Part four
After describing all these things destined to occur, Jesus spoke a series of illustrations—each showing the same outcome. The lesson is, there will be a decisive separation among Christians. Jehovah’s Witnesses have no realistic expectation of such a thing. The Watchtower claims the concluding harvest took place over 100 years ago. Supposedly, the angels separated the Bible Students from the mass of members of other Christian sects and denominations and burned them all up. But Jesus clearly indicated that the division will occur when he comes as a thief in the night.
“Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one will be taken along and the other abandoned. Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” – Matthew 24:40-42
When Jesus sent out the 70 disciples in pairs, he instructed them to declare that ‘the Kingdom of God has come near to you.’ The Jews had the Messiah in their midst, and if they accepted him as the One sent from God, they could have the inestimable privilege of becoming co-rulers with Christ in his kingdom.
Even so, those original disciples did not expect their Lord to suffer death. As it turned out, those 70 itinerant preachers whom Jesus entrusted with his message did not even know what the Kingdom of God was that they were preaching. At the time, they assumed it was an earthly kingdom, and they imagined that it was going to display itself when Jesus arrived at Jerusalem for the Passover of 33 C.E. Instead, the one whom they hailed as King of Israel was executed like a common criminal. All of Jesus’ disciples were shocked and grieved.
When Jesus appeared to his disciples after he rose from the dead, he assigned to them a new message. They were to be witnesses of his resurrection and ascension. After the anointing spirit was poured upon them on the day of Pentecost, Peter became the fearless spokesman for the newly formed congregation of the Firstborn. And on occasion, when he spoke to the crowds, he gave them witness that Jesus was alive and sitting at the right hand of God in heaven. After all, the apostles had seen Jesus and spoken with him, and they were on the Mount of Olives and watched as Jesus was lifted into the sky and disappeared into a cloud. How could they not speak about such matters?
What a turnaround for Peter, especially. The man who three times denied he even knew Jesus, and who had ignorantly tried to comfort Jesus and dissuade him from his sacrificial death, only to hear Christ’s stern rebuke—“get behind me Satan”—was later empowered by the spirit to stand before large crowds and even the Jewish rulers who had put Jesus to death and explain from the prophecies and Psalms why Jesus suffered death and why the Grave could not hold him.
This is a pattern for when Christ comes. Jehovah’s Witnesses are in the position of the 70 whom Jesus sent out in advance of his coming. Unlike the 70 original kingdom proclaimers, though, Jehovah’s Witnesses know what the Kingdom of God is. The problem is that they are laboring under the delusion that the Kingdom of God has already begun ruling—that an invisible parousia began in 1914. More specifically, Paul called the delusion an “operation of Satan,” involving powerful works and lying signs and every unrighteous deception.
The authentic coming and visible presence of the Son of man will parallel Christ’s post-resurrection appearances to those who were anointed a short time later. And just as those original anointees became witnesses of his resurrection and ascension, the chosen will be eyewitnesses of his manifestation “the second time he appears”—becoming his witnesses in the fullest sense.
There is, however, a slight distinction between Jehovah’s Witnesses presently and the 70. Those whom Jesus sent out to preach the Kingdom before his death were not anointed at the time. Whereas, many associated with the Watchtower Society, both in the past and presently, have experienced an anointing and have been servants of Jehovah. It is to these that God will pose the following questions when Christ comes as a thief in the night: “Listen, you who are deaf; look and see, you who are blind. Who is blind except my servant, so deaf as the messenger I send? Who is so blind as the one rewarded, so blind as the servant of Jehovah? You see many things, but you do not keep watch. You open your ears, but you do not listen.” – Isaiah 42:18-20
Do not Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to themselves as servants of Jehovah who carry the Kingdom message? And has not the Watchtower discovered and expounded upon “many things” of spiritual importance? At this late date, it truly is a case of not keeping watch and not listening to God’s whisper. A loud rebuke is certainly in order.
Keep in mind that when Jesus appeared to some of his disciples after he was resurrected, he rebuked them, saying: “O senseless ones and slow of heart to believe all the things the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” And starting with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them things pertaining to himself in all the Scriptures.” – Luke 24:25-27
As stated previously, Jesus did not say that the good news would be preached during the last days. In Mark’s account, he says the good news must be preached first. Then what? Jesus explains: “As for you, look out for yourselves. People will hand you over to local courts, and you will be beaten in synagogues and be put on the stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness to them. Also, in all the nations, the good news has to be preached first. And when they are taking you to hand you over, do not be anxious beforehand about what to say; but whatever is given you in that hour, say this, for you are not the ones speaking, but the holy spirit is. Furthermore, brother will deliver brother over to death, and a father a child, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all people on account of my name. But the one who has endured to the end will be saved.” – Mark 13:9-13
Have Jehovah’s Witnesses been beaten in the synagogues or handed over to local courts or made to stand before the highest authorities to give them a witness, a witness wholly inspired by the holy spirit? Have brothers betrayed one another, or have families handed over former loved ones to be put to death?
Obviously, no Christian will be beaten and thrown from a Jewish synagogue when the Son of man returns. Synagogues were Jewish meeting places—the forerunner of the modern Kingdom Hall. That being the case, imagine, if you can, a scenario where Jesus appears to certain persons but not others, and those to whom he appears give testimony of their encounter with Christ. Can you imagine the reaction? Some would believe, and some would not. And that will create a schism.
Jesus also spoke of this division. After explaining how the faithful slave and the evil slave will both be punished, with the erring but ignorant slave being beaten with a few strokes, while the willfully disobedient slave will be punished with the greatest severity and thrown into the outer darkness where he will weep and gnash his teeth, he spoke of starting a fire among his people—pitting brothers and families against one another.
Surely, such an outcome, accomplished by Christ’s mighty angels as they collect the weeds out from among the wheat, cannot be conducive to brotherly love between those who have been taken along and those abandoned. That is why Jesus went on to say, as recorded in the 12th chapter of Luke: “I came to start a fire on the earth, and what more is there for me to wish if it has already been lit? Indeed, I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and how I am distressed until it is finished! Do you think I came to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on there will be five in one house divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Although Christ’s message created divisions in Jewish families in the first century, the context of the 12th chapter of Luke has to do with Christ coming alongside his faithful ones during the conclusion. That is why in the passage above, Jesus said he was “distressed until it is finished.” It will not be finished until the separation is concluded and the chosen ones are in the storehouse, shining as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.
This is what is represented in the 10th chapter of Revelation when the glorious angel, with his face shining as the sun—exactly as in the transfiguration—stands astride the sea and earth, raises his right hand to heaven and proclaims: “There will be no delay any longer. But in the days when the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret that God declared as good news to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish.”
I wonder if any of Jehovah’s Witnesses even realize that the Watchtower makes the absurd claim that Jesus touched down on earth and proclaimed that the good news was brought to a finish during World War I. No wonder Jesus will pose the question to them: “Who is blind except my servant?”
THEY HAVE FOLLOWED THE PATH OF CAIN
We all know the story of Cain and Abel. The first human born of a woman murdered his brother. It is most instructive that after revealing that when Christ is made manifest and we shall see him and be like him, in the 3rd chapter of his first epistle the apostle John went on to discuss lawlessness and Cain and revealed that Cain originated with the wicked one, implying that there will be a similar outcome for those who see the manifestation of Christ, brought about by those, who like Cain, also originate with the wicked one. Did not Jesus explain that the weeds are sons of the wicked one and grow together with the true sons until the angels make a decisive separation?
Jude also evoked the ignominious name of Cain, saying: “Too bad for them, for they have followed the path of Cain and have rushed into the erroneous course of Balaam for reward, and they have perished in the rebellious talk of Korah! These are the rocks hidden below water at your love feasts while they feast with you, shepherds who feed themselves without fear; waterless clouds carried here and there by the wind; fruitless trees in late autumn, having died twice and having been uprooted; wild waves of the sea that cast up the foam of their own shame; stars with no set course, for which the blackest darkness stands reserved forever.” (11-13)
Cain, Balaam, and Korah all had something in common. They were privileged to communicate with God or see his glory. God personally warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door, craving to devour him. Jehovah spoke to Balaam the diviner, too. Neither of them listened.
Korah was a prominent Israelite from the priestly tribe of Levi who was the ringleader of a group of prominent men, called chosen ones. Together, they refused to acknowledge Moses’ authority—this, despite the fact that Moses spent 40 days on the mountain with Jehovah and conversed with God as no other man ever has. Moses’ face emitted an incandescent glow from having a close encounter with the Divine One. Despite the clear evidence that Jehovah had chosen Moses as his representative, Korah refused to accept it. He and the others proclaimed that they were all holy and that Jehovah was in their midst.
Since Jude indicates that these men are shepherds who lurk among unsuspecting Christians, submerged within the Christian congregation as rocks below the water, Cain, Balaam, and Korah represent those evil slaves, collectively known as the man of lawlessness. These will oppose the chosen ones after they have seen Christ. That is why both Peter and Jude describe them as animalistic men who speak abusively of glorious ones. The chosen will have been made glorious by their coming into the presence of Christ. Just as Korah insisted that God was in their midst, these unspiritual men will become the false Christs who will lyingly claim that Christ is with them in the inner chambers.
Since Jesus foretold that brothers would hand over their brothers to be put to death, the Cain faction represents the leadership of the organization that will take the lead in having the revealed sons of God put to death. In this, they will receive the same sentence as Judas—the second death. That is why Jude says they have “died twice.”
End part four…
