Expert: Brenda Martin - 12/9/2006

Question
Brenda,

How many times have the Jehovah's Witnesses set the date of Christ's return?  I can think of two in recent memory from the 20th century.  

Answer
"JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES SET THE DATE OF CHRIST'S RETURN?"

By 1889, Jehovah’s anointed ones, as 19th-century light bearers, had already received correction on the matter of Christ’s return.

Jehovah’s people of the 19th century correctly understood that the pa•rou•si´a of Christ would be an invisible one. They had also come to an understanding that the end of the Gentile Times would occur in the autumn of 1914. As spiritual enlightenment progressed, they later understood that Jesus Christ was enthroned in heaven as King of the Kingdom in that same year, 1914.—Proverbs 4:18; Daniel 7:13, 14; Luke 21:24; Revelation 11:15.

That date of "Christ's return"; 1914, has remained the same ever since.

"Christ's return" and the "end of the world" are 2 completely different things.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been eager to know when the day of Jehovah or "end of the world" will occur. In their eagerness they have at times made attempts to estimate when it might come. But by so doing, they have failed, as did Jesus’ early disciples, to heed their Master’s caution that we “do not know when the appointed time is.” (Mark 13:32, 33) Ridiculers have mocked faithful Christians for their premature expectations. (2 Peter 3:3, 4) Nevertheless, Jehovah’s day WILL come, Peter affirms, according to His timetable.