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The Seeking of PeaceThe Watchtower—1959 | December 15
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The Seeking of Peace
“Let him seek peace and pursue it. For Jehovah’s eyes are upon the righteous and his ears are toward their supplication.”—1 Pet. 3:11, 12.
1. How does one want life to be, and how do Solomon’s proverbs picture this desire?
WHAT is life without peace? Who wants life, even everlasting life, without peace? Not the average man or woman. Life with no quietness or freedom from nagging disturbances makes one long to get away. This was well pictured in the proverbs of the much-married King Solomon: “The contentions of a wife are as a leaking roof that drives one away.” ‘Better is it to dwell upon a corner of a roof than with a contentious wife, although in a house in common.” (Prov. 19:13; 21:9) Although living in a big, roomy house, a person would prefer to take refuge in the most remote corner of it to escape from the irritator and disturber.
2. What question is raised concerning the man wanting life, and how do we happen to have the inspired and proved answer to the urgent question?
2 Today, when there is no remote corner on this spacious earth to which to escape from the troubles, dangers and evil effects of this nuclear-bomb, space age, who is there that does not want life with peace, that he may see good days? That question is old, no doubt as old as the existence of trouble and injustice on our earth. Happy was the man who raised the question, not in hopelessness and helplessness, but with the ability to give the proved answer to the urgent question. His answer was something to sing about with musical accompaniment, and so it was included in the inspired Book of Psalms. It has been preserved for more than three thousand years for our benefit in this day of world trouble, distress and fear of more terrible things yet to come. Speaking as an experienced teacher to his pupils, the psalmist David, who became king of Jerusalem and the father of King Solomon, said:
3. How did David both pose the question and answer it in a psalm of his?
3 “Come, you sons, listen to me; the fear of Jehovah is what I shall teach you. Who is the man that is delighting in life, that is loving enough days to see what is good? Safeguard your tongue against what is bad, and your lips against speaking deception. Turn away from what is bad and do what is good; seek to find peace and pursue it. The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous ones, and his ears are toward their cry for help. The face of Jehovah is against those doing what is bad, to cut off the mention of them from the very earth.”—Ps. 34:11-16.
4, 5. (a) How did the apostle Peter show that David’s words were advice also for Christians? (b) In support of what exhortation does Peter quote David’s words?
4 Let no one today think that this is advice only to Jews. More than a thousand years after King David, a Christian apostle quoted David’s words and addressed them to Christians in various parts of Asia. He was the apostle Simon Peter, who had changed his religion from the corrupt Judaism or Jews’ religion of his day to the pure Christianity as originally established by Jesus Christ nineteen hundred years ago. Thus the apostle Peter made David’s inspired words a part of the Christian Scriptures. He showed that David’s words were advice also for Christians. Peter imitated Jesus Christ, who many times quoted from the psalms of David and applied them to Christianity. In his first letter to Christians Peter tells them to be different from what Christendom is today, for Christendom’s course has not led to the blessing of everlasting life with peace and good days. Therefore Peter quotes David’s words and says:
5 “Finally, all of you be like-minded, showing fellow feeling, exercising brotherly love, tenderly affectionate, humble in mind, not paying back injury for injury or reviling for reviling, but, to the contrary, bestowing a blessing, because you were called to this course, so that you might inherit a blessing. For, [now quoting David’s words] ‘he that would love life and see good days, let him restrain his tongue from what is injurious and his lips from speaking deceitfully, but let him turn away from what is injurious and do what is good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For Jehovah’sa eyes are upon the righteous and his ears are toward their supplication, but Jehovah’sb face is against those doing injurious things.’”—1 Pet. 3:8-12, footnote.
6. Why may the question about loving life seem hard to answer nowadays, but how did Jesus tell Christians to react to events and conditions since A.D. 1914?
6 Do we delight in life? Do we love life? Such a question may seem hard to answer now when our living into the future may mean our taking the risk of running into the worst trouble, the worst days that mankind has experienced since its creation, with hardly any hope of surviving. True, the battle of Armageddon, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” is fast approaching. (Rev. 16:14, 16) But God’s great Prophet, who foretold both that universal war and all the terrible events that would precede it from A.D. 1914 forward, told his true followers to take an optimistic view of these very events and conditions: “But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near. . . . Note the fig tree and all the other trees: When they are already in the bud, by observing it you know for yourselves that now the summer is near. In this way you also, when you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.”—Luke 21:26, 28-32.
7. Why, then, should we rightly be “loving enough days to see what is good”?
7 Good days, the best days yet, are ahead of us, and there is something, yes, everything, to live for. We ought to delight in life, we ought to love life, for without life we would never be able to enjoy these good days under the established kingdom of God. Rightly, then, we should, as David the psalmist said, be “loving enough days to see what is good.”
PEACE WITH WHOM?
8. To have our delight and love toward life fulfilled, what do David and Peter say we must seek, and that with whom?
8 However, if we want our delight in life, our love of it, to be fulfilled, both David and the apostle Peter say we must seek peace and find it, first. Properly the question comes up, Peace with whom? Peace with man, with our fellow humans? Yes. But this is not possible except we attain to peace with someone else first. It is because Christendom has not attained to peace with this all-necessary one that there is no peace between even the nations, tribes and families of Christendom. Who, then, is that all-important one? Just who that one is was correctly pointed to by the famous British statesman of the eighteenth century, William Pitt, the earl of Chatham, when he said to his nephew: “If you are not right toward God, you can never be so toward man; and this is forever true, whether wits and rakes allow it or not.”
9. (a) To be really at peace with man, what is required, and how did David and Peter say more than did statesman William Pitt on this? (b) To that end, what will we accept, and why will we not wish his face to be against us?
9 It is equally true that, if one is not at peace with God, one cannot really be at peace with man, the creature of God. Both the psalmist David and the apostle Peter said this, although more than a thousand years apart. In fact, they said more than William Pitt did, for they named or identified the God with whom we need first to be at peace. Proving that it is absolutely necessary to find peace with God first, David followed up his advice to seek to find peace and pursue it by saying in the very next verses: “The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous ones, and his ears are toward their cry for help. The face of Jehovah is against those doing what is bad, to cut off the mention of them from the very earth.” The apostle Peter quotes the verses of David’s psalm in the same order. Moreover, David’s counsel on enjoying good days follows his exhortation to lovers of life: “Come, you sons, listen to me. The fear of Jehovah is what I shall teach you.” If we have intelligent fear of God, whose name is Jehovah, we will first of all desire to seek peace with him and hence we will accept the teaching that we need. We will not wish Jehovah’s face to be against us, for that would mean the very loss of life, the cutting off of all mention of us from the very earth, the blotting out of our very name.
10. Does Luke 2:14 mean that all mankind is at peace with God and has his good will, and how do we know whether that is so?
10 Why, though, is it with Jehovah God that we have to seek peace? Is it not true that, at the birth of his heavenly Son Jesus in Bethlehem, a multitude of angels said the words that Christendom sings around Christmas time: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”? Yes! But the words as the angels chanted them do not mean that all mankind is at peace with God and has his good will. (Luke 2:14, AV) Both the English Revised Version of 1881 and the American Standard Version of 1901 render the angelic words: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased!” An American Translation reads: “Peace to the men he favors!” Monsignor R. A. Knox’s Roman Catholic version reads: “Peace on earth to men that are God’s friends.” The margin of the New World Translation reads: “Upon earth peace among men whom he approves.” It is only with the men whom Jehovah God favors and approves and who are therefore his friends that he is at peace. It is only upon them that his eyes are favorably. Only to their cry for help are his ears open.
11. Why should this be so, although the first man was the direct creation of God?
11 Why should this be so? Is not man the direct creation of God? Yes, the perfect man Adam was the direct creation of God. Hence Luke 3:23-38, when tracing the human line of descent of Jesus Christ back to the first man on earth, ends up by saying “the son of Adam, the son of God.” However, we are all the descendants of Adam after he had sinned against his Creator and had lost his human perfection. The wisest king of ancient times, Solomon, said: “There is no man that does not sin.” (1 Ki. 8:46) Also King David said: “They have all turned aside, they are alike corrupt, there is no one doing good, not even one.” (Ps. 14:3) A thousand years later the Christian apostle Paul said: “There is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, . . . through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Rom. 3:22, 23; 5:12) We are all, whether natural Jews or non-Jews, descended from the sinner Adam. Thus all of us came under the rule of sin, and all of us are facing the wages that sin pays to its servants, which is death. “By the trespass of the one man death ruled as king through that one . . . For the wages sin pays is death.” (Rom. 5:17; 6:23) The very fact that all men are dying proves that they are all sinners against Jehovah God, who pronounced the condemnation of death.
12. As to man’s relationship with God, what was it that sin destroyed, and what scriptures show to whom mankind are rendering obedience?
12 It was sin that destroyed man’s peace with God, man’s right standing with God. Mankind became servants to sin and to the wicked spirit who started sin throughout the universe, Satan the Devil, the chief adversary of Jehovah God. Men who are self-righteous may not like being told that they are the servants of the author of sin, but they betray whom they serve by obeying that one. The Word of God says: “Do you not know that if you keep presenting yourselves to anyone as slaves to obey him, you are slaves of him because you obey him, either of sin with death in view or of obedience [to God] with righteousness in view?” (Rom. 6:16) One of the last books in the Bible to be written says, sweepingly: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19) Even to the Christians it was written: “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit [Satan] that now operates in the sons of disobedience. Yes, among them we all at one time conducted ourselves in harmony with the desires of our flesh, doing the things the flesh and the thoughts willed, and we were naturally children of wrath even as the rest.” (Eph. 2:1-3) “Indeed, you who were once alienated and enemies because your minds were on the works that were wicked, he now has again reconciled.”—Col. 1:21.
13. What do all men need as regards their relations with God, in harmony with what Paul and Timothy begged as ambassadors?
13 If men who are Christians not in name only but also in life were once alienated from God and were enemies of His because of their minds and works, certainly, then, all men who have not become true Christians must be alienated and enemies toward Jehovah God. They need to be reconciled or be made friends with God, if they long to cease being “children of wrath” subject to destruction during the oncoming “war of the great day of God the Almighty.” They need to do what the apostle Paul and his missionary companion Timothy begged to do: “All things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ . . . , and he committed the message of the reconciliation to us. We are therefore ambassadors substituting for Christ, as though God were making entreaty through us. As substitutes for Christ we beg: ‘Become reconciled to God.’”—2 Cor. 5:18-20.
14. Anciently, what did sending out ambassadors mean, and why are the terms of the one who sent out Paul and Timothy unusual?
14 In the days of Paul and Timothy, when ambassadors were sent out, it meant, not peaceful relations between countries or governments, but hostilities. Ambassadors were sent to those who were hostile to try to set up peaceful relations between those at enmity. In the case of Paul and Timothy, however, it is not the weaker of the hostile parties that sends out the ambassadors. It is the Almighty God Jehovah who does so. He shows his mercy in doing so, in order to spare as many as possible from destruction who become reconciled with him. Being enormously the stronger of the two parties, Jehovah God is the One that makes possible peace with himself. So, in Isaiah 45:7, he says: “Making peace and creating calamity, I, Jehovah, am doing all these things.” He therefore dictates the terms for peace. It is not we who set the terms for peace. Yet his terms are not harsh, but merciful and practicable; and it is in our best interests to accept them gratefully.
HOW TO SEEK
15, 16. (a) In seeking for peace with Him how do we show faith and sincerity, and through whom is the way to peace? (b) How had the natural Jews been seeking a right standing with God, but what did they need for their sins?
15 What, then, are his terms? How can we as “children of wrath” seek and find peace with Jehovah God? His terms for peace are plainly stated in his written Word, the Holy Scriptures, the sacred Bible. In seeking for peace with God we take the right course, and we show our faith and our sincerity by studying the entire Bible, not merely the old Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus and his apostles had, but also the Christian Greek Scriptures. God’s Word squarely states there is only one way through which we may become reconciled or become friends with Him. That way is through his beloved heavenly Son Jesus Christ. Jehovah God sent this Son from heaven to earth, to the nation of Israel. Accordingly, this Son was miraculously born of a Jewish virgin and hence was born as a Jew, an Israelite. For three and a half years, or A.D. 29-33, he preached God’s kingdom exclusively to the Israelites, both publicly and privately. The sinful Israelites or Jews had long been trying to get out from under the condemnation to death by striving to keep the Law that God had given exclusively to the Jewish nation; but because of the perfection of the Law the Jews were unable to keep it.
16 God’s law given through the prophet Moses only made their sinfulness more manifest. It expressly condemned the Jews as sinners. This was why they had to offer up animal sacrifices year after year in order to procure a pictorial cleansing from sin and keep on in their covenanted relationship with Jehovah God. They needed a better sacrifice than animal victims. They needed a perfect human sacrifice to be offered for them and for all mankind.
17. How was the needed sacrifice provided, how were the Israelites informed, and how did they take to the information?
17 No man even in the nation of Israel was perfect in body and mind and able to offer himself as an acceptable human sacrifice. So God was obliged to send down his heavenly Son, let him be born as a perfect human child with a heavenly Father, let him grow up to perfect manhood like that of Adam in the garden of Eden and then let him offer up himself as the needed perfect human sacrifice. Before dying as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles and seventy other evangelists preached to the Israelites in Palestine. Thus the Israelites or Jews were not left ignorant of what the way was for them to enter into a lasting peace with God. It is written: “He sent out the word to the sons of Israel to declare to them the good news of peace through Jesus Christ: this One is Lord of all others.” (Acts 10:36) Out of the millions of Jews under God’s law through Moses, only a remnant accepted the good news and entered into peace with God through Jesus Christ. The rest of the Jewish nation tried to create their own right standing or justification with God by proudly but fruitlessly keeping on trying to fulfill God’s law through Moses with its ineffective animal sacrifices, subhuman sacrifices.
18. How did God show himself to be the one providing the conditions or means for peace with himself, and therefore what is he called?
18 The fact that God is the One who created the conditions or means for peace with himself is revealed by his providing his only-begotten Son from heaven as a perfect human sacrifice. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) God not only sent his Son to earth and let him die at the hands of God’s enemies as a perfect, sinless human sacrifice, but also made it possible for the value of this sacrifice to be presented to Him in heaven in behalf of men who want peace with God. How did God do this? God by his all-power raised up Jesus Christ from the dead as a heavenly, spiritual son once again and had him return to heaven. Thus, with the value of the lifeblood of his sacrifice, Jesus could enter into God’s presence in order for a new covenant of peace to be made. In making such provision for peace with humankind Jehovah is the God of peace. In this special regard he is called the “God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus.”—Heb. 13:20.
19. In seeking peace, what do we need to get for full guidance?
19 We can therefore appreciate why, in seeking to find peace, we need to get knowledge, accurate knowledge, not only of Jehovah God but also of his lovingly sacrificed Son Jesus Christ. Through their thirty-nine books in Hebrew of the Holy Bible the Jews can at most gain only partial knowledge. That is not enough. The additional knowledge of the twenty-seven books of the Christian Greek Scriptures written by inspired Jewish followers of Jesus Christ is also necessary to complete our knowledge and understanding and to make our knowledge accurate. If we do not have the accurate knowledge, which embraces the knowledge not only of God but also of Jesus, we cannot secure the peace we desire. That is why the inspired Bible writer Peter, in expressing his prayer for the peace-seekers to whom he wrote his first letter, said: “May undeserved kindness and peace be increased to you [how?] by an accurate knowledge [of what?] of God and of Jesus our Lord, forasmuch as his divine power has given us freely all the things that concern life and godly devotion, through the accurate knowledge of the one who called us through glory and virtue.”—2 Pet. 1:2, 3.
20. So, to enjoy peace with God, what must we accept in faith?
20 Seek how we may, we shall never find peace with God if we do not get accurate knowledge concerning Jesus Christ and accept the sacrifice for sins that God provided in his Son. The Jews, because of partial knowledge, try to establish their own righteous standing with God apart from the cleansing from sin that the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice provides for us. Instead of relying upon our own works of righteousness according to the Law given to the Jews through Moses, we must put full faith in the sin-removing sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Otherwise we cannot enjoy any peace with God.
21. (a) Because of being declared righteous, what do Christians enjoy? (b) How did Isaiah foretell the need of Jesus’ sacrifice, and what does our resting our hope in Jesus result in?
21 Hence to the Christians who had righteousness ascribed to them through faith in God’s Son, the apostle Paul wrote: “Therefore, now that we have been declared righteous as a result of faith, let us enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Much more, therefore, since we have been declared righteous now by his blood, shall we be saved through him from wrath.” (Rom. 5:1, 9) The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary to making our peace with God and escaping his wrath. Long previously the prophet Isaiah had predicted concerning Jesus’ sacrifice: “He was being pierced for our transgression; he was being crushed for our errors. The chastisement meant for our peace was upon him, and because of his wounds there has been a healing for us.” (Isa. 53:5) Peace with God brings joy, but we cannot have God fill us with such peace unless we believe in the Son whom he chastised for our peace. It is written: “‘On him nations will rest their hope.’ May the God who gives hope fill you with all joy and peace by your believing, that you may abound in hope with power of holy spirit. May the God who gives peace be with all of you.” (Rom. 15:12, 13, 33) If God is with us, we shall indeed know fullness of peace.
22. Why is it in vain that to this day the natural Jews trust in their circumcision in the flesh?
22 The natural Jews continue to trust in having their foreskins circumcised for a show of righteousness. Doing so, they will never enjoy peace with Jehovah, who was once the God of natural Israel. Fleshly circumcision is not what now counts with their one-time God. What counts is our walking or conducting ourselves according to the principles or rules of a new Christian personality, a new spiritual creation over which Jesus Christ is head. That is what will result in peace with the God of spiritual Israel. Our hearts must be circumcised or purified for righteousness. The Jewish convert Paul gave up his proud reliance upon his fleshly circumcision as a natural Jew and wrote to believers in Jesus Christ: “For neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but a new creation is something. And all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.”—Gal. 6:15, 16; Phil. 4:9; Gal. 5:25; 2 Cor. 5:17.
THE “GREAT CROWD” OF PEACE-SEEKERS
23. In agreement with Isaiah 27:1-5, how have the spiritual Israelites of today made peace with God, but particularly since 1935 who have followed them in this course?
23 In this day when Jehovah God will kill the great symbolic Leviathan (the Devil’s visible organization) but when he will constantly safeguard his spiritual vineyard (his own visible organization on earth), Jehovah’s friendly advice to everyone that wants to enjoy protection and preservation is: “Let him take hold of my stronghold, let him make peace with me; peace let him make with me.” (Isa. 27:1-5) The believers who make up the spiritual vineyard of Jehovah, the spiritual Israel of God, have made peace with him by coming out from under the Devil’s Leviathan organization. In recent years, however, particularly since 1935, there have been hundreds of thousands of persons who are not members of the spiritual Israel of God who have heard and acted upon the advice of Jehovah God. They have followed the remnant of the spiritual Israel of God in coming out from the sea of humanity in which the wicked Leviathan operates, and they have made peace with Jehovah God through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. In Revelation 7:9, 10 they are pictured as a great crowd, out of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, and they ascribe their saved condition to God and his Son Jesus Christ, saying: “Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
24. How does Revelation 7:14-17 describe the way in which they came into their peaceful condition?
24 Because the ones in this unnumbered great crowd seek peace with God and gain a clean, right standing with him through faith in the cleaning blood of Jesus Christ, Revelation 7:14-17 describes how they came into their peaceful condition, saying: “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are before the throne of God, and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple, and the one [God] seated on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will hunger no more nor thirst any more, neither will the sun beat down upon them nor any scorching heat, because the Lamb [Jesus Christ] who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and will guide them to fountains of waters of life. And God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.”
25. By whom in the ancient city of Jericho was this “great crowd” pictured, and in what respects?
25 This “great crowd” was anciently pictured by the Canaanite woman named Rahab in the days of Joshua, the successor of Moses. Rahab’s city in Canaan was Jericho and it was doomed to destruction with all its inhabitants. Rahab and her family escaped destruction when Jehovah God shook down the walls of Jericho and the men of Israel, who had marched around Jericho for seven days, moved into the exposed city and killed off its wicked population. How so? Because she made peace with the God of Israel. She did not betray the two spies whom Joshua sent into the city and who found lodging in Rahab’s inn. (Josh. 2:1-21; 6:1-25) On this the Christian Greek Scriptures say: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been gone around for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who acted disobediently, because she received the spies in a peaceable way.”—Heb. 11:30, 31.
26. By the men of what city in Canaan were the “great crowd” of survivors prefigured, and in what procedure?
26 This same “great crowd” of survivors of the coming “war of the great day of God the Almighty” was also prefigured by the men of the city of Gibeon. This city in Canaan was also doomed to be destroyed by Jehovah’s Israelite armies under Joshua. The name Joshua was pronounced Jesus by the Greeks; and, in fact, Joshua was a prophetic figure of Jesus Christ, who has become God’s Officer for executing divine judgment. (Acts 7:45; Heb. 4:8) Strangely, the city of Gibeon and three neighboring cities escaped the destruction that Joshua executed upon the other cities of Canaan. How so? Again it was a case of making peace with Jehovah God before his executioner arrived. Days before Joshua and his forces got near, the Gibeonites sent out their ambassadors under a disguise to Joshua’s camp and sued for peace with Jehovah God and his people. They offered a full surrender of themselves to Him through Joshua.
27. Similar to the result to those ancient men, what will be the result to the “great crowd” of peace-seekers?
27 What was the result? The record answers: “And Joshua went to making peace with them and concluding a covenant with them to let them live, and so the chieftains of the assembly [of Israel] swore to them.” (Josh. 9:15) Like those ancient non-Israelite Gibeonites, the “great crowd” of peace-seekers of today surrender themselves in full dedication to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ now before Armageddon breaks out. Therefore the Greater Joshua, Jesus Christ, spares them from destruction in that universal war. Like the remnant of spiritual Israelites, that great crowd loves life. They desire to see an eternity of good days under God’s kingdom. So they follow today the counsel of David and of Peter about peace.
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The Pursuit of PeaceThe Watchtower—1959 | December 15
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The Pursuit of Peace
1. Having found peace, what must the lover of life then do, and what obligation now rests upon him?
AFTER the lover of life has sought and found peace with God through his Son Jesus Christ, what must he do? He must henceforth pursue peace. “Let him seek peace and pursue it,” is the counsel through the Christian apostle Peter. (1 Pet. 3:11) He must make peace his pursuit for the rest of his life. That means he must maintain peace. He is not alone in enjoying peace with God through Christ. His entering into peace with God brings him into peaceful relationship with the congregation of all those who are entirely dedicated to God through Christ and who have thus become reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:18-21) He must not become a disturber of the Christian congregation. It is his obligation to preserve a quiet, tranquil, calm, harmonious relationship with this organization. He must live up to the rule of conduct stated by an apostle of the Christian governing body: “Be peaceable with one another. On the other hand, we exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, speak comfortingly to the depressed souls, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all. See that no one renders injury for injury to anyone else, but always pursue what is good toward one another and to all others.”—1 Thess. 5:13-15.
2. Amidst what situation must Christians pursue this course, and because of their being a principal target of attack what attempt is made respecting them?
2 Christians have to pursue this course amidst a world in which there is turmoil everywhere such as there was never before. Since his being cast down to earth immediately after the birth of God’s kingdom in the heavens in 1914, Satan the Devil and his demons have been maliciously bent on causing all the woe, tumult and disquietude that they can among men. (Rev. 12:12) His principal target of attack now is the Christian remnant of spiritual Israel and their “great crowd” of sheeplike companions. (Rev. 12:17) Satan is accordingly doing his utmost to cause unrest, disturbance and disruption among them in order to break up the organization.
3. By what discriminations has Satan kept the world upset, but how did God long ago do away with this inside his congregation?
3 Hence each lover of life, who has found inside God’s visible organization the peace that he was seeking, must make peace his fixed pursuit. In the world Satan the Devil has succeeded in keeping it upset and eruptive by means of racial, tribal and color discrimination. But God through Christ did away with this inside his true Christian congregation. The Christian congregation started out as an almost Jewish Christian organization in ancient Jerusalem, except for some circumcised proselytes from other nations. (Acts 2:10; 6:5) Then circumcised Samaritans were added to the believers. (Acts 8:4-25) It was first three and a half years after Jesus Christ died on the torture stake outside Jerusalem that there was introduced into the Christian congregation the first uncircumcised Gentile or non-Jew, an Italian named Cornelius, together with a number of his relatives and intimate friends.—Acts 10:1 to 11:2.
4. How did God make it possible for the circumcised Jewish Christians to adjust themselves to his merciful arrangement toward Gentiles?
4 At first this occasioned considerable unrest among the circumcised Jewish Christians, but in time they got peaceably adjusted to this merciful arrangement of God. This final admission of uncircumcised non-Jews into the Christian congregation was made possible by God. How? He took away the fence barrier, the wall of separation, namely, the Law given through Moses, which had divided off the Jews from the Gentile world. By Jesus Christ as Mediator between God and men he established a new covenant with Christians.
5, 6. How did Paul explain to the congregation at Ephesus why there must be no segregation inside the congregation on various grounds?
5 The apostle Paul explained why there must be no segregation inside the Christian congregation on the grounds of race, tribe, nation or color. He wrote to the congregation at Ephesus, which included Gentiles or non-Jews who were once far off from Jehovah:
6 “But now in union with Christ Jesus you who were once far off have come to be near by the blood of the Christ. For he is our peace, he who made the two parties [Jews and Gentiles] one and destroyed the wall in between that fenced them off. By means of his flesh [impaled on the torture stake] he abolished the hatred, the Law of commandments consisting in decrees, that he might create the two peoples [Jews and Gentiles] in union with himself into one new man and make peace, and that he might fully reconcile both peoples in one body to God through the torture stake, because he had killed off the hatred by means of himself. And he came and declared the good news of peace to you, the ones far off [Gentiles], and peace to those near [the Jews], because through him we, both peoples [Jews and Gentiles], have the approach to the Father [Jehovah God] by one spirit.”—Eph. 2:11-18.
7. In view of the adjustment made in spiritual Israel long ago, why is there no basis today for segregating the great crowd of other sheep from spiritual Israel, and how does Haggai 2:6-9 indicate this?
7 Jesus’ sacrifice on the torture stake is the basis for desegregating the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles, of all the nations. Certainly, then, today that same sacrifice of Jesus for the “sin of the world” is the basis for the desegregating and the unifying of the small remnant of spiritual Israel and the “great crowd” of earthly sheep out of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues. In this time when Jehovah’s Right Shepherd is gathering his other sheep to his right hand, there must be no segregating of this great crowd of other sheep from spiritual Israel. “They will become one flock, one shepherd,” said the Right Shepherd Jesus Christ. (John 10:16; Matt. 25:31-40) There must be Christian harmony, unity and peaceableness among all those in the one flock under the Right Shepherd Jesus Christ, “for he is our peace.” It is exactly in connection with Jehovah’s promise to shake all nations and to cause the precious things, the desirable things, of all nations to come to His house of worship that he says: “And in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts.” (Hag. 2:6-9, AS) To this date Satan and his demons have been unable to frustrate this prophecy.
PRAYER FOR IT
8. In harmony with Psalm 122:6-8, what will we daily pray for, and why could Jesus Christ not be head of a congregation in a condition not like that?
8 If we really have at heart the good of the organization to the glory of God, then we will pray to the God of peace that he will keep his people in oneness, concord and quietude. In our daily prayers we will bear in mind the words of the psalmist David: “Ask for the peace of Jerusalem. Those loving you will be free from care. May peace continue within your rampart, freedom from care within your dwelling towers. For the sake of my brothers and my companions I will now speak: ‘May there be peace within you.’” (Ps. 122:6-8) Agreeably with such prayer, the name Jerusalem means “The Possession of Peace,” or, “Founded Peaceful.” It was there at the site of Jerusalem that the priest Melchizedek was King of Salem, which title means “King of Peace.” Jehovah God swore that his Son Jesus Christ was to be a priest-king like Melchizedek forever. In harmony with this, one of the names of the glorified Son of God was to be Prince of Peace. (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 110:1-4; Heb. 6:20 to 7:21; Isa. 9:6, 7) With such a title, how could Jesus Christ as Princely King of Peace be the spiritual head of a congregation that becomes split, disturbed and uproarious with dissension, enmity, jealousy, competition, rivalry and sectarianism, as Christendom is today and has ever been? He could not. But as King he can enforce and does maintain peace within the “congregation, which is his body.” (Eph. 1:22, 23) By his angels he gathers out peace-disturbers.—Matt. 13:41.
9. (a) How did Paul, in Philippians 4:6, 7, magnify the pacifying power of prayer? (b) Praying in harmony with 1 Timothy 2:1-4, what could God’s obedient servants never take part in under any government?
9 In magnifying the pacifying power of heartfelt prayer the apostle Paul wrote to his beloved Christian brothers at Philippi: “Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God, and the peace of God that excels all thought will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:6, 7) The apostle bore in mind, also, that true Christians on earth must live under worldly political rulers who do not sue for peace with Jehovah God and whose governments affect the lives of true followers of the Prince of Peace. So Paul wrote this exhortation to the Christian overseer Timothy: “I therefore exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, offerings of thanks, be made concerning all kinds of men, concerning kings and all those who are in high station, in order that we may go on leading a calm and quiet life with full godly devotion and seriousness. This is right and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, God, whose will is that all kinds of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.” (1 Tim. 2:1-4) Praying that way, the obedient servants of Jehovah God our Savior could never take part in revolts, revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, secessions, conspiracies and any kind of popular action, disturbance or violence against persons in high political or governmental station. Under any and all sorts of government, even under ban and proscription, faithful witnesses of Jehovah lead a calm and quiet life.
10. What must pursuing peace “with all people” mean for those within the congregation, and of what fruitage and what wisdom is this an evidence?
10 “Pursue peace with all people, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,” is the exhortation of Hebrews 12:14. If Christians seek to pursue peace with people outside the congregation, then certainly they ought to pursue it with those inside the congregation, who are their own dedicated brothers. We should never forget that peace is part of the fruitage of God’s spirit, which we must cultivate to rich ripeness. (Gal. 5:22) It is an evidence of having and exercising heavenly wisdom, for “the wisdom from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable.” (Jas. 3:17) The inspired proverb agrees with this in saying: “Happy is the man that has found wisdom.” Why? Because “its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its roadways are peace.”—Prov. 3:13-17.
11. How does Paul state that peace is what unites the congregation, and so who do not deserve to be in the congregation?
11 Yes, freedom from internal strife, dissension and disorder is what unites the Christian congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses. In witness thereof Paul writes: “But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union. Also let the peace of the Christ control in your hearts [the residence place of motive], for you were, in fact, called to it [to peace] in one body [not in two or more disunited bodies].” (Col. 3:14, 15) If we make it our continual pursuit, peace will serve as a uniting bond to those who have the spirit of God. Paul says so in these words: “Walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with complete lowliness of mind and mildness, with long-suffering, putting up with one another in love, earnestly endeavoring to observe the oneness of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace. One body [under Christ] there is, and one spirit.” (Eph. 4:1-4) One who willfully, maliciously disturbs does not walk worthily of being in the Christian congregation of the God of peace.—Rom. 16:17, 18.
AN EFFECT OF THEOCRATIC ARRANGEMENT
12. (a) For the indulgence in what is the birth of God’s kingdom no reason? (b) To enjoy life and peace, what must we mind, and why?
12 The evidence is that since 1914 we have been living under the kingdom of God, which was born in the heavens that year. This should be and has been a cause for great rejoicing among lovers of God and of life. This is no reason, however, for greedy, inconsiderate and materialistic eating and drinking, by which we could stumble others and tear them down spiritually. The enjoyment of the benefits of God’s long-awaited kingdom means things higher than sense-dulling excessive eating and drinking. “For,” says Paul, “the kingdom of God does not mean eating and drinking, but means righteousness and peace and joy with holy spirit. So, then, let us pursue the things making for peace and the things that are upbuilding to one another. Stop tearing down the work of God just for the sake of food.” (Rom. 14:17, 19, 20) The minding of our selfish flesh is no part of our Christian pursuit, but the cultivation of the fruitage of God’s spirit is. If we love life and good days under God’s kingdom, we will heed this warning: “The minding of the flesh means death, but the minding of the spirit means life and peace; because the minding of the flesh means enmity [lack of friendship] with God, for it is not under subjection to the law of God, nor, in fact, can it be. So those who are in harmony with the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 8:6-8) Hence, mind the spirit; be at peace with God.
13. What did the coming of God’s kingdom to power in 1914 mean for the congregation of its subjects, and when did this become true for them, in fulfillment of Isaiah 60:17?
13 Instead of loose gaiety, the coming of God’s kingdom to power in the heavens in 1914 means a stricter procedure on earth inside the congregation of the subjects of the Kingdom. In ancient days when there was no human king in Israel, what was right in his own eyes was what each Israelite was accustomed to do. But when God answered their request and gave them a human king, that personal loose freedom of action was changed, exactly as Jehovah God himself forewarned. (Judg. 21:25; 1 Sam. 8:9-18) This strictness became true with regard to Jehovah’s modern witnesses when they began to set up theocratic procedures and arrangements among themselves in 1919 when reorganizing themselves following the havoc-working first world war. This became particularly true from 1938 onward, after the Watchtower magazine published the two-part article entitled “Organization,” based on the Bible verse, Isaiah 60:17 (Ro): “Instead of bronze I will bring in gold; and instead of iron I will bring in silver; and instead of wood, bronze; and instead of stones, iron; and I will appoint the oversight of thee [God’s symbolic capital city or organization] to prosperity, and the setting of thy tasks to righteousness.”
14. How did the installing of the theocratic order result in improvement, and therefore what must all lovers of life loyally support and maintain?
14 As promised in this prophecy, the installing of the theocratic order of operation among Jehovah’s witnesses on earth fully from 1938 onward meant improvement. It did result in noticeable improvement. It made for great peace. It helped to maintain peace inside the organization. It standardized methods of operation and conduct throughout the earth in the 175 lands where Jehovah’s witnesses are now preaching the gladsome news of His kingdom, in fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. It removed dissimilarity, confusion, inequalities and disorder from the earth-encircling organization. It helped toward fulfilling God’s loving promise to his wifelike organization: “And all your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah, and the peace of your sons will be abundant.” (Isa. 54:13) Therefore in their sincere pursuit of peace all lovers of life will loyally support and maintain the theocratic setup of the organization.
15. How does this management apply also to meetings of the congregation, as outlined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:26, 29-33?
15 This management of the things of the organization theocratically or according to God’s rule applies also to the conducting of the meetings of the Christian congregation and the program for those attending such meetings. Paul, as a member of the theocratic governing body, spoke against disorderly meetings or meetings without good continuity, without a controlled program, where things may be said or done disconnectedly and without being explained or understood. He said: “Let all things take place for upbuilding. Further, let two or three prophets speak, and let the others discern the meaning. But if there is a revelation to another one while sitting there, let the first one keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all be encouraged. And gifts of the spirit of the prophets are to be controlled by the prophets. For God is a God, not of disorder, but of peace.”—1 Cor. 14:26, 29-33.
16. In the pursuit of peace, what did David and Peter stress that we have to restrain, and how?
16 For the sake of the unity, harmony and restful calm of the congregation we must specially guard our tongues and lips. Did not the psalmist David, right after asking who it was that delighted in life and loved enough days to see what is good, say: “Safeguard your tongue against what is bad, and your lips against speaking deception”? (Ps. 34:13) Yes! And did not the apostle Peter quote those words of David right after he had advised his Christian brothers, saying: “Not paying back injury for injury or reviling for reviling, but, to the contrary, bestowing a blessing, because you were called to this course, so that you might inherit a blessing”? (1 Pet. 3:9) Yes! With the tongue and lips we can pay back injury for injury. With the tongue and lips we can revile the one reviling us. But with the tongue and lips we can, instead, bestow a blessing, even upon one doing us an injury or reviling us. The bestowing of a blessing has a better effect. It is a mild answer that turns away rage. (Prov. 15:1) It results in a spiritual benefit to at least the blesser. It saves him from becoming like the injurious speaker or reviler. It makes for peace inside the organization. Therefore the pursuit of peace unavoidably requires us to restrain our tongues from what is injurious and our lips from speaking deceitfully. We simply have to refrain from slander, backbiting, revilings.
17. What is the best safeguard against this, and why is the pursuit of peace not contrary in meaning to this?
17 The best safeguard for this is to teach and preach the precious truth about God’s kingdom, inside our meeting places and outside, publicly and from house to house. Do not be mistaken: Godly peace does not mean inactivity, careless ease, laziness. The God of peace has given his organized people, his witnesses on earth, a strenuous work to do. It is the work of bearing witness to Him and to his reigning Son Jesus Christ, in all the inhabited earth, to all the nations before these come to their calamitous end at Armageddon.
18. (a) As to this work to be performed, what vital fact do Jehovah’s witnesses from all extractions recognize? (b) Hence what command of Jesus do they obey, to the fulfillment of what prophecy of peace and brotherhood?
18 This work must be performed by his dedicated witnesses of all nationalities, tribes, peoples, colors and languages. They cannot unitedly perform this work while fighting and bickering among themselves because of external, naturally caused differences. They must co-operate peaceably. The harmonious carrying out of their God-given witness work earth-wide demands international, interracial, intertribal, intercongregational peace among themselves. Jehovah’s witnesses recognize this vital fact. So they obey the instruction of Jehovah’s Principal Witness, Jesus Christ: “Keep peace between one another.” (Mark 9:50) They harmonize their deeds and endeavors with the beautiful prophetic vision given in Isaiah 2:1-4 of this international peace and brotherhood in the united worship of Jehovah God. Hence their witness work prospers.—Jas. 3:18.
19. (a) For what warfare are they armed, and how? (b) In their house-to-house work for whom do they look, but whom do they leave?
19 Wherever they go with the Kingdom message they promote the abiding peace that is to adorn God’s new world of righteousness. They are armed only for a spiritual warfare, not a sanguinary war with flesh and blood. Consequently they equip themselves as the apostle Paul said to do: “with your feet shod with the equipment of the good news of peace.” (Eph. 6:11-15) In their house-to-house work they are looking for the friends of peace with God. Jesus Christ told them to do this, saying: “Wherever you enter into a house say first: ‘May this house have peace.’ And if a friend of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if no such one is there, it will turn back to you.” (Luke 10:5, 6; Matt. 10:12, 13) If the householder proves to be an enemy of peace, they leave the house. They have no religious quarrel to pick with Jehovah’s foes.
20. Why, despite religious persecution, do they go on rejoicing, and what sure hope do they entertain as regards peace?
20 Nevertheless, they encounter much religious persecution. In spite of it all they go on rejoicing. “Those counseling peace have rejoicing.” (Prov. 12:20) They know God’s promise that men who unjustly make tribulation for them will be destroyed at Armageddon. (2 Thess. 1:6-10) They are strengthened and comforted in the sure hope that their continual pursuit of peace will be rewarded with an endless measure of it after Armageddon in the new world promised by Jehovah God, the righteous Judge. “He will render to each one according to his works: everlasting life to those who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibleness by endurance in work that is good; however, for those who are contentious and who disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness there will be wrath and anger, tribulation and distress, upon the soul of every man who works what is injurious, . . . but glory and honor and peace for everyone who works what is good.”—Rom. 2:6-10.
21. In answer to what inspired question do we each one want to identify ourselves, and accordingly what will we seek and pursue?
21 To the divinely inspired question, “Who is the man that is delighting in life, that is loving enough days to see what is good?” can we now each one answer, “I am”? If we can, then in Jehovah God’s way let us seek to find peace and pursue it.
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“It’s Scriptures We Want”The Watchtower—1959 | December 15
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“It’s Scriptures We Want”
“THIS is an experience I feel sure you will be happy to hear about; as Jesus said: ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’
“Mrs. O————, after having learned the truth, found it no longer tolerable to leave her two children in the Catholic school, as they were obliged to go through all the Catholic ritual and teachings. Steps were taken through the Society’s legal department to register the girls in the English Protestant school. This was necessary because Mrs. O———— was separated from her husband, who was strongly opposed both to her new religion and to the transfer of his children to the Protestant school.
“Finally, the registering was completed without the consent of the father and all was thought to be fine. One week before school opened in September, Mr. O———— visited his wife and discussion ensued concerning the children, Mr. O———— again strongly opposing the change from the Catholic school and threatening to just simply pack up the girls and take them with him.
“He then urged his wife to make one last trip to see the Jesuit ‘fathers,’ who he felt sure could convince his wife that she was leading the entire family astray from the good religion. She consented to go with him, but she stated to her husband in advance that she was sure the Jesuits could not prove Scripturally that she did not now have the true religion from Jehovah’s witnesses. Also that what they would probably tell her would be something like this: ‘My dear little lady, don’t you know the Catholic Church has been established 2,000 years and that this man Russell was a very bad man?’ etc.
“They made an appointment to see the Jesuit ‘fathers’ (supposed to be the branch that specializes in Scriptures) and, after being ushered in, the husband explained to the priest that he would like the priest to explain with Scriptures why his wife should repent and be a good Catholic again. The priest’s first words were, ‘My dear little lady, don’t you know the Catholic Church has been established 2,000 years and that this man Russell. . . ?’ ‘No, No!’ broke in Mr. O————, ‘that’s not what we want at all. It’s Scriptures we want.’ ‘Well,’ said the priest, ‘that’s not my line; I specialized in theology. You want Father [so and so] upstairs.’
“They then went upstairs to see ‘Father so and so,’ and Mr. O———— explained to this second priest the situation. This second priest’s next words were the changing point in Mr. O————’s estimation of the Catholic Church, because the priest said: ‘My dear little lady, don’t you know the Catholic Church has been established 2,000 years?’ etc.
“Mr. O———— jumped up out of his chair, grabbed his wife’s hand and bounded out, calling after him, ‘I’m sorry, you just don’t have what we want.’
“From that point on Mr. O———— has been much more reasonable. He has accepted ‘Let God Be True’ and ‘The Truth Shall Make You Free’ in French as well as a copy of the Scriptures, which he is reading. He has also permitted his wife to let one of the children attend the Protestant school.
“Mrs. O———— was immersed at the Divine Will assembly in New York.
“In the meantime, because of Sister O————’s stand for the truth, her sister, Mrs. G————, is now studying and progressing rapidly.
“Also, Mr. G———— has decided that he will send his children to the English Protestant school. A study is being arranged for him.
“It is a real joy to us working here to see these French people throw off the yoke of the Catholic system and find real happiness and a hope in the New World society. We thank Jehovah for the increase he gives as these lost sheep are found.”—From a pioneer minister in Quebec.
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