REMEMBER YOUR GRAND CREATOR!

Conclusion of Effects of Advancing Age

In the case of an old man, "the almond tree carries blossoms," apparently indicating that his hair turns gray, then snowwhite. The hoary hairs fall like the white blossoms of the almond tree. As he 'drags himself along.' perhaps bent over with arms hanging down or hands resting on his hips with the elbows crooked upward, he resembles a grasshopper. If any of us look a little like that,though, let others take note that we are in Jehovah's energetic, speedy locust army! -See The Watchtower, May 1, 1998, pages 8-13.

The elderly person's appetite is no longer keen, even if the food before him is as tasty as the caper berry. These berries have long since used to stimulate appetite. 'The bursting of the caper berry' suggests that when an old man's appetite diminishes, even this fruit fails to awaken his desire for food. Such things indicate that he is nearing "his long-lasting house," the grave. It will be his home forever if he has failed to bear his Creator in mind and has pursued such a wicked course that God does not remember him in the resurrection. signs of approaching death are evident from the mournful tones and groans of complaint issuing forth from the doors of the oldster's mouth.

We are urged to remember our Creator "before the silver cord is removed, and the golden bowl gets crushed, and the jar at the spring is broken, and the waterwheel for the cistern has been crushed." (Ecclesiastes 12:6) the "silver cord" may denote the brain, contained in the bowlike cranium, to which the spinal cord is attached. Golden for preciousness, the brain when broken down spells death.

"The jar at the spring" is the heart, which receives the stream of blood and sends it out again for circulation through the body. At death,the heart becomes like a broken jar, shattered at the spring because it can no longer receive, contain, and pump out the blood vital for the body's nourishment and refreshment. the 'crushed waterwheel for the cistern' ceases to turn, ending circulation of life-sustaining blood. Jehovah thus revealed the circulation of blood to Solomon long before 17th century physician William Harvey demonstrated that it circulates.

The congregator added: "Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to the true God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7) with the "waterwheel" crushed, the human body, originally made out of dust from the ground, returns to the dust. (Genesis 2:7; 3:19) The soul dies because the spirit, or life -force, given by God returns to and resides with our Creator. -Ezekiel 18:4, 20; James 2:26.

Next time: What Future for Those Who Remember?

Watchtower, 1999