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How Urgent Are Our Times?The Watchtower—1978 | October 1
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15. Why have “the four winds” of Revelation 7 been held back?
15 However, just where are we in the stream of events? Revelation chapter 7 tells us. Here, the apostle John “saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth.” These are winds of destruction, for in due course they are to ‘harm the earth and the sea and the trees.’
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How Urgent Are Our Times?The Watchtower—1978 | October 1
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However, the angels are still “holding tight the four winds of the earth.” Why?
17. For what reason do the angels continue to ‘hold back the winds’?
17 It can only be that Jehovah has further work for his witnesses to do here on earth. There are more of the “great crowd” to be gathered. The attendance of millions of persons at the celebration of the Memorial in recent years, together with the continued steady increase in Witnesses in many Asian lands, islands of the sea and Catholic countries of Europe, shows that the gathering work is not finished. It is urgent that all of Jehovah’s people apply themselves in his service clear through to the end of this wicked system.—Mark 13:10; Eph. 5:15, 16.
18. (a) What sifting appears now to be in progress? (b) Why should we pay close attention to Paul’s admonition at 2 Corinthians 13:5?
18 Also, just as there was a great sifting among the anointed remnant in the decade following 1914, it seems that now there is a sifting going on among some who profess to be of the “great crowd.” The words of the apostle Paul are particularly applicable to all of us in these critical times: “Keep testing whether you are in the faith, keep proving what you yourselves are.” (2 Cor. 13:5) Do we truly value our dedication to Jehovah—the very intimate relationship we have with him, and which has been made possible by Jesus’ sacrifice? Do we appreciate our unity with the Father and the Son in the grand work that we are privileged to share in at this hour? Are we serving out of genuine love for Jehovah and for our neighbor? Or, has our motive been just to ‘save our own skin’ through Har–Magedon’s battle? If we are of the “great crowd,” will we continue serving God “day and night” right through to the “great tribulation”? Or, will we let down our guard, permitting Satan to overwhelm us through the pleasures, the immoralities or the anxieties of life?
19. (a) Why can we be happy that the angels have ‘held tight the winds’ up until this hour? (b) As indicated by 2 Corinthians 13:11, how may we keep in step with the forward movement of God’s organization today?
19 The four angels will not always ‘hold tight’ the four winds of the earth. We can be happy that they have done so up until this hour, and that it will result in salvation for millions of mankind.
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