| Highlights of Dawn | August 1973 |
Righteous Liberty in Christ’s Kingdom
“Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: he who believes will not be in haste. And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.’” —Isaiah 28:16,17, RSV
“THERE is none righteous, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10) Today we often hear people say, “Nobody is perfect.” This fact has become particularly apparent in the world as we look about us and note all the evidences of unrighteousness. It is probably true, even now, however, that the majority of the people would rather do right than wrong. Despite all that we hear about crime and corruption there is a solid majority in world society that is out of harmony with much that is transpiring around them, but those who make up this majority are powerless to stem the tide of unrighteousness which increasingly is overflowing human society. This situation exists in all parts of the world. Crime, for example, is on the increase essentially everywhere—even in Israel. There are a few exceptions to this general rule, but the overall picture shows an increase in the rate of crime which is appalling.
There are, of course, different types of crime, of which murder is perhaps the worst. But there is robbery, some styled “armed robbery,” in which there is always the danger of murder; and then there is the more or less petty thievery, as represented in shoplifting and in a myriad other ways, one of which is seen in fraudulent methods of business by which the general public is robbed of money and goods.
The drug habit today is creating another seemingly unsolved problem for the law enforcement agencies of the world. This evil has spread to essentially every element of human society, among both the young and the old. How tragic it is for parents to discover when it is too late that a darling child has become addicted to drugs! Certainly our hearts should go out to the plagued world of mankind in the frustrations which have been produced by the drug habit.
Even in Government
Crime and corruption in conduct have found their way into many of the governments of earth, and here again there does not seem to be much that anyone can do about it. Throughout the many weary years of the Vietnam War reporters were continually calling our attention to the corruption which existed in that government, and how unfit it was to rule a people for which American boys were dying and American dollars being expended to protect them from communism. But nobody in the American government seemed to care about this—at least little or nothing was done about it.
There are perhaps few governments on earth that could not have the finger of scorn pointed at them for one reason or another. One of the corrupting influences in the British Government is in the realm of sex. In America it is the officials of government, whether elected or appointed, who are being found guilty of accepting bribes, and of other mishandling of government funds—not all of them, but probably about the same proportion as participate in general crime outside of government circles. In other words, the criminal element of human society is finding its way into high places, where their corrupt practices are being carried on even “at the top.”
The uncovering of what is known as “the Watergate scandal” has been a shocking thing to the American public, and, in fact, to the whole world. And the unveiling continues. All of this crime and corruption in high circles is helping to break down confidence in government, but the people are left with no solution to the problem. There is, in fact, no human solution to the ravages of human sin and debauchery; no solution, that is, except the one foretold in the Bible, which is the establishment of the kingdom of Christ.
The Bible speaks of this kingdom as a “mountain,” and in Isaiah 11:9 we read, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” In our text the Lord says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.”—Isa. 28:16
It was from Zion that God ruled Israel in ancient times, so Zion is here used as a symbol of the new divine government, even the kingdom of Christ. The cornerstone of that symbolic Zion will be Christ, and we are assured that this is a tried or tested stone. Jehovah knows, and we can be assured, that this new world government will enforce his righteous laws to the eternal welfare of all the people; that nothing will be permitted to hurt nor to destroy in all that holy kingdom.
Its regulations will be righteous and exacting; no favoritism will be shown. The rich and the poor alike will be guaranteed the blessings of that government, but will have liberty only to obey its righteous laws. There will be no liberty to deceive, to misrepresent, to overreach and to defraud others. The only liberty which will be granted in that government will be the liberty to do good, to assist, to display the spirit of love toward others, and to encourage all to obey the laws of the new kingdom.
In verse 17 of our text we read, “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.” Here the principle of proper construction is used in which is employed a plumbline, and a plummet. “Judgment will I lay to the line,” the Lord says, “and righteousness to the plummet.” In other words, all the activities of the people in that righteous government, the symbolic Zion, will be brought into line with justice and with righteousness. What an ideal government that will be!
Then the people will learn that God’s plans and laws are best in the end for all concerned, and ultimately they will learn to love righteousness and to hate iniquity. All under that reign of righteousness who do not learn to love the right will be counted unworthy of lasting life and will be cut off from among the people.
With One Consent
Zephaniah 3:9 reads, “Then will I turn to the people a pure language [message], that they all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” The marginal translation suggests “shoulder” instead of “consent.” Earth’s new Ruler will not expect obedience from the people until they are properly enlightened concerning his laws of righteousness, and in this prophecy we are assured that this enlightenment will be provided.
The “pure language” or message will sweep away the ignorance and superstition which have stood between God and the people. They will learn that God did not create a hell of torment in which to torture forever all who, in their ignorance, did not please him. All the blinding misconceptions of God will be shown to be untrue. Satan, the great deceiver of mankind, will be bound, that he might deceive the nations no more.—Rev. 20:1-3
In place of the God-dishonoring and contradictory teachings of the false religious systems of the earth will be the truth concerning God—that he is a God of love and justice and wisdom and power; and that his grand design has provided health and life, through Jesus, for all the willing and obedient during the messianic kingdom reign.
The people’s response to this knowledge will be enthusiastic. They will serve the Lord with one “shoulder”—in other words, they will unitedly support the ways of truth and righteousness which then will be clearly made known to them. They will not serve the Lord because of fear of what he might do to them if they fail to obey; but they will serve him because they have learned to know him and to love him. What a change this will bring about in world society!
The “Book” Opened
Isaiah 29:18 is a prophecy which, in symbolic language, indicates the enlightenment of the people “in that day.” We quote: “In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity.” This “Book” contains a knowledge of God and of his will. This Book is mentioned earlier in the chapter. Verses 9 and 10 describe a deplorable condition in which the people, through the unfaithfulness of their teachers and rulers, are dwelling in symbolic darkness. Verses 11 and 12 read, “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.”
Then the Lord’s prophet speaks of those who draw near to the Lord with their mouth and honor him with their lips but have removed their hearts far from him; and adds that their fear toward the Lord is taught by the precepts of men. (vs. 13) The Lord adds that “the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”—vs. 14
The next verse suggests a measure of willfulness on the part of teachers and rulers. It reads, “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?” Throughout the centuries deceit and hypocrisy have been practiced by many in high places. The struggle for power by the various factions has nearly always been carried on behind closed doors, with the proceedings “dignified” by the expression, “secret diplomacy.”
But this characteristic of Satan’s world must come to an end. When in the preceding chapter Isaiah informs us of the coming “Zion” kingdom of the Lord, and of the judgment and righteousness which it will establish throughout the earth, he adds that “the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.” (Isa. 28:17) The symbolic hail will be the strong truths which will reach the people, when “in that day … the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.”—29:18
Continuing, Isaiah writes: “The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.”—Isa. 29:19-21
The “terrible one” referred to in this prophecy might well be the great Adversary, who, in addition to being a great deceiver has been, through his cohorts, an oppressor of the people. As we have noted, Satan will be bound. All of his activities which have been against God and against man shall then be brought to nought. That is the main reason “the meek … shall [then] increase their joy in the Lord.”
In Their Hearts
In Jeremiah 31:31-34 the Lord gives another promise which will be fulfilled during the Millennium. It reveals the thoroughness with which the righteous laws of God will eventually control the people at that time. First the Lord speaks of the covenant that the Israelites entered into with him under Moses, and then promises a “new covenant,” “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake … But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel [other scriptures reveal that all nations will have an opportunity to enter into this covenant]; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
“I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” Here is an important point in this promise. Man was created in the image of God, and the law of his Creator was then in his heart. Job 38:36 describes the work of the Creator in the hearts of his perfect creatures: “Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?” Through the fall into sin and death man has lost much of the understanding which was his as a human created in the image of God.
But the Millennium will be the age of restoration, described by Peter as “times of restitution of all things.” One of the things to be restored is the divine image; and once again man will possess in its fullness “wisdom in the inward parts, and understand in the heart.” Thus it will be that the obedient believers of that kingdom age will obey the divine laws of righteousness because they want to; because those laws, shall we say, will have become a part of them.
And these blessed opportunities which are to reach mankind during Christ’s kingdom will be available for those who have died as well as for the living generation. God has not overlooked anyone in his glorious plan of salvation, for there shall be a resurrection of the just as well as of the unjust. (Acts 24:14,15) This glorious hope of a better day coming, a time when righteousness will be exalted in the earth, should help us to endure the Injustices of the present, and continue to tell the whole world these glad tidings.