Armies of Cavalry (Revelation 9): Jehovah's Witnesses with Watchtower Publications
*** Yearbook 1984 p.159 Alaska ***
Not only have our brothers placed much literature but the example of true Christianity by Jehovah's
Witnesses has done much to help others come into God's organization. We recall the work of those early
pioneers who placed literature "by the ton," and we appreciate how the symbolic "horses" of
Revelation 9:16-19 have penetrated into every corner of this vast land. In the past ten years
more than two and a half million copies of The Watchtower and Awake! have been distributed here,
and over 14,000 subscriptions were obtained!
[Emphasis Added]
*** Kingdom Ministry May 1982 pp.1-8 Effectively Using the Symbolic "Horses" ***
Effectively Using the Symbolic "Horses"
1 "The heads of the horses were as heads of lions, and out of their mouths fire and smoke and sulphur issued forth . . .
the authority of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with
these they do harm." (Rev. 9:17, 19) Have you seen such horses? Have you worked with them? Yes you have, if you have
helped publicize Jehovah's judgment message against false religion, the most reprehensible part of Satan's visible system.
2 These symbolic horses of Revelation chapter 9 represent the hundreds of millions of printed publications distributed
by Jehovah's Witnesses during these last days under the direction of the anointed remnant. On pages 246 and 247, the
book "Then Is Finished the Mystery of God" states: "The charging of these symbolic 'horses' increased greatly when
the Watch Tower's magazines began to be offered on the streets, from house to house, from store to store."
During this one month of May 1982, more than 35 million of these symbolic horses, copies of The Watchtower and
Awake!, will roll off the Society's presses around the world. Will you help distribute them?
WHAT THE "HORSES" ACCOMPLISH
3 This is the 44th consecutive year that the Society has emphasized the importance of having people subscribe
to The Watchtower. Why? So the horses can do their work! Two great things are accomplished by these unusual 'steeds.'
One is that deadly plagues result from the fire, smoke and sulphur issuing from their mouths. In God's Word, horses
symbolize war; so we must effectively use these provisions in our spiritual warfare. This takes courage, but we can
muster that courage from the "horses" themselves as this is what is represented by their having "heads of lions."
The plague is on Christendom and all enemies of God's Messianic kingdom. Let us all be zealously involved in this
spiritual warfare in May by offering subscriptions to The Watchtower.
4 Secondly, there are those whose heart is in full agreement with what the fearsome "horses" are accomplishing.
The lion also pictures justice, and many sheeplike ones see the justice of the strong judgment messages printed in
The Watchtower. Such ones need to receive it on a regular basis by subscribing. In time, it can also
make them courageous enough to take their stand on the side of "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah,"
Jesus Christ. (Rev. 5:5) The Watchtower has helped you to do so. Is that not so? You are therefore in a
fine position to recommend it to others.
BE SKILLFUL IN WARFARE
5 You can appreciate that it would take skill to ride a spirited war steed such as the "horses" described in
Revelation chapter 9. What does that symbolic language mean to us during this Watchtower subscription campaign?
It means being thoroughly familiar with the contents of the magazines we offer and having given some advance
thought to how best to present them. By so doing we can acquire skill in placing the magazines and obtaining
subscriptions. We can become skillful in reaching the heart and motivating people to investigate the truth.
6 The information appearing in the May 1 and May 15 issues of The Watchtower is striking and designed to
accomplish the two things mentioned above. Information in the series of articles on God's kingdom in the May 1
issue and then some of the powerful information presented at last year's "Kingdom Loyalty" District Conventions
appearing in the May 15 issue is like fire, smoke and sulphur to Satan's system. Those with an honest heart
cannot help but recognize it as the truth. As you read such articles as "The Signs of the Times--What Do They Mean to You?"
"The Critical Hour Nears!" and "How You Must Act!" why not take note of field points that would help you to be effective
in offering the subscription during May?
A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
7 Some have held back from offering subscriptions to The Watchtower and Awake! because of the
increased subscription rate. Should we feel that way? Well, look at it this way, when the subscription
was offered for one dollar per year that represented about one-tenth of the subscription rate of popular
magazines. The present subscription rate of $3.50 per year reflects about the same ratio. But when you
contrast the value of the life-saving message of our journals with the hopeless panorama of world conditions
depicted in others, the subscription rate becomes insignificant.
8 "The authority of the horses is in their mouths," Revelation says. Will you let the courageous,
lion-like mouths of the symbolic horses speak during May by your having an active part in offering
subscriptions and individual magazines? Although magazine placements increased during the past year,
they are still considerably lower than they were a few years ago. As skilled warriors we never want
to say 'retreat.' Rather, let the symbolic horses charge into the fight, confident that the prophetic
words of Revelation 9 will be fulfilled. Let us all effectively use The Watchtower and Awake! during May!
[Emphasis Added]
*** Watchtower 1981 March 1 pp.17-22 Go! Make Disciples ***
Go! Make Disciples
[. . .]
5 Reread the modern history of Jehovah's Witnesses and you will see that one of the principal means
used to spread the Kingdom message far and wide has been by the distribution of magazines, namely,
The Watchtower and its companion magazine Awake! (formerly The Golden Age, then Consolation).
These Bible-based periodicals have been distributed literally by the billions in over 100 languages
and to the four corners of the earth.
"ARMIES OF CAVALRY"
6 In Revelation, chapter 9, the anointed remnant are symbolized by "four angels," or messengers,
released from captivity to Babylon the Great, "at the great river Euphrates." (Verses 14, 15) These
liberated messengers have at their disposal "armies of cavalry" numbering "two myriads of myriads,"
or 200,000,000, used for, symbolically speaking, 'killing' a large fraction of humanity. (Verses 16-19)
The "horses" in this vision picture the means used by the anointed remnant to publicize Jehovah's judgment
messages directed particularly against Christendom, the most reprehensible part of "Babylon the Great"
(the world empire of false religion).
7 Explaining this fascinating vision, the book "Then Is Finished the Mystery of God" states: "The charging
of these symbolic 'horses' increased greatly when the Watch Tower's magazines began to be offered on the streets,
from house to house, from store to store." (Pages 246, 247) So, while these symbolic "horses" include books,
booklets and tracts, undoubtedly the magazines have played, and are still playing, an important part in spreading
the Kingdom witness "to the most distant part of the earth."
[. . .]
12 Where do you stand? Have you been a Kingdom publisher who found inward joy in making known the "good news" and
also Jehovah's judgments by means of the symbolic "horses," particularly the Society's magazines? If you have slowed
down or even stopped altogether, is it because you have lost sight of the spiritual significance of such activities,
namely, helping the anointed remnant to fulfill their commission to "proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah
and the day of vengeance on the part of our God"? (Isa. 61:1, 2, 5) Then it is high time for you to rediscover that joy
by again busying yourself in Jehovah's service.
[. . .]
YOUNG CHRISTIANS, GET THOSE "HORSES" MOVING!
[. . .]
17 Many such young men and women are performing "sacred service" at the Brooklyn headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses
and in the 97 branches located throughout the earth. There, they willingly perform various tasks directly connected with
the preparation and the shipping of the symbolic "horses"--publications containing judgment messages related to the "day
of vengeance on the part of our God" and setting forth also comforting truths about "the year of goodwill on the part of
Jehovah." (Isa. 61:1, 2) All these willing ones not only share in preparing the "horses" for use in the field, but also
take part in the actual field service, making extensive use of such "horses," particularly the magazines.
[. . .]
19 But there are many thousands of other "young men" and "virgins" within the congregations of Jehovah's people.
Are you 'offering yourselves willingly on the day of Christ's military force'? Or are you letting the symbolic "horses"
pile up in your room or lie dormant in your witnessing bag? Get those "horses" moving! Get out into the field during
your afterschool hours, your midweek break (where this arrangement exists), weekends and the various vacation periods
you have throughout the year. The auxiliary pioneer service gives you a wonderful opportunity to 'offer yourselves
willingly' for "sacred service." And the magazine work is a method of Christian witnessing that is especially appropriate
for you young ones. It is within your reach and it can produce fine results.
[. . .]
22 These two fine Christian magazines have been and continue to be important means for witnessing to the ends of the
earth and making "disciples of people of all the nations." (Matt. 28:19, 20) The facts show that there is still much
witnessing to be done. So to your "horses" all you faithful Christian witnesses! Get them and keep them moving out in the
"field," and may Jehovah continue to bless the intensive use of The Watchtower and Awake! in the days ahead.
[Emphasis Added]
*** Revelation -- Its Grand Climax At Hand! (book, 1988) chap.23 pp.148-154 The Second Woe--Armies of Cavalry ***
[Pictures on page 153]
The innumerable cavalry has distributed countless millions of Bible-based publications
The Second Woe--Armies of Cavalry
6 "And the number of the armies of cavalry was two myriads of myriads: I heard the number of them. And this is
how I saw the horses in the vision, and those seated on them: they had fire-red and hyacinth-blue and sulphur-yellow
breastplates; and the heads of the horses were as heads of lions, and out of their mouths fire and smoke and sulphur
issued forth. By these three plagues a third of the men were killed, from the fire and the smoke and the sulphur
which issued forth from their mouths." --Revelation 9:16-18.
7 Apparently, this cavalry thunders forth under the guiding direction of the four angels. What a fearsome spectacle!
Imagine your reaction if you were to be the target of such a cavalry charge! Its very appearance would strike terror
into your heart. Did you notice, though, how similar this cavalry is to the locusts that preceded it? The locusts were
like horses; in the cavalry there are horses. Both, then, are involved in theocratic warfare. (Proverbs 21:31) The
locusts had teeth like lions; the horses of the cavalry have heads like lions. Both are therefore tied in with the
courageous Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, who is their Leader, Commander, and Exemplar. --Revelation 5:5;
Proverbs 28:1.
8 Both the locusts and the cavalry share in Jehovah's work of judgment. The locusts emerged
from smoke that portended woe and destructive fire for Christendom; from the mouths of the horses, there
issue forth fire, smoke, and sulfur. The locusts had breastplates of iron, signifying that their hearts were
protected by unbending devotion to righteousness; the cavalry wear breastplates colored red, blue, and yellow,
reflecting the fire, smoke, and sulfur of the lethal judgment messages that gush from the mouths of the horses.
(Compare Genesis 19:24, 28; Luke 17:29, 30.) The locusts had tails like scorpions for tormenting; the horses have
tails like serpents for killing! It seems that what was started by the locusts is to be pursued by the cavalry with
greater intensity to a completion.
9 So, what does this cavalry symbolize? Just as the anointed John class started the trumpetlike proclamation
of Jehovah's judgment of divine vengeance against Christendom, with authority to 'sting and hurt,' so we would expect
the same living group to be used in the 'killing,' that is, in making known that Christendom and its clergy are completely
dead spiritually, cast off by Jehovah and ready for "the fiery furnace" of everlasting destruction. Indeed, all of Babylon
the Great must perish. (Revelation 9:5, 10; 18:2, 8; Matthew 13:41-43) Preliminary to her destruction, however, the John
class uses "the sword of the spirit, that is, God's word," in exposing Christendom's deathlike condition. The four angels
and the riders of the horses give direction to this figurative killing of "a third of the men." (Ephesians 6:17;
Revelation 9:15, 18) This indicates proper organization and theocratic direction under the oversight of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the awesome band of Kingdom proclaimers charges forth to the battle.
Two Myriads of Myriads
10 How can there be two myriads of myriads of this cavalry? A myriad is literally 10,000. So two myriads of myriads
would come to 200 million. Happily, there are now millions of Kingdom proclaimers, but their number is far short of
hundreds of millions! Remember, though, Moses' words at Numbers 10:36: "Do return, O Jehovah, to the myriads of thousands
of Israel." (Compare Genesis 24:60.) That would mean, literally, 'Do return to the tens of millions of Israel.' Israel,
however, numbered only about two to three million in Moses' day. What, then, was Moses saying? No doubt he had in mind that
the Israelites should be unnumbered as "the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand that are on the seashore," rather
than be counted. (Genesis 22:17; 1 Chronicles 27:23) So he used the word for "myriad" to indicate a large but unspecified number.
Thus, The New English Bible renders this verse: "Rest, LORD of the countless thousands of Israel." This agrees with a second
definition of the word for "myriad" found in Greek and Hebrew dictionaries: "an innumerable multitude," a "multitude."--The New
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament; Gesenius' A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, translated by
Edward Robinson.
11 Nevertheless, those of the John class still remaining on earth number fewer than 10,000--less than one literal myriad.
How could they be likened to countless thousands of cavalry? To become myriads even in a symbolic sense, would they not need
reinforcements? That is what they have needed, and by Jehovah's undeserved kindness, that is what they have received! From where
have these come?
12 From 1918 to 1922, the John class began to hold out to distressed humanity the happy prospect that "millions now living
will never die." In 1923 it was also made known that the sheep of Matthew 25:31-34 would inherit life on earth under God's
Kingdom. A similar hope was held out in the booklet Freedom for the Peoples, released at the international convention in 1927.
In the early 1930's the upright Jehonadab class and the 'men sighing and groaning' over Christendom's sorry spiritual condition
were shown to be identical with the symbolic sheep having earthly life prospects. (Ezekiel 9:4; 2 Kings 10:15, 16) Directing
such ones to the modern-day "cities of refuge," The Watchtower of August 15, 1934, stated: "Those of the Jonadab class
have heard the sound of God's trumpet and have heeded the warning by fleeing to God's organization and associating with God's
people, and there they must abide."--Numbers 35:6.
13 In 1935 those of this Jonadab class were specially invited to attend the convention of Jehovah's Witnesses in
Washington, D.C., U.S.A. There, on Friday, May 31, J. F. Rutherford gave his famous talk "The Great Multitude," in which
he clearly showed that this group of Revelation 7:9 (King James Version) was the same as the sheep of Matthew 25:33--a dedicated
group with earthly hopes. As a harbinger of things to come, at that convention 840 new Witnesses were baptized, most of them
being of the great crowd.
14 Has this great crowd had a part in the cavalry charge that got under way in 1922 and that received particular emphasis
at the Toronto convention in 1927? Under the direction of the four angels, the anointed John class, it certainly has! At the
world-circling "Everlasting Good News" Assembly of 1963, it joined with the John class in a rousing resolution. This declared
that the world "faces an earthquake of world trouble the like of which it has never known, and all its political institutions
and its modern religious Babylon will be shaken to bits." The resolve was expressed that "we will continue to declare to all
peoples without partiality the 'everlasting good news' concerning God's Messianic kingdom and concerning his judgments, which
are like plagues to his enemies but which will be executed for the liberation of all persons who desire to worship God the
Creator acceptably with spirit and with truth." This resolution was adopted enthusiastically at 24 assemblies around the globe
by a grand total of 454,977 conventioners, of whom well over 95 percent were of the great crowd.
15 The great crowd has continued to declare its unqualified unity with the John class in pouring out the plagues on
Christendom. In 1988 this great crowd made up more than 99.7 percent of the work force that Jehovah is using in the field.
Its members are wholeheartedly in accord with the John class, concerning whom Jesus prayed at John 17:20, 21: "I make request,
not concerning these only, but also concerning those putting faith in me through their word; in order that they may all be one,
just as you, Father, are in union with me and I am in union with you, that they also may be in union with us, in order that the
world may believe that you sent me forth." As the anointed John class takes the lead under Jesus, the zealous great crowd shares
with them in the most devastating cavalry charge of all human history!
16 That cavalry needs equipment for the warfare. And how wonderfully Jehovah has provided this! John describes it: "For
the authority of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and
with these they do harm." (Revelation 9:19) Jehovah has ordained his dedicated, baptized ministers for this service. Through
the Theocratic Ministry School and other congregation meetings and schools, he has taught them how to preach the word, so that
they are able to speak authoritatively with "the tongue of the taught ones." He has put his words in their mouths and sent them
forth to make known his judgments "publicly and from house to house." (2 Timothy 4:2; Isaiah 50:4; 61:2; Jeremiah 1:9, 10;
Acts 20:20) The John class and the great crowd have left behind a stinging message, corresponding to "tails," in the thousands
of millions of Bibles, books, brochures, and magazines distributed over the years. To their opponents, who are advised of the
coming "harm" from Jehovah, these armies of cavalry truly seem like two myriads of myriads.--Compare Joel 2:4-6.
17 A most zealous division of this cavalry is made up of brothers in lands where the work of Jehovah's Witnesses is
under ban. Like sheep amidst wolves, these have to be "cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves." In obedience to
Jehovah, they cannot stop speaking about the things they have seen and heard. (Matthew 10:16; Acts 4:19, 20; 5:28, 29, 32)
Since they have little or no printed material to distribute publicly, must we conclude that they have no share in the
cavalry charge? Not at all! They have their mouths and authority from Jehovah to use them to express Bible truth. This
they do, informally and persuasively, establishing studies in the Bible and "bringing the many to righteousness." (Daniel 12:3)
Though they may not sting with their tails in the sense of leaving behind hard-hitting literature, symbolic fire, smoke, and
sulfur issue from their mouths as they witness tactfully and with discretion concerning Jehovah's approaching day of vindication.
18 In other places, the Kingdom literature continues to expose Christendom's Babylonish doctrines and ways, bringing her
deserved harm in a figurative way. By using updated printing methods, this numerous cavalry in the 50 years before 1987 was
able to distribute, in upwards of 200 of earth's languages, Bibles, books, magazines, and brochures to the astronomical
number of 7,821,078,415 copies--many times more than a literal two myriads of myriads. What a sting those tails have inflicted!
19 Jehovah purposed that this plaguing message should "kill a third of the men." Hence, its specific target has been
Christendom. But it has reached lands far beyond Christendom, including many where the hypocrisy of Christendom's religions
is well known. Have the people of these lands drawn closer to Jehovah as a result of seeing the plaguing of this corrupt
religious organization? Many have! There has been a ready response among meek and lovable people who live in areas outside
Christendom's immediate sphere of influence. But as for the people in general, John describes their reaction: "But the rest
of the men who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they should not worship
the demons and the idols of gold and silver and copper and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they
did not repent of their murders nor of their spiritistic practices nor of their fornication nor of their thefts."
(Revelation 9:20, 21) There will be no world conversion of such unrepentant ones. All who persist in their wicked ways will
have to face adverse judgment from Jehovah in the great day of his vindication. But "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah
will get away safe."--Joel 2:32; Psalm 145:20; Acts 2:20, 21.
[Emphasis Added]
|
