The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, “ I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe when I speak of heavenly things” (John 3:12). 

Without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to believe heavenly teachings.  Those who do not hear the Holy Spirit will spend most of their time trying to put scriptures into an earthly context, to make them feel that they understand.  This is exactly what the J.W’s do.

When people asked for a sign from heaven, Jesus said to them, “If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” (Luke 11:19-20)  

And “Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.’” (Luke 17:20-21)    

Jesus also said to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3).  And then, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8) 

According to the Lord himself, the kingdom of God “is in your midst” but no one can say, “Here it is,’ or ‘There it is” because it “is not something that can be observed”.  In fact, "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”.

In spite of the above declarations from the Lord, it seems that the J.W’s are trying to build their own version of God’s kingdom, and make it visible by their own efforts.  They seem to think that joining their organisation is the same as entering God’s kingdom.  They put signs on their meeting halls that declare their buildings to be part of God’s kingdom.  They also hand out booklets containing pictures of their own version of ‘paradise’; as if they know exactly what it will look like.  It is a humanistic, worldly version of God’s kingdom - it is created by men!  They make it clear that this is their line of thought when they refer to themselves as ‘God’s visible organisation’.  This is the title of a chapter that the J.W’s have written about themselves in their book, ‘You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth’ (1982, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania)

We who are born again are told, “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory”  (Col. 3:1-4) 

When a group of people have been taught to believe that they will live on earth forever, their hearts and minds are not set on things above, they are completely set on earthly things.  Their treasure is on earth.  Their ‘faith’ is restricted by what they can see.  This is where the teachings of Charles Taze Russell have led them.  However, what we see is only temporary.  We are called to live for what we cannot see - for that which is yet to come – that which is eternal:  “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18)

As I wrote earlier, many J.W. doctrines are formed around a misunderstanding of the difference between old covenant and new covenant Scriptures.  It is much easier for the earthly minded to accept old covenant promises that new covenant promises, because old covenant promises were earthly.  This is where the J.W’s have missed the point.  They have based their entire platform of dogma about paradise and eternal life on one single verse in the book of Psalms.  This is the way they present the verse; ‘The righteous will possess the earth, And they will live forever on it.’ (Psalm 37:29. the new world translation of the Holy Scriptures, watchtower bible and tract society Pennsylvania, source JW.org).

The J.W. version of this verse seems pretty clear.  However, this is not the same rendering as we find in other translations of Scripture!   This can be seen in the following two alternatives.

 

“The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever” (N.I.V.) 

 

“The righteous possess the land, And they dwell for ever on it.”

(Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan) 

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Where the J.W’s have written ‘earth’, other translations say ‘land’.  Changing the word gives us an entirely different idea of what the verse is actually saying.  I personally checked ten other translations of this verse, and each one of them said ”land”.  This promise is not about God’s people inheriting the entire Earth, but about God’s old covenant promise to the nation of Israel, that they would inherit the Promised Land:  It says, “The tzaddikim shall inherit Eretz, and dwell therein forever.” (Psalm 37:29, Orthodox Jewish Bible, Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International) 

 “Tzaddikim” are righteous Jewish people, and “Eretz” is the entire land of Israel as promised by God.  This is the promise that was given to the Israelites, through Abraham and Moses.   “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” (Gen. 13:15)  And; “Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” (Ex. 32:13)

Many orthodox Jews are still waiting for this promise to be fulfilled because they have not believed the Messiah, Jesus Christ. 

 

This was the old covenant between God and the nation of Israel.  And the “promised land” was part of that covenant. However, the people of Israel did not honour the covenant with God, and as a result, the promise was lost, and God “turned away from them”.

 

“But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.  For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.  But God found fault with the people and said:  ‘The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. “ (Heb 8:6-9)  “By calling this covenant ‘new’, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.” (Heb. 8:17)

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The old covenant is obsolete!  It was a mere shadow of the new covenant, just as the old tabernacle was a copy of the one in heaven.  And the Promised Land is also a mere shadow of our true inheritance in heaven. 

This is good news for us who were called ‘Gentiles’, because we were excluded from the promises of God until the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.  But now, we too share in the promise of eternal life through faith in the Jesus Christ.  “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Romans 10:12-13)