Auaust 1, 1930
unto death; they must follow in his steps. These
must learn obedicnee through suffering, as Jesus did.
To all of this class is promised the first resurrection,
and that they will reign with Jesus during that. thou-
sand years. Their destiny will be a heavenly one.
They will be like Jesus and see him as he is. Revela-
tion 20:6 says of these: ‘‘Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second
death’ hath no power, but they shall be priests of
God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thou-
sand years.’’
When the first resurrection shall bring them to-
gether in heaven as a divine, immortal, invisible com-
pany, their destiny will be to be with the Lord forever.
They, together with Jesus as their Head, will be the
kingdom, while the earth full of human creatures will
be the subjects of the kingdom. This heavenly class
is called ‘‘the church’’, also ‘‘the bride, the Lamb’s
wife’. They are called ‘‘the elect’’, ‘‘the overcom-
ers,’’ and are referred to as ‘‘joint-heirs with Christ’’.
Speaking to this class, Jesus said: ‘I appoint unto
you a kingdom even as my Father hath appointed
unto me.’ (Luke 22:29) Again, Jesus said to these:
- “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.’’ The Scriptures deseribe another elass, who will be unfaithful, stubborn and rebellious; who will resist the mercy and favor of God, and who will continue this rebellion and resistance until God cuts them off from all life in the second death. That will be their destiny, The second death is called ‘‘everlasting de- te WATCH TOWER 237 struction’, in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, which reads: ‘‘Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.’’ This is the class to whom Jesus re- ferred when he said: ‘‘These shall go away into ever- lasting punishment.’’ He did not say that they would go away into everlasting torment, as the clergy have taught. He simply says that they will go into ever- lasting punishment, and the Scriptures show that the punishment is to be death, second death, or everlast- ing destruction. Over and over we are told that all the wicked will God destroy; that they will perish like the beasts of the field, and that they will be as though they had not been, that is, as though they never had an exist- ence. This class will b2 composed of all who have come to a knowledge of the truth and then take their stand against it. Thus we see the destiny of the entire human family, according to the purpose of God as shown in his Word. (1) A small portion of the race will attain to heav- enly glory and be associated with Jesus in the king- dom and. in the kingdom work. (2) The vast majority of the race will come back on the earth again and be privileged to enjoy ever- lasting life here on earth if they obey the laws of the kingdom. (3) A relatively small number will be destroyed for ever as rebels against God. Thank God no human creature is destined to spend eternity is agonizing torment.as the clergy have self- ishly taught! FORMALISM IN PRAYER Ts following extract from a letter reecived by The Watch Tower is the reason for writ- ing these lines: I have been wanting to write about a question that looks as though it were small but seems to be of growing impor- tance. Some of the friends think that it is formalism to kneel in prayer at prayer mecting. At first I thought it was all right if they felt that way, but the idea is spreading; even E—— thonght she would not kneel any longer. The one who started it I think refuses to close his eyes or fold his hands—also formalism. This family has ehildren. I’m leading the children’s class; the children acted as the parents; so I fave a little talk about it, saying that ‘they did not act toward their teacher as toward each other, nor toward the principal as toward the teacher; so we should remember Jehovah is the very highest of all. Then I said we folded our hands as a sign of our helplessness without Him, and closed our eyes so that we have less to attract our attention and keep us from lifting up our hearts together to God’. The policy of Satan invariably is to induce men to take an extreme course. The Pharisces were extrem- ists in their formalism, and delighted. to stand on the street corners and pray, that they might be scen of men, The motive inducing them thus to do was bad, and Jesus denounced them for that reason. Like- wise, any formalism practiecd for the purpose of attracting attention to the performer is wrong. The other extreme is to be brazen and flippant in one’s attitude, which shows an entire lack of rever- ence for God. It is written, ‘‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’’ The wise man continucs in that. proper attitude of fear before God. If any man comes to the point that he has no fear of dis- pleasing God, then he is in a bad way and his pray- ers would avail little or nothing, The deportment of a Christian should be in keeping with his proper relationship to God. Ile will realize that the creature is not as much as the small dust in the balance when compared with the great Creator. His help!iessness and complete dependence upon the Lord God is ever before him. As his knowlede¢e of the loving-kindness of God increases he has a greater de- sire to worship Jehovah, and a greater measure of devotion to him. Ile delights to put himself in the
