9, 10. Why does Christendom ask questions about the fitness of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses to act like Jeremiah?

⁹ Who, though, are Jehovah’s Christian witnesses of today that they should take it upon themselves to act like Jeremiah and charge Christendom with falling short of God’s requirements for spiritual Israelites in the new covenant? Who are they that they should be accusing Christendom of being guilty of spiritual adultery toward the God of the new covenant? (Jas. 4:4) That is how Christendom views the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Measured from the time of Constantine the Great, Christendom is more than 1,600 years old and has millions of congregations!

¹⁰ In contrast, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses of today are but a century old, measured from the founding of the Allegheny (Pennsylvania) congregation of unsectarian Bible students. Christendom views them as just a young upstart congregation without the Biblical scholarship of which she can boast. What, though, of Jeremiah’s age when Jehovah commissioned him to be a prophet?

11. According to Jeremiah 1:4-6, did Jeremiah’s youth matter with Jehovah?

¹¹ Jeremiah’s youth did not matter with Jehovah. Godly devotion and willingness to serve under unpleasant circumstances were the qualities that counted with Jehovah. This is evident from the Bible record: “And the word of Jehovah began to occur to me, saying: ‘Before I was forming you in the belly I knew you, and before you proceeded to come forth from the womb I sanctified you. Prophet to the nations I made you.’ But I said: ‘Alas, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah! Here I actually do not know how to speak, for I am but a boy.’”​—Jer. 1:4-6.

“BUT A BOY”

12. Why was Jeremiah not too young in 647 B.C.E. for Jehovah to select him to be “prophet to the nations”?

¹² However, was this son of Hilkiah the priest too young in 647 B.C.E. for Jehovah to select him as “prophet to the nations”? No, for even before Jeremiah was conceived in his mother’s womb, hence long before his birth, Jehovah saw that a son from Hilkiah would be suitable for this responsible office​—just at the right time, too. Also, if Jehovah could sanctify such a son before Hilkiah begot him, certainly this Almighty God could introduce that son into the sacred office, say about 20 years after his birth, or, better still, 25 years after his birth, when he would be qualified to enter the first phases of priestly service at the temple in Jerusalem. So Jeremiah’s birth was well timed, for Jehovah wanted the desired prophet-priest to be a young man at the beginning of his career.

13. During whose reign did Jehovah’s word come to Jeremiah, and why did he feel too young to speak as prophet?

¹³ Jehovah purposed for Jeremiah to serve as prophet for a long time, for more than 40 years, or till old age. So it was not accidental that Jehovah’s prophetic word began to come to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Josiah of Jerusalem. (Jer. 1:1, 2) But Jeremiah himself felt too young to undertake prophetic work that required speaking, publicly. Also, since this would involve speaking to the elders of the nation, men of advanced age, Jeremiah felt himself to be “but a boy.”

14. How did Jehovah’s attitude toward Jeremiah’s youth contrast with that of the prominent people of the land?

¹⁴ The kings, princes, priests and people of the land looked down upon Jeremiah’s youth, this reminding us of how the Christian apostle Paul told his missionary companion Timothy not to let anyone look down upon his youth when he was carrying out Paul’s orders to him. (1 Tim. 4:12) Jehovah did not do so. He did not speak to Jeremiah in a boyish way, and he did not inspire Jeremiah’s first prophecy to be couched in boy’s talk. It was addressed to adults and in their dignified language.

15. How has Christendom all along looked upon the Jeremiah class, and how has the courage of this class been like that of David?

¹⁵ All along, Christendom’s much older religious systems have looked upon Jehovah’s Christian witnesses as “but a boy,” in comparison with themselves. It is true that C. T. Russell was just 27 years old when he founded and started editing Zion’s Watch Tower, but he kept on editing it for 37 years, till he died when 64 years old. He served as president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society for almost 32 years (1884-1916). As that Society was incorporated in December of 1884, the work carried on in conjunction with it by those now organized as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses has been for only about 100 years. Yes, youthful they were when stepping into the arena of modern religious controversy, yet they went out onto the field with courage.

[Picture on page 756]

The young Jeremiah class (as pictured in an early Watch Tower Society calendar) is “over the nations” in having a God-given position and work