The New World Crowd of Praisers
1. From whom is praise to Jehovah now swelling, and for what?
ANCIENT Babylon sat astride the river Euphrates and extended her imperialistic power over peoples, nations and tongues. So Satan’s woman, mystic Babylon, has wielded its oppressive power over all mankind. Only Jehovah our God the Almighty could effect their deliverance by taking to himself his great power and again beginning to rule as universal King and destroying Babylon at the coming battle of Armageddon. The praise to him for beginning his reign by Christ in 1914 and for already effecting a deliverance of those who call on his name is already swelling from a multitude that grows with each passing year.
2. What is it we now hear in fulfillment of Revelation 19:6?
2 The wrathful nations, though resorting to totalitarian methods, are unable to drown out Jehovah’s praise. In fulfillment of Revelation 19:6 our ears can hear what is as the “voice of a great crowd and as a sound of many waters and as a sound of heavy thunders”. Yes, we can hear them saying: “Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.” (NW) Since the sound of their voices is so mighty that it is likened to the sound of many waters and to thunder peals, terrestrial and celestial sounds, it suggests that an earthly class and a heavenly class are producing the mighty proclamation. The facts agree with this. The remnant of spiritual Israelites who are in line for the heavenly kingdom have been openly praising Jah or Jehovah since A.D. 1919, when they were released from Babylon’s power. They have since been joined by hundreds of thousands of believers whose hope is for an earthly destiny in the new world.
3. How are they his slaves and why are they bound to praise him? How do they praise him?
3 By devoting themselves unreservedly to God through Christ Jesus our Ransomer they have become slaves of God and owe him their undivided service. The fact that the prophecy said that the great crowd whose voice is to be heard would be praising Jehovah makes it binding upon them to sound forth his praise. The prophecy must be fulfilled. In fact, the command to them to laud him comes from God on his throne and comes through his Son, the Lamb, who stands “in the midst of the throne”. So it is written: “Also a voice issued forth from the throne and said: ‘Be praising our God, all you his slaves, who fear him, the small ones and the great.’” (Rev. 5:6, 7; 19:5, NW) Jesus spoke of him as “my Father and your Father” and “my God and your God”; and Jesus and all the sheep who follow him fear God, rather than men or demons. Their fear of him is not a sickly dread created by Babylonish falsification of who and what Jehovah is, but their truthful knowledge of God discloses his praiseworthy qualities to them. They delight to commend him to all and to correct others’ misunderstanding of him. “Publicly and from house to house” they let their praise of him be heard. They have no encomiums for the “golden calf” set up by the commercial element of this world or for the political and military gods of the nations or for the religious gods and idols adored by Christendom and heathendom. They have turned their backs forever on Babylonish worship.
4, 5. What cry do they raise, and so for what are their praises?
4 “Praise Jah, you people!” is what they cry all over the earth. They know the exclusive name of the Most High God and they point out his identity to all who do not know him. They show all the glory, fame and good promise that attaches to his holy name. Since they have taken up this cry, the world politicians and statesmen backed up by the religious clergy have set up a symbol of world domination. Before World War II it had the form of the League of Nations, but now it has the form of the United Nations. Political and religious efforts are being made to have all peoples idolize it and hope in it for their salvation. Quite recently, on September 7, 1950, the chief executive of the United States said: “The United Nations is our one hope to which we may look for a peaceful world.”—INS dispatch.
5 However, the great crowd of slaves who fear God cannot be diverted from praising him. They know who their Deliverer, their Creator, their hope of everlasting life in the new world is. They have no misleading praises for the man-made political systems and rulerships of this world, no, for any part of modern Babylon. Their praise is of Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ. They have no heart for world politics. They do not sully themselves by meddling in human politics. In this respect they hold to the true definition of clean worship of God: “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world.” (Jas. 1:27, NW) As ambassadors for God’s kingdom, they offer praise of the theocratic government which they represent.—2 Cor. 5:20, NW.
WHY
6. What do they call upon the people to do now? Why specially now?
6 The reverent slaves of God are under command to call upon all the people to turn from the praise of the gods, idols and mighty ones of this world to the praise of the Creator, Founder and Builder of the enduring new world. The reason for this is most urgent now, and they explain it to the people in these words: “Because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.” (Rev. 19:6, NW) That explanation places before all the people and their earthly governments the paramount issue of all time, the universal sovereignty of the Most High God. That is to say, Who will rule the universe as rightful sovereign?
7. Why is it eminently improper now to continue every man doing what is right in his own eyes as in ancient Israel?
7 For 2,520 years, the length of the seven “appointed times of the nations”, the rightful universal Sovereign, Jehovah, was not ruling any part of this earth, not even the so-called Holy Land of Palestine. But this is not now the case since 1914. So now it is eminently improper for any nation or person to do what seems right to just the human mind, as in the days when there was no visible human king in the land of Israel but “every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. (Judg. 21:25) The mind unguided by God’s Word and spirit is certain to be influenced by the world and its god Satan the Devil and hence to go wrong. Proverbs 14:12 says: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” The times of ignorance God once overlooked. But now ignorance cannot be pleaded as an excuse for wrong action according to the human mind, particularly so now that He has raised up his witnesses in all parts of the earth and sends them out with the message of his established kingdom. (Acts 17:30) This is the time of judgment of the nations. This world will never return to the conditions that existed before 1914. For God’s kingdom is here, and is here to stay!
8. (a) What cannot the nations ban, and hence what issue will be pressed to the finish? (b) Of what now should we take advantage?
8 All human governments, whether totalitarian or democratic or of any other political and social complexion, are being made to know that they can never ban Jehovah God from his decisive part in the future disposition of this earth. He may let them ban Jehovah’s witnesses and their legal servant, the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society and its scores of branches, but they cannot ban Jehovah. For that same reason they cannot destroy Jehovah’s Word, the Bible, nor stamp out his witnesses. Were they permitted by sheer force to silence the testimony of his witnesses, he would make the very stones cry out. (Luke 19:40; Hab. 2:11) Since God’s kingdom is now the rightful Challenger, the Kingdom issue must henceforth be pressed to a decisive finish, and Jehovah’s reigning King Jesus Christ will press it that far. Doing that will mean the end of all the kingdoms and human rulerships of this world at the universal conflict of Armageddon: “There is no peace to the wicked,” and there will be no peace between this world and God’s established kingdom. In this interim of years between Satan’s ousting from heaven and the coming battle of Armageddon, there has been no stabilizing of earthly conditions by man or by United Nations nor any restoring of “normalcy”, and there will be none. But in this interim now soon to terminate God is mercifully exercising patience in behalf of saving the people of good will. So the wise thing for the people to do is to take advantage of his patience and mercy and heed his Kingdom message, turn to him and his King as the only hope and then laud and magnify his worthy name.—2 Pet. 3:15.
HIS GOVERNMENT AN ABSOLUTE KINGDOM
9. What kind of government is it he sets up? Why is his almightiness fortunate for mankind?
9 From the proclamation God’s praisers must make, let all men note that the only government which He promised to set up and which he has set up is a kingdom. This follows from the covenant for the Kingdom which he made with King David of Jerusalem and which he has never revoked. Yes, it is in fulfillment of the covenant which he made with his Son Jesus Christ, to give him this everlasting kingdom of the new world, and into which Kingdom covenant Jesus takes his faithful followers as joint heirs. (Luke 22:29, 30, NW) It is a kingdom, in which Jehovah God is the absolute Ruler, and it is not a democracy. So it is a Theocracy, and not a people’s rule. Under this theocratic kingdom the people on earth must worship the Ruler as God, even as the King Christ Jesus and his joint heirs worship the Supreme Ruler as God. This is proper, because Jehovah is indeed the living and true God, and all mankind owe to him their existence and all of life’s blessings, and notably their redemption from sin, condemnation and death by the sacrifice of his Son. Jehovah our God is the Almighty, and happy it is for mankind that such an all-powerful one as he has taken the reins of government of the earth. It takes an almighty one like Him to deliver groaning mankind from the crushing weight of the Devil’s Babylonish organization.
10. What further shows this is a theocratic arrangement, and not a democratic one?
10 Glad we can be that the new world is the one God, and not the politicians, has promised and that its government is an absolute kingdom, and that men on earth have nothing to say about it, except to pray for it, advertise it and commend it to others, if they so choose. God is compassionate toward mankind and will vindicate his ability to make something to his praise out of fallen mankind despite the Devil. And so God has let the human family that descended from sinful Adam and Eve remain, but he determined to set up a new government over it. When the righteous world in the garden of Eden passed because of sin’s entry, he determined to bring back a world of righteousness, a new world. At his due time he founded that world or laid the foundation of it in the sacrificial death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ nineteen centuries ago. Now he has established the heavenly government for this new world, appointing his self-sacrificing Son to be its king. He has done this, although the most of earth’s people have not wanted Jesus Christ as King, a fact which proves that this is not a democratic arrangement but a theocratic one and that the people are lying under the power of God’s adversary.
11. What original action shows that popular self-rule is not the way to good government and life?
11 The people, even the majority of them, are no safe guide in this “present wicked system of things”, because Satan is “god of this system of things” and is misleading the entire inhabited earth. Democracies had their origin in pagan Greece which adopted Babylon’s religion; and if democracies or people’s republics were the final ones to determine the future for all mankind, our earth would never have Jehovah as King nor the anointed Son Jesus Christ as his royal representative on the throne. Originally theocratic rule obtained in the garden of Eden. Then the move for popular self-rule was advocated and started. Adam and Eve asserted themselves against theocratic law and in accord with the Serpent, who became the “god of this system of things”. The asserting of popular self-rule brought sin and death into the earth. God’s rule by his Son Jesus Christ means eternal life in a sinless new world. To the Supreme King over all the universe everybody who wants life and perfect government must now tender his allegiance through Jesus Christ.
12. What is the sole hope for human relief, and what worship is entirely out of order now?
12 Fallen mankind has proved itself incapable of self-rule. Yet every makeshift is being resorted to and applied by Christendom in order to oppose and avoid having Jehovah God as King by Christ Jesus. What is the result since 1914? Everywhere the people continue to suffer. They share the guilt in perpetuating their own sufferings. Their gods are failing to bring in relief. The sole hope for relief is in the divine government. Let the people stop calling upon their false gods and idols for relief. Since our God Jehovah the Almighty now rules as king, it is entirely out of order to worship other gods and creature-made idols. He will not tolerate any false worship in the new world. So why not praise and serve him as King without delay?—Ps. 135:1-5, 15-18.
13. Why is Jehovah, and not Satan, pre-eminently the one qualified to run the earth and its inhabitants?
13 How strange it is that earth’s inhabitants do not want as their King the Creator of the earth and of man upon it! Not the men of this atomic age, but God is the One who pre-eminently knows how to run the earth and can regulate it for mankind’s good, keeping a perfect balance between all forces in and about the earth. Satan the Devil has misused all these forces. He has exercised only the “means to cause death”. There is no life in him or through anything he has established. As “ruler of this world” and as “god of this system of things” he has failed. It has not meant life or good government for us, but the direct opposite. (Heb. 2:14 and John 12:31 and; 2 Cor. 4:4, NW) In Eden he had been anointed as the “covering cherub” and was then “perfect in [his] ways”. But when he set out to exercise world control independent of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty, then iniquity was found in him. By advocating human self-government apart from God he led Adam and Eve into rebellion and sin. Almighty God drove the rebels from Eden, but did not displace the unfaithful cherub (now Satan the Devil) from being an invisible power over mankind. God let him carry on in the false position into which he had deceitfully wormed his way over mankind.—Ezek. 28:13-19.
14. Despite his advantage, how has Satan failed?
14 Despite such advantageous position over mankind, Satan has failed to prove his right and worthiness to universal sovereignty or his ability to turn all men and women against Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. Satan has failed to prove himself able to offer something better than what Almighty God originally made and provided for mankind. After these six thousand years of satanic domination of earth what the wicked one promised in Eden through Adam and Eve’s rebellion against Jehovah’s universal sovereignty has not materialized. The type of human government that he started with Nimrod at Babylon, the birthplace of all worldly kings, has failed to give the people satisfactory administration of their affairs. The consequences of following the ways of the false god Satan and of defying and ignoring the true God Jehovah and his Christ have been heart-breaking trouble and death.
EXTOL THE UNIVERSAL KING
15. Why is it the wise course to seek Jehovah’s favor now, and upon what call by a great crowd should all hearers act?
15 Now a life-giving change is under way. The settling of the age-old issue of universal sovereignty will shortly take place at Armageddon. Jehovah our God the Almighty reigns now as King of earth and heaven. He is the Conqueror who has ousted the Devil from heaven and will shortly destroy that one’s world and create a new world of life and joy. So let all who long for life, peace and righteous government forsake this doomed world and declare themselves Jehovah’s subjects. It is only reasonable that all normal persons should want to seek the favor of the new King, especially if all must eventually submit to his rule or perish. Common sense dictates this as the wise course, because it is for one’s benefit and glorifies God. It upholds Jehovah’s universal sovereignty against the false charges and assaults of the Devil. As Jehovah’s witnesses keep on preaching the Kingdom gospel, more and more people hear the sound of the great crowd saying: “Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.” It is high time for every hearer today to act upon this call to praise him as King, their personal King whom they have chosen to worship and serve forever. Let all begin living and speaking as now being under his kingdom. Throughout the earth let them unitedly praise him as a society of people who give full allegiance to his everlasting kingdom.
16. What does Psalm 99:1-5 announce and call on people to do?
16 The prophecies pertaining to this awesome time are aglow with announcements of Jehovah’s reign begun and with divine decrees on what is now the right thing to do. In exalted strains Psalm 99:1-5 announces: “Yahweh [or, Jehovah] hath become king, let the peoples tremble, he is enthroned on the cherubim, let the earth shake. Yahweh in Zion is great, and high is he over all the peoples. Let them thank his Name—great and reverend, holy is he! Yea with the strength of a king justice he loveth, thou hast established equity, justice and righteousness in Jacob thou hast wrought. Exalt Yahweh our God and bow down at his footstool, holy is he!”—Ro.
17. Over whom is Jehovah enthroned? How has his becoming king affected the earth, and what is it time for people to do?
17 Jehovah is enthroned on the cherubim who uphold his sovereignty. Among those cherubim is not the one who was the “anointed cherub that covereth” in Eden. For transforming himself into Satan the Devil he has been ejected from heaven and is not now supporting the divine throne. No, but he has been made the footstool for the feet of Jehovah’s King Jesus Christ. Jehovah’s becoming king and enthroning his Son among the cherubim to be king of the new world is an event powerfully affecting our earth. No wonder it has been shaking, figuratively speaking, since 1914! The foundations upon which its human society has rested for six thousand years are tottering. Its nations God has put on judgment to make them show their attitude toward his King and his kingdom for which Christendom has hypocritically professed to pray. Now is no time for truly God-fearing people to follow the worldly political and religious leaders in ignoring and defying Jehovah’s rule as king. It is a time for the people to tremble.
18. What does Psalm 96 command us to say among the nations?
18 Let earthly society of Satan’s dominion go on writhing in anguish for stubbornly refusing divine rule. As for us who have hope of life in the new world, whether in the heavenly kingdom or in the new earth, we will rejoice and exult as loudly as peals of heavy thunder and as the roaring of many waters. For Jehovah has preserved unshaken the foundation of the new world and has now established the Theocratic Government for it in the mighty hands of Jesus Christ. Shortly the removal of the Devil’s old world will follow as a certain consequence at Armageddon’s war of vindication, and the new earth will be established on the foundations of everlasting righteousness. We delight now to obey the prophetic command for this glorious time: “Bow down to Yahweh [or, Jehovah] in the adornment of holiness, be in anguish at his presence all the earth! Say among the nations, Yahweh hath become King. Surely he hath fixed the world, it shall not be shaken, he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult, let the sea roar and the fulness thereof.”—Ps. 96:9-11, Ro.
19. What are we determined unchangeably to do, and despite what?
19 This prophetic command determines for us our message and states our commission of service. So, come what political, social, religious and other changes may in 1951, yes, come what persecutions and repressive measures may against Jehovah’s people and their message, our commission and our message remain unchangeable. Likewise our determination will remain unchanged. In behalf of the Theocracy’s increase we will continue by all God-given means to raise the Hallelujah cry: “Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.”