How many jws expected individual protection before Armageddon and during? Expected individual miraculous events?
*** w09 5/15 p. 22 par. 9 The Angels—“Spirits for Public Service” ***
Angels are ever alert to intervene according to God’s will. They rescued Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, and Peter but did not prevent the deaths of Stephen and James at enemy hands. (Dan. 3:17, 18, 28; 6:22; Acts 7:59, 60; 12:1-3, 7, 11) The circumstances and issues were different. Similarly, some of our brothers in Nazi concentration camps were executed, whereas Jehovah saw to it that most of them survived.
*** w07 3/15 p. 24 par. 14 Angels—How They Affect Mankind ***
Satan has done everything in his power to put an end to the activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Yet, as an organization, they have survived such opposition and have prospered. This is, in part, due to the protective shield that the angels have provided.—Psalm 34:7; Daniel 3:28; 6:22.
*** g96 4/8 p. 27 Can True Christians Expect Divine Protection? ***
To understand why divine protection is given, we must understand that it is given not simply to enable individuals to live longer but to protect something far more important, the outworking of God’s purpose. For example, the survival of the Christian congregation as a whole is guaranteed because it is closely linked with the fulfilling of that purpose. However, Christ plainly told his disciples that they as individuals could face death because of their faith. After stating this, Jesus stressed, not miraculous deliverance, but ‘endurance to the end.’ (Matthew 24:9, 13) The fact that some individuals were protected, while others were not, does not indicate that God is partial. God simply used the person who was in the best position to accomplish his purpose, which ultimately will benefit all mankind.
*** g02 4/8 p. 13 Should Christians Expect Divine Protection? ***
Should Christians expect God to rescue them miraculously in every case of impending disaster? The Bible record does not support such an expectation.
How many missed the excepting phrase, “as a group” or “as a whole”?
*** w98 12/15 p. 22 When Armed Robbers Strike ***
While Jehovah protects his people as a whole, he does not intervene in every case to shield his servants from robbery. Job was outstandingly faithful, yet God allowed marauders to plunder Job’s livestock, with loss of life to the attendants. (Job 1:14, 15, 17) God also permitted the apostle Paul to experience “dangers from highwaymen.” (2 Corinthians 11:26)
*** w75 6/15 p. 377 par. 10 Looking to the Future with Confidence ***
Should we expect, moreover, that because Jehovah is on our side he will miraculously intervene to protect each one of us personally from death or injury during the “great tribulation”? Both Psalm 91:7-12 and Proverbs 3:25, 26 have been mistakenly cited by some as supporting this view. The psalm says: “A thousand will fall at your very side and ten thousand at your right hand; to you it will not come near.” Lest we read into this text more than it states, we must ask ourselves if Moses is here talking about the coming “great tribulation” and is declaring a blanket protection for individual servants of God then. This would hardly be so when we remember that centuries later Paul showed that up to his time the devoted followers of Jehovah had undergone mockings, scourgings, prisons, tribulations and many other persecutions, even violent death. However, we can be assured that, as a group, Jehovah will protect them from being exterminated by their enemies during the “great tribulation,” and He, himself, will not touch them during his executing of adverse judgments.—Heb. 11:36-38.
*** w63 8/1 p. 469 par. 19 Surviving Through Faith ***
To these trusting ones, Jehovah gives assurance: “You will not be afraid of anything dreadful by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in the gloom, nor of the destruction that despoils at midday. A thousand will fall at your very side and ten thousand at your right hand; to you it will not come near. Only with your eyes will you look on and see the retribution itself of the wicked ones. Because you said: ‘Jehovah is my refuge,’ you have made the Most High himself your dwelling; no calamity will befall you, and not even a plague will draw near to your tent. For he will give his own angels a command concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.” What glorious promise of protection during the fastgathering storm of Armageddon
