Armageddon

The teaching of Armageddon developed substantially between 1877 and 2000. In 1877 the battle was placed after the seventh plague of Revelation. Publications in 1882 and 1883 described a coming overthrow of earthly governments through popular uprising and interpreted Armageddon as a mount of destruction. By 1897 Russell's publications portrayed the battle as a great social revolution involving the masses, including anarchists and socialists, with God's consecrated people abstaining from the fighting. In 1914 the possibility of Armageddon beginning in the spring of 1915 was mentioned as speculation, while the revolutionary interpretation continued through 1916. The same explanation was repeated under Rutherford in 1918 and 1920, when Armageddon was expected to follow the World War. In 1925 the emphasis shifted to the confrontation between Christ and Satan and the nations' opposition to God's people; in 1926 Armageddon was explicitly distinguished from a mere conflict between men. By 1934 vindicating Jehovah's name was identified as its principal purpose, and in 1935 the great multitude was identified as a class that would survive. A 1937 publication did not exclude the possibility of resurrection for some killed at Armageddon. In 1939 and 1940 the future attack on Jehovah's people and the heavenly rather than human character of the battle were emphasized. By 1941 the great tribulation was understood to have begun in 1914, to have been interrupted in 1918, and to culminate at Armageddon. Under Knorr, the symbolic assembly-of-troops interpretation and the nonparticipation of Christians in the battle continued in 1943. In 1950 and 1951 publications restricted the prospect of resurrection for those destroyed by God's judgment, explicitly replacing the earlier 1937 explanation. In 1951 the destruction of false religion was placed at the beginning of Armageddon, and no opportunity for repentance after its beginning was taught. In 1956 Armageddon itself was still said not to have begun, despite the teaching that the great tribulation had started in 1914. The restriction concerning resurrection was reaffirmed in 1965, and the non-geographical interpretation of Armageddon in 1966. In 1967 publications calculated that six thousand years of human existence would end in 1975, and in 1968 they expected the destruction of the present system within only a few remaining years. In 1970 the great-tribulation chronology was reversed: the tribulation had not begun in 1914 but would begin in the future with the destruction of false religion and culminate in Armageddon. Publications in 1974 cautioned against predicting an exact date, while in 1976 Armageddon was still expected within the generation then living. Under Franz, the two-stage tribulation sequence was reaffirmed in 1977. In 1980 the publications acknowledged the expectations raised concerning 1975 and the overconfident statements that had contributed to them. The future battle continued to be described as a worldwide divine war, not a nuclear conflict or destruction of the planet, and in 1982 baptized Witnesses were described as observers rather than combatants. In 1991 the end was still expected within the lifetime of some members of the generation living in 1914. Under the governing-body period, the publications historically acknowledged the former revolutionary interpretation in 1993. In 1995 the use of the generation of 1914 as a chronological limit was abandoned. Publications in 1997, 1999 and 2000 continued to teach that a great crowd would survive the future great tribulation, which would begin with the destruction of false religion and culminate in Armageddon.