Another 60 years passed before it was revealed to the apostle John that only 144,000 would be taken from earth to share the heavenly Kingdom with Christ.—Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1-3.

Charles Taze Russell and his associates shared that hope, as did most of Jehovah’s Witnesses down till the mid-1930’s. They also knew, from their study of the Scriptures, that anointing with holy spirit signified not only that persons were in line for future service as kings and priests with Christ in heaven but also that they had a special work to do while still in the flesh. (1 Pet. 1:3, 4; 2:9; Rev. 20:6) What work? They knew well and often quoted Isaiah 61:1, which states: “The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones.”

They realized that, at that time, just one “calling” was being extended to all true Christians. This was an invitation to be members of the bride of Christ, which would finally be just 144,000 in number. (Eph. 4:4; Rev. 14:1-5) They sought to stir up all who professed faith in Christ’s ransom sacrifice, whether these were church members or not, to appreciate “the precious and very grand promises” of God. (2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 1:18) They endeavored to move them to zeal in conforming to the requirements for the little flock of Kingdom heirs. For the spiritual strengthening of all such, whom they viewed as constituting “the household of faith” (because they professed faith in the ransom), Brother Russell and his associates diligently sought to make available spiritual ‘food in due season’ through the columns of the Watch Tower and other Bible-based publications.—Gal. 6:10; Matt. 24:45, 46, KJ.

They could see, however, that not all who professed to have made a “consecration” (or, ‘to have given themselves fully to the Lord,’ as they understood it to mean) thereafter continued to pursue a life of willing self-sacrifice, making the Lord’s service their first concern in life. Yet, as they explained, consecrated Christians had agreed to give up human nature willingly, with a heavenly inheritance in view; there was no turning back; if they did not gain life in the spirit realm, second death would await them. (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-29) But many seemingly consecrated Christians were taking the easy road, failing to manifest true zeal for the Lord’s cause and shunning self-sacrifice. Nevertheless, they apparently had not repudiated the ransom and were leading reasonably clean lives. What would become of such persons?

For many years the Bible Students thought that this was the group described at Revelation 7:9, 14 (KJ), which refers to “a great multitude” that come out of great tribulation and stand “before the throne” of God and before the Lamb, Jesus Christ. They reasoned that although these shunned a life of self-sacrifice, they would be confronted with trials of faith ending in death during a time of tribulation after the glorification of the final ones of the bride of Christ. They believed that if these who were said to be of the great multitude were faithful at that time, they would be resurrected to heavenly life—not to rule as kings but to take a position before the throne. It was reasoned that they would be given such secondary positions because their love for the Lord had not been sufficiently fervent, because they had not shown enough zeal. It was thought that these were people who had been begotten by God’s spirit but had been negligent about obeying God, possibly continuing to cling to Christendom’s churches.

They also thought that perhaps—just perhaps—the “ancient worthies” who would serve as princes on the earth during the millennial era would, at the end of that time, somehow be granted heavenly life. (Ps. 45:16) They reasoned that a similar prospect might await any who “consecrated” themselves after the 144,000 Kingdom heirs had all been finally chosen but before the time of restitution on earth began. In a limited way, this was a carryover from Christendom’s view that all those who are good enough go to heaven.