For I became hungry and you gave me something to eat; I got thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you received me hospitably;

Matthew 25:34-36.

But since the King Jesus Christ has not been visible in the flesh during his current “presence” in Kingdom power and glory, how have these sheeplike individuals done such things to him? His illustration goes on to say:

11. How does the King answer the questions of the “sheep”?

¹¹ “Then the righteous ones will answer him with the words, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and receive you hospitably, or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to you?’ And in reply the king will say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”​—Matthew 25:37-40.

12. How have the righteous “sheep” done these things, and why?

¹² By the reference “my brothers,” the King Jesus Christ means “his chosen ones,” those who are “heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ.” (Matthew 24:31; Romans 8:17) Of these spiritual brothers, there is yet a small remnant left on earth. All of these have been diligently engaged in fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy, “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations,” for they know by the “sign” of Christ’s invisible “presence” or parousia that the kingdom of God is near at the doors. For doing this since the close of the Gentile Times in 1914, they have been the ones who have experienced hunger, thirst, nakedness, sickness, absence from home or homelessness, and even imprisonment merely for preaching “this good news of the kingdom.” (Matthew 24:14, 32, 33; Mark 13:9, 10; Luke 21:29-31) The “righteous” sheeplike ones come to the aid of the spiritual “brothers” of Christ because they are in favor of the Kingdom that these Christian “ambassadors” are preaching to them. They hail that kingdom as the rightful rulership for all mankind.