Three and a half years after being baptized in the Jordan River, Jesus Christ was betrayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He quoted from the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7 and foretold what would happen to his apostles, saying: “All of you will be stumbled in connection with me on this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered about.’ But after I have been raised up, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” (Matthew 26:31, 32)

And so Jesus, after quoting from the prophecy about the scattering of the sheep, reassured his apostles by adding: “But after I have been raised up, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” (Matthew 26:32) This meant that, after his resurrection from the dead, he would regather them. This actually took place, and concerning this we read: “The eleven disciples went into Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had arranged for them, and when they saw him they did obeisance, but some doubted. And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: ‘All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.’”​—Matthew 28:16-20.

45. How was this same prophecy fulfilled upon the faithful “slave” class in 1919, and how was this “slave” made “happy”?

⁴⁵ Similarly, in the year 1919, Jehovah did “turn [his] hand back upon those who are insignificant.” (Zechariah 13:7) Jehovah’s Shepherd-King, Jesus Christ, did begin regathering the scattered “sheep.” Like the slave’s master in the illustration, the Lord Jesus did return to his house and inspect the situation within it. He did find there a “faithful and discreet slave” class that was striving, in spite of world conditions, to do as commanded, give the Lord’s “domestics” at the proper time their spiritual food, food taken from the inspired Word of God. So the Lord showed his favor by regathering them into a well-organized body of “domestics” in his house. The eight-day general convention held at Cedar Point, Ohio, on September 1-8, 1919, was a notification to all the world that the invisibly present Lord Jesus Christ was regathering his faithful “sheep.” It indicated to the world who it was that the returned Lord Jesus had found to be his “faithful and discreet slave” class.