A: That God has a household there can be no doubt, for that is what we are told in his Word. Paul wrote to the non-Jewish Christians in Ephesus, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.” (Eph. 2:19; New International Version) Since it is God’s household, he is the one who determines what it is, who belongs to it and what the qualifications are for one to be recognized by him as belonging to his household. (1Tim. 3:15)
Ask any Witness how we know that we are God's people, and he will most likely answer by saying it is because "we have the truth;" "we have love among ourselves;" and "we preach the good news of the kingdom." Although these are necessary things that God requires of his people, yet they are not what makes us his people. (And no, it's not because Jesus chose us in 1914.) The Scriptures are very clear on this subject, and all of God's people ought to understand it, and be able to explain it to others. (1 Peter 3:15) After all, how can we endure the foretold persecution within God's house if we are not even sure as to why, or if, we are God's sons and daughters.
The apostle Paul explains in simple terms who God's people are, and the basis for it. First of all, he points out that under the new covenant God is no longer worshiped in a physical temple, as was the case under the old covenant, because now his people are his temple, and there is where his spirit dwells. (John 4:19-24; 1 Cor. 3:16,17; Heb. 9:1-10, 24) His people are not scattered throughout other religions, for they are all built upon the one "real" and "solid" foundation, the builder and maker of which is God. (2 Cor. 6:14-18; 2 Tim. 2:19; Heb. 11:10) Jesus is the foundation cornerstone of God's temple, and with him are 144,000 "holy ones" who make up the foundation. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul explains this as God's arrangement: "Certainly, therefore, you are no longer strangers and alien residents, but you are fellow citizens of the holy ones and are members of the household of God, and you have been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, while Christ Jesus himself is the foundation cornerstone. In union with him the whole building, being harmoniously joined together, is growing into a holy temple for Jehovah. In union with him you, too, are being built up together into a place for God to inhabit by spirit." (Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-9; Isa. 28:16) All of God's people constitute his temple—either as part of the foundation, or built upon that foundation. Thus they are all harmoniously joined together and built into a "holy temple" for God to inhabit by spirit.
How exactly is a worshiper of Jehovah built upon the foundation? By accepting and acknowledging that this arrangement is from Jehovah; and that it includes not only Jesus, but also the "holy ones." (Dan. 7:13,14, 27) Any person who desires to worship God must accept not only the foundation cornerstone, but the entire foundation upon which God's temple is built. That is what Jesus meant in his parable of the sheep and the goats, for the sheep did good to Christ's "brothers," and he views it as having been done to him personally. The "sheep" are built upon the foundation of his brothers. (Matt. 25:31-46) There is no other people on earth who accept the 144,000 brothers of Christ as an essential part of worshiping God in his temple. To all others these foundation stones remain God's mystery, his sacred secret. (Eph. 3:8-11, 17,18; Rev. 7:14,15)
We do not need to know the individual members of the foundation in order to exercise faith in their position within God's temple arrangement. God never purposed to give them glory while serving him on earth. The only names that we have been given are those of the twelve apostles, and a few others including Paul. (1 Cor. 4:8-13) God's temple has continued to grow in size throughout the many centuries since Pentecost, as Jehovah has kept expanding the foundation, all the while building upon it, until it will finally be completed just prior to the great tribulation. (Acts 13:48,49; 12:24; 19:20; Rev. 7:1-4) Soon thereafter, Jesus will be glorified in connection with his holy ones, which will be witnessed by all who exercised faith and survived the great tribulation. (2 Thess. 1:7-10) On account of your faith you too belong to God's holy temple, having been built upon the solid foundation; and therefore Jesus is truly your Lord. You have his assurance that where there are two or three gathered together in his name, he is in your midst! (Matt. 18:19,20)
God's holy temple came into existence at Pentecost; and it should not be confused with the Watchtower Society that has imposed itself upon God's people for the past hundred years. That secular corporation, along with its leaders, the foretold "man of lawlessness," have set themselves up over us as our "masters," and acting as if they were also our "owners." But the yoke they have imposed on God's people will soon be broken at Jesus' presence, for our great relief. (See 2 Thess. 2:3-12; Isa. 26:13; Jer. 30:8,9)
How important is it for you personally to identify and accept God's temple arrangement? Paul leaves no doubt about what it will mean at “the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength.” (2 Thess. 1:6-10; 1 Cor. 3:17)
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