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“Restoration of All Things of Which God Spoke”The Watchtower—1971 | April 15
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21. What other things did Jehovah’s prophets foretell about the Messiah, as indicated by Peter in his letter, and why does Jehovah send him the second time?
21 Other things announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets of Jehovah told of his coming glory in the Messianic kingdom. In his first letter to Christian believers the apostle Peter wrote concerning those prophets, saying: “They kept on investigating what particular season or what sort of season the spirit in them was indicating concerning Christ when it was bearing witness beforehand about the sufferings for Christ and about the glories to follow these.” (1 Pet. 1:10, 11) Peter remembered the words of Jesus Christ in his prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, saying: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne.” (Matt. 25:31) His sufferings in the flesh on earth, as foretold for him through the prophets, would then be forever past. When Jehovah sends him to earth the second time, it is that he might reign in heavenly glory to fulfill all the other prophecies concerning the kingdom of Messiah.
22. As to when this fulfilling of Kingdom prophecies would be, what do Psalm 110:1, 2 and Hebrews 10:12, 13 indicate?
22 Now just when would that be? King David of Jerusalem, who was a royal ancestor of Jesus Christ, said prophetically concerning his ascension to heaven: “The utterance of Jehovah to my Lord is: ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.’ The rod of your strength Jehovah will send out of Zion, saying: ‘Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.’” (Ps. 110:1, 2) In comment on this prophetic psalm Hebrews 10:12, 13 says concerning Jesus Christ and his perfect human sacrifice: “This man offered one sacrifice for sins perpetually and sat down at the right hand of God, from then on awaiting until his enemies should be placed as a stool for his feet.” This prophecy meant that the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven at God’s right hand would be victorious over all persons on earth who would oppose his reigning over all mankind as Jehovah’s Messiah.
23. So what vital question does each one do well to ask himself, and why?
23 Each one of us does well, therefore, to ask himself the vital question, ‘Am I an enemy of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom by Jesus Christ?’ Christendom is! Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, is! So are the political nations that make up the world organization for international peace and security, the United Nations. All such enemies are to be subdued, crushed! According to Bible prophecy and world conditions, this is near!
24. Until what “times” was heaven to hold the Messiah Jesus within itself, and so now what is the key question for us?
24 Why are we convinced of that world disaster as being near? For the reason that the apostle Peter prophesied that this ascended Jesus Christ “heaven, indeed, must hold within itself until the times of restoration of all thingsa of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” (Acts 3:21) The key question here is, What are those “all things” until the times of the restoration of which the heaven must hold within itself the ascended Messiah Jesus, who is seated at Jehovah’s right hand waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool?
25. Briefly, what are those “all things,” and what questions does this brief answer raise up?
25 Those “all things” are the Messianic kingdom and its interests at the earth. Is this a surprising answer to the question? Is anyone of us inclined to ask, How could this be so, when, back in the apostle Peter’s day, that Messianic kingdom of Jehovah was yet to come? Since that kingdom of the Messiah had not been established and been lost, how could it be restored?
26. Concerning the restoration of what had Peter and fellow apostles asked Jesus before he ascended, and what was his reply?
26 The apostle Peter, however, knew what he was talking about. He knew how that kingdom could be restored. He was one of the apostles who asked the resurrected Messiah Jesus just before he ascended to heaven: “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” To this question the resurrected Messiah Jesus replied: “It does not belong to you to get knowledge of the times or seasons which the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction; but you will receive power when the holy spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” After saying that, and as he was blessing them, he was taken up from his disciples on the Mount of Olives into heaven.—Acts 1:6-11; Luke 24:5-53.
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How “Restoration of All Things” Is MadeThe Watchtower—1971 | April 15
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3. How did the apostles by their question show that establishment of the Messianic kingdom then would be a restoration, and how did they expect him to make it?
3 The establishment of that Messianic kingdom, not on earth, but in heaven, means a “restoration,” according to the Holy Scriptures. How so? Let us remember that the apostles of Jesus Christ knew and acknowledged that he was the Messiah or the Christ appointed by Jehovah for His people. On one occasion the apostle Nathanael said to Jesus: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel.” And on a later occasion the apostle Peter said to him: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 1:49; Matt. 16:16) The title Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah. Consequently, when the apostles asked the resurrected Jesus, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” they were asking whether the real Messiah would restore the kingdom. As he was truly the Messiah or Christ, they expected him to “restore” the kingdom. How? By his becoming King himself over Israel at that time.
4. So what kind of kingdom must the Jewish kingdom have been down to the year 607 B.C.E., and why was the Son of God from heaven born into David’s line?
4 Ah, do we now get the point? The ancient kingdom of Israel down to its overthrow by the Babylonian Empire in the year 607 B.C.E. was a Messianic kingdom. That kingdom was the government of the royal family of David of Bethlehem. When God sent his only-begotten Son from heaven, he was born into the family of King David and was given the name Jesus, the name meaning “Jehovah Is Salvation.” Thereby Jesus was an heir to the throne of King David. (Matthew 1:1 to 2:6; Luke 3:23-31) Even an angel from heaven declared that Jesus was the Christ or Messiah. On the night of his birth in Bethlehem, this angel from Jehovah said to God-fearing shepherds: “Have no fear, for, 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 2:8-11.
5. Into what kind of line, then, was Jesus born, and what is there to prove that Israel’s kings were referred to as Messiahs?
5 This Jesus, who was to be the “Lord” of King David, was born into a Messianic line. How is that? Because the adjective Messianic means “having to do with the Messiah.” Well, then, were the kings of David’s line in ancient Israel called “Messiahs”? Or, would the Greek-speaking Jews call them “Christs”? Yes, because the title Messiah means Anointed One, and Christ means Anointed One. This title applied to these kings of David’s royal line because they had been anointed by Jehovah’s high priest in Israel with holy anointing oil to be kings over Jehovah’s chosen people. (1 Ki. 1:34-39) Repeatedly David spoke of King Saul, the first king of the twelve tribes of Israel, as being the “anointed [or, Messiah] of Jehovah.” Likewise, David himself as king was constantly spoken of as Jehovah’s anointed or Messiah. (1 Sam. 24:6, 10; 26:9-23; 2 Sam. 1:14-16; 19:21; 22:51; 23:1) Even Zedekiah, the last king of David’s line on the throne of Jerusalem, is called “the anointed one [or, Messiah] of Jehovah.”—Lam. 4:20, footnote of 1958 edition.
6. In view of what event in 607 B.C.E., why would God’s promise to King David require that the Messianic kingdom be restored?
6 After the overthrow of King Zedekiah at the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., there was no Messianic king on the throne of Israel. But 463 years before this Jehovah, in a solemn covenant with King David, promised him: “Your house and your kingdom will certainly be steadfast to time indefinite before you; your very throne will become one firmly established to time indefinite.” (2 Sam. 7:16) This meant, therefore, that the Messianic kingdom in the royal line of David had to be restored.
7. Why was Jesus Christ the one in whom to make restoration of the Messianic kingdom?
7 Jesus Christ was the one by means of whom to make this restoration of the Messianic kingdom, for Jesus was born into the line of King David. Before his human birth an angel said concerning Jesus: “Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.” And at Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem an angel announced that he was to be “Christ [or, Messiah] the Lord.” (Luke 1:32, 33; 2:11) That fixed matters; the restoration of the Messianic kingdom was to be with Jesus.
8. Although not anointed by the high priest at Jerusalem, why was Jesus nevertheless the Messiah, and why can he now reign forever?
8 True, Jesus was not anointed to be king over Jacob or Israel by having the high priest pour the holy anointing oil upon his head at Jerusalem. To the contrary, in the year 33 C.E. the high priest of Jerusalem called for the death of Jesus by being executed at the hands of the Romans. But this did not prove that Jesus was not the Anointed One or Messiah. (Luke 24:20; John 19:6, 15, 21) Jesus was anointed by someone higher than the high priest of Israel. He was in a very special sense “the Anointed One of Jehovah,” for he was anointed by Jehovah himself, and not with holy anointing oil, but with Jehovah’s spirit. This took place after Jesus was baptized in water by John the Baptist. (Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38) His death on an execution stake outside Jerusalem did not prevent him from becoming the Messianic Heir of King David forever, for, on the third day of his death, God Almighty resurrected him and rewarded him with immortality, with incorruptible life in the spirit. (Rom. 1:3, 4; 1 Cor. 15:3-8; 1 Pet. 3:18-22) So by reason of his endless life in heaven he can reign as Messianic King forever.
FORETOLD BY MOSES AND LATER PROPHETS
9, 10. (a) How did Peter indicate who was to be the Prophet like Moses, but greater? (b) How is that one greater than Moses, and so why do we not want to resist him?
9 In order to show how great this Jesus is, the apostle Peter went on to say to the crowd of Jews around him in the temple: “In fact, Moses said, ‘Jehovah God will raise up for you from among your brothers a prophet like me. You must listen to him according to all the things he speaks to you. Indeed, any soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.’” (Acts 3:22, 23) Peter was there quoting the words of the prophet Moses as found in Deuteronomy 18:15-19.
10 Jesus Christ is that promised Prophet, who was to be like Moses but greater than Moses. He did more and greater miracles than Moses did, and he mediates the New Covenant between Jehovah and the Christian congregation, a covenant that is far better than the Law Covenant as mediated by Moses at Mount Sinai in Arabia. (Acts 2:22; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24; 13:20) Certainly, then, we do not desire to be found among those who oppose the restoration of the Messianic kingdom in the person of Jesus Christ, the Prophet King who is greater than Moses. To be found among them would mean our complete destruction.
11. According to Peter’s words, who besides Moses had declared those days and the blessing for which the Israelites were in line?
11 Moses, however, was not the only one who prophesied under divine inspiration about this Jesus the Messiah. There were many others, and so the apostle Peter went on to say to Jews crowded around him in the temple: “And all the prophets, in fact, from Samuel on and those in succession, just as many as have spoken, have also plainly declared these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God covenanted with your forefathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ To you first God, after raising up his Servant, sent him forth to bless you by turning each one away from your wicked deeds.”—Acts 3:24-26.
12. (a) How were those words true with respect to the prophets? (b) How did Jehovah arrange to have Israel blessed first by Messiah?
12 The prophet Moses was the one that recorded Jehovah’s covenant with the patriarch Abraham for all families and nations of the earth to be blessed by means of his Seed or Offspring. (Gen. 12:3; 22:18) The prophet Samuel was the one who first anointed David of Bethlehem to become the king of all Israel; and this in itself was a prophetic act pointing forward to Jesus Christ. (1 Sam. 16:11-13) The succession of Hebrew prophets after Samuel all had something to say with reference to Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom. From these prophecies we are helped to appreciate how much the Messianic kingdom of the Son of God will mean to all mankind. Jesus Christ was primarily that promised Seed of Abraham for blessing all families and nations. (Gal. 3:3-16) God raised him up and commissioned him as “his Servant” to bring blessings to the people. God sent this anointed Servant to bless first the natural, circumcised Jews, by having his Son Jesus born as a Jew in the family line of King David. To get the blessing those Jews had to turn from wicked works.
13. When Peter called on those Jews to repent, was he setting before them an earthly hope or a heavenly one, and why?
13 So by calling upon those Jews to ‘repent and turn around’ or be converted, the apostle Peter was not setting before those Jews an earthly hope, a hope of inheriting an earthly Paradise under the Messianic kingdom of the heavens. He was not pointing them forward to the long-distant future with the prospect of being restored to perfect human life and health in a Garden of Eden restored to earth. Rather, Peter was pointing them to the opportunity of becoming associated with that Jesus Christ the primary Seed of Abraham and thus sharing with Jesus Christ in blessing all the families and nations of the earth. This would mean that they would also be associated with him in his Messianic reign, reigning with him in the heavens for the blessing of all mankind. So they, also, would receive the anointing with Jehovah’s spirit and become his spiritual sons. Their being natural circumcised Israelites no longer counted with God. They needed to become spiritual Israelites, circumcised at heart, and making up the spiritual “Israel of God.”—Gal. 6:15, 16.
14. (a) When the vast majority of the Jews turned down the Kingdom opportunity, who were allowed to take advantage of it? (b) Why are a remnant of these Kingdom heirs rejoicing today?
14 When the vast majority of the Jews refused to take advantage of this wondrous opportunity to become associated with Jesus Christ in his heavenly Messianic reign, the opportunity was offered to all non-Jewish nations. God’s predetermined number are acting upon this opportunity. (Acts 10:1 to 11:18; 15:7-14; 13:46-48) A remnant of these spirit-begotten heirs of the Messianic kingdom are on earth today, and eagerly they look forward to sharing with the Messiah Jesus in his heavenly kingdom. (Rom. 8:14-17; 2 Tim. 2:10-12; Rev. 20:4-6) They specially rejoice today because they know that “times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time” have broken upon them. (Acts 3:21) The Messianic kingdom has been restored! Since when?
15. Since when has the Messianic kingdom been restored, and so because of going on in what course will the nations be destroyed?
15 Since the end of the “times of the Gentiles,” or, “the appointed times of the nations,” in the year 1914 C.E. (Luke 21:20-24) Jesus Christ did not ‘restore the kingdom’ at the time of his ascension to heaven in the year 33 C.E. He knew he had to wait, and he did wait, until those Gentile Times ended in that year when the first world war erupted upon mankind. At that time he was authorized to make request of Jehovah, and Jehovah foretold that he would then grant the request of his Messiah. He would give the Messiah or Christ the political nations for his inheritance and the “ends of the earth” for his possession.
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How “Restoration of All Things” Is MadeThe Watchtower—1971 | April 15
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What a wise, just and merciful King they will have in the Messiah Jesus! Speaking of him as the descendant of Jesse of Bethlehem, who was also the direct father of King David, the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1-5 says:
20 “And there must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse; and out of his roots a sprout will be fruitful. And upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah; and there will be enjoyment by him in the fear of Jehovah. And he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. And he must strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death. And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”
21, 22. (a) How will the King strike with the “rod of his mouth” and put to death with the “spirit of his lips”? (b) The peacefulness of whom on earth today will carry over into the new system, and how does Isaiah 11:6-9 describe the beauty of it?
21 With the “rod of his mouth,” or with the authoritative orders that issue from his mouth for striking, he will have smashed to pieces the visible earthly organization of mankind’s great enemy, Satan the Devil. Also, with the “spirit of his lips,” or with the irresistible active force that is expressed by his lips in pronouncing God’s judgments, he will have put all the wicked ones of the earth to death. (Compare Revelation 19:15, 16, 21.) This will leave only the true lovers of peace alive on the earth. The refreshing peace that already exists between God’s “men of goodwill” world wide even now before that coming destruction of all wicked, unpeaceful ones will be carried over into the righteous system of things under Messiah’s kingdom. The beauty of that peace and harmony, besides now fulfilling the further words of the prophet Isaiah in a spiritual sense, will become more concrete in a literal fulfillment of those same prophetic words, which we read in Isaiah 11:6-9:
22 “And the wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra; and upon the light aperture of a poisonous snake will a weaned child actually put his own hand. They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”
EARTH-WIDE PEACE AND SECURITY AT LAST!
23, 24. (a) What conditions under ancient King Solomon’s reign will be restored? (b) Whom will the Greater Solomon call back to enjoy these earthly conditions then?
23 Under the Messiah Jesus, who is “something more than Solomon,” the peace will be restored that existed under the united kingdom of wise King Solomon, the son of David, concerning whose reign it is written: “Judah and Israel were many, like the grains of sand that are by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. And Judah and Israel continued to dwell in security, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree, from Dan to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.” (1 Ki. 4:20, 25; Matt. 12:42) It will be this prosperous peace earth wide into which all the ransomed dead of mankind will be resurrected. The Messiah Jesus, one of whose titles is “Prince of Peace,” will not call men of all nations and families back from the grave to resume under his kingdom the interracial, international, intertribal and interfamily quarrels and wars in which they engaged before and down till death. Concerning his reign he prophesied:
24 “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, . . . to a resurrection.”—John 5:28, 29.
25. Why will the resurrection of some under Messiah’s kingdom turn out to be for judgment or condemnation, and that of others turn out to be for life?
25 How will each one’s resurrection to life on earth under the Messianic kingdom turn out to be? This will depend upon the course of each one. There will be an opportunity for each one to gain endless life on a Paradise earth, and that will be taken advantage of by heartfelt obedience to the Messianic government. Those refusing full submission and obedience to the restored Messianic kingdom over earth will be judged as undeserving of any life at all and will be destroyed, condemned to absolute extinction. But those who learn to practice obedience will receive the full benefit of the perfect human sacrifice of Jesus Christ as a ransom. They themselves will be uplifted to perfection of human life, as obedient children of the Messianic King. Thus they will be able to enjoy him as their life-giving Father, for another one of his titles prophetically given is Eternal Father.—Isa. 9:6.
26. What territory will be restored to Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom, and into what will it be transformed?
26 The Messianic kingdom of the kings of ancient Israel had just the God-given territory in the Promised Land over there in the Middle East. The Messianic kingdom of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, will have this territory restored to it. It will also have Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, the North, Central and South Americas, the Antarctic and all the islands of the seven seas, yea, all the earth. They will all be transformed into a Paradise of Pleasure, a Garden of Eden, for all the interests that belong to the universal sovereignty of Jehovah in those parts of our planet will be restored to his Messianic King, Jesus Christ. (Luke 23:43)
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