ranks are constantly growing. (Rev. 7:9-17) With Jehovah’s witnesses they raise their voices from every nation, echoing the words of the psalmist: “Praise ye Jehovah. Praise Jehovah, O my soul. While I live will I praise Jehovah: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” (Ps. 146:1-4, Am. Stan. Ver.) Jehovah’s irresistible spirit is behind this singing of praise and nothing can stop its increase. In a very practical way, with much hard work in tramping from door to door, repeatedly visiting the people with the Kingdom message, Jehovah’s witnesses and their companions testify to the people concerning the Kingdom and its blessings. They call upon the people to join in praising God, because it is on this issue of praising God that men are now being judged. It is a great dividing work that is now in progress among the people everywhere, as Jesus foretold. Those who join in singing God’s glories are classed as “sheep” whose inheritance will be eternal blessings. Those who refuse to acknowledge God by praising his name now place themselves with the “goats” whose end is eternal destruction. (Matt. 25:32-46) Where will you stand? Will you be able to say, as it was foretold Jesus did, “I will give thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude”?—Ps. 109:30, Am. Stan. Ver.

Uniting Our Praises Universally

 1. What worldly course is not needed to learn to praise him?

SUPPOSE now, having considered the foregoing facts dealing with the importance of praising God at this end of the world, you earnestly desire to seek God and strive for the salvation and blessings he has promised. What shall you do? Shall you enroll in a religious seminary and undertake a difficult course of study, consuming years of time, in order to prepare yourself to serve God in a manner that will merit his salvation? Must you first produce a certificate signifying high educational achievement in schools of this world before you can hope to make confession of praise to God? If so, then not many men could hope to qualify for the salvation that God promises. And if only a few are capable and qualified to sing God’s praises in the right manner, then how can we understand these words of Jesus? “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) How possibly could such a testimony be given to all nations in this very generation, as Jesus said it would, unless there were many, many persons singing God’s praises? No, such high worldly educational achievement is not necessary for you to serve God. That is why it is possible for Jehovah to call forth a “great multitude” from all nations in these last days.

 2, 3. How was this exemplified in Jesus’ case?

² Consulting the Bible record we find that Jesus himself had not studied at the feet of Doctor of Laws Gamaliel in Jerusalem, nor is there any record of his having had extended training in any college or school as a prerequisite to commencing the preaching work ordained for him by God his Father. Jehovah God knew what the people needed: they needed the truth concerning himself and his kingdom of salvation. They needed this message in a pure and unadulterated form, without worldly embellishments, unbeclouded by any wisdom of man. So when Jesus appeared at the Nazareth synagogue he was not known to the people as a learned doctor of divinity, nor as a doctor of letters, but as a carpenter was he known, the son of a carpenter. That did not hold Jesus back from declaring his intention to praise God by becoming a preacher of Jehovah’s Word, did it? Certainly not, for he picked up the Holy Scriptures and read his commission from the book of the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord [Jehovah] is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim glad tidings to the poor; he has sent me to publish a release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to dispense freedom to the oppressed; to proclaim an era of acceptance with the Lord.”—Luke 4:16-21, Diaglott.

³ Yes, it caused a stir among the people for Jesus to do this, especially because they knew he was not qualified according to the standards of men at that time. “The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John 7:15, Am. Stan. Ver.) Perhaps Jesus was not learned in all the wisdom of his time, but he did have the truth, which is the Word of God. (John 17:17) He knew it was the truth that would make the people free and enable them to join in praising God unto salvation, and with this truth from God’s Word he had filled his heart. (John 8:32) So Jesus could not refrain from doing that which he knew was to the highest good of humankind and, more importantly, to the eternal glory of God and the vindication of Jehovah’s name. The desire to praise God was like a burning fire within him and he could not keep still. Jeremiah felt the same way, for he said: “But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jer. 20:9) Jesus did not make an effort to withhold his praise. Rather, as it is written,