by Kosonen 543 Replies latest jw friends
Matthew 28:20 "teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you."
I undestand this includes to commemorate Jesus' desth by taking from the emblems, the bread in wine.
Might be difficult to accept because of personal history as a Jehovah's witness.
John 13:34
"I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also love one another."
John 15:17
"These things I command you, that you love one another."
James 2:18
"If, now, you carry out the royal law according to the scripture, “You must love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing quite well."
1 John 3:23
"Indeed, this is his commandment: that we have faith in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us a commandment."
Jesus' direction to "keep doing this" regarding partaking of the emblems was to those in the covenant for a kingdom, those who would be kings and priests. Not all Christians have that future assignment.
Just like not all the Israelites of old were to partake of the installation sacrifices, so not all Christians need to partake of the symbols of the contract to be kings and priests. It's not appropriate.
Jesus is the redeemer for all Christians. There is no need for a covenant for that. He already paid. His blood paid for it. The purpose of the new covenant is to provide a heavenly priesthood that will carry out Christ's commands toward those Christians who will inherit the earth.
At Matthew 28 when Jesus said "teach them all I have commanded you" he was talking about Love.
I have understood that the covenant about a kingdom is a separate covenant from the new covenant. But I know that the JWs do not separate them.
But I have seen in the Bible that the new covenant is about forgivness of sins through Jesus' blood. And I have not seen in the Bible that the new covenant is about the kingdom.
Jeremiah 31:31 “Look! The days are coming,” declares Jehovah, “when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, ‘my covenant that they broke, although I was their true master,’ declares Jehovah.” 33 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Jehovah. “I will put my law within them, and in their heart I will write it. And I will become their God, and they will become my people.”
34 “And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know Jehovah!’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them,” declares Jehovah. “For I will forgive their error, and I will no longer remember their sin.”
Also explained in Hebrews chapter 8 and 9.
I suppose I was not clear in my writing, Kosonen.😊 I did not distinguish between "A new covenant" and "The new covenant."
The covenant spoken of at Jeremiah is talking about all Christians being God's kids, having God's law in their hearts.
The covenant Jesus instituted involving the emblems was made specific with certain Christians who will be part of the 144,000 and sit on thrones and do a specific assignment. That's why Revelation says they come out of that group, they are a representative sample of that group.
Luke 22:29,30
"and I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the 12 tribes of Israel."
Matthew 19:28
"Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to you, in the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel."
The Levites of old were taken for an assignment as a representative sample of the nation. It wasn't because they were smarter or more special or whatever. The priests wore an ephod, an apron, because they were working in a slaves position for their brothers, to minister to them for a purpose.
Hebrews 8 and 9 has many references back to Leviticus. Not all the Israelites took part in the sacrifices at the tabernacle. The book of Leviticus could be read or heard by all Israelites, but only the priests and Levites were required to handle the certain duties written about in that book. Even when King Uzziah later tried to usurp the place of a priest, Jehovah did not look positively on that action.
All Israel were brought into the covenant with Jehovah, and all Christians are in a new covenant with Jehovah by means of the Christ's blood. But the specific duties of the 144,000 priest/kings are different. Not all Christians need to partake. It's not necessary. Faith and love are necessary. Only those who need to be a new creation in order to go to heaven, since flesh and blood cannot enter heaven, only those who need to work in the figurative temple need to give up their physical bodies and be given spirit bodies. Christians who will be living on earth don't need a spirit body.
All Christians will get to see God when He comes here. All Christians will get to hang out with God and Christ, because they can come to earth. There is no need to covet the assignment of another or to encourage people to eat what belongs to the priests. There is enough love and food for everyone.
Revelation 12:13 Now when the dragon saw that it had been hurled down to the earth, it persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is to be fed for a time and times and half a time away from the face of the serpent.
17 So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her offspring, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness concerning Jesus.
Daniel 7:25 He will speak words against the Most High, and he will continually harass the holy ones of the Supreme One. He will intend to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the Court sat, and they took away his rulership, in order to annihilate him and to destroy him completely. 27 “‘And the kingdom and the rulership and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all rulerships will serve and obey them.’ 28 “This is the end of the matter. ….
Revelation 12:13 Now when the dragon saw that it had been hurled down to the earth, it persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is to be fed for a time and times and half a time away from the face of the serpent.
Dragon/Serpent = Satan
Woman = heaven
Male child = kingdom
Wilderness = figurative place with no "cities" (no congregations/no denominations/no religious institutions)
Time and times and half a time = 3 1/2 years
When Jesus is enthroned and kicks Satan out of heaven, Satan will persecute the kingdom heirs on earth for 3 1/2 years. The heirs of the kingdom will be okay, just like Jehovah took care of Israelites in the wilderness after they came out of Egypt - the angels will assist true Christians even though all religious institutions will be destroyed (a figurative "wilderness" with no organized religious institutions).
17 So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her offspring, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness concerning Jesus.
Dragon = Satan
Woman = heaven
Remaining ones of her offspring = kingdom heirs on earth
There will still be a preaching work to do on earth during the 3 1/2 years of the tribulation. True Christians will continue to tell others that the Kingdom is coming and Jesus is King.
Daniel 7:25 He will speak words against the Most High, and he will continually harass the holy ones of the Supreme One. He will intend to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the Court sat, and they took away his rulership, in order to annihilate him and to destroy him completely. 27 “‘And the kingdom and the rulership and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all rulerships will serve and obey them.’ 28 “This is the end of the matter. ….
He = The United Nations government
Time times and half a time = 3 1/2 years
Holy ones of the Supreme One = kingdom heirs
the Court = God
The United Nations government will attack all religion including the kingdom heirs for 3 1/2 years, but at the end of that time God will have the Kingdom completely destroy all governments in opposition.
Hello my sister Audrey, thank you for commenting these interesting scriptures. I am eagerly waiting for this count down of 3 and half years. Even if we don't know the exact day the last remaining anointed will be taken to heaven. But it can not happen before the 3 and half years have ended.
I have been thinking and examining what really is symbolised by the woman in Revelation 12? She will flee to a place prepared by God in a wilderness, as stated in Revelattion 12:6.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God and where they would feed her for 1,260 days.
Feeding make me think about:
17 He said to him a third time: “Simon son of John, do you have affection for me?” Peter became grieved that he asked him the third time: “Do you have affection for me?” So he said to him: “Lord, you are aware of all things; you know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him: “Feed my little sheep.
We could liken this to the Israelites who abruptly left Egypt. Jehovah God did not at once lead them in to the promised land. But they were lead in to a wilderness where they were fed with the Mosaic law and they needed time to build the tabernacle and set up the service at it.
So the great crowd surely need to undergo a feeding period in the wilderness before the 1000 year reign of Christ. Because there are so much things they have not been able to learn under the Governing Body.
Hi Kosonen😊
Paul said "Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother." He was talking about the faithful angels as a group in heaven; they are in subjection to God as a faithful wife would be in subjection to her husband.
Mary felt as if a sword had been driven through her when she saw Jesus on the torture stake. In a similar way, when the angelic organization sees the way true Christians are attacked by Satan's institutions during the 3 1/2 year tribulation, "she" will be moved to help us.
The angels had a role in feeding the Israelites the manna all those years in the wilderness on the way to the promised land. Revelation includes chapter 2 and 3 where the message is given "to the angels of the congregations", which makes clear the angels know where all God's children are at any given time and they are with them.
Thus, that the "woman" is in the "wilderness" implies the angels will be with true Christians throughout the 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation.
The prophecies in Daniel and in the gospels show that Jesus will refine the Christian congregation (all those denominations descended from the initial congregation - all who claim to be "Christian") during the time of the 3 1/2 years. At that time, the angels will be sent out to remove those Pharisaical fake shepherds and also to remove false teachings, as is apparent in this illustration:
Matthew 13:41-43
"The Son of man will send his angels, and they will collect out from his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and people who practice lawlessness, and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be. At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Let the one who has ears listen."
Could there be a connection between these scriptures?
Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God and where they would feed her for 1,260 days.
Exekiel 38:8 “‘“You will be given attention after many days. In the final part of the years you will invade the land whose people have been restored from the ravages of the sword, collected together out of many peoples onto the mountains of Israel, which had long been lying devastated. The inhabitants of this land were restored from the peoples, and all of them dwell in security.
11 (NIV) You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I Will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land” 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, “Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?”’
Interesting to see what Bible scholars think about the identity of the woman in Revelation 12.
Here is a link https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/revelation/revelation-12/
In short in that article they argue that the woman is the Church.
Here is an other website and they argue also that the woman is the Church. https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/booklets/the-book-of-revelation-unveiled/the-two-women-of-revelation
Seems that christian Bible commentators have drawn the conclusion that the "woman" in Revelation is the Church on earth.
That's what looks logical for me too.
