Chapter 9

The New Order That Is Backed by Holy Spirit

1. In spite of Ecclesiastes 1:9, why will the coming order backed by holy spirit be something really new?

WHEN we speak about a coming order that is backed by holy spirit, we can really say: “See this; it is new.” Even wise King Solomon will not be able to apply to it his stated rule: “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10) Solomon’s saying has proved to be true till now with regard to the life pattern of man and woman and with regard to the rise and fall of man-made governments. But the order of things that the Creator of heaven and earth will bring in shortly will indeed be something new, something never experienced before in all human history.

2. Why is it to be expected that holy spirit would be behind the promised new order?

² Holy spirit will be behind the coming new order. And why not? It was behind the writing of the Holy Bible, and this inspired book fairly overflows with the good news about the peaceful new order for trouble-weary mankind. When it is at last brought in within this generation, all those entering into the enjoyment of it will delightedly say: “This is new!” The omnipotent God, Jehovah, will prove true to his promise to mankind: “Look! I am making all things new.”​—Revelation 21:5.

3. (a) What are new things about which the book of Revelation speaks? (b) Why will God’s new order not be a patched-up job?

 ³ Revelation, the last book of the Bible, speaks about new things, a “new name,” a “new song,” “new heaven and a new earth,” and “New Jerusalem.” (Revelation 2:17; 3:12; 5:9; 14:3; 21:1, 2) These are exhilarating things about which to think and talk. And when a person appreciates the nature of the new things that are in store for mankind, it moves him to “sing to Jehovah a new song.” (Psalm 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1) His new order will not be a patched-up job, a repairing of mankind’s old order, a trying to preserve as much of the old order as is possible and merely adding some new touches to it, thus using man’s old order as a base. This would never work. Jesus Christ himself said:

“No one cuts a patch from a new outer garment and sews it onto an old outer garment; but if he does, then both the new patch tears away and the patch from the new garment does not match the old. Moreover, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; but if he does, then the new wine will burst the wineskins, and it will be spilled out and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”​—Luke 5:36-38.

4. Why will the old rebuilt Jerusalem not play a part in the New Order?

⁴ In accord with this illustration, what God has foretold for mankind will be brand new. Old Jerusalem in the Middle East will not figure in it at all. When God executed his adverse judgment in the year 70 C.E., he had the Jerusalem of Jesus’ day destroyed. The Jerusalem that has been built since has not been built by His command nor by his approved people. (John 4:21) The New Jerusalem is the thing! This will be no city structure here on earth, on the site of the  old Jerusalem. New Jerusalem will be heavenly. All we have to do is examine its description as given in Revelation 21:9 through 22:3, and we shall see that, because of its dimensions and features, it would never fit in with the terrain of old Jerusalem. In the inspired description, the New Jerusalem is called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

5. The New Jerusalem is likened to whom, and how does this correspond with the language of Zechariah 9:9?

⁵ “I saw also,” says the apostle John, “the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2) Just as here the New Jerusalem is likened to a woman, a bride, a wife, so the old Jerusalem was likened to a woman. For instance, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Nisan 9 (March 27), 33 C.E., as if he were a king-designate riding to his coronation, the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 came true: “Be very joyful, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Look! Your king himself comes to you. He is . . . riding upon an ass, even upon a full-grown animal the son of a she-ass.”​—Matthew 21:4, 5.

6. How will New Jerusalem compare with the old city as to loveliness, and how does it come down out of heaven from God?

⁶ Ancient earthly Jerusalem was called “the city of which they used to say, ‘It is the perfection of prettiness.’” (Lamentations 2:15; Psalm 48:1, 2; 50:2) Still, in beauty and glory, it could never compare with the heavenly New Jerusalem. This glorious new city comes down “out of heaven from God.” In what way? In that this new governmental body originates with God and it extends its power and authority down from heaven to the  earth, for the all-time good of mankind.​—Revelation 21:2.

7. In what way is the holy city, New Jerusalem, “the Lamb’s wife”?

⁷ In what way is the holy city “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”? In that it is made up of the congregation of Christ’s anointed disciples, his joint heirs in the Messianic kingdom. (Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7, 8; 22:17) With reference to each of these the glorified Jesus said: “I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God, and that new name of mine.” (Revelation 3:12) Members of the “bride” are spiritual Israelites, in the new covenant, and they number 144,000. Jesus Christ builds them upon himself as the “rock-mass,” and his twelve apostles rest like complementary foundation stones upon him.​—Matthew 16:18; Revelation 7:4-8; 14:1-5; 21:14.

8. Why will Christ’s 144,000 joint heirs be a body of rulers that is brand new?

⁸ The 144,000 joint heirs with the heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ will include no worldly politicians, not even political and ecclesiastical kings that have reigned in Christendom. They are a distinct heavenly body of rulers, something brand new. Being no longer of human nature, they have the “divine nature.” They are a “new creation.” (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17) They have met the requirements for a disciple on earth to enter into the heavenly kingdom. They were “born again,” “born from water and spirit,” “born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.” (John 1:12, 13; 3:3,  5) In Romans 6:5, 8 the spirit-begotten disciples of Christ read: “If we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection. Moreover, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”

9. Christ’s resurrection was of what kind, in the likeness of which resurrection his 144,000 joint heirs are to be united with him?

⁹ What is “the likeness of his resurrection”? Well, how was Christ resurrected? In 1 Peter 3:18 we are told: “Christ died once for all time concerning sins, a righteous person for unrighteous ones, that he might lead you to God, he being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit.”

10. (a) What was God’s purpose in ‘preparing’ a body of flesh for his Son Jesus on earth? (b) For Jesus to live again after being put to death in the flesh concerning sins, how would he have to be resurrected?

¹⁰ By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, God had humbled his Son, making him “a little lower than angels.” (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 2:7-9; Psalm 8:5) But God did not purpose for his only-begotten Son to remain a creature of flesh and blood forever, inferior to heavenly angels. God purposed to glorify him more highly than angels for his faithfulness to death in the flesh. So the perfect human body that God miraculously “prepared” for Jesus on earth was the body that Jesus offered to God once for all time in sacrifice. It was given for mankind to feed upon like bread; just as Jesus said: “The bread that I shall give is my flesh in behalf of the life of the world.” (Hebrews 10:1-10; John 6:51) So, after his being “put to death in the flesh,” Jesus, if he were to  be raised to life again, had to be “made alive in the spirit,” as a heavenly spirit Son of God.

11. For Christ’s spirit-begotten disciples to be in the likeness of his resurrection, in what must they be “made alive,” and how does this harmonize with 1 Corinthians 15:42-54?

¹¹ Like Jesus Christ, his spirit-begotten disciples must be “faithful even to death” in the flesh. (Revelation 2:10) For them to be united with him “in the likeness of his resurrection,” they also, like him, have to be “made alive in the spirit,” as spirit creatures. In 1 Corinthians 15:42-54, we read of their kind of resurrection:

“It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised up in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Nevertheless, the first is, not that which is spiritual, but that which is physical, afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is out of the earth and made of dust; the second man is out of heaven. As the one made of dust is, so those made of dust are also; and as the heavenly one is, so those who are heavenly are also. And just as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one.

“However, this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Look! I tell you a sacred secret: We shall not all fall asleep in death, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. But when this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and this which is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up forever.’”

 A NEW RESURRECTION

12. (a) Since the resurrection of the 144,000 is in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection, this argues for Christ’s having what kind of resurrection? (b) Why is this a new resurrection, and what makes it the “first resurrection”?

¹² Such a resurrection to incorruption and immortality in a “spiritual body” is what Romans 6:5 calls “the likeness of his resurrection.” This means that Jesus Christ himself had such a resurrection, not to life in a physical body that is corruptible and mortal and lower than angels, but in a spiritual body and as “a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45) Now we can understand why, after his resurrection, Jesus had to materialize human bodies with the material clothing in order to make himself visible to his disciples during the forty days up till his ascension back to heaven. This is indeed a new resurrection, one invisible to human eyes. It has preceded the coming resurrection of mankind in general. It is also of first-class importance. So it is called “the first resurrection.” It is what the apostle Paul calls “the earlier resurrection.” Christ’s 144,000 joint heirs share in it. (Philippians 3:11) These are the ones spoken of in Revelation 20:4-6:

“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.”

13. What kind of governmental organization will that first resurrection provide for mankind’s good, and how is it spoken of in 2 Peter 3:13?

¹³ Thus the members of “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” experience the same kind of resurrection as the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, had. Does it  dawn upon our appreciation just what such a resurrection will produce? It provides a body of incorruptible, immortal rulers for the good of all mankind. None of man’s earthly rulers has had immortality. (1 Timothy 6:15, 16) Jesus Christ and his 144,000 fellow kings and priests will outrank any earthly government that mankind has had during its six thousand years of existence. It will be the very best and highest kind of government that God could give to mankind. It will displace all the human governments that have been manipulated by Satan the Devil and his demons. God will use it to usher in upon the earth his new order, for it will be a new governmental “heavens.”​—2 Peter 3:13.

14. (a) What must happen to the present old “heavens” over mankind? (b) In what way will the new government be a “heavens” in a real way?

¹⁴ The man-made governmental “heavens” must go, along with their invisible backer, Satan the Devil, “the ruler of this world.” (John 12:31) They are nearing their destruction in the “great tribulation” that will reach its maximum destructive fury at Har–Magedon, when the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” results in crowning victory for Jehovah, the Sovereign of heaven and earth. (Revelation 16:14-16; 19:11-21; Daniel 2:44) The new governmental “heavens” must come into undisputed power and control. They must be heavenly, not merely in a figurative way, but in a real way, by being made up of spirit rulers having the “divine nature” and being immortal, incorruptible. (2 Peter 1:4) Blessed will our eyes be when we see in reality what the apostle John saw in vision. His description thereof is captivating:

 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’”​—Revelation 21:1-4.

THE SPIRIT BACKS UP THE KING OF DAVID’S LINE

15, 16. (a) Who was the natural source of David and his line of kings over Israel? (b) How did that natural source become like a tree stump and its root system, and in whom did that natural source reach its objective descendant?

¹⁵ Later in the vision to John, the heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ said: “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16) King David’s father was Jesse of Bethlehem and of the tribe of Judah. So Jesus was a descendant of Jesse through David. Also, Jesse was the natural source of King David and of David’s line of kings over Israel.

¹⁶ The Davidic kingdom was like a tree with its base and roots in David’s father Jesse. In the year 607 B.C.E., at the destruction of Jerusalem and the removal of her king to Babylon, that kingdom tree was cut down. The Davidic kingdom was never restored to Jerusalem. What remained was like a tree stump with its root system. This pictured David’s father Jesse. Jesse was left without a descendant actively ruling as king over Israel. But there was still vitality in that tree stump and its roots, for Jesse’s line of descent through King David still continued on. It reached its objective member in Messiah Jesus.

17. (a) How did Jesus Christ revitalize the kingdom that had its source in Jesse? (b) When was that kingdom put in power, and what force activates the King who is the offspring of Jesse through David?

 ¹⁷ By being born through the virgin Jewess Mary at Bethlehem, Jesus became like a “twig” out of the stump of Jesse and like a “sprout” out of Jesse’s roots. As such he could revitalize the kingdom that was based on Jesse, the father of kings over Israel. When Jehovah God anointed Jesus with holy spirit, this symbolic “twig” or “sprout” became the King-Designate for the Davidic kingdom. At the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, God enthroned him as King in heaven. Concerning his activity Isaiah 11:1-5 says:

“And there must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse; and out of his roots a sprout will be fruitful. And upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah; and there will be enjoyment by him in the fear of Jehovah.

“And he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. And he must strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death. And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

18. (a) How does the symbolic “twig” strike the earth with the rod of his mouth? (b) How does he put wicked ones to death with the spirit of his lips?

¹⁸ During the coming “great tribulation” the symbolic “twig out of the stump of Jesse” will indeed “strike the earth with the rod of his mouth.” Royal orders issuing from his mouth will  become like a rod that smashes to bits the earthly social arrangement of mankind, the old order of things. His commands are forceful, urgent, stirring to action, and they are propelled from his lips with death-dealing effect upon his obstinate earthly enemies.

19. How does the King, backed by God’s spirit, deliver the meek and lowly ones from the wicked oppressor forever?

¹⁹ This speaking with the authority of an executioner against wicked enemies corresponds with the “sharp long sword” pictured as protruding out of the King’s mouth in order to “strike the nations with it, and he will shepherd [the nations] with a rod of iron.” (Revelation 19:11-15) By doing this, the Messianic king, backed by Jehovah’s spirit, delivers the meek and lowly ones on earth. When he reigns with his 144,000 fellow kings, he will not permit the wicked oppressors to come to power again on earth.

20. In Isaiah 11:10-12 the regathering of whom is foretold, and into what are they regathered and into what conditions?

²⁰ Since his enthronement in the heavens at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, the symbolic “sprout” out of the roots of Jesse has served for the fulfilling of a further part of Isaiah’s prophecy, chapter eleven. He has brought about the regathering of the remnant of his anointed joint heirs from all parts of the earth to which they had been scattered by persecutions during and after World War I. He has brought them into a spiritual paradise, where they enjoy peace and harmony with God and produce abundant “fruitage of the spirit.” (Galatians 5:22, 23) The beastliness of the world is kept out! (Isaiah 11:6-9) Isaiah looked ahead to the regathering and restoration of spiritual Israel, and said:

 “And it must occur in that day that there will be the root of Jesse that will be standing up as a signal for the peoples. To him even the nations will turn inquiringly, and his resting-place must become glorious.

“And it must occur in that day that Jehovah will again offer his hand, a second time, to acquire the remnant of his people who will remain over from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. And he will certainly raise up a signal for the nations and gather the dispersed ones of Israel; and the scattered ones of Judah he will collect together from the four extremities of the earth.”​—Isaiah 11:10-12.

21. The symbolic “sprout” out of the roots of Jesse is here spoken of as being what, and how has he been made to serve as a “signal” to the nations?

²¹ Here the symbolic “sprout” out of the roots of Jesse is spoken of as being the “root” itself of Jesse. At the close of the Gentile Times in 1914 this Messianic king was raised up in royal power. Being advertised world wide, he has served as a “signal” to which all the scattered remnant of spiritual Israelites must assemble, inasmuch as he is the reigning King. These regathered and restored ones have since carried out their anointing to make prominent to all mankind the Messianic king and his kingdom.

22. To whom have individuals of the nations now turned inquiringly, and who have answered their inquiries, with what result?

²² Hundreds of thousands of individuals from among all nations have now turned inquiringly to the signal-like Messianic king. They have satisfied themselves that the glorified Jesus Christ is really Jehovah’s promised Messiah. The anointed remnant, with the answers to their inquiries, have helped them to do this. Jubilantly they have gathered to the side of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom,  hailing it as the only hope for all mankind. Already they form a “great crowd,” the final number of which by the time of the “great tribulation” we do not know.​—Revelation 7:9-17.

“A NEW EARTH”

23. How securely will Jehovah put the new heavens and new earth in place, and what kind of action may it require for him to bring his people into the New Order?

²³ The wicked old order, which has entrenched itself so deeply in the earth, must go​—into destruction! Jehovah is now getting all things ready for the glorious new order! He has ‘planted’ the new governmental “heavens,” embedding them so fixedly in his universal organization that they cannot be pulled up by men or demons. The “new earth” that he inaugurates he will put upon such a firm foundation that nothing can make it wobble or totter to its ruin. Into this new order he will bring the remnant of spiritual Israel and the “great crowd” even if he has to do as at the Red Sea back in Moses’ day, stirring up the waters and making them boisterous so as to cut a corridor for his liberated people to get through. Here is what he says in Isaiah 51:15, 16:

“I, Jehovah, am your God, the One stirring up the sea that its waves may be boisterous. Jehovah of armies is his name. And I shall put my words in your mouth, and with the shadow of my hand I shall certainly cover you, in order to plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth and say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

24. In whose mouth has Jehovah put his word, and why has he covered these with the shadow of his hand?

²⁴ No obstacle put in His way by the enemies will prove to be insurmountable for Jehovah. Just as at Mount Sinai He put his word in the mouth of his chosen people through the mediator Moses  and thereafter he led them under the protective shadow of his hand into the Promised Land, so he has done for the remnant of spiritual Israel. He has put his word, his message of the hour, into the mouth of the spiritual remnant for them to confess openly before all the world, for their own salvation and for that of responsive hearers. A “great crowd” of “other sheep” have acted favorably upon what they have heard and have taken God’s word into their mouth. Because all of these have become his Christian witnesses, Jehovah covers them with the shadow of his hand for their protection in this world.

25. (a) Of what will Jehovah make the protected remnant a part, and what acknowledgment will He make to them? (b) What will God make the protected “great crowd” to be, and whose people will they be said to be?

²⁵ Jehovah has an objective in this line of action. His objective is to make the faithful remnant eventually a part of the new governmental “heavens” as joint heirs with the King Jesus Christ. As for the “great crowd” of “other sheep,” Jehovah will make them the initial part of the “new earth,” the new earthly society in the New Order. By preserving the faithful remnant of spiritual Israel through the coming “great tribulation” he will be saying to these spiritual Israelites who are ‘approaching the heavenly Mount Zion and heavenly Jerusalem,’ “You are my people.” (Hebrews 12:22; Isaiah 51:16) Also, the protective “tent of God” will begin to be with the surviving “great crowd,” and, as Revelation 21:3 says, “they will be his peoples.”

26. What spirit will be absent from the New Order, and with what do the prospective entrants into it get filled now?

²⁶ Holy spirit will operate and prevail in the globe-encircling new order. Jehovah will have  cleansed away the polluting “spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” Such “sons of disobedience” will have perished in the “great tribulation” and Satan the Devil and his demons will have been abyssed. (Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 20:1-3) In preparation for the New Order, the prospective survivors of the coming “great tribulation” keep on “getting filled with spirit” from God.​—Ephesians 5:18.

27. In the New Order what will take place that even advanced medical science of today cannot match?

²⁷ We can only try to imagine how it will be here on earth after the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon and after the imprisoning of Satan and his demons in the “abyss.” Then holy spirit will have free reign earth wide. We are reminded of how amazingly holy spirit operated in the days of Jesus Christ and his apostles on earth nineteen centuries ago. Astonishing miracles took place, to the unspeakable joy of the people who benefited therefrom. Advanced medical science of today has nothing with which to match the instantaneous cures and healings that then took place by holy spirit. There were even resurrections of persons from the dead! Better than that, there was also spiritual healing by means of the proclaiming and teaching of the good news of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom. There was a liberating of those held in bondage to false, traditional, death-dealing religion.

NEW ORDER PROSPECTS!

28. What part on earth will the surviving remnant have in the activities of the New Order, and until the time for what event?

²⁸ Marvelous indeed were those miracles that took place during the days when the Christian congregation was being founded. But they were  merely foregleams of what is to be accomplished by holy spirit in Jehovah’s new order. We may expect the surviving remnant to participate in the thrilling activities at the start of the New Order. But for how long, we do not now know from the Holy Scriptures. They have a “marriage” to look forward to​—the heavenly marriage of the Lamb to his complete bridal congregation. At the time that this is to be realized, they will pass off the earthly scene and be rewarded with a happy part in the “first resurrection.” So they must prove faithful to the death.

29. Will the “great crowd” see the resurrection of the Bride class, or the resurrection of whom?

²⁹ The resurrection of the Bride class will be invisible to the eyes of the “great crowd” of tribulation survivors, who hope to reside forever in the paradise restored to the earth. But there will be resurrections on earth that will be visible to the “great crowd” at the “hour” for God by Christ to raise the human dead.

30. In the case of the ransomed human dead, upon what does it depend as to whether their resurrection will lead to everlasting life or to a judgment of condemnation?

³⁰ Jesus Christ himself awaits that hour. He foretold it when he was discussing the day of world judgment and said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:27-29) In the case of all those resurrected by virtue of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it all depends upon their future course under Christ’s kingdom as to whether resurrection leads eventually to everlasting life on a paradise earth or leads finally to a judgment by which they are  condemned to everlasting destruction. Those who then yield to the prevailing holy spirit and let it become the directive force in their lives will gain eternal life in Paradise. Those who resist the holy spirit then so evidently in operation will suffer the penalty for sinning against the holy spirit, namely, eternal death.

31. What promise made on the day of his death does the King Jesus Christ still feel obligated to carry out, and when will the “hour” for this strike?

³¹ The heavenly King, Jesus Christ, still feels under obligation to carry out the promise that he made to the sympathetic evildoer who died alongside him at Calvary, on that dark day of Nisan 14, 33 C.E. Of course, that impaled evildoer is now dead and remembers nothing. (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) But the glorified Jesus Christ remembers his words to the sympathizer: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43) In view of this reference to Paradise, the “hour” for Jesus to let the evildoer in the memorial tomb hear his voice will not strike until the restoration of Paradise to earth is well along and the resurrected evildoer can notice the change in the earthly scene. By conforming his life to the holy spirit that comes from God through Jesus Christ, the evildoer can make his resurrection the kind that eventuates in eternal life in the earth-wide Paradise.

32. Among those received back from the dead to earthly life there will be what “cloud” mentioned in Scripture?

³² We then on earth will receive back from the dead not only our redeemed relatives and friends but also the faithful men and women of ancient times who were witnesses of Jehovah and who were moved by holy spirit. These will include the  “so great a cloud of witnesses,” running from John the Baptizer all the way back to the first martyr for Jehovah, namely, Abel. (Hebrews 11:2 through 12:1) These will likely have an influential part in the New Order.

33. What official position will men from that “cloud” be given along with others, and for what communication may they serve as intermediaries?

³³ From among these the King Jesus Christ will take those men whom he will “appoint as princes in all the earth.” (Psalm 45:16) There will already be “princes” on earth before them. Who? Those men from among the “great crowd” of “tribulation” survivors who will have been appointed as such at the start of the New Order. (Revelation 7:9-17; Isaiah 32:1, 2) But all the “princes” will be the visible earthly representatives of the “new heavens,” the new heavenly government of Jesus Christ and the 144,000 joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Doubtless these “princes” will serve as intermediaries for communication between the invisible Kingdom and the visible terrestrial society of redeemed mankind, the “new earth.” *

34. In the New Order how will Jesus Christ carry out his title role of “Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace”?

³⁴ The New Order will be one of undisturbed peace to the four corners of the earth. It will be under the royal rule of the one whose heavenly Father appointed him to bear the titles “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace,” and “to the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6, 7) He will become an Eternal Father, for his “princely rule” will be a paternal one,  giving life to all his obedient subjects as his children. He will be a Mighty God, for he will be a Godlike Judge; but he will not be worshiped as such by his earthly beneficiaries.​—Psalm 82:1-6; John 1:1; 10:33-36.

35. Who only will then be worshiped as God?

³⁵ Jehovah alone will then be worshiped, for it is written of the New Order: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 21:3, 4) Satan the Devil, “the god of this system of things,” will not be the god of the New Order. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Devil worship, demon worship, will be abolished. Jehovah will be worshiped as God.

36. What fruitage will enrich the New Order, but who will put in an appearance at the end of the thousand years of Christ’s reign?

³⁶ Holy spirit will permeate the entire New Order. (Psalm 139:7-10) Earth’s Paradise will be enriched by the “fruitage” of that spirit, such as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22, 23) Such a spiritually fruitful condition will flourish to the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign. But then what? Up come Satan and his demons out of the abyss, these being released “for a little while.” By deception they will try to have all the earth again dominated by the “spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” To what extent will they succeed against the prevailing holy spirit of God?​—Revelation 20:3.

37. (a) In the New Order what inroads do Satan and his demons make upon the prevailing holy spirit? (b) How is Jehovah forever vindicated?

 ³⁷ Only to the extent of inducing a number of restored mankind to commit the unforgivable sin against the holy spirit. Thus they cut themselves off from the heavenly Source of the spirit of life, Jehovah God. This spells everlasting death for them, “the second death.” But what about the vast majority of mankind in their lovely Paradise home? Ah, the holy spirit will gloriously triumph in their case. In an everlasting love of holy spirit, they will resist Satan’s tempting deceptions. Unwaveringly they will stay loyal to the rightful Sovereign of all the universe, their God Jehovah. Their faithfully passing this final test works for Jehovah’s eternal vindication. It brings to a final decisive settlement the hotly contested controversy of the ages, over the unselfish integrity of Jehovah’s creatures toward him as the Universal Sovereign. Satan’s false accusation is overwhelmingly disproved, and Jehovah is proved true first, last and all the time. (Romans 3:4) Satan’s “little while” of release is now up. So, then, let him and all his “seed” be crushed into nonexistence in fulfillment of Jehovah’s Edenic promise. (Genesis 3:15; Revelation 20:7-15) Hallelujah!

38. How will the future of those men and women who then remain filled with holy spirit be eternally happy?

³⁸ Shall we ourselves be there to witness the eternal destruction of all wickedness from heaven and earth and then live on with a future ahead of us? Happy will that endless future be for all those men and women who will have remained filled with holy spirit in unbreakable devotion to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  Judged by Him as worthy of the gift of eternal life, they will enjoy perpetual youth in human perfection amid a Paradise of unfading beauty and never-failing provisions for joyous living. Always they will want to live in harmony with the holy spirit that has ever been behind such a God-honoring new order. Oh, may we prove worthy of that new order! In harmony with that heartfelt desire, may our constant prayer be that of the psalmist David as addressed to God in the midst of a hostile world:

“Deliver me from my enemies, O Jehovah. I have taken cover even with you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me in the land of uprightness.”​—Psalm 143:9, 10.

39. What do we say, in closing, to those even now desiring to live in harmony with God’s spirit?

³⁹ Sincerely, then, to all persons desiring even now to live in accord with God’s sanctifying active force we say, in closing: “The undeserved kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the sharing in the holy spirit be with all of you.”​—2 Corinthians 13:14.

[Footnotes]

[Study Questions]