Chapter 10

The “Sign” of Its Approach

 1. Why should we be excitedly interested in knowing about the nearness of the Millennium?

WHEN we look at it according to what the Bible says about it, the Millennium is a thing very much to be desired for all mankind, the living and the dead. That is why the announcement that it has approached is most welcome news for all who understand. We ought to be excitedly interested in knowing what valid reasons we have for being convinced that it has approached. What are they? Shall we take time to consider some of them?

 2. (a) What gathering that we see going on is, in itself, clear evidence that the Millennium has approached? (b) Who leads the “war” on God’s side, and in what capacity is he already serving?

² From our consideration of the Millennium thus far, we are aware of the fact that it must be preceded immediately by the most destructive war in all human history, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. We can now see the political rulers or “kings of the entire inhabited earth” being gathered, under forces beyond human control, for that War of all wars. This fact should in itself be a clear evidence that the hoped-for millennium that follows the War has also approached. (Revelation 16:13-16) Taking an active part in that war, on the side of God the Almighty will be the Leader of God’s heavenly armies, the one called Faithful and True, the Word of God. Already, before this Har–Magedon war begins, this heavenly Leader is a King. “Upon his head are many diadems,” and, “upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” (Revelation 19:11-16) So he is already reigning as King before he enters upon that thousand-year-long period of reigning with his 144,000 Christian joint heirs.​—Revelation 12:5; 14:1-4; 20:4-6.

 3. With reference to the beginning of Christ’s premillennial reign, what did John see when the first two seals of the scroll were opened (Revelation 6:1-4)?

³ The reference to the beginning of this premillennial reign of this King of kings, Jesus Christ, is made in an earlier picture of world events of our twentieth century. This picture is given in chapter six of Revelation, in which the apostle John tells us about what he saw when the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, starts opening up the seven seals that seal shut the “scroll” that he has received from the hand of God who sits on the heavenly throne. Says John: “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice as of thunder: ‘Come!’ And I saw, and, look! a white horse; and the one seated upon it had a bow; and a crown was given him, and he went forth conquering and to complete his conquest. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say: ‘Come!’ And another came forth, a fiery-colored horse; and to the one seated upon it there was granted to take peace away from the earth so that they should slaughter one another; and a great sword was given him.”​—Revelation 6:1-4.

 4, 5. (a) In that rider on the fiery-colored horse, what do we see symbolized? (b) Who went forth at that time to conquer completely, and how did this set the stage for Psalm 2:1-6 to be fulfilled?

⁴ Here we see the symbols that depict the first world war, which broke out in the year 1914 C.E., but which was merely a forerunner to the second world war that took peace away from the earth for six more years. That first of world wars marked the time when the righteous warrior, Jesus Christ, received the heavenly crown and went forth against his enemies on the earth, to win the fight, to conquer completely his earthly enemies. This meant that he would later be fighting on God’s side in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. His being crowned as King in heaven at the time of the first world war sets the stage for the fulfillment of the words of Psalm Two:

⁵ “Why have the nations been in tumult And the national groups themselves kept muttering an empty thing? The kings of earth take their stand and high officials themselves have massed together as one against Jehovah and against his anointed one [his Christ, Greek Septuagint Version], saying: ‘Let us tear their bands apart and cast their cords away from us!’ The very One sitting in the heavens will laugh; Jehovah himself will hold them in derision. At that time he will speak to them in his anger and in his hot displeasure he will disturb them, saying: ‘I, even I, have installed my king Upon Zion, my holy mountain.’”​—Psalm 2:1-6; compare Acts 4:24-30.

 6. Have world wars and the United Nations unseated Jehovah’s King on Mount Zion, and what will the outcome of the war at Har–Magedon assure to us?

⁶ In spite of all the tumult that has disturbed the nations since the first world war of 1914-1918 C.E., Jehovah has had his King, his Son Jesus Christ, seated upon the heavenly seat of royal government, Zion. (Revelation 14:1; Hebrews 12:22) Neither World War I nor World War II nor the United Nations organization succeeded in unseating this Messianic King. The “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon will confirm him in his heavenly throne, and he will be on hand there to begin his millennial reign with his loyal 144,000 joint heirs. (Revelation 19:19-21) For this vital reason the promised Millennium with life-giving blessings for mankind is assured to us. It has approached!

 7. Why are we not like that ancient “wicked and adulterous generation,” and yet where do we find a “sign” given by Jesus for us to consider?

⁷ Despite the above-presented evidence, many skeptical persons will demand a “sign” before they decide to be convinced that the Millennium has really approached, yes, will begin within our generation. We are not of that “wicked and adulterous generation” of religious scribes and Pharisees of nineteen centuries ago, who wanted a sign from Jesus Christ, to convince them that he was the Messiah. (Matthew 12:38, 39) However, we do have the description of a “sign” that was given by Jesus Christ himself, and since he made it available for us, we would be keeping ourselves in serious ignorance by refusing to consider it. The description is made available for us in chapters twenty-four and twenty-five of Matthew, chapter thirteen of Mark and chapter twenty-one of Luke. The description of the sign was given to his apostles upon request, not to prove that he was the Messiah or Christ but to indicate that certain promised future events were near at hand, about to be fulfilled. It was given on the eleventh day of the spring month of Nisan of the year 33 C.E., three days before his violent death.

THE PROPHECY OF THE “SIGN”

 8. How did Jesus indicate that he would go away, and what words would be said on his return?

⁸ Jesus had just predicted something that sounded very terrible to Jewish ears, namely, the destruction of their temple at Jerusalem. There he had declared to his religious opposers: “Look! Your house is abandoned to you. For I say to you, You will by no means see me from henceforth until you say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!’” (Matthew 23:38, 39) This indicated that he was going away. When he returned, there would be those who would take up the prophetic words of Psalm 118:26 and say: “Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!”

 9. How did Jesus indicate that those words welcoming his return would not be used by worshipers at Jerusalem’s temple?

⁹ Evidently it was not at the material temple in Jerusalem that the worshipers of Jehovah would welcome with those prophetic words the one coming in Jehovah’s name. This is what Jesus made to appear very plainly, according to the account that follows his portentous words: “Departing now, Jesus was on his way from the temple, but his disciples approached to show him the buildings of the temple. In response he said to them: ‘Do you not behold all these things? Truly I say to you, By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.’”​—Matthew 24:1, 2.

10. On the Mount of Olives overlooking the temple, what question did four apostles ask Jesus, and how do various translations render their question?

¹⁰ The twelve apostles made no inquiry about this frightful prophecy until they got over onto the Mount of Olives, which overlooks Jerusalem and from which a fine view could be got of that temple that had been renovated by King Herod the Great. The view seems to have stirred a momentous question among four of the apostles, which also aroused the interest of the others, for we read: “While he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: ‘Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence [pa·rou·siʹa, Greek] and of the conclusion of the system of things?’” (Matthew 24:3) Young’s Literal Translation of the Holy Bible translates their words from the Greek to read: “Tell us, when shall these be? and what is the sign of thy presence, and of the full end of the age?” Rotherham’s The Emphasised Bible reads similarly: “Tell us when these things shall be,​—and what the sign of thy presence and the conclusion of the age.” Archbishop Newcome’s New Translation (Corrected Text) reads: “What will be the sign of thy appearance, and of the end of the age?”​—1808 edition.

11. (a) When did destruction of Jerusalem’s temple take place, but what else did not also occur then? (b) Hence, what would it be natural for us to do respecting history?

¹¹ We today know when the destruction of the literal temple of Jerusalem took place. It was nineteen hundred years ago, in the summer of the year 70 C.E., when the Roman legions under General Titus destroyed the whole city. (Luke 21:20-24) But what about those other things, the “sign” of Christ’s Parousia (presence, appearance) and of the conclusion of the age or system of things (or, the statea), as included in the disciples’ question? True, the full end or conclusion of a Jewish state or system of things was reached in the year 70 C.E., but not the conclusion of the larger system of things of which that Jewish system was merely a prophetic pattern or type. Also, the Parousia, presence or appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ did not occur in that year. Since we are living in this twentieth century C.E., the most natural thing to do would be to look into the history of this twentieth century of ours to determine whether the foretold “sign” has appeared during our own generation.

12. In view of what Stephen said about Christ’s first coming, why should we ask whether the apostles were inquiring about Jesus’ “coming” or “Advent”?

¹² We should note that the disciples asked about the Parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ. In so doing, were they asking about his “coming”? His “Advent,” as some call it? This question deserves to be raised, because the Christian martyr Stephen, when speaking about the first “coming” of the Lord Jesus, said to the Jewish Sánhedrin in Jerusalem: “Which one of the prophets did your forefathers not persecute? Yes, they killed those who made announcement in advance concerning the coming [eʹleu·sis, Greek] of the righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.” (Acts 7:52) We notice that, when speaking about Christ’s first coming, Stephen used, not the word pa·rou·siʹa, but the Greek word eʹleu·sis. These two Greek words are not only different in form and derivation but also different in meaning.

13. By derivation, what does the word parousía literally mean, but what do authorities on Greek words explain it to mean?

¹³ The word pa·rou·siʹa literally means “a being alongside,” it being drawn from the Greek preposition paraʹ (“alongside”) and ousía (a “being”). Liddell and Scott’s A Greek-English Lexicon, Volume II, page 1343, column 2, gives as the first definition of parousía the English word “presence.” It gives as the second definition thereof arrival, and then adds: “Especially visit of a royal or official personage.” In agreement with this the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (by Gerhard Friedrich), in Volume V, gives as “The General Meaning” the English word “Presence.” (Page 859) Then, as “The Technical Use of the Terms,” in Hellenism, it gives “1. The Visit of a Ruler.” On page 865 it says concerning “The Technical Use of pareimi [verb] and parousía in the N.T.”: “In the N.T. the terms are never used for the coming of Christ in the flesh, and parousía never has the sense of return. The idea of more than one parousía is first found only in the later Church.”

14. (a) According to the technical use of the Greek term in Hellenism, what expression would be used instead of “presence”? (b) In what translations is parousía consistently rendered “presence,” with what contrast shown in Philippians 2:12?

¹⁴ So, then, Jesus’ disciples were asking, not about his “arrival,” but about after his arrival. They were asking about his “presence.” And if, instead of using the word “presence,” we resort to “the technical use of the terms” in Hellenism, the disciples would be understood to ask Jesus: “What will be the sign of your [visit as a royal personage] and of the conclusion of the system of things?” A “visit” includes more than an “arrival.” It includes a “presence.” In the so-called New Testament the Greek word parousía occurs twenty-four times, and in all its occurrences there, not only the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures translates the word every time as “presence,” but also other translations do so, as Young’s Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, of 1862 C.E.; Wilson’s The Emphatic Diaglott, of 1857-1863 C.E.; and Rotherham’s The Emphasised Bible, of 1897 C.E. We note how fittingly “presence” and “absence” are contrasted, in Philippians 2:12, where the apostle Paul says: “You have always obeyed, not during my presence only, but now much more readily during my absence.”

THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS

15. A number of features of the “sign” foretold by Jesus call for Parousia to be rendered how, as in, for instance, which parable?

¹⁵ The meaning of “presence” for parousía is called for in a number of features of Jesus’ prophecy on the “sign” of the Parousia and the conclusion of the system of things. For instance, let us consider that portion of the prophecy which is generally spoken of as the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Jesus had just prophesied about the “faithful and discreet slave” and the “evil slave,” and now he prophesies of another feature in connection with his Parousia. “Then,” says he, “the kingdom of the heavens will become like ten virgins that took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were discreet. For the foolish took their lamps but took no oil with them, whereas the discreet took oil in their receptacles with their lamps.”​—Matthew 25:1-4; 24:45-51.

16. In what sense are the women “virgins,” according to the introduction of the parable?

¹⁶ First of all, we should note that this parable involves a class of people and so is not to be applied in its completeness to the life and death of each individual. Those involved are “virgins” in a particular sense, inasmuch as they represent the “kingdom of the heavens,” because “then,” as Jesus said, “the kingdom of the heavens will become like [what?] ten virgins.” This is the “kingdom” of which Jesus spoke earlier in his prophecy, saying: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”​—Matthew 24:14.

17. (a) Whom do the “virgins,” being ten in number, picture? (b) When did the parable begin to be fulfilled, and why then?

¹⁷ The number “ten” being Scripturally a number signifying perfection as regards earthly things, the “virgins” in being ten in number would picture all Christians who are in line or who profess to be in line for the heavenly kingdom in joint heirship with Jesus Christ. When, therefore, did the prophetic parable begin to have its fulfillment? On Sunday, Sivan 6, the Festival Day of Pentecost, of the year 33 C.E. How so? Because then the virgin class came into existence. This was because the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who were gathered together in an upper room in Jerusalem, were on that day baptized with the holy spirit. They were thereby begotten of God to be his spiritual sons in a position to be ‘heirs of God’ and “joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17) But, in the Bible, heirs are usually the sons; and why is it that, in the parable, all the members of the spirit-begotten congregation of Christ’s disciples are pictured as females, as virgin girls who, on a wedding night, go out to meet the bridegroom? and who is this “bridegroom”?

18. In connection with marriage matters, to whom did John the Baptist compare himself and Jesus, and to whom did John direct his own disciples?

¹⁸ First of all, this “bridegroom” is the resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist spoke of him from that standpoint and accordingly compared himself with the “friend of the bridegroom.” In those days the “friend of the bridegroom” generally arranged for the marriage between the bridegroom and the bride. On the night of union of the two engaged persons, more attention was focused on the bridegroom than on the friend of the bridegroom. And so John the Baptist said to his disciples whom he was preparing for Jesus Christ as their figurative “bridegroom”: “I am not the Christ, but, I have been sent forth in advance of that one. He that has the bride is the bridegroom. However, the friend of the bridegroom, when he stands and hears him, has a great deal of joy on account of the voice of the bridegroom. Therefore this joy of mine has been made full. That one must go on increasing, but I must go on decreasing.” (John 3:28-30) Rightly, then, John directed his disciples to Jesus.

19, 20. (a) How does Jesus, in parable and in Revelation, compare himself with a bridegroom? (b) Correspondingly, what is the New Jerusalem called?

¹⁹ On his own part, Jesus compared himself with a bridegroom in another parable that he spoke. This was the parable of the “marriage feast” that a king prepared for his son, and this son stood for the Son of the great King of Eternity, Jehovah God. (Matthew 22:1-14) And in the Revelation, which Jesus Christ received from God and transmitted to the apostle John, Jesus as the Lamb of God is likened to a bridegroom who gets married to the congregation of his disciples, in these words: “Let us rejoice and be overjoyed, and let us give him the glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has arrived and his wife has prepared herself. Yes, it has been granted to her to be arrayed in bright, clean, fine linen, for the fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the holy ones. . . . Write: Happy are those invited to the evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage.” Furthermore, the apostle John tells of an angel who came to him and says:

²⁰ “He spoke with me and said: ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ So he carried me away in the power of the spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God and having the glory of God.” ​—Revelation 19:7-9; 21:9-11.

21. In Ephesians 5:23-27, to what does Paul compare the relationship between Jesus Christ and his congregation?

²¹ The apostle Paul compares the relationship between Jesus Christ and his congregation of 144,000 joint heirs to that of a husband and wife. He writes: “A husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation, he being a savior of this body. In fact, as the congregation is in subjection to the Christ, so let wives also be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the bath of water by means of the word, that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.”​—Ephesians 5:23-27.

22. Where does the marriage take place, and why does Jesus’ parable make no mention of the bride of the bridegroom?

²² The marriage of the Bridegroom Jesus Christ and his congregational “bride” is, of course, to take place in heaven, where they will be united together with the blessing of Jehovah God, the heavenly Father. However, it is to be noted that in the parable of the ten virgins there is no mention made of the bride. This is done in order to avoid confusion of thought. It is, in fact, because the “bride” is drawn or selected from the “ten virgins” themselves. The selected “virgins” are the “happy” ones who are “invited to the evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage.” (Revelation 19:9) In harmony with this, Jesus’ parable shows the qualified “virgins” as going through the door into the wedding feast chamber. Just how they qualify, the parable goes on to illustrate.

23. The fact that the members of Christ’s congregation are likened to “virgins” puts what requirements upon them?

²³ The members of Christ’s bridal congregation are likened to “virgins” for more than the reason that they are betrothed to a virgin Bridegroom. They are “virgins” in a further spiritual sense. Just as a virgin girl is clean, chaste, untouched sexually, so these faithful members of the Christian congregation must be pure and clean by separateness from this world, not having any connections with the religious and political organizations of this world. They do not join in any union of Church and State. They maintain their spiritual virginity by not involving themselves with the affairs of this world. (2 Timothy 2:3, 4) This is what is meant when it is said concerning the 144,000 who are seen standing with the Lamb of God on the spiritual Mount Zion: “These are the ones that did not defile themselves with women [like the religious harlot, Babylon the Great, and her daughters]; in fact, they are virgins. These are the ones that keep following the Lamb no matter where he goes.”​—Revelation 14:4; 17:3-5.

24. What does James 1:26, 27 say about the required cleanness of those likened to virgins?

²⁴ As regards the required cleanness, the disciple James says: “If any man seems to himself to be a formal worshiper and yet does not bridle his tongue, but goes on deceiving his own heart, this man’s form of worship is futile. The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world.”​—James 1:26, 27.

GOING OUT TO MEET THE “BRIDEGROOM”

25. How did Christ’s congregation, at Pentecost of 33 C.E., start out with the religion pure and undefiled from God’s standpoint, and what evidence did they have of this?

²⁵ On the Festival Day of Pentecost of the year 33 C.E., when the holy spirit descended as a baptism upon the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ as they waited in Jerusalem, the Christian congregation started out with the “form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father.” They were spiritually a virgin class, separated from the religious organization that had rejected Jesus Christ and brought about his impalement by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. (Acts 2:1-42) They started out with the teachings of the Messiah Jesus and the teachings of his twelve apostles, and kept themselves from that “crooked generation” that was steeped in unscriptural religious traditions handed down from misguided forefathers. (Acts 2:40; Galatians 1:13-17; Matthew 15:1-9) The baptism of the holy spirit along with the gift of tongues was an evidence that they had the true religion, and they knew it. Now they must remain “virgin” in it.

26, 27. (a) In a spiritual way, to whom did the Christian congregation become betrothed on Pentecost of 33 C.E.? (b) How did Paul, like a “friend of the bridegroom,” speak to Christians in 2 Corinthians 11:2-5?

²⁶ It was on that day (Sivan 6, 33 C.E.) that the Christian congregation became espoused, betrothed, promised in marriage to the heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. All those who thereafter became additions to that original congregation of 120 disciples at Jerusalem became part of that betrothed class and were obliged to keep themselves “virgin.” To this fact the apostle Paul refers, when he warns the Christians at Corinth against breaking their engagement to Jesus Christ and getting married to a false Christ. Somewhat like a “friend of the bridegroom,” Paul says:

²⁷ “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I personally promised you in marriage to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to the Christ. But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, your minds might be corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ. For, as it is, if someone comes and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or you receive a spirit other than what you received, or good news other than what you accepted, you easily put up with him. For I consider that I have not in a single thing proved inferior to your superfine apostles.”​—2 Corinthians 11:2-5.

28. How were the disciples told, both by Jesus and by angels, that he would come like a Jewish bridegroom to take them home?

²⁸ Their marriage to the virgin Bridegroom in heaven was to be in the indefinite future, some time distant from that espousal day of Pentecost of 33 C.E. Fifty-two days before that, on the night of his betrayal by the unfaithful apostle Judas Iscariot, Jesus had said to his faithful apostles: “In the house of my Father there are many abodes. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going my way to prepare a place for you. Also, if I go my way and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you home to myself, that where I am you also may be. And where I am going you know the way.” (John 14:2-4) Forty-two days after that, when he was ascending from the Mount of Olives and into the sky before the eyes of a number of his disciples, two angels appeared to them and said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who was received up from you into the sky will come thus in the same manner as you have beheld him going into the sky.” (Acts 1:9-11) Hence, the disciples knew that, like a Jewish bridegroom on the wedding night, the departed Jesus would come to take them to his heavenly Father’s home, even as Jesus had previously assured them.​—John 14:1-3.

29. (a) When did the “virgin” class start out to meet the Bridegroom? (b) What question now arose, and what is indicated in the fact that both kinds of virgins were equal in number?

²⁹ With that prospect of the wedding occasion, the espoused-virgin class set out to meet the Bridegroom, to welcome him and to rejoice with him. They had to keep on the watch, for they knew “neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13) How many of those who started out on the day of Pentecost of 33 C.E. and the thousands of those who joined them later would prove to be like the “discreet” virgins of the parable, and how many like the “foolish” or indiscreet virgins? The parable pictures the number of the discreet and the number of the foolish as being equal, to indicate that there was an equal opportunity for all who really start out, and also in order not to indicate that there would be more of the one kind than of the other kind; the matter was left indefinite. But the parable did foretell that not all of those setting out as “virgins” would prove worthy of being admitted to enter in and enjoy the “evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage.”​—Luke 12:35-38.

30. (a) What distinguished the discreet virgins from the foolish ones? (b) Did all start out with burning lamps, and so what was the vital question in this respect?

³⁰ What, then, was it that distinguished the discreet or prudent virgins from the foolish or imprudent virgins? This: “The foolish took their lamps but took no oil with them, whereas the discreet took oil in their receptacles with their lamps.” (Matthew 25:3, 4) Yet all of them knew that their having lighted lamps clear to the end of the welcoming procession would be an identification of them, a proof of their worthiness to be admitted to the wedding feast. In view of this they needed enough oil to last them until the wedding procession reached the home of the bridegroom. What, in the fulfillment of the parable, was pictured by the oil? They started out to meet the bridegroom before his arrival was announced, and their lamps were burning when they started out. So at least there was then oil in their lamps. But was it enough to keep their lamps burning till the wedding procession entered the bridegroom’s house?

31, 32. (a) The purpose of the parable was to show what with respect to those symbolic “virgins”? (b) What waiting attitude must they maintain, as expressed by Paul in Philippians 3:20, 21?

³¹ The oil was an illuminating liquid. Without it the wick in the lamp would not give a steady, continuous light. What did their carrying a lighted lamp to the wedding feast symbolize? In answer to this question, we must remember the purpose for which Jesus gave this parable. The purpose was to show that those who desired to gain admittance to the heavenly marriage would have to bear a certain identification, a certain personality, and they would have to retain this clear down to the finish, no matter at what time the wedding procession began and carried on until it finally reached the Bridegroom’s home for his “bride.” For one thing, the “kingdom of the heavens” class, while on earth amid this bedarkened world, would have to remain “virgin” in a spiritual way. They had their hopes fixed on the heavenly Bridegroom, and this attitude allowed for no contamination of themselves with the unclean world. They must “keep following the Lamb no matter where he goes.” (Revelation 14:4) They must keep like the apostle Paul, who said:

³² “Our citizenship exists in the heavens, from which place also we are eagerly waiting for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will refashion our humiliated body to be conformed to his glorious body according to the operation of the power that he has, even to subject all things to himself.”​—Philippians 3:20, 21.

33. (a) How long must they retain this spiritual virginity, in order to prove worthy of what? (b) How did Jesus speak of their reflecting this acceptable condition?

³³ So their sustained spiritual virginity is because of their desire and determination to prove worthy to be accepted by the heavenly Bridegroom as his “bride.” Their daily lives must reflect this amid the darkness of this world of mankind. In his Sermon on the Mount in the year 31 C.E., Jesus Christ the Bridegroom said to his disciples: “You are the light of the world. A city cannot be hid when situated upon a mountain. People light a lamp and set it, not under the measuring basket, but upon the lampstand, and it shines upon all those in the house. Likewise let your light shine before men, that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.”​—Matthew 5:14-16.

34. According to Paul’s words in Philippians 2:14-16, how were the Christians to shine?

³⁴ The apostle Paul also said to fellow Christians: “Keep doing all things free from murmurings and arguments, that you may come to be blameless and innocent, children of God without a blemish in among a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you are shining as illuminators in the world, keeping a tight grip on the word of life, that I may have cause for exultation in Christ’s day, that I did not run in vain or work hard in vain.”​—Philippians 2:14-16.

35. So what, then, is pictured by the virgins’ holding up their lighted lamps, and this in expectation of what?

³⁵ For the “kingdom of the heavens” class to shine as “the light of the world,” they must engage in “fine works” that glorify the heavenly Father; they must do all things without murmuring and arguments, keep themselves blameless and innocent as far as their Christian lives are concerned, proving themselves to be without blemish as children of God. They must do this in expectation of the Bridegroom’s coming to take them to his heavenly Father’s home. Their doing all this is pictured by the virgins’ holding up their lighted lamps. It is something that will delight the Bridegroom amid the world’s night of darkness.

THE SYMBOLIC OIL AND RECEPTACLES

36. What does the “oil,” as an illuminating liquid, picture?

³⁶ What, then, does the oil, the illuminating liquid, picture? It symbolizes that which keeps the “kingdom of the heavens” class shining as illuminators amid a bedarkened world. Accordingly, it would picture the “word of life,” on which they must keep a “tight grip”; for it is written: “Your word is a lamp to my foot, and a light to my roadway.” (Psalm 119:105) “The very disclosure of your words gives light, making the inexperienced ones understand.” (Psalm 119:130) As a picture, the “oil” would also include the holy spirit of God, for this holy invisible active force of God aids one in understanding God’s Word. (John 16:13) Also, this holy spirit in a Christian manifests itself in fruitage, in the fruits of the spirit such as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22, 23) Such spiritual “oil” has illuminative power.

37. What does the virgins’ having a supply of oil in their “receptacles” picture, and why so?

³⁷ In the parable, the “virgins” had to have a supply of oil in receptacles, from which they could pour it into the lamps that they carried. They could not make their own bodies “receptacles” by drinking the oil and then, as it was needed, regurgitating it into the lamps to keep them burning. However, having “receptacles” filled with oil meant that they had an oil supply in their possession, not, of course, in their personal bodies, as containers. So the “kingdom of the heavens” class does have in its possession, yes, has within itself, a supply of God’s Word and his holy spirit. Fittingly, then, the “receptacles” pictured in the parable stand for the members of the “virgin” class themselves as possessors of the symbolic “oil.” They certainly do need an ample supply of such “oil” as they go forth to meet the Bridegroom and join his procession.

38. What, then, is symbolized by the virgins’ lamps, and in what way is there a shining?

³⁸ In the parable, the ten virgins used oil lamps for brightening up the night scene. What, then, do those lamps picture in the fulfillment of the parable today? The same thing as the oil “receptacles” do, for the ancient lamps carried illuminating oil the same as the supply “receptacles” did. The members of the “kingdom of the heavens” class are themselves the symbolic lamps. Not that they swallow oil to the full and then pour oil all over themselves and set fire to themselves so as to become “living torches” lined up along the procession route like self-sacrificing martyrs in honor of the Bridegroom. No, but they are filled with God’s enlightening Word and his holy spirit, and this makes them shine in a spiritual way to the honor of the glorious heavenly Bridegroom. They themselves, because of their spiritual qualities, are “illuminators in the world.” Because of the kind of lives that they live under the influence of God’s Word and spirit, they shine to His glory.

39. (a) Why did the “virgins” not know how long they would have to wait for the bridegroom? (b) What did the discreet virgins therefore find it advisable to do?

³⁹ Inasmuch as no hour of the night was set for the bridegroom to leave the house where his bride was given to him and thereafter to lead a procession back to his own home for married life, the virgins of the parable did not know exactly how long they might have to wait for the bridegroom to put in appearance. So they did not know how long they might have to keep their lamps burning. It would be advisable therefore for them to have not only filled lamps but also a receptacle filled with additional oil. The “discreet” or prudent virgins saw this and “took oil in their receptacles,” along with their lighted lamps. The “foolish” or indiscreet, imprudent virgins did not do so, and their foolishness in this regard became evident in course of time.

40. (a) In fulfillment of the parable, how do the “discreet” virgin class take along oil in their receptacles? (b) How does this aid them to prove true to their betrothal to their Bridegroom?

⁴⁰ In the fulfillment of the parable, those pictured by the “discreet” five virgins take along extra oil in their receptacles, so to speak, by filling themselves up with the Word of God, having it in their minds and their hearts by means of private personal study, by attending Christian meetings where God’s Word is taught and discussed and by making use of that Word of God through sharing it with others. They pray for God’s spirit and seek to be continually “filled with spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) In any future time of emergency this fullness of the spiritual “oil” would help them to renew their powers of endurance and to keep on shining as the “light of the world” in proof that they were holding true to their betrothal to their heavenly Bridegroom.

“WHILE THE BRIDEGROOM WAS DELAYING”

41. (a) When did Gentiles first become part of the “chaste virgin” class that went out to meet the Bridegroom? (b) Because of what happened to the Jews in 70 C.E., did the “virgins” meet the Bridegroom then?

⁴¹ In the autumn of the year 36 C.E., the door was opened for uncircumcised non-Jews, Gentiles, to be converted to the Christianity that is the “form of worship that is clean and undefiled” from the standpoint of God. These believing Gentiles received God’s holy spirit and its gifts the same as the Jewish believers had on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E. (Acts 10:1 to 11:18; 15:7-19) Thus these also became part of the “chaste virgin” class that is ‘promised in marriage’ to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2) From then onward they had a part in the fulfillment of the parable of the “ten virgins” and, to use the language of the parable, they “took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” In the year 70 C.E. the city of Jerusalem and its gorgeous temple were destroyed by the Roman legions, but, although that horrible destruction was an expression of God’s judgment against the unbelieving, antichristian Jews, the “chaste virgin” class did not meet up with the heavenly Bridegroom whom they had gone out to welcome.​—Luke 21:20-24; Matthew 24:15-22; Mark 13:14-20.

42, 43. (a) Toward the end of the first century, what revelation must have encouraged the “chaste virgin” class in its hope, but how did that revelation end? (b) In his first letter written thereafter, to whose presence already did John refer?

⁴² Years went by, and toward the end of the first century C.E., about the year 96 C.E., the apostle John received the marvelous Revelation with what it had to reveal about the heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ and his “bride,” who was pictured as the New Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:1 to 22:17) This must have been of untold encouragement to the “chaste virgin” class who were still persisting in their hopes of meeting the returning Bridegroom. However, the heavenly Bridegroom closed that Revelation, saying: “He that bears witness of these things says, ‘Yes; I am coming quickly.’” In response, the aged apostle John replied: “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus,” and then John added in closing: “May the undeserved kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ be with the holy ones.” (Revelation 22:20, 21) Possibly two years after that, about 98 C.E., the apostle John wrote the first of his three letters, and in it he said:

⁴³ “Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour.” “We know that every person that has been born from God does not practice sin, but the One born from God watches him, and the wicked one does not fasten his hold on him. We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.”​—1 John 2:18; 5:18, 19.

44. (a) John’s death thereafter opened up the way for the coming of whom? (b) By then how brightly must the lighted lamps of the “ten virgins” class have been burning, and what hope was there of meeting the Bridegroom?

⁴⁴ Shortly after writing his three letters and also the life account of Jesus known as the Gospel of John, the aged apostle must have died, doubtless the last of the “twelve apostles of the Lamb.” John’s passing would therefore allow for the gradual opening of the door to the incoming, not of Christ the Bridegroom, but of the antichrist, concerning whom John had warned. (2 Thessalonians 2:7, 8) Then the “light of the world” was almost snuffed out. The symbolic “lamps” of the class pictured by the “ten virgins” must have burned very low. In fact, the number of true “virgins” must have become very few. Other interests, mundane material interests, rather than the desire for the return of the Lord Jesus, must have occupied the attention of those who were merely professing Christians. So long a time was passing, and yet he did not put in appearance.

45. How was it fulfilled that, “while the bridegroom was delaying, they all nodded and went to sleep,” especially by Constantine’s time?

⁴⁵ This was what the parable of the ten virgins foretold in these words: “While the bridegroom was delaying, they all nodded and went to sleep.” (Matthew 25:5) Likewise, within the religious group that professed to be the Christian congregation, the members were growing tired of waiting for the Bridegroom’s coming. In fact, with the so-called “conversion” of Constantine the Great and his making the professed Christianity of his day the State Religion of the Roman Empire, there appeared to be no need for the return of Christ. Christendom was now established, many of the religious bishops of the churches became allied with the Roman State and began reigning in a religious sense. Not only were the genuine apostles of Jesus Christ asleep in death, but these professed Christian bishops fell asleep to Christian responsibility and the need to keep the Christian congregation pure, free from the philosophies and traditions of men, and the need to keep absolutely pure and spotless from the world in a clean, undefiled form of worship before God.

46. (a) How does this sleeping of the “ten virgins” class parallel what Jesus foretold in the parable of the wheat and the weeds? (b) How long was the spiritual sleeping to last, and at what time was fulfillment of the parable’s final feature to be located?

⁴⁶ This religious situation seems to parallel that which was pictured in Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds, in which he said: “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field. While men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left.” (Matthew 13:24, 25) Only after a long growing season would the harvest come and the time for the parabolic “man” to come to the harvest work and order the weeds to be pulled out and the pure “wheat” to be gathered into his storehouses. Interestingly, in explaining all this parable, Jesus used the same expression that his apostles used when asking him the question recorded in Matthew 24:3. Jesus said: “The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things.” (Matthew 13:39) Till the conclusion of the worldly system of things was yet a long time, and the sleep foretold in the parable of the “ten virgins” proved to be a long one. The fulfillment of the final features of the parable of the virgins was to be part of the “sign” that we are in the “conclusion of the system of things.”

[Footnotes]

Chapter 11

“Here Is the Bridegroom!”

 1. During this indefinitely long sleep of the “ten virgins,” there would be stirrings on whose part, and especially after what religious awakening?

DURING that indefinitely long sleep as foretold in Jesus’ parable, there must have been some stirrings on the part of the symbolic “virgins,” especially on the part of the “discreet” virgins who had brought along an extra supply of oil in their receptacles. This was so particularly after there was a religious awakening in the early sixteenth century C.E. and an effort was strenuously put forth in Europe to return to the inspired Holy Scriptures as the sole book of divine truth, the true inspired guide for the followers of Christ the Bridegroom. Christ’s promise to come again made quite an impression on sincere Bible readers and students. They saw that this second coming would be premillennial, that is to say, before the promised Millennium began, this millennium to be marked by Satan’s being bound and imprisoned in the “bottomless pit” or “abyss.”

 2. How did the Lutheran theologian J. A. Bengel play a part in such stirrings religiously?

² For instance, in the first half of the eighteenth century there arose a Lutheran theologian named Johann Albrecht Bengel, who was born at Winnenden in Wuerttemberg, Germany, in 1687 and died in 1752 C.E. He wrote a number of books on the Sacred Scriptures. Says the Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh edition) concerning them:

The more important are: Ordo Temporum [Order of the Times], a treatise on the chronology of Scripture, in which he enters upon speculations regarding the end of the world, and an Exposition of the Apocalypse which enjoyed for a time great popularity in Germany, and was translated into several languages.​—Volume 3, page 737.

Says M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia concerning Bengel:

His chronological works, endeavoring to fix the “number of the beast,” the date of the “millennium” (he was positive in fixing the beginning of the millennium at the year 1836), etc., have rather detracted from his reputation for solidity of judgment.​—Volume 1, pages 749, 750.

 3. (a) Why did those published writings of Bengel not prove to be the midnight cry about the Bridegroom? (b) How did another stirring come with William Miller of Pittsfield, Massachusetts?

³ However, the published writings of Bengel in the first half of the eighteenth century did not prove to be the midnight cry: “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” “Here is the bridegroom! Be on your way out to meet him.” (Matthew 25:6, Revised Standard Version; New World Translation) Those who followed up Bengel’s publications and acted according to them did not meet the heavenly Bridegroom in the year 1836 by a visible return of Him in the flesh. In course of time there came other stirrings among those Christians who professed to be of the “chaste virgin” class, particularly that in connection with a man born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in the year 1781. This man was William Miller, who became the founder of the so-called Millerites or Adventists. Says M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia, Volume 6, page 271:

About 1833, when a resident of Low Hampton, N.Y., he began his career as an apostle of the new doctrine, which taught that the world was coming to an end in 1843. The main argument on which his belief rested was that relative to the termination of the 2300 days in Daniel 8:14, which he regarded as years. Then considering the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24, as the key to the date of the 2300 days of the preceding chapter, and dating the periods B.C. 457, when Artaxerxes, king of Persia, sent up Ezra from his captivity, to restore the Jewish polity at Jerusalem (Ezra 7), and ending the seventy weeks, as commentators generally do, in A.D. 33, with the crucifixion of Christ, he found the remainder of the 2300 days, which was 1810, would end in 1843. For ten years he held forth to this purport, and succeeded in gathering a large number of followers, which is said to have reached fifty thousand, who awaited, with credulous expectation, the appointed day. The result, however, turning out contrary to the teaching of their apostle, the Adventists, as they are sometimes termed, gradually forsook Miller. He died at Low Hampton, Washington County, N.Y., December 20, 1849.

 4. (a) How did the Miller movement not prove to be the midnight cry? (b) Thirty years later, what did an independent group of Bible students discover about Christ’s second coming?

⁴ Evidently, then, the launching of the Millerite movement did not turn out to be the midnight cry, “Here is the bridegroom!” The heavenly Bridegroom did not appear in the flesh visibly to those Adventists and take them in a rapture to their desired heavenly home, in 1843. And yet Bible study continued on. Thirty years later found a small group of men, not associated with the Adventists or affiliated with any of the religious sects of Christendom, studying the Holy Scriptures at Pittsburgh (Allegheny), Pennsylvania, U.S.A. They studied independently so as to avoid looking at the Bible through sectarian spectacles. Among these men was one Charles Taze Russell, just entered into his twenties. They were, of course, intensely interested in the second coming of the heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. However, their Bible studies led to their discovery that Christ’s return would be an invisible one, not visibly in the flesh as a materialized man, but invisibly in the spirit, inasmuch as he was no longer flesh and blood. His arrival would therefore be unseen to men, and this arrival would begin an invisible presence or parousia on his part. But it would be made manifest by evidences.

“SEVEN TIMES”​—“THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES”

 5. In the course of their studies, what time period mentioned by Jesus did they consider, and, in 1876, what did Russell have published about the end of that period?

⁵ In the course of their Bible studies, these searching students took up a consideration of the “times of the Gentiles,” as spoken of by Jesus at Luke 21:24 (AV), and they associated those Gentile Times with the “seven times” mentioned four times in Daniel, chapter four, verses 16, 23, 25, 32. What did those Bible students determine to be the date for those “seven times” of Gentile domination of the earth to end legally before God? Well, at that time there was a monthly magazine being published in Brooklyn, New York, by one George Storrs, and it was called “Bible Examiner.” In the year 1876 the twenty-four-year-old Russell made a contribution on the subject to this magazine. It was published in Volume XXI, Number 1, which was the issue of October, 1876. On pages 27, 28 of that issue Russell’s article was published under the title “Gentile Times: When Do They End?” In that article (page 27) Russell said: “The seven times will end in A.D. 1914.”

 6. (a) In 1877, what book did Russell join in publishing, and what did it say about the end of the Gentile Times? (b) When did the chronology then followed end six thousand years of man’s existence, but in what year was the seventh millennium figured to begin?

⁶ In the following year (1877) Russell joined with one Nelson H. Barbour, of Rochester, New York, in publishing a book entitled “Three Worlds, and the Harvest of This World.” In this book it was set forth that the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 C.E. would be preceded by a period of forty years marked by the opening of a harvest of three and a half years, beginning in 1874 C.E. This harvest was understood to be under the invisible direction of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose presence or parousia began in the year 1874. Shortly afterward was understood to be the beginning of the great antitypical Jubilee for mankind, that had been foreshadowed by the ancient “jubilee” observances of the Jews under the law of Moses. (Leviticus, chapter twenty-five) According to the Bible chronology that was thereafter adopted, the six thousand years of man’s existence on the earth ended in the year 1872 but the Lord Jesus did not come at the end of those six millenniums of human existence, rather, at the start of the antitypical Jubilee in October of 1874. The year 1874 was calculated as being the end of six millenniums of sin among mankind. From this latter date mankind was understood to be in the seventh millennium.​—Revelation 20:4.

 7. (a) Why did Russell’s religious magazine when published in 1879 include in its title “And Herald of Christ’s Presence”? (b) What was to happen when that “presence” reached the end of the Gentile Times in 1914?

⁷ From that understanding of matters, the “chaste virgin” class began going forth to meet the heavenly Bridegroom in the year 1874, as they believed him to have arrived in that year and to be from then on invisibly present. They felt that they were already living in the invisible presence of the Bridegroom. Due to this fact, when Charles T. Russell began publishing his own religious magazine in July of 1879, he published it under the title “Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.” He had already become familiar with Wilson’s The Emphatic Diaglott, which translated the Greek word pa·rou·siʹa as “presence,” not “coming,” in Matthew 24:3 and elsewhere. The new magazine was heralding Christ’s invisible presence as having begun in 1874. This presence was to continue until the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, when the Gentile nations would be destroyed and the remnant of the “chaste virgin” class would be glorified with their bridegroom in heaven by death and resurrection to life in the spirit. Thus the class pictured by the five wise virgins would enter through the door into the wedding.

 8. (a) What did the remnant of the “chaste virgin” class look forward to eagerly, and why? (b) On the morning of that day, what did Russell announce to the headquarters staff of workers in Brooklyn, N.Y.?

⁸ As the years passed by and the time drew closer, the remnant of the “chaste virgin” class looked ahead with intensifying interest to that critical date, October 1, 1914. These were a class of Christians separated from this unclean world and fully “consecrated” to God through Christ, and they had symbolized their “consecration” to God by water immersion. They were endeavoring to let their light shine as they approached the time when they expected to meet their Bridegroom in the heavens. Finally the day arrived, October 1, 1914, and on the morning of that day Charles T. Russell as president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society announced to the headquarters staff of workers in Brooklyn, New York: “The Gentile Times have ended and their kings have had their day.”

 9. However, when did Russell himself die, and what conclusion must be drawn therefrom?

⁹ However, with that end of the Gentile Times there did not also come the anticipated glorification of the remnant of the church in the heavens. It was first on October 31, 1916, that Russell himself died, leaving the Society’s presidency to another. Something must have been miscalculated.

10. (a) What did October 1, 1914, see shaping up for the remnant of the “chaste virgin” class on earth? (b) When did the persecution reach a climax, and what letter shows a heart yearning for union with the heavenly Bridegroom?

¹⁰ Instead of seeing the glorification of the Christian church in heaven, the date of October 1, 1914, saw great trouble shaping up for those who were desirous of meeting the heavenly Bridegroom. As the years of World War I dragged on in a horrifying fashion there came a climax to the persecution that continued to be heaped upon the “chaste virgin” class. This came in the summer of 1918, when the Watch Tower Society’s new president, Joseph F. Rutherford, and the secretary-treasurer thereof, W. E. Van Amburgh, and six other Christian men connected with the headquarters staff in Brooklyn, New York, were unjustly convicted in a Federal court and imprisoned in the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. From his cell there, President Rutherford addressed a letter to his fellow Christians who were undergoing persecution outside prison bars and walls. A portion of this letter was printed on the fourth page of the program of the four-day convention of the International Bible Students Association, August 30 to September 2, 1918, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.a This letter revealed the heart-yearning of the “chaste virgin” class for an early union with the Bridegroom in the heavens, especially in these lines that we quote therefrom:

TO THE ISRAEL OF GOD

“Dearly Beloved in Christ:—

“Prison life seems strange; and yet every experience is attended with joy, since we look at all such from the heavenly viewpoint. Truly now we can sing:

‘Fade, fade, each earthly joy,

Jesus is mine!’

“In fact, there are now no earthly joys; but we are looking with joyful anticipation to our gathering home. . . . We often feel in a strait betwixt two​—whether we would prefer to depart or to come and serve you a season before we go home. His will be done! I feel sure that all these experiences are ripening the church preparatory to the final ingathering. The letters from the dear ones elsewhere show how sweetly they are yielding to the fire that is consuming the sacrifice. . . .

“ . . . Do all you can to encourage the dear sheep of the flock. Comfort them with the sweet promises of an early and glorious home-coming. Never have I loved you all so much as now. How sweet it will be to gather around our Father’s throne and rejoice with joy unspeakable forevermore!. . .

“I thank our dear Father for being so good as to send seven brethren with me, that we may have these privileges together. . . .

“Know of a certainty that we greatly love you all. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

“Your brother and servant by His grace,

“J. F. RUTHERFORD.”

11. (a) During that persecution, what did the remnant of the “chaste virgin” class not appreciate regarding 1874? (b) How long did the Society’s representatives serve in penitentiary, and what opened up on their release?

¹¹ During all these hard experiences amid the darkness of World War I the suffering remnant of the “chaste virgin” class did not appreciate that the year 1874, then over forty years in the past, had not been the time of the Bridegroom’s return and the time for announcing: “Here is the bridegroom! Be on your way out to meet him.” The time of the midnight cry was yet ahead, but close at hand. The time spent in prison by President Rutherford did not prove to be twenty years, according to the sentence that had been imposed upon him by the court on June 21, 1918, but turned out to be only nine months. On March 25, 1919, he and his seven companions were released from the Atlanta Penitentiary and returned to Brooklyn, New York, where, on March 26, they were all admitted to bail and an appeal was granted to them. They were again free to take up their postwar work with all other members of the remnant of the “chaste virgin” class. This remnant had experienced no ingathering to their heavenly Father’s throne away from the increasing darkness of this wicked world. A new period of Christian service on earth was opening up!

12. What part of Jesus’ parable of the “ten virgins” did they then experience?

¹² It was at this critical juncture that they experienced what was foretold by the heavenly Bridegroom in his parable of the “ten virgins,” in these words: “Right in the middle of the night there arose a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Be on your way out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and put their lamps in order.”​—Matthew 25:6, 7.

13, 14. (a) In the parable, by whom was the bridegroom’s presence announced, and how was this fulfilled? (b) Since 1914, what evidence was there to prove that the heavenly Bridegroom was really present?

¹³ In the parable the announcement of the bridegroom’s being there was not made by the “ten virgins.” It was evidently made by the bridegroom’s attendants. The virgins merely heard the cry. Likewise, in the year 1919 C.E., the fact of the heavenly Bridegroom’s invisible presence was thrust upon all those who claimed to be like the virgins awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom to lead them to the spiritual wedding feast inside his Father’s home.

¹⁴ Hence, the year 1919 proved to be a rousing year for all the professed “virgins,” the foolish ones and the discreet ones. The first global war was over, and the League of Nations was pushed forward as an international organization for world peace and security. Since the outbreak of that world war in 1914 a sufficient number of features of Jesus’ prophecy concerning his parousia and the conclusion of the system of things had been fulfilled to make up a composite “sign” that Jesus Christ had indeed come into his heavenly kingdom at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. So the promised Messianic kingdom of God had been established in the heavens. World history and Church history now really proved that the Christ was present!

PUTTING THEIR “LAMPS” IN ORDER

15. (a) What subtitle could the Watch Tower magazine now correctly bear? (b) Watch Tower readers world wide were stirred by what announcement in the issue of April 15, 1919?

¹⁵ Now at last the Watch Tower magazine could rightly bear the subtitle “And Herald of Christ’s Presence.” The eight Christian Bible students released from the Federal penitentiary in March were privileged to attend the annual celebration of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday night, April 13, 1919, and, according to an incomplete report of the total attendance published in The Watch Tower as of May 15, page 151, there were upward of 17,961 who celebrated. Pages 117, 118 of the Watch Tower issue of April 15, 1919, announced the release on bail of $10,000 each of the eight falsely accused men, and the grand reception that was given to them at the Brooklyn Bethel home by hundreds of fellow Christians. This announcement, published world wide, had a stimulating effect on readers of The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.

16. (a) According to Isaiah 60:2, for what was it then the time? (b) How was the courage of the “consecrated” Bible students strengthened, and what international gathering was held?

¹⁶ It was now no time for spiritual drowsiness and sleep. It was a time for action when, as Isaiah 60:2 foretold, “darkness itself will cover the earth, and thick gloom the national groups; but upon you Jehovah will shine forth, and upon you his own glory will be seen.” The world situation called for courageous action on the part of all the “consecrated” Bible students. No time was lost in strengthening the Christian courage of those who had been looking for the Bridegroom, for, in the Watch Tower issues of August 1 and 15, 1919, there were published the two articles on the theme “Blessed Are the Fearless,” together with announcements of arrangements for a “General Convention: Cedar Point, Lake Erie,” for eight days, September 1-8, and on an international scale. Vigorously shaking themselves free of spiritual sleepiness, thousands of God’s “consecrated” people flocked to the convention location, around 6,000, particularly from Canada and the United States, attending the daily sessions. That stirring convention was an occasion for the “consecrated” ones to renew their resolves to be wide awake and active in God’s service that lay ahead.

17, 18. (a) On “Co-laborers Day” of that General Convention, what was announced for publication, and with what prospect? (b) In what way were the instructions on how to proceed with the work encouraging, and were the happenings of that convention day merely of passing interest?

¹⁷ Tremendous enthusiasm was evoked on “Colaborers Day,” Friday, September 5, when President J. F. Rutherford announced the publication of a new magazine from October 1, 1919, onward, to be entitled “The Golden Age.” This was to be a companion of the Watch Tower magazine for publishing the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom, and God’s “consecrated” people were encouraged to take part in getting subscriptions for it, looking to the time for the circulating of 4,000,000 copies of an issue. Later, additional instructions on how to proceed in this worldwide publicity work appeared in the two-and-a-half-page article entitled “Announcing the Kingdom,” on pages 279-281 of The Watch Tower as of September 15, 1919.

¹⁸ What an energizing call to all readers was the statement in the third-last paragraph of this article: “Enter it quickly. Remember as you go forth in this work you are not soliciting merely as the agent of a magazine, but you are an ambassador of the King of kings and Lord of lords, announcing to the people in this dignified manner the incoming of the Golden Age, the glorious kingdom of our Lord and Master, for which true Christians have hoped and prayed for many centuries”! There was an instantaneous response to that invitation into this new feature of the Kingdom work, and today, more than fifty-three years later, that same magazine bearing now the name “Awake!” has a printing of 7,500,000 copies of each issue. Certainly the presence of those 6,000 “consecrated” Christians there at Cedar Point, Ohio, and their hailing of the announcement of the Golden Age magazine on Friday, September 5, 1919, were not by any means things of passing interest, that were of no consequence in the history of God’s “chaste virgin” class in this true time of Christ’s parousia. That virgin class has not gone asleep again!

19. The putting of the lamps in order called for what action, and why did this lead to a division between the virgins?

¹⁹ That was truly the time when “all those virgins rose and put their lamps in order.” (Matthew 25:7) In the parable, this required the virgins to refill their lamps with oil, for their lamps were “about to go out.” But, alas! the foolish virgins found that they were unable immediately to refill their lamps; they had brought no receptacles filled with oil along with them, whereas the discreet virgins had done so. This led to a division among the virgins. Why? Matthew 25:8, 9 explains, saying: “The foolish said to the discreet, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are about to go out.’ The discreet answered with the words, ‘Perhaps there may not be quite enough for us and you. Be on your way, instead, to those who sell it and buy for yourselves.’”

20. Was it selfish on the part of the discreet virgins to refuse to share their oil with the foolish ones, and what was the resolve of the discreet ones?

²⁰ We can imagine what difficulty that would entail upon those foolish virgins, to go at that hour of the night and try to locate an open oil shop or oil dealers who would accommodate them with the needed oil. Well, then, was that not selfish on the part of the discreet virgins, not to share their supply with the indiscreet virgins? No! for had they done so, then none of the ten virgins would have got to the door of the bridegroom’s house and entered into the wedding feast. The divided supply of all the ten would have given out before they got there. The discreet virgins showed that they felt obligated to get there by bringing along an emergency supply of oil. This showed, also, that they all had determined to get there, and now these discreet virgins were not allowing themselves to be frustrated and come short of their good purpose to the honor of the bridegroom. Furthermore, oil was still available for the foolish virgins from other sources without their hindering or endangering the success of the discreet virgins.

21. What does this not mean as to the “discreet” virgin class’ treatment of one who desired to study the Bible and learn about the Bridegroom?

²¹ How does this work out in the fulfillment of the parable in this time of the parousia or presence of the heavenly Bridegroom? Does it mean that, if some honest person who heard about the invisible presence of the Lord Jesus Christ desired to have the “discreet” virgin class study the Bible with him and share in honoring the Bridegroom, the “discreet” virgin class would refuse to do so but would tell the person to shift for himself? If he wanted to get filled with God’s Word and holy spirit, would it be violating the lesson of the parable to do so? Not at all.

22. In considering the question of sharing the “oil,” what should we remember that holding aloft the lighted lamp signifies, and the “oil” symbolizes what?

²² Why, then, in the fulfillment, do the “discreet” virgin class refuse to divide their “oil” with the “foolish” virgin class? We must bear in mind that the having of oil in one’s receptacle is the same as having the symbolic “oil” in oneself. Also, the holding aloft of the lighted lamp is the same as one’s letting one’s light shine, the same as one’s shining as a luminary, in order for people in this dark, benighted world to see our good works and to glorify God because thereof. (Matthew 5:14-16; Philippians 2:15) It is the symbolic “oil” that gives the illuminating power, and this “oil” pictures both God’s Word, which is as a lamp and a light to a worshiper of God (Psalm 119:105), and also God’s holy spirit, which illuminates God’s Word to us and produces in all its possessors the fine godly qualities that are called the “fruitage of the spirit.” (Galatians 5:22, 23; Ephesians 5:18-20) Well, then, should the “discreet” virgins reduce the amount of this “oil,” this illuminative power, in themselves? Finally, cease shining?

23. (a) What do the “foolish” virgin class desire the “discreet” class to do toward them? (b) What kind of “Christians” are the “foolish” virgin class?

²³ This is what the “foolish” virgin class would like the “discreet” ones to do. The “foolish” ones desire the “discreet” ones to compromise with them. The announcement of the heavenly Bridegroom’s invisible presence in 1919 C.E. posed a challenge to all those who professed to be “virgins” with a desire to meet and share the joy of that Bridegroom. Those who are like the “foolish” virgins have merely a profession of Christianity; they are largely nominal Christians, but do not meet the requirements of true Christianity. They may have some knowledge of the Bible, especially knowledge with a sectarian understanding of such Bible knowledge. They may have been influenced by what knowledge of Scripture that they have, but not to the point of having God’s powerful spirit in them for producing the “fruitage of the spirit.” Their conduct does not conform to the true Christian pattern. They shine merely as nominal or professed Christians in the religious formalisms of their sect in Christendom. They expect to go to heaven when they die!

24. (a) Does the religious development of the “foolish” virgin class enable them to accept the provable evidences of the Bridegroom’s presence? (b) To what level of Christian profession do the foolish want the discreet to bring themselves so as to keep together?

²⁴ However, their religious development does not enable them to meet the challenge when the midnight cry is made, “Here is the bridegroom! Be on your way out to meet him.” In fact, they do not discern, they do not accept the provable fact of the Bridegroom’s presence since the year 1914. They profess to believe in the Bridegroom and that the church is his bride, but they insist on meeting the Bridegroom and entering into his joy in their own way, their sectarian way. So, if there is to be a sharing of company between them and the “discreet” virgin class, there has to be a compromise. There needs to be an interfaith amalgamating of them all as professed Christians and heirs of heaven. The “discreet” class must take away from their own supply of spiritual “oil” and bring down their level of Christian development to that of the indiscreet religionists. Thus the “discreet” ones should make themselves religiously foolish in order to keep company with the “foolish,” indiscreet, imprudent professors of Christianity.

25. (a) What, then, is the issue as respects the “discreet” virgin class? (b) To meet the requirements finally, what words of Peter and Paul do they need to carry out?

²⁵ The issue is clear: Are those of the “discreet” virgin class to be influenced by mere religious sentiment such as is found in Christendom? Are they going to let themselves be drained of their spiritual “oil” and become incapacitated to shine as true Christians down to the end, obliged in course of time to drop out of the procession of light bearers who are accompanying the Bridegroom to the door of the wedding-feast chamber? They need, as 2 Peter 1:10 says, to “do your utmost to make the calling and choosing of you sure for yourselves.” They need to imitate the apostle Paul, who, toward the finish of his earthly life, wrote: “I have run the course to the finish, I have observed the faith. From this time on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me as a reward in that day.” They must measure up to the full Christian requirements when they reach that door to the wedding feast of the Bridegroom.​—2 Timothy 4:7, 8.

26. How did the “discreet” virgin class come under restraint during World War I, and why did it part company with the “foolish” virgin class in 1919?

²⁶ For that reason the “discreet” virgin class parted company with mere professors of Christianity, like the weeds in the parable of the wheat and the weeds or tares (darnel). During World War I they had been brought into bondage to Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, and her military, political and judicial paramours. Not only were they under restraints due considerably to the fear of men in powerful positions but they were in literal captivity through imprisonments and confinement in military camps and other places of detention. In 1919 they acted upon the call from heaven regarding Babylon the Great: “And I heard another voice out of heaven say: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4) They could not compromise with the “foolish” virgin class on that issue. They must obey God rather than Babylon the Great and her worldly paramours. They could not go along, also, with Babylon the Great in worshiping the image of the wild beast, the League of Nations, which Babylon the Great made her riding mount in the year 1919 C.E.​—Revelation 13:14, 15; 14:11, 12; 17:1-18.

27. How was the position of the “discreet” virgin class unequivocal from the start, as evidenced by the public statement made on Sunday, September 7, 1919?

²⁷ The position taken by the “discreet” virgin class on this issue was unequivocal from the start. In evidence of this, on Sunday afternoon, September 7, 1919, at the Cedar Point convention, President Rutherford gave his public address on “The Hope for Distressed Humanity,” in which he pointed out God’s disapproval of the League of Nations. To quote from the report published in the Sandusky (Ohio) Star-Journal on Monday, September 8, 1919:

President Rutherford spoke to nearly 7,000 persons under the trees Sunday afternoon. He declared a League of Nations formed by the political and economic forces moved by a desire to better mankind by establishment of peace and plenty would accomplish great good, and then asserted that the Lord’s displeasure is certain to be visited upon the League, however, because the clergy​—Catholic and Protestant—​claiming to be God’s representatives, have abandoned his plan and endorse the League of Nations, hailing it as a political expression of Christ’s kingdom on earth.​—The Watch Tower, under date of October 1, 1919, page 298, column 1.

28, 29. Why did the “discreet” virgin class take this stand, and what reproachful term used by James could not be applied to them?

²⁸ The “discreet” virgin class had the faith that the kingdom of God’s dear Son had been established in the heavens at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914, and they stood uncompromisingly for it and refused to recognize and worship any substitute. They could not afford to give away any of their spiritual “oil” and reduce the full measure of their devotion to God’s Messianic kingdom. This staunch attachment to the Kingdom did not make them popular with this world or friends with this world. It intensified the hatred of this world toward them. But this hatred and enmity from the world made it all the more apparent that they were holding true to their relationship to the heavenly King-Bridegroom. Not to them could be applied the reproachful term “adulteress” for the reason for which the disciple James directed the term to certain members of the congregation of the first century, saying:

²⁹ “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.”​—James 4:4.

30, 31. To whom did the “discreet” virgin class thereby show the qualities of a betrothed virgin, and how is such bridal beauty described in Isaiah’s prophecy?

³⁰ So by uncompromisingly keeping their full supply of spiritual “oil” and using it to keep themselves as “lamps” continually burning with a bright flame, the “discreet” virgin class were honoring their heavenly Bridegroom, to whom they were betrothed or promised in marriage. They were letting shine forth in themselves the loyal, chaste, clean, pure qualities that are looked for in those who are to be made the heavenly bride of their “one husband,” the Lord Jesus Christ. They rejoice with him that God’s time for his beloved Son to lead his “bride” home to himself has come; they share in his exultation, just as it is written: “With the exultation of a bridegroom over a bride, your God will exult even over you.” (Isaiah 62:5) To match the glory of his appearance, they also want to look beautiful like the bride on the wedding day, accepting the adornment that the heavenly Father gives to them. This lovely balance of beauty between bridegroom and bride is described in Isaiah 61:10:

³¹ “For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; with the sleeveless coat of righteousness he has enwrapped me, like the bridegroom who, in a priestly way, puts on a headdress, and like the bride who decks herself with her ornamental things.”

32. How does the “discreet” virgin class shine in honor of its Bridegroom?

³² Nothing on the part of the “discreet” virgin class on earth should reflect against the glory of the heavenly Bridegroom, who is all radiant like the sun: “It is like a bridegroom when coming out of his nuptial chamber.” (Psalm 19:4, 5) It is therefore incumbent upon the “discreet” virgin class to shine in their Bridegroom’s honor like luminaries by displaying those Christlike qualities that distinguish them from that religious harlot, Babylon the Great, and all her religiously immoral “daughters.” By thus shining they do not misrepresent their beloved Bridegroom to mankind.

BUYING LAMP OIL FROM THE SELLERS

33. According to Jesus’ parable, what only could the “discreet” virgins say to the “foolish” ones, and what did the “discreet” thus show?

³³ For lack of the spiritual “oil” the “foolish” virgin class could not shine in honor of the Bridegroom who had arrived and was present and proceeding to the wedding feast. They were not entitled to any of the “oil” that the “discreet” ones had brought along with them and that they needed to follow in the steps of the Bridegroom. So, according to the parable, all that the “discreet” could say to the “foolish” was: “Perhaps there may not be quite enough for us and you. Be on your way, instead, to those who sell it and buy for yourselves.” (Matthew 25:9) In taking this position, the “discreet” virgins further showed their discreetness, and the foolishness of the indiscreet, imprudent virgins turned out to be disastrous for them. They were obliged to seek out oil dealers and get their lamps refilled.

34, 35. In the parable’s fulfillment, how was this buying of oil accomplished, but what does the parable show would happen in the meantime?

³⁴ Similarly, in the fulfillment of the parable, the “foolish” were obliged to get their own needed supply of spiritual “oil.” They went to where they religiously felt that they could get the “oil” that would pave the way for their entry into heaven, according to their religious creeds. Accordingly, they sought out their denominational, religious sectarian systems for the type of “oil” that these sold and from such dealers they got the kind of “oil” that they were willing to pay for, without the right kind of devotion to the heavenly Bridegroom. But will the religious “oil” that is bought from the oil dealers at their price prove to be effective toward gaining admission to the marriage feast? On this we read:

³⁵ “While they were going off to buy, the bridegroom arrived, and the virgins that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.”​—Matthew 25:10.

36. Which virgins enjoyed the bridegroom’s presence in the procession, and what enabled these to pass inspection at the “door”?

³⁶ The “discreet” virgins and the “foolish” virgins went in opposite directions​—the “foolish” away from the Bridegroom, and the “discreet” to the arriving Bridegroom. There was a distance from where the “discreet” virgins met the bridegroom to the “door” of the house where the marriage feast was to be held. Between those two points there was for a time a lighted procession, and during that period of time the “discreet” virgins were with the bridegroom and the bridegroom was present with them. When the joyful procession reached its destination and proceeded through the door of the bridegroom’s residence, the lamps of the “discreet” virgins were brightly burning. Their oil supply had not run out before they reached the “door.” Then the “discreet” virgins proved that they were part of the procession that followed in the steps of the bridegroom. This entitled them to admission to the marriage feast. The importance of their being prepared for the inspection is emphasized when the parable says: “And the virgins that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast.” The door was not shut in their faces but was shut behind them!

37. At the inspection point, the “virgins” of today prove themselves to be shining in what way, and the Bridegroom admits them to the “bride” class for being in what condition?

³⁷ In the parable’s fulfillment in our time, the “discreet” virgin class continue in the procession that honors and magnifies the glorious Bridegroom down to the end. When they reach the inspection point at the “door,” they prove to be worthy of admission into the marriage festivities. The inspecting of them by the heavenly One to whom they are promised in marriage brings to light that they are shining with the Christian personality that the Bridegroom approves for his heavenly “bride.” They present themselves “as a chaste virgin to the Christ.” They have not let themselves be “corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3) The Bridegroom can accept these “discreet” virgins of today as part of the Christian congregation, concerning which it is written: “That he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.”​—Ephesians 5:27.

“AND THE DOOR WAS SHUT”

38. How many, eventually, will be admitted to the wedding festivities, and when will the “door” be officially shut? And why?

³⁸ Of course, no more will be admitted through the “door” to the marriage feast except those who will complete the number of the 144,000 members of the heavenly “bride” class. (Revelation 7:4-8; 14:1-5) But when is it that the “door” is officially shut? This would be when the “great tribulation” breaks forth at God’s appointed time and destruction starts to come upon Christendom and all the rest of that religious harlot, Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. Then it will be too late for any professed Christians to get out of Babylon the Great in order not to be sharers in her sins and to receive part of her deadly plagues. (Revelation 18:4) Since the number of the days of the “great tribulation” will be “cut short” on account of the “chosen ones,” it is evident that the full number of the “chosen ones,” namely, 144,000, will be completed by the time of the outbreak of the “great tribulation.” This brings about the shutting of the door.

39. In the parable of the “ten virgins,” what finally happens?

³⁹ What is due to happen then? The parable of the “ten virgins” indicates, when it concludes with the words: “Afterwards the rest of the virgins also came, saying, ‘Sir, sir, open to us!’ In answer he said, ‘I tell you the truth, I do not know you.’”​—Matthew 25:11, 12.

40. Why was the bridegroom justified in saying to the “foolish” virgins: “I do not know you”?

⁴⁰ The five “foolish” virgins procured what oil they could get from what oil dealers they could locate at that hour of the night, and they came to the door with their lamps burning. But their lamps had not shone in honor of the bridegroom. They were not part of the procession that met him and accompanied him with joy on his account. What basis, then, did the bridegroom have for recognizing them as part of his celebrators? None at all! They had not added any brilliance to his marriage procession. Truthfully, therefore, he could say to them: “I do not know you.” This justified him in keeping the door locked in their faces.

41. When the “great tribulation” strikes Christendom, what will those of the “foolish” virgin class find out about themselves?

⁴¹ Likewise, when the “great tribulation” begins upon Christendom as the most prominent part of the religious harlot, Babylon the Great, their hopes of going to heaven when they die will be greatly shaken and put in doubt. They will discern that they have not been associated with the correct religious organization that makes up the “chaste virgin,” “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” They will not find themselves being “caught up” in their physical bodies into the clouds, in a bodily rapture, “to meet the Lord in the air,” according to the interpretation placed by their religious instructors on 1 Thessalonians 4:17. True, they have been shining as members of this or that religious sect of Christendom, but they were merely nominal or professed Christians and not the real thing. What now counts as they enter into the “great tribulation” is, not what their priest or preacher thought or said about them, but what the heavenly Bridegroom says that they are!

42. With their religious organization then gone as a mediator, they will make an appeal for recognition by the Bridegroom on what basis?

⁴² Too late, as “shutouts,” they approach the situation that betokens a closed door for them, as the religious basis on which they have stood is wrecked by the “great tribulation.” Their religious organization that acted as a mediator for them being destroyed, they will have to deal directly with the Bridegroom Head of the true congregation. His parousia or presence being invisible and he being concealed from their eyes as if he were behind a shut door, they will call out to him to see whether their mere profession of Christianity without the right works will save them and get them to heaven. They have recognized him, by word of mouth, and ought he not to now reciprocate and recognize them? “Sir, sir,” or, “Lord, Lord!” they will call out in hope of being heard by him. That ought to cause the door to be opened to them. But does it do so?

43. (a) What words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount have those “foolish” virgin class members not taken seriously about calling him “Lord”? (b) What will happen to them when Jesus finally takes those words seriously?

⁴³ They have not taken seriously what the heavenly Bridegroom said on earth in his Sermon on the Mount:“Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23) But then, in the “great tribulation,” the “foolish” virgin class will know that the Bridegroom said those words very seriously as a principle for his guidance. He will not open the door to the heavenly marriage feast to them. He will leave them outside in the blackness of the world’s deepest night, to perish with all other “workers of lawlessness.” From their destruction they will experience no resurrection to heavenly life.

44. With what words did Jesus close the parable of the “ten virgins,” and what do the “discreet” ones not dare to allow about their supply of spiritual oil?

⁴⁴ Consequently, Jesus’ words with which he emphasized the point of the parable of the “ten virgins” are particularly timely for us who live at the “conclusion of the system of things,” namely, “Keep on the watch, therefore, because you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13) It is the occasion now for the ones who desire to be like the five “discreet” virgins to shine continually with an active Christian personality that meets the requirements for membership in the heavenly “bride” class. They dare not make any compromise with those who seek to make them share the burden of the others’ foolishness and so to take away some or much of their supply of the spiritual “oil.”

45. In whose religious company do the “discreet” ones not dare to put themselves, and in whose honor should they shine continually, and why?

⁴⁵ We dare not expose ourselves to the danger of having our light burn down and put ourselves in their religious company. We require all the spiritual “oil” with which we can supply ourselves. Our faith in the Bridegroom’s arrival and presence must continue bright, and we need to continue as a part of the shining procession that follows his steps until he brings his bridal congregation completely home. The long delay in the Bridegroom’s arrival is ended. He is here, in his glorious parousia. The time for drowsiness and sleep is past! It is a time to shine in his honor and to rejoice with him in this joy that the heavenly Father set before him, of taking his spiritual “bride” to himself and celebrating this with a marriage feast. It is vitally necessary now to keep on the watch, for we do not know the day or the hour when that “door” of opportunity will be shut, never to be reopened.

A PART OF THE “SIGN” OF HIS PAROUSIA

46. (a) The parable of the “ten virgins” is part of Jesus’ answer to what question of his apostles? (b) How do the “discreet” class see the climax of the parable’s fulfillment, and of what facts does this convince them?

⁴⁶ The parable of the “ten virgins” was given as part of the answer to the question of Jesus’ apostles: “What will be the sign of your presence [pa·rou·siʹa] and of the conclusion of the system of things?” (Matthew 24:3) The climax of that parable has been undergoing fulfillment since the year 1914 C.E. All the world can see the final features of that parable being realized today. The events set out in detail above were not performed in a corner, out of sight in an obscure spot, but have been taking place in the open where observing persons could take note of them, regardless of whether they understood their significance or not. At least, those who are of the “discreet” virgin class have observed these meaningful happenings, and in them they have strong proof that the heavenly Bridegroom arrived in 1914 C.E. and that his parousia or presence is now in progress invisibly. They discern his presence with their eyes of faith because of the evidence supplied in the fulfillment of the parable of the “ten virgins.” They are assured that the “conclusion of the system of things” began in the year 1914 C.E.

47. How is the proper meaning of the Greek word pa·rou·siʹa borne out by what the “discreet” virgins of the parable did after the midnight cry announcing the bridegroom?

⁴⁷ Yes, too, the Greek word used by the apostle Matthew in his Gospel, Mt chapter twenty-four, verse three, means “presence,” not “coming,” as many translators render the Greek word. This is borne out by what is described in the parable. The “ten virgins” rise up from slumber and sleep when they hear the midnight cry, “Here is the bridegroom!” When their eager eyes, watching for his lighted procession discern his reaching their location, then they go with him in his train. From that point on it consumed time before they all reached the Bridegroom’s residence where the marriage feast awaited all the worthy ones invited. Consequently, there was a period of the Bridegroom’s presence or parousia after he arrived until he brought his bride into the house prepared for her.

THE CORRECTING OF A MISUNDERSTANDING

48. (a) The editor and publisher of Zion’s Watch Tower calculated that Christ’s presence began in what year? (b) Also, what was the date of man’s creation, as published on the cover page of The Watch Tower for some years?

⁴⁸ It is true that the editor and publisher of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence calculated that the “presence” or parousia of the heavenly Bridegroom began in the year 1874 C.E. Also, that the date of the first man’s creation by Jehovah God was in the year 4128 B.C.E., which meant that six thousand years of man’s existence on the earth ended in the year 1872 C.E., as calculated by Russell and his associates. This reckoning began to be announced on the front page of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence beginning with the issue of July 1, 1906, and this practice continued down through the issue of September 15, 1928. For instance, on the first of such mentioned issues appeared the date of issue: “July 1, A.D. 1906​—A.M., 6034”; whereas the dating of the last mentioned issue was: “Anno Mundi 6056​—September 15, 1928.” The Anno Mundi or “Year of the World” date was calculated to be the year 4128 before our Common Era.

49. (a) When was sin’s entrance calculated to have occurred? (b) When, therefore, was the millennium to begin for Satan’s casting into the bottomless pit and for Christ’s reign?

⁴⁹ Two years, however, were allowed for the innocence of the perfect man and woman in the Garden of Eden before sin entered, and hence the year of sin’s entrance was calculated as 4126 B.C.E. This resulted in their calculating six thousand years of sin as ending in 1874 C.E., in which year also, in the autumn, the seventh millennium began, for the instigator of sin, Satan the Devil, to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit and for Christ to start reigning for the foretold thousand years. This meant that the year of the start of Christ’s reign was also the year of his return and the beginning of his invisible presence or parousia.

50. That chronology followed what footnote on Acts 13:20 as found in Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott?

⁵⁰ The above chronology followed the suggestion that was made in Wilson’s The Emphatic Diaglott, in its footnote on Acts 13:20, which verse read: “And after these things, he gave Judges about four hundred and fifty years, till Samuel the prophet.” The footnote on this reading of the verse said:

A difficulty occurs here which has very much puzzled Biblical chronologists. The date given here is at variance with the statement found in 1 Kings 6:1. There have been many solutions offered, but only one which seems entirely satisfactory, i.e., that the text in 1 Kings 6:1 has been corrupted, by substituting the Hebrew character daleth (4) for hay (5) which is very similar in form. This would make 580 years (instead of 480) from the exode to the building of the temple, and exactly agree with Paul’s chronology.

51. (a) Accordingly, what did author C. T. Russell say on page 53 of “The Time Is at Hand” regarding 1 Kings 6:1? (b) According to that, when was man created, when did 6,000 years of sin end, and when did the Grand Jubilee begin?

⁵¹ Accordingly, on page 53 of the book entitled “The Time Is at Hand,” author C. T. Russell wrote, referring to 1 Kings 6:1:

It evidently should read the five-hundred-and-eightieth year, and was possibly an error in transcribing; for if to Solomon’s four years we add David’s forty, and Saul’s space of forty, and the forty-six years from leaving Egypt to the division of the land, we have one hundred and thirty years, which deducted from four hundred and eighty would leave only three hundred and fifty years for the period of the Judges, instead of the four hundred and fifty years mentioned in the Book of Judges, and by Paul, as heretofore shown. The Hebrew character “daleth” (4) very much resembles the character “hay” (5), and it is supposed that in this way the error has occurred, possibly the mistake of a transcriber. I Kings 6:1, then, should read five hundred and eighty, and thus be in perfect harmony with the other statements.

Thus, by inserting 100 years into the Bible chronology during the period of the Judges, man’s creation was pushed back 100 years to 4128 B.C.E., and the six thousand years of man’s existence on earth ended in 1872 C.E. (The Time Is at Hand, page 42) Then the allowance of two years before the entry of sin led to the year 1874 as the year in which six thousand years of human sin terminated and the seventh thousand years for the elimination of sin by Christ’s reign began. So the Grand Jubilee was then due to begin.

52. According to the oldest Greek manuscripts, the 450 years of Acts 13:20 apply before or during the period of the Judges, as shown by modern Bible translations?

⁵² According to the oldest manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures, however, the reading of Acts 13:20 is different from that given in The Emphatic Diaglott and the King James Authorized Version of the Bible. So, according to the most ancient manuscripts, the four hundred and fifty years are not applied to the period of the Judges. In verification of this, The New English Bible (of the year 1970) renders Acts 13:20 as follows: “for some four hundred and fifty years, and afterwards appointed judges for them until the time of the prophet Samuel.” The Jerusalem Bible (English translation of 1966) reads: “for about four hundred and fifty years. After this he gave them judges, down to the prophet Samuel.” The Revised Standard Version Bible of 1952 reads similarly, and so does the American Standard Version Bible of 1901 C.E.

53. Did the ancient Hebrew Bible manuscripts use alphabetic characters to stand for numbers?

⁵³ Furthermore, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts extant, like those of the Dead Sea Scrolls, spell out the numbers of the Bible and do not use alphabetic characters for numerals, thus not allowing for a transcriber’s visual error at 1 Kings 6:1.b

54. (a) The accepting of Bible chronology just as written would affect the beginning of what period here under discussion? (b) Did dropping of “Presence” from the Watchtower title mean that Christ’s presence was no longer believed in?

⁵⁴ The insertion of 100 years into Bible chronology during the period of the Judges is thus seen not to rest upon Scriptural grounds. The insertion should therefore be dropped and the Bible should be accepted just as it reads concerning its chronology. Unavoidably, then, this would affect the date for the parousia of the Bridegroom Jesus Christ to begin. With the Watch Tower magazine’s issue of January 1, 1939, the title was changed to The Watchtower and Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, and with the issue of March 1, 1939, to The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. This did not mean that the publishers of the magazine no longer believed in the presence or parousia of Christ as being then in progress. It meant, rather, that more importance was given to the Kingdom, to the kingdom of Jehovah God by Jesus Christ, for it is Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ that will vindicate Jehovah’s universal sovereignty.

55. (a) When and how was the insertion of 100 years into the period of the Judges done away with, so that 6,000 years of man’s existence ended when? (b) How did this affect the date 1874 C.E., and what question arose?

⁵⁵ In the year 1943 the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society published the book “The Truth Shall Make You Free.” In its chapter 11, entitled “The Count of Time,” it did away with the insertion of 100 years into the period of the Judges and went according to the oldest and most authentic reading of Acts 13:20, and accepted the spelled-out numbers of the Hebrew Scriptures. This moved forward the end of six thousand years of man’s existence into the decade of the 1970’s. Naturally this did away with the year 1874 C.E. as the date of return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the beginning of his invisible presence or parousia. The millennium that was to be marked by the detaining of Satan the Devil enchained in the abyss and by the reign of the 144,000 joint heirs with Christ in heavenly glory was therefore yet in the future. What, then, about the parousia (presence) of Christ? Page 324 of the above book positively says: “The King’s presence or parousia began in 1914.” Also, in the Watchtower issue of July 15, 1949 (page 215, paragraph 22), the statement is made: “ . . . Messiah, the Son of man, came into Kingdom power A.D. 1914 and . . . this constitutes his second coming and the beginning of his second parousía or presence.”

56. (a) In 1950, what new Bible translation was published, and with what rendering of Acts 13:20? (b) Also, what statement was made about Christ’s presence according to straight Bible chronology?

⁵⁶ In the year 1950, there was published the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, with the most authentic reading of Acts 13:20, and translating pa·rou·siʹa every time as “presence.” Immediately afterward appeared the book “This Means Everlasting Life.” Its chapter 21 was entitled “Second Presence of Life’s Chief Agent.” Here was a whole chapter on the subject according to the straight Bible timetable. On pages 220-222, we read:

The evidence already considered proves that A.D. 1914 God’s kingdom was born and his Son was enthroned with authority to rule with an iron rod amid his foes. Eventually he will dash them to pieces and rid the universe of all fighters against God’s rightful sovereignty.​—Psalm 2:8, 9.

So A.D. 1914 marks the time of Christ’s invisible return in spirit. . . . His coming into the Kingdom in 1914 marks the beginning of his second presence or pa·rou·siʹa. This Greek word means presence.

. . . Although invisible in spirit, his second presence is of such importance to people over all the earth that it must not be kept secret, and it will not be. . . . “For just as the lightning comes out of eastern parts and shines over to western parts, so the presence [pa·rou·siʹa] of the Son of man will be.”​—Matthew 24:26, 27, NW.

Since 1914 the present Christ has been making the evidences of his second presence or pa·rou·siʹa manifest and understandable to men everywhere.

57. (a) Did Christ begin reigning amidst his enemies before the end of the Gentile Times in 1914? (b) When did the Bridegroom cause the midnight cry to be heard, and what has taken place since is evidence of what important facts?

⁵⁷ How harmonious with the inspired Scriptures it is, then, that Christ did not begin reigning forty years before the end of the Gentile Times in 1914! Rather, he waited till then at his heavenly Father’s right hand to begin ruling in the midst of his earthly enemies, whom Jehovah places as a stool for his feet! (Psalm 110:1, 2; Hebrews 10:12, 13) Rightly, then, his royal presence or parousia began in that year. In the year 1919, as history proves, he caused the midnight cry to sound on earth and roused the sleeping “virgins” to the urgency of the situation. “Here is the bridegroom! Be on your way out to meet him.” That cry assured them of the heavenly Bridegroom’s presence. The “discreet” virgin class has since been on its way out to meet him. They are seen shining as luminaries in this benighted world. This in itself is an evidence that the promised presence of Christ is upon us. It is also an evidence that God’s kingdom by Christ of a thousand years has approached!

58. Why can we not stop here with the parable of the “ten virgins” in considering the “sign” of the Kingdom’s approach?

⁵⁸ Fulfillment of the parable of the “ten virgins” is not all there is to the “sign” of the approach of that blessed millennial kingdom. We cannot, therefore, stop with this parable, but must go on to consider other features of that wondrous “sign.”

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 188]

C. T. Russell

Chapter 12

Increasing the King’s Belongings

 1. (a) What question arises regarding the Kingdom joint heirs still among us? (b) If we observe such things going on with them, this gives evidence of what fact?

SINCE all the evidence indicates that God’s kingdom of a thousand years has approached, this question arises: What should we expect of those who are to be joined with God’s millennial King in the heavenly government? While they are among us, we should expect to observe them when they are being tested and inspected on how they handle that which belongs to the heavenly King with whom they are called to rule as kings. How do they take care of all the concerns that the heavenly King has on earth? If we observe a testing and inspecting of the joint heirs of that Kingdom taking place among us, it furnishes strong evidence that God’s Messianic King is ruling. He is present on his royal throne!

 2, 3. (a) What we see developing is in fulfillment of what parable of Jesus, and part of his answer to what question of his apostles? (b) How did that parable begin?

² This interesting development that has been taking place under observation of human eye during this twentieth century was pictured for us in a parable or illustration that Jesus Christ included in his remarkable prophecy as he sat on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, on the eleventh day of the spring month of Nisan in the year 33 C.E. He was still giving his detailed answer to the questions submitted by his apostles: “When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence [pa·rou·siʹa, Greek] and of the conclusion of the system of things?” (Matthew 24:3) He had just finished giving to his apostles the parable of the “ten virgins” and drawing a lesson therefrom, and now he gives them a further parable by the fulfillment of which it will be signified that his invisible parousia has begun and is in progress. This parable is quite commonly called “the parable of the talents.” It begins:

³ “For it is just as when a man, about to travel abroad, summoned slaves of his and committed to them his belongings. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, to still another one, to each one according to his own ability, and he went abroad.”​—Matthew 25:14, 15.

 4. (a) According to the context of this parable, what is it that is “just as when” a wealthy man traveled abroad and committed valuables to his slaves? (b) Whom does this “man” picture, and why?

⁴ What is it, though, that is “just as when” a wealthy man commits his belongings to his slaves before his departure abroad? Why, it is the circumstances connected with the Kingdom about which Jesus Christ has been speaking. This is apparent from his preceding parable, that of the “ten virgins,” which he introduced with these words: “Then the kingdom of the heavens will become like ten virgins that took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” (Matthew 25:1) It is also apparent from the parable that Jesus gives after his parable concerning the “talents.” (Matthew 25:31-34) In the parable now under consideration the wealthy man traveling abroad is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It was concerning the “sign” of his presence that he was asked.

 5. What earlier parable resembles in some features the parable of the “talents,” but how do the two parables differ in what they were meant to show?

⁵ This parable of the “talents” resembles in a number of features an earlier parable that Jesus gave and that is commonly called “the parable of the pounds” (or, minas). Curiously, the parable of the “talents” was meant to prove by its fulfillment in our day that the royal presence or parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ was in progress, whereas the parable of the “pounds” or minas was given by the Lord Jesus to show his listeners that, at that time, the Messianic kingdom was yet a long time in the future. Hence, the account that introduces the parable of the minas says: “While they were listening to these things he spoke in addition an illustration.” Why? “Because he was near Jerusalem and they were imagining that the kingdom of God was going to display itself instantly. Therefore he said: ‘A certain man of noble birth traveled to a distant land to secure kingly power for himself and to return. Calling ten slaves of his he gave them ten minas and told them, “Do business till I come.”’” (Luke 19:11-13) A long journey to a distant land and a return therefrom were involved, and this would mean a long time before the noble man got back with his kingdom power.

 6. (a) What had happened just two days before Jesus gave the parable of the “talents,” and what did not display itself then? (b) So what question arises now?

⁶ Likewise, indeed, when the Lord Jesus gave his parable of the “talents” the Messianic kingdom of God was yet a long way off; it was not due to appear instantly. Just two days previously, Sunday, Nisan 9, 33 C.E., Jesus had made his triumphal ride on a colt of an ass into Jerusalem and the jubilant multitudes had cried out, “Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Save, we pray, in the heights above!” And yet the Kingdom had not displayed itself then. (Mark 11:9, 10) Is that Kingdom displaying itself in our day? That is the vital question for us now! A long time has passed since Jesus was here in the flesh.

 7, 8. (a) How do we determine when the parable of the “talents” began fulfillment? (b) How does Acts 1:2-5 confirm this?

⁷ The parable of the “talents,” the fulfillment of which has to do with Jesus’ parousia or presence, began to go into reality in the days of the apostles nineteen centuries ago. The certain “man” of the parable, Jesus Christ himself, was still with them personally until the day of his ascension to heaven, ten days before the Festival of Pentecost was observed at Jerusalem. The parable opens with the man being “about to travel abroad” and summoning his slaves and committing to them his belongings. The resurrected Jesus did not start to “travel abroad” to a “distant land” until the day that he ascended into the sky and disappeared. So, before that event, he must have summoned the “slaves of his,” his then faithful disciples, and must have committed to them his belongings. That is why, too, the parable must have begun between the time of his resurrection from the dead and his ascension to his heavenly Father’s presence. In harmony with this we read, in Acts 1:2-5:

⁸ “Until the day that he was taken up, [Jesus had business to do with his disciples. He was taken up] after he had given commandment through holy spirit to the apostles whom he chose. To these also by many positive proofs he showed himself alive after he had suffered, being seen by them throughout forty days and telling the things about the kingdom of God. And while he was meeting with them he gave them the orders: ‘Do not withdraw from Jerusalem, but keep waiting for what the Father has promised, about which you heard from me; because John, indeed, baptized with water, but you will be baptized in holy spirit not many days after this.’”

 9. (a) In the “talents” parable, how is the purpose of the man’s traveling abroad indicated? (b) In the corresponding parable of the minas, what was the purpose of the man’s going to a distant land, and how did Jesus confirm this at the Lord’s Supper?

⁹ The land “abroad” to which the “man” of the parable was to travel was heaven itself, where the heavenly Father of the Lord Jesus Christ resides. Luke 19:12 properly speaks of it as a “distant land.” In the parable of the “talents,” Jesus does not tell us the purpose for which the “man” traveled abroad. He indicates, nonetheless, that it was to obtain a special “joy” and really increase his “belongings” to “many things” more. So, when the man realized the purpose of his traveling abroad, he entered into his “joy” as Lord of those “slaves” whom he left behind. The parallel or corresponding parable of the minas indicates that the purpose of the traveling abroad was to “secure kingly power for himself and to return.” The possession of the kingdom was therefore his “joy.” In indication of this being the purpose of his going away to heaven, Jesus said to his faithful apostles after he had showed them how to celebrate annually the Lord’s Supper: “I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.”​—Luke 22:29, 30.

10. In the parable, whom did the “slaves of his” picture, and how was their acceptance of this designation shown?

¹⁰ In the parable, the “slaves of his” were those baptized disciples of Jesus Christ who were in line for a throne in the “kingdom of the heavens.” Even the apostles did not blush to confess themselves to be the “slaves” of the Lord Jesus. For example, the second letter of Peter is opened up with the words: “Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:1) In introducing the last book of the Bible, Revelation, the apostle John says that Jesus Christ “sent forth his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John.” (Revelation 1:1) The disciple Jude begins his letter by saying: “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, but a brother of James.” (Jude 1) The disciple James starts his letter with the words: “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are scattered about.” (James 1:1) The apostle Paul opens his letter to the Philippians: “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the holy ones in union with Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.”​—Philippians 1:1.

THE COMMITTING OF “HIS BELONGINGS”

11. The “belongings” that Jesus as the “man” of the parable left behind with his “slaves” were not of what kind?

¹¹ The disciples who were in line for the heavenly kingdom were the “slaves” whom the departing Jesus Christ summoned before he left the earth and to whom he committed “his belongings.” (Matthew 25:14) What were these belongings? He did not leave any material belongings behind for his disciples, such as houses, lands, clothing, moneys in the bank. He left his aged mother Mary and his half brothers and half sisters behind when he died on the torture stake at Calvary, and to these any physical properties were left to avail themselves of according to the Law of Moses. And during his activity in preaching and teaching God’s kingdom for about three years and a half he was not storing up for himself “treasures upon the earth,” but was seeking first the kingdom of his heavenly Father. (Matthew 6:19, 20, 33; 12:46, 47; 24:3-47; Acts 1:14) What, then, did he leave behind that he could commit to his “slaves”?

12, 13. (a) What was it, then, that Jesus Christ left behind as his “belongings”? (b) How is this view of it borne out by what Jesus said to his apostles near Jacob’s well in Samaria?

¹² It was a foundation for further Christian work, a cultivated field in which further preaching of the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom and making of Christian disciples could be carried on with results. It was a way prepared for his disciple “slaves.” Already in the year 30 C.E., when he was on his way through the land of Samaria and after he had preached to a Samaritan woman at “Jacob’s fountain” near Sychar, Jesus said to his apostles:

¹³ “Look! I say to you: Lift up your eyes and view the fields, that they are white for harvesting. Already the reaper is receiving wages and gathering fruit for everlasting life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. In this respect, indeed, the saying is true, One is the sower and another the reaper. I dispatched you to reap what you have spent no labor on. Others have labored, and you have entered into the benefit of their labor.”​—John 4:35-38.

14. (a) How did the public careers of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ compare? (b) Among whom and in what way did Jesus leave a cultivated field capable of further productivity?

¹⁴ For about six months John the Baptist had served as a forerunner of Jesus and had proclaimed: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” And after John’s imprisonment in the year 30 C.E., Jesus had taken up the same message. For the following three years Jesus persisted in preaching that message and teaching the people wherever the opportunity offered itself. The free public activity of John the Baptist was therefore quite short, only about a year, but Jesus’ public and private activity was three times as long. Both men could be said to have done a sowing work, Jesus taking up where John left off. Jesus began to reap disciples, but not all those possible to be reaped from his field of activity. (Matthew 4:12-23; 3:1-7) Moreover, Jesus had, by means of his public career that included his violent death and resurrection from the dead, fulfilled the Bible prophecies concerning the promised Messiah, and this was all public knowledge. This had an effect upon the Jewish people living in the territory in which Jesus Christ became the most controversial public figure of the times. This resulted in a cultivated field for the producing of Christian disciples.

15. (a) So what valuable thing with potentiality did Jesus Christ leave with his disciples? (b) With how many at the start did he leave those “belongings”?

¹⁵ Jesus thus put into the field of people in which he worked a potentiality, a latent power and capacity to bring forth disciples, a prepared condition of the field that was ready to react favorably or respond to the future work of Jesus’ disciples. This prepared field of potentialities (Christian possibilities) for the cultivating and reaping of Christian disciples was what constituted the “belongings” of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. This was what he committed to his disciple slaves. After his resurrection from the dead he had appeared to “upward of five hundred brothers at one time,” but thereafter on the Festival Day of Pentecost there were only about one hundred and twenty disciples gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem who were the first to receive the holy spirit when poured down from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:6; Matthew 28:16-18; Acts 1:13-15) Hence, there were at least more than a hundred Christian “slaves” to whom he committed his “belongings” before he traveled abroad by ascending to his heavenly Father.

16. The “belongings” of the man of the parable amounted to how much money, and how did he distribute these “belongings” to his “slaves”?

¹⁶ How was the distribution of his “belongings” made, and upon what basis? We read: “And to one he gave five talents, to another two, to still another one, to each one according to his own ability, and he went abroad.” (Matthew 25:15) Thus eight (8) silver talents represented his “belongings” that he distributed to his slaves. This stood for a lot of wealth back there in the first century of our Common Era, for each silver talent equaled sixty (60) minas or around $850 of American money. The slave who received one silver talent got this amount of money to use; the slave who got two talents received twice that amount of money; the one who got five talents received five times that amount. Each slave received the amount of money that corresponded with “his own ability” to handle such an amount and do business with it. The wealthy man was familiar with his slaves and their abilities.

17. (a) What kind of abilities did the “slaves” of the parable have, but what about the parable’s fulfillment? (b) Who received the greatest responsibility in the parable, and in the fulfillment?

¹⁷ In the parable, the abilities were natural abilities or abilities that the slaves had cultivated and developed. In the fulfillment of the parable of the “talents,” the “ability” is not a mere physical or mental ability, although such kind of ability can be valuable and helpful. Rather, the “ability” represents the spiritual possibilities that are to be found in the Christian slave who is in line for the heavenly kingdom. The zeal, the willingness, the eagerness that the Christian slave has contributes to his possibilities for use of the spiritual wealth committed to him. The one who receives what resembles five talents according to his own ability bears, of course, the greatest responsibility. The Lord Jesus Christ thus laid upon his apostolic slaves the greatest responsibility, and they had a pioneering work to do on a large scale, as well as to be secondary foundations of the Christian congregation.​—Revelation 21:14; Ephesians 2:20-22.

18. (a) What did the “slaves” in being only three represent? (b) In the parable the “slaves” were all men, but how about the fulfillment?

¹⁸ The Lord Jesus Christ has, of course, more than three spiritual “slaves” for whom he has covenanted for the heavenly kingdom. So the three “slaves” of the parable stand for three respective classes of prospective heirs of the heavenly kingdom. We must remember that the spirit-begotten Christian congregation contains many believing women. On the Festival Day of Pentecost of 33 C.E. Jesus’ mother Mary was one of such women, and likely Mary and Martha of the town of Bethany near Jerusalem were among the “some women” mentioned in Acts 1:14, who received the holy spirit on that notable day of Pentecost. (John 11:1-45) Also, when under the pressure of persecution at Jerusalem the evangelizer Philip went north to Samaria, he found believing Samaritan women, for we read: “But when they believed Philip, who was declaring the good news of the kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, they proceeded to be baptized, both men and women.”​—Acts 8:12.

19. (a) In the parable, what did the “man” expect the slaves to do about his “belongings”? (b) What does Jesus Christ expect about the “belongings” that he left with his disciple “slaves”?

¹⁹ In the parable, the traveling man expected his slaves to do business with those talents during his absence and bring increase on them. He did not desire them to let the money lie idle and unproductive. Likewise the Lord Jesus Christ when committing to his disciple “slaves” all his belongings on earth expected them, in fact, commanded them, not to let the prepared, cultivated field that he committed to them go without further attention and development so as not to produce more. Nor was the field to be left to its original proportions without being added to, spread out, enlarged. No, but increase was expected by the absent Lord Jesus Christ, and, consequently, failure to bring increase would result in punishment for the one not living up to his responsibility.

DOING BUSINESS WITH THE “TALENTS”

20. What did the “man” expect of the slaves entrusted with the talents, and how did the meeting of those expectations pay off for the slaves?

²⁰ The slaves of the parable, if not specifically told, realized that increase was expected of them. The parable makes this apparent, for we read: “Immediately the one that received the five talents went his way and did business with them and gained five more. In the same way the one that received the two gained two more.” (Matthew 25:16, 17) Evidently, these two slaves did not deposit the money in a bank and let it gain interest by the operations of the bankers; but they themselves engaged in business ventures with skill and discernment and sharp astuteness. Their personal efforts paid off, for their respective moneys doubled in amount. Each one made use of “his own ability,” with loyalty and devotion for his owner, as well as a desire to win his approval.

21, 22. How were the “belongings” of Jesus Christ to be increased in quantity, and to what extent? Over what area?

²¹ How, now, is that portion of the “belongings” of the Lord Jesus Christ that is committed to the prospective Kingdom heir doubled in amount in the fulfillment of the parable? The Lord Jesus told how it was to be done and the Bible account furnishes illustrations of how it was done nineteen centuries ago. Some days before his ascending to heaven the Lord Jesus materialized and appeared to his disciples at a prearranged place on a mountain in the province of Galilee. There he said to them: “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 28:16-20) But on the day of his ascending to heaven he was more specific about the course that the work of increasing his “belongings” was to take. About this we read:

²² “When, now, they had assembled, they went asking him: ‘Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?’ He said to them: ‘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.’”​—Acts 1:6-8.

23. (a) To what areas had Jesus restricted his preaching and teaching, and with what result? (b) Where, then, did the disciples find Christ’s “belongings,” to work with until whose due time?

²³ During his earthly activity as a Kingdom preacher and teacher Jesus had restricted his efforts to Jerusalem and the provinces of Galilee and of Judea (including Samaria) and to Perea on the eastern banks of the Jordan River. In those areas Jesus had produced a prepared, cultivated condition among the Jews and Samaritans for the making of more disciples. This condition in those areas was what the disciples were to take advantage of in increasing the number of Christian disciples; it was the “belongings” that Jesus their Lord committed to them as “slaves.” So, first of all, they were to work in those prepared areas until the time or season that the heavenly Father held within his own jurisdiction. This they must do, remembering that “Christ actually became a minister of those who are circumcised in behalf of God’s truthfulness, so as to verify the promises He made to their forefathers.”​—Romans 15:8.

24. (a) After receiving holy spirit, how did the disciples at once put the “belongings” of their Lord to work, and with what amount of production? (b) What field for productivity did the Jewish believers find on returning home after Pentecost?

²⁴ In harmony with this the disciple “slaves” back there capitalized on the prepared, cultivated estate that the Lord Jesus had committed to them as his “belongings” for which he had worked, and they put that spiritual estate to work in order to produce an increase of the disciples. They did that at once, right there on that Festival Day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., at Jerusalem, and at once there was a production of about three thousand baptized who were put in line for the Kingdom by their being baptized with holy spirit. These were all circumcised persons, whether natural Jews or proselytes to the Jewish faith. The belongings of the Lord Jesus that had been committed to the disciples continued to be used still more, Christian business being done with those “belongings,” so that sometime later the number of disciples in Jerusalem had gone up to “about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4) Doubtless, hundreds of those Jews and proselytes who left Jerusalem after the celebration of Pentecost and returned to their homes in various parts of the earth found a field for activity in behalf of Christianity among their home Jewish neighborhoods.

25. (a) How had Jesus already worked for some “belongings” in the case of Jews and proselytes attending the Jerusalem festivals? (b) How did persecution cause the Christian faith to be spread to distant Jewish communities?

²⁵ Possibly, many of those returning Jews and proselytes had come in contact with Jesus Christ and had heard him on previous visits to Jerusalem to attend all the festivals. That being so, Jesus had even produced a prepared, cultivated condition in the case of those visiting Jews and proselytes, and the apostles and fellow disciples at Jerusalem took advantage of this part of Jesus’ belongings and put such “belongings” to work. (John 12:20-29; Acts 2:5-11) So it came about that, before ever the apostle Paul got to Rome, Italy, there was a congregation of many Christians there. (Romans 1:1-7; 15:22-24) Also, the persecution that arose at Jerusalem against Christ’s disciples there resulted in the spread of the Christian faith to many Jews outside the Jewish provinces. In Acts 11:19 it is written: “Consequently those who had been scattered by the tribulation that arose over Stephen went through as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but speaking the word to no one except to Jews only.”

26. (a) Holding down the disciple-making to only the Jewish field continued till when and till what event? (b) How did work in that newly-opened-up area result in increase in the spiritual “talents”?

²⁶ This holding down the increasing of the “belongings” of the absent Lord Jesus Christ to only the Jews and Jewish proselytes continued till the autumn of the year 36 C.E. Then the time of increasing the number of Christian disciples in other areas arrived, just as Jesus himself had commanded, saying: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them,” and, “you will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.” (Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts 1:8) Then it was God’s due time for the Jewish disciples, to whom Jesus had committed his spiritual “talents,” to use those “belongings” of his in order to make more spiritual “talents.” This began by the action on the part of the five-talents class, when the apostle Peter was sent to the Roman capital of Judea at Caesarea to convert Cornelius to the discipleship of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:1 to 11:18) By this the whole Gentile or non-Jewish world of humankind was opened up for disciple-making. This was an area that had not ‘belonged’ to Jesus Christ on earth by assignment from Jehovah God for him to sow and reap and make disciples.​—Matthew 15:24.

27. This opening up of a worldwide area for productivity called for what on the part of the Jewish disciples?

²⁷ Here now was a vast area in which there had been no conditioning of the people by Jesus Christ himself, no prepared, cultivated state left by Jesus as a pioneer for his disciples to use to advantage toward increasing the Christian congregation. With the benefit and the advantage and the impetus of what Jesus had done in providing the original field under cultivation, they could now as experienced, qualified workers sow the seed and cultivate the possibilities of growth and thereby add other fields for the producing of disciples of Jesus the Messiah. This required pioneering efforts on their own part, and called for courage, sincere effort, careful attention and perseverance to be exercised by them that no loss might be suffered. They were no longer building on another man’s foundation, but were themselves doing all the preliminaries to disciple-making in a brand-new area. This showed obedience to their Lord.​—Romans 15:17-21.

28, 29. (a) Following the pattern set by the first-century disciples, how have the later disciple “slaves” of Christ done according to their ability? (b) What has been the most vital factor involved in the bringing in of increase?

²⁸ The apostles and other first-century disciples of Jesus Christ set the pattern as to how to ‘do business’ with the figurative “talents” that were committed to them. They increased the number of their Lord’s talents one hundred percent. The class of Christian “slaves” entrusted with “five talents” of the Lord’s “belongings” made five talents more. The class of Christ’s “slaves” that were made responsible for two talents of what belonged to their Lord made two talents more. It was a hundred-percent increase, proportionately, for each class, so that each one did up to the extent that was possible for him, and no one was better than anyone else. He did as much as could be expected of him. Each one did his utmost according to “his own ability.” However, the increase made with the belongings of their Lord did not owe itself wholly to the use of the “ability” of each “slave.” There was another factor that entered into the matter, and this was the most essential factor of all. The apostle Paul refers to this factor when he speaks comparatively of his own service and that of the eloquent disciple Apollos, saying:

²⁹ “What, then, is Apollos? Yes, what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, even as the Lord granted each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow; so that neither is he that plants anything nor is he that waters, but God who makes it grow. Now he that plants and he that waters are one, but each person will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You people are God’s field under cultivation, God’s building.”​—1 Corinthians 3:5-9.

30. (a) Who, then, is to be credited primarily with the increase? (b) In the first century, what evidence was there of the increase in the area cultivated by disciples?

³⁰ God, therefore, is the One to be credited with the increase, and Christ’s “slaves” are merely the instruments that he is pleased to use in effecting the increase. He helps the “slaves” to meet their responsibilities. He equips the “slaves” with what they need for carrying on successfully the work of making disciples from people of all the nations. Thus the prepared, cultivated disciple-producing area that the departing Son of God left to his faithful disciples is added to, because other areas of this kind are brought into existence all around the globe through the obedience of Christ’s “slaves” to his commands and their imitation of his example. What evidence of this was there in the first century of our Common Era? This: congregations of disciples who were heirs of the kingdom of the heavens sprang up outside of Jerusalem and of all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. Congregations were established in Asia, Africa, Europe and islands of the Mediterranean Sea.

31. As an example of the foregoing, what does the location from which Peter wrote his first letter indicate about him?

³¹ For instance, take the apostle Peter. He was one of the four apostles who, after hearing Jesus predict the destruction of the magnificent temple in Jerusalem, put the question to him: “When will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are destined to come to a conclusion?” (Mark 13:1-4) Well, about thirty years later, around 62-64 C.E., or several years before “these things” did occur with the siege and destruction of Jerusalem along with its temple, the apostle Peter was doing missionary work outside the Roman Empire. Yes, the first letter that he wrote to fellow Christians inside the Roman Empire was written in the city of Babylon on the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia, and in this letter he refers to the Christian congregation there at the close of his letter, saying: “She who is in Babylon, a chosen one like you, sends you her greetings.”​—1 Peter 5:13.

32-34. (a) About when and from where did Paul write his letter to the Colossians? (b) How does Paul therein indicate the worldwide increase of the “talents” committed to the disciples?

³² Then there was also the apostle Paul. He had at last reached the imperial capital of Rome, but as a prisoner who had appealed to Caesar for a fair trial. From his place of custody in Rome he wrote to the Christian congregation in Colossae, Asia Minor, about 60-61 C.E. This was almost ten years before “these things” predicted by the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet as early as that before the end of the Jewish system of things as centered in Jerusalem, the apostle Paul spoke of the worldwide increasing of the figurative “talents” that Jesus had committed to his “slaves.” As Paul is referring to the ‘telling of the good news’ to them he writes:

³³ “We heard of your faith in connection with Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the holy ones because of the hope that is being reserved for you in the heavens. This hope you heard of before by the telling of the truth of that good news which has presented itself to you, even as it is bearing fruit and increasing in all the world just as it is doing also among you, from the day you heard and accurately knew the undeserved kindness of God in truth. That is what you have learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful minister of the Christ on our behalf, who also disclosed to us your love in a spiritual way.

³⁴ “Indeed, you who were once alienated and enemies because your minds were on the works that were wicked, he now has again reconciled by means of that one’s fleshly body through his death, in order to present you holy and unblemished and open to no accusation before him, provided, of course, that you continue in the faith, established on the foundation and steadfast and not being shifted away from the hope of that good news which you heard, and which was preached in all creation that is under heaven.”​—Colossians 1:4-8, 21-23.

35. This testimony to the zeal of the first-century disciples was effected during what limited period of time, and in fulfillment of what prophecy of Jesus?

³⁵ What a testimony those inspired words of the apostle Paul were to the zeal of those first-century “slaves” of the Lord Jesus Christ in ‘doing business’ with the “talents” that he had committed to them! What an accomplishment that was for them in such a short period of time​—the good news “bearing fruit and increasing in all the world,” the good news already “preached in all creation that is under heaven”! Think of it: Jesus Christ had “manifested himself once for all time at the conclusion of the systems of things,” in the years 29-33 C.E., and yet even before the conclusion of the Jewish system of things was finished in the year 70 C.E., by the annihilation of their religious capital, the Jews throughout the then known world had received a witness concerning the Messianic kingdom of God. Indeed, all the Gentile nations had also received such a witness, in a typical fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy on the “sign” of the “conclusion of the system of things,” namely: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”​—Matthew 24:14; Hebrews 9:26.

CULMINATION OF THE PARABLE’S FULFILLMENT TODAY

36. Did the Lord of the disciple “slaves” come again before or after Jerusalem’s destruction, and what did John’s closing words of the Revelation indicate about Christ’s coming?

³⁶ Those first-century “slaves” who increased the precious “talents” to such a worldwide extent in spite of wars, pestilences, famines, earthquakes and persecutions all died off, but their departed Lord and Owner did not return in their day, either before or after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman legions. About twenty-six years after that horrible event shocked the Jewish religious world, the apostle John had his prison term on the Isle of Patmos brightened by receiving the divine Revelation, in which he pointed to the future and said: “Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him.” And John closed the Revelation account with the prayer: “‘Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.’ May the undeserved kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ be with the holy ones.” (Revelation 1:7; 22:20, 21) That fervent prayer for the Lord’s coming was not actually answered before more than eighteen centuries had passed.

37. (a) Contrary to what expectation, when did the Lord Jesus Christ return? (b) From then on, the Kingdom-preaching took on what new meaning, and why?

³⁷ Only with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and his parousia or presence would the culmination come in the fulfillment of the parable of the “talents.” In the latter half of the past nineteenth century it was thought that the Lord had returned in the year 1874 C.E. and that with that year his invisible presence in spirit had begun. But really the “sign” of his presence and of the conclusion of the system of things did not present itself during the succeeding four decades. Not until the end of the Gentile Times in the year 1914, about October 4/5 or the middle of the Jewish lunar month Tishri. At that time the preaching of the good news of a coming Messianic kingdom of God turned into the preaching of the good news of the established kingdom of God. World events that followed piled up evidence that in the aforesaid critical year God’s kingdom of the heavens was born by the enthronement and crowning of his Messiah, Jesus the son of David the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1) The one had come who has the “legal right” to it. In fact, he had returned!​—Ezekiel 21:25-27.

38. The parable of the “talents” was given as part of what prophecy, and so how should the culmination of its fulfillment in our day be indicated?

³⁸ The parable of the “talents” was given by Jesus Christ as being a part of the many-featured “sign” for indicating the fact of his parousia or presence. So the bringing of the fulfillment of the parable to a head in our time ought to add to the testimony that he has returned in spirit and that his presence is upon us. Certainly if we say that the royal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ began at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914, then there ought to be facts available to verify that the fulfillment of the parable is undergoing its culmination in our day. What are the facts?

39. What did the slave with the one talent do, and when did settling of accounts with the slaves begin?

³⁹ First, we look to see how the parable turned out. So we take up reading further in Jesus’ parable, as follows: “But the one that received just one went off, and dug in the ground and hid the silver money of his master. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.”​—Matthew 25:18, 19.

40. (a) In the parable, with what did the “master of those slaves” return? (b) The year 1914 C.E. had to do with what “kingdom power” in particular, and how so?

⁴⁰ When the “master of those slaves” came, he came back with what he had traveled abroad to gain. His own words later show that he had gained a “joy” to share with his faithful slaves; he came back with “many things” that he had not had when he committed the eight silver talents to them. An earlier parable given by Jesus, the parable of the “ten minas,” specifies that what he came back with was “kingly power.” (Luke 19:12-15) The Gentile Times, or “the appointed times of the nations,” have to do with “kingly power,” particularly the “kingly power” of the family of King David of Jerusalem, the kingly power of which Davidic family Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon overthrew in the year 607 B.C.E. That disastrous year was the date when the 2,520 years of the Gentile Times began their count down to the year 1914 C.E. So the end of those Gentile Times about October 4/5 of 1914 should logically witness a reversal of the situation of such long standing. It was therefore not without significance that October 4/5, 1914, found the Gentile nations in trouble, already for two months embroiled in the first world war of human history.

41. (a) Did World War I kill off the small number of the disciple “slaves” of the Lord Jesus Christ then on earth? (b) What did the nations seek to do to them as respects further witnessing by them?

⁴¹ What, though, about the Christian “slaves” of the heavenly Master Jesus Christ to whom he had committed his valuable “talents”? To this day there is still a small number of those faithful “slaves” who were on the earthly scene at that marked time and who discerned from the Holy Scriptures the meaning of World War I. This international conflict that finally dragged in twenty-eight nations and empires in total warfare did not kill off those loyal “slaves” of the newly enthroned heavenly King, Jesus Christ. The earthly enemies, who did not want Jesus Christ to rule over them as King of all the earth, would have liked to kill off these “slaves of his,” but did not succeed in doing so. They tried, in effect, to take away from them those figurative “talents” that they had received from their heavenly Master and Owner. They tried to undo all the fine accomplishments and spiritual gains that these “slaves” had made for the newly enthroned heavenly King. To this end they tried to kill the influence of these with the people of all the nations. They tried desperately to undermine the prepared, cultivated foundation of these for future Kingdom witnessing.

42, 43. (a) The end of World War I in 1918 found the “slaves” of the heavenly Master in what state? (b) To all appearances, what had happened to the “talents” entrusted to them?

⁴² The end of World War I on November 11, 1918, found “slaves” of the reigning heavenly King practically killed as respects that good reputation with the people inside and outside of Christendom. The favor with the people as Christians was practically dead under a shroud of misrepresentation and vilification by nationalistic patrioteers and war-minded fanatics. Violent mobbings had taken place against them. Either their Bible literature was banned or they themselves were proscribed. Many of them were in prison, most outstandingly of all these being the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, also the secretary-treasurer thereof, and six other prominent associates under false charges from which they could be exonerated only after the war madness had died down.

⁴³ Seemingly, these “slaves” of the Rightful Ruler of this earthly globe were stripped of everything. His “talents” committed to them seemed to have been wiped out. Their enemies rejoiced at having put those “slaves” out of the service of their heavenly Master for all time to come, for the ability of these to start all over again appeared to have been put in doubt.

44. (a) When did a reversal of matters set in, and how? (b) What question now arose as to the surviving “slaves,” and why?

⁴⁴ It was not till more than four months later, after the war ended, that the enemies were surprised, startled at a reversal that started to set in. This was when those eight representatives of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society were released from imprisonment in the Atlanta (Georgia) Federal Penitentiary on March 25, 1919, and admitted to bail the next day in Brooklyn, New York. Exoneration from the grossly false accusations against them came shortly in due course. But how much did this count with the war-prostrated people who carried with them the prejudiced, distorted viewpoint respecting the “slaves” of Jesus Christ because of war propaganda and war fever? It was something for the “slaves” to consider. Could they pick up and go forward again in the face of such forbidding circumstances? Did they have the courage and the confidence of their heavenly Master to do so? It was indeed a time of test for these Christian slaves.

45. (a) According to the parable, what was due to be carried on by the “master of those slaves”? (b) As regards their possession of “talents,” what needed to be done in behalf of those Christian slaves?

⁴⁵ The parable of the “talents” pictured that when the traveler returned from abroad he would settle accounts with them. This meant an inspection of them. Quite logically, with that turn of events in the spring of 1919, it would be the due time for the heavenly “master of those slaves” to inspect them. But what account could they render with respect to his “talents” that had been committed to the slave class? Any increase that they may have gained prior to the climax of wartime persecution in 1918 seemed to have been wiped out. They were as if they had no figurative “talents” in their possession at all. If, now, they were to show any increase in their Master’s “talents,” they must produce this increase in the postwar period and render such increase of his belongings to him in the future. They must be given a new and further opportunity to ‘do business’ with his precious “talents.” This is just how it worked out historically, due to the merciful considerateness of their heavenly Master.

46. (a) What was it the time for them to dispel, and for what did they need to reorganize? (b) In view of their heavenly Master’s being possessed of “kingdom power,” for what was the situation opportune and the time auspicious?

⁴⁶ The year 1919 was the vital time to dispel the fear of men that had been created among the slave class during the violence and hysteria of the first world war and that had caused the slave class to withdraw considerably from doing business as responsible slaves of the reigning King, Jesus Christ. It was then high time for them to begin reorganizing their broken, crippled ranks for the biggest endeavor of their lives in their service of their Master now possessed of kingly power. Now, as never before, their Master had the rightful claim to all the earth as his field at his disposal for the producing of further disciples favored with the hope of the heavenly kingdom. He could commit this opportune situation to them for ‘doing business’ in his service. It was the auspicious time for the “slave” class of disciples to arise as pictured by the slave to whom “five talents” were entrusted, and also for the class pictured by the slave who had two talents committed to him. They did so, for the parable of the “talents” could not fail of its fulfillment, especially at its culmination.

47. In 1919, how were they strengthened not to fear but to present themselves for the postwar work?

⁴⁷ No time was lost. In 1919 those two classes of “slaves” got busy. They received strong reassurance from the Watch Tower articles of August 1 and 15, 1919, on the theme “Blessed Are the Fearless.” They hailed the announcement of the eight-day convention to be held at Cedar Point, Ohio, on September 1-8, 1919. They did not shrink back from attending that general convention for fear that they might be confronted with a postwar work that would require great energy and courage on their part, with further persecution.

48. (a) How did the Cedar Point conventioners receive the announcement of a new magazine as a companion of The Watch Tower? (b) How has this additional magazine been used till now?

⁴⁸ With eagerness to learn how Jehovah purposed for them to do the work that lay ahead of them, six thousand who came particularly from Canada and the United States of America daily attended the sessions of this convention of the International Bible Students Association. With surprise and yet hearty appreciation they received the announcement of a new magazine to be published beginning October 1, 1919, The Golden Age, as a companion to The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. This new magazine would be an additional adjunct in announcing God’s established Messianic kingdom. It would be another instrument for them to use in doing the planting, watering and cultivating of new areas for the production of more disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Side by side with The Watch Tower that new magazine (now Awake!) has worked in an increasing circulation until now, arousing new interest in honest-hearted persons and readying them to receive the deeper things of God’s Word. It has done an excellent preparing work.

49. What was done with regard to branches of the Watch Tower Society, and to what extent have areas thereby brought under cultivation been increased?

⁴⁹ Also, communications between the headquarters of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and its branch organizations around the globe that had been disrupted by the world war were reestablished and strengthened, and, as time and circumstances revealed the need, new branches were set up in various lands. This increased the areas that were brought under closer supervision of the “slaves” of the heavenly Master Jesus Christ and aided greatly in intensifying the work for cultivating such areas for the gathering of more disciples of people of all the nations. From the few branches that then existed the number has soared to ninety-five branches today. These have the oversight over the seeding and cultivating operations that are being carried on in two hundred and eight countries and islands of the sea.

50. (a) Why did those attending the 1922 Cedar Point convention see themselves at the position of Isaiah at the temple? (b) Isaiah’s response to Jehovah’s invitation raised what question respecting them?

⁵⁰ In September of 1922 these Christian slaves who are in line for the heavenly kingdom were forcefully made aware that they are indeed now under inspection of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the reigning Lord Jesus. In fulfillment of Malachi 3:1, he has accompanied Jehovah God when coming to his spiritual temple for judgment work with regard to his spirit-begotten “slaves” at the temple. Those attending the second convention of the International Bible Students Association in Cedar Point, Ohio, on its fourth day, September 8, 1922, designated as “The Day,” now saw themselves to be in the position of the prophet Isaiah, when he had a vision of Jehovah God at his temple. Isaiah felt the need for being spiritually cleansed, and he was mercifully given the needed cleansing. This put him in the favorable position to respond to Jehovah’s invitation with the eager cry: “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:1-8) So the question was, Would the I.B.S.A. conventioners respond similarly to Jehovah’s invitation to service then being extended to them?

51. In closing his speech of “The Day,” what questions did the Society’s president put to the conventioners, and what final exhortation did he give them?

⁵¹ In the second-last paragraph of his speech that dealt with Isaiah’s vision, the Watch Tower Society’s president, J. F. Rutherford, put a number of questions to the conventioners, including these final ones: “Do you believe that the Lord is now in his temple, judging the nations of the earth? Do you believe that the King of glory has begun his reign?” With high enthusiasm the thousands of conventioners shouted affirmatively. At this the speaker climaxed his speech by saying: “Then back to the field, O ye sons of the most high God! Gird on your armor! Be sober, be vigilant, be active, be brave. Be faithful and true witnesses for the Lord. Go forward in the fight until every vestige of Babylon lies desolate. Herald the message far and wide. The world must know that Jehovah is God and that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the day of all days. Behold, the King reigns! You are his publicity agents. Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom.”​—See The Watch Tower under date of November 1, 1922, pages 332-337.

52. (a) In 1920, what did the Society do for increasing the distribution of Bible literature? (b) In 1924, what other means for advertising the Kingdom did the Society start using, enlarged later by what other publicity means?

⁵² With greater zeal and effort than ever before the “slaves” of the returned Lord Jesus Christ went forth to advertise him as reigning King, preaching publicly both from house to house and from the public platform. Since 1920 they had begun operating their own printing establishment in Brooklyn, New York, and this enabled them to come into possession of greater quantities of Bible literature, magazines, booklets, tracts, hardbound books, and finally Bibles themselves, at greater economy, to use in advertising the Messianic King and his kingdom. From Sunday, February 24, 1924, radio stations owned by legal corporations of these “slaves” began to be used in broadcasting the Kingdom message to a numberless invisible audience at their radio receivers. In course of time scores of radio stations were brought into use, either on rented time or on free time, in a number of lands to sound out the Kingdom good news to the very ends of the earth. To these publicity means were added, some years later, sound cars with loudspeakers and portable phonographs carried by Christ’s “slaves” from door to door to advertise the Kingdom to the householders.

53. Why did the readers have reason to be thrilled at the leading article of the issue of March 1, 1925, of The Watch Tower?

⁵³ It was a thrill for the readers of The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence when they received their issue of March 1, 1925, and read the leading article entitled “Birth of the Nation.” Why? Because they received therein a closer understanding of Revelation, chapter twelve. Their eyes of spiritual discernment were opened to see that the symbolic birth of the man child, so excitingly presented in that chapter so long a mystery to them, pictured the birth of God’s Messianic kingdom in the year 1914, at the end of the Gentile Times. The article concluded, on page 74, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is here. The day of deliverance is in sight. Let this good news be heralded to the peoples of earth. Victory is with our King. Faithful now to the end of the war; and we shall forever bask in the sunshine of his love, where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.”

54, 55. How did the number of those participating in the Lord’s Supper in 1925 indicate an increase in the areas of activity?

⁵⁴ The annual celebration of the Lord’s Supper on the following date, Wednesday, April 8, 1925, brought something encouraging to light. Because of the planting, watering and cultivating work that had gone on till then in additional areas of activity, with the newly provided instruments for Kingdom publicity, the number of congregations of disciples with heavenly hopes increased. The membership of congregations increased. So at this celebration of the Lord’s Supper the number of participants therein indicated this growth and production of disciples of Christ. How many, then, did participate that year? The September 1, 1925, issue of The Watch Tower, page 263, under “Memorial Reports,” says:

⁵⁵ “We are pleased that the number participating in the Memorial is so great, because it manifests much interest in the truth everywhere, and this is as it should be. The grand total reported to date is 90,434, which is 25,329 more than were reported a year ago.”

56. What did this indicate with regard to the “business” transactions of the disciple “slaves” who were entrusted with the “talents”?

⁵⁶ Truly the “slaves” of Christ, the class pictured by the slave entrusted with “five talents,” and the class pictured by the slave to whom two talents were committed, were prompt and early in ‘doing business’ with them, so as to add other areas that would be fruitful with more disciples of Christ. The published facts prove that these “slaves” were being blessed in their efforts and were rewarded with increase. This encouraged them on still more.

JOY

57. (a) Why did the wealthy man of the parable travel abroad? (b) So what questions arise as to Jesus Christ in the parable’s fulfillment?

⁵⁷ However, now historically another factor comes to plain view in the matter. In Jesus’ parable, the man who possessed the eight silver talents and three slaves did not go traveling abroad simply for pleasure as on a sight-seeing trip. He had a serious reason for traveling abroad; he desired to secure something valuable. What he went abroad for, as the parable shows, was to gain a certain “joy,” along with “many things.” Consequently, he had to travel a long distance, requiring a long stretch of time, in order to apply to the one who could impart to him that particular “joy.” This is implicit in Jesus’ parable, although the parable of the “talents” does not explicitly say so. Since the wealthy man in the parable pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, the man’s traveling abroad for a long trip pictures the Lord Jesus going to the one Source of the special joy that he had in view. To whom, then, did he go? Who was that Source of joy?

58, 59. (a) To whom did the resurrected Jesus Christ go to obtain that “joy”? (b) To whom else is He the Source of joy, as indicated in Romans 15:13?

⁵⁸ This is indicated for us in Hebrews 12:2, which reads: “We look intently at the Chief Agent and Perfecter of our faith, Jesus. For the joy that was set before him he endured a torture stake, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

⁵⁹ Ah, yes, Jehovah God is the Source of that “joy.” It was to him that the resurrected Jesus Christ went away, leaving his faithful disciples here on earth, entrusted with his “belongings,” his “talents.” The heavenly Father was the Source of Jesus’ special cause for “joy.” Jehovah God is the Source of joy also to the disciples of his beloved Son. Accordingly, one of those disciples, when writing to fellow Christians in Rome, said: “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.” (Romans 15:13) God was able to answer that proper prayer.

60. (a) To whom was it timely to give due prominence, now that Jesus Christ had returned with his “joy”? (b) How was this due prominence given to Him as respects his name?

⁶⁰ In the proper course of things it would be good timing to have God, the heavenly Source of joy, given due prominence in the eyes of the “slaves” of the Lord Jesus Christ after his joyful return, now that God’s Messianic kingdom had been born in the heavens. The time had come for this divine Source of joy to make a name for himself, and this required that first His personal name be made known. That Name was duly made known. Deservedly, it went into regular use among his reverent worshipers on earth and it has been published throughout the whole earth as it had never been publicized at any previous time. When the year 1926 opened up, the first issue of The Watch Tower presented its leading article entitled “Who Will Honor Jehovah?” From then forward, the divine name, which appears thousands of times in the original Hebrew text of the Holy Bible, was exalted to its rightful elevation among the “slaves” of the Son of God. They began to be witnesses for Him foremost, but not diminishing their witness for his Son Jesus Christ. They lovingly acted on their obligation to be witnesses for the Only One who bears the name Jehovah.

61. (a) By a resolution in 1931, the disciple slaves of Jesus Christ declared themselves opposed to being called by what names? (b) By what name did they henceforth desire to be called?

⁶¹ Five and a half years of such witnessing for the divine Name followed. Then came the time for the Christian “slaves” to identify themselves, to differentiate themselves from all the professed Christians of religious Christendom. To this end, action was taken by the “slaves” of Jesus Christ on Sunday afternoon, July 26, 1931, at the international convention held in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. At 4:00 p.m., there was presented and read to the thousands of conventioners a resolution, the fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs of which we are here pleased to quote:

NOW, THEREFORE, in order that our true position may be made known, and believing that this is in harmony with the will of God, as expressed in his Word, BE IT RESOLVED, as follows, to wit:

THAT we have great love for Brother Charles T. Russell, for his work’s sake, and that we gladly acknowledge that the Lord used him and greatly blessed his work, yet we cannot consistently with the Word of God consent to be called by the name “Russellites”; that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association and the Peoples Pulpit Association are merely names of corporations which as a company of Christian people we hold, control and use to carry on our work in obedience to God’s commandments, yet none of these names properly attach to or apply to us as a body of Christians who follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus; that we are students of the Bible, but, as a body of Christians forming an association, we decline to assume or be called by the name “Bible Students” or similar names as a means of identification of our proper position before the Lord; we refuse to bear or to be called by the name of any man;

THAT, having been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer, justified and begotten by Jehovah God and called to his kingdom, we unhesitatingly declare our entire allegiance and devotion to Jehovah God and his kingdom; that we are servants of Jehovah God commissioned to do a work in his name, and, in obedience to his commandment, to deliver the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to make known to the people that Jehovah is the true and Almighty God; therefore we joyfully embrace and take the name which the mouth of the Lord God has named, and we desire to be known as and called by the name, to wit, Jehovah’s witnesses.​—Isa. 43:10-12; 62:2; Rev. 12:17.

62. What invitation was extended in the last paragraph of the resolution?

⁶² The eighth and last paragraph of the Resolution said:

We humbly invite all persons who are wholly devoted to Jehovah and his kingdom to join in proclaiming this good news to others, that the righteous standard of the Lord may be lifted up, that the peoples of the world may know where to find the truth and hope for relief; and, above all, that the great and holy name of Jehovah God may be vindicated and exalted.

63. (a) By whom, altogether, was this resolution on the New Name adopted? (b) How was the resolution thereafter publicized and thereby notice served on the world?

⁶³ This resolution was enthusiastically adopted, not only by those in convention assembled at Columbus, Ohio, but also, later on, by the congregations of the “slaves” of Jesus Christ all around the globe. Thus they voluntarily embraced the name “Jehovah’s witnesses.” This Resolution on the name was also published in the booklet released at the convention entitled “The Kingdom, the Hope of the World.” That title was also the subject of the public address by the Society’s president J. F. Rutherford to both the visible convention audience and the invisible audience listening in by means of a vast radio network, from twelve o’clock noon onward. Thereafter this booklet containing both the public address and the Resolution was placed directly by personal bearers into the hands of the religious clergymen, Catholic and Protestant, and afterward into the hands of prominent political and professional men. There was also a wider circulation among the people in general. In this way notice was served on all the world that these justified and spirit-begotten worshipers of the Most High God would walk in the name of their God and acknowledge only the name Jehovah’s witnesses.​—Micah 4:5.

64. Why do they recognize themselves to be Jehovah’s Christian witnesses?

⁶⁴ Inasmuch as there were also witnesses of the one living and true God before the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, they recognize themselves to be Jehovah’s Christian witnesses.​—Isaiah 43:10-12; 44:8; Hebrews 11:1 to 12:1. See also The Watch Tower as of September 15, 1931, pages 278, 279.

Chapter 13

Settling Accounts with the Slaves of Today

 1, 2. (a) The bearing of the divine name added what to the remnant of Christ’s “slaves,” and who was the source of it? (b) How is this joy referred to in the parable of the “talents”?

THE bearing of the divine name from the year 1931 onward added a new joy to the remnant yet on earth of the “slaves” of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their joy came from the same Source as that from which their Lord and Owner had obtained his joy, namely, from Jehovah God. The Lord Jesus Christ referred to this joy of his when he was settling accounts with his slaves in fulfillment of the parable of the “talents.” We note this in Matthew 25:20-23, where we read:

² “So the one that had received five talents came forward and brought five additional talents, saying, ‘Master, you committed five talents to me; see, I gained five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things. I will appoint you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Next the one that had received the two talents came forward and said, ‘Master, you committed to me two talents; see, I gained two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things. I will appoint you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’”

 3, 4. (a) Do the three “slaves” picture individuals, or what? (b) How does the settling of accounts with what is pictured by the “slaves,” in the fulfillment of the parable, argue for the proper meaning of parousia?”

³ This settling of accounts with the slaves certainly required time and attention. So it would picture a period of presence or parousia on the part of the heavenly Master, Jesus Christ, in the fulfillment of the parable in its final features. (Matthew 24:3) Never let us forget that the three slaves in the parable stood for classes and that these classes are made up of individuals. It takes more time and attention to deal with a class or group than with a single individual. In the case of a class or group, each member thereof must be dealt with. In Romans 14:9, 10 the apostle Paul wrote:

⁴ “For to this end Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living. . . . For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

 5. (a) For whom does Jesus Christ judge when judging the living and the dead? (b) Those of the classes pictured by the “slaves” who died before Christ’s parousia had to do what with regard to their reward?

⁵ In the fulfillment of the parable of the “talents,” the Lord Jesus Christ judges for Jehovah God. Not all his “slaves” to whom “talents” were committed are found alive in the flesh here on earth in this twentieth century. For instance, those of the first century during the days of the twelve apostles, down to John the receiver of the Revelation, died long ago, falling asleep in death and awaiting the parousia of their heavenly Lord and Owner, when they would receive the reward from him as the righteous Judge. As the apostle Paul, shortly before his martyrdom, wrote to Timothy his missionary companion: “I have fought the fine fight, I have run the course to the finish, I have observed the faith. From this time on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me as a reward in that day, yet not only to me, but also to all those who have loved his manifestation.” (2 Timothy 4:7, 8) Yes, indeed, the apostle Paul looked forward to “that day,” the day of the Lord’s parousia, for a resurrection from the dead and the receiving of the prize of immortal heavenly life. All dying before his parousia had to wait.

 6. When are those “slaves” sleeping in death resurrected, and over whom do these take precedence as to resurrection?

⁶ During his invisible parousia in spirit, all those faithful “slaves” who were sleeping in death were awakened at the time for the beginning of the judgment, to heavenly life in the spirit realm. Thus the rewarding of the living “slaves” did not take precedence over the rewarding of the sleeping faithful “slaves.” This is not our imagination; for the apostle Paul writes to the Christian congregation in Thessalonica and says: “If our faith is that Jesus died and rose again, so, too, those who have fallen asleep [in death] through Jesus God will bring with him. For this is what we tell you by Jehovah’s word, that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord shall in no way precede those who have fallen asleep [in death]; because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”​—1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.

 7. What kind of resurrection is it that the sleepers get?

⁷ This means that during the Lord’s parousia there occurs, at the time for the judgment to begin, an invisible resurrection of the sleeping faithful “slaves” to heavenly life in the spirit. This is, of course, not visible to the surviving “slaves” yet on earth with their fleshly eyes, just as it is also invisible to worldly people who are not “slaves” of the invisibly present Lord Jesus.

 8, 9. (a) What does the evidence show as to whether the meeting of the “slaves” with the Lord in the air means a catching up of physical bodies into the atmosphere? (b) What, as pointed out in 1 Corinthians 15:50-54, has a bearing on this matter?

⁸ The meeting by the resurrected “slaves” with the “Lord in the air” is also invisible to all fleshly eyes on the earth, so that humans on earth do not know that it is going on except by faith in God’s Word and the indications of the times. Those “slaves” who were sleeping in death were all resurrected together at the same time to “meet the Lord in the air.” However, those “slaves” on earth who survived until the time for the judgment or settling of accounts to begin were not caught up literally in their visible physical bodies into earth’s atmosphere to meet a visible Lord in the air, for modern history does not record any such happening. Members of this surviving group of “slaves” died off from time to time during the now more than fifty years that have elapsed, but, according to Bible promise, they had an instantaneous resurrection to life in the spirit in the invisible heavens. Since the parousia of the Lord had already begun, they did not need to sleep in death in waiting for his arrival. What Paul said applied to them:

⁹ “Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Look! I tell you a sacred secret: We shall not all fall asleep [in death], but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. But when [this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and] this which is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up forever.’”​—1 Corinthians 15:50-54; Isaiah 25:8.

10. In what way are those “slaves” referred to in Revelation 14:13 “happy”?

¹⁰ To those anointed slaves who survived on earth until and into the parousia or presence of the Lord and who died thereafter in faithful union with the Lord, the promise of Revelation 14:13 applies: “Happy are the dead who die in union with the Lord from this time onward. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their labors, for the things they did go right with them.” They are “happy” because at their death in the flesh they experience that instantaneous change from corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality, from human to spirit, so that, without any sleep in death, they cease from their earthly labors and enter right into heavenly work with their Lord with whom they are joint heirs.

11. Who was this R. J. Martin who was taken as an example of the foregoing?

¹¹ Take, for instance, the case of Robert J. Martin. He was one of those eight consecrated Christian men, including the Society’s president J. F. Rutherford, who suffered about nine months of unjust imprisonment in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, from July 5, 1918, to March 25, 1919. When this “slave” was set free on bail in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday, March 26, 1919, he had practically nothing as far as “talents” from his heavenly Lord was concerned. World War I with its persecution of the Lord’s “slaves” was now in the past for more than four months, and R. J. Martin had to begin practically anew. He was still in faithful union with the Lord Jesus, and he was glad to accept “talents” with which to ‘do business’ for his heavenly Lord, in order to enlarge the field that would prove fruitful in producing disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the year following his release from imprisonment he was made the factory manager of the printing plant newly established in Brooklyn for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. On November 1, 1926, he was made one of the directors of this Society, which post he held to his earthly end.

12. When did Martin die, and what comment did The Watch Tower make thereon?

¹² So the years passed, with R. J. Martin faithfully doing business in increasing the “talents” committed to him in the field of disciple-making. He died at his post on September 23, 1932, at the age of fifty-four years. (Born March 30, 1878) His death “in union with the Lord” was announced in the issue of October 1, 1932, of The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, page 304, which said, in part:

It was just past midnight, or the beginning of the morning of September 23, 1932, that Robert J. Martin, a soldier in the organization of Jehovah, folded his earthly tent and peacefully went away. This good and faithful witness has finished his course on earth. There is every reason to believe that he immediately passed into the kingdom and is now for ever with the Lord in the capital organization of Jehovah.

. . . The hope of the faithful comrades of Brother Martin is that they too may see the Lord in all his glory and beauty and participate ever thereafter in carrying out Jehovah’s purposes. The devotion of Brother Martin to Jehovah’s cause is an inspiration to those of the remnant to continue to press the battle to the gate. . . .

13. When did Martin’s fellow prisoner, Rutherford, die, and what did his death mark historically?

¹³ His fellow prisoner, J. F. Rutherford, finished his earthly course at the age of seventy-two years, while still president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, on Thursday, January 8, 1942. Under the heading “A Faithful Witness,” his death was announced on page 45 of the issue of February 1, 1942, of The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. The history of more than thirty years since then shows that his death marked the end of an epoch in the modern activities of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses.

14. (a) What is there Scriptural reason to believe regarding such two “slaves” as to their reward for doing business with Christ’s “talents”? (b) Have the “slaves” still remaining alive on earth entered into any “joy,” and what about the matter of rulership?

¹⁴ Certainly the career of Christian “slaves,” such as the two aforementioned, indicates that they “did business” with the Lord’s “talents” committed to them and thereby increased the earthly field of operation for the producing of more disciples of Christ. There is Scriptural reason to believe that, when appearing before the judgment seat of their Lord Jesus Christ, they heard his words of commendation: “Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things. I will appoint you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21, 23) But now, many years later, there is still a small remnant of those loyal Christian “slaves” on earth who are lovingly seeking to increase the “talents” of their heavenly Master. They expect, in due time, to finish their earthly career and appear before the heavenly judgment seat of Jesus Christ and happily hear those same words of commendation. But even now on earth, to the extent that they are increasing the “talents” of their heavenly Owner, they have already entered into a goodly measure of the joy of their Master. They have not, however, entered into any rulership but merely look forward to sharing in his millennial reign in heaven.

THE “WICKED AND SLUGGISH SLAVE”

15, 16. (a) How did the slave with the one talent fail to use his “ability,” with what consequences? (b) What excuse did he give for handing back only what he had received?

¹⁵ We are now interested to learn what happens to the slave in Jesus’ parable who received but one talent and concerning whom it was said: “But the one that received just one went off, and dug in the ground and hid the silver money of his master.” (Matthew 25:15, 18) Not exerting himself and not showing courage to ‘do business’ as the slave with the five talents and the slave with the two talents did, this third slave could not expect to increase the silver talent of his master. He had the proportionate “ability” to handle that one silver talent and make increase with it, but he failed to show his ability. At the coming and during the presence or parousia of his master he would have no increase to show when accounts were settled. So what excuse would he have for presenting no increase to his master? In the parable, Jesus tells us:

¹⁶ “Finally the one that had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be an exacting man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not winnow. So I grew afraid and went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’”​—Matthew 25:24, 25.

17. (a) Did this slave approve of his master’s being like the landowning farmer that he described? (b) Why did the slave think his master had no right to complain at getting no increase?

¹⁷ This slave knew that increase was expected of him. But he lacked the courage to take the risk by ‘doing business’ with his master’s silver talent. He did not have the love for his master so as to act, in spite of his fears, and take the risk and make the efforts to expand the “belongings” of his master. He likened his master to a farming landowner, who not only got crops from his own land but also harvested products from the land that he did not own and did not cultivate and gathered grain that he had not winnowed clean of its chaff. The slave did not approve of his master’s making increase in that way. At least he charged his master with making increase in such a way. So, consistent with his professed belief and attitude, he handed back just the one silver talent that his master had entrusted to him. So, as he thought, since his master had suffered no loss, why should he complain? He was receiving back what was his very own. The slave did not appreciate that money is for circulation and is for use in a profit-making way.

18. According to what line of reasoning did the master answer the slave, and so why did he call the slave what he did call him?

¹⁸ The slave’s master answered him according to his own argument, for we read: “In reply his master said to him, ‘Wicked and sluggish slave, you knew, did you, that I reaped where I did not sow and gathered where I did not winnow? Well, then, you ought to have deposited my silver monies with the bankers, and on my arrival [literally, and having come] I would be receiving what is mine with interest.’”​—Matthew 25:26, 27.

19. Why did the slave deserve to be called “wicked,” and how could he have taken the “easy way” to meet his master’s requirements?

¹⁹ This unprofitable slave was “wicked,” in that his failure to bring increase to his master was deliberate, willful. He was not interested in the increase of his master’s belongings. Not that he did not know that his master required increase. He did know this, and he could have taken the easy way and deposited the silver talent in his care with the bankers, that these might make investments therewith and make gain and therefore pay due interest on the money deposited with them. In this way, the slave’s master on his coming back would have received not only the silver talent but also the interest that was paid on the deposit of the money with the bankers. Not only did he not imitate the slave with the five talents and the slave with the two talents, but he did not cooperate with them. Although he returned the original silver talent that was committed to him, he caused really a loss to his master. His purposely causing his master such a loss made him “wicked.”

20. In what way was this slave “sluggish,” this resulting how to him?

²⁰ The unprofitable slave was also “sluggish.” He was lazy, unwilling to ‘do business’ with alertness, in the way that the fellow slaves did. He had the ability to work gainfully, otherwise his master would not have entrusted him with, at the least, a talent. His being given one talent made him the least responsible of all three slaves, but this least amount of money was not more than “his own ability” could care for. Yet, instead of directing his ability in profitable channels, he dug in the ground and hid his master’s talent and rendered it unproductive. He was so sluggish that even his sizing up his master as an “exacting man” did not drive him to get to work with the precious talent during the long time that his master would be gone. The slave had plenty of opportune time. His failing to bring increase resulted disastrously for him.

21. What is the counterpart of the slave in the modern-day climax of the parable’s fulfillment?

²¹ This “wicked and sluggish slave” has a modern counterpart in the fulfillment of the parable at its climax in our day. As in the case of the two fellow slaves, the unproductive slave also stands for a class or group of Christian slaves who are actually in the service or who are committed to the service of the heavenly Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. This unprofitable class put in appearance after the settling of accounts began in that first postwar year of 1919 C.E.

22. Who else claimed to be in the service of the heavenly Master, but how did they neglect his “belongings” after World War I ended?

²² Of course, the sectarian church members of Christendom professed to be in the service of the heavenly Lord Jesus Christ. Well, then, did they go cultivating the field that lay wide open before them at the close of World War I on November 11, 1918, and go producing disciples for the reigning King Jesus Christ, now in his parousia? No; they took a compromising course with the politicians and militarists of this world. They neglected the Kingdom “belongings” of the King whose princely rule is to increase without end. They turned their interest and attention to the proposed League of Nations, which the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America called “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth.” (Isaiah 9:6, 7) They tried to increase the number of supporters and worshipers of that man-made international organization for world peace and security. At present the religious sects and denominations of Christendom are advocating the successor organization, the United Nations.

23. Their not cultivating the world field for the benefit of God’s Messianic kingdom has had what result?

²³ In the settling of accounts during this time of examination by the returned Lord Jesus Christ, those professed “slaves” in Christendom can present to him no increase in his belongings. They have not cultivated the world field for the benefit of God’s Messianic kingdom, for they have turned their backs upon it and have left the people in ignorance of Jehovah’s established Messianic kingdom.

24. How do those described in paragraph three of the “New Name” resolution fit the picture of the “sluggish slave”?

²⁴ However, even among those in contact with the faithful “slaves” of the returned, reigning King Jesus Christ there has appeared a class of anointed Christians who fit the picture of the “wicked and sluggish slave.” Evidently this class is referred to in the third paragraph of the Resolution entitled “A New Name,” that was adopted Sunday afternoon, July 26, 1931, at the international convention held in Columbus, Ohio, under the auspices of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. This paragraph we now quote:

WHEREAS shortly following the death of Charles T. Russell a division arose between those associated with him in such work, resulting in a number of such withdrawing from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and who have since refused to cooperate with said Society and its work and who decline to concur in the truth as published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in The Watch Tower and the other recent publications of the said above-named corporations, and have opposed and do now oppose the work of said Society in declaring the present message of God’s kingdom and the day of the vengeance of our God against all parts of Satan’s organization; and said opposing ones have formed themselves into divers and numerous companies and have taken and now bear such names as, to wit, “Bible Students,” “Associated Bible Students,” “Russellites teaching the truth as expounded by Pastor Russell,” “Stand-Fasters,” and like names, all of which tends to cause confusion and misunderstanding . . .”

25. Consequently, the above-mentioned ones have not shared in what experiences and accomplishments of those bearing the “new name”?

²⁵ Factually, those uncooperative and even opposing ones mentioned above did not embrace that “new name,” Jehovah’s witnesses, and become known as the Christian witnesses of Jehovah. They have shared neither in the terrible sufferings that the bearers of the “new name” have experienced since then nor in the work of announcing Jehovah’s established kingdom in the hands of his Messiah in all parts of the earth. For these reasons they have not shared in the marvelous expanding of the field for the cultivating and producing of disciples of Christ, to include at present 208 lands and islands or island groups, and requiring the publication of the Kingdom message in more than 160 languages. Despite vicious persecution in various lands, this cultivating of the field (which is the world of mankind) for the bringing forth of additional disciples of Christ moves forward to its culmination! It is presently being carried on under the supervision of the ninety-five branch organizations of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.

26. What evidence is there that the remnant of anointed “slaves” have had Heaven’s blessing in using the Master’s “talents” by cultivating the world field?

²⁶ Evidently, then, this increasing of the Messianic King’s “belongings,” his “talents,” has the approval and blessing of the Most High God Jehovah and his Son Jesus Christ. The anointed “slaves” engaged in the use of the King’s “talents” are finding it a joyful responsibility, and they are striving to qualify as a “good and faithful slave” from the standpoint of their heavenly Master. They do not care to have any of the “wicked and sluggish slave” class associated with them. Rather, they try to help all those who meet the Scriptural qualifications to associate with them, to become productive ministers of the Word of God. In evidence of the divine blessing upon their loving endeavors, during this past service year of 1972 there were 163,123 taught ones who were baptized in water as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. During the past five service years, 1968-1972, there were more than half a million, actually 680,871, who were thus baptized in lands all around the globe. So the remnant of anointed “slaves” who increase the Lord’s “belongings” do not believe that he is improperly reaping where he himself, when personally on earth, had not sown.

THE UNUSED “ONE TALENT” TAKEN AWAY

27. What decision did the master make regarding the unprofitable slave?

²⁷ In the parable, how does the master decide regarding the slave who failed to present to him what belonged to this master along “with interest”? “Therefore,” says the indignant master concerning the “wicked and sluggish slave” who proved unprofitable, “take away the talent from him and give it to him that has the ten talents. For to everyone that has, more will be given and he will have abundance; but as for him that does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. And throw the good-for-nothing slave out into the darkness outside. There is where [his] weeping and the gnashing of [his] teeth will be.”​—Matthew 25:28-30.

28. What considerations granted to the profitable slaves were denied to this slave, and what did his being cast into the darkness outside mean for him?

²⁸ This slave is not invited to enter into the joy of his master. He is not appointed to be ruler over many things because of having been found faithful over a few things. He is not called a “good and faithful slave,” but is spoken of as “the good-for-nothing slave.” He is not retained as a slave in the service and household of the master, but is thrown out of the house “into the darkness outside.” Evidently the returned master settled accounts with his slaves in the nighttime, and thus there would be “darkness outside” into which the slave could be thrown. In place of finding the joy of his master out there, he would weep and gnash his teeth because of the conditions into which he had been cast.

29. Why does this set forth a solemn lesson for the at-present faithful anointed “slaves” in the darkening world situation?

²⁹ This sets forth a solemn lesson for the remnant of the anointed “slaves” today. They must continue to work for the increase of the “belongings” of their heavenly Master. Otherwise, that set of values with which they have been entrusted by their Master will be taken away from them. Then, too, they will be thrown into the “darkness outside,” to join the “wicked and sluggish slave” class there. Ever since the close of the Gentile Times in the year 1914 it has been a nighttime for the world of mankind outside the lighted house of the heavenly Master Jesus Christ, even Christendom being shrouded in such nighttime darkness. But that darkness will blacken intensely when the time arrives according to God’s schedule for the “great tribulation” to break suddenly upon this generation of mankind. (Matthew 24:21, 22; Luke 21:34-36) Into that death-dealing darkness the “wicked and sluggish slave” class will be thrown, there to weep and gnash their teeth with religious hypocrites until they perish.

30. How is the “one talent” taken away from the “sluggish slave” class, and to whom is it given, and why?

³⁰ In this time of the Master’s parousia, when he is settling accounts with his “slaves,” whether with those who die individually or with the respective slave classes yet on earth, one thing is already apparent. The “wicked and sluggish slave” class are not doing business with their “one talent” and bringing him interest on his “monies.” Accordingly, he is already taking that “one talent” away from this unfaithful class that survives as a class till now. He is not letting them have any assignment from him in the way of territory that is to be cultivated and made productive of additional disciples of Christ. They are no longer treated as His slaves; he does not recognize and accept their religious activities. He does not let them share the gladdening light of his household. Their “one talent” is taken away from them, and their assigned field of potential disciple-making is given to the “good and faithful slave” class that has increased or is increasing the King’s “belongings” to “ten talents,” exercising the greatest ability in the field of disciple-making.​—Matthew 28:19, 20; Psalm 2:8.

31. (a) What rule of procedure on the Master’s part is thus exemplified? (b) The “sluggish slave” class did not have what extra, besides “ability,” and so what was done to him?

³¹ Thus there is being exemplified today the divine principle or rule of procedure that “to everyone that has, more will be given and he will have abundance; but as for him that does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (Matthew 25:29) In the parable the “wicked and sluggish slave” had the “one talent,” but he did not have what should be stirred up and manifested by the possession of this “one talent.” That something extra should be loyal zeal for his master, an appreciation of the trust that had been committed to him, a belief in the deservedness of his master to have an increase to the “one talent” that had working power, gainful power. His failure to present an increase when accounts were settled eloquently testified, in addition to his own excuse, that he did not have that something extra on his own part. Therefore, the “one talent” was taken away from him as a “good-for-nothing slave.” He had disappointed his master’s confidence in him. He was dismissed from his master’s service and cut off from his house.

32. What is the something extra that the “sluggish slave” class do not have since 1919, and so what is taken away from them?

³² The same principle is applied to the modern-day “wicked and sluggish slave” class. To those of this class there was committed that which corresponds to the “one talent.” This came from their heavenly Master, especially from the first postwar year of 1919. But they had to have something on their own part, which would complement or be a fitting companion of that “one talent.” This complementary thing that their possession of the “one talent” should have roused in them was zeal and devotion toward Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom, a belief in the worthiness of their heavenly Master to receive an increase in the disciple-producing field, a courageous and loving motive to have as large a share as possible in the proclamation of God’s established Messianic kingdom and in the making of disciples of people of all the nations, not merely the Jewish nation to whom Jesus Christ on earth confined his public and private ministry. Because they do not have that which they themselves should apply toward using the Master’s “one talent,” this “talent” is taken away from them, as present-day facts indicate.

33. (a) So, at whose expense do those of the “good and faithful slave” class receive an “abundance”? (b) What joy do they experience, and what rulership do they await?

³³ On the other hand, the “good and faithful slave” classes do have that which should complement their being entrusted with the “talents” of their celestial Master. True to the parabolic picture, more is being given to them, at the expense of the “wicked and sluggish slave” class, and opportunities and privileges are added to them as being responsible, reliable, profitable “slaves.” In consequence of this, they have indeed an “abundance” in the increased field of disciple-making. As they make the heart of their Master glad, their own joy overflows and they have a foretaste of the joy that their Master feels in his now established kingdom. This joy strengthens them to press on in the service to him down to the end of their earthly career. And when this occurs, they expect to enter by resurrection from the dead into the fullness of his joy and to be made ruler over many things in his millennial kingdom. They will then fully know the happiness of those “slaves” who have part in the “first resurrection.”​—Revelation 20:6.

34. Observable fulfillment of these climactic parts of Jesus’ parable proves that what is in progress, and why?

³⁴ In the afore-related way the climactic part of the parable of the “talents” has been going on since the year 1919 C.E. This has been observable by people and nations all around the inhabited earth. Especially are the “good and faithful slave” class aware of it. It all goes to prove that the parousia or invisible presence of the King Jesus Christ has been in progress since the Gentile Times ended in 1914. It is therefore a part of the grand “sign” of Christ’s “presence” and of the “conclusion of the system of things,” this parable of the “talents” being a part of his detailed prophecy concerning that “sign.”​—Matthew 24:3.

35. Why do we desire to continue further the consideration of Christ’s prophecy, and in order to prove what fact?

³⁵ Yet there is more to the “sign” of Christ’s invisible presence in spirit than the parables of the “ten virgins” and of the “talents” that we have already considered. A further parable constitutes an important part of his prophecy on the “sign,” and the fulfillment of it in our startling time adds to the proof that the presence, the parousia, of the Lord Jesus Christ is in progress to yet wonderful things. Shall we consider further our Lord’s great prophecy?

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R. J. Martin

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J. F. Rutherford