

24. In the spring of 1919, what evidence of the liberation was there?

²⁴ A concrete symbol of this liberation came in the spring of 1919, the first postwar year, with the release of the members of the governing body of Jehovah’s Christian worshipers from imprisonment in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Shortly afterward the federal charges against these accused Christians were reversed, and later thrown out of court. Thus the members of the governing body of Jehovah’s Christian worshipers were relieved of the false charges of being lawless citizens, dangerous to the security of the country. Now, in appreciation of Christian freedom that comes from Jehovah through Jesus Christ his Servant, a more advanced study of His Holy Scriptures was made to ascertain what was the divine will for His people in this unexpected postwar period.

25. (a) To infuse God’s servants with courage, what was done in 1919? (b) Of what was announcement of the release of the magazine The Golden Age a sign?

²⁵ Bible study left no uncertainty regarding the divine will. It pointed unerringly to the Kingdom work that was ahead for the worshipers of Jehovah that had survived the persecutions and hard times of World War I. So, in order to infuse courage into their hearts, the leading article entitled “Blessed Are the Fearless,” in two parts, appeared in the issues of August 1 and 15, 1919, of The Watch Tower. This theme was the keynote of the General Convention of these worshipers for eight days, September 1-8, at Cedar Point, Ohio. As a sign that there was more spiritual food in store for them and also more and greater work ahead, a thrilling announcement was made to the 6,000 conventioners by the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society on September 5, 1919. To what effect? That the Society was going to publish another magazine besides The Watch Tower. This new biweekly magazine was to be called “The Golden Age” and would be complementary to the official magazine of Jehovah’s Christian worshipers. It too was meant to announce God’s kingdom.

26. As stated in its first issue, for what reason was The Golden Age published?

²⁶ Showing the then-existing background in front of which this new magazine made its debut on October 1, 1919, the salutation in the opening issue said, in part:

Its purpose is to explain in the light of Divine wisdom the true meaning of the great phenomena of the present day and to prove to thinking minds by evidence incontrovertible and convincing that the time of a greater blessing of mankind is now at hand. Like a voice in the wilderness of confusion, its mission is to announce the incoming of the Golden Age.

There are more sad hearts in the world to-day than at any time of its history. A devastating war has afflicted the nations until they are torn and bleeding to death. Accompanying the war came the great pestilential influenza, claiming double the number of victims that fell as a result of the war. In the past few years, millions have gone down into death and other millions bemoan the loss of their loved ones.

Everywhere the cost of living mounts higher and higher and conditions of real want and famine stare many people in the face. In practically all the trades of the world the laborers are on strike or threatening to strike and thereby stop the wheels of commerce. There is a general unrest everywhere.

The financiers are no less in perplexity. . . .

THE GOLDEN AGE will carry into the homes of the people the desired message which will tend to restore calmness to the disturbed minds and comfort to the saddened hearts. We do not expect to accomplish this by human wisdom, because that has been tried and failed and such wisdom is foolishness in the sight of Jehovah. But we will point the people to the clear and indisputable evidence in the light of present-day events, disclosing the divinely expressed remedy for the reconstruction of human affairs that will bring the desire of all nations, assuring to the people life, liberty and happiness. We invite all order-loving, law-abiding, God-fearing persons to aid in passing this message of comfort on to those who desire to be comforted.

27, 28. To what grand hope did this magazine point, but what must come first?

²⁷ Here, then, was a brand-new magazine pointing fearlessly forward to the restoration of paradise to this earth and the making of it earth wide for the enjoyment of all people of whatever race, color or national extraction. However, before this literal earthly paradise is introduced to mankind by God’s Messianic kingdom, there must be established a spiritual paradise among Jehovah’s Christian worshipers now restored to his favor. This was why, after extending the invitation to partake of God’s life-giving provisions, the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah said:

²⁸ “Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, and your soul will keep alive, and I shall readily conclude with you people an indefinitely lasting covenant respecting the loving-kindnesses to David that are faithful. Look! As a witness to the national groups I have given him, as a leader and commander to the national groups.”​—Isaiah 55:3, 4.

THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM COVENANT

29. (a) What would be the effect on those who inclined their ear and came to Jehovah, in response to the invitation found at Isaiah 55:3, 4? (b) What connection is there between these blessings and “the loving-kindnesses to David that are faithful”?

²⁹ Those who inclined their ear and came to Jehovah in the postwar year of 1919 C.E. would have their spiritual life renewed and sustained by the spiritual provisions that Jehovah now invited his people to partake of and enjoy. Their soul would keep alive with spiritual health. The channel for all these restoration blessings for his faithful Christian worshipers would be the Messianic kingdom that had been born in the heavens in the year 1914 at the close of the “times of the Gentiles.” (Luke 21:24, AV; Daniel 4:16, 23, 25, 32; Revelation 12:1-10) This was what was meant by Jehovah’s promise to conclude with the Kingdom proclaimers the indefinitely lasting covenant “respecting the loving-kindnesses to David that are faithful.” Those divine loving-kindnesses meant that the right to the kingdom would continue in the family line of King David of Jerusalem down to his most illustrious Descendant, the promised Messiah, and then the Messianic kingdom would belong to this One forever.

30, 31. (a) How did those loving-kindnesses as promised to David prove to be “faithful”? (b) What application of the promise at Isaiah 55:3 did the apostle Paul make when speaking in Antioch of Pisidia?

³⁰ In being “faithful” those loving-kindnesses to David were lasting, firmly established. (2 Samuel 7:11-16) In confirmation of this, it was said, in Psalm 89:28, 29: “To time indefinite I shall preserve my loving-kindness toward him, and my covenant will be faithful to him. And I shall certainly set up his seed forever and his throne as the days of heaven.” (Also, Jeremiah 33:19-21) Those divine loving-kindnesses as promised to King David did prove to be faithful, for they came to their culmination upon one who was to be an everlasting King, the Messiah. There is no room for question as to who this was, for the apostle Paul applied to Jesus Christ the promise of Isaiah 55:3.

³¹ Speaking in the Jewish synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, Asia Minor, the apostle Paul said to his audience: “We are declaring to you the good news about the promise made to the forefathers, that God has entirely fulfilled it to us their children in that he resurrected Jesus; even as it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my son, I have become your Father this day.’ And that fact that he resurrected him from the dead destined no more to return to corruption, he has stated in this way, ‘I will give you people the loving-kindnesses to David that are faithful.’ Hence he also says in another psalm, ‘You will not allow your loyal one to see corruption.’ For David, on the one hand, served the express will of God in his own generation and fell asleep in death and was laid with his forefathers and did see corruption. On the other hand, he whom God raised up did not see corruption.”​—Acts 13:32-37.

32. In whom does Isaiah 55:4 find its fulfillment?

³² So that Messianic kingdom which was established in the heavens in 1914 in the hands of the resurrected, incorruptible Jesus Christ has continued in operation down till now and will carry on for a thousand years to come for the blessing of mankind in an earthly paradise. Consequently, Jehovah God was not referring to the still-dead David when he went on to say, in Isaiah 55:4: “Look! As a witness to the national groups I have given him, as a leader and commander to the national groups.” No, but Jehovah is there referring to David’s promised Descendant, Jesus Christ, in whom the covenant with David for an everlasting kingdom comes to rest.

33. In behalf of whom is he a “witness to the national groups”?

³³ This one is given as a “witness to the national groups” in behalf of whom? In behalf of the Giver himself, Jehovah. Jesus Christ was His witness on earth, Jehovah’s witness. In Isaiah 43:9, Jehovah challenges all the gods of the nations to prove that they are really living gods who can correctly predict the things ahead of us. Let these false gods produce their witnesses so that the people can hear from these witnesses about what their gods have said in prophesying and then say, “It is the truth!” Those false gods could not do this. But Jehovah as the living and truthful God can produce witnesses for his side, and His greatest witness ever on earth was his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He was a fleshly member of the nation to whom Isaiah 43:10 is directed, saying: “‘You are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘even my servant whom I have chosen.’”

34. (a) To whom first, when a man on earth, was Jesus a witness? (b) As foretold, who else would hear his witness, and how has this been accomplished?

³⁴ As a perfect man on earth, Jesus Christ repeatedly said that he was bearing witness to his heavenly Father, Jehovah God. At that time, this witness was particularly to the Jewish nation. In Revelation 1:5 the apostle John speaks of him as “Jesus Christ, ‘the Faithful Witness,’ ‘The firstborn from the dead,’ and ‘The Ruler of the kings of the earth.’” Also, in Revelation 3:14, the resurrected, glorified Jesus Christ introduces himself to the congregation in Laodicea, Asia Minor, saying: “These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God.” But Jehovah was to give the Messiah Jesus as a witness, not just to the Jewish nation alone, but also “to the national groups.” His witness concerning the God of whom he is the Messianic Servant is for all mankind regardless of nationality, color or race. By means of his faithful fellow witnesses on earth today he is giving this vital witness. Today, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses are very pleased to give the same witness that Jesus Christ did, in more than two hundred lands and island groups, “to the national groups.”

35, 36. (a) The faithfulness that Jesus has demonstrated as a witness gives assurance of what? (b) As to Jesus’ being a “leader and commander,” what parallels do we observe in the case of David?

³⁵ A true and reliable witness needs to be given first before action is taken toward those to whom the witness has been given. (Matthew 24:14) Jesus Christ was faithful on earth as a witness to divine truth. (John 18:37) He died for the cause of such truth.

³⁶ We can be sure that he will be just as faithful in the executive capacities that are bestowed upon him in the heavens. His God gives him as more than a “witness to the national groups.” He gives him thereafter as a “leader and commander to the national groups.” Jehovah raised up David from being a mere shepherd boy at Bethlehem-Judah to be a “leader” to God’s people. (2 Samuel 7:8) As he was a member of the tribe of Judah, then, when David became king over all Israel, the “commander’s staff” came to be placed between the feet of a descendant of Judah as he sat upon his royal throne. (Genesis 49:10) It was then never to turn aside from the possession of the tribe of Judah until the Messiah came, the Shiloh, or, “the one whose it is.”

37. What kind of “leader and commander” does Jesus Christ prove to be?

³⁷ Although being a descendant of King David, the promised Messiah or Shiloh was to be greater than King David. He was to be the Lord even of King David. (Psalm 110:1, 2) This would call for the Messiah to be nothing less also than a “leader and commander,” as David had been to his nation, and this, not only to Israel, but also “to the national groups.” This is what the people of all the nations need, a “leader and commander” who has been given by Jehovah God to be a true Representative of Him. Then the people can be certain that this Messianic “leader and commander” will lead and direct them in a way in harmony with God’s will, for their everlasting good. This is what they will have in the resurrected, glorified Jesus Christ, who sat down at God’s right hand in the heavens. This is why he is now called in heaven a lionlike Ruler, for it is said up there: “The Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered.”​—Revelation 5:5.

38. How is it possible for us to receive the lasting benefits that were covenanted for Messiah’s subjects?

³⁸ Those who accept the witness that the Messiah Jesus gives and who follow his leadership and obey his commands are blessed. For this reason the “indefinitely lasting covenant” that Jehovah made with King David for an everlasting kingdom takes effect toward those who willingly become the subjects of the Messiah Jesus. This Messianic government is established over them. So they get the lasting benefits from the fact that Jehovah has faithfully stuck to his promised “loving-kindnesses to David” down to the coming of the promised Messiah, yes, down to the end of the Gentile Times in the autumn of the year 1914 C.E. In such a way these loving-kindnesses were covenanted for Messiah’s subjects. These obedient subjects get the grand blessings of the Messianic kingdom that God’s loving-kindnesses have brought about, especially in the case of those spiritual Israelites who will become joint heirs with Christ in the heavenly kingdom.

39. (a) Who received the benefits first, and in what way? (b) Who else are now joining in the spiritual feast?

³⁹ Those who first get the benefits of this kingdom that was brought to birth in the heavens in 1914 C.E. are those who, in 1919 C.E., acted upon the divine invitation to come and partake of the water, the bread, the milk and the wine that Jehovah had provided for them in a spiritual way. (Revelation 12:1-6, 14) Their subjecting themselves to the newly born kingdom of the Messiah meant liberation for them from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. The remnant of spiritual Israelites on earth, who had become captives of Babylon the Great during World War I, were the first to respond to Jehovah’s cordial invitation to the spiritual feast of Kingdom blessings in freedom. Since the spring of the year 1935 a “great crowd” of people of all nationalities, who were seeking to get free from Babylon the Great and worship the true God, have joined the remnant of spiritual Israelites in enjoying the grand spiritual feast. (Revelation 7:9-17) From this fact we can discern how the invitation to the soul-satisfying feast is linked with the established Messianic kingdom.

THE SEARCH FOR JEHOVAH AS GOD

40. How do the Scriptures foretell an increase of worshipers of Jehovah who do not belong to spiritual Israel?

⁴⁰ An increase of worshipers of Jehovah as the God of the Bible was predicted, an increase that would take in a “great crowd” from people not belonging to spiritual Israel. (Revelation 7:1-8) “Look!” Isaiah 55:5 continues on to say, “A nation that you do not know you will call, and those of a nation who have not known you will run even to you, for the sake of Jehovah your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he will have beautified you.”

41. (a) During the time of their Babylonish captivity, did the spiritual Israelites know about the ingathering of these other worshipers? (b) To whom would these worshipers from outside spiritual Israel come?

⁴¹ What delightful surprises this promise indicates! During the Babylonish captivity of the remnant of spiritual Israel, they had no idea that they would call a “nation” outside of themselves. Such a nation they did not know according to their understanding of the Scriptures at that time. During their captivity such a thing seemed out of the question and not within the purpose of God. Yet in His due time they would “call” or invite a “nation,” any nation outside of spiritual Israel. Their issuing such a call would require that they themselves first be liberated from bondage to Babylon the Great! But would there be a response to such a call to indiscriminate nations? Particularly in the case of people of a “nation who have not known you,” people who have not hitherto given any due recognition to the remnant of spiritual Israel? Yes, says Isaiah 55:5 to spiritual Israel, they “will run even to you.” Ah, yes, they will hasten to come to the remnant of spiritual Israel that survived World War I.

42. Who really would be the attraction, though, as stated in the prophecy?

⁴² How, though, could this come about? This in the face of the fact that the remnant of spiritual Israel would be “objects of hatred by all the nations”? (Matthew 24:9) It would take place “for the sake of Jehovah your God.” Not the hated remnant of spiritual Israel in itself, but “Jehovah your God” would be the attraction. He was going to do something for them because they had not adopted the false gods of Babylon the Great but had stuck to Him as the true Deity to worship. What, then, would He do for them? This is specified in the further words, “and for the Holy One of Israel, because he will have beautified you.”

43. (a) How has Jehovah “beautified” his spiritual Israelites, thus making them attractive to honest-hearted ones? (b) Into what condition did God thus usher his earthly worshipers, and why?

⁴³ Instead of having any longer the appearance of downcast, ill-fed, ill-clothed captives of Babylon the Great, they would now have an attractive beauty about them as spiritual Israelites. This did not mean that they would cease to be “objects of hatred by all the nations.” It meant that they would become a spiritually free people in Christ. The Holy One of Israel would clothe them with a spiritual beauty, by their being well fed on the spiritual feast that he was now spreading for them. He would clothe them with spiritual beauty by making them His representatives for the newly born kingdom of his Messiah. They would be recognized by honest-hearted ones as being the people who have the true God for worship, and that this God is among them. They would have His truth and be the bearers of the good news of the Kingdom to all the nations for a witness. Because of no longer being under divine disfavor on account of their recent failure, now that they had shown their repentance toward God, they would be ushered into a spiritual paradise, which would stand out in stark contrast to the religious condition of Babylon the Great. Thus these internationally hated ones would be graced with a spiritual attractiveness, to Jehovah’s praise.

44. (a) In what way has the remnant of spiritual Israel ‘called’ the “nation” that they at first did not know about? (b) In doing so, how did they give due prominence to the name of their God? (c) What moved others to run to the remnant of spiritual Israel and to become Jehovah’s Christian witnesses?

⁴⁴ So from 1919 C.E. forward, the remnant of spiritual Israel began calling the “nation” that they at first did not know about by preaching “this good news of the kingdom” to more and more nations. (Matthew 24:14) They did not fear that they would be shunned because of having God’s name called upon them, but, after years of witnessing to Him world wide, they embraced the fitting name for themselves, Jehovah’s witnesses, his Christian witnesses. This began on Sunday, July 26, 1931, at the international convention that they held in Columbus, Ohio. Despite the prejudice against the divine name, even in Christendom, many searchers for God began running to the remnant of spiritual Israel. They saw in the remnant of spiritual Israelites a spiritual beauty that Christendom and pagandom did not discern or recognize. They came running by the hundreds from the spring of 1935 onward. They desired to enjoy the spiritual paradise that the members of the remnant were enjoying since their restoration to the favor of Jehovah. Without fear of reproach, they too accepted the designation Jehovah’s Christian witnesses.

45, 46. (a) Despite world conflict, to what extent has there been increase in the number of worshipers of Jehovah? (b) What present blessing and future prospect is theirs?

⁴⁵ The running of all nationalities to the remnant has continued throughout the years since then. Not even the greater world conflict, World War II, stopped the running of those searching for the right God to adore and serve. With the help that these have given to the remnant, the “call” has widened out to more and more lands and territories, and increasing thousands have had their attention called to the spiritual feast in the spiritual paradise by the commanding call: “Hey there, all you thirsty ones! Come.”

⁴⁶ Those who have come running have increased to a “great crowd,” the final number of which is not now known. (Revelation 7:9, 10) They have become spiritually alive, just as Isaiah 55:3 urges: “Listen, and your soul will keep alive.” This may include their being preserved alive in the flesh through the coming “great tribulation” in which Babylon the Great and the whole worldly system of things will pass out of existence. The spiritual paradise and its happy inhabiters will survive, to Jehovah’s praise and to the honor of his Messianic kingdom.​—Matthew 24:21, 22; Revelation 7:14.

Chapter 7

Requirements for Entering the Spiritual Paradise

1, 2. To enter the spiritual paradise, what requirements, set out in Isaiah 55:6, 7, must be met?

THE way into the spiritual paradise is still open! The invitation to enter and enjoy it is still sounding out world wide! What does it call for if a hearer of the invitation desires to enter? The requirements are beautifully set out in the further words of the inspired prophecy of Isaiah chapter fifty-five:

² “Search for Jehovah, you people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near. Let the wicked man leave his way, and the harmful man his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah, who will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will forgive in a large way.”​—Isaiah 55:6, 7.

3. (a) Why is now the time to “search for Jehovah”? (b) In what sense is he “near”?

³ Since we have been living in the “time of the end” of this worldly system of things since the year 1914 C.E., the time that is left during which Jehovah may be found in a favorable way is by now very short. So now is the favorable time in which to search for him. A person does not have to go far in this search in order to find him. He is still near, within reach of sincere searchers for him. So now is also the time to call to him. He is not beyond hearing distance. Now, before “the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah,” is when the reassuring words apply: “It must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe.”​—Joel 2:31, 32; Romans 10:13.

4. (a) Explain the requirement, “let the wicked man leave his way.” (b) What is involved in leaving ‘harmful thoughts,’ and why is it important to do so?

⁴ We are told what to do in this searching for Jehovah and in order to call upon his name. Attention must be given to one’s ways of life and also to one’s thinking, which has much to do with the condition of one’s heart. This is indicated in the exhortation: “Let the wicked man leave his way, and the harmful man his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah.” (Isaiah 55:7) Certainly, if a man who was wicked desired to search for Jehovah and find him and call upon him with acceptance, he would have to leave his way that is wicked. Jehovah hates wickedness. The wicked man would also be harmful, and so his thoughts would be of doing harm to others. In order, then, to search for Jehovah, who is a God of benevolence, he would have to change his thoughts from harmful intents to helpful, beneficial thinking. He must take seriously what God says in Proverbs 21:27: “The sacrifice of the wicked ones is something detestable. How much more so when one brings it along with loose conduct.” Ways and thoughts approved by the God of righteousness are a requirement for gaining entrance to the spiritual paradise of His worshipers and servants.

5. (a) How did the requirement, “Let him return to Jehovah,” apply to the ancient Jewish exiles? (b) What prospect lay before those who heeded that requirement?

⁵ Concerning the wicked and harmful man, it is said: “And let him return to Jehovah.” This signifies that the wicked and harmful man had got away from Jehovah and had turned bad. He had once had good, peaceful, intimate relationship with Jehovah. This was the way that it had been with ancient Israel down to the time of their exile in Babylon, which the prophet Isaiah had predicted earlier in his prophecy. So, in its first and direct application, the exhortation, “Let him return to Jehovah,” was addressed to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. They had to repent of their misconduct and misdeeds that had resulted in the desolation of their homeland and their exile in pagan Babylonia. Their homeland was to lie desolate for a limited time, seventy years, and then was to be reoccupied by a faithful, God-fearing remnant of Jews released from Babylon. More and more as the fixed time for the liberation from Babylon drew near, it would become advisable, yes, urgent, for exiled Jews to prepare themselves to be among those privileged to return to their homeland and transform it into a paradise.

6, 7. (a) What action did the prophet Daniel take in harmony with Isaiah 55:7, and why was such action appropriate? (b) In what year did the Jewish remnant and their servants return to their homeland?

⁶ The aged prophet Daniel, who had been an exile in Babylon even eleven years before the desolation of Jerusalem and Judah, took to heart the exhortation of Isaiah 55:7. Ancient Babylon on the Euphrates River had just fallen to the Persian conqueror, Cyrus the Great, which was in 539 B.C.E. Cyrus’ associate, Darius the Mede, was now ruling as temporary king over Babylon. “In the first year of his reigning,” says Daniel, “I myself, Daniel, discerned by the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Jehovah had occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, for fulfilling the devastations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. And I proceeded to set my face to Jehovah the true God, in order to seek him with prayer and with entreaties, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I began to pray to Jehovah my God and to make confession.” (Daniel 9:1-4) In his prayer Daniel confessed to being a member of the rebellious nation and his bearing a share in its iniquity and disobedience to God.

⁷ Personally, Daniel had not been wicked in his way and harmful in his thoughts, and so his prayer in behalf of the exiled Jews found favor in God’s eyes. The aged Daniel, who was retained in the service of King Darius and then King Cyrus, did not return to the land of Judah, but he had the unspeakable joy of seeing a repentant, reformed Jewish remnant, together with thousands of non-Jewish servants of theirs, return to the homeland to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. This occurred at the end of the seventy years of desolation in 537 B.C.E.

8. How was the situation that confronted the remnant of spiritual Israel at the end of World War I similar to that of the natural Jews near the end of their period of exile in Babylon?

⁸ In similar fashion, the modern-day remnant of spiritual Israel had to do some reforming as to their way and thoughts as World War I ended on November 11, 1918, and they entered still alive on earth into the postwar period. Their exile from God’s full favor in Babylon the Great’s realm was about to end, and it became the proper time for them to think about their failings and shortcomings with regard to God’s worship and service. They had come under a community responsibility because of the bloodshed and violence of World War I. They needed to search for Jehovah and to call upon His name in prayer. In harmony with this Godward movement of theirs, the prophetic exhortation applied to them: “Let the wicked man leave his way, and the harmful man his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah.”​—Isaiah 55:7.

9. (a) In their searching for Jehovah, what action did the remnant of spiritual Israel take? (b) For how long were they obliged to serve God, and what work needed to be done?

⁹ In their search, accompanied by calling upon the divine name in prayer, the remnant of spiritual Israel made a reexamination of the Holy Scriptures, now that things had turned out in a manner different from the way that they had understood Bible prophecies. They needed to readjust their thinking and their way to the new and unexpected situation that now opened up before them. They had been “consecrated” to their God, not to a certain date such as 1914 or 1918 C.E., but for eternity. This obliged them to continue serving the true God as long as he preserved them alive on earth. Through His written Word and His organization, He revealed to the remnant that there was a highly important work for them to do on earth in connection with His newly born Messianic kingdom. So there was every reason for them to “return to Jehovah.” But would such an endeavor on their part be in vain, in view of their past failings?

10. In view of their past failings, did they have any good reason to believe that God would accept them?

¹⁰ Just like the exiled Jews in ancient Babylon, the remnant of spiritual Israel had every reason to take heart and be of good courage in their Godward movement. Why? Because of these reassuring words of Isaiah 55:7: “And let him return to Jehovah, who will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will forgive in a large way.”

THE LARGENESS OF GOD’S WAY OF FORGIVENESS

11. How was it true that God forgave the exiles of natural Israel “in a large way”?

¹¹ There is no stinginess about God’s forgiveness. His abundant mercy makes him forgiving “in a large way.” He expressed his forgiveness toward the exiled Jews in Babylon by performing a miracle of mercy toward them. He broke open the prison in which imperial Babylon had been holding them captive and he provided the way for them to return to their homeland that had lain desolate without man or domestic animal for seven decades! This amazed the ancient nations roundabout that observed this, and they could ascribe this miracle only to the God of Israel. “At that time they proceeded to say among the nations: ‘Jehovah has done a great thing in what he has done with them.’ Jehovah has done a great thing in what he has done with us. We have become joyful. Do gather back, O Jehovah, our company of captives, like stream beds in the Negeb [parched land].” (Psalm 126:2-4) In the face of their past sins and transgressions, the exiled Jews did not deserve this, but God was forgiving them “in a large way” because of their sincere repentance.

12. What gave evidence that Jehovah likewise restored the remnant of spiritual Israel to his favor?

¹² The like was true in the case of the modern-day remnant of spiritual Israel. Because of their heartfelt repentance God freed them from the power of Babylon the Great by means of his Greater Cyrus, Jesus Christ the King, and brought them back to their rightful spiritual estate on earth, the estate of divine favor and peaceful relations. He resumed using them in the proclaiming of the message of the hour, “this good news of the kingdom,” world wide. Thus he reintroduced them upon the stage of fearless public activity, and the hostile nations became aware that Jehovah God had done something great for them, something that proved that he had restored them to his favor and service.

13. Through his prophet Isaiah, how does Jehovah explain his reason for displaying such outstanding mercy?

¹³ These acts of deliverance, the one from ancient Babylon and the other from her modern-day counterpart, were things unimaginable to the human mind. All of this was so contrary to imperfect human thinking. It was so contrary to human ways of dealing with people in this present wicked system of things. Why did the God against whom such offense had been committed show such mercy and forgive in so large a way? He explains, as his prophecy through Isaiah goes on to say: “‘For the thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For just as the pouring rain descends, and the snow, from the heavens and does not return to that place, unless it actually saturates the earth and makes it produce and sprout, and seed is actually given to the sower and bread to the eater, so my word that goes forth from my mouth will prove to be. It will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.’”​—Isaiah 55:8-11.

14. Why is it not safe to presume upon God’s mercy?

¹⁴ Our thoughts and ways can never be as high as those of God the Creator, and especially so during our sinful imperfection. And so there is no comparison between our thoughts and ways and His. However, we cannot for that reason presume upon his mercy. We cannot, with immunity, become like those hypocritical men described in Jude 4, “ungodly men, turning the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for loose conduct and proving false to our only Owner and Lord, Jesus Christ.” We cannot safely presume upon the magnanimity of God. We deserve nothing from him, and we have no right to demand anything from him. We cannot go beyond what his given word allows.

15. (a) With what record is God’s display of mercy in full harmony? (b) How is God’s stated word like the rain and snow from heaven?

¹⁵ Whatever it is that Jehovah God has done in such mercy to us, he has previously given his word for it in writing in his prophecies of the Holy Bible. He means what he says, and he says what he purposes to do. So his given word is reliable, as reliable as the rain and the snow from heaven are in accomplishing the divine purpose for which they are deposited upon the earth. For that reason his stated word will not boomerang at him because of having accomplished no results. If he has given his word, then he will see to it that it is carried out by means of his almighty spirit and by means of his chosen servants. What he pleases or delights in will be done without fail according to his word. He has sent forth his word on a mission, and it will not prove to be mere empty talk. It will certainly have success in the stated mission for which he sent it.

16. In his dealings with natural Israel and with spiritual Israel, how did Jehovah prove himself to be “the God of truth”?

¹⁶ So God’s own honor is at stake in connection with his word. He cannot let it come short of its purpose, for that would mean that he is not almighty. It would mean that he is not true and is not “the God of truth.” (Psalm 31:5) His word did not fail when it came to delivering the exiled Israelites from imperial Babylon and restoring the remnant of them to their desolated homeland right on time. Nor did his word return to him without results in modern times when it came to liberating the remnant of spiritual Israel from the power of Babylon the Great and restoring them to his favor and service on earth from 1919 C.E. onward. Many other historic examples, ancient and modern, could be cited to prove the truth of his word as expressed in Isaiah 55:10, 11.

PROPHECY OF A PARADISE

17. After having emphasized the absolute certainty of the fulfillment of his word, what does Jehovah promise, as recorded in Isaiah 55:12, 13?

¹⁷ What Jehovah God has thus said about the absolute certainty that his word will come true, strengthens us to accept with confidence the glowing prophecy now forthcoming. He addresses it to those who search for him and call upon his name and return to him in repentance and righteousness. (Isaiah 55:6, 7) Revealing how elevated his thoughts and ways are above those of imperfect, mortal man, he continues on to say: “For with rejoicing you people will go forth, and with peace you will be brought in. The mountains and the hills themselves will become cheerful before you with a joyful outcry, and the very trees of the field will all clap their hands. Instead of the thicket of thorns the juniper tree will come up. Instead of the stinging nettle the myrtle tree will come up. And it must become for Jehovah something famous, a sign to time indefinite that will not be cut off.”​—Isaiah 55:12, 13, NW; Young; The New American Bible; Leeser.

18, 19. (a) What grand deliverance is there being described? (b) Who was to do the “rejoicing,” and how does Psalm 126:1, 2 delightfully describe their feelings?

¹⁸ Do not those prophetic words beautifully describe a thrilling deliverance of an exiled people and a homecoming with a joyful welcome! “For,” that is, in verification of what was just said by Jehovah about his exalted thoughts and ways toward his people, “with rejoicing you people will go forth.” It was from the land of Babylon that they were to be brought out, a liberated people. This deliverance was to be with rejoicing, not on the part of the Gentile nations in any show of sympathy toward Jehovah’s exiled people, but on the part of His people whom He was delivering in such a remarkable way, so contrary to what the Gentile nations expected or desired. The joyful emotion of the Israelite remnant and their devoted companions at such a marvelous release from pagan Babylon is caught up and echoed in the opening words of Psalm 126:

¹⁹ “When Jehovah gathered back the captive ones of Zion, we became like those who were dreaming. At that time our mouth came to be filled with laughter, and our tongue with a joyful cry. At that time they proceeded to say among the nations: ‘Jehovah has done a great thing in what he has done with them.’”​—Psalm 126:1, 2; 2 Chronicles 36:20-23.

20, 21. In the deliverance that they experienced in 537 B.C.E., how could faithful Jews see powerful evidence that Jehovah had vindicated the truthfulness of his word?

²⁰ When the deliverance came in the year 537 B.C.E., the faithful Jewish remnant could turn to the inspired prophecy of Isaiah 44:28 through 45:3, written two centuries previously, and could see how their God had vindicated his Word by using his anointed servant, Cyrus the Persian, in liberating them. The historic record of Ezra 1:1-5 matches up with Isaiah’s prophecy by reporting:

²¹ “In the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, that Jehovah’s word from the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah roused the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia so that he caused a cry to pass through all his realm, and also in writing, saying: ‘This is what Cyrus the king of Persia has said, “All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the heavens has given me, and he himself has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God prove to be with him. So let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of Jehovah the God of Israel​—he is the true God—​which was in Jerusalem. As for anyone that is left from all the places where he is residing as an alien, let the men of his place assist him with silver and with gold and with goods and with domestic animals along with the voluntary offering for the house of the true God, which was in Jerusalem.”’ Then the heads of the fathers of Judah and of Benjamin and the priests and the Levites rose up, even everyone whose spirit the true God had roused, to go up and rebuild the house of Jehovah, which was in Jerusalem.”

22. Why was it not in any disorderly flight that the Jews left Babylon?

²² Consequently it was in no panic or disorderly flight that the Jewish remnant and their companions left Babylon in the year 537 B.C.E. It could not be that way if they were to go out “with rejoicing,” just as it had been prophesied. They went out in orderly fashion, with no shrieks of terror at the sight of pursuers. They went out with full confidence that the God who had procured their release would go before them to lead them in the way and that he would protect them from the rear. To this effect he had given them the promise: “Turn away, turn away, get out of there, touch nothing unclean; get out from the midst of her, keep yourselves clean, you who are carrying the utensils of Jehovah. For you people will get out in no panic, and you will go in no flight. For Jehovah will be going even before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”​—Isaiah 52:11, 12.

23. (a) What reason did they have for confidence that they would safely reach their destination? (b) By when were they back in their homeland, and how does this give evidence that Jehovah’s word does not return to him without results?

²³ Peacefully, with good organization among themselves, they left ancient Babylon, and peacefully, under divine protection and guidance, they would reach their destination. That was what the divine infallible word assured them: “For with rejoicing you people will go forth, and with peace you will be brought in.” (Isaiah 55:12) They would be “brought in” upon their homeland that had lain desolate for seventy years. As Rabbi Leeser’s translation of the Hebrew text reads: “For in joy shall ye go out, and in peace shall ye be brought home.” Or, as The New American Bible words it: “Yes, in joy you shall depart, in peace you shall be brought back.” It proved to be even that way, and, in the seventh month (Tishri) of the year 537 B.C.E., the returned Jewish remnant and their loyal companions had taken up residence on their city sites, and they began restoring the worship of their God in their homeland. (Ezra 2:68 through 3:2) Just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and carry out God’s purpose, so Jehovah’s prophetic word did not return to him without results to its credit.​—Isaiah 55:10, 11.

24, 25. (a) On arrival at their destination, did the former exiles find that their homeland was a paradise? (b) What had God promised would take place in due time after they went to work?

²⁴ The route that the Jewish remnant and their God-fearing companions took out of Babylon was not through a paradise, nor did the countryside along the way miraculously turn into a paradise before them to cheer them along during the journey of several months. Neither did their long-desolate, thicket-overgrown homeland suddenly take on a paradisaic appearance before their eyes. But what were their prospects according to God’s promise after they were replanted upon their beloved native land and diligently went to work, without expecting any direct miracles of transformation? Ah, regarding this their high priest Jeshua the son of Jehozadak or their appointed governor Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel could read to them the stimulating, encouraging words of Isaiah 55:12, 13:

²⁵ “The mountains and the hills themselves will become cheerful before you with a joyful outcry, and the very trees of the field will all clap their hands. Instead of the thicket of thorns the juniper tree will come up. Instead of the stinging nettle the myrtle tree will come up. And it must become for Jehovah something famous, a sign to time indefinite that will not be cut off.”​—See Haggai 1:1.

26. As indicated in the prophecy, to whom would go the credit for the transformation of the land, and why appropriately so?

²⁶ A lovely transformation of the long-untended, uncultivated land there would be indeed! This, however, would not occur without first the zealous, earnest work on the part of the repatriated people. Yet, to Jehovah should and would go the credit for the marvelous transformation, for He was the One that would bless their sincere endeavors. His blessing upon their efforts was the necessary thing, and his blessing would attend them provided that they put the worship of Him in the first place and carried out the purpose for which He had released them from oppressive Babylon and had restored them to their beloved homeland.

27. What gave evidence that the land of Judah, during its years of desolation, had been like cursed ground?

²⁷ Doubtless on their arrival back on the land thickets of thorns abounded, and stinging nettles flourished on the long-neglected land. Such plants had not been an outstanding, inviting feature of man’s original paradise. Rather, when God sentenced the first man and woman as sinners to life outside the Garden of Eden, he said to the man: “Cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will grow for you.” (Genesis 3:17, 18) So the land of Judah, during its seventy years of desolation, had become like cursed ground: “If it produces thorns and thistles, it is rejected and is near to being cursed; and it ends up with being burned.”​—Hebrews 6:8; compare Deuteronomy 28:15-18; Isaiah 24:6.

“A SIGN TO TIME INDEFINITE”

28. How does the language employed in the portion of Isaiah 55:13 here quoted reflect a restoration of God’s blessing upon his people?

²⁸ Look, now, to the evidence of the restoring of God’s blessing upon his worshipful people who had searched for him and who had called upon his name in repentance and with righteous fruit that befits repentance! “Instead of the thicket of thorns the juniper tree will come up. Instead of the stinging nettle the myrtle tree will come up.” (Isaiah 55:13) Instead of the low prickly plants to be shunned, there come up the evergreen trees, like the myrtle and the juniper that grows up to a height of sixty-five feet. There the birds of the heavens, even the stork, can make their homes. (Psalm 104:16, 17) From the myrtle tree the restored Israelites could take leafy branches and build booths for themselves when celebrating the festival of the booths (or, tabernacles) during the third week of the lunar month of Tishri. (Nehemiah 8:15, 16; Zechariah 1:8-11) What a refreshing, eye-pleasing change from prickly, stinging plants to evergreen trees like the juniper and the myrtle!

29. Explain the meaning of the promise: “the very trees of the field will all clap their hands” and “the mountains and the hills themselves will become cheerful before you with a joyful outcry.”

²⁹ There were other trees to adorn the reworked land. Why, “the very trees of the field will all clap their hands.” They will applaud their heavenly Creator, who makes them grow. They, together with other verdure studded with wild flowers, will clothe the slopes of the mountains and the hills. The appearance of these heights of the land of Judah will take on cheerfulness. They will tell a message of praise to God, and it will be as if they had become vocal “with a joyful outcry.” The natural environment takes on the look of happiness, reflecting the happiness of God over the restoration of his people to freedom of worship at Jerusalem and throughout all the land of Judah. (Isaiah 55:12) How could the occupants of this transformed land keep from being cheerful themselves and breaking forth in outcries of thanksgiving and praise to Him?

30, 31. (a) With what would the appearance of the reoccupied land move a person to compare it? (b) What had God inspired Ezekiel to prophesy concerning just such a thing?

³⁰ The beauty that was to crown the reoccupied land could not do otherwise than stir up comparisons of it with the Garden of Eden, man’s original paradise home. Observers of the beautification of the once-desolate land would now make such comparisons. Such a thing was foretold in the prophecy that God inspired Ezekiel to utter after Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed in 607 B.C.E. and the land of Judah began to lie desolate.

³¹ “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘In the day of my cleansing you from all your errors I will also cause the cities to be inhabited, and the devastated places must be rebuilt. And the desolated land itself will be cultivated, whereas it had become a desolate waste before the eyes of every passerby. And people will certainly say: “That land yonder which was laid desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the cities that were a waste and that were laid desolate and that were torn down are fortified; they have become inhabited.” And the nations that will be left remaining round about you will have to know that I myself, Jehovah, have built the things torn down, I have planted what has been laid desolate. I myself, Jehovah, have spoken and I have done it.’”​—Ezekiel 36:33-36.

32. How was God’s own name, his reputation, involved in what was happening with the people of Israel?

³² Nobody could have brought all this reversal of matters in behalf of the internationally hated and exiled nation of Israel but their God, who was keeping his covenant with them. So, for bringing it about in accordance with his promise, he had made himself famous throughout the earth. His name, his fame, his renown, was at stake in this vital matter, for the people that were involved in this turn of events were the people called by his own name. What befell them reflected upon his name. The wrong conclusions that the Gentile nations had drawn from the way that he chastised and disciplined his covenant people had to be corrected. This would affect the view that the non-Jewish nations took of him as a god. In self-respect and for his own honor he needed to prove to all nations that he was the true, reliable, word-keeping God!

33. (a) What was his primary purpose in bringing his people Israel back to their land? (b) What was it that made it possible to convert that land into a paradise?

³³ Not primarily for the sake of his covenant people Israel, who had brought his name into reproach among the nations, but for his own name’s sake, he freed them from ancient Babylon and brought them back to the land to which he had given a sabbath period of seventy years. (Leviticus 26:41-45; 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21) When this sabbath period was over, in 537 B.C.E., then he restored the rightful cultivators of it. By his blessing upon them, he transformed it into a beauteous land, whose appearance approached that of the Paradise of Pleasure, the Garden of Eden. This had great significance. There was a purpose behind it.

34. What was the purpose behind this, as stated in Isaiah 55:13?

³⁴ God makes known the motive behind this, he himself saying: “And it must become for Jehovah something famous [literally, for a name, Young], a sign to time indefinite that will not be cut off.” (Isaiah 55:13) This clothing of the long-desolate land with paradisaic loveliness won begrudged acknowledgment from the observing Gentile nations and raised their respect for him.

35. In understanding the “sign” referred to in Isaiah 55:13, what must be remembered about the land and its inhabitants?

³⁵ As the land stood there, reclaimed and glorified, it was a “sign” of something highly important. It must be remembered that, first of all, it was a God-given land, for Jehovah had given it to his chosen people in the fifteenth century B.C.E., in fulfillment of his promise made to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (or, Israel). Then, because of the persistent disobedience and unfaithfulness of his people, he had, as it were, turned the land upside down like a pot and emptied it of its inhabitants, exiling them to the land of Babylon and letting the polluted land lie desolate in sabbath keeping for seventy years. (Isaiah 24:1-6; 2 Kings 21:13) And now he had caused the rebirth of a populous land and also brought about the rebirth of a nation by restoring his long-exiled people to their God-given estate. In whose honor, then, would the transformation of the land to a paradise be a “sign”?

36. (a) How was the transformation of the land to a paradise a “sign” that honored Jehovah? (b) What has made it a “sign to time indefinite”?

³⁶ By the mouth of his prophet Isaiah, Jehovah himself gives the true answer, saying: “And this will make Yahweh famous, a sign for ever, ineffaceable.” (Isaiah 55:13, The Jerusalem Bible) Or, “All this shall win the LORD a great name, imperishable, a sign for all time.” (The New English Bible) In His case it disproved that “God is dead.” His marvelous works with respect to the land proved that He is a living God, and that the prophecies given over his name Jehovah are true. Great and glorious was the name that he thus made for himself. And the paradise-like, repopulated land of Judah was a “sign” of his Godship, of his universal sovereignty, of his almightiness, of his faithfulness, and of his heaven-high mercy to repentant people who were in a covenant with him. This became a “sign to time indefinite,” even till now; it is a sign that has not been “cut off,” even after the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and laid the land of Judea waste in the year 70 of our Common Era. Why not? Because the record of God’s carrying out of his prophecy has been put in the imperishable record of the Bible.

37. (a) With what people do we find a modern-day counterpart for that “sign”? (b) At the time of their deliverance from Babylon the Great, what was the condition of their symbolic land?

³⁷ Because this is an imperishable, ineffaceable sign, one “to time indefinite,” we look for a modern-day counterpart of it. To fit the ancient pattern, this would involve the modern-time remnant of spiritual Israel, who are in the “new covenant” through the Greater Mediator, Jesus Christ. Modern history confirms that this remnant was delivered from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, in the spring of the year 1919 C.E. Their religious or spiritual estate on earth had been rendered quite desolate by the depredations committed upon them and their working organization by Babylon the Great and her political, military and judicial patronizers. Their symbolic land, their spiritual estate, had, as it were, become forbidding because things that were like thickets of thorns and stinging nettles marred the looks of it. It did not present an inviting, attractive appearance that would draw religiously inclined people to take part with these worshipers of Jehovah God in their beliefs and activities.

38. When Jehovah opened the way for their return, how did the remnant of spiritual Israel respond?

³⁸ Nevertheless, when their living God opened the way for them, it was “with rejoicing” that the remnant of spiritual Israel did “go forth” from bondage to Babylon the Great. They were filled with hope, seeing the religious possibilities of the future although realizing that it would require courage to take advantage of them in the face of a hostile world. Global warfare had ended and a patched-up peace had come in, and so it was “with peace” that they were “brought in” upon their rightful spiritual estate, their restoration to God’s favor, their reconciliation with him, their becoming approved again for his service as ambassadors of his now established Messianic kingdom. (2 Corinthians 5:20) They reorganized for the work ahead that had been foretold by Jesus Christ for the “conclusion of the system of things,” namely: “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.” They began clearing out the things that were objectionable and hindersome to true worship of God.​—Matthew 24:3, 14.

39. How has a worldwide spiritual paradise been produced for the habitation of God’s people in modern times?

³⁹ Faithful to his written promises and consistent with the ancient prototype, Jehovah blessed the efforts of the restored remnant of spiritual Israelites. A spiritual paradise has resulted, that is a worldwide marvel today. It is as if the mountains and hills of their spiritual estate had become cheerful before them with a joyful outcry, and as if the trees of Christian fruitfulness were clapping their hands. Figuratively, the thornbush thickets and the stinging nettle have been replaced by beautiful juniper and myrtle evergreens. Its appearance of being cursed by God has vanished! It has become a habitable place for the true Christians, who really follow the example of Jehovah’s anointed Servant, Jesus Christ. There are also hundreds of thousands of righteously inclined people who were searching for Jehovah, the God of the restored remnant of spiritual Israel. These have become the loyal companions of the faithful anointed remnant.

40. How has the beautified estate of the spiritual remnant become a “sign” that honors Jehovah, and that is not “cut off”?

⁴⁰ This remarkable transformation in the spiritual estate of the remnant has resulted in Jehovah’s becoming famous throughout the earth. God’s personal name has become known around the globe. The revived, beautified estate of the spiritual remnant has become a “sign,” and the time of its continuance is indefinite. It has persisted till now in spite of World War II and other world turmoil and disasters. It has not been “cut off” till the present time, and it will never be cut off.​—Isaiah 55:12, 13.

41, 42. In this matter of the restoration of spiritual Israel, how did matters turn out as expressed at Isaiah 55:8, 9?

⁴¹ Especially in the eyes of the restored remnant of spiritual Israel this has all been so wonderful, amazing. Back there during the oppressions of World War I and during their bondage to Babylon the Great, never did they imagine that such a thing would take place. According to the ways that they understood the Bible prophecies, such a thing was unimaginable! It would have been thought to be presumptuous to expect or predict that such a thing would take place with this captive, exiled remnant of spiritual Israel while still on earth. Certainly their thoughts were not on a level with God’s thoughts nor their ways of proceeding on a plane with his ways. It turned out to be just as Jehovah himself expressed it:

⁴² “‘The thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”​—Isaiah 55:8, 9.

43. What does all the evidence indicate as to who is responsible for this spiritual paradise?

⁴³ It all tends to prove that this thing is not of man, but is of the Almighty God. In this regard the rule is true today that was stated by the lawyer Gamaliel to the Jerusalem Sanhedrin back in the apostolic days of the first century C.E.: “If this scheme or this work is from men, it will be overthrown; but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them [the scheme or the work].” (Acts 5:38, 39) Consequently, the spiritual paradise that has not been cut off from Jehovah’s Christian witnesses down to this day is a “sign” for which the Almighty God is responsible. By it He has become famous earth wide. He has won for himself a great name. Thankful can all those God-fearing people be who have met the requirements for entering the spiritual paradise that he has established by their searching for him while he can be found and calling upon his personal name while he is yet near during this “conclusion of the system of things.”​—Isaiah 55:6; Matthew 24:3.

[Picture on page 123]

Storks in their nest atop a juniper tree

Chapter 8

A Spiritual Paradise on a Polluted Earth

1, 2. To what extent have man’s efforts to cut down on the polluting of the earth met with success?

THERE are still some spots on this earth that are like a miniature earthly paradise. However, their continued existence is threatened. Within the last twenty years the scientific study of the polluting of all mankind’s natural environment has been given serious consideration. Efforts have been made to cut down on the polluting of earth, water and air, but the process of pollution still continues and increases.

² Certain ecological plans have been found to be impractical or economically out of the question. Various projects for preserving the beauty and healthfulness of nature in selected areas have had to give way to the needs created by the energy crisis. The whole earth is becoming more unhealthy as the habitat for fish, bird, land animal and man to live in. Due to man’s manner of life and his mismanagement of the earth, the survival of all live creature existence on our planet is threatened by environmental pollution alone.

3. Despite the polluting of the natural environment, what paradise is spreading out, and since what year?

³ Unaffected by such blighting pollution earth wide, a spiritual paradise flourishes and extends itself out farther and farther. As it expands, more and more spiritually minded persons are enjoying it and leading happier lives. They are even entertaining hopes of living forever in an unpolluted earthly paradise. The earthly natural paradise is still future, of course; otherwise, the present polluting of man’s natural environment would not be allowed to continue. It is beyond man’s own ability and wisdom to restore man’s original paradise home to this earth. But since the first year of peace after World War I, a spiritual paradise has been planted here at the earth. Doubtless this is the paradise about which the Christian apostle Paul writes in his second letter to the first-century congregation in Corinth, Greece.

4. Concerning this paradise, what did the apostle Paul say in his second letter to the Corinthian Christians?

⁴ Writing near the middle of the first century, about the year 55 C.E., he said to this congregation of fellow believers: “I have to boast. It is not beneficial; but I shall pass on to supernatural visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in union with Christ who, fourteen years ago​—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows​—was caught away as such to the third heaven. Yes, I know such a man​—whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows—​that he was caught away into paradise and heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak. Over such a man I will boast, but I will not boast over myself.”​—2 Corinthians 12:1-5.

5. (a) Who is the “man in union with Christ” to whom Paul refers? (b) In view of that, what did he mean when he said, “Over such a man I will boast, but I will not boast over myself”? (c) As regards his condition when having the experience, why did he say, “whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know”?

⁵ The apostle Paul was here talking, not about some other man, but about himself. However, he speaks of himself, when having the above-described unique experience, as a man specially favored of God; and about the man that he was when in that highly favored position he can rightly boast. But of himself as an ordinary man minus such rare privileges from God he cannot properly boast. His experience was so realistic that it was as if he were right there in his physical body, but reasonably his physical body stayed on the earth and what he experienced was a trance and what he heard was when he was in this trance. If this experience occurred fourteen years before he wrote his second letter to the Corinthian congregation, then it occurred about the year 41 C.E., which was before his first missionary trip with Barnabas, which was about 47/48 C.E. Whether what he heard was in Hebrew or Greek, languages known to him, or in some foreign language that cannot be translated in known human languages, the apostle Paul does not specify.

6. His reference to the “third heaven” indicates what?

⁶ In being caught away to the third heaven, Paul was not caught up and carried down the stream of time to the third of a series of heavens that followed one another in succession. He was caught up and borne vertically, and, as the number three or third is used in the Bible as a mark of intensity or emphasis, the “third heaven” would indicate the height of his elevation, the exalted quality of it. It did not acquaint him with the things in the heavens of spirit persons in the sense that Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven and returned to the spirit heavens, is acquainted with the invisible heavenly things. Figuratively, Paul was already seated with fellow Christians on earth “in the heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6) So his being caught away to the “third heaven” would indicate a spiritually exalted elevating of Paul above the spiritual position of his fellow Christians. It doubtless gave him insight such as he had not had before, and this would evidence itself in how he spoke and wrote.

7, 8. (a) Why is the “paradise” to which Paul refers not the same as the one mentioned in Revelation 2:7? (b) Why was that “paradise” to which Paul was caught away not the “garden of Eden”?

⁷ As for his being caught away to “paradise,” this is here associated with the “third heaven.” This would suggest something spiritual. But this would not indicate that the paradise to which Paul was caught away was the one referred to in the message sent by the glorified Jesus Christ to the congregation in Ephesus, Asia Minor: “Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7) This “paradise of God” is a figurative one in the invisible spirit heavens, into which flesh and blood cannot enter and into which fleshly eye cannot see. (1 Corinthians 15:50) Nor is there any intimation that the apostle Paul saw symbols of things that are in the invisible spirit heavens in the way that the apostle John saw such, of which John gives us a description in Revelation, chapter four. So it is very unlikely that the apostle Paul was caught away to the “paradise of God” to see its “tree of life.”

⁸ As far as the original earthly paradise, the “garden of Eden,” is concerned, there is nothing mysterious to human creatures about such a paradise. It is nothing beyond human experience, and the restoration of it to earth under God’s Messianic kingdom has long been understood according to the Bible prophecies. (Genesis 3:8-24) Hence, the apostle Paul would not have to receive “supernatural visions and revelations of the Lord” in order to learn and know that.​—2 Corinthians 12:1.

9, 10. (a) The vision given to the apostle Paul was concerning what paradise, existing at what time? (b) The “unutterable words” that Paul heard involved what, and speaking those words would have meant what?

⁹ There is, however, another paradise that the Holy Scriptures picture prophetically, even giving us a historic prototype of this, in the land of Judah after the Babylonian exile of the Jews. This paradise is the spiritual one in our day, nineteen centuries after the apostle Paul was caught away to the “third heaven” and to “paradise” in a supernatural vision. What Paul heard during that realistic experience, the “unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak,” were about this then future spiritual paradise. This blessed estate of Christ’s true disciples would come into existence during his “presence” or parousia at the “conclusion of the system of things.”​—Matthew 24:3.

¹⁰ Paul was inspired to foretell the religious “apostasy” that would befall the Christian congregation before the “presence of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but it was not lawful for him as a man to speak about this spiritual paradise, about which he heard in “unutterable words.” To do so would have meant for him to interpret the Bible prophecies that have to do with this spiritual paradise.​—2 Thessalonians 2:1-3; 2 Corinthians 12:1-4.

THE “WAY OF HOLINESS” TO THE SPIRITUAL PARADISE

11. (a) When did the “presence” of Jesus Christ begin? (b) At that time Jesus Christ became like what ancient ruler, and in what sense?

¹¹ In earlier publications of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society it has been Scripturally proved that the “presence of our Lord Jesus Christ” began at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, when God’s Messianic kingdom was brought to birth in the invisible heavens. (Revelation 12:1-10) At that time the newly enthroned Jesus Christ became like God’s ancient anointed “servant,” Cyrus the Great, the conqueror of imperial Babylon and the liberator of the captive Jews and their loyal non-Jewish companions. Acting that part in modern style, Jesus Christ liberated the anointed remnant of his faithful followers who had been taken captive by Babylon the Great and her worldly paramours during World War I of 1914-1918 C.E. Breaking the power of that world empire of false religion, he brought about the restoration of the remnant of spiritual Israelites in the year 1919 C.E. This astonished and chagrined the entire religious world of that time.​—Revelation 11:7-13.

12. What questions are here raised as to the spiritual paradise?

¹² It may well be asked by many of our readers, Why and how does it come that Jehovah’s anointed remnant of spiritual Israel entered into the spiritual paradise first from 1919 C.E. forward? Were they not in a spiritual paradise on earth prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914 C.E.? Were they not enjoying such a blessed spiritual estate in God’s favor from, say, the publication of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence in July of 1879 C.E. onward? We oldsters who were living for some time prior to World War I and who were then part of the remnant of spiritual Israel can answer No! to such questions. On what basis?

13. Prior to 1919, what was the only paradise that God’s servants on earth were thinking about?

¹³ Well, such a thing as a spiritual paradise for the remnant of spiritual Israel on earth was unheard of. The only future paradise that was thought of was the literal, material paradise that was to be restored to our earthly planet during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ and into which there was to be a resurrection of the impaled sympathetic evildoer to whom Jesus said: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43) Even the paradise to which the apostle Paul referred in 2 Corinthians 12:4 was understood to be that paradise, ‘the restored earth.’​—See paragraph 2, page 648, of the book The Battle of Armageddon, published in 1897.

14. (a) How were the prophecies regarding a paradise that had an application to the ancient nation of Israel understood during those years? (b) So what application of these prophecies was not then discerned?

¹⁴ Also, Bible prophecies that had an ancient miniature fulfillment on the nation of Israel in the sixth century before our Common Era were expected to have a modern final fulfillment upon the natural circumcised Jews by a regathering of them to the land of Palestine. (For example, see page 63 of the issues of The Watch Tower of 1892, on Ezekiel 36:22-36.) Or, prophecies that were fulfilled upon ancient Israel in miniature were thought to have their major, complete fulfillment during the thousand-year reign of Christ after the binding of Satan the Devil and the imprisoning of him in the bottomless pit. (Take, for instance, Isaiah, chapter thirty-five.) So it was that the modern-day fulfillment of such prophecies upon the remnant of spiritual Israel was entirely missed, obscured, not discerned​—just as is the case with the churches of Christendom down till now. In fact, down into the year 1932 the Christian witnesses of Jehovah were themselves under the impression that the restoration of fleshly Jews to Palestine and the setting up of a Jewish State would be a fulfillment of divine prophecy.

15. What expectations did the remnant have concerning the year 1914, and, later, the year 1918?

¹⁵ Furthermore, the remnant of spiritual Israel had for decades, yes, since the year 1876, been looking forward to the ending of the Times of the Gentiles in the autumn of 1914. They were expecting God’s Messianic kingdom to be fully established in the heavens by then and also for the remnant of spiritual Israel to be glorified with Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom at that time. All understanding of the Holy Scriptures was slanted in that direction or adjusted to that idea. And when the year 1914 ended amid the flames of World War I and the remnant of spiritual Israel found themselves still here on earth, then they were inclined to think that they would be glorified in the year 1918, three and a half years after the end of the Gentile Times. (Luke 21:24; Daniel 4:16, 23, 25, 32) Their hard experiences under ban and persecution during World War I were not viewed as a Babylonian exile from which they were to be liberated after World War I. They did not expect a restoration to Jehovah’s full favor on earth for a witness work world wide.

16. What developments since the year 1919 did the remnant not foresee prior to that year?

¹⁶ Thus, prior to their liberation in the year 1919, the remnant of spiritual Israel was conscious of no spiritual paradise. Such a work as has been carried on since that year to the farthest reaches of the earth was farthest from their thoughts! They had not yet discerned by their study of the Bible that the time had come for Jehovah to make a name for himself. (Isaiah 63:14; Jeremiah 32:20; 2 Samuel 7:23) They did not realize that they themselves were the ones to be used to make the personal name of God known to the far corners of the earth and to announce the established Messianic kingdom of God to all the nations inside and outside Christendom. (Matthew 24:14) They did not foresee the marvelous fulfillments of Bible prophecy that they would witness and the continually growing comprehension of the Holy Scriptures that they would gain. They did not anticipate that they would be used to gather a “Great crowd” of sheeplike believers out of all nations to their blessed state of God’s favor.​—Revelation 7:9-17.

17. (a) So did the remnant have any awareness of being in a spiritual paradise prior to 1919 C.E.? (b) Now, however, what fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 35 do they appreciate?

¹⁷ Awareness of being in a spiritual paradise did not flood the minds of the remnant of spiritual Israel at once in that year of liberation and restoration​—1919 C.E. But today, at this late date in the “time of the end” of this system of things, they can appreciate how grandly the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter thirty-five, has been fulfilled upon them in a spiritual sense since 1919. As pictured in that glowing prophecy, they have come over a ‘highway of holiness’ into a spiritual paradise despite man’s polluting of the earth.

THE PARADISAIC PROPHECY COMES TO LIFE

18. What contrast greatly enhances the beauty of the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 35?

¹⁸ The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter thirty-five, beautiful in itself, has its beauty greatly enhanced for the reason that it comes immediately after a solemn prophecy of extreme, never-ending desolation and wildness. That mournful state was to come as an expression of divine vengeance upon a certain reprehensible nation, a brother nation of the Israelites. That nation was descended from Esau, the older twin-brother of the patriarch Jacob or Israel. Because of selling his birthright to Jacob for a helping of red stew, Esau was given the nickname Edom (meaning “Red”), and this name stuck to the nation that descended from him. (Genesis 25:30) The ancient land of Edom lay between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of ‘Aqaba and straddled the Arabah.​—Isaiah 34:5-17.

19, 20. (a) The transformation of whose land is foretold in Isaiah 35:1, 2, and what shows this? (b) Upon whom did the prophecy have its first fulfillment?

¹⁹ A far different “wilderness” is referred to in Isaiah chapter thirty-five as with poetic beauty it opens up and says: “The wilderness and the waterless region will exult, and the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron. Without fail it will blossom, and it will really be joyful with joyousness and with glad crying out. The glory of Lebanon itself must be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and of Sharon. There will be those who will see the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.”​—Isaiah 35:1, 2.

²⁰ Here the transformation of a land is foretold, the recovery of a land to paradise-like loveliness. Whose land? The land of those of whom it is said in the closing verse of the chapter: “And the very ones redeemed by Jehovah will return and certainly come to Zion with a joyful cry; and rejoicing to time indefinite will be upon their head. To exultation and rejoicing they will attain, and grief and sighing must flee away.” (Isaiah 35:10) In the first fulfillment, or ancient fulfillment, of the prophecy, the redeemed ones who returned to Zion or Jerusalem were the prophet Isaiah’s own people, the people of the land of ancient Judah. In Isaiah’s time an anointed king still sat on what was called “Jehovah’s throne” at Jerusalem. In fact, Isaiah prophesied during the successive reigns of four Jewish kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.​—Isaiah 1:1.

21, 22. (a) Was the land of Judah a desolate wilderness in Isaiah’s day? (b) When was it that the land was desolated, and for how long?

²¹ In Isaiah’s day the land of Judah had not been reduced to the state indicated in the thirty-fifth Isa chapter 35 of his prophecy. True, the Assyrian emperor, King Sennacherib, had invaded the land and had reduced a number of cities and caused considerable devastation. When this pagan invader boastfully threatened to capture Jerusalem, Jehovah miraculously caused him to flee back home in disgrace. Though badly damaged, the land of Judah was not left depopulated by the Assyrian, so that, in course of time, its former occupants would have to return from a land of exile and come to a rebuilt Zion.

²² Also, the “rejoicing” that the Jews experienced over the marvelous expulsion of the Assyrian from the land of Judah was not “to time indefinite.” Why not? Because in the following century Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed, “Jehovah’s throne” as occupied by Jewish kings was overturned, and the whole land of Judah became desolate without human inhabitant and domestic animal. The deported survivors mourned heavily in the foreign land of Babylon as their beloved homeland lay thus desolate for seventy years. So their return from exile in Babylon was what Isaiah had foretold.

23. (a) When did the prophecy regarding beautification of the land have its miniature fulfillment? (b) When did the larger fulfillment of the prophecy begin to take place, and what parallel is evident in a comparison of the land of ancient Israel and the spiritual estate of the remnant of spiritual Israel?

²³ It was after the exiled Jews returned from Babylon in 537 B.C.E. that the prophecy of the beautification of the Judean “wilderness,” “waterless region” and “desert” had a miniature fulfillment. The larger and final fulfillment, the spiritual fulfillment, began to take place upon the remnant of spiritual Israelites after they returned from their exile from God’s favor in Babylon the Great in the year 1919 C.E. Besides suffering the ill effects of the religious and political influence of Babylon the Great prior to the first world war, the spiritual estate of the spiritual Israelites was reduced to a desolate wilderness and desert by World War I, for which Babylon the Great was primarily responsible and which war she used against the remnant of spiritual Israelites. But when Almighty God Jehovah began conducting his remnant of worshipers out of Babylonian bondage in the year 1919, what a transformation of their spiritual estate on earth set in!

24. Why had the “land” of spiritual Israel become parched and unproductive during World War I?

²⁴ During World War I the lack of rainfall of God’s blessings and expressed approval had resulted in parched, unproductive areas in their privileges and the carrying out of their spiritual obligations to Jehovah God. He was in no position to bless the measure of fear of men that they displayed and the religious restraints that this imposed upon them. He could not bless the measure of contamination with the warring world with which they allowed themselves to be infected, especially by not taking the course of absolute neutrality toward the international wrangles of this world. He could not bless their being preoccupied more with their promised glorification in the heavenly kingdom than with the worldwide witness work that he had for them to do on earth in behalf of his newborn Messianic kingdom. Under such faulty conditions they could not produce the “fruits” of the Kingdom at the due time for fruits.​—Matthew 21:43.

25. What change was possible for the remnant, however, as indicated in the Scriptures?

²⁵ However, the delinquent remnant of spiritual Israelites could repent of their faulty course, when once it came to their attention. They could take note of their shortcomings and failings with regard to doing the divine will and could then proceed to correct matters as soon as they discerned the right course to take. Their doing this would remove the reason for God’s disapproval and for his withholding of timely blessings for them. The ancient prophecy regarding the restoration of Jehovah’s chosen people had said: “And I will make them and the surroundings of my hill a blessing, and I will cause the pouring rain to descend in its time. Pouring rains of blessing there will prove to be.”​—Ezekiel 34:26.

26. (a) So what had to occur before there could be a spiritual paradise? (b) How does the promise that “the glory of Lebanon itself must be given to it” help us to appreciate the condition of the spiritual estate of Jehovah’s restored remnant?

²⁶ This downpour of blessings would have to occur before there could be any transformation in the estate of the restored remnant, whose estate had become like a “wilderness,” a “waterless region,” a “desert plain.” The grandeur of the spiritual estate of Jehovah’s restored remnant can today be appreciated by the prophetic comparisons that are made. For instance: “The glory of Lebanon itself must be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and of Sharon.” (Isaiah 35:1, 2) A person merely has to think of the mountains of Lebanon that were clothed at that ancient time with magnificent evergreen trees, concerning which Jehovah inspired his prophet to say: “To you [Zion] the very glory of Lebanon will come, the juniper tree, the ash tree and the cypress at the same time, in order to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I shall glorify the very place of my feet.” (Isaiah 60:13) Ancient Lebanon was so beautiful that Jehovah compared it to the Garden of Eden, saying to the king of Tyre, which city is located in Lebanon: “In Eden, the garden of God, you proved to be.”​—Ezekiel 28:11-13.

27. What does the expression “the splendor of Carmel” add to the picture?

²⁷ Other beautiful scenes with which comparisons could be made by Isaiah were “the splendor of Carmel and of Sharon.” The mountain range of Carmel runs westward to terminate in an impressive headland that almost drops into the Mediterranean Sea at Haifa. Very fittingly the admiring lover in the Song of Solomon could say to his beloved Shulammitess: “Your head upon you is like Carmel.” (Song of Solomon 7:5; compare Jeremiah 46:18.) The name Carmel means “orchard,” or, “fruitful land.” The mountain well matched its name when it was adorned with vineyards and orchards, as in the days of King Uzziah of Jerusalem.​—2 Chronicles 26:10.

28. When we hear that the spiritual estate of the restored remnant is like the “splendor . . . of Sharon,” what should come to our mind?

²⁸ Indeed, anciently, the “splendor of Carmel” was widely known. But what about the “splendor . . . of Sharon”? Mention of the name stirs up a mental vision of the coastal plain that stretched northward from the seaport city of Joppa (meaning “beautiful”) and that was studded with colorful flowers. (Acts 9:35) There come also to mind the words of the beloved Shulammite girl: “A mere saffron of the coastal plain [or, of Sharon] I am.” (Song of Solomon 2:1, margin) Or, as The Jerusalem Bible quotes her words: “I am the rose of Sharon.” And The New English Bible: “I am an asphodel in Sharon.” (Also, NW, margin) Truly ancient Sharon had a “splendor” of its own.

29. Thus, by means of the prophet Isaiah, what kind of picture is painted of the restored estate of the remnant?

²⁹ When, to all this visualizing of the beautiful, we add the opening words of the prophet Isaiah: “The wilderness and the waterless region will exult, and the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron,” a picture of sheer beauty is painted for us, in well-chosen inspired words. (Isaiah 35:1) Such is the transformed appearance that the once-desolate spiritual estate of the remnant of spiritual Israel is to take on after their restoration to Jehovah’s favor.

30. (a) To whom is credit due for this marvelous transformation? (b) Who are the ones that see the prophecy’s fulfillment and give glory to God for it?

³⁰ Whose marvelous doings will this transformed appearance of an estate reflect? The inspired Isaiah answers with the words: “There will be those who will see the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.” (Isaiah 35:2) Only the God with the highest sense of beauty, the Creator, could do such a thing, change the mournful sight of seventy years of desolation to a scene of loveliness by means of a restored nation. The repatriated Israelites of ancient times saw the fulfillment of this prophecy in miniature. Those of today who have seen the prophecy carried out on a major scale that embraces the entire globe have been the Christian worshipers of Jehovah restored from religious bondage to Babylon the Great back to their proper spiritual estate on earth. In the eyes of the ancient frustrated Babylonians the beautification of the land of Judah that they had desolated was not a delightful sight. In the eyes of modern Babylon the Great the beautification of the spiritual estate of the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites is not a happifying sight either.

31. How else might that expression “There will be those” be understood?

³¹ It may be, however, that by the expression “There will be those” we are to understand “the wilderness and the waterless region . . . and the desert plain” of the desolate state of God’s people. These places had lain in their sorry condition for so long, for seven decades, that they never expected to see better things for themselves once again. But by being altered in their condition and being given the glory and splendor like those of Lebanon and Carmel and Sharon, these places saw in their own transformed state “the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.”

32. Since when have the remnant seen in the transformation of their spiritual estate “the splendor of our God”?

³² What words of hope, then, Isaiah’s prophecy contained for God’s people with a temporarily desolated estate! At the time of their devastated state during World War I of 1914-1918 C.E., the captive remnant of spiritual Israelites did not discern the proper application of the prophecy and so did not draw from it the comfort that was in it for them. But now, especially since the explanations of prophecy as given in the book Vindication, Volume II, published in the year 1932 C.E., they see in the transformation of their spiritual estate “the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.”

STRENGTHENED FOR THE POSTEXILIC KINGDOM WORK

33. What made the exhortation recorded at Isaiah 35:3, 4 especially appropriate?

³³ The hope-kindling words of the prophet Isaiah would naturally be hard for God’s afflicted people to believe. Particularly so, as the fixed time for fulfillment of those words drew near, and the need arose to prepare for action. Hence, the exhortation that now interrupts the prophetic delineation of the beautiful restoration picture is very much in place: “Strengthen the weak hands, you people, and make the knees that are wobbling firm. Say to those who are anxious at heart: ‘Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your own God will come with vengeance itself, God even with a repayment. He himself will come and save you people.’”​—Isaiah 35:3, 4.

34, 35. (a) When the apostle Paul quoted that prophecy, where was a strengthening work needed? (b) What kind of experiences had those Christianized Hebrews been undergoing?

³⁴ Away back in the first century of our Common Era, the apostle Paul quoted from that prophetic exhortation when writing to the Christianized Hebrews in Jerusalem. He said: “Hence straighten up the hands that hang down and the enfeebled knees, and keep making straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather that it may be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12, 13) Those Christianized Hebrews then needed to do this strengthening work among themselves. They had passed through experiences as Christians that were quite disciplinary. Paul speaks of this when he says:

³⁵ “Keep on remembering the former days in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great contest under sufferings, sometimes while you were being exposed as in a theater both to reproaches and tribulations, and sometimes while you became sharers with those who were having such an experience. For you both expressed sympathy for those in prison and joyfully took the plundering of your belongings, knowing you yourselves have a better and an abiding possession.”​—Hebrews 10:32-34.

36. How is such treatment at the hands of persecutors like discipline from the heavenly Father, and with what objective in view?

³⁶ The apostle Paul likens such rough treatment at the hands of the persecutors to discipline that the heavenly Father, by his permission of such persecution, administers to his devoted children on earth. Even Jesus Christ, as our Exemplar, received such discipline from his heavenly Father. (Hebrews 12:1-6) In further explanation, Paul goes on to say: “It is for discipline you are enduring. God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is he that a father does not discipline? But if you are without the discipline of which all have become partakers, you are really illegitimate children, and not sons. Furthermore, we used to have fathers who were of our flesh to discipline us, and we used to give them respect. Shall we not much more subject ourselves to the Father of our spiritual life and live? For they for a few days used to discipline us according to what seemed good to them, but he does so for our profit that we may partake of his holiness. True, no discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.”​—Hebrews 12:7-11.

37. Why, then, were they being encouraged to strengthen one another?

³⁷ Because of the severe disciplining that those Christianized Hebrews had been receiving, the apostle Paul next quotes from Isaiah 35:3 and applies it to them. By thus strengthening one another, they would not give up on their endurance of discipline, but would enter into their reward in God’s due time.​—Hebrews 12:12.

38. Following World War I, why was there a special need for the anointed remnant to strengthen weak hands and make wobbling knees firm?

³⁸ Likewise, in modern times, by enduring persecutions and hardships at the hands of Babylon the Great and her worldly accomplices, the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites went through severe disciplinary experiences. Naturally, when World War I ended on November 11, 1918, and they entered into a postwar period, the length of which they did not then know, they needed to strengthen the weak hands and make the wobbling knees firm. The greatest work in the history of the Christian congregation since Pentecost of 33 C.E. was now to be taken hold of. They needed to enter into the postwar work with a firm step, not limping between two opinions, but convinced that God was leading them in the right direction. The Times of the Gentiles had ended in 1914 C.E. The Messianic kingdom had been born in the heavens, and all the foretold signs that were accumulating lent proof to that fact. Now was the time to march forward, unitedly, as witnesses of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom.

39, 40. (a) How, in 1919, were the anointed remnant told: “Be strong. Do not be afraid”? (b) In the public talk at the Cedar Point assembly, what evidence of fearlessness was there?

³⁹ As we oldsters well know, something amazing was happening with this remnant of joint heirs of Christ’s kingdom, something wholly unexpected according to our then understanding of the Bible prophecies. We were inclined to be “anxious at heart.” But to us it was indeed said: “Be strong. Do not be afraid.” (Isaiah 35:4) This exhortation was mightily conveyed in the two-part article entitled “Blessed Are the Fearless,” which was published in the issues of The Watch Tower for August 1 and 15, 1919. On top of this the holding of the eight-day general assembly at Cedar Point, Ohio, on September 1-8, 1919, was a rousing experience, and the challenging assertion “Blessed Are the Fearless” was emphasized there.

⁴⁰ Quite differently from what was the case with the regional four-day assemblies that were held by the anointed remnant during 1918 C.E. while World War I was still raging, at which no public discourses were advertised and delivered, the high feature of the 1919 Cedar Point Convention was the open-air public talk delivered by the Watch Tower Society’s president, J. F. Rutherford, on the subject “The Hope for Distressed Humanity.” Fearlessly, in that lecture, the public speaker declared that the League of Nations that was then proposed for establishing world peace and plenty would have God’s displeasure. It was not “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth,” that the clergy of Christendom claimed it to be. Those individuals in that audience of 7,000 at Cedar Point, Ohio, who survived to the outbreak of World War II in September of 1939 saw that the public speaker had told them the truth. The League of Nations as sponsored by the religious clergy had failed as a protector of world peace. World War II dealt it a deathblow and shoved it into an abyss. But the true Messianic kingdom that had been born in the heavens in 1914 continues to reign and to be advertised on earth by Jehovah’s Christian witnesses.

41. So, in 1919, what did the evidence indicate had taken place in the case of Jehovah’s remnant of spiritual Israel?

⁴¹ So, in 1919, the time had come for Jehovah’s remnant of spiritual Israel to demonstrate to the world that they had been liberated from Babylon the Great. The evidences began to accumulate that they had been reinstated in His favor and that He had designated them to be his Christian witnesses. On the other hand, the evidences of God’s displeasure at Babylon the Great began to multiply, finally massing up even to heaven. Never again would she be able, even in wartime, to take Jehovah’s Christian witnesses into exile and silence their Kingdom testimony.

42. (a) Against whom was it now time for God to come with “vengeance,” and why? (b) What part would the remnant of spiritual Israel have in this?

⁴² The strengthening exhortation from Isaiah’s prophecy carried with it the assurance: “Look! Your own God will come with vengeance itself, God even with a repayment. He himself will come and save you people.” (Isaiah 35:4) The first postwar general convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1919, and the resumption of the public witness work in that same year, constituted a plainly visible symbol that Jehovah God had saved his remnant of spiritual Israelites from fearful bondage in Babylon the Great. It was now the occasion for Him to come with vengeance against that world empire of the false religion that comes from Satan the Devil through ancient Babylon on the Euphrates River. The time was now due for Jehovah to come with a repayment to Babylon the Great for what she had done to his nation of spiritual Israel down through the centuries of our Common Era. The remnant of spiritual Israel he would now use in declaring the day of His vengeance and the way in which He would make repayment to Babylon the Great and her political, military accomplices.​—Isaiah 61:1, 2; 2 Thessalonians 1:6.

THE TRANSFORMING OF THE RELIGIOUSLY CRIPPLED ONES

43. What effect of God’s action on behalf of his people did the prophet Isaiah foresee?

⁴³ What response did the prophet Isaiah foresee to the rousing exhortation that he was used to convey to Jehovah’s worshipers whose religious estate had for a time been made like a “wilderness,” a “waterless region” and a “desert plain”? What would be the effect upon them of God’s coming and saving them, whereas at the same time he was bringing vengeance and a repayment to their oppressors and desolators? “At that time,” replies the prophet, “the eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped. At that time the lame one will climb up just as a stag does, and the tongue of the speechless one will cry out in gladness. For in the wilderness waters will have burst out, and torrents in the desert plain. And the heat-parched ground will have become as a reedy pool, and the thirsty ground as springs of water. In the abiding place of jackals, a resting-place for them, there will be green grass with reeds and papyrus plants.”​—Isaiah 35:5-7.

44. What is meant by opening “the eyes of the blind ones,” and how was this done in 537 B.C.E.?

⁴⁴ Release from the darksome dungeon​—that was what the opening of the eyes of the blind ones meant! Such lightening of the eyes that comes through liberation was the work for which Jehovah reserved his Messianic Servant at the due time, saying to him: “I kept safeguarding you that I might give you as a covenant [or, pledge] for the people, to rehabilitate the land, to bring about the repossessing of the desolated hereditary possessions, to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out!’ to those who are in the darkness, ‘Reveal yourselves!’” (Isaiah 49:8, 9) So in the year 537 B.C.E., after ancient Babylon had fallen to the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great, God brought forth his exiled people from their long imprisonment in Babylon, to see the light of freedom in their “hereditary possessions,” their beloved homeland.

45. What opening of “the eyes of the blind ones” took place in 1919?

⁴⁵ Likewise, in the year 1919 C.E., Jehovah brought forth his anointed remnant whose eyes had been blinded by imprisonment in Babylon the Great in order for them to see the light of his favor in their restored spiritual estate. More and more, as time went on, their eyes took in the increasing beauty of their spiritual estate.

46. In what way were their ears ‘deaf,’ but in what has the unstopping of their ears resulted?

⁴⁶ As regards their ears of spiritual understanding, these had been deafened to the Bible prophecies about a restoration for them and about a worldwide witness work for them after their release from Babylon the Great. They had not heard explained to them the correct meaning of those prophecies. Now, after their return to their revived spiritual estate, they began to hear such prophecies as explained through God’s organization and to get the sense of such prophecies now undergoing fulfillment. Faithfully has been fulfilled the divine promise: “In that day the deaf ones will certainly hear the words of the book, and out of the gloom and out of the darkness even the eyes of the blind ones will see. And the meek ones will certainly increase their rejoicing in Jehovah himself, and even the poor ones of mankind will be joyful in the Holy One of Israel himself.” (Isaiah 29:18, 19) To this day the ears of Jehovah’s Christian worshipers remain unstopped to the messages that come from the unfolding prophecies. They keep their ears unstopped to the divine commands that come from his written Word with respect to the Kingdom work now to be done throughout the earth.

47. (a) What kind of lameness had the remnant experienced? (b) As foretold, how do they “climb up just as a stag does”?

⁴⁷ A spiritual miracle has also taken place with regard to the “lame one.” The remnant of spiritual Israel had been lamed by Babylon the Great and through her use of the political, judicial and military authorities of the land. Their going about in full public and with the fullest freedom of religion had been seriously hampered. But when God’s exhortation through Isaiah was heard and the strengthening of the weak hands and the making firm of the wobbling knees took place, steady, firm and sure-footed walking was restored to the responding spiritual Israelites. As it had been foretold: “At that time the lame one will climb up just as a stag does.” Uphill kinds of work in Jehovah’s Kingdom service were vigorously undertaken. There was a leaping, a bounding, into the work to be done in the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom . . . in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14) Figuratively speaking, it was a climb to organize all the restored spiritual Israelites for preaching the Kingdom message from house to house.

48. When did the “tongue of the speechless one” begin to “cry out,” and what caused this?

⁴⁸ “And the tongue of the speechless one will cry out in gladness.” (Isaiah 35:6) This, too, came into fulfillment at the restoration of the remnant of spiritual Israel to their proper spiritual estate in the postwar era. They had much for which to praise the God of their salvation as they beheld the transformation of their station on earth. Rather than continuing to pine for their heavenly home, they found life more livable in their spiritual estate on earth. “For in the wilderness waters will have burst out, and torrents in the desert plain.” Life in God’s Kingdom service here on earth became refreshing to them spiritually. Water of life started flowing forth from the Holy Bible as God’s spirit made it more understandable, and the meaning of its prophecies became fuller and thrillingly encouraging. So, was this not a stimulating reason for Jehovah’s restored worshipers, whose tongue had been “speechless” because of the spiritual desolation that had previously confronted them, to “cry out in gladness”? Yes, indeed!

49. As foretold in Isaiah 35:7, what else was to result from Jehovah’s blessing upon his people?

⁴⁹ As a result of the showers of blessings that God caused to pour down upon his restored remnant of spiritual Israel, the further gladdening features of Isaiah’s prophecy came to life in a figurative sense before their eyes: “And the heat-parched ground will have become as a reedy pool, and the thirsty ground as springs of water. In the abiding place of jackals, a resting-place for them, there will be green grass with reeds and papyrus plants.”​—Isaiah 35:7.

50. (a) What is suggested by the mention of “jackals”? (b) The appearance of “green grass with reeds and papyrus plants” indicates what change?

⁵⁰ The mention of jackals calls to mind scenes of desolation. The jackal is a sort of scavenger wild dog that frequents lonely, wild regions and even areas that resemble deserts. Their presence would suggest dry regions, barren-looking. If left in such a dry state, the abiding place and resting-place for jackals would not be a desirable place for humans to live. They would cry out and pray for water, for springs, for rainfall. With such irrigation supplied, there would form reedy pools in depressions. Even papyrus plants would grow there. And carpets of green grass would cover the onetime desert plain. Humans would move in, and no longer would the wailing and yelping of the jackals add weirdness to the gathering gloom of night. A remarkable change of that kind began in 537 B.C.E.

51, 52. (a) How was this portion of the prophecy fulfilled in the case of the homeland of the exiled Jews? (b) In a similar manner, what has occurred since 1919 C.E.?

⁵¹ Before the desolating of the land of the kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians, who came down by the northern route, the prophet Jeremiah foretold what their coming would lead to, saying: “Listen! A report! Here it has come, also a great pounding from the land of the north, in order to make the cities of Judah a desolate waste, the lair of jackals.” Also, as the mouthpiece of Jehovah, he says: “I will make Jerusalem piles of stones, the lair of jackals; and the cities of Judah I shall make a desolate waste, without an inhabitant.”​—Jeremiah 10:22; 9:11.

⁵² Consequently, when the exiled Jews left Babylon and came back to their homeland after it had lain as an uninhabited wasteland for seventy years, there were lairs, abiding places, resting-places of jackals that needed to be transformed to grassy areas, with placid pools at the edges of which reeds and papyrus plants could grow. So the repatriated Jews conquered the wasteland, and the jackals moved out. In a similar manner, figuratively speaking, there began a change in outward aspects of the spiritual estate of the liberated remnant of spiritual Israel from 1919 C.E. onward. From then on, any pollutants of their spiritual estate that were discovered were purged away. But as regards the worldly nations, they went on polluting the earthly globe as never before. In spite of this world pollution, behold! a spiritual paradise has been cultivated by Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, under His blessing and to the honor of His name.

[Picture on page 147]

J. F. Rutherford addressing convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1919

Chapter 9

The “Way of Holiness” to the Spiritual Paradise

1. What grand prospect lay ahead of the Jewish exiles when they left Babylon in 537 B.C.E.?

A LAND like a paradise in a literal sense! This is what the Jewish exiles hoped to make out of their long-desolate homeland, as they departed from Babylon in the year 537 B.C.E. Before them lay the prospect of realizing the fulfillment of the glowing words that the prophet Isaiah had spoken regarding their homeland: “The wilderness and the waterless region will exult, and the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron. Without fail it will blossom, and it will really be joyful with joyousness and with glad crying out. The glory of Lebanon itself must be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and of Sharon. There will be those who will see the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.”​—Isaiah 35:1, 2.

2. How had God given them assurance of a safe, successful return to their homeland?

² With such a grand prospect before them, how heart-satisfying it must have felt to the liberated Jewish remnant and their loyal companions when they got on the march out of Babylon and were really homeward bound! Comfortingly, they were assured from God that he would make a special way for them for a safe, successful return to their longed-for homeland. To this effect were his words by his prophet Isaiah: “And there will certainly come to be a highway there, even a way; and the Way of Holiness it will be called. The unclean one will not pass over it. And it will be for the one walking on the way, and no foolish ones will wander about on it. No lion will prove to be there, and the rapacious sort of wild beasts will not come up on it. None will be found there; and the repurchased ones must walk there.”​—Isaiah 35:8, 9.

3. (a) What made Babylon, from which the Jews were departing, religiously unclean? (b) How was the way back to the land of Judah to be, in fact, a “Way of Holiness”?

³ Pagan Babylon, to which the surviving Jews had been deported after Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E., was religiously unclean, unholy. Its land was filled with idols and temples of false worship. The homeland to which the liberated Jews were to return was to be a religiously clean ground, a holy land, for there the temple of Jehovah God was to be rebuilt on its original site and the repeopled province of Judah was to be a land where the pure worship of the one living and true God flourished. Certainly, then, the way back had to be a “Way of Holiness” in fact, and not in name only. The returnees using this God-provided way had to have a holy motivation, that of restoring to their long-desolate homeland the clean worship of the God of Holiness. That was the main reason why they had been released from Babylon.​—Ezra 1:1-4.

4. (a) In what way would it prove true that, as foretold, “the unclean one will not pass over it”? (b) What special obligation did Governor Zerubbabel and High Priest Joshua have in this regard?

⁴ “The unclean one will not pass over it.” An Israelite unclean with Babylonian religious contamination would have no rightful passage on the Sacred Way back to Judah and Jerusalem. Nothing of a Babylonish religious nature was to be carried back with him to be transplanted on the holy soil where exclusive devotion to Jehovah God was to prevail. The divine command to those who were carrying back the holy utensils for restoration to Jehovah’s temple that was to be rebuilt in Jerusalem was: “Turn away, turn away, get out of there, touch nothing unclean; get out from the midst of her [Babylon], keep yourselves clean, you who are carrying the utensils of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 52:11) The worship of Jehovah does not mix agreeably with Babylonian false religion. So the Way of Holiness must not be defiled by an apostate Israelite who would scheme to introduce Babylonish idolatrous religion into the restored homeland. And the Jewish governor, Zerubbabel, and the Aaronic high priest, Joshua (or, Jeshua), who would be in charge of the march back to the province of Judah, were obliged to see to it that no apostate, evil-designing Israelite should accompany the truly repentant, clean-hearted remnant back to Jerusalem.

5. Who is spoken of in Isaiah 35:8 as “the one walking on the way”?

⁵ “And it will be for the one walking on the way.” Who could that be? It could never prove to be an unclean person, who is excluded from passing over the way. Since the way in which this one must walk is the Way of Holiness, it must be the individual who is living up to Jehovah’s holiness, who is seeking to be holy just as He is holy. (Leviticus 11:44, 45) Of course, Jehovah himself was the One who was going ahead of the liberated Israelites whose faces were set toward the holy mountain of worship at Jerusalem, and He outstandingly would be The One walking on the way; never would He walk on an unholy way or lead His people on an unholy way. (Isaiah 52:12) Necessarily, those following on the way after him need to be holy like Him, not touching the unclean things pertaining to false Babylonish religion.

6, 7. Who are the “foolish ones” who were not to be permitted to wander on the Way of Holiness?

⁶ This fact is further proved by the next sentence identifying the one who is debarred from the Way of Holiness: “And no foolish ones will wander about on it.” (Isaiah 35:8) By the designation “foolish” here is not meant one who is just silly, inexperienced, ignorantly doing what is unwise. He is, rather, the perverse fool, the one who is stubbornly committed to the course of unwisdom.

⁷ Jehovah gave a true description of this kind of foolish person, when He said to the prophet Jeremiah: “My people is foolish. Of me they have not taken note. They are unwise sons; and they are not those having understanding. Wise they are for doing bad, but for doing good they actually have no knowledge.” (Jeremiah 4:22) Because of their ingrained, persistent foolishness they suffered the desolating of Judah and Jerusalem and their deportation to the pagan land of Babylon. So now, on the return of the faithful remnant to their desolated homeland, such “foolish” ones were not to be permitted to wander about freely on the Highway of Holiness, nor to stray in upon it.

8. As shown in Isaiah 35:9, from what else were the Jews promised freedom en route back to their homeland?

⁸ Not only would there be freedom from contact with such undesirable elements on the road back to their homeland far off from religiously polluted Babylon, but no wild, flesh-eating beasts would lie in wait alongside the road to prey upon the ones using that way back to Jehovah’s favor. The divine promise was: “No lion will prove to be there, and the rapacious sort of wild beasts will not come up on it. None will be found there; and the repurchased ones must walk there.”​—Isaiah 35:9.

9. Was this a promise of safety only against animal attack, or what?

⁹ Thus no man-eating wild beasts would infest the Way of Holiness. If no such dangerous animals add terror to the way back to Jehovah’s worship in His chosen land, then no beastlike men or packs of men would be allowed to leap out suddenly and raid the line of marchers, to plunder and to kill. So there should be no fear in the hearts of the liberated remnant of Jehovah’s people about setting out on the return journey over the way that He provided. Courageously, and with full trust in Almighty God, there was a remnant that volunteered to pioneer the way. As it was written: “And the repurchased ones must walk there.”

10. Why had these people been “sold” to the Babylonians, and on what basis were they being “repurchased”?

¹⁰ These were the ones repurchased, redeemed, by Jehovah God. Because of disobedience to Him and rebellion against his pure worship, the people of the kingdom of Judah had been “sold” to the Babylonians for deportation to the land of their captors. Long before their deportation to Babylon, Jehovah had said to them: “Which one of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you people? Look! Because of your own errors you have been sold, and because of your own transgressions your mother has been sent away.” Also: “For this is what Jehovah has said: ‘It was for nothing that you people were sold, and it will be without money that you will be repurchased.’” (Isaiah 50:1; 52:3) That is to say, Jehovah did not get any personal benefit from selling them to the Babylonians, nor does he receive any material benefit from repurchasing them from the land of their captors, their Babylonian masters.

A LIBERATION NOT PAID FOR

11. Were the Babylonians paid in some way when God took possession of his chosen people again?

¹¹ The deported Jews did not pay Jehovah any money for him to repurchase them, neither did they pay money to the Babylonians to buy back their own freedom. It was Jehovah that unselfishly bought them back from the consequences of their own errors and transgressions. He did not owe the Babylonians anything for having taken captive his people and removing them from their God-given land. So He did not have to pay the Babylonians to take possession of His chosen people once again, except to pay vengeance to the Babylonians for their depredations against his holy city Jerusalem and its temple and its throne of the kingdom of David.​—Jeremiah 51:11, 36, 37; 1 Chronicles 29:23.

12. How was it “without money” that the modern-day remnant of spiritual Israel was “repurchased”?

¹² In modern likeness, Jehovah God owed nothing to Babylon the Great and her worldly accomplices for liberating the remnant of spiritual Israel from their control in the year 1919 C.E. Neither did the anointed remnant pay any money to Babylon the Great or to the kings and rulers of the world with whom she commits spiritual fornication, to purchase their own liberation. The credit for their liberation in 1919 was to Jehovah alone, for he “repurchased” them from the consequences of their shortcomings by the satisfaction of his own justice through his Anointed Servant, Jesus Christ.

13. Following their liberation from Babylon the Great, the discernment of the remnant as to what became ever keener, and what did this involve?

¹³ Thus it was that, as a repurchased people, the remnant of spiritual Israel turned their backs upon Babylon the Great and entered upon the Highway of Holiness. Theirs was an attitude of repentance as they came more and more to appreciate their past faults, failings and delinquencies, especially during World War I. Ever keener became their discernment that they must render holiness to their divine Liberator, that to Him they must render exclusive devotion. This entailed upon them their keeping separate from this world, the Devil’s visible organization. To His sovereignty, as represented now in the Messianic kingdom newly born in the heavens in 1914 C.E., they must give their fullest allegiance. Accordingly, they must preach the Kingdom, advertise it, world wide.

14. (a) What taints of uncleanness did God’s people need to clear out of their lives? (b) To what should those who desire to serve God conform their conduct and their attitude?

¹⁴ Since the Highway of Holiness was for only the clean ones, they needed to clean up from any and all contaminations and soils that they had suffered from captivity and bondage to Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. So​—out with her religious festivals! Out with the nationalistic festivals of this world, of which Babylon the Great is a friend! (James 4:4) Out with any kind of conformity with her and her traditions! God’s Holy Word, the Bible, is the thing to which to conform. Its teachings are the things with which to make our minds over so as to discern God’s will and have the right attitude of mind and heart.

15. (a) If they personally conducted themselves properly, would it make any difference if they tolerated in their midst any persistently “foolish ones”? (b) Why would beastlike men not menace the Highway of Holiness?

¹⁵ By such a course alone could the remnant of spiritual Israel come into the full favor of the God of the Holy Bible and enter into the spiritual paradise that he had in reserve for them. Let the so-called Christian realm, Christendom, and all the rest of Babylon the Great go on in their “foolish” way during the postwar period, but, as for the anointed remnant, they would have nothing to do with such “foolish ones.” They would not tolerate any “foolish ones” in their midst, inasmuch as God’s Word had specified that “no foolish ones will wander about on it [on the Highway of Holiness].” (Isaiah 35:8) Furthermore, they would not allow men or man-made organizations to menace the Highway of Holiness like lions or like any rapacious sort of wild beasts. Fear of such terrifying men and organizations would not frighten off the repentant seekers of God’s favor from entering and passing over his Highway of Holiness. Fear of Him would minimize or nullify the fear of ferocious men, especially since Jehovah himself was the main one, the leading one, “walking on the way.”

16. (a) In what year did the anointed remnant start out over the Highway of Holiness? (b) Were they aware that they were leaving Babylon the Great behind?

¹⁶ With an increasing appreciation of God’s requirements for them in this postwar period of restoration and reconstruction, Jehovah’s “repurchased ones” started off in 1919 C.E. in their walk over his Highway of Holiness. They definitely knew that they were parting from any company with or bondage to that religious harlot, Babylon the Great, for, after their bad treatment at the hands of her and her worldly paramours during World War I, they had all the more reason to hate her and to be opposed to her. They recognized her as bloodguilty and unclean, and they did not want to touch her in any religious fraternizing way. They were familiar with the divine command in Isaiah 52:11: “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.” (King James Authorized Version) (See the Watch Tower issue of November 1, 1918, page 333, under the title “Purity a Qualification of the Royal Priesthood”​—“Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.”​—Isaiah 52:11.) So the anointed remnant carried out that command.

17. (a) To whom did the apostle Paul apply that divine command at Isaiah 52:11? (b) So what action must be taken before a person can become a true Christian?

¹⁷ Back in the year 537 B.C.E., that command applied to the exiled Jews, captive in ancient Babylon. But after the year 33 of our Common Era, when the natural, circumcised Jews were cast off by Jehovah God for their rejection of his Messiah, the Christian apostle Paul applied that divine command to the spiritual Israelites, the Christian Israel. Quoting from Isaiah 52:11, Paul wrote to the Christian congregation in Corinth, Achaia (Greece), and said: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? . . . Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18, AV) Accordingly, back there in the first century of our Common Era, before they could become true Christians, the believers had to leave Babylon the Great. So, too, in this twentieth century C.E.

18, 19. In a resolution adopted at a Christian assembly in 1923 C.E., what action were God-fearing persons in Babylon the Great urged to take?

¹⁸ The divine requirement of this kind for one to become a true Christian was pointedly set out in the year 1923 C.E. On August 18-26 of that year one of a number of regional assemblies of the International Bible Students Association was held in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. On Saturday afternoon of this convention, J. F. Rutherford as president of the I.B.S.A. addressed the gathering (approximately 2,500 attending this convention), and he spoke on the subject “Sheep and Goats,” this being based on Jesus’ parable recorded in Matthew 25:31-46. At the close of this discourse, the speaker read a pertinent resolution and moved its adoption by his audience. Except for a couple of abstainers, the audience stood up in adoption of this timely resolution. The last two paragraphs of the resolution are of special interest at this time. The two paragraphs read:

We, therefore, in the spirit of love sound the warning to all such peace and order loving and God-fearing ones who are associated with the denominational churches, and point them to the fact that they can have no part in nor fellowship with that class of pretending Christians who repudiate the Word of God and deny the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom; and we call upon them to heed the Word of God and separate themselves from the unclean thing (2 Corinthians 6:17), to withdraw themselves from the unrighteous ecclesiastical systems designated by the Lord as “Babylon”, and to “come out from her, lest they be partakers of her sins and receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4); and

We appeal to all such to recognize Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, and that his kingdom now at hand is the hope and salvation of the peoples; and that they individually and collectively declare themselves on the side of the Lord and in sympathy with his cause, and be ready to receive the blessings of God’s kingdom which he has prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

¹⁹ Thereafter this Resolution was published in tract form, in a number of principal languages, and circulated throughout the earth by the tens of millions of copies.​—See The Watch Tower under date of November 1, 1923, pages 326, 327.

20. (a) In 1934, what further step was taken to aid the sheeplike ones to get on the Highway of Holiness with the anointed remnant? (b) To what group that left Babylon with the Jewish exiles do the sheeplike ones correspond?

²⁰ This Resolution did not instruct these sheeplike people to make a full dedication of themselves to God through Christ and to get baptized in symbol of that dedication. That came later, first in the year 1934. (See The Watchtower under date of August 15, 1934, page 250, paragraph 34.) Nevertheless, the Resolution of 1923 was one of the progressive steps in preparing this sheeplike class to take the course that would in due time put them on the Highway of Holiness with the remnant of spiritual Israel. These sheeplike well-doers toward the anointed remnant were like the Nethinim (Given Ones) that left the land of Babylon in 537 B.C.E. and returned with the faithful remnant of natural Israel to the desolated land of Judah and to the former location of Jerusalem (or, Zion). Those ancient Nethinim not only had some menial service in connection with the temple of Jerusalem but also had a share in the reconstruction of that holy city. (1 Chronicles 9:2; Ezra 2:43-54, 58, 70; 7:24; 8:17-20; Nehemiah 3:26, 31; 7:46-56, 60, 73) Like those of old, the sheeplike Nethinim of today have been very helpful to the anointed remnant of Christ’s spiritual brothers.

THE JOYFUL RETURN

21. With what attitude of mind did the Israelite remnant return to Zion in 537 B.C.E., and why appropriately so?

²¹ Release from a pagan religious organization and the resumption of pure religious worship under the renewed favor and blessing of the one true and living God ought to be a joy-inspiring event for any seeker of the right religion. This is exactly what such a thing was for the Israelite remnant back there in the year 537 B.C.E. The prophet Isaiah was inspired to foretell the joy of the occasion, saying: “And the very ones redeemed by Jehovah will return and certainly come to Zion with a joyful cry; and rejoicing to time indefinite will be upon their head. To exultation and rejoicing they will attain, and grief and sighing must flee away.”​—Isaiah 35:10.

22. Whom did Jehovah use to bring about the deliverance (a) of the Jewish remnant in 537 B.C.E.? (b) of the remnant of spiritual Israel in this twentieth century?

²² For the ancient Israelites the miniature fulfillment of this gladdening prophecy began in the year 537 B.C.E., in the first year of the reign of the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. (2 Chronicles 36:20-23; Ezra 1:1-4; Isaiah 44:26 through 45:7) Just as back there Jehovah God used his foretold anointed servant, King Cyrus, to bring about the deliverance and release of the Jewish remnant from Babylon, so, in this twentieth century, this same God has used the Greater Cyrus, the reigning King Jesus Christ, in effecting the deliverance and release of the remnant of spiritual Israel from Babylon the Great.​—Revelation 14:1-8.

23, 24. (a) What is the price for the “repurchased ones” that is referred to in Isaiah 43:1-4? (b) So what did Cyrus the Great receive in place of the natural Israelites whom he restored to their homeland? (c) How is it that the remnant of spiritual Israel since 1919 C.E. are “repurchased ones”?

²³ Those who returned over the Highway of Holiness to Zion (or, Jerusalem) were called “the repurchased ones,” “the very ones redeemed by Jehovah.” (Isaiah 35:9, 10) The repurchase price, the redemption price, in this case was prophetically referred to in Isaiah 43:1-4, in these words: “And now this is what Jehovah has said, your Creator, O Jacob, and your Former, O Israel: ‘Do not be afraid, for I have repurchased you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. In case you should pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not flood over you. In case you should walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, neither will the flame itself singe you. For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Ethiopia and Seba in place of you. Owing to the fact that you have been precious in my eyes, you have been considered honorable, and I myself have loved you. And I shall give men in place of you, and national groups in place of your soul.’”

²⁴ In place of the remnant of natural Israel whom Cyrus the Great restored to their homeland, the God of Justice gave to him and his descendants African territories and their peoples and national groups, by conquest. These constituted the repurchase price, the redemption value, the ransom. (Esther 1:1-4) In this twentieth century of ours, in behalf of the remnant of spiritual Israel and the “great crowd” of sheeplike ones who resemble the ancient Nethinim, Jehovah says to his Greater Cyrus, Jesus Christ: “Ask of me, that I may give nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your own possession. You will break them with an iron scepter, as though a potter’s vessel you will dash them to pieces.” (Psalm 2:8, 9) Accordingly, the repentant remnant of spiritual Israel, who have been released from Babylon the Great since 1919 C.E., may Scripturally be spoken of as the “repurchased ones,” “the very ones redeemed by Jehovah.” In a particular sense, then, they belong to Jehovah God through Christ.

25. (a) Did the exiled Israelites all return from Babylon to Jerusalem at the same time? (b) In modern times, did all those who came to make up the remnant of spiritual Israel leave Babylon the Great in the year 1919?

²⁵ The first group of exiles that left Babylon and headed for Zion in 537 B.C.E. comprised, at most, 49,942 persons, of which 42,360 were Israelites. The rest were slaves and professional singers. (Nehemiah 7:66, 67; Ezra 2:64, 65) Sixty-nine years later, or in 468 B.C.E., about 1,500 men and their families joined the faithful Aaronic priest Ezra in returning to Jerusalem with the permission of the Persian king, Artaxerxes (Longimanus). This must have been of great encouragement to the first contingent of returned Jewish exiles who were endeavoring to cultivate and beautify the beloved homeland to which they had been restored. (Ezra 7:1 through 8:15) In our twentieth century, it was from 1919 C.E. onward that the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel began departing from bondage to Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. During the years following World War I and particularly down to 1935 C.E., the number of the anointed remnant increased as more left Babylon the Great to make up the remnant. So, not all the members of today’s remnant left Babylon the Great and got restored to Jehovah’s favor and service in 1919. Continually throughout the years after 1919, individuals were breaking loose from Babylon the Great to enter into the paradise-like spiritual estate of Jehovah’s restored remnant.

26. (a) How has the modern-day remnant traveled on the Highway of Holiness away from Babylon the Great and to the spiritual paradise? (b) Where was their joy over their changed situation evident at an early date, and how long-lived did that joy prove to be?

²⁶ Different from the case of the Jewish exiles in 537 B.C.E., the modern-day remnant of spiritual Israel did not have to travel from one geographical location on earth to another. They traversed the Highway of Holiness from Babylon the Great to the spiritual paradise by obeying God’s command to cast off bondage to unholy Babylon the Great and by taking their stand in the free spiritual estate of Jehovah’s restored remnant. An observer simply had to attend the international convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A., September 1-8, 1919, to appreciate that it was “with a joyful cry” that the remnant of spiritual Israelites had set out over the Highway of Holiness and had returned to God’s favor and had “come to Zion.” The joy and renewed zeal of that first postwar general convention of Jehovah’s worshipers spread to the congregations of His dedicated people in all parts of the earth. The joy at religious freedom from Babylon the Great and at reinstatement in their God-given spiritual estate was not fleeting, short-lived. As Isaiah 35:10 foretold, “rejoicing to time indefinite will be upon their head.” As they intensified their efforts in preaching world wide “this good news of the kingdom” and as they discerned more and more the spiritual paradise that was being cultivated in their spiritual estate, they lifted up their heads with augmented rejoicing.

27, 28. In 537 B.C.E., what happened in fulfillment of the latter part of Isaiah 35:10?

²⁷ The words of divine prophecy had to be fulfilled: “To exultation and rejoicing they will attain, and grief and sighing must flee away.” (Isaiah 35:10) In the year 537 B.C.E., at the beginning of the seventh lunar month (Tishri), the repatriated Jews gathered to Jerusalem and rebuilt the altar to Jehovah at the temple site, to renew the offering of sacrifices to him there. Then, on the fifteenth day of Tishri, they began celebrating the seven-day festival of the booths, which was regularly the most joyful festival of the year in all the Jewish calendar of annual events. (Ezra 3:1-6) In the second year of their return from exile, in the second lunar month of the sacred calendar, their joy was heightened still more, when the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was laid at its original site on Mount Moriah. The emotions of some stirred them to tears, but others rejoiced:

²⁸ “Hence the people were not distinguishing the sound of the shout of rejoicing from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound itself was heard even to a great distance.”​—Ezra 3:8-13.

29. In the case of the remnant of spiritual Israel, how did “grief and sighing” flee away?

²⁹ All of that was a miniature pattern of the unspeakable exultation and rejoicing to which the restored remnant of spiritual Israel attained after their liberation from Babylon the Great. Grief over what they had suffered at the hands of Babylon the Great and her worldly paramours during World War I was swallowed up in joy at the blessings of their transformed spiritual estate. The sighing to which they had given way because of religious bondage and restraints fled away. The hardships of the world’s postwar era, including even the horrors and persecutions of World War II, could not stifle their exultation and rejoicing in Jehovah and his reigning Messianic kingdom. They did not grieve over these mundane things, and never again did they submit to religious bondage to Babylon the Great, so as to cause them to sigh at further oppressions by her.

30, 31. (a) Starting in 1935 C.E., who joined the remnant on the Highway of Holiness? (b) What reasons for joy have they experienced as foretold in Revelation 7:16, 17?

³⁰ To the contrary, their joy was enhanced by the flocking to their side of an increasing “great crowd” of sheeplike worshipers of Jehovah God. This “great crowd” of “other sheep,” like the Nethinim of ancient Israel, began following the anointed remnant over the Highway of Holiness from the year 1935 C.E. forward. (Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:16; Matthew 25:31-46) In loyalty to Jehovah God and his heavenly kingdom by his Son Jesus Christ, these sheeplike escapees from Babylon the Great gave active aid and comfort to the remnant of spiritual Israelites, their spiritual “brothers” of the King Jesus Christ. Their joy abounds at their own religious freedom, and they share fully in the rejoicing of the anointed remnant in their transformed spiritual estate. As it is written concerning the “great crowd” in Revelation 7:16, 17:

³¹ “They will hunger [spiritually] no more nor thirst [spiritually] anymore, neither will the sun beat down upon them [in divine disapproval] 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.”

32. What further reasons for “rejoicing to time indefinite” are there ahead of the “great crowd” and the remnant of spiritual Israel?

³² To this “great crowd” of sheeplike followers of the Lamb Jesus Christ there is extended the hope of surviving the oncoming “great tribulation” in which this worldly system of things will be brought to an eternal end. (Revelation 7:14) With the faithful anointed remnant of spiritual Israel they expect to survive into the promised new system of things under God’s Messianic kingdom. To have this experience, will it not be a joy for them? Truly it may be said concerning both the anointed remnant and the “great crowd” that “rejoicing to time indefinite will be upon their head.” (Isaiah 35:10) As the earth becomes more and more polluted by the ruinous things of selfish mankind today, the spiritual paradise enjoyed by the divinely blessed remnant and the “great crowd” of loving companions flourishes with exhilarating healthiness.

Chapter 10

The God-fearing King of the Spiritual Paradise

1. As to those counted worthy to dwell in the spiritual paradise today, what do we learn from the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden?

WHEN our first parents, Eve and Adam, disobediently ate the forbidden fruit, God sentenced them to death and drove them out of the Garden of Eden. The Paradise of Pleasure was no place for rebels against the Planter and Owner of the garden. (Genesis 2:8 through 3:24) This set the pattern regarding those whom Jehovah God counts worthy to dwell in the spiritual paradise today.

2. (a) How do the attitude and conduct of other people affect one’s enjoyment of life, even in surroundings that are beautiful to the eye? (b) So what elements does Jehovah exclude from the spiritual paradise?

² A person’s natural environment might be ever so much like a paradise, yet if one’s neighbors on all sides were self-seeking, lawless, vicious, godless people, it would not be a pleasant place in which to live. People like that could make life miserable, insecure, and unfavorable to spirituality and godliness. Life on earth today, with its increasing rate of crime, has become like that, even in suburban areas that the residents try to keep looking beautiful to the eye. Jehovah God kept the original paradise of mankind clean of such an undesirable human element. Today he keeps the spiritual paradise of the remnant of spiritual Israel and their sheeplike Christian companions free of such harmful, ruinous human elements.

3. (a) From what backgrounds do the residents of the spiritual paradise come? (b) Consequently, what changes are required in them?

³ The approved residents of the spiritual paradise, regardless of whether they are of the remnant of spiritual Israel or of the “great crowd” of sheeplike companions, are drawn from people of all races, nationalities, colors and languages, naturally. (Revelation 5:9, 10; 7:9, 10) As natural descendants of Adam and Eve, they have inherited imperfection and sinfulness. They have cultivated various attitudes and dispositions according to the circumstances under which they were born and brought up and morally influenced. In that condition the message of God’s Messianic kingdom found them and was preached to them. (Matthew 24:14) Consequently, for people of such widely different types to live together peacefully and lovingly in a spiritual paradise, it would first require an amazing transformation of personalities, to make the residents of the paradise homogeneous, like-minded, of like disposition. To bring this about would call for more than a mere human influence. It would need the irresistible spirit of God.

4, 5. (a) To bring about such a transformation would require what kind of ruler? (b) In what Biblical prophecy is this ruler foretold, and how does the apostle Paul identify him?

⁴ Very vital to the transformation of personalities for life in the spiritual paradise on earth would be a ruler who himself had the spirit of Jehovah God and who delighted in imparting that spirit to his subjects in Paradise. Necessarily, this Paradise ruler has to be a heavenly, superhuman ruler, under whom all the Paradise residents would willingly unite according to God’s will. Such a heavenly spirit ruler the Almighty God has already provided, in fulfillment of the inspired prophecy of Isaiah 11:1-10. The prophecy, recorded three hundred years after the successful reign of King David the son of Jesse of Bethlehem, points to the source from which this spirit-filled ruler would come. The Christian apostle Paul leaves no question as to who that ruler is, when, at the climax of his argument, he quotes the prophecy of Isaiah 11:10, saying to the mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles in Rome:

⁵ “That with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another, just as the Christ also welcomed us, with glory to God in view. For I say that Christ actually became a minister . . . that the nations might glorify God for his mercy. Just as it is written: . . . And again Isaiah says: ‘There will be the root of Jesse, and there will be one arising to rule nations; on him nations will rest their hope.’”​—Romans 15:6-12; Isaiah 11:10, LXX.

6, 7. (a) As indicated in the prophecy, of whom was Jesus a descendant? (b) When Jesus Christ came on the earthly scene, how were the majority of the Jews inclined to view him? (c) How had the prophet Isaiah indicated that, from a worldly view, the Messiah would not be impressive-looking?

⁶ Because of his descent from King David the son of Jesse, who belonged to the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ was also a descendant of this Jesse of Bethlehem-Judah. (Matthew 1:1-6; 2:4-6; Micah 5:2) However, Jesus Christ came on the earthly scene more than six hundred years after the overthrow of the kingdom of David at Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E., and at that time the vast majority of the Jews were not inclined to think that he was the Messiah, the foretold Anointed One through whom all the nations would be blessed eternally. To those unbelieving Jews he seemed to be a very unlikely prospect for kingship in the Messianic kingdom of God. He was not very impressive-looking according to their worldly view. But the very prophecy of Isaiah indicated that this would be so. In comparison with the haughty, pretentious-looking rulers of the earth, he appeared to be very unpromising. So, in order to point up this lopsided comparison, the opening verse of Isaiah, chapter eleven verse 1, is preceded by these final two verses of chapter ten:

⁷ “Look! The true Lord, Jehovah of armies, is lopping off boughs with a terrible crash; and those tall in growth are being cut down, and the high ones themselves become low. And he has struck down the thickets of the forest with an iron tool, and by a powerful one Lebanon itself will fall.”​—Isaiah 10:33, 34.

8. (a) There in Isaiah 10:33, 34, who is likened to the massive trees of Lebanon? (b) How did it prove true that “by a powerful one Lebanon itself” fell

⁸ In Isaiah’s day the Assyrian World Power was the greatest worldly threat to Jerusalem and the reigning line of kings that descended from David the son of Jesse. Apparently, then, the prophecy of Isaiah was comparing the Assyrian king and his mighty military forces to the massive trees of the mountains of Lebanon. When, during Isaiah’s lifetime, King Sennacherib of Assyria and his terrifying armies were devastating the land of Judah, even the royal city of Jerusalem seemed to be within his grasp as a prize. At this crisis the Almighty and Most High God took action. By means of a “powerful one,” a heavenly angel, Jehovah put to sleep in death 185,000 of Sennacherib’s troops in one night. Down Assyria’s “boughs” came with a crash as if the evergreen forest of Mount Lebanon were falling, and the humiliated Assyrian king Sennacherib was obliged to flee home, with a violent death in view in course of time.​—Isaiah 37:33-38.

9. By means of whom was the Davidic line of kings cut down, and, as a result, in time, what questions pressed for answer?

⁹ Not by the Assyrians, therefore, but by the later Babylonian conquest of the land of Judah in 607 B.C.E., the reigning line of the successors of King David became like the stump of a tree that had been cut down. As the centuries passed over that symbolic tree stump, the questions became more and more urgent: Will anything ever come of that tree stump again? Will that royal tree ever grow again as the prophecies inspired by God indicated? Has the royal scepter at last turned aside from the tribe of Judah for all time to come? (Genesis 49:10) Has the kingdom, for which God made a covenant with David, proved to be only long-lasting, but not eternal, not endless? (2 Samuel 7:8-16) Isaiah’s prophecy, Isa chapter eleven, gave an infallible response.

THE KING UPON WHOM JEHOVAH’S SPIRIT SETTLES DOWN

10, 11. What did the prophet Isaiah say about a certain “twig,” and why was it nothing to be despised because of its smallness?

¹⁰ In God’s arrangement, the day of small things is not to be despised; and the humble beginning of the true Messiah was not to be viewed as having no great possibilities. Just as the rulers “tall in growth” of the Assyrian World Power were chopped down to the ground, so the Almighty God could make a small one, lowly in growth, become a lofty one and bear much fruit. What is a small twig or tiny sprout compared to a massive cedar on a mountain of Lebanon? It is most insignificant; and yet Isaiah 11:1, 2 proceeds to say:

¹¹ “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.”

12. (a) Who is pictured by the “twig” and the “sprout”? (b) In Isaiah’s day, what was the condition of the royal tree with its roots in Jesse, but what happened to it in 607 B.C.E.?

¹² That the “twig” and the “sprout” represent one and the same thing and that they represent a person is evident from the fact that the prophecy states that “upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down.” The “twig” and the “sprout” from the same source picture a king anointed with the spirit of Jehovah God, hence the Messiah. In the prophet Isaiah’s day the royal tree with its roots in Jesse the father of King David had not yet been cut down, with only a stump and its roots left in the ground. That royal tree was made up of the line of kings in the royal family of David and it stood until the year 607 B.C.E. Then it was chopped down by the Babylonians when they deported the king to Babylon and destroyed his royal city, Jerusalem. Then the divine command to that last reigning Davidic king, Zedekiah, was carried out under force of circumstances: “Remove the turban, and lift off the crown. This will not be the same. Put on high even what is low [the series of Gentile world powers, one after another], and bring low even the high one [the Messianic kingdom in David’s family line]. A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. As for this also, it will certainly become no one’s until he comes who has the legal right, and I must give it to him.”​—Ezekiel 21:25-27.

13. Did Zerubbabel, in 537 B.C.E., fulfill the prophecy concerning the “twig” and the “sprout”?

¹³ When, in 537 B.C.E., the Persian conqueror of Babylon, Cyrus the Great, restored the exiled Jews to the land of Judah, Zerubbabel of the royal line of David was not crowned and installed upon a regal throne at rebuilt Jerusalem. King Cyrus made him merely the governor of the Persian province of Judah. (Luke 3:27-32; Matthew 1:6-13) Hence, Zerubbabel was not the one with the legal right to whom the kingdom, with its royal turban and crown, was given. He did not fulfill the prophecy concerning the “twig” and the “sprout” that sprang from the stump and roots of Jesse.

14. (a) When did the “twig” and “sprout” go forth and become fruitful, and how so? (b) Shortly afterward, what did Nathanael say regarding the office to which Jesus had been anointed?

¹⁴ When, and in the person of whom, did the “twig” and “sprout” go forth and become fruitful? This was more than half a millennium after Zerubbabel, in the year 29 of our Common Era and during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar. In early autumn of that year a royal descendant of David, namely, Jesus the son of Mary of Bethlehem was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. It was then that this Jesus became a spiritual Son of God, for then God’s spirit descended upon him and God’s voice was heard from heaven, saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” (Matthew 3:13-17) In this way Jesus was not only begotten by God’s spirit to be a spiritual Son of God but also anointed with God’s spirit to be the King-Designate in the royal line of David. In recognition of this fact, just about two months after this, Nathanael, as a prospective disciple of Jesus the Messiah, said to him: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel.”​—John 1:29-49.

15. (a) Toward the end of Jesus’ earthly life, whom did Peter say that he discerned Jesus to be? (b) The “twig” or “sprout” that had appeared in 29 C.E. became a full-grown tree in what year, and what happened at that time?

¹⁵ In the last year of his thirty-three and a half years as a man on earth, Jesus asked his twelve apostles as to whom they had discerned him to be. Simon Peter promptly responded: “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21, Byington) So Peter called Jesus “God’s Messiah.” Those speaking Greek called him “The Christ of God.” As the newly appointed Messiah or Christ, this Jesus was the symbolic “twig out of the stump of Jesse” and the symbolic “sprout” that shot forth from the roots of Jesse by way of the “stump.” Still that “stump” continued without a trunk for many centuries longer, till early autumn of 1914 C.E., and then that “twig” or “sprout” really became a full-grown fruit-bearing tree, a reigning King, the reigning Messiah. That was because the Gentile Times ended then and the time for a reversal of things arrived. The series of Gentile world powers that had been “put on high” in 607 B.C.E. must again become low, whereas the Messianic kingdom in the royal line of David that had been ‘brought low’ must once more become “the high one.”​—Luke 21:24, Authorized Version.

16. (a) From the time of Jesus’ being anointed, what qualities were imparted to him by Jehovah’s spirit? (b) Had like qualities been imparted prior to this to any human by means of God’s spirit?

¹⁶ From the time of Jesus’ being anointed after his water baptism, the spirit of Jehovah did indeed settle down upon him. It did prove to be the “spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 11:2) Those qualities that were imparted to Jesus Christ by the spirit of Jehovah correspond with the qualities imparted to the constructor of the sacred tent of meeting in the days of the prophet Moses. We note this fact from Exodus 31:1-3: “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.’” (Also, Exodus 35:31; see Zion’s Watch Tower, under date of November 15, 1907, pages 349, 350.) Now if Bezalel the constructor of the sacred tabernacle of worship needed God’s spirit in wisdom, understanding, knowledge and craftsmanship, most certainly Jesus the Messiah would need those same qualities in his more responsible office of King.

17. In the operation of God’s spirit on David and on Jesus following their individual anointings, what parallel do you observe?

¹⁷ We remember that, after the prophet Samuel anointed the shepherd boy David of Bethlehem to be the king-designate of Israel, then, as 1 Samuel 16:13 informs us, “the spirit of Jehovah began to be operative upon David from that day forward.” Similarly, after Jesus’ anointing with God’s active force at the Jordan River, God’s spirit specially became operative upon him.

18. Give examples showing that, in what Jesus did, there was evidence that special wisdom, understanding and knowledge had been imparted to him by God’s spirit.

¹⁸ “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. Furthermore, he ate nothing in those days.” With the wisdom, understanding and knowledge imparted to him by God’s spirit, Jesus successfully resisted the propositions presented to him by the Devil as temptations. “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 4:1-15) In the synagogue of Nazareth, his former associates marveled at his speech and asked: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these powerful works? Is this not the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:53-55; Mark 6:1-3) Jesus’ special abilities were now his because, as he had earlier told them, God had anointed him with holy spirit to be Messiah.​—Luke 4:16-22.

19. (a) How did the apostles Peter and Paul further emphasize the effect of God’s spirit upon his Son? (b) So, as a result of the operation of God’s spirit, what has become of the one who used to be an unimpressive “twig”?

¹⁹ Years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven, the apostle Peter emphasized the effect of God’s spirit upon his Son by saying: “God anointed him with holy spirit and power, and he went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil; because God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) The apostle Paul wrote with reference to the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven, when he said: “It is due to [God] that you are in union with Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God.” (1 Corinthians 1:29, 30) The philosophies of the so-called wise men of our much vaunted Brain Age are not to be compared with the intellectual powers of the glorified Jesus Christ, for “carefully concealed in him are all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3, 8) So, due to the spirit of the All-wise God upon him, the one who began on earth as an unimpressive “twig out of the stump of Jesse” has become the Messianic King superior to all past earthly rulers inside and outside of Israel.

20, 21. The anointed followers of Jesus Christ are also spoken of as a “sprout”​—of whom?

²⁰ In God’s eyes, it all depends upon that of which one is a “twig” or “sprout” as to whether one is of importance and value or not. The fact that Jehovah’s Servant was a “sprout” out of the roots of Jesse of Bethlehem was of vital importance to God. Of whom is one a “sprout”? The answer to this question is what determines matters. This is so in the case of the footstep followers of the anointed Servant.

²¹ Because the Servant and his disciples are members of God’s universal organization, his figurative “woman” or “wife,” God says to her with reference to her members, these disciples: “And as for your people, all of them will be righteous; to time indefinite they will hold possession of the land, the sprout [neʹtser] of my planting, the work of my hands, for me to be beautified. The little one himself [like a sprout] will become a thousand, and the small one a mighty nation. I myself, Jehovah, shall speed it up in its own time.” (Isaiah 60:21, 22) For this reason neither the Servant nor his faithful disciples turn out to be a “detested sprout,” like the last dynasty of kings of ancient Babylon.​—Isaiah 14:19.

22. How can we be sure that the Messianic King will not be an irresponsible ruler, acting as if he were not accountable to anyone higher?

²² This Messianic King will not act like an irresponsible ruler over the human family, over whom he is appointed to reign for a thousand years after the binding and abyssing of Satan the Devil and his demons. (Revelation 20:1-6) The spirit that has settled down upon the King operates against a ruling by him as though he were not accountable to anyone higher. The spirit upon him is not only that of wisdom, understanding, counsel and mightiness, but that of knowledge and “of the fear of Jehovah.” He fears Jehovah, and such fear will control in the exercise of his Messianic rulership.

23. How does he personally view this “fear of Jehovah”?

²³ This “fear of Jehovah” is not a bothersome thing to the King, interfering with his free, unrestrained action as King. He enjoys having such fear, and it is a pleasure for him also to see such “fear of Jehovah” in the hearts of his subjects. Isaiah’s prophecy goes on to say: “And there will be enjoyment by him in the fear of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 11:3) Byington’s translation reads: “And he will scent by fear of Jehovah.” The Jerusalem Bible reads: “The fear of Yahweh is his breath.” Rotherham’s translation reads: “So will he find fragrance [draw breath] in the reverence of Yahweh.”​—Margin.

A JUDGE WHO DELIVERS THE OPPRESSED

24, 25. As further described by Isaiah, what kind of judge does the Messianic King prove to be?

²⁴ A judge who renders his decisions in the fear of Jehovah God can be depended on to see that justice is done. Righteously disposed people of the whole earth have been waiting and longing for such a judge. That is the kind of judge that Jehovah’s Messianic King proves to be. After telling of the King’s “fear of Jehovah,” the prophet Isaiah continues on to say:

²⁵ “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.”​—Isaiah 11:3-5.

26. How will the fact that “he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears” assure justice?

²⁶ Think of what the earth will be with a global judge as the one here described, the exalted Jesus Christ! There will be no fooling of him. He will be able to see beneath the surface appearance of things, beneath all pretense. He will not be misguided by deceptive talk, as by the specious arguments of defense attorneys. Mere words will not count with him; the condition of the heart will count, and this he will be able to read. He will not depend upon a petit jury or a grand jury of imperfect men and women to determine the innocence or guilt of the one on trial. He will have that same spirit that operated in the case of the Christian apostle Peter, when he saw through the deceitful appearance and words of the hypocritical Ananias and Sapphira and informed them that they must suffer death for trying to lie to God’s holy spirit.​—Acts 5:1-11; compare Matthew 22:15-22.

27. In what way will his judging benefit the “lowly ones” and “the meek ones of the earth”?

²⁷ This Messianic Judge is a Godsend for the “lowly ones” and “meek ones of the earth.” He is not afraid to reprove the oppressor of those who are defenseless under the present system of things. He will refute the justifying arguments of the oppressors and will prove to them where they are wrong and unjust. He will correct matters, set matters the way that they should be. This will be the righteous thing, the upright thing to do, with no unfairness to oppressors. No crime syndicate will flourish under his reign; he will smash organized crime.

28. What are the “rod of his mouth” and the “spirit of his lips” that the Messianic Judge will direct against the wicked ones?

²⁸ The decisions of the Messianic Judge will take effect. They are not something unenforceable, something that can be overruled and annulled by appeal to a high court. (John 5:22-24) What issues out of his mouth in sentence upon the wrongdoer will be like a rod of punishment. It will be executed without fail and without delay. The guilty will feel it. What goes out from between his lips will be like a death-dealing active force against which the wicked ones have no shield. They will die from the operation of that spirit that comes from between his lips as these lips pronounce the death sentence. Wickedness will no longer be permitted; the Messianic King-Judge is not in league with it.

29. How do righteousness and faithfulness prove to be like a belt to him, and with what effect upon his activities?

²⁹ The moral quality that strengthens the Judge upon whom Jehovah’s spirit has settled down is like a belt for his hips or his loins. It is a belt of righteousness, a belt of faithfulness. He has no weakness in the way of unrighteous inclinations. Righteousness according to God’s perfect standard is what dominates him, motivates him. He is faithful to his trust from Jehovah God. He knows no other course but that of faithfulness to Jehovah the Supreme Judge. When he was here on earth as a perfect man, he proved his faithfulness to God even in spite of dying in a most unjust manner. He thus hurled back into the face of the Great False Accuser, Satan, a lie that had long stood against Jehovah’s worshipers. Satan the Devil had insisted that Jehovah’s highest officer, his only-begotten Son, would not prove faithful to God if he were tested to the limit by the Chief Adversary of God and angels and men.​—Job 1:1 through 2:5.

30. When the Gentile Times ended, against whom did the Messianic Judge take action first, and with what result?

³⁰ So, instead of going after the weaker wicked ones on earth, “the small fry,” the Messianic Judge went first after the top powerful one of all organized wickedness, Satan the Devil. That was what happened in heaven, immediately after the birth of the Messianic kingdom up there just as soon as the Gentile Times had ended in 1914 C.E. Knowing right where to take action, the installed Messianic King waged war against Satan the Devil and his demon angels. This war ended with the ouster of those wicked ones from the holy heavens. Now the victorious King holds them down to the neighborhood of our earth. Just as soon as the “short period of time” for their restraint here is up, the Messianic King will chain them and imprison them in an abyss away from the vicinity of our earth.​—Revelation 12:7-13; 20:1-3.

31. What further action will the King take against all who are outside the spiritual paradise?

³¹ Since that is the way the God-fearing King treats the devilish ringleaders of all organized wickedness, what logically follows? Well, to make matters complete, the King must put to death on earth those who have hardened themselves in sin and steadfastly stuck to the Devil’s visible organization. In this manner the ungodly human society that is outside the spiritual paradise of Jehovah’s worshipers will feel the blow administered by the “rod” of his judicial mouth. His decree of punishment will be executed upon them. His own intrinsic righteousness will strengthen him, like a belt, to do this. His faithfulness to the God of righteousness will sustain him, like a belt, in doing this.

32. (a) What effect will that action have on those who are now within the spiritual paradise? (b) Even now, what do they personally do to beautify their spiritual paradise?

³² This courageous action against all organized wickedness in heaven and on earth will mean great relief for Jehovah’s worshipers who now enjoy his favor and protection within their spiritual paradise. They are grateful to him for providing such a righteous King over their spiritual paradise. The qualities that are an evidence of the spirit of God that has settled down upon this Messianic King, they seek to cultivate more and more in themselves. Thus they beautify their spiritual paradise.

Chapter 11

No Harming nor Ruining in the Spiritual Paradise

1. Whose moral qualities are reflected by the one who is King over the spiritual paradise?

IT HAS been said that the moral quality of any human government represents what the governed people themselves are. This has been the observation made by worldly statesmen themselves. That, however, is not the case among those who now occupy the spiritual paradise that the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has established for his worshipers on earth. As Universal Sovereign, He is the One that has put their ruler, their King, over them. They did not select and install their King over themselves, a King patterned after themselves and hence one who would be indulgent with their materialistic, selfish, sinful way of life. Rather, those in the spiritual paradise want a King that images Jehovah God, and they want to imitate, to be like, their God-given King. Morally and religiously, they want to be what they are because of what their God-fearing King is. Yes, what they are they want to represent that which their Messianic King is, to his honor.

2, 3. With what kind of language does Isaiah 11:6-8 describe the personality changes brought about in the subjects of the Messianic King?

² The personality of the Messianic King affects the personalities of his subjects in the spiritual paradise in an excellent, upbuilding way. The prophecy of Isaiah points in that direction. Right after describing the qualities and acts of the Messianic King raised up by Jehovah God, the prophet Isaiah goes on to say:

³ “And the wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra; and upon the light aperture of a poisonous snake will a weaned child actually put his own hand.”​—Isaiah 11:6-8.

4. (a) What is unusual about that description, particularly as to the wild beasts? (b) Have such conditions ever existed on earth?

⁴ In that amazing prophetic picture, something has radically affected the animals, particularly the wild beasts of the field. The wild animals are no longer preying upon and devouring the domesticated animals. They have become tame and harmless, leaving their carnivorous ways and becoming vegetarians. Why, that was the way it was in the earth, yes, in the Garden of Eden, before Jehovah God put perfect man and woman there. And even though created in the midst of an earth swarming with animal life, Adam and Eve were not afraid of being molested by them, and both of them also were vegetarian eaters. So why is such a transformation in the animal realm pictured in the prophecy? Why is this picture of harmlessness and sense of security prophetically drawn for us?

5. What is evidently the purpose of this delightful description?

⁵ Evidently to portray what takes place in human society when under the rule of the Messianic King-Judge, Jesus Christ enthroned in the heavens. But certainly things would not be one way in the animal realm and another way in the human realm. The one must reflect the other. The lower sphere must mirror the higher sphere. A paradise relationship must obtain among them.

6. (a) Where has such a transformation taken place, and since when? (b) What accounts for the change?

⁶ Such a transformation of long-inbred characteristics has not yet taken place in the animal realm. No, even though the Messianic King has been reigning in the heavens since the end of the Gentile Times in the year 1914 C.E. However, such a transformation of characteristics in the animal world was meant to mirror the transformation occurring in human society. In harmony with that intention, such a transformation as is foretold by the prophecy regarding the animal world has actually taken place in the spiritual paradise of Jehovah’s restored worshipers. This has been true since their deliverance from bloodguilty Babylon the Great, beginning with the year 1919 C.E. All this transformation is owing to the operation of the “spirit of Jehovah,” and is also because the residents of the spiritual paradise have reigning over them the Messianic King upon whom the “spirit of Jehovah” has settled down.​—Isaiah 11:1, 2.

7, 8. (a) What sort of dispositions did many who are now in the spiritual paradise use to have, and what contributed to this condition? (b) How does Ephesians 2:1-3 well apply to those in the spiritual paradise?

⁷ Not all of those now residing in the spiritual paradise of God’s favor were formerly peacefully disposed like the domesticated lamb or kid or cow or fattened animal. Many, likely the vast majority, had dispositions like that of the predatory wolf or leopard or maned young lion or bear or cobra or other poisonous snake. Particularly so, since the world entered what has been called “the Age of Violence” in 1914, the year marked by the outbreak of war on a global scale, world war. This did not work for the improvement in the disposition and inclinations of people as a whole. Even decent morality began to decline to what it is today. To all those resident in the spiritual paradise it can equally as well be said as it was to the Christian congregation in Ephesus, Asia Minor, nineteen hundred years ago:

⁸ “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience. Yes, among them we all at one time conducted ourselves in harmony with the desires of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and the thoughts, and we were naturally children of wrath even as the rest.”​—Ephesians 2:1-3.

9, 10. What did the apostle Paul state as to the former way of life of those in the Christian congregations at Corinth and at Rome?

⁹ Plainly stating what kind of worldly people members of the Christian congregation at Corinth, Greece, used to be, the apostle Paul wrote to them: “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom. And yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.”​—1 Corinthians 6:9-11; see also Colossians 3:5-8.

¹⁰ Also, when warning Christians not to slip back into their former worldly ways, the apostle Paul wrote the congregation in Rome, Italy: “You people know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. The night is well along; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore put off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light. As in the daytime let us walk decently, not in revelries and drunken bouts, not in illicit intercourse and loose conduct, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not be planning ahead for the desires of the flesh.”​—Romans 13:11-14.

11. (a) How did many who are now in the spiritual paradise at one time reflect traits that are like those of predatory animals? (b) What has brought about a change in their personalities?

¹¹ So, in all likelihood, many of the more than two million who are enjoying the spiritual paradise of God’s provision today, once had and still have to fight against the predatory disposition, the animalistic tendencies, associated with the predatory animals mentioned in Isaiah 11:6-8. In this era of world wars, some of the residents were engaged literally in those world conflicts and in the lesser wars in between, and actually acted like hungry wild beasts in killing or seeking to kill fellowmen. Other residents were in enterprises or operations that make it their business to exploit the weaknesses of victimized persons for selfish profit, regardless of the physical and mental hurt done to their victims. But now with the aid of Jehovah’s holy spirit they have undergone a change of personality. His appointed King of the spiritual paradise, the Messianic King upon whom Jehovah’s spirit has settled down, does not permit such animalistic preying upon one another inside this spiritual estate of Jehovah’s worshipers. (Ephesians 4:20-24; Colossians 3:10, 11) Christian brotherly love pervades the Paradise.

12. How have the words of Jesus, as recorded at Matthew 18:1-4, affected those in the spiritual paradise?

¹² Thus, in a figurative way, the tamed wolf lies down with the lamb, also the leopard with the kid, the calf and the well-fed animal and the maned young lion mingle together at any time. Instead of the bear feeding upon the cow and its young ones, the bear and the cow and their young ones feed together on a vegetarian diet. Even the lion is seen eating straw just like the bull. In the spiritual paradise the words of Jesus Christ the King have been heeded: “Unless you turn around and become as young children, you will by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens. Therefore, whoever will humble himself like this young child is the one that is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens.” (Matthew 18:1-4) So it is now as if a mere young boy were a leader of wild beasts of the field.

13. Application of what Scriptural rule has helped them to achieve the condition foretold by the prophet Isaiah, and how so?

¹³ What helps in this peaceableness and this absence of preying animalistically upon one another in the spiritual paradise is the fact that its residents live by the rule that they are no part of this world. (John 15:19; 17:14-16) During World War I of 1914-1918 C.E., some of the remnant of spiritual Israel accepted non-combatant service in the fighting armies, and thus they came under bloodguilt because of their sharing in community responsibility for the blood spilled in war. However, in 1939, the year in which World War II erupted, all the remnant of spiritual Israel and also those of the “great crowd” of sheeplike companions declared themselves in favor of absolute neutrality toward all worldly conflicts, regardless of nationality. The publication of the article “Neutrality” in the issue of November 1, 1939, of The Watchtower set forth their position. They have not budged from this stand at any time since. Consistent with this, also, they have never meddled in or even taken part in the politics of any nation, with which there is so much mudslinging and the stirring up of so many hostilities and divisive hatreds.

14. What fruitage is cultivated in the spiritual paradise, and how does this contribute to the fulfillment of what was foretold in Isaiah 11:6-8?

¹⁴ The fruitage of Jehovah’s spirit is cultivated, in harmony with the apostle Paul’s counsel: “The fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Moreover, those who belong to Christ Jesus impaled the flesh together with its passions and desires. If we are living by spirit, let us go on walking orderly also by spirit. Let us not become egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:22-26) There being no competitions, rivalries, ambitious self-exalting over others, there is no venomous backbiting or spitefulness. It is as when the venomous snake, even the cobra, feels secure and chooses not to use its poisonous venom, so that a sucking child may play upon the hole of the cobra, and the recently weaned child may put his hand over the light aperture of the den of a poisonous snake.

THE PREVALENCE OF LIFE-GIVING KNOWLEDGE

15, 16. Where else in the book of Isaiah is a parallel prophecy found, and what indications are there here as to the time of fulfillment?

¹⁵ A parallel prophecy in the inspired book of Isaiah locates the time for this peaceful, secure spiritual paradise. To get the timing of the fulfillment of the prophecy, we have to consider the verses leading up to this parallel prophecy. Hence, we read as follows:

¹⁶ “‘Because the former distresses will actually be forgotten and because they will actually be concealed from my eyes. For here I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart. But exult, you people, and be joyful forever in what I am creating. For here I am creating Jerusalem a cause for joyfulness and her people a cause for exultation. And I will be joyful in Jerusalem and exult in my people; and no more will there be heard in her the sound of weeping or the sound of a plaintive cry. . . . They will not toil for nothing, nor will they bring to birth for disturbance; because they are the offspring made up of the blessed ones of Jehovah, and their descendants with them. And it will actually occur that before they call out I myself shall answer; while they are yet speaking, I myself shall hear. The wolf and the lamb themselves will feed as one, and the lion will eat straw just like the bull; and as for the serpent, his food will be dust. They will do no harm nor cause any ruin in all my holy mountain,’ Jehovah has said.”​—Isaiah 65:16-25.

17. When did this prophecy have its first fulfillment, and what was the “cause for joyfulness” then?

¹⁷ The first or miniature fulfillment of this magnificent prophecy serves as a prophetic pattern to prefigure the final, full-scale realization of the prophecy. The small-scale or miniature fulfillment of the Isaian prophecy took place after the restoration of the exiled Jews to their homeland, the land of Judah, in the days of the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great. In course of time Jerusalem was rebuilt on its former site, and this holy city became a “cause for joyfulness” when Jehovah’s temple was rebuilt there on its previous location and his revived worship was carried on by the reinstated priests and Levites. The account of this is recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

18. When is the final fulfillment of this prophecy, and at that time what works to bring about the foretold transformation?

¹⁸ The major and final fulfillment comes, therefore, in a similar period of restoration. It is in the time when there is a restoration of the remnant of spiritual Israel from bondage under modern Babylon the Great to their rightful spiritual estate in Jehovah’s renewed favor. According to twentieth-century history, this took place in the year following the close of World War I. The courageous revival of the free and open proclaiming of “this good news of the kingdom” world wide in the year 1919 C.E. indicated that there had come a restoration of the liberated remnant of spiritual Israel to their God-given spiritual estate on earth. Under divine blessing and under the operation of Jehovah’s holy spirit, this spiritual estate of the anointed remnant was transformed into a spiritual paradise. In that estate is where the spiritual beauty of His worshipers glorifies Jehovah God and there are brotherly peace, unity and security.

19. Identify the Jerusalem that is a “cause for joyfulness” in this final fulfillment of the prophecy.

¹⁹ The Jerusalem that Jehovah God has created as a “cause for joyfulness” and in which he himself is joyful is, not the capital city of the Jewish Republic of Israel, but the heavenly Jerusalem, to which the remnant of spiritual Israel are approaching. (Hebrews 12:22-29) It is the seat of the Messianic kingdom that was born in the heavens at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914 C.E. (Revelation 12:1-5) This city is located on the heavenly Mount Zion, Jehovah’s “holy mountain,” where the Messianic King, Jesus Christ, has stood up in royal power.​—Psalm 2:6; Revelation 14:1-5.

20. On the part of the remnant of spiritual Israel, from 1919 onward why were there corrections in their understanding of Bible prophecies?

²⁰ Therefore the time for the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the transformation of the disposition of animal life dates from the postwar year 1919 C.E. onward. This marked the beginning of a period of education in the written Word of God from the standpoint that Bible prophecy is best understood after it has been fulfilled. So there needed to be a correction of our previous views, and the surviving remnant of spiritual Israel needed to be readjusted to the postwar realities and opportunities. The preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” now was to be, not of a coming heavenly government, but of God’s Messianic kingdom now established in the heavens since the end of the “appointed times of the [Gentile] nations” in the autumn of 1914. The liberated remnant were henceforth to be witnesses of the Lord God, the One who had taken his great power to reign in 1914 by means of the kingdom of his Christ. (Matthew 24:14; Luke 21:24; Revelation 11:15-17) This revised program of Bible education had a profound effect on the remnant. It oriented their work in the right direction.

21. How was the effect of this educational work foretold in Isaiah 11:9?

²¹ This educational work along with its transforming effects is referred to in the further part of Isaiah’s prophecy, in these words: “They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.” (Isaiah 11:9) The pronoun “they” in this verse may refer to the wild animals that were just referred to in the preceding three verses Isa 11:6-8. Those verses described the wolf, the leopard, the lion, the bear, the cobra, the poisonous snake as doing no harm either to domesticated animals or to innocent children.

22. Who really are the ones who, as a result of this education, no longer harm or cause ruin?

²² However, here these potentially harmful animals must be used as illustrations in the prophecy, for such animals could not be mentally affected by the filling of the earth with the knowledge of Jehovah. So the real application of the pronoun “they” is to the residents of God’s spiritual paradise for his restored remnant of spiritual Israel on earth. These intelligent God-fearing persons are the ones that would be transformed in their dispositions and pursuits by receiving the “knowledge of Jehovah.”

23-26. (a) In harmony with the prophecy, to what name did the Watch Tower publications give increasing emphasis? (b) Illustrate this from The Watch Tower of August 1, 1919.

²³ Accordingly, in Watch Tower Society publications, the personal name of the Most High God, Jehovah, began to come to the fore, so as to identify more sharply the One who had previously been spoken of under the general title Lord or Lord God. For example, in the sixth paragraph of the leading article “Blessed Are the Fearless,” in the issue of August 1, 1919, of The Watch Tower, the situation of the liberated remnant of spiritual Israel was likened to that of ancient Israel when about to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses’ successor, Joshua. The Israelites needed encouragement to go forward, and the paragraph went on to say:

²⁴ “Joshua, like Moses, was a meek man, having little confidence in his own strength, but he had great faith in God and manifested such faith by encouraging the people to go forward and possess that which God had promised them. But Joshua needed encouragement and the people whom he would lead needed encouragement to perform the deeds which Jehovah had set before them. God began such encouragement by saying: ‘Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, . . .’”

²⁵ Paragraph eight (page 228) of the same article spoke of the triumph gained by Judge Gideon and said: “The Israelites had been slack in their faith and obedience to Jehovah, and the Midianites were permitted to come and threatened to take possession of the most fertile part of their land. Faithfulness on the part of Israel would have prevented this threatened invasion. The Midianites came in a great host, more than 200,000 strong and encamped preparatory for battle against the Israelites. Jehovah purposed to achieve a great victory over these enemies of his people and to drive them out of the promised land. . . . Jehovah afforded Gideon the great honor of being the instrument in his hand for the deliverance of Israel. . . . At the direction of Jehovah, Gideon then called for volunteers from amongst the Israelites to fight the hosts of Midian. . . .”

²⁶ Speaking about Gideon’s little band of 300 volunteers specially selected, the following paragraph says: “This little band of 300 possessed the very elements of character pleasing to Jehovah.” And so on through the article down to the last paragraph, which said, in part: “It is only the pure in heart that are perfect in love, therefore it follows according to Jesus’ words, that the fearless​—perfect in love—​pure in heart, are the ones who will be received into the kingdom and see Jehovah.”​—Page 233.

27. (a) What is “the earth” that is filled with the knowledge of Jehovah, as foretold at Isaiah 11:9? (b) With what feature of the new covenant is this increase of the “knowledge of Jehovah” consistent?

²⁷ Thus the “knowledge of Jehovah” began to spread and fill “the earth,” that is to say, the spiritual estate of the restored remnant of spiritual Israel, “the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:16) This remnant is in the new covenant that was mediated by Jesus Christ between God and the “holy nation” of spiritual Israel. One of the features of this better covenant is set forth in these prophetic words: “‘And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, “Know Jehovah!” for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:7-12) Hence, it was only proper that the spiritual estate of the remnant of the Christian “Israel of God” should become filled with the “knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”

28. (a) How is the individual who possesses the “knowledge of Jehovah” affected by it? (b) What is represented by the “holy mountain,” referred to at Isaiah 11:9, where they cause no harm or ruin?

²⁸ The “knowledge of Jehovah” does something for its possessor. It is said to be responsible for the fact that “they will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain,” according to what Jehovah says in Isaiah 11:9. Since the “holy mountain” is the seat of government and was typified by Mount Zion, where King David sat on “Jehovah’s throne,” the expression “all my holy mountain” is used in a representative sense. It does not refer to just the heavenly Mount Zion, but means all the realm of spiritual Israel here on earth. It means the present spiritual estate of the liberated and restored remnant since 1919 C.E. They acknowledge and obey as the Messianic King the onetime “twig out of the stump of Jesse,” whom the Lord God has installed upon the heavenly Mount Zion, His “holy mountain.”​—Isaiah 11:1; Hebrews 12:22; Psalm 2:6.

29. Why does the “knowledge of Jehovah” transform the personalities of those who possess it?

²⁹ Why is it that the “knowledge of Jehovah” transforms the inhabitants of the spiritual paradise to be harmless and not ruinous? It is because there is much more to it than merely having information about him. Knowing him means acknowledging Him to the extent of living according to His will. “By this,” says the Christian apostle John, “we have the knowledge that we have come to know him, namely, if we continue observing his commandments. He that says: ‘I have come to know him,’ and yet is not observing his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love. And we ourselves have come to know and have believed the love that God has in our case. God is love, and he that remains in love remains in union with God and God remains in union with him. For this is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome.”​—1 John 2:3, 4; 4:8, 16; 5:3.

CONSEQUENCES FROM LACK OF KNOWING JEHOVAH

30. What did Jeremiah say about those not knowing Jehovah, in contrast to those who do?

³⁰ The sad consequences that follow upon one’s not knowing Jehovah, not acknowledging him, not taking note of him, are declared by the mouth of His prophets. For instance, during the last forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and the deportation of the surviving Jews to Babylon, Jehovah declared by the mouth of his prophet Jeremiah: “My people is foolish. Of me they have not taken note. They are unwise sons; and they are not those having understanding. Wise they are for doing bad, but for doing good they actually have no knowledge.” (Jeremiah 4:22) “Let the one bragging about himself brag about himself because of this very thing, the having of insight and the having of knowledge of me, that I am Jehovah, the One exercising loving-kindness, justice and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I do take delight.”​—Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:21.

31, 32. At an earlier time, what did the prophet Hosea say about the consequences of the lack of knowledge of God in Israel?

³¹ Also, sometime before the overthrow of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian World Power in 740 B.C.E., the prophet Hosea was inspired to say to the Israelites: “Hear the word of Jehovah, O sons of Israel, for Jehovah has a legal case with the inhabitants of the land, for there is no truth nor loving-kindness nor knowledge of God in the land. [With what consequences?] There are the pronouncing of curses and practicing of deception and murdering and stealing and committing of adultery that have broken forth, and acts of bloodshed have touched other acts of bloodshed. That is why the land will mourn and every inhabitant in it will have to fade away with the wild beast of the field and with the flying creature of the heavens, and even the fishes of the sea themselves will be gathered in death. My people will certainly be silenced [in death], because there is no knowledge. Because the knowledge is what you yourself have rejected, I shall also reject you from serving as a priest to me; and because you keep forgetting the law of your God, I shall forget your sons, even I.”

³² “That is why I shall have to hew them by the prophets; I shall have to kill them by the sayings of my mouth. And the judgments upon you will be as the light that goes forth. For in loving-kindness I have taken delight, and not in sacrifice; and in the knowledge of God rather than in whole burnt offerings.”​—Hosea 4:1-3, 6; 6:5, 6.

33. Why are the conditions in the spiritual paradise so different from those in ancient Israel as described by the prophet Hosea?

³³ Serious and disastrous were the consequences to the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel and to the kingdom of Judah for rejecting the “knowledge of God.” When we see the bad side effects that accompanied such a rejection of the most vital knowledge, we can appreciate why, among those residing in the spiritual paradise of the remnant of spiritual Israel, there is no doing of harm or causing of any ruin. It is because the wholesome “knowledge of Jehovah” is filling their blessed spiritual estate just as the waters are covering the very sea. This knowledge is sea deep, ocean deep, like the “seven seas” that embrace the whole globe.

34. In prayer to his Father, what did Jesus emphasize as a prime requirement for everlasting life?

³⁴ Jesus Christ, when offering prayer in behalf of his faithful apostles, rightly said to Jehovah his heavenly Father: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3) In the spiritual paradise of today, the residents are still taking in the knowledge of Jehovah and of his Messianic King, Jesus Christ, and consequently spiritual life in the paradisaic estate of those who know Jehovah is peaceful and secure.

“A SIGNAL FOR THE PEOPLES”

35. (a) Who beside the anointed remnant are now in the spiritual paradise, and particularly since when? (b) How does the language of Isaiah 11:10 indicate that this would take place?

³⁵ At present, particularly since the marked year of 1935 C.E., the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel are not the only residents of this figurative paradise where there is no harming or causing of ruin to man or animal. Now there is also with the remnant a constantly increasing “great crowd” of transformed sheeplike seekers of the knowledge of Jehovah. The further prophecy of Isaiah foretold that this would take place. Following up the lovely description of the spiritual paradise, Isaiah 11:10 adds: “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.”

36. (a) What time is referred to by the expression “in that day”? (b) Who is the “root of Jesse” mentioned in this prophecy?

³⁶ It is “in that day,” since the Gentile Times ended in 1914 C.E., that this must occur. The symbolic “root of Jesse” is the glorified Messianic King, Jesus Christ. The Christian apostle Paul leaves no room for doubt about this, for he quotes this prophecy of Isaiah 11:10, according to the Greek Septuagint Version’s rendering, to show God’s generosity and magnanimity in holding out a grand hope for the non-Jewish nations. So, in Romans 15:12 Paul writes: “And again Isaiah says: ‘There will be the root of Jesse, and there will be one arising to rule nations; on him nations will rest their hope.’”a

37. Why was the apostle Paul’s reference to Isaiah 11:10 appropriate even back there in the first century?

³⁷ It was appropriate for the apostle Paul to quote and use that prophecy of Isaiah 11:10 in behalf of non-Jewish or Gentile believers. It was then about twenty years after the conversion of the Italian centurion Cornelius of Caesarea to Christianity, at which time Jehovah God began admitting Gentile believers to the Christian congregation. So the circumcised Jewish believers had to suppress their former prejudices against the Gentiles, the people of the non-Jewish nations, and to welcome them as brothers in the congregation of disciples of Jesus Christ.

38, 39. (a) But when was it, as foretold, that there was a “standing up” of “the root of Jesse”? (b) In what ways is it true that Jesus Christ really is the “root of Jesse”?

³⁸ However, the prophecy applies more particularly “in that day.” We have been in that day since the birth of God’s Messianic kingdom in the heavens in 1914 C.E. Then the glorified Jesus Christ, “the root of Jesse,” stood up in Kingdom authority to deal with all the nations of the earth. (Matthew 25:31, 32) He was a descendant of Jesse of Bethlehem through King David, and yet he could properly be called a “root of Jesse.” This was because in him the royal lineage that sprang from Jesse the father of David was revitalized. Had it not been for Jesus Christ, who came more than six hundred years after the overthrow of the Davidic kings at Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the royal lineage from Jesse would have died out in time. And in 1914 C.E., when Jesus Christ was enthroned in heaven, it was the full length of the Gentile Times (2,520 years) after the overturning of the throne of Davidic kings in 607 B.C.E.

³⁹ Thus Jesus Christ gave new vitality to that line of Messianic kings that came forth at first from Jesse. And, also, when we remember that Jesus Christ said: “I am the resurrection and the life,” he will have to be a life-giving “root” to Jesse by raising him from the dead.​—John 11:25.

40. Similarly, how is Jesus the “root . . . of David”?

⁴⁰ For the same reason, in the revelation given to the apostle John about the year 96 C.E., Jesus Christ could speak of his relationship with Jesse’s son David by saying: “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16) The hopes of the long-dead David hang from this starlike Descendant and offspring, his Permanent Heir, Jesus Christ.

41. How is it true that, since 1914, Jesus Christ has been caused to stand up “as a signal for the peoples”?

⁴¹ In active Kingdom authority since 1914 C.E., Jesus Christ has arisen, “standing up as a signal for the peoples.” Jehovah God, the heavenly King-Maker, has stood him up for all the peoples to see as the Messianic King in whom all the families and nations of the earth will be blessed. He is the One to whom all the peoples must gather if they expect to get a righteous government with life in peace, happiness and security.

42. But how are the peoples of the nations to gather to this Messianic King whom they cannot see with their natural eyes?

⁴² How, though, are the peoples of the nations to gather to the exalted “root of Jesse,” whom Jehovah God has raised up like a signal pole on top of the heavenly Mount Zion? They cannot see him with their natural eyes, so as to assemble to him as the focal point. So it is required that this elevated Signal be pointed out to them, that information about him be given to them, to enable them to see him with their eyes of understanding and faith. The apostle Paul, who made an application of Isaiah 11:10 in the first century of our Common Era, realized that fact. Accordingly he accepted the divine commission to go to the non-Jewish or Gentile nations and preach the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom. At the time of his conversion from traditional Judaism to Christianity it was said concerning him by the glorified Jesus Christ: “This man is a chosen vessel to me to bear my name to the nations as well as to kings and the sons of Israel.”​—Acts 9:1-15; 22:6-21; 26:12-18.

43. How did the apostle Paul set a fine example for the anointed remnant since World War I?

⁴³ To the Gentile members of the Christian congregation in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote in his letter: “Now I speak to you who are people of the nations. Forasmuch as I am, in reality, an apostle to the nations, I glorify my ministry.” (Romans 11:13) In thus bearing the name of the Messianic “root of Jesse” to the non-Jewish nations, this “apostle to the nations” is today an example to the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel since the close of World War I on November 11, 1918. It is now the time of the major and final fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 11:10 concerning the “signal for the peoples.” The apostle Paul was sent to “peoples,” to those who were naturally Gentiles in comparison with the natural fleshly circumcised Jews, descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) by birth. Paul aided these Gentile believers to put their trust and hope in the Messianic “root of Jesse” who was to be the royal Signal for the peoples of all sorts. These believers also got baptized in obedience to Christ’s command at Matthew 28:18, 19, and in this way they became members of the first-century Christian congregation, the spiritual “Israel of God,” and also joint heirs of the kingdom of the Messiah.

44. Into what areas have the remnant therefore pressed the preaching of the good news since 1919?

⁴⁴ From 1919 onward the remnant of spiritual Israel vigorously renewed its public activity, keenly appreciating that it was now the time for the prophecy of Jesus Christ to be carried out, namely: “Also, in all the nations the good news has to be preached first.” (Mark 13:10; Matthew 24:14) This signified that the “good news” of God’s newborn Messianic kingdom had to be preached to not only the natural Jews but also the non-Jewish nations. This was because the unbelieving natural Jews had been cast off and were no longer the chosen people of Jehovah God. Particularly since the conversion of the Gentile Cornelius in 36 C.E., the Jews have been on a par, on a level, with the natural uncircumcised Gentiles before God.

45. (a) From 1919 to 1935 C.E., who were being gathered in response to the preaching work? (b) In the year 1935, how was the attention of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses directed to another group of persons?

⁴⁵ According to Jesus’ prophecy of Matthew 24:31, there had to be a gathering of the members of the remnant of spiritual Israel first in this “time of the end,” during this “conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:3; Daniel 12:4) For sixteen years the liberated remnant concentrated on their witnessing to the established Kingdom, or from the spring of 1919 to the spring of 1935 C.E., and this time period allowed for the general gathering of the remnant of spiritual Israel to practically a completion. So now the attention of the gathered remnant was specially directed to a gathering of another kind, a gathering for which the time was then due. This was the gathering of the “great crowd” foretold in Revelation 7:9-17. At the convention of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1935, the feature talk specialized on Revelation 7:9-17, and the then president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society identified the “great crowd.” It was not, as had long been thought, a heaven-bound spiritual class of Christians, and consequently the “great crowd” did not belong to the remnant of spiritual Israelites who belong to the class mentioned in Revelation 7:1-8.

46. (a) What grand hope do the Scriptures set before this “great crowd”? (b) Why do certain prophecies about non-Israelite nations apply to this “great crowd”?

⁴⁶ On the contrary, this “great crowd” was to be made up of “other sheep” of the Fine Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Their hopes were of an earthly kind, to survive the approaching “great tribulation” and to enjoy perfect human life on earth under the Messianic kingdom of the glorified Son of God. Compared with the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites, all those of that “great crowd” would, figuratively speaking, be Gentiles. Revelation 7:9 classifies them as such, speaking of them as a “great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” Consistently, then, certain Bible prophecies about non-Israelite nations (Gentiles) could properly be applied to this “great crowd.”

47. Since when have “the nations,” as foretold, turned inquiringly to the Messianic Signal?

⁴⁷ In view of this the Messianic “root of Jesse” on the heavenly Mount Zion was now “standing up as a signal for the peoples,” as never before. From then on, the further part of Isaiah 11:10 went into fulfillment: “To him even the nations will turn inquiringly, and his resting-place must become glorious.” In spite of World War II, more and more people of the nations have kept turning inquiringly to the royal Signal. With the eyes of faith they have caught sight of that Messianic Signal because of the Kingdom witness given by the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel.

48. On having their inquiries concerning the divine requirements answered, what action have these people from “the nations” appropriately taken?

⁴⁸ According to reports received from 207 lands in which the people’s attention is being turned to the Signal by the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom,” more than two million have responded. They have inquired concerning the divine requirements for them to become the approved subjects of Jehovah’s now installed Messianic King. On having their inquiries Scripturally answered to their satisfaction and conviction, they have dedicated themselves to Jehovah God through the Messiah Jesus. They have publicly symbolized such dedication by being baptized in water, 297,872 of them in the service year of 1974 alone.​—Matthew 28:19, 20.

49, 50. (a) Who and what are now located in the spiritual paradise? (b) So how has the “resting-place” of the Messianic Signal become glorious?

⁴⁹ All these “other sheep” who have been flocking to the Messianic Shepherd, the “Signal,” have been ushered into the spiritual paradise, in which the remnant of spiritual Israel have resided since 1919 C.E. There are now more than 35,000 congregations of the Christian witnesses of Jehovah in this spiritual paradise, where life and personality have been transformed and where they neither do harm nor cause any ruin. Since the Messianic “root of Jesse,” the royal “Signal,” resides there in spirit, truly his “resting-place” or residence has become glorious. (Matthew 28:20) This gloriousness has gone along with the fulfillment of Jehovah’s prophecy, in Haggai 2:7: “‘I will rock all the nations, and the desirable things of all the nations must come in; and I will fill this house with glory,’ Jehovah of armies has said.” Jehovah’s “house” or spiritual temple has been filled with glory by the bringing in of these “desirable things of all the nations,” namely, the members of the “great crowd.” In this way his temple is now becoming, as never previously, “even a house of prayer for all the peoples.”​—Isaiah 56:7.

⁵⁰ There, in that spiritual “house of prayer,” those of the “great crowd” render sacred service to Jehovah God day and night. (Revelation 7:15) There they offer prayer to God acceptably through the “root of Jesse,” Jesus Christ. There, in his name, they bend the knee to God, and every tongue openly acknowledges that “Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”​—Philippians 2:10, 11.

51. What conditions that you experience in the spiritual paradise make it evident to you that the paradise is no imaginary thing?

⁵¹ The spiritual paradise is not an imaginary thing. It is real and exists today as the spiritual estate of the restored remnant of spiritual Israelites and those already gathered of the “great crowd,” all of these together being the Christian witnesses of Jehovah. (Isaiah 43:10-12; 44:8) In sharp contrast with the style and quality of life lived by the earthly human society of this present system of things, life in the spiritual paradise is blessed indeed. Here there is a freedom from any such thing as harm being done or ruin being caused by the Christlike residents who are filled with the “knowledge of Jehovah.” Here, too, there is spiritual security, such as is described in Psalm 91. The spiritual and moral plagues and dangers that infest this degraded world of mankind are not permitted to invade the spiritual paradise and make the divinely protected residents religiously and morally sick, diseased and subject to God’s disapproval and disfavor. It is a spiritually healthful place, in which the fruits of God’s holy spirit are produced in abundance.​—Galatians 5:22, 23.

52, 53. For how long will the spiritual paradise endure, and of what is it the forerunner?

⁵² The spiritual paradise of Jehovah’s worshipers is here to stay! Because Jehovah himself delights in it, it will not be destroyed from the earth in the now close “great tribulation,” the like of which the world of mankind has never experienced before. (Matthew 24:21, 22; Daniel 12:1) It is the forerunner of the material earthly paradise that will robe the literal earth with glory and beauty after the polluters and ruiners of the earth have been brought to their end in the “great tribulation” and after the one who caused the entrance of sin into man’s original paradise in Eden is bound and hurled with all his demon horde into the prison abyss.​—Revelation 19:11 through 20:3; Psalm 37:37-40; 67:5-7.

⁵³ Then the combining of the spiritual paradise with the literal earthly paradise will make the entire earth a most pleasant location for the “great crowd” of “other sheep” to live under the blessed kingdom of their heavenly Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

[Footnotes]