God foreordained that there should be associated with his Son a body of brothers having the same divine nature and being patterned after the image of his firstborn Son, Jesus Christ. So, after being called, the spirit-begotten child of God becomes a member of the foreordained class, in which he must prove faithful till his earthly death. God foreordained this class, not any particular individual by name, who gets into that class. God foreordained that the number of Christ’s heavenly brothers should be 144,000, no individuals being named in that connection.​—Rev. 14:1-3.

15. When and how did God give “his first recognition” to the foreordained ones?

¹⁵ In Romans 8:29, 30 the apostle Paul points out that to the class of Christians whom God proceeds to glorify or honor and dignify, to declare righteous, to call and to foreordain, he “gave his first recognition.” This is what God did away back in the garden of Eden when he gave his prophecy concerning the “seed” of his own “woman” and the victorious exploit of that “seed.” (Gen. 3:15) Thus, millenniums before that “seed” came into existence, God was the first one to recognize the need of it and its special assignment of work. From then on God gave “his first recognition” to his obligation to produce such a “seed.” So this came first in God’s program. Accordingly, what God considered worthy of “his first recognition” he kept in mind and heart all the way down to producing that “seed” in his Son Jesus Christ and the faithful spirit-begotten disciples of this Son. During all the time down till the arising of that “seed” God foreknew it and gave specially favored recognition to it.

17. What loving purpose did God have in connection with the called, foreordained ones, and since when?

¹⁷ By means of the “called” ones to whom God gave his “first recognition,” he has a loving purpose to fulfill. This was plainly made known 2,083 years after Adam’s creation, namely, in the year 1,943 B.C.E. Then God said to the faithful patriarch Abraham: “All the families of the ground will certainly bless themselves by means of you.” So this blessing embraced the world and was to be procured through a “seed” of Abraham. (Gen. 12:1-3; 22:17, 18) This foreordained “seed” would consist of Jesus Christ and his 144,000 “called” disciples. (Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-3; Gal. 3:16, 29) God’s simple promise to Abraham showed His foreknowledge of a “seed” class without his stating a definite number for them. Only the last Bible book gives us the number.