I was reading over Mathew 24:36-45 and began dissecting it scripture by scripture. There are several similar references like: “that day and hour”, “what day your lord is coming”, “at an hour you do not think it to be”, and so forth.
24:36 - Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.
24:42 - Keep on the watch, therefore, because YOU do not know on what day YOUR Lord is coming.
24:43 - But know one thing, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into.
24:44 - On this account YOU too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that YOU do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming.
Regarding these scriptures, the Watchtower literature explains that they refer to the moment Christ arrives to begin executing judgment on earth, the great tribulation… Armageddon.
w05 10/1 “Keep on the Watch” – The Hour of Judgment Has Arrived! p.21 par.3
The illustration was fitting, for the precise date of Jesus’ coming would not be known. Earlier, in the same prophecy, Jesus said: “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36) Jesus, therefore, urged his listeners: “Prove yourselves ready.” (Matthew 24:44) Those heeding Jesus’ warning would be ready, conducting themselves properly, whenever he would come as Jehovah’s Executional Agent.
w11 10/5 “Keep on the Watch” – Why So Important? p.5
Jesus admonished Christians everywhere: “Prove yourselves ready.” (Matt. 24:44) We should always be ready. Of course, we cannot engage in theocratic activities all day long every day. Besides, none of us know what we will be doing the moment the great tribulation begins.
Then we arrive at:
24:45-47 - Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to YOU, He will appoint him over all his belongings.
Suddenly, we’re no longer at the moment the great tribulation begins. We’re no longer talking about the time when Jesus would come as Jehovah’s Executional Agent. Rather, we have inexplicably been transported to another time and place, Brooklyn, NY, circa 1919.
w07 4/1 Loyal to Christ and His Faithful Slave p.22 par.5
“On arriving” to inspect the “slave” in 1918, Christ found a spirit-anointed remnant of faithful disciples who since 1879 had been using this journal and other Bible-based publications to provide spiritual “food at the proper time.” He acknowledged them as his collective instrument, or “slave,” and in 1919 entrusted them with the management of all his earthly belongings.
Hang on to your britches. We’re not done teleporting yet.
24:48-51 - But if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, and will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his part with the hypocrites.
That’s better. We have arrived back at the unknown future date where all but three of these scriptures takes place.
Now, why it is that verses 45-47 have nothing to do with the surrounding verses? How it is that these three verses can be snatched out of their nest and shipped off to become an unrelated doctrine without any explanation or supporting scripture? Even if the Faithful and Discreet Slave is a small group of men selected by Jesus, the context shows that the men in Brooklyn claiming to BE THAT GROUP have seriously jumped the gun on this.