23. Besides Kingdom preaching, what other work has there been for Jehovah’s visible organization to do?

²³ In this “time of the end” for this present system of things the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” for a witness to all the nations is not the only work of God’s visible earthly organization after the close of World War I. There has been a harvesting work in progress, in a spiritual sense. Jesus Christ foretold this.

The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.”​—Matthew 13:37-39.

25. In 1919, into what was the surviving remnant of spirit-anointed servants of Jehovah gathered, but why was there yet a harvest to be carried out by His angels, and through whom?

²⁵ In the postwar year of 1919 C.E. and under angelic guidance the faithful remnant of Jehovah’s spirit-anointed people were gathered into his visible earthly organization, for the foretold Kingdom-preaching work. This fact was very manifest by the holding of the eight-day general assembly of the International Bible Students Association at Cedar Point, Ohio, in September of 1919. But the members of this faithful anointed remnant who had survived the severe trials and persecutions during World War I were not enough to complete the foreordained number of those who are anointed to reign with Jesus Christ in his heavenly kingdom. The full number of the joint heirs of Christ in his kingdom was foreordained to be 144,000. (Revelation 7:4-8; 14:1, 3; 20:4, 6) Consequently more of the “wheat” class had to be found and harvested by the angels and gathered into Jehovah’s visible earthly organization. As the invisible heavenly angels were working through the anointed remnant on earth, what did the harvest work now require?

26. What did this harvest work require the surviving members of the anointed remnant to do, and what must occur with those whom they baptize for these to become joint heirs of Christ?

²⁶ It required, from 1919 forward, that the surviving members of the joint heirs of Christ’s kingdom must do further work of making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them. Following their baptism as dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ, these new disciples must be anointed with God’s spirit to become “sons of the kingdom,” joint heirs of Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:15-17) Those thus collected during this “conclusion of the system of things,” together with all the other wheatlike Christians who had already proved faithful to the death, will complete the foreordained number of 144,000 “sons of the kingdom.” As regards all such faithful harvested ones, it is written: “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.”​—Revelation 20:4, 6.

29. (a) So, since 1919, what kind of work were the surviving anointed remnant doing? (b) How did this affect Jehovah’s spiritual temple?

²⁹ When we take these things into consideration, there is this fact that we can see: In the year 1919 C.E., the surviving anointed remnant of Christ’s disciples presented themselves for their part on earth in the harvest work under the superior direction of the “reapers,” the heavenly angels. In this way they were undertaking a work that affected the true spiritual temple of Jehovah. How so? Well, by doing their discipling work and thus collecting the “wheat” class under angelic reapers, they were working for the producing of more spiritual underpriests. They were colaboring with Jehovah God that he might put more underpriests, yes, the full complement of the spiritual underpriests, into the Holy of His great spiritual temple. They were thus working for an enlarged sacred service by more underpriests at Jehovah’s temple.

30. Was this the right time for the collecting of the wheatlike Christians, and how was this a building up of the working force in the temple “Holy”?

³⁰ Instead of this being a “gleaning work” such as followed a regular harvest in the ancient land of Israel,a this collecting work on the part of the surviving anointed remnant was the real harvest under the angelic “reapers.” The time of their doing this was the “conclusion of the system of things,” since the year 1914 C.E., and Jesus said that “the harvest is a conclusion of a system of things.” (Matthew 13:39; 24:3, 31) As a result of the spiritual harvesting work during the years that followed, the anointed remnant of wheatlike disciples of Christ grew in numbers, notably down to the year 1931 when the anointed remnant embraced the Scripturally backed designation “Jehovah’s witnesses.” Manifestly the number of spiritual underpriests in the Holy of Jehovah’s spiritual temple had increased, likely to include the full complement that was needed to complete the foreordained quota of 144,000 spiritual underpriests under the High Priest Jesus Christ. It was indeed a buildup of the working force in the Holy of Jehovah’s true temple.