on earth. (Gen. 3:15) He became a spokesman of the true religion as revealed to him by Jehovah’s line of communication. He served as Jehovah’s first witness. To stamp out the reappearing true religion, Satan induced Cain to murder faithful Abel violently.—Gen. 4:2-12.

²² Years later God found another righteous man, Enoch, with whom he communicated an outstanding prophecy concerning the final destruction of Satan’s false religious world. After completing his long preaching work the prophet Enoch was shielded from a violent death at the hands of his religious adversaries by God’s taking him away in a peaceful sleep of death, possibly amidst a glorious vision of future life in a restored paradise.—Gen. 5:21-24; Jude 14, 15.

THE PROPHET NOAH A CHANNEL

23, 24. (a) How did the prophet Noah serve as a channel? (b) Describe the arrangement that assisted Noah.

²³ The next one recorded to have been in communication with the courts of heaven is the prophet Noah. For about fifty years he served as Jehovah’s sole channel of communication on the earth, dispensing God’s word of truth, and then after the flood he served as Jehovah’s patriarchal spokesman for about 350 years. Noah became a vigorous preacher of righteousness in accordance with his ministerial commission. The lightning judgments against the preflood generation of his day were also pronounced through him. Noah was a bold advocate of the one true religion. He served as an undaunted witness of Jehovah, which brought survival to his family and himself in that world crisis. Doubtless Satan was busy sending mimic prophets to communicate lying propaganda of peace and delusions to bolster his false religious deception of that day. These religious enemies no doubt taunted Noah for his claim to have the only true religion. They may have even sneeringly charged him with “channelism.”

²⁴ But as for Noah he knew for a certainty that Jehovah was communicating inspired instructions only through him. His own wife, his three sons and their wives believed Noah and accepted him as God’s sole channel of leadership. They too joined Noah as preachers of righteousness and helped him build the great boat. Noah therefore headed this little preaching organization as the chief agent and official prophetic channel on earth who had dealings directly with God in heaven. Some of God’s divine pronouncements conveyed through the prophet Noah are preserved for us to this day in the Bible as part of religious truth.—Gen. 6:1-22.

THE PROPHET ABRAHAM A CHANNEL

25, 26. (a) How did Abraham serve as a prophet? (b) Why are the revelations communicated to him of particular importance to us today?

²⁵ “But now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will make supplication for you.” (Gen. 20:7, NW) These are God’s own words to King Abimelech in an inspired dream identifying Abraham as a prophet of Jehovah. Truly Abraham, God’s friend, a man of great faith, a stanch proclaimer of the true religion progressively revealed up to his day, served as Jehovah’s unquestioned channel of communication on earth for many, many years. He too was a famous preacher up and down his assigned territory, that of the Promised Land. Of his preaching as a witness of Jehovah it is written: “Then he built an altar there [near Bethel] to Jehovah and began to declare (preach) the name of Jehovah.”—Gen. 12:8, NW, footnote b.

²⁶ As to Abraham’s contact with Jehovah’s line of heavenly communication, note this incident: “After these things the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying: ‘Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield for you. Your reward will be very great.’” (Gen. 15:1, NW) To Abraham was given the great promise supported by an oath of God that through Abraham’s seed (Christ Jesus and his 144,000 Kingdom joint heirs) all the families of the earth would be blessed in a new world of righteousness. (Gen. 22:17, 18) The several revelations divinely communicated to Abraham have become part of religious truth today. In the succeeding article there will be a presentation of further manifestations of Jehovah’s earthly channel of divine communication.

Christian Channel of Communication

“This was to the end that now to the governments and the authorities in the heavenly places there might be made known through the congregation the greatly diversified wisdom of God.”—Eph. 3:10, NW.

1. Upon what does true Christianity rely?

TRUE Christianity as a revealed religion relies fully upon all the progressive revelations of Jehovah’s sacred pronouncements communicated to the earth from the time of Adam to that of the apostle John. Additionally we see how God has provided his Christian servants from Pentecost, A.D. 33, forward with a reliable channel of guidance for the understanding of these amazing revelations of his will and purposes. From the prophetic shadows to the actual realities we observe that this God-provided channel for Christians is the collective congregation of anointed ones who serve as a prophetlike organization under the leadership of its communicating head, Christ Jesus.—Eph. 5:23.

2. (a) How did Moses serve as a prophet? (b) What judicial line of communication was established?

² After Abraham’s time Jehovah’s line of communication was in contact with Isaac, Jacob and Joseph as God’s earthly channels. Then the most prolific period of divine communication ever experienced up to that time was evident in the ministry of the great prophet Moses. For forty years an almost constant flow of communication was open between Jehovah and Moses that enabled him to be inspired to organize the congregation of Israel theocratically into a nation of Jehovah and lead it to the Promised Land for domicile. The God-designed government inaugurated at Mount Sinai was a righteous government of law. It was not a government of personal human rulers. An earthly sanctuary was built that provided a limited channel of judicial communication with God. The God-appointed high priest was the chief judicial minister of state. He was given the Urim and Thummim in connection with his high office to obtain a “yes” or “no” answer to grave national legal problems that required decision from the government’s highest judicial authority, its sovereign King, Jehovah.