kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”

So after Jesus had faithfully finished his earthly ministry, God “raised him up from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above every government and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this system of things, but also in that to come.” (Eph. 1:20, 21) At that time, in the year 33 C.E., Psalm 110:1 applied, which says: “The utterance of Jehovah to my Lord is: ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.’” After nearly nineteen centuries, at the end of the “appointed times of the nations,” or in 1914 C.E., Jehovah issued the further command recorded in the following verse, saying to his King-Son: “Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.” So Jesus’ position as king is something far more than anything that David ever had.

COVENANT FOR HEAVENLY KINGDOM

Does that ruling position of Jesus include anything else? Yes, it does. Just two verses later in the same psalm, David was inspired to say: “Jehovah has sworn (and he will feel no regret): ‘You are a priest to time indefinite according to the manner of Melchizedek!’” (Ps. 110:4) Here, then, was another legal promise concerning the coming Messiah that God had made under oath, first recorded in David’s time. Not only would Jesus’ kingdom be superior to that of David, but he would be a priest as well as a king, something that could never be under the Davidic covenant because God’s law to Israel maintained a strict separation between kingship and priesthood. The very nature of this special office held by Melchizedek made it something that could not be passed on to anyone as a human successor of his. It did not come into existence again in God’s arrangement until God’s due time to make Jesus a spiritual king and priest. For this reason, it is not even mentioned again in the Scriptures until Paul discussed the subject in his letter to the Hebrew Christians, written about 61 C.E.

‘But,’ someone may object, ‘how can it be said that the covenant for a kingly priesthood gives Jesus the right to a heavenly kingdom and priesthood when Melchizedek was also a man, just like David?’ Well, Jesus was not and is not the heir of Melchizedek. However, there were certain circumstances surrounding Melchizedek that appear to have been ordered by God precisely for a prophetic purpose. They showed that Melchizedek’s office was not dependent on human relationships. Paul alludes to these circumstances in Hebrews 7:3: “In being fatherless, motherless, without genealogy, having neither a beginning of days nor an end of life [in that none of these things were recorded], but having been made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.” So, too, Jesus’ being God’s High Priest does not result from any human connections; it is not because of his genealogy. While Jesus remained on earth as a man he could not become a Jewish priest at all, because the law covenant was still in effect until after his death and this limited the Jewish priesthood strictly to the members of Aaron’s house in the tribe of Levi. But Jesus became a spiritual priest.

Moreover, the apostle Paul understood that Jesus could be perfected in this spiritual office only by being raised from a sacrificial death and exalted to God’s right hand in the heavens, as is shown by the fact that Paul applies David’s prophetic words concerning Melchizedek to Jesus Christ, who did not appoint himself or seek the honor, saying: “Christ did not glorify himself by becoming a high priest, but was glorified by him who spoke with reference to him: ‘You are my son; I, today, I have become your father.’ Just as he says also in another place: ‘You are a priest forever according to the manner of Melchizedek.’”—Heb. 5:5, 6.

So, having proved his faithfulness, Jesus, by his death and resurrection to the heavens, was shown to be worthy of both a priesthood and a kingship far superior and far grander in scope than those exercised by the Levitical priests and the Judean kings. These heavenly functions of Jesus are embodied in the covenant for a kingly priesthood.—Heb. 7:4-17.

With Christ in the heavens, the Scriptures show, there will be associated 144,000 associate rulers taken from among mankind. To his apostles, who were the first ones of that group to cherish such an upward calling, he said on the evening before his death: “I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom.” (Luke 22:29, 30) These 144,000 Kingdom heirs are not direct descendants of King David and so not natural heirs to his throne. They are not taken into the covenant made with David for a kingdom. However, as David ruled over the twelve tribes of natural Israel, they will share with Christ in ruling over those pictured by the “twelve tribes of Israel,” namely, all the world of mankind that will live on earth during their thousand-year reign.

These joint heirs with Christ become kings and priests, not by reason of natural inheritance, but because of God’s choosing and anointing of them. They become, as the apostle Peter said, “a royal priesthood.” (1 Pet. 2:9) With Christ they become ruling priests, such as are described in the covenant for the kingly priesthood. Of them it is written: “They will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.”—Rev. 20:6.

What, then, of the Davidic covenant for the earthly kingdom? Has it come to an end? Not at all! As foretold through the angel Gabriel, Christ rules “as king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.” But that kingship is exercised from the heavens and by one who is also designated by God as priestly ruler, by virtue of the provisions of the covenant for the kingly priesthood. And for how long? He is “a priest forever according to the manner of Melchizedek.” So the covenant for the Davidic kingdom and the covenant for the heavenly kingly priesthood work together to ensure a new system of things for the benefit of mankind that will far excel anything that man has yet experienced.

Questions From Readers

● Does the scripture at Isaiah 61:1, 2 constitute the ordination of the “other sheep”?—L. H., U.S.A.

Isaiah 61:1, 2 reads: “The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to those taken captive and the wide opening of the eyes even to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of good will on the part of Jehovah and the day of vengeance on the part of our God; to comfort all the mourning ones.”

Note here that the prophet says that he has been anointed by Jehovah’s spirit. Jesus applied this prophecy to himself but only after he had been anointed by God’s holy spirit at the Jordan at the time of his baptism. (Luke 3:21, 22; 4:17-21)