# The Great Tribulation Was AD 70 — Not a Future Attack on JWs *Matthew 24:15-22 / Luke 21:20-24 / Matthew 24:34* **Strength:** Very Strong | **Tone:** Good | **Topic:** Eschatology ## Doorstep Question > "In Matthew 24:15-21 Jesus warns about a 'great tribulation.' Did you know Luke records the same conversation? In Luke 21:20 he replaces 'the abomination of desolation' with 'Jerusalem surrounded by armies.' If the parallel account tells us the great tribulation was about Jerusalem's destruction, why does the Watchtower teach it's a future attack on Jehovah's Witnesses?" ## JW Claim The great tribulation is a future event in which the United Nations will destroy all false religion, then world governments will turn on Jehovah's Witnesses specifically. Faithful JWs must endure this persecution before Armageddon brings paradise earth. The 2016 convention 'bunker video' dramatised this sequence. ## Strategy Start by reading Matthew 24:15-21 together — the JW will agree this is about the great tribulation. Then open Luke 21:20-24 and show that Luke's parallel replaces 'abomination of desolation' with 'Jerusalem surrounded by armies.' The great tribulation is the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, not a future JW-specific persecution. Next, note the geographical details: 'let those in Judea flee to the mountains' and 'pray your flight not be on a Sabbath' — instructions that only make sense for first-century Jews in Jerusalem. Then read Matthew 24:34: 'this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.' Compare with Matthew 23:36 where the identical phrase clearly means Jesus' contemporaries. Finally, point out that this happened exactly as Jesus predicted — in AD 70, Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem, destroyed the temple (not one stone left on another), and approximately 1.1 million people perished. Jesus' prophecy was vindicated within one generation. ## Key Insight Luke 21:20-24 is the interpretive key. It replaces Matthew's 'abomination of desolation' with 'Jerusalem surrounded by armies,' making the great tribulation's fulfilment explicit: the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, not a future Watchtower eschatological sequence. ## JW Responses & Counters ### Response 1 **JW says:** "Matthew 24 has a dual fulfilment — it was partly AD 70 but the greater fulfilment is future." **Counter:** Jesus never mentions a dual fulfilment. The 'dual fulfilment' concept is a Watchtower overlay, not something derived from the text. Luke 21:20-24 makes the referent explicit: Jerusalem surrounded by armies. And Matthew 24:34 limits the timeframe to 'this generation.' If Jesus meant a future fulfilment, why did he say the generation standing in front of him would see it? ### Response 2 **JW says:** "'This generation' means the generation alive when the signs begin, not Jesus' audience." **Counter:** In Matthew 23:36 — just verses earlier in the same discourse — Jesus uses the identical phrase and clearly means his contemporaries: 'Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.' The Watchtower has changed its definition of 'this generation' at least four times (1914 generation, then redefined, then 'the wicked' in 2008, then 'overlapping generations' in 2010). When an organisation keeps moving the goalposts on a clear statement by Jesus, that should give any honest truth-seeker pause. ### Response 3 **JW says:** "Revelation 7:14 says a 'great crowd' comes out of the great tribulation — that's us!" **Counter:** The text says they are from 'every nation, tribe, people, and tongue' — not from one organisation. And they stand 'before the throne' (Rev 7:9), which the Watchtower teaches is exclusively in heaven for the 144,000. If the great crowd stands before the throne, by the Watchtower's own logic they must be in heaven — contradicting the teaching that only 144,000 go to heaven. ### Response 4 **JW says:** "The signs of the last days — wars, earthquakes, famines — prove we're in the end times." **Counter:** Jesus listed those as things that would happen BEFORE the end: 'the end is not yet' (Matt 24:6). These are explicitly NOT the signs of the end. The actual sign Jesus gave was the 'abomination of desolation' — which Luke identifies as Jerusalem surrounded by armies. That happened in AD 70. ### Response 5 **JW says:** "World conditions are getting worse — doesn't that prove the great tribulation is near?" **Counter:** By most measurable standards — life expectancy, poverty, violence, literacy — world conditions have dramatically improved over the last century. The Watchtower narrative requires the world to be getting worse, but the data contradicts this. More importantly, Jesus did not say 'when the world gets bad enough.' He gave a specific, verifiable sign: armies surrounding Jerusalem. It happened. ## What to Avoid Don't get drawn into a debate about futurism vs. preterism as theological systems. Keep the focus on reading the two parallel accounts side by side and letting the text speak. Also avoid mocking the bunker video — many JWs find it emotionally powerful and dismissing it feels dismissive of their fear. ## Homework Read Matthew 23:34-24:34 as one discourse, then read Luke 21:20-24 beside Matthew 24:15-21 until you can show the swap from "abomination of desolation" to "Jerusalem surrounded by armies" without notes. Notice the Judea, mountains and Sabbath details for yourself, and compare "this generation" in Matthew 23:36 with 24:34. Practise the doorstep question aloud. Prepare for the dual-fulfilment reply, and for the redefinition of "this generation": know the sequence this argument lists (1914 generation, "the wicked" in 2008, overlapping generations in 2010) before you mention it, and say it gently. ## Next Moves - ["This Generation" — Matthew 24:34](/arguments/this-generation.md) - [The Abomination of Desolation — Luke 21:20](/arguments/abomination-desolation.md) - ["Signs" Are Not "The Sign"](/arguments/signs-not-the-sign.md) --- *Source: R.C. Sproul / N.T. Wright / Jeff Durbin (Apologia Studios)*