15. (a) What did Christ expect of his collective house manager? (b) What indicates that Christ expected the slave class to be doing this before he arrived to inspect his household?

¹⁵ Jesus expected anointed Christians collectively to be acting as a faithful steward, giving his body of attendants “their measure of food supplies at the proper time.” (Luke 12:42) According to Luke 12:43, Christ said: “Happy is that slave, if his master on arriving finds him doing so!” This indicates that for some time before Christ arrived to settle accounts with his spirit-anointed slaves, they would have been dispensing spiritual food to members of the Christian congregation, God’s household. Whom did Christ find doing so when he returned with kingly power in 1914 and proceeded to inspect the house of God in 1918?​—Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 19:12; 1 Peter 4:17.

16. When Christ arrived to inspect the house of God in 1918, why did he not find Christendom’s churches supplying spiritual food at the proper time?

¹⁶ As the long period of Jesus’ waiting at Jehovah’s right hand drew to a close, it gradually became apparent who was giving spiritual food supplies to Christ’s domestics even in the time prior to 1914. Do you think it was Christendom’s churches? Certainly not, for they were deeply involved in politics. They had been willing tools of colonial expansion and had tried to outdo one another to prove their patriotism, thus encouraging nationalism. This soon brought heavy bloodguilt upon them, that is, when they gave their active support to political governments involved in the first world war. Spiritually, their faith had been weakened by Modernism. A spiritual crisis was brought about because many of their clergy became easy prey to higher criticism and evolution. No spiritual nourishment could be expected from Christendom’s clergy!

17. Why did Christ reject some anointed Christians, and with what consequence for them?

¹⁷ Similarly, no nourishing spiritual food was forthcoming from those anointed Christians who were more concerned with their personal salvation than with putting the Master’s talent to work. They turned out to be “sluggish,” unfit to take care of the Master’s belongings. Hence, they were thrown “into the darkness outside,” where the churches of Christendom still are.​—Matthew 25:24-30.

18. Whom did the Master find supplying his body of attendants with spiritual food at the proper time, and what proves this?

¹⁸ On arriving to inspect his slaves in 1918, therefore, whom did the Master, Jesus Christ, find giving to his body of attendants their measure of food supplies at the proper time? Well, by then, who had given sincere truth-seekers the correct understanding of the ransom sacrifice, the divine name, the invisibility of Christ’s presence, and the significance of 1914? Who had exposed the falsehood of the Trinity, immortality of the human soul, and hellfire? And who had warned of the dangers of evolution and spiritism? The facts show that it was the group of anointed Christians associated with the publishers of the magazine Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, now called The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.

19. How had a faithful slave class manifested itself before 1918, by what means had it distributed spiritual food supplies, and since when?

¹⁹ In its issue of November 1, 1944, The Watchtower stated: “In 1878, forty years before the Lord’s coming to the temple in 1918, there was a class of sincere consecrated Christians that had broken away from the hierarchic and clergy organizations and who sought to practice Christianity . . . The following year, namely, in July, 1879, that the truths which God through Christ provided as ‘food in due season’ might be regularly distributed to all his household of consecrated children, this magazine, The Watchtower, began to be published.”

20. (a) How did a modern-day Governing Body appear on the scene? (b) What were the members of the Governing Body doing, and under whose guidance?

²⁰ Supplying information on the development of the modern-day Governing Body, the December 15, 1971, issue of The Watchtower explained: “Five years later [in 1884] Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was incorporated and served as an ‘agency’ to minister spiritual food to thousands of sincere persons seeking to know God and to understand his Word . . . Dedicated, baptized, anointed Christians became associated with that Society at headquarters in Pennsylvania. Whether on the Board of Directors or not, they rendered themselves available for special work of the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ class. They aided in the feeding and directing of the slave class, and thus a governing body made its appearance. This was evidently under the guidance of Jehovah’s invisible active force or holy spirit. Also, under the direction of the Head of the Christian congregation, Jesus Christ.”

21. (a) Whom did Christ find distributing spiritual food, and how did he reward them? (b) What awaited the faithful slave and its Governing Body?

²¹ In 1918, when Jesus Christ inspected those claiming to be his slaves, he found an international group of Christians publishing Bible truths for use both inside the congregation and outside in the preaching work. In 1919 it truly turned out to be as Christ had foretold: “Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you, He will appoint him over all his belongings.” (Matthew 24:46, 47) These true Christians entered into the joy of their Master. Having shown themselves “faithful over a few things,” they were appointed by the Master to be “over many things.” (Matthew 25:21) The faithful slave and its Governing Body were in place, ready for a widened assignment.

“Food Supplies at the Proper Time”

5, 6. (a) What enlarged assignment did Christ’s steward receive? (b) What prophecies were due to be fulfilled after 1914, and how was the steward class to participate actively in their fulfillment?

⁵ The reigning King Jesus Christ gave an enlarged assignment to his steward, or house manager, on earth. Anointed Christians were to be “ambassadors” of God substituting for a crowned king empowered to rule over all the peoples of the earth. (2 Corinthians 5:20; Daniel 7:14) Their collective responsibility was no longer to be only that of giving Christ’s body of anointed attendants “their measure of food supplies at the proper time.” (Luke 12:42) They were now to take an active part in the working out of the prophecies due to be fulfilled after the Kingdom’s establishment in 1914.

⁶ What did this mean in actual practice? It meant expanding the preaching of ‘this good news of the kingdom to all the inhabited earth.’ (Matthew 24:14) Moreover, it meant publishing powerful messages of judgment against Satan’s wicked system and its supporters. This had the effect of ‘rocking the nations.’ Thus, “desirable things,” Christ’s “other sheep,” began to come in. (Haggai 2:7; John 10:16) From 1935 onward, the “great crowd” began to flock into Jehovah’s organization worldwide. (Revelation 7:9, 10) This called for progressive improvements in organization. Symbolically speaking, stones were to be replaced by iron, wood by copper, iron by silver, and copper by gold. (Isaiah 60:17) All of this has taken place since 1919 under the active and close direction of Jesus Christ, who has committed all his earthly Kingdom interests, or belongings, to his faithful slave class and its Governing Body.

7. What did the steward’s increased responsibilities involve?

⁷ We can easily understand that the increased load of responsibility devolving upon the Master’s slave, steward, or house manager involved intense writing and editorial activities. Spiritual food supplies had to be published regularly at the proper time in The Watchtower. In 1919 The Golden Age (a companion magazine later to become Consolation, and then Awake!) began to be published to arouse public interest, in addition to building up the “domestics.” (Matthew 24:45) Floods of books, booklets, and tracts have also been produced over the years.