God's Kingdom-The Final Fulfillment

Israelites born after 1513 B.C.E. came in to the Law covenant at birth.  Those whom Jehovah takes into the new covenant also experience a birth-in their case, a spiritual birth.  Jesus mentioned this to the Pharisee Nicodemus when he said: "Most truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)  The 120 disciples at Pentecost 33 C.E. were the first imperfect humans to experience this new birth.  Declared righteous under the new covenant,  they received holy spirit as "a token in advance" of their royal inheritance. (Ephesians 1:14)  They are "born from the spirit" to become adopted sons of God, which made them Jesus' brothers and thus "joint heirs with Christ." (John 3:6; Romans 8:16, 17) Their being"born again" opened the way for wonderful prospects.

When mediating the new covenant, Jesus made and additional covenant with his followers, saying: "I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom." (Luke 22:29)  This Kingdom covenant put things in place for the fulfillment of a remarkable vision, recorded at Daniel 7:13, 14, 22, 27.  Daniel saw  "someone like a son of man" being given kingly authority by "the Ancient of Days," Jehovah God.  Then Daniel saw that "the holy ones took possession of the kingdom itself."  Jesus is the one "like a son of man" who, in  1914, received the heavenly Kingdom from Jehovah God.  His spirit-anointed disciples are "the holy ones" who share with him in that Kingdom. (1 Thessalonians 2:12) How?

After their death, these anointed one are like Jesus raised from the dead as immortal spirit creatures who serve with him as kings and priests in heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:50-53; Revelation 20:4, 6)  What a glorious hope!  "They are to rule as kings over the earth," not merely the land of Canaan.  (Revelation 5:10)  Will they 'possess the gates of their enemies'?  Yes, and in a conclusive way, when they witness the destruction of the inimical religious harlot, Babylon the Great, and when these resurrected anointed ones share with Jesus in shepherding the nations "with an iron rod"  and in crushing the head of Satan.  They will thus have a part  in fulfilling the final detail of the prophecy at Genesis 3:15. -Revelation 2:26, 27; 17:14; 18:20, 21; Romans 16:20. 

Still, we may ask, do the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant involve only these 144,000 faithful souls?  No, others who are not directly in these covenants will be blessed through them, as will be seen in the following article. 

Next time: THE OTHER SHEEP AND THE NEW COVENANT

From the Watchtower magazine, 1998