judgment, but those who are seeking Jehovah can understand everything.” (Prov. 28:5) So, by all means seek Jehovah with the desire to worship him with spirit and truth, approaching the Bible with wholesome respect in appreciation of the fact that it contains the expressions of Jehovah’s mouth so necessary for your life. Do so with confidence in Jehovah’s promise that your learning from his Word will not be in vain but will lead to an understanding of the truth and to “increasing in the accurate knowledge of God.”—Col. 1:10.

The Most Widely Published Song

TO RECEIVE the widest publication, a song must have appeal. Its words must bring some kind of gladness or comfort or stir strong emotions. Songs sometimes help people to forget, momentarily, their everyday troubles. But most songs do not enjoy long-lived popularity. Like clothing styles, they become outdated, both the words and the music.

However, a few songs have lasting appeal, among these being anthems. National anthems are high on the list and have usually lasted as long as the nations themselves. Generally they have both a religious and a political flavor. The music is vigorous and the words cause emotions to well up in the singer so that in mass singing a tremendous wave of fervor seizes and sways the singing crowd.

Of all the songs ever sung, romantic, national, religious or otherwise, there is one that eclipses them all. Its words have universal appeal and are fraught with the deepest meaning. It appeals to both the reason and the emotions and brings more than transitory relief from troubles, yes, it brings real, lasting comfort and gladness. The music is the music of the heavens—the stars and the spheres—and the song is appropriately sung now and will be appropriate and appealing in all the future, since its theme is as everlasting as the eternal heavenly bodies. The song is a sort of anthem, for it tells of the government of a heavenly source that will bring peace, righteousness, life and worldwide unity to this earth. Already it has received the widest publication of any song, being sung daily in more than 197 lands of the earth, moving more than a million persons to harmonious response and being heard by uncounted millions more.

This song was heard first in a visionary way by the apostle John, who had been exiled for his zealous preaching activity to the Roman penal island of Patmos, off the coast of Asia Minor. Toward the close of the first century C.E. he had one of the most striking visions ever opened to the view of man. He describes the awe-inspiring chorus: