After the tribulation of those days
This article will explore some of the references that the Watchtower
magazine has recently made to the timing of events surrounding the great tribulation
that is mentioned in Matthew chapter 24 and Mark chapter 13.
Just to get the picture of what the scriptures really say, here are the verses
in question from Matthew, chapter 24:
(29) "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars
will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (30)
And the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes
of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the
Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and glory. (31) And
he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will
gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity
of the heavens to their other extremity.
And from Mark, chapter 13
(24) "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, (25) and the stars
will be falling out of the heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens
will be shaken. (26) And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds
with great power and glory. (27) And then he will send forth the angels
and will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from earth's
extremity to heaven's extremity.
The first three quotes that deal with these scriptures are from the Feb.
15, 1994 Watchtower, pp. 8-21, in the article entitled "Tell Us,
When Will These Things Be?." This article was based on talks given at the
1993 district conventions that explained the Watchtower Society's "adjusted
understanding" of the timing and nature of the "sign of the Son of
man" and the "signs in the heavens." Throughtout this article,
I will emphasize the words that the Watchtower has inserted into their
text which do not appear in the scriptures. While the Watchtower does not make
these inserted words part of their quotes from scripture, they have very cleverly
arranged the quotes with these inserted words to give a false impression of
what the scriptures say.
First, notice paragraph 19 of the article:
The Gospel passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke combine with Revelation
chapters 17-19 to shed considerable light on what will soon occur. At God's
fixed time, the great tribulation will begin with an attack against the
world empire of false religion (Babylon the Great). This will be particularly
intense against Christendom, which corresponds to unfaithful Jerusalem.
"Immediately after" this phase of the tribulation,
"there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth [unprecedented]
anguish of nations."--Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25.
The words "this phase of" do not appear between "after"
and "the great tribulation" in either Matthew 24:29 or Mark 13:24.
Paragraph 20 continues with another example:
In what sense will 'the sun be darkened, the moon not give its
light, the stars fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens be shaken'?
Doubtless, in the early part of the great tribulation,
many luminaries--prominent clergymen of the religious world--will have been
exposed and eliminated by "the ten horns" mentioned at Revelation
17:16. No doubt political powers too will have been shaken up. Could there
also be frightening events in the physical heavens? Quite likely, and far
more awe-inspiring than those described by Josephus as occurring near the
end of the Jewish system. We know that in the ancient past, God displayed
his power to cause such cataclysmic effects, and he can do so again.--Exodus
10:21-23; Joshua 10:12-14; Judges 5:20; Luke 23:44, 45.
Neither Matthew 24:29 nor Mark 13:24 mention anything about "in the
early part of" the great tribulation. This whole paragraph is riddled with
qualifiers. Notice the phrases "Doubtless, in the early part...",
"No doubt political powers ..." and "Quite likely, and far more
awe-inspiring." On what basis can they say "Doubtless, in the early
part of the great tribulation" when the scripture plainly says "After
the tribulation of those days ..."?
Paragraph 24 summarizes the Watchtower's view of the sequence of events:
... We can look forward to the start of the
great tribulation, then the sign of the Son of man, and then God's gathering
of the chosen ones. Finally, as Jehovah's Executioner at Armageddon, our
Warrior-King, the enthroned Jesus, will "complete his conquest."
(Revelation 6:2). .
Here the sign of the Son of man is portrayed as coming right after the start
of the tribulation rather than after the tribulation. Also, notice that this
paragraph refers to "God's gathering of the chosen ones." Matthew
24:30,31 says:
(30) And the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and
then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and
they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and
glory. (31) And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound,
and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from
one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.
It is plain that it is the angels that do the gathering of the chosen ones,
having been sent forth by the Son of man.
More recently, the October 15, 1995 Watchtower, Page 23, continues
in the same vein. Three more quotes from this article reveal the Watchtower
selectively quoting phrases from scriptures to make it look like they say something
that they definitely don't:
First of all, from paragraph 3:
Jesus foretold striking developments to come "immediately
after" the outbreak of the great tribulation, developments
we await. He said that then "the sign of the Son of man" would
appear. This will profoundly affect "all the tribes of the earth"
who will "see then Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory." The Son of man will be accompanied by "his angels."
(Matthew 24: 21, 29-31) ...
Secondly, the question for paragraph 3 reads: "Earlier in his discourse,
what did Jesus say would develop immediately after the great tribulation begins?"
Finally, in a chart on page 24 where the parallels between Matthew 24:29-31
and Matthew 25:31-33 are noted, it says "After the great tribulation begins,
the Son of man comes"
Notice the insertion of the words "the outbreak of" in paragraph
3 and the word "begins" in the question for paragraph 3 and the chart
on page 24.
These six examples, three from each of the two articles, show an obvious
attempt to reword the scriptures to make them fit the Watchtower Society's preconceived
idea of what the sequence of events should be.
It's been quoted time and again in this context, but it bears repeating.
Revelation 22:18:
"I am bearing witness to everyone that hears the words of
the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone makes an addition to these things,
God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; and if
anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy,
God will take his portion away from the trees of life and out of the holy
city, things which are written about in this scroll."
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact the author by
e-mail at: docbob@star. net
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