Mankind’s Deliverance into God’s New Order
“Here I am creating new heavens and a new earth.”—Isa. 65:17.
1, 2. (a) What suggestions are made because of the old saying, “There is nothing new under the sun”? (b) Such suggested conditions provoke what questions?
IT IS an old saying, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccl. 1:9) But what if there were no more wars, nor even war preparation on earth, nor any natural disasters, nor fatal accidents, nor famines and pestilences? What if there were no crushing burdens of over-expensive governments, no oppression by governments, no revolutions and violent overturning of governments? That would be very nice, would it not? But let us not stop there!
2 What if there were no more snobbish social distinctions, no more national prejudices, no more racial discriminations? What if none of us were getting old, along with losing sight, hearing, hair, teeth, good bodily functions, but were attaining the bloom and freshness of beautiful youth and keeping it perpetually? What if nobody was getting sick and dying, but, instead, people were coming back from the graves and being restored live to our midst until the last cemetery was emptied? What if there was universal education in the accurate truth about religion and we were all living in harmony with that truth? What if we were living peacefully in a gardenlike earth, under one government the wide earth around? That would be something new for all mankind, would it not?
3. (a) Such conditions would distinguish only what kind of order? (b) What about expecting something on the part of the medical doctors and health experts as regards death?
3 Yes, indeed. And an order of things under which such conditions would prevail all over the earth, along with such perfect relations among all the human family, would be a new order, indeed. Even the idea of such an order of things on earth is new to countless millions of minds today. Human history discloses that mankind has never existed under an order of that kind down till this present time. What all of us are well acquainted with is what is by now an “old order,” this “present order.” The human race has been on this earth for thousands of years, and yet the earth’s surface is not fully populated, with plenty to eat for all. This has resulted from the fact that death, from many various causes, has been steadily taking its toll of human lives. It has kept the human family from multiplying even faster than it has been doing in these last two centuries. Death has been an ever-present feature of this old order, and our hosts of medical doctors and health experts of today give us no basis for expecting them to wipe out death as long as this old order stands.
4, 5. (a) How do people feel about the present order, but what question arises as to what they want? (b) In whom are men of affairs putting confidence, and so what are they doing with respect to the future?
4 Mankind has had enough of this “present order,” or, “disorder,” as many prefer to call it. It is time for a change. Yes, but who is destined to change it? Who is there that can change it? Men have long been given their opportunity to change it for the better. But the bettering of man’s plight has failed to be realized till now.
5 Men of affairs in the present order are still unwilling to stop putting confidence in men, in human ability, especially now that we have all the scientific advancement of this twentieth century. Long-range planning ahead is feverishly going on. Government planners are looking ahead to the end of this century. They are already speaking of the year 2000, and are optimistically envisioning what the earthly conditions will be by then by means of human ingenuity. They expect great changes. They see the need of many drastic changes. They expect to glorify themselves by bringing in a higher civilization that will afford all mankind greater advantages than ever before, that will make life more worth living. But what about us in the meantime?
6. (a) What is happening to our present problems? (b) So what do we want, and when do we want it to be?
6 Problems on a world scale are with us today and now. The problems are becoming more serious and complicated as time moves on. This is true in spite of all the promises and assurances that have been made by political dictators and world leaders to give the people a bright “new order.” Oh, of course, some superficial changes are made in outward appearance of things, but the same “old order” has remained with us with its wars, oppressions, injustices, racial and national rivalries, starvation for millions, violence, insecurity, pain, sickness, old age, and going down into the grave. We want something different from that. We want a really “new order.” In our natural desire for survival we want it to begin in our generation. Then we ourselves can get the lasting benefit of it. Who can bring it in?
7, 8. (a) After thousands of years of human experience, what did the psalmist say about putting our trust? (b) What does the psalmist say on the positive side of this matter?
7 Thousands of years of human experience had already passed when an inspired man wrote: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” The nearly three thousand years of time since those words were penned have proved the soundness of that piece of advice. Well, then, if we cannot wisely put our trust in earthling man, not even in nobles who should be better than the average man, who else is there in whom to put our trust?
8 Certainly the aforequoted adviser ought not to speak merely negatively and leave us baffled. Reasonably he should offset that negative advice by giving us some positive advice in telling us who outside of man is the one in whom we can put trust without disappointment. He does do this, saying: “Happy is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, of the sea, and of all that is in them, the One keeping trueness to time indefinite, the One executing judgment for the defrauded ones, the One giving bread to the hungry ones.”—Ps. 146:3-7.
9. What did Jehovah say to Jeremiah about putting trust in man, and to what extent has this been true according to human history?
9 Is anybody inclined to sneer at that inspired counsel? He is not alone in this attitude. The vast majority have refused to pay attention to this counsel, even if they knew of it. Have they been benefited or blessed for doing so? Human history shows. It bears out the truthfulness of what man’s Creator himself said to his prophet Jeremiah: “Cursed is the able-bodied man who puts his trust in earthling man and actually makes flesh his arm, and whose heart turns away from Jehovah himself. And he will certainly become like a solitary tree in the desert plain and will not see when good comes; but he must reside in parched places in the wilderness, in a salt country that is not inhabited.” (Jer. 17:5, 6) A curse is the opposite of a blessing, and all the evidence is that men have not been blessed for trusting in men and not God.
10. (a) How do self-confident men act as to obligations toward God? (b) How could God act toward them as to consequences, and why?
10 Self-confident men, proud of their modern-day achievements, conduct themselves as if they owed nothing to God. They feel no responsibility toward him and ignore his published laws. If they do not deny his existence or even say that “God is dead,” they act as if he did not exist with regard to human affairs. Although they owe everything to Him, God the Creator owes nothing to man. Everything that man has and enjoys, he owes to God. And now that man thanklessly turns his back on God and feels no obligation to Him, to be obedient to Him as the Source of life and of righteous laws for living, God owes nothing to rebellious man. He could leave mankind to eat the bitter fruitage of its own willful course of action. Yes, he could let mankind die out or even destroy itself before then by the use of all its modern-day means for violently destroying itself.
11, 12. (a) What did the wise man say concerning man’s start, and how was that true? (b) In what case would there have been no need of a “new order,” but what have we of today learned about past human plans?
11 The wisest king of ancient times, looking over the history of mankind from its start and down to the eleventh century before our Common Era, said: “This only I have found, that the true God made mankind upright, but they themselves have sought out many plans.” (Eccl. 7:29) The true God created the first human married couple upright, perfect in body, mind, heart, morality, and put them in a delightful garden home with food supplies to keep them alive forever in perfect health.
12 If they had used their free moral agency aright and had kept upright and had brought up their children upright and had gradually enlarged their Paradise home to embrace all this earthly globe, would there be need today for a “new order”? No! The perfect Paradise state of things on earth would have continued on right down to now and there would have arisen no need for restoring mankind to what it was before when God created it. But under the test of perfect obedience to their Creator and Lawgiver, the first human couple sought out their own plans. (Gen. 1:26 to 5:5) Today, about six thousand years later, we all know how their plans worked out.
THE CERTAINTY OF THE NEW ORDER
13. Who can usher in a really new order, and is there any obligation to do so?
13 As far as our ability to undo the effects of that bad planning is concerned, mankind has harmed itself beyond self-repairing. The hour is now later than people think. So if people continue to trust in imperfect and dying men to usher in a new order free from all the harmful features of this present order, it will lead nowhere but to disastrous disappointment—soon now! Our Creator, God the Almighty, alone can bring in a new order. Will he do so? He is not obligated to do so, even though man did not ask to come here and did not put himself on this earth. But why is God under no obligation? It is because man has forsaken God. Man has chosen to go his own way in rebellion against his Creator and Lawgiver. Furthermore, if we judge man by his thinking, his planning and his efforts, he does not want God’s new order. How so? Well, man does not want to meet the requirements for such a new order.
14. What, then, is the question, and where can we get reliable information?
14 So now the big question is, Is the Almighty God inclined to install the sorely needed new order? Has He decided to do so? The reliable, authoritative answers to such questions—where can we get them? Nowhere else but in God’s written Word, the Holy Bible!
15, 16. (a) By his prophet Isaiah what did God say about his purpose to do so? (b) How does the apostle John show whether God has changed his mind on this, and why was John told to write about this?
15 Listen, as He speaks to his prophet Isaiah in the eighth century before our Common Era: “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.” (Isa. 65:17, 18) ‘Oh!’ some listener might say, ‘that was said and written down some twenty-seven centuries ago, and that is out of date by now and does not hold good today.’ But listen, now, to a revelation that God gave to the Christian apostle John more than eight hundred years later. In writing it down, John says: “And I saw a great white throne and the one seated on it. From before him the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. . . . And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.” (Rev. 20:11 to 21:1) Thus after more than eight centuries the same God had not changed his mind. Also, John wrote further:
16 “And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.”’—Rev. 21:5.
17. So now, today, after nineteen hundred years, what is the good news in this regard?
17 Consequently, this God on his heavenly throne could not be true to himself and at the same time change his mind regarding his declared purpose to create a new order with new heavens and a new earth where there will no more be a sea of humanity alienated from God through sin inherited from our first human parents. So, although God does not owe mankind anything, he is inclined to usher in a desirable new order, and he has not changed his mind, even after nineteen hundred years of time. Is that not good news?
WHAT BLOCKS MAN’S EFFORTS?
18. Before there can be a “new earth,” what must there be first?
18 Let us take note that God promises to create, not only a “new earth,” but also “new heavens.” How well this shows that God knows what is the thing most essential in order for dying mankind to have a new order. There can be no “new earth” without first having “new heavens”! A new sun, moon, stars, planets and galaxies overhead within range of man’s vision? No! These visible material unintelligent bodies in the skies do not and cannot have any effect upon man’s order of things as the astrologers from the days of ancient Babylon have taught. But by the expression “new heavens” Jehovah God means new invisible spirit intelligences in superhuman heavenly control of mankind.
19. How was this meaning of the expression “new heavens” indicated by the prophet Daniel, and also by Jesus Christ?
19 That was the idea when the prophet Daniel used the word “heavens” as he was interpreting the dream of the king of ancient Babylon about a big tree and saying: “Seven times themselves will pass over you, until you know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind, and that to the one whom he wants to he gives it. And because they said to leave the rootstock of the tree, your kingdom will be sure to you after you know that the heavens are ruling.” (Dan. 4:25, 26) This idea of invisible, intelligent heavenly rulership and control of mankind was also contained in the words of Jesus Christ, when he proclaimed: “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.”—Matt. 4:17.
20, 21. (a) What does the expression “new heavens” indicate, and how does this explain man’s inability to change things for the better? (b) How do worldly-wise persons fool themselves about this matter?
20 God’s promise of a “new heavens” indicates that there are old “heavens” that are in control of mankind and that are invisibly running the present order of things. These symbolic old heavens stand as a superhuman roadblock in the way of all sincere efforts of men and women to change the present order for the better and to have lasting reforms in hope of saving mankind from self-destruction. For mankind these old “heavens” are an unseen enemy able to outwit self-reliant men and women at every turn, as human history has demonstrated all the way till now.
21 Worldly-wise people of this scientific Brain Age disbelieve and ridicule the existence of such an unseen, superhuman, intelligent spirit enemy. But that selfsame enemy knows that there are no greater fools than those who fool themselves. But we are not foolish when we ask, Who is that enemy as represented by the old “heavens”?
22, 23. How did one who came from heaven and returned there tell men who this enemy is?
22 A person who came down from heaven and lived as a man on earth for more than thirty-three years before returning to the invisible spirit heavens tells us who that enemy is. On one occasion on earth seventy men whom he sent out as evangelizers to proclaim the kingdom of God returned and reported: “Lord, even the demons are made subject to us by the use of your name.” In reply, what did Jesus Christ say to those jubilant evangelizers? This: “I began to behold Satan already fallen like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:1-18) In a pictorial illustration that he gave at the close of his prophecy on the conclusion of this system of things he foretold the time when he would say these words to goatish people: “Be on your way from me, you who have been cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Matt. 24:3; 25:31-33, 41) Three nights later, when telling his faithful apostles of his coming betrayal and violent death on an execution stake, Jesus Christ said:
23 “Now there is a judging of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” “The ruler of the world is coming. And he has no hold on me.” (John 12:31; 14:30) “Look! Satan has demanded to have you men to sift you as wheat.”—Luke 22:31.
24. What did Jesus thus show about the “heavens” now controlling mankind, and, according to Paul, whom is the world of mankind worshiping?
24 There we have the word of no one less than Jesus Christ himself as an authority on the subject: Satan the Devil and his demon angels are the ones that make up the symbolic old heavens, the present superhuman “heavens,” that are ruling and control mankind during this present old order. Instead of worshiping the true God who promises “new heavens and a new earth,” the vast majority of mankind are worshiping the Devil and his demons. The Devil is subtle and wily in concealing his operations and deceptions on the people, for the Christian apostle Paul writes: “The god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.” (2 Cor. 4:4) By that description the apostle Paul meant the false god, Satan.
25. Who induced Adam and Eve to seek out plans contrary to God’s will?
25 Furthermore, Jesus Christ identified Satan the Devil as being the invisible one who induced the upright Adam and Eve to seek out plans contrary to God’s will. Satan thus brought this dying, imperfect condition upon all of us.
26. How did Satan become what Jesus called him, “a manslayer”?
26 On one occasion Jesus addressed himself to certain ones in his audience who were wanting to kill him and said to them: “You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie.” (John 8:44) In man’s original home, the Garden of Eden, Satan the Devil called Jehovah God a liar; and the first woman, Eve, believed the Devil, and after that her husband, Adam, took her side and joined her in disobeying God. Therefore Jehovah pronounced the sentence of death upon our first parents; and because Satan the Devil induced this result, he became what Jesus called him, “a manslayer.” He slew us also, for we have inherited from sinful Adam and Eve our dying condition.—Gen. 2:7–5:5.
27, 28. (a) What disability cannot capable men of the world lift from us, or what cannot armies and revolutionaries unsaddle from us? (b) How did Paul give the Ephesians some idea of what we are up against?
27 In spite of all that government rulers and lawmakers and judges and medical doctors and scientists can do, they cannot lift from us the condemnation to death that still rests upon all of us because of inherited sinfulness and imperfection. They cannot bring us back into the Garden of Eden from which our first parents were driven because of rebellion against God the Creator. Despite all that the world’s military forces and the social revolutionaries might try to do, they cannot unsaddle from us the demonic old “heavens” that have fastened themselves upon mankind. In this case worldly armies and revolutionaries are contending, not with other human creatures, but with superhuman forces, unseen. What all mankind are up against, the apostle Paul gave us some idea of when he wrote to the Christian congregation in Ephesus in Asia:
28 “Put on the complete suit of armor from God that you may be able to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil; because we have a wrestling, not against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.”—Eph. 6:11, 12.
29. Despite casting out demons, what did Jesus and his apostles not try to do, with what result today?
29 The apostle Paul, as well as Jesus Christ himself and his other apostles, cast out demons from persons who were obsessed by them, thus liberating the poor human victims. However, Jesus Christ, when on earth, and his apostles never did attempt to overthrow this invisible old “heavens,” composed of demon governments, authorities, world rulers of this darkness and wicked spirits in the heavenly places. Nineteen centuries ago it was not the time for such a liberation of mankind. Consequently those wicked demon “heavens” have continued to dominate mankind and human affairs till now. The human family is now experiencing the terrible effects of this invisible rule, and is absolutely helpless against it.
30. To whom are we obliged to look for the providing of a Deliverer, and to avoid being “cursed” to whom may we not look?
30 Mankind desperately needs a Liberator from these ruinous demonic heavens. Jehovah God has raised up the needed Deliverer! Jehovah’s marked time for the desired deliverance is at hand! We cannot look to human “nobles” or to earthling man for the Deliverer. We would become “cursed” for doing so! Force of circumstances oblige us to look to Jehovah for him. Who is he?
31. What will Jehovah’s chosen one be able to do, and why is that a basic requirement for a new order?
31 It is the one chosen by Jehovah God, the one who can put these old demonic “heavens” out of existence. There cannot be a new order for mankind without getting rid of those wicked “heavens” that have dominated this old order. There cannot be a new order for mankind without a “new heavens.” This is a basic requirement. It is the first requirement. Jehovah God has promised to create such a “new heavens.”
32. How will those in the ‘heavens that are now’ be counterbalanced by those in the “new heavens,” and who is the vital, essential one in the “new heavens”?
32 As the wicked ‘heavens that are now’ are composed of superhuman, invisible spirit creatures, so also the new heavens must be composed of superhuman, invisible spirit creatures. The apostle Peter cheered his fellow Christians on in their waiting on God and putting confidence in God by writing: “But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Pet. 3:13) God has already raised up the chief one, the vital and essential one, of those “new heavens,” and that one is his faithful Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Hail this Deliverer!
[Picture on page 228]
Deliverance into God’s new order will mean living in perfect health and happiness in a delightful gardenlike earth, under one government earth wide