JEHOVAH’S JUDGES
What Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Armageddon removes the governments of this world but also all people who are not baptised members of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Those who study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses and have not yet been baptized as Jehovah’s Witness before Harmageddon may have a hope for survival.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that after Armageddon, Christ will begin his 1000 Year Reign (Revelation 20:1-6), during which mankind will have the opportunity to learn God’s ways and attain perfection. At the end of this period, Satan will be released to decide the matter of human integrity anew. Those who choose to follow Satan will be destroyed (Revelation 20:7-10). Loyal ones gain everlasting life in a paradise environment.
Thus, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that both Armageddon and the judgment after the 1000 year (millennium) are a final judgment on human individuals.
What the Bible Say
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Armageddon is the end, but 1. 1 Corinthians 15:24 says that the end will come when Jesus return the Kingdom to his God. “The end” is therefor after the 1000-year kingdom, not in Armageddon. Revelation 20:4-6 places the time when Jesus returns the Kingdom to Jehovah after the end of the 1000 years.
The Bible does not teach that individuals are judged at Armageddon but are judged at the end of the 1000-year kingdom (Revelation 20:12). The Bible teaches that Armageddon is a war against the governments and political system of this world (Daniel 2:44). This war is necessary to remove the governments of current people by force in order to bring about the Messianic 1000 year Kingdom.
The issue that arose in the Garden of Eden around 4000 BCE, about the right of people to decide for themselves what is right and wrong, is about the right to self-government independent of God. This can be compared to a court case. In a court case, both parties have the right to present their evidence before the verdict is pronounced. Humans and Jehovah are parties to this universal trial. In the Garden of Eden, Eve joined Satan’s ideology and Eve chose to challenge God’s right to rule over the earth. To ensure justice, Jehovah allowed humans to present their evidence by dominating the earth through various forms of government.
The entire history of mankind up to Armageddon represents man’s evidence, and everyone can see for himself the result of man’s independent rule. Jesus’ rule during the 1000-year kingdom will serve as Jehovah’s evidence —a practical demonstration of how the world functions under God’s direction. After the 1000-year kingdom, both parties in the trial have presented their evidence. We need to see both lines of evidence before a fair verdict can be made on what is best.
Therefore, Armageddon is not a final judgment, but a military action to end human rule (human evidence) and clear the way for God to demonstrate his rule (God’s evidence). The Final Judgment will be pronounced at the end of the 1000-year kingdom, when mankind has experienced both human government and Jehovah’s way of ruling. In this way, both the question of God’s right to rule and the integrity of man will be settled fully and in a fair way.