This is part two of the consideration of the Watchtower article: Are you heeding the warning?
Then the Kingdom of the heavens may be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were discreet. For the foolish took their lamps but took no oil with them, whereas the discreet took oil in their flasks along with their lamps. While the bridegroom was delaying, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. Right in the middle of the night there was a shout: ‘Here is the bridegroom! Go out to meet him.’ – Matthew 25:16
It was presented in part one that 1914 is the problem that prevents Jehovah’s Witnesses from understanding the prophecies and Jesus’ parables. If we are assured that we are enlightened and our teachers are true, and yet they are knowingly or unwittingly misleading us, it is a problem. Jesus once said, “If the light that is in you is really darkness, how great that darkness is!”
When C.T. Russell organized the first little Bible study group in 1870, they were keenly interested in the second coming of Christ. The Adventists had greatly influenced Russell and he adopted their cryptic seven times formula for divining the year of the end of the world. At the time Russell claimed that the parousia had begun in 1874 and that Christ was enthroned in 1878. And 1914 was supposed to be the end. All of those errors were reworked, repackaged, and bundled up, with 1914 becoming the year Christ appeared invisibly and began ruling the world.
Up until quite recently, the Watchtower had claimed that the call to go out and meet the bridegroom was heralded in 1919, and the ten virgins went out to meet him. According to the theocratic legend, the foolish virgins were left behind back then, and the wise virgins traveled through the darkness for nearly 100 years and still had not reached the wedding hall. The Watchtower unceremoniously dropped its untenable interpretation a few years ago, yet unapologetically still presumes to be the explainer of the Bible’s hidden secrets.
Keep in mind there is a logic to Christ reverting to speaking in illustrations after he revealed the sign of the conclusion and his parousia. One of the first illustrations involved the appointment of certain slaves to feed his household in the absence of the master of the house. The master will determine their faithfulness to their assignment upon his unexpected coming to the house like a thief in the night. This proves that Christ’s presence could not have begun before his coming to the house of God (Bethel). How so? If Jesus were present, he would no longer be coming, nor would he appoint slaves to administer affairs in his presence. The slaves are given responsibilities in the absence of the master.
Recall that in the 12th chapter of Luke, Jesus was discussing these same matters. He said that if his slaves were ready and waiting when he returned, he would come alongside them, have them recline at the table, and minister to them. The illustration reminds us of the original Evening Meal when Jesus girded himself as a house servant and washed his disciples’ feet. As Jehovah’s Witnesses know, “parousia” means to come alongside. Christ’s coming alongside and ministering to the chosen in the setting of the Evening Meal signifies the conclusion of the new covenant that Jesus instituted on the occasion of the original Evening Meal. Paul revealed that observance of his death is only valid until he comes. If Christ were already invisibly alongside his faithful little flock, as he referred to them in that same chapter of Luke, why would the virgins need to go out into the dark of the night to meet him?
In all of their discussion regarding the wise and foolish virgins, no explanation is given regarding how the virgins will receive the notification: “Here is the bridegroom! Go out to meet him.”
Should anointed persons expect the Watchtower to be the source of the announcement that Christ is here to ‘go out to meet him’? Given that the Watchtower has already falsely made such declarations, and given the fact that Jesus sternly warned us not to believe human-sourced pronouncements heralding ‘Christ is in the wilderness’ or ‘Christ is in the inner chambers, ’ the answer should be obvious. In such a matter of vital importance, surely God would not leave it to men to announce that Christ has come.
Again, be reminded there is a reason Jesus concluded his discussion of the sign of the conclusion and his presence with a series of parables illustrating the two different outcomes of Christians.
Paul warned Christians not to be alarmed by authoritative pronouncements, declaring that the presence had begun and that the Lord’s day was here. It is beyond dispute that the Watchtower has been the source of those false messages. And shall this institution that has been an unwitting tool for the operation of Satan now become a reliable source of life-saving information to inform us that Jesus has come for real?
Thankfully, Jehovah has provided a sign. It is sealed in his unfailing word. What is it?
When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he revealed a sacred secret regarding the resurrection of those who died in union with Christ. Paul wrote concerning them: “For this is what we tell you by Jehovah’s word, that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death; because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord.” — 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
The Watchtower claims this event has already occurred. It claims that the Lord himself descended from heaven in 1914 and shortly thereafter, with an archangel’s voice, commanded the dead to rise from their graves. In Paul’s day, those Christians in union with Jesus naturally wanted to know when this stupendous event would occur. That is why Paul explained to them in the very next span of verse: “Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly on them, just like birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape. But you, brothers, you are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you as it would thieves, for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We belong neither to night nor to darkness.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5
I know I am repeating myself, but it bears repetition. Why did the brothers not need any more information regarding the beginning of the presence of the Lord? Because they knew that Christ was/is coming as a thief in the night. How did they know that? Jesus told them.
But the Lord’s words apply most aptly to us living now because, as Jesus explained to those servants left in charge: “Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know one thing: If the householder had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. On this account, you too prove yourselves ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think to be it.” — Matthew 24:42-44
Christ’s coming as a thief does not conclude his presence. It is the beginning. But to be clear, what shall be the clarion call that the bridegroom has finally come? It is right there as plain as day: “Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!”
Please recall that in the illustration, all of the waiting virgins became drowsy, nodded off, and went to sleep—not unlike the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane as the critical moment of the Lord’s betrayal by the son of destruction neared. However, their going to sleep in itself did not disqualify them from going out to meet the bridegroom. The determining factor was how they had spiritually prepared beforehand to go out to meet him.
As Paul noted, Christ’s coming as a thief will be heralded by those proclaiming “peace and security.” But that sudden, startling announcement will not catch the sons of light unprepared. Those wise virgins with extra illuminating oil in their lamps correspond with the sons of light.
What about the marriage feast? Jesus said of the foolish virgins who went off to buy more oil: “While they were going off to buy it, the bridegroom came. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.”
Surely, being in the presence of the Lord at a marriage feast represents the consummation of the anointing. Paul told the Corinthians that he had personally promised them in marriage to the Lord. So, Christ’s coming as a thief is followed by a brief interval when the virgins go out to meet him, which then concludes when the bridegroom comes and ushers the waiting virgins into the reception area, and the door is shut. Who would be so unreasonable to argue that the illustration of the virgins going into a special relationship with Christ as their groom does not correspond with Jesus coming alongside (parousia) the chosen and ministering to them during the last Evening Meal?
One thing of particular note: the wise and foolish virgins were together at one point. The call to “go out and meet him” will bring about a separation. The fact that the foolish virgins went back to the sellers of oil must represent those who will continue to look to the Watchtower for enlightenment after the declaration of “peace and security” and the sudden destruction of the Ango-American system proves beyond any doubt that 1914 was a fraud. The wise virgins will strike out and leave the original source of illuminating oil and navigate the rest of the way by faith, where they will meet the Lord in the darkness of the tribulation.
End of part two
