-
Saving the Human Race—In the Kingdom WaySaving the Human Race—In the Kingdom Way
-
-
At the end of the Gentile Times around October 4/5 in 1914, Jesus Christ was in what Hebrews 12:22 calls the “city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem,” on the heavenly Mount Zion. There was the place for the glorified Jesus Christ to be installed as king, and that by the only one who could do so, the Most High God Jehovah.
35. (a) How was the trampling on “Jerusalem” made to cease in 1914 C.E.? (b) What was then due to begin regarding the Gentile nations?
35 At that time the Gentile nations were not disposed to stop trampling on “Jerusalem,” or what Jerusalem represented. Their engaging in World War I at that time for world domination proved that fact. But Almighty God stopped their trampling of the right to rulership that belongs to the royal descendant of King David. He made that Messianic right to rulership active by installing Jesus Christ as king in the “heavenly Jerusalem.” From then on, “Jerusalem,” in its royal Messianic sense, ceased to be trampled on by the Gentile nations. Now the time had come for those Gentile nations to be placed as a stool for the feet of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It was the time for this Messianic king to ‘go subduing in the midst of his enemies.’—Psalm 2:1-9; 110:1, 2.
-
-
Saving the Human Race—In the Kingdom WaySaving the Human Race—In the Kingdom Way
-
-
31. Concerning the Lord’s waiting at God’s right hand, what did King David prophesy, and what did the apostle Peter say, and finally Hebrews 10:12, 13?
31 Long ago King David had said under inspiration: “The utterance of Jehovah to my Lord [that is, to Christ the Lord] is: ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.’ The rod of your strength Jehovah will send out of Zion, saying: ‘Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.’” (Psalm 110:1, 2) On the festival day of Pentecost in the year 33 C.E., the Christian apostle Peter said to thousands in Jerusalem: “Let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you impaled.” (Acts 2:36) Years after, there were written to the Hebrew Christians the inspired words of Hebrews 10:12, 13: “This man offered one sacrifice for sins perpetually and sat down at the right hand of God, from then on awaiting until his enemies should be placed as a stool for his feet.” This time of waiting ended years ago.
32. (a) When did Jesus’ time of waiting in heaven end? (b) Why did Jesus not try to restore King David’s throne to Jerusalem?
32 When? In our twentieth century, in the year 1914, at the end of what Jesus Christ called “the times of the Gentiles” or “the appointed times of the nations.” He prophesied that the city of Jerusalem of his day would be destroyed and would continue to be trampled on by the Gentile nations until the end of those Gentile times for the nations to do such trampling. (Luke 21:20-24, AV; NW) Even in Jesus’ days the Gentile nations as represented in the Roman World Power were trampling on what Jerusalem stood for, the kingdom of Jehovah God in the hands of the royal house of David. Before the Roman Empire, the Babylonian Empire had started the trampling by destroying Jerusalem and its temple back in 607 B.C.E., and after that the Medo-Persian Empire and then the Grecian Empire kept up the trampling until the Roman World Power took over Gentile control of Jerusalem. So Jesus Christ did not try to restore the earthly throne of King David to Jerusalem. Why should he try to do so, when he himself foretold the destruction that came upon Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 C.E.?
33. (a) During all those years of waiting, what was Jesus doing in heaven, and why? (b) At the end of the Gentile Times, what could Jesus expect to receive?
33 Jesus Christ knew that he was obliged to wait to become reigning king in the kingdom of God that he was preaching. Since he himself had brought up the subject of the “times of the Gentiles,” he knew that he had to wait at God’s right hand until those “appointed times of the nations” ended 1,844 years after Jerusalem’s second destruction in the year 70 C.E. He could not change God’s timing of world affairs, and he did not desire to do so. During all those years of waiting he would be serving as Jehovah’s High Priest and applying the lifesaving benefits of his ransom sacrifice to his faithful disciples on earth, as these make up his church or congregation. Why? Because these are to be made joint heirs or associate kings with him in God’s heavenly kingdom. (Hebrews 3:1; 6:18, 19; 10:10-22; Romans 8:16, 17) But when the 2,520 years of the Gentile Times ended in 1914, then was the due time for Jesus to expect to receive the Messianic kingdom.
-