Will the ancient worthies be in relationship with God during the millennial age?
“Yes, the ancient worthies will be in covenant relationship with God through the New Covenant, through the Mediator of the New Covenant, throughout the millennial age; but they will not be in any personal, direct relationship with God until the end of the millennial age.
All those who receive the blessings of the millennial kingdom must obtain them through the great Mediator, and through the New Covenant which he sealed with his blood on behalf of every nation, people, kindred, and tongue. The ancient worthies who have already demonstrated their loyalty to God will have a special blessing in that they will come forth perfect in the flesh and not attain perfection by gradual processes; they will come forth with perfect human bodies; as their minds were already fully in accord with God's, so their bodies will be in full accord with the divine law at the very beginning.
Alas it is very fortunate indeed, we believe, for those ancient worthies that they will still be under that New Covenant, and still be under that Mediator; because they might, with all their past experiences, make some failures.
Why? How?
Just because they are brought forth as perfect human beings is no guarantee that they will be able to render perfect obedience. If you recall Adan was a perfect human being and this did not prevent him from falling.
So far as we may judge, while the ancients had considerable experience, they did not have that full experience which comes to the church. Amongst those ancient worthies that are mentioned in the Scriptures, we note the name of Samson. We have no reason to suppose that Samson was, in any sense of the word, disloyal to God; he was loyal, he was obedient, he was full of faith in God. Because of these qualities he is counted an over-comer, and will be one of the sharers in the special blessings of that time; but, to say that Samson had a full, wide, diversified knowledge of all these things which will be required of a perfect man is quite another proposition. And so, we think it will be entirely possible that with limited experience some of these ancient worthies might still make some mistakes unintentionally during Messiah's reign. If so, being under the blood of the covenant, with the Mediator between them and divine justice will prove both a necessity and a blessing.” (Q13:1)
We will continue with this discussion under a new article head as the subject moves away from the first fruits of the spiritual kingdom, the Church and the great company class, a.k.a. the church of the first born, and the first fruits of the earthly kingdom, the Ancient Worthies , that is all who will take part in the Resurrection of Life to those who will take part in the Resurrection of judgement.
“Yes, the ancient worthies will be in covenant relationship with God through the New Covenant, through the Mediator of the New Covenant, throughout the millennial age; but they will not be in any personal, direct relationship with God until the end of the millennial age.
All those who receive the blessings of the millennial kingdom must obtain them through the great Mediator, and through the New Covenant which he sealed with his blood on behalf of every nation, people, kindred, and tongue. The ancient worthies who have already demonstrated their loyalty to God will have a special blessing in that they will come forth perfect in the flesh and not attain perfection by gradual processes; they will come forth with perfect human bodies; as their minds were already fully in accord with God's, so their bodies will be in full accord with the divine law at the very beginning.
Alas it is very fortunate indeed, we believe, for those ancient worthies that they will still be under that New Covenant, and still be under that Mediator; because they might, with all their past experiences, make some failures.
Why? How?
Just because they are brought forth as perfect human beings is no guarantee that they will be able to render perfect obedience. If you recall Adan was a perfect human being and this did not prevent him from falling.
So far as we may judge, while the ancients had considerable experience, they did not have that full experience which comes to the church. Amongst those ancient worthies that are mentioned in the Scriptures, we note the name of Samson. We have no reason to suppose that Samson was, in any sense of the word, disloyal to God; he was loyal, he was obedient, he was full of faith in God. Because of these qualities he is counted an over-comer, and will be one of the sharers in the special blessings of that time; but, to say that Samson had a full, wide, diversified knowledge of all these things which will be required of a perfect man is quite another proposition. And so, we think it will be entirely possible that with limited experience some of these ancient worthies might still make some mistakes unintentionally during Messiah's reign. If so, being under the blood of the covenant, with the Mediator between them and divine justice will prove both a necessity and a blessing.” (Q13:1)
We will continue with this discussion under a new article head as the subject moves away from the first fruits of the spiritual kingdom, the Church and the great company class, a.k.a. the church of the first born, and the first fruits of the earthly kingdom, the Ancient Worthies , that is all who will take part in the Resurrection of Life to those who will take part in the Resurrection of judgement.
