[Watchtower study for the week of April 14, 2014 – w14 2/15 p.8]
This week’s Watchtower study continues the discussion on the 45th Psalm, focusing on the marriage of the King.
We used to have a penchant for attributing some prophetic significance to every element in historical Bible accounts. We would refer to these as “a prophetic drama” and not content to look at the overall picture, we would take great pains to attribute special significance to the most minute of details. This could at times result in some really silly interpretations. For example, in the 1967 Watchtower article on the life of Samson, the young lion he kills is said to "picture Protestantism, which in its beginnings came out boldly against some of the abuses perpetrated by Catholicism in the name of Christianity…. But how did this Protestant “lion” fare? “Jehovah’s spirit became operative upon [Samson], so that he tore it in two, just as someone tears a male kid in two, and there was nothing at all in his hand.” (Judg. 14:6) Prior to World War I, the triumph of Jehovah’s “slave” over Protestantism was just as decisive. It was by God’s spirit. (w67 2/15 p. 107 par. 11, 12)
If you think that seems a stretch, read on to see what symbolism we attach to the honey that came from a bee’s hive Samson discovered later in the carcass of the dead lion. (par. 14)
As Brother Franz' influence declined, so did the incidence of those articles. However, it seems that may be changing. As we saw last week, each element of the prophetic poem that is the 45th Psalm is given some application. No support is provided for many of these symbolic interpretations. We are expected to believe because of the authority of the source, it would seem. This is just not acceptable for a Christian with a Beroean mentality, unless the source is Jesus himself.
Par. 4 – An example of this can be seen in this paragraph where we state unblinkingly that “’the royal consort’ is the heavenly part of God’s Organization, which includes ‘the daughters of kings,’ that is, the holy angels.“
I was watching the Tony Awards a couple of years ago and they sang one of the songs from the Book of Mormon: I Believe. We may tilt our noses up at such blind faith in men, but are we not guilty of the same if we accept unsupported interpretations as truth, just because they come from a source we trust? Of course, whether the "daughters of kings" depicts the holy angels or not is of no great consequence. However, the presumptuousness that would allow men to boldly assert such a thing is not likely to stop at the inconsequential. Of that we must be wary.
Par. 5-7 – We do provide some scriptural support for the idea that the bride depicted in the Psalm is the same one Revelation speaks of, stating that it is made up of spirit anointed Christians. Agreed! Of course, by that we mean that means a mere 144,000 thousand individuals make up the bride. We are directed to read from Ephesians 5: 23, 24 to make the point that the congregation is the bride. This is true, but it raises a bit of a conundrum for us. In the latter part of the fifth chapter of Ephesians, Paul is instructing Christian husbands and wives about their relationship, using Jesus and the congregation (depicted as his wife) as the object lesson. The congregation is Jesus’ bride, and as he deals with her, so a Christian husband should deal with his wife. Jesus gave his life for his bride, the congregation. Why? Paul explains:
“…in order that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the bath of water by means of the word, 27 so that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, without a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26, 27)
Do you see the conundrum? If the congregation is the bride and the bride are the anointed and the anointed only number 144,000, then Jesus only sanctifies, cleans and dies for 144,000 individuals. What about the rest of us?
Or is this passage in Ephesians yet more proof that there are not two classes of Christians?
Par. 14 – We now engage in a fallacy that has served us well in the past. To support a new interpretation, we use another prophecy which we have already interpreted (arbitrarily) in a way that supports our doctrinal teachings. Having an interpretation which is "accepted fact" in our grab bag, we then use it to shore up our newest understanding. This gives the appearance we are building on bedrock rather than the sand of human speculation. In this case, the “ten men” of Zechariah’s prophecy become the “daughter of Tyre” in Psalm 45. The “ten men” are the “other sheep”, earthbound Christians who serve as “loyal companions of the anointed Christians”. This has been long "established" as truth. We are looking for a place to put them in our Psalm, and along come the "virgin companions" of the bride. Seems like a prefect fit. The only problem is that these earthbound Christians, these virgin companions, follow the bride right into the King’s palace, which is, alas, in heaven. The wedding is after all held in the heavens, in the presence of God. How will we resolve this latest conundrum?
Par. 16 – To start, we fall back on a old piece of misdirection. We explain that “appropriately, the book of Revelation represents the members of the “great crowd” [i.e., the other sheep, the virgin companions] as “standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” They render Jehovah sacred service in the earthly courtyard of this spiritual temple.” So the virgin companions don't actually enter the temple (Greek: naos, the inner sanctuary) which is in heaven, but stand in some earthly courtyard (Greek: aulen). The problem with this is that if the great crowd are the other sheep and if the other sheep are earthbound, then why is the great crowd shown standing before the throne in the naos (inner sanctuary) and not in some courtyard (aulen)?
When Judas threw the 30 pieces of silver into the temple (naos), he must have thrown it into the sanctuary where only the priests entered, not into some courtyard where the average Israelite could walk. Enough money to buy a piece of land strewn about on the floor of a public courtyard would have caused a mad scramble, yet the Bible indicates that only the priests knew about it. (Mat. 27:5-10)
So in trying to explain away an inconsistency in our prophetic interpretation of Psalm 45, we are compounding our error and misleading our readers by shifting the divinely appointed locale of the great crowd from the heavenly temple to some conveniently imagined earthly courtyard of which the Bible makes no mention.
Par. 19 – “The remaining anointed on earth are enthralled by the prospect of soon being united in heaven with their brothers and with their Bridegroom. The other sheep are moved to be ever more submissive to their glorious King and are grateful for the privilege of being associated with the remaining members of this bride on earth.”
We are all for submission to our glorious King. However, that really isn’t the submission that is being called for here. Otherwise, why would the other sheep be singled out as “moved to be ever more submissive”? Are the remaining anointed not likewise moved to increased submissiveness? No, the meaning is clear in the following phrase describing the other sheep as being “grateful for the privilege of being associated with the remaining” anointed ones.
Jesus was “mild-tempered and lowly in heart”. There could be no greater privilege for any human than to have spent time with him, and those that did were surely grateful for that privilege, yet he never voiced such an idea. As for the apostles and other Bible writers, following Jesus’ instruction, they considered themselves to be good-for-nothing slaves, and never wrote that those in the congregations should be grateful for the privilege of having worked with them. I’m sure the brothers in the congregations were grateful. They fell on Paul’s neck and tenderly kissed him, weeping when he was leaving them. Yet, he never claimed that association with him was some kind of privilege. (Mat. 11:29; Luke 17:10; Gal. 6:3)
This statement from paragraph 19 is troubling in that in reinforces the idea of a two-tier class system in the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses; one in which the smaller class is privileged. I can’t think of anything that is farther from the Christian ideal, though it is very common among the churches we like to refer to collectively as Christendom. (See Mat. 23:10-13 – Isn’t in interesting that in the very next verse Jesus denounces those who shut up the heavens?)
In Summary
We must free ourselves from this Russell/Rutherford/Fundamentalist penchant for trying to find meaning in every little morsel of Bible verse. There is no Da-Vinci-code-like message hidden in Bible allegory to be deciphered by a privileged few. The Bible was given to all God’s servants, from the lowliest to the mightiest, with perhaps the lowliest having a slight edge on the mightiest. The 45th Psalm is a beautiful and inspiring piece of poetic allegory. The image of a handsome young prince being married to a beautiful maiden bedecked in the finest royal garments, both standing in the palace of the king surrounded by joyous throngs of onlookers, supporters and friends is one we can all grasp, and one that gives us a little glimpse of a greater, unimaginable scene in the actual heavens of what is to come. If we try to take it apart, dissecting the imagery piece by piece, there can only be diminishment. We do best to leave it alone and enjoy it as Jehovah has presented it to us.
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Comment by smolderingwick1 on 2014-04-13 11:52:41
Hi Meleti, just a note that when I opened my hotmail on this topic a Youtube popped up first to advertise an "I Believe" video. I'm just wondering if anyone else received it as well.
swReply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-04-13 12:01:01
There is a link farther down in the document to the YouTube video you mention, but it should only come up if the reader explicitly clicks on it. I don't see how it could come up simply by opening the topic.
Comment by on 2014-04-13 11:55:00
Sometimes the WT presents prophecies with an explanation that seems to allow for non-anointed Christians, or what the WT would call "companions of anointed Christians."
Two of these prophecies are:
Zech 8:23 where it mentions 10 gentiles grabbing hold of the skirt of a Jew.
Isa 45:14 which speaks of the unpaid laborers of Egypt serving as slaves to the Jews.
The WT always mentions these in connection with the "great crowd" of Revelation 7. But what they never mention is that Paul alluded to a fulfillment of these prophecies in the 1st century. In the NWT at 1 Cor 14:25, at the very end of the verse, where it says, "God is really among YOU," the reference column cites Zech 8:23 and Isa 45:14. The NWT is not being original in citing Isa 45 and Zech 8 in connection with 1 Cor 14:23-25. Commentaries have long held that Paul was alluding to Zechariah 8:23 and Isaiah 45:14.
In the context of 1 Cor. 14, the "10 gentiles" and the "unpaid laborers" are the "ordinary people or unbelievers" of verse 23 who show an interest in Christianity. Once they become Christian they become part of the Jew(s)/Israel to which the unbelievers seek to associate with.
If these non-Jews in the prophecies were "non-anointed Christians," then, there shouldn't be any 1st century application. Which explains why the WT never mentions any such 1st century application. Neither would it be appropriate to equate the "great crowd" of Revelation 7 with "ordinary people or unbelievers." (See http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/14-23.htm for alternate renderings of "ordinary people or unbelievers."
Concerning 1 Cor 14:25, the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, p.742), says, in part:
Part of the solution may be found in the relationship between Paul's quotation of Isa 28:11-12 in 14:21 and his allusion to Isa 45:14 and Zech 8:23 in 14:25. While 14:22 mentions both believers and unbelievers, the illustrations in 14:23-25 focus exclusively on unbeleivers and the way they respond to an encounter with a community that is speaking in tongues or one that is prophesying. . . His [Paul's] allusion to Isa 45:14, on the other hand, relates to a later phase in God's relationship with his people, one when even Gentiles would come to recognize the presence of God in the midst of his people and would worship him for who he really is. . .
. . . In Paul's scenario "it is the church - itself a predominately Gentile community - through which God will accomplish the eschatalogical conversion of outsiders," and the Corinthian believers have "stepped into the role originally assigned to Israel in Isaiah's eschatalogical drama." Hence the church is the fulfillment of Isaiah's [chap.45] prophecy about Israel.
[End of quote]Reply by on 2014-04-14 09:38:23
Regarding the post about Zechariah 8:23 and Isaiah 45:14, I want to include the most recent WT references for comparison:
Isaiah 45:14 - w08 1/15 p. 26 pars. 6, 7
Zechariah 8:23 - w09 2/15 p. 27 par. 13
Incidentally, in connection with the "Jerusalem above," the seed of Abraham, and the New Covenant:
The Society's position is that Jesus and the 144,000 are "Abraham's Seed" and that the nations bless themselves by means of that seed. That is, the nations do not become part of that seed, nor are they included in the New Covenant (and thus, the "Jerusalem above" is not their "mother"), rather, they get blessings by associating with that seed of Abraham.
Paul saw things a bit differently. According to him, Jesus is the 'seed of Abraham.' Galatians 3:16 (NWT) says: "...Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It says, not: "And to seeds," as in the case of many such, but as in the case of one: "And to your seed," who is Christ."
From there, Paul reasoned:
". . .YOU [the Gentile Galatian Christians] are all, in fact, sons of God [as part of being in the New Covenant] through YOUR faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of YOU who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for YOU are all one [person] in union with Christ Jesus. 29 Moreover, if YOU belong to Christ, YOU are really Abraham's seed, heirs with reference to a promise. (Galatians 3:26-29 NWT)
Thus, Paul's reasoning was that 'the nations bless themselves' by putting faith in Jesus, as the seed of Abraham. And then they become part of Abraham's seed thru their faith in Christ.
From here, there are some very interesting links with Paul's argument and what Revelation chapter 7 says about the great crowd:
First, the "great crowd" is described numerically and by origin, ". . . which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues. . ." (Revelation 7:9)
This description provides two links to the promises made to Abraham. Genesis 13:16 and 15:5 both promise that Abraham's seed would become an innumerable multitude. And the multinational character of the great crowd fits the description of the promise in Genesis 22:18 of 'all nations blessing themselves.'
Secondly, the great crowd's 'washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb' fits Paul's description of becoming part of Abraham's seed thru faith in Christ.
Thirdly, the description in Revelation 7:16 that the great crowd "will hunger no more nor thirst anymore, neither will the sun beat down upon them nor any scorching heat . . ." is drawn from Isaiah 49:10. In the immediate context of that verse (Isa 49:8-10) God's Servant is said to be given as "a covenant for the people." The people are then described as "repossessing . . . the desolated hereditary possessions," and 'not suffering from hunger, thirst, etc, as is quoted in Revelation 7:16. All this speaks of a "people" who are part of a covenant, "repossessing," not merely bystanders hoping to benefit by hanging around others in the covenant.
These things clearly indicate that the "great crowd" are part of Abraham's seed, and part of the New Covenant, and that their "mother" is NOT some earthly organization, but the "Jerusalem above," just as described by Paul in Galatians.
And this connects the great crowd with what Paul said in Galatians 3:14 (NWT): ". . .The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham might come to be by means of Jesus Christ for the nations, that we might receive the promised spirit through our faith." Thus, the great crowd are also included among 'spirit anointed' Christians and would be expected partakers at the Lord's Evening Meal celebration. (Note how Paul understands the Galatian Christians to be part of the fulfillment of 'the nations that bless themselves.' This contradicts WT theology which understands 'the nations that bless themselves' to be non-anointed Christians.)
Sorry for the length of the post. Unfortunately some research requires that.
BobcatReply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-04-14 11:32:41
Bobcat,
Thank you for all the foregoing research. I'd like to utilize it for a future post, it you don't mind.
Meleti
Reply by GodsWordIsTruth on 2014-04-14 12:59:04
Bobcat-
I am so glad that you contribute to this forum :) This post along your post in the recent discussion thread regarding 1914 are spiritual gems. I want to tap into the same part of the holy spirit that you have obviously tapped into lol Where is that spot located exactly? :D
Reply by Chris on 2014-11-09 16:51:15
Hello. I agree with what CR Russell taught. He taught that all Christians are Spirit anointed and that they run the race for the high calling. And if they don't make them hundred and 44,000 and they are still going to but there before the throne but they don't gain immortality or become joint heirs with Christ.
Comment by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-04-13 12:03:22
Thanks for sharing this research. Most informative.
Reply by on 2014-04-13 12:12:17
Meleti:
That was my post. Sorry about the double post.
BobcatReply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-04-13 12:36:40
No problem. I'll remove the duplicate. Don't know why, but you're coming through as "Anonymous".
Reply by on 2014-04-13 14:30:58
I emptied my Chrome cache and neglected to uncheck the password box. Now I'm no longer logged in and can't remember my password.
Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2014-04-13 15:21:21
I imagine WordPress has a feature for forgotten passwords in which it mails it to you. Don't know for sure.
Reply by InNeedOfGrace on 2014-04-13 16:33:25
God is good ") I keep being amazed by the little gems I discover by all you faithful brothers.
Reply by on 2014-04-13 17:22:04
It does but it doesn't seem to remember my e-mail address. It keeps telling me that it doesn't recognize it. I might have to re-register.
Bobcat
Comment by Sargon on 2014-04-13 16:04:44
Maybe you mentioned it in a previous lost, but I see that we now believe in a rapture for the anointed. This is found in paragraph 12 and uses 1 Thessalonians 4 16,17 for support. It's very convenient of them to leave out verse 15. Continues to make me believe the teaching of Christ's presence is heading for an overhaul. If they are going to teach that Jesus will take the anointed to heaven during the great tribulation, then they have to conclude that Jesus coming or presence is a future event as well. This goes to show how badly they will twist scripture to preserve 1914.
Reply by Samaritan Woman on 2014-04-20 08:11:40
I believe this change was first introduced in the infamous July 2013 WT
Comment by on 2014-04-14 02:25:04
I have the same problem.
Katrina
Comment by Katrina on 2014-04-14 02:26:33
the posts delay and show up much later, thinking I made a mistake and repost then two posts come up.
Katrina
fill out the details again!
Comment by BeenMislead on 2014-04-14 09:41:29
Par. 16
------------
The Kingdom Interlinear Translation shows that Rev. 7:15 says “in the divine habitation of him”.
The reference in the New World Translation (reference bible) after temple is as follows:
Or, “divine habitation (dwelling).” Gr., na•oi′, dative, sing.; Lat., tem′plo; J17,18,22(Heb.), beheh•kha•loh′, “in his palace (temple).”
But I noticed that they REMOVED the reference after temple in the new (silver sword) bible. Why do think they did that?
Comment by on 2014-04-14 09:41:30
Other scriptures related to the Abrahamic promise (and thus, "the Jerusalem above") and the "great crowd which no man was able to number":
Gen 13:16; 15:5; 16:10; 22:17; 26:4; 32:12; Hos 1:10; Heb 11:12
Commentaries that also recognize this link:
D'Aragon 1968:478; Mounce 1977:171; Sweet 1979:150; Hughes 1990:95; Bauckham 1993a:223; Ulfgard 1989:94
(nnnn:nn indicates year of publication and page number)
The Commentary on the NT Use of the OT (G. K. Beale & D. A. Carson, p.1108) says:
"As throughout Revelation, this promise to Israel is applied to the church from all nations."
They "wear white robes":
"White robes" signify the purification of the end-time tribulation in Dan 11-12, where the saints ["holy ones" NWT] are "made white" through the fire of persecution; a similar meaning fits well here. Compare Rev 6:11; 7:14 with Dan 11:35; 12:1, 10 (note the Heb. laban ["make white"] in Dan 11:35; 12:10])" (Beale & Carson, p.1096.)
They hold "palm branches in their hands":
"The reference to palm branches is an allusion to the Festival of Tabernacles (cf., e.g. Lev 23:40, 43; Neh 8:15; see Ulfgard 1989:89-92, 95). In the OT this was an annual occasion for the nation to rejoice and to thank God for the fruitfulness of their crops. The feast was also to commemorate Israel's dwelling in tents under divine protection during their pilgrimage in the wilderness after the redemption from Egypt" (Beale & Carson, p.1108)
Thus, the 'holding of palm branches' by the "great crowd" is definately 'covenant' language.
Hope some of this research is useful (and not already duplicated).
BobcatReply by search4truth on 2014-04-14 21:48:08
Bobcat thanks you for your contribution to this forum and your research. In the last week Wt article discussed verse in the Psalm 45:4, it has been pointed out by someone on another internet forum that the meaning of this verse has been changed.
Ps 45:4 in RNWT:
And in your splendor go on to victory; Ride in the cause of truth and humility and righteousness, And your right hand will accomplish awe-inspiring things.
Ps 45:4 in old NWT:
And in your splendor go on to success; Ride in the cause of truth and humility [and] righteousness, And your right hand will instruct you in fear-inspiring things.
The Hebrew word is wə-ṯō-wr-ḵā, meaning "shall teach" and only ever occurs in this one place in the Bible. It comes from the word yarah or yara, which means to throw or shoot (as in arrows), with the short definition of "teach", according to Strong's 3384.
Comment by on 2014-04-20 09:47:56
Since the article talks so much about "anointed Christians" and "anointed remnant," I thought I would provide a breakdown of the Greek word group (with Strong numbers) of the related terms:
Khrisma ( # 5545) "anointing", occurs 3x, 1 Jn 2:20, 27(x2); applied to believers
Khristianos ( # 5546) "Christian", occurs 3x, Ac 11:26; 26:28; 1Pe 4:16
Khristos ( # 5547) "Christ", occurs 531x, (too many to list)
Khrio ( # 5548) "anoint", occurs 5x, as follows -
Lk 4:18 - Jesus applies to himself quoting Isa 61:1
Ac 4:27 - Applied to Jesus, whom God anointed
Ac 10:38 - Applied to Jesus, whom God anointed
2Co 1:21 - Applied to believers ("us"), "he who has anointed us is God"
Heb 1:9 - Applied to Jesus, 'anointed by God because he loved righteousness'
It should be noted that the term "anointed Christians" and "anointed remnant" never occur within the NT. "Anointed Christians" would be equivalent to saying "wet water." And "anointed remnant" represents a contradiction to the fulfillment of Isaiah 54:1, which Paul cites in Galatians 4:27 as beginning to be fulfilled in Christians of his day. Isaiah 54:1 predicts that eventually those in the New Covenant would outnumber those in the Old. The vision of the "great crowd " represents a fulfillment of this prediction at the end of the age.
And, for the term "anointed," that's it. All the tons of WT ink about 'anointed Christians' is based on four verses (2Co 1:21, 1Jo 2:20, 27). Of course, there are other verses that are conceptually related. For example, the term "holy ones" (Greek hagios) refers to ones set aside for some purpose. And the act of 'anointing' someone or something has as its purpose a setting of it (or that one) aside for some divine purpose. Thus, anointed Christians, in the Bible, are correctly referred to as "holy ones."
Under the Law, both persons and things were 'anointed.' (Cmp Ex 29:7; 30:25; 40:15)
'Anointing' is also related (or equal) to being 'born of the spirit' (Jn chap 3), which is related to (or equal to) being 'baptized with the spirit' (Mt 3:11; Jn 1:33; Ac 1:5; 10:45; 11:16; 19:6; 1Co 12:13). The verses in 1 John (2:20, 27) appear to relate it to the start of a Christian's course of belief, which would equate well with the idea of being 'baptized with the spirit' or 'born of the spirit.'
There is yet more. This subject cuts right to the heart of the WT powerbase. I kind of think the Society doesn't mind all the cute little stories about how someone "became anointed" because it gives an air of illegitimacy to that person (at least in the minds of most rational people). Whereas, the GB just sit back and never explain their "anointing." Because they don't have to. They are "anointed" because they are on the GB. They're being on the GB is their proof that they are "anointed." To dispute that is to disagree with their authority.
Bobcat
Comment by Chris on 2014-11-09 16:46:42
Hello. I tend to believe what Russell said. The only hope set out for any Christian is heavenly. We are all called to one hope faith and baptism. We are running the race of the high calling. Doesn't it make sense that "many are called but few are chosen" to mean many are anointed but only a 144,000 are selected? I mean how can the GB say that they are part of the 144,000 if they haven't even finished the race yet? I tend to believe what Russell used to teach which was that those who were anointed but didn't make the 144,000 are a great crowd which are before the throne in heaven and that the people on earth are all redeemed mankind who were not Spirit anointed. Any thoughts?