According to Watchtower
teaching only a little flock of 144,000 anointed from among mankind will go to
heaven, while the other faithful Jehovah's Witnesses will live forever on
earth. (Luke 12:32) But Christ spoke the words of Luke 12:32 when the disciples
were still a small group, and He did not set a number. The Watchtower Society
pulls the number 144,000 from Revelation 7:4 & 14:1-3. JWs believe that
each group of 12,000 in Revelation 7:5-8 is figurative. How can twelve figurative
or symbolic groups of 12,000 each add up to a literal number of 144,000?
Watchtower publications
on the subject claim that the word temple in Revelation 7:15 refers to the
courtyard of the Gentiles, and then explain that Gentiles were allowed in the
outer courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem but not allowed in the inner
sanctuary. It is then explained that only the 144,000 spiritual Israelites
enter heaven while the great crowd ("great multitude," KJV) of other
sheep who are not spiritual Jews are limited to the earthly courtyard of
Jehovah's arrangement. The word rendered temple in Revelation 7:15 is the Greek
word Naos, which refers to the inner sanctuary. If this passage were referring
to the whole building or the courtyard of the Gentiles the Greek word Hieron
would have been used.
In Revelation 7:9-11 you
should note that the great crowd (NWT) is standing before God's throne in the
company of angels and Revelation 19:1 in the New World Translation clearly
places the great crowd in heaven.
"And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
(Luke 23:43 KJV) "And he said to him: 'Truly I tell you today, You will be
with me in Paradise.'" (Luke 23:43 NWT) The word "Paradise"
occurs three times in the New Testament: Luke 23:43, II Corinthians 12:4, and
Revelation 2:7. JWs usually ignore the other two passages and insist that Luke
23:43 is a promise that the man to whom Jesus was speaking would be resurrected
thousands of years later to live forever on an earth changed into one big
beautiful garden park. The Watchtower interpretation is based on the placement
of the comma in the words of Jesus; by placing the comma after the word
"today" it appears that the resurrection in paradise that Jesus spoke
of would be in the far future and not that day. Since there are no commas in
the Greek text of these words the placement of the comma is left to the
discretion of the translator. Most Bibles place the comma before the word
"today," but the New World Translation puts the comma after the word
"today." In the dozens of other New Testament passages where Jesus
uses the expression "Truly I tell you" or "Truly I say to
you" ("tell" and "say" are the same word in the Greek
text) the New World Translation is consistent in the punctuation, but the New
World Translation makes an exception in Luke 23:43. Why? If I were to vocally
and personally say something to you right now it would be quite obvious that I
would speaking "today;" where does the context of Luke 23:43 indicate
any logical reason that Jesus would feel the need to verbalize the quite
obvious fact that He was speaking those words on that very day?
Watchtower leadership use
Biblical language to identify themselves as the anointed remnant of the little
flock, and promote the idea that this unique status qualifies them to disperse
instruction and salvation to the great crowd of other sheep who are outside of
the little flock. (John 10:16) The context of John 10:16 indicates that the
other sheep are Gentile Christians. While the Bible discusses the Old Covenant
for Jews and the New Covenant for Christians, there is no reference to a third
arrangement for gathering a great crowd of other sheep that do not have a
heavenly hope. (John 17:20, 24; I Peter 1:3-4)
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