What Is Armageddon?

Armageddon, in Revelation 16:16CloseAnd he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.Revelation 16:16 · King James VersionOpen source, is the place where the kings are gathered for the war of the great day of God. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that this war destroys people who do wicked things, and that Jesus began to rule as King in 1914. The verse names a place. Their chronology names a year.

Key points

• Revelation 16:16CloseAnd he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.Revelation 16:16 · King James VersionOpen source (King James Version) says they were gathered “into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Revelation 16:14CloseFor they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.Revelation 16:14 · King James VersionOpen source calls it the battle of the great day of God Almighty.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible, the New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible), says they gathered them “to the place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon.” Their footnote says the Greek is Har Magedon, from a Hebrew term meaning “Mountain of Megiddo.”
• What Is God’s Kingdom? says wicked spirits gather the kings of the entire inhabited earth to that war, and that people who do wicked things will be destroyed.
• The same book says sincere Bible students discerned that a waiting period would end in 1914, and that in 1914 Christ became King. The 1914 appendix says Bible students proclaimed “significant developments” in 1914 decades in advance, and then says Christ was installed as King in October 1914.
• Earlier dated expectations, including 1925 and 1975, are in their own later wording. How Have Watchtower Teachings Changed?

What does Armageddon mean in the Bible?

Revelation 16:14CloseFor they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.Revelation 16:14 · King James VersionOpen source says the spirits of devils go forth to the kings of the earth to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Revelation 16:16CloseAnd he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.Revelation 16:16 · King James VersionOpen source (King James Version):

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Revelation 16:16 · King James Version

The verse answers the simple question. Armageddon is that place. The chapter does not give the war a length in days, and it does not call the war a movie, a chess term, or a figure in another book. Megiddo is the place-name inside the Hebrew word their footnote glosses as “Mountain of Megiddo.” The kings gathered in the chapter are “the kings of the earth and of the whole world” in verse 14.

What do Jehovah’s Witnesses teach about it?

What Is God’s Kingdom? says that as the end approaches, wicked spirits will spread lies to deceive the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them to the war of the great day of God the Almighty, to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. The gathering in that paragraph is of the kings of the entire inhabited earth, not a footnote about a battlefield alone.

The same chapter says what the war does. People who do wicked things will be destroyed during God’s war of Armageddon. After that war, they say, mankind will be under God’s Kingdom. Their beliefs page says Jesus began ruling in 1914, and that 144,000 rule with him in heaven while obedient people live on earth. What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?

The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible, the New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible), words the place-name this way. New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible) of Revelation 16:16CloseAnd they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon.Revelation 16:16 · New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible)Open source:

And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon.

Revelation 16:16 · New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible)

The King James says “he gathered them” into a place “called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” The place-name is the same word. “They” and “he” are not the same subject. The study-Bible footnote says the Greek is Har Magedon, from a Hebrew term meaning “Mountain of Megiddo.” The teaching that differs is not the spelling. It is the claim that the war is the destruction of the wicked under a kingdom that began in 1914.

What does 1914 have to do with Armageddon?

Their beliefs page states the date in one sentence: Jesus is the King of God’s Kingdom in heaven, and he began ruling in 1914.

What Is God’s Kingdom? says that during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sincere Bible students progressively discerned that the waiting period would end in 1914, and that world events beginning in 1914 confirm that understanding. It then says the fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that in 1914 Christ became King and God’s heavenly Kingdom began to rule. “Progressively discerned” and “confirm” are the soft words around a hard date.

The appendix 1914—A Significant Year in Bible Prophecy opens with a hedge:

DECADES in advance, Bible students proclaimed that there would be significant developments in 1914. What were these, and what evidence points to 1914 as such an important year?

1914—A Significant Year in Bible Prophecy

“Significant developments” is not the sentence that follows. The same appendix says the 2,520 years began in October 607 B.C.E., when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, and ended in October 1914. At that time, it says, “the appointed times of the nations” ended, and Jesus Christ was installed as God’s heavenly King. A footnote explains the arithmetic: from October 607 B.C.E. to October 1 B.C.E. is 606 years, there is no zero year, and 606 plus 1,914 is 2,520. The date 607 B.C.E. for Jerusalem’s fall is their chronology. The appendix points readers to their own article “Chronology” in Insight on the Scriptures for it.

How Do You Read Watchtower Language? is the page on hedges of this kind. The Watch Tower and Scripture is how they say the text is explained.

What about the dates that did not come?

The 1914 appendix’s “significant developments,” proclaimed decades ahead, is not the same claim as the later sentence that Christ was installed as King in 1914. Other dates were printed as expectations and later described as hopes that did not materialize.

How Have Watchtower Teachings Changed? quotes those pages: Rutherford’s 1920 booklet on 1925, the Watch Tower’s own later account that the hopes did not materialize, and the 1960s article that answers whether Armageddon would be over by the autumn of 1975 with “Possibly.” This page does not paste those quotations again. The record is theirs, on that page.

Matthew 24:36CloseBut of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.Matthew 24:36 · King James VersionOpen source says that of that day and hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but the Father only. A chronology that installs a king in a named month is a claim the verse does not make.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Armageddon located?

Revelation 16:16CloseAnd he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.Revelation 16:16 · King James VersionOpen source calls it a place, in Hebrew. Their footnote glosses the Greek as Har Magedon, “Mountain of Megiddo.” Their kingdom chapter gathers the kings of the entire inhabited earth to the war. The verse still says a place.

What triggers it?

In Revelation 16, spirits of devils gather the kings. Their kingdom chapter says wicked spirits spread lies to deceive those kings and gather them to the war, and that people who do wicked things are destroyed in it.

What is another word for it?

Their footnote gives the Greek Har Magedon. The King James and the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible, the New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible), both print Armageddon. The war in the chapter is “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

Does the generation of 1914 still apply?

Successive Watchtower explanations of “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 are quoted on How Have Watchtower Teachings Changed? Matthew 24:34CloseVerily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.Matthew 24:34 · King James VersionOpen source is the verse they have re-explained.