(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.—Gen. 26:24; 28:13, 14; 41:39; Ex. 3:2-22; 28:30; Gal. 3:19.

3. (a) Why was another line of communication necessary for the nation of Israel? (b) How did this operate in connection with the “judges”?

³ While the law-covenant machinery kept the government functioning along with the limited judicial communication above described, yet from time to time it became necessary for Jehovah to convey special communication to the nation’s theocratically appointed rulers and also to render spiritual counsel to the people. This additional line of communication was maintained by Jehovah through specially chosen men and women beginning with Moses and then later including others located in various parts of the Promised Land. They were raised up for such communication service as the necessity arose. Whenever the people as a whole lost faith in Jehovah, becoming infected with paganized religious thinking and in consequence being subjugated by their nontheocratic neighbors, God raised up special servants of faith known as “judges.” He sent divine messages to these “judges” by means of angels and his holy spirit that fired them to action that they might stir the nation to return into paths of righteousness. Some of them became warriors to lead Israel’s forces in victoriously driving out pagan invaders. Joshua, Moses’ successor, was one of these and so were others such as Gideon, Deborah, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, to name a few.—Heb. 11:32.

4. What was the ‘line of prophets,’ and how did they serve as channels?

⁴ From King Saul’s time forward, when the nation desired to have human kings at the head of their governmental administration, Jehovah raised up devoted men known as “prophets” who served as his earthly channels of communication. Samuel was the last of the line of Israel’s “judges” and the first in the long line of “prophets” used by Jehovah for over a thousand years until John the Baptist to render guidance, reproof and calls to reform. The prophets became powerful preachers in channeling to the people the divine messages they received from Jehovah. Uncompromisingly they stood as Jehovah’s witnesses on God’s side of whatever issues were current in their day. They were ready to withstand the stream of public opinion and persecution rather than compromise in their devotion as prophets of Jehovah.—Heb. 11:33-38.

5, 6. (a) What happened to the divine message received by the prophets of old? (b) Who were the “sons of the prophets”? (c) How did Israel receive the prophets?

⁵ Most of the large number of divine communications received by the prophets have been recorded for us in various books of the Bible, several of which books actually bear the names of the prophets who wrote them. All these divine pronouncements of God’s originality are a rich recorded heritage. Their revelations become part of the true Christian religion to this day. Outstanding prophets such as Elijah and Elisha had disciples associated with them who became known as “sons of the prophets.” These associates like Noah’s three sons became fellow preachers along with the prophet channel himself to form a band of prophets or a prophet organization. These helpers to the prophet made it possible for him to channel throughout the nation in a short time the messages he received from God. It is interestingly noted that Jehovah’s holy spirit also operated upon these “sons of the prophets.”—1 Ki. 20:35; 2 Ki. 2:3, 15.

⁶ Finally the apostasy, the unfaithfulness of Israel, grew to the point where they totally rejected Jehovah’s repeated merciful counsel and divine warning, so that Jehovah permitted the pagan King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to put an end to the dynasty of Davidic kings and to destroy Jerusalem. “And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers,