Our Incoming World Government​—God’s Kingdom

“Make melody to God, make melody. Make melody to our King, make melody. For God is King of all the earth”​—Ps. 47:6, 7.

1. Why do we speak of it as “our incoming world government”?

IT IS for us on earth! It is perfectly suited to our pressing needs​—this world government of which we speak. It is about to take over the care of all our affairs. That is why we speak of it as “our incoming world government.”

2. What about the ruling abilities of the One who furnishes this world government?

² It comes from a source far higher, far greater, than us puny human creatures, who have failed so miserably in managing our affairs on earth. It comes from the One who knows how to run, not only our tiny earth, but also the whole universe. It comes from the Creator of all things. The world government is His kingdom that he promised as far back as six thousand years ago. For all of this ought we not to be glad and make melody to Him? Yes, indeed!

3. His kingdom being a world government, over what and whom will God be King?

³ In being a world government, God’s kingdom will not deal with just one nation on earth. Long ago, from the spring of 1513 before our Common Era to the spring of 33 C.E., God was the heavenly King of just the nation of Israel. (Ps. 147:19, 20) But now he gives his own word for it that he will be King over all the earth. This means over people of all nations. That is why, by means of one of his leading prophets, Isaiah, he said these words of encouragement to all peoples: “My own house will be called even a house of prayer for all the peoples.”​—Isa. 56:7.

4. What prophecy of meaning for us all did God make back in Eden, and what government agency did he then have in mind?

⁴ However, thousands of years before that, away back in the garden of Eden, God made a prophecy that has meaning for all peoples. There he said to the great Seducer of all mankind: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He [the woman’s seed] will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Gen. 3:15) Those prophetic words indicated that, just as all the descendants of the first human couple were hurt by the deceptive action of the great Seducer, so all of them would benefit from the bruising of his head by the triumphant “seed” of God’s “woman.” That bodes good for us of today, does it not? Happily, Yes! And when God spoke of the Bruiser of the head of the Adversary, he was speaking of the government agency that he would set up over all mankind. The government was to be of God and by God and for all the people. Over this fact we should all rejoice.

5. How did the song sung by Moses and the quotation made by Paul indicate that God’s purpose for the future embraced more than Israel?

⁵ God’s government over the nation of Israel with himself as the heavenly King, was only for a period of time. His loving purpose for the future embraced more than just that small nation. It was at Mount Sinai in Arabia that God became King over the nation of Israel; but in the 40th year thereafter his prophet Moses sang a song in the hearing of all the Israelites. In the climax of that song, he said: “Be glad, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and he will pay back vengeance to his adversaries and will indeed make atonement for the ground of his people.” (Deut. 32:43) Some 1,528 years later those words of Moses were caught up by a man who was an apostle of the “good news” to the non-Israelite nations. Incorporating those words into his inspired letter to Roman Christians, he said: “Christ actually became a minister of those who are circumcised [the Israelites] in behalf of God’s truthfulness, so as to verify the promises He made to their forefathers, and that the nations might glorify God for his mercy. . . . And again he says: ‘Be glad, you nations, with his people.’”​—Rom. 15:8-10.

6-8. (a) How did Paul show that God was internationally minded as far as justifying people by faith is concerned? (b) So what kind of government does God purpose?

⁶ The writer who thus quoted Moses’ words was the apostle Paul. He was a far-ranging missionary intent on finally reaching Rome and planning to go even to Spain. He knew what God was then doing, not only for those Jews who accepted the “good news,” but also for uncircumcised non-Jews, Gentiles, who put faith in the “good news.” He knew that God was internationally minded. So to the congregation in Rome, made up of Jewish and Gentile Christians, Paul wrote:

⁷ “Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also [the God] of people of the nations? Yes, of people of the nations also, if truly God is one, who will declare circumcised people righteous as a result of faith and uncircumcised people righteous by means of their faith.”​—Rom. 3:29, 30.

⁸ So for our time God purposes, not a national government, but a world government for people of all nationalities.

THE KINGDOM OF THE SON OF GOD’S LOVE

9. Why does not natural Israel have any inherited claim on the privilege of setting up the promised world government?

⁹ Today persons who know the mind of God do not depend on any nation, group of nations, or even the United Nations of now 149 members, to set up the sorely needed world government. They know that the Republic of Israel does not have any inherited claim on the privilege of setting up the world government for the blessing of all the families of the earth. The facts show that God’s kingdom over the natural circumcised Jews ceased in the first century C.E. But God then made a gracious move that was related to the world government. He set up a spiritual kingdom. Over whom was that kingdom, inasmuch as the privileges of the kingdom of God were taken away from the nation of fleshly Israel? Who on earth are the subjects of that spiritual kingdom?

10. In Colossians 1:13 what did Paul call that kingdom, and when did it begin?

¹⁰ That kingdom had its start in the first century C.E. The apostle Paul specifically called attention to it in his letter to the Christian congregation in the city of Colossae, Asia Minor (now Turkey), when he said: “Thanking the Father who rendered you suitable for your participation in the inheritance of the holy ones in the light. He delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins.” (Col. 1:12-14) Away back there in the first century God began making the believers suitable for his purpose even though they were from the Gentile nations. He forgave their sins.

11. What did God’s delivering of the Colossian Christians from the “authority of the darkness” really mean for them?

¹¹ Thus the Colossian believers were made suitable for a share in the inheritance with God’s holy ones, who were in the light. They had been under the “authority of the darkness,” or under the authority of all that such darkness represents. That would include ignorance of Jehovah God, estrangement from him, and not being under his rulership. So, as God made such believers suitable for a share in a brighter life, he “delivered [them] from the authority of the darkness.” They now really became the most enlightened people on earth, for they were now enlightened by God. They were no longer under “the world rulers of this darkness, . . . the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12) God had intervened “to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God.”​—Acts 26:18.

12. With what does Paul say that the enlightened condition of those first-century believers was connected?

¹² In this way the first-century believers in the “good news” were brought into a realm of light. But with what was their enlightened condition connected? It was connected with a kingdom. When God “delivered [them] from the authority of the darkness,” he at the same time “transferred [them] into the kingdom of the Son of his love.” (Col. 1:13) That Son is Jesus Christ.

13. What did not only the Colossian Christians but also the enemies understand the official position of Christ to be at that time?

¹³ At the time that the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the congregation in Colossae, Jesus Christ was spoken of as being a king and as already having a kingdom. That is the way that the enlightened Christian congregation in Colossae understood the matter. Even their enemies came to understand the matter that way. For instance, what was the charge that the mobsters brought against the Christians in the city of Thessalonica? In order to incite the city rulers against the Christians, these mobsters said: “These men [that is, the apostle Paul and his missionary companions] that have overturned the inhabited earth are present here also, . . . And all these men act in opposition to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.”​—Acts 17:6, 7.

14. How did Paul compare the imperial Caesars and other political rulers of the day with the glorified Jesus Christ?

¹⁴ In showing the difference between the glorified Jesus Christ and the imperial Caesars and other political rulers on earth, the apostle Paul spoke of the immortal Ruler, Jesus Christ, as “the King of those [mortals] who rule as kings and Lord of those [mortals] who rule as lords, the one alone having immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light.” (1 Tim. 6:15, 16) Besides that, the apostle Paul compares this immortal Son of God, Jesus Christ, with King Melchizedek of the twentieth century before our Common Era and says: “This Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, . . . is first of all, by translation, ‘King of Righteousness,’ and is then also king of Salem, that is, ‘King of Peace,’ . . . having been made like the Son of God, . . . And it is still more abundantly clear that with a similarity to Melchizedek there arises another priest, . . . for in witness it is said: ‘You are a priest forever according to the manner of Melchizedek.’”​—Heb. 7:1-3, 15-17; Ps. 110:1-4.

15. When was it that Jesus Christ became a King-Priest like Melchizedek?

¹⁵ When was God’s Son made a King-Priest like Melchizedek? This was 40 days after his resurrection from the dead, when he ascended to heaven. Then he appeared in the presence of God with the value of his perfect human sacrifice in behalf of the redeemed humans who were to become his subjects in the future.

16. Why, at this point, might some persons have questions about Christ’s reigning?

¹⁶ Here, at this point, some persons might experience a little confusion of thought and say, ‘Why, I have understood that Jesus Christ has been reigning in heaven only since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. So how could it be that he has been reigning in heaven since the year of his ascension to heaven, the year 33 C.E.? (Acts 1:1-11; 2:22-36; Heb. 9:24; 10:12, 13) In what way has he been King all the time since, and over whom has he been reigning?’

THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM OVER SPIRITUAL ISRAEL

17. Over what did Christ not begin reigning back in 33 C.E.?

¹⁷ Well, back in 33 C.E. Jesus Christ did not begin reigning over the world of mankind. He had no share in a world government. He did not start reigning over the Gentile nations, for the Gentile Times were due to end in 1914 C.E.​—Luke 21:24.

18. Although Christ then began reigning, why was it not over “the world”?

¹⁸ On Pentecost of 33 C.E., at the outpouring of God’s holy spirit, a new nation came into existence, spiritual Israel. (Gal. 6:15, 16; 1 Pet. 2:9, 10) Hence, the glorified Jesus Christ then began reigning over spiritual Israel, over those whom God “transferred . . . into the kingdom of the Son of his love.” (Col. 1:13) To this congregation of spiritual Israelites the words of Jesus Christ apply: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:14) Inasmuch as he began reigning over those who were “no part of the world,” he was not reigning over the world. So he was reigning over something that was separate from the world. His subjects were in the world but were “no part of the world.”

19. So what kind of kingdom was “the kingdom of the Son of [God’s] love,” and who were its subjects?

¹⁹ Jesus Christ was never an earthly human king. He is now a heavenly spiritual King. (John 18:36) According to Hebrews 4:14, he “passed through the heavens.” And according to 1 Peter 3:22, “he is at God’s right hand, for he went his way to heaven; and angels and authorities and powers were made subject to him.” This included spiritual Israel on earth. Consequently Christ’s kingdom since Pentecost of 33 C.E. has been a spiritual one. The worldly-minded churches of Christendom, who meddle in the politics of this world, have not subjected themselves to “the kingdom of the Son of [God’s] love.” They are the friends of this world.​—Jas. 4:4.

20. Because of a special relationship of its subjects to God, Christ’s kingdom had to be of what kind?

²⁰ Christ’s kingdom was necessarily of a spiritual kind in that it was over dedicated, baptized Christians who were begotten by God’s spirit to become the spiritual children of God. It was just as Jesus told the Jewish ruler Nicodemus: “Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . Unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. What has been born from the flesh is flesh, and what has been born from the spirit is spirit.”​—John 3:3, 5, 6.

21. Why was Christ’s kingdom then not a world government?

²¹ According to John 1:12, 13, with regard to those who received Jesus as the Messiah, “to them he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name; and they were born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.” For this reason, Christ’s kingdom since the outpouring of the holy spirit upon the Christian congregation at Jerusalem on Pentecost of 33 C.E. has been over a spirit-begotten class, over spiritual Israelites. (Rom. 2:29) It has not been a world government over earthly nations.

22. According to what announcement at God’s due time was Christ to share in world government?

²² Well, now, is “the Son of [God’s] love” to be King over only a congregation of spirit-begotten disciples? In order for the world of mankind to become his subjects on earth, will they all have to become spirit-begotten, “born again,” as the spiritual sons of God? Is that how the world government over all mankind comes, by a world conversion to Christianity before the millennial reign of Christ? No! And yet Jesus Christ will share in world government over the whole human race. In the prophecy of Revelation 11:15, the announcement was to be made at the due time of the Lord God: “The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.”

23. Why does God recognize Jesus Christ as deserving a share in world government?

²³ That announcement heralds a world government! How, then, is Jesus Christ to gain a share in that world government? The Lord God recognizes his Son as having a right to share in such a world government. Why so? Because God gave his Son to die for all the human race, and this Son died as a perfect human sacrifice. By this he redeemed the whole human family. As Hebrews 2:9 says: “That he by God’s undeserved kindness might taste death for every man.” Also, 1 Timothy 2:5, 6 calls him “Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.”

24. What time did God set for giving his Son a share in world government?

²⁴ However, the Lord God set a time for giving his self-sacrificing Son a share in the world government. When? At the end of the Gentile Times. At that marked time God’s permission of the Gentile Nations (including those of Christendom) to dominate the whole world without interference from God’s kingdom was to expire.​—Luke 21:24; Heb. 10:12, 13.

25. What have the intervening centuries allowed for God to do, with a vital tie to the incoming world government?

²⁵ All the intervening centuries have allowed God to go ahead with something that has a vital connection with our incoming world government. What has that been? The transferring of additional approved disciples of Jesus Christ into the spiritual “kingdom of the Son of his love.” (Col. 1:13) He has been doing this according to his own divine will by begetting them with his spirit. (Jas. 1:18) His purpose is to have 144,000 thus taken from among mankind and transferred into his Son’s spiritual Kingdom. These 144,000 must be such as will steadfastly remain in that kingdom in spite of all the trials, hardships and persecution experienced in this world. They must prove to be spirit-begotten disciples who remain “faithful even to death.”​—Rev. 2:10; 7:4-8; 14:1-3.

“The Kingdom of Our Lord and of His Christ” Takes Over

1. When will the 144,000 spirit-begotten disciples of Christ cease to be subjects on earth of his spiritual kingdom?

WE ARE all interested in the governing factors of our incoming world government. In course of time all 144,000 of Christ’s faithful spirit-begotten disciples will be numbered among those governing factors. Then they will no longer be earthly subjects of a spiritual kingdom of Christ, but they will be kings with him in heaven. This prospect agrees with the words of Revelation 5:9, 10, addressed to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God: “With your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.”

2. The governing factors of the incoming world rulership will therefore have their roots of extraction in what section of mankind?

² Notice, please! That inspired statement does not say that the sacrificed Lamb of God bought persons for God out of the 12 tribes of the one nation of Israel that spoke the Hebrew tongue. Not just persons who were bought out of that small Jewish nation will make up the ruling factors of our incoming world government. The governing factors of that world rulership will not have their roots in just the fleshly nation of Israel, even though the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was himself a Hebrew-speaking Jew or Israelite, when a perfect man on earth. As he is now in heaven, he is to be known no more according to the flesh that he sacrificed. (2 Cor. 5:16) In harmony with this he will have associated with him in the world government persons whom he bought “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

3. The ruling factors will thus have an interest in whom on earth, and why?

³ Thus the ruling factors will have an international extraction. Naturally, for this reason, they will have an interest in all members of the human family regardless of color, race, tribe, nation or language. This is just as it should be, inasmuch as the Lamb of God died for all mankind, not for just one people or nation.

4. The citizenry of all the nations are really the property of whom, and why?

⁴ Today the political governments consider their citizens to be the property of the State. In this way such governments push God the Creator and his sacrificed Son Jesus Christ out of the realm of property rights. But shortly in the heavenly Court of Divine Justice it will be established that the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was slaughtered here on earth for those who make up the citizenry of all nations. So by right of purchase they all belong to him, and not to any man or men. They are Christ’s property, yes, also the property of his heavenly Father, Jehovah God. So this purchase does not limit itself to just the 144,000 who will be kings with Christ in the heavenly government. We must have the broad view of the Son of God that John the Baptizer had, when he pointed to the baptized Jesus and said: “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” Yes, of the world.​—John 1:29.

5. How extensive will the incoming royal government be, and whom will the Messianic King have as his subjects?

⁵ In full harmony with that fact, the incoming royal government will be global, earth wide. With reference to the Messianic Ruler, the prophecy of Zechariah 9:10 says: “He [the Prince of Peace] will actually speak peace to the nations; and his rulership will be from sea to sea and from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth.” In corresponding language the prophecy of Psalm 72:7, 8 declares: “In his days the righteous one will sprout, and the abundance of peace until the moon is no more. And he will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Christendom is no fulfillment of that prophecy, even though she assumes to be Christ’s kingdom and today claims to have nearly 1,000 million church members, these, however, being of many sects and denominations, all around the earth. The nations professing to be Christian have been the most peace-disturbing political entities of human society. They have not proved themselves to be the united subjects of the Prince of Peace, Christ.​—Isa. 9:6.

6. How did the nations of Christendom prove themselves to be no subjects of the Prince of Peace?

⁶ Were they not the ones that caused world peace to be shattered by global war in the years 1914-1918? Twenty or more participants of the 28 nations and empires that finally got involved in the war claimed to be Christian. Over what issue did they go to war? It was the issue of world domination. No, not world domination for Jesus Christ, but world domination for whoever was to win the global conflict. But World War I did not settle the issue to a finality. Twenty-one years later they started to fight it out on a greater scale. And now, more than 32 years after World War II ended, the issue of world domination is not settled to the satisfaction of worldly nations. The political situation is building up to a third violent resort to arms globally.

7. Worldly nations that put their own sovereignty foremost have pushed aside what announcement made to them by Jehovah’s Christian witnesses?

⁷ Till now the nations that have put their national sovereignty foremost have brushed aside what Jehovah’s Christian witnesses have been proclaiming to them even in the face of cruel persecution. Proclaiming what? This: that early in the autumn of the war-racked year of 1914 their lease on world rulership without the interference of God’s kingdom expired. Or, to use the language of the prophecy of Jesus Christ, “the times of the Gentiles,” “the appointed times of the nations,” expired. Then the time fixed by the Sovereign of the universe, Jehovah God, arrived for him to set up “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” He brought to birth the kingdom of his Christ, not at Jerusalem over in the Middle East, but up in heaven at his own right hand. (Luke 21:24, Authorized Version; New World Translation) Because this took place up in heaven, it was invisible to us. But the evidences of it are before our eyes in the things that Jesus Christ foretold for a visible “sign” to us.​—Matt., chaps. 24 and 25; Mark 13:3-37; Luke 21:5-36.

ENTER “THE KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND OF HIS CHRIST”

8. Since when was the “sign” readable, and the time for what announcement did it indicate?

⁸ How many of us have noticed that “sign” and read its meaning as it has unfolded before our eyes since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914? It indicates that then was the due time for loud voices in heaven to proclaim: “The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.”​—Rev. 11:15.

9. How does this “kingdom” compare with that mentioned in Colossians 1:13, and who is said to do the ruling as king in it?

⁹ Let us listen to that proclamation again and notice what it says. Not, ‘and they will rule as kings forever and ever,’ but, “and he will rule as king forever and ever.” Who, then, is the One that is said to do the ruling as king forever and ever? He must be the leading one spoken of in the proclamation, the one who has a Christ or Anointed One. He must be the one spoken of as “our Lord.” The one who is called in heaven “our Lord” is the Principal One, and “his Christ” is the secondary one, the subsidiary one. Hence, the government is termed “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,” and is something of greater proportions and bigger dimensions than “the kingdom of the Son of his love,” spoken of in Colossians 1:13, the apostle Paul mentioning such a kingdom about 35 years before John wrote the Revelation. So at the taking over of the “kingdom of the world” it is Jehovah God who really starts reigning. He is “the Lord of the earth.”​—Rev. 11:4; Zech. 14:3-9.

10. So this marks the start of what for the “King of eternity”?

¹⁰ That the foregoing is the correct application of the expression “our Lord” is supported by what the 24 elders said as they worshiped before the divine throne: “We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king.” (Rev. 11:16, 17) So this marks the start of a special period in the universal rulership of God, “the King of eternity.”​—1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 15:3.

11. The symbolic male child born by God’s “woman” plays what kind of role, but who, basically, exercises the kingship?

¹¹ The kingship of Jehovah God is what is exalted even in what is said in connection with the birth of an offspring by God’s heavenly “woman.” The offspring is pictured as a male child, “who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod.” That doubtless means that the symbolic male child is to break all the political nations of the earth to pieces as when smashing clay pottery. So it has a governmental role to fulfill. But who, basically, wields the kingly power? This is spelled out for us in the words: “And her child was caught away to God and to his throne.”​—Rev. 12:1-5.

12. Who is it that enthrones the symbolic male child, and accordingly, thereafter, who is said to have the kingdom, and to whom is authority given?

¹² God is the One who enthrones this symbolic male child. God is the Source of all rightful rulership. The symbolic child is given a position subsidiary to God’s kingship. As a governmental agency of God it is spoken of as something brand new, as fresh as a newly born baby, not as something that had already been in existence since Pentecost of 33 C.E. Accordingly, when war breaks out in heaven after the birth of this symbolic male child and finally the victory is won, Satan and his demons being ousted, a loud voice in heaven is heard to say: “Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom [of whom?] of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down.” (Rev. 12:7-10) Thus again the kingdom is said to be that of our God. He is the One who really does the reigning, and his Christ or Anointed One, Jesus, gets “authority” to rule in a secondary way under the Lord God.

13. At the close of the Gentile Times in 1914, what was at issue with respect to Jehovah, and how had this been expressed much earlier toward our earth?

¹³ There is a sound Scriptural reason why matters are stated in this way, with emphasis on the kingship of Jehovah God. It is His universal sovereignty that is at issue when there occurs the take-over of the “kingdom of the world” at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914. Two thousand five hundred and twenty years before that Jehovah had had a kingdom in the earth that represented him in the midst of the Gentile nations. That was the kingdom of the royal house of David at Jerusalem. David and his royal successors were said to sit on “Jehovah’s throne” at the capital city of the nation. (1 Chron. 29:23) Shortly before his death David made a generous contribution to the building of a temple to Jehovah and at that time he said: “Yours is the kingdom, O Jehovah, the One also lifting yourself up as head over all.” (1 Chron. 29:11) Thus the kingdom of the royal house of David was an expression of the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God toward the earth.

14. Despite God’s everlasting covenant with David for a kingdom, what interruption occurred in the occupancy of the throne by David’s descendants?

¹⁴ In harmony with God’s covenant with King David for an everlasting rulership, the royal house of David continued to occupy “Jehovah’s throne” at Jerusalem until the summer of 607 B.C.E. At that tragic time the Babylonian armies captured Jerusalem and destroyed it, and King Zedekiah was deported to Babylon as an exile. The complete desolation of the land of Judah followed, by the middle of the seventh lunar month, Tishri, of that year. Although the exiled Jewish survivors were restored to Jerusalem and the land of Judah 70 years later, “Jehovah’s throne” was not reestablished at Jerusalem, to be occupied by a descendant of David with the royal right to the crown and the scepter. Why not?

15. How was the interruption of Jehovah’s sovereignty toward our earth pictured in a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar?

¹⁵ It was because now, since the desolating of the land of Judah in the year 607 B.C.E., the Gentile Times had set in and were due to run for 2,520 years, or until 1914 C.E. Jehovah’s sovereignty toward this earth was like the lofty tree seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. That tree was chopped down, only its rootstock being left in the ground. “Seven times” were ordained to pass over the tree stump before any tree growth could spring up from it. For that reason bands of iron and copper were fastened around the tree stump, to stay there till the “seven times” were finished. (Dan. chap. four) True to this picture, at the end of “seven times” of unimpeded Gentile domination of the earth Jehovah’s universal sovereignty was to express itself again toward our earth.

16, 17. (a) At that marked time, what kingdom would be due to become Jehovah’s possession, and what proclamation would fittingly be made? (b) At the destruction of Babylon the Great, what is to be announced in confirmation of Jehovah’s rulership?

¹⁶ At that marked time in God’s schedule of events the occasion would call for ‘the kingdom of the world to become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.’ (Rev. 11:15) Valid reason that would be for tremendous joy on the part of all those in heaven and on earth who had prayed for God to assert once again his full sovereignty toward our earth, where the Gentile powers had held world domination for so long. Then, and not at the pouring out of holy spirit on Pentecost of 33 C.E., the proclamation of Psalm 97:1, 9 would be due to be made: “Jehovah himself has become king! Let the earth be joyful. Let the many islands rejoice. For you, O Jehovah, are the Most High over all the earth; you are very high in your ascent over all other gods.” (Also, Psalm 99:1.) Later on, the destruction of Babylon the Great (the world empire of false religion) would confirm Jehovah’s kingship. With a Hallelujah the cry will ring out:

¹⁷ “Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.”​—Rev. 19:6.

18. Who then takes to himself his power to rule as king, and what gift does he make to his Son?

¹⁸ These proclamations put in bold relief the fact that it is the Sovereign Lord Jehovah who takes up reigning again toward our earth at the close of the “seven times” of Gentile domination. It is He who takes his great power to himself and takes over “the kingdom of the world.” (Rev. 11:15-17) Then he gives to his Son, Jesus Christ, a share in “the kingdom of the world.” Thus “his Christ” shares in something that he never had before, as a gift from the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. This is just the gift that He promised to make. It was about the time that he was going to overthrow and bring to ruin the kingdom of David’s royal line at Jerusalem. To the last reigning descendant of King David, he then said: “Remove the turban, and lift off the crown. This will not be the same. . . . A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. As for this also, it will certainly become no one’s until he comes who has the legal right, and I must give it to him.”​—Ezek. 21:25-27.

19. According to Jesus’ own prophecy at Luke 21:24, why could he not be given that to which he gained the “legal right” even at Pentecost of 33 C.E.?

¹⁹ Jesus Christ proved to be the one “who has the legal right,” by his faithfulness in the flesh to the death. He is David’s Permanent Heir. But the thing to which he has the “legal right” was not given to him in 33 C.E., after he ascended to heaven. Forty-four days before his ascension he gave his prophecy as recorded in Luke 21:5-36. In this he foretold the destruction that was to come to the then existing Jerusalem, which did come at the hands of the Roman legions in 70 C.E., and with regard to that he said: “They [the Jews] will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24) So in 33 C.E. he could not be given that to which he had gained the “legal right,” not even at Pentecost of that year.

20. According to Ezekiel 21:25-27, to what did Jesus gain the “legal right,” and what only could David bequeath to Jesus as his Permanent Heir?

²⁰ That to which Jesus Christ gained the “legal right” was the Davidic kingdom, an earthly kingdom, the “turban” and “crown” of which had been worn by David and his royal successors. (Ezek. 21:25-27) As a perfect human, Jesus was born into the royal family of David, which naturally put him in line for the Davidic kingdom. (Rom. 1:3, 4; Luke 1:32, 33) Since David was an earthly king, he could not bequeath to Jesus Christ anything more than he himself had had, an earthly kingdom. The angel Gabriel told Jesus’ earthly mother, the virgin Jewess Mary, that God would give him “the throne of David his father.” Was this kingdom given to Jesus in 33 C.E., when he ascended back to heaven and sat down at God’s right hand? David’s kingdom had been overthrown in 607 B.C.E., to continue inoperative for the “seven times” of Gentile world domination, or, for 2,520 years from 607 B.C.E.​—Acts 1:6.

21. So, before Jesus could exercise his right to David’s kingdom, he had to wait for God to take what action?

²¹ So, before the glorified Jesus Christ could exercise the rights of David’s earthly kingdom, he had to wait at God’s right hand until the Gentile Times ended in 1914 C.E. (Heb. 10:12, 13) He had to wait until Jehovah God took to himself his “great power” as Universal Sovereign and brought to an end the Gentile Times and assumed “the kingdom of the world.” Then God could invite Jesus, as the Permanent Heir of King David, to share with Him in the “kingdom of the world,” a kingdom over all mankind on earth.​—Rev. 11:15.

22. Thus when was the new kingdom brought forth, and how was this pictured in Bible prophecies?

²² Thus in 1914, not in 33 C.E., the symbolic “stone” seen in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was cut out of the great mountain that pictured Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. (Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45) It was at that time also that Jehovah God planted his “feet” upon the symbolic “mountain of the olive trees” and it split in the middle to form two mountains, one toward the north and the other to the south. (Zech. 14:4, 9) This corresponds with the birth of the male child by God’s heavenly “woman,” as pictured in Revelation 12:1-5. In this way a new “kingdom” was brought forth, a new expression of God’s sovereignty toward our earth. God then put his King-Designate on the throne to exercise his “legal right.” The symbolic bands of copper and iron were removed from around the “rootstock” of God’s interrupted sovereignty toward our earth. The prescribed “seven times” had now passed over the rootstock.​—Dan. 4:23, 26.

Now Is the Due Time to Welcome the Universal Sovereign

1, 2. Daniel, chapter seven, pictures the glorified “Son of man” as being brought in before whom and as being given what?

THE UNIVERSAL SOVEREIGN is “the Ancient of Days,” Jehovah. To him the glorified “Son of man,” Jesus Christ, came, in 1914 C.E., for a share in the “kingdom of the world.”

² The prophet Daniel foretold this, saying: “See there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”​—Dan. 7:13, 14.

3. According to Daniel 7:27, who also are brought into that indefinitely lasting kingdom?

³ That kingdom has brought into it later on in this “time of the end” 144,000 spirit-begotten disciples of Christ. Just as Daniel 7:27 foretold: “The kingdom and the rulership and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an indefinitely lasting kingdom, and all the rulerships will serve and obey even them.”​—Dan. 12:4; Rev. 14:1-3; 20:4, 6.

4. The “great crowd” of today are the subjects of what heavenly government?

⁴ Because the Ancient of Days takes his Anointed Son Jesus into association with him in “the kingdom of the world” it becomes “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” (Rev. 11:15) Thus all the world of mankind become earthly human subjects of the Universal Sovereign Jehovah and of his Christ. These earthly subjects now include the “great crowd” who are introduced to us in the vision in Revelation 7:9-17. This vision was first understood in 1935 C.E.

5. According to Revelation 3:21, 63 years after Pentecost of 33 C.E. Jesus was encouraging his spirit-begotten disciples to look forward to what?

⁵ Today the “great crowd” well understands that “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” involves two main persons, namely, the Lord Jehovah and his Son, Christ Jesus; also, that this particular government to which they are subject dates, not from Pentecost of 33 C.E., but from 1914 C.E. Accordingly, the “great crowd” observes that, 63 years after Pentecost, Christ Jesus was still encouraging his spirit-begotten disciples to look forward to that kingdom, saying: “To the one that conquers I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, even as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Rev. 3:21) They had yet to inherit that coming heavenly kingdom as “heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ.” (Rom. 8:17) Jesus Christ is the main Heir of God, and his disciples are minor heirs.​—Heb. 1:1, 2.

6. According to 2 Peter 1:10, 11, were the spirit-begotten disciples already in that kingdom or yet to enter into it?

⁶ So the Kingdom of which those spirit-begotten disciples on earth were “joint heirs with Christ” is not something in which they had been since the outpouring of holy spirit at Pentecost of 33 C.E. For that reason the apostle Peter, writing his second letter about 64 C.E., or 30 years after Pentecost, gave his fellow Christians this admonition: “If you keep on doing these things you will by no means ever fail. In fact, thus there will be richly supplied to you the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”​—2 Pet. 1:10, 11.

7. By means of what do they have that entrance into the kingdom supplied to them, and so what temporary relationship to Jesus Christ passes away?

⁷ In God’s due time the 144,000 joint heirs with Christ are richly supplied that entrance into the heavenly kingdom by means of the “first resurrection.” Then they will no longer be the spirit-begotten subjects on earth under “the Son of [God’s] love.” That temporary relationship with the glorified Jesus Christ will be gone forever. They will be the heavenly immortal, incorruptible kings with him. (2 Tim. 2:11, 12; Rev. 20:4, 6) This means that the temporary subject state that applied to them since Pentecost of 33 C.E. and while they were yet in the flesh on earth will have passed forever. (Col. 1:13) For having lived clean and faithful lives on earth, they inherit “the kingdom of the Christ and of God.”​—Eph. 5:5.

8. Did the 1,000-year reign of Christ begin in 1914, and what does the foretold “sign” indicate in this regard?

⁸ The 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ with his 144,000 joint heirs did not begin in 1914 at the inauguration of the “kingdom of the world . . . the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” What did begin there for Jesus Christ was his official, royal “presence,” or parousia, about which his apostles had asked, according to Matthew 24:3. His “presence” in Kingdom power did not start when God used him to pour out holy spirit at Pentecost of 33 C.E. (2 Thess. 2:2) Only since the Gentile Times ended in 1914 has the foretold “sign” become visible to prove that the Son of God is invisibly present in Kingdom power, in the “kingdom of the world.”

9. From the occurring of the “sign,” the disciples were to know that what was near, and why were they to quit any dejectedness?

⁹ This kingdom is assigned to destroy the present wicked system of things. In Jesus’ prophecy that sets out the things that make up the portentous “sign,” he referred to the Kingdom when it was about to carry out this destructive work, saying to his apostles: “In this way you also, when you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:31) By carrying out its assigned work, this kingdom will deliver the faithful disciples of Christ yet on earth from further oppression by the Gentile nations. This explains why Jesus said to his disciples: “As these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.”​—Luke 21:28.

10. When does the “deliverance” of the spirit-begotten remnant take place, and what does it include?

¹⁰ The remnant of spirit-begotten disciples of Christ yet on earth saw “these things” start to occur back in 1914 C.E. Their deliverance from the present wicked system of things occurs when the royal “stone” that was cut out of the mountain of God’s sovereignty strikes the “image” of worldly political rulership of the earth and destroys it in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. (Dan. 2:44, 45; Rev. 16:14, 16) Their “deliverance” also includes their later being taken from the earthly scene and being ushered into “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” by the “first resurrection” from the dead. (2 Pet. 1:11; Rev. 20:4, 6) This will enable them to rule as kings with Jesus Christ during the millennium when Satan the Devil and his demons are bound and confined in the abyss, no longer able to dominate mankind’s affairs invisibly.​—Rev. 20:1-3.

11. Who else will then enjoy deliverance, but for ignoring what “decree” will the Gentile nations not share in that deliverance?

¹¹ Deliverance also nears for the “great crowd” of sheeplike people who are now taking their stand with the spirit-begotten remnant in favor of “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” But the Gentile nations have ignored the Kingdom “decree” about which they have been given notice, as set out in Psalm 2:1-9: “Why have the nations been in tumult [since 1914 C.E.] and the national groups themselves kept muttering an empty thing? The kings of earth take their stand and high officials themselves have massed together as one against Jehovah and against his anointed one [his Christ], . . . Let me refer to the decree of Jehovah; he has said to me [Christ]: ‘You are my son; I, today, I have become your father. Ask of me, that I may give nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your own possession. You will break them with an iron scepter, as though a potter’s vessel you will dash them to pieces.’”​—Rev. 7:9, 10; 11:15.

NEUTRALITY ASSOCIATED WITH KINGDOM PREACHING

12. Despite the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, what position do Jehovah’s Witnesses take toward worldly politics?

¹² Since 1914, the “kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” has had a right to interfere with Gentile nations. Does this mean that Jehovah’s Christian witnesses now have a right to meddle in worldly politics? May they take sides, as Catholics and Protestants do, with this or that political party, even conspiring against established political government or stirring up revolution? Not at all! Uncompromisingly they have copied the example of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, in being “no part of the world.” They hold strictly to the kingdom that was brought to birth in heaven in 1914. (John 17:14, 16; Rev. 12:1-12) In spite of the fierce persecution leveled against them because of their Christian neutrality toward worldly conflicts, they carry out the prophetic word of their heavenly Leader, Jesus Christ, when he said: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”​—Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10.

13. So why did the end of the Gentile Times and the start of Christ’s millennial reign not take place simultaneously?

¹³ This Kingdom witness has to be done before this system of things ends and Christ’s 1,000-year reign begins. Hence, the birth of God’s kingdom in the heavens in 1914 did not mean the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign. According to Bible prophecies, much has to take place before this system of things ends, making way for Christ’s reign of 1,000 years with his 144,000 spirit-begotten disciples.​—Rev. 20:4, 6.

14. What is Satan determined to accomplish respecting the nations before he is abyssed, and why?

¹⁴ Satan the Devil is determined that, before he and his demon angels are hurled into the abyss for 1,000 years, he will drag all the nations down into destruction and thus prevent their becoming Christ’s subjects during His millennial reign. To this end he is leading all the worldly nations to the battlefield of Har–Magedon, there to fight against Jehovah God and his Christ. (Rev. 16:13-16) Satan the Devil will thus be responsible for the everlasting “woe” that strikes the Gentile nations there. (Rev. 12:12; 19:11-21) How can we escape that woeful destruction with those nations?

15. For refusing to march with the Gentile nations under Satan, what has been the experience of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and why?

¹⁵ We must refuse to march as allies with the Gentile nations in their march to fight against Jehovah God the Almighty at Har–Magedon. Such refusal has brought great hardship upon Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses. Especially since the ouster of Satan the Devil and his demon angels from heaven, the remnant of the prospective joint heirs of Christ have been the main target of the wrathful Satan the Devil. (Rev. 12:13-17) His aim is to break their integrity toward God. In this way he would make them unfit to rule as kings with Christ during the 10 centuries when all the demons are imprisoned in the abyss. Satan the Devil is bent on preventing Christ from having the full number of 144,000 associate kings in the heavenly world government. Will Satan the Devil succeed in this? Never!

16. How will a demon-free millennium be brought in, and as an expression of what will God’s world government by Christ rule?

¹⁶ Well might an earthworm try to prevent a farm tractor from running over it as for Satan and all the earthly nations of which he is the invisible ruler to succeed in crippling and halting God’s incoming world government! Besides having suffered defeat in the earlier war in heaven, Satan will see the defeat of his misled nations at Har–Magedon. He will see Christ irresistibly use his “iron scepter” in dashing all the assembled nations to pieces as if they were earthenware vessels fashioned by a potter. (Ps. 2:8, 9; Rev. 12:5) Then Satan and his demons will be seized by the victorious Christ and be chained and hurled into the abysmal dungeon. This will be sealed tight shut for 1,000 years. During that demon-free millennium God’s world government by Christ will rule as an expression of his rightful universal sovereignty.​—Rev. 20:1-6.

WELCOME “THE GLORIOUS KING” IN!

17. To demonstrate our belief in the certainty of world government, what should be done by us now, imitating whose example?

¹⁷ Divine world government for the relief and blessing of oppressed dying mankind is certain. Do we believe that fact? Our belief in this joy-inspiring fact calls for us to do something now! Do what? Do like the dedicated, baptized “great crowd,” which began forming 20 years after the birth of God’s kingdom in 1914. They are hailing “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” as the only hope for everlasting deliverance! According to the prophetic vision given in Revelation 7:9-17, the “great crowd” clean up their lives and serve Jehovah God at his spiritual temple now! Our following this same course will ensure our being on the winning side during “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. (Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:11-21) Before us will then open the way to Paradise on earth under the best government that humankind will ever have had. Our desire for the best moves us to prepare for its coming now!

18. What does the Sovereign Lord God now bring with him, and so what should we acknowledge as belonging to him?

¹⁸ Behold now, with eyes of faith, the victorious march of the Sovereign Lord of all creation! He brings with him world government by Christ for the blessing of all the families of the earth, living and dead. Let us acknowledge his rightful sovereignty and say in the words of Psalm 24:1, 2: “To Jehovah belong the earth and that which fills it, the productive land and those dwelling in it. For upon the seas he himself has solidly fixed it, and upon the rivers he keeps it firmly established.” Ah, yes, no subterranean waters will ever rise to overflow the earth like a flood, while at the same time the seven seas have bars set for them by the Creator.

19, 20. In harmony with Psalm 24, we now have reason to be like the citizens of ancient Jerusalem on what occasion?

¹⁹ We now have reason to be like the citizens of ancient Jerusalem in the year 1070 B.C.E. King David was then having the sacred ark of the covenant carried by the Levite priests toward the city gates. As the joyful city watched the approaching procession conducting the symbol of God’s presence, they heard the cry ring out:

²⁰ “Raise your heads, O you gates, and raise yourselves up, O you long-lasting entrances, that the glorious King may come in!”

21. (a) Why were the gates and the ancient entrances of Jerusalem called on to heighten themselves? (b) Why was it then fitting to declare that Jehovah was “mighty in battle”?

²¹ In order for the name of the royal Personage to be heralded abroad, the guards or sentries at the gates respond: “Who, then, is this glorious King?” Promptly and without shame there comes back the priestly reply: “Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle.” (Ps. 24:7, 8) Ah, then, it is no lowly individual that asks entrance into the royal city. It is the loftiest Personage in all the universe, Jehovah “the glorious King.” For that reason the gates and the long-lasting or ancient entrances seemed to be too low. Hence, they should heighten themselves for the passing through of so lofty a king. He was far loftier than King David, who sat on “Jehovah’s throne” at Jerusalem. (1 Chron. 29:23) In earlier times other kings may have passed through the ancient entrances of the city, but none as glorious or as mighty as Jehovah, the Most High God. He was the One that did battle and gave the victory to King David over the former pagan occupants of the city, the Jebusites. He, too, was the One that gave to King David the victory over the Philistines in their two attempts to depose David from his throne in the newly captured city of Jerusalem.​—2 Sam. 5:4-25.

22. How was “Jehovah of armies” them symbolized, and on what kind of mission was he thus approaching the entrances of Jerusalem?

²² It was on a peaceful mission that the Warrior-King, Jehovah, as symbolized by the ark of the covenant, approached the city in 1070 B.C.E. In deference to his highness, the cry again arises from the oncoming marchers: “Raise your heads, O you gates; yes, raise them up, O you long-lasting entrances, that the glorious King may come in!” Once again the inquiry is made: “Who, then, is he, this glorious King?” Back comes the reassuring answer: “Jehovah of armies​—he is the glorious King.”​—Ps. 24:7-10.

23. (a) Why, since 1914, is Jehovah of armies especially “the glorious King”? (b) What will he maintain at Har–Magedon, and after that what will he do for mankind?

²³ Today in this year of 1978 C.E. the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon approaches. Now, long since the Gentile Times ended in 1914, “Jehovah of armies” is especially “the glorious King.” Why so? Because, as Psalm 47:8 foretold, “God has become king over the nations,” he again acting as the Universal Sovereign toward our earth. He will display his mightiness in further maintaining at Har–Magedon “the kingdom of the world . . . the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” (Rev. 11:15-18) Jehovah’s Christ, the Son greater than King David, is the one whom he has enthroned to represent Him in the world government. First, Jehovah of armies, attended by his Son Jesus Christ and armies of heavenly angels, will rid the universe of today’s wicked system of things. Then he will bless mankind with righteous world rulership through his Son, Jesus Christ. This grand prospect gets nearer to its realization!

24. So what does this Jehovah of armies now deserve from us?

²⁴ Does not this “glorious King,” Jehovah of armies, deserve now a heartfelt welcome from us? Most certainly, Yes! Come in, then, O our glorious King!