The Watchtower teaches that only 144,000 people will go to heaven in spirit form and reign with Jesus.

The rest of those whom Jehovah deems worthy of everlasting life will live forever in physical bodies in paradise on earth.

It cites the following proof texts:

  • Luke 12:32: “Have no fear, little flock, because your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom.”
  • Revelation 14:1-3: “I saw, and, look! the Lamb [Jesus Christ] standing upon the Mount Zion [in heaven; see Hebrews 12:22-24], and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. . . . And they are singing as if a new song . . . and no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth.” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, p. 166, italics original)

In response, I would say that nothing in the Bible identifies the 144,000 of Revelation as being the “little flock” of Luke 12. “Little flock” could refer to a different group—perhaps the 24 elders mentioned in Revelation 4:4 or even his original disciples.

On its website, the Watchtower says this: “Why is a person born again? Jesus said, ‘Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.’ (John 3:3). So being born again prepares a person to rule with Christ in God’s Kingdom.”

Notice how they changed it.

Jesus said we have to be born again in order even to see the Kingdom of God.

But the Watchtower describes it as the way people are prepared to rule from Heaven.

The Watchtower makes the following arguments:

  • Physical bodies are not suited for heaven.
  • Spirit bodies are not suited for the earth.
  • Isaiah 45:18 states: “For this is what Jehovah says, the Creator of the heavens, the true God, the One who formed the earth, its Maker who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, but formed it to be inhabited…
  • If every Christian went to heaven, no one would be left to inhabit the earth.
  • If every Christian went to heaven, over whom would they rule?

These arguments are all examples of erroneous Either / Or thinking.

I would respond this way:

Nowhere does the Bible say that physical bodies cannot exist in heaven; heaven is another dimension, not outer space. Angels are able to exist both on earth and in heaven. There’s no reason to believe God couldn’t enable human beings in physical form to do the same.

Revelation 21:1-3 states:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them.” (Watchtower translation)

If God resides on earth with his people, then the distinction between the heaven where God dwells and earth will have been abolished.

So it’s not Either / Or.

It’s Both / And.

Why it’s important

The issue here isn’t really location—it’s salvation.

According to the Watchtower, the “heavenly hope” is available only to Jesus and 144,000 anointed Jehovah’s Witnesses chosen by God throughout all the centuries of the Christian era.

Old Testament believers will not be included.

In fact, none of them had any expectation of going to heaven.

Because of these erroneous Watchtower teachings, the vast majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the new birth and participation in the new covenant are not for them. 

They think they can be saved without it.

In Watchtower theology, the new birth is how God designates someone to be one of the anointed, heaven-bound group.

All other Christians and believers from the Old Testament era will be saved without being born again and without having the righteousness of Christ imputed to them.

They can benefit from the new covenant by virtue of their association with the anointed 144,000, but they themselves are not a part of that new covenant.

It teaches that those other Christians will be resurrected with the same sinful personalities they had when they died and that they will be given an opportunity to progress to perfection during the coming 1000-year Kingdom on earth, ruled over from heaven by Christ and the 144,000.

This is not the gospel!

In order to counter these Watchtower misconceptions, “The New Birth Approach” in my book is designed to help you show Jehovah’s Witnesses that the Bible presents only one way of salvation, not two, and that God’s offer of the inner transformation of a new birth and entry into the new covenant are essential to their own salvation.

I discuss the new birth extensively in Chapter 10 of my book, Getting Through to Jehovah’s Witnesses.

There, I offer recommendations as to how to engage Jehovah’s Witnesses on this crucial topic.