A Great Crowd that Will Never Die May 14 2022

PJ54

Well-known member
*** Text for Saturday, May 14, 2022 ***
The one who has died has been acquitted from his sin.—Rom. 6:7.
Jehovah promises that no one living under Christ’s rule will say: “I am sick.” (Isa. 33:24) Thus, those who are raised from the dead will be re-created with healthy bodies. However, they will not immediately be perfect. If they were, they might seem unfamiliar to their loved ones. It seems that all mankind will gradually grow to perfection during the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. It is only at the end of the thousand years that Jesus will hand the Kingdom back to his Father. Then the Kingdom will have accomplished its work completely, including the raising of mankind to a perfect state. (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 20:1-3) Imagine what it will be like to greet your loved ones again. Will the joy you feel make you laugh or cry? Will you fill the air with songs of praise to Jehovah? One thing is certain, you will feel intense love for your caring Father and his unselfish Son because of the wonderful gift of the resurrection. w20.08 16-17 ¶9-10

A Great Crowd that Will Never Die​



Tuesday, September 15 2015​

He died for all so that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised up.—2 Cor. 5:15.
Because of their love for God and their gratitude for the inestimable privilege of serving him, the early Christians gladly accepted “the ministry of the reconciliation.” Their work of preaching and making disciples opened the way for honest hearted individuals to come to be at peace with God, enjoy his friendship, and eventually become his spiritual children. Today, anointed servants of Jehovah perform the same ministry. What they accomplish as ambassadors for God and Christ makes it possible for rightly disposed people to be drawn by Jehovah and become believers. Out of appreciation for Jehovah as the Grand Provider, all Christians who have an earthly hope share with the anointed in the Kingdom-preaching work.

Commentary

The expression “rightly disposed for everlasting life” is found in the 13th chapter of Acts. It may seem odd, but most people are not “rightly disposed for everlasting life.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses, more than anyone else, encounter this phenomenon regularly when they try to engage people with the hope presented in the Bible of everlasting life in paradise on earth. It simply does not appeal to most people. No doubt the majority simply do not believe it is possible. Others imagine that it would be boring to live forever.
Yet the masses of churchgoers readily accept the concept of heaven, even though most haven’t the faintest idea what it is, where it is, or what they might do there. But for those who are not rightly disposed for everlasting life the familiarity of earth and all the beautiful things associated with it and a world without evil, does not appeal to them. It really does require an honest heart.
What a treasure and a privilege Jehovah’s Witnesses have in knowing the truth and believing God and being the generation that will come out of the great tribulation and inherit the new world of God’s promise.
 

PJ54

Well-known member

A Great Crowd Will Never Die​

July 12th, 2010​


Jehovah’s Witnesses have the hope of never dying – a hope solidly based upon their unique understanding of the Bible.
God made man and woman to live on the earth forever. Like the loving Father he is, Jehovah desired his earthly children to have every good thing. Jehovah endowed us with his own character and personality, which is what it means to be made in his image. For example, human kindness is merely a reflection of Jehovah’s kindly character. Our innate sense of fairness and justice, as another example, was implanted in the minds of our original parents by the God of justice himself.
But tragically, because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were sentenced to death; and consequently passed on sin and death to their then-unborn offspring.
But Jehovah God has lovingly made arrangements to undo the death-dealing effects of their sin by providing the substitutionary death of his beloved Son, Jesus.
As Paul explained, just as death came into the world through the disobedience of one man, God’s gift of life has come about through the faithfulness of one man, Jesus.
God’s intention has always been to have the earth transformed into a paradise by the humans that he created – modeled after the Garden of Eden. That is still God’s purpose. Contrary to the fictions published in books like The Late Great Planet Earth or popular novels like the Left Behind series, God’s clearly stated purpose is to save the earth from ruination, not destroy it.
From its inception, the Watchtower Society understood this basic truth. But although they realized that it was God’s purpose to restore the earth, the International Bible Students originally associated with Charles Taze Russell and the Watchtower embraced the hope of being with Christ in heaven. It was understood, though, that Christ’s kingdom was going to rule over the earth and it would be the means by which God would restore mankind to earthly perfection. However, gradually after C.T. Russell died fewer and fewer of those associated with the Bible Students organization in the 1920s and ’30s professed to have a heavenly calling. What was going on? A gradual yet profound change occurred back then, whereby, more and more persons began to embrace the hope of living on Earth forever. Then, in 1935, at an international convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the then president of the Watchtower Society, J. F. Rutherford, asked everyone in the audience who had this hope of living forever on the earth to please stand up. He then introduced them as the “great multitude” of Revelation 7:9 that is destined to survive the great tribulation.
Although that sensational introduction of the great crowd took place exactly 75 years ago, and no doubt nearly all of those who stood up that day are no longer alive, still, because of the work of the Watchtower Society and Jehovah’s Witnesses in the ensuing decades many millions have since then come to understand God’s purpose and have themselves also embraced the hope of never dying. The appearance of a group composed of persons from all nations and languages who are dedicated to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ is a profoundly significant phenomenon.
Understandably, if it is indeed God’s purpose to seed a new world with a great crowd of survivors of the end of this world, as a prelude to that event, there must, of necessity, be a great educational and gathering work.
About 35 centuries ago a drama unfolded that demonstrated God’s intention for the great crowd that presently exists among Jehovah’s Witnesses. That was the occasion of the great exodus. Jehovah brought a series of 10 plagues upon the obstinate Pharaoh and the Egyptians, with the 10th plague being the death of the firstborn. But the Hebrews had been instructed to slaughter a lamb and splash some of its blood over the doors of their dwellings and to stay indoors on that night when the angel of death visited Egypt. But the angel passed over every home that exhibited the blood of the lamb; hence, the Passover. The angel then led the Israelites and a vast mixed company of Egyptians and others out of Egypt. Jehovah parted the Red Sea to provide deliverance from Pharaoh’s pursuing army. Eventually, God brought them into a land of their own – the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.
The book of Revelation draws from that drama in Exodus. The series of plagues are to be poured out on this world and the great crowd of persons who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb will survive the end of the world and enter the new world God has promised. The very fact that there are now millions of people all over the earth who have not only embraced the hope of surviving the great tribulation but who, in obedience to Christ, are actively proclaiming that profound message to their neighbors, is evidence that God is actively gathering a people in preparation for them to inherit the earth when the present global civilization is destroyed.
Jesus referred to a little flock of disciples as those who will be given the kingdom. This is in contrast to another group, variously called the other sheep and the great crowd. The little flock will ultimately be composed of 144,000. These are called the chosen ones. They are spoken of as receiving the first resurrection. Revelation explains that those who receive the first resurrection are not vulnerable to the second death. That is because those brought to life in the first resurrection are resurrected as spirits – immortal spirits. Obviously, though, if there is a first resurrection there is also a second resurrection. The second resurrection is the earthly resurrection. The billions of mankind who have lived and died will be brought back to earth as humans. They will benefit from the rule of God’s heavenly kingdom. They will have the opportunity of being rehabilitated from the ravages of sin and living forever on the earth in paradise. This is why Jesus promised the evildoer who was executed next to him that he would be with him in paradise.
How will Jesus be with him in paradise? The 21st chapter of Revelation explains: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”
Notice that the verse states that God will be with mankind, just as he was originally with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Those who will survive the great tribulation will no doubt be traumatized. They will need comfort. The tribulation and the world-ending war of Armageddon will be a horrific ordeal for them. But that is why God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.
When Lazarus died Jesus took that sad occasion to explain his role as the facilitator of the resurrection and life-giver. Jesus explained to Lazarus’ grieving sister: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26
What did Jesus mean “every one that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all”? Paul used a similar expression when he said regarding the first resurrection: “Those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air…”
The apostle Paul was referring to himself as among the living who will be on hand when the parousia of Jesus Christ begins. He said that because at the time he wrote it he was, obviously, among the living. He was not saying, however, that the living who will join Christ will not die. In the 15th chapter of Corinthians Paul explained the heavenly resurrection to the doubters by comparing it to a seed that must die in order to give birth to the plant that springs from it. Paul wrote: “What you sow is not made alive unless first it dies; and as for what you sow, you sow, not the body that will develop, but a bare grain, it may be, of wheat or any one of the rest; but God gives it a body just as it has pleased him, and to each of the seeds its own body.”
All of the 144,000 chosen ones must die in order to become born as spirits. It is just that those who die during Jesus’ presence do not sleep in death as those who die prior to his coming. Instead of sleeping in the grave they are instantaneously transformed, “in the twinkling of an eye.”
So, those who are living that put faith in Christ must also be those living at the time of his coming. But, since the chosen ones must die to be changed, the living who “will never die at all,” cannot be those who have been called to heaven. The “living,” about whom Jesus spoke to Martha, must be the great crowd that will survive the tribulation.
For a certainty, Jehovah’s Witnesses have the sure hope that they will be the first people who have ever lived on this earth who will never die. What a joyous privilege has been given to Jehovah’s Witnesses on the eve of the great storm that is about to sweep this wicked world away – the prospect of survival and being the first humans since Adam and Eve to enjoy paradise.
 

PJ54

Well-known member

Life, Death and Beyond​

June 29th, 2010​


The truth is simple. The sad fact is, though, most people prefer to believe lies. And consequently, the truth is an alien thing to them. No doubt the primary reason most people embrace the prevalent lies common to the world is due to the evil influence of the one whom Jesus described as both the ruler of the world and the father of the lie – Satan.
One of the most pervasive lies among both religious and non-religious persons alike is the belief that humans have a soul that lives on after death. If any religious belief could be considered universal it is the belief in an immortal soul. The belief in an immortal soul is as ancient as it is widespread. Ironically, the most ancient and authoritative book on such matters of belief – the Holy Bible – does not teach it. That is why Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the immortality of the soul.
The simple truth contained in the ancient Scriptures is that man is mortal and death brings about a complete loss of consciousness. That is why the Bible speaks of those asleep in death. Death is likened to sleep because when a person is deep asleep they are not conscious. Death is the opposite of life. There is no support in the Bible for the popular belief in an undying soul.
The truth revealed in the Bible is very simple: God originally made man out of the dust of the earth and animated him with the spark of life. The Scriptures word it this way: “And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” – Genesis 2:7 (American Standard Version)
However, most modern translations do not translate Genesis 2:7 to say, “Man became a living soul,” for obvious reasons. Instead, they use expressions like: “and the man became a living being.” (NIV) But the original Hebrew word used there is nephesh, which in other passages is translated as soul. Evidently the translators of popular Bibles like the New International Version prefer not to confuse their readers with inconvenient truths, such as the obvious truth that man is a soul, rather than being endowed with an immortal soul.
Elsewhere in the Bible, such as the very first chapter in Genesis, animals and even fish are referred to as living souls. (Genesis 1:21) Again, translators of popular versions also inconsistently render those passages without using the word soul, preferring to use the word “creatures” instead and usually without providing so much as a footnote explaining their omission. Obviously, this is done in order to perpetuate the fraud that humans have souls that survive death.
But according to the way the Hebrew word for soul is used, it is apparent that a soul is any breathing creature. In fact, the Hebrew word nephesh literally means “breather.” And when a breather stops breathing the soul dies. (“Soul” and “Spirit” – What Do These Terms Really Mean? – Watchtower) That soul is used in connection with animals, the word translated as “animalistic” literally says soulical.
The word soul is also used to describe the life that a person possesses as a living soul. That is why some passages speak of the soul leaving or going out of a person, meaning that they died.
Just as the scripture states that God created man out of the dust, at death man decays into dust. That is what Jehovah told Adam when sentencing him to death due to his disobedience. “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”

THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD

Rather than an immortal soul, the Bible holds out the hope of a resurrection from the dead. The word resurrection is translated from the Greek word anastasis, which literally means to stand up again, in the sense of standing up from a prone position in the grave.
When Jesus was on the earth he resurrected four people back to life. (It is possible that he performed more than four resurrections, but only four are recorded in the Bible.)
Watchtower illustration - resurrection of Widow's son On one occasion Jesus and his entourage encountered a funeral procession and a crowd of people coming the opposite way on the road out of the city of Nain. A widow had lost her only son. Jesus stopped the procession and told the mother to stop weeping. He walked over to the dead man and commanded him to get up and the young man sat up and started speaking. Naturally, those who observed this miracle were astonished and fearful.
On another occasion Jesus resurrected his personal friend, a man by the name of Lazarus. In this instance Lazarus had already been buried. But Jesus asked to be taken to the memorial tomb, where he then commanded to have the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. Then with a loud voice Jesus commanded the dead man to come out. And he came out of the tomb wrapped in burial cloth.
No doubt there were many Jews who died during Jesus’ ministry. He did not resurrect him all. And those whom he did resurrect eventually died again. But the reason Jesus did resurrect the few that he did was in order to demonstrate his power so that we may have faith in the Lord’s promise to resurrect all of the dead when his kingdom comes. Jesus stated at John 5:28-29: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”
“All those in the memorial tombs” basically means most people who have ever lived and died. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that virtually all of mankind will receive the resurrection—an earthly resurrection that is.
The dead will be brought back to life as people and they will be given an opportunity to attain everlasting life in paradise. Even unbelievers and wicked persons will receive a resurrection. That is why Jesus promised the evildoer who was executed next to him that he would be with them in paradise. Paul also said that he had hope in God that there would be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.
However, after their resurrection those who were unrighteous in this life will be on probation. That is what Jesus meant by “a resurrection of judgment.” People will be judged by what they do after they are resurrected. If a person continues in their previous ways they will be judged worthy of death and they will die again. This is why the Bible uses the expression “the second death,” because some people will literally die twice. The second death is permanent.
The book of Revelation uses the symbolism of a lake of fire and states that the lake of fire means the second death. Just as fire totally consumes, so it is that the second death symbolizes complete destruction. The Devil will be hurled into the lake of fire, meaning he will be totally annihilated.
 

PJ54

Well-known member
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