Saturday, August 27
Symeon [Peter] has related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name.
At a meeting of the governing body of first-century Christians held in 49 C.E., the disciple James stated the above. This new people bearing Jehovah’s name would include both Jewish and non-Jewish believers. Later, Peter wrote: “You were once not a people, but now you are God’s people.” Peter outlined their mission by stating: “You are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies’ of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” They were to sound forth the praises of the One they represented and publicly glorify his name. They were to be courageous witnesses for Jehovah, the Universal Sovereign, “to the most distant part of the earth.”
COMMENTARY
Are Jehovah’s Witnesses basking in divine light? And if so, will that always be the case?
Light, of course, is a metaphor for truth, and not just intellectual knowledge of facts, but true spiritual enlightenment. And Jesus, as “the way, the life and the truth,” is the source of the truth that ultimately originates with the God of truth —Jehovah. It stands to reason, then, that the return of Jesus will be the most enlightening event —ever, at least for those who are receptive to his presence.
However, there is a false light promoted by Satan, whom Paul warned “keeps disguising himself as an angel of light.” And just as Satan wears his disguise, “his ministers also keep disguising themselves as ministers of righteousness. But their end will be according to their works.”
The inspired apostle revealed that the Devil’s ministers were actually operating right within the Corinthian congregation. And not on the periphery. They were the leaders — having cleverly disguised themselves as apostles of Christ! Evidently the Corinthians were taken in by the masquerade, which is why Paul wrote: “I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, your minds might be corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ. For as it is, if someone comes and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or you receive a spirit other than what you received, or good news other than what you accepted, you easily put up with him.” —2 Corinthians 11
We are not told the details, but it is clear that the Corinthians were putting up with the deceivers who had insinuated themselves into their midst as deceitful workers, who were preaching another “Jesus.”
As a powerful pretend angel of light Satan is capable of producing deceitful workers in our age too; deceivers who know the theocratic lingo, who are men of stature, who pass themselves off as modern apostles who speak for Christ.
The day’s text insinuates that the apostles and older men in the first century formed a governing body, which conversely implies that the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is of equal stature as the apostles; thus, “disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.”
According to Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians men who pretend to pass off their writings as though they are letters from the apostles are intent on deceiving Christians into believing that the parousia has begun and the day of Jehovah is hear. This is precisely what the Watchtower has done. Who can deny that the Watchtower has announced the presence of Christ and the arrival of the day of Jehovah from the very beginning, now spanning almost a century and a half?
Now, back to the question posed at the onset: Are Jehovah’s Witnesses basking in divine light? Really, how could they be since they have embraced the lie that Jesus has already come? That lie is the very cornerstone of the Watchtower Society. Like the fake apostles of Christ that presided over the anointed Corinthian congregation, Jehovah’s Witnesses are influenced by men who wear a similar disguise, and who preach a different Christ and possess a different spirit.
Since the belief that Christ has already come and set matters straight, establishing a spiritual paradise, is an inseparable aspect of the faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the actual coming of Christ will not be an enlightening experience —not initially anyway. First must come the sinking realization that the Watchtower has promoted a vast deception.
It will be a traumatic experience to realize that the light that one has embraced is actually darkness. That is why the prophecy of Amos pronounces woe upon those who yearn for the day of Jehovah, saying: “Woe to those who yearn for the day of Jehovah! What, then, will the day of Jehovah mean for you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be like a man who flees from a lion and is confronted by a bear, and when he enters his house and leans his hand against the wall, a snake bites him. Will not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light; will it not have gloom, and not brightness?”
