The Prince’s Inheritance

Let us now consider a little closer some of the remarks made by the Pastor,

“A part of the evidence leading to the deduction that the Ancient Worthies will be made sharers of the spirit nature and become members of the Great Company class is built upon the fact that they seem to be represented typically by the tribe of Levi. The fact that this tribe had no inheritance in the land seems to imply that the Ancient Worthies will have no earthly inheritance…

Furthermore, in (Gen 17:8), God said unto Abraham, “And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” Two thousand years later, Saint Stephen said that God never gave Abraham so much as a foot of the promised land (Acts 7:5); but he implied that Abraham will yet receive that land AND afterward leave it to his posterity. If the land is to be given to Abraham and his coadjutors, and then to be left to his seed and mankind in general, the thought would seem to imply that he himself would no longer be in possession of it, having passed it on as an inheritance, thus the implication is that the Ancient Worthies will have no inheritance in the land (in the earthly phase of the kingdom), but will bring to completion their “better resurrection” (Heb 11:35) passing to the spirit nature.” (R5182)

Let us now see how Ezekiel confirms these facts.

Verses 16-18 “Thus says the Lord GOD: “If the prince gives a gift of some of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. But if he gives a gift of some of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty, after which it shall return to the prince. But his inheritance shall belong to his sons; it shall become theirs. Moreover the prince shall not take any of the people’s inheritance by evicting them from their property; he shall provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of my people may be scattered from his property.” (Ezek 46:16-18)

Note closely that four distinct classes are here mentioned as receiving an inheritance 1) The Prince, 2) the Sons of the Prince, 3) the Servants of the Prince, and 4) the People.

“As the Prince will give some of his inheritance to others, so too the perfect condition of the resurrected Ancient Worthies will be granted to others prior to the attainment of perfect life by the world of mankind in general. The Prince will give land (inheritance) to two classes named the “Sons of the Prince”, and the “Servants of the Prince”, which two classes together comprise the class known as the “servants of the city” (Ezek 48:19).

The former class, “the sons”, will possess the land forever “it is their possession by inheritance”; that is to say the antitypical sons will possess the same condition of being as that of the Ancient Worthy class forever, during the millennial age, the perfect human nature; at its close, the perfect spirit nature.

The other class, “the servants”, posses the land only to the year of liberty, teaching that the antitypical servants will have the same condition of being as that of the Ancient Worthy class (the perfect human nature) during the Millennial age, but at its close (the year of liberty, when Satan will be destroyed [Rev 20:10] and the last enemy, Adamic death will be destroyed also 1 Cor 15:26) thenceforth they will no longer posses the land, they will no longer possess the same inheritance the same condition of being as that of the Ancient Worthy class, which will then be for the Ancient Worthy class that of the perfect spirit nature; they will however retain the condition of the perfect human nature (As shown in our diagram), which illustrates the progress of our four classes from their original debased human plane of existence to their permanent future planes of perfect life and existence.”

The “servants of the prince” are not sons and therefore at the year of liberty (the close of the Millennial Age) when the Ancient Worthies receive their reward for service (spirit birth, See F 129) the servants shall receive of the people’s inheritance or property.

As was said the “servants of the city” are composed of two classes known as the servants and the sons of the Prince. They will be a kind of “Aide-de-camp” to the Ancient Worthies, supporting and assisting them in the multifarious duties of a worldwide government. A footnote in Leeser suggests they will be “soldiers, watchman, and others connected with the public functions of government.” Nothing definite is known as to who will compose these two classes, “The servants and the sons.”

It has been suggested that the former, the “servants” are those whom the Little Flock will desire to reward, those from whom they received help and kindness (a cup of cold water) while they travelled the “narrow way”. (Matt 10:40-42) O.C.G 22, Page 4, par. 7

The other class, the “sons” may be composed of the immature children of the consecrated “Little Flock”, over whom the Ancient Worthies will have a special charge. (1 Cor 7:14) F 555, par. 2 (Isa 55:9) Notes taken from the “Temple of Beauty Studies” by L.H. Norby Pages 21, 23, 24

Note: the foregoing thoughts as taken from the “Temple of Beauty Studies” are not those held by all Bible Students, but to those who have done a more thorough study of Ezekiel’s Prophecy in regards to the Temple they seem most reasonable and scripturally sound based on the overall teachings of the Scriptures as they relate to the Plan of God and the incoming kingdom. We leave it to each discriminating student of God’s Word to decide for themselves the validity of what we have presented.