Posted by Bibleman [Bibleman] on November 18, 1999 at 10:27:29 {KEdmzBXaT6MRXA6xmpscslyACFuF8c}:
In Reply to: N. H. Knorr posted by Petro on November 18, 1999 at 08:05:35:
Nice tribute.
N.H. Knorr was definitely JIOR. He knew the Messiah would have to come in the flesh almost immediately after World War II and that the "temple-class" organization would have to be able to say that they had preached "worldwide" by the time the prodigal-son Messiah was born. So as soon as the war was over his focus was to stage a worldwide preaching campaign that would "technically" fit the letter of the prophecy that the preaching would be preached worldwide first, before the Messiah would arrive.
Other of his writings also give away that he was aware of what was actually happening on the secret spiritual level. He died in 1977. The person who would become the Messiah shook his hand after an assembly in the summer of 1996. So he actually got a chance to touch the Messiah.
Of note, there are two "appearances" of the Messiah at the Second Coming as with the first. One is his birth, which as announced by the angels, and the second was when he actually got baptized. At the Second Coming the two events are, of course, his birth and the second is when he actually becomes the Messiah, something he was not at all aware of during his life up until that time.
As we all know, per the "Prodigal Son" parable, the Messiah's Second Coming would be by the adoption of the identity by Jesus Christ of one of his anointed followers, thus allowing Jesus by adoption to experience "imperfection" and most of all mercy and forgiveness; two things that Jehovah gives to others that he could never give to Jesus Christ in a perfect state.
It's like being rich in a sense and being generous. If nobody is poor then a rich person can't show how generous he is. So you need someone in need to come to their rescue.
Jehovah is like a wealthy man but who is also generous. But he couldn't show his generosity toward his son, Michael (i.e. Jesus Christ), since his son was perfect and faithful. But if his son, in order to appear in the flesh again for the millennium, needed to adopt someon elses body and identity to do so, this was an opportunity for him to have this experience. Thus by adopting the identity of someone with many sins that needed forgiving, Jesus became aware of the abundance and wonder of that gift from his father. So even though it seems rather strange that Jehovah would choose nearly the most sinful of all the anointed ones to become the Messiah, on a spiritual level, it brought Jesus even closer to his father.
As is said, "There is more joy among the angels in heaven over a sinner who repents than the 99 faithful ones..."
Thus on a critical spirutal level, Jesus not only understood imperfection which would make him a much more compassionate judge, but he would have personally experienced what it was like to be completely forgiven for one's sins, something every other person on earth except Jesus would have known and understood.
Ehhhh...they may have over did it a little bit maybe, but you get the general idea.
Thanks for sharing this reflection about N.H. Knorr.
Cheers,
Bibleman