The sect known today as the Jehovah’s Witnesses started out in Pennsylvania in 1870 as a Bible class led by Charles Taze Russell. Russell named his group the “Millennial Dawn Bible Study,” and those who followed him were called “Bible students.” Charles T. Russell began writing a series of books he called The Millennial Dawn, which stretched to six volumes before his death and contained much of the theology Jehovah’s Witnesses now hold.
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was founded in 1886 and quickly became the vehicle through which the “Millennial Dawn” movement began distributing their views. Group members were sometimes disparagingly called “Russellites.” After Russell’s death in 1916, Judge J. F. Rutherford, Russell’s successor, wrote the seventh and final volume of the Millennial Dawn series, The Finished Mystery, in 1917. That was also the year that the organization split. Those who followed Rutherford began calling themselves “Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
What do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe? Close scrutiny of their doctrinal position on such subjects as the deity of Christ, salvation, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and the atonement shows beyond a doubt that they do not hold to orthodox Christian positions on these subjects. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jesus is Michael the archangel, the highest created being. This contradicts many passages of Scripture that clearly declare Jesus to be God (John 1:1, 14; 8:58; 10:30). Jehovah’s Witnesses believe salvation is obtained by a combination of faith, good works, and obedience. This contradicts Scripture, which declares salvation to be received by grace through faith (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the doctrine of the Trinity, believing Jesus to be a created being and the Holy Spirit to essentially be the inanimate power of God. Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the concept of Christ’s substitutionary atonement and instead hold to a ransom theory, that Jesus’ death was a ransom payment for Adam’s sin.
How do the Jehovah’s Witnesses justify these unbiblical doctrines? First, they claim that the church has corrupted the Bible over the centuries; thus, they have re-translated the Bible to reflect their unique doctrines—the result is the New World Translation. The New World Translation has gone through numerous editions, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses discover more and more passages of Scripture that contradict their doctrines.
The Watchtower bases its beliefs and doctrines on the original and expanded teachings of Charles Taze Russell, Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford, and their successors. The governing body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society claims sole authority to interpret Scripture. In other words, what the governing body says concerning any scriptural passage is viewed as the last word, and independent thinking is strongly discouraged. This is in direct opposition to Paul’s admonition to Timothy (and to us as well) to study to be approved by God, so that we need not be ashamed as we correctly handle the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15). God’s children are to be like the Berean Christians, who searched the Scriptures daily to see if the things they were being taught lined up with the Word (Acts 17:11).
There is probably no religious group that is more faithful than the Jehovah’s Witnesses at spreading their message. Unfortunately, the message is full of distortions, deceptions, and false doctrine. May God open the eyes of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the truth of the gospel and the true teaching of God’s Word.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that only 144,000 persons since the time of Jesus can ever go to heaven, there to be co-rulers with Christ Jesus over the inhabitants of a paradise earth. They also believe that the soul dies when the body dies and must wait until the resurrection before Jehovah “remembers” the personality of the deceased and matches it to a new, physical body. Those who are part of the 144,000 will be given spiritual bodies, but everyone else will be given a fleshly body.
The 144,000 are first mentioned in Revelation 7:4: “Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” Whereas the Witnesses take the number 144,000 to be literal, they say the description of their being male Jewish virgins (Revelation 14:4) is symbolic. Revelation 7:5–8 presents the 144,000 as being from the twelve tribes of Israel—12,000 from each tribe. The reference to the tribes of Israel is also taken as symbolic, not literal. They believe that the “anointed remnant” of the 144,000 has replaced Israel and that they are “spiritual Jews.” Further, Revelation speaks of a great crowd in heaven that no man could number (Revelation 7:9), but Jehovah’s Witnesses say only the 144,000 can be in heaven. The great crowd, they say, are on the earth.
In the 1930s the organization claimed that the number of the 144,000 had been sealed, and new Witnesses would have an eternity on earth, rather than in heaven. In 1935 the number of Witnesses who believed they were part of the 144,000 numbered 52,465. The number who believed they were heaven bound decreased dramatically over the following decades. In 2005 there were only 8,524. By 2020 the number had increased to 21,182. Now the Watchtower Society says the number of the 144,000 will be sealed just before the Great Tribulation starts.
According to one publication of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, “After the apostle John was told in vision about this group of 144,000 individuals, he was shown another group. John describes this second group as ‘a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.’ This great crowd refers to those who will survive the coming ‘great tribulation,’ which will destroy the present wicked world. . . . The context of Revelation 7:4 and related statements found elsewhere in the Bible bear out that the number 144,000 is to be taken literally. It refers to those who will rule in heaven with Christ over a paradise earth, which will be filled with a large and undetermined number of happy people who worship Jehovah God” (“Questions from Readers,” Watchtower, September 1, 2004).
The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ belief that they will be the only survivors of the Great Tribulation, coupled with the fact that in 2020 they numbered 8,695,808 persons in active service, clashes with Scripture’s description of a multitude “that no man can number.” The Witnesses have been numbered.
Jehovah’s Witnesses still insist that 144,000 is the limit to the number of people who will reign with Christ in heaven and spend eternity with God. However, they say it is possible for those who have been “anointed” to fall into unrepentant sin. The numbers continue to increase because, they say, Jehovah replaces those who fall by the wayside. The January 2016 Watchtower also explains the increase by saying that some Witnesses “have mental or emotional problems” and are simply mistaken in thinking they will rule with Christ in heaven.
Of critical importance is the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ belief that the 144,000 have been anointed by Jehovah’s spirit and they alone are in the New Covenant. Only the 144,000 have a “heavenly hope.” Other Jehovah’s Witnesses have an “earthly hope”—they expect to live forever on a paradise earth, but they are not part of the New Covenant.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses say that the New Covenant “makes it possible for 144,000 faithful Christians to go to heaven. There they will serve as kings and priests for the blessings of all mankind. . . . Only those in the new covenant—that is, those who have the hope of going to heaven—should partake of the bread and wine. God convicts such ones that they have been selected to be heavenly kings” (What Does the Bible Really Teach?, Appendix, p. 207–208).
So, the majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses are excluded from the New Covenant, yet they have been told that they can still benefit from the covenant, being granted the opportunity to live forever in an earthly paradise; of course, the blessing is contingent upon their remaining faithful to the anointed till the end. They have no assurance of salvation because they could still fail the final test. But neither are the “anointed remnant” assured of heaven; they have supposedly been sealed, but they might stumble and fall and so forfeit their heavenly inheritance.
All this goes contrary to what Jesus Himself says about those who believe in Him: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28–29). After the resurrection of Christ, Gentiles were also brought into the blessing of the New Covenant (Acts 10; Ephesians 2:13–14). Under the New Covenant, believers receive salvation as a free gift (Ephesians 2:8–9). Our responsibility is to exercise faith in Christ, the One who fulfilled the law and brought an end to the law’s sacrifices through His own sacrificial death. Through the life-giving Holy Spirit who lives in all believers (Romans 8:9–11), we share in the inheritance of Christ and enjoy a permanent, unbroken relationship with God (Hebrews 9:15).
Nowhere does the Bible limit the number of persons who can go to heaven to 144,000. Neither does the Bible say that only 144,000 persons can be part of the New Covenant. These are man-made teachings and have no biblical basis.
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that this earth will pass away and be replaced by a new heaven and earth. They believe that God will never destroy the earth, that they will survive the battle of Armageddon to inherit a paradise earth and live upon it for 1,000 years, and then, if they pass the final test, they will live forever on the earth. The Witnesses say only 144,000 persons since the time of Jesus will ever go to heaven.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that, before the outbreak of the Great Tribulation (“‘Your Deliverance is Getting Near’!” Watchtower, July 15, 2015, p. 14–19), those of their anointed heavenly class (the remnant of the 144,000 still alive) will die and then be taken up into heaven in spirit form (“‘Caught Away to Meet the Lord’—How?” Watchtower, January 15, 1993, p. 4–7). All other Witnesses (about 8 million) will be left on earth to go through the Great Tribulation.
Jehovah’s Witnesses take the prophecy of Ezekiel 38:11 about the attack of Gog of Magog and apply it to themselves. They anticipate a time of unprecedented persecution when both the religious and political elements of this world (under the control of Satan) will turn on them because they refuse to submit to the Antichrist and those who follow him.
In heaven, the 144,000 co-rulers with Christ who were taken there before the Great Tribulation will receive authority to share with Jesus in wielding “an iron rod” of destruction against all enemies of God’s Kingdom. (God’s Kingdom Rules!, chapter 21, 2014, page 228).
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Armageddon will happen before the millennial reign of Christ Jesus and that the only survivors will be faithful and obedient Witnesses (“Stay Faithful Through the ‘Great Tribulation,’” Watchtower—Study Edition, October 2019, p. 14–19). They believe that God speaks through their organization, and that “Jehovah’s servants already belong to the only organization that will survive the end of this wicked system of things” (Watchtower, December 15, 2007, p. 14). The survivors will inherit a “paradise earth” ruled by Jesus Christ in heaven. The majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses do not want to go to heaven but are looking forward to the paradise on earth.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have been anticipating the battle of Armageddon since before 1914. They see Armageddon as the time when God will destroy all earthly governments and false religion—which includes all Trinitarian churches and all denominations that do not promote and use the name Jehovah (“Who Is the Antichrist?” Watchtower, June 1, 2015, p. 14–15).
The Jehovah’s Witnesses also believe that billions of people who died before Armageddon will be resurrected with physical bodies to return to earth, and they will be given a “second chance” to repent. Not all the dead will be raised, however.
This is how Jehovah’s Witnesses understand those Bible verses that speak of the new heavens and a new earth (e.g., 2 Peter 3:13 and Isaiah 65:17):
Sometimes when the Bible speaks of “the earth,” it means the people who live on the earth (Genesis 11:1). So the righteous “new earth” is a society of people who receive God’s approval . . . “The wicked one will be no more . . . But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth” (Psalm 37:10–11). “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it” (Psalm 37:29) (What Does the Bible Really Teach, p. 33–34).
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the planet remains but the wicked inhabitants (those who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses) will perish. Their 1992 leaflet “Will This World Survive?” explains the destruction by fire mentioned in 2 Peter 3:7 this way:
The Bible does not mean that the literal earth or the starry heavens will pass away, even as these did not pass away in Noah’s day (Psalm 104:5). Rather, this world, with its “heavens,” or governmental rulers under the influence of Satan, and its “earth,” or human society, will be destroyed AS IF by fire (John 14:30; 2 Corinthians 4:4). This world, or system of things, will perish just as surely as did the world before the flood.
Here is a summary of future events as described in the 2014 book God’s Kingdom Rules! (Chapter 21, p. 224–225): The precursor of the Great Tribulation will be a proclamation of peace and security. This is to be followed by the final sealing of the remnant of anointed Christians (Jehovah’s Witnesses). The Great Tribulation begins with an attack on religion by the Wild Beast of Revelation (which they say is the United Nations). Events leading up to Armageddon include celestial phenomena, a pronouncement of judgment on the enemies of God’s Kingdom by the Son of Man (Jesus), the all-out attack of Gog of Magog (Satan) on Jehovah’s people, and then the gathering of the anointed ones. These things happen before Armageddon, at which point the Great Tribulation ends. The grand finale of the Great Tribulation is the execution of judgment at Armageddon.
Regarding the eternal state, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that, at the end of Christ’s reign from heaven over the millennial kingdom, all those who were resurrected for a second chance and who remain faithful till the very end will live forever on a paradise earth.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses use the global flood to teach that 2 Peter 3:10 and 12 do not mean a literal destruction of the earth by fire. But there is a big difference between the effects of water and fire. Whereas water covers, fire consumes and exposes. The flood was not about destroying the literal planet; however, when God uses fire, things are reduced to ashes. God has promised to expose earth’s internal workings by fire, and “the elements will burn and be dissolved” (2 Peter 3:10, CSB). There is nothing ambiguous about the wording of the prophecy:
“The heavens will vanish with a [mighty and thunderous] roar, and the [material] elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and the works that are on it will be burned up. . . . For on this day the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the [material] elements will melt with intense heat!” (2 Peter 3:10, 12, AMP).
In Revelation 21:1 God does a complete make-over of heaven and earth (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:12–13). The new heaven and new earth will be the setting for the eternal state “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). After the re-creation, God reveals the New Jerusalem. John sees a glimpse of it in his vision: “The Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). This is the city that Abraham looked for in faith (Hebrews 11:10). It is the place where God will dwell with His people forever (Revelation 21:3). Inhabitants of this celestial city will have all tears wiped away (Revelation 21:4).