In the October 2019 study edition of the Watchtower, Jehovah’s Witnesses were alerted to watch for various features of the coming great tribulation. Among these was a change in their preaching message:
“During the great tribulation, the message that we proclaim will likely change. Currently, we are preaching the good news of the Kingdom and we are endeavoring to make disciples. But at that time, we may well deliver a message as hard-hitting as hailstones. (Rev. 16:21) We may proclaim the impending doom of Satan’s world. In time, we will find out exactly what our message will be and how we will deliver it. Will we use the same methods we have used for over a hundred years to accomplish our ministry? Or will we use some other methods? We will have to wait and see. In any case, it seems that we will have the privilege of boldly proclaiming Jehovah’s judgment message!—Ezek. 2:3-5.
9 Quite likely, our message will provoke the nations into trying to silence us once and for all. Just as we rely on Jehovah for support in our ministry now, we will need his support then. We can be sure that our God will fill us with power to accomplish his will.—Mic. 3:8. (The Watchtower October 2019 study edition pg. 16 pars. 8,9 see also The Watchtower July, 2023 pg 2 par. 3)
This was also presented in a 2015 article entitled “Your Deliverance Is Getting Near”:
9 This will not be the time to preach the “good news of the Kingdom.” That time will have passed. The time for “the end” will have come! (Matt. 24:14) No doubt God’s people will proclaim a hard-hitting judgment message. This may well involve a declaration announcing that Satan’s wicked world is about to come to its complete end. The Bible likens this message to hailstones when it says: “Great hailstones, each about the weight of a talent, fell from heaven on the people, and the people blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, for the plague was unusually great.”—Rev. 16:21. (The Watchtower July 15, 2015 pg. 16 par. 9)
It was also featured in a video during the 2016 Remain Loyal to Jehovah Regional Convention:
This teaching is primarily based on an interpretation of Revelation 16:21 which takes place after the pouring out of the seventh bowl:
“The seventh one poured out his bowl on the air. At this a loud voice came out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying: “It has come to pass!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning and voices and thunders, and there was a great earthquake unlike any that had occurred since men came to be on the earth, so extensive and so great was the earthquake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and Babylon the Great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Also, every island fled, and mountains were not found. 21 Then great hailstones, each about the weight of a talent, fell from heaven on the people, and the people blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, for the plague was unusually great. (Revelation 16:17-21)
But how does one get a message of judgment from hailstones? Does John describe these hailstones anywhere else in Revelation as a judgment message carried out by people on earth? If not, how certain can we be of this interpretation? Note what is said in the Revelation Climax book:
“A great hail,” much greater than that which afflicted Egypt during the seventh plague, with each hailstone weighing about a talent, will pummel mankind painfully. (Exodus 9:22-26) This punishing downpour of congealed waters likely pictures unusually heavy verbal expressions of Jehovah’s judgments, signaling that the end of this system of things has arrived at last! Jehovah could well use literal hail too in his destructive work.—Job 38:22, 23. (Revelation Its Grand Climax at Hand pg. 234 par. 38)
Notice it is said that “this punishing downpour of congealed waters likely pictures unusually heavy verbal expressions of Jehovah’s judgments”. Hence, not even the Watchtower society is certain about the interpretation. Prior to this there was one other scriptural account used to support this teaching of a coming message of judgment:
“The expanding visible organization of Jehovah is nearing the time when he will use it in another mighty way: to deliver his final judgment message against this system. This may be likened to the time when the Israelites, who had already marched around Jericho once a day for six days, were instructed: “On the seventh day you should march round the city seven times and the priests should blow the horns. . . . When you hear the sound of the horn, all the people should shout a great war cry; and the wall of the city must fall down flat.” So on the final day the work speeded up by seven times! Then the horns sounded, the people shouted a war cry and “the wall began to fall down flat.”—Joshua 6:2-5, 20.
17 Today the “soft” waters of truth are being taken to the people to encourage them to turn to Jehovah. But the day soon will come when the message will turn “hard.” It will announce the imminent end of this entire satanic system. The soft waters of truth will congeal to become the hard hailstones of truth. So powerful will these final judgment messages be that they are likened to “a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent,” that is, of gigantic size. That is why Revelation 16:21 states: “The plague of it was unusually great.” (The Watchtower March 15, 1984 pgs. 18,19 pars. 16-17)
But again, note the lack of certainty in the words: “This may be likened to the time when the Israelites…marched around Jericho”. This is because nowhere in the Bible does it say that this is pictorial of what God’s people would do in the future prior to Armageddon.
However, earlier than this it was explained that the message of judgment did not have to wait until sometime just prior to Armageddon but was already in progress and would culminate in a final victory shout leading to the destruction not of the entire world system but of Babylon the Great:
“But now we turn to Jericho, a city “tightly shut up” behind massive walls. Fire-scorched ruins that remain till this day tell of the city’s well-nigh impregnable strength. No mere human army could take it by quick assault. But no mere human army ever followed strategy like that now commanded by Jehovah! Israel must march, all the men of war. Once each day, for six days, round the city they must march, with priests, trumpets and the ark of Jehovah going in their midst, and the priests continually blowing on horns. How strange! And how those on Jericho’s walls must have laughed and mocked!—Josh. 6:6-9.
21 It took courage for those Israelites to march in theocratic order round that great city. And it takes courage for Jehovah’s witnesses today to keep marching round Babylon the Great, with its principal stronghold of Christendom, trumpeting forth the message of doom. But round and round the territory we go, scorning the reproaches, and with strong reliance on Jehovah’s presence with us. The judgment message is God’s, and it proclaims in clear tones that Satan’s organization of false religion is actually to “crash in ruins.” Only a “holy seed” that carries forward the pure, true worship of Jehovah God is to remain.—Isa. 6:11-13…
THE CLIMAX OF THE MARCH
23 It is now the seventh day for marching. Could this be a day for “sleeping in,” or for taking things easy due to the length of the march? Far from it! There had been no sabbath of rest during the six days, nor was this seventh day to be a sabbath. This day “they proceeded to get up early, as soon as the dawn ascended.” Now they must march round the city seven times just on one day! Why, this final effort was to be more than that of all the previous days put together! (Josh. 6:15) And today, with less than seven years remaining to the end of six thousand years of human history, and with all the prophetic evidence that Christendom is about to be shaken from her proud foundations, are we not fired with zeal to get round our territory seven times and more? Time is short, and the message must be sounded! It is no time for drooping hands or wobbling knees. (Zeph. 3:16, 17; Isa. 35:3, 4) …
…What form, in fulfillment, the final victory shout will take, we do not yet know. Nor do we know its timing. (Matt. 24:36-39) But we can be sure that the work of proclaiming God’s judgments, and of teaching Bible truth to the meek, will prosper and increase up to the final climax. What a privilege it will be then for God’s people to share in that great cry of victory, and to see the modern citadel of false religion topple to its doom, never to rise again! Like Jericho, it will be cursed for all time.—Josh. 6:20, 26; 1 Ki. 16:34. (The Watchtower October 1, 1969 pgs. 596-598 pars. 20-25)
Notice that as the Israelites marched around Jericho once a day for six days and then increased their activity to seven times on the seventh day, this account was appealed to less than seven years prior to 1975 in order to increase the zeal of Witnesses for participation in the field ministry.
Two years prior to that, it was explained that the hailstone judgment message of Revelation against the entire world system was not to occur until just prior to Armageddon:
“The seventh plague poured out upon the air or spirit of this world accomplishes these things and also much more, because it affects the atmosphere itself. Therefore Revelation continues: “And a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent descended out of heaven upon the men, and the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail, because the plague of it was unusually great.” So from the atmosphere there crash down hailstones on men, hailstones of tremendous size, weighing ninety-six pounds avoirdupois. They fall with great speed and cause stupendous destruction. Since hailstones are congealed water, this hailstorm pictures that heaven would send down upon worldly mankind a barrage of hard Biblical truths. Jehovah’s witnesses are now preaching a message of deliverance and salvation for those who will take refuge in the Kingdom, which cannot be shaken. But the hailstones picture, not a message of deliverance, but the hard, unyielding proclamation of God’s vengeance against Satan’s visible organization. Jehovah’s witnesses will at the last deliver this stinging message, presaging the destruction of the men upon whom it falls.
The men who are affected by this hailstorm are those who did not call upon the name of Jehovah for salvation, but who blasphemed him at hearing the judgment messages and the execution of these. They refused in the past to hear the message that would have meant salvation for them and now they especially hate this condemning declaration. (Joel 2:32; Rom. 10:13) The fact that the plague of it was unusually great foreshows that at the last there will be an unusually great proclamation of God’s vengeance by Jehovah’s witnesses.” (The Watchtower January 15, 1967 pg. 60)
In the March 15, 2015 edition of the Watchtower an article entitled “This Is the Way You Approved” explained that a change was being made to a simpler approach to Bible narratives:
“A SIMPLER, CLEARER APPROACH TO BIBLE NARRATIVES
7 If you have been serving Jehovah for decades, you may have noticed a gradual shift in the way our literature explains many of the narratives recorded in the Bible. How so? In times past, it was more common for our literature to take what might be called a type-antitype approach to Scriptural accounts. The Bible narrative was considered the type, and any prophetic fulfillment of the story was the antitype. Is there a Scriptural basis for prophetic pictures? Yes. For instance, Jesus spoke of “the sign of Jonah the prophet.” (Read Matthew 12:39, 40.) Jesus explained that Jonah’s sojourn in the belly of the fish—which would have been Jonah’s grave had Jehovah not preserved him alive—was prophetic of Jesus’ own time in the grave.
8 The Bible contains other inspired prophetic pictures. The apostle Paul discussed a number of them. For example, Abraham’s relationship with Hagar and Sarah provided a prophetic picture of Jehovah’s relationship with the nation of Israel and the heavenly part of God’s organization. (Gal. 4:22-26) Similarly, the tabernacle and the temple, Atonement Day, the high priest, and other facets of the Mosaic Law contained “a shadow of the good things to come.” (Heb. 9:23-25; 10:1) It is fascinating and faith-strengthening to study such prophetic pictures. Can we conclude, though, that every character, event, and object described in the Bible foreshadows someone or something?..
10 As we might expect, over the years Jehovah has helped “the faithful and discreet slave” to become steadily more discreet. Discretion has led to greater caution when it comes to calling a Bible account a prophetic drama unless there is a clear Scriptural basis for doing so. Additionally, it has been found that some of the older explanations about types and antitypes are unduly difficult for many to grasp. The details of such teachings—who pictures whom and why—can be hard to keep straight, to remember, and to apply. Of even greater concern, though, is that the moral and practical lessons of the Bible accounts under examination may be obscured or lost in all the scrutiny of possible antitypical fulfillments. Thus, we find that our literature today focuses more on the simple, practical lessons about faith, endurance, godly devotion, and other vital qualities that we learn about from Bible accounts…
12 Should we conclude that Bible narratives have only a practical application and no other meaning? No. Today our publications are more likely to teach that one thing reminds us of or serves to illustrate another. They are less likely to present many Bible accounts in a rigid framework of prophetic types and antitypes. For example, we can rightly say that Naboth’s integrity in the face of persecution and death reminds us of the integrity of Christ and his anointed. However, we can also be reminded of the faithful stand of many of the Lord’s “other sheep.” Such a clear and simple comparison has the hallmark of divine teaching. (The Watchtower March 15, 2015 pgs. 9-11)
An excellent step in the right direction of letting the Bible speak for itself. Since then the account of the Israelites and their final victory shout before the destruction of Jericho has not been seen as prophetic of a final judgment message of Jehovah’s Witnesses before Armageddon. So this teaching rests upon the interpretation of one verse in Revelation. What does the rest of the Bible have to say regarding the preaching work?
In Matthew chapter 24 we read these words of Jesus:
And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
That good news was preached by his disciples beginning in the first century:
And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus. (Acts 5:42)
However, those who had been scattered went through the land declaring the good news of the word. (Acts 8:4)
But when they believed Philip, who was declaring the good news of the Kingdom of God and of the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were getting baptized. (Acts 8:12)
Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he declared to him the good news about Jesus. (Acts 8:35)
He sent out the word to the sons of Israel to declare to them the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—this one is Lord of all. (Acts 10:36)
However, some of the men among them from Cyʹprus and Cy·reʹne came to Antioch and began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 11:20)
“So we are declaring to you the good news about the promise made to the forefathers. (Acts 13:32)
But Paul and Barʹna·bas stayed in Antioch, teaching and declaring, along with many others, the good news of the word of Jehovah. (Acts 15:35)
But some of both the Ep·i·cu·reʹan and the Stoʹic philosophers began disputing with him, and some were saying: “What is it this chatterer would like to tell?” Others: “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities.” This was because he was declaring the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. (Acts 17:18)
Nevertheless, I do not consider my own life of any importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear thorough witness to the good news of the undeserved kindness of God. (Acts 20:24)
An examination of these scriptures in the book of Acts reveals that the good news centered primarily about the Christ and what he accomplished by his death and resurrection. However, the good news that is being preached by Jehovah’s Witnesses has been described this way:
“The good news of the Messianic Kingdom is something good that stirs our heart. The Kingdom message became especially “good” in 1914. Why? Because from that year on, it was no longer about a future Kingdom. Since 1914, the message has been about a real government that now rules in heaven. This is the “good news of the Kingdom” that we preach “in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14) (The Watchtower February 15, 2014 pg. 4 par. 4)
So, admittedly Jehovah’s Witnesses preach another good news. But is that the good news Jesus prophesied would be preached? Writing to the Galatians the apostle Paul warned against any alteration of that good news:
However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond the good news we declared to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, I now say again, Whoever is declaring to you as good news something beyond what you accepted, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8, 9)
Recently the organization has reverted back to the 1969 explanation of a combined message of good news and judgment. In the May 2022 issue of the Watchtower it states the following:
The good news of the Kingdom is not the only message that God’s people are to declare. They also need to support the work of the angels who are described in Revelation chapters 8 through 10. These angels announce a series of woes for those who reject God’s Kingdom. Thus, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been declaring a judgment message, likened to “hail and fire,” revealing God’s judgments on the various elements of Satan’s wicked world. (Rev. 8:7, 13) People need to know that the end is near so that they can make drastic changes in their lives and survive Jehovah’s day of anger. (Zeph. 2:2, 3) But this message is not popular. Declaring it calls for courage on our part. During the great tribulation, the final judgment message will become more hard-hitting.—Rev. 16:21. (The Watchtower May 2022 pg. 7 par. 19)
Jesus said this good news of the kingdom would be preached and then the end will come. That end came with the destruction of the Jewish system of worship by the Romans in 70 C.E. There is no evidence that that destruction was to have a larger fulfillment that would come upon the whole earth in the future.
But, with the so-called coming message of judgment, not only will Jehovah’s Witnesses cease preaching their altered version of the good news, something beyond what Jesus and his disciples preached, but they expect to add to it a message that the hour of judgment has arrived for everyone that refuses to become a member of the Watchtower organization.
The Bible students, as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then known, were the only ones proclaiming the end of all kingdoms would occur in 1914. (See the post entitled: The Watchtower Society Conceals Its History)
World War I broke out in that year and it really appeared to them that this was it. However, in 1931 it had to be admitted:
“The Watch Tower, and its companion publications of the Society, for forty years emphasized the fact that 1914 would witness the establishment of God’s kingdom and the complete glorification of the church. During that period of forty years God’s people on earth were carrying on a witness work, which work was foreshadowed by Elijah and John the Baptist. All of the Lord’s people looked forward to 1914 with joyful expectation. When that time came and passed there was much disappointment, chagrin and mourning, and the Lord’s people were greatly in reproach. They were ridiculed by the clergy and their allies in particular, and pointed to with scorn, because they had said so much about 1914, and what would come to pass, and their ‘prophecies’ had not been fulfilled. (Light vol. 1 pg. 194)
They were the only ones proclaiming that in the year 1918, God would destroy the churches wholesale and the church members by millions….” (The Finished Mystery pg. 485)
“Even the republics will disappear in the fall of 1920….Every kingdom of Earth will pass away, be swallowed up in anarchy.” (The Finished Mystery pg. 258)
In the mid to late 60’s they were the only ones proclaiming the following message:
“One thing is absolutely certain, Bible chronology reinforced with fulfilled Bible prophecy shows that six thousand years of man’s existence will soon be up, yes, within this generation! (Matt. 24:34) This is, therefore, no time to be indifferent and complacent. This is not the time to be toying with the words of Jesus that “concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36) To the contrary, it is a time when one should be keenly aware that the end of this system of things is rapidly coming to its violent end. (The Watchtower August 15, 1968 pgs. 500-501 par. 35) (See the post: Faithful and Discreet Slave Part 6 for more examples)
With such glowing credentials, it appears that the odds are in their favor that the coming message of judgment campaign will meet with similar success.
However, what did Jesus say?
He said: “Look out that you are not misled, for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time is near.’ Do not go after them. (Luke 21:8)