“Lamb of God” will be ample enough in its redemptive value to avail for all who turn to Jehovah God. Throughout the thousand years of his reign he and his underpriests will minister to mankind’s needs; and so the blessed results of this will be, as stated in Hebrews 7:24, 25: “He because of continuing alive forever has his priesthood without any successors. Consequently he is able also to save completely those who are approaching God through him, because he is always alive to plead for them.” So the tremendous increase of worshipers at Jehovah’s spiritual temple due to resurrection of the dead will not put too great a burden on him.

NO “CANAANITE” TO MAR MILLENNIAL WORSHIP

24. (a) What will the earthly celebrators of the Millennial festival not be molested by at the spiritual temple of Jehovah? (b) What action by Jesus on earth at the temple of Jerusalem proves that he will not tolerate any such molestation?

²⁴ When all those earthly celebrators of the Millennial festival of the booths approach Jehovah’s spiritual temple of worship, they will not be confronted with or be obliged to run the gauntlet of a swarm of traffickers in religious articles, selfishly seeking to make money off those who desire to worship God “with spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) Jehovah’s heavenly High Priest will not stand for this for one moment. When he was on earth as a man in order to offer his perfect human sacrifice as a high priest, he twice cleansed the temple at Jerusalem of religious commercialists, once in the first year of his public ministry and again just four days before his sacrificial death. Concerning this latter case we read:

“And [on his triumphal ride] he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and he looked around upon all things, and, as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, . . . they came to Jerusalem. There he entered into the temple and started to throw out those selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves; and he would not let anyone carry a utensil through the temple, but he kept teaching and saying: ‘Is it not written, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a cave of robbers.’ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and they began to seek how to destroy him.”​—Mark 11:11-18; Isaiah 56:7; John 2:12-17.

25. The High Priest will see to it that what part of Zechariah’s prophecy is thus fulfilled?

²⁵ With just as much zeal as ever for the house of God’s worship, the heavenly High Priest Jesus Christ will see to it that the closing words of Zechariah’s prophecy are fulfilled: “And there will no more prove to be a Canaanite [or, tradesman] in the house of Jehovah of armies in that day.”​—Zechariah 14:21.

26. (a) Why does the “Canaanite” have no place at Jehovah’s house of worship? (b) How or with what will the earth then be sanctified?

²⁶ The designation Canaanite was synonymous with “tradesman.” (Proverbs 31:24; Job 41:6; compare Nehemiah 13:15-21.) Such persons, who seek to make selfish, commercial profit out of the most sacred thing on earth, the worship of the one living and true God, have no place in the earthly courtyard of Jehovah’s spiritual temple, nor on the earth His footstool at all. And there will be none such, nor any religious frauds. The teaching of the pure truth and the practice of pure, undefiled religion will then sanctify the earth. Everywhere on earth Jehovah will be known and adored. (Isaiah 11:9) He is holy, and his worshipers in the earth-wide paradise will, like him, be holy.​—1 Peter 1:16.

27. (a) What special privilege will the “great crowd” of tribulation survivors have during the Millennial celebration of the festival? (b) All those devoting themselves to Jehovah’s worship will then gain the right to what?

²⁷ “From year to year” all on earth who drink of the “living waters” that go forth from the “heavenly Jerusalem” will celebrate the Millennial festival of booths with unspeakable joy at Jehovah’s spiritual temple. (Zechariah 14:8, 16) The vision seen in the Bible’s last book of the numberless “great crowd” of worshipers jubilating before God with palm branches in their hands corresponds with the temple scene especially on the last day of the “festival of booths” in ancient Jerusalem. (Revelation 7:9) The “great crowd” of survivors of the “great tribulation” will have a special joy. It will be that of helping the many billions of those resurrected from the grave to go up to the celebration of the festival, without regard to their previous nationality during the former system of things. In that way all those who devote themselves to the worship of the King, Jehovah of armies, will gain the God-given right to a life of endless joy in a paradisaic earth under Jehovah’s Theocracy.

28. To what future scene of God’s accomplished purpose regarding the earth may worshipers of the Divine Ruler lift their eyes of faith?

²⁸ All you worshipers of the Divine Ruler Jehovah, lift your eyes of faith to the future scene that will grace the terrestrial “footstool” of this heavenly Theocrat. See all the earth radiantly blooming with a peaceful Paradise, that delights even the eye of the great Theocrat and Creator, a Paradise adorned with vegetation and trees, both good to look at and also producing food for sustaining creature life in perfection. The divine commission that was given to perfect man and woman at the beginning in Eden has been realized, namely: “Fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.” The whole earth to its four corners is filled with godly human creatures in physical, moral and mental perfection, whom the paternal Theocrat is joyful at acknowledging to be his sons and daughters through the Lamb Jesus Christ.

29. To whom will all of Paradise’s inhabitants ascribe their salvation, and how will the inhabitants of heaven respond?

²⁹ It is the close of the last day of the divine week of seven creative days, each seven thousand years in length. As God the Creator examines and sees everything that he has made, look! it is “very good.” (Genesis 1:28 to 2:3) All heaven is watching the perfected earth and listening. The hearts of the heavenly seraphs, cherubs and angels are filled with admiration for the great Theocrat as they see all humans on earth strike a worshipful attitude. Praise to God sounds forth. It thrills the heavenly throngs as they hear the earth’s full population join the “great crowd” in gratefully saying: “Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.” “Amen,” respond all the holy inhabitants of heaven, “The blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanksgiving and the honor and the power and the strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”​—Revelation 7:9-12.

Offer of Literature

When a person begins to understand clearly the marvelous purposes of God as they relate to our day, it is a heartwarming experience, is it not? No doubt that is how you have felt as you have read this book along with your copy of the Bible. Perhaps the things that you have learned are causing you to take a completely different viewpoint of life. That is how God’s Word affects a person of honest heart. If it has affected you in that way, you will no doubt want to share it with others. To assist you, we will be glad to provide you with additional copies of this book at $1.50 each, to be sent, postpaid, either to you or to wherever you direct. (Contribution subject to change.)

​—THE PUBLISHERS