Declaration and Resolution
1. Who were assembled in international assembly, and in whose name did they make a declaration and resolution?
WE, a body of advocates of the best possible government for all the human family, being gathered together this Saturday, the ‐‐‐‐ (date) day of ‐‐‐‐ (month) of the year 197‐‐ at the “Divine Victory” International Assembly of the Christian witnesses of Jehovah that is being held in ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ (city), ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ (country), make the following public declaration and resolve in the name of the one and only Source of all righteous government, the Sovereign Lord of the universe:
2. What has study of the Holy Scriptures shown as to the start of humanity’s present distress, and what about any deadness of the Universal Sovereign to mankind’s affairs?
2 As fellow human creatures we are deeply moved in our hearts at the continuing and increasing distress of all humanity since World War I broke out in the year 1914. We who are living during the generation that knew, felt and survived that first world conflict have sought for an explanation of humanity’s distress in the inspired written Word from the Source of all perfect government, that is to say, the Sacred Scriptures or Holy Bible. From its pages as illuminated by the light of modern events we have learned that the worldwide distress and anguish of nations did not begin back there in 1914 merely by accident, without intelligent purpose, without occurring at a foreordained, due time. Rather, this unparalleled distress of humanity started at the precise time marked by the Greatest Timekeeper of all, the Universal Sovereign, the Creator of the time-observing sun, moon and stars. He is not dead toward human affairs, but the interests of all humanity are of keen concern to Him. He is fully alive to humanity’s needs.
3. Timewise, what did the year 1914 mark, and is God responsible for the human distress since then, or who is?
3 Historians of the world refer to 1914 as the year marking the end of an epoch. The One who from time to time has made himself felt in human history, namely, man’s Creator, marked that same year as the one for the ending of the “appointed times of the nations,” the so-called Gentile Times. The ending of these Gentile Times was long awaited, for in the year 33 C.E., more than nineteen hundred years ago, God’s own Son Jesus Christ spoke of those Gentile Times and prophesied concerning the fulfillment of them. (Luke 21:24) He prophesied of what his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, would do at the end of those Gentile Times. What men and nations on earth did at that important date was their own responsibility. He did not force them to take the action that they then took, and so he is absolved from all responsibility for humanity’s distress that has dragged on till this day.
4. Upon what city did the Gentile Times begin, and upon what “city” do they come to their fulfillment, and why?
4 In recent centuries, since the printing and distribution of the Holy Bible world wide in many language translations, Bible students have formed ideas as to what the Most High God would do at the end of the Gentile Times. Their attention has focused on Jerusalem of the Middle East, under Turkish control for centuries, then passing under British control in 1917, and now being under Israeli control. Measuring the Gentile Times according to their count of time, those Bible students have expected the wrong thing to take place at the end of the Gentile Times. They fail to take note that God’s interest has shifted from earthly Jerusalem of the days of Jesus Christ and his apostles to the “heavenly Jerusalem,” which is the city that the Holy Bible now calls the “city of the living God.” (Heb. 12:22) The 2,520 years of the Gentile Times began in the year 607 B.C.E., with the desolation of the earthly Jerusalem by the armies of Babylon. Those Gentile Times, therefore, did not come to their complete fulfillment on the earthly Jerusalem of Jesus’ day. They did come to their complete fulfillment upon the “heavenly Jerusalem,” an indestructible seat of government.
5. Since the desolation of Jerusalem and Judah in 607 B.C.E., what royal right has been trampled on, and why did Jesus, when on earth, not establish a kingdom at Jerusalem?
5 At the end of the Gentile Times the reverse is to be expected of what took place at their beginning in 607 B.C.E. The desolating of Jerusalem and Judea at that time is not the vital thing. No, but it was the overturning of God’s Messianic kingdom that had been established at Jerusalem in the hands of the royal family of David of Bethlehem. From that overthrow onward the right of the royal family of King David to have a government over the earth has been trampled on by successive Gentile world powers, namely, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, the Roman, and the Anglo-American. During all those Gentile Times Jehovah God did not interfere in human affairs by reestablishing the Messianic kingdom at rebuilt Jerusalem on earth. That explains why his Son Jesus Christ did not overturn the Roman Empire and establish an earthly kingdom of David’s royal family in earthly Jerusalem. Instead, he predicted the continuance of the Gentile Times until God’s time for their end. Instead of seating himself on David’s throne at Jerusalem, he died innocently as King David’s royal Heir, on the third day he was resurrected from his martyr’s death, and he ascended thereafter to heaven to be seated at the right hand of his heavenly Father’s throne.—Acts 2:32-36.
6. Where and when did reestablishment of the Messianic kingdom take place, and was this what touched off World War I?
6 Up there God’s Son Jesus the Messiah continued waiting till the end of the Gentile Times. (Heb. 10:12, 13) Likewise, Jehovah God restrained himself till then. But in 1914, or 2,520 years from the desolating of Jerusalem and Judah by the Babylonians, the Supreme Ruler of the universe took due action. He reestablished the Messianic kingdom of David, this time in the hands of David’s heavenly Heir, Jesus Christ. The Gentile nations on earth could not interfere with this. No longer could they trample upon the right of King David’s family to Kingdom power. The “appointed times of the [Gentile] nations” had ended. From then on, David’s Permanent Heir, Jesus the Messiah, reigns in the “heavenly Jerusalem.” (Rev. 12:1-11) That heavenly birth of the Messianic kingdom did not touch off World War I on earth. Already, before the Gentile Times ended in 1914, the Gentile nations had gone to war—two months beforehand. They started their own war on a global scale, for world domination. They recognized no end of the Gentile Times.
7. Under whose superhuman influence did the Gentile nations then act and have they acted since?
7 Under whose influence did the Gentile nations then act and have they acted since? Certainly not under the superhuman influence of Jehovah God, nor was this God on any side in World War I, for they were all warring for world domination by man, not for world domination by the “heavenly Jerusalem” and its new King, Jesus the Messiah. Logically, then, the Gentile nations were acting under the influence of the enemy of Jehovah God and his Messiah Jesus. Who is that superhuman Chief Enemy of Jehovah God? It is the one whom Jesus Christ called “the ruler of this world,” and whom the Christian apostle Paul called “the god of this system of things.” He is Satan the Devil.—John 12:31; 14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 12:7-13.
8. Who are the chief figures involved in this controversy over world domination, and what question can we not escape facing with respect to this controversy?
8 Not carrying on their political affairs on God’s side by handing over their earthly sovereignty to God’s kingdom of the heavenly Jerusalem, the Gentile nations can locate their own selves only on one other side, the side of God’s Chief Adversary, Satan the Devil. The controversy over world domination since the year 1914 involves more than mere nations of mankind. It involves chiefly the Most High God Jehovah and Satan the Devil. Who will win out of these two chief contestants? is the question. Who will gain the victory? There can be no uncertainty about the outcome. The Holy Bible, God’s infallible Word, confidently declares that the Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, will gain the divine victory. (Rev. 16:16; 19:11 through 20:3) The question that no one of us can now escape facing is, With whom do I want to be, the Loser or the Winner?
9. For what reason will people continue to feel the “anguish of nations” and fail to find the way out of it?
9 Nothing could be plainer than that no one on the side of God’s enemies and opposers could have His divine blessing. This explains why, since 1914, humanity has lived through an “age of violence” and has felt nothing but the “anguish of nations,” just as Jesus Christ foretold. (Luke 21:25, 26) As long as men fail to take the side of Jehovah God and his Messiah in this universal controversy, they will never find the way out of their perplexity and fearful “expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.”
10. Why does all mankind now stand in great peril, and who only may hope to enjoy blessings after the Divine Victory?
10 Just as “great tribulation” lay ahead of the nation that refused to accept God’s Son Jesus as the Messiah in the year 33 C.E., so a “great tribulation,” without equal in human history, lies ahead of already distressed humanity. Jesus Christ on earth gave due warning of it nineteen centuries ago, and foretold the world events that would precede it. (Matt. 24:3-22; Rev. 6:1 through 7:14) All the world of mankind now stands in peril. It needs to have the warning further sounded to it without interruption. Survival of the impending “great tribulation” can be hoped for by only those who heed his inspired warning. Only those who now align themselves on the side of the Divine Victor may hope to enjoy the blessings that will follow the Divine Victory.
11. What did Jehovah’s Christian witnesses resolve to sound out further, and to whom?
11 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we, as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, will continue to put our faith in the Divine Victory. We will continue without letup to sound the warning from God’s written Word to all lovers of righteous government who have been misled by God’s Chief Enemy, Satan the Devil, and who therefore have put their trust in man-made systems of rulership, much to their sorrow and distress. We will continue to proclaim God’s Messianic kingdom of a thousand years as the panacea—the cure-all, for distressed humanity.
12. (a) What methods of education and what means of spreading good news did they resolve to use? (b) They resolved to press on in telling mankind about what blessings and joys of God’s Messianic kingdom?
12 Following the apostolic pattern, we will publicly preach from house to house and privately teach in the homes of interested persons by means of weekly Bible studies. We will use the printed page as well as word of mouth, yes, all the God-approved means of spreading the good news abroad. Faithfully we will press onward in telling imperiled mankind about the blessings and joys of God’s Messianic kingdom—about uncorruptible, righteous government, about restoration of mankind to perfect health in their physical bodies, about resurrection of all the ransomed dead resulting in reunion of loved friends and relatives, about lasting peace and the satisfying of mankind’s every need in a Paradise reestablished on a cleansed earth, about freedom from fear, insecurity and misrule by Satan the Devil and his earthly agencies, about brotherly love among the whole human family, and about the one true religion, the pure worship of God our Creator through Jesus Christ his Son. Yes, we will continue telling of the victory that God Almighty will gain over mankind’s dreaded enemy, Death, and how he will bless all his obedient loyal subjects with everlasting life in blessed relationship with Him as their heavenly Father.
13. In view of the time, what commandment did they resolve to carry out to the end, and on what aid would they rely to fulfill this resolve?
13 Seeing now more clearly than ever before that God’s kingdom of a thousand years has approached and that the time gets shorter and shorter for distressed humanity to take advantage of the good news of salvation, we will display both loyal love for God and love for our fellowman. In this course we will obey God rather than man and will not slack our hand in carrying out his command through Christ to ‘preach this good news of the Kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations,’ before the end of this doomed system of things comes. (Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10) On God we rely to aid us to fulfill this resolve. And may He find us faithful to the end and count us worthy to share the joys and blessings resulting from his Divine Victory!
14. What was done with the foregoing Declaration and Resolution at the “Divine Victory” international assemblies, and what publication was released immediately thereafter, in what languages?
14 The foregoing Declaration and Resolution was submitted to the “Divine Victory” Assembly of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses after the programmed speech was given that combined the material of the two preceding Watchtower articles on “Gaining Wealth for Earth’s New King” and “Spared from Slaughter with the King’s Enemies.” After the fervent, whole-souled adoption of this Declaration and Resolution by the assembly, the new publication, the 416-page hardbound book entitled “God’s Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached” was released. In German-speaking lands, it was released also in the German language. This new Bible study aid, now available in English and German only, is proving to be a mighty, stimulating aid to those who attended the “Divine Victory” Assembly in faithfully carrying out the Declaration and Resolution that they unitedly adopted.
15. How many such assemblies had been held by the time of the date of this Watchtower issue, in how many lands, with what total attendance, and with what assemblies yet in view?
15 Down to the date of this issue of The Watchtower, 43 such “Divine Victory” Assemblies have been held in 20 lands with a total attendance of 1,447,235. Still more will follow until these assemblies have been held in all hemispheres of the earth, northern, southern, eastern and western, according to the good pleasure of Jehovah and to the praise of Him in His coming Divine Victory.