The Watchtower, August 15, 1951
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WATCHTOWER
AUGUST 15,1951 Semimonthly
THE LORD'S PRAYER NEARS COMPLETE ANSWER
"LET YOUR KINGDOM COME"
DAILY BREAD, FORGIVENESS AND DELIVERANCE
WHEN CHRISTIANITY WENT UNDERGROUND
THEOCRACY'S INCREASE IN BURMA
©WTB&TS
Announcing JEHOVAH'S KINGDOM
"YOU ARE MY WITNESSES," SAYS JEHOVAH.—Isa. 43:12 THE PURPOSE OF "THE WATCHTOWER"
Literal towers in Bible times were elevated vantage points from which watchmen could observe happenings, warn of danger, or announce good news. Our magazine figuratively occupies such a vantage point, for it is founded on the very pinnacle of wisdom, God's Word. That elevates it above racial, national and political propagandas and prejudices, frees it from selfish bias. It is not bound by any traditional creed, but its message advances as the light on God's purposes and works increases.-Habakkuk 2:1-3.
It sees things Scripturally. When it observes this generation afflicted with greed, delinquency, hypocrisy, atheism, war, famine, pestilence, perplexity and fear, and persecution of unpopular minorities, it does not parrot the old fable about history repeating itself.Informed by Bible prophecy,it sees in these things the sign of the world's time of the end. But with bright hope it also sees opening up for us just beyond these woes the portals of a new world.
Thus viewed, "The Watchtower" stands as a watchman atop a tower, alert to what is going on, awake to note signs of danger, faithful to point out the way of escape. It announces Jehovah's kingdom established by Christ's enthronement in heaven, feeds his kingdom joint-heirs with spiritual food, cheers men of good will with glorious prospects of eternal life in a paradise earth, comforts us with the resurrection promise for the dead.
It is not dogmatic, but has a confident ring in its voice, because it is based on God's Word. It does not privately interpret prophecy, but calls attention to physical facts, sets them alongside prophecy, and you see for yourself how well the two match, how accurately Jehovah interprets his own prophecy. In the interests of our salvation, it keeps sharp and faithful focus on Bible truth, and views religious news generally.
'Be watchful in these perilous times,' God admonishes. So keep on the watch by regularly reading "The Watchtower".
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PUBLISHED BY THE WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY
117 Adams Street Brooklyn 1, N. Y., U. S. A.
N. H. KNORR, President
GRANT SUITER, Secretary
"They will all be taught by Jehovah."—John 6:45, NW; Isaiah 54:13
CONTENTS
When Christianity Went Underground 483
Religious News Items 487
The Lord's Prayer Nears Complete Answer 488
"Let Your Kingdom Come" 492
Daily Bread, Forgiveness, and Deliverance 496
Theocracy's Increase in Burma 505
Questions from Readers 510
Communists and Jehovah's Witnesses 512
Announcements 512
Abbreviations used in "The Watchtower" for the following Bible versions
AS - American Standard Version LXX- The Septuagint Version
AT - An American Translation Mo - James Moffatt's version
Da - J. N. Darby's version NW - New World Translation
Dy - Catholic Douay version Ro - J. B. Rotherham's version
ED - The Emphatic Diaglott RS - Revised Standard Version
Le - Isaac Leeser's version Yg - Robert Young's version
Unless otherwise indicated, the Bible used is the King James Version
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WHEN CHRISTIANITY WENT UNDERGROUND
SOMETIME in the year 64 (A.D.) a flame rose against the skies of Rome. Spreading, the hungry fire leaped into a rabid blaze that engulfed much of the pagan capital of antiquity and burned it to the ground. The depraved emperor, Nero, who allegedly set the fire himself, sought to divert suspicion by blaming the unpopular Christians of the city for the atrocity. The flame that consumed the city touched off a scorching chain of persecutions against the Christians. Authorities number these persecutions at ten, continuing intermittently from Nero to Diocletian in the fourth century. The attrition opened as Nero filled his gardens and circus in the Vatican with sights of horror: the martyrs being impaled, bound in animal skins and thrown to wild dogs, or covered with incendiary material and ignited to light the emperor's evening amusements.
Though occasional reigns of indifferent or indulgent rulers permitted rest from the fierce opposition, Christians of those days came to live in a state of perpetual caution, though unrelaxed as a group in the vigorous prosecution of their worship. Much of the time it was impossible for them to meet together in congregational worship and study except in the strictest secrecy. Hence less than a hundred years after the apostle Paul fell victim of the Neronian persecution, Christianity had developed into a well-organized underground movement.
This proved true in a very literal way as well, for the sites chosen by them for their meetings were the twisting underground labyrinths of Rome known as the catacombs. Though there are existing catacombs in other cities and locations, those in Rome are the most famous for their association with early Christianity. They furnish us with a remarkably clear description of the history, beliefs and traits of Christian worship during our common era's first three or four centuries.
Opinion varies as to the time and purpose of the original construction of the catacombs. While most assign the construction of them to the Christians, others believe the passages were there even before Rome was founded. Some think they were abandoned quarries converted by the Christians to their purpose. Ostensibly, of course, that purpose was the burial of the dead, which was done by placing the corpses in niches carved in the rock walls and sealing them with a slab of marble bearing the name of the crypt's occupant.
The crypts of the catacombs are found in layers usually three, four or five deep. When it was necessary to make more crypts in any passageway, the floor was lowered by digging to allow for the extra wall space necessary. This proved superior to trying to carve the new niches in the area above by raising the ceiling, a most unhandy task. The passages themselves wind like uncontrolled tentacles beneath the city and vicinity.
Intersecting avenues occur at irregular intervals to stretch out in opposite directions. Rooms are to be found adaptable to the purpose of assembling for group meetings, adding their now silent testimony to the secrecy once required by those who came together to gain renewed strength for advancing true worship while their pagan tormentors raged above them. Only the imprudent would enter these labyrinths without a guide, like the class of students and their teacher who in 1837 descended into the maze never to be seen again.
UNSHAKEN BY VIOLENCE
While the remains of the primitive Christians filling the catacombs have long slept in quiet, many of them left life by any but a peaceful means, their bodies being torn, burned or broken as they faced a martyr's death. As wave after wave of persecution rolled through the ranks of the Christians the number of martyrdoms mounted continuously. Though impossible to name all the martyr crypts, the inscriptions that do specifically reveal them provide some sense of the vast number there must be: a young military officer here who embraced the faith and with it death from his government, a man and his entire family there who were foully murdered, a young girl boiled in oil. Rome reddened with innocent blood as some assailants, maddened at their inability to smash the spirit along with the body, sought foolishly to quash the Christian's resurrection hope by burning the bodies of the slain and scattering the ashes in the river. Further, seeing the increased zeal acquired by those who visited with the resolute condemned ones in their death cells, the midthird century Valerian persecution against the elders of the Christian church tried to thwart this by marching the condemned
straight from the tribunal to the place of execution. This was the fate of the prominent overseer Cyprian, whose brothers followed him along the way exhorting him to steadfastness.
Similarly, to prevent the strength obtained from the meeting together in the catacombs this emperor forbade further entry into the subterranean cemeteries. Enforcement proved vain, however, as the entrances were too many and devious, and few were the members of the guard intrepid enough to wander far into the passages in search. The persecutions raged to their peak and failed.
To the anxious inquirer of this day and age acquainted with the world's present multitudinous religions and religious alliances, interfaith leagues and the like, the most gratifying lesson from the catacombs comes in their answer on early Christian beliefs and customs. The pagans worshiped gaudily in ornate temples with magnificent idols and accompanied with all the frills of incense and candles. Not so the Christians. The typical pagan view of them was: "Why have they no altars, temples and sacrifices?" The historian Gibbon points to this complete disdain for idolatry by the Christians and of the wit of some of their writers who expressed ridicule of the pagans for their bowing before the works of their own hands. The marked contrast between Christian and pagan then can be seen from the epitaphs of each. Whereas the heathen extolled their lives of indulgence and sounded an "eat, drink and be merry" note, Christians usually engraved the name and a few words denoting the restful sleep into which the dead had fallen and frequently made reference to their hope in the resurrection. One inscription reads: "You, well-deserving one, having left your [relations], lie in peace—in sleep. You will arise; a temporary rest is granted you."
But these facts will alert one to the realization that those Christians so close to the apostolic church held beliefs markedly different not only from pagans then but from many professed Christians now. Surely if they ridiculed the idolatry of the Romans of the first three centuries, they would not condone the recognition paid to images by the church with headquarters in the same city today, simply because it professes to be Christian. If they believed in a resurrection until which time they would sleep it is unthinkable that they could reconcile their faith to a teaching in an afterdeath "purgatory", hell-fire or, for that matter, consciousness in any form. But this is only the beginning of the great gulf separating those early followers of the Messiah from modern Christendom's hundreds of sects and cults.
THE STONES ACCUSE CHRISTENDOM
One will scan the record of the catacombs in vain to find any record of Mariolatry during the first three centuries. In none of the early drawings is the virgin given a position of prominence, nor is any prayer found addressed to or through her. Neither were the Christians of the catacombs fanatical collectors of relics. Though their martyrs were naturally highly respected, there was no effort to worship them or to secure their remains for use as relics by which to exploit the credulous. To the chagrin of Roman Catholic art, William Kip points out that God was never represented in human form. Roman Catholic efforts to do this are rejected by that authority, even when represented "by the genius of Michael Angelo". Also concerning the delegating of church headship to Peter, the catacomb walls are blank. Note what McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia has to say: "No specifically Romanist doctrine finds any support in inscriptions dating before the 4th century. We begin to trace signs of saint-worship in the 5th century. The first idea of transmission of power from Christ to Peter dates from the latter part of the 5th to the beginning of the 6th, and even then Peter's figure does not appear armed with the keys, as in the later symbolism."
The foregoing agrees with the fact that Emperor Constantine inspired the formal adoption of an apostate form of Christianity fused with Roman paganism following the Nicene Council of A.D. 325. From that time date the countless heathen innovations that have since besmirched papal Rome. Undoubtedly the work of iniquity of which the apostle Paul forewarned had begun to influence the Christians of the first three centuries; but, though possibly tainted with some false teachings, their staunch refusal to knowingly cave in beneath the weighty pressure of heathenism has helped distinguish between some of the basic beliefs taught by Jesus and the apostles and the doctrines of fused paganism later emanating from Rome.—2 Thess. 2:7.
Though drawings are frequent no capital is made of the crucifixion or of Jesus in anguish of any kind among those of the first three centuries. Even the heathenish cross, claimed by Christendom as the very symbol of Christianity, is rare in the catacombs and then, as Sheldon tells us, usually appears in some disguised form. He assumes that this was due to the ridicule and reproach that the symbol is supposed to have brought on the Christians by their adversaries. However, in the light of their otherwise very bold and uncompromising attitude before their oppressors, it is not likely that a little added humiliation would prevent them from setting their supposedly sacred symbol to the fore. Far more likely is it that in those times the Christians flatly refused the universal acceptance of the cross.
Withering under the fire of repudiation from the catacombs, the Catholic Encyclopedia admits: "Catholic writers have at times found a richer dogmatic content in the pictures of the catacombs than a strict examination is able to prove."
Interesting is the fact that, though forced to meet underground, those primitive Christians by no means kept their light hidden there. As Christ had commanded, they lifted it high on "lampstands" by a work of public testimony. Though this drew the infuriated malice of many, it introduced untold hope to others who proceeded to associate with the Christian community. Charles Maitland, in The Church in the Catacombs, singles out this proselytizing nature of the Christians as the greatest aggravating factor of their persecution, because of which other charges were trumped up by the authorities. Their harmlessness can be seen in that for the mere reason of secretly celebrating the Lord's Supper they suffered an official ban. From what can be told by the ancient inscriptions those Christians scorned the hierarchical structure which papal Rome copied from pagan Rome. Authorities find instead of the voice of bishops and doctors the simple hope of such ones as Mary and Martha at the grave of Lazarus. The illustrations stress this instead of the prominence of hierarchs or of the people's dependence on such for instruction. The common burial sites for all alike further reflect Jesus' teaching: "All you are brothers."
CHRISTIANITY ABOVEGROUND
Simply because friendly comparison between the early church and today's Christendom is lacking, must we cynically conclude that at this time no truth at all exists? Hardly that, when one considers that without the help of worldly religion politics, wealth and position, indeed without Christendom, a glad message of the birth of God's kingdom, the hope of all nations, has been published throughout the world in an intensified way for the past thirty years or more. World-wide the bringers of this good news are known for their unique stand of separateness from the world, their aggressive persistence in pushing ahead with their work, the opposition with which they have been met around the globe. They are known too as the witnesses of the one they represent, Jehovah's witnesses. The striking comparisons in some of the basic principles of their work and teaching with that of the church of the first three centuries arrest the eye of investigators. And charges raised to thwart their work have been just as absurd in a frantic effort to hide the real reason. Why, in fact, an assembly of Jehovah's witnesses was even interrupted and disorganized in Canada during the wartime ban there at a time when they had come together for no purpose more sinister than to celebrate the Lord's Supper!
The facts when strung together simply show that the truth has never been welcomed by this old world of wickedness. True of Christ's time, true of now. Even as he foretold, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20) For long centuries men of good will have had to wait while Christianity was driven underground, later engulfed in paganism, and since misrepresented to the world for centuries. But now a program of Bible education sweeps the world and with clearer understanding than ever, to the hope of people everywhere. The truth shines more brightly than in any part of man's nearly 6,000-year-long history. Though in time denied by every earthly government, though yet banned repeatedly, the truth has burst all bonds, is increasing, and will yet fill the earth.—Hab. 2:14.
Religious News Items
Catholic Views on Religion and Politics
Said Jesus to the Roman governor: "My kingdom is no part of this world." (John 18:36, NW) What does the Roman Catholic Hierarchy say? Pages 37 and 38 of the authoritative Catholic document, The Liberal Illusion, help answer in these words: "Jesus Christ is the King of the world. He speaks to the world through His Priest [the pope], and the decrees of this Priest, being an expression of the royal rights of Jesus Christ, are eternal. They apply not to one time alone, but to all times; not to one society alone, but to all societies; not to some men, but to all men. The children of the Christ, the children of the King are kings. They form an absolutely superior society, whose duty it is to take possession of the earth and reign over it for the purpose of baptizing all men and of raising them to that selfsame supernatural life, that selfsame royalty and that selfsame glory for which Christ has destined them."
Ambitiously teaching that Jesus gave Peter the commission of supplanting the political power of this world with the authority of a religious hierarchy, the Catholic Cabinet, pages 160-168, under the section "From Peter to Leo", declares: "He brings a message to the Caesar, and this is what his message means: 'Caesar, thy work is done . . . I have come to take thine Empire . . . I will wield thy sceptre. Take down thine eagles from the Capitol. In their stead I will set up the Cross. Upon thy palace I will build my Vatican . . .
Caesar, thou mayest go. Rome is mine, for I am Peter. What was Rome's answer? Rome owned the earth . . . Rome declared war on Peter . . . The world was Pagan then . . . But, the Christian revelation being true, and good, and beautiful, conquered.'"
Hindus Shocked by Catholic Idolatry
India is a land covered with Hindu temples and images, erected to the worship of some 330,000,000 gods, so numerous they even outnumber their worshipers. If any people should be used to and tolerant of idolatry, one would think the Hindus would qualify. However, the publication Protestant Action, in its issue of June,1950, relates an extraordinary reaction on the part of some responsible Hindu sources to a then current Roman Catholic exhibition in South India of a statue of "Our Lady of Fatima" from Portugal. As usual, cities along the statue's route of travel were first "softened up" with propaganda concerning its many alleged miracles and answers to prayers.
Though to an idol-ridden land like India this should seem quite commonplace, note the report carried in the above-mentioned publication: "The Hindu editor of a large India-language daily newspaper in Travancore, however, called the Roman Catholic celebrations 'a manifestation of idolatry in its crudest form'. He was joined by other prominent Hindus in warning their people not to be influenced to go back to a form of idolatry which they have been trying to overcome."
Jesuit Slave Labor Plagues Bolivia
The January, 1951, issue of Liberty magazine carried a revealing article on the international slave market. Regarding South America, the writer, Rose Slivka, pointed out that an estimated three million people are living under conditions of slavery. After stating that Bolivian landlords customarily manage to enslave their laborers through long-term indebtedness, the article continues: "But the plight of the agricultural laborers in the Bolivian Jesuit missions is most shocking of all. These are organized colonies based on Indian labor. They are completely self-governing and free from controls. The Indians work for the missions without pay and are hired out to private farms like animals, while the mission is paid for their labor. Those, moreover, who have been hired out to the neighboring estates are required to attend the mission house every Saturday for roll call and to attend mass every Sunday. When a recalcitrant Indian fails to comply with these measures he is severely beaten. When Indians try to escape, the missionaries immediately organize a hunt and those who are unfortunate enough to be caught are tortured. Nevertheless, fugitive guarayos, as those who run away are called, are very numerous."
The Lord's Prayer Nears Complete Answer
"OUR Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified." It required the only son of God living on earth at the time,
"Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth. Give us today our bread for this day; and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the wicked one."—Matt. 6:9-13, NW.
nineteen centuries ago, to teach the people of a nation consecrated to Jehovah God to open up prayer to Him in this childlike way. In the sacred Hebrew Scriptures written before Christ Jesus Jehovah God had been referred to as a Father, at various places.* As the Creator of man and woman he was originally the Father of the human race, so that the Christian historian Luke refers to the perfect man in the garden of Eden as "Adam, the son of God". (Luke 3:38, NW) But those Hebrew Scriptures taught how these first two humans disloyally broke their heavenly Father's law and were disowned by him as children and driven out of the garden of Eden to die as willful sinners, so that none of their offspring could address Jehovah God as His children. This accounts for it that in all the prayers recorded in the thirty-nine books of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures none of them opens with an address to Jehovah God as our Father, the father of mankind.
2 But now Jesus Christ, the One whom Jehovah acknowledged from heaven as
"My Son, the beloved", was engaged in a sacrificial work that was going to reopen the way for them into the family of God's children.
So in advance Jesus appropriately taught his Jewish disciples this prayer, which has come to be known as "the Lord's prayer". He taught it as a prominent part of his "sermon on the mount". (Matt. 3:13-17,NW; 5:1 to 6:13) Since Jesus taught his followers to pray this prayer, he did so fully expecting an answer to all it asks. Because it is nearing its complete answer in our day, it is so important for us to take up a study of the Lord's prayer here in order to get at more of its full meaning.
3 How heart-warming, how inspiring to childlike confidence, is the way the Lord Jesus opens up the prayer! "Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified." Here the chief son of God is teaching those who are to become sons and daughters of God to pray. Never forget that here the Master is teaching, not pagans, not religious hypocrites, not people of this world, but his disciples, his devoted followers, to pray. To these he said in this same sermon: "Happy are the peaceable, since they will be called 'sons of God'." (Matt. 5:9, NW) So the Fatherhood here recognized is not one that is based on our mere de-
Deut. 32:6; Ps. 103:13; Isa. 63:16; Jer. 3:4, 19; Mal. 1:6; 2:10.
1,2. In form of address how does the Lord's prayer differ from prayers in the Hebrew Scriptures? Why so, and why do we study it?
Who may address God in prayer in this way, and why these only?
scent from Adam, a descent which pagans, hypocrites, antichrists and all other humans have. It is based on becoming an heir of everlasting life from God through Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Hence today, not only persons whom God has called to the heavenly kingdom with Christ Jesus may offer this prayer, addressing God as their Father, but also the great crowd of his "other sheep" who hope to get eternal life on the earth to be perfected under God's kingdom.—Luke 12:32; Rev. 7:9-17; John 10:16.
4 Calling him "our" Father denotes we recognize he is the Father of a family and that there are other members in the family and that we are sons of God along with our older Brother, Jesus Christ the beloved chief son of God. This broadens out our prayer to include lovingly our brother sons of God. Certainly the kingdom of God for which we are here taught to pray is not for our own individual personal benefit alone, but is for all the family. By this form of introduction we recognize God, too, as the original Life-giver, the Fountain of life, not alone the One from whom we received existence through the first man Adam, but also the One who has made
provision for us to be rescued from the death we are now dying because of Adam's sin and to be ushered into the new world of righteousness with its everlasting life. Because we have faith and avail ourselves of these life-giving provisions through Christ we address Jehovah God as our Father, confessing that "the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God
gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord".—Rom. 6:23, NW.
5 Jehovah is infinitely higher than our earthly fathers. He is our Father "in the heavens". Hence we give him the highest respect and we tender him our childlike confidence and obedience, even under discipline. If we do not accord to God respect and obedience we belie we are his children. For we read: "We used to have fathers who were of our flesh to discipline us and we used to give them respect. Shall we not much more subject ourselves to the Father of our spiritual life and live? For they for a few days used to discipline us according to what seemed good to them, but he does so for our profit that we may partake of his holiness." (Heb. 12:9, 10, NW) When Jesus taught us to pray to Jehovah God "Our Father", he meant that Jehovah is also his Father. Jesus tenderly addressed him as Father and thereby confessed that he originally received life from this great Life-giver. He said: "The living Father sent me forth and I live because of the Father." (John 6:57, NW) For this reason he never let anyone address him as "Father" but always reserved that precious title for his heavenly Father. When
Jesus told his disciples, "Do not call anyone your father on earth, for One is your Father, the heavenly One," he also meant for his disciples not to call Jesus by the title "Father". What crass unchristianity, then, for clergymen of Christendom to demand that people address them as "father" in a spiritual sense! It is the height of disrespect to
Why do we use the plural pronoun "our", and why do we address him as "Father"?
What does his being a Father "in the heavens" oblige us to render, and how did Jesus treat His title "Father"?
the heavenly Father and is contrary to the Lord's prayer.
HIS NAME
6 Jesus reminds us that the heavenly Father has a name and that we as loving children should respect that name. The very first petition Jesus introduces into the prayer is, "Let your name be sanctified." In this way he shows that the heavenly Father's name ranks first in importance. Yes, just as the Son has a name, so, too, the Father has a name. The name does not originate with us, but he himself tells us what it is: "I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images." (Isa. 42:8, AS) When Jesus preached on earth, Jehovah's name had been reproached by Satan the Devil and all his offspring for more than four thousand years. The reproaches that had fallen upon Jehovah then fell on Jesus and they have since fallen upon all Jesus' true followers to this day. So the petition, "Let your name be sanctified," means more than our merely holding God's name sacred. It means that his name has to be relieved of all the reproach cast upon it and must be forever vindicated.
Even in the Ten Commandments which God gave the Jews by Moses he shows the importance of his name. In the third of these commandments he orders: "Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." (Ex. 20:7, AS) Of course, any using of that name in profane language, in foul cursing by angry men, is a using of it to no good purpose but is degrading it to vile connections. But men take it in vain when they misapply that name to persons or to
things that should not bear it or when they attach it to lies and counterfeit messages to which his name does not belong as originator and sponsor. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah. They say continually unto them that despise me, Jehovah hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He saith."—Jer. 23:16, 17, 26, 27, 31, AS.
8 Christendom's clergy come under this denunciation. Although they avoid using the name Jehovah, they presume to speak for God to whom that name belongs. As religious prophets they make all kinds of false predictions to the people concerning the peace of the world, concerning the League of Nations and its successor the United Nations, and other things of public concern; and they palm these predictions off as being God's messages, to whom the name Jehovah belongs. Also, they glorify men and women of this world and push God's name into the background and cause the people to forget his holy name. So when they utter the Lord's prayer, "Let your name be sanctified," it only adds to their religious hypocrisy.
9 As a nation the Jewish people of old
What does the Lord's prayer petition first, and why?
How do profane men and false prophets take God's name in vain?
How do Christendom's clergy thus take his name in vain?
How did the Jews as a nation take his name in vain, and whose responsibility did it then become not to take his name thus in vain?
took his name in vain, for they were called by his name, Jehovah's people, but they did not live up to that worthy name. We do not make this charge, but God makes it through his prophets. Says he to his name people whom he delivered into their enemies' hands: "They that rule over them do howl, saith Jehovah, and my name continually all the day is blasphemed." "And when they came unto the nations, whither they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Jehovah, and are gone forth out of his land. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye went [as captive exiles]." (Isa. 52:5 and Ezek. 36:20, 22, AS) In the first century A.D. God finally rejected the Jewish nation, after they hanged his Son upon the stake to die in disgrace. The only redeeming feature about the Israelites then was that a faithful remnant of the Jews separated from them and undertook to bring credit to Jehovah's name and to walk worthily with his name upon them. In a short time they were joined by many Gentiles, and all together they became a people for Jehovah's name. As the disciple James told the Christian conference at Jerusalem: "Symeon [Peter] has related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name." It was then up to these Christians to prove they had not, like the natural Jews, taken Jehovah's name in vain.—Acts 15:14, NW.
10 For years now the effort of Bible translators has been to cut out Jehovah's name from English and other translations. They try to make him a nameless God who had no exclusive association with the
Jewish nation for more than fifteen centuries under the name Jehovah. By this these translators claim to lift him from being a tribal or national God and to make it easier for him to become a universal God. They little appreciate the importance of his name, particularly in the light of his own declaration: "Whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered." "For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent." (Joel 2:32, AS; Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13,NW; Zeph. 3:9,AS) In opposite fashion, Christians associated with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society published and exalted Jehovah's name for many years prior to 1931. In this latter year and in the light of the prophecies of the Bible they publicly adopted the name "Jehovah's witnesses". Ever since they have been living up to that name.
11 But did these witnesses act presumptuously in literally taking His name? No; for a true son is not ashamed of his Father's worthy name. The name befits the work they did before 1931 and have been doing since. We should not think that the natural Jews who rejected the Teacher of the Lord's prayer still have Jehovah's name upon them. Jehovah's rejection of them culminated in Jerusalem's destruction in the first century and in scattering the Jews among all nations. At their rejection the faithful Christians became the chosen people "for his name". Christians are therefore not presumptuous in taking that name and making it famous. If Jehovah's witnesses have brought reproach upon His name, let their enemies say how.
12 The religionists of Christendom claim to be the people for his name, yet they do not confess the name or glorify it, but
How have Bible translators tried to cut out Jehovah's name, but what have true Christians done about his name?
Why have these witnesses not acted presumptuously in taking his name?
At Jehovah's rejection of the Jews what became of his name?
persecute those who do bear the name and who publish it. Jehovah's name was not meant to die with his rejection of the Jews. It was transferred to the Christians, who became spiritual Israelites and who received his spirit of adoption, because of which they cry to him, "Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:4-7) His name upon them means his ownership of them; they belong to him. Those who sincerely offer the Lord's prayer for God's name to be sanctified will be most careful to bring no reproach upon it nor will they ridicule it just because they do not like the persons who bear it. They cherish it.
13 As God's children we can, of course, sanctify his name in our lives, but the sanctifying of that name universally will come about by God's act through Jesus Christ. Jesus once prayed: "Father, glorify your name." (John 12:28,NW) God assured him he would do so. Since A.D. 1919 the heavenly Father has done so. How? By restoring his faithful remnant of spiritual Israelites to his organization and its work in all the earth, as foretold at Ezekiel 36:21-32: "The nations shall know
that I am Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes."—AS.
How has Jehovah sanctified his name in connection with his remnant?
14 But the decisive sanctification of his name before all the universe will come at the battle of Armageddon, which now draws closer and closer. There the foes of God's name in Christendom and in heathendom will make a final concentrated attack upon his remnant and their good-will companions. Then in order to show that his name is holy and may not forever be profaned without punishment the heavenly Father will fight the "war of the great day of God the Almighty" and destroy all who reproach him now, whether men or devils. "And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel." (Ezek. 38:23; 39:7, AS) We exult that the answer to our prayer for his name to be sanctified is near.
How will the decisive sanctification of his name occur shortly?
"LET YOUR KINGDOM COME"
GOD'S kingdom is the mighty agency by means of which he sanctifies his holy name and proves to all the creation that he is the Sovereign of the universe. Christendom's clergy claim that the Kingdom here prayed for is in the hearts of Christians and is a spiritual condition enjoyed by them, and that the Kingdom's
coming means the converting of the people to Christ and putting God in the governments and kingdoms of this old world. They quote in support Romans 14:15-17: "Do not by your food ruin that one for whom Christ died. Do not, therefore, let the good you do be spoken of with injury to you. For the kingdom of God does not mean eating and drinking, but means righteousness and peace and joy with holy spirit." (NW) Frankly, then, if the Kingdom is to come by converting this world
1, 2. (a) What do the clergy claim the Kingdom's coming means, and how is their application of Romans 14:17 wrong? (b) What does this verse mean?
and putting God in its political governments by the influence of the clergy, the prayer for the Kingdom to come will never be answered. Look at Christendom today, not to speak of heathendom. Mark her fear of so-called "godless Communism". Her only defense against it is the military bulwarks of democratic powers. Roman Catholics are now taught to pray for Russia's conversion, that is, a conversion to Roman Catholicism, not to Russian Orthodox religion. But Hitler's Nazi hordes failed to open up Russia for the easy invasion of Roman Catholicism; and now even the fall of the Soviet regime internally or its defeat militarily would never hasten the conversion of the Communist peoples to Catholicism, much less to true Christianity.
2 If, according to Romans 14:17, people's having righteousness, peace and joy with holy spirit means the Kingdom is existing among men, then how much of these things do Italy, France, Spain, and the rest of Christendom have? Certainly not enough to prove that God's kingdom exists among them. But what Romans 14:17 says is that, if we possess righteousness, peace and joy with holy spirit, this means we will gain a place with Christ Jesus in God's kingdom. Gaining that kingdom is not by eating and drinking. It is by taking part in these other spiritual things, just as our taking in knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ means everlasting life; it gains everlasting life in the new world for us.—John 17:3, NW.
The kingdom that is to come is the kingdom concerning which God made a covenant with King David and concerning which Daniel the prophet said: "And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty
thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." An inspired dream of Daniel foretells, too, that this divine kingdom will be put into the hands of Christ Jesus, the Son of man and Son of David. His faithful body of followers, his little flock of joint heirs, will inherit that kingdom with him. (Dan. 2:44; 7:13,14,18,22,27,AS) Hence when a child of the heavenly Father prays for His kingdom to come he is praying for God's kingdom in Christ's hands to break to pieces and obliterate all the political systems of this world at the battle of Armageddon. If patriots do not like this thought, let them quit praying this prayer.
4 In 1914, in harmony with Daniel's vision, the Son of man, Christ Jesus, was brought before the Ancient of days, the heavenly Father, and "there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed". In this way Jehovah took his great power and began reigning toward our earth and put his Son in power to rule in the midst of his enemies.
What, then, is that kingdom which is to come, and so what does praying for its coming mean for governments of this world?
marked year for this assumption of power over our earth, because that year the "appointed times of the nations" ran out. They had begun 2,520 years before with the overthrow of God's typical kingdom in Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon. Their end in 1914 must mark the setting up of God's kingdom in the hands of his Heir to the Kingdom covenant, Jesus Christ, and the assigning of all nations to be broken to pieces like potters' vessels by the iron rod of his reigning King. Thus the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come to pass. One mighty expression of this fact was the "war in heaven" and the forcible ousting of Satan and his demons and the confining of them to this earth for final attention. No wonder we can hear today all over the earth the thunderous voice of a great witness-crowd saying as with the roar of many waters: "Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king."—Rev. 12:1-12; 19:6, NW.
6 Does this mean, then, that our heavenly Father's kingdom has come, that is, come in the way meant in the Lord's prayer and that we should now stop making this petition? No; for, as pictured by the prophetic dream which Daniel interpreted for King Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom has been given existence like the rock which was cut out of the mountain without aid of human hands. But this Kingdom rock must still come against the idolatrous image of Satan's world organization and hit its feet or visible part and knock the image from its base and completely destroy it in the battle of Armageddon. When King David of old was ruling in the midst of his foes in the Promised Land he had to come against all the enemies and subdue them all until he had reached every border
of the kingdom's God-given domain. Likewise Christ Jesus the Son of David, who is now ruling in the midst of his enemies must yet come like a thief at an unexpected day and hour against these enemies lined up at Armageddon and must break up their organized power and grind them to powder.—Dan. 2:31-35,44,45; Rev. 16:13-16.
The first expression of the Kingdom's coming was when it began the tribulation on Satan's world organization and hurled him down from the heavens. The complete expression of its coming will be when it revives this tribulation which has been interrupted since 1918 and wipes out Satan's organization at Armageddon. There Jesus the King binds Satan and his demons, casts them into the abyss and seals it up for a thousand years. Then Christ Jesus will begin reigning for a millennium without any hindrance from this world. Then, therefore, is when the prayer is fully answered: "Let your kingdom come."—Rev. 19:11 to 20:3.
This earth is the place to which God's kingdom comes or extends its power and dominion, for it is here that Satan has separated mankind from God. Now since he has been hurled down here, the earth is the center of rebellion, an island of rebellion in all the universe; and God is localizing the war of Armageddon to just this earth and vicinity. God's covenant with King David for an everlasting kingdom was not for just a spiritual state of religiousness and morality but was also for possession of territory. God held down David's dominion to just the land God designated in his covenant with David's forefather Abraham, known as the Promised Land. But the territory that the prophecy assigns to God's kingdom by Christ
So should we stop praying for the Kingdom to come? Why or why not?
When therefore is the prayer for its coming fully answered?
Where is it to come, and why there? How far is it to extend?
will be "from sea to sea, and from the River [Euphrates, Babylon's one-time seat] unto the ends of the earth". The stone symbolizing God's kingdom crushes Satan's political image and becomes a mountain that fills the whole earth. We read further: "Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this."—Ps. 72:8; Dan. 2:35; Isa. 9:6, 7, AS; Gen. 15:18-20.
HIS WILL
From this standpoint we can appreciate more intelligently the petition that immediately follows the prayer for God's kingdom: "Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth." (Matt. 6:10, NW) This is generally understood to mean that God's will is to be done by human creatures on earth as it is done by spirit angels up in heaven. But does it mean just that? Or rather that God will do what he wants to do here on earth by means of his kingdom just the same as he does it up in heaven? Rather the latter, although it includes the former thought too. As it is written: "Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he pleased." "Whatsoever Jehovah pleased, that hath he done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps." Says he: "I am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; . . yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it." (Pss. 115:3; 135:6; Isa. 46:9-11, AS; also Eccl. 3:14; 8:3) At his appointed year, 1914, he brought his kingdom to birth by enthroning Christ Jesus as King in the midst of his enemies. And Jesus, who taught us to pray for God's will to be done here, is faithfully carrying out his will toward this earth just as he did toward heaven when he fought and cast Satan and his demons down from there. Jesus once came to earth as a man to do his Father's will here. For so doing he was raised from the dead and ascended back to heaven to continue doing his Father's will forevermore.
Now the time for Satan to rage and do his will, bringing woe upon earth and sea and persecuting Jehovah's people on earth, is very short indeed. That is why he is so angry and is now trying to do his worst, so as to destroy all mankind and especially the remnant of the heirs of God's kingdom and all their crowd of good-will companions and fellow witnesses. But the remnant are not terrified by Satan's anger and his warfare, but "observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus". They and their good-will companions are wholly committed to doing God's will. Hence they are now obediently having part in fulfilling Jesus' prophecy concerning the end of this world: "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come." (Rev. 12:12, 13, 17; Matt. 24:14, NW) But not so Christendom! She regularly says her "Pater Noster" (Latin meaning "Our Father") but does not do God's will. She fights the true interests of God's kingdom and fights Jehovah's witnesses who proclaim that the Kingdom has been set up. She is now divided within herself by hot and cold wars over international communism, and she is
How is it that God's will comes to pass here as in heaven?
Who on earth are now doing God's will, but how not Christendom?
inconsistently serving both sides of the conflict.
11 As regards God's will to be done in the heavens, he has installed the new heavenly powers to rule the coming righteous new world and has ousted Satan and his demons and limited their activities now to the earth. His installed King now has all his enemies at his footstool the earth and is ruling among them. Shortly he will destroy Satan's wicked heavens and earth, Satan's invisible and visible organization.
How will the destruction God brings about allow for his will to come to pass on our earth as well as in heaven?
Daily Bread, Forgiveness AND Deliverance
THE first three petitions of the Lord's prayer have to do directly with God's interests which are of first importance universally. The remaining four petitions have to do with us creatures individually and personally. Being our heavenly Father, God is lovingly interested in these things which vitally affect his children on earth, and Jesus our Teacher assures us we may present these matters to Jehovah God in prayer.
2 "Give us today our bread for this day." By asking bread or food and drink for no more than today this prayer adopts the right attitude. It does not presume we shall be living tomorrow, mindful of Proverbs 27:1: "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." The disciple James impresses that same thought and tells us we should say: "If Jehovah wills, we shall live and also do this or that." (Jas. 4:13-15, NW) In harmony with this prayer for just today's portion of food Jesus a little later on in this same sermon on the mount tells us how God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers, and says: "So never be anxious and say: 'What are we to eat?' or, 'What are we to drink?' or, 'What are we to put on?' For all these are the things the nations are eagerly pursuing. For your heavenly Father knows you need all these things. Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you. So, never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own evil." (Matt. 6:31-34, NW) So we ask today for only our daily bread.
Following this destruction he will build up a new human society the members of which will love to do God's will. Thus God's will to have a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells will be done, in fulfillment of his promise. (2 Pet. 3:13; Isa. 65:17; 66:22) It is not God's will to destroy this literal earth, no more than to destroy the literal heavens. These shall abide forever. Because his will is to preserve this earthly globe through the battle of Armageddon, his will can and will be done here also as it is done up in heaven.
The way Luke 11:3 (NW) words it in the similar prayer reads: "Give us our bread for the day according to the day's requirement." This promotes no spirit of hoarding things to the denial of such
With whom do the foregoing three, and the remaining four petitions of the Lord's prayer, have to do?
With what regard for tomorrow do we ask for only today's food?
How does the Lord's prayer encourage no greedy spirit?
things to other children of God, nor any getting of a corner or monopoly on foodstuffs so as to command the market, control prices and make financial profits at the expense of the people's misery. The
Lord's prayer advises no greedy spirit. To the contrary, it advises godly devotion with contentment which means great gain in a real way, a gain in happiness and blessing now and of eternal life in the righteous new world.
"So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things."—1 Tim. 6:6-8,NW.
be wasted since they were legally forbidden to go out and do collecting work.
So our praying for just today's bread may put us on a day-to-day basis in our dependence on God for nourishment, but
4 This prayer for daily bread does not mean God treats us like infants and brings the food to us without effort by us and puts it before us on the table or right into our mouths. No; this material bread is not a free, unearned handout. God has surrounded us with all the means for providing us with bread, but we must get busy and work to get it deservedly. There is no room allowed for sponging on our hardworking fellows, but God enforces the rule among his able-bodied children: 'If anyone does not want to work neither let him eat.' (2 Thess. 3:10, NW) In keeping with our prayer to him for the daily ration for today, we trust him to provide us physical and mental strength to work and deserve it. In the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, God caused the manna to fall like dew all about the Israelites each day of the week except the seventh day. So there was plenty of food about them, but they had to go out and collect the manna and then work it up into baked bread. On the sixth day God caused twice as much to fall, for the seventh day was a rest day and none would fall then, because it would
he will fatherlike provide it during our journey through this old world, just as faithfully as he provided manna for the Israelites.
6 To those who take refuge under God's capital organization, heavenly Zion,
Jehovah gives this assurance and he has made it good to date: "He will dwell on the heights, his stronghold will be rocky fastnesses; his bread will be given to him, his water will be sure." (Isa. 33:13-16, AT) For example, during the siege of Jerusalem by the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah was imprisoned, but even there his prisonkeepers "gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent". (Jer. 37:16-21, AS) Likewise, through this troublous period upon Christendom and clear through the war of Armageddon Jehovah will make sure we get our bread and water to meet our need in our faithful service of him. Due to action of the enemy against us, some of our fellow children of God may not have as much as we do. In this case it is our privilege to share with them to strengthen them for God's work with integrity. We shall always have something so as to distribute equally what God provides. As it was with the Israelites when collecting manna each day in the wilderness, "he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating."—Ex. 16:18, AS; 2 Cor. 8:14, 15, NW.
4,5. (a) How is this daily bread no free, unearned handout? (b) Why need we not fear because it comes on a day-to-day basis?
What assurance has God given as to our bread and water, and what can be done about those having less than we do?
7 Knowing that "man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah's mouth", our heavenly Father will also supply us daily with the spiritual food through his theocratic organization, provided we daily come to his table not only feeding our minds on his written Word but also feeding our spiritual selves by doing God's will and sharing his Word of truth with others. Matt. 4:4,NW; Deut. 8:3,AS; John 4:34.
FORGIVING OUR DEBTS
8 A sin of transgression against God's law puts us in debt to him. "The wages sin pays is death." (Rom. 6:23, NW) For our sin God could demand and exact our lives; he could banish us from his holy organization and from fellowship and association with it. He could withdraw his peace from us, breaking off all peaceful relations with us. He could make us turn in to him all that we got from him by his undeserved kindness. We owe him love, expressed in obedience; and when we sin we fail in paying our debt of love to him, for sin is unloving toward God. (Rom. 13:8-10) It is with a view of sin as being a debt to be settled with God that Jesus framed the next petition in the Lord's prayer: "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matt. 6:12, NW) In proof that debt here means sin, Jesus expresses the same petition in the corresponding prayer in these words: "And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is in debt to us."—Luke 11:4, NW.
9 This petition would not be authorized unless there was some basis for God's forgiveness of us. The basis for it is not just
his love and mercy in an abstract way and without regard to his perfect justice which requires death for sin. The basis for forgiveness is his love and mercy expressed in the human sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ which completely met all the demands of justice in our behalf. When Jesus taught this prayer in the sermon on the mount he had already pronounced the forgiveness of the sins of a number whom he healed. So it was to be understood that God's forgiveness would be through Christ Jesus, and that by his perfect ransom sacrifice. The apostle Paul, who claimed to be the foremost of sinners, says to God's children: "The Son of his love, by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins." "Now he has manifested himself once for all time at the consummation of the systems of things to put sin away through the sacrifice of himself." So to pray this part of the Lord's prayer effectively we must sincerely believe in Christ's sacrifice and accept it. Luke 5:20-24; 7:47-49; Matt. 9:1-8; Col. 1:13, 14 and Heb. 9:26, NW; Gal. 1:4.
10 God does not ignore the sacrifice of his Son for sin. His absolute justice requires this sacrificial arrangement. "He loved us and sent forth his Son as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins." Unlike certain religious sects, as the Holiness sect and Christian Science, etc., we must be honest enough to admit our imperfections and confess our sins. We must recognize the fact of sin in us, just as the apostle Paul did and expressed it. It is absolutely necessary for us to confess our sins to God and to appeal to him for the benefits of the sacrifice of his Son and to recognize Jesus' office as God's High Priest. Otherwise, we can have no forgiveness. The Aaronic priesthood of the tribe of Levi in Israel has passed away, but we dare not deny
How does God answer this petition in more than a material way? Why?
What are the debts for which we ask forgiveness, and why so?
What is the basis for God's forgiveness of us, and so what must we believe and accept to pray this petition effectively?
Why may we not ignore the sacrifice and priesthood of Jesus?
Jesus' priesthood. He is a priest after the likeness of Melchizedek, and his priesthood lasts forever until he has completely saved all sinners who are subject to rescue, 'saving them completely, because he is always alive to plead for them.' We have nothing of our own sinful selves with which to pay the debt. Hence we must apply for the benefits of Jesus' priesthood.—1 John 4:10; 1:8; Rom. 7:17-25; Heb. 7:24-28, NW.
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