A recently updated article on JW dot org poses the question: What Does the Bible Say About Nuclear War?
This question also happens to be the very same question Slovakians are confronted with this month on dozens of billboards placed along streets and highways throughout the country.
To be sure, it is a timely question given the ongoing provocations and proxy war against Russia by NATO, as well as the war in the Middle East involving nuclear-armed Israel and their stated intention to attack Iran to prevent their development of nuclear weapons. Some sober observers are saying that the situation now is far more grave than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, which purportedly brought the US and the USSR within hours of nuclear war. Underlying this maniacal and reckless drive for a nuclear confrontation is the emergence of the BRICS alliance and the bankruptcy of the Trans-Atlantic Anglo-American financial system. To be sure, the unseen dynamic is the incoming Kingdom of Christ and the downfall of Satan’s empire. But those are topics for other articles.
Of course, the Watchtower claims the Bible does not say anything about nuclear war. And that is true, at least ostensibly. However, they do point to the words of Christ, who stated there would be fearful sights from heaven, and they suggest that the detonation of two atomic bombs over Japan in 1945 fulfilled the prophecy. The problem is that most people living now were not alive 80 years ago and did not witness those fearful sights.
Contradictorily, the writers of these articles on jw dot org have recently stated that the fearful sights from heaven have to do with climate change and global warming. So, which is it? Were the two atomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki the fulfillment, or is it natural weather phenomena like heat waves and hurricanes? Can it be both? No, of course not. Can it be neither? Absolutely!
Citing snippets of Scripture out of context can be very misleading. You should be suspicious when some Bible teacher cites a verse fragment that is out of context to prove their point. For example, if we were to read the entire 21st chapter of Luke, Jesus foretold not only fearful sights, but also, great signs from heaven. What might these great signs involve? Have you ever seen a cruise missile streak overhead at treetop level? How about an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or a hypersonic projectile that can strike with the force of an incoming comet? Don’t you think that would be a fearful sight?
Reading on in the same 21st chapter of the gospel of Luke, Jesus said: “Also, there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish of nations not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation. People will become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
Should we suppose that people worldwide are presently faint with fright and consumed in anguish because of last summer’s heatwave or because two cities in Japan were devasted during WW2 but have long since been rebuilt and are now vibrant modern metropolises?
In the prophecy of Joel, God said: “And I will give wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awe-inspiring day of Jehovah. ” – Joel 2:30-31
“Wonders” may also be translated as portents or signs. In the parallel account in Mathew, Jesus foretold that the sun would be darkened and the moon would not give its light, the same phenomenon stated in Joel. So, the signs and wonders that must precede the coming of the great day of Jehovah, which Jesus also spoke about, must include “blood and fire and columns of smoke.”
Will these be symbolic fires of destruction? Not necessarily. Given that fire is used in conjunction with blood and columns of smoke and connected to Jesus’ related prophecy in Luke — a calamity that will produce such a state of fear that men will become faint, not knowing the way out —we ought to discern that the fire and columns of smoke are a prophetic picture of the intense fireball and signature mushroom clouds created by nuclear blasts. No doubt, the ash and smoke from multiple atomic blasts will darken the sun and cast a foreboding pall over mankind.
And what did Jesus mean by the roaring of the sea and its agitation? The sea is often used to represent peoples of the world. For example, the great religious prostitute called Babylon the Great is said to sit on many waters. So, the roaring of the sea must mean that the mass of humanity will be in an uproar, panic-stricken, terrified and confused, not knowing how to resolve the global calamity, and fearful of what is coming next.
And we might also ask, what did Jesus mean when he foretold the powers of the heavens will be shaken? What are the powers of the heavens? Jehovah’s Witnesses understand that the heavens can represent the governments and related institutions over mankind. Many places in prophecy foretell God’s purpose to create a new heavens and earth. That means a new government in the form of the Kingdom of God and a new earthly society of godly people. By the way, the 21st chapter of Revelation foretells not only the creation of a new heaven and earth, but it says, “the sea is no more,” no doubt referring to the turbulent, restless sea of mankind alienated from God.
But what about the present heavens and earth that are destined to be replaced? Speaking in cryptic language, the apostle Peter wrote: “But by the same word the heavens and the earth that now exist are reserved for fire and are being kept until the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly people.” – 2 Peter 3:7
In context, the apostle explained how the literal atmospheric heavens and the Terra Firma in Noah’s day had been stored up with water, being in the midst of water by the decree of God on the second creative day. In that instance, the water is not figurative, but mankind on earth was literally in the midst of water in the form of a heavenly oceanic canopy and a subterranean sea as well. (The existence of a subterranean ocean is a scientific fact.) The heavenly ocean, called a deluge, is not duplicateable by natural processes because it was placed above the earth by an act of God, not evaporation.
In any case, the wicked world of Noah’s day —populated in part by materialized angels and their freakish offspring called the Nephilim —was wiped off the earth when the storehouse of the heavenly waters and the springs of the watery deep were unleashed. God brought about the end of that world with the waters stored in the heavens and under the earth. That being true, we should not suppose that the fire destined to destroy this ungodly world is entirely symbolic.
The apostle went on to say: “But Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be exposed.” As for the earth, which represents the world of mankind, notice it does not pass away with a roar, as do the heavens. The passing away of the heavens represents the governments over mankind, but Peter said the “earth and the works in it will be exposed.” What does that mean? Society will be exposed as being godless and wicked to the core. How will that be exposed? When the governments seize up, when the financial system crashes, mankind will plead with the Devil to protect them from the wrath of God. That is not to say that people will literally invoke the Devil, but they will accept the salvation he offers. The sixth chapter of Revelation portrays terrified mankind pleading with the mountains to fall over them. So, in other words, men will look to humans for salvation and not God. So, the day of judgment will expose them as preferring the rule of Satan rather than Christ. The intense heat of a nuclear war will expose people for what they are.
The two manmade fireballs that incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 were not the end; instead, that murderous attack 80 years ago ushered in the atomic age. Over the eight decades since then, several tens of thousands of thermonuclear weapons have been devised —many of them much more powerful than the so-named Fat Man and Little Boy that exploded over Japan.
Along with these terrible weapons of mass destruction, missiles capable of delivering multiple warheads over any city are stored in silos and submarines and can be launched with push-button ease. Although none of them have been used in warfare since 1945, they are in reserve, as it were, and at a moment’s notice, can rain down fire from heaven on any part of the earth. The detonation of only a fraction of the weapons that exist would strike terror deep in the heart of mankind and produce the sort of knee-buckling terror Jesus described when he said men would become faint with fright. The fire is there, reserved and ready to explode and dissolve the world’s thin veneer of civilization.
Jehovah has assured the believers that the meek will inherit the earth, that God will bring to ruin those ruining the earth, and that he did not create the earth simply for nothing but made it to be inhabited. We can believe God’s word. Even so, does that mean God will not allow a nuclear war? No. Considering the foregoing prophecy, it means that God is going to allow Satan to bring great woe upon the earth and sea when he and his wicked angels are cast down from heaven. Their rampage during the short period of time they will be allowed to wreck the earth will bring about what Jesus referred to as the great tribulation.
According to Christ, the great tribulation will be an unprecedented global catastrophe, the likes of which has never occurred before or will ever occur again. Jesus went on to say: “In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” – Matthew 24:22
The same writers who claim that recent summer heatwaves in some parts of the earth are the fearful sights from heaven also make the unfounded claim that the great tribulation will come about when the United Nations abolishes organized religion. If that were true, then why would it be necessary for God to personally intervene to prevent the extinction of mankind and save his chosen ones? None of Jehovah’s Witnesses or their Governing Body can answer that simple question, and yet they presume to know what the Bible says about nuclear war.
It should be apparent that none of Jehovah’s Witnesses understand these matters. But they will. God assures us of that: “Only terror will make them understand what was heard.” – Isaiah 28:19b