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Jehovah’s
Witnesses teach that Christ did not establish the Kingdom of God at the
time of His first coming. Neither did He establish this kingdom immediately
after He had ascended into heaven, for His ascension was only the beginning
of a long period of waiting for the establishment of the kingdom of God. When,
then, was the kingdom
of God
actually established? Their answer is, ‘On October 1, 1914 (I leave
out the fantastic calculations whereby the Witnesses have arrived at this
date). For in that year Jesus Christ’s ‘return’ took place. I have put
quotation marks around the word return
because this was not really a return at all, since Christ did not go back to
earth but simply began to rule over his kingdom from heaven. However,
Jehovah’s Witnesses calls it Christ’s return (cf. Let God Be True, page 198; Make
Sure Of All things, page 319). It must be said, however, that Watchtower publications
prefer the designation ‘second presence’ (in their own Bible they have
translated the Greek word parousia
– when it refers to the second coming of Christ - as ‘presence’ in the
following verses: Matthew 24:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2; James 5:8; 1 John
2:28; 2 Peter 3:3-4). To understand better what Jehovah’s Witnesses mean by
Christ’s ‘return’, I will compare two statements from their writings. The former
is from This Means Everlasting Life
which reads: ‘When he ascended to heaven he sat down at God’s right hand to
wait for that time of entering into his authority and ruling like Melchizedek
over his enemies as his footstool’ (page 220), while the latter is from You May Survive Armageddon: ‘Jehovah
the heavenly Father brought forth his kingdom by bringing forth his anointed
King-Priest Jesus Christ and elevating him to the active kingship in the
throne at God’s right hand’ (page 100). So we learn that from the time of His
ascension to October 1, 1914 (when the kingdom was brought forth), Christ was
sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and that on October 1, 1914, the
Father placed the Son on the throne at His right hand. Thus the ‘return’ or
‘second presence’ of Christ simply means that Christ, who had been sitting at
the Father’s right hand in heaven since his ascension, in 1914 ascended the
throne of his kingdom at the Father’s right hand in heaven. According to
Jehovah-Witness teaching, therefore, we need no longer wait for Christ’s
personal and visible ‘return,’ because His ‘return’ has already taken place.
Jesus Christ ‘became King of the earth at the time of his second presence,
A.D. 1914’ (Make Sure Of All Things,
page 234). The reason why they affirm that this ‘return’ of Christ was
invisible is that according to their theology Christ was raised not with a
body of flesh, but “in a spirit body” (The
Truth Shall Make You Free, page 264), and this spirit body was not a
visible body (so Christ, after His resurrection, revealed Himself to His
disciples by materializing fleshly bodies on the occasions of His appearances,
each such body being different from the others – cf. The Truth Shall Make You Free, pages 265-267), and in addition to
this Jesus said: “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more
…..” (John 14:19
– NKJV).
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However,
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach also that there is another ‘return’ of Christ which
is still to come. When will it take place? At the battle of Armageddon (which
will be fought at the close of the ‘time of the end’, which will be very
soon). Then God will give Christ the command to destroy the devil’s wicked
world. However, even this future ‘return’ will be an invisible one (cf. Let God Be True, page 205), for
neither Christ nor his heavenly armies will be seen by men. This invisible
‘appearance’ of Christ on earth is called ‘the revelation of the Lord Jesus
from heaven’ and ‘the final revelation of the King’, and is distinguished
from the second presence of Christ which took place in 1914.
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Confutation
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The
Holy Scripture teaches that there will be but one return of Christ from heaven, and His return will be visible.
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In
the book of the Acts of the apostles it is written: “And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him
out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he
went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye
men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”
(Acts 1:9-11). As you can see, those angels who appeared to the disciples of
the Lord, as Jesus was going into heaven, affirmed that the same Jesus who
was taken up into heaven before their eyes will come in like manner as they
saw Him go into heaven. So the return of Christ from heaven will be visible
as His ascension to heaven; in other words, just as Jesus was seen going into
heaven, so He will be seen coming back from heaven. However, keep in mind
that while at His ascension only a few people saw Him go into heaven, at His
return everybody will see Him come back from heaven, as it is written:
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who
pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even
so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7 – NKJV). That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will
come back in person and visibly is evident also from the following biblical
passages: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then
all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Mt. 24:30 –
NKJV); “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought
him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).
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The
Holy Scripture teaches also that when Jesus returns or is revealed from
heaven the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain
will be changed and caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Besides this, Jesus will
punish those who do not know God and those who do not obey the Gospel (cf. 2
Thessalonians 1:7-10), and the Millennium – which is a thousand-year reign -
will be established on the earth by the Lord Jesus Christ. During this earthly
reign Satan will not be able to deceive the nations for at the coming of
Christ he will be bound and thrown into the Abyss, where he will be kept
until the end of the millennium.
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Therefore,
in the light of the teaching of the Scriptures, Jehovah’s Witnesses are
greatly mistaken.
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Now,
I have already shown you from the Scriptures that Jesus was raised with a physical body, and not as a spirit,
so let me explain to you what Jesus meant when He said: “A little while
longer and the world will see Me no more …..” (John 14:19 – NKJV).
Jesus was about to be arrested and led away to the high priest first and then
to Pontius Pilate in order to be crucified. He knew that after His death the
world would see Him no more for after His resurrection He would present
Himself alive to His disciples and not to the world, and in fact if we read
the apparitions of Jesus which took place between His resurrection and His
ascension to heaven we realize that He did not appear to unbelieving people
(that is, people who had not believed that He was the Christ whom God had
sent into the world) but only to people who had believed in Him. That’s why
He said that before long the world would not see Him anymore. I would like
you to notice that Jesus said that before long His disciples would not see
Him either, as He said to them: “In a little while you will see me no more
….” (John 16:16
– NIV), for He knew that He was going to be crucified. However, while on the
one hand He said that the world would not see Him anymore, on the other hand
He said that His disciples would see Him again, for He said to them: “But you
will see Me. Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19 – NKJV),
and again: “And again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to
the Father” (John 16:16
– NKJV). The disciples of Jesus did not understand what Jesus meant by saying
“and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father,”
so Jesus explained them those words. Here is what John wrote: “Then said some
of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A
little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye
shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is
this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell
what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said
unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and
ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily,
verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall
rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as
soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish,
for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow:
but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man
taketh from you” (John 16:17-22).
And that’s exactly what happened, for when Jesus died the disciples wept and
lamented, but when He appeared to them on the first day of the week they “were
glad” (John 20:20
– NKJV).
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Brothers
and sisters in the Lord, keep waiting for the glorious coming of the Lord,
and beware of the lies taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses on the second coming of
Christ and refute them.
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