Study Article 19 of the Watchtower May '24 is dealing with all the doctrinal changes introduced in the Annual Meeting of 2023. The Watchtower is preparing its membership th accept the sad reality that NOT all the world will hear the good news of the Kingdom before the End. For this they employ two verses from the New Testament that they believe it helps them make their case. Let's see their reasoning together in paragraphs 6 & 7:
Consider what Jesus said about the scope of our preaching work. He foretold that the good news would be preached “in ALL the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matt. 24:14) That prophecy is being fulfilled today as never before. The Kingdom message is published in more than 1,000 languages, and by means of the jw.org website, it is available to the majority of the world’s population
The word ALL in this verse hólos (a primitive adjective and the root of the English term "whole") – properly, wholly, where all the parts are present and working as a whole – i.e. as the total, which is greater than the mere sum of the parts. When the verse speaks of ALL THE INHABITED EARTH one will assume that the preaching would have to be worldwide. Unfortunately as I have previously mentioned the Watchtower laments that only 60% will every hear these news, exluding the whole Muslim world and the Peoples Republic of China that total 3.2 billions from the current total of 8.1 billions of world population.(SEE previous article).This is a far cry from what Jesus expects and a far cry from what they used to profess to accomplish in previous years!
So how do they get around this discrepancy? Well, by misappling another verse to make their case. But for that let's read the following paragraph, paragraph 7:
However, Jesus also told his disciples that they would not “complete the circuit of the cities,” or preach to everyone, before he would come. (Matt. 10:23; 25:31-33) Jesus’ words will prove to be true in our day as well. Millions of people today live in areas where the preaching work is severely restricted. In addition, hundreds of babies are born every minute. We do our best to reach people from “every nation and tribe and tongue” with the good news. (Rev. 14:6) But the fact is that we will not be able to share the good news with each individual on earth before the end comes.
Here is the problem, one of the main rules of correct Bible interpretation universally accepted by most Bible scholars is this: You can not use an obscure verse to explain an well defined and understood verse.What do I mean by that? Jesus statement in Matthew 24:14 is straightforward and easily understood, ALL the inhabited earth means exactly this, ALL the inhabited earth, no backsies on Muslums and no backsies on Chinese, because they are hard to preached to and a lot of persecution will be expected something that the "fattened calves" of the Watchtower leadership have no stomach,no pan intended, or divine authority taking on.
So, what about this verse in Matthew 10:23? The Watchtower will have you believe that this verse has to do with the time of the End, but this is not entirely true and this is a difficult verse that is still dividing scholars to this day. To fully understand its meaning we need to consider the context, something the Watchtower never does. So, let's read from read both verses 22 & 23 in their entirety:
And you will be hated by all people on account of my name, but the one who has endured to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one city, flee to another(=no time for witnessing, but they will still have try even under persecution); for truly I say to you, you will by no means complete the circuit of the cities of Israel until the Son of man arrives.
So here are some prevailing views amongst scholars:
Some understand that Jesus has returned to talking about the more immediate mission of the Twelve to the towns of Israel while He is still alive. In that case, He is saying that He, as the "Son of Man," will come to them before they finish preaching and healing in all the towns of Israel. The problem with that idea is that we don't know of any persecution of the apostles before Jesus' death.
Other scholars believe Jesus was talking about the coming of the Son of Man—meaning Himself—in judgment against Israel, and that this was fulfilled in AD 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. In that case, Jesus pictures these apostles experiencing persecution until that moment, as they carried the gospel from town to town in Israel.
Another view is that Jesus is describing His own return to earth to establish His physical kingdom, what is often described as the Second Coming or the day of the Lord. The question with this view is why Jesus seems to say that it will happen before the apostles (=His actual 1st century disciples and not the governing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses 19 centuries later) can finish taking the gospel to each town in Israel when, in fact, it has still not taken place long after the apostles have died.
Other views and variations on those views exist, as well. None of them is held too strongly by a majority of scholars. All easily agree, however, that Jesus is clearly communicating that the persecution of His followers will serve the purpose of moving them from place to place, spreading the preaching of the gospel far and wide. This is exactly what happened during the century following Jesus' death.
In other words, these verses seem to imply the method with which the Gospel will be preached and not the extent to which this Gospel will reach people during the time of the End.
There is also one final argument that I would like to offer. The book of Revelation clearly shows that the Beast like system of the End is UNIVERSAL according to Revelation 13:3:
and ALL THE EARTH followed the wild beast with admiration.
and even BABYLON the GREAT, which according the Warchtower will have UNIVERSAL reach, we read in Revelation 17:15:
The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues
This also aligns with Matthew 24:14, where the Gospel is described as being preached in ALL the inhabited earth.
Do not be fooled by the Watchtower which is not bestowed with the divine calling or authority to carry this message.
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