Planning Now for the Time to Come
MANY readers of The Watchtower have placed their hopes in the new earth of the new world in which righteousness dwells. We think of that time of Kingdom blessings, and it was the learning of those things that caused many of us to inquire further into the study of God’s Word. But we have learned from the Scriptures more than merely concerning the blessings of the Kingdom. We have come to know and understand Jehovah, his name, his Word, his purposes, the issue involving his sovereignty, his undeserved kindness extended toward men in this day, and we have grown in love for him and in our worship of him. Properly worshiping God is a very blessed condition for any man.
When should these conditions of true worship begin? Upon this point the Watchtower magazine has said, “Let all begin speaking and living as now under his kingdom.” Is this saying that now, before Armageddon, those who love Jehovah should begin living in a manner similar to the way they will live on earth after Armageddon? That is it exactly. The fact of the matter is, those who will be carried through Armageddon’s war and ushered into the new earth following that decisive time and be privileged to worship Jehovah God then are those only who, in this day before Armageddon breaks, worship and serve him.
The requirement, then, which must be met precedent to our entering into the new world is to engage in his worship now. Jehovah became King in 1914 when he placed his appointed king, Christ Jesus, upon his heavenly throne as his kingly representative, in fulfillment of the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. Since that time there have begun to flow to Jehovah’s servants Kingdom blessings. There is war on earth, yes. There are famine, illness, death, and other troubles; that is true. The material blessings which are included in the Kingdom benefits following Armageddon have not come to the people, Jehovah’s people or others; but the more important things are here.
The opportunity to worship Jehovah, the opportunity to conform to his righteous requirements, to be guided by his law as now expressed to us in his Word the Bible, to be a follower of Christ Jesus, to stand against the old world of Satan’s organization and for the Theocracy under Christ Jesus, to preach the message of good news of the Kingdom, to prove to all who will observe that we are living under the Kingdom rule and we worship Jehovah now—those things are with us, available to us, and we must cling to them now if we will exercise them in the days to come beyond Armageddon.
It is not just a little insignificant handful of people organized into some obscure sect that engages in Jehovah’s worship. On the contrary, “I heard what was as a voice of a great crowd and as a sound of many waters and as a sound of heavy thunders. They said: ‘Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.’” (Rev. 19:6, NW) If our hopes are that we will be found in that great crowd which will be carried through the battle of the great day of God Almighty, we must be found in the great crowd of praisers of Jehovah now before Armageddon engaging in his worship. We must live now, insofar as it is possible for us to do so, in devotion to God, as we hope to live on earth in the years to come.
FUNDS FOR KINGDOM WORK
In this the Scriptures are our present guide. Even as material things will be secondary in connection with the worship of Jehovah in the new world, even so they are very secondary in connection with the worship of Jehovah now. When Jesus said “pay back . . . God’s things to God”, he was not referring to responding to a religious solicitation for funds. Christ Jesus in his entire ministry never asked for a cent of money, nor did the apostles, nor the early church. Christians have never solicited funds and they do not do so now. As Christians we appreciate that that which we pay back to God and that which is due to him is our worship and our love and service. Material things are incidental.
The great amount of money that is required in this period to carry on the activities of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and Jehovah’s witnesses whom it serves comes to us without solicitation, voluntarily from Jehovah’s witnesses themselves, from their associates, companions, persons of good will, and others who want to see the Word of God spread among the people and desire to use some of their material blessings to that end. Those funds, when received by the Watch Tower Society, are spent earth-wide to carry on this very work of Bible education, that the worship of Jehovah may be expanded, that the crowd of his praisers may increase.
The money that is contributed to the various branch offices of the Society throughout the earth is only part of the financial cost of the ministry of Jehovah’s witnesses. As local congregations, the thousands of companies carry on the ministry in their own part of the field, and each individual minister of the Lord is self-supporting, bears his own expenses and goes to the people in his Bible educational work under his own resources. The minister of Jehovah hardly gives a second thought to this feature of his service, because all that he has, as well as himself, is consecrated to Jehovah. It is this spirit of loving devotion, which God has so richly blessed, that accounts for the marvelous increase in his work earth-wide.
Planning ahead is a Scriptural and proper procedure, and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society likes to plan ahead to the extent that it can. Every year those who anticipate that they may want to contribute some funds to the Society during the coming twelve months are privileged to write to the office of the treasurer and so state their hopes in this regard. This is in no sense of the word a pledge, but, in so stating what they intend to do, those writing in merely give an indication of what they hope they can do. That is why we often refer to it as “Good Hopes”. A discussion of the matter here is not a solicitation in any sense of the word. The response to this Watchtower article is simply an individual’s expression of a hope that during the forthcoming twelve months an amount will be donated according to his present plans. That gives the Society something on which to base its program for the coming year.
Concerning this matter of planning ahead the apostle Paul, at 1 Corinthians 16:2, writes, “Every first day of the week let each of you at his own house set something aside in store as he may be prospering, so that when I arrive collections will not take place then.” (NW) On this same matter, in 2 Corinthians 9:7, he states, “Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NW) So any who wish to assist financially in the proclamation of the Kingdom message, leading others to place their hopes in the new world and to conform thereto even now, may so indicate by writing to the Society.
The branch office of the country in which you reside may be addressed, and for the United States, address your card or letter to: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Treasurer’s Office, 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn 2, New York. In writing the Society, something to the effect as follows can be stated regarding your “Good Hopes”: “It is my hope that during the next twelve months I will be able to donate to the work of praising Jehovah, in acknowledgment that he has begun to rule as King, the amount of $‐‐, which contributions I will make in such amounts and at such times as proves to be convenient to me and as I am prospered by the undeserved kindness of Jehovah God through Christ Jesus. [signed]” It might be well to keep a copy of your card or letter as a reminder to yourself. In addition to the above address of the head office in Brooklyn, on page 258 is a list of other branch office addresses, and a complete list is on the last page of the Yearbook.
We understand the fact that there are many persons who may not wish to write to the Society in accordance with the above, preferring not to make an expression of their hopes or anticipations for the coming year but wishing to merely contribute something at their convenience, as time goes by. Such is perfectly agreeable.
The desire which we have is that any donation be used to advance the Kingdom interests. This will be accomplished only by the blessing of Jehovah the King. So with you we wish to join in our mutual prayers to the Most High for his direction and blessing upon the use of these things, and, above all, upon the personal devotion of ourselves at this time to the righteous requirements of his worship, that we may be found in that great crowd of praisers of Jehovah now and following Armageddon.