Most people consider the lowly grasshopper to be nothing more than a loathsome pest. Probably no one would shed any tears if they accidently or perhaps even purposely stepped on one. From Jehovah's standpoint, though, the human race is as insignificant in relation to him as a field of grasshoppers is to us—perhaps less so. Jehovah may have even been generous when he made the following comparison: "There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers in which are as grasshoppers." Not only does the grasshopper remind us off our insignificance in relation to God, we were, once again, reminded of our profound smallness this week as Venus silently strode across the face of the sun in its 122-year orbital cycle. The Venusian eclipse might very easily have escaped your notice, for it is not nearly as dramatic as a solar or lunar eclipse. The shadow it cast upon the earth is not even discernable. From our earthly viewpoint it is nothing more than a tiny dot against the backdrop of our blazing solar furnace. (Click here to view) In fact, if the media had not brought it to our attention, no doubt Venus' passing would have gone unnoticed by all but a few astronomic observers. Be that as it may, what makes this obscure eclipse so awe-inspiring is that Venus is the relative size of our own planet, Earth. That is not a revelation, but a simple reminder, that like our sister planet, Venus, our Earth is a mere orbiting speck against the backdrop of the sun. Yet, from our grasshopper's perspective, this globe seems vast indeed. We are often impressed by some simple feat of travel. For example, it is usually considered newsworthy when some individual treks across the world by foot or bike or some novel mode of travel. So it is by contemplating this rare celestial phenomenon that we gain added perspective on our absolute smallness in vast universal space. And by recognizing our own inconsequentiality, we can only magnify Jehovah's greatness and humility. Ultimately, it is both fear-inspiring and assuring that God lives unbounded by both space and time, and in spite of our smallness, God is keenly interested in the goings-on down here in grasshopper-Ville. The Bible is proof of that. The prophecy of Isaiah is much like a message sealed in a time capsule. Of course, it is obviously also accessible to readers now, but can it be fully appreciated? Like all prophecy, it was actually written to a people living at a specific time and place in history. Taken in its context, then, Jehovah's comparison of the human race to the grasshopper species is directed to us at a most crucial juncture—still in the future. That is when the message of Isaiah becomes most relevant. Jehovah's voice is projected to his organization at such time as it finds itself in dire straits. That's why we read in the opening words of God's long-running dialogue with his people these words: "Comfort, comfort my people," says the God of you men. "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her that her military service has been fulfilled, that her error has been paid off. For from the hand of Jehovah she has received a full amount for all her sins." –Isaiah 40 How can we be sure that Isaiah is to be fulfilled in the future and that is was not fulfilled in 1919, as the Watchtower teaches? Well, consider that the succeeding verses describe a voice in the wilderness calling out to clear up a way before Jehovah. We are told that following the clearing of a way before Him that "the glory of Jehovah will certainly be revealed, and all flesh must see it together, for the very mouth of Jehovah has spoken it." At the risk of sounding like a broken record, "the glory of Jehovah" was not revealed to "all flesh" back when Brother Rutherford and company got out of jail and reorganized the Bible Students. Why should Jehovah's Witnesses go on believing something so unreasonable? Also, how could it possibly be true that the organization "received the full amount for all her sins" way back then? If that were actually true it would mean that we have now been given carte blanche to do as we please with no future day of accounting. Again, it makes no sense that Isaiah's prophecy has already been fulfilled. The glory of Jehovah is to be revealed during earth's darkest hour—when mankind's continued existence comes into doubt. That's when God is vindicated as the One who told from the beginning the finale. That is why the voice in the wilderness declares mankind's fragile and transient nature at that critical hour, saying: "All flesh is green grass, and all their loving-kindness is like the blossom of the field. The green grass has dried up, the blossom has withered, because the very spirit of Jehovah has blown upon it. Surely the people are green grass. The green grass has dried up, the blossom has withered; but as for the word of our God, it will last to time indefinite." Jehovah's likening mankind to mere grass is in contrast to the One who can hold earth's vast waters as if in the mere palm of his hand. Put in today's jargon, Isaiah's prophecy above speaks to us at a time when the present system is, as we say, "blown away," because "the very spirit of Jehovah has blown upon it." It is on the occasion when the now-ruling powers in the kingdom of the grasshoppers are themselves suddenly reduced to nothing by Almighty God. No—not at Armageddon. Jehovah brings this system in touch with its mortality when he allows the tribulation to be detonated by Satan the Devil upon his ouster from heaven. In that respect it is a judgment from Jehovah. (Elsewhere in prophecy the tribulation is variously described as the rocking of the heavens and the earth; the death-stroke of the head of the wild beast; the kings of earth being in tumult; etc., etc.) One thing is certain: The Watchtower will become mute and Jehovah will gain our full attention then! Or, as Isaiah writes: "Clear up the way of Jehovah, you people! Make the highway for our God through the desert plain straight. Let every valley be raised up, and every mountain and hill be made low. And the knobby ground must become level land, and the rugged ground a valley plain. And the glory of Jehovah will certainly be revealed, and all flesh must see it together, for the very mouth of Jehovah has spoken it." Isaiah then records Jehovah speaking from the future, saying to his people: "There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers in which are as grasshoppers, the One who is stretching out the heavens just as a fine gauze, who spreads them out like a tent in which to dwell, the One who is reducing high officials to nothing, who has made the very judges of the earth as a mere unreality." Again, how do we know this is yet to occur? The opening words of the 42nd chapter make that plain. There we read: "Attend to me in silence, you islands; and let national groups themselves regain power. Let them approach. At that time let them speak. Let us come up close together for the judgment itself." Revelation depicts a wild beast that receives a death-stroke, but then revives and orders the people to fabricate an image of itself. Since the symbolic seven-headed wild beast represents a political system that has existed in unbroken continuity since Egypt of Abraham's day; no doubt the slaughtered head of the beast represents the near-death experience about to befall the present Anglo-American-dominated global civilization—an unprecedented catastrophe indeed! The death and subsequent revival of the political system under the eighth and final king will mark the commencement of Judgment Day for the peoples of earth. (See essay "Last hour") The verse quoted above speaks to us during that Judgment Day when the national groups are said to "regain power." Their regaining power harmonizes with the beast reviving from its death-stroke. It is then when God literally says to all the nations: "Let us come up close together for the judgment itself." To further establish the fact that the prophecy in question has a future application during Christ's presence, Isaiah 41:2 depicts Jehovah's world-conquering Messiah swinging into action. "Who has roused up someone from the sunrise? Who proceeded in righteousness to call him to his feet, to give before him the nations, and to make him go subduing even kings? Who kept giving them like dust to his sword, so that they have been driven about like mere stubble with his bow? Who kept pursuing them, kept peacefully passing along on his feet over the path by which he did not proceed to come? Who has been active and has done this, calling out the generations from the start? I, Jehovah, the First One; and with the last ones I am the same." The Watchtower insists that Christ fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah back in 1914-1919. While, we realize that the prophecy originally applied to the Persian King Cyrus, the Watchtower is correct in teaching that it also applies to Jesus Christ at his presence. Isaiah 45:1 even calls Cyrus Jehovah's anointed one, saying: "This is what Jehovah has said to his anointed one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue before him nations, so that I may ungird even the hips of kings." However, did Christ really "go subduing even kings" back in 1914? If so, why are the nuclear-armed kings of earth now even more determinedly standing in opposition to God's kingdom long after the time Christ supposedly subdued them? Obviously, Jesus Christ has not subdued any earthly kings yet. Isaiah 41:5 goes on to foretell that in response to Jehovah's invitation to judgment, the nations construct a crude idol to represent them: "The islands saw and began to fear. The very extremities of the earth began trembling. They drew near and kept coming. They went helping each one his companion, and one would say to his brother: "Be strong." So the craftsman went strengthening the metalworker; the one doing the smoothing out with the forge hammer him that is hammering away at the anvil, saying regarding the soldering: "It is good." Finally one fastened it with nails that it could not be made to totter." The globe-rocking crash of the present system will terrify the peoples of the earth so badly that they will instinctively worship a political savior of their own making. The making of the idol parallels the worship of the image of the beast that results in the "666" marking. But who or what can compare to Jehovah? That is, in fact, the very question Jehovah himself poses to us when He asks through his servant and prophet, Isaiah: "To whom will you people liken me or make me equal or compare me that we may resemble each other? It doesn't matter how simple or sophisticated the idol may be; whether it is a crude wooden sculpture or a golden calf; a religious icon or even a complex organization like the Watchtower or the United Nations—Jehovah has no equal—none! Just as a grasshopper cannot begin to compare with a human being; so it is that the Creator of the universe is greater—much greater—than all of his creation. Perhaps you will never look at grasshoppers in quite the same way. Copyright © 2004, by Robert King |