1962
TAKE COURAGE - GOD'S KINGDOM IS AT HAND!
THIS is a time that calls for courage! This is a time to take courage! Why? Because God's kingdom is at hand!
2 Nineteen centuries ago a message like this electrified the people who had the right expectations. Today countless numbers have not heard about God's kingdom. Hundreds of millions of others have heard God's kingdom mentioned but have not understood what this divine government means to mankind. So why should these take courage at the nearness of God's kingdom? For that matter, why should any of us take courage at that fact? It is because of the relief and the blessings that God's kingdom will bring, not after our day, but within our very own generation. With lasting relief at hand, why should not lovers of what is right take courage? All the courageous ones today want to help others to take courage.
3 We must all admit that here on earth this is a most disordered world. Mankind has never before known the like of it. But we look up and beyond into outer space, and there we see awe-inspiring order, regularity, balance and interdependence among the heavenly bodies, day and night. This
1,2. (a) What quality is appropriate at this time? (b) Why should any of us take courage at the fact of the nearness of God's kingdom?3. As we look at the earth and the heavens, what contrast do we note, but what do we not need to fear in this age of rockets?
4
beautiful, wonder-inspiring system in the heavens existed billions of years before modern nations rocketed men into outer space, with a threat of carrying man's disorder into outer space. But we do not need to fear that, by means of rockets and satellites and spacemen, humans will be able to disarrange and disturb the visible universe. Rather, the lovely order and harmony of the heavens will be brought down here to earth and set upon a foundation that no evil-minded men can ever overthrow.
4 Would you not like the orderliness and peaceful relationship of the visible heavenly bodies to be established on earth in our generation? Surely the great Producer, the great Creator, who hung all those countless heavenly bodies in outer space in such a beautiful arrangement and scientific order can bring order at his own chosen time to our earth, a mere tiny speck in a boundless universe. Listen to what he himself said and caused to be written, as translated from the ancient language that he spoke into modern speech:
5 "To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? . . . Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nought, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. ... To whom then will you compare me, that I should be
4, 5. (a) As respects our earth, what question do we ask about the great Creator of those heavenly bodies? (b) Why can no one be compared to him?
5
like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.... Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable." -Isaiah 40:18-28, Revised Standard.
6 Also, an ancient king who observed the heavens wrote these poetic words, as translated into modern speech: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul: the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart." -Psalm 19:1-8, American Standard.
7 Anyone's thoughtful study of the heavens bears out the truth written long ago by an Oriental: "God is not a God of confusion, but of peace." (1 Corinthians 14:33, AS) For order and peace to
6. What did a poetic ancient king write about the heavens and their Maker? 7. What truth do the heavens bear out about God, and what, therefore, will his kingdom mean to all mankind?
6
take the place of selfish, deadly confusion here on earth it will require action by this God, whose law is perfect, whose testimony is pure, whose precepts are right, whose glory is seen in all the heavens though he himself is not seen by man of feeble eyesight. One thing, therefore, that God's kingdom will mean to all mankind is universal peace and good order, the removal of wild confusion.
8 Just think of having God as king over all the earth! Being the Creator of earth and of man, he deserves to be king. We could have no one higher than he is as king. This does away with any human god ruling over us, like ancient Pharaoh of Egypt, who claimed to be God and before whom his subjects had to crawl on their belly in approaching him; or any human god like the deified Caesars of Rome, who used to be addressed as "Your Divinity"; or like the emperor of Japan, who on December 31, 1945, proclaimed the principle that the Japanese Tenno or Emperor was not a god descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu. Another thing: Having God as king does not mean an earthly theocracy with the Roman Catholic priesthood or the Greek Orthodox priesthood ruling on golden thrones and dictating to politicians, businessmen, judges and police and the people in general. It means no human theocracy by the Buddhist priesthood, or the Hindu priesthood, or the Moslem priesthood, or the Shintoist priesthood, or the Protestant religious clergy, to act as deputies for the heavenly King. We have had these religious authorities dominating the lives of the people for centuries, and what do we have for it today? Nothing but the present earthly mess!
8. What will having God the Creator as king mean as regards the religious rulerships over earth up till now?
7
9 God's kingdom spells something vastly different for mankind's benefit than having such religious authorities to run things, dictate things, control business and employment, playing favorites to the politically great and to the wealthy and regulating the lives of the masses of the people for them. It was in 607 B.C.E., or about 2,570 years ago, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon became the world ruler. Since then particularly God permitted the nations to have their own preferred political rulers. He has let men have their way about kings and kingdoms, even if they wanted to do away with kings and set up peoples' rule such as democracies or republics.
10 But the true believers in God's kingdom have taken no part in those political movements. They have acted in harmony with the rule of action that God's inspired writer laid down for the Christians in the Rome of the Caesars of nineteen centuries ago, saying: "Everyone must obey the authorities that are over him, for no authority can exist without the permission of God." (Romans 13:1, An American Translation) The true Christians have obeyed this rule of action, because they have believed in God's kingdom and have prayed and waited for it to take worldwide control of the earth, for the glory of God and the endless blessing of the people.
11 God has let the people and their rulers have their own way on earth long enough. After all the
9. As regards earthly rulerships, what has God permitted particularly since 607 B.C.E.?10. How have believers in God's kingdom acted toward such political movements, and why?11. (a) After all the human rulership permitted by God, what do the people want today? (b) However, what is it God's time for doing?
8
experience that mankind have had till now, they should by now have had enough of human rule without the true God. But today, largely because of refusing to know anything better or because of having faith in nothing better, the people choose to be ruled by so-called Higher Powers or "superior authorities" of the human kind, including democracies or republics of the Western style or of the Eastern style. The people have had their opportunity; and God's permitting them to have their own way or choice has let them come to the present world-state of affairs. Their having their own way has not benefited them, to judge by the results. Still they do not want God as king. But regardless of the desires of the people and their political, commercial and religious leaders, God's time for permitting this way of running the earth is near its end. His time is at hand to set up the Kingdom.
12 Who dares to deny that God has the right at any time to set up his kingdom? The earth is his creation and belongs to him, and all of us are his creatures, dependent upon him for life and all other good things. (Psalm 24:1) This God, who produced the orderly movement and arrangement of all the heavenly bodies above us, has the power and wisdom to set up a perfect, righteous kingdom over us who inhabit His earth. He has promised to do so at a definite time. His promise is written down in the Book that he inspired his faithful servants to write, the Sacred Bible. When his Son Jesus Christ was on earth as a man nineteen centuries ago, he taught the worshipers of God to
12. (a) Why has God the right to set up his kingdom over earth? (b) Why is it to be expected that he will do so?
9
pray to God: "Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth." (Matthew 6:9, 10) That prayer, long prayed by the true followers of Jesus Christ, will get an answer from Almighty God, for it is in harmony with his own will.
13 By God's permission during his time allowance for it we have had the so-called Higher Powers or "superior authorities" in political control of the earth till today. These have been established by God's permission according to his arrangement of man's affairs. Hence any religious group that tried to transform these worldly Higher Powers into God's kingdom by Christ was bound to fail with such a religious counterfeit. The world conditions today prove that Christendom has failed. She is proved to be no instrument in God's hands, no part of God's kingdom. -Romans 13:1, 2.
14 When God displaces the present Higher Powers with his own kingdom over mankind, God will directly appoint and put in office the Ruling Authorities of his righteous new world. He will demonstrate the lesson that he taught King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon twenty-five centuries ago. The lesson is this, that "the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that to the one whom he wants to, he gives it and he sets up over it even the lowliest one of mankind." (Daniel 4:17, 25,32) That one is his heavenly Son, who became the low-
13. Why was any religious group trying to transform the political powers into God's kingdom bound to fail, and who has actually failed" in it? 14,15. (a) According to what lesson taught in Nebuchadnezzar's day will the ruling authorities be put in office in God's new world? (b) Who, therefore, will be put in worldwide rulership?
10
ly man Jesus Christ; and this one will share the kingdom with his congregation of faithful lowly followers whom he will exalt from earth to heaven. In our time God will bring to reality the vision that his prophet Daniel had in ancient Babylon:
15 "See there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One [Jehovah God]. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin." -Daniel 7:13, 14.
WHAT IT WILL SIGNIFY TO US
16 Oh what that will mean for all peoples and national groups of every language! Today famine afflicts large parts of the earth, and as a regular thing half the world's population does not get enough to eat but is undernourished. When Jesus Christ, who called himself "the Son of man," was here on earth, he refused to do a miracle to turn stones into bread so as to satisfy his hunger. But one day, after teaching the people, he fed the crowd of more than five thousand, and on another day his audience of more than four thousand, by miraculously multiplying a few bread loaves and fishes. Because Jesus Christ had this power to feed the people miraculously, many of them wanted to take him and make him their earthly king. But he
16. What did. Jesus Christ, when on earth, demonstrate will be true as to feeding mankind under God's kingdom?
11
refused to let this happen. (Matthew 4:1-4; 15: 29-38; John 6:1-15) But when he lets God make him king over all mankind and when he takes the place of the present Higher Powers over the people, he will see to it that all those who become his obedient subjects on earth get well fed. Never will there be a famine.
17 As God's appointed king over mankind Jesus Christ will live up to this prophecy concerning his reign, which reads: "He will deliver the poor one crying for help, also the afflicted one and whoever has no helper. He will feel sorry for the lowly one and the poor one, and the souls of the poor ones he will save. From oppression and from violence he will redeem their soul, and their blood will be precious in his eyes. There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow. His fruit will be as in [Mount] Lebanon, and those who are from the city will blossom like the vegetation of the earth." (Psalm 72:12-14,16) The plentifulness of food will rival that of the days of wise, peaceful King Solomon, of whom the Bible says: "[The people of] Judah and Israel were many, like the grains of sand that are by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. And Judah and Israel continued to dwell in security, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree, from [the city of] Dan to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon." (1 Kings 4:20, 25) This is one remarkable way in which Jesus Christ will prove himself to be what he said, "something more than Solomon." -Matthew 12:42.
17. (a) In this regard what will Jesus Christ do in living up to Psalm 72? (b) How will he thus prove himself to be "something more than Solomon"?
12
18 However, Jesus Christ put the spiritual food ahead of the material food when he said to our great enemy, Satan the Devil, these words from the Holy Bible: "Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah's mouth." (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3) In his kingdom he will take care of not only the material needs but especially the spiritual needs of all his faithful subjects. He will feed them spiritual food, just as he did when he was here on earth. He will give them the pure truth about Jehovah God and the correct way to worship and serve him by doing his perfect will. This will feed them and strengthen them to gain everlasting life in God's new world; and never will they be corrupted by material abundance so as to make their bellies their god. By sheer love and appreciation of the great heavenly Provider of all this they will be impelled to worship and adore him.
19 Such an effect of God's goodness upon men is foretold in Isaiah's prophecy in these words: "And Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples, in this mountain, a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs, of well-oiled dishes filled with marrow, of wine kept on the dregs, filtered. And in this mountain he will certainly swallow up the face of the envelopment that is enveloping over all the peoples, and the woven work that is interwoven upon all the nations. He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people he
18. Even in his own case what food did Jesus Christ put ahead of the material kind, and how will he show this in his kingdom?19. How does Isaiah, chapter 25, foretell such an effect of God's goodness upon mankind under his kingdom?
13
will take away from all the earth, for Jehovah himself has spoken it. And in that day one will certainly say: 'Look! This is our God. We have hoped in him, and he will save us. This is Jehovah. We have hoped in him. Let us be joyful and rejoice in the salvation by him.'" (Isaiah 25:6-9) Because of the proper spiritual food for heart and mind the faithful subjects of God's kingdom will not make materialism their god.
A PARADISE OF HEALTH
20 The providing of plenty of food to feed a world population far exceeding that of today will have to be attended by changes in earth's climate and the condition of the soil and also by insect control. Lack of rainfall on large stretches of the earth, for season after season, afflicts millions of people with famine. The system of distributing what available food supplies there are is unable to meet the needs of the situation. Many are dying for want of food and drink. Countless millions are weak and haggard from not enough food; and the spirit of rebellion against the earthly Higher Powers is rising and spreading. This stands out in grim contrast to the ideal conditions of climate and soil and irrigation that are bound to exist under God's kingdom. In sharp contrast to the gods of the nations to whom the people pray or look for rain to quench the parched earth, Jehovah God is the great Rainmaker. Even his prophets of ancient time knew that; and his prophet Jeremiah turned to him and said: "Do there exist among the vain idols of the nations any that can pour down rain,
20. (a) What will this providing of plenty of food have to be attended by? (b) How will Jehovah stand out in contrast to the gods to whom the nations pray?
14
or can even the heavens themselves give copious showers? Are you not the One, O Jehovah our God? And we hope in you, for you yourself have done all these things." (Jeremiah 14:22) History proves that he has done them.
21 It is well-known history that Jehovah God miraculously opened up sources of water when he led his chosen people by the hand of Moses through the wilderness to the "land flowing with milk and honey." He himself uses those historic events as examples of what he will do for the people through his kingdom. Here is a prophetic promise of his: "The afflicted ones and the poor ones are seeking for water, but there is none. Because of thirst their very tongue has become dry. I myself, Jehovah, shall answer them. I, the God of Israel, shall not leave them. Upon bare hills I shall open up rivers, and in the midst of the valley plains, springs. I shall make the wilderness into a reedy pool of water, and the waterless land into sources of water. In the wilderness I shall set the cedar tree, the acacia and the myrtle and the oil tree. In the desert plain I shall place the juniper tree, the ash and the cypress at the same time; in order that people may see and know and pay heed and have insight at the same time, that the very hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has himself created it." -Isaiah 41:17-20.
22 Under such irrigating of the arid parts of the earth and the proper distribution of the water sup-
21. What did Jehovah do about water supplies for Israel in the wilderness, and according to Isaiah 41:17-20 what does he promise to do?22,23. (a) With such water provisions, what will happen to this earth, and how did Jesus confirm this before he died? (b) How will this compare with the Paradise in which Adam and Eve once lived?
15
plies, what will happen to this earth? By these provisions of God and by his blessing on the work performed by the subjects of his kingdom the whole earth will become a paradise, a lovely park for obedient mankind's eternal home. Nowhere will the condition of this earth be a reproach to God's kingdom that governs it, but everywhere it will be a glory to God its Creator. Even Jesus Christ, when he was dying sacrificially on a stake outside the walls of Jerusalem, looked forward to the restoring of paradise to this earth after God would raise him from the dead and install him in the Kingdom. When a sympathetic man dying alongside Jesus said to him: "Jesus! remember me whensoever thou shalt come into thy kingdom," Jesus answered: "Verily I say unto thee this day: With me shalt thou be in Paradise." (Luke 23:42, 43, Rotherham translation) For beauty, delightfulness and life-sustaining fruitfulness this Paradise will be the equal of that which the first man and woman lost because of sinning against God.
23 But it will not be only in the Middle East that this Paradise will be. The whole earth will be made a paradise, full of perfect people. This project that the first man and woman failed to carry out, God's kingdom by Christ will gloriously accomplish,
LIFE AND RESURRECTION
24 When we think of it, it would be terrible to die and leave such a lovely place as that Paradise. Yes, it would be; but God's kingdom will enable the obedient people to live in that Paradise forever, in peace with God and his King Jesus Christ and with one another and with all the animals, birds,
24. How long will living in that Paradise be possible, and how will the state of health be affected by living there?
16
and creatures in the waters. There will be no wars to kill off anybody. There will be complete and universal disarmament; and the credit for this will go, not to ungodly Communism or to the United Nations, but to God's kingdom. (Micah 4:1-5) With a perfect government over them, and with a peaceful Paradise in which to live, with pure air to breathe and unpolluted water to drink and plenty of wholesome foods to eat, the health of the people should improve and become perfect.
25 However, their King Jesus Christ once died for them, laying down his perfect humanity in sacrificial death for them. This fact will enable him to lift the condemnation of death under which all men were born because of the sin of our first parents. (Romans 5:12-14) Thus God's kingdom by Christ will be in position to lift faithful, obedient mankind up to the human perfection that their first parents, Adam and Eve, had when God created them and put them in the Paradise of Eden. Death-dealing sickness will be wiped out, just as certainly as Jesus Christ, when he was on earth, healed the sick, made the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the lame walk, and cleansed the lepers and raised the dead to life, one man having been dead for four days. This will result from having God as King ruling by his Christ. Isaiah's prophecy (33:22, 24) associates rulership and health together, saying: "Jehovah is our Judge, Jehovah is our Statute-giver, Jehovah is our King; he himself will save us. And no resident will say: 'I am sick.' The people that are dwelling in the land will be those pardoned for their error."
25. (a) Because of his sacrificial death, what will the King Jesus Christ be enabled to do for mankind? (b) How does Isaiah 33:22, 24 associate rulership and health together?
17
26 Very fine for those living, you say, but what about the billions of dead people? What about the faithful prophets of God who died thousands of years ago, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Moses? We are glad to answer that there is bright hope for the dead. We are not like the religious sect of the Jewish Sadducees who held out no hope for the dead people, not believing that the dead would be raised to life again under God's kingdom. To those disbelievers in a resurrection, Jesus Christ said regarding those raised to life again: "They are God's children by being children of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised up even Moses disclosed, in the account about the thornbush, when he calls Jehovah 'the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob.' He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living, for they are all living to him." -Luke 20:36-38.
27 Looking ahead, God saw Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the rest of the dead all living again under his kingdom by Christ. Although Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead by the time that their descendant Moses lived, God was so certain of carrying out his purpose to raise the dead that he spoke of being, not a past God, but the future God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as if they were then alive.
...
WTLibrary