"Song of the Harlot" (Part 2) № 8

“GLITTERING SWORD”

The coming testimony period, ‘‘Glittering Sword,’’ from June 5 to 13 inclusive, will afford a most generous opportunity for the people of good will to get the Lord’s latest provision, to learn how they may find protection and preservation from Jehovah’s Glittering Sword. During this period the kingdom publishers will offer the people a 50c combination; this to consist of the two books Etches and Preservation and four booklets, including Protection, Uncovered, and Armageddon. Till then the Informant will give fuller and further details concerning this period, and all publishers will inform themselves therefrom and proceed accordingly. Your promptitude in preparing all needful things for this period will be pleasing to the Lord and blessed. Please report to this office the result of your service.

“ARMAGEDDON”

This new 64-page booklet is a thriller and of absorbing interest. It contains the president’s public address on that subject, which held spellbound vast European and American audiences, and also includes a clear Scriptural discussion of who will survive that dread conflict. The release of this booklet for regular house-to-house witnessing is announced elsewhere. Meantime you may procure the booklet for your own information and preparation, at 5с a copy.

NEW PORTABLE PHONOGRAPH

The Society now manufactures and has to offer a light-weight phonograph of new design, which is 14 by 13 by 5 inches in size, and covered with brown cloth and having rounded corners. It weighs 9 pounds 13 ounces, which is 54 pounds lighter than the previous model manufactured by the Society. With the three phonograph discs which can be carried in it, it weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces. The volume of sound is just as strong as that of the previous model, and the tone is of the best quality. As shipped out from our factory, the phonograph is timed properly, at 78 r.p.m., and should be checked from time to time. This new model, including three discs, is offered on a contribution of $10.00; without the three discs, $8.00. Remittance should accompany orders. Also specify the particular discs wanted.

HELP RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION WITHOUT DELAY

For the convenience of the subscriber, a renewal blank is sent with The Watchtower one month before expiration (on foreign subscriptions, two months). Renew your subscription promptly and fill in the renewal blank which is mailed to you with your Watchtower. Sign your name uniformly; give street and number, city and state; date your renewal blank, and please use the blanks sent to you enclosed in The Watchtower. These subscription blanks tell us which numbers will be necessary with your renewal order. Always read carefully the reverse side of the renewal blank. When you change your address it is always necessary to give the old as well as the new address. This should be done two weeks before change of address becomes effective.

VOL. LVIII  April 15, 1937  № 8

"SONG OF THE HARLOT”

“Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten: make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.”—Isa. 23:16.

PART 2

JEHOVAH uses natural things, such as the creatures of the nation of Israel and those people who had dealings with Israel, to picture or foreshadow spiritual and natural things to be enacted in the future, but on a far greater scale. (1 Cor. 10:11) Jehovah’s due time having arrived to make clear the meaning of such prophetic pictures, he grants to those who love and serve him the privilege of seeing the meaning thereof. This privilege is not given to the selfish and supercritical ones. This favor to those who love him is granted in the ‘perilous days’ that his own faithful remnant may have comfort and that their hope may be strong. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy, leader of religious organizations, is very arrogant, boastful, scornful and vicious, and acting in utter defiance of God’s commandments. The vessels or instruments employed by the Hierarchy who do the Hierarchy’s bidding likewise act viciously and without regard to the rights of others and wholly contrary to the Word of God. The prophecy at the 23d chapter of Isaiah, at this point, continues to speak of the conditions of the Hierarchy and allies immediately before and at the beginning of Armageddon.

2 Chittim was the island nearest to Tyre, while Tarshish was at the opposite end of the Great or Mediterranean sea. To get from Tyre to Tarshish one must travel the full length of the Mediterranean sea. It is understood that Tarshish was a colony situated on the coast of Spain and belonging to Tyre and Zidon. Jonah took ship from Tarshish in order to flee far away from his assigned duty. (Jonah 1:3) Says the prophet: “Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.” (Isa. 23:6) “Pass ye over to Tarshish, howl, ye inhabitants of the coast.”—Rotherham.

3 In the fulfillment of this part of the prophecy the lesser and dependent parts of the Catholic organization, whether far from the mother organization or near thereto, would have reason to howl and lament over the destruction of the Catholic Hierarchy, the modern Tyre. Missionary establishments, operating in the most distant parts of the earth from Rome, will be searched out and reached by the hand of Jehovah, because Jehovah declares he will search out all his enemies. The Hierarchy is the enemy of Jehovah and of his organization: “Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee; they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.” (Ps. 21:8-11) At the beginning of Armageddon Jehovah will execute that hypocritical organization.

4 The prophecy is then addressed to the subordinate parts of the enemy organization, the modern Tyre: “Is this your [Tarshish’s] joyous city [mother organization], whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.” (Isa. 23:7) The Catholic Hierarchy is not at all joyous in Jehovah, although hypocritically and falsely claiming to represent God. It is joyous in its own merchandise and profits in the gay markets dealing in humankind. The Hierarchy and allied clergy employ all kinds of worldly schemes to entice the people and cause them to give up their money. In the church buildings they have, at stated intervals, concerts, Christmas cantatas, bazaars, socials, dances, athletics, and like things in order to attract the people to join their church congregations and to relieve themselves of their money for the benefit of the religionists. The words of the prophet are in the nature of a question addressed to the smaller parts of the Roman Catholic organization calling direct attention to the vanity of the Hierarchy. To these smaller ones the prophet, in substance, says: ‘Have you anything to exult in now, seeing that modern Tyre, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and allies and dupes are in a wrecked and spoiled condition? You boasted that it was so solidly built and fortified that nothing could do it serious damage. You boasted in its strength and relied upon it for protection and salvation and therefore automatically did its bidding. Modern Tyre, the Roman Catholic organization, has failed you.’ Therefore says the prophet concerning Tyre: “Whose antiquity is of ancient days.” Tyre was preceded by Zidon, that latter city being mentioned in Genesis the tenth chapter in connection with Babel, and it may well correspond to the religionists of Pagan Rome, which merged into Papal Rome. Tyre, even in the days of Joshua, was called a “strong city”, and must have been founded on its rocky ground before the time of Joshua. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy claim that theirs is the oldest, the mother and the true church organization, because it is the oldest religious organization of “Christendom”, and they cite in support of this claim that its antiquity dates from the time of Christ. It claims an unbroken chain of apostolic successors back to the apostle Peter; it calls itself “the Eternal City”.

5 But what shall be the end of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy organization, that is, modern Tyre? Jehovah, by his prophet, says: “Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.” (Verse 7) Rome thinks she is too ancient to ever have to move; that she is so thoroughly and completely entrenched in her position that no storm can move her bulwarks; and for this reason she claims to be invulnerable. Further speaking by his prophet, Jehovah says: “Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which, as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet. . . . When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. ’ ’—Isa. 28: 2, 3,18.

6 Her arrogance and boasting attitude will bring her no good. Modern Tyre has existed for a long while and has practiced her wickedness with little hindrance, and in the minds of her mighty men is entirely secure in her position; but, according to Rotherham, ‘‘Though from ancient days is her antiquity, yet shall her own feet carry her away far off to dwell,” that is, to remain permanently, by being removed from her place of existence into destruction, and there shall she remain for ever.

7 By his prophet Joel Jehovah speaks of the ill treatment to which his covenant people have been subjected by modern Tyre, the Hierarchy of Rome. In this prophecy Judah and Jerusalem stand for the people of God’s organization. During the World War the religionists, led by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, attempted to rid the earth of those who are and were devoted to Jehovah. Concerning this Jehovah says by his prophet: “Yea, and what have ye to do with me [Jehovah], O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head: . . . The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.”—Joel 3:4-6.

8 The day to pay for the Hierarchy comes, and the Lord God says to that Roman, scornful, boastful and wicked religious organization, which has ill-treated his faithful children: ‘ ‘ Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.”— Joel 3: 7, 8.

9 Jehovah always makes good his word. The day of recompense is absolutely certain to come, and the pay-off will be at the beginning of Armageddon, and the Hierarchy will find no way to avoid it. “Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. ’ ’—Amos 1: 9,10.

10 With the beginning of Armageddon modern Tyre will cease, and no more will her feet carry her and her missionaries to the many lands of the earth, there to seek new markets in which to exploit the people, but she will go to the place where she will remain permanently. Of that crowd Jesus said: “Serpents, progeny of vipers! how can you escape the judgment of the Gehenna ? ’ ’—Matt. 23: 33, Diaglott.

11 The proselyting work of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and her vessels or instruments will cease then for ever. To all her supporters the words of Jesus will then appear applicable and appropriate to the Hierarchy: “Woe unto you [promoters and rulers of modern Tyre], scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of [Gehenna] than yourselves.” (Matt. 23:15) A question is then propounded by the prophet of Jehovah to all who have the hearing ear: ‘ ‘ Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?” (Isa. 23:8) Another rendering of this text is: “Who hath purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns?” (Revised Version and Rotherham) These words further identify the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, because for centuries the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has claimed that the pope has the power and the authority to crown and to depose earthly kings. To those thus crowned and who have submitted to the domination of the religionists, the Hierarchy has been and is the “higher powers”. The Hierarchy demands the full obedience of each one of its underclergy, as well as obedience of the political rulers of many lands, and the Hierarchy bestows titles upon whomsoever that organization chooses to honor, and thereby makes men “princes of the church”, and these traffickers, acting at the behest of modern Tyre, are the ‘ ‘ honourable [men] of the earth”. When one of these Roman “princes” visits America, for instance, the politicians, with bands of music and flags, meet him at the dock, bow down, kiss his ring, and perform a lot of other senseless religious ceremonies. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy demands that the political rulers of the earth, and the “Catholic population”, the common people, shall regard the Hierarchy and speak of its members as “spiritual princes”, who are in no wise subject to political rulers. Even a king or an earthly monarch is permitted to kiss the big toe of the so-called “holy father”, the head of the Hierarchy.

12 Manifestly the question propounded at verse eight above quoted is to rivet attention upon the Hierarchy: ‘ ‘ Who hath purposed this against Tyre ? ’ ’ The answer to that question appears below, and the language employed shows that it is at the time when Jehovah is exercising his power to punish the workers of iniquity, that is, modern Tyre, the Devil’s chief visible instrument: “The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.” (Verse 9) God plainly states: “I have purposed it, I will also do it.” (Isa. 46:11) Let no one doubt that God will carry out his purpose. Modern Tyre is made up of an arrogant, boastful, proud and scornful company and demands and receives high esteem and the plaudits of men. Jehovah’s decree upon such is announced by the Lord Jesus, to wit: “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15) “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.” (Matt. 23:12) These fixed rules of Jehovah are not subject to change, and are certain to be enforced against all who come within the scope thereof; and this certainly includes the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. It is Jehovah who has purposed the destruction of modern Tyre, the great religious harlot organization. And why? The Scriptural answer is, “to stain [(A.R.V., margin) profane] the pride of all glory.” Certainly this means all glory that has been taken away from God, to whom it belongs, and been bestowed upon creatures.

13 The men composing the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, or modern Tyre, ‘clothe themselves in garments of glory and beauty’ and then “strut their stuff” in public places to be seen of men, that they may receive honor and glory of men. They consider that they are granting a great privilege to men to kiss their finger or toe. They call themselves by high-sounding titles and claim that their glory and “holy” beauty is so sacred that it is a dreadful sin for anyone to profane or criticize their attitude or to teach the people anything of the Bible that calls attention to God’s denunciation of religious hypocrisy. The proclamation of God’s truth quoted from the Bible “shocks the religious susceptibilities” of those hypocritical clerical gentlemen and all their allies.

14 It is written concerning Jehovah and his heavenly organization: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.” (Ps. 50:2) The Hierarchy fraudulently seizes upon this text and misapplies it, assumes to stand in the place of God, and claims for those of the Hierarchy the beauty and glory that belong only to the Lord. Therefore Jehovah declares his purpose to “humble the pride of all beauty”.—Rotherham.

15 That religious, mercantile, political, arrogant, extremely selfish and proud organization shall fall, as Jehovah God has decreed, to wit: “Say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God, O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.” (Ezek. 27:2,3) The Hierarchy thus poses before all nations of earth. Her allies and her dupes sing of her glory and beauty, whether the singers believe it or not; the politicians do it because they want political support. All these vessels or instruments supporting the Hierarchy fall in line and shout of her glory and beauty. To them Jehovah says: “The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market; and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.” (Ezek. 27:25) But the day is not far distant when those singers and glorifiers of the Hierarchy and all of her allied religionists will come to a sorrowful end, because Jehovah says: “Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy rum. The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land; and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes. And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?”—Ezek. 27:27-32.

16 To all the peoples of this world, who stand on the side and see the fall of the mighty religious organizations, it will seem ‘very strange’ that God would expose and destroy such, or that which the clergy have called by the name of the Lord. For many centuries the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has assumed the name of God and Christ, and claimed to be the only true organization of the Lord. But the Lord God marks their hypocrisy and says concerning that hypocritical organization: “Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.”—Jer. 7:14.

17 Who on the earth today claim the exclusive right to use the radio and to speak to the people thereby, and to tell the people what they shall or shall not believe and do? Who are the ones claiming to be “the honourable [men] of the earth”, entitled to the praise, honor and acclaim of all others? What class of men scornfully push aside all those who dare speak of God’s Word without first obtaining their permission. To these questions the answer is, The Roman Catholic Hierarchy, their allies or close associates. Jehovah declares that it is his purpose to “bring into contempt all [these] honourable of the earth”, or “to make of little esteem” such exalted ones. (Roth.) The Hierarchy, the main organization, the Jesuits, the Nazis, the Fascists, the allied clergy, are the ones of whom the Lord speaks when he says: ‘ ‘ Whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth.” (Verse 8) And what means will Jehovah employ to bring such “honourable” men into contempt? Such so-called “honorable” men are the instruments of Satan and therefore enemies of God, and in the battle of the great day of God Almighty, in the day of his wrath, he will destroy them. “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.” (Ps. 21:9,10) Jehovah’s “strange work” is now exposing the duplicity and hypocrisy of those self-styled “honourable” ones; and his “strange act”, at the beginning, will rid the earth of that hypocritical religious organization and will proceed to the complete wrecking of the entire organization of the Devil. As Armageddon begins, the destruction of religionists will appear to all who are not on the side of Jehovah and his King as “strange”, very strange.

18 The Roman Catholic Hierarchy, that is, “the Hierarchy of Jurisdiction,” which rules, claims to be the mother organization. Her supporters, agents, tools, vessels and instruments used, are her offspring or “daughters”. Jehovah, by his prophet, now addresses the daughter class and says: “Pass through thy land as a river [as the Nile (R.V. and Roth.)], O daughler of Tarshish; there is no more strength.” (Isa. 23: 10) The river Nile passes through the entire length of Egypt and from time to time overflows its banks and floods the country round about; so Jehovah says to those addressed: “Pass through”; that is to say, make complete inspection of the work and act of Jehovah and its effect; go and see for yourselves and verify all that his “strange work” does concerning the Hierarchy and other clergy. Jehovah has called his people to “rise up against her in battle” and to proclaim God’s judgment against the religious organization, and such, in the prophecy of Isaiah, is called “thy land”, that is, meaning the organization to which the supporters or vessels give service and support. The parent organization has colonized, supervised and appropriated to its service and exploited those designated in the prophecy as the “daughter”. The fact that Tarshish should be told to pass through her own land on a sight-seeing or inspection journey to observe the effect of God’s purpose as executed indicates that God’s “strange act”, at the beginning thereof, will destroy the Hierarchy organization, that is, the inanimate corporation, and that some of the clergy under or beneath the “Hierarchy of Jurisdiction” will remain alive for a time and see the effects before they themselves are destroyed in the battle as it progresses.

19 To those survivors, for a season at the beginning of the battle of the great day, the Lord says: “There is no more strength [{margin) girdle].” The word here rendered “strength” is different from the word translated “strength” at verse fourteen following. Says the English Revised Version: “There is no girdle about thee any more,” that is, from the mother organization, modern Tyre, the “Hierarchy of Jurisdiction ’ ’, because that system is laid low in the dust and can give no more support to its vessels. This is proof that not only the lower order of the clergy, which remain, which have been used as tools of the Hierarchy to do menial service to the ‘organization of jurisdiction’, will be made to drink of the cup of the bitter wrath at the Lord’s hand, but also that the highest ones in the Hierarchy, including the pontiff, shall drink deeply, “spue [out], and fall.”—Jer. 25:27.

20 Another translation of this text reads: “There is no restraint any more.” (A.R.V.) The Hierarchy now puts restraint upon those who tell the truth about her and who inform the people about God’s kingdom as the only hope of mankind. Jehovah’s witnesses have now been commanded by the Lord, ‘Rise ye up against her in battle,’ and in obedience to this command the faithful go forth amidst great opposition to declare the message of God of and concerning his purpose. Restraint does not stop them. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy brings to bear all its influence and power exercised by and through religionists, politicians and commercial men, and the courts, to restrain Jehovah's witnesses and to prevent them from telling the truth. When Armageddon begins that restraint will be removed and “no restraint any more” will be upon Jehovah’s witnesses, because the witness work in the earth will then be finished and the marking and gathering of the great multitude by the Lord to himself will be completed. Until that time, as it is written, the ‘four angels, to whom is given to hurt the earth and the sea’, continue to hold back the storm of the Lord. (Rev. 7:1-3) The time comes when the restraint ends, and then there will be ‘no more restraint’ upon the “ten horns” of the “beast”, which shall turn upon the Hierarchy religious organization and rend it at the will of God, and when Jehovah’s great Executioner shall completely wreck every part of Satan’s organization. Religion, that has for so long brought reproach upon Jehovah’s name, and religious organizations and their political and commercial laws shall completely pass away in the battle of the great day of God Almighty as it progresses.

21 As ancient Tyre built her commerce upon the sea and the coastlands round about, even so modern Tyre, the mighty religious system, has built her commerce upon the peoples all round about her, situated in her supposed invulnerable place at Rome. The time comes for Jehovah’s “strange act” to begin, and, looking back upon the effects thereof, his prophet says: “He stretched out his hand over the sea; he shook the kingdoms; the Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof. ’ ’ (Isa. 23:11) The religious organizations boastfully claim both the sea and the land, but the claim thereof is false: “The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.”—Ps. 95:5.

22 At Armageddon Jehovah, by his Executioner, rids the sea and the land of all of Tyre’s trade ships, that is, her instruments, vessels and tools, supporters and dupes. He reaches out to the most distant established settlements of modern Tyre and wipes them out. Says the Lord by his prophet: “He shook the kingdoms,” that is, all the ruling powers of the earth, whose kings committed fornication with Tyre, the old whore, for mutual profit to enrich themselves. Those kingdoms will not be able to stand up under Jehovah’s shaking, but will be shaken to pieces and destroyed. (Hag. 2:21, 22) The old “whore” goes first into the ashcan, and then the others follow. “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 17:1,2,17,18; Rev. 18:3) “The king of Tyrus,” the Devil himself, and all of his kingdom shall be completely shaken down and destroyed.—Ezek. 28:12-19.

23 Jehovah gives command to his high officer, Christ Jesus, to execute the wicked organization, and concerning this the American Revised Version reads: “Jehovah hath given commandment concerning Canaan” [(margin) merchant-men], that is, the coast of Canaan occupied by Tyre and Zidon. According to Rotherham the text reads: “Against the Phoenician coast.” The command to Christ is given to “destroy the strong holds thereof”. One of the most powerful strongholds of the coast of Canaan was Tyre, and Tyre was specially mentioned in the command to destroy. (Jer. 25: 22) Modern Tyre, the Roman Catholic organization, is one, and probably the strongest one, of the strongholds of Satan’s visible organization. No stronghold is so strong, however, as to be able to with stand the assault by Jehovah’s Executioner. Christ Jesus possesses the keys to hell, and hell shall not prevail against him and his organization. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy has wrongfully adopted and applied the words spoken by Jesus concerning His organization, to wit: ‘ ‘ The gates of hell shall not prevail against it”; but the day is not far distant when the Hierarchy will see her complete end and will fully know the day of deceiving others has come to a final end. To those who love and faithfully serve Jehovah he now gives this information in advance of the fall of that hypocritical and wicked organization, to the end that such faithful may be comforted and have increased hope.

24 Viewing the prophecy of the twenty-third chapter of Isaiah as a whole, it appears that the period of rejoicing by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy precedes Armageddon, and just a short time before the beginning of Armageddon. The time arrives when the rejoicing of that religious system must cease, because Jehovah has so decreed, and therefore he caused to be written: “And he [Jehovah] said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon; arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.” (Isa. 23:12) Since the prophecy is “the burden of Tyre” (vs. 1), it appears that it is Tyre that is addressed as the “oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon’’. The city of Zidon was built first, and Tyre would be viewed as a daughter. Zidon had a devil religion. Pagan religion preceded the papacy, and many of the devilish practices of paganism were adopted by the papacy, and both originated with and are the children of the Devil.

25 Tyre would be viewed as a “ virgin ’ ’ daughter because not legitimately married but unclean from fornication, her chastity having been “violated”. (Rotherham) To that violation of her chastity she consented, and she therefore would be the “oppressed”. The Roman Catholic religion’s organization has practiced whoredom with “all the kings” or ruling powers of the earth of Satan’s visible organization, but the time comes, just preceding the beginning of Armageddon, when the Lord convinces the “ten kings” or ruling forces of the nations, which turn on the harlot religious system, and that system becomes greatly oppressed. God puts it in the mind of the ruling powers to fulfill his will.—Rev. 17:16,17.

26 The time arriving for her great oppression to begin, the Hierarchy system will seek rest somewhere, and, because thus seeking, Jehovah says to her: “Arise, pass over [the sea] to Chittim,” and see if you can find rest there. Chittim, being near to Tyre, would represent any subsidiary or auxiliary organization where the old woman might seek rest and relief and find none. This would seem to indicate that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy system will be seeking a place of consolation, and therefore abasing herself by going to some lesser organization, seeking a way to escape the deepest abasement, which is certain to come upon her by reason of being cast into Gehenna. (Matt. 23:12) Will the Hierarchy system find rest there? Jehovah replies: “There also shalt thou have no rest.” From time to time the Hierarchy system has had some setbacks or losses of temporal power, but she has always claimed that such setbacks were only temporary. She claims that she is eternal, cannot suffer destruction, and therefore she can afford to wait any temporary setbacks while she schemes to advance her position. The abasement or opposition to her in the past the Hierarchy has claimed to be that “little season” during which Satan is loosed, at the end of which she shall triumph. (Rev. 20:3-7) Again she is wrong in her conclusion. The time for her complete humiliation is near at hand, and there is no way for her to stop it now, and therefore there is no way for her to escape. Not even the individual members of that religious clergy crowd will be able to disguise themselves by putting on overalls and thus hiding their identity. (Zech. 13:4-6) They will not escape the scrutiny of others, and certainly not God’s executive officer. There is no rest short of complete destruction, from which she shall never again arise.

27 Jehovah used the Chaldeans, of whom Nebuchadnezzar was the king, as His executioner, who thus foreshadowed Christ Jesus, the great executioner of Jehovah who shall execute the devil religion, and particularly the Roman Catholic system. (Ezek. 26:7-14; Jer. 25:9,17,22) Therefore Jehovah says to the observers: “Behold the land of the Chaldeans: this people was not till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness; they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.” (Isa. 23:13) The words “Behold the land of the Chaldeans” manifestly direct the attention to his executioner that executes the judgment of Jehovah upon the Hierarchy system. Then the prophet says: “This people [that is, the people of ancient Tyre and modern Tyre, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy] is no more.” (E.R.V.) The word “till”, as appears in the Authorized Version, is an interpolation, and the correct rendering appears in the Revised Version. Therefore, as stated in the text, “the ships of Tarshish” calling at the port of Chittim, the island near Tyre, would have no reason to proceed on to Tyre, because of the information received at Chittim that Tyre no longer existed. Likewise in the antitype or fulfillment, the underpriests, missionaries and other subsidiary organizations are told that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy system is no more, that is, “the Hierarchy of Jurisdiction” is done for and hence there would be no occasion to further seek her. It is plainly written by another prophet that the end of the Hierarchy will be complete destruction; that is, “they shall be as though they had not been.” (Obadiah 16) Since the word “till” is an interpolation, and therefore improperly in the text, that part of verse thirteen following the word “till” is no part of the preceding sentence. Therefore the words after “till” read: “The Assyrian [Asshur (Leeser); Assyria (Rotherham)] founded it.” The word Asshur appearing in this part of the text (Leeser) means “successful one”, as in Genesis 10:11.

28 In Isaiah’s day the Assyrian world power still held the upper hand over the Chaldeans; but in Jeremiah’s time, and eighteen years before the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar had become king of Babylon and established the Babylonish empire. (See Isaiah 39:1-8.) Therefore the words in Isaiah 23:13, to wit, “The Assyrian founded it,” clearly mean the Chaldeans or Babylonians. “The Assyrian” pictures God’s Executioner, Christ Jesus. Note that “the Assyrian” as a nation did not establish or found “the land of the Chaldeans”. Babylon preceded Assyria. It is said in connection with Nimrod: “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur [he went out into Assyria (margin)], and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah.” (Gen. 10:10,11) Another author (Hislop) renders the text: “And he, being strengthened, went forth out of that land and built Nineveh, ’ ’ the capital of Assyria. With this explanation note that the English Revised Version of the text reads: “The Assyrian hath appointed it” [(Auth. Ver.) “founded it”], that is to say, appointed “this people” of Tyre. Appointed the people of Tyre for what or for whom ? The prophecy answers: “For the beasts of the wilderness.” (E.R.V.) Clearly this means that God’s Executioner, pictured by “the Assyrian”, hath “appointed” modern Tyre (that is to say, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy organization and its clergy and allies) to a place or condition uninhabited by persons but wholly for brute beasts, hence for desolation. In support of this conclusion note the words of Revelation 18:2, 3: “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils [wild goats, satyrs], and the hold of every foul spirit [stinking vapors arising like apparitions out of a marshy, foul and corrupt land], and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird [a place frequented by birds decreed by the law of God unfit for human habitation]. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” This text, without a doubt, applies to Satan’s religious organization, rhe Roman Catholic Hierarchy being the principal part thereof. Therefore the prophecy of Isaiah discloses that Jehovah’s Executioner has appointed that Devil religious organization for desolation in accord with the decree or judgment heretofore written at the dictation of Jehovah.

28 The prophet continues to speak of the successful Chaldeans and symbolically refers to Jehovah’s Executioner, saying: “They set up the towers thereof [their towers (R.V.) ; siege-towers (Rotherham)], they raised up [they overthrew (R.V.); demolished (Rotherham)] the palaces thereof.” The siege towers were set up, and thus the walls of ancient Tyre were surmounted and the palaces of her merchant princes were demolished. Applying the prophecy to modern Tyre, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy organization, God’s Executioner, Christ Jesus, sets up siege towers against the Devil religious system and the princes of the Roman Catholic organization that traffic in human creatures and destroy their rights, and the system falls, including the so-called ‘ ‘ holy father ’ ’, and all the trafficking princes. And the result is what? Says the prophet in answer: “He brought it to ruin [he made it a ruin (E.R.V.)],” that is, Jehovah’s Executioner at the beginning of Armageddon brings the Devil religious system to ruin.

30 The bulwarks of the Roman Catholic system, which for long has reproached the name of Almighty God, will completely crumble to the dust, and then the individuals who continue to live for a time will have reason to lament. Therefore, says the prophet of Jehovah, “Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength [which is modern Tyre] is laid waste.” (Isa. 23:14) The statement is similar to the words used in Isaiah 23:1 and shows that the ‘ ‘ howl ’ ’ is raised at the beginning of Armageddon and when the Hierarchy falls. Says the Revised Version, verse fourteen: “Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for your stronghold is laid waste.” The “Hierarchy of Jurisdiction”, which operates in and out of Vatican City, Italy, is by the Lord Jehovah’s decree certain to be laid in waste, and that “Hierarchy of Jurisdiction”, the central government of the religious system that for centuries has deceived the people and blasphemed God’s name, will go down. When that stronghold does go down its supporters can do nothing but howl. Armageddon will mark the complete fulfillment of the foregoing prophecy of Isaiah twenty-three, verses one to fourteen.

APPARENT FULFILLMENT

31 It has been suggested that verses one to fourteen of Isaiah 23 describe certain adverse experiences to which the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has been subjected during a period of seventy years, from 1848 to 1918, and during which time she is “forgotten” and her howl is heard; that at the end of that period the Roman Catholic Hierarchy again comes to the fore, and hence that the latter part of the prophecy recorded in the twenty-third chapter applies after the fulfillment of the first part of the prophecy. The facts do not fit that conclusion, for the reason that the “howl” of Tyre clearly refers to what comes to pass at the beginning of Armageddon. There is, however, an apparent fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the ‘howling of the ships of Tarshish’ or supporters of Tyre, within the seventy-year period above mentioned; but instead of being a fulfillment it would better be termed an agreeable parallel on a minor scale to that stated in the prophecy. It seems well to here set forth certain pertinent historical facts that came to pass during the seventy-year period from 1848 to 1918, in order that the student may consider the same in studying the prophecy, and which consideration may remove some doubt that might otherwise exist. Such historical facts here inserted are quoted from well-known and recognized authorities. They relate to the Roman Catholic religious system from 1848 to 1918 and are as follows:

HISTORICAL

32 1848. February 22-24: Revolution in France; King Louis Philippe out; republic is proclaimed. March: Revolution in Austrian Empire. Revolutionary movements in Germany. Insurrection at Rome; the populace demands a democratic ministry and the proclamation of Italian nationality; the pope (Pius IX) hesitates; the Romans surround the palace, and a conflict ensues. The pope accepts a popular ministry (Cardinal Palma, the pope’s secretary, is shot in this conflict) . . . November 16. November 20, a free Constitution is published. November 24, the pope escapes in disguise to Gaeta. November 28, protest of the pope against the acts of the provisional government (of Rome).

33 1849. January: Revolutions in various states on Italian peninsula. February 8, the Roman National Assembly divests the pope of all temporal power, and adopts the republican form of government. February 18, the pope appeals to the Catholic powers (of the world). “He now enjoyed the sympathy of the reactionists all over the world who had looked so coldly upon his early efforts at reform, but gained, of course, the execrations of the liberals, whose cause he had abandoned. Rome, left without a ruler, bloomed into a republic. The pope protested against all its acts, and summoned the Catholic world to put it down.” (McClintock & Strong Cyclopedia, Vol. VIII, “Pius IX”) June 3, the French under Marshal Oudinot commence an attack on Rome. June 30, after a brave resistance, the Romans capitulate to the French army. July 4, the Roman Assembly dissolved, and an officer from Oudinot’s camp arrives at Gaeta, to present the pope with the keys of Rome.

34 1850. April, the pope arrives at Rome; Cardinal Antonelli becomes foreign minister. “The pope returned in April, 1850, surrounded by the bayonets of a French army. . . . His first act was the perfidy of destroying the Constitution of chartered rights which he had guaranteed to his subjects. . . . The Inquisition recommenced its sacred labors. . . . The Bible was prohibited.” (McClintock & Strong Cyclopedia, Vol. VIII, “Pius IX”) September 24, he issues the bull establishing a Roman Catholic hierarchy in England.

35 1861. March 27, Cavour claims Rome as capital of Italy. June, the emperor of France declines a union with Austria and Spain for the maintenance of the pope’s temporal power. ‘ ‘ In 1868, the Austrians broke the concordat and declared their spiritual emancipation. The year after, Queen Isabella was driven out of Spain, and the government of the people refused to be bound by any previous treaties with the papacy [Sept. 29, 30].” [February 16, 1873, the first Spanish republic is proclaimed at Madrid, Spain.]—McClintock & Strong Cyclopedia, Vol. VIII, “Pius IX.”

36 1870. September 11, the pope refuses terms offered him by the king of Italy (sovereignty of the Leonine city and retention of his income). September 20, after a brief resistance from the foreign papal troops, stopped by order of the pope, the Italian troops under [General] Cadorna make a breach and enter Rome. September 21, Cardinal Antonelli issues a diplomatic protest against the Italian occupation of Rome. September 26, protest of the pope (Pius IX, still). September 29, circular letter from the pope to the cardinals complaining of the invasion and of his loss of liberty, and interference with his post bag. October 2, plebiscite: out of 167,548 votes, 133,681 for (Rome’s) union with the kingdom of Italy. October 8, result of the plebiscite sent to the king (of Italy). October 9, Rome and its provinces incorporated with the kingdom by royal decree.

37 1871. May 13, law guaranteeing to the pope full personal liberty and honors, a revenue of 3,225,000 livres, etc.; rejected by the pope in his allocution, May 15. October 27, allocution of the pope, appointing some Italian bishops; still rejecting guarantees. —Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates, under “Rome", “Popes,” “France,” “Spain,” etc.

38 “In 1870, finally, the war with Prussia destroyed the empire in France, and with the fall of Napoleon [Jerome] not only the French refused to be bound to Rome, but the gates of the Eternal City opened to all Italy. . . . Notwithstanding all efforts of [King] Victor Emmanuel for peace, the pope sternly persisted in his firm protest against the inevitable change of things. ... He lived retired in the Vatican, and called himself a prisoner.”—McClintock & Strong Cyclopedia, Vol. VIII, “Pius IX.”

39 1878. February 7, Pope Pius IX dies. “On February 7, 1878, he died, after a protracted dropsical illness. . . . The missions of the Church were also strengthened, being carried forward in partibus infidelium, and great hierarchies, in lands formerly heathen or Protestant, were added to the vast clergy that owned ‘the Latin obedience.’ Thus he provided by brief of 1850 for the ecclesiastical government of England, . . . exulting in the supposed triumph of his Church in the land which had been the home of the Reformation for three centuries. Then he created in this country [U.S.A.] a vast Roman Catholic hierarchy by elevating to the cardinalate the archbishop of New York in 1875, and prepared the way for the re-establishment of the hierarchy in Scotland, which was effected in 1878. . . . One of the foulest blots on the pages of history regarding his reign is the forcible conversion of the Jew boy Mortara, and of a piece with this is the abject condition of the Hebrews at Rome, where the walls of the Ghetto were only removed with the establishment of the Italian power.”—McClintock & Strong Cyclopedia, Vol. VIII, “Pius IX.”

40 “He also established four new dioceses in the United States at Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland and Galveston, all in 1847. In later years he established nearly 50 others in medium-sized American cities. . . . Matters were now going too fast and too far for Pius, who refused to countenance the revolutionary movement, . . . The pope now entirely lost the favor of the Roman populace. Threatened by the mob in his own palace he fled to Gaeta, and a Roman republic was proclaimed in February 1849, with Mazzini at its head. Louis Napoleon, determined to restore the pope, sent an expedition to Rome under Oudinot, by whom the Italian patriots, led by Garibaldi, were overpowered. Rome surrendered on 3 July; but the pope did not return to his capital till April 1850. . . . The pope himself now bestowed his whole attention upon the church. He recalled the Jesuits, canonized saints and defined two dogmas ... in 1854 ... in 1870. Previous to this time the pope’s temporal dominion had become sadly shrunken in extent, owing to the gradual unification of Italy under Victor Emmanuel. The temporal power of the pope, however, was still secured by the presence of a body of French troops at Rome. ... On 20 September 1870 the Italian troops entered Rome, and the temporal power was at an end. The Vatican was left to the pope; and free diplomatic intercourse, the honors due to a sovereign, and a civil list of £129,000 yearly, secured to him. But these he declined, and confined himself to the Vatican and its garden, declaring that he was under restraint and a prisoner in his own palace.”—The Americana, Volume 22, “Pius IX,” page 137.

41 1878. March 4, Romanist hierarchy revived by pope; archbishopric of Glasgow, bishop of Dunkeld, etc. This was about a month after the death of Pius IX, pope for almost 32 years. “In November, 1848 [the year of the flight of Pius IX to Gaeta], the German bishops of the Romish body assembled at Wurzburg, to consult together concerning the best means to proceed in this critical period. . . . Shortly before this, however, an organization of far-reaching significance had been effected, in which also—and prominently— the laity were to co-operate, viz., the Pius Society, a Roman Catholic counterpart of the Protestant Church Diet. ... In October, 1848, at Mayence, . . . the first union of this kind was formed under the name of Pius Society. Here all the single unions were formed into a great collective union under the name of ‘ Catholic Union of Germany’; although in practice the shorter name of Pius Society has been preferred. . . . A second assembly was held at Breslau, where the papal letter was received, and where the assembly openly expressed it that ‘a united Germany was ONLY POSSIBLE WITH A CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY.’ Here a new society was also organized, the Vincentius Society, for missionary work at home. ... In the United States there is hardly a large town in which one or the other of these societies is not to be found. The tendency is the same, although the name may be different. The purpose of these organizations in the United States is to bring the state as much as POSSIBLE UNDER THE INFLUENCE AND CONTROL OF THE hierarchy, and the political arena is the field of labor. Already they influence the legislatures, schoolboards; yea, we may say they form a state within the state.”—McClintock & Strong Cyclo., Vol. VIII, “Pius Societies.”

42 1914. September 3, Cardinal della Chiesa was elected the successor of Pius X and took the name of Benedict XV. 1917. August 1, Benedict XV issued his “famous peace note”, “which President Wilson answered on behalf of the Allied and Associated powers, saying that the ideals which [the pope] had expressed were their ideals, but that the Central Powers appeared unwilling to acknowledge or accept them.” —The Americana, Vol. Ill, “Benedict XV.”

43 1918. November 11, beginning of great war-chest drive in the United States, in which seven organizations participate. “There is, of course, wide-spread dissatisfaction with the arrangement—most especially because the Catholic War Council, which includes the Knights of Columbus, will receive $30,000,000. The position is taken by those who object to the united budget that the Knights of Columbus, as an organization, has no more right to cantonment and trench privileges than have other secret societies, and that the Catholic church should have no privileges in the camps and on the field that are not extended to other religious bodies. . . . The Catholic church, in particular, will stand out in the open as a political organization which, during the entire length of the war, left no stone unturned to advance papal interests. . . . And among the charges to be preferred against the Catholic church after the war will be her peculiar participation in cantonment and trench privileges, and the mandatory method by which she secured a place in the war chest.” —The Apostolic Review, Nov. 19, 1918.

44 1918. November 30, the New York Evening World says the pope desires to attend the peace conference in order that he may gain some “temporal power”, and adds that the Vatican is seeking to establish a private telegraph office in the Vatican with private wires to all governments, so as not to have to use the Italian telegraph lines.—The Watchtower, Jan. 1, 1919, pages 4, 5.

45 1919. January, Benedict XV completely frees Italian Catholics from all inhibitions against participation in Italian political movements. His relations with the royal court of Italy were more cordial than those of any pope since 1870, and the celebrated “Roman Question” was left by him in a fair way of settlement. At the beginning of Benedict XV’S “reign” about twenty nations had formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican. At its close, in 1922, there were more than thirty-one. Relations with France had been restored, and the British Empire had taken steps to have a more intimate representation. Negotiations were pending for an exchange of envoys with Tokyo, Japan. —The Americana, Vol. III, “Benedict XV.”

46 1919. March 11, an Associated Press dispatch from Paris read as follows:

“It has become known that Pope Benedict has addressed an appeal to the powers emphasizing the urgency of the speedy conclusion of peace with Germany. It is understood that the pontiff states that the Vatican possesses reliable information that the situation in Germany, socially and economically, is very grave, and that he fears the spread of Bolshevism with such rapidity that it might result in the establishment of a Bolshevik state, which, in turn, might become allied with Bolshevik Russia.”—The Watchtower, April 1, 1919, pages 100, 101.

47 1919, March 23, the first meeting of Fascists in Milan, Italy. May, Adolf Hitler attends his first Nad meeting in Munich, Germany. September, the National Catholic Welfare Conference [Council, formerly] [NCWC] is organized in the United States.

48 At the close of the World War in 1918 the Roman Catholic Hierarchy realized the opportune time had arrived to begin efforts toward regaining temporal power previously had by that institution. The Hierarchy did begin her efforts then which culminated successfully on February 11, 1929, when it was publicly announced that the papacy’s temporal power had been restored.

49 Now it is important to determine, if possible, what is the meaning and application of the ‘ ‘ seventy years’ ’ mentioned in the prophecy, what is meant by the harlot’s being forgotten, and what is the meaning of “the song of the harlot”. (R.V.) Suffice it to say at this point of the study that the prophecy appearing at verses 15 and 16 has fulfillment before the beginning of the “howl”, as mentioned in verses 1 to 14.. which “howl” clearly marks the beginning of the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Next will be considered that part of the prophecy last recorded.

(To be continued)

QUESTIONS FOR STUDY

1. What is now seen to have been the purpose directing and governing the affairs of the nation of Israel and those people who had dealings with Israel? For what present situation was that provision made?

2,3. Where were Tyre, Zidon, Chittim, and Tarshish? and how were they related? What does this mean in fulfillment of Isaiah 23: 6?

4. Justify the inquiry, “Is this your joyous city?” Explain and apply the further expression, “whose antiquity is of ancient days.”

5, 6. Why is it said, ‘1 Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn”? With related scriptures, show why this will be done, and how.

7,8. How have ‘‘Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine” done as declared at Joel 3: 4-6? How, according to Joel 3: 7,8, will the Lord God deal with them for so doing?

9,10. What judgment awaits modern Tyre, according to Amos 1:10? Why, as stated in context, will the “lire” be visited upon her? Why did Jesus address that crowd as “serpents, progeny of vipers”, and question the possibility of their escaping Gehenna?

11. How does Jesus’ charge at Matthew 23: 15 fit the work of the Boman Catholic Hierarchy? Show that Isaiah 23: 8 fittingly describes in prophetic phrase the Boman Catholic organization.

12-17. Point out the purpose of the question, “Who hath purposed this against Tyre?” With related scriptures, apply the answer given in verse 9.

18-20. Identify the ‘ ‘ daughter of Tarshish ”, “ Pass through thy land as a river”: how, and for what purpose? What

is meant by the statement here, “There is no more strength”? What does this prove?

21-23. How and when will Jehovah ‘stretch out his hand over the sea’ as here foretold? What “kingdoms” will he shake, and how? Point out the “merchant city” here foretold. To whom will Jehovah give command concerning it, and how will that command be executed?

24-26. Point out the “oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon”. How has she been ‘rejoicing’? and why shall she rejoice no more? When and how will she ‘arise, and pass over to Chittim’? Why shall she have no rest there?

27-29. Account for the expression, in Isaiah 23: 13, “Behold the land of the Chaldeans.” Explain and apply the statement, (a) “This people was not.” (b) “The Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness.” (c) ‘ ‘ They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof.” (d) “He brought it to ruin.”

30. Apply verse 14.

31-47. What has been suggested as to fulfillment of Isaiah 23 in the order in which the prophecy is recorded? Relate historical facts as agreeing with the conclusion that the latter part of the prophecy recorded in Isaiah 23 applies before the fulfillment of the first part of the prophecy.

48. What points now call for determination in the further consideration of this prophecy?

PROPHECY

HOW may we know when we have a proper interpretation of a prophecy? At the very outset we must understand that “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation”. (2 Pet. 1:20) If man gives a private interpretation to a prophecy, that interpretation is merely his private opinion and is without value, because no man is authorized by the Word of God to give such an opinion. Many attempts have been made to interpret prophecy, and failure has resulted because the rules laid down by the Lord have been ignored. Since no prophecy is of private interpretation, it follows that the Lord God himself interprets prophecy by causing to come to pass events in fulfillment of what he has foretold; hence it is impossible for man to understand prophecy until such events have come to pass showing at least a partial fulfillment of the prophecy. Until God’s due time to understand prophecy it is not understandable. Then it is first understandable by the covenant people of God who have his spirit.—1 Cor. 2:10.

To determine whether a prophecy (and the prophet speaking it) is false or true Jehovah made these rules: That the prophet must speak in the name of Jehovah, thus indicating authority to speak; his words of prophecy must tend to turn the hearer to Jehovah and to the honor of his name; and the prophecy must at some time come to pass. (Deut. 18:21, 22; 13:1-5; Jer. 28:13-17) The fulfillment of a prophecy would necessarily be in harmony with these rules. The events coming to pass must be in harmony with the prophecy as it is written, must tend to vindicate the name of Jehovah, and must honor and exalt his name and not honor and exalt the name of any human creature. If the interpretation tends to laud and magnify the name of man, then such is not a true interpretation, because it is contrary to the Word of God. (Job 32:21, 22; Luke 16:15) In carrying forward his purposes God uses his duly constituted agencies, but all honor is due to Jehovah, and not to the agency.

Aside from Jesus Christ no individual is foretold or foreshadowed in the selection and development of the members of God’s organization. It necessarily follows that in the fulfillment of God’s prophecy no individual among God’s covenant people is or will be identified. It would be contrary to the Scriptures to single out some individual and say that such individual is fulfilling prophecy. It would be like the eye saying to the hand, I am all-important and you are nothing.—1 Cor. 12:12-22.

Jehovah’s ‘elect servant’ is his Christ, and he deals with the “servant” as one. Members of the body are therefore considered collectively, and not individually. Jehovah God is the Master, and the “servant” is his instrument for his purpose, and all honor is due to the great Master. It is Jehovah the Master who says to his ‘elect servant’: “Behold, the former things are come to pass [meaning, some prophecies which I showed you have been fulfilled], and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isa. 42:9) When a prophecy is partially fulfilled and is in course of fulfillment Jehovah permits his covenant and anointed people to see the meaning thereof, and these in turn must declare the meaning to others who might have an ear to hear. Some prophecies have been fulfilled, and some are in course of fulfillment; and, by the rules laid down governing the fulfillment of these, by his grace and his spirit God makes known to his ‘elect servant’ some things that are shortly to come to pass, and thus the “new things” he now declares to them “before they spring forth”.

Prophecy was written aforetime for the specific benefit of God’s covenant and anointed people. (Rom. 15:4) It follows, therefore, that the fulfillment must take place and be made known to some of these anointed ones while on the earth, because otherwise the announced purpose would be defeated. The anointed will not need comfort and hope after they have boon received into glory and made in the likeness of the glorified Christ Jesus. Comfort and encouragement are for their benefit while they are on the earth, and particularly for the remnant on earth “in the last days”. Since the purpose of prophecy’s being fulfilled is to vindicate the name of Jehovah, its fulfillment must involve the people whom he has taken out of the world for his name and must also identify the class that is opposed to God and his purposes.

When events come to pass and are known, we call these the physical facts. If such events coming to pass involve God’s covenant people and distinguish them from God’s enemies, and the events tend to honor and vindicate God’s name and they fit the things foretold in the prophecy, then we may know that we have God’s interpretation of the prophecy and therefore the right interpretation. For that reason prophecy cannot be understood until God’s due time to understand it and until it is fulfilled or in course of fulfillment. However, prophecy already fulfilled or in course of fulfillment enables God’s anointed people to understand the meaning of other prophecies written in harmony therewith and foretelling what shall come to pass in the very near future.

Elsewhere (see Prophecy, pages 71-76) the Scriptural proof has been submitted showing that the coming of the Lord Jesus to the temple of God took place in the spring of 1918. The early chapters of Ezekiel’s prophecy fit and confirm the work that God’s organization has been doing since that date. That which the prophet sets forth is of the keenest interest to the anointed of the Lord when viewed in the light of recent events and the one coincides with the other. This shows why prophecy could not be understood prior to 1918. It was then that ‘the heavenly temple was opened’ and God’s faithful covenant people were permitted to have a vision of heavenly things and to see them in the light of events coming to pass in the earth before their eyes. After using his covenant people in connection with the fulfilling of prophecy, and without their knowledge and understanding thereof, the Lord gives them an understanding. To be able to look back and see how the faithful ones have been used by the Lord in having a part in the fulfilling of prophecy is a real encouragement and comfort to them and brightens their hope for the greater things set before them.

Numbered amongst the sixteen “literary prophets” of Jehovah is Ezekiel. Ezekiel was twenty-five years of age when carried away with other Israelites as captive to Babylon. His name means “God will strengthen” or “the strength of God”. True to his name, he was strengthened of the Lord and hence well pictures the company of God's covenant people who are devoted to Jehovah and who are “strong in the Lord and in the power of his might”. These are “strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man”. (Eph. 6:10; 3:16) It was in the fifth year of the captivity that the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and he had his first vision. He was then thirty years of age, that being the age required to be attained to do the work of the priesthood.—Ezek. 1:2.

It seems quite probable that Ezekiel and Daniel were in the same company of captives, for it seems that they were carried away captive at the same time, to wit, in the year 617 B.C. The divine record shows that they were both pleasing to Jehovah; hence they were not carried away as captives because of their own wrongdoing, but to serve the purpose of God and to foreshadow things that must come to pass in “the last days”. This was the first captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. “And he [Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon] carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, ... all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.”—2 Ki. 24:15,16.

It is interesting to here note and compare with this scripture some facts that came to pass in 1918 and 1919 as heretofore written in The Watchtower. “From 1918 to 1919 was a period of great travail and suffering. At that time the church was practically in captivity to Babylon, which is one of the names for Satan’s organization.”—See The Watchtower December 15, 1928, page 373.

The year 617 B.C., when Ezekiel was carried away captive, very well corresponds with the year 1914 (A.D.), the beginning of the World War. There was an effort made by Satan’s organization to commandeer all religious organizations for the purpose of winning the war, and those of God's covenant people were not only threatened but many of them were forced into the war and the work of proclaiming the truth was hindered everywhere. Not until 1919, or five years after the beginning of the war, was the way again open to freely witness to the truth. The year 1919, therefore, corresponds with the year 612 B.C., which was the time that Ezekiel received the vision and was commissioned by the Lord to act as a priest and to represent God as a prophetic witness.

This apparent correspondency in dates would tend to prove that the ‘Elisha work’ of God’s covenant people was due to begin, and did begin, in the year 1919 with the assembling of that people in general convention at Cedar Point, Ohio. That was the time the Golden Age magazine was launched and the work of giving witness of the truth to the people was revived. It was then and there that God made his covenant people aware of the fact that he had commissioned them to ‘preach this gospel of the kingdom to all the nations as a witness’, and it was there called sharply to their attention that God had begun his reign through Christ Jesus, earth’s rightful King. On the fifth day of September, 1919, that covenant people of God was given a vision or understanding of the distinction between the ‘Elijah work’ and the ‘Elisha work’ of the church; that is to say, that the experiences of Elijah had foreshadowed a certain work to be done, which was now completed, and the experiences of Elisha foreshadowed another work to be done by the same people, which work had to begin at that date. (See The Watchtower, 1919, page 292.) As ‘the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel’, so was the spirit and the power of the Lord upon his people when they saw for the first time the work marked out for them to do and which had been foreshadowed by the experiences of the prophet Elisha. The work of God’s “servant”, broken up during the war, now began to take on new life, the first part of which was to begin the organization thereof and then go forward with the work.

The year 606 B.C. marks the date of the desolation of Jerusalem. The year 606 B.C. would correspond with 1925, when “organized religions” were plainly seen to be in bondage to Satan, and to be a part of Satan’s organization, and to have been for ever cast away from the Lord. Shortly thereafter the book Deliverance appeared, exposing Satan’s organization, and particularly the hypocritical religion thereof. Also about that time God revealed to his people the delusion of “character development” as a necessary qualification for the kingdom, and also the “prisoners” yet in Babylon began to be made the subject of special study. (See The Watchtower May 1, 1926, and November 15, 1926.) In 1935 they were identified.

“Chebar” was the name of the river by the side of which Ezekiel got his first vision. It means “length”, that is, “extent of time,” and seems to indicate that the fullness of God’s time had now come and his kingdom must now be established and that the work of announcing that kingdom, as foreshadowed by Elisha, must begin. Daniel had a vision at the river, probably the very same river, and at which the dates 1914,1918 and 1926 were foreshadowed, and he confirms Ezekiel's prophecy.

Ezekiel’s first vision was had five years after he was taken captive. That vision represented and foreshadowed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the temple of Jehovah for judgment upon the true house of God and upon the professed house of God, which judgment results in the destruction of the latter house, or “organized religion”. The Israelites had misused and abused God’s temple, and Jehovah caused Ezekiel to prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem. Nominal spiritual Israel, or “organized Christianity”, so called, has misused and abused God’s temple, and God’s judgment of destruction is pronounced against it.

SARDIS

CHRIST JESUS, the glorious Prince who is filled with Jehovah’s spirit, and who holds under his command all the holy angels, or “seven stars”, addresses a message to the Sardis church. “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard; and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit [Jehovah by Christ Jesus] saith unto the churches.”—Rev. 3:1-6.

One authority gives the meaning of the word Saul is as “prince of joy” or “song of joy”. Sardis was the ancient capital of Lydia, in Asia Minor, the residence of the royal and rich famed Croesus. The residents were in ill repute among other nations for their voluptuous habits of living. The years 1878 to 1918 marked the period of the Elijah work of the church. That was also a period of time for the amassing of the greatest wealth amongst men of the world. Money-making and the love of money especially marked that period. During that same time the truth was preached concerning the kingdom, and the church on earth was in the midst of the money-mad rush. Doubtless many who came to a knowledge of the truth were affected thereby and were ‘drowned in the sea’. (1 Tim. 6:9; Rev. 20:13) In that period of time many heard the truth and greatly rejoiced for a time and sang forth their joy to the Lord. Then the desire for material wealth and the ease that it brings was permitted to cool the zeal of a number in the truth and cause their hand to slack and their tongues to remain silent.

The time approached for the Lord to appear at his temple for judgment, and those in the church fulfilling the condition described in Revelation 3:1-3 concerning Sardis are addressed: “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Otherwise stated, they have had some works but without real faith. A faith without works is dead; and works without faith prompted by love are also of no value.— Jas. 2:26.

Paul tells those who give special credit and honor to men that they are carnally minded. (Rom. 8:6; 1 Cor. 3: 3,4) In the period of time mentioned many claimed to believe the truth and accepted it as “the best religion yet”. They especially liked the social features of being with the “truth people”. They attended meetings and conventions; appeared pious and sanctimonious; claimed to be developing a sweet and beautiful character; would be seen at prominent gatherings, loving to entertain the favorite speakers at dinings, and occupying a prominent place at the public meetings; distributed some tracts; made some contributions to the funds needed; made somewhat of a display of their material wealth, which was supposed to give them a better standing than ‘the common herd’; and they loved to act as satellites of the most prominent amongst the elective elders and leaders. When any service was to be performed that required one to be in the limelight they sought such with eagerness. But when the brunt of the fight was to be borne they were not there. They were not willing to tell out plainly the truth concerning Satan’s organization, fearing they might offend some or make themselves appear ridiculous. That such a condition has existed in the church during the past fifty years prior to the cleansing of the sanctuary (Dan. 8:14) no one familiar with the facts has the slightest doubt. Therefore the Lord said through the Messenger (verse 2): “For I have not found thy works fully performed.”—Diaglott.

These thus described hold to the fundamental truths, but such faith could not survive without activity. Therefore the Lord says to them (verse 2): “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.” Failing to perform their “reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1), which is not outward sanctimoniousness or shining amongst men, they were about to die, and they must awaken to their privileges. The Lord continues (verse 3): “Remember therefore how thou hast received, and heard; and hold fast, and [change thy course of action].” ‘Be sorry for the action that you have been taking, and become active,’ would be the real meaning. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Cor. 7:10) Failing to heed this warning such would receive the grace of God (that is, “the ministry of reconciliation”) in vain. (2 Cor. 5:18-6: 3) Then the Lord tells them that should they fail to watch he would come to his temple unobserved by them and they would be ensnared by that to which their selfishness held. (Luke 21: 34, 35) That some in this condition would awaken and bestir themselves is clearly indicated by the fact that the Lord gives them warning, that they may have the opportunity thus to do.

Amongst them were those in a somewhat similar condition, to whom he says: “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.” (Vs. 4) Such keep themselves unspotted from the world by refusing to be identified with the world, Satan’s organization, and hating even their own fleshly weaknesses. (Jas. 1: 27; Jude 23) Clearly the promise is that those who would reform and devote themselves to the Lord he would cause to be identified with him, and ‘they should walk with him in white’, which would mean that they would walk worthy of their vocation and receive his approval.—Eph. 4:1.

Then they are told (Rev. 3: 5) that the overcomers shall be clothed in white raiment and their name shall not be blotted out of the book of life. Manifestly this means that they would receive the Lord’s approval and that he would register them among his approved ones. He also says (verse 5): “I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels,” which would be further evidence of his approval and his acknowledgment before his angels and before Jehovah that they are members of his household. Therefore let all of the ‘Sardis company’ who have the spirit of Jehovah hear and take heed. (Luke 12: 8) The Lord is at his temple and even today there may be some in this condition who might be fully recovered to the Lord.

LETTERS

PHONOGRAPH WONDERFUL INSTRUMENT

Dear Brother Rutherford:

“Kingdom Greetings.” Realizing how precious is your time, day and night consecrated to the Most High, we have hesitated in times past to write to you; but now we have come to the point where we cannot find scope amongst ourselves of our expressions of joy and thankfulness for the wonderful provision of our heavenly Father for his people in these times of special need. The waters of truth are swirling about us in such abundance that we find ourselves all but over whelmed and completely lifted off our feet by Jehovah’s bountiful flow of knowledge.

We are overjoyed by Jehovah’s loving-kindness in making known to his humble servants the understanding of the prophetic drama of Joseph and his brethren; and this gives us hope and encouragement, and hence great zeal, as we whole heartedly embrace his further wonderful provision in the vindication of his holy name,—the phonograph. Day and night we plot and plan how better to use our every moment “as to the Lord ’ ’.

With the Lord’s grace we start the spring in the auxiliary service, looking forward to the time, and we hope in the very near future, that Jehovah will lead us into the ranks of the pioneers.

We feel the need, dear brother, at this time to share with you our joy not only as being associated with you in the King’s service but also in this literal way. We thank you also for your personal message of February 2, in which you make so clear to us the Lord’s will, and what a privilege we have now in bearing this new implement of aggression against the enemy of Jehovah.

And so, dear brother, standing shoulder to shoulder with you, singing aloud the praises of Jehovah and his King and Vindicator Christ Jesus, we rise up against her in battle, rejoicing that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

May Jehovah’s richest blessings continue to be your lot. With Christian love we are

Your brethren by the Lord’s grace, Gordon N. Philps Wm. J. Smith—Canada.

JEHOVAH CONTINUES TO ENLIGHTEN

Dear Brother Rutherford:

The assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses now in session at Winnipeg, Canada, gladly accepts this opportunity of conveying to you our deep appreciation of the light of truth which continually shines forth through the columns of The Watchtower.

The clear Scriptural presentation in the articles dealing with the great multitude gives us great joy and thankfulness to Jehovah as he continues to enlighten us through his own appointed channel.

The marvelous unfolding of Malachi as presented in The Watchtower fills us with zeal and praise to Jehovah, also thankfulness to him for the channel through which he dispenses the meat in due season.

We appreciate the great fight now in progress and rejoice to have part therein.

“TO GIVE SOME IDEA OF THE ENTHUSIASM”

Dear Brother Rutherford:

Just briefly, I thought you would be interested to have one or two extracts from the letters [received here] just to give some idea of the enthusiasm of the brethren:

Letter from Brother Rutherford received re further work with phonograph and records. Read it to company today; must say vote was unanimous re our co-operation with Society.”

Personal and private communication received. Taken up in company Sunday evening. I made special trip to Souris on Sat-urday; both companies enthusiastically received the advance notice of our new work and unanimously got behind it. As a direct result you may enter our order for four phonographs and seven sets of records.”

“In reply to the president’s letter the Qualicum Beach company gladly desire to have a part in this work and accordingly order three complete sets; two phonographs. All instructions will be closely followed.”

‘The brethren here at Clute are indeed rejoicing to hear of the further work with the phonograph in store for all God’s people, and to know we are privileged to have a part in it. ’ ’

‘Your communication containing wonderful letter by Brother Rutherford received. It helps to enlighten us, not only of greater tests of faith and courage, but also of more intense and closer-to-home experiences which we by God’s grace are privileged to engage in. For this experience the recent Watchtowers have been building us up in knowledge, understanding and faith for this very time, giving us greater assurance that we are being directed by Christ Jesus at the temple of God.”

‘Received Brother Rutherford’s letter regarding further new work. Held special meeting yesterday afternoon; took up the matter fully regarding our work with war and fighting equipment. It was decided that every company publisher should have a phonograph and the company should have as many as we could possibly get. We all realize the fight is on.”

“Received a letter from the president at 4 p.m. At 7: 30 p.m. committee met to prepare arrangements. Special meeting called for Wednesday evening, and the whole company voted unanimously to secure 20 sets for company use and a further 510 discs for individuals. Twenty-two phonographs ordered. This all in one evening. When the ammunition arrives we will be prepared.”

At Kingston the active publishers are six. They state:

“The Kingston company would like to have six phonographs sent and 42 records for each, and two extra sets to use with the machines we have.”

Another company just sends an order, but it is for 27 phonographs and 47 special sets.

The results of the Toronto meeting I was pleased to write you recently, and since that meeting orders have poured in from this company for 74 phonographs and 44 special sets.

It is appreciated that you are extremely busy, but I feel sure that this brief report will be a pleasure to receive. We rejoice in all our privileges of service and trust that all will now put their shoulder to the wheel and be. ready to start out on the date which has just been announced from Brooklyn, viz., April 18.

With warm love, I am

Your brother and servant by His grace,

P. Chapman.

GIVES ONE COURAGE

Dear Sir:

Just a word in regard to your broadcast, the free lecture on “Armageddon”. It was fine. Heard every word; and it gives one courage to get out in the field and do more witnessing. Oh, how you do speak from the shoulder!

I can’t remember how many times on my knees before my radio while listening I implored Jehovah God to protect you from all danger and all harm. I am waiting to see if they (the R. C. H.) will debate. That will be something to write home about. May the grace of God bless and keep you always. Best wishes. I am,

MRS. Thomas Miller, Massachusetts.