We would not say that it is to tempt them, because humanity will have knowledge then. It is the same as Adam, who was not deceived, because he had knowledge from God, but when the test came upon him he went into temptation because of his own lust and selfish desires with respect to his own wife. Then he sinned, willfully so, and not because he was deceived. So it will be at the end of the thousand years. They are not to be deceived because of any lack of knowledge, but the Devil will work on humanity to stir up evil and selfish desires and to lead them into temptation in that way. God will permit it as a test, to see who really loves him with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. Any who yields to selfishness and follows the Devil and demons is destroyed, and finally the Devil and his demons are pitched into the “lake of fire and sulphur”, the antitypical Gehenna. (Rev. 20:8-10, NW) Thus Jehovah arranges for the test, passes judgment for or against, and executes the sinners and rebels, visible and invisible. He is the one who crushes Satan, as foretold at Romans 16:20, but in doing so he uses Christ Jesus as his executioner and thereby brings about fulfillment of Hebrews 2:14 (NW): “Through his death he might destroy the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil.”

While the Scriptures definitely establish that Satan’s abyssing at Armageddon for a thousand years thereafter runs concurrently with the thousand-year reign of Christ, and that the loosing of Satan for the final test comes after the millennial reign is over and Christ turns the Kingdom government over to Jehovah God, we cannot say at this time whether this final testing will fall within the 7,000-year rest day of Jehovah or whether it will come right after its close. We shall have to wait and see when Armageddon ends and the millennial reign begins before we can be definite on where the final season of testing at the end of the millennium will come relative to the 7,000-year day. If Armageddon ends before we reach the 6,000-year mark in human existence, then the 1,000-year reign would also end before the 7,000-year rest day would, and the final test could occur within the 7,000-year day. But on this we cannot be definite, but must await Jehovah’s disclosing of our exact position in the stream of time before we can locate with any reliability the placement of the testing period with regard to the 7,000-year day.

Abandoned Bible Aid Yields Fruit

A young farmer in El Salvador, though having never attended school, used to tuck his books in his waistband and teach himself during noontimes and while his oxen rested from the plow. He could see the wondrous potential in the green fields and forests and could not understand why such a potential should be destroyed. Neither could the clergy satisfactorily explain that to him.

His curious mind continued to search for the answers to these and other perplexing questions. He got the answers in a rather strange way on the eve of his sister’s wedding. During the merriment, a guest tried to kiss the bride. A pistol fight ensued between the groom and the guest as the crowd melted through doors and windows. The lights went out. When the shooting stopped our young friend crawled from under the bench where he had taken cover and had found a green book entitled “Let God Be True” that had been abandoned. From this book and other publications, which he later obtained, he found the answers to his questions. Now he is a full-time minister, preaching the good news of the Kingdom among his neighbors, fording streams, braving storms and sleeping nights in the open, so that more of his humble forest folk can also have their questions answered.