Chapter 6
God’s Chief Agent in the World Government
1. How was 1914 C.E. a blessed as well as a cursed year?
IT WAS a cursed year, it was a blessed year, that year of 1914 C.E. “Cursed,” in that then World War I broke out, ushering in an Age of Violence that has steadily grown worse down till our very day. “Blessed,” in that, unseen to human eyes, up in the holy heavens, a mighty government was brought forth by the Creator of heaven and earth to work for man’s lasting peace.
2. For what does God’s Chief Agent for world government wait?
2 As announced for decades in advance by God’s “ambassadors” to all nations, the “times of the Gentiles” for world domination by Gentile world powers without interference from God’s kingdom ended. (2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:20) The Gentile nations refused to recognize that fact and raged in world war for maintaining political world domination. Yet, right on time, in 1914 C.E., at the close of those “seven times” (2,520 years) of Gentile world domination, God brought forth his heavenly government, shortly to put a total end to those warmongering Gentile nations that are now mere squatters on God’s “footstool,” the earth. (Daniel 2:44; 4:16, 23, 25, 32; Luke 21:24; Psalm 2:1-9) In that heavenly kingdom God’s Chief Agent for the world government reigns, awaiting God’s time for all these hostile Gentile nations to be put under his feet in everlasting ruin. (Psalm 110:1-6; Hebrews 10:12, 13) Then permanent peace, like a rainbow, will beautify earth.
3. In 1914 or later did any human qualify to be World Governor?
3 On earth, back in 1914, there was no man that could qualify as God’s chief agent for a peace-bringing world government. No, not one, not even in earthly Jerusalem in the Middle East, nor in Bethlehem. In that crucial year those famous cities were in the hands of Islamic Turks, as part of the Turkish Empire, which became involved in World War I on October 30, 1914. In December of 1917 the possession of Jerusalem changed hands, when British troops under Field Marshal Allenby captured the city. In those days a British subject, the noted Jewish chemist named Chaim Weizmann, made a vital contribution to Britain’s war effort. This served as an inducement for the Balfour Declaration to be issued, whereby the British government favored the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Years later, in May of 1948, after warfare between Arabs and Jews, the Republic of Israel was set up. The distinguished Chaim Weizmann became its first president, but not its Davidic king. He did not qualify as God’s Chief Agent.
4. Why was no new kingdom born at Jerusalem in 1914 C.E.?
4 Kingdoms were destroyed as a result of World War I. In accord with this destructive trend, no new kingdom was born on earth in 1914, at the end of the “appointed times of the nations,” or, “the times of the Gentiles.” Later, the League of Nations assigned to Britain a mandate over Jerusalem and Middle Eastern territories captured by British troops. This mandate expired on May 15, 1948. The Republic of Israel followed. Still, no visible kingdom of God had been established on earth to serve as an agency of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty toward our earth. No man of Jewish stock had been found to qualify as His Chief Agent in His promised world government. There was no circumcised Jew that could produce valid credentials proving that he was a real descendant of King David, with either a natural right or a legal right to King David’s throne at Jerusalem.
5. Where then did search have to be made for God’s Chief Agent?
5 So where, at the crucial time, was the true heir of King David to be found, the needed one whom Jehovah could install as his Chief Agent in the foretold world government? Under the circumstances, to what other place could we possibly look than up in the invisible spirit realm, the heavens where the Universal Sovereign himself reigns? That is where the ancient prophet Daniel pointed for the presentation of Jehovah’s Chief Agent. That is where the search must be made for the divinely approved, qualified individual. There, also, is where the Galilean John the son of Zebedee, in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, revealed that a search would be made for a worthy individual to perform the duties of Jehovah’s Chief Agent.—Revelation 5:3-12.
6, 7. What three beasts did Daniel first see in a vision?
6 Let us now, with the eye of prophecy, look heavenward with the prophet Daniel and observe his portrayal of the greatly desired Chief Agent. Daniel shows that it was near the end of the long exile of the Jews in Babylon when God favored him with the vision about His Chief Agent. Daniel dates the vision as he writes: “In the first year of Belshazzar [Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson] the king of Babylon, Daniel himself beheld a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. At that time he wrote down the dream itself. The complete account of the matters he told. Daniel was speaking up and saying:
7 “‘I happened to be beholding in my visions during the night, and, see there! the four winds of the heavens were stirring up the vast sea. And four huge beasts were coming up out of the sea, each one being different from the others. “The first one was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I kept on beholding until its wings were plucked out, and it was lifted up from the earth and was made to stand up on two feet just like a man, and there was given to it the heart of a man. “And, see there! another beast, a second one, it being like a bear. And on one side it was raised up, and there were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and this is what they were saying to it, “Get up, eat much flesh.” After this I kept on beholding, and, see there! another beast, one like a leopard, but it had four wings of a flying creature on its back. And the beast had four heads, and there was given to it rulership indeed.’”—Daniel 7:1-6.
8. What did those three beasts symbolize, for how long?
8 Those three huge beasts out of the windswept sea pictured three rulerships. They pictured the same rulerships as represented in the gold head, the silver breasts and arms, the copper belly and thighs of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image, namely, the Babylonian World Power, the Medo-Persian World Power and the Grecian World Power. These world powers occupied that period of the “times of the Gentiles” from the desolating of Jerusalem and the land of Judah in 607 B.C.E. and down to 30 B.C.E. In the previous year the last one of the four Hellenic kingdoms that resulted from the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great suffered decisive defeat by the naval forces of ancient pagan Rome.
9. What fourth beast with horns did Daniel see in this vision?
9 At this point, however, Daniel is not finished with telling us his prophetic dream. He adds: “After this I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! a fourth beast, fearsome and terrible and unusually strong. And it had teeth of iron, big ones. It was devouring and crushing, and what was left it was treading down with its feet. And it was something different from all the other beasts that were prior to it, and it had ten horns. I kept on considering the horns, and, look! another horn, a small one, came up in among them, and there were three of the first horns that were plucked up from before it. And, look! there were eyes like the eyes of a man in this horn, and there was a mouth speaking grandiose things.”—Daniel 7:7, 8.
10. This beast corresponds with what in the dream “image”?
10 Here we have what corresponds with the iron legs of the world-power “image” seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The fourth beast represented more than just the Roman Empire or Sixth World Power of Bible prophecy. We learn this from the conversation that Daniel had with the angelic interpreter, who told Daniel: “As for these huge beasts, because they are four, there are four kings that will stand up from the earth. But the holy ones of the Supreme One will receive the kingdom, and they will take possession of the kingdom for time indefinite, even for time indefinite upon times indefinite.” (Daniel 7:17, 18) Despite this information, there still remained a mystery for Daniel regarding the fourth beast.
11. What additional feature of it did Daniel want explained?
11 “Then it was that I desired to make certain concerning the fourth beast, which proved to be different from all the others, extraordinarily fearsome, the teeth of which were of iron and the claws of which were of copper, which was devouring and crushing, and which was treading down even what was left with its feet; and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes and a mouth speaking grandiose things and the appearance of which was bigger than that of its fellows. “I kept on beholding when that very horn made war upon the holy ones, and it was prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came and judgment itself was given in favor of the holy ones of the Supreme One, and the definite time arrived that the holy ones took possession of the kingdom itself.”—Daniel 7:19-22.
12, 13. How did the angel explain the small horn for us?
12 Like Daniel, we today would like to know what that little horn that had eyes and a mouth pictured. We ought to arrive at its meaning under the guidance of God’s holy spirit, especially so since we have lived to see the fulfillment of the prophetic dream of Daniel. Accordingly, we now do well to listen to what the angelic interpreter said to Daniel in explanation:
13 “This is what he said, ‘As for the fourth beast, there is a fourth kingdom that will come to be on the earth, that will be different from all the other kingdoms; and it will devour all the earth and will trample it down and crush it. And as for the ten horns, out of that [fourth] kingdom there are ten kings that will rise up; and still another one will rise up after them, and he himself will be different from the first ones, and three kings he will humiliate. And he will speak even words against the Most High, and he will harass continually the holy ones themselves of the Supreme One. And he will intend to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, and times and half a time. And the Court itself proceeded to sit, and his own rulership they finally took away, in order to annihilate him and to destroy him totally.’”—Daniel 7:23-26.
14. The “time, and times and half a time” are how long?
14 In Da 7 verse twenty-five where the expression “a time, and times and half a time” appears, The New American Bible (Roman Catholic) reads: “They [the holy ones] shall be handed over to him for a year, two years, and a half-year.” Moffatt’s translation reads: “And for three years and half a year the saints shall be handed over to him.” Similarly, The Complete Bible—An American Translation reads: “And they shall be handed over to him for a year, two years, and half a year.” Historically, what years were they?
THE ANGLO-AMERICAN DUAL WORLD POWER
15. How did the “small” horn with eyes and mouth come to be?
15 The “fourth kingdom,” the Roman Empire, broke up into a number of nations, and one outstanding outgrowth from the empire was Great Britain. To establish itself as the mistress of the seven seas Great Britain with its colonies had to prove itself superior to the Spanish, the Dutch and the French naval powers. This was accomplished by the year 1763 C.E., so that then the British Empire became the foretold Seventh World Power of Bible prophecy. On July 4, 1776, the former British colonies in North America declared their independence and became the United States of America. By later cooperation together in various fields of international importance the British Empire and the United States of America became, in effect, the Anglo-American Dual World Power. Down to 1914 C.E. this Seventh World Power controlled more than a quarter of the earth’s surface and population. It is the “small” horn that plucked up three other horns (Spanish, Dutch and French naval powers) and that had the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking grandiose things.—Daniel 7:8.
16, 17. How did those three and a half years culminate in 1918?
16 It was during World War I, from July 28, 1914, to November 11, 1918, that the “saints” or “holy ones” were handed over to this Seventh World Power to do with as it wanted. It was on April 6, 1917, that the United States of America became involved in that world conflict on the side of the British Empire. Daniel’s prophecy specializes on three and a half lunar years during this World War I as the time when the Seventh World Power, the symbolic “small” horn, crushed the “holy ones” of the Most High God, Jehovah. This culminated in the sentencing to many years of imprisonment in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, of seven falsely accused Christian men who were engaged prominently in publishing world wide the good news of God’s established kingdom by word of mouth and by printed page.
17 This sentencing occurred on June 21, 1918, and on July 4, 1918, these seven leading promoters of Bible study were taken by train from Brooklyn, New York, to Atlanta, Georgia. This served as a crushing spiritual blow to the then-persecuted International Bible Students, who, now, since the year 1931, are known as Jehovah’s Witnesses.
18. Are the “holy ones” shown as wiped out by the “small” horn?
18 Daniel’s prophecy does not show that the “holy ones themselves of the Supreme One” were wiped out by harassment from the symbolic “small” horn, the Anglo-American Dual World Power. The Most High God, whose universal sovereignty they stick to and proclaim, is on their side. He will see to it that divine justice is done to them. (Luke 18:7, 8) However, the Seventh World Power and all the other nations of the earth do not take seriously the notice served on them by Jehovah’s Witnesses. This notice is to the effect that, since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, they have been on judgment before the Most High. Daniel’s dream of the four beasts and the “small” horn prophetically portrays this solemn fact.
THE DIVINE COURT SITS
19. How did the Heavenly Court deal with the four “beasts”?
19 Referring to a time after the “small” horn has come into existence and has spoken grandiose things, Daniel continues on with describing his prophetic dream: “I kept on beholding until there were thrones placed and the Ancient of Days sat down. His clothing was white just like snow, and the hair of his head was like clean wool. His throne was flames of fire; its wheels were a burning fire. There was a stream of fire flowing and going out from before him. There were a thousand thousands that kept ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand that kept standing right before him. The Court took its seat, and there were books that were opened. I kept on beholding at that time because of the sound of the grandiose words that the horn was speaking; I kept on beholding until the [fourth] beast was killed and its body was destroyed and it was given to the burning fire. But as for the rest of the beasts, their rulerships were taken away, and there was a lengthening in life given to them for a time and a season.”—Daniel 7:9-12.
20. Why does “the Ancient of Days” need no books to consult?
20 It is only here in this vision to Daniel that the immortal God who is without beginning is called “the Ancient of Days.” He has priority over everyone and everything else, he being their Creator. (Psalm 90:2) As the all-wise, all-righteous One who preceded all his creations, he rightly sits as the Judge of all things, our earth included. Since his days extend into the ancient past, he knows all past human history as if it were written in a book. Thus he has observed all four of those beastlike world powers in their course of action. He passes judgment upon them, not on the basis of what others testify, but according to what he knows about them directly. He does not have to consult a written record, containing accounts written by angels. In earthly human courts, lawbooks and reference books would have to be consulted. But not so with Jehovah, “the Ancient of Days.”
21. How were the lives of the “rest of the beasts” lengthened?
21 As history books show, the four imperial “beasts” passed off the worldly scene one after the other, in the order of the four metals seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the world-power image. First the Babylonian World Power made its exit off the stage, after it the Medo-Persian World Power, then the Grecian World Power, and finally the Roman World Power. Although those world powers lost their rulership one after the other, their imperial territories and the inhabitants thereof continued on, some remnants of these existing down to this day. That is why Daniel 7:12 says: “But as for the rest of the beasts, their rulerships were taken away, and there was a lengthening in life given to them for a time and a season.”
22. Why is the fourth beast with its “small” horn destroyed?
22 The fourth symbolic “beast,” with its aggressive “small” horn, suffers destruction because of its violent oppressive course on earth, because of its blasphemous words against the Most High God, and because of its continual harassment of God’s “holy ones.” Such ungodly things have been done more recently by the Anglo-American horn on the head of this fourth beast.
23. What happens to rulerships not pictured by the four beasts?
23 So, the symbolic fourth beast is pictured as being destroyed along with the “small” horn. In historical reality, however, the symbolic fourth beast, namely, the Roman World Power, has its imperial power taken away, in order to make room for the Anglo-American Dual World Power. Various “kings,” or symbolic “horns,” that had been embraced within the Roman World Power, continued on ruling like inferior “horns,” dominated by the crafty “small” horn that had a man’s eyes and a talkative mouth. So, when the Anglo-American Dual World Power goes down into destruction under the fiery judgments of the Ancient of Days, those hornlike “kings,” as remnants of the Roman World Power, perish with it. (Daniel 7:23-26) But how about those empires, kingdoms, republics and political bodies that were never a part of the Roman Empire or of the Anglo-American Dual World Power, including the British Commonwealth of Nations? All these, too, must be destroyed when the Ancient of Days executes fiery judgment on this world.—Revelation 16:13 through 19:21.
GOD’S CHIEF AGENT IS INTRODUCED
24. Does destruction of human rule leave earth ungoverned?
24 Will such destruction of all earthly human governments and rulerships leave human affairs in a chaotic state, subject to anarchy, lawlessness, and ungoverned? Let us not be afraid of the fast-approaching fiery destruction of this worldly system of things. The Supreme Judge, the Ancient of Days, is in charge of our earth. He must do away with the man-made political governments of misrule and oppression in order to make room for the finest government that mankind could ever have. It will be an expression of his own Universal Sovereignty toward mankind’s earthly home. It will be an indivisible World Government that will exercise its power and authority from heaven, a location superior to London, Washington, Moscow, Peking, Tokyo, or any other national capital on earth. Jehovah introduces to us his Chief Agent in that World Government in the prophetic dream that he inspired Daniel to have. Daniel points heavenward as he now writes:
25. How is God’s Chief Agent introduced in Daniel 7:13, 14?
25 “I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”—Daniel 7:13, 14.
26. Some men argue that “someone like a son of man” pictures whom?
26 Who is that “someone like a son of man” that comes, not up from the earth, but from the heavens “with the clouds” and gains access to the Ancient of Days enthroned in the judicial court? Some think that, because this “someone like a son of man” is not mentioned thereafter in the prophecy but the “holy ones of the Supreme One” are spoken of as getting kingdom rulership, it refers to a composite person, God’s “holy nation” as a body. But there is a reliable authority who points out who that “someone like a son of man” really is. How so?
27, 28. (a) How was an authority obliged to identify who that “someone like a son of man” is? (b) How was he then treated?
27 Over nineteen hundred years ago, on Passover night (Nisan 14) of the year 33 C.E., a natural descendant of King David stood on trial for his life before the judicial Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. After this man refused to answer to the accusing testimonies that were offered against him, the presiding high priest said to him: “By the living God I put you under oath to tell us whether you are the Christ the Son of God!” Did the accused man now recognize himself to be under oath before the living God to tell the truth about himself? Yes! He recognized the high priest’s judicial authority to put him under oath to state the facts, even though he knew that his telling the truth would make him appear as a shocking blasphemer to the Supreme Sanhedrin.
28 The record of the court trial tells us: “Jesus said to him: ‘You yourself said it. 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.’ Then the high priest ripped his outer garments, saying: ‘He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? See! Now you have heard the blasphemy. What is your opinion?’ They returned answer: ‘He is liable to death.’ Then they spit into his face and hit him with their fists. Others slapped him in the face, saying: ‘Prophesy to us, you Christ. Who is it that struck you?’”—Matthew 26:63-68.
29. What else shows that Daniel 7:13 does not mean a composite body?
29 There, then, was the one man on earth who could reliably refer to Daniel’s prophecy, Da chapter seven, verse thirteen, and correctly identify who that “someone like a son of man” really was. Sixty-three years later Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead and glorified in heaven, transmitted a revelation to his apostle John on earth, and John was inspired to write concerning him: “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. Yes, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7) This as well as other statements of the Bible prove that the “someone like a son of man” as seen in Daniel’s vision is Jesus Christ the Descendant of King David. In Psalm 8:4 (AV) David spoke prophetically of him as “the son of man.” (Hebrews 2:5-8, AV) Repeatedly Jesus spoke of himself as “the Son of man.” Not the company of “the holy ones themselves of the Supreme One,” but David’s royal Descendant is the individual pictured in Daniel 7:13 as coming “with the clouds of the heavens.”—Matthew 24:30.
30, 31. Daniel 7:13 was fulfilled, but why not in 70 C.E.?
30 When does this particular coming take place? According to the verses preceding Daniel 7:13 it was to take place after the “small” horn that plucks up three other horns on the head of the fourth beast grew up, which was in the latter half of the eighteenth century C.E. Hence the Son of man’s coming “with the clouds of the heavens” was not before then, not even in 70 C.E., when his prophecy came true: “They [the rebellious Jews] shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles [the non-Jewish nations], until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24, AV) Those “times of the Gentiles” had begun at the desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E. During those Gentile Times the non-Jewish nations were permitted to dominate the earth without interference from God’s Davidic kingdom.
31 At the close of those Gentile Times, in 1914 C.E., David’s royal Heir could rightfully apply to God for Kingdom rule.
32, 33. Why did we not see the coming of the one with legal right?
32 Events in fulfillment of Bible prophecies from 1914 C.E. down till now prove that the Son of man’s coming occurred in that year. Of course, none of us saw such a coming with our literal eyes. We could not have done so, for Daniel 7:13, 14 describes the Son of man as coming, not to earth, but to the Ancient of Days, the Judge in heaven who “is changing times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings.” (Daniel 2:21) He came at the invitation of the Ancient of Days, as recorded in Psalm 2:8, 9: “Ask of me, that I may give nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your own possession. You will break them with an iron scepter, as though a potter’s vessel you will dash them to pieces.” Then without running ahead of his judicial time schedule the Ancient of Days could do what he foretold at Ezekiel 21:25-27. There, after commanding the removal of the turban and crown of Davidic kingship, he said:
33 “Put on high even what is low, and bring low even the high one [the occupant of King David’s throne]. A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. As for this also, it will certainly become no one’s until he comes who has the legal right, and I must give it to him.”
34. So how did God display universal sovereignty in 1914?
34 All the evidence to date is that the Ancient of Days did give to the Davidic Heir with the “legal right” the Messianic kingdom at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. As Daniel 7:14 foretold: “To him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.” That was the precise time for the symbolic bands of iron and copper to be removed from around the “rootstock” of Divine Universal Sovereignty now that the prophetic “seven times” of 2,520 years had ended. It was then the marked time for Jehovah’s Universal Sovereignty to assert itself toward our earth once again. How? By having a “sprout” grow up out of that long-dormant “rootstock,” and thereby prove that “the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that to the one whom he wants to, he gives it and he sets up over it even the lowliest one of mankind.”—Daniel 4:17, 23, 32; Isaiah 11:1; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12.
35. What royal “stone” was then put in motion, against what?
35 That, too, was the time for the symbolic “stone” to be cut out of the “mountain” of God’s Universal Sovereignty and then to be hurled against the “image” of political world power on earth. It is aimed to strike the “feet” of iron and molded clay. Then it must grind the whole idolatrous image to powder. Finally it must grow into a mountain, to fill all the earth.—Daniel 2:34, 45.
36. What royal birth then occurred, and also what announcement?
36 Correspondingly, in 1914 the Messianic kingdom came forth from the womb of Jehovah’s wifelike organization in heaven, and the words of Revelation 12:5 came true: “She gave birth to a son, a male, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was caught away to God and to his throne.” Then, doubtless, it was that the thousand thousands of angels who ministered to the Ancient of Days and the ten thousand times ten thousand who stand right before him joined their voices in announcing universe wide: “The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.”—Revelation 11:15; Daniel 7:10.
37. Who, therefore, must God’s Chief Agent in rulership be?
37 In the light of all the above, who, then, is God’s Chief Agent for our incoming world government? Jesus Christ, the now glorified Permanent Heir of King David. As a perfect man in David’s royal line, he “offered one sacrifice for sins perpetually and sat down at the right hand of God [in 33 C.E.], from then on awaiting until his enemies should be placed as a stool for his feet.”—Hebrews 10:12, 13; 1:3, 4; Psalm 110:1-6.
38. What questions arise about the “holy ones” who share in ruling?
38 In the coming world rule there will be sharers with God’s Chief Agent, for Daniel 7:27, 28 declares: “‘And the kingdom and the rulership and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an indefinitely lasting kingdom, and all the rulerships will serve and obey even them.’ Up to this point is the end of the matter.” So now the question arises, Were the “people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One” the prophet Daniel’s own fleshly people, the nation of natural, circumcised Jews or Israelites? Were the twelve tribes of Israel who were the flesh-and-blood descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to become the top-ranking people during the indefinitely lasting reign of the Messiah (Christ), with all the Gentile nations to become subject to them as world rulers? People of all races have asked this question. Shall we now consider it together?