Such ones who now refuse to open their minds and hearts in order to “see” the “sign of the Son of man,” or who insist on giving a wrong reason for the evidences pointing to it, will be forced to recognize the presence of Christ Jesus as reigning king when he acts to destroy all such in the war of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1966 p. 40
Just as right association helped to keep the Jewish nation and early Christians close to Jehovah, so it will serve the same purpose for God’s people today in these few and all-important years before Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1966 p. 42
For any to survive the battle of Armageddon it is vital to heed the command given to the Israelites, not only to listen and learn the law of Jehovah, but to carry out all the words of his law.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1966 p. 42, 43
Today the anointed spirit-begotten witnesses of Jehovah, comprising the “faithful and discreet slave,” serve as an earthly channel of communication for the great crowd of people who will survive Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1966 p. 44
There is no question about our association after Armageddon, but, unless we are associating now with God’s congregation, we will not be alive to enjoy association with him, his Son and his people after Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1966 p. 47
This association is pleasing to Jehovah, brings joy to us and is beneficial for our ministry and future life in the new order of things after Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1966 p. 47
Like a “sharp long sword” and a rod of iron, his power by God’s spirit and through the mighty angelic hosts will reach all such ones and crush them like ‘grapes in a winepress.’ His return will therefore mean destruction for them at the coming battle of Armageddon.—Matt. 28:18; Rev. 19:11-15; 16:14-16; Ps. 2:8, 9.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 1, 1966 p. 71
Further, they enable their hearers to learn from the Bible that the earth will never be destroyed or depopulated but that God will destroy this present system of things at the battle of Armageddon and that the wicked will be eternally destroyed.—Eccl. 1:4; Isa. 45:18; Ps. 78:69; Rev. 16:14, 16; Zeph. 3:8; Isa. 34:2.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 1, 1966 p. 76
This early view prevented the real “great multitude” or “great crowd” from receiving the due attention until God’s own time. It caused the remnant of the 144,000 “ministers of a new covenant” to look for a great company of spirit-begotten Christians to come out of Babylon the Great during the final “great tribulation” upon the whole world, washing their robes of identification clean and shedding their own blood in martyrdom. They were expected not to survive the battle of Armageddon on earth, but to die before its finish. From such a viewpoint the remnant kept looking for the wrong thing.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 116, 117
5. (a) What was the expectation as to whether the “great multitude” would survive the battle of Armageddon? (b) What misdirection did this viewpoint give the remnant of the 144,000?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 116
World War I dragged on for years, and the remnant were persecuted as never before, but they saw no “great multitude” come en masse out of the many religious systems of Christendom. Then, as World War I neared its climax, on Sunday, February 24, 1918, the then president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society delivered in Los Angeles, California, the talk “The World Has Ended—Millions Now Living May Never Die.” It held out a hope of never dying off the earth but of surviving the “great tribulation” that had begun on the earth, clear through the battle of Armageddon and into the new order of things under God’s heavenly kingdom by Christ. This talk did not identify the earthly survivors of Armageddon as being the “great multitude” of Revelation 7:9 (AV).
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 117
Five years later, in the same city of Los Angeles, on Sunday, August 26, 1923, the same speaker addressed an audience of more than 30,000 on the subject “All Nations Marching to Armageddon, But Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” This speech was the climax to an eight-day convention of Jehovah’s people. On the previous afternoon he spoke to the convention on Jesus’ parable of the “Sheep and Goats” as given in Matthew 25:31-46. In this talk he identified the “sheep” class as being the earthly class that will survive Armageddon into God’s new order under the heavenly kingdom.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 117
At that time Bible Students thought that the new covenant as foretold in Jeremiah 31:31-34 did not apply to the 144,000 spiritual Israelites but was to be made with the natural Jews after the battle of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 117
Thus, in the year 1929, more attention and interest were being paid to the natural, circumcised Jews than to the “sheep” of Jesus’ parable on the sheep and the goats. These “sheep” were made secondary to the Jews, and after Armageddon they were to line up under the Jews.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 118
In 1930, the book Light, in two volumes, gave a verse-for-verse commentary on the book of Revelation, but it still applied the “great multitude” of Revelation 7:9-17 (AV) to a spirit- begotten class of professed Christians who, after a martyr’s death at Armageddon, would each “get life as a spirit creature,” but secondary to the Bride of Christ. (Volume 1, pages 91-97)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 118
Then the book Vindication goes on to identify the ones marked as being the earthly “other sheep,” the “sheep” of Jesus’ parable of the Sheep and Goats, which “sheep” will survive the battle of Armageddon into God’s new order.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 118
Two years later, in 1934, increased understanding came. In the issue of April 15, 1934, of The Watchtower (page 117, paragraph 10) it declared that the new covenant will not be made with the natural, circumcised Jews in Palestine after Armageddon, but that the new covenant is in force now, with the spiritual Israelites.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 119
On Saturday night, August 5, 1950, at the international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in Yankee Stadium, New York City, it was revealed from the Scriptures that competent men among the “other sheep” now being gathered may be appointed as “princes in all the earth” after the battle of Armageddon along with those referred to in Psalm 45:16.—The Watchtower, October 1, 1950, pages 364, 365; November 1, 1950, pages 414-417.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1966 p. 121
Because of just such opposition to his divinely invested authority, the King Christ Jesus will be obliged to dash earthly governments to pieces in the coming war of Armageddon.—Dan. 2:44; Rev. 16:14-16.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 1, 1966 p. 135
“So, then, what are you going to do?” Franz asked. “What use are you going to make of the
peace in which we still find ourselves until it ends . . . at Armageddon?”
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1966 p. 196
When the present systems of rule disintegrate in the Armageddon fight, those who trusted in worldly governments will suddenly find themselves to be men and women “without a country.”
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1966 p. 200
What a spur to faithfulness the resurrection hope should be to us! How it should cause our hearts to overflow in love and gratitude to our God Jehovah! True, as a class the “great crowd” of “other sheep” hope to live right through Armageddon without ever needing to die, but there have been, are and will be not a few of their number that, because of old age, sickness or accident, go down to Sheol and so will need to be resurrected.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1966 p. 219
They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har– Magedon [or, Armageddon].”—Rev. 6:13-16; see also the Authorized and Douay Versions.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 231
The “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon is bound to come for the reason that the Dragon, Satan the Devil, and his demons are not yet bound and hurled into the abyss. The imprisoning of them in the abyss will not take place until after the war of Almighty God at Armageddon has been fought and his earthly enemies have been destroyed. Thus Satan the Devil must first see his visible organization on earth wiped out of existence and must know that he is whipped. Inasmuch as that war at Armageddon is impending, we know that the binding and imprisoning of Satan the Devil and his demons is also drawing near.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 231
10. Why is the war at Armageddon bound to come, and why do we know that the binding of Satan is drawing near?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 231
The religious and political rulers of the earth are so worldly-wise and proud of their worldly learning that it hurts their feelings to, be told that they are marching to a military Armageddon under the invisible guidance of the Dragon, Satan the Devil.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 232
The time remaining before that must now be very short. Feverishly he and his demons are using their unseen influence to gather the “kings of the entire inhabited earth” to what the last book of the Bible calls Armageddon, for the “war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Rev. 16:13-16) A “great day” that will be indeed for God the Almighty, for he and his King Jesus Christ will win the war at Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 239, 240
48. (a) How is Satan using what remains of his “short period of time”? (b) How will day of battle at Armageddon prove to be a “great” one?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 239
To be lined up with the “wild beast” and the earthly kings and their armies then would mean our destruction with them, as shown by the Bible prophecy on the outcome of the war of Armageddon on God’s “great day.”—Rev. 19:20, 21.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 240
The binding of Satan and his demons immediately follows the destruction of his earthly forces at Armageddon, and, were we to be destroyed at Armageddon, we could never enjoy the lasting benefits therefrom. (Rev. 19:20 to 20:3)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 240
50, 51. (a) According to Revelation 19:20 to 20:3, what is the lineup of events at and after Armageddon? (b) So what would one’s destruction with Satan’s earthly forces at Armageddon mean?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 240
After the “wild beast” is destroyed at Armageddon and its invisible master, the Dragon, Satan the Devil, is bound, there will be no “wild beast” of that kind to worship nor any further oppression of all mankind by it, nor any persecution of the worshipers of Jehovah God by it.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 241
56. After the “wild beast” is destroyed at Armageddon and Satan is bound, what things will no longer continue on earth?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 241
The precious opportunity for this does not confine itself to God-fearing persons on earth who live through the war of Armageddon and the binding and imprisoning of Satan the Devil and his demons.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 15, 1966 p. 242
In this system of things marked for Armageddon, life is at stake. Man can no longer say, “Let the next generation worry about it,” or, “It will never come in my time.” There is not enough time for that kind of thinking. It is later than many think!
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 15, 1966 p. 300
We had better view it in such a light for, after Armageddon, gone will be opposition to Jehovah’s will.—See Matthew 5:5; Psalm 37:10, 11; Isaiah 65:21-23; Revelation 21:3, 4.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1966 p. 366
It is foolish to wish that God would peel back the heavens and make them vibrate with the most awesome roar to frighten mankind into his organization. When the noise does come, it will be Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1966 p. 366
Now, today, Jehovah’s organization gives Scriptural instruction on problems facing the brothers. It has mature visiting ministers going to the congregations to assist the brothers. It has over a million witnesses of Jehovah who go from house to house and in a few weeks can inform millions of people all around the earth of important matters, such as what God’s name is, the war of Armageddon and what Babylon the Great is. What is accomplished? Thousands respond and start growing toward life. Just last year, 1965, 64,393 such persons were baptized and started on their way to a joyful life in Jehovah’s service. (See 1966 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1966 p. 368
The whole earth will actually be the scene of the battle of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 1, 1966 p. 408
They were given the glorious treasure of service to announce the established kingdom of God and the rapid approach of the war of the great day of God the Almighty at the place called Armageddon.—Matt 24:14; Rev. 16:16.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1966 p. 429
There is more to this inspired account; it is also of prophetic import. How can we be certain of this? Because the discomfiture and defeat of Sisera and his forces took place on the plains of Megiddo, the first of the battles to make that place famous and which battles have served as symbols of the battle of the great day of God the Almighty, Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14, 16)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1966 p. 476
Since the one successfully fighting the battle at Armageddon for Jehovah and his name will be Jesus Christ, together with his heavenly hosts, it follows that Barak pictures Jesus Christ. (Rev. 2:27; 19:11-21)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1966 p. 477
Publication title: See You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World, pages 284-287.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1966 p. 477
Publication title: You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World, 1955, p. 327-330.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1966 p. 560
The war of Armageddon, wherein Christ serves as God’s Chief Executioner of the wicked, follows Greater Babylon’s destruction. (Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:11-21) After Armageddon Satan and his wicked angels will be abyssed. (Rev. 20:1-3)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1966 p. 575, 576
That enmity will subside only when “the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan,” is crushed under the heel of the seed of God’s woman right after Armageddon. So, we must prepare to endure persecution.—Rev. 12:9; 19:11 to 20:3.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1966 p. 594
In fact, even when the post-Armageddon system of things is ushered in we will not know everything.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1966 p. 607
The people of the hostile nations need to be reconciled to God and his kingdom for governing all the earth. Otherwise, the people who remain in their hostility will be destroyed in the world’s approaching Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14-16)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1966 p. 624
Remember: God’s Messianic kingdom has already been doing things since 1914, and these are an ironclad guarantee that it will do all the other things foretold in the prophecies of the Holy Bible, namely, destroy all the goatlike people on earth, bring the world empire of false religion to everlasting ruin, bring an Armageddon of destruction upon all Gentile nations that continue refusing to yield over the domination of the earth to God’s rightful government, remove Satan the Devil and his demons from earth’s vicinity by hurling them, completely chained, into the abyss, and give all mankind a clean, uplifting, life-giving worldwide government, even resurrecting the ransomed and redeemed dead from their graves to enjoy an earthly paradise with the sheeplike survivors of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1966 p. 626
To give aid today in this critical time to prospective sons of God,” announced President Knorr, “a new book in English, entitled ‘Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God,’ has been published.” At all assembly points where it was released, the book was received enthusiastically. Crowds gathered around stands and soon supplies of the book were depleted. Immediately its contents were examined. It did not take the brothers very long to find the chart beginning on page 31, showing that 6,000 years of man’s existence end in 1975. Discussion of 1975 overshadowed about everything else. “The new book compels us to realize that Armageddon is, in fact, very close indeed,” said a conventioner. Surely it was one of the outstanding blessings to be carried home!
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1966 p. 628, 629
The “penny” today is likewise the honor of serving as anointed ambassadors of God’s newborn Messianic kingdom from 1919 on till the coming “battle of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon. The “penny” has been used in gathering the “great crowd” of sheeplike persons foretold in Revelation 7:9-17. What a reward this has already been to the anointed Kingdom ambassadors!
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1966 p. 629
‘What about the year 1975? What is it going to mean, dear friends?’ asked Brother Franz. ‘Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished, with Satan bound, by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could. Does it mean that the attack of Gog of Magog is going to be made on Jehovah’s witnesses to wipe them out, then Gog himself will be put out of action? It could. But we are not saying. All things are possible with God. But we are not saying. And don’t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975. But the big point of it all is this, dear friends: Time is short. Time is running out, no question about that.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1966 p. 631
The plague will continue on them until they are removed along with the world’s “sun” at the battle of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1966 p. 636
If the answer is not already manifest in the case of individual churchgoers of Christendom, it will shortly be manifest in the oncoming fiery day just preceding the world’s Armageddon. Then Christendom as a whole will stand exposed as not Christian. Then Christendom will be laid bare as being a part, in fact, the dominant part of Babylon the Great, the world empire of false, Babylonish religion.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1966 p. 659, 660
It was a day to be marked by war at a place called in the Hebrew tongue Har–Magedon, or Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1966 p. 689
As a reward, members of this “sheep” class were to be preserved alive through the coming battle of Armageddon and ushered into God’s new order of things afterward.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1966 p. 692
All these need to be released from Babylon the Great now, if they desire to escape destruction with her or destruction with her political paramours in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” at Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1966 p. 693
Jesus Christ goes on, in Revelation, chapter 16, to describe events in connection with the sixth plague, which refers not only to the destruction of Babylon the Great but also to the battle of Armageddon that follows.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1966 p. 698
But the mere destruction of Babylon the Great will not bring complete righteousness to the earth. The sixth plague covers also the battle of Armageddon, which will be considered in the next issue of this magazine.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1966 p. 699
They leave it to God to take care of their persecutors when, shortly, he destroys Babylon the Great, and then her political paramours in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon.—Rev. 16:13-16; 17:5.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 725
Can This World’s Armageddon Be Avoided?
ARMAGEDDON is a Bible word and in that book it is mentioned only once, but so strong has been the impression upon the minds of the people that it has become almost a household word. Many politicians have used it when they thought that the world was at a crisis. It has been considered something to be feared and to be avoided. Generally, it has been viewed by men as a final war to be fought by worldly forces. Today, politicians and statesmen feel that with the development of nuclear weapons, guided missiles and other scientific developments that could result in mass destruction, Armageddon, as they see it, is possible.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 726
Is such a feared war among the world powers really Armageddon? and can politicians by means of their peace talks, maneuverings, concordats, compacts and leagues avoid the Bible Armageddon?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 726
Where is Armageddon to be located? Not on the Euphrates at Babylon, for Revelation 16:16 says: “And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.” This is after the mention of the drying up of the Euphrates.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 726
Section heading: WHAT ARMAGEDDON IS
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 727
As a matter of fact, on no geographical map does a place named Har–Magedon (Armageddon) appear. In Revelation 16:16 this name does not literally refer to the neighborhood of Megiddo in the plain of Esdraelon. It symbolizes the place where, within the realm of Jehovah’s witnesses’ experiences on earth, this final war is fought out.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 727
Armageddon is to be fought on the earth, which is shown by the fact that the earthly kings and their armies are said to be gathered together there. (Rev. 16:14)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 727
However, Satan and his demon forces in the heavens will be put out of action, not at Armageddon, but immediately thereafter, when Jesus Christ hurls them into the abyss of deathlike inactivity.—Rev. 19:19 to 20:2.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 728
Satan is the one who challenged Jehovah God in the beginning, and right down to the war at Armageddon he makes efforts more and more desperate as the end nears, in an attempt to prove his assertion.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 728
Therefore, their political promises and arrangements are not sidestepping Armageddon but steering the nations directly into it.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 730
We should not waste vital time listening to the political promises or looking to this or to that political party to stave off or avoid Armageddon. The warning concerning this battle has been going out for many years and the day is fast approaching. As long ago as 1897 the publishing agent of Jehovah’s witnesses, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, published the book called “The Battle of Armageddon” (at first called “The Day of Vengeance”). This book presented a certain understanding of what this final war would be. However, it was not till the Watch Tower magazine’s issue of July 15, 1925, that Jehovah’s modern Christian witnesses got better understanding, that this final war would be, not a mere anarchistic human struggle for domination here on earth, but a universal war.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 730
There is a place of safety in which one can be preserved, in effect, hidden, at the great battle of
Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 730
The author and Bible translator, Hugh J. Schonfield, identifies Har–Magedon (Armageddon) with Ramoth-Gilead, possibly known in John’s day as Rama-Gad-Yavan, meaning “Rama of Gad of the Greeks,” the place Gad-Yavan being mentioned in the Jewish Mishnah of the second century.—See pages 181-184 of his book The Bible Was Right; also the comment on Revelation 16:16, on page 546 of his translation The Authentic New Testament.
At any rate, Schonfield associates Armageddon with Jewish territory, although east of the Jordan River, in the aforetime territory of the tribe of Gad. He does not locate it near the Euphrates.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1966 p. 727
They have no part in the Priesthood and Kingdom of God. Their offices of political rule over earth are doomed to destruction in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon.—Rev. 16:14, 16.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1966 p. 758