Good News for All Mankind!
“I SAW another angel flying in midheaven, and he had everlasting good news to declare as glad tidings to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” (Revelation 14:6) With those words, the aged apostle John described his inspired prophetic vision, a vision being fulfilled in our own day. What a relief to know that there is good news in this age of rising crime, pollution, terrorism, war, and widespread economic uncertainty! But what news could be so good that it needs an angel to announce it? What tidings could be glad enough to merit being declared to every nation and tribe and tongue and people?
We can answer that if we think back to another occasion when an angel personally announced good news. This was when the first century B.C.E. was drawing to a close, almost a hundred years before John saw his vision. Shepherds were out with their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem, and an angel appeared to announce the birth of Jesus, saying: “Look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David’s city.”—Luke 2:10, 11.
Jesus’ birth was truly “good news of a great joy.” He grew up to be the promised Christ and Savior, the one who gave his perfect human life so that righthearted believers may live. More than that, he was to become King of God’s Kingdom, the “Prince of Peace,” under whose rule justice and peace would finally come to mankind. (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 1:33) Truly, his birth was good news that deserved to be announced by an angel!
Jesus Is King
Back in the first century, Jesus fulfilled many of God’s purposes for him, but he was not then enthroned as King of God’s Kingdom. As this magazine has often pointed out, that did not happen until 1914. As the fulfillment of prophecy clearly shows, in that year God’s Kingdom was established in the heavens. (Revelation 12:10, 12) Although there was very bad news in 1914—outbreak of World War I—the birth of God’s Kingdom was the best of news. That was why Jesus prophesied for our day: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.”—Matthew 24:14.
Has Jesus’ prophecy been fulfilled? The answer is yes! And John’s prophetic vision has also been fulfilled. True, we cannot see the invisible angel that John saw. But Jehovah’s Witnesses have been very visible as they have published the angel’s good news “to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” In 212 lands and islands of the sea, their voices have been heard. And multitudes are responding. The experiences of some of these will show just how good the news about God’s Kingdom really is.