A little tricky, but here's how it works.
The vineyard workers pertains to the WTS. The workers work in the vineyard for 11 hours. Each half hour is 3.5 years so an hour is 7 years. So the work of the vineyard workers is a period of 77 years from 1914 to 1991. After this, the 12th hour or the "last hour" begins and the workers are paid from last to the first, thus from 1991-1998. That's the basics. But...
Please note that the first-hour workers, those first to be hired are told they would get a day's wage and were hired for one "penny." The penny represents the heavenly hope. But from the third through the 11th-hour workers, they are not promised the penny but "whatever is fair" and thus something less. The 3rd hour workers would be present after 21 years (3 x 7 = 21) and thus by 1935! 21 + 1914 = 1935. So a second class begins starting with 1935. In fulfillment with the WTS, this is when the "other sheep" or the earthly class was recognized. A group of witnesses who did not expect to go to heaven, but have life on the earth. So the two-class system was applicable for partaking of the emblems from 1935 to 1991. But..
TWO IMPORTANT THINGS:
1) Once Christ arrived in 1992 and partook of his first passover/memorial after his arrival during the mid-70th-week passover, which was on April 6, 1993, then that ENDED the Memorial ritual! Ones were to partake in Christ's absence, but once he arrived, there was no more need to partake of the Memorial. This has always been an issue but quite understandable since the witnesses have been criticized for partaking of the memorial on an annual basis even though they teach that Christ arrived in 1914! If Christ arrived in 1914, invisibly or otherwise, why are YOU still partaking? They don't have an excuse for that one. At any rate, the workers are paid once Christ arrives, but he ends the official Memorial on April 6, 1993. In the meantime,
2) ALL THE WORKERS ARE PAID THE PENNY! That is, once Christ arrives and starts to pay the workers from the last to the first, he pays everybody the penny, which is the heavenly hope. Thus all the earthly class or the "other sheep" as the witnesses call them, are invited up to heaven! So this answers the issue of how only some partake and some do not when the hope relating to the kingdom should be for everyone. So that becomes true after Christ arrives in 1992! That is, everyone is invited into the kingdom! But, of course, the newly anointed ones from the "other sheep" class, are not going to start to suddenly partake of the Memorial. That's because after Christ arrives the Memorial celebration ended!
Even so, we do see some increase in partakers! Maybe Jehovah is allowing this to show that many of the "other sheep" class are being called into the heavenly class.
So that's how it works. ALL are invited to heaven in the end, but the Bible does show that the "invitation" is only given to the earliest workers. That is why the earliest witnesses all are of the heavenly class, but after 1935 there was clearly a secondary class who did not feel they were invited to heaven. But in the end, ALL the workers are ultimately invited into the heavenly class, but only after Christ returns.
Now as far as the 1992 date for the second coming, the witnesses have formulated that Christ will arrive 2520 years after the fall of Jerusalem. So the date for the second coming is dependent on having a good date for that event. We can already see the WTS uses 607 BCE for that event in direct contradiction to the secular date of 587 BCE. But the Bible directly contradicts the short NB Period reflected in the current timeline, so we know there was revisionism. The Bible's NB Period is some 26 years longer than the current NB timeline. Working out the Neo-Babylonian rulerships is involved, but the Bible requires Nebuchadnezzar II to rule 45 years vs. 43 and requires the reign of Darius the Mede to be 6 years prior to the reign of Cyrus. So there is no way to harmonize the secular with the Biblical in this case. That is from the "relative chronology" point of view. When we look at what we have as far as "absolute dating," many consider the beginning of the 70 weeks, a period of 490 years to be linked to when the Jews first began to rebuild in the 1st of Cyrus. I follow that chronology, along with Martin Anstey and others. When you date the 1st of Cyrus to 455 BCE, then follow Josephus and the Bible which establishes a 70-year desolation period beginning with the last deportation in year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar, then that year falls in 525 BCE, in which case the year Jerusalem falls per this interpretation, would be 4 years earlier in year 19, and thus in 529 BCE. When the fall of Jerusalem is dated to 529 BCE then the 2nd coming occurs in 1992-1993.
But also note the CONTEXT here! The master comes to pay the workers at the end of the harvest period. Also note the wheat and the weeds grow together until the "harvest." The harvest period is when Christ returns. Thus the returnof Christ, contextually, is after the work has ended.
Further, we know the "man of lawlessness" has to be revealed before the second coming! (2 Thess 2:4). The man of lawlessness is revealed during the "last hour" which would be from 1991-1998. So you have another indication that the return of Christ would not be in 1914 when the work is really getting started, but much later after the work is finished after 77 years and thus after 1991.
Also, the Bible establishes that the second coming would not occur until after the State of Israel is set up. So that's another indication that 1914 is wrong as a date for the 2nd coming since the messiah does not arrive until after the State of Israel is set up and thus not until after the Spring of 1948.
But, when 1914 is still a valid date to begin the "last generation", a generation being 70 or 80 years, we'll apply 80 years, then that generation beginning in 1914 would end in 1994! That does not contradict the 2nd coming occurring before that date as it occurs in 1992, with the first and last passover/memorial occurring on April 6, 1993!
So even for those who are just not sure what to believe about the ancient timeline, dating the fall of Jerusalem in either 607 BCE or 587 BCE, which gives you second-coming dates of 1914 and 1934, these dates contradict the other prophecies in the Bible, including the 2nd coming not occurring until after the State of Israel is set up! 1992 is the only date that fits the modern fulfillment, where the messiah comes at the very end of a generation that begins in 1914. If the vineyard workers began their work in 1914, then their work ends 77 years later in 1991. But a two-class system would exist from 1935 onward since those coming into the work from that period were not expecting to be invited up to heaven and thus receive a "penny", even though to the surprise of all, but especially the first-hour workers who then murmur against this arrangement but still get their penny, ALL the workers get the "penny" and thus are invited into the heavenly class. The fact that the first-hour workers murmur against this arrangement is proof they would not have this understanding while the work is going on.
So the Bible is true, all this has happened just as prophesied, clearly with the WTS in focus as the true "temple" that becomes apostate in the end. But this only works if you have the TRUTH, and that includes the truth about the original ancient timeline as it pertains to the fall of Jerusalem, which did occur in 529 BCE, dating the 2nd coming to 1992, which is when it actually occurred.
It's wonderful!!! Amazing this was all prophesied 2000 years in advance!
