There has been some renewed interest in the meaning of the name Jehovah on the forum in recent weeks. Combined with the ongoing discussion about the new "overlapping generation" teaching, speculation among the friends and among the ex-friends has been reaching something of a frenzy. So it's perhaps appropriate that a little more should be revealed now about the meaning behind some of the perplexing events that have been taking place. I will do my best to begin to explain these weighty matters in this and following posts, bearing in mind that the depths of the sacred secret of God cannot be uncovered all at once. But this will be a significant advance.
Remember that Jehovah's Witnesses have had a long and fortuitous role in the the uncovering of God's name in modern times. Gilead missionaries were the first to photograph God's name in copies of the Septuagint in Cairo in 1944. This prompted the New World Translation Translation Committee to restore the divine name to the Christian Greek Scriptures, a move that has since been supported by the work of scholars such as George Howard and David Trobisch.
Firstly it has often been stated that "Jehovah" means "he causes to become", meaning that Jehovah becomes whatever it takes to fulfil his purposes. This is not quite accurate. Papers belonging to the late F W Franz have been discovered that show that at the time of his death in 1992 he was working on a more refined understanding of the verb form used. The passive indicative form of the verb "to be" should more accurately be rendered, "he is caused to become". The full implications of this startling revelation struck the Governing Body immediately like a thunderbolt between the eyes, when these papers were uncovered in 2003. In short it means that Jehovah does not yet exist, but that he will be called into existence at some future date, when he "is caused to become". The Governing Body is gently revealing this truth to the worldwide brotherhood in anticipation of the dramatic world events that lie ahead in the coming decades in conjunction with a full explanation of the significant new "overlapping generations" doctrine.
But before I get onto that a little about the chronology needs to be explained. I will not dwell on this aspect of the divine plan too long because chronology has rightly been discredited in the eyes of many. God's kingdom was established in 1914 as we know. Armageddon should have arrived 70 years later in 1994. However this was thwarted when the Governing Body of the time assumed the role of the evil slave in 1992 by joining the United Nations. (An independent Canon has done some important research on this particular aspect of the chronology for which I am grateful for his input) Thus God's people were destined to wander in the wilderness a further 40 years, just as the Israelites had done, for their unfaithfulness. A delay of forty years from 1994 takes us to 2034, which is around the date that secular futurists such as Ray Kurzweil have set for the advent of the technological singularity. It also marks 120 years from the establishment of God's kingdom in 1914 ("just as the days of Noah will the days of the son of man be") thus by a triple proof the scriptural evidence and secular indications point to 2034 as God's own established date.
When the technological singularity arrives in 2034 God's people will be ready to invoke or call into existence their own creator Jehovah. This is the sacred secret and the crux of the message the Governing Body has begun to reveal and will continue to reveal in the coming months and years. Behind the scenes the Governing Body has wisely already taken steps to prepare for the establishment of our salvation by these unexpected means. The Methuselah foundation was set up by Jehovah's Witness David Gobel to explore human life extension as a means of fulfilling Bible prophecy that illness and death through Adamic sin will become things of the past. Aubrey de Grey, who studied the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, but with no direct ties to the movement, was chosen to be the public face of this endeavour and to raise funds.
Trillions of dollars have been raised for the establishment of the New World Society and have been carefully managed by the Governing Body toward that goal. There was a major setback however when Satan (that Satan is not a personal being, but a impersonal force for evil and chaos, like the scientific concept of entropy, was perceived already by the Christadelphians in the nineteenth century, but the Governing Body has deemed the faithful not ready to bear this truth as yet) caused Watchtower missionaries to be intercepted at the Swiss/Italian border carrying trillions of dollars worth of US treasury bonds. Only at the behest of Watchtower insiders in Washington (remaining from the era when undercover Watchtower operative Dwight Eisenhower, who was sworn into office holding the New World Translation in his hands, was in charge) were the funds returned to the Worldwide Work without fanfare.
The Worldwide Work is a codename for the project that is well underway to prepare God's people to take the establishment of God's kingdom into their own hands in the twenty first century. The kingdom of God is not "within you", as if a state of mind, rather it is "in your midst", in that is it exists in the spaces in between the human beings who will bring it about. It will arise from among us, the faithful. Not ex nihilo but ex ecclesia. The Governing Body explored the possibility of assuming governmental control of a small nation such as Nepal, Zambia or Swizterland, putting out feelers through officials Tulsa Giri, Levy Mwanawasa and others. It also considered the possibility of using an island as the base for the New World Society, in fulfilment of the scripture: "in me the islands themselves will hope, and for my arm they will wait". (Isaiah 51:5) But ultimately the United States itself was deemed the best base for the New World and a grand new project was commissioned for upstate New York at Walkhill, complete with an underground tunnel directly to Washington for when the time arrives.
This new site will be the location of the establishment of a new resource based economy in which all human needs will be completely satisfied. The Venus Project and Methuselah Foundation will thus join forces under the auspices of the Watchtower to eliminate suffering and death for all mankind. This explains the meaning of the hitherto (and purposely) obscure "overlapping generation" doctrine.
It was once believed that the seven stars of Revelation stood for Christian leaders down the centuries: Paul, John, Arius, Waldo, Wycliffe, Luther and Russell. But further exploration of the matter (have you ever experienced the sensation of the whole of human history culminating within your own skull?) has shown the sacred secret of God was revealed in modern times by the giants of our age: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Camus, Foucault, Derrida and Zizek. These form the seven stars and the overlapping generation (in one sense) that will bring us to the conclusion of the system of things. Zizek, the only one remaining, is around 60 years old and has diabetes. (See: Living in the End Times) But he must live to 2034 when the singularity witnesses Jehovah's coming into existence at the time of the technological singularity and the ushering in of the New World Society. At that time generations will cease to come and go. One generation will last for all eternity: the overlapping generation of our age (the second, and greater, fulfilment of the term) Witnesses to the fact that Jehovah has "come to be" by means of our own hand.
I have only tried to sketch in very broad outline a few of the details of events that lie ahead as an explanation of the meaning of Jehovah. The light will get brighter as the singular day of Jehovah draws near for us of the overlapping generation.