34567

APRI L 15, 2012

D
SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION

STUDY ARTICLES

MAY 28–JUNE 3

‘The Son Is Willing to

Reveal the Father’
PAGE 3 ˙ SONGS: 106, 112

JUNE 4 -10

Betrayal—An Ominous
Sign of the Times!
PAGE 9 ˙ SONGS: 63, 32

JUNE 11-17

Maintain a Complete
Heart Toward Jehovah
PAGE 15 ˙ SONGS: 52, 57

JUNE 18-24

Jehovah Knows How to

Deliver His People
PAGE 21 ˙ SONGS: 133, 131

JUNE 25–JULY 1

Jehovah Safeguards Us
for Salvation
PAGE 27 ˙ SONGS: 110, 60
34567 6
PURPOSE OF STUDY ARTICLES

APRIL 15, 2012 STUDY ARTICLE 1 PAGES 3-8

Vol. 133, No. 8 Semimonthly

In what two ways did Jesus reveal the
ENGLISH Father to his disciples and to others?

How can we imitate Jesus and reveal his
THE PURPOSE OF THIS
MAGAZINE, The Watchtower, Father to others? This article will help us
is to honor Jehovah God, the to answer these questions.
Supreme Ruler of the universe.

Just as watchtowers in ancient
times enabled a person to STUDY ARTICLE 2 PAGES 9-14
observe developments from Disloyalty is common in the world today,
afar, so this magazine shows us
the significance of world events but it must not be allowed to affect the
in the light of Bible prophecies. peace and unity of Christian families and COVER: A sister
It comforts people with the the congregation. In this article, we will using a brochure in
good news that God’s Kingdom,
which is a real government in
learn that we can remain loyal to God the Inuktitut language
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promotes faith in Jesus Christ, STUDY ARTICLE 3 PAGES 15-20
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continuously since 1879 and is
serving Jehovah with a complete heart?
nonpolitical. It adheres to the
Bible as its authority. You will find the answers in this article.


This publication is not for sale. It is
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donations. Unless otherwise indicated, During the “great tribulation,” there will be
Scripture quotations are from the modern-
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a final attack on God’s people. (Matthew
Holy Scriptures—With References. 24:21) Why can we trust that Jehovah will

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“Some Expressions Explained” are
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 ‘The Son Is
Willing to Reveal
the Father’
HO is God? This is a question that is

W
“Who the Father is, no
one knows but the Son, very difficult for many people to answer.
and he to whom the Son For example, most who say that they
is willing to reveal him.” are Christians believe that God is a Trinity, but
—LUKE 10:22.
they say that this teaching is impossible to under-
stand. One author and clergyman wrote that the
teaching of the Trinity cannot be explained be-
cause there are some things that man is unable to
WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER? understand. Others believe in evolution. They say
that there is no God and that all the wonderful
Why could Jesus reveal his things we see in creation happened by accident.
Father in a special way? Charles Darwin did not deny that God exists. He
said that humans do not have the ability to under-
stand completely the subject of God.
2 Whatever they believe, most people have

questions about God. But many stop searching

for God because the answers they find do not sat-

How did Jesus reveal his
isfy them. Satan has “blinded the minds of the
Father to others?
unbelievers.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) So it is not sur-
prising that most people are confused and do not
know the truth about God, the Father and the
Creator of the universe!—Isaiah 45:18.
3 It is very important that people learn the

In what ways can you imitate truth about God. Why? Because only those who
Jesus and reveal the Father to call “on the name of Jehovah” will be saved. (Ro-
others? mans 10:13) For us to call on God’s name means
that we have to know who God is and what kind
1, 2. What question is difficult for many to answer? Why?
3. (a) Who has revealed the Father to us? (b) What questions
will we answer?

3
SOME Reveal the Father: To show
God’s qualities through
EXPRESSIONS teaching and conduct
EXPLAINED
of Person he is. Jesus Christ taught
these important truths to his disci-
ples. He revealed the Father to them.
(Read Luke 10:22.) This article will
give us the answers to the following
questions: Why was Jesus able to re-
veal the Father in a way that no one
else could? How did Jesus do so?
And how can we imitate Jesus by re-
vealing, or telling others about, the Fa-
ther?
JESUS COULD REVEAL
THE FATHER IN A SPECIAL WAY
4
Jesus was the best person to help
others get to know his Father. Why?
Because before all other life was creat-
ed, Jesus was a spirit creature who
lived in heaven. He was “the only-
begotten Son of God.” (John 1:14; 3:
18) Only Jesus was there with his Fa-
ther before all other creation began,
and his Father was able to give him
His complete attention. As they com-
municated with each other over thou-
sands and thousands of years, Je-
sus learned about his Father and his
qualities. As their relationship be-
came stronger, their love and affec-
tion for each other grew deeper. (John
5:20; 14:31) Imagine how much Jesus
learned about his Father’s personali-
ty!—Read Colossians 1:15-17.
4, 5. Why could Jesus reveal his Father in a
special way?
4 SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
Compassion: To feel pity,
sympathy, and understand-
ing for others when they
suffer
5 The Father chose the Son to be
his representative, to speak for him
as “The Word of God.” (Revelation
19:13) So only Jesus was given a spe-
cial assignment to reveal the Father
to others. For this reason, John wrote
that Jesus, “the Word,” is “in the bos-
om position with the Father.” (John 1:
1, 18) John may have been thinking of
a custom that was common at meal-
times. One guest would be placed
close to another guest so that they
could easily have a conversation. In a
similar way, the Son was “in the bos-
om position” with his Father and was
able to have deep conversations with
him.
6 The Son “came to be the one
[God] was specially fond of day by
day.” (Read Proverbs 8:22, 23, 30, 31.)
The relationship between Father and
Son continued to grow stronger. They
worked together, and Jesus learned to
imitate his Father’s qualities. As oth-
er intelligent creatures were created,
the Son saw how Jehovah treated each
one of them, and his love and respect
for his Father grew deeper.
7 Even when Satan rebelled against
Jehovah’s right to rule, the Son was
able to learn how Jehovah would show
love, justice, wisdom, and power in a
complicated situation. This helped Je-
6, 7. How did the relationship between Jeho-
vah and Jesus grow stronger?

sus to be prepared for the difficulties
he would experience in his ministry
on earth.—John 5:19.
8 Because of his close relationship
with Jehovah, Jesus was able to reveal
the Father in more detail than anyone
else ever could. The best way for us
to learn about the Father is to learn
about what his only-begotten Son
taught and did. For example, would
we completely understand what the
word “love” means if we only read
an explanation in a dictionary? It
would be difficult. But when we think
about the stories in the Bible that de-
scribe Jesus’ ministry, we see the way
he cared for others and we can un-
derstand what it means that “God is
8. Why do the powerful stories about Jesus
help us to learn about the Father’s qualities?
APRIL 15, 2012
love.” (1 John 4:8, 16) Love was not
the only quality that Jesus revealed to
his disciples. He revealed God’s oth-
er qualities to them while he was on
earth.
HOW JESUS
REVEALED HIS FATHER
9How did Jesus reveal the Father
to his disciples and to those who lat-
er became his disciples? He did this
in two ways: through his teachings
and through his conduct. First we will
learn about Jesus’ teachings. What Je-
sus taught his followers teaches us
about his Father’s ways, thinking,
and feelings. For example, Jesus com-
pared his Father to a man who owns a
flock of sheep. One of them goes miss-
ing. Because he cares for each one, he
leaves the flock to go and find the one
lost sheep. Jesus said that when the
man finds the lost sheep, “he rejoices
more over it than over the ninety-nine
that have not strayed.” Why did Jesus
use this illustration? He explained: “It
Your heavenly Father
is interested in you
and cares for you
is not a desirable thing with my Fa-
ther who is in heaven for one of these
little ones to perish.” (Matthew 18:12-
14) What can you learn about Jeho-
vah from this illustration? Sometimes
you may feel that you are worthless
9. (a) In what two ways did Jesus reveal his Fa-
ther to his disciples? (b) Give an example that
Jesus used to reveal his Father.
5
 and are forgotten. But remember, your
heavenly Father is interested in you
and cares for you. He thinks of you as
one of “these little ones.”
10 The second way in which Jesus
revealed the Father to his disciples
was by his conduct. So when the apos-
tle Philip asked Jesus: “Show us the
Father,” Jesus could say: “He that has
seen me has seen the Father also.”
(John 14:8, 9) Here are some exam-
ples of how Jesus showed his Father’s
qualities. When a leper begged Jesus
to cure him, Jesus touched the man
who was “full of leprosy” and told
him: “I want to. Be made clean.” Af-
ter he was cured, the leper knew that
it was Jehovah who gave Jesus the
power to cure him. (Luke 5:12, 13)
Jesus revealed the
Father through his
teachings and through
his conduct
Also, when Lazarus died, the disci-
ples must have felt the Father’s com-
passion when Jesus “groaned in the
spirit and became troubled” and “gave
way to tears.” Although Jesus knew
that he was going to resurrect Laza-
rus, he felt the same emotional pain
that Lazarus’ family and friends felt.
(John 11:32-35, 40-43) You may have
your own favorite Bible stories about
Jesus that help you to see the mercy
the Father shows.
10. How did Jesus reveal his Father through his
own conduct?
6 SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
11 When you read the story of how
Jesus cleansed the temple, what do
you learn? Imagine what happened:
Jesus makes a whip of ropes and
forces the people who are selling cat-
tle and sheep out of the temple. Then
he goes to the people who are chang-
ing money, scatters the coins, and
turns their tables over. (John 2:13-17)
That strong action made the disciples
remember the prophecy that King Da-
vid wrote: “Sheer zeal for your house
has eaten me up.” (Psalm 69:9) What
Jesus did showed that he really want-
ed to defend true worship. Do you see
Jehovah’s personality in Jesus when
you read this story? It reminds us that
not only does God have all the pow-
er needed to remove wickedness from
the earth but he really wants to re-
move it. Imagine how Jehovah must
feel as he sees the wickedness all over
the earth! The way that Jehovah and
Jesus feel about the situation gives us
great comfort when we suffer injus-
tice.
12 Another example of how Jesus
revealed his Father is the way he treat-
ed his disciples. They kept arguing
about who was the greatest. (Mark 9:
33-35; 10:43; Luke 9:46) Because Je-
sus had spent so much time with
his Father, he knew how Jehovah feels
about pride. (2 Samuel 22:28; Psalm
138:6) Jesus had also seen Satan the
Devil’s proud attitude. Satan is a self-
ish creature who cares only about his
own importance. So Jesus must have
11. (a) When Jesus cleansed the temple, what
did he reveal about his Father? (b) Why does
this comfort us?
12, 13. What can you learn about Jehovah
from the way Jesus treated his disciples?
been very sad to see the disciples he
had taught continue to show a proud
attitude. They were interested in their
own importance! He could even see
this attitude among the ones he had
chosen as apostles! They showed this
proud attitude until the very last day
of Jesus’ life on earth. (Luke 22:24-27)
But Jesus continued to correct them
with kindness. He never lost hope
that one day they would learn to imi-
tate the same humble attitude he had.
—Philippians 2:5-8.
13 Can you see Jehovah’s person-
ality from the way Jesus imitated his
Father and patiently corrected the
wrong attitude of his disciples? Do
you learn about the Father from what
Jesus said and did? His Father does
not abandon His people even though
they often make mistakes. The knowl-
edge of God’s qualities encourages us
to repent and pray for Jehovah’s for-
giveness when we make mistakes.
THE SON WANTED TO
REVEAL HIS FATHER
14Many rulers try to keep people
under their control by keeping them in
ignorance, not giving them the knowl-
edge they need. Jesus was not like
that. Jesus wanted to help others to
learn about his Father, so he revealed
everything they needed to know about
Jehovah. (Read Matthew 11:27.) Je-
sus also gave his disciples “intellectu-
al capacity that [they might] gain the
knowledge of the true one,” Jehovah
God. (1 John 5:20) What does that
mean? Jesus helped his followers to
understand what he taught about the
14. How did Jesus show that he wanted to re-
veal his Father to others?
APRIL 15, 2012
Father. He did not hide his Father in
the teaching of the Trinity, a strange
teaching that no one could under-
stand.
15 Did Jesus reveal everything that
he knew about his Father? No, he
Jesus did not hide his
Father in a strange
teaching that no one
could understand
showed wisdom when he did not tell
his disciples everything. (Read John
16:12.) Why? Because his disciples
were “not able to bear” all the knowl-
edge at that time. But Jesus explained
that much more knowledge would be
revealed to them when “the helper” ar-
rived. This helper was the holy spir-
it, which would guide them “into all
the truth.” (John 16:7, 13) Wise par-
ents may not tell their children every-
thing until the children are old enough
to understand. So like a wise parent,
Jesus waited until his disciples were
ready to understand more about the
Father. Jesus was kind, and he remem-
bered that his disciples had limited
abilities.
IMITATE JESUS AND HELP
OTHERS TO KNOW JEHOVAH
16 When you get to know some-
one well and find that he has a lov-
ing personality, would you not want to
15. Why did Jesus not tell his disciples every-
thing that he knew about his Father?
16, 17. Why are you able to reveal the Father to
others?
7
tell others about him? When he was
on earth, Jesus talked about his Father.
(John 17:25, 26) Is it possible for us to
do the same and reveal Jehovah to oth-
ers?
17 As we have learned, Jesus had
much greater knowledge about his
Father than anyone else had. But he
wanted to teach some of the things
he knew, and he even gave his fol-
lowers the ability to understand deep-
er things about his Father’s qualities.
How can you imitate Jesus and reveal the
Father to others?
8 SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
Jesus has helped us to know our Fa-
ther in a way that most people to-
day do not. We are so grateful that Je-
sus wanted to reveal his Father to us
through his teachings and conduct!
We feel honored to know Jehovah.
(Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:31) We
have worked hard to have a close rela-
tionship with Jehovah, and he is now
closer to us. (James 4:8) So we are able
to teach others what we know about
Jehovah. How can we do that?
18 When we imitate Jesus by what
we say and do, we reveal the Father to
others. Remember that many we meet
in our ministry do not know who God
is. They may have wrong ideas about
God because they have been taught
false teachings. We can teach them
from the Bible what God’s name is,
what his purpose for humans is, and
what his personality is like. Also,
some Bible stories help us to see God’s
qualities in a new way that we did not
understand before. We can talk to oth-
ers in the congregation about what we
have learned, so that they too can be
encouraged.
19 We should imitate Jesus and re-
veal the Father through our conduct.
When people see the love of Christ in
the way we act, they may also want to
have a relationship with Jesus and his
Father. (Ephesians 5:1, 2) The apostle
Paul told us: “Become imitators of me,
even as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians
11:1) We feel honored that by our con-
duct we can help people to see what
Jehovah is like! Let us all continue to
imitate Jesus by revealing the Father to
others.
18, 19. In what ways can you reveal the Father
to others? Explain.
 Betrayal
An Ominous
Sign of the
Times!
HAT do Delilah, Absalom, and Judas Is-

W
“How loyal and righteous
and unblamable we cariot have in common? They were all
proved to be.” disloyal. Delilah was disloyal to the man
—1 THESSALONIANS 2:10.
who loved her, Judge Samson. Absalom was dis-
loyal to his father, King David. And Judas was
disloyal to his Master, Christ Jesus. The horri-
ble actions of each of these people caused much
FIND THESE IMPORTANT harm and distress to others! Why should this in-
POINTS: terest us?

2 One writer lists betrayal as one of today’s

What lessons can we learn most common human weaknesses. That should
from how Delilah, Absalom, not surprise us. When Jesus prophesied about
and Judas Iscariot betrayed the sign of “the conclusion of the system of
others? things,” he said: “Many . . . will betray one anoth-
er.” (Matthew 24:3, 10) “To betray” means to give
someone into the hands of an enemy by being
disloyal. The disloyalty we see today shows that
we are living in “the last days,” just as Paul proph-
How can we imitate the esied. He said that people would be “disloyal, . . .
loyalty that Jonathan and betrayers.” (2 Timothy 3:1, 2, 4) Writers of books
Peter showed? and films often make disloyal acts appear exciting
or romantic. But the books and films do not tell
us the truth. In real life, disloyalty and betrayal
cause pain and suffering. Such acts are a sign that
we are now living in the last days!
How can we stay loyal to our 3 What lessons can we learn from the Bible

marriage mate and to Jehovah? about those who were disloyal in the past? What
examples of people who proved their loyalty to
1-3. (a) What is a sign that we are living in the last days?
What does it include? (b) What three questions will we an-
swer?

9
SOME EXPRESSIONS EXPLAINED
Betrayal: To be disloyal Adultery: A married
and unfaithful to someone person has sex with some-
who loves and trusts you one he or she is not
married to
others can we imitate? To whom must
we be determined to remain loyal? Let
us find the answers.
WARNING EXAMPLES
FROM THE PAST
4 The first example is deceitful De-
lilah, with whom Judge Samson had
fallen in love. Samson wanted to lead
the fight against the Philistines for
God’s people. The five Philistine lords
may have known that Delilah had no
loyal love for Samson. They offered her
In real life, disloyalty
and betrayal cause
pain and suffering
a lot of money to find out the secret
of his unusual strength so that they
could kill him. Greedy Delilah accept-
ed their offer. But her efforts to find
out Samson’s secret failed three times.
She kept on trying “with her words all
the time and kept urging him.” Final-
ly, “his soul got to be impatient to the
point of dying.” So he told her that
4. How did Delilah betray Samson? Why was
that so evil?
10
Disfellowshipped: To be
removed from the con-
gregation and no longer
be one of Jehovah’s Wit-
nesses
his hair had never been cut and that
if it was cut, he would lose his pow-
er.1 (See footnote.) Now that she knew
his secret, Delilah had someone shave
Samson’s hair off while he was sleep-
ing on her lap. Then she gave him to
his enemies and let them do what-
ever they wanted with him. (Judges
16:4, 5, 15-21) What she did was evil!
Because she was greedy, Delilah be-
trayed someone who loved her.
5 The next example is disloyal Ab-
salom. He had a fire in his heart, a
burning desire for power and authori-
ty. Absalom wanted to take the throne
from his father, David, and be king
himself. The first thing Absalom did
was to keep “stealing the hearts of the
men of Israel.” He pretended to love
the people, and he made them false
promises. He showed affection for
them by hugging and kissing them,
pretending to be interested in them
and their needs. (2 Samuel 15:2-6) Ab-
salom was even able to get David’s
trusted friend Ahithophel to betray
1 Samson’s strength came from his special rela-
tionship with Jehovah as a Nazirite; it was not from
his hair. His hair was a symbol of this relationship.
5. (a) How was Absalom disloyal to David?
What did this show about Absalom? (b) How
did David feel about Ahithophel’s betrayal?
SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
David and join the rebellion. (2 Sam-
uel 15:31) In Psalms 3 and 55, Da-
vid wrote about how such disloyal-
ty hurt him. (Psalm 3:1-8; read Psalm
55:12-14.) Absalom’s evil plan was
against Jehovah’s appointed king.
This betrayal showed that he ignored
God’s right to choose who would
be king. (1 Chronicles 28:5) Absa-
lom’s rebellion failed, and David con-
tinued to rule as Jehovah’s anointed
king.
6 Now think about what the trai-
tor Judas Iscariot did to the Christ.
At the last Passover that Jesus cele-
brated with his 12 apostles, he told
them: “Truly I say to you, One of you
will betray me.” (Matthew 26:21) Lat-
er that night, Jesus announced to Pe-
ter, James, and John in the garden of
Gethsemane: “Look! My betrayer has
drawn near.” At that very moment, Ju-
das came to the garden with a crowd,
“and going straight up to Jesus he
said: ‘Good day, Rabbi!’ and kissed
him very tenderly.” (Matthew 26:46-
50; Luke 22:47, 52) Judas “betrayed
righteous blood” when he gave Jesus
into the hands of those who wanted
to kill him. And for how much mon-
ey did greedy Judas betray Jesus? For
only 30 pieces of silver! (Matthew 27:
3-5) Ever since then, people use the
name Judas to describe someone as
a traitor, especially someone who be-
trays his friend.1—See footnote.
7 What have we learned from these
1 The words “Judas kiss” mean an act of betrayal.
6. How did Judas betray Jesus? How is the
name Judas used today?
7. What lessons have we learned from the lives
of (a) Absalom and Judas and (b) Delilah?
APRIL 15, 2012
warning examples? Absalom and Ju-
das both died in shame because they
became traitors against the anoint-
ed of Jehovah. (2 Samuel 18:9, 14-17;
Acts 1:18-20) Whenever people hear
Delilah’s name, they think of how she
was disloyal and pretended to love
someone. (Psalm 119:158) It is im-
portant that we reject greed or any
wrong desire toward seeking authori-
ty, which would cause us to lose Jeho-
vah’s friendship! These are powerful
lessons to help us reject anything that
could make us disloyal.
IMITATE THOSE
WHO WERE LOYAL
8 The Bible also has many examples
of people who were loyal. We will dis-
cuss what we can learn from two of
them. We will start with a man who
showed his loyalty to David. Jonathan,
King Saul’s eldest son, would prob-
ably have been the next king of Israel.
But Jehovah chose David instead. Jon-
athan respected God’s decision and
was not jealous of David. Jonathan’s
“soul became bound up with the soul
of David,” and Jonathan promised to
be loyal to him. He even showed Da-
vid royal honor when he gave him his
clothes, sword, bow, and belt. (1 Sam-
uel 18:1-4) Jonathan did all he could to
support David. He even put his own
life in danger when he protected Da-
vid from Saul. Jonathan was loyal and
told David: “You yourself will be king
over Israel, and I myself shall become
second to you.” (1 Samuel 20:30-34;
23:16, 17) It is not surprising that after
8, 9. (a) Why did Jonathan promise to be loy-
al to David? (b) How can we imitate Jonathan?
11

Even though others rejected Jesus,
Peter was loyal to Jesus as God’s anointed Son
Jonathan’s death, David expressed his
sadness and his love for him in a song.
—2 Samuel 1:17, 26.
9 Jonathan knew whom he should
be loyal to. He was completely loyal to
the Sovereign, Jehovah, and he sup-
ported David as the anointed of God.
It is similar for us today. Even if we
have not been given a special respon-
sibility in the congregation, we should
be willing to support the brothers who
have been appointed to take the lead
among us.—1 Thessalonians 5:12, 13;
Hebrews 13:17, 24.
10 The other good example we can
learn from is the apostle Peter, who
promised to be loyal to Jesus. Christ
used an illustration to help his dis-
ciples understand how important it
would be for them to have faith in his
body and blood that would soon be
10, 11. (a) Why did Peter stay with Jesus and
remain loyal? (b) How can we imitate Peter?
What should that encourage us to do?
12
sacrificed. The illustration was not lit-
eral, but many of his disciples found
it shocking, and they left him. (John
6:53-60, 66) So Jesus asked his 12
apostles: “You do not want to go also,
do you?” It was Peter who answered:
“Lord, whom shall we go away to? You
have sayings of everlasting life; and
we have believed and come to know
that you are the Holy One of God.”
(John 6:67-69) Did this mean that Pe-
ter completely understood everything
Jesus had just said about the sacri-
fice that Jesus himself would make?
Probably not. But Peter made a deci-
sion to be loyal to God’s anointed Son,
Jesus.
11 Peter did not think that Jesus
must have had the wrong idea and
that Jesus would later realize this and
change what He had said. Peter was
humble, and he knew that Jesus had
“sayings of everlasting life.” It is sim-
ilar for us today. How do we react
when we read something in our Chris-
tian publications from “the faithful
steward” that is hard to understand or
that is different from the way we think
personally? We should try hard to un-
derstand it. We should not just wait
and expect a change that agrees with
our personal thinking.—Read Luke
12:42.
STAY LOYAL TO YOUR
MARRIAGE MATE
12 To betray someone in any way
is a wicked act. Betrayal must not
be allowed to affect the peace and
12, 13. Why might a person betray his mar-
riage mate? Why is a person’s age not an excuse
for that to happen?
SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION

unity of Christian families and the
congregation. Let us learn how we can
strengthen our loyalty to our marriage
mate and to our God.
13 Adultery is one of the most hurt-
ful kinds of betrayal. A person who
has been unfaithful to his marriage
mate has broken his loyalty and has
given his attention and affection to an-
other person. The mate who has been
betrayed is suddenly alone. His or her
life has completely changed, as if it
has been turned upside down. How
does that happen to two people who
once loved each other? Often it be-
gins when marriage mates lose inter-
est in each other’s feelings. Professor
of Sociology Gabriella Turnaturi ex-
plains that a betrayal could happen
because a couple stop doing every-
thing they can to strengthen their rela-
tionship. This can even happen to old-
er couples who have been married for
a long time. For example, a 50-year-
old man who had been married for
APRIL 15, 2012
25 years divorced his faithful wife so
that he could be with another woman
to whom he was attracted. Some say
that this is normal conduct for some-
one his age. But age does not excuse
this kind of conduct. To be unfaithful
to a mate is not normal. It is betrayal.1
—See footnote.
14 How does Jehovah feel about
those who leave their mates without a
Scriptural reason? Our God hates di-
vorce, and he has used strong words
against those who treat their mar-
riage mates badly and abandon them.
(Read Malachi 2:13-16.) Jesus feels
the same way as his Father about
disloyalty in a marriage. He taught
that a person cannot reject or aban-
don his mate and act as if nothing
has happened.—Read Matthew 19:
3-6, 9.
15 How can those who are married
strengthen their loyalty to their mar-
riage mates? God’s Word says: “Re-
joice with the wife [or husband] of
your youth” and, “See life with the
wife [or husband] whom you love.”
(Proverbs 5:18; Ecclesiastes 9:9) As
both mates grow older, they must do
everything they can to keep their re-
lationship strong, both physically and
emotionally. What does this mean? A
couple need to stay close to each other
1 For more information about when a marriage
mate is disloyal, see the article “Coping With a
Spouse’s Betrayal,” in the June 15, 2010, issue of The
Watchtower, pages 29-32.
14. (a) How does Jehovah feel about those
who are disloyal to their marriage mates?
(b) What did Jesus say about disloyalty in a
marriage?
15. How can those who are married strengthen
their loyalty to their mates?
13
by being kind, taking care of each oth-
er’s needs, and spending time with
each other. They have to work hard to
protect their marriage and their rela-
tionship with Jehovah. To do this, cou-
ples need to study the Bible together,
regularly work in the ministry togeth-
er, and pray together for Jehovah’s
blessing.
STAY LOYAL TO JEHOVAH
16 There are those in the congrega-
tion who committed serious sins and
were disciplined “with severity, that
they may be healthy in the faith.” (Ti-
tus 1:13) Because of their conduct,
some had to be disfellowshipped. For
“those who have been trained by it,”
the discipline has helped them to re-
pair their relationship with God.
In the congregation,
there are many
examples of people
who are loyal
(Hebrews 12:11) What if we have a rel-
ative or a close friend who is disfel-
lowshipped? What we do in this situ-
ation is a test of whether we are loyal
to that person or to God. Our loyal-
ty should be to Jehovah. He is watch-
ing us to see whether we follow his
command not to have association
16, 17. (a) How might our loyalty to God be
tested in the family and in the congregation?
(b) What example shows that good results can
come when we obey God’s command not to as-
sociate with disfellowshipped relatives?
14
with anyone who is disfellowshipped.
—Read 1 Corinthians 5:11-13.
17 One example shows us the good
results that can come when a fami-
ly remains loyal to Jehovah by follow-
ing his command not to associate with
disfellowshipped relatives. A young
man had been disfellowshipped for
over ten years. During that time, his
father, mother, and four brothers
“quit mixing in company” with him.
Sometimes he would try to spend
time with them, but each member of
the family stayed loyal. They did not
have any contact with him. After he
was reinstated, or accepted back into
the congregation, he said that he al-
ways missed being with his family, es-
pecially at night when he was alone.
He said that if his family had spent
even a little time with him, it would
have satisfied his need to be with
them. But they did not communicate
with him in any way. So the strong de-
sire to be with them was one reason
why he wanted to repair his relation-
ship with Jehovah. Remember this ex-
ample if ever you are tempted to break
God’s command not to associate with
your disfellowshipped relatives.
18 We live in a world where peo-
ple are disloyal and betray one anoth-
er. But in the congregation, we have
many examples of people who are
loyal and whom we can imitate. The
way they live shows “how loyal and
righteous and unblamable” they are.
(1 Thessalonians 2:10) Let us do every-
thing we can to stay loyal to God and
to one another.
18. Now that we have learned about the exam-
ples of loyalty and disloyalty, what will you do?
SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
 Maintain a
Complete Heart
Toward Jehovah
HE Bible often mentions parts of the body

T
“My son, know the God of
your father and serve him in a figurative way, that is, to describe some-
with a complete heart.” thing else. For example, Job stated: “There
—1 CHRONICLES 28:9.
is no violence upon my palms.” King Solomon
said: “A report that is good makes the bones fat.”
Jehovah told Ezekiel: “Harder than flint, I have
made your forehead.” And some told Paul: “You
LOOK FOR THE ANSWERS are introducing some things that are strange to
TO THESE QUESTIONS: our ears.”—Job 16:17; Proverbs 15:30; Ezekiel 3:9;
Acts 17:20.
What is the figurative heart? 2 One part of the body is mentioned figurative-

ly in the Bible more than any other. It is the heart.

Faithful Hannah mentioned it in a prayer. She
said: “My heart does exult in Jehovah.” (1 Sam-
uel 2:1) Bible writers mention the heart almost

a thousand times, mostly in a figurative way. It
What is one way we can examine is very important that we understand the mean-
our heart? ing of the figurative heart because the Bible tells
us that we need to protect it.—Read Proverbs
4:23.
THE FIGURATIVE HEART—WHAT IS IT?
3 Even though the Bible does not give us a def-

inition of the figurative heart, we are still able to
How can we serve Jehovah with know what it is. How? As an example, think of a
a complete heart?
very beautiful picture that is made of a thousand
1, 2. (a) What part of the body is mentioned figuratively in
the Bible more than any other? (b) Why is it important that
we understand the meaning of the figurative heart?
3. How are we able to know the meaning of the figurative
heart in the Bible? Give an example.

15
SOME EXPRESSIONS EXPLAINED
Figurative heart: It usu-
ally refers to the entire
person we are inside.
It includes our desires,
thoughts, personality, at-
titudes, abilities, motiva-
tions, and goals
To serve Jehovah with a To pray earnestly: To pray
complete heart: To serve intensely from the heart,
Jehovah with the entire supplicating, or begging,
person we are inside. This Jehovah for help
means that we show love
and zeal in our service to
Jehovah and that we do
not allow anything to dis-
tract us from serving him

small stones closely set together. To arately because he wanted to empha-

see what pattern is formed by all the
stones, we have to step back and look
at the whole picture. In the same way,
we need to look at the many places
where the word “heart” is used in the
Bible so that we can understand what
it means. So, what is the figurative
heart?
4 Bible writers use the word “heart”
to describe the entire person we
are inside. It includes our desires,
thoughts, personality, attitudes, abil-
ities, motivations, and goals. (Read
Deuteronomy 15:7; Proverbs 16:9;
Acts 2:26.) But there are times when
the word “heart” does not mean all
these things. For example, Jesus
said: “You must love Jehovah your
God with your whole heart and with
your whole soul and with your whole
mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Here, the
word “heart” refers to a person’s true
emotions, desires, and feelings. Jesus
mentioned heart, soul, and mind sep-
4. (a) What does the word “heart” mean in the
Bible? (b) What is the meaning of Matthew
22:37?
size that we must show our love for
God in our feelings as well as by the
way we live our life and use our mind.
(John 17:3; Ephesians 6:6) But when
the word “heart” is mentioned by it-
self, it means the entire person we are
inside.
WHY WE NEED TO
PROTECT OUR HEART
5 King David reminded Solomon:
“My son, know the God of your fa-
ther and serve him with a complete
heart and with a delightful soul; for
all hearts Jehovah is searching, and
every inclination of the thoughts he
is discerning.” (1 Chronicles 28:9) Je-
hovah examines all hearts, including
ours. (Proverbs 17:3; 21:2) We can be
friends with Jehovah and have a hap-
py future only if Jehovah likes what he
finds in our heart. So we want to fol-
low David’s advice by doing our best
to serve Jehovah “with a complete
heart,” that is, with all our heart.
5. Why do we want to do our best to serve Je-
hovah with a complete heart?

16 SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION

 6 We are already showing by the
zealous work we do as Jehovah’s Wit-
nesses that we want to serve God with
a complete heart. But we realize that
Satan’s wicked world and our sinful
tendencies can have a powerful influ-
ence on us and can weaken our deter-
mination to serve Jehovah with all our
heart. (Jeremiah 17:9; Ephesians 2:2)
To make sure that this does not hap-
pen, we must regularly examine our
heart. How can we do that?
7 No human can see what we are in-
side, just as no one can see the cen-
ter, or heart, of a tree. Still, as Jesus
said in the Sermon on the Mount, just
as the fruit of a tree shows whether
the tree is healthy inside or not, so our
actions show what our heart is really
like. (Matthew 7:17-20) Let us consid-
er one of these actions.
ONE WAY WE CAN
EXAMINE OUR HEART
8 In the Sermon on the Mount, Je-
sus also told his listeners what they
should do to show their desire to serve
Jehovah with a complete heart. He
said: “Keep on, then, seeking first the
kingdom and his righteousness, and
all these other things will be added to
you.” (Matthew 6:33) We show what
we are desiring, thinking, and plan-
ning in our heart by what we put first
in our life. So one way to know if
we are serving God with a complete
heart is to think carefully about what
is most important in our life.
6. What should we realize about our determi-
nation to serve Jehovah?
7. What shows what our heart is really like?
8. According to Matthew 6:33, how do we
show what is in our heart?
APRIL 15, 2012
9 Let us consider a situation that
happened soon after Jesus told his fol-
lowers to keep seeking first the King-
dom. This situation shows that it is
possible to know what a person feels
in his heart by what he puts first in his
life. Luke tells us that Jesus firmly de-
cided to go to Jerusalem even though
he knew what he would suffer there
later. While he and his apostles were
on the road to Jerusalem, Jesus met
some men and invited them to be his
followers. Those men were willing to
accept his invitation, but they wanted
to do some other things first. One man
replied: “Permit me first to leave and
bury my father.” Another said: “I will
follow you, Lord; but first permit me
to say good-bye to those in my house-
hold.” (Luke 9:51, 57-61) We can cer-
tainly see a great difference between
Jesus’ firm decision to do God’s will
and the weak reaction of those men
What we put first in
our life shows if we
are serving God with
a complete heart
to Jesus’ invitation. They put their
own desires first, and this showed that
they were not willing to serve God
with a complete heart.
10 Our reaction was different from
9. What did Jesus invite some men to do?
What did their reaction show?
10. (a) How have we reacted to Jesus’ invita-
tion to be his followers? (b) What illustration
did Jesus give?
17
THREE THINGS THAT AFFECT OUR HEART

We can do things to keep our figurative heart healthy just as we can do things to keep our physical
heart healthy. Let us consider three important things that affect our heart:

1 Food: We need to eat

healthy food regularly to
keep our physical heart
healthy. In the same way,
to keep our figurative heart
healthy, we need to get spiri-
tual food regularly through
personal study, meditation,
and meetings.—Psalm 1:1, 2;
Proverbs 15:28; Hebrews 10:
24, 25.
2 Exercise: To be healthy,
our physical heart at times
needs exercise that makes
3 Environment: The world
it beat faster. In the same way,
we need to exercise our figura-
tive heart by participating zeal-
ously in the ministry and by
doing more in the ministry if
we can.—Luke 13:24; Philip-
pians 3:12.
that we live and work in
can be stressful for our
physical heart and our figura-
tive heart. But we have relief
from stress when we are with
our brothers and sisters, who
really care about us and who
serve Jehovah with a complete
heart.—Psalm 119:63; Prov-
erbs 13:20.

that of those men. We have accept-
ed Jesus’ invitation to be his follow-
ers and are now serving Jehovah every
day. In this way, we show how we feel
in our heart about Jehovah. But even
though we are busy serving Jehovah,
we need to remember that our heart
could still be in danger. What is it in
danger of? We learn the answer from
what Jesus said to those he had in-
vited to be his disciples. He warned
them: “No man that has put his hand
to a plow and looks at the things be-
hind is well fitted for the kingdom of
God.” (Luke 9:62) What is the lesson
in this illustration?
DO WE “CLING TO WHAT IS GOOD”?
11 Let us add more details to Jesus’
illustration so that we can better un-
derstand the lesson in it. A worker
is busy plowing a field. But while he
is plowing, he cannot stop thinking
11. In Jesus’ illustration, what happened to the
work of the man plowing a field? Why did this
happen?
about his home. Back home he could
be with his family and friends and en-
joy food, music, laughter, and shade.
He wants these things very much.
After plowing for quite a while, the
worker’s desire for those pleasant
things in life becomes so strong that
he turns around to look at “the things
behind.” Even though there is still
much work to do before the field is
planted, the worker is distracted and
does not do his work well. Of course,
the master is disappointed because
his worker did not endure.
12 Now consider how a similar situ-
ation could happen today. The work-
er could be any Christian who seems
to be doing well but whose heart is
in danger. For example, let us imagine
a brother who attends meetings and
participates in the ministry. But at the
same time, he cannot stop thinking
about some things of this world that
12. How could a Christian today be in the same
situation as the worker in Jesus’ illustration?

18 SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION

he likes. In his heart, he wants them
very much. After the brother serves
God for several years, his desire for
some of the things in this world be-
comes so strong that he turns back
and looks at “the things behind.” Even
though there is still much work to do
in the ministry, he becomes distract-
ed and does not serve God as well as
he did before. (Philippians 2:16) Jeho-
vah, “the Master of the harvest,” is sad
when one of his workers stops endur-
ing.—Luke 10:2.
13 The lesson for us is very clear. To
serve Jehovah with a complete heart
means more than being regular at
our congregation meetings and in the
ministry. (2 Chronicles 25:1, 2, 27) If
in his heart a Christian continues
to love “the things behind,” that is,
things that are part of this world’s way
of life, his friendship with Jehovah
would be in danger. (Luke 17:32) So
to serve God with a complete heart,
we must “abhor what is wicked” and
“cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9;
Luke 9:62) Even if some things in Sa-
tan’s world seem useful or pleasant,
we must make sure that nothing stops
us from serving God with our whole
heart.—2 Corinthians 11:14; read Phi-
lippians 3:13, 14.
STAY ALERT!
14
Our love for Jehovah motivated
us to dedicate our life to him. Since
then, many of us have proved for a
13. What does it mean to serve Jehovah with a
complete heart?
14, 15. (a) How is Satan trying to weaken our
zeal for Jehovah’s service? (b) Illustrate how Sa-
tan tries to deceive us.
APRIL 15, 2012
long time that we are determined to
serve Jehovah with a complete heart.
But Satan is still trying to influence us.
Our heart is still his target. (Ephesians
6:12) Of course, he knows that we will
not stop worshipping Jehovah all of
a sudden. So Satan tries to deceive
us by using “this system of things” to
weaken our zeal little by little. (Read
Mark 4:18, 19.) Why does this trick
work so well?
15 An illustration can help us an-
swer this question. Imagine that you
are reading a book by a very bright
lamp, but then the light bulb burns
out. You immediately know what hap-
pened because the room is now com-
pletely dark. You replace the old bulb
If we are not alert,
Satan may cause
our zeal to weaken
little by little
with a new one, and the room is bright
again. The next evening, you are read-
ing by the same lamp. But what you
do not know is that someone replaced
the new bulb with one that is just a
little weaker. You probably would not
notice the difference. And if the next
day someone put another bulb in the
lamp and this bulb was just a little
weaker than the one before, you prob-
ably would still not notice it. Why
not? Because the lamp’s light is get-
ting weaker so gradually that you do
not realize it. In the same way, the
19
influences of Satan’s world may cause
our zeal for Jehovah’s service to be-
come weaker little by little. If a Chris-
tian is not alert, he will not even no-
tice the gradual change, and Satan
will have succeeded.—Matthew 24:42;
1 Peter 5:8.
WE MUST PRAY
16
How can we protect ourselves
against Satan and continue to serve
Jehovah with a complete heart? (2 Co-
rinthians 2:11) We must pray. After
Paul encouraged Christians to “stand
firm against the machinations of the
Devil,” he told them to pray “on every
occasion” and “with every form of
prayer and supplication.”—Ephesians
6:11, 18; 1 Peter 4:7.
17 To stay faithful, we need to imi-
tate Jesus and his desire to serve Jeho-
vah with a complete heart. Luke wrote
about the way Jesus prayed on the
night before his death: “Getting into
an agony he continued praying more
earnestly.” (Luke 22:44) Jesus prayed
earnestly, or intensely. This was not
the first time that Jesus prayed ear-
nestly, but this time he was about to
endure the most difficult test of his life
on earth. For this reason, he prayed
even “more earnestly,” and his prayer
was answered. Jesus’ example shows
that some prayers can be more intense
than others. So the more difficult our
trials are and the stronger Satan’s in-
fluence becomes, the more earnestly
we should pray for Jehovah’s protec-
tion.
16. How can we protect ourselves against Sa-
tan?
17. What lesson do we learn from Jesus’
prayers?
20
18 What will be the results of our
earnest prayers? Paul said: “In every-
thing by prayer and supplication
along with thanksgiving let your peti-
tions be made known to God; and the
peace of God that excels all thought
will guard your hearts.” (Philippians
4:6, 7) If we want to serve Jehovah
with a complete heart, we must pray
intensely and frequently. (Luke 6:12)
So ask yourself: ‘How intense are my
prayers? How often do I pray?’ (Mat-
thew 7:7; Romans 12:12) Your answers
The stronger Satan’s
influence becomes,
the more earnestly we
should pray for Jehovah’s
protection
show a lot about how strong your de-
sire to serve God is.
1 9 As we have considered, the
things we put first in life can tell us
much about our heart. We want to
make sure that neither the things we
left behind nor the tricks of Satan
weaken our firm decision to serve Je-
hovah with a complete heart. (Read
Luke 21:19, 34-36.) Like David, we
keep on supplicating Jehovah: “Unify
my heart.”—Psalm 86:11.
18. (a) What should we ask ourselves about
our prayers? Why? (b) What are some of the
things that affect our heart? In what ways? (See
box on page 18.)
19. What will you do to continue to serve Jeho-
vah with a complete heart?
SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
 Jehovah Knows
How to Deliver
His People
HE destruction of Satan’s world will begin

T
“Jehovah knows how to
deliver people of godly very suddenly, when people do not expect
devotion out of trial.” it. (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3) During “the great
—2 PETER 2:9. day of Jehovah,” the world will be full of confu-
sion. (Zephaniah 1:14-17) There will be so much
suffering and distress that the Bible describes this
period as a time of “great tribulation such as has
WHY CAN WE TRUST not occurred since the world’s beginning until
THAT JEHOVAH: now.”—Read Matthew 24:21, 22.
2 Ezekiel prophesied about a final attack on
controls when things will God’s people near the end of the great tribula-
happen so that his purpose tion. It is an attack by “Gog of the land of Magog.”
comes true?
“A numerous military force” will come against
God’s people “like clouds to cover the land.” (Eze-
kiel 38:2, 14-16) No human organization will help
Jehovah’s people. They will need to trust in God

for salvation. How will Jehovah’s people react
will be ready to use his power when their enemies come to exterminate them?
to save his people? 3 If you are a servant of Jehovah, do you have

faith that Jehovah can and will save his peo-

ple during the great tribulation? The apostle Pe-
ter wrote: “Jehovah knows how to deliver people
of godly devotion out of trial, but to reserve un-
knows exactly how things will righteous people for the day of judgment to be
happen during the great tribu- cut off.” (2 Peter 2:9) Our confidence in Jehovah’s
lation? ability to save his people will become stronger if
1. What will the world be like during the “great tribulation”?
2, 3. (a) What will Satan try to do to God’s people during
the great tribulation? (b) What can strengthen our confidence
in Jehovah’s ability to save his people?

21
SOME Gog of the land of Magog:
An expression used in the
EXPRESSIONS prophecy we find in Ezekiel
EXPLAINED chapters 38 and 39 to
refer to Satan the Devil from
the time he was cast out of
heaven
The great tribulation:
The period of time that
starts with the destruction
of false religion and is fol-
lowed by the attack on
God’s people and the
destruction of the rest of
this wicked system

we meditate on examples of how Jeho-
vah saved his servants in the past. So
let us consider three of these exam-
ples.
HE SURVIVED THE FLOOD
4 First, consider the account of the
Flood in Noah’s time. Certain things
had to be done before the Flood could
come. A huge ark had to be built, and
the animals had to be safely brought
inside it. The Genesis account does
not say that Jehovah waited un-
til the ark was built before deciding
when the Flood would come. Jeho-
vah did not have to worry that the ark
might not be ready in time. In fact,
God decided when the Flood would
start a long time before he told Noah
to build the ark. How do we know
that?
5 The Bible tells us that Jehovah
made a decision and announced it
in heaven. According to Genesis 6:3,
he said: “My spirit shall not act to-
ward man indefinitely in that he is
4. What had to be done before the Flood could
come?
5. What did Jehovah announce, as written at
Genesis 6:3? When did he make this announce-
ment?
also flesh. Accordingly his days shall
amount to a hundred and twenty
years.” Jehovah was not talking about
how long people live in general. Jeho-
vah was announcing when he would
end all wickedness on the earth.1 (See
footnote.) The Flood began in the year
2370 before Christ. So God must have
made this announcement in the year
2490 before Christ. At that time, Noah
was 480 years old. (Genesis 7:6) About
20 years after God made that an-
nouncement, in the year 2470 before
Christ, the first of Noah’s three sons
was born. (Genesis 5:32) After Noah’s
sons were born, there were about
100 years left before the Flood would
come. But Jehovah had still not told
Noah about the special work He had
for him to do and how it would help to
save mankind. How long would God
wait before he told Noah?
6 It seems that Jehovah waited
many years after Noah’s sons were
born before telling Noah what He was
going to do. Why do we think so? The
1 See The Watchtower, December 15, 2010, pag-
es 30-31.
6. When apparently did Jehovah command
Noah to build the ark?

22 SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION

 Bible says that Noah’s sons were
already grown and married when
God commanded Noah to build the
ark. Jehovah told him: “I do estab-
lish my covenant with you; and you
must go into the ark, you and your
sons and your wife and your sons’
wives with you.” (Genesis 6:9-18) So it
is possible that Noah was told to build
the ark only 40 or 50 years before the
Flood.
7 While Noah and his family built
the ark, they must have wondered
about how God would bring the Flood
and when the Flood would begin. But
even though they did not know any of
these details, they showed their faith
by continuing to build the ark. The Bi-
ble says: “Noah proceeded to do ac-
cording to all that God had command-
ed him. He did just so.” (Genesis 6:
22) Finally, Jehovah told Noah that the
Jehovah always knows
the best time and
the best way to save
his people
Flood would begin in seven days. This
gave Noah and his family just enough
time to gather the animals into the
ark. So when it began to rain “in
the six hundredth year of Noah’s life,
in the second month, on the seven-
teenth day of the month,” everything
was ready.—Genesis 7:1-5, 11.
7. (a) How did Noah and his family show their
faith? (b) When did God finally tell Noah exact-
ly when the Flood would begin?
APRIL 15, 2012
8 The account of the Flood proves
that Jehovah always knows the best
time and the best way to save his peo-
ple. As we get closer to the end of this
system of things, we can be sure that
all of Jehovah’s purposes will come
true at the exact “day and hour” that
he has decided.—Matthew 24:36; read
Habakkuk 2:3.
THEY WERE DELIVERED
AT THE RED SEA
9 We have learned from the account
of the Flood that Jehovah controls
when things will happen so that his
purpose comes true. The second ex-
ample that we will consider shows
that we can trust Jehovah to use his
unlimited power to save his people
and to make sure his will is done.
Of course, Jehovah is always able to
save his people. But sometimes he al-
lows them to be in a dangerous sit-
uation in order to trap his enemies.
This is what happened when Jeho-
vah freed the Israelites from slavery in
Egypt.
10 About three million Israelites left
Egypt. Jehovah had Moses lead them
in a way that made Pharaoh think that
they were lost and confused. (Read
Exodus 14:1-4.) So Pharaoh went after
them with his army and trapped them
at the Red Sea. There seemed to be no
escape for the Israelites. (Exodus 14:5-
10) But the Israelites were not in any
real danger. Why not? Because Jeho-
vah was ready to save them.
8. How does the account of the Flood help us
to be sure that Jehovah will know when to save
his people at the end of this system?
9, 10. How did Jehovah use his people to lead
the Egyptian army into a trap?
23
 11 “The pillar of cloud” that led the
Israelites moved to the back of them
and blocked the Egyptians. The pillar
caused darkness for the Egyptians, but
it gave light to the Israelites even at
Jehovah has the power
to save his people
from any situation
night. (Read Exodus 14:19, 20.) Jeho-
vah then divided the sea with a strong
east wind, and the bottom of the sea
became dry ground. We know that
this must have taken a long time be-
cause the account says: “At length the
sons of Israel went through the midst
11, 12. (a) How did Jehovah help the Israel-
ites? (b) What was the result of what Jehovah
did? What does this teach us about Jehovah?
Why were the Israelites not really in danger from Pharaoh’s army?
24
of the sea on dry land.” The Israel-
ites moved much slower than the war
chariots of the Egyptian army. But it
was still impossible for the Egyptians
to reach the Israelites because Jehovah
was fighting for his people. “He went
throwing the camp of the Egyptians
into confusion. And he kept taking
wheels off their chariots so that they
were driving them with difficulty.”
—Exodus 14:21-25.
12 When all the Israelites were safe-
ly on the other side, Jehovah told Mo-
ses: “Stretch your hand out over the
sea, that the waters may come back
over the Egyptians, their war chariots
and their cavalrymen.” When the sol-
diers tried to escape the waters com-
ing toward them, “Jehovah shook the
Egyptians off into the midst of the
sea.” It was impossible for them to
escape. “Not so much as one among
them was let remain.” (Exodus 14:26-
SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
28) Jehovah showed that he has the
power to save his people from any sit-
uation.
SOME ESCAPED
JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION
13 The third example we will con-
sider is what happened when Jerusa-
lem was attacked by the Roman army
in the first century. This example em-
phasizes that Jehovah knows exactly
how things will happen to fulfill his
purpose. Jehovah used Jesus to give
instructions to the Christians living in
Jerusalem and Judea before the de-
struction of Jerusalem in the year 70
after Christ. Jesus said that when they
saw “the disgusting thing that caus-
How would the Christians escape Jerusalem?
es desolation” standing in “a holy
place,” they should “begin fleeing to
the mountains.” (Matthew 24:15, 16) in “a holy place.” It was time for Je-
But how would Jesus’ followers know sus’ followers to “begin fleeing to the
when this prophecy was being ful- mountains.” But how would they get
filled? out of a city that was surrounded by
14 The meaning of Jesus’ words be-
enemies? Something unexpected was
came clear many years after he had about to happen.
spoken them. In the year 66 after 15 Surprisingly, Cestius Gallus and
Christ, Roman armies led by Ces- his soldiers left Jerusalem and started
tius Gallus came to Jerusalem to stop to return home. The Zealots chased af-
a Jewish rebellion. When the Jewish ter them. Now that the Romans and
rebels, known as the Zealots, hid in- the Jewish rebels had left the city, Je-
side the temple, Roman soldiers be- sus’ followers had an opportunity to
gan to destroy the temple wall. Those escape. Jesus had clearly told them to
Christians who remembered Jesus’ leave the city right away and not to
instructions knew what all of that take their things with them. (Read
meant. They understood that the pa- Matthew 24:17, 18.) It was very im-
gan Roman army carrying its idola- portant for them to obey Jesus and
trous flags outside the temple wall leave right away. Why? Because with-
was the “disgusting thing” standing in a few days, the Zealots returned and
13. What instructions did Jesus give? What 15, 16. (a) What clear instruction did Jesus
might his followers have wondered? give? Why was it very important for his follow-
14. What things happened that made the ers to obey it? (b) What will we need to do to be
meaning of Jesus’ instructions clear? saved?

APRIL 15, 2012 25

 began forcing the people of Jerusalem
and Judea to join their rebellion. Sev-
eral Jewish groups fought for control,
and the situation in the city quickly
got worse. It became harder and hard-
er to leave Jerusalem. When the Ro-
mans returned in the year 70 after
Christ, it became impossible to leave
Jerusalem. (Luke 19:43) Anyone who
stayed in the city was trapped! But the
Christians who obeyed Jesus’ instruc-
tions and fled to the mountains were
saved. They saw for themselves that
Jehovah knows how to save his peo-
ple. What lesson can we learn from
this account?
16 During the great tribulation,
Christians will need to obey instruc-
tions from God’s Word and organi-
zation. For example, Jesus instructed
We will be saved only
if we obey instructions
from God’s Word and
organization
his followers to “begin fleeing to the
mountains.” We too will receive in-
structions to “begin fleeing” during
the great tribulation. How will we flee?
We do not exactly know yet.1 (See
footnote.) But we can be sure that Je-
hovah will clearly tell us the meaning
of that instruction at the right time.
We will be saved only if we obey the
instructions we receive at that time. So
we should ask ourselves: ‘Do I obey
instructions that Jehovah gives to his
1 See The Watchtower, May 1, 1999, page 19.
26
people now? Do I obey right away, or
am I slow to obey?’—James 3:17.
WE ARE STRENGTHENED
FOR THE FUTURE
17 Let us now talk more about the
attack by Gog that we mentioned
at the beginning. Like Ezekiel, the
prophet Habakkuk spoke about this
time. He said: “I heard, and my bel-
ly began to be agitated; at the sound
my lips quivered; rottenness began to
enter into my bones; and in my sit-
uation I was agitated, that I should
quietly wait for the day of distress,
for his coming up to the people, that
he may raid them.” (Habakkuk 3:16)
When Habakkuk heard about ene-
mies coming to attack God’s people,
he felt sick to his stomach, his lips
trembled, and his body got weak. But
he was willing to “quietly wait” for Je-
hovah’s great day. When Gog and his
followers come to attack us, we too
may become afraid. But we can have
the same confidence as Habakkuk did
and trust that Jehovah will save his
people.—Habakkuk 3:18, 19.
18 The three examples that we have
considered prove without question
that Jehovah knows how to save his
people. His purpose will surely come
true, and he will defeat his enemies.
If we want to be there to celebrate Je-
hovah’s great victory, we must remain
faithful to the end. How does Jehovah
help us to keep our integrity now? We
will consider this in the next article.
17. What do we learn from Habakkuk’s proph-
ecy about Gog’s attack on God’s people?
18. (a) Why should we not be afraid when our
enemies come to attack us? (b) What will we
consider in the next article?
SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION
 Jehovah
Safeguards Us
for Salvation
E THAT has endured to the end is the one

“H
“You . . . are being
safeguarded by God’s that will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) Those
power through faith for words of Jesus make it clear that for us to
a salvation ready to be survive the destruction of Satan’s world, we must
be faithful to Jehovah to the end. But this does
revealed in the last
not mean that Jehovah expects us to endure by
period of time.”
trusting in our own wisdom or strength. The Bible
—1 PETER 1:4, 5.
promises: “God is faithful, and he will not let you
be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along
with the temptation he will also make the way out
WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER? in order for you to be able to endure it.” (1 Co-

rinthians 10:13) What can we learn from those
How did Jehovah draw us to words?
2 Jehovah makes sure that we are not tempted
true worship?
beyond what we can bear. Jehovah can do this be-
cause he knows everything about us, including
the problems we have, what kind of person we

are, and just how much we can endure. Does God
really know us that well? Yes. The Scriptures tell
How can we allow Jehovah to
guide us with his counsel? us that Jehovah knows everything about each one
of us. He knows our daily routine and habits. He
even knows what is in our mind and heart.—Read
Psalm 139:1-6.
3 Does Almighty God really have this kind of

interest in mere humans? The psalmist David

How does Jehovah give us
encouragement? 1, 2. (a) Why can we be sure that God will help us to be
faithful to the end? (b) How well does Jehovah know each
of us?
3, 4. (a) How does the interest that Jehovah showed in Da-
vid prove that Jehovah pays attention to each one of us?
(b) How is Jehovah showing interest in us today?

27
SOME Safeguard: Protect. Jeho-
vah safeguards us for
EXPRESSIONS salvation by protecting us
EXPLAINED so that we can endure
to the end and not be-
come unfaithful
Draw: Gently attract. Jeho-
vah draws sincere people
to true worship by means
of the preaching work and
his holy spirit

thought about this. He said to Jeho-
vah: “When I see your heavens, the
works of your fingers, the moon and
the stars that you have prepared, what
is mortal man that you keep him in
mind?” (Psalm 8:3, 4) David may have
asked this question because of the in-
terest that Jehovah had shown in him.
When David, the youngest son of Jes-
se, was still only a shepherd boy, Jeho-
vah considered him “a man agreeable
to his heart” and chose him to become
Jehovah helped you
when you first started
to serve him, and
he has helped you
ever since
a leader of Israel. (1 Samuel 13:14;
2 Samuel 7:8) The Creator of the uni-
verse knew David’s private thoughts
and feelings even though David was
just a shepherd boy. Imagine how Da-
vid must have felt when he realized
that!
4 The interest that Jehovah is show-
ing in us today is also amazing. He is
gathering people “of all the nations”
who are “desirable” to him to be-
come his worshippers. (Haggai 2:7)
He is also helping those who are serv-
ing him to stay faithful. How does
Jehovah do this? Before we con-
sider the answer to that question,
let us talk about how Jehovah draws
people to true worship in the first
place.
GOD DRAWS US
5 Jesus said: “No man can come to
me unless the Father, who sent me,
draws him.” (John 6:44) Those words
show that to become a disciple of
Christ, we must have God’s help.
We need God to draw us to his Son.
How does he do that? He uses the
preaching work and his holy spirit.
For example, when Paul and his mis-
sionary companions were in Philip-
pi, they met a woman named Lydia.
The Bible tells us that when they be-
gan to preach the good news to her,
“Jehovah opened her heart wide to
pay attention to the things being
spoken by Paul.” God used his spir-
it to help her understand and ac-
cept the message. As a result, Lyd-
ia and her family got baptized.—Acts
16:13-15.
5. How does Jehovah draw people to his Son?
Give an example.

28 SIMPLIFIED ENGLISH EDITION

 6 Did this happen only to Lydia?
Absolutely not. If you are a dedicat-
ed Christian, you were also drawn by
God to true worship. Just as our heav-
enly Father saw something valuable in
the heart of Lydia, he saw something
good in you. When you began listen-
ing to the good news, Jehovah used
his holy spirit to help you understand
and accept the message. (1 Corinthi-
ans 2:11, 12) When you tried to use in
your life what you learned from the Bi-
ble, he blessed your efforts. When you
dedicated yourself to him, his heart
was happy. The truth is that Jehovah
helped you when you first started to
serve him, and he has continued to
help you ever since.
7 Jehovah helped us to start serving
him, so we can be sure that he will
continue to help us to stay faithful. He
knows that just as we did not come
into the truth on our own, we will
not stay in the truth on our own. The
apostle Peter wrote to anointed Chris-
tians that they are being “safeguard-
6. How were all of us drawn by God to true
worship?
7. How do we know that God will help us to
stay faithful?
You too were drawn by God to true worship
ed by God’s power,” or protected by
God’s power, so that they can contin-
ue to be faithful to him. (1 Peter 1:4, 5)
What Peter said can apply to all Chris-
tians. How does Jehovah safeguard us
today? We should want to know the
answer to this question because we
all need God’s help to stay faithful to
him.
GOD CAN PREVENT US
FROM MAKING A MISTAKE
8 The problems of life and our own
imperfections could prevent us from
seeing things the way Jehovah sees
them. We would then be in danger
of making a serious mistake without
even realizing it. (Read Galatians 6:1.)
This is what once happened to David.
9 David showed great self-control
while he was being hunted by
King Saul. Even when David had an
opportunity, he did not try to take re-
venge against Saul. (1 Samuel 24:2-7)
But soon after that, David lost his self-
control. He needed food and water for
him and his men, so he respectfully
asked for the help of another Israelite,
named Nabal. Nabal insulted David
and refused to help him. This made
David so angry that he decided to take
revenge on Nabal and all the men in
Nabal’s house. David did not stop to
think that Jehovah would have judged
him guilty of killing innocent people.
But Abigail, Nabal’s wife, stopped Da-
vid from making this terrible mistake.
David realized that Jehovah had used
8. Why could we be in danger of making a se-
rious mistake?
9, 10. How did Jehovah prevent David from
making a serious mistake? What does Jehovah
do for us today?
29
 Abigail to protect him, so he said to
her: “Blessed be Jehovah the God of
Israel, who has sent you this day to
meet me! And blessed be your sensi-
bleness, and blessed be you who have
restrained me this day from entering
into bloodguilt and having my own
hand come to my salvation.”—1 Samu-
el 25:9-13, 21, 22, 32, 33.
10 What lesson can we learn from
this account? Jehovah can prevent us
from making a serious mistake. Of
course, we should not expect that
every time we are about to make a
serious mistake, Jehovah will send
someone to stop us. We also nev-
er know exactly how God will act in
certain situations or what he will al-
low to happen to fulfill his purpose.
(Ecclesiastes 11:5) But we can be sure
that Jehovah always knows our situ-
ation and will help us to continue to
be faithful to him. He promises us:
“I shall make you have insight and in-
struct you in the way you should go.
I will give advice with my eye upon
you.” (Psalm 32:8) How does Jeho-
vah give us advice? How can we ben-
efit from it? And why can we be sure
We are protected if we allow God’s counsel to guide us
that Jehovah is leading his people to-
day? Note how those questions are an-
swered in the book of Revelation.
COUNSEL PROTECTS US
11 In the vision recorded in Reve-
lation chapters 2 and 3, the King Je-
sus Christ sees what is happening
in the seven congregations of Asia
Minor. Christ sees more than just the
general situation in these congrega-
tions. In this vision, he mentions spe-
cific things that were happening and
even mentions specific people. He
also gives the congregations the com-
mendation or counsel that each of
them needs. What does this vision
mean for us? The seven congregations
represent the anointed Christians af-
ter 1914. And even though the coun-
sel that Christ gave was mainly to
the anointed, all the congregations of
God’s people on earth today can ben-
efit from it. So we can say that Jeho-
vah is using his Son to guide His peo-
ple today. How do we allow Jehovah to
guide us?
12 One way we allow Jehovah to
guide us is by doing personal study.
Jehovah gives us an abundance of
counsel through the publications of
the faithful and discreet slave. (Mat-
thew 24:45) But if we want to ben-
efit from this counsel, we must take
time to study it and then use what
we learn in our life. When we do per-
sonal study, we allow Jehovah to pro-
tect us from doing something wrong.
(Jude 24) Have you ever studied some-
thing in our publications and thought,
11. How well does Jehovah know what is hap-
pening in the congregations of his people?
12. How can we allow Jehovah to guide us?
‘This was written just for me’? You
should accept this as correction from
Jehovah. Just as a friend might tap us
on the shoulder to get our attention,
Jehovah can use his spirit to help us
realize that there is something in our
conduct or personality that we need
to improve. When we accept the di-
rection of the holy spirit, we allow Je-
hovah to guide us. (Read Psalm 139:
23, 24.) Let us talk more about how
much time and effort we put into our
study.
13 If we spend too much time on en-
tertainment, we will not have enough
time for personal study. One broth-
er said that it is very easy to let this
happen. Why? He explained: “Enter-
tainment is more available now than
ever before, and it is less expensive
than ever before. It is available on TV,
on the computer, and on the phone.
We are surrounded by it.” If we are
not careful, we could start using more
and more of our time on entertain-
ment until there is no time left for
deep personal study. (Ephesians 5:15-
17) Each of us should ask: ‘How of-
ten do I spend time studying the deep-
er things of God’s Word? Is it only
when I have a talk or a meeting part to
prepare?’ Perhaps we could better use
our personal study time as well as our
Family Worship evening to do deep-
er study and search the Bible for the
wisdom of Jehovah, just as we would
search for treasure. This wisdom can
protect us and help us to stay faithful
to the end.—Proverbs 2:1-5.
13. Why would it be wise for us to think about
how much time and effort we put into our
study?
APRIL 15, 2012
ENCOURAGEMENT
HELPS US TO ENDURE
14 David suffered many sad and
stressful situations in his life. (1 Sam-
uel 30:3-6) The Bible shows that Je-
hovah knew David’s feelings. (Read
Psalm 34:18; 56:8.) God also knows
our feelings. It comforts us to remem-
ber that God knows when we are “bro-
ken at heart” or “crushed in spirit.”
This fact comforted David, who sang:
“I will be joyful and rejoice in your
loving-kindness, in that you have seen
my affliction; you have known about
the distresses of my soul.” (Psalm
31:7) But Jehovah does more than just
notice our distress. He helps us to en-
dure by giving us comfort and encour-
agement. One way he does this is by
means of Christian meetings.
15 Asaph’s experience helps us to
understand why it is good for us to
be at the meetings. Asaph kept think-
ing about how the righteous suffered,
while the wicked seemed to be suc-
cessful, and that discouraged him.
He began to think that there was
no value in serving Jehovah. He de-
scribed his feelings this way: “My
heart was soured and in my kidneys I
was sharply pained.”As a result, he al-
most stopped serving Jehovah. What
helped Asaph to correct his thinking?
He said: “I proceeded to come into the
grand sanctuary of God.” He was able
to correct his attitude by associating
with others who worshipped Jehovah.
Asaph realized that the success of the
14. How do the Scriptures show that Jehovah
pays attention to our feelings?
15. What lesson can we learn from Asaph’s ex-
perience?
31
 wicked was only temporary and that
Jehovah would make sure that justice
was done. (Psalm 73:2, 13-22) We may
sometimes feel like Asaph. The in-
justices that we see in Satan’s world
can make us feel stressed and dis-
couraged. But when we meet together
with our brothers and sisters, we get
the strength and help we need to keep
serving Jehovah with joy.
16 But what if a situation in the con-
gregation makes it difficult for you to
attend meetings? Perhaps you have
had to give up a responsibility in the
congregation and feel embarrassed.
Or perhaps you have had a disagree-
ment with a brother or a sister. If you
are in one of these situations, the ex-
ample of Hannah may help you. (Read
1 Samuel 1:4-8.) Her husband’s oth-
er wife, Peninnah, would often make
Hannah extremely upset. This situa-
16. How can the example of Hannah help us?
Encouragement helps us to endure
www.watchtower.org
tion became especially hard for Han-
nah each year when the family went
to offer sacrifices to Jehovah at Shiloh.
She was so distressed that “she would
weep and not eat.” But Hannah did
not stop going to the place where she
could worship Jehovah God. Jehovah
valued her faithfulness and blessed
her.—1 Samuel 1:11, 20.
17 Christians today should imitate
Hannah’s example by regularly being
at the meetings. Our meetings give us
the encouragement we need. We all
have been encouraged by them. (He-
brews 10:24, 25) At the meetings, we
feel the love of the brothers and sis-
ters, and that comforts us. For ex-
ample, something we hear in a talk
or comment may touch our heart. A
brother or a sister may kindly listen to
us or say something that makes us feel
better. (Proverbs 15:23; 17:17) And
when we join in singing songs to Je-
hovah, we feel encouraged and cheer-
ful again. We especially need the en-
couragement that we receive at the
meetings when we have thoughts that
trouble us. It is at the meetings that
Jehovah’s “own consolations” help us
to endure and continue to be faithful.
—Psalm 94:18, 19.
18 God’s loving care makes us feel
as secure as the psalmist Asaph felt
when he sang to Jehovah: “You have
taken hold of my right hand. With
your counsel you will lead me.” (Psalm
73:23, 24) We are so grateful to Je-
hovah for the protection and help he
gives us to endure to the end!
17, 18. (a) In what ways do we receive encour-
agement at the meetings? (b) How do you feel
about the loving care that Jehovah gives you?
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