"My People Will Know My Name"

The captive condition of Jehovah's people has an effect on his name, as the prophecy shows:  "Now, what interest do I have here? Is the utterance of Jehovah. "For my people were taken for nothing. The very ones ruling over them kept howling,' is the utterance of Jehovah, 'and constantly, all day long, my name was being treated with disrespect.  For that reason my people will know my name, even for that reason in that day, because I am the One that is speaking.  Look!  It is I.' " ( Isaiah 52:5, 6) What interest does Jehovah have in the situation?  What concern of his is it that Israel is enslaved in Babylon?  Jehovah  must act because Babylon has taken his people captive and has howled over them in triumph. Such  bragging has led Babylon's treating Jehovah's name disrespectfully.  (Ezekiel 36:20, 21) She has failed to recognize that the desolate condition of Jerusalem is on account of Jehovah's displeasure toward his people. Rather, Babylon has viewed the enslavement of the Jews as evidence of the weakness of their God.  The Babylonian  coregent Belshazzar even mocks Jehovah by using vessels from His temple during a feast in honor of Babylonian gods. -Daniel 5;1-4.

How does all this apply to "Jerusalem above"?  Ever since apostasy took root among professed Christians, it could be said that "the name of God is being blasphemed on account of [those] people among the nations."  (Romans 2:24; Acts 20:29, 30)  For that matter, because of superstition the Jews eventually started to avoid using the divine name. Soon after the death of the apostles, apostate Christians followed suit and ceased to use God's  personal name.  The apostasy resulted in the development of Christendom,  a major part of Babylon the Great.  (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7;p Revelation 17:5) Christendom's wanton immorality and brazen bloodguilt have reflected badly on Jehovah's name. -2 Peter 2:1, 2.

 When the Greater Cyrus, Jesus Christ, freed God's covenant people from captivity to Babylon the Great in 1919, they came to a better understanding of  Jehovah's requirements. They had already cleansed themselves of many teachings of Christendom that have their roots  in pre-Christian paganism, such as the Trinity, immorality of the soul, and eternal torment in a fiery hell.  Now they set out to rid themselves of all traces of Babylonish influence .  They also came to realize the importance of maintaining strict neutrality regarding this world's partisan affairs. They even wanted to purify themselves of whatever bloodguilt some might have incurred.

The modern-day servants of God also came to have a deeper understanding of the importance of Jehovah's name.  In 1931 they adopted the name Jehovah's Witnesses, thus publicly announcing that they supported  Jehovah and his name. Moreover, through the publications of the New World Translations since 1950, Jehovah's Witnesses have restored the divine name to its proper place in the Bible. Yes, they have come to appreciate Jehovah's name and are making it known to the ends of the earth.

Next time: "The One Bringing Good News"

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II. 2001