None Like Jehovah in All the Earth

“At this time I am sending all my blows against your heart and upon your servants and your people, to the end that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.”​—Ex. 9:14.

 1. What has been the effect of the message of the established Kingdom on multitudes of people?

CHRIST JESUS, on the throne of Kingdom power since 1914 C.E., has, since 1919 particularly, directed his anointed followers on earth to proclaim the “good news” of the established Kingdom to all nations. (Matt. 24:14) During the succeeding years and right up to the present, that message has indeed been “good news” to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children throughout all lands. They have welcomed the knowledge that soon now God’s kingdom, already established in the heavens with Christ upon the throne, will “crush and put an end to all [Satan’s] kingdoms” and usher in a long reign of peace and prosperity.​—Dan. 2:44.

 2. Is the Kingdom message “good news” to all, and why do you so answer?

² It thus happens that the “good news of the kingdom” has always been tied in with words of solemn warning, words of doom for those who insist on sticking to Satan’s arrangement of things on earth, because of their being moved by his evil spirit. And how necessary this is! No one must be deceived into thinking that the grand promises of the Kingdom will be fulfilled through any part of this present wicked system of things. The Devil’s earthly empire, commercial, political and religious, is doomed and already exposed as being incurably corrupt, diseased and filthy. People of honest heart should separate themselves from it and seek safety with Jehovah’s true worshipers.

 3. How, then, does the Kingdom message relate to the application today of the “blows” against Pharaoh, his servants and his people?

³ Let no one, therefore, be surprised to learn that the “good news of the kingdom” contains the very elements that Jehovah uses to deliver blow after blow against the proudhearted Greater Pharaoh, Satan the Devil, and against all his servants and supporters. Not in the hope that Satan and his demons and his conscience-seared visible representatives will repent is this message declared world wide. Rather, it is to prove Jehovah’s unique and supreme position. It is to prove to Satan and his whole combination of powers, invisible and visible, that they are unable to halt or evade the torment and chagrin that this message produces. It is also purposed that even at this late date persons of honest heart and who have a love for what is right may yet separate themselves from Satan’s system of things and throw themselves on the mercy of the great Giver of the “good news.”

 4. What questions should thoughtful persons living in this vital era of history put to themselves, and with what in view?

⁴ So where do you stand? Are you still tied in with one or more of the numerous sections of the Satanic earthly empire? Do you support its political schemes or its religious organizations that have deceived so many millions as to what is really the will of God? Are you motivated by the ultra-selfish spirit that Satan the Devil originated, a spirit that is mercenary, that has little concern for the welfare and rights of others, that produces rivalries, lying, cheating, violence and war? How vital to take stock and determine where you stand in this decisive hour when people’s hearts will be hardened or softened, hardened like Pharaoh’s or softened like those of the vast mixed multitude that went forth into freedom with the sons of Israel!​—Ex. 12:38.

BLOOD, FROGS, AND GNATS

 5. The Nile’s waters being turned to blood and the effects of that event are fulfilled how in connection with the Kingdom message?

⁵ Ever since the January 1, 1921, issue of this magazine, with its explanation of the symbolic beast of Revelation chapter 13, was published, the Kingdom message has continuously exposed the death-dealing spirit of selfish commercialism that permeates the whole of Satan’s system of things, just as all the waters of the Nile and related canals became blood.a Living creatures in the Nile died and the waters stank as a result of this blow. The wide proclamation by God’s witnesses on earth has offered ample proof that those choosing to remain with Satan’s earthly empire will sicken spiritually and die. It does not take much discernment for people today to detect the rotten state of Satan’s commercialized system of things. The stench is too great to be ignored.

 6. That the “blood plague” continued for seven days indicates what?

⁶ During the whole remaining time of Satan’s invisible rule over the nations, for the entire “seven days,” the exposure of selfish commercialism must go on. (Ex. 7:25) It is not yet too late to get out of that organization that has the smell of death, and join in declaring the warning, that others too might be assisted to escape. How grand the privilege of those who share in such a bold proclamation to God’s glory!

 7. How do we connect the “frog plague” with the filthy, immoral conditions of Satan’s system of things?

⁷ But what has the Kingdom message to do with frogs? Well, frogs are slimy and unclean like the reptile, they advertise their disgusting presence by croaking, and they love to dwell in dank, marshy places. Christ Jesus gave his apostle John a vision wherein he saw “unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs.” (Rev. 16:13, 14) These were identified as being “expressions inspired by demons.” Demons or disobedient angels produced a terribly corrupt condition among men just prior to the Flood, and there can be no doubt that demons have much to do with promoting immoral thinking and acting today. (Gen. 6:5) Frogs overrunning Egypt well picture, therefore, the resulting filthy, debased, immoral condition of human society. In our time, by printed page, by radio, by movies and by television, the immoral froglike “croakings” are dispersed far and wide, to young and old.

 8. How has the Kingdom message featured this blow against Satan’s organization of today?

⁸ The message proclaimed by God’s witnesses on earth has had much to say about the unparalleled moral breakdown, the rising tide of delinquency, the criminal way in which commerce and religion, for selfish gain, promote the spirit of compromise that would tolerate any idea that becomes popular, regardless of its moral status. The proclamation of these facts has embarrassed and chagrined Satan’s agents. Those who share in such exposure of this world’s filthiness declare plainly where they stand. Do you?

 9. In modern fulfillment, how has it been easy for the agents of the Greater Pharaoh to duplicate in an insignificant way the blows featuring blood and frogs?

⁹ It has been easy for reform movements forming part of Satan’s system of things to reproduce, even if only in a small way, the plaguing effects of God’s message relating to “frogs” and “blood.” They had only to protest some of the more blatant injustices and immoralities of Egypt as prefigured in Ezekiel, chapters 29-32. But when it comes to Jehovah’s third blow against the Greater Pharaoh, his agents cannot in any degree duplicate it. Why? Because they dare not lose face and admit that the organization of which they form a part is in very deed “Satan’s organization.”

10. But why is it not possible for agents of Satan’s system of things to duplicate the third blow?

¹⁰ All the dry land of Egypt produced clouds of gnats, tiny verminous insects that lodged on the skin and painfully bit their victims. Even the priesthood of the Pharaohs who boasted of their cleanliness, dressed only in white linen, bathed frequently and even shaved their entire bodies​—even they were attacked. That infested condition of all Egypt clearly signifies in modern times the unclean condition of a world-embracing society under Satan the Devil, a system of things that is clearly identified as “Satan’s organization.” True, such an epithet offends the susceptibilities of Satan’s religious and political leaders, but they find themselves unable to silence the exposure. They are, like Pharaoh’s magic-practicing priests, forced to conclude that no compromising deal can be made with Jehovah’s witnesses in order to silence the distasteful message.​—Ex. 8:19.

JEHOVAH DISCIPLINES HIS OWN

11. What do we see to be the reason for the Israelites’ receiving the first three blows in common with the Egyptians, and what does this mean today?

¹¹ Those three punishing features of the Kingdom message brought to bear upon the Greater Pharaoh, his servants and his subject peoples, affected also those who make up the tribes of spiritual Israel. They, too, like worldlings, had once been motivated by the death-dealing spirit of selfishness or commercialism. They, too, had been mixed up with the immoralities of a wicked world of humans. (1 Cor. 6:9-11) They, too, had shared in the uncleanness due to being part of Satan’s lawless organization. They needed to be utensils ‘sanctified, useful to their owner, prepared for every good work.’​—2 Tim. 2:15-21.

12. Through what process have today’s bold Kingdom proclaimers passed, thus fitting them for their service?

¹² Happily for them, Jehovah has extended to them a cleansing education by means of his Word of truth, so that there is now a clear separation between them and Satan’s unclean earthly empire. The Kingdom proclaimers of modern times have undergone an Isaiah-like experience, an experience that has prepared their lips to proclaim boldly the additional judgment features of the Kingdom message. (Isa. 6:6, 7) What a marvelous privilege to be used by Jehovah in sounding out the doom of a wicked world!

GADFLIES, PESTILENCE, BOILS

13. How have “gadflies” had a crippling effect on antitypical Egypt?

¹³ Other judicial pronouncements of Jehovah as to the state of Satan’s system of things were foreshadowed by the next three blows against Pharaoh. The Devil’s helplessness and failure to evade and offset these blows offer continuing proof that there is none like Jehovah. The gadflies that stung and tormented man and beast had a decimating effect on the Egyptian economy. (Ps. 78:45) So the Kingdom message’s exposure of all the false doctrines and pagan mysteries of Satan’s false religion has been destructive of the influence wielded by his religious organization among credulous multitudes. The falsity of teachings such as the triune deity, the divine right of kings, immortality of the human soul, transmigration of souls, tortures in literal fires of hell or purgatory, teachings that the clergy have always delighted to inculcate in the gullible masses, has now been laid bare. The widely published Bible truths on these matters have maddened the false shepherds of worldly religion, while the true source of the superstitious fears under which they have labored and been victimized is made plain to many.

14. In modern application, who are the ‘beasts of burden’ and what pestilence has caused them to begin dying off, and just how can they be said to have died?

¹⁴ The pestilence upon ancient Egypt particularly struck at her source of wealth, her beasts of burden. (Ex. 9:6) In Egypt as described in Ezekiel, chapters 29-32 the ‘beasts of burden’ are the human slaves who have been tyrannized into supporting and promoting Satan’s system of things. Just as the pestilence caused all sorts of Pharaoh’s four-footed burden bearers to die off, in the same way the Kingdom message has opened the eyes of multitudes slaving for Satan’s organization, and they have died as far as being active supporters anymore. Indeed, many have separated themselves from the devilish organization and become willing burden bearers in connection with the Kingdom work directed by the Greater Moses, Christ Jesus.

15. How do we detect the fulfillment of the epidemic of boils with blisters that came on Egypt?

¹⁵ The plague of boils and pus-filled blisters also points to still another punishing feature of the Kingdom message. How is that? The clue is noted in the words of Revelation 16:2, referring to the hurtful and malignant ulcers that came upon all those who angered Jehovah by worshiping and looking to mere human schemes for world betterment and salvation. Time after time this magazine and related publications have pointed to the incurable, poison-loaded condition of Satan’s organization. Publishers of this message have had and are still having a wonderful share in spreading to all who will listen God’s own view of a deathly sick system of things. It is not too late for others to join them. Soon, however, it will be too late.

HAIL, LOCUSTS, DARKNESS

16. How, in the view of Satan’s agents today, does the Kingdom message appear like “hail, and fire quivering in among the hail”?

¹⁶ No, indeed, the Kingdom message decreed by Jehovah to be loudly announced in all the earth is no suave, healing, soothing message to those who harden their hearts to righteousness and truth. It cuts and bruises and burns such ones, as did the “hail, and fire quivering in among the hail” that came upon Egypt. (Ex. 9:24) In the view of Satan’s earthly representatives the waters of truth are like a downpour of chunks of ice that have the effect of ‘sweeping away their refuge of lies.’ (Isa. 28:17) Only those who forsake the Satanic system and heed the warning message of the Kingdom get relief.

17. In what way may it be said that antitypical Egypt has suffered from the ravages of a locust invasion?

¹⁷ Like the locusts, which devoured everything in Egypt having any promise of life and growth, the thorough and continual house-to-house ministry by God’s witnesses in all nations with the denunciatory message of the Bible has exposed the false promises and the fiction of success claimed by Satan’s lying religious and political agents. As greenery in typical Egypt became almost nonexistent, so today in antitypical Egypt there are but few creatures left who have promise or hope of life. It is the final opportunity for any such to get out of the doomed organization while still there is time, before the coming “great tribulation” as foretold by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24:21, 22.

18. Just what is the nature of the “darkness” that enshrouds Satan’s world today, and how is it evidenced?

¹⁸ A little taste of that ‘blackness of darkness forever’ mentioned in the Christian Greek Scriptures was given ancient Egypt. (Jude 13) For three days the people could not stir from their dwellings because of the pall of “darkness [that] may be felt.” (Ex. 10:21) Likewise today, Satan’s organization and all who form part of it are plunged into spiritual darkness, its religious, political and scientific wiseacres having no clue to the real meaning of world trends and no hopeful message for the peoples. The apostle Paul long ago described the nations as being “in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensibility of their hearts. Having come to be past all moral sense, they [give] themselves over to loose conduct to work uncleanness of every sort with greediness.” (Eph. 4:18, 19) How well deserved the modern plague of darkness, how just the judgments of Jehovah upon them!

FIRSTBORN FOR FIRSTBORN

19. What announced threat did Jehovah carry out as a tenth great blow against Pharaoh, his servants and his people?

¹⁹ Continually Pharaoh of old hardened his heart. He did so once too often, for now came Jehovah’s time to carry out his long-delayed threat: “Israel is my son, my first-born. . . . Send my son away that he may serve me [without obstruction]. But should you refuse to send him away, here I am killing your son, your firstborn.” (Ex. 4:22, 23) Pharaoh had presumed upon the long-suffering of God, and so on that night of the tenth great blow against Pharaoh, the anguished cries of parents arose all over the land. The firstborn of every man and beast had died.​—Ex. 12:30.

20. How has this tenth great blow in modern application been an element of the Kingdom message?

²⁰ This telling blow, in modern application, is also implicit in the Kingdom message boldly declared by Jehovah’s faithful worshipers. The firstborn in ancient times was looked to as the one to carry forward the family name. The first male child would ordinarily inherit the choicest portion of the estate and the position as family head and priest. The firstborn ones of antitypical Egypt evidently are the prominent favored ones of Satan’s world, especially the religious leaders. The Kingdom message has mercilessly exposed that class to whom gullible ones looked hopefully for solutions to social and economic problems. The exposure leaves them as good as dead insofar as their claim to being divinely ordained ministers is concerned. And that goes for all of their supposed remedies also, including that greatest hoax of all, the United Nations.

21. Why does it become necessary for Jehovah to take this drastic action?

²¹ Satan’s ruling elements in all the world will never recognize the credentials of the true priests and witnesses of God and Christ, and, rather than listen to their Bible-backed counsel, they seek to undermine, belittle and silence the Kingdom message. They refuse to be enlightened. So, Jehovah acts to reveal his choice of the true priesthood under Christ, “the congregation of the first-born who have been enrolled in the heavens.” (Heb. 12:23) His Kingdom proclamation shatters the reputation of the false religious ministers.

22, 23. Contrast the conditions of the spurious “firstborn” class and the true “congregation of the firstborn.”

²² In the past you may have been highly critical of that severe exposure of religious frauds, but today you are faced with a multitude of facts that prove the accuracy of Jehovah’s appraisal of those hypocrites. It is obvious that God’s favor is not upon the divided, discordant, tradition-laden, worldly-minded religious leaders of Satan’s world. They are part of his world, Satan’s world, and, like it, due to pass away soon.​—1 John 2:17.

²³ In striking contrast, consider the condition of God’s true worshipers today. From among them the lying, mind-tormenting doctrines of false religion have been purged. Rather than losing burden bearers, they see a growing host of willing ones pressing forward and seizing the opportunity to share the burden of the Kingdom work. No more are God’s servants teased by false hopes and cast down by failures, for they have put their trust in God’s sure promises. To them the Kingdom message is not like cutting hail, but rather like gentle dew and refreshing rain. No locust plague spoils their greenery of a hopeful future, and no darkness of a spiritual kind brings them foreboding of disaster. Kingdom truth has brought liberation from Babylon the Great to multitudes now, as well as promise of complete emancipation from Satanic oppressions soon.

AVOIDING FINAL EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT

24. What was Pharaoh’s greatest mistake, and why do you say so?

²⁴ Jehovah was not yet through with Pharaoh. Even though the pressure of his fearful subjects moved him to let the Israelites depart, Pharaoh’s proud heart soon dictated that he should pursue the escaping host and reduce them to servitude again or kill them all. That was his greatest mistake. It laid the scene for the grandest demonstration of all​—a demonstration proving that there was and is none like Jehovah in all the earth. God had prepared a gigantic trap for the very one who thought he had the Israelites entrapped between the desert and the sea.​—Ex. 14:3.

25. What, then, may soon be expected of the Greater Pharaoh in connection with the great crowd who have been liberated from his power?

²⁵ Just so in modern times the Greater Pharaoh, under his title “Gog,” will seek to undo all of Jehovah’s marvelous liberation work. But Jehovah assures all those who have fled to Him as their refuge that he is fully prepared to handle the situation. (Ezek. 38:14-16) Satan and his powerful servants and all his willing supporters will be the ones to suffer humiliating defeat and destruction, while the liberated slaves praise the strong hand and outstretched arm of the Supreme Sovereign, Jehovah of armies.​—Ex. 15:1-21.

26. What grand victory are we justified in expecting on the basis of God’s dealings with Pharaoh?

²⁶ Soon now the tremendous Egyptian disaster at the Red Sea will be dwarfed by the magnitude of the calamity that will engulf the Greater Pharaoh and all his supporters. That final execution comes at and immediately after Armageddon. Not only will modern antitypical Egypt be brought to ruin like Sodom and faithless Judea, but the Greater Pharaoh will himself be chained and abyssed by the Field Marshal of God’s heavenly forces, Christ Jesus. (Rev. 20:1-3) What a victory that will be, worthy of the loftiest strains of praise and gratitude to the God who proves beyond all question of doubt that “there is none like [him] in all the earth”!

27. How may each one assure to himself a share in that grand victory?

²⁷ But where will you be in that vital day of execution of judgment now drawing on apace? Will you have put off your flight from antitypical Egypt until too late? Or, will you be one of the mixed multitude that joined themselves to the marching, victorious throng of Jehovah’s liberated people? Will you from the heart be sounding the praises of the Liberator and boldly pronouncing the doom of Satan, the “god of this system of things,” and his whole world? May it be your lot to share the everlasting victory that God by Christ will achieve. It is yours to decide and to act in order to assure to yourself that happy future.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 464]

Ancient Egypt’s being overrun with frogs pictures the filthy and immoral condition of human society