Chapter 4 -
The coming of Jesus
As comes to the coming of Jesus, the Watchtower Society has taught about
it in a different way from what is normally taught. First of all, the Watchtower
Society has taught that Jesus will not appear visibly, but only in an invisible
way, spiritually. For example, a book called Silloin on täyttynyt Jumalan
salaisuus (p. 248) says the following (italics have been added to the
quotes):
... The second coming
and the second presence will be invisible to the eyes of the people on
Earth.
Furthermore, according to the
teaching of the Watchtower Society, the coming of Jesus, parousia, in other
words "presence", has already come true; it took place in 1914 (or
according to the earlier view, already in 1874) when Jesus was also made
King in Heaven. The next quotes talk about this:
Also, the return
of Christ does not mean that He would literally come back on Earth, but that he
will take over the royal power of the world and turn His attention to it. He
does not, therefore, need to leave His heavenly throne and actually come on
Earth. As we have seen in an earlier chapter, the evidence from the Bible
indicates that the year 1914 was the determined time by God when Christ
returned and started to rule. A cry was heard in Heaven, "Now have come the
salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his
Christ. - The Revelation 12:10. (Sinä
voit elää ikuisesti paratiisissa maan päällä, [You Can Live Forever in
Paradise on Earth] p. 147)
The facts indicate this to be
a limited age that has a precise beginning and end. It started in 1914, when
Jesus Christ was made the king in Heaven..." (Totuus joka johtaa ikuiseen elämään [The Truth
That Leads to Eternal Life], p. 95)
That is why those who
belonged to the nation of Jehovah in the 1800s rightly understood that the
pa-rou-si'a of Christ would be invisible. They had also come to understand that
the times of the Gentiles would come to an end during the autumn of 1914. With
increasing spiritual enlightenment, they later understood that Jesus Christ was
crowned in Heaven as the King of the Kingdom in that same year 1914."(Vartiotorni or the Finnish version of Watchtower, 1 May 1993, p.
11)
In addition to this, only
Armageddon and the great tribulation are expected in the future and after them,
earthly paradise, but not the coming of Jesus that was supposed to have
occurred already in 1914:
One thing is sure: all evil
and bad people will soon face their sudden end in Armageddon. (…) None of
this bad world will be saved in Armageddon. (…) After Armageddon, the
kingdom of God is the only government of Earth."(Sinä voit elää ikuisesti paratiisissa maan päällä [You Can Live
Forever in Paradise on Earth], p. 154,155)
In the coming 'great
tribulation', there will be people who stay alive in addition to the spiritual
Israel, "the chosen ones". Around the year 96, the old Apostle John
received a vision of those people who would go through "the great tribulation",
together with the spiritual "remnants"of Israel. (Jumalan ikuinen tarkoitus nyt saamassa voiton
ihmisen hyväksi [God's "Eternal Purpose"Now Triumphing for Man's good], p.
181)
But is this true? Has Jesus
already returned back as an invisible spirit in 1914 or not? We try to give an
answer in the light of the next examples to these and other views of the
Watchtower Society concerning the coming of Jesus:
Was the coming invisible? If we first look
at whether Jesus has already returned or will return as an invisible spirit, we
see that the Bible does not speak about this at all. We can find from the Bible
many verses which indicate that Jesus will return in a physical form, in his
glory, and publicly, so that all eyes can see him - the coming cannot be a
secret and invisible, as the Watchtower Society has taught. We should also note
that many of these verses contain the word Paruosia - referring to a visible
coming - which the Watchtower Society says is only an invisible presence:
- (Rev 1:7) Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also
which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, Amen.
- (Matt 16:27) For the Son of
man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall
reward every man according to his works.
- (Matt 24:30) And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory.
- (Matt 23:39) For I say to you, You shall not see me
from now on, till you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the
Lord.
- (Matt 26:64) Jesus said to him, You
have said: nevertheless I say to you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Did the resurrection and
rapture take place in 1914? If the coming of Jesus occurred in 1914, then also
the resurrection and rapture of the believers should have taken place, as the
next verses indicate. According to those verses, these events are simultaneous
with the coming of Jesus.
However, nothing like this happened to the Jehovah's
Witnesses who lived in 1914. Instead, they continued their normal lives, just
as other people. This clearly proves that the coming of Jesus and the
above-mentioned things did not happen in 1914:
- (1 Cor 15:20-23) But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in
his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's
at his coming.
- (Matt 24:30-31And then shall appear
the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.
- (1 Thess 4:15-17) For this we say
to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain to the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Made to be a king. According to the
above-mentioned view, Jesus was made the King in Heaven in 1914. For
example, a book called Totuus joka johtaa ikuiseen elämään [The
Truth That Leads to Eternal Life] talks about it.
However, if we
look at the next Bible verses, we see that they indicate that He was made the
King immediately after He went to Heaven, not in 1914. This would prove that the
Watchtower society is wrong:
- (Matt 28:18) And Jesus came and spoke
to them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.
- (Mark 16:19) So then after the Lord had spoken to them, he was
received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
- (Hebr 1:3) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high:
- (Eph 1:20-22) Which he worked in
Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in
the heavenly places,
21 Far above
all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church,
Armageddon, the great
tribulation, and the coming of Jesus. As the Watchtower society
teaches, that the coming of Jesus has already taken place in 1914, but that
Armageddon and the great tribulation are still in the future, this can't be
true either. The Bible says that the coming of Jesus will take place just after the
Armageddon and the great tribulation, not before them:
- (Matt 24:21,22,29,30) For then shall be
great tribulation, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh
be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
29 Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
- (Rev 16:16 /
19:11,15) And he gathered them together into a
place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
19:11,15 And I saw heaven opened,
and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that
with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron:
and he treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
