For this reason Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem for the second time (in 618 B.C.) and forced it to terms by taking Jehoiachin, the successor of Jehoiakim, captive to Babylon together with many of Judah’s princes and other outstanding men including Daniel. (2 Ki. 24:1, 8-16; Dan. 1:1-6) Nebuchadnezzar gave Jerusalem another chance as a subsidiary sovereign state by allowing Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiakim, to be anointed king of Judah in 617 B.C. (2 Ki. 24:17, 18) Zedekiah, like his brother, attempted to throw off the Babylonian yoke by rebelling. But this forced Nebuchadnezzar in his anger to come against Jerusalem for a third time, but this time to utterly destroy it. Nebuchadnezzar began his third siege of Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month, Tebeth, in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, or on January 18-19, 608 B.C. (that is, after 6 p.m. January 18), according to our present Gregorian calendar system.a (2 Ki. 25:1) By July 2-3, 607 B.C., the famine due to the siege was exceeding great, the enemy had made a breach in Jerusalem’s wall fortifications and King Zedekiah fled the city on this day to Jericho, where he was later captured for deportation.—2 Ki. 25:2-7.

10, 11. (a) Precisely when were the temple and the king’s palace destroyed in Jerusalem, and what did this mean as to divine sovereignty? (b) What further slight evidence of Jewish control was there, and what happened to it?

¹⁰ The Chaldean (Babylonian) soldiers, having entered Jerusalem, began to burn the “house of Jehovah”, the “king’s house” and all the great houses of the city on Ab 7, July 30-31, 607 B.C. (2 Ki. 25:8, 9) By Ab 10, August 2-3, 607 B.C., three days later, they had completely destroyed the temple, the royal palace and the walls of the city. (Jer. 52:12-14) At this point it should be remembered that Jehovah made his sovereign will known through his priesthood at the temple, and the king’s palace was the center from which the administration of the nation as delegated by God to the king emanated. (2 Ki. 22:12, 13) Thus these centers of divine, sovereign-empowered administration ceased with the overthrow of Jerusalem.

¹¹ However, there was one more slight evidence of Jewish sovereignty after the fall of the Holy City, and that was Nebuchadnezzar’s appointment of Gedaliah, a Jew, as the governor of the remaining settlements in the country. But two months later Gedaliah and his Babylonish advisors were slain by a party of Jewish assassins. At the news of this tragic flouting of Nebuchadnezzar’s mercy, all the remaining Jews fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah the prophet with them. (2 Ki. 25:22-26; Jer. 41:1-18; 43:5-7) The land’s now becoming desolated of Jewish inhabitants, the last trace of theocratic rule came to an end during the seventh month, which began September 21-22, 607 B.C. So with swift-moving events the land was emptied and theocratic sovereignty withdrawn, giving the Gentiles undisputed control of the Promised Land for their “appointed times”.—Luke 21:24.

12, 13. (a) To whom was disclosed the number of the “times” of the nations, and in what manner? (b) What was the theme of the disclosure? Briefly give the picture revealed.

¹² How many “times” did God appoint for the Gentile nations to have undisputed control over the Promised Land which was the testing ground for earth-wide sovereignty? The Bible answers there were to be seven “times”. (Dan. 4:16, 23, 25) Significantly this number was disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar in a dream after 607 B.C. when he had become the totalitarian ruler of the third world power. Note now the details of this dream as Nebuchadnezzar tells it to Jehovah’s witness Daniel for divine interpretation. Observe how the theme of this dream is God’s sovereignty, “to let the living know that the Most High reigns over the realm of men, giving it to anyone whom he chooses, and setting over it the lowest of mankind.”—Dan. 4:17, Mo.

¹³ Nebuchadnezzar said to Daniel: “‘O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, I know the spirit of the gods divine is in you, and no mystery is any trouble to you; hear the visions of my dream that I have seen, and tell me what they mean. Such were the visions of my brain in bed. I looked, and there was a tree in the middle of the earth, enormously high! The tree grew and grew strong, till it was high as heaven and visible from the ends of all the earth; its leaves were lovely and its fruit was rich, with food for all; wild animals sheltered under it, birds of the air roosted in its branches, and it fed all living creatures. In the visions of my brain in bed I looked, and there was one of the angel-guard! He came down from heaven and called aloud, “Hew the tree down, hack away its branches, lop off its leaves, and scatter its fruit: let the animals remove from underneath it, and the birds from its boughs. Still, leave the stump of its roots in the earth, among the soft grass of the field, with a band of iron and bronze round it; let the dews of heaven drench it—and let him share the herbage of the earth with the animals, let his mind cease to be human, let an animal’s mind be given him, and let seven years [times, AS] pass over him.”’”—Dan. 4:9-16, Mo.

14, 15. How was this dream fulfilled as to Nebuchadnezzar?

¹⁴ Daniel interpreted the dream to foretell that seven times or years of madness would overtake Nebuchadnezzar, during which he could not personally carry on his imperial government but would become wild like a beast and live out in the open fields. So in effect this great world ruler would find his kingdom taken away from him like the cutting down of the lofty tree mentioned in his dream. After seven years his sanity would return, and he would be restored to his kingdom, which, like that banded tree stump in the ground, was to be held pending his return to the control of his empire.

¹⁵ All this came to pass near the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Books on Nebuchadnezzar refer to his seven years of madness. (Dan. 4:33) “The form of madness from which he (Nebuchadnezzar) suffered when pride overthrew his reason was that called lycanthropy, in which the patient fancies himself one of the inferior animals and acts as such. Nebuchadnezzar imagined that he had become an ox, and went forth to eat grass like other cattle.” (The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, p. 422. See also Nebuchadnezzar, by G. R. Tabouis, pp. 263-265, 383.) Michaud, in his Biographie universelle, writes: “Nebuchadnezzar was punished for his pride by rather a strange malady, for he fell into a state of complete dementia and was persuaded that he had been turned into an ox.” Another French writer, Larousse, gives a similar account, adding, “He died a year after recovering his reason.”

16. How does this dream have its major application to heavenly rulership? What hope does God leave for mankind?

¹⁶ However, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream finds its major application to heavenly rulership. In ¶ 7 to 11, pages 261, 262, we have described the invisible theocratic rulership originally entrusted to the covering cherub in Eden. God’s sovereignty in fact operating through this anointed cherub was fittingly described by the lofty tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. When this exalted theocratic ruler of men and the animals rebelled by putting at issue the sovereign supremacy of Jehovah God, he was forthwith dismissed from God’s mountainlike organization and forever divorced from union with God. This was the cutting down of the lofty tree. To give hope to righteous mankind how glad we are to notice that God in the vision left a stump of this tree. Clearly this pictures the suspension of the office of righteous heavenly rulership through which God will exercise his sovereignty again over the earth. It would be kept in abeyance until He should come who would prove his right thereto. The dream shows that the Most High will give this kingdom right to the “lowest of mankind” or a son of man.—Dan. 4:17, Mo.

17, 18. (a) When do the “seven times” begin to apply as to the “tree stump”? (b) When does the period of “madness” become particularly manifest, and what changes are there in Gentile domination over Jerusalem?

¹⁷ Not before “seven times” had passed over the symbolic tree stump could God, according to his own decree, establish the kingdom over men in the hands of a righteous invisible ruler. The prophetic dream does not indicate that the “seven times” began at Eden immediately with the rebellion of Satan and his loss of the right and authority of righteous rulership. The facts in fulfillment show they did not begin then but in the days of the dreamer who had the dream fulfilled on him in miniature, namely, at the time the pictorial rulership was taken away from the last anointed king of Judah, Zedekiah. The dream merely announces that in the tree stump’s experience there would pass over it a period of “seven times” and that this would immediately precede the unbanding of the stump and its free growth again.

¹⁸ This makes it apparent that the “seven times” began with Nebuchadnezzar’s overturning of Jehovah’s typical theocracy at Jerusalem, in 607 B.C. As long as the typical administration of God at Jerusalem operated at all, even imperfectly, in his name, that long there was some measure of national sanity and a partial exhibition of right rule among nations on this earth. But with the overthrow of the typical theocracy there was then no restraint at all to the unreason and bestiality of human governors and humankind. The Gentile powers or governments were now exclusive in the field. God’s covenant people no longer held any national sovereignty in the midst of this world, independently of the Gentile nations. In 539 B.C. the Medo-Persian world power exercised domination over the Promised Land. In 332 B.C. it passed into the hands of Alexander, the Greek conqueror. In 63 B.C. Roman rule was established over Palestine. From A.D. 637 to 1917 various Mohammedan rulers generally controlled Jerusalem. In 1917 Viscount Allenby of Great Britain took Jerusalem from the Mohammedan Turks, who had controlled it since 1517.

MATHEMATICAL CALCULATION

19, 20. How long are the “seven times” of the nations? Give the proofs for establishing 1914 as a marked date.

¹⁹ How long are “seven times”, the times of the nations? The mathematics are supplied for us in another prophecy unrelated to this one which uses the term “times” or “periods of time”. In Revelation 12:6 (NW) there is mentioned 1,260 days and then in the 14th Re 12 verse 14 this very same period is referred to as 3 ¹/₂ “times”. So if 3 ¹/₂ “times” is 1,260 days, then 7 “times” (twice 3 ¹/₂ “times”) must be twice 1,260, or 2,520 days. Early in their wilderness trek the Israelites repudiated the sovereign wisdom of their God by wanting to return to Egypt on having believed the faith-lacking reports of the ten unfaithful spies. (Num. 14:1-4) For this lack of faith by the people in God’s sovereign leadership, Jehovah sentenced the nation to forty years of wandering in the wilderness with no sovereign control of land. “For every day spent in spying out the land, you shall spend a year being punished for your evil-doing, forty years for forty days; that will teach you what it is to have me against you.”—Num. 14:34, Mo.

²⁰ So according to this rule established in the wilderness the Jewish nation, who time and again showed they did not appreciate Jehovah’s sovereign control, would have to bear God’s adverse judgment at the hands of their Gentile overlords for a period of seven “times”, or 2,520 year-days. These 2,520 years ran from the desolating of Jerusalem and the land in the summer and fall of 607 B.C. up to the summer and fall of 1914, when they expired. From 607 B.C. to 1 B.C. is 606 years. From 1 B.C. to A.D. 1 is only one year, because the ancients had not discovered the zero which according to modern mathematics would have made it two years. The use of the zero is only of comparatively recent mathematical origin. From A.D. 1 to A.D. 1914 is 1,913 years. Therefore adding 606 years plus 1 year plus 1,913 years we get a total of 2,520 years.

21-23. (a) Give one correction of a slight error made by the brothers many years ago as to determining 1914. (b) Explain a second correction.

²¹ At this point some will inquire why Charles T. Russell in 1877 used the date 606 B.C. for the fall of Jerusalem whereas The Watchtower of late years has been using 607 B.C. This is because, in the light of modern scholarship, two slight errors were discovered to have been made which cancel each other out and make for the same result, namely, 1914. Concerning the first error, Russell and others considered 1 B.C. to A.D. 1 as being two years whereas in fact this is only one year because, as has been said above, there is no “zero” year in the B.C.-A.D. system for counting years. “The Christian era began, not with no year, but with a 1st year.”—The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, p. 102.

²² The second error had to do with not beginning the count of the 2,520 years at the right point in view of historic facts and circumstances. Almost all early Bible chronology ties in with secular history at the year 539 B.C., in which year the fall of Babylon to Darius and Cyrus of the Medes and the Persians occurred. In late years several cuneiform tablets have been discovered pertaining to the fall of Babylon which peg both Biblical and secular historic dates. The one tablet known as the “Nabunaid Chronicle” gives the date for the fall of Babylon which specialists have ascertained as being October 12-13, 539 B.C., Julian Calendar, or October 6-7, 539 B.C., according to our present Gregorian Calendar.b This tablet also says that Cyrus made his triumphant entry into Babylon 16 days after its fall to his army. Thus his accession year commenced in October, 539 B.C. However, in another cuneiform tablet called “Strassmaier, Cyrus No. 11” Cyrus’ first regnal year is mentioned and was determined to have begun March 17-18, 538 B.C., and to have concluded March 4-5, 537 B.C.c It was in this first regnal year of Cyrus that he issued his decree to permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. (Ezra 1:1) The decree may have been made in late 538 B.C. or before March 4-5, 537 B.C.

²³ In either case this would have given sufficient time for the large party of 49,897 Jews to organize their expedition and to make their long four-month journey from Babylon to Jerusalem to get there by September 29-30, 537 B.C., the first of the seventh Jewish month, to build their altar to Jehovah as recorded at Ezra 3:1-3. Inasmuch as September 29-30, 537 B.C., officially ends the seventy years of desolation as recorded at 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21, so the beginning of the desolation of the land must have officially begun to be counted after September 21-22, 607 B.C., the first of the seventh Jewish month in 607 B.C., which is the beginning point for the counting of the 2,520 years.

Evidences of the Year’s Correctness

1, 2. Describe the “family of nations” that arose after 1648.

WHAT physical evidences are there, then, that indicate 1914 was a marked year as to the ending of the “appointed times” of the nations? First a little background information is necessary. With the disintegration of the old Roman Empire and the breaking up of the Holy Roman Empire wedded to the Catholic Church there appeared after the Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 a “family of nations”. This Gentile house of nations was a loose arrangement where big and small nations tried to get along in concert like big and small brothers with an occasional quarrel (war) between individual members. There was no big mother or father to boss them. Neither the Catholic Church nor the remnants of the old Roman Empire were any longer strong enough to keep these nations tied to their apron strings and thus keep these offshoot nations in line as they formerly did by being the superior dictators. Nevertheless the “family of nations” did maintain a measure of international order during their periods of world expansion, and they abode by a code of international law. However, this “family” had no political expression or super-organization. That was left for them to try later under the League of Nations in 1919 to patch up things.

² Following is an authoritative description of this “family of nations”. “The world empire of Rome showed a common political sovereignty by which the acts of remote territories might be regulated; the world religion of the Church of the middle period added the idea of a common bond of humanity. . . . The family was at first a ‘European Christian family of nations,’ and its law was European. The United States of America was the earliest addition outside of Europe. . . . In 1856 the five great powers admitted the Turkish Empire to ‘the participation in the advantages of European public law and concert.’ The entrance of Japan into the ‘family of nations’ in 1899 added another non-European state to the international family, which had ceased to be ‘European’ and ‘Christian’.”a

3, 4. (a) What are the physical facts that mark the end of the “seven times” of the nations? (b) What is remarkable as to the dates involved?

³ What happened to this loose house of Gentile nations in 1914 is common knowledge and history now. The delicate balance of Gentile powers which enabled them to generate themselves into vast war machines in the prewar period totally collapsed in 1914. Their whole house blew up and the nations went mad. Does not the collapse of this house of the Gentiles and their national sovereign independence being now put in jeopardy remind one of the destruction of the temple and the king’s palace in Jerusalem between July 30-31 and August 2-3, 607 B.C.? All this exactly 2,520 years later almost to the day!b Note the following summary of the rapid fire of events as these nations went at each other’s throats, and, mind you, all this happened suddenly in the summer of 1914.

⁴ “Austria declared war on Serbia July 28, 1914. Attempts to mediate continued. Germany demanded neutrality of Britain in event of war with Russia and France; offered to respect French territory but gave no promise on colonies; Britain refused to bargain, July 30. Austria now agreed to negotiate with Russia. Russia mobilized in part, declaring Hungarian mobilization was directed against it; Germany mobilized, declaring such Russian action was against Germany. In this tense situation Britain continued efforts to stop general war. While Russia and Austria were conferring, Germany sent ultimatum to Russia demanding end of mobilization in twelve hours. The czar asked Austro-Serb quarrel be submitted to The Hague; no reply. Germany declared war against Russia August 1; against France August 3. Germans enter Belgium, in violation of treaty, guaranteed by Britain. Britain asked Germany to guarantee neutrality of Belgium by midnight August 4; Germany refused. Britain declared war August 4. Italy bound to Germany and Austria in Triple Alliance, proclaimed neutrality; had secret understanding with France not to join in any war against France. Italy declared war against Austria-Hungary May 23, 1915; against Germany August 27, 1916. Turkey, Bulgaria, Rumania joined Central Powers. Japan declared war on Germany, August 23, 1914. United States declared a state of war existed with Germany, April 6, 1917.” (The World Almanac, 1951, pp. 188,189) Truly the Gentile world went crazy between July 28 and August 4 in launching the bloodiest war in earth’s history to that time. Just as the Scriptures foretold, “nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.”—Matt. 24:7, NW.

THE SIGN

5. What event does Jesus say must follow the end of the “times” of the nations?

⁵ Right after speaking of the “appointed times of the nations”, at Luke 21:24 (NW), Jesus makes a key revelation at the 27th Lu 21 verse 27 by saying: “And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” The coming of the Son of man in the clouds with power was the great sign of the sovereign-empowered Messiah or Christ spoken of by Daniel (7:13, 14) and which the priests and Pharisees were looking for during Jesus’ ministry on earth. But as to Christ’s first presence Jesus said the only sign they would get would be that of Jonah the prophet. (Matt. 12:39, NW) However, when Jesus was being tried before the Jewish Sanhedrin on the false charge of blasphemy the high priest said, “By the living God I put you under oath to tell us whether you are the Christ the Son of God!” Jesus said to him: “That was for you to say. Yet I say to you men, From henceforth you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matt. 26:63, 64, NW) Here Jesus openly admitted that as the Christ he would make a second presence as to affairs of the earth after a waiting period at God’s right hand. “Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” (Ps. 110:1, AS) The waiting period ended at the conclusion of the “appointed times of the nations” in 1914, his enemies were put where they belong under his feet, and from then has been seen the sign of the sovereign-empowered Christ coming on the clouds of heaven.

6. What information is obtained from Bible prophecies as to the enthronement of Christ Jesus in 1914?

⁶ Time had come in the fall of 1914 for Jehovah the Universal Sovereign himself to act! Action on a global scale, yes, on a universal scale, was due to take place. The waiting period was over, and now the desire of all righteous ones came. Christ Jesus, the proved and tested new world’s King, was enthroned and empowered with sovereignty from on high. At last the kingdom of heaven was established in the person of its anointed ruler, Christ the King. Now for the first time in nearly six thousand years there is in existence, as respects the entire earth, a new theocratic government with ruling right from God the true Sovereign. What tremendous good this bodes for righteous mankind! “The Eternal’s [Jehovah’s, AS] edict let me tell: ‘I, I have installed my king on Sion, on my sacred hill.’” (Ps. 2:6, 7, Mo) The Bible even gives us a glimpse of the glorious enthronement proceedings which occurred in 1914. “I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man [Christ Jesus, and he came even to the ancient of days [Jehovah God], and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” (Dan. 7:13, 14, AS) Thus about October 1, 1914, just 2,520 years after the last vestige of typical Jewish sovereignty expired, the “iron and bronze band” of abeyance was removed from the “tree stump” and once again divine sovereignty empowered a theocratic government to take over the control of the entire earth. The “lowest of mankind”, Christ Jesus, was now exalted with kingdom right forever. (Isa. 53:7-9) What joy there was in heaven! “And loud voices occurred in heaven saying: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king for ever and ever.’”—Rev. 11:15, NW.

7. What events occurred in heaven upon the establishment of the Kingdom?

⁷ The establishment of the kingdom of heaven immediately set in motion a chain of events both in heaven and on earth. These events were to occur in a transition period during which a great tribulation would come upon Satan’s entire organization leading up to the final test of power at Armageddon which results in its utter defeat and destruction. The birth of the Kingdom government in 1914 is likened to God’s woman, his organization Zion, bringing forth a male child whom Satan’s dragonlike organization is seeking to destroy. “And the dragon kept standing before the woman who was about to give birth, that, when she did give birth, it might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male, who is destined to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was caught away to God and to his throne.” (Rev. 12:4, 5, NW) From this scripture we see that the Kingdom has a safe empowerment of sovereignty and that it is destined to take violent action in breaking up all opposing governments on earth as with a rod of iron. But wait! The false sovereign behind these nations still in heaven must be dealt with first. The Scripture next says: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael [Christ Jesus] and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ.’”—Rev. 12:7-10, NW.

8. What reactions were experienced upon the earth?

⁸ Great was this victory of Christ Jesus and his angels! This prompt action in heaven was followed by reactions on earth. Jesus having come with his angels, this constituted the glorious sign of his second presence. (Matt. 25:31, NW) “Look! he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief because of him.” (Rev. 1:7, NW) So the reaction is one of great trouble for the inhabitants of the earth who are out of harmony with God. A dire time of judgment is setting in when the divine Sovereign Jehovah begins to rule with respect to the earth by means of his Anointed One Jesus Christ. While all Satan’s empowered kingdoms by a false sovereign begin to tumble before the expansion of the invincible new government, note how the following prophecy fitly describes what happens: “In the days of these kings [falsely empowered demon and human rulers] the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom never to be swept away, with a sovereignty that shall never pass to others; it shall break all these kingdoms to bits and make an end of them, but it shall stand for ever.” (Dan. 2:44, Mo) Indeed it is at this time that the Sovereign Jehovah commands the obliteration of all earthly governments not empowered by him. “You are now my son [Christ Jesus], this day am I your father; ask, and I make you master of pagans, lord over all to the ends of the earth; you can maul them with an iron mace, and shatter them like potter’s ware!”—Ps. 2:7-9, Mo.

9. What difficulties as to sovereignty have the nations been experiencing since 1914?

⁹ From and after 1914 all nations of the earth and their ruling elements have lost their sovereign vitality. They came out of the terrible “family” war of 1914-18 greatly mauled and ensnarled. Their two global dog-eat-dog brawls have left them all reeling and drunken. Incidentally, the Bible alludes to Gentiles as “dogs”. (Mark 7:28) Transfusions of sovereign power from one to another have been resorted to to keep the nations operating in these troublous times. The Bible even foretold that their two postwar attempts to gird themselves together into a world security organization would fail. (League of Nations, 1919, and the United Nations, 1945) “Make an uproar, O ye peoples, and be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: [1st] gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; [2nd] gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand.” (Isa. 8:9, 10, AS) So even as a last resort if they attempt the pooling of their fancied sovereignties they cannot withstand the irresistible growth of God’s true Kingdom rule which is destined to fill the whole earth.—Ps. 72:8.

WHEN YOU SEE THESE THINGS, WHAT?

10. What are some of the evidences as a composite sign that the Kingdom has already been established?

¹⁰ “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the consummation of the system of things?” (Matt. 24:3, NW) In Jesus’ answer to this question he described many things that would occur in the earth as supporting proof that the Kingdom’s establishment was an accomplished fact. Such would be a time for Jesus to turn his attention toward affairs of the earth, hence it is referred to as his “presence”. These things must occur within the one brief period known as the “consummation of the system of things”, or in the transitional wind-up period of this old world. At no time in previous history have all these things occurred at once to comprise a composite sign as has been the case since 1914. Consider the following enumeration of some of the predicted things of which there is an abundance of physical facts in support:

Sign Scripture Proof

1. World Wars Matt. 24:6, 7

2. Widespread famines Matt. 24:7

3. Unusual number of earthquakes Matt. 24:7

4. Persecution of Christians Matt. 24:9

5. Many false Christian religions Matt. 24:10, 11, 23, 24

6. Increased lawlessness Matt. 24:12

7. Many forsake Christianity Matt. 24:12

12. Sore pestilences and diseases Luke 21:11

13. Men becoming faint out of fear Luke 21:26

14. Juvenile delinquency 2 Tim. 3:1-3

11. How do the righteous view these transitional days since 1914?

¹¹ While the earth is filled full of woes on a scale such as never before experienced by man, deliverance draws near for those honest-hearted ones who are sighing and crying over all the abominations that are done in the earth. (Rev. 12:12, NW; Ezek. 9:4) To those of us passing through these dire times since the marked year 1914 Jesus said: “But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.” (Luke 21:28, NW) Truly rejoice, for Jehovah’s reigning King, Christ Jesus, has been set up as a raised signal around which the peoples of good will on earth are to rally. See, Christ Jesus, the glorious Signal, stands upon the lofty height of Mount Zion, the established kingdom of God. (Isa. 62:10, 11; Rev. 14:1) There he now reigns in the midst of his enemies in order to vindicate Jehovah’s right to universal sovereignty and in order to bless good-will persons out of all families and nations of the earth. Join in exalting him with praise! “Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.” (Rev. 19:6, NW) “Praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his heaven of power, praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him for his sovereign strength.”—Ps. 150:1, 2, Mo.

It is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. The night is well along; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore put off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light.—Rom. 13:11, 12, NW.