What Has Religion Done For Mankind?

CHAPTER XXVII

New World Unity Under Theocratic Worship

FROM its very start the new world will be united. Satan's woman, his Babylonish world organization, and her gods will be gone and no more be able to entice anyone into spiritual fornication. It will be impossible then to practice spiritism either for getting advice on the future or for getting a false comfort from demons who counterfeit dead humans. The demons will all be abyssed at the grand climax of the universal war for vindicating Jehovah God as the Supreme Sovereign over all creation. There will no more be any rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's besides rendering to God what belongs to God. Caesar and his political system will lie lifeless in ashes, never again to challenge the rightful domination of the earth by the true eternal God. With Caesar all divisive national boundaries and "iron curtains" must disappear along with all the international jealousies, rivalries, customs barriers and human butchery which they have occasioned. "The earth belongs to the Eternal, and all earth holds, the world and its inhabitants; 'twas he who founded it upon the seas, and fixed it on the floods."  —Psalm 24:1, 2, Mo; 1 Corinthians 10:26, NW.

² The remnant of the seed of God's woman and

the great crowd of companions who survive the end of this world with them will be made up of men, women and children who have come from "all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues". (Revelation 7:4-14, NW) Will not this difference of language and national extraction be a cause of friction and misunderstanding and again produce division? Not at all, and this we say on the basis of present-day proof. The spiritual remnant and their increasing crowd of earthly companions who are to survive the world's end are with us today. Already before the end of this divided, war-minded world these are displaying a unity the wide earth over. World War II and all related political, commercial and religious controversies of this world have been unable to break up that unity. Just how is such a thing possible?

³ It is possible because they have come out of mystic Babylon with her babble of religions and they are no longer a part of this split world, though they are still in it. Jesus said in prayer to God: "They are no part of the world just as I am no part of the world. Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth." Then he prayed for their unity in the very midst of this world: "In order that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in union with me and I am in union with you, that they also may be in union with us, in order that the world may believe that you sent me forth." (John 17:16,17, 21, NW) It is by the divine truth that they are sanctified or set apart more and more from this world of confusion. Such sanctification is part of the pure, undefiled religion: "to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

This religion is a form of worship based on truth. So that which unites them with one another and with Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ is their common worship of the one Most High God and their common allegiance to the everlasting kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ.

⁴ For the time being they speak different native tongues, but they all have one language which they everywhere speak and understand in common. It is the "pure language" of the truth about God and his purpose and theocratic government. The Bible is the textbook of the pure language. God promised to bestow it upon his remnant of spiritual Israelites after delivering them from mystic Babylon and before destroying Satan's "earth" and its nations. In a warning to Christendom, which is unfaithful Jerusalem's modern counterpart, he said: "Therefore wait ye for me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; ... I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring back your captivity before your eyes, saith Jehovah." (Zephaniah 3:8, 9,13,20, AS) Under the power and guidance of this "pure language" the remnant and the good-

will people out of all the doomed nations call on Jehovah's name for salvation through Christ and unite "with one consent" in serving him. All are Jehovah's witnesses.

⁵ Revealing that this "great crowd" of associates of the remnant would unite with them in the one worship despite their different national extractions and native languages, John says: "Look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: 'Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and

to the Lamb.'" Who are these? "These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are before the throne of God, and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will spread his tent over them. . . . And God will wipe out every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:9, 10,14-17, NW) They are the "other sheep" of the Right Shepherd, and he has brought them into unity with the remnant of his "little flock", so that there is now "one flock, one shepherd".  —John 10:16, NW; AS; Luke 12:32.

⁶ This unity in the "pure language" and in worshiping Jehovah God with one consent they will carry with them through the great tribulation of Armageddon and across the threshold of God's new world, consisting of "new heavens and a new earth". The new heavens of God's creation are to consist of the righteous new heavenly ruling powers, Christ Jesus with his "bride" of 144,000 members. The new earth is to be, not a new earthly globe, but the righteous earthly subjects of the King living under a new social arrangement.

⁷ The spiritual remnant and their fellow survivors, the "great crowd", have different destinies. But this does not divide them, no more than the new heavens and the new earth are divided but are inseparably united. The remnant are the last ones of the called and elected "bride" of Christ. Hence after they have finished their temporary

post-Armageddon work on earth, they must finish their earthly course and lay down their human lives as Christ Jesus has demonstrated for them. They will not sleep in death the way dead mankind has done, but they will participate in the "first resurrection" and so will be changed instantaneously, "sown a physical body,. .. raised up a spiritual body" and putting on immortality and incorruption. As members of his glorified "bride" they will be united forever with their Bridegroom in the "new heavens" and will reign with him for a thousand years for the special blessing of all families and nations on earth. (Revelation 20:6 and 1 Corinthians 15:44-54, NW) On the other hand, the "great crowd" of Armageddon survivors have an earthly destiny. Their hope according to God's promise is eternal life in the "new earth" with Paradise restored to earth and eventually encircling the entire globe.

⁸ The first thing Noah did after emerging from the ark with his family into the postflood earth was to build an altar and renew the pure worship of Jehovah God on the earth. Bearing the true religion through the battle of Armageddon, the remnant and "great crowd" will unitedly start the worship of the one true God in the cleansed earth. As survivors they will have witnessed Jehovah's vindication of his name and universal sovereignty over the Devil's combined wicked world. As a result of Jehovah's victory at Armageddon there will be none on earth who will not know he is the Most High and Almighty God: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of

Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14, AS) When the spiritual remnant pass off the visible earthly scene, it will remove the last of the heirs of the kingdom of the "new heavens". But they will leave behind other visible representatives of the kingdom of Christ Jesus and his joint heirs. These will be men designated as "princes in all the earth".

⁹ To Christ Jesus the King it is prophetically said: "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth." (Psalm 45:16, AS) Many of these will be men out of the great crowd of Armageddon survivors, who have proved faithful during this "time of the end" in preaching the Kingdom gospel and in. caring for the welfare of Jehovah's people. For their dependability today under adverse conditions in this world, he will advance them then to princely responsibility of various kinds in the "new earth". But the prophecy indicates that faithful men of old, Jehovah's witnesses of times before Christ, will also be made such princes. How will this be possible? By giving these an early resurrection from the dead to human life in the "new earth", that is, a resurrection in advance of the resurrection of the remainder of mankind in the graves. They will include such men of faith in Jehovah as are named in Hebrews, chapter eleven, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Daniel, and others of proved faith. —Hebrews 11:35-40; Daniel 12:5,13.

¹⁰ Jesus foretold not only the first resurrection

of the members of his bride to immortal heavenly life but also the resurrection of all mankind for whom he died and who are in the memorial tombs. John's vision vividly showed how they will come forth in God's due time from the sea and the common grave of mankind or "Hades", in response to the command of Christ Jesus, Jehovah's anointed King. (John 5:28, 29, NW; Revelation 20:11-13, AS) Jesus' purpose is to give them eternal perfect human life in compensation for the perfect human life which he laid down in sacrifice and the value of which he as High Priest presented to Jehovah God in heaven. Hence "his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father", that is, toward ransomed mankind. —Isaiah 9:6, AS.

¹¹ He will judge them, not according to their past conduct during the regime of Satan the Devil when they were born as sinner descendants from Adam, but according to their course of action under his thousand-year kingdom. Past unrighteousness will, of course, have hindering effects, but to the willing and obedient the King will extend his help. Those who then take up the clean religion then taught and who render sincere worship to Jehovah and prove themselves obedient subjects of his reigning King will, by the close of the thousand years, be raised to perfect freedom from sin and imperfection. Those uplifted men and women will have the pristine perfection of the innocent Adam and Eve in Eden.

¹² Will they now go the way of Adam and Eve or will they stay loyal to God and his Christ? How can they go the way of Adam and Eve when there is no forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil and when the original Serpent is not there? Ah, but the Serpent will make his reappearance, according to the vision at Revelation 20:1-10. He and his demons have been reserved inactive in the abyss during the uplift work of the Kingdom during the thousand years. Now they will be released to test the fully instructed and perfected human race of the "new earth". This time, however, they will not be unborn in Adam's loins and subject to his course. Each one will be there because of the ransom sacrifice of the "Everlasting Father", Jesus Christ. Each will be on his own responsibility and will determine just his own destiny by his individual choice of action. Those individuals who follow Adam and Eve's example and yield to the misleading by the original Serpent and his demons will be destroyed, being cast into the "second death" symbolized by the "lake of fire". Christ Jesus now immortal and no longer human cannot die a second time to redeem those from the second death, and so they are annihilated. This accomplished, the Serpent and his demons who induced the desertion of these from the side of Jehovah's universal sovereignty will be destroyed with this same annihilation. Thus Christ Jesus the Seed of God's woman will crush the Serpent and all his demon and human brood forever, and the Edenic promise at Genesis 3:15 will have its final. complete fulfillment. —Revelation 20: 12-15, NW.

¹³ Almighty God has declared authoritatively that the new heavens and the new earth are to remain before him for all eternity. (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22-24) That means there will be loyal men and women on earth who will resist Satan and his demons at that most crucial moment in all their lives. As respects these the Serpent will fail absolutely in this restored Paradise, and mankind will not be driven out of it again. The Serpent and his brood will be the ones to be destroyed out of it, and faithful men and women of integrity toward Jehovah God the Universal Sovereign will stay in this Paradise. On these he will pronounce his approval and bestow the right to eternal life in the "new earth", to be sustained by all the fruits and life provisions of the beauteous global paradise. In this way through Christ "he hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces". (Isaiah 25:8, AS) "As the last enemy, death is to be destroyed." "And death [through Adam] will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away." (1 Corinthians 15:26 and Revelation 21:4, NW) Mankind will thus become children of Jehovah God the Creator through his only-begotten Son Jesus. As such they will be members of his faithful universal theocratic family. Since Christ Jesus is the chief one of God's heavenly organization which is his symbolic woman, and since they receive everlasting life in the new world through Jesus, they will thus, too, be visible earthly children of God's "woman".

¹⁴ At that stupendous achievement of divine power the Most High God will have united all living creation under him forever. Yes, "then the Son himself will also subject himself to the one who subjected all things to him, that God nay be all things to everyone." (1 Corinthians 15:28, NW) Jehovah God will be acknowledged to be supreme, and all loyal, obedient creatures will forever continue worshiping him unitedly through .his most devoted Son Christ Jesus, "who, although he was existing in God's form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. No, but he emptied himself and took a slaves form and came to be in the likeness of men. More than that, when he found himself in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake. For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."  —Philippians 2:5-11, NW; Revelation 5:13, NW.

¹⁵ Catch that sublime vision of the entire universe united at last in a perfect bond which will hold for eternity, the bond of the one worship of the universal heavenly Father because all his children love and adore him above all. False religion has long denied his existence or his misrepresented him as a repellant God, fiendish,

vengeful and responsible for all the suffering, imperfection, sorrows and calamities of humankind. But true religion, fully enlightened by the revelations from his Holy Scriptures of truth, presents him as the very personification of love, summed up in these heart-warming words, "God is love." (1 John 4:8,16) The glorious vision of the full accomplishment of his loving purpose at his own appointed time completely vindicates him of all the reproachful aspersions which Satan and his diabolical religion have hurled at Jehovah God. It exalts him before all the universe as the Supreme and Eternal One, faultless in wisdom, power, justice and love; a God whose eyes are too pure to look upon sin and wickedness in any part of his universe and who is fully able to make a clean, happy universe; a God worthy of the gratitude, affection and worship of all creatures with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

¹⁶ We can love a God like this. Drawn to Jehovah by his matchless loving-kindness, we want to worship and adore such a God as He is. In the light of his wondrous revelations of truth it is now our privilege to do so without delay, together with all those who worship him with spirit and with truth. This is the true religion for which you have longed and which alone will unite all creation that lives; just as the last psalm says: "Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah." (Psalm 150:6, AS) Everlasting life in the righteous, peaceful, free world under Jehovah God and his Christ— this is what the clean, undefiled religion gains for obedient mankind.

How to Follow Up Your Reading of This Book

NOW that you have read the book you will want some practical suggestions so as to benefit from this information and have it work to your good. Here they are: start a study (without obligation) with the one who left the book with you, or any one of Jehovah's witnesses. Or, feeling you are able, and desire to do so, now that you have read it through, why not aid your friends, neighbors and relatives to have and enjoy this knowledge as you do? Study it with them, reading first the question, then discussing the paragraph, and lastly reading the paragraph aloud as the final comment. Thus your own happiness, knowledge and understanding will increase.

Additional information too can be gained by obtaining other literature published by the Watchtower Society. An especially interesting booklet is Religion Reaps the Whirlwind. It answers such questions as: Where does one go at death? Can one gain life for a deceased loved one? What is the Bible teaching on the trinity? the true church? the keys of heaven? What place do images have in worship? These, and many others that arouse just as much interest, are of concern to every honest-hearted person whatever his faith, or lack of it, may be.

All thinking persons are concerned about obtaining eternal life and in overcoming problems encountered in the pursuit of it. So none can afford to be complacent and indifferent about the serious times in which we find ourselves today. You, dear reader, realize this more fully now, having had your eyes of understanding enlightened and your mind made free of the bondage of this old world, which is due to end shortly. Also, you will want to see your fellow human so favored with this knowledge and become free, and get in line to be a part of the incoming righteous new system of things. You have taken a step in the right direction by reading this book. Don't stop here! Continue your search for truth, go forward to a more abundant life, help others now, and gain life that is life indeed.

Religion Reaps the Whirlwind will be sent to you for 5c a copy. Bound volumes, such as "The Truth Shall Make You Free", "The Kingdom Is at Hand", "Let God Be True", "This Means Everlasting Life", and others, can be obtained for 35c a copy. Send for them now. For ordering above see addresses on last page.