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Part 20—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”The Watchtower—1959 | August 15
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At Armageddon God’s kingdom, like the stone that struck Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image on the feet and then ground it to powder, will destroy all remaining traces of those ancient symbolic beasts, the fourth beast also.
35. Will the One like the son of man be alone in his dominion and kingdom, and how does Daniel’s vision give us the answer?
35 The One like a son of man will not be alone in his everlasting dominion and indestructible kingdom. The “saints” or holy ones of God will be with the glorified, enthroned Son of man in his heavenly kingdom. In support of this, Daniel said: “As I looked, this horn made war with the saints, and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints received the kingdom.” In interpretation of this, the angel told Daniel: “But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.” (Dan. 7:21, 22, 26, 27, RS) The chief one of the “saints of the Most High” is Jesus Christ.—Acts 3:14; 4:27, 30.
36. What do those taken into their Kingdom covenant form, and how do they get into their reigning positions, and where?
36 However, those whom Jesus Christ takes into the Kingdom covenant with him form a “holy nation,” a nation of his spiritual “brothers,” all “called to be holy ones.” (1 Pet. 2:9; Heb. 2:11; Rom. 1:7) According to the covenant for the Kingdom they experience a resurrection from their death in faithfulness and are joined with Jesus Christ in his reign on the heavenly Mount Zion.—Rev. 2:10; Heb. 12:22-28.
37. Those who share in the resurrection to that position on Mount Zion are pronounced what, and for having endured what do they reign with the Son of man?
37 In the vision to him, the apostle John, who was one of those saints or holy ones, said: “I saw, and look! the Lamb standing upon the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.” Also: “Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.” (Rev. 14:1; 20:6) These 144,000 followers of the sacrificed Lamb have endured suffering with him during vicious world control by the symbolic fourth beast with its horns. For this they are promised that they will “also rule together as kings.” (2 Tim. 2:11, 12) They will reign that the heavenly Father’s will may be done on earth as well as in heaven.
(To be continued)
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The Necessity of a DesignerThe Watchtower—1959 | August 15
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The Necessity of a Designer
Did all living things come into existence by chance? The fact is that none of them did. Said research chemist Edmund Kornfeld: “To one who has seen the complexity and yet the pervading order in organic chemistry—especially that in living systems—the idea of chance is repugnant in the extreme. The more one studies the science of molecular structure and interreaction, the more one is convinced of the necessity of a planner and designer of it all.”
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