To understand the WTS approach to this, it means understanding how the use the phrase "as a class" (or as a group) and their definition of a judgment period (flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, great tribulation through Armageddon). That people dying during that period were judged and died eternally. Until 1970 the WTS taught that the GT started in 1914 and took a temporary break in 1918.
*** w89 5/1 p. 19 par. 3 Worship the Creator, Not The Creation ***Because we live in a judgment period, there is now a special urgency to worship God properly. Eternal destinies are being determined
*** w60 1/15 pp. 52-54 This Is a Time of Judgment ***
JUDGMENT PERIODS
There have been certain periods in human history when Jehovah God has turned his attention toward the earth for judgment. The people he put under surveillance were judged by their course of action toward his righteous principles and purposes. The first human pair, for example, were under divine judgment, but their bad conduct brought them a sentence of death.
The people who lived immediately before the flood of Noah’s day passed through a judgment period that ended when the Flood swept most of them out of existence. Because of their wicked disregard for God and his purposes he judged them adversely. “He did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly people.”—2 Pet. 2:5.
There is nothing in the Bible to suggest that these people were or shall be punished in a fiery hell. From the time of Adam to this very day the punishment for wickedness has not been conscious torment in a fiery hell but rather death—a cutting off from life. “For the wages sin pays is death.” “Jehovah is guarding all those loving him, but all the wicked ones he will annihilate.”—Rom. 6:23; Ps. 145:20.
After mentioning the world destroyed by the Flood and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that were destroyed by fire, Peter states: “Jehovah knows how to deliver people of godly devotion out of trial, but to reserve unrighteous people for the day of judgment to be cut off.” (2 Pet. 2:9) These two outstanding judgment periods were proofs of this. The wicked people in each period were reserved, or allowed to remain, throughout their judgment periods until the day of their execution. But persons of godly devotion who had received a favorable judgment were preserved.
These judgment periods are examples for us. They are prophetic pictures of the great judgment period in which we now live. Jesus himself pointed this out when he said: “Just as it occurred in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of man . . . Likewise, just as it occurred in the days of Lot.”—Luke 17:26, 28.
Throughout the centuries Jehovah God has permitted the wicked to remain and to dominate the earth, and they continue to do so in the present period of judgment. Those who are judged unrighteous will not survive the end of this period, whereas persons of godly devotion shall. “For those being blessed by him will themselves possess the earth, but those upon whom evil is called by him will be cut off.” (Ps. 37:22) They will be cut off from existence.
DIVINE JUDGMENTS ARE FINAL
Since the supreme Judge never makes a mistake, there is no need for him to take under review any judgment that he has passed. His judgments are final. That means the people who perished in the flood of Noah’s day will never be resurrected to stand trial again. The same is true with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as Adam and Eve. All had their judgment day before the great Judge of the universe and all were sentenced to destruction. They will never have a conscious existence again. The same will be true of those in the present judgment period whom God will destroy at its conclusion.
Jehovah God’s infallible judgment of the unrighteous in the present judgment period will be just as final as it was for the people he sentenced to death in past judgment periods. They will not stand before him after death for another judgment. The promise at Hebrews 9:27 does not apply to them. It says: “It is reserved for men to die once for all time, but after this a judgment.” The persons referred to here are those who die because of Adam’s sin, not because they have been judged adversely by God after death and then executed by him. Such persons can die only once because of Adam’s sin, but during the 1,000-year reign of Christ they will be resurrected and judged as to their worthiness for continued life on the basis of the course of action they take toward God’s principles and purposes then.—See The Watchtower as of June 15, 1947, pages 180-182.
What you are faced with today is a judgment for survival through the coming war of the great day of God the Almighty when he will carry out his long-standing promise to destroy this wicked world or system of things. You are in a position similar to that of the people who lived in the judgment period before the Flood. Like them you are under divine surveillance, with your conduct toward God’s purposes and his kingdom ministers determining your judgment. Jesus pointed this out in a long-range prophecy recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. He there likened the present judging of mankind to a shepherd’s separating sheep from goats.
Because the great Judge, Jehovah God, selected Christ to represent him in this judicial work, Jesus speaks of himself as the one doing the actual judging. In the fifth chapter of John he points out that he had received this authority from the great Judge, saying: “For the Father judges no one at all, but he has committed all the judging to the Son. And he has given him authority to do judging, because Son of man he is.” (John 5:22, 27) This was foretold by the prophet Isaiah: “And there must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse, and out of his roots a sprout will be fruitful. . . . And he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones.”—Isa. 11:1, 3, 4.
It is the divinely commissioned Judge, Jesus Christ, therefore, who does the actual judging of mankind during this final judgment period for the old world. In his prophecy in which he likens himself to a shepherd, he says: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.”—Matt. 25:31-33.
*** w52 6/1 p. 334 par. 5 “Get Out of Her, My People” ***
It is likely that for the majority of men who have lived on the earth the time of their judgment will be in the millennial reign of Christ, at the time of the resurrection of mankind and thereafter. However, long before this many persons will have had their time of judgment, as the Scriptures show that God has brought certain judgment periods upon human society at certain times, during which God held them accountable for their course of action. That they might be really accountable at such times, he caused testimony to be given that they might know the issue and make their decision, by which they would determine their destiny, independent of any inherited condemnation from Adam. One of such judgment periods was the flood of Noah’s day, prior to which Noah preached righteousness. Another was the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah, which cities saw warning miracles by angels and heard testimony from Lot before the rain of fire fell. In Jesus’ day it was a time of judgment and he warned certain Jewish cities of a fate like that upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and judged certain scribes and Pharisees fit for the eternal destruction of Gehenna. Our present day is also a time of judgment, and by the time Armageddon strikes all persons then living will have fixed their destiny.
*** w51 5/1 pp. 286-287 Questions From Readers ***
Adam’s offspring did not come under eternal destruction because of his fall. Why should young children suffer eternal destruction at Armageddon because of having wicked parents?—E. N., Minnesota.
Adam and Eve in Eden were on judgment with respect to the tree of knowledge and the course they took fixed their destiny, it being a time of judgment. Adam and Eve’s children were not born at that time and hence not directly or personally on judgment in Eden. That is why God could arrange for the ransoming of all of their future children who would accept his arrangements, this acceptance being shown by them at whatever time God might be pleased to bring them into a period of judgment. It is likely that for the majority of men who have lived on the earth this time of judgment will be in Christ’s millennial reign, at the time of the general resurrection and thereafter. At that future time of judgment arranged for them by God’s mercy each one will be on his own responsibility, as shown by Ezekiel 18:20-23.—See “This Means Everlasting Life”, pages 94, 95.
However, long before this many persons will have had their time of judgment, as the Scriptures show that God has brought certain judgment periods upon human society at certain times, during which he held them accountable for their course of action. That they might be really accountable for themselves and for their young children dependent upon them, he caused testimony to be given that they might know the issue and make their decision, by which they would determine their destiny, independent of any inherited condemnation from Adam. He warned parents not only of the consequences to themselves but also of those to their unresponsible offspring.
One of such judgment periods was the flood of Noah’s day, prior to which Noah preached righteousness for some forty or fifty years. (Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5) Another was the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah, which cities saw warning miracles by angels and heard witnessing by Lot before the rain of fire fell. (Gen. 19:11-14, 24) In Jesus’ day it was a time of judgment and he warned certain Jewish cities of a fate like that upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and judged certain scribes and Pharisees fit for the eternal destruction of Gehenna.—Matt. 11:20-24; 23:33, NW.
Our present day is also a time of judgment, and it is this that the objectors to the answer in the November 15 Watchtower apparently fail to fully appreciate. For seventy-one years TheWatchtower has been publishing the warning of God’s Word, and since 1919 Jehovah’s witnesses have been active as never before in giving world-wide witness, in this time of judgment when the enthroned King is separating the nations as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. Abuse and persecution come upon them from both adults and children under the influence of their elders. So it is because we now live in a period of judgment that we say all persons are on trial. And because children are present they too come in for judgment, and their case is not parallel to that of Adam and Eve’s offspring, who were not present in Eden at the time of that pair’s judgment trial.
? Can we Scripturally say that those slain by Jehovah at the climax of such judgment periods as at the Flood and at Sodom and Gomorrah and at Armageddon go into eternal destruction?—I. F., Washington.
Please open your Bible and read Luke 17:24-37. It speaks of “that day when the Son of man is to be revealed” (NW), and the surrounding verses show that to be in the time of the end, climaxed by Armageddon. It states that at Armageddon it will be “just as it occurred in the days of Noah” when “the flood arrived and destroyed them all”, and it will be “just as it occurred in the days of Lot” when he fled Sodom and “it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all”. Since these are parallel cases, if it can be shown that the destroyed in any one case will have no “resurrection of judgment” it follows that those in the other two cases are likewise doomed. (John 5:28, 29, NW) The parable of the sheep and goats, now in course of fulfillment, shows that at Armageddon the goats “depart into everlasting cutting-off”, thereby indicating the fate of those destroyed in all three cases.—Matt. 25:31-46, NW.
Those perishing in the Flood and in the fiery rainfall on Sodom and Gomorrah did not die because of inherited sin from Adam, but were condemned because they ignored Jehovah’s warning and were slain by him. They became warning examples of everlasting judicial punishment. (Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5-8; Jude 7) Now just a minute, someone protests, are you not forgetting Jesus’ words to the rebellious Jewish cities: “It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you”? Does that not mean at least some of those destroyed at Sodom’s fall will be resurrected and able to successfully endure a future judgment day? We reply that these words have not been forgotten.—Matt. 10:15, 11:24, NW.
This is a form of speech-construction common in Biblical times. It is used to emphasize the impossibility of a thing. Jesus used a similar construction when he said: “It is easier, in fact, for a camel to get through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:25, NW) No sane person would believe a camel could squeeze through a needle’s eye. Yet if this obviously impossible thing were said to be easier than something else, would that not powerfully emphasize the utter impossibility of the other thing? So Jesus forcefully made the point that rich ones who were loath to part with their wealth would not enter the kingdom. So it was with his other use of this speech form. Sodom and Gomorrah could not endure judgment. Not even ten righteous were there. Only four, and one of those failed at a crucial moment. (Gen. 18:32; 19:15, 17, 26) The Jews knew Sodom’s fate was sealed, so when Jesus told them that judgment would be more endurable for such doomed ones than for these Jewish cities they got the powerful point.
But an objector still may protest that Jesus said these cities would be brought down to Ha′des, not to the everlasting destruction of Gehenna. Jesus said: “Will you perhaps be exalted to heaven? Down to Ha′des you will come!” (Matt. 11:23, NW) The hope of literally going to heaven had not been held out to these Jews, this hope not being understood until the outpouring of holy spirit at Pentecost after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Since by heaven no destination after death would be meant, so by the contrasting word Ha′des a destiny would not be meant.
By these words Jesus was making the strongest possible contrast between exaltation and abasement. Heaven reaches high above, Ha′des goes underground, lower than Gehenna, which was aboveground just outside Jerusalem. Had Jesus used Gehenna the Jews might have thought he meant literal Jewish cities would be plucked up and set down in that specific valley. So Jesus merely used these extremes of height and depth to show how those exalting themselves would be abased, just as Jehovah used heaven and Sheol, the Hebrew equivalent of Ha′des, to show these same extremes: “Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.” (Amos 9:2, AS) These Jewish cities had heard the warning and had seen powerful works; they had had fair judgment trial and by their decision showed they were worthy of eternal destruction.—Matt. 10:5-15; Luke 10:8-12, NW.
So today this time of judgment of the nations is not a mere dress rehearsal for a further and decisive second judgment to come, thereby making the destruction of individuals at Armageddon not count for eternity. If it were a matter of these people dying and coming back in a general resurrection for a second opportunity, then their blood on the head of the watchman class would not be so serious, nor would Jehovah view the warning work so vital as to make the stones cry out the alarm if we remained silent.—Ezek. 33:7-9; Luke 19:40.
*** it-1 p. 855 Foreknowledge, Foreordination ***
God’s Son, who also could read the hearts of men (Mt 9:4; Mr 2:8; Joh 2:24, 25), was divinely endowed with powers of foreknowledge and foretold future conditions, events, and expressions of divine judgment. He foretold the judgment of Gehenna for the scribes and Pharisees as a class (Mt 23:15, 33) but did not say thereby that each individual Pharisee or scribe was foredoomed to destruction, as the case of the apostle Paul shows. (Ac 26:4, 5)
*** it-1 p. 906 Gehenna ***
Symbolic of Complete Destruction. It is evident that Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Mt 10:28; Lu 12:4, 5) The scribes and Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as ‘subjects for Gehenna.’ (Mt 23:13-15, 33) To avoid such destruction, Jesus’ followers were to get rid of anything causing spiritual stumbling, the ‘cutting off of a hand or foot’ and the ‘tearing out of an eye’ figuratively representing their deadening of these body members with reference to sin.—Mt 18:9; Mr 9:43-47; Col 3:5; compare Mt 5:27-30.
*** w87 10/1 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
When we read accounts such as Matthew 15:1-8; John 8:12-19, 31-41; 9:13-34; 11:45-53, we can understand why Jesus said that the Pharisees merited annihilation, symbolized by Gehenna. True, some might repent and win God’s approval, but as a class, they were worthy of permanent destruction. Christ said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you traverse sea and dry land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one you make him a subject for Gehenna twice as much so as yourselves.”—Matthew 23:15.
*** w72 9/15 p. 551 Are You Merciful as Your Father Is Merciful? ***
The seriousness of the matter is seen in the Bible’s statement that the “merciless” are counted among those viewed by God as “deserving of death.” (Rom. 1:31, 32) Consider the case of the Pharisees, who Jesus said were, as a class, destined for Gehenna, everlasting destruction. (Matt. 23:23, 33) Evidently lack of mercy contributed largely to their meriting this condemnation. When reproving them for ‘condemning the guiltless ones,’ Jesus told them to “go . . . and learn what this means, ‘I want mercy, and not sacrifice.”’—Matt. 9:11-13; 12:7; Hos. 6:6.
*** w70 8/1 pp. 473-474 Things Foreknown by God ***
God’s Son, who also could read human hearts (Matt. 9:4; Mark 2:8; John 2:24, 25), was divinely endowed with powers of foreknowledge and foretold future conditions, events and expressions of divine judgment. He foretold the judgment of Gehenna for the scribes and Pharisees as a class (Matt. 23:15, 33), but did not say thereby that each individual Pharisee or scribe was foredoomed to destruction, as the case of the apostle Paul shows. (Acts 26:4, 5) Jesus predicted woes for the unrepentant populaces of Jerusalem and other cities, but did not indicate that his Father had foreordained that each individual of those cities should so suffer. (Matt. 11:20-23; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20, 21) He also foreknew what mankind’s inclination and heart attitude would lead to and foretold the conditions that would have developed among mankind by the time of the “conclusion of the system of things,” as well as the outworkings of God’s own purposes.—Matt. 24:3, 7-14, 21, 22.
