The Watchtower, February 15, 1966

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The Watchtower — February 15, 1966

Source: jw.org

Contents

Do You Limit Cooperation to Your Terms?

Christ’s Return—Do You Know What to Look For?

The Real Parties to the New Covenant

Benefits from God’s New Covenant Spreading Worldwide

Identifying the Present-Day Beneficiaries

Does Peter Now Use the Keys of the Kingdom?

Questions From Readers

Announcements

Do You Limit Cooperation to Your Terms?

IT IS natural for man to love liberty. But it is not wise to act too independently. There must be a ‘give and take,’ for we need one another. The very circumstances of life call for cooperation on the part of all of us.

Illustrating the need for cooperation is the item that appeared in the New York Times, October 12, 1965, captioned, “Swiss Deport U.S. Citizen in Dispute over His Home.” He was deported because of getting involved in many disputes with the local authorities over petty things, such as insisting on building his home nine inches higher than the law permitted. The government held that he was a troublemaker, who either was unable or unwilling to adapt himself to local ways. Deported, he left behind his wife and four small children.

How foolish to make issues over trifles, making trouble for oneself and others! What caused him to act this way? Too much of an independent attitude. Obviously he lacked empathy; he was unable to put himself in the shoes of his Swiss hosts. He wanted everything his own way, and so was deported because he could not fit in, refusing to cooperate with the local authorities. It was an extreme case, which highlights a common human failing.

We cannot escape it: Cooperation is the course of wisdom. As a wise king long ago observed: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their hard work. For if one of them should fall, the other can raise his partner up. . . . And a threefold cord cannot quickly be torn in two.”—Eccl. 4:9-12.

In fact, the animals might be said to teach us the wisdom of this course—although it is no credit to them, as they act from instinct and not from choice. Thus a noted biologist, William A. Wheeler, in his book Philosophical Biology points out that there is something fundamentally social in all living things, and that “this must be a characteristic of all life, since every organism is at least temporarily associated with other organisms.” He writes that this is true even “of such supposedly unsocial creatures as lions, eagles, sharks, tiger beetles and spiders. There are, in fact, no truly solitary organisms.” According to one of America’s leading anthropologists, Ashley-Montague, among lower animals cooperation is far more pronounced and important than competition for survival; and, although a staunch evolutionist himself, he refers to Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest as “Darwin’s Fallacy.”a

While lower animals cooperate instinctively, it is man’s glory that he can cooperate volitionally, out of choice. Cooperation has been defined as ‘the act of working with another or others to a common end.’ Implicit in cooperation, then, is a goal worth seeking to attain, and it requires that we be willing to yield or “give” for the sake of realizing that goal. In other words, it means the giving up of little things for the sake of bigger things.

For example, a man and a woman wed for the purpose of happy family life. But to realize that goal, each must be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the other. For either to insist on having his or her own way, or limiting cooperation to one’s own terms, would be to frustrate the purpose and shut out family happiness. Yet how often we find married persons doing that very thing, robbing themselves and their mates of happiness by refusing to cooperate on terms other than their own!

For example, a wife might prevail upon her husband to go visiting her relatives, but if he is not particularly fond of them he may do little, if anything, to make the visit a truly enjoyable one. Then, again, a husband might want to bring some friends home for supper, or he might want a certain food. But if his wife does not particularly like those friends or that food, she may go about preparing the meal in an indifferent, routine way, refusing to give wholehearted cooperation, to underscore how she feels about it. How far short each is coming of doing to the other as he would have the other do to him! Yes, and also how foolish! For even as we cannot make others happy without making ourselves happy, so we cannot make others miserable by refusing to cooperate without making ourselves miserable.—Luke 6:31.

Or it may be at your place of employment that the question of cooperation comes up. The way a certain thing is being done may not make sense to you, but that is no reason for not doing your part, and that to the best of your ability. If the course pursued is not a wise one, most likely time will tell, but in the meantime give it an opportunity to succeed by doing all you can to make it succeed. As the apostle Paul counseled early Christians: “Whatever you are doing, work at it whole-souled as to Jehovah, and not to men.”—Col. 3:23.

Especially is this matter of cooperation important where voluntary work is concerned. Where there is a mutual effort for the common good and each one contributes freely of his services or goods, there is often the tendency to take oneself too seriously and to feel free to limit one’s cooperation when things are not being done as one would like to see them done, or when one is not given what one feels to be a sufficiently prominent role. Here might be said to be a test of loyalty to the cause, group or organization.

Yes, to limit your cooperation to your own terms can cause the loss of many blessings. In fact, where no principle of righteousness would be violated, there always is a blessing in yielding one’s preferences for the sake of others or the common good. It is to man’s glory that we can cooperate out of volition, because of wisdom, because of conscience and because of love. It really is a form of giving, concerning which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, said that “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.” So do not limit your cooperation to your own terms. Be willing to sacrifice self-will for the sake of mutual well-being and happiness.—Acts 20:35.

[Footnotes]

Darwin: Competition and Cooperation (1950).

Christ’s Return—Do You Know What to Look For?

Many persons during Christ’s first presence looked for the wrong things. How can we avoid the same mistake today?

JESUS was born into a nation that was in a state of expectancy. The Jewish Encyclopedia (Vol. VIII, page 508) tells us: “After the fall of the Maccabean dynasty, when the despotic government of Herod the Great and his family, and the increasing tyranny of the Roman empire had made their condition ever more unbearable . . . the Jews [sought] refuge in the hope of a personal Messiah. They yearned for the promised deliverer of the house of David, who would free them from the yoke of the hated foreign usurper, who would put an end to the impious Roman rule, and would establish his own reign of peace and justice in its place.”

Yes, the majority of the Jews looked for the Messiah to be a conquering Leader, majestically coming forth from Judah and guiding the nation to a resounding victory over Rome, thereby restoring independence and national sovereignty to the Jew. This view was fostered by their religious leaders, particularly the Pharisees. It appears that the Sadducees did not share this Messianic hope to the same degree but worked toward building up the nation through statecraft and collaboration with the existing political powers.

JESUS CHRIST REJECTED

Jesus did not fulfill the Messianic expectations of the religious leaders who guided the thinking of the Jewish people. Though born in Bethlehem of Judea, he came forth to them from the obscure town of Nazareth in Galilee. (John 7:52) He talked to the Pharisees about spiritual liberation from false worship and told them that it was only by remaining in his word that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This was not what they wanted to hear from the expected Messiah; and they self-righteously denied any need for such liberation from sin and wrong worship, calling Jesus a “Samaritan” and, in effect, a ‘religious upstart.’—John 8:31-33, 48, 53, 57.

By the Sadducees, Jesus was viewed as a jeopardy, since, in their view, his teachings placed in peril the position of the Jews with regard to the political powers around them. They therefore joined forces with the Pharisees in conniving to bring about Jesus’ death.—John 11:45-50; Matt. 16:1; Acts 5:17.

Thus, though the common people generally ‘listened to him with pleasure,’ actively discussed the possibility of his being the promised Messiah, marveled at his miraculous cures, and even went so far as to try, unsuccessfully, to make Jesus their king, yet on the whole they were adversely influenced by their rulers and religious leaders and were led to reject him. (Mark 12:37; John 7:25-27, 31, 40-42; 6:15; Matt. 12:23; 27:20) With no majestic appearance, no victorious conquests, no national independence, there could be no Messiah present—so they reasoned.

THE THINGS OVERLOOKED

They committed a tragic error. Why? The indisputable evidence of Jesus’ messiahship was there to see. He was genealogically perfect for the position; chronologically he had come at the precise time foretold in prophecy; and he was undeniably the promised ‘prophet like Moses’ who not only performed miracles but even raised the dead, something Moses had never done.a Yes, and his humble appearance, his rejection by the nation’s leaders, the manner of his death, and his resurrection—all this was there in God’s inspired Word, if only they had given attention to it, in preference to their religious leaders. (Zech. 9:9; Ps. 118:22; Isa. 53:12; Ps. 34:20; 16:10) Instead, they allowed their attention to be focused on the wrong things, particularly Jewish national independence. We even find two of Jesus’ disciples, following his death, disappointedly saying: “But we were hoping that this man was the one destined to deliver Israel.”—Luke 24:21.

Yet Jesus had come as a Deliverer and had done the greatest liberation work Israel had ever experienced, opening the gates and showing the way to freedom from captivity to false religion to which their religious leaders had enslaved them.—Luke 4:17-20.

Moreover, Jesus initiated the Christian ministry, which was to spread genuine Bible education throughout the earth and produce an international congregation with a unity based on love unique among the nations. (Matt. 28:19, 20; John 13:34, 35; 15:17-19) Its members would be anointed heirs with Christ to God’s heavenly kingdom, so superior to any rule out of earthly Jerusalem.—2 Tim. 4:18; 1 Pet. 2:9, 10.

The foundation for a completely new system of things, capable of bringing to perfection the whole framework of human conditions, was laid by Jesus’ sacrifice of his perfect human life. (Heb. 9:15, 28) How much grander this than even the physical cures of specific ailments that Jesus performed!

THE SITUATION TODAY

What, then, about Christ’s second presence? What do we have the right to expect? How can we avoid committing the same error as did the Jews during his first presence?

Beginning in the latter part of the nineteenth century, there was a widespread belief in many countries that Christ’s return was imminent. Many held themselves in readiness for him to appear suddenly, majestically riding literal clouds, gathering up his chosen ones, resurrecting all the dead and then judging them individually (along with the rest of earth’s living millions), all in twenty-four hours.

Many religious leaders, however, rejected the idea of any direct personal intervention by Christ in earth’s affairs. They taught that Christ’s kingdom is diffused in the hearts of men and that the Christian church by its moral force will, in cooperation with “Christian” governments, steadily bring mankind toward union with Christ.

What should we believe? How can we know what to look for? Certainly we need to be guided by God’s Word, the Bible, and by what Jesus himself, as well as his inspired disciples, said about his second coming. Why not now read Matthew 24, 25, Luke 21, Mark 13, and 2 Timothy 3:1-5, which contain some of the most prominent prophecies telling us what to look for at Christ’s return?

THE TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRIST’S RETURN

In reading the above scriptures, we find that neither Jesus nor his apostles indicated that the time of his return would be a time of international peace and brotherhood, but, rather, a time of international war and violence. (Matt. 24:7, 8) It would not be a time of immediate deliverance from all problems and suffering but a time of famines, plagues, earthquakes, a time of anxiety and distress of nations. (Luke 21:11, 25, 26) Not a time of morality and goodness, but a time of “lawlessness” and of “critical times hard to deal with” due to money-loving, pleasure-loving, uncontrolled, unthankful, delinquent and hypocritically religious men. (Matt. 24:12; 2 Tim. 3:1-5) Jesus did not say that the glad announcement regarding his return and the establishment of his kingdom would be made by prominent, honored, socially popular religious leaders and clergymen. He said it would be announced by persons who would be persecuted and hated by “all the nations” and who would be haled into courts and imprisoned.—Matt. 24:9, 14; Luke 21:12-19.

Compare this with what has taken place since the year 1914. For over thirty years before that date and for half a century since, Jehovah’s witnesses have pointed to the year 1914 as the time for the end of “the appointed times of the nations” and the time in which Christ would begin his Kingdom rule. (Luke 21:24) The world-shaking events that began with that year led a group of eight prominent clergymen in Britain to publish a manifesto in the latter part of 1917 stating that “the present crisis points toward the close of the times of the Gentiles” and that the “revelation of the Lord may be expected at any moment.” However, after World War I ended, these ministers, like the rest of their clergy associates, became engrossed in national and international matters and discarded their previous declaration relative to Christ’s return and the significance of the times. They have since influenced their religious flocks to reject the preaching of the announcement that Christ’s second presence has begun.

Thus, like the clergy of Jesus’ day, the clergy of our day have committed a tragic error and for the same reason: They have looked for the wrong things. They have forgotten what Jesus told the Pharisees when they questioned him as to the coming of God’s kingdom, namely: “The kingdom of God is not coming with striking observableness, neither will people be saying, ‘See here!’ or, ‘There!’ For, look! the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20, 21) The Pharisees failed to recognize Jesus as the Kingdom’s principal representative, though he was right among them. So, today, the religious clergy and rulers refuse to acknowledge, and even persecute, the humble men and women whom Jesus sends as his ambassadors to proclaim his Kingdom rule.—Matt. 24:9, 14.

In the past three issues of this magazine we have shown that Christ’s second presence is a spiritual return and therefore invisible to human eyes. Now, note what Jesus said, as recorded at Luke 17:26: “Moreover, just as it occurred in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of man.” He also referred to the “days of Lot.” (Lu 17 Vs. 28) Why “days” instead of “day”? Because Christ’s second presence is not a matter of just twenty-four hours during which he judges people at the rate of over 35,000 a second (as he would have to do in view of earth’s vast population). It is, rather, a period of years, just as the “days of Noah” and the “days of Lot” covered a period of years. During this time the reigning King and Judge is invisibly present and accomplishes a number of purposes. What are these?

THE KING’S PROGRAM

First, he disposed of a major problem: the opposition in heaven of his prime adversaries, Satan and his demons, whom he defeated in a heavenly (and therefore invisible) war and drove into a cornered position down in our earth’s vicinity. This did not bring immediate relief for earth’s inhabitants but, rather, “woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has . . . great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”—Rev. 12:7-12.

Now, from his heavenly throne, the Judge Christ Jesus can direct his attention to earth and reward his faithful followers who are sleeping in death with a resurrection to life in the heavens, that they may “sit on thrones to judge” with him. (1 Cor. 15:20-23; Luke 22:28-30) What about those alive on earth who claim to be his followers? In the parable of the “wheat” and the “weeds” Jesus showed that the world would be full of imitation Christians and that his true followers would have to be separated out at the “conclusion of a system of things.” (Matt. 13:36-43) Some who had once served him would begin to say in their heart, “My master is delaying,” and would have to be rejected as an “evil slave” class. Others would prove to be of that same “faithful and discreet slave” class as were the apostles and early disciples. Of this “slave” class, Jesus said that he would “appoint him over all his belongings.” The “belongings” of the King, Christ Jesus, refer to the earthly interests of his kingdom, which these faithful Christians are to care for as they give out spiritual “food at the proper time.” They do this by promoting and expanding the proclamation of the Kingdom message in all the world through an earth-wide preaching campaign.—Matt. 24:45-51.

Also, the King and Judge uses these faithful Kingdom preachers as a sort of “touchstone” in doing a dividing work. From his heavenly throne he, in effect, makes the whole earth a courtroom and every doorstep a witness stand for householders as he sends these witnesses throughout all nations and thus proceeds to “separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” The people see, not Christ, but, rather, these faithful followers whom the King calls “my brothers.”—Matt. 25:31-45.

In this way a “great crowd” of righteous-hearted persons who hear the announcement of the Kingdom message by these witnesses take their stand for that Kingdom and join in its proclamation. They are drawn into unity as “one flock” with the heavenly Kingdom heirs and are prepared for life in a paradise earth under God’s righteous new order.—Rev. 7:9, 10; John 10:16; Rev. 21:1-4.

Since there is a tremendous work to be accomplished, and that in the face of opposition, there is need for endurance, and so the King says: “He that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved. And 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. 24:13, 14) Thus when the proclamation and gathering work has been accomplished to the King’s satisfaction, he will then act as the executioner of Jehovah’s judgments by cleansing the earth of all opposers of his kingdom, both visible and invisible, thereby putting an end to rule of the earth by selfish men and unseen demons.—Dan. 2:44; Rev. 19:11-15; 20:1-3.

The “days of the Son of man” now upon us are days of opportunity, days for action, for making our decision in favor of the now reigning King, Christ Jesus. Those today who persist in waiting for the wrong evidence are in grave danger. May you see clearly the true significance of Christ’s return now and act in time to ensure your preservation to life in God’s righteous new order, now near at hand.

[Footnotes]

Compare Mic. 5:2; Gen. 49:10; Dan. 9:25; Deut. 18:18, 19; Isa. 53:4; with Matt. 2:1-6; Luke 3:23-33; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 7:11-23.

The Real Parties to the New Covenant

“Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant . . . for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.”—Jer. 31:31-34, AS.

1. According to the New York Post, the founding convention of the United Nations in 1945 was the most important gathering since what ancient event, and so what questions arise?

TWENTY years ago, when the United Nations organization was founded, a newspaper (the New York Post) described the founding convention in San Francisco, California, as being “the most important human gathering since the Last Supper.” That founding convention brought forth an agreement between fifty-one nations in behalf of international peace and security. But what did the Last Supper bring forth to make it superior to any gathering held during the past nineteen centuries till the founding convention of the United Nations? Did it also have to do with any agreement? It did, even though the New York Post may not have had this agreement in mind as an outstanding thing of importance back there.

2. When was the “Last Supper” held, where and in what way?

2 The United Nations founding convention was held in San Francisco, California, U.S.A., in 1945. The “Last Supper” was held in the Middle Eastern city of Jerusalem in the year 33 of our Common Era. At the opening of the Supper thirteen men were present in a large upper room in the Holy City. Before the Supper was over, one of the thirteen men had been dismissed by the master of ceremonies. They were celebrating the yearly passover supper along with all the other faithful ones of their nation, eating from a literal roast lamb along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread or matzoth and red wine. The passover supper continues to be held by certain religious groups down to this year. Why, then, should that one in 33 C.E. be called “the Last Supper”? Whose last supper was it?

3. For whom was that the “last” supper, and what supper has been held since on the same anniversary night?

3 It was the last earthly supper of that kind for the master of ceremonies. To the men at supper with him he said: “I have greatly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it becomes fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” This also turned out to be the last passover supper that the men spoken to celebrated, for, as matters worked out, they afterward celebrated a supper of a different kind, although it was held on the anniversary date of that same night. It came to be called “the Lord’s supper,” because it was introduced by their Lord, the master of ceremonies, that very night in 33 C.E. It has continued to be celebrated by the faithful followers of the Lord till this year, on the anniversary date of its introduction.—Luke 22:12-16; 1 Cor. 11:20, AS.

4. When was the Lord’s Supper introduced, to whom, and with the use of what things emblematically?

4 After dismissing the undesirable man from their midst, the master of ceremonies introduced the Lord’s Supper to the remaining faithful eleven, using the unleavened bread and the red wine that were still available at the table. He used these two things emblematically. Thus the loaf of bread symbolized his perfect human body that he would allow to be put to death, and the wine symbolized his lifeblood that he would shed when suffering an innocent man’s death at the hands of his enemies. It was to become a yearly celebration in memory of a perfect human sacrifice offered to God in behalf of the sins of the world of mankind.—Matt. 26:26-30.

5. When serving the wine cup, what new thing did Jesus Christ mention, and how long has it been in force?

5 When he handed to them the cup of wine to pass from one to another and to drink from, he said: “This cup means the new covenant by virtue of my blood, which is to be poured out in your behalf.” (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25) Ah, here we have the mention of a covenant. Jesus Christ, the speaker, called it a new covenant. It was to be a new one, in contrast with another covenant that would thus become old and pass away. It is possible and likely that the eleven men who drank from the cup of wine remembered the ancient prophecy of how God would make a new covenant with his chosen people. This, of course, had nothing to do with the famous covenant of the year 1919-1920, which “Covenant” was the Constitution of the League of Nations, which was established after World War I but is now dead together with its “Covenant.” The prophesied “new covenant” continues in force until now, and its’ benefits are spreading to people of all nations. What is it?

6. In law, what is a covenant, according to The Americana?

6 “Covenant, in law,” says The Encyclopedia Americana (edition of 1929), is “an agreement between two or more persons, entered into by deed, whereby one of the parties promises the performance or nonperformance of certain acts, or that a given state of things does or shall, or does not or shall not, exist.”

7. What is the Hebrew word for covenant, and what may be the appropriate derivation of this word?

7 Inasmuch as the prophesied “new covenant” is first mentioned in the sacred Hebrew Scriptures, The Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh edition) says very appropriately:

Covenant . . . a mutual agreement of two or more parties, or an undertaking made by one of the parties. In the Bible the Hebrew word ברית berith, is used widely for many kinds of agreements; it is then applied to a contract between two persons or to a treaty between two nations, such as the covenant made between Abimelech and Isaac, representing a treaty between the Israelites and the Philistines (Genesis 26:26 . . . ); more particularly to an engagement made between God and men, or such agreements as, by the observance of a religious rite, regarded God as a party to the engagement. Two suggestions have been made for the derivation of berith: (1) tracing the word from a root “to cut,” and the reference is to the primitive rite of cutting victims into parts, between which the parties to an agreement passed, compare the Greek [to cut an oath] and the account (Genesis 15:17) of the covenant between God and Abraham, when “a smoking furnace and burning lamp passed between the pieces” of the victims Abraham had sacrificed, . . .

THE PARTIES THERETO

8, 9. (a) Who are the two parties to the new covenant? (b) What prophet was used to foretell this covenant, and what question as to parties thereto does the wording of it raise?

8 Who are the parties to the new covenant, and how may we know whether any of us today are party to the new covenant? Evidently, according to what Jesus said when starting off the Lord’s Supper, the parties to the new covenant are (1) his own faithful congregation as represented by those eleven apostles and (2) God, to whom Jesus Christ was offering the sacrifice of his human life. Those faithful eleven apostles were circumcised Jews, and so we ask, Is the new covenant made between God and only Jews? Moreover, does not the prophecy of the new covenant, by its wording, indicate that it is made with only Jews or Israelites in a fleshly way? The prophecy of the new covenant was spoken by Jeremiah the Jewish priest in the seventh century B.C.E., and it reads:

9 “‘Look! There are days coming,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; not one like the covenant that I concluded with their forefathers in the day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt, “which covenant of mine they themselves broke, although I myself had husbandly ownership of them,” is the utterance of Jehovah.’ ‘For this is the covenant that I shall conclude with the house of Israel after those days,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people,’ ‘And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, “Know Jehovah!” for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.’”—Jer. 31:31-34.

10. According to its wording, Jehovah God would at least offer to make the covenant with whom?

10 That prophecy was delivered by Jeremiah to the natural-born, circumcised tribesmen of Judah and Israel of his day. With their forefathers Jehovah God had made a covenant when he delivered them from Egypt more than eight hundred years previously. And according to the wording of Jeremiah’s prophecy, Jehovah God would at least offer to make the promised new covenant with the literal, natural, circumcised Jews of the tribes of Judah and of Israel.

11. To what extent was the old Mosaic covenant adopted by the Israelites, and what question arises as to acceptance of the new covenant?

11 Yet the question is, Would the whole Jewish nation, all the tribes of Judah and of Israel, accept the new covenant and agree to enter into it according to the conditions laid down? When God entered into the earlier covenant with them at Mount Sinai in Arabia, he used the prophet Moses as his mediator. When God then proposed the covenant of the Law to the nation of Israel, “all the people answered unanimously and said: ‘All that Jehovah has spoken we are willing to do.’” And later, when the covenant was actually put in force between God and Israel over the sacrifice of animal victims, “Moses came and related to the people all the words of Jehovah and all the judicial decisions, and all the people answered with one voice and said: ‘All the words that Jehovah has spoken we are willing to do,’”—Ex. 19:1-8; 24:1-3.

12. To whom did Jesus offer the wine cup with mention of the covenant, and in what covenant do the Jewish people today claim to be?

12 Today the Jewish people number 12,867,000 throughout the earth. Do these claim to be in the new covenant? No; but, under the leadership of their rabbis, they stoutly declare that they are still under the old covenant of the Law mediated by Moses at Mount Sinai. Well, then, what about their forefathers nineteen hundred years ago, when Jesus Christ set up the Lord’s Supper? To only his apostles he offered the cup of wine, saying: “Drink out of it, all of you; for this means my ‘blood of the covenant,’ which is to be poured out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins.” Those apostles were all Jews. They accepted this invitation into the new covenant that was to be put in force over the sacrifice and blood of Jesus Christ. But what about the Jewish nation as a whole?

13. Back there in the days of the apostles, how many or who of the Jewish nation accepted the new covenant?

13 Did all Jews there at Jerusalem for the celebration of the passover join in accepting the new covenant as introduced by Jesus Christ? Did their high priests and underpriests, their scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees, enter into a new covenant with Jehovah God, accepting the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the “blood of the covenant” for putting it into force? According to history, not all the Jews did so; only a remnant of them did so.

14. To whom first was the opportunity to undertake the new covenant offered, and how many are reported as becoming believers?

14 All the nation, “all the house of Israel,” were offered the privilege of undertaking the new covenant. The opportunity was offered first to them to do so. This offer was in full, literal agreement with the wording of the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-34. And on the day of Pentecost after Jesus set up the Lord’s Supper, the apostle Peter said to a crowd of over three thousand Jews in Jerusalem: “Let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you impaled.” (Acts 2:36) The number of believers then became three thousand that day. Shortly afterward the number rose to five thousand.

15. Who of the millions of Jews back there also became obedient to the faith?

15 Before the persecution broke out in Jerusalem under the Jewish Pharisee Saul of Tarsus, “the word of God went on growing, and the number of the disciples kept multiplying in Jerusalem very much; and a great crowd of priests began to be obedient to the faith.” (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7) But, out of millions of Jews back there, only some thousands accepted the shed blood of Jesus as the “blood of the covenant” and were taken into the new covenant.

16. According to The New Jewish Encyclopedia, what kind of relationship to God do the Jewish people claim, what was the purpose of this relationship, and how has it been fulfilled?

16 The New Jewish Encyclopedia, by Bridger, Wolk and Eban, published In 1962 in New York City, does not discuss any “new covenant,” but under the heading “Covenant” (Berit) it says:

Jewish tradition looks upon the relation of the Jewish people with God as covenantal. God has imposed certain obligations on and made certain promises to Israel. Israel, in turn, has accepted these obligations and has been confident that He will fulfill these promises. In general, the purpose of the covenant was to spread among the people of the world knowledge of the true God, and to formalize the ritual and ethical requirements of the Law. The promise made by God was that the Jewish people were to be a blessing to all mankind, and a light to the nations. . . . That the western world has accepted the Jewish Bible as a foundation for its thinking, and considered the cultural contributions of the Jews so great as to refer to our civilization as Judeo-Christian is considered to be evidence of the promise partially fulfilled that the Children of Israel were to become a blessing to all humanity. Orthodox and other branches of Judaism to a varying degree accept the doctrine of covenant as well as the “chosenness” of the Jewish people as an eternal fact, in the literal sense of an agreement between God and Israel. It may be noted here that historical Christianity considers itself the inheritor of this covenant doctrine.—Pages 98-100.a

17, 18. (a) Well, then, with God on one side of the covenant, is the party on the other side just some thousands of literal Jews? (b) All those brought into the new covenant are brought in as what kind of persons, and how is this made possible?

17 Well, then, does the new covenant have as the party on the one side only a few thousand Jews of the tribes of Judah and of Israel in a literal sense? Not at all! Jehovah God is the party on the other side of the new covenant, and he let the special, exclusive offer of the privileges of the new covenant continue to be held out to the natural, circumcised Jews for about three and a half years after that Pentecost of 33 C.E. Then the opportunity to be taken into the new covenant was extended to the non-Jewish, non-Israelite nations, and the Italian centurion at Caesarea became a believer in the blood of Jesus Christ as the “blood of the covenant.” (Dan. 9:24-27; Acts 10:1 to 11:18) From then onward Jehovah God poured down his holy spirit on the non-Jewish believers and they became his spiritual children, spiritual Israelites.

18 In that same way, from the day of Pentecost onward, God has poured down his spirit upon the Jewish believers and they have become his spiritual children, spiritual Israelites or Jews. All the believers, whether natural Jews or Gentiles, were brought into the new covenant as spiritual Jews, spiritual Israelites.

19, 20. (a) So since 36 C.E., has it been necessary to be a literal Jew to get into the new covenant? (b) How does the apostle Paul explain this in Romans 2:28, 29 and 9:1-8?

19 So, after the Italian centurion Cornelius was converted in 36 C.E., a believer did not have to be a natural Jew or Israelite to be taken into the new covenant through the Mediator Jesus Christ.

20 This was why the Christianized Jew, the apostle Paul, said: “He is not a Jew who is one on the outside, nor is circumcision that which is on the outside upon the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one on the inside, and his circumcision is that of the heart by spirit, and not by a written code.” Consequently, after expressing sorrow because his Jewish brothers according to the flesh came short of their privileges regarding the “adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants,” Paul says: “However, it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who spring from Israel are really ‘Israel.’ Neither because they are Abraham’s seed [according to the flesh] are they all children, but: ‘What will be called “your seed” will be through Isaac.’ That is, the children in the flesh are not really the children of God, but the children by the promise are counted as the seed.”—Rom. 2:28, 29; 9:1-8.

21. Who, then, the real parties to the new covenant, and how does Paul indicate this in Galatians 6:14-16?

21 These spiritual Jews, these spiritual Israelites, are now the real Israel with whom the new covenant is made. These spiritual ones and Jehovah God are the real parties to the new covenant. The apostle Paul definitely says so. After talking to the congregation of believers in the Roman Province of Galatia, he says, near the close of his letter: “Never may it occur that I should boast, except in the torture stake of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been impaled to me and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything nor is uncircumcision, but a new creation is something. And all those who will walk orderly by this rule of conduct, upon them be peace and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.”

22. By what expression in introducing his letter does the disciple James indicate with whom God makes his new covenant?

22 In harmony with that rule in Galatians 6:14-16, the disciple James opened up his letter to fellow believers scattered about the earth by saying: “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are scattered about: Greetings!” (Jas. 1:1) In addressing them as “the twelve tribes” James proves that he regards these Christian believers as the real “Israel of God,” the whole Israel of God as foreshadowed by the house of Judah and the house of Israel. (Jer. 31:31-33) Members of this spiritual “Israel of God” in the new covenant continue on earth till this day.

[Footnotes]

At Tel Aviv, Israel, on May 25. the third day of the five-day triennial convention of the B’nai Berith, according to special dispatch to the New York Times, “Former Premier David Ben-Gurion said today that there was a need to revitalize the covenant of the Bible in which a united Jewish people would serve as ‘a light to other nations.’ In an address that was essentially a dissertation on the meaning of the covenant, Mr. Ben-Gurion gently warned the B’nai B’rith convention of the dangers to American Jews of assimilation. ‘There is a great danger to the survival of the Jews in the Diaspora,’ Mr. Ben-Gurion said, ‘unless Jews everywhere remember the covenant. . . . Our secret weapon as a people is our moral, intellectual and spiritual superiority, which we inherited from the Bible.’”—New York Times, May 26, 1965.

Benefits from God’s New Covenant Spreading Worldwide

1. As regards ability to serve as mediators, how do Moses and Jesus Christ contrast with each other?

THE entire spiritual “Israel of God” accepts the statement of the apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:5, 6: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” The prophet Moses has been dead now for more than three thousand four hundred years and can no longer serve as a mediator between God and Jewish men. But what about the Son of man, Christ Jesus? After his death as a “corresponding ransom,” he was resurrected from the dead and was rewarded with immortal life in heaven with Jehovah God. So he has continued to serve as the “one mediator between God and men.”

2. According to Hebrews 8:6-12, Jesus Christ is the mediator of what covenant, and with whom?

2 He is the Mediator of the new covenant between God and the spiritual “Israel of God.” In proof of that, the inspired letter to Christianized Hebrews (8:6-12) says: “Now Jesus has obtained a more excellent public service, so that he is also the mediator of a correspondingly better covenant, which has been legally established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second; for he does find fault with the people when he says: ‘“Look! There are days coming,” says Jehovah, “and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; not according to the covenant that I made with their forefathers in the day of my taking hold of their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, so that I stopped caring for them,” says Jehovah.’ ‘“For this is the covenant that I shall covenant with the house of Israel after those days,” says Jehovah.’” The writer of Hebrews then goes on to quote God’s explanation of the new covenant as stated in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

3. How does the new covenant compare with the old one, and why?

3 That the new covenant is better than the old covenant of the Law with Israel according to the flesh, the writer proceeds to show, saying: “How much more will the blood of the Christ, who through an everlasting spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works that we may render sacred service to the living God? So that is why he is a mediator of a new covenant.”—Heb. 9:14, 15.

4. So, according to Hebrews 12:18-24 and 13:20, 21, what had those Christianized Hebrews approached, and with what blood were they concerned?

4 Later in his letter, the writer tells these Christians that, ‘though they are Hebrews, they have not approached Mount Sinai in Arabia where Moses served as mediator. No, but as spiritual Israelites “you have approached a Mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels, in general assembly, and the congregation of the first-born who have been enrolled in the heavens, and God the Judge of all, and the spiritual lives of righteous ones who have been made perfect, and Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling.” “Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you with every good thing to do his will.”—Heb. 12:18-24; 13:20, 21.

5. According to what the book of Revelation shows, what proportion of mankind are taken into God’s new covenant through Christ?

5 In Revelation 7:4-8 the apostle John names the “twelve tribes” of spiritual Israel and puts the number of all these spiritual Israelites as 144,000, or 12,000 in each of the “twelve tribes.” Revelation 14:1-5 pictures the entire spiritual “Israel of God” as standing on the heavenly Mount Zion with the “Lamb” of God, their Mediator Jesus Christ. These 144,000 are spoken of, not as being redeemed or rescued from ancient Egypt, but as being “bought from among mankind as a first fruits to God and to the Lamb.” Today the natural, circumcised Jews number 12,867,000, and the non-Jewish remainder of mankind number more than three thousand millions. From this fact we can see that comparatively few of mankind are taken by God into his new covenant as mediated by Jesus Christ.

6. How many persons must there be today that are in the new covenant, and how do they identify themselves each year?

6 Today there must be very few persons who are in that new covenant as spiritual Israelites. These are known and identified by their celebrating the Lord’s Supper each year on its anniversary date, namely, on the night of Nisan 14 (Biblical calendar), at which time they partake of the emblematic bread and wine. Records collected world wide the year of 1965 show that about 11,500 partook of the emblems and thus confessed that they are in the new covenant with Jehovah God as spiritual Israelites.

7. (a) Hence how many persons benefit directly from the new covenant? (b) Nevertheless, how many on earth are benefiting today from the new covenant, and how many will yet do so?

7 Since so few persons come to be in the new covenant foretold in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and since they are all to be transferred to the heavenly Mount Zion, very few humans indeed benefit directly from the new covenant. Despite this fact, all the world of mankind stands to benefit from this new covenant. Yes, today, the blessings of this new covenant are not confined to the around 11,500 spiritual Israelites who partake of the emblems at the Lord’s Supper. No, but already benefits from it are spreading world wide. Especially benefiting therefrom are the more than a million worshipers of Jehovah God who are directly associating with this small remnant of the spiritual “Israel of God.” How this is, and how all mankind, living and dead, stands to benefit from the new covenant can be seen in God’s purpose behind his new covenant.

THE DIVINE PURPOSE

8, 9. (a) The purpose of the new covenant can be seen from what? (b) According to what God said at Mount Sinai, the purpose of the Law covenant was to produce what?

8 The new covenant takes the place of the old covenant of the Law with natural Israel. So the purpose of the new covenant can be seen in that of the old one. When, at Mount Sinai in Arabia, God proposed to bring the nation of Israel into a covenant with him through the mediator Moses, God said: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, that I might carry you on wings of eagles and bring you to myself. And now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”—Ex. 19:4-6.

9 Note the expressions “my special property” and “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” By strict obedience to their part of this covenant with God, the nation of natural Israel was to become something. What? God’s permanent “special property out of all other peoples.” They would also become, not a holy nation with only some members of it serving as priests and others as kings, but a “holy nation” that, as a whole, was a “kingdom of priests.” That is to say, every member of this “holy nation” would be a kingly priest. The entire “holy nation” would serve God as a royal priesthood.

10, 11. (a) Did the Law covenant accomplish that purpose, and what indication regarding this did Jeremiah give? (b) Will the new covenant miss its purpose, and what favorable factors are there about it?

10 Such a thing as this God had in mind, but would he gain it from just the nation of natural, circumcised Israel? If natural Israel were to take advantage of this opportunity and become a “kingdom of priests,” O what benefits they could bestow on all the rest of humankind from whom God took them out to be a “special property” to him, his “holy nation”!

11 More than eight centuries after Moses, Jehovah God inspired his prophet Jeremiah to foretell a new covenant, thus showing that the nation of Israel was failing to meet God’s purpose, As a nation they would not become his “special property,” his “holy nation,” his “kingdom of priests.” Over six hundred years later the Mediator of the promised new covenant arrived, Jesus Christ, the Son of God from heaven. He being sinless, perfect as a man, he was able to present the needed sacrifice to provide the blood for putting the new covenant into force between God and spiritual Israel. What was its purpose? Nothing less than that of the old covenant of the Mosaic law. The old covenant missed its purpose, the producing of a “kingdom of priests.” Would the new covenant also? No! For the “blood of the covenant” is better than the animal blood that Moses sprinkled on the Law book and the Israelites. There is also a better mediator, one who does not die as Moses did. Hence we read:

12, 13. The continuing alive forever imparts what ability to God’s High Priest in behalf of those taken into the new covenant?

12 “He because of continuing alive forever has his priesthood without any successors. Consequently he is able also to save completely those who are approaching God through him, because he is always alive to plead for them. For such a high priest as this was suitable for us, loyal, guileless, undefiled, separated from the sinners, and become higher than the heavens.”—Heb. 7:24-27.

13 Because of this very important quality, God’s High Priest Jesus Christ can completely save his 144,000 faithful followers, the “twelve tribes” of the spiritual “Israel of God,” to become God’s “holy nation,” his “special property out of all other peoples,” his “kingdom of priests.” The fact of the matter is that the apostle Peter applies those very terms to Christians whom he addresses as “the temporary residents scattered about,” “the ones chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, with sanctification by the spirit, for the purpose of their being obedient and sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.”—1 Pet. 1:1, 2.

14. According to Peter, in contrast with the Jews who rejected Christ, what do the Christians in the new covenant become?

14 Commenting on the difference between them and the natural, circumcised Jews who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, the Jewish Christian apostle Peter says: “To this very end they were also appointed. But you are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies’ of the One that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. For you were once not a people, but are now God’s people; you were those who had not been shown mercy, but are now those who have been shown mercy.”—1 Pet. 2:8-10.

15. How does John show, in Revelation, that the spiritual Israelites in the new covenant do not miss its purpose?

15 The spiritual Israelites in the new covenant do not miss its purpose to become a “kingdom of priests.” In proof of this the apostle John confesses that this is due to the Mediator Jesus Christ, saying: “To him that loves us and that loosed us from our sins by means of his own blood—and he made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—yes, to him be the glory and the might forever. Amen.” (Rev. 1:5, 6) Also, in this revelation given to John he sees the symbolic twenty-four older persons giving due recognition to the Lamb Jesus Christ and saying: “You were slaughtered and 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 will rule as kings over the earth.”—Rev. 5:8-10.

16, 17. How does John, in Revelation chapter twenty, see that the new covenant does not fail to produce according to its purpose?

16 That the new covenant does not fail to produce this “kingdom of priests,” the apostle John sees later on in the revelation given to him. After seeing Satan the Devil bound and imprisoned in the abyss for the thousand years of Christ’s rule as king, John says:

17 “And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years. . . . This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.”—Rev. 20:4-6.

18. How does the nation of spiritual Israel compare with the priesthood of ancient Israel?

18 Thus the whole nation of spiritual Israel becomes a “kingdom of priests” along with God’s High Priest Jesus Christ. In ancient Israel only the family of Aaron was appointed to be a body of priests under Aaron as first high priest, They were not royal priests, not a “kingdom of priests” to rule over the rest of Israel.

19. Kingly powers were finally conferred upon whom in all Israel, and what covenant was made with regard to this privilege?

19 Centuries later, when Jehovah God gave the nation of Israel a human king, he raised up David of Bethlehem to be the second king of all Israel, without priestly powers. Because of David’s heart devotion to divine worship, Jehovah God of his own accord made a covenant with David for an everlasting kingdom within his family.

KINGDOM COVENANT WITH DAVID

20. That kingdom covenant was made within what other covenant, and how was the kingdom of the Permanent Heir brought out from under that other covenant?

20 This kingdom covenant was made with a man under the old law covenant and was therefore done within the Law covenant. (2 Sam. 7:8-17; Deut. 17:14-20) The man who proved to be the permanent heir of that kingdom covenant was a man born under the Law covenant, namely, Jesus the descendant of David. (Gal. 4:4) However, Jesus fulfilled the Law of the old covenant even to the point of dying as a human sacrifice to God, and in this way came out from under that Law covenant. So his kingdom is not under that Law covenant.—Rom. 7:1-6; Matt. 5:17-19; Eph. 2:13-15; Col. 2:13, 14.

21. (a) Who was Melchizedek, and did David become his successor? (b) However, in Psalm 110:1-6, what did Jehovah swear that has a connection with Melchizedek?

21 Of course, Jehovah God had an earlier king in the earth, namely, Melchizedek king of Salem. He was also “priest of the Most High God,” and as such he received religious tithes from the patriarch Abraham, whom he as priest blessed. (Gen. 14:18-20) Melchizedek ruled for a time in the land that was later given to the nation of Israel, but he was never under the Law covenant. King David of Israel was not a successor of King Melchizedek nor was he like Melchizedek. However, in Psalm 110:1-6, King David reports that Jehovah God swore that there would be a priest forever like Melchizedek and that this priest would sit on a royal throne, even at God’s right hand in heaven. King David acknowledged that this coming heavenly King-Priest would be his “Lord.”

22. (a) Was God’s sworn oath concerning Melchizedek a part of the old Law covenant, and was it sworn to the 144,000 spiritual Israelites in the new covenant? (b) When was it that God thus swore in fulfillment of Psalm 110:4?

22 Jehovah God swore concerning this “priest to time indefinite according to the manner of Melchizedek.” This sworn oath had nothing to do with the old Law covenant with the nation of Israel. It was not a part of that covenant nor was it made within it, even as King Melchizedek was never within the Law covenant of Israel. Jesus Christ is the one to whom Jehovah God swore that he should be a priest forever like King Melchizedek. (Heb. 5:5-10) But God does not swear this to the 144,000 spiritual Israelites who follow Jesus and who are in the new covenant. So God’s oath concerning the royal priesthood like that of Melchizedek is a personal covenant. God made it with Jesus Christ alone. When did God swear to him in that behalf? It was when God anointed Jesus with holy spirit after Jesus was baptized in water. God’s oath and anointing qualified Jesus to be a Priest, the Mediator of the new covenant.—Heb. 5:4-10.

23, 24. (a) What shall we say as to whether the new covenant is a personal covenant? (b) For what does Jesus Christ covenant with those in the new covenant, and what covenant does God first make with Jesus Christ?

23 But as regards the new covenant, it is not a personal covenant. It is a covenant that God makes through a mediator with a people, a whole nation, with the end in view of their being all a kingdom of priests. But with whom will this nation in the new covenant be a “kingdom of priests,” a “royal priesthood”? This was indicated by the Mediator of the new covenant on the night that he set up the Lord’s Supper and mentioned the new covenant. Afterward when his faithful apostles started a discussion as to “which one of them seemed to be greatest,” Jesus said: “You are the ones that have stuck with me in my trials; and I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.”—Luke 22:24-30, NW; Ro.

24 Notice that here Jesus Christ speaks of what he calls “my kingdom.” He is the one that makes the covenant with his disciples for a kingdom, namely, to be with him in his kingdom. But first Jehovah God makes His own covenant for the Kingdom with the one person, Jesus Christ. Afterward Jesus Christ brings his 144,000 disciples into his kingdom with him. To that end he mediates the new covenant between God and his 144,000 disciples, and it is this new covenant that includes priesthood, an office that Jesus did not mention when he talked about making a covenant with his disciples for a kingdom. As a priest like Melchizedek, Jesus reigns in heaven.a

“KINGDOM OF PRIESTS”

25. To whom is the new covenant limited, and yet who will get benefits from this, and particularly when?

25 The new covenant is limited to just the “holy nation” of 144,000 spiritual Israelites. Yet the benefits resulting from this covenant will be worldwide. How so? Because it produces a “kingdom of priests,” a “royal priesthood,” to serve under the royal High Priest Jesus Christ, the King-Priest like Melchizedek. By the new covenant God produces a “royal priesthood” under Jesus Christ for the benefit of all the world. The benefits from this “kingdom of priests” produced by the new covenant will become especially manifest during the thousand years when they “will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him.”—Rev. 20:4-6.

26. Whom did Paul and Timothy in their day benefit as “ministers of a new covenant,” and whom do the remnant thereof benefit today?

26 However, the benefits from the new covenant have already begun to spread world wide. Nineteen centuries ago the apostle Paul wrote to spiritual Israelites in the city of Corinth, Greece, and said: “Our being adequately qualified issues from God, who has indeed adequately qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not of a written code, but of spirit; for the written code [through Moses] condemns to death, but the spirit makes alive.” (2 Cor. 3:5, 6) Back there, Paul and his companion Timothy were acting as “ministers of a new covenant.” They benefited only the spiritual Israelites, who were brought into the new covenant through the ministry of Paul and Timothy. But today the remnant of the “ministers of a new covenant” are also benefiting mankind in general.

[Footnotes]

Jehovah God does not need to make a new Kingdom covenant personally with Jesus for him to come into David’s throne, for Jesus came into the ancient kingdom covenant that God made with David naturally, that is, by human birth. Thus he becomes Permanent Heir to David’s kingdom. But God’s oath concerning a priest forever like Melchizedek is something different. It is a covenant for a heavenly kingdom. It is a personal Kingdom covenant, made only with Jesus Christ. Thus those two covenants concerning kingdom did not apply to the nation of Israel or to Christ’s disciples, but only to Jesus Christ himself. On the other hand, the new covenant is made through a mediator, Jesus Christ, with his 144,000 disciples. This new covenant with the “holy nation” of spiritual Israelites is what brings forth the “kingdom of priests,” to serve under Jesus Christ, the King-Priest like Melchizedek. Hence Jesus appointed a kingdom to his disciples in Luke 22:28-30. Hence we must distinguish between the Kingdom covenants that apply to the one person, Jesus Christ, and the new covenant that applies to the nation of spiritual Israel. Jesus Christ became a King-Priest in heaven by Jehovah God’s oath, not by virtue of the new covenant.

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The Watchtower, February 15, 1966