The WTS correctly teaches that theGreat Tribulation is yet future.But, what about the other claims they have made? Claims concerning the return of Jesus in 1914, a beleif and teaching which they still hold fast to even though those seeing 1914 shouldve passed away by 1964, 1974 at latest, a generation that would be about 140 years old by now.
However, they also teach that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914, and that the first resurrection, in the main, has already taken place in 1918 with a continuing, at-the-point-of-death, immediate resurrection to heaven of those who have died since then.
This WTS scheme of events closely follows the pattern of the teaching of sensationalistic churches who teach a pre-tribulationresurrection/rapture.
This contradicts the biblical sequencing of events. Such sequencing can be understood by drawing together the many relevant scriptures and taking note of the way the relevant Greek words are used in these passages. Once one realizes that the gathering of ‘the holy ones’ refers to their meeting the descending Jesus then Matthew 24 can be seen as a clear sequence of events.
THE GREAT TRIBULATION OCCURS BEFORE THE FIRST RESURRECTION
The MATTHEW 24 SEQUENCE
- Warning to flee from Judea (verses.16-20).
- Then the Great Tribulation (verse. 21).
- “Immediately after the Tribulation of those days...they will see the Son of Man comingon the clouds of heaven” (verses 29-30).
- “He will send his angels with agreat trumpet sound, and theywill gather His chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to the other” (verse 31) i.e. harvest/resurrection as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:21, 23, 52; John 1:3 and 11:24.
It would be illogical to state that thisgathering is one which is into an organization. Such a statement would mean that the conversion of the individuals occurred after the Great Tribulation.
THE GATHERING TO CHRIST WITH A TRUMPET SOUND IN MATTHEW 24 INVOLVES THE FIRST RESURRECTION
First Thessalonians 4:16 - 5:6 gives nine details of the time of the end. Eight of the details of Matthew 24:30-43 are the same as the details of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 - 5:6 indicating that the ninth detail in Matthew 24:31, namely, “will gather,”must be the same as the being “caught away” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 which the WTS recognizes as being connected to the resurrection. These details are:
1. Son of man (24:30) / Lord himself (4:16).
2. Clouds of heaven (24:30) /air (4:17).
3. Great sound of a trumpet (24:31) / the trumpet of God (4:16).
4. Gather together (24:31) / caught away together (4:17). See section on the rapture.
5. Know that summer is near (24:32) / times and the seasons (5:1).
6. Marrying, then flood came (24:38) / safety then destruction (5:3).
7. Coming of the Son of man (24:39) / day of the Lord (KIT 5:2).
8. Watch (24:42) / stay awake and keep our senses (5:6).
9. Known in what watch the thief was coming (24:43) / thief in the night (5:4).
Evidently Paul was writing about the same subject in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 as Jesus had spoken of in Matthew 24, namely the time of the end that culminates in the resurrection when Christians are gathered together by the angels to meet Jesus. This will occur when everyone:
· “…will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. He will send his angels with a great trumpetsound, and they will gather His chosen ones together from the four winds...” (Matt. 24: 30, 31).
· “The Lord will descend from heaven...with the voice of an archangel, withGod’s trumpet ... the deadin union with Christ will rise first (resurrected). Afterward (then), we the living who are surviving will, together with them, becaught away in cloudsto meet the Lord in the air...” (1 Thess. 4:16-18).
So the Matthew 24 sequence can clearly be seen to present an after the tribulation first resurrection. With the Great Tribulation yet future it is not possible that the first resurrection occurred in 1918.
THE RESURRECTION IS AT THE 7th [THE LAST] TRUMPET
· “…we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised upincorruptible”
(1 Cor. 15:52).
· “The seventh angel blew his trumpet. And loud voices saying: ‘The Kingdom of this world did become the Kingdomof Our Lord and of His Christ...the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came ... time for the dead to be judged,and to reward your slaves the prophets and the holy ones’” (Rev. 11:15, 18).
The last trumpet, when the first resurrection occurs, is the 7th trumpet of Revelation. The Kingdom arrives with the 7th trumpet. Therefore, the first resurrection also occurs at the future arrival of the Kingdom and so cannot have occurred in 1918.
THE FUTURE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE ON EARTH showing that the kingdom has yet to arrive and it will not be invisible.
THE FIRST RESURRECTION/GATHERING OCCURS WHEN CHRIST ARRIVES AT HIS PAROUSIA
· “…resurrection of the dead...who belong to Christ at his parousia” (1 Cor. 15:21, 23)
· “I will come again and take you to myself” (John 1:3).
Adolph Deissmann informs us that:
parousia means advent, coming, arrival. From the Ptolemaic period down to the 2nd century A.D. we are able to trace the word in the East as a technical expression for the arrival or visit of the King…(or other person in authority)......Adventus coins were struck...Epiphany nearly always means the future parousia of Christ,..
The lexicons of Bauer, Thayer, Moulton and Milligan, Liddle and Scott, and Abbot-Smith give coming or arrival as the definition of parousia with reference to Christ.
AFTER THE GREAT TRIBULATION
“…respecting the parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we request of YOU not to be quickly shaken from YOUR reason...to the effect that the day of Jehovah is here…it [the day of Jehovah] will not come unless the apostasy (“rebellion” is better) comes firstand the Man of Lawlessness gets revealed…Then indeed the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will do away with…by the manifestation of his parousia. But the lawless one’s parousia is according to the operation of Satan” (2 Thess. 2:1-3, 8, 9).
THE GREAT TRIBULATION IS NOT ARMAGEDDON.
As proved from Joel 2:32 and Matthew 24:29 “the day of Jehovah”follows after the Great Tribulation. Also, because “the day of Jehovah” became “the day of the Lord/day of Christ” in the Christian Scriptures it will occur when Jesus returns, at which point the “gathering together to him” i.e. the first resurrection occurs. So because it occurs on “the day of the Lord” it must of necessity be after the Great tribulation and not in 1918.
AFTER ‘THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS’ ARRIVES
Second Thessalonians 2 also shows that the ‘apostasy’ and the appearance of “the man of lawlessness” must be before the first resurrection can occur. Yet this ‘man’ does not appear until shortly before the one-time return of Christ which is yet future. Again this shows that the first resurrection must occur after the Great Tribulation. The sequence is:
1. Rebellion - “many fall away” at the time of the end (Matt 24:10).
2. Man of lawlessness appears 3½ years before Jesus’ arrival.
3. 3½ years of Great tribulation.
4. Day of Jehovah (celestial darkening).
5. Jesus descends, at which time the first resurrection occurs.
LOOKING AGAIN AT THE MATTHEW 24 SEQUENCE
- “When you see thedisgusting thing that causes desolation…standing in a holy place(v.15).” See NOTE below.
- Warning to flee from Judea (verses.16-20).
- Then theGreat Tribulation(verses.21).
- “Immediately after the Tribulation of those days...they will see the Son of Mancoming on the clouds of heaven” (verses 29-30).
- “He will send his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather His chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to the other” (verse 31) i.e. harvest/resurrection as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:21,23,52; and John 1:3 and 11:24.
NOTE: Mark 13 says “standing where he should not” NAB, REB. The reference is therefore to an individual. Please see Volume 5 STUDY 7: THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS AS THE FINAL ANTICHRIST which gives proof that this“disgusting thing” is a personalization of the man of lawlessness who “sits down in the temple of The God, publicly showing himself to be a god” (2 Thess. 2:4). There is no
scriptural basis for this to be reinterpreted as any kind of composite ‘man of lawlessness’such as the clergy of Christendom. So the advent/arrival of the Man of Lawlessnessmust be shortly before theyet future advent/arrival of the Lord Jesus and is therefore also yet future.
THE RESURRECTION WILL BE AT THE END OF THE AGE HARVEST-TIME
In the Scriptures harvesting is often used figuratively of judgment for either condemnation or acquittal. It also, logically, means a gathering in as is the case with Jesus’ admonition to “beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers” (Luke 10:2). However, in the following scriptures the harvest/gathering cannot refer to any extended time for the conversion of individuals to Christianity but is the gathering to Jesus at the very end of the age—on the last day:
“The harvest is the conclusion (Greek syntelia) of the age” (Matt. 13:39 KIT:).
Syntelia = a point of time marking completion of a duration (Bauer and also Thayer). Most translations give ‘end.’ Marshall’s interlinear gives ‘completion.’Syntelia is synonymous with ‘telos’ = ‘end’ in Matt. 24:14.Syntelia is not a period of time otherwise it would become an extra age. Therefore the gathering of Christians to Christ is not until the very end of the age. Yet we have not yet reached the completion of this age so no Christians can have been resurrected in 1918 i.e. many years before the completion of the age.
GATHERING IS AT THE END
“I am with you always, even to the conclusion (syntelia) of the age”
(Matt. 28:20 KIT).
The congregation will have Jesus with them in spirit until the completion of this age at which point he returns in glory (Matthew 24:3). Therefore Christians cannot have departed the earth in 1918. However, Jesus speaks of the harvest as being the time for the gathering of his followers:
· “…the dragnet gathered fish of every kind...the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away...so it will be at the conclusion (syntelia KIT) of the age” (Matt. 13:47-49)
· “Allow both [wheat and tares] to grow together until the harvest” (Matt. 13:30NASB).
· “… upon the cloud … son of man ... another angel ... crying with a loud voice ... put in your sickle and reap for the harvest of the earth is ... ripe” (Rev.14:14-16).
In contrast to the gathering of “the clusters of the vine of the earth” for destruction this gathering of “the harvestof the earth” concerns the holy ones who have already “endured” (verse 12) during the 3½ year period of the worship of the Beast (verse 9) and“the dead who die in union with the Lord from this time onward” rest (verse 13). This harvest occurs when “the hour of judgment by him has arrived” at the end of the age. So no living Christians can then be in heaven. Of course, the dead are in their graves awaiting resurrection.
RESURRECTION IS ON “THE LAST DAY”
· “I will raise him [Lazarus] up on the last day…he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” (John 6:40, 44, 54 and 11:24).
The Greek word for ‘last’ is eschatos which also means final. So this presumably refers to the final day of the present age.
· “…those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection...”
(Luke 20:35).
· “…he will receive...in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:30).
Hence, the last day of the present age must also be the first day of the ‘age to come’ [the Millennium], making the theory of the resurrection as occurring many years before the Great Tribulation impossible.
SUMMARY OF WHEN THE FIRST RESURRECTION OCCURS
1. After the Man of Lawlessness appears.
2. After the Great Tribulation.
3. At the descending and Parousiaof the Lord.
4. At ‘the end of the age.’
5. On ‘the Last Day.’
6. At the 7th and last trumpet.
NO TRUE CHRISTIANS CAN BE IN HEAVEN AT THE TIME OF JESUS’ FUTURE RETURN
WTS teaching is that the First resurrection is to heaven and that it occurred in 1918 exactly 3½ years after the setting up of the kingdom in October 1914. However, the following Scriptures demonstrate that this is not possible because all living Christians must demonstrate their faith right through the Great Tribulation which occurs immediately before Jesus’ revelation (apokalipsis) and his appearing (epiphania). This requires that they be on earth.
STILL ON EARTH UNTIL THE PAROUSIA
· “…may the spirit, soul and body of you [brothers] be preserved in a blameless manner atthe parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess.5:23).
· “…exercise patience, brothers, until the parousia of the Lord” (James 5:7)
This fact does not contradict the WTS teaching that the ‘parousia’ began in 1914.However, the following scriptural facts do not harmonize with such teaching.
STILL ON EARTH AT THE APOKALYPSIS
· “…to repay tribulation to those who make tribulation for you…relief along with us at the revelation (apokalipsei) of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels…at the time he comes (elthe = erchomai ) to be glorified in connection with his holy ones and to be regarded in that day with wonder” (2 Thess.1:6-10).
· “…that the tested quality of your faith...may be found a cause for praise and glory and honour atthe revelation (apokalipsei) of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).
· “…brace up your minds for activity, keep your senses completely; set your hope upon the undeserved kindness that is to be brought to you at the revelation (apokalipsei) of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).
· “…eagerly waiting for the revelation (apokalipsin) of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will make you firm to the end (of the age), that you may be open to no accusationinthe Day of our Lord Jesus...” (1 Cor.1:7, 8).
According to Bauer’s Gk/Eng. Lexicon it is:
“The end (telos) of the age, not the end of one’s life.”
STILL ON EARTH UNTIL THE EPIPHANIA
“…that you keep the commandment...until the epiphania of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 6:14).
Why would Christians be awaiting the revelation of Jesus if he had already revealed himself to them in an earlier invisible parousia and taken them to heaven? It is therefore necessary for all living Christians to prove their faith, set their hope, be made firm as blameless, be keeping the commandment, and waiting to receive “the undeserved kindness to be brought to you atthe revelation (apokalipsei) of Jesus.” Hence no Christian can be separately alive in heaven at Armageddon which will occur at “the epiphania of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
MUST BE ON EARTH DURING THE GREAT TRIBULATION
· “Therefore, when you catch sight ofthe disgusting thing that causes desolationstanding in a holy place...those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains…For then there will be Great Tribulation....Then if anyone says to you, Look! Here is the Christ, or There! Do not believe it. For false christs…will arise and give great signs” (Matt. 24:15ff).
Why would Jesus bother to give these warnings if anointed Christians would be already safely in heaven?
· “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven...and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds”
(Matt. 24:29).
Only after this does Jesus send his angels to gather his chosen ones (verse 31).THE FUTURIST VIEW OF END TIME EVENTS sub-heading: THE GREAT TRIBULATION LASTS FOR 3½ YEARS ONLY.
The ‘the holy ones’ are shown to have endured the 42 month (verse 6) Great Tribulation. Hence, they cannot be in heaven during the Great Tribulation:
· “…there was granted it [the beast] to wage war with the holy ones and to conquer them” (Rev. 13:7).
STILL ON EARTH UNTIL ‘THE DAY OF CHRIST’
· “He who started a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).
· “…so that you may be flawless and not be stumbling others up to the day of Christ”
(Phil. 1:10).
THE RAPTURE : A BIBLE TEACHING
Because of the teachings of Roman Catholicism this Bible teaching had been lost for over 1000 years. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17 the word harpazo means snatched up or caught up.’ It is the same as in Revelation 12:5 where “her child was caught away to God.” Also in Acts 8:39, 40 (KIT) where “the spirit of the Lord snatched away Philip...to Ashdod.” Similar events happened to Enoch (Gen. 5:24, Heb. 11:5, 13), Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) and Jesus (Acts 1:9). This Greek term was translated into Latin as rapere from which we get the English word ‘rapture.’ OCCURS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE RESURRECTION
“The Lord will descend.....the dead...will rise first. Then, we the living who are surviving will, (“at the same time” KIT) together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:16-18)
Therefore, the descent of Jesus, the resurrection and the rapture are all in close proximity of time.
THE WTS INTERPRETATION
The WT Society does not accept the biblical teaching of the rapture but, following the pattern of a pre-tribulation resurrection, makes it refer to an invisible and secret resurrection. So (1) “the Lord” of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is interpreted as being God who invisibly descends in the sense that he turns his attention to resurrecting the dead. (2) Being “caught away” is interpreted as the resurrection itself. (3) The description “in clouds” is interpreted as indicative of invisibility. Then (4) the “air” becomes heaven.
However, this is misinterpretation for the following reasons:
(1) The description in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 shows this to be an event that is very public, inasmuch as there is a “trumpet blast” and the loud voice of an archangel. Additionally Matthew 24:27 gives the singular description, in that chapter, of Jesus’ return as being comparable to ‘lightning’ which is so veryvisible. Also the Greek words used to refer to Jesus’ return indicate that it will be a visible return (See STUDY 2). It must also be noted that it is Jesus who will perform the resurrection (John 5:28, 29). So it follows that “the Lord” mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 must be Jesus who is literally descending into “the air” of earth’s atmosphere to resurrect and then rapture his faithful holy ones.
(2) The WTS interpretation of being “caught away” ignores the facts concerning the snatching away of Enoch, Elijah, Phillip and the ascension of Jesus. None of these events was a resurrection but, rather, was a literal snatching away to a different location of living persons.
(3) In the Scriptures clouds are not generally indicative of invisibility but, rather, of God’s presence or that of his representatives. See p 157 of Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.
(4) The snatching up (away) in the air, (Gk. aera) refers to: the atmosphere immediately above earth’s surface.Bauer’s Gk/Eng. Lexicon. Hence, there is no thought of going to heaven in this verse. So the phrase: “Thus we shall always be with the Lord” is because resurrected Christians will accompany Jesus as he continues his descent to earth (1 Thess. 4:16).
THE FIRST RESURRECTION DOES NOT OCCUR IN STAGES
As noted earlier the WTS teaches that after an initial resurrection of the Christian dead in 1918 there is a continuing, at-the-point-of-death, immediate resurrection to heaven of those who have died since then. This teaching is as a result of following the faulty pattern of the Pre-tribulation Rapture theory as discussed in this study. It is clear from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 that all Christians who are living when Jesus descends will be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air“at the same time” together with them [all the Christians just resurrected].” Also, to teach that there are multiple stages to the First Resurrection interferes with the biblical fact of it being a single event (I Cor. 15:22). It makes each individual stage in itself a separate resurrection event and thereby producing not just a first resurrection but many resurrections. Furthermore, the First Resurrection then becomes stretched over a period of 37 years up to 1935 or 99 years up to now according to current WTS teaching. Yet 1 Corinthians 15:23 gives three clearly defined and discrete events concerning
the resurrection and which relate to 3 different categories of persons: 1) Jesus, 2) Christians, 3) The non-Christians at the ‘end’ of the Millennium. To posit the theory of many stages of the First Resurrection also violates the concept of a “last day” and “7th trumpet” resurrection.
THE TWO WITNESSES ARE KILLED AND THEN THEY ARE RESURRECTED
· “…spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet...And they heard a loud voice out of heaven say to them: come on up here. And they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies beheld them” (Rev. 11:12).
This is immediately prior to Armageddon (Rev. 16:15). The detail of “in the cloud” shows this to mean “in the air” as in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
· “…to you who suffer tribulation, relief along with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels” (2 Thess.1:7, 8).
Hence, the relief is not earlier than the Great Tribulation.
THE ANY MOMENT RAPTURE THEORY
(PRE-TRIBULATIONISM)
This could not happen in the apostles’ time. Jesus had stated that Peter would reach old age and die before Jesus returned. (John 21:18-23). Paul expected imprisonment, sufferings and a visit to Rome before Jesus’ return. The Ephesian Elders were to expect “ravenous wolves.” Yet they all entertained the coming of Christ as a “present hope” … “the blessed hope.” The any moment rapture scheme produces a secret return of Jesus and a secret resurrection/rapture. Yet there were many visual signs that God gave for the first coming of Jesus. Why would God want the second coming of Messiah to be secretive?
WHAT ABOUT THE THIEF PASSAGES?
These emphasize the unexpected nature of the second coming for those who are unprepared [not watching] rather than any silence or secrecy:
· “But if the head of the house had known what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you must also be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will” (Matt. 24:43, 44). See also Luke 12:39, 40.
· “If you do not wake up I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you” (Rev. 3:3).
· “But YOU, brothers, YOU are not in darkness, so that that day should overtake YOU as it would thieves” (1 Thess. 5:4).
This shows that the day will overtake them, but they are not caught unawares.
CONCLUSION
All of these scriptural details give proof that Christ’s return and the First Resurrection will be a single future event. This means that with reference to this subject both 1914 and 1918 are irrelevant dates in the biblical scheme of things.
2,520 years lead to 1914 for the invisible return of Christ and a Pre-tribulational invisible resurrection of 144,000 in 1918.
EARLIER WTS MISAPPLIED DATES
The first resurrection occurred in 1878 and 1881 was the last opportunity for anyone to become one of the 144,000.
Rutherford opens the door for membership of the 144,000 until 1935.
This teaching was changed in 2007.
Elijah Returns
