GOD’S AGENT WITH WHOM TO RECKON

11. According to Acts 17:31, what has God appointed for himself on the day of reckoning, and what guarantee has he given?

¹¹ For that coming day of reckoning, God has appointed a personal representative, an associate judge. The Christian apostle Paul referred to this deputy when he further said to the Supreme Court on Mars Hill in Athens, Greece: “He [God] has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.”​—Acts 17:31.

12. Why is the existence of this guarantee nothing to be shrugged off, as was the case with the Greek judges who heard Paul?

¹² What more remarkable “guarantee” could the Almighty God give of his set day for judgment for all the inhabitants of earth than the resurrecting of his associate judge from a martyr’s death? Just because we may have a different religious view of matters, we ought not to look at God’s “guarantee” as something to be shrugged off, as the majority of those Supreme Court justices on Mars Hill did. This “guarantee” is furnished by the “King of the nations.” It is nothing to be scoffed at as something unscientific and ridiculous. In the first century C.E. there were more than 500 eyewitnesses to the existence of that “guarantee” from God, including the apostle Paul himself.

13, 14. (a) In proof of God’s guarantee, why is the resurrected Jesus Christ not on earth today? (b) How is it that God has not remained alone like a hermit in his spiritual realm?

¹³ The “man” whose resurrection from the dead is the “guarantee” of the coming “set” day of judgment is identified as Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:3-8, 12-20) The reason why he is not on earth today is that he sacrificed his perfect human life and was resurrected, in order that dead humankind might also have a resurrection to an opportunity for endless life on a cleansed earth that will be converted into a global paradise. As a reward he has been elevated to heaven and is at the right hand of the Supreme Judge, the God with the power of resurrection. Jesus Christ spoke of himself as the “only-begotten Son” of God and as “the beginning of the creation by God.” (John 3:16; Rev. 3:14) Why is this?

¹⁴ It is because he was God’s first creation in heaven and God then used him as His colaborer in making all other things, including our earth and its first inhabitants, Adam and Eve. (Col. 1:15-18) The creating of the invisible heavenly angels preceded the creating of mankind. By reason of the creating of his “only-begotten Son” and all the holy angels, God has not remained alone like a hermit in his own spiritual realm. According to the Bible’s account, these superhuman angels number up into the hundreds of millions.​—Ps. 104:4; Dan. 7:9, 10; Heb. 1:7; 12:22.

15. How was the only-begotten Son of God once made “a little lower than angels”?

¹⁵ Those myriads of angels will be at God’s beck and call on the day of reckoning for all the earthly nations. They are also at the service of his associate Judge by means of whom he will judge the inhabited earth on his set day. (Matt. 25:31, 32) When God miraculously sent his only-begotten Son to become a perfect man on earth through birth from a virgin Jewess, this Son of God was made “a little lower than angels.”​—Heb. 2:9; Ps. 8:4, 5.

16. To what station was Jesus Christ resurrected, and for what beneficial purpose?

¹⁶ What, though, is the status of this only-begotten Son of God today​—now? He has been resurrected by God to a heavenly station even far higher than that of the angels due to his proving faithful to God down to a sacrificial death in innocence. That this lamblike Son of God might extend the benefits of his sacrifice to all mankind, God resurrected him on the third day, not, though, as a man, inasmuch as he had sacrificed his human nature forever. So God resurrected him to heavenly life, to immortality and to greater superiority over all angels. (1 Pet. 3:22) Thus he could serve as the “seed” for blessing all the nations of the earth.​—Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:8-16.

17. In Hebrews 1:3-9, what did Paul write about the glorification of Jesus Christ as the Son of God?

¹⁷ So, then, ought we not to be glad over this glorification of Jesus Christ in the heavens? Yes, for now we have a brighter outlook on life in the future. The Christian apostle Paul, who miraculously saw the resurrected Jesus Christ, wrote about his glorification. In a letter to the Hebrews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah of Bible prophecy, Paul wrote: “After he had made a purification for our sins he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in lofty places. So he has become better than the angels, to the extent that he has inherited a name more excellent than theirs. . . . Also, with reference to the angels he says: ‘And he makes his angels spirits, and his public servants a flame of fire.’ But with reference to the Son: ‘God is your throne forever, and the scepter of your kingdom is the scepter of uprightness. You loved righteousness, and you hated lawlessness. That is why God, your God, anointed you with the oil of exultation more than your partners.’”​—Heb. 1:3-9.

18. By means of this Son, what will God do respecting the coming day of reckoning?

¹⁸ By means of this super-angelic King as his Deputy Judge, God will make the coming day of reckoning for all the nations work out for our lasting good.

All the nations of this world could no more overthrow his kingdom than they could overthrow God as Universal Sovereign and as “King of the nations.” With his enthroned Son all nations must now reckon.

3. From what did Paul quote the words of Hebrews 1:8, 9, and what does this prove?

³ The words that the writer to the Christianized Hebrews applied to the glorified Son of God were quoted from the Bible book of Psalms, or from Psalm 45:6, 7. This proves that the whole psalm was prophetic. By studying it we shall gain information as to what God’s anointed king will do for God’s glory and man’s lasting happiness.

4. The enthusiasm radiated by Psalm 45 is over what?

⁴ The sponsors of the psalm were official Levites who served in God’s temple at Jerusalem. The psalm fairly radiates enthusiasm. The enthusiasm is that felt over the coming in of a good government in the hands of an incorruptible righteous ruler. The occasion is something heartstirring, for the psalmist bursts forth with the words: “My heart has become astir with a goodly matter. I am saying: ‘My works are concerning a king.’ May my tongue be the stylus of a skilled copyist.”​—Ps. 45:1 and the Ps 45:superscription.

5. The “goodly matter” of Psalm 45 was the outstanding theme of whose preaching, and was worthy of what publicity?

⁵ The “goodly matter” that stirred the heart of the inspired psalmist has proved to be an outstanding feature of what Jesus Christ called “this good news of the kingdom.” So “goodly” was the Kingdom message that it deserved to “be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations,” in view of the fact that the “end” of these nations has to come. (Matt. 24:14) Today, are our hearts stirred with the “goodly” theme of God’s kingdom by Christ?

6. (a) Our “works” are principally in behalf of what? (b) How does our “tongue” become like the stylus of a skilled copyist?

⁶ Are we joining in with the psalmist and saying for everybody to hear: “My works are concerning a king”? We have no reason to be ashamed of this king, God’s own anointed one. So our principal “works” should be our speaking, teaching and preaching about this royal Messiah. We are working mainly in behalf of his Kingdom interests, not in behalf of any of the worldly kingdoms that are nearing their disastrous end.

The worldly nations would like to block the enthroned Jesus Christ from ruling over mankind. They would like to limit his rulership to heaven and to keep rulership of the earth for themselves perpetually. So the cause of truth, humility and righteousness is implicated. Because the worldly nations have taken such an unyielding stand since the Gentile Times ended in 1914, they will have to reckon with Jesus Christ in a violent war.

12. Because of what would confront the newly enthroned King, what did Psalm 45:3-5 tell him to do?

¹² What would confront the newly enthroned Messianic king was foreseen by the psalmist under inspiration. Hence, he went on to write as with the “stylus of a skilled copyist”: “Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, with your dignity and your splendor. And in your splendor go on to success; ride in the cause of truth and humility and righteousness, and your right hand will instruct you in fear-inspiring things. Your arrows are sharp​—under you peoples keep falling—​in the heart of the enemies of the king.”​—Ps. 45:3-5.

13. How does the psalmist’s description help us to identify the one seen in vision in Revelation 6:1, 2, and who is the one identified?

¹³ Arrows require a bow for propulsion. Hence, the psalmist’s description helps us to identify who is pictured in Revelation 6:1, 2, where the Christian apostle John speaks of a vision and says: “I saw when the Lamb [Jesus Christ] opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice as of thunder: ‘Come!’ And I saw, and, look! a white horse; and the one seated upon it had a bow; and a crown was given him, and he went forth conquering and to complete his conquest.” That crowned bowman astride the white horse pictured the glorified Jesus Christ proceeding to war against his enemies. Victory to a completion is what he aims for. His conquest must be earth wide.

14. Why is the newly inaugurated King a “mighty one,” even as foretold in Isaiah 9:6?

¹⁴ In his dignity and splendor, as of an officially inaugurated king, Jesus Christ girds himself with the sword of war in order to lift it up against the opposing nations on earth. Being no longer a man of flesh and blood, but clothed with heavenly powers, he is now indeed a “mighty one.” The prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 says that one of his titles was to be “Mighty God.” The heavily armed nations of today must yet learn to know him as such a mighty one.

15. In contrast with his triumphal ride into Jerusalem, why will Jesus Christ ride a horse when reckoning with the nations?

¹⁵ Once, like King Solomon at his coronation, Jesus Christ rode a peaceful ass when he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, offering himself to her as the king of David’s line. (Matt. 21:1-14; Zech. 9:9) But when, shortly, he rides forth in the cause of truth, humility and righteousness, he will, figuratively speaking, ride a war steed. Properly so, for he has a reckoning to carry out with those who violate truth, humility and righteousness.

16. What truth have national governments trampled underfoot despite notification by Jehovah’s Witnesses?

¹⁶ A few days after Jesus rode the ass into Jerusalem, he told Governor Pilate that he had come into the world to bear witness to the truth. That was primarily the truth about God’s kingdom, about which he had just borne witness to Pilate. (1 Tim. 6:13) Today the governments of nations trample that truth underfoot, even though Jehovah by His witnesses has notified them that the Gentile Times of world domination by them ran out in 1914.

17. The cause of what class has Jesus Christ championed, and why must he fight for a new order of righteousness?

¹⁷ Worldly rulers show no humility before God. They do not yield peacefully to earth’s rightful King, Jesus Christ, who showed the greatest humility before God and who championed all the helpless humble ones on earth, especially his persecuted disciples. Now in these “last days” man’s unrighteousness has “gone to seed,” with more and more lawlessness spreading alarmingly. Mankind needs to be given a new start in righteousness. Hence, the Warrior King Jesus Christ must ride in the cause of righteousness and fight for the establishment of a new order over all the earth.​—Isa. 26:9.

18. What warning is given to the nations by the words to the King, “your right hand will instruct you in fear-inspiring things,” and how is the wholesale slaughter indicated in Psalm 45:5?

¹⁸ In modern times, warfare has gone far beyond the use of swords and arrows. Military superpowers now count on using nuclear and neutron bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles. But they should not think that the glorified Jesus Christ cannot surprise them with scientific weapons of war even superior to theirs. Psalm 45:4 sounds the warning to the nations that Christ’s right hand will instruct him in “fear-inspiring things.” His superhuman missiles will not be less accurate than man-made missiles in striking their human targets. With deadly aim, they will hit “the heart of the enemies of the king.” The wholesale slaughter resulting is indicated by the wartime news release that under him “peoples keep falling” in his fight for truth, humility and righteousness.​—Ps. 45:5.

19. What should persons “shocked” by such a picture of Christ and his heavenly Father ask about their own nations, and how will the earth polluted with innocent blood be cleansed?

¹⁹ People of Christendom today may say that such a prospect pictures Jesus Christ as a spiller of blood and his heavenly Father as a cruel, bloodthirsty God. Such persons may claim to be shocked at the presenting of God and Jesus Christ in such a way. But how do they feel about the nations of Christendom of which such persons are patriotic citizens? Are the hands of such nations clean from the stain of blood, shed, not in theocratic warfare, but in unchristian warfare? Let such bloodguilty nations recall that, after the deluge that wiped out all of earth’s population except Noah and his family inside the ark, God said to them: “Anyone shedding man’s blood, by man will his own blood be shed, for in God’s image he made man.” (Gen. 9:6) Christendom has led the nations in shedding blood by political wars, religious crusades and persecuting conscientious Christians who stuck to the Bible. In what way, then, will the ground polluted by human blood be cleansed? Only by the shedding of the blood of the bloodguilty to balance the scales of justice.

20. How does this harmonize with God’s law concerning cities of refuge for unintentional manslayers, and how will our earth be made fit for Paradise to be established upon it?

²⁰ This harmonizes with God’s law concerning the cities of refuge that he set up in Israel for unintentional manslayers. By means of the prophet Moses, he said: “You must not pollute the land in which you are; because it is blood that pollutes the land, and for the land there may be no atonement respecting the blood that has been spilled upon it except by the blood of the one spilling it. And you must not defile the land in which you are dwelling, in the midst of which I am residing; for I Jehovah am residing in the midst of the sons of Israel.” (Num. 35:33, 34) If ever our blood-polluted earth is to be made fit in order that Paradise may be established here for man’s everlasting home, it must be cleansed. The innocent blood spilled upon it must be atoned for by the blood of the nations who today threaten us with a third world war.

21. Why with respect to justice must God give Christ the victory, and what good will the nations’ combining forces in the United Nations do them?

²¹ For this just reason all the nations must shortly reckon with Jesus Christ. He must gain the victory over them. Otherwise the claims of justice would not be satisfied. Jehovah God will give him the victory over them. The combining of their forces in the United Nations organization will not spare them utter defeat. They will fight against the Kingdom interests of the once-sacrificed Lamb of God, and concerning this the last book of the Bible says: “These have one thought, and so they give their power and authority to the wild beast [the United Nations]. These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them.” (Rev. 17:13, 14) About that fight we further read:

22, 23. (a) What does Revelation 19:11-16, 19 further tell us about that fight? (b) Where is the war fought, and how is the innocent blood shed on earth atoned for, in cleansing the earth?

²² “Look! a white horse. And the one seated upon it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness. . . . Upon his head are many diadems. . . . He is arrayed with an outer garment sprinkled with blood, and the name he is called is The Word of God. Also, the armies that were in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen. . . . And upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

²³ “And I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage the war with the one seated on the horse and with his army.” (Rev. 19:11-16, 19) Because the gathered nations insist on their national sovereignty and perpetual man-rule of all the earth, they force the fight that ensues. The world situation to which they bring matters to a climax is likened to the battlefield that, in Hebrew, is called Har–Magedon. (Rev. 16:14-16) There “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” is fought. There the blood of all the nations must atone for all the innocent blood with which they polluted the earth. Thus the whole earth will be cleansed for Paradise to be established here earth wide.

24. Will any of the nations survive that day of reckoning, and about what should we as individuals be concerned?

²⁴ What a day of reckoning that will be for all the nations of the earth, whether inside or outside Christendom! Will any of those nations survive that day? That was the vital question that we raised earlier in this discussion. And now the answer definitely is, No! Not one! That is why we, who are citizens of these doomed nations, should be seriously concerned. We should like to learn how we as individuals can survive guilt-free.

1. Why will the nations not gain the victory at Har–Magedon, and how will their accounts on the day of reckoning be settled?

THE “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon is inexorably ahead for all earthly nations. Although heavily armed as never before for global warfare, they could never be expected to gain the victory over the Almighty God. As Commander in Chief of all the heavenly armies, he will give the victory to his grand Field Marshal, Jesus Christ, because this one is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” He will hold the final day of reckoning with all the opposed nations. Weighed in the scales of divine justice, they will be found wanting. Their accounts will be settled by their everlasting destruction.​—Rev. 19:11-21; 17:14.

2. Why were the words of Psalm 45:6, 7 addressed to the King after the fight, and what does his wielding of the scepter betoken for mankind?

² The victory at Har–Magedon will vindicate the universal sovereignty of God the Almighty. Because he successfully uses Jesus Christ to gain this victory, God will count him worthy to retain his heavenly throne.