WT admits Matthew 24 was fulfilled in 1st Century

by digdeeper 23 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  blondie

  digdeeper, did you read the quote above you from 1988? I was a jw for over 50 years and the WTS has taught there has been two fulfillments of Jesus' words, a partial then complete fulfillment. Here are some of their explanations.

  *** w52 4/15 p. 252 par. 16 Aids for Understanding Prophecy ***Prophecies that have three fulfillments are said to have, first, a typical fulfillment; second, a miniature (the reality on a small scale) or partial fulfillment; and third, a complete (the reality on a full scale) or final fulfillment.

  *** w99 5/1 p. 12 “These Things Must Take Place” ***Another Fulfillment to Come--However, that was not the finale. Earlier, Jesus had indicated that after the city was devastated, he would come in Jehovah’s name. (Matthew 23:38, 39; 24:2) He then made this clearer in his prophecy uttered on the Mount of Olives. Having mentioned the coming “great tribulation,” he said that afterward false Christs would appear, and Jerusalem would be trampled on by the nations for an extended period. (Matthew 24:21, 23-28; Luke 21:24) Could it be that another, a greater, fulfillment was to come? The facts answer yes. When we compare Revelation 6:2-8 (written after the tribulation on Jerusalem in 70 C.E.) with Matthew 24:6-8 and Luke 21:10, 11, we see that warfare, food shortages, and plague on a greater scale lay ahead. This greater fulfillment of Jesus’ words has been occurring since World War I erupted in 1914.

  *** w95 11/1 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***We have often published evidence that many things Jesus foretold in this same discourse (such as wars, earthquakes, and famines) were fulfilled between his uttering the prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Many, but not all. There is no evidence, for example, that after the Romans attacked Jerusalem (66-70 C.E.) “the sign of the Son of man” appeared, causing “all the tribes of the earth” to beat themselves. (Matthew 24:30) Hence, that fulfillment between 33 C.E. and 70 C.E. must have been merely an initial one, not the full or large-scale fulfillment to which Jesus was also pointing.

  *** w94 2/15 pp. 12-13 par. 20 “What Will Be the Sign of Your Presence?” ***His prophecy accurately foretold things leading up to and encompassing the destruction of Jerusalem, and it mentioned some things to follow 70 C.E. But most of this was to have a second and greater fulfillment in the future, leading up to a great tribulation that would end the present wicked system of things. This means that Jesus’ prediction at Matthew 24:4-22, and the parallels in Mark and Luke, were fulfilled from 33 C.E. through the tribulation of 70 C.E. Yet, the same verses would have a second fulfillment, which would include a greater tribulation in the future. This larger fulfillment is with us; we can see it daily.
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  Ultimate Reality

  So, if only Jesus' anointed followers "back then" could understand, that means that the understanding of signs is also subject to parallels. For example, the modern day 'generation' is also the only one that can discern the 'sign' of Jesus' 1914 presence (or was that 1874?). Is it not happifying that Jesus has chosen a group of men in Brooklyn to to tell us what we cannot understand and then tell us what it means?
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  blondie

  It would have to be 1874 because the Watchtower's full title before 1914 was:

  Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence

  meaning Christ was already present and the Watch Tower was announcing his presence.

  *** jv chap. 28 pp. 631-632 Testing and Sifting From Within ***Something else that was seen as a possible time indicator involved the arrangement that God instituted in ancient Israel for a Jubilee, a year of release, every 50th year. This came after a series of seven 7-year periods, each of which ended with a sabbath year. During the Jubilee year, Hebrew slaves were freed and hereditary land possessions that had been sold were restored. (Lev. 25:8-10) Calculations based on this cycle of years led to the conclusion that perhaps a greater Jubilee for all the earth had begun in the autumn of 1874, that evidently the Lord had returned in that year and was invisibly present, and that “the times of restitution of all things” had arrived.—Acts 3:19-21, KJ.

  Based on the premise that events of the first century might find parallels in related events later, they also concluded that if Jesus’ baptism and anointing in the autumn of 29 C.E. paralleled the beginning of an invisible presence in 1874, then his riding into Jerusalem as King in the spring of 33 C.E. would point to the spring of 1878 as the time when he would assume his power as heavenly King. They also thought they would be given their heavenly reward at that time. When that did not occur, they concluded that since Jesus’ anointed followers were to share with him in the Kingdom, the resurrection to spirit life of those already sleeping in death began then. It was also reasoned that the end of God’s special favor to natural Israel down to 36 C.E. might point to 1881 as the time when the special opportunity to become part of spiritual Israel would close.
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  digdeeper

  I did read your 1994 quote along with the others. You will notice that throughout the literature the society admits there was a 1st century fullfillment but only through verse 28 of Matthew 24. Verse 29 is called the transition verse and from there everything leaps forward to 1914 and today. If they went further than verse 28 it throws the gathering of the anointed and the coming of Jesus on the clouds into the first century and it is hard to have a double fulfillment of that.

  The article in 2008 that I quoted finally admits a 1st century fulfillment (limited of course) to a verse after 28.