New Jubilees
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The Watchtower Society’s next step was to introduce a new interpretation of the “Jubilee year.” The one that had nothing to do with the year 1925! The last time when 1925 got associated with the Jubilee was in 1930:
The year 1925 marked the due time for the great jubilee, and the announcement was made in due course. But the world rulers failed to heed God's message and to "proclaim liberty throughout all the land". (Lev. 25:10) (Light 1930, Vol. 1, p. 135).
Later, no specific calculation was provided to justify the words used. Instead they were making general statement saying the Jubilee was a prophecy or image of the “Millennial Reign of Christ” (The Golden Age May 20, 1936 p.540, The Watchtower March 1, 1934 p. 78; Religion 1940 p. 164).
The alleged Jubilee year was then combined with the new teaching (dated 1929) concerning the text of Rom 13:1 (rejected a few decades later, in 1962):
To the remnant the jubilee trumpet appears to mean this: The higher powers are not the rulers of this world, as we once thought. Such rulers are Satan’s agents. The higher powers are Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. Only in recent years have the remnant come to a knowledge of this great truth, and since then they have realized that they are free from worldly powers and from the iron bands of worldly government... (The Watchtower April 15, 1936 p. 121).
Below we will show how the organization shaped its teaching related to Jubilees. In short, the Watchtower Society changed its approach to the “Jubilee year” as follows:
The understanding of the antitypical Jubilee also received some clarification. (...) It was long understood that this foreshadowed the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. In more recent times, however, it was seen that the antitypical Jubilee actually began at Pentecost 33 C.E. (...).—The Watchtower, January 1, 1987, pages 18-28. (The Watchtower May 15, 1995 p. 24).
While “the Jubilee” teaching for the heavenly class has been changed, the earthly class is still waiting for the “Jubilee year” in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.
As we see the definitive (?) view was formed only in 1987.
Below we will show the changing views of the Watchtower Society regarding the “Jubilee year.” We overlook here in this statements the first two Jubilees associated with the years 1874 and 1925 and the corrected version of Jubilee in the year 1925.
The generation of 1914
(...) NOW has come the time to sound out the good news of the great Jubilee of the new world as by a blast on a trumpet. (...) ALL these experiences of this generation were foretold by Jesus Christ as stamping our time the “time of the end” of Satan’s world and the time for God’s kingdom to rule in the midst of all its enemies seen and unseen. Jesus said: “When you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.”—Luke 21:31, 32, NW. (The Watchtower August 1, 1951 pp. 462-463).
Year 1975
According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man's creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C. E. (...) HOW appropriate it would be for Jehovah God to make of this coming seventh period of a thousand years a sabbath period of rest and release, a great Jubilee sabbath for the proclaiming of liberty throughout the earth to all its inhabitants! (Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God 1966 pp. 29-30).
The generation of 1914
Evidences indicate that this glorious “Jubilee” rest is very near. (...) Happily, this relief is in sight! Jesus went on to say that people now hearing this good news would see the “Jubilee.” He told those listening to him: “When you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.”—Luke 21:31, 32. (The Watchtower August 1, 1976 p. 455).
Yes, God purposes a much larger and finer “Jubilee” for humankind. This “Jubilee,” symbolically, is the thousand-year reign of his kingdom under Christ. (The Watchtower August 1, 1976 p. 454).
Year 33, year 1919 and Millennium
For the anointed as a group, the Christian Jubilee began at Pentecost 33 C.E. What about the “other sheep,” having the prospect of everlasting life on earth? (John 10:16) For the other sheep, the Thousand Year Reign of Christ will prove to be a time of restoration and liberation. (The Watchtower July 15, 2004 p. 27).
Hence, in the years since Pentecost 33 C.E., as believers have become spirit-begotten disciples of the glorified Lord Jesus, they have begun celebrating the Christian Jubilee. (...)In modern times the anointed who are celebrating the Christian Jubilee have been declaring liberating good news, especially since 1919. (The Watchtower January 1, 1987 p. 24).
As seen from the above material, the Watchtower Society changed its interpretation of the “Jubilee year” several times. This applies both to the time of its beginning and the method of calculating the Jubilee.
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