Part 29—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”

During the course of the centuries since the conflict between the king of the north and the king of the south began in the fourth century before the Christian era, the identity of the two kings has changed. In 64 B.C. the rulers of the Roman Empire assumed the role of the king of the north. At the death of the Roman Emperor Theodosius in 393 (A.D.) the empire became divided into an eastern and a western part. But it was not till the Roman Catholic pope, Leo III, crowned the Frankish king, Charlemagne, as emperor of the western empire that it became historically correct to speak of the Western Empire as well as of the Eastern Empire, which latter empire had its capital at Constantinople. That was on Christmas Day of the year 800.

78. When emperorship of the West became elective, to whom did it finally come, to remain till the end, and how was the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation established and brought to an end?

⁷⁸ In 911 (A.D.) the emperorship of the West became elective. Five centuries later it was obtained by the members of the house of Hapsburg of Austria, and was held by them till 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved. The German Empire received this title during the reign of Otho (Otto) the Great. In 961 he was crowned as king of Italy; and on February 2, 962, Pope John XII crowned him at Rome as Otho I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. It had its capital in Germany, and the emperors and most of their subjects were Germans. So under Otho I Germany and Italy were brought into close relationship, but with Germany on top, for Italy was treated finally as a conquered province. Napoleon Bonaparte was the one that brought the Holy Roman Empire to its end in 1806. When he, as emperor of the French, refused to recognize the Holy Roman Empire as existing, Emperor Francis II released the Germanic states from their allegiance to the Holy Roman Empire. He resigned from the Roman Imperial dignity and withdrew to his national government as emperor of Austria. Thus after 1,006 years the Holy Roman Empire, which had been founded by the Roman Catholic pope and by Frankish Charlemagne, came to an inglorious end. It had proved to be no millennial kingdom of God.

79. When was the new German Empire established, and what triple alliance was formed?

⁷⁹ In 1870 Italy was established as a kingdom independent of the Roman popes of the Vatican. In the next year the new Germanic Empire was begun, with William I being declared Caesar or Kaiser. The modern king of the north was becoming identifiable. In time Germany and Austria-Hungary and Italy entered into an alliance, in which the outbreak of World War I found them.

80. How did the seventh world power come into existence, and when particularly did it come into the position of king of the south?

⁸⁰ Great Britain took on imperial power in the beginning of the seventeenth century and rose to the position of the seventh world power of Bible history, it being joined in this position by the United States of America to form the Anglo-American dual world power. During Britain’s war with Napoleon Bonaparte the British army drove the French out of Egypt, the whole of which the French had conquered in 1798. Although Egypt came again under the overlordship of Turkey, the British government virtually controlled Egypt since 1882. Egypt was in fact a British dependency, although under its native khedive, for the British army stayed in Egypt and the British will was really the law. Then in 1914, because the Egyptian khedive sided with Turkey, which had joined Germany in the first world war, the British took over in Egypt, deposed the khedive and declared Egypt a British Protectorate. Thus democratic Britain and America became opponents of the prophetic king of the north, and together they came into the position of the king of the south.

81. From this standpoint, what does the rest of Daniel’s prophecy take on for us?

⁸¹ From this standpoint, the rest of the historical preview that Jehovah’s angel brought to Daniel in the third year of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes on a gripping meaning for us in this “appointed time of the end” of this old world.—Dan. 8:19, JP; RS.

CHAPTER 11

“THE APPOINTED TIME OF THE END”

1. In this “appointed time of the end.” what has the warfare between the king of the north and the king of the south threatened, and why?

IN THE “appointed time of the end” the warfare cold and hot between the king of the north and the king of the south has threatened modern man-made civilization with ruin. The two kings have carried on their deceptive diplomacy and their warfare not only without regard for the best interests of mankind but also without respect for the kingdom of God, the rightful government of all the earth. Bringing the long-range prophecy down to our times, God’s angel said to the prophet Daniel: “And as for both these kings, their heart is bent on mischief, and at one table will they speak lies; but it shall not prosper; for the end is yet for the time appointed.”—Dan. 11:27, Le; JP.

2. From 1871 onward what interests began to clash and yet what conviction concerning peace was voiced?

² Shortly after the re-establishment of the German Empire on January 1, 1871, the interests of this king of the north began to clash with those of the modern king of the south, the Anglo-American dual world power. The Germanic king of the north was the most lively and mighty champion of the former sixth world power of Rome. When the German parliament opened in October of 1871, Emperor William I voiced the conviction that “the new German Empire will be a reliable shield of peace.” Did this prove to be the truth or a lie?

3. In what way were the hearts of these two kings “bent on mischief”?

³ The king of the north and the king of the south were seated “at one table,” having mutual contacts and expressing friendliness. But their hearts were bent on mischief, if not toward each other, then certainly toward the promised, prayed-for kingdom of God. The two kings claimed to rule “by the grace of God” and to rule by divine right as the “higher powers” that were “ordained by God.” (Rom. 13:1, AV; Luther) The king of the south already held world empire, the greatest that the world had known till then. It resented the rising power of the new German Reich or Empire.

4. Evidently for what did Kaiser Wilhelm II plan, and what moves did he make to that end?

⁴ In 1888 the grandson of William I came to the German imperial throne as William II, commonly called Kaiser Wilhelm. Says one authority: “He was a firm believer in the divine right of kings and of kaisers in particular. On numerous occasions he spoke of himself as ‘the instrument of the Lord,’ and took such excessive interest in the army, . . . But his selfish ambition had no bounds. It is now generally conceded that almost from the first day of his reign he began to plan for world domination; that he . . . resolved that he, William, would show the world that one man could raise himself to the topmost pinnacle and not only rule Germany, but through Germany might rule the civilized earth.”a “He declared that he owed his ‘awful responsibility toward the Creator alone, wherefrom no man, no minister, no parliament, no people can relieve the sovereign.’ . . . ”b He built up a powerful, well-trained army in which he had great confidence: he also developed a mighty navy, including many untersee boats or submarines; he launched out on great commercial and colonial expansion of the German Reich. He extended the Reich’s influence to Turkey and Asia Minor, seeking a direct railroad route to the Persian Gulf. He built up German interests in the Far East, Africa and South America. Mischief afoot!

5. At what “one table” were the two kings seated, and what did they speak there?

⁵ Both kings became members of the Hague Court of International Arbitration. So presumably they were for peace between themselves and other nations, but hardly for “peace with God” or peace with his coming kingdom. What else could be expected but that they should “speak lies” diplomatically “at one table”? Not at the “table of Jehovah,” which is a table of truth, but at the “table of demons,” which is the table of “teachings of demons.” (1 Cor. 10:20, 21; 1 Tim. 4:1, 2, NW; RS; Mal. 1:7, 12, AS) However, this lying course of speech and conduct toward each other and toward Jehovah God and his Christ did not prosper into a peaceful world or toward any willing submission to the oncoming kingdom of God and of his Christ. It did not prosper for their perpetually holding on to political, commercial and military power, because the end of both “kings” is “yet for the time appointed” by Jehovah God.

6, 7. (a) How did the king of the north now “return into his land with great riches”? (b) The favor of what religious potentate did he win?

⁶ Having the king of the north in mind, Jehovah’s angel said to Daniel: “Then will he return into his land with great riches, and his heart will be against the holy covenant: and he will do it, and return to his own land.” (Dan. 11:28, Le) Kaiser Wilhelm returned to the land or earthly condition of the ancient king of the north by building up an absolutist imperial form of rule, for increasing the German Reich and extending its influence to all quarters. By this course “great riches” in many ways resulted to imperial Germany. He made Germany the chief part in a Triple Alliance or Dreibund made up of Austria-Hungary, Italy and Germany, with the favor of the pope of the Vatican. To quote an authority:

⁷ “Notably in maintaining the Triple Alliance, the emperor followed the policy of [Chancellor] Bismarck. . . . Bismarck’s [anti-Catholic] kulturkampf legacy William sagaciously disposed of through concessions which he turned to profit by making an implicit alliance of the Vatican and the German schools in his anti-revolutionary policies and by remodeling the schools themselves.”c

8. Which did the pope favor, the Triple Alliance or the Triple Entente, and why?

⁸ Since not only Italy but also Austria-Hungary was Roman Catholic and intimate with the Vatican pope, it was only to be expected that the pope would favor the Triple Alliance (Dreibund) against the king of the south and his Triple Entente of Protestant Britain, republican France and Russian Orthodox Czarist Russia.

9. How was this king of the north at heart “against the holy covenant”?

⁹ In the early days of the revived German Empire, in fact, from 1877 onward, Jehovah’s dedicated people of his “sanctuary” class were openly declaring in their publications that the Gentile times or “appointed times of the nations” would end in 1914. In that year the kingdom of God was to be fully established in the heavens to see that His will should be done on earth. This was in harmony with Jehovah’s covenant with King David for an everlasting Kingdom in the hands of his permanent Heir, Jesus Christ. (2 Sam. 7:12-16; Ps. 89:28-37; Luke 22:28, 29) Kaiser Wilhelm as well as the other worldly rulers treated the message of Jehovah’s sanctuary class concerning the end of the Gentile times in 1914 with contempt. Yet the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society had had a vigorous branch office in Barmen-Elberfeld, Germany, since 1903. Undeniably the heart of the Germanic king of the north was against the holy Kingdom covenant of Jehovah God. The Kaiser’s plans were not for handing over the imperial sovereignty to Jesus Christ at his heavenly enthronement in 1914, the Kaiser thus to acknowledge him as the rightful Heir of the kingdom over all the earth. So he “did it” or acted with effect and returned to his own schemes of an earth dominated by the German Kaiser. By commercial rivalry and military buildup he sowed the seeds for hot war, World War I.

10. From 1870 onward, how did the question of world domination become a sizzling one?

¹⁰ The question of world domination was becoming a sizzling one. During the four decades from 1870, when the Franco-Prussian war began and the German Reich again sprouted, down to 1910 there was more headway made in the “European domination of the world” than during the four preceding centuries.d It was due to materialism! Already in 1895 Kaiser Wilhelm declarede that “the German Empire has become a world empire.” He mixed himself in with the Middle East, for, four years later, a group of German bankers got from the Turkish sultan a concession for building a railroad across Asiatic Turkey from the Straits of Bosporus, opposite Constantinople, southeastward to Baghdad in Mesopotamia (now Iraq). Looking to further imperial communications, he said: “Germany’s future lies upon the water.” The total tonnage of his navy became second only to that of Britain. The king of the south looked on nervously.

11. How was a world conflagration finally sparked, and how was it “at the time appointed”?

¹¹ With so much inflammable material piled up, it needed only a spark to touch off a world conflagration. It was struck—on June 28, 1914, by the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Bosnia, which Austria-Hungary, Germany’s ally, had annexed in 1908. The king of the north seized upon this to realize his scheme of world domination at the expense of the king of the south. Jehovah’s angel had said: “At the time appointed will he return, and enter into the south; but not as in the former will it be in the latter time.” (Dan. 11:29, Le) The “time appointed” was the year 1914, which God’s time schedule had marked for the 2,520 years of the “appointed times of the nations” to end in the fall of the year. At that time their allowance from Jehovah God to enjoy terrestrial rule without interference from God’s kingdom ended. That was “seven times” from 607 B.C., from the Gentile overturning of Jehovah’s typical kingdom in Jerusalem, the destruction of his typical sanctuary in that city, and the desolating of the kingdom realm of Judah.—2 Chron. 36:17-21; Luke 21:24.

12. For what to be restored was it the time in the fall of 1914?

¹² In the fall of 1914, therefore, was Jehovah’s appointed time for his kingdom to be restored, not on earth at Jerusalem, but up in heaven at his right hand where his Son, Jesus Christ, had sat waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool.—Ps. 110:1; Heb. 10:12, 13.

13. At the Kingdom’s establishment in 1914, did the nations of Christendom share the gladness of the “twenty-four elders”?

¹³ In 1914, were the nations of “Christendom” glad that the time was at hand for the kingdom of God to be fully set up, as proclaimed by Jehovah’s people of the “sanctuary” class? The symbolic twenty-four elders seated before God upon their thrones were glad and said: “We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king.” But prophecy said that the worldly nations would not be glad: “But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time . . . to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” (Rev. 11:16-18) Even before the “seven times” expired in the fall of 1914 the nations put themselves in no condition to hail and accept the then-to-be-restored kingdom of God.

14. How did the king of the north “return, and enter into the south” in 1914?

¹⁴ Austria-Hungary, having had her heir to the royal throne murdered, declared war on Serbia on July 28. Her partner in the Dreibund, Germany, backed her up and declared war upon Russia on August 1, then upon France on August 3. The next day the king of the south, through Britain, declared war upon Germany. Italy, a member of the Dreibund, declared neutrality, but joined the king of the south in war the following year. Turkey and Bulgaria joined Germany. After that Britain took over Egypt as her protectorate, to block the troops of the Kaiser and of Turkey in Palestine from cutting off the Suez Canal and invading Egypt, the ancient land of the king of the south. Britain being now in control of Egypt, the king of the south now represented the system of liberal democracy or constitutional rule, together with free, capitalistic enterprise.

15. For the king of the north, how was it “in the latter time” not as “in the former”?

¹⁵ Thus for the autocratic king of the north in this “latter time,” in 1914, it was not “as in the former” time when he was the Roman imperial world power, the sixth world power of Bible history. In this “latter time” the second-rate king of the north had to face the king of the south, who was holding the role of the seventh world power, the greatest of the seven world powers. Not only that, but from about October 1, 1914, the king of the north had to face also the restored kingdom of Jehovah God ruling in the heavens for universal domination.

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]

[Map on page 28]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

BRITISH EMPIRE (A.D. 1914)

Crown colonies or protectorates: MALTA

Self-governing dominions: INDIA

GREAT BRITAIN

IRELAND

DOMINION OF CANADA

LABRADOR

NEWFOUNDLAND

BR. GUIANA

SIERRA LEONE

GOLD COAST (GHANA)

NIGERIA

EGYPT

EGYPT SUDAN

UGANDA

KENYA

BR. SOMALILAND

RHODESIA

BECHUANALAND

UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA

EMPIRE OF INDIA

KASHMIR

BURMA

CEYLON

SARAWAK

BR. NEW GUINEA

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

TASMANIA

DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND

BERMUDA

BAHAMAS

JAMAICA

BR. HONDURAS

ANTIGUA

BARBADOS

TRINIDAD

FALKLAND IS.

GIBRALTAR

GAMBIA

ASCENSION

ST. HELENA

MALTA

CYPRUS

ADEN

SOCOTRA

SEYCHELLES

ZANZIBAR

MAURITIUS

Wei-hai-wei

Hong Kong

MALAY STATES

Singapore

FIJI

TONGA IS.

UNITED STATES

(SOUTH AMERICA)

(EUROPE)

(AFRICA)

RUSSIA (U.S.S.R.)

North Atlantic Ocean

South Atlantic Ocean

Indian Ocean

North Pacific Ocean

Arctic Circle

Equator