“Your Deliverance Is Getting Near”

“But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.”—Luke 21:28.

1-7. (a) What would news headlines announcing destruction of Vatican City mean to religionists of Christendom? (b) What would headlines regarding destruction of the two leading shrines of Islam mean to Mohammedans?

IMAGINE yourself reading the headlines in the newspaper:

² “Vatican City Has Been Destroyed! The Tremendous Crater Left in the Earth by the Blast of the Nuclear Bomb Has Left No Trace of the Reputed Tomb and Bones of St. Peter!.”

³ Would such headlines in the newspapers of the world mean anything to Roman Catholics, or, in fact, to all religious denominations of Christendom? Would such an event mark the end of a long epoch for them, with great uncertainty as to how to proceed in the future? Yes!

⁴ Also: “Mecca Has Been Wiped Out by Missiles from the Air! The Sacred Shrine Incorporating the Revered Black Stone Has Vanished amid the Explosion!”

⁵ Would such headlines in the world press mean anything to the Islamic world? Would it signify the end of an era to them, leaving an unfillable blank in their outlook for the future? On top of that:

⁶ “The Mosque ‘The Dome of the Rock,’ Second Most Holy Place in the Moslem Realm, Blasted Out of Existence! The Sacred Rock of the Prophet Mohammed Destroyed!”

⁷ Would such further news headlines add to Moslem convictions that an era had ended for them, leaving a big religious void? Yes!

8. (a) What did destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 C.E. mean to those worshiping there? (b) How is such a meaning to worshipers indicated?

⁸ Visitors to Rome, Italy, who pass through the triumphal Arch of Titus on the way between the Roman Forum and the Coliseum, see sculptures commemorating the destruction of a world-renowned city and its holy shrine in the year 70 of our Common Era. It is the city of Jerusalem and its temple built by King Herod the Great, the ruler appointed by the Roman Senate over the province of Judea. Did the destruction of that famous city and its temple mean anything to the millions who worshiped there? Did it mean the end of a national and religious epoch to them? Indeed, it did, as profane history testifies. When this very destruction was predicted, thirty-seven years in advance, did the four men who heard the prediction think that it would mean such a thing to their people, their nation? Evidently they did. The question that they asked the Prophet as a follow-up to his startling prediction indicates this.

9. How will the end of an important era of human history be similarly marked, and hence there is need of what?

⁹ No less so will the approaching end of an important era of human history be marked by an astonishing event similar to that of the year 70 C.E. The need of deliverance becomes very evident and now very urgent. Hundreds of millions in Christendom will be affected by this coming event, an event that itself will be the forerunner of Something so universal in its proportions as to affect all mankind. We need deliverance from such a world disaster!

10. Why is deliverance possible, and what will it mean for the ones delivered?

¹⁰ This is something on which the world does not count; otherwise we might reasonably expect it to do something about it. But you the reader can do something about it, if you really desire to enjoy the deliverance that is possible according to an unbreakable promise that comes from the highest authority. The greatest world trouble of all human experience is on its way toward us, but the deliverance is also on its way for those who not only long for it but who take the right, prescribed steps to attain to it. From year to year the signs keep multiplying about us to indicate that deliverance is getting near! Its arrival will mean that the ones delivered will come under a world government superior to that of man, and perfectly able to bless all mankind instead of doom them.

11. Why should there be no room for doubt that we are approaching the end of an epoch, and is there any hope for a better order to come from man thereafter?

¹¹ What observant person today can doubt that we are approaching the end of an epoch? This age of violence into which the world of mankind was suddenly plunged by World War I in the year 1914 cannot fail to reach its grand climax in disaster, unless it is stopped sooner by superhuman power. The repeated proofs of inability of men and nations to rule themselves are bound to lead to a state of world frustration and perplexity where mankind will have no human way out from the resulting chaos. The ferment in all the main fields of human interest, in politics, in education, in moral and social life, in racial relations and in religion, will follow psychological laws and thoroughly corrupt man’s sense of true human values and distort the former pattern of things. No human standards will any longer be respected, recognized and followed. The acceleration in the movement of things is increasing, speeding up the onrush of the end of this epoch in all its features. What then? Is there any reason to believe that man can hope for some miraculous new and better order to come from man, arising from the ashes of his burnt-out old order? No!

12. (a) From where must this deliverance come? (b) This source was pointed to by whom, and with what effect on his hearers?

¹² Dislike the idea as much as the antireligious people may dislike it, yet help for our race simply has to come from a source higher than man, from a friendly heavenly source rather than from a devilish heavenly source. It has to come from the one source that was pointed to by the great Prophet, who spoke about deliverance to four of his followers as they sat on the Mount of Olives with the city of Jerusalem and its temple within full view. The Prophet had his enemies there at Jerusalem who were bent on killing him, just as he has his enemies today. Each reader can determine for himself whether he also is an enemy or not by how he reacts to the mention of the name Jesus Christ! His four followers, his friends, who heard his encouraging words about deliverance were four fishermen from the Roman province of Galilee, namely, Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John. Why was deliverance a welcome thought to them? Why was it that they spoke to the Prophet about the end of an epoch, “the conclusion of the system of things”? Three reliable historians show why, and in doing so they give us today much food for thought.

13, 14. (a) Why were Jesus and his four followers then in that neighborhood? (b) What did Jesus say about the Herodian temple to the admirers of it?

¹³ It was just three days before the spring festival that celebrated the deliverance of the nation from further oppression by the mighty world power, Egypt of the Pharaohs, in the year 1513 before our Common Era. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were streaming toward Jerusalem, to an area that has since become sacred also to Arabs and all the Islamic realm. The Prophet Jesus and those four fishermen disciples were among those pilgrims. So on Tuesday, the eleventh day of the spring lunar month of Nisan, Jesus and his disciples visited the temple that King Herod the Great had built at the place where now stands the Mohammedan Mosque, the Dome of the Rock. The temple was so magnificent that some of the disciples could not help but remark about the precious stones that adorned it. That Herodian temple seemed destined to stand there in its glory for centuries to the honor of the God who was worshiped there. But the facts of history prove that Jesus was a true prophet when he said to those temple admirers:

¹⁴ “Do you not behold all these things? Truly I say to you, By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.”—Matthew’s account, Mt chapter 24, verses 1 through 3.

15. (a) That prophecy followed what earlier prophecy as a logical consequence? (b) Stones in that earlier prophecy included what?

¹⁵ Such a solemn prophecy would follow as a logical consequence to the terrible prophecy that he had made just two days before this. As he rode amid a jubilant multitude down the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem, he halted and wept as he said to her: “If you, even you, had discerned in this day the things having to do with peace—but now they have been hid from your eyes. Because the days will come upon you when your enemies will build around you a fortification with pointed stakes and will encircle you and distress you from every side, and they will dash you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave a stone upon a stone in you, because you did not discern the time of your being inspected.” (Luke 19:41-44) The phrase “a stone upon a stone in you” would include the temple stones. The Roman general Titus, who was used to fulfill this dire prophecy, would not be able to have even the sacred Herodian temple preserved. The prophetic words of Jesus had to come true.

16. From what former experience of Jerusalem could those disciples reason that her coming destruction meant the end of an era?

¹⁶ Total destruction to the holy city of Jerusalem and her temple! What could that mean to those four disciples of Jesus but the end of an era for their nation? That would be the second time that Jerusalem and her temple were destroyed by pagan armies. The disciples remembered the first destruction of Jerusalem and her temple by the armies of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar, in the year 607 B.C.E., and how this had meant the end of their nation as an independent theocratic kingdom under the rulership of the royal descendants of King David the son of Jesse of Bethlehem. Jerusalem was then left lying desolate for seventy years, under which circumstances Jerusalem indeed began to be trampled on by the pagan Gentile nations. Even though at the end of the seventy years a worshipful remnant of the nation returned from their exile in Babylonia and reoccupied the land of Judah, no kingdom in the hands of a royal descendant of David was reestablished. Only a governor, Zerubbabel, was appointed by the new world power of Persia to administer the land of Judah. The Davidic kingdom with throne in Jerusalem kept being trampled on by the Gentiles.

17. (a) Why was the Maccabean kingdom not an interruption of the trampling down of the Davidic kingdom? (b) What did the proclamation, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” mean to many humble people in the land?

¹⁷ True, in the second century B.C.E. the nation did gain an independence from the Gentiles and set up a kingdom, but this was in the hands of the Maccabees. These Maccabean kings were of the tribe of Levi and were priests and were not of the tribe of Judah and of the royal family of David. In the year 63 B.C.E. this Maccabean Levite kingdom came to an end, when the Romans under General Pompey took over the rule of the country. So now deliverance from the domination of the world power of Rome became the desire of the oppressed people of Judah. When John the Baptist and thereafter Jesus came proclaiming, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” this was welcome news to many humble persons in the land of Galilee and of Judea. (Matt. 3:1-4; 4:12-17) To many of the oppressed people this meant deliverance from the Roman yoke and the restoring of the theocratic kingdom in the hands of a rightful heir of King David at Jerusalem.—Acts 1:6.

GENTILE TIMES MUST CONTINUE TO THEIR END

18, 19. (a) By the message, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” what did Jesus mean and what did he not mean? (b) So what did Jesus say to the people about their “house”?

¹⁸ However, Jesus made no promise of deliverance from the Roman yoke. Contrariwise, he foretold the ruin of the nation by the Roman world power and the continuation of the trampling on Jerusalem’s dynasty of Davidic kings by the Gentile world powers. He being born into the human family as a member of the royal house of David, Jesus was the rightful heir of the theocratic kingdom of David. So because he was anointed with God’s spirit and was present among the oppressed people, the “kingdom of the heavens,” the “kingdom of God,” had drawn near. (Luke 17:20, 21) Jesus did not mean that the heavenly kingdom of God for delivering all mankind from oppressive world powers was then at hand. Instead, the Gentile Times for trampling on the rights of the kingdom of God in the hands of descendants of King David had to keep on to their appointed end. Jerusalem and her holy house of religious worship would not be spared. Consequently Jesus said to the people:

¹⁹ “Look! Your house is abandoned to you. For I say to you, You will by no means see me from henceforth until you say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!’”—Matt. 23:37-39.

20. (a) When had those very words as quoted from Psalm 118:26 been used regarding Jesus? (b) When and by whom would those words again be used?

²⁰ Two days previously when the jubilant crowd was accompanying Jesus on his kingly ride into Jerusalem they said those very words of prophetic Psalm 118:26, but the religious leaders of Jerusalem did not feel like the people nor feel that Jesus was the foretold “Blessed” One that came in Jehovah’s name. (Matt. 21:1-9 Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19) No wonder, therefore, that Jesus would not present himself again in the flesh to them as the rightful anointed heir to the kingdom of David at Jerusalem! He would go away and no more be seen by them in the flesh. And yet the day would arrive when he would come into the kingdom and sit on the throne at the right hand of Jehovah God. Then those who would discern the evidence showing that he had come into his kingdom and was present on the throne would see him with eyes of faith. They would discern it to be the due time to say: “Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!” (Ps. 110:1-6; Acts 2:34-36) They would be disposed to call him “blessed,” because his coming into his kingdom would mean deliverance from their enemies.

21. According to Matthew’s account, what question did those prophecies of Jesus call forth from his four disciples?

²¹ Hearing his words about his coming again in Jehovah’s name, and hearing shortly afterward his prophecy about the casting down of the stones of Jerusalem’s temple, the four fishermen disciples of Jesus asked him: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?”—Matt. 23:38 to 24:3.

22, 23. To what did the disciples’ words “these things” refer, and how is this shown to be correct by Jesus’ answer?

²² The disciples’ words, “these things,” undeniably included the predicted destruction of Jerusalem then in view of the disciples seated on the Mount of Olives. In the course of the prophecy that Jesus then gave in answer to their question he definitely spoke of the coming destruction of that Jerusalem by the Roman legions in the year 70 C.E., then only thirty-seven years away. (Matt. 24:15-20) In his account of Jesus’ prophecy Doctor Luke speaks of Jerusalem’s destruction in great detail (Luke 21:20-24) and says:

²³ “Furthermore, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those in the country places not enter into her; because these are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled. Woe to the pregnant women and the ones suckling a baby in those days! For there will be great necessity upon the land and wrath on this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.”

24, 25. (a) Before that prophecy went into fulfillment why were Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and Judea equipped to act obediently? (b) How did they act, and what did this mean for them?

²⁴ Before this prophecy was fulfilled in 70 C.E. and even before the Jews revolted in the year 66 C.E. and brought on Jerusalem’s second destruction, the disciples Luke, Matthew and Mark had written their accounts of Jesus’ prophecy. Thus the inspired records were there for any Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and Judea to consult and then to act upon after the Roman general Cestius Gallus tried to deal with the revolt promptly but suddenly lifted the siege and withdrew after surrounding Jerusalem with his armies encamped upon the holy precincts roundabout the city.a

²⁵ Before the Roman armies under a new general, Titus, could return, the faithful Jewish Christians fled from doomed Jerusalem and the province of Judea. For the most part they sought refuge on the eastern bank of the Jordan River in the province of Perea. Their obedient action spelled deliverance for them when later the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and then swept through the province of Judea destroying cities and killing off Jews by the tens of thousands and at last leading off 97,000 surviving Jews into captivity and slavery.

26. How severe was the vengeance of those days, or the meting out of divine justice?

²⁶ In 73 C.E., with the fall of the fortress of Masada about midway west of the Dead Sea the whole province of Judea was subjugated, cleared of all rebels, by the Roman armies. In the five-month siege of Jerusalem, from Nisan 14 until Elul 6 (September 6, Gregorian time calendar), when the city was taken by General Titus, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus estimates that 1,100,000 Jews died. If the earlier days of the first destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E. were days of divine vengeance, the days of this second destruction of Jerusalem were no less days of divine vengeance, “days for meting out justice” from heaven, just as Jesus had predicted three days before he was murdered outside the walls of the bloodguilty Jerusalem.

27. What question now arises as to the extent of the application of Jesus’ prophecy?

²⁷ Certainly, with these events the then Jewish system of things with its homeland and capital city and temple of worship came to a conclusion. (1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 9:26-28) But was the desolating of Jerusalem and Judea the farthest point in history to which Jesus’ prophecy as recorded in Matthew 24:3 to 25:46; Mark 13:3-37 and Luke 21:7-36 extended and had application?

28. Had deliverance by God’s kingdom come with the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy on literal Jerusalem and Judea?

²⁸ Well, when Jerusalem and her temple were destroyed in 70 C.E. and all Judea was subjugated by the year 73 C.E., did the surviving Jewish Christians have reason to believe that the kingdom of God had come? No! Did they by faith see Jesus in his Messianic kingdom and did they say: “Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name”? No! Had the promised “deliverance” come, more particularly deliverance from the Roman world power, the desolator of Jerusalem and Judea? No! For at that time the Christians were still largely to be found inside the territory of the Roman Empire, although there were Christians outside the empire in Parthia, India, Scythia, Ethiopia, and elsewhere. Why, for more than two centuries after the Jewish disasters of 70-73 C.E., the Christians suffered terrible persecutions at the hand of the Roman Empire, yes, even after the days of Emperor Constantine.

29. (a) When had Jerusalem begun to be trampled on by the Gentile nations? (b) So, as regards this, what did Jesus prophesy to show that his prophecy reached out beyond 70 C.E.?

²⁹ The Roman Empire was the fourth of the Gentile world powers that had trampled on Jerusalem’s kingdom in the hands of the royal heir of King David; first, Babylon; second, Medo-Persia; third, Greece (Macedonia); and fourth, Imperial Rome. So complete was the desolation of the Roman province of Judea that the Roman Emperor Vespasian sold pieces of land therein as real estate to Gentile buyers. Hence Jesus’ words as given on the Mount of Olives in 33 C.E. had to reach out far beyond the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple in 70 C.E., for, when telling of her siege and fall, Jesus predicted: “And Jerusalem will be trampled on by the [Gentile] nations, until the appointed times of the [Gentile] nations are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24) Even after the Roman Empire lost its grip over the Middle East, the land where King David and his royal successors used to reign continued under the domination of Gentile political powers. No Messianic kingdom in the hands of a rightful heir of King David could come into power until those “appointed times of the [Gentile] nations” ended in God’s own prefixed time.

“GREAT TRIBULATION”

30, 31. The way that Jesus described “great tribulation” right after telling of Jerusalem’s siege and fall indicates what?

³⁰ The siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the subjugation of all Judea by the Roman legions was indeed a time of “great tribulation” for the Jewish people. But certainly this did not measure up to the proportions of the tribulation that Jesus foretold farther along in his prophecy of the “sign” of his presence and of the “conclusion of the system of things.” Although his prediction of the “great tribulation” followed right after his description of the siege of ancient Jerusalem, yet the language that he used appears to make it apply to something far greater than Jerusalem’s destruction, something like it but future from it. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ prophecy his language reads:. “For then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. 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.”—Matt. 24:21, 22.

³¹ In John Mark’s account of Jesus’ prophetic language it reads: “For those days will be days of a tribulation such as has not occurred from the beginning of the creation which God created until that time, and will not occur again. In fact, unless Jehovah had cut short the days, no flesh would be saved. But on account of the chosen ones whom he has chosen he has cut short the days.”—Mark 13:19, 20.

32. Because of the language used in connection with “great tribulation,” what questions do we properly ask about tribulations?

³² Later on in his prophecy Jesus spoke of Noah and the flood of Noah’s day, and so we ask, Was Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E. a tribulation greater than that of the Flood 1,656 years after man’s creation? Was Jerusalem’s destruction by the Roman armies the worst tribulation that occurred till then since the beginning of God’s creation of mankind, not even leaving out the Noachian flood? In the 1,898 years since Jerusalem’s destruction has no disaster occurred that equals it or surpasses it? Has no “great tribulation” occurred again since 70-73 C.E. that compares with the Jewish disaster of those years or that far exceeds it? What about the destruction of human lives and cities in World War I of 1914-1918 and in World War II of 1939-1945? The desolating of Jerusalem and Judea in the first century was only a small-scale affair in comparison with those global conflicts. Well, then, did Jesus make a mistake in calculating the disastrous proportions of the Jewish disaster of 70-73 C.E.? Such a thing could not be true of Jesus. So how shall we take his language?

33, 34. What further parts of the prophecy would keep Jesus from using extravagant language about the devastation of Jerusalem and Judea?

³³ Jesus was not exaggerating here the measure of the devastation of Jerusalem and Judea. He foreknew and foretold that the Gentile Times for trampling on the rights of the Davidic kingdom would continue on after Jerusalem’s destruction. He compared the days of his return-presence with the days of Noah in which the global flood destroyed all mankind but Noah’s family inside the ark, thereby suggesting something far worse than Jerusalem’s destruction. He spoke of “all the tribes of the earth,” not just the twelve tribes of Israel, beating themselves in lamentation at what they see coming. (Matt. 24:30) All this in that one and the same prophecy on the “sign” of his presence and the “conclusion of the system of things.”

³⁴ Furthermore, in the Revelation that he gave to his apostle John twenty-six years after Jerusalem’s destruction Jesus spoke of the “kings of the entire inhabited earth” as being gathered to the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon and he thereafter described the enormous slaughter to be wrought in that war of Armageddon. (Rev. 16:13-16; 19:11-21) This would keep Jesus from using extravagant language.

35. Evidently, then, Jesus was speaking of Jerusalem from what standpoints?

³⁵ It is therefore evident that Jesus was here using Jerusalem’s destruction as a prophetic illustration, speaking of it not only in a literal way but also in a typical way, as typical of something far greater. So he had a greater unfaithful doomed Jerusalem in mind, and he was in fact prophesying about the destruction of the larger unfaithful Jerusalem and the world disaster of which it will be the initial part. He was prophesying about the antitypical Jerusalem and Judea, namely, Christendom, which, according to the statistics of today, numbers close onto a thousand million members world wide.

36. Why can Christendom be said to be the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem and Judea?

³⁶ Christendom claims to be the spiritual Israel that is in the new covenant with God by the mediation of Jesus Christ. She claims to be the spiritual Zion or Jerusalem, to whom God’s promises belong or apply. Christendom’s pope at Vatican City is revered as being the vicegerent or vicar of the heavenly Jesus Christ who is “the lion of the tribe of Juda.” (Rev. 5:5, Dy) The bringing of Christendom into existence was indicated in Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds, and in that same parable he foretold the destruction of Christendom and her weedlike Christians, the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem and Judea.—Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43.

WORLD DISTRESS SINCE END OF GENTILE TIMES

37. How can we see that Jesus’ prophecy extends down to here in connection with Christendom and even beyond this present year?

³⁷ Jesus’ prophetic words in Matthew 24:21, 22 and Mark 13:19, 20 being viewed from this standpoint, we can see that his prophecy applies down here to these last days of the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem and Judea, Christendom. Jesus’ prophecy about the things that were due to occur certainly extended itself down to the year 1914 C.E. and beyond 1914, even beyond this present year. How so? By the fact that Jesus said: “And Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled,” and then added more. (Luke 21:24) We need not here repeat the proof that the Gentile Times, “the appointed times of the nations,” ended around October 1, 1914. History proves it!

38, 39. (a) Since what year have the earlier words of Jesus’ prophecy been fulfilled particularly upon Christendom? (b) What did that “beginning of pangs of distress” indicate for Christendom?

³⁸ Since that marked year of 1914 Christendom along with the rest of the world of mankind has had fulfilled upon her Jesus’ words near the beginning of his prophecy, namely: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be great earthquakes, and in one place after another pestilences and food shortages; and there will be fearful sights and from heaven great signs.”—Luke 21:10, 11.

³⁹ Matthew’s parallel account reads: “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.” (Matt. 24:7, 8) When nation rose against nation and kingdom against kingdom in 1914–1918, twenty-four out of the twenty-eight nations involved were nations of Christendom, the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem and Judea. Unavoidably, then, for Christendom especially, the first world war and the notable food shortages, pestilences and earthquakes meant a “beginning of pangs of distress.” Those “pangs of distress,” as serious as those of a woman in childbirth, did not mean that Christendom was about to give birth to a new Christian order, a world converted to Christianity, but meant that she was nearing her painful death. But true Christians were nearing deliverance!

How We Know It Is Getting Near

1. As regards “fearful sights and from heaven great signs,” what did Jesus prophesy right after telling of Jerusalem’s being trampled on by the nations to the end of their appointed times?

Note that Luke’s account of Jesus’ prophecy predicted “fearful sights and from heaven great signs.” (Luke 21:11) After describing Jerusalem’s destruction and her being trampled on by the Gentile nations until their “appointed times” are fulfilled, Luke’s account goes on to say: “Also, there will be signs in 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, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”—Luke 21:25-27.

2, 3. To what extent have the “powers of the heavens” been shaken by the advent of aviation?

² Have not all these predicted things already come true in large measure, although not altogether to their fullest measure? Have not the “powers of the heavens” been shaken, with an effect upon sun, moon and stars?

³ Till this twentieth century the heavens have been the dominion of the birds and flying creatures, with the exception of some kites, balloons and dirigibles sent aloft by men. More than thirteen thousand years ago, on the fifth creative day God created the creatures of the sea and the flying creatures to “fly over the earth upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.” (Gen. 1:20-23) But with the successful flying of the airplane on December 17, 1903, man really began to invade the domain of the living flying creatures and to go above their realm into outer space. From then on the airplane was improved and was put to use in World War I in shooting and bombing from the air. Rain, snow and hail were thenceforth not the only things to be poured down from the heavens. With the expanding of aviation in war operations and in peacetime transportation the balance of man’s natural environment was due to be shaken, upset, unsettled.

4. How is rocketry causing an invasion of the heavens?

⁴ During World War I the German “Big Bertha” cannons were used from a distance of seventy-five miles to heave shells into Paris, France. Thereafter rocketry was specially pushed by the Germans. Rockets were used to carry explosives from the European continent across the English Channel and down upon London and other English cities, in addition to airplane bombing raids. Near the close of World War II atomic bombs of devastating explosive power were introduced into warfare and exploded over Japan. In short order there followed the invention of the still more terrible nuclear bomb. A number of leading nations developed the know-how, so that today there are five nuclear nations. The first atomic bombs were dropped from speedy airplanes, but now rocketry has been applied in behalf of the nuclear bomb. Now the world of mankind shudders in fear of the ICBM’s, the intercontinental ballistic missiles, which streak through the outer space of the heavens across the formerly protective oceans to strike the enemy targets. Man is trying to outdo the lightning bolts of the heavens.

“ANGUISH OF NATIONS”

5. As to “signs in sun and moon and stars,” what darkening of sun, moon and stars and also meteoric showers in these last centuries does history record?

⁵ What, though, about the foretold “signs in 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, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth”? (Luke 21:25, 26) Could it mean anything different from what happened on May 19, 1780, when the sun was darkened? This produced a nightlike darkness that extended over 329,000 square miles of New England, United States of America, this being followed on the subsequent night by the darkening of the moon, when at its full, and also of the stars. Also, on the early morning of November 12/13, 1833, there occurred a meteoric shower in which millions on millions of starlike meteors fell over North America and which covered 11,000,000 square miles, a heavenly phenomenon so impressive that it caught the attention of scientific men. Yet not long ago, early on November 17, 1966, there was an awesome meteoric shower that rained on the upper atmosphere of southwestern United States, from Texas to Arizona.

6. (a) Would such heavenly phenomena repeated in this century terrify people into believing that the world’s end was near? (b) How have phenomena different from the above been made known?

⁶ Well, in our twentieth century of scientific advancement nothing like such strange celestial phenomena would terrify most people into believing that the “end of the world” was near. True, but today the science of astronomy, telescopic and radio, has made such advancement as to detect more phenomena about sun, moon and stars and their effect upon the earth and its inhabitants.

7. What information, scientifically gained, is imparting to us new aspects about sun, moon and stars?

⁷ Now we are informed of how those great flares of nuclear energy producing so-called sunspots send out streams of powerful electronic particles that not only cause disruption in the field of shortwave radio and magnetic areas but also affect people to an abnormal extent, a new cycle of sunspots due to reach its peak in 1970. The earth is continually being bombarded with cosmic rays. Great belts of ionized particles encircle the earth and endanger astronauts maneuvering in outer space. Tremendous quasars, which are sources of radio waves, are being discovered; and radio telescopes are picking up signals from invisible heavenly bodies. Rockets have released capsules that have given a soft landing to radar cameras on the surface of the moon, transmitting back to earth closeup pictures of the moon’s terrain. The scientific projects of putting men on the moon lead to fears that the moon will be made a military base from which to control the earth.

8. Why has the “anguish of nations” worsened since 1914 C.E., and what new area has become truly menacing?

⁸ Our awareness of such “signs” in sun, moon and stars as produced by modern scientific findings only adds to the “anguish of nations.” Their difficulties have constantly multiplied since 1914 C.E., both inside nations and between nations. The anguish is made worse because of their “not knowing the way out” by means of human remedies and solutions. It is “because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the earth.” Of course, submarine earthquakes have occurred, causing tsunami waves to lunge across the ocean and to engulf cities, resulting in great loss of life and property. But the seas and oceans are becoming more menacing for another reason. During World War I submarine warfare was brought into action, and the submarine torpedo boat proved to be a most effective one of the many new instrumentalities of destruction that were employed. Submarine warfare was heavily relied upon by the Germans in World War II.

9. How is the sea being further agitated by powerful nations?

⁹ More effective use of the sea in warfare is now being pushed by powerful nations. The Communist giant of Soviet Russia is vastly increasing its merchant marine and submarine fleet. The United States is being reminded of the Communist threat to “bury” democratic America, and the fear is being expressed publicly that the Communists will “bury us” in the sea by their submarine and surface ship superiority. Nuclear engines have successfully been installed in submarines, enabling them to go around the world without surfacing. Submarines are being armed with missile-shooting equipment capable of firing from underwater long-range missiles carrying atomic warheads, causing destruction to roar up out of the sea, aimed at distant targets on dry land. Even surface warships are being outfitted for missile warfare. Indeed, the sea is suffering agitation from all these deadly prowlers of the briny deep. In fear of further agitation of the sea, the American president, L. B. Johnson, in July of 1968, urged the seventeen-nation Disarmament Conference, at the start of its new session in Geneva, Switzerland, to start exploring the means of preventing the use of the seabed as a hiding place for nuclear missiles, the use of the ocean floors for the “emplacement of weapons of mass destruction.”—New York Times, as of July 26, 1968.

10, 11. Why, as foretold by Jesus, are men becoming faint?

¹⁰ At the same time the political, financial, economic, social and religious elements are becoming more perplexed, and in their frustration these men are becoming faint not only out of fear but also out of expectation of the things that they can calculate are bound to come upon the earth. World famine is predicted for the year 1975. Appeal is being made to the United Nations organization to prevent the spreading of atomic and nuclear weapons into the hands of nations outside the Big Five nuclear powers of today. The missile gap between America and Russia is closing; Russia is nearing equality with the United States. There is great insistence that outer space must not be used for warfare.a

¹¹ Also, defoliation of enemy hideouts by means of herbicides and chemicals needs to be studied as to its long-range effects on man’s environment. Modern industry and even jet-propulsion aircraft are fatally hurting the balance of man’s natural surroundings, in view of which one magazine article headlines and discusses the subject “Can the World Be Saved?” (New York Times Magazine, March 31, 1968) Will our earth shortly become unlivable for the exploding world population? Such are real, valid fears indeed!

12. However, at what time will the great climax to all this come, and how?

¹² Yet it is at God’s prefixed time, not man’s, that the great climax comes, just as the next words of Jesus’ prophecy indicate: “And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:27) This refers to his coming to destroy Babylon the Great, the world empire of false Babylonish religion, and then to the “war of the great day of God the AlMighty” at Armageddon. (Rev. 16:13-16) Invisible in the spirit he will be as if hidden “in a cloud,” but the nations will discern that it must be the foretold “Son of man,” because of the power that is exercised beyond that of man. Christendom will not share then in his “great glory,” but will be destroyed despite all her hypocritical prayers to God. Neither will there be any glory for the former political lovers of Babylon the Great, for after her these political ruling elements will be annihilated, going down in inglorious defeat because of fighting against earth’s rightful King, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. They will see, appreciate, that their destruction comes from a source higher than human.

ENCOURAGEMENT AND WARNING

13. What did Jesus say about our attitude while the nations are bowed down with anguish and fear?

¹³ Well, now, what about us? What does all this mean for us? Should we share in the present “anguish of nations” and their not knowing the way out, their becoming faint, their fears and terrifying expectations? We do not need to do so. Jesus Christ, after detailing all the foregoing things, said in answer to his disciples: “But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.” (Luke 21:28) So, if we are faithful, dedicated, baptized followers of the great Prophet Jesus Christ, we do not need to be bowed down with the nations in their anguish and fears.

14, 15. The deliverance to which we are getting near is from what?

¹⁴ To those of us who become real Christians of that kind the words “your deliverance” should have a stirring, encouraging sound, as they did to the disciples to whom Jesus Christ spoke. Why should not the words be encouraging, rousing, since they tell of being freed from persecutors and haters? For, before telling of the deliverance that is getting near, Jesus said: “But before all these things people will lay their hands upon you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, you being haled before kings and governors for the sake of my name. It will turn out to you for a witness. . . . Moreover, you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death; and you will be objects of hatred by all people because of my name.”—Luke 21:12-17.

¹⁵ Our deliverance is from people who not merely persecute and hate us but who hate Jesus Christ, as it is because of his name that they persecute and hate us. Such haters of Him are part of this “system of things,” and it is thus also from this entire system of things that we persecuted, hated ones are delivered.

16, 17. By whom or by what means with this deliverance come?

¹⁶ What will the passing of this system of things mean? Deliverance from it will come by whom or by what? Evidently by the one whom the nations see “coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:27) This is made certain for us by Jesus’ words after he mentioned “your deliverance.” Luke 21:29-33 tells us:

¹⁷ “With that he spoke an illustration to them: ‘Note the fig tree and all the other trees: When they are already in the bud, by observing it you know for yourselves that now the summer is near. In this way you also, when you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.’”—Compare Matthew 24:32-35; Mark 13:28-31.

18. Since what year have we seen “these things” occurring, in verification of whose words?

¹⁸ “These things,” as foretold by Jesus in his prophecy, we who are of “this generation” have seen occurring since the year 1914, in which year the “appointed times of the nations” ended. Sooner would heaven and earth literally pass away than for Jesus’ words to pass away unfulfilled. Therefore Jesus’ words are so worthy of our accepting and believing.

19. From seeing these things occur as foretold, what do we know?

¹⁹ Hence, from seeing these things occurring, what do we know? We know that the divine agency for our deliverance, “the kingdom of God,” is near. What should we do, then, to prove that we do believe this? 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) We of “this generation” have seen these foretold things “start to occur” in 1914, and now for the last fifty-four years we have seen them occurring. So our convictions have been confirmed. From a long train of foretold events we know that the kingdom of God is getting near to its act of destroying this system of things and its supporters at Armageddon and bringing about our glorious deliverance.

20. Why should we not be bowed down because of the persecution and hatred heaped upon us?

²⁰ Rightly, then, this is no time for us enlightened observers of these fulfillments of Christ’s prophecy to be bowed down, with heads hanging dejectedly, because of the persecution and hatred that are heaped upon us for the sake of Jesus’ name. Better is it for us to suffer thus for the sake of his name than to suffer the “anguish of nations, not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.” Worldly men and nations are suffering such things because they are opposing the kingdom of God, but we are suffering at their hands because of proclaiming “this good news of the kingdom” in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations before their end comes. (Matt. 24:14) They face eternal destruction. We face eternal deliverance. Why not, then, raise ourselves erect and hopefully lift our heads up, also lifting up our voices as we keep on proclaiming God’s kingdom?—Mark 13:10.

21. Because of what other things, as mentioned in Jesus’ warning, should our heads not be bowed down?

²¹ Now especially we should never become bowed down and let our heads drop and nod in slumber and drowsiness because of our overindulging ourselves with the worldly nations in their efforts to forget and ignore the things taking place since 1914. Because it is now so late and is so far along in the current of world affairs, it is the time of all times for us to keep alert to what is taking place in the world’s speedy approach to the unavoidable climax, and then to act as observant, understanding Christians. We dare not ignore what Jesus included as a warning in his prophecy: “But pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. For it will come in upon all those dwelling upon the face of all the earth. Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and in standing before the Son of man.”—Luke 21:34-36.

22. (a) What will it mean for those caught by that ensnaring day? (b) What heart condition should we avoid?

²² A snare is triggered to snap in on its victim in a fraction of a second before he can escape. So for us to have that day suddenly be upon us in an instant like a snare means to be caught beyond all chance to work ourselves loose and means death for us. That ensnaring day is fast coming in “upon all those dwelling upon the face of all the earth,” just as surely as day follows night. We are all of us bound to enter into that day since it will arrive suddenly earth wide, no dweller on earth being out of its reach. We must all face it. But how? Doing like the people of Noah’s preflood days, eating and drinking to excess and giving way to the “anxieties of life,” including the anxieties over seeking pleasures? This is what the “evil slave” class does. (Matt. 24:38, 39, 48-51) These are not the things to set our hearts upon, letting our hearts be weighed down with these things and growing fatty, thick and unresponsive to Christ’s call to Kingdom service. In this destiny-determining time we need to pay attention to ourselves in order to avoid such a heart condition.

23. To “succeed in escaping all these things,” how should we keep ourselves mentally, and with the aid of what?

²³ It is a time for us to keep our full powers and faculties awake, active in God’s service, a time for us to make supplication, because we cannot do this in our own strength. Without God’s help we cannot succeed. Only in this way shall we escape sharing in the anguish, fear and dreaded expectation of the worldly nations and being ensnared in destruction with them at Armageddon.

24. Our purpose, along with our strong supplication, is to do what, and fulfilling this purpose will bring us what?

²⁴ What we are striving to do with all our hearts is to stand before the Son of man who comes “with power and great glory” to the execution of divine judgment upon this system of things and its backers. Let all of Christendom, the antitypical Jerusalem and Judea, fall condemned to destruction before this Son of man whom she hypocritically has claimed to serve. Our purpose, along with our making strong supplication, is to stand approved before the Son of man as his true followers who have kept ourselves raised erect, with our heads lifted up, constantly awake and never looking back at Christendom and Babylon the Great, from which we have fled. Erect in the full dignity of our service as free, dedicated servants of the Most High God, we shall keep our heads up, obediently proclaiming the kingdom of our heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and serving its interests. (Rom. 14:4) This active, faithful course will shortly bring us the grand reward of our being delivered from this wicked system of things into God’s blessed new order, there to worship and serve him at his imperishable temple forevermore.

[Footnotes]

Assyria’s Historical Records and the Bible

DURING the many centuries the names of prominent Assyrian rulers such as Sargon, Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser and Sennacherib have been passed on to generation after generation of Bible readers. With a sense of reality unmatched by any secular record, the Bible related their dealings with the people of Judah and Israel. In the case of Sargon, modern secular historians for long were not even sure of his identity.

Then, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came the era of the archaeologist. Diggings in mounds or tells of Mesopotamia produced startling finds. Specifically referring to work undertaken by archaeologist Paul-Emile Botta, author C. W. Ceram, in Gods, Graves and Scholars, writes on page 225: “Hitherto only the Bible had had anything pertinent to say about the land between the two rivers, and for nineteenth-century science the Bible was a collection of legends.”

But now those warrior-kings of Assyria lived again, as their own annals, their palaces, their “display” inscriptions and their “king lists” came to light. Assyriology became an accepted science, and its students delved into the mass of unearthed data to build up a history of a little known empire. The facts related in the Bible about Assyria and her rulers were now recognized to be authentic, but modern students began to challenge the chronology or dating of events in Assyrian history as found in the Bible.

So the question now arises, Do the specialists in Assyriology have reliable material on which to base their supposed corrections of the Book that for so many centuries kept alive knowledge of those ancient names and the events connected with them? Have the records and monuments wrested from the dusty mounds of