IS THERE ANY GOOD NEWS ON earth today? Yes, there is, in spite of all the saddening, disturbing and frightening conditions that we all see on earth today. And this good news, too, comes from a most reliable and authoritative source, and is backed up by the very things that we see happening and existing. Why, then, should you be sorrowful and hopeless, when you can be joyful and hopeful and can make others happy with this good news? Read this little booklet, and then, we feel, you will want to pass its refreshing information on to others.-THE PUBLISHERS
1954
PUBLISHERSWatchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc.International Bible Students AssociationBrooklyn, New York, U. S. A.
Made in the United States of America
"THIS GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM"
WHAT is your hope for the future? Is it just to live out some few years on earth with the hope of gaining some pleasure and happiness in the short time before death brings an end to it! What hope have you of life beyond death? What does the future hold for mankind in general upon earth? Will some disaster finally destroy the earth and all life on it?
2 People in different parts of the world will answer these questions somewhat differently. There are many different religions and many different ideas about what the future holds for mankind. Others have come to their own conclusions as to what their future will be. Surely the sensible thing to do, if we want to have a sure hope for the future, is to find out what the supreme and almighty God has purposed for man and for this earth which is man's home. Since He created man, then He is the one to decide our destiny, and this He has done. For those who please the Creator there is a happy future, and this happy future was announced to man on earth through a special representative of the Creator, Jesus Christ. His
1. What questions concerning man's hope for the future present themselves?2. (a) How do people in different places answer these questions? (b) In order to have a sure hope for the future what is the sensible thing to do, and why so?
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message he called "this good news of the kingdom." -Matthew 24:14, in The Holy Bible, NW*
3 What is "this good news"? To understand what it is, and What "the kingdom" is that is here spoken of, and how it will bring blessings to mankind, it is necessary to know something of the purposes of the Most High God and of his dealings with mankind. This information we find in a book, the Bible. One who can create the sun, moon and stars, this earth and all the wonderful things on it, the fish, birds, animals, trees and flowers, and man, that One could also create a book. Since it is the Creator's purpose to make this information available world-wide in such a way that each one would be able to check the information for himself, there would have to be a written record that one could turn to for proof. The only written record of the Creator's purpose for man and the earth is the Bible, that sacred Book which God has preserved down through the ages and which has been translated into hundreds of languages. In this Book we shall find the answers to all the important questions about our life here on earth and our hopes for the future.
4 Who is God? How and why did he make man? Why are there wickedness and suffering
* NW stands for the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
3. To understand all about "this good news" where do we find the needed information, and why do we find it only there?4. What are some of the important questions that the Bible answers for us, and so what shall we now do?
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on the earth? When will they end? What is the future of the earth and man, and what does one have to do to gain life from God? All these and many other questions are answered for us in the Bible. The Bible is God's Word in which he reveals himself and his purposes to us. (John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:15-17) Let us then look into this Book and learn some of its contents.
THE TRUE GOD
5 There is only one true God who is almighty and supreme and who is the Creator that has "made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is." (Acts 4:24) Everyone who wants life, including his chief Son, Christ Jesus, must recognize His supremacy and be subject to him. (1 Corinthians 15:28) God is invisible to human eyes, and "no man hath seen God at any time." (1 John 4:12) So, then, it is wrong for man to try to make an image of God to worship. He is beyond compare. He has no equal. Of him the prophet Isaiah wrote, chapter 40, verses 18 and 25: "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" He is the source of all life and therefore it is to him we must look in hope for everlasting life in the future.
6 To differentiate himself from the many false gods that are worshiped the Almighty God has a personal name. That name is Jehovah. Psalm
5. If we want life, what must we recognize concerning God, and why is it wrong to try to make an image of God to worship?6. Why does God have a name, what is it, and why must we know him by his name?
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83:18 says about him: "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." Therefore, to become a true worshiper of him one must come to know him by his name Jehovah.
CHRIST JESUS
7 The chief one of God's creatures under Him is his son who came to earth and took the name Jesus. The Bible shows that this One had lived as a spirit creature in heaven before coming to the earth. At that time he was called the Word; that is, he was Jehovah's spokesman to all other creatures that were brought into existence. -John 1:1; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 19:13.
8 Jesus and Jehovah God are not the same person, nor is Jesus equal to God. Jehovah alone is supreme. Therefore, Jesus said about Jehovah: "My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28) He always has been and is obedient to his Father in heaven and has always been united or at one with him in God's works of righteousness. Because they were in harmony together Jesus could say: "I and my Father are one." (John 10:30) But he did not mean that they were one person. It would be foolish to say that, since later we find Jesus praying to his Father in these words: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: never-
7. Who is the chief of God's creatures, and why was he called the Word?8. Are Jesus and Jehovah God the same person, and are they equal? What did Jesus say about this?
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theless not as I will, but as thou wilt." -Matthew 26:39; compare John 17:20-22.
9 Jesus is God's chief Son and most beloved One and he has become the King of God's kingdom, through which righteousness and peace will be brought about in a new world. While he was on the earth he taught his followers to pray for that kingdom and to direct that prayer to Jehovah, their heavenly Father. "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9,10) But before we go on to discuss why Jesus came to earth as a man and died, and why his preaching about the Kingdom was such good news, let us go back to the time when God created the first man in the garden of Eden.
SIN, DEATH, AND THE DEVIL
10 Originally God created a first man and woman, named Adam and Eve. They were perfect, and God placed them in a paradise garden in the part of the earth called Eden. He commanded them: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and [fill] the earth, and subdue it"; and they were to have dominion over all other creatures on the earth. -Genesis 1: 27-31.
11 If they were faithful and obedient to the
9. Of what has Jesus now become the ruler, and for what did he teach his followers to pray?10. How did the first man and woman come to be, and what were they commanded to do?11. How was their obedience tested out, and by what creature were they led to act as they did?
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Creator they would live forever on the earth in peace with all the things that their hearts would desire. But, although they were perfect in body and mind, they were as yet untried, and God gave them the opportunity of proving their obedience to him under test. He gave Adam the command, saying: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16,17) Did they prove faithful under this test? The Bible record shows they did not. In Genesis chapter 3 there is described the failure of first the woman and then the man to keep God's commandment, and they ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree. Who was it that deceived them? The record speaks of a serpent, but there must have been some invisible superhuman power behind the serpent's actions. We shall see in a moment who that invisible power was.
12 In God's command about the fruit of this tree he had said to Adam: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17) And so now God put this sentence into effect. First, he drove out Adam and Eve from the paradise garden, and from that day on they began to die, and in due time they did die and returned to the dust from where they were taken. Their act of disobedience to God, their rebellion against God's commandment, brought
12. What happened to Adam and Eve after they had sinned, and who was the invisible power behind the serpent in the garden of Eden?
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death to them; and, since all their children were born after they sinned, then they passed on sin and death to their offspring and so down to us. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12) The invisible power behind the serpent who led them into rebellion against God was therefore responsible for their death and he was a murderer. Jesus identified that murderer for us when he said to other followers of the evil one: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44) So, then, it is Satan the Devil who was the invisible power behind the serpent in Eden and who is the great rebel against God and his purposes.
13 The Devil was originally a spirit son of God and, as such, he was perfect; but he allowed pride and hist for power to be like God to develop in his heart and this led him to rebel and to get Adam and Eve to join him in his rebellion. He wanted to be like the Most High God and have creatures worship and serve him. (Ezekiel 28:14,15,17) The way he got Adam and Eve to follow him was to tell them a lie. God, you will remember, had said that if the
13. (a) How did the Devil come to be? (b) Who told the truth about the results of eating the forbidden fruit, and how has the Devil tried to support what he told Eve?
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first human pair ate of the forbidden fruit they would die, but the Devil through the serpent said: "Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4, 5) Who told the truth, God or the Devil? Did Adam really die? The Record says he did: "And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died." (Genesis 5:5) However, Satan, in order to try to continue his original lie, brought forth the idea that when man dies he just appears to die, that it is just the body that dies, but something inside him, a soul or spirit, lives on, either being born again to some other human or into an animal, or going off into some spirit world. Is that true? What does happen to man at death?
14 When God said that Adam would die for disobedience he said nothing about just the body's dying and his soul's going on living somewhere else. He just said: 'You will SURELY die.' Note these Bible texts that show clearly that when a person dies he is completely dead and not alive somewhere else. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalm 146:3,4) "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more
14. Did God warn Adam that only the body would die, and what Bible verses show whether a dead person's soul is alive somewhere else?
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a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." (Ecclesiastes 9:5,10) "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." -Ezekiel 18:4.
15 So, then, when a person dies his soul does not go straight to heaven, nor does his soul go to a place of torment called "hell," nor would that soul be able to come back as a "spirit" or "ghost" to haunt the dead person's relatives. All such teachings are based on Satan's original lie that man does not die, and he has caused many to believe them in order to hold them in fear and turn them away from the true understanding of God's purposes.
16 Many people have been led to believe that sickness and disease are caused by the influence of the "spirits" of the dead, and these persons have gone to witch doctors, persons who claim that they can appease the "spirits." There are witches who claim that they can get in touch with the dead and communicate messages to the living, or that they have supernatural powers by the help of the "spirits" of the dead. These beliefs are likewise based on the Devil's lie and he has caused these beliefs to spread
15. So, then, at death does a person's soul go direct to some invisible world, and on what are teachings of that kind based?16. What have people been led to believe about so-ealled "spirits" of the dead and about witches, and what does the Bible have to say about the practice of witchcraft?
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in order to make man believe that he does not die at death. The Bible specifically warns against anyone's practicing such things as witchcraft. "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee." -Deuteronomy 18:10-12.17 The simple truth about the matter is that, when a person dies, he is dead, unconscious, and knows nothing. Well, you might ask, There is no future in that, is there? If, when man dies, he goes to the grave and that is the end of him, what hope is there for us? It is here in answer to these questions that the Bible brings to our notice Jehovah's most wonderful and merciful provision for the human race, and that is
THE RANSOM
18 A ransom is something that loosens, something that brings deliverance, something valuable that is paid to bring release from bondage. In the Bible it means God's provision to deliver humans from sin and from death due to sin; and so at Matthew 20:28 we read: "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
17. So, when man dies, what about him? And hence what provision has God made for the dying human race?18. What is a ransom? How did God provide one for mankind, and with what benefit to man exercising faith in it?
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minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." Thus Jehovah God by sending his Son Jesus Christ to earth provided through him and his death a ransom price. Men who exercise faith in this provision and who serve God faithfully may receive the gift of life, being set free from inherited sin and from eternal death as a result of sin. Thus we read at Romans 6: 23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
19 As we have already seen, sin and death entered into the world when Adam rebelled against God. Adam lost for himself and for his offspring perfect human life on a paradise earth! By means of the ransom Christ Jesus bought back this that was lost, namely, perfect human life with its rights and earthly prospects. God's law at Deuteronomy 19:21 was that like should go for like; hence, a perfect human life had to be sacrificed for the perfect human life that was lost. No man on earth who was a descendant of sinner Adam could provide this ransom, because each one was himself under condemnation of sin and death by inheritance from Adam. They did not have perfect human life to offer. So only God could provide the ransom, and he did this by transferring the life of his only-begotten Son, who was with him in heaven, to the womb of Mary, a Jewish virgin. (Matthew 1: 23) So without the help of
19. What did the paying of the ransom require, and how was this valuable thing provided in Jesus?
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an earthly father Jesus was miraculously born. In this way he did not inherit condemnation from Adam. This child, Jesus, grew up to become a perfect man, and, as such, he possessed the valuable thing, a perfect human life, which could provide a ransom.
20 On seeing this one approaching him John the Baptist likened him to a lamb for sacrifice and said: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29) The perfect human life which Jesus laid down in death is that valuable thing that provides a ransom. Three days after his death Jesus was resurrected, and forty days later he ascended into heaven. He did not take back human life at his resurrection, but he was raised a spirit creature. (1 Peter 3: 18) When he ascended into heaven he presented to God the value of his perfect human life as the offering, or sacrifice, that could take away sins. -Hebrews 9: 24, 26.
21 Who are the ones that benefit from the ransom? The answer is: Only those that believe or exercise faith. John 3:36 says: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Adam was a willful sinner and was justly sentenced to death, and so he will not benefit by the ransom. Likewise, all other willful rebels against Jehovah will not receive the benefit of
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