In place of your forefathers there will come to be your sons, whom you will appoint as princes in all the earth.” (Psalm 45:15, 16)

This King who is greater and wiser than Solomon the son of King David did not marry when he was here on earth as a perfect man with the reproductive power in his loins to bring forth a perfect human family. How, then, can the prophecy be fulfilled that, “in place of your forefathers,” notice, “there will come to be your sons, whom you will appoint as princes in all the earth”? Moreover, the heavenly Jesus Christ is the Permanent Heir of King David, and because of his “power of an indestructible life” he will reign without successors, without the need of a son to succeed him. As the angel Gabriel said to Mary concerning her prospective Son Jesus: “Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.”​—Luke 1:32, 33.

41, 42. (a) Why are the 144,000 joint heirs not the “sons” to be appointed on earth? (b) How will the heavenly Jesus Christ have earthly “sons,” in fulfillment of what prophetic title?

⁴¹ We know that the 144,000 joint heirs of Jesus Christ are not his spiritual sons, but are sons of God, “heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17) Who, then, are these ones spoken of as “your sons, whom you will appoint as princes in all the earth”? Manifestly these are not heavenly sons of the King Jesus Christ. They must be earthly sons, who, being on earth, can be appointed princes “in all the earth.” These will be the sons of His by the resurrection of the dead, specifically of the “righteous” dead. His promised title, according to the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6, 7, namely, Eternal Father, will be no mere empty honorary title. He will really be a father to the resurrected human family. He is “the last Adam,” who became “a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47) The first man Adam sold all his human offspring into sin and death, but the “second man,” who is “out of heaven,” laid down his perfect human life in order to purchase them back from such an Adamic inheritance. So we read:

⁴² “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5, 6) “We behold Jesus, who has been made a little lower than angels, crowned with glory and honor for having suffered death, that he by God’s undeserved kindness might taste death for every man.”​—Hebrews 2:9.

43. (a) How will the King become the father of the “great crowd” of tribulation survivors who need no resurrection? (b) How will his fatherhood of mankind become eternal?

⁴³ By his self-sacrifice according to God’s will, Jesus Christ gained the right to impart life to the dying race of mankind, in this way becoming their father. He will transmit life to the “dead,” both the “righteous” and the “unrighteous,” by calling them out of their memorial tombs or watery graves and then lifting up all the willing ones to perfection of human life. As for the “living” who survive the “great tribulation” into Christ’s millennial reign, he will likewise lift these “righteous” survivors up to a level of life “in abundance,” life as human creatures in glorious perfection. (John 10:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; Acts 24:15) He will have all this accomplished by the end of the thousand years. But this abundant life of his earthly children can go on forever, and there will be those who by keeping integrity in perfection will prove deserving of eternal life. These will be his eternal children, and he will be literally their Eternal Father.

44, 45. (a) How will the King begin his reign with sufficient princes on the earth, and why will all the appointed ones rank as “princes”? (b) However, is royal lineage necessary for a chief over others to be called a prince (sar)?

⁴⁴ At the beginning of his millennial reign the illustrious King Jesus Christ will begin to take suitable ones from among his earthly children to be “princes in all the earth.” The “living” who have survived the “great tribulation” and the abyssing of Satan and his demons will furnish a number of these “princes.” The “righteous” ones of the “dead” who are resurrected from the sleep of death will furnish others, sufficiently so in order to have the appointed “princes in all the earth.” Psalm 45:16 appears to mean that such “princes” will include the “righteous” men from among his resurrected “forefathers.” Once these were his ancestors, but now they become his “sons” by resurrection. Being the sons of the heavenly King, these appointed ones will rank as “princes.”

⁴⁵ However, it is to be noted that the Hebrew word in Psalm 45:16 for “princes” is sarím. Among the ancient Israelites not everyone who was called a “sar” had royal connections. Among them a chief of a thousand, a chief of a hundred, a chief of fifty, and even a chief of ten men was called a “sar.” Even a chief of the royal butlers or chief of the royal bakers could be called a “sar.”​—Exodus 18:21, 25; Deuteronomy 1:15; 20:9; 1 Samuel 8:12; Genesis 40:2. Compare Genesis 23:5, 6.

46, 47. (a) Will all those appointed have to be royal or patriarchal ancestors of the King, and what kind of men will they have to be? (b) In whose interests will they really have to be interested, as described in Isaiah 32:1, 2?

⁴⁶ Not all those appointed to be “princes in all the earth” need to be the royal or patriarchal ancestors of Jesus Christ as a man. Basically, they need to be men of integrity, “capable men,” “men wise and experienced,” such as the prophet Moses appointed to be judges, concerning whom we read: “Moses proceeded to choose capable men out of all Israel and to give them positions as heads over the people, as chiefs [sarím] of thousands, chiefs [sarím] of hundreds, chiefs [sarím] of fifties and chiefs [sarím] of tens. And they judged the people on every proper occasion. A hard case they would bring to Moses, but every small case they themselves would handle as judges.” (Exodus 18:25, 26; Deuteronomy 1:15) The earthly princes appointed by the King Jesus Christ will really be interested in the welfare of the people and in settling difficulties peacefully and amicably. They will be courageous and protective of what is right, like the princes described in Isaiah 32:1, 2, which says:

⁴⁷ “Look! A king will reign for righteousness itself; and as respects princes [sarím], they will rule as princes for justice itself. And each one must prove to be like a hiding place from the wind and a place of concealment from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a waterless country, like the shadow of a heavy crag in an exhausted land.”