Treasures from God’s Word and Digging for Spiritual Gems – ‘Your sons and your daughters will Prophesy’

Joel 2:28, 29 – Anointed Christians serve as spokesmen for Jehovah (jd 167 para 4)

This second reference makes the following claim without any basis.

“Joel’s prophecy has been undergoing its major fulfilment since early in the 20th century. Spirit-anointed Christians…began to ‘prophesy’, that is to declare ‘the magnificent things of God’, including the good news of the Kingdom, now established in the heavens.”

As discussed many times in articles on this site, the Kingdom was not established in 1914 as the Organization teaches. The Kingdom was established when Jesus was on earth, and he will take power when he comes at Armageddon. This is another type /anti-type created without scriptural basis to try to prove that God and Jesus have chosen the Organization to represent them.

Acts 2:1-21 clearly shows that Joel 2:28, 29 was fulfilled in the 1st Century. What indications can we find in these scriptures to confirm that it was only for the 1st century?  (Further, the onus is on the organization to prove the requirement for a larger fulfillment)?

  • Acts 2:21 – The correct translation is, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.[i]
  • Acts 2:17 – When would this saying take place? “And in the last days”. The last days of what? The last days of the Jewish system of things that the first century Christians were living through and the time when the holy spirit was clearly poured out?
  • So, how did “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord” get saved? Those Jews in Judea and Galilee in the 1st century who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, thereby calling on his name, obeyed Jesus warning to flee to the mountains when they saw the disgusting thing (the Roman army and pagan standards) standing where they ought not (in the temple). As a result, they were saved from death and slavery. However, the Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah were annihilated as a nation in the following three and a half years, as first Vespasian and then Titus his son lay waste to Galilee, Judea, and finally Jerusalem.
  • Was Joel 2:30, 31 fulfilled in the 1st Century? Was the “sun itself turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah”? It seems highly likely. While Jesus was dying on the torture stake, Matthew 27:45, 51 records the sun being in darkness from midday for 3 hours, too long a period to be an eclipse. Then as Jesus died, an earthquake rent the sanctuary curtain in two. This all occurred before the destruction of the Jewish nation in 67 – 70 CE, when Jehovah removed his protection from his former chosen people and instead chose those who accepted his son Jesus Christ as the Messiah to be his spiritual nation of Israel.

Joel 2:30-32 – Only those who call on the name of Jehovah will be saved during his awe-inspiring day (w07 10/1 13 para 2)

The reference given here is actually correct in what it says. It is interesting to note though that in the cited scripture of Romans 10:13, 14 discussing its fulfillment, almost all translations have the rendering, “For everyone who calls on the name Of the Lord will be saved”. This matches Acts 2:21. The entire context of Romans 10 is discussing putting faith in Jesus, vs. 9 saying “publicly declaring” that “Jesus is Lord” and “that God raised him up from the dead”. Romans 10:12 goes on to say that “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for there is the same Lord over all,” while Romans 10:14 goes on to say “However, how will they call on him in whom they have not put faith? How, in turn will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard?”  The Gentiles had heard of Jehovah, the God of the Jews. Indeed the Jews had made proselytes of some of the Gentiles, but they had not heard of Jesus the Messiah, the one of whom Acts 4:12 states “Furthermore there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” It was putting faith in the benefits of Christ’s ransom made possible through his sacrificial death and resurrection that was the vital thing for all men to do from Jesus’ death onward. The cross-reference on Romans 10:11 is Isaiah 28:16 about Jehovah “laying as a foundation in Zion a stone, a tried stone,” which is confirmed in Acts 4:11 where Isaiah 28:16 was quoted by the apostle Peter.

Initial Call and Return Visit

Both these items are promoting JW.org, not the Holy Bible, and the concept that to get to God and Jesus, we have to go through men as intermediaries. Christ is the only mediator we need. We should be directing people straight to God’s word that is as powerful as a two-edged sword,  not to an internet site that at best is man-made and therefore being imperfect cannot have the effect of the Holy Bible. – Hebrews 4:12

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[i] This is one of a number of instances where the context would strongly suggest that “kyrios” should be translated as it is in the Greek manuscripts, i.e. as Lord”, not replaced with “Jehovah”. In many instances, it seems that the early Christian writers deliberately used the Greek Septuagint text, which contained Lord in many places, and applied it to Christ, even when the original scripture referred to Jehovah. They were likely making the point that until Christ, all had to look to Jehovah, but now things had changed. Unless everyone accepted Jesus as the Messiah sent by Jehovah God, they could not gain salvation.

Tadua

Articles by Tadua.
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