Markers for the New World Society
SINCE 1919 the assemblies of Jehovah’s witnesses have been markers for them in this time of the end. They have marked the growth of the New World society in a spiritual as well as a numerical way. It has been at these assemblies that many new truths have been revealed.
It was in September of 1919 that the first of these assemblies was held. It was an eight-day convention that had upward of 7,000 people in attendance. It emphasized the great work that must be done by God’s people before the battle of Armageddon.
Then in 1922 another assembly was held at Cedar Point that gave the preaching work a tremendous push. Its daily sessions had an attendance of 10,000 witnesses. It was at this assembly that proof was submitted for the first time that the King Christ Jesus had come to the temple in 1918 and had begun judging apostate Christendom. The witnesses left this assembly with the slogan ringing in their ears, “Advertise the King and the Kingdom.”
In August of the next year a nine-day assembly was held in Los Angeles, California. Here, for the first time, the Society used radio to broadcast a convention session. It was at this assembly that it was first revealed that the sheep in Matthew 25:31-46 refer to an earthly group this side of Armageddon.
The assembly held in Columbus, Ohio, in 1931 was another marker for Jehovah’s people. It was at this assembly, as at an earlier assembly in June in London, England, that new light was thrown on the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. It was revealed that the man with the writer’s inkhorn was not an individual but rather a group of individuals, Jehovah’s anointed ones. From this it was seen that the “faithful and wise servant” that Jesus spoke about was a class made up of the remnant and was not C. T. Russell, as some had thought. It was also at this Columbus assembly that it was seen that the name Jehovah’s witnesses is the Scriptural name of God’s people. The assembled crowds were thrilled with this new name.
At the convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1935 new light was thrown on Revelation 7:9, which speaks about the great multitude. The thousands of witnesses gathered there learned for the first time that the “great multitude” is an earthly class composed of “other sheep” of the Good Shepherd.
Later in 1938 at Kingsway Hall, London, England, Jehovah’s witnesses learned about the procreation mandate and how it will be issued and go into force toward the “other sheep” surviving Armageddon.
The New York assembly of 1950 was another marker for Jehovah’s witnesses. This assembly had a record-breaking attendance of 123,707. It was at this assembly that Jehovah’s witnesses were thrilled with the release of the first translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures that was made by the New World Bible Translation Committee. New light was thrown on what the Bible says about the princes. It was revealed that the faithful men of old were not the only ones that will be princes in the new world but that many of the “other sheep” of today will also be princes.
In 1953, at a still larger assembly in New York, a translation of the first eight books of the Hebrew Scriptures was released. New information was brought out on chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel regarding Gog of Magog. It was also pointed out that the “desire of all nations” mentioned at Haggai 2:7 (AV) applies to the “great crowd.” This assembly had over 165,000 people at the public talk and was the greatest assembly the New World society ever held.
These are only a few of the many outstanding assemblies that Jehovah’s witnesses have held since 1919. When we consider the new truths that have come out at these assemblies as well as the new releases and the things that happened at them, it becomes evident that they are indeed markers in the history of the New World society. We can therefore look forward to the giant assembly planned in New York for this summer to be another marker bringing surprises and good things to Jehovah’s modern-day people.