Chapter 8
Marked Days During the “Time of the End”
1. By what time periods is the “time of the end” marked?
THE “time of the end” has its own end or close. Its grand finale is in a “time of distress” the equal of which the nations have never before experienced nor will again go through. During the said “time of the end” there are marked days. These are time periods that directly affect the “holy ones themselves of the Supreme One,” the last remaining ones of the spirit-begotten disciples of Christ who are designated for a share with Jesus Christ in the heavens. These “days” were of such importance as to deserve mention to the aged prophet Daniel of long ago.—Daniel 7:25.
2. How will nations persecuting the “holy ones” finally fare?
2 In the latter part of chapter eleven of his prophecy, Daniel prophetically points to our present twentieth century and the unrelenting rivalry between the democratic, liberal, capitalistic group of nations and the communistic, totalitarian type of nations. Both blocs of nations have been persecutors of the remaining ones of spirit-begotten “holy ones” of Jehovah God, now known as his Christian witnesses. (Isaiah 43:10-12; 44:8) Daniel closes chapter eleven with a prophetic picture of the final siege by the totalitarian “king of the north” against the remnant of spirit-begotten Witnesses, and then says: “He will have to come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him.” His political rival for world domination, the democratic “king of the south,” will also be brought to his end with no one to help and save him.—Daniel 11:45.
3, 4. Who were Michael and the “sons of [Daniel’s] people”?
3 How will such utter destruction of both “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” come about? Jehovah’s prophetic angel explained it to Daniel, saying: “And during that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people. And there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time. And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book.”—Daniel 12:1.
4 In other Watch Tower Society publications it has been established that Michael, the great heavenly prince who stood in behalf of the sons of Daniel’s people back there in the sixth century B.C.E., is the Son of God who became the Lord Jesus Christ. (Daniel 10:13, 21; Jude 9; Revelation 12:7) The sons of Daniel’s people back there were the faithful remnant of Israelites who left Babylon and rebuilt Jerusalem and Jehovah’s temple there.
5. In whose behalf does ‘Michael the great prince’ stand now?
5 Today Daniel’s people would be, not the fleshly circumcised Israelites who reject the Messiah whose appearing Daniel (9:24, 25) foretold, but the remnant of spiritual Israelites of today, the spirit-begotten Christian witnesses of Jehovah during this twentieth century. In behalf of these spiritual Israelites the glorified Messiah Jesus, as being once again ‘Michael the great prince’ in heaven, stands, and he exerts his power and authority in behalf of this spiritual remnant. This action is what precipitates the “time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time.”
6. Who will survive the coming “time of distress”?
6 This unprecedented “time of distress” is the “great tribulation” of which the Revelation by means of Jesus speaks and which was illustrated by the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. as foretold by Jesus Christ. (Revelation 7:14; Matthew 24:21, 22) It is with this “great tribulation” that this now closing “time of the end” reaches its grand finale! During that unparalleled “great tribulation” or “time of distress” the symbolic “king of the north” and “the king of the south” will not escape destruction, but there will be others who will escape. Who? Daniel’s people of today, the remnant of spiritual Israelites, “every one who is found written down in the book.” (Note Malachi 3:16 and Hebrews 12:23.) Also, Revelation 7:9-17 gives us the assurance that a “great crowd” of worshipers of Daniel’s God and believers in the Messiah Jesus will survive along with the spiritual remnant. God keeps a record of his faithful worshipers.
7, 8. How will dead ones awake to eternal life or to reproach?
7 What a grand prospect is ahead of us! After that “time of distress” that has no equal in human history there will begin the resurrection of the dead, under God’s world government in the hands of his Messiah Jesus, or ‘Michael the great prince.’ This is the order of events according to what the angel told Daniel, who now goes on to tell what the angel said: “And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust who will wake up, these to indefinitely lasting life and those to reproaches and to indefinitely lasting abhorrence.”—Daniel 12:2.
8 How these former inhabitants of the earth conducted themselves during this life will, of course, affect their initial standing on earth under the Messianic world government. But how they thereafter order their lives under this millennial world government will determine whether they will finally be judged worthy of everlasting life in a Paradise earth or deserving of eternal destruction as objects of reproach and endless abhorrence. Jesus Christ spoke of such possibilities for the resurrected dead, at John 5:28, 29.
9. What shining ones bring many to righteousness? When?
9 Glorious then will be the position and privileges of the “holy ones themselves of the Supreme One” to whom the heavenly kingdom and rulership are to be given along with the Messiah Jesus, ‘Michael the great prince.’ With regard to this the angel went on to say to Daniel: “And the ones having insight will shine like the brightness of the expanse; and those who are bringing the many to righteousness, like the stars to time indefinite, even forever.” (Daniel 12:3) Those brought to righteousness under the Messianic world government will be persons who attain to “indefinitely lasting life” in the Paradise earth. But even now, during this “time of the end,” the remnant of the “holy ones themselves of the Supreme One” are showing spiritual insight and are therefore busily occupying themselves with turning the “great crowd” to righteousness with eternal life on the Paradise earth in view.—Matthew 25:46.
NOW A BOOK UNSEALED
10. Why is ours the time for enlightenment on Bible prophecy?
10 Are we today among those who are turning the many to righteousness or among those who are being turned to righteousness that gives promise of life everlasting? If so, then we can appreciate that we are living in a favored time. Since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 we have been living in the “time of the end.” It is the time for increased spiritual enlightenment, for much of the unexplained prophecies of the Holy Bible, including Daniel’s prophecy, to be opened up to our minds and hearts. Ours is the time to which the angel pointed forward when he said to Daniel: “And as for you, O Daniel, make secret the words and seal up the book, until the time of the end. Many will rove about, and the true knowledge will become abundant.”—Daniel 12:4.
11. Who are the ‘many rovers’ foretold in Daniel 12:4?
11 Today billions of people are much on the move at a fast pace by means of all the modern forms of rapid transportation. Yet these are not the “many” foretold in Daniel 12:4. But after World War I ended in 1918, “many” were the International Bible Students who began to “rove about,” how? Mentally, in a deep study of Bible prophecies, including Daniel’s prophecy. Long-hidden secrets of God’s Word were now due to be unlocked. So these spiritual ‘rovers’ have had the “true knowledge” of the now unsealed Book of God’s Word “become abundant” for them. Unselfishly they are spreading this “true knowledge” abroad by word of mouth and by printed page in order that all who want everlasting life under God’s world government may act upon this knowledge and thus be turned to righteousness.—Revelation 22:17.
12, 13. How many “times” did the angel swear the prophecy would run?
12 With the prophet Daniel let us listen as one of the angels of his vision asks the question of interest to us also: “How long will it be to the end of the wonderful things?” That is, How long will it be before these portentous things seen by Daniel come to the end of their fulfillment? The answer to the question is given by another angel, who swears with both hands upraised to the truthfulness and reliability of his answer. Daniel says:
13 “He proceeded to raise his left hand to the heavens and to swear by the One who is alive for time indefinite: ‘It will be for an appointed time, appointed times and a half. And as soon as there will have been a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces, all these things will come to their finish.’”—Daniel 12:5-7.
14. Why were the “holy ones” given into the hand of the “small” horn?
14 Reasonably those three and a half “appointed times” apply to the same period as the three and a half “times” mentioned in Daniel 7:25, during which “times” or “years” the harassed “holy ones themselves of the Supreme One” are given into the hand of the Seventh World Power, symbolized by the “small” horn with eyes and mouth upon the head of the fourth ‘wild beast.’ The purpose of the Supreme One’s giving his “holy ones” into the hand of the Seventh World Power for that period of time was that there might be a “dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces.” Such an action permitted by the Supreme One would demonstrate definitely the hostile attitude of the symbolic “small” horn (yes, too, of the entire “fourth beast”) toward the “holy people” who stick to the Universal Sovereignty of the Supreme One.
THE THREE AND A HALF “APPOINTED TIMES”
15. When does the shattering power of the horn prove ineffective?
15 The end of the three and a half “appointed times” or lunar years was to be marked by the “finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces.” (Daniel 12:7, NW; Revised Standard Version; Rotherham; Young) Of course, this would mean also that the ability of the political agent that does the shattering of the power of Jehovah’s “holy people” will have come to its end; its ability to do so will no more have its effectiveness or potency. As the Bible translation by Dr. James Moffatt renders it: “It would be three years and half a year, and that when the power of him who shattered the sacred people should be over, then the end of all [things] should arrive.” (Also, An American Translation; The New American Bible) Thus the political agent that did the shattering during the three and a half years lived on thereafter, but its ability to shatter the power of Jehovah’s holy ones again had reached its end. The shattered or dispersed “holy people” would regather and reorganize and would never again submit to the taking away of their “power.”
16. When was the “power of the holy people” smashed, and how?
16 The “finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces” evidently occurred on June 21, 1918. On that day the American federal court sentenced the president and the secretary-treasurer of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and five of their headquarters associates to long prison terms, amounting to a total of 140 years. It is true that it was on May 7, 1918, that these officers of the Society and their prominent companions were arrested by federal officers, but they yet had to stand trial and be sentenced, without benefit of bail. So the close of World War I on November 11, 1918, found these seven leading representatives of the International Bible Students, and a close co-worker, in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., to which they had been shipped from Brooklyn, New York, on July 4, 1918. Thus a high court of the Anglo-American Dual World Power did deliver a shattering blow to Jehovah’s “holy people” on June 21, 1918.
17, 18. So, when did the three and a half lunar years begin?
17 When, therefore, did the three years and a half, which were to be climaxed by that shattering action against dedicated, baptized Christians, begin? How was that beginning marked?
18 Well, June 21, 1918, fell, according to the Biblical lunar calendar, on Tammuz 11, 1918. Three lunar years back from that, or Tammuz 11, 1915, fell on June 23, 1915. Then the half of a lunar year, or six lunar months, back from that would be Tebeth 11, 1914, which coincided with December 28, 1914.—See The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, under the heading “Jewish Calendar for 200 Years,” pages 634-639.
19. The Photo-Drama of Creation served what notice on the nations?
19 That date, December 28, 1914, was very appropriate. During the year from early in January the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society had been showing the famous Photo-Drama of Creation. In that Biblical presentation, which was in four sections of two hours duration for each section, attention was called to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the world-power “image” and also to the dream of the four political “beasts” that Daniel saw arise out of the sea. Accordingly, notice was served on the nations about the end of the Gentile Times, with catastrophe to follow for all the worldly nations. Further, the battle of Armageddon was warned of, this to be followed by “New Heavens and New Earth.” (See pages 50, 51, 92, 94 of the Scenario of the Photo-Drama of Creation.) By the month of October, in which month the Gentile Times ended and World War I was raging, the Drama had had showings to large audiences in America, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Australia and New Zealand.—The Watch Tower, issue of December 15, 1914, pages 371, 372.
20. What did the next Watch Tower issue after December 28, 1914, say about prayers requested for World War I to end?
20 In the issue of January 1, 1915, in presenting “View from the Watch Tower,” the Watch Tower magazine opened up, saying: “When our worthy President [Thomas Woodrow Wilson] and also his Holiness the Pope requested Christian people to pray God for the cessation of the European war, we declared that the prayer was not in harmony with the Divine arrangement and would not be answered. We pointed out that according to the Scriptures the 2520 years of Gentile dominion ended in September, 1914; and that the war is the one predicted in the Scriptures as associated with the Great Day of Almighty God—‘the Day of Vengeance of our God.’ We pointed out the Word of the Lord through the Prophet Joel respecting the gathering of all nations to the Valley of Jehoshaphat—the valley of death.—Joel 3:1-12.” In agreement with this line of thought, the first study article of that same magazine issue was entitled “The First Armageddon Battle.”—Page 7.
21. How did the Year Text for 1915 show sufferings were expected?
21 Persecution was then expected for the congregations of the International Bible Students, for, under the heading “1915—Our Year Text—1915,” the same issue of The Watch Tower opened up by saying: “We have chosen as a text for the year the Master’s words uttered just before His crucifixion to two of His dear disciples, who had asked to sit with Him in His Throne. We have selected the Master’s reply as the text for this year: ‘Are ye able to drink of My cup?’—Matthew 20:20-23.” (Page 11) By then ten nations and empires were in the war and more were to get in during 1915 and thereafter until finally twenty-eight nations and empires became involved in World War I. So Jehovah’s “holy people,” then known as International Bible Students, could not escape persecutions and sufferings such as are included in the ‘drinking of the cup’ of their Master, Jesus Christ.
22. Since 1876 what had they warned the nations about 1914?
22 Ever since the year 1876 those who became associated with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association had been publicly declaring that the Gentile Times would terminate in early autumn of 1914. Accordingly, they warned the whole world of the destruction of those Gentile nations to make way for God’s millennial kingdom in the hands of his glorified Son Jesus Christ. As these dedicated, baptized and spirit-anointed Christians had proclaimed the approaching destruction of all the worldly nations, including the British Empire and the United States of North America, these nations set out to destroy these proclaimers of God’s kingdom by Christ. They used the situation created by World War I to do so.—Note Revelation 11:3-10; 13:1, 2, 5, 7.
23. In 1917 what book provided further basis for persecution?
23 On July 17, 1917, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society released the book entitled “The Finished Mystery.” This book dealt with Revelation and the prophecy of Ezekiel and, unavoidably, it emphasized the destruction of religious Babylon the Great and her political, military, judicial and commercial friends. (James 4:4) This provided further basis for the political authorities, egged on by the clergy of Babylon the Great, to ‘dash to pieces the power of Jehovah’s holy people.’ This they accomplished by the end of the foretold three and a half years on June 21, 1918. Thus this period began on December 28, 1914, in the first northern winter of World War I. By then the International Bible Students, who were conscientious objectors to carnal warfare, felt the mounting pressure upon them to compromise in the embattled British Empire, the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the French Empire, Belgium, and the five other nations then engaged in the spreading world conflict. Their Bible text chosen for 1915 indicated that fact. So the period of three and a half “times” is well marked!
24. Did Daniel understand the vision? What reason was given?
24 The prophet Daniel could not, of course, envision how all the portentous things that had been disclosed to him would work out in modern history. He himself said: “Now as for me, I heard, but I could not understand; so that I said: ‘O my lord, what will be the final part of these things?’ And he went on to say: ‘Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of the end. Many will cleanse themselves and whiten themselves and will be refined. And the wicked ones will certainly act wickedly, and no wicked ones at all will understand; but the ones having insight will understand.’”—Daniel 12:8-10.
25, 26. Therefore, in what class mentioned do we want to be found?
25 Daniel “could not understand” what he heard, in his day. But we, in this day, in this “time of the end” since 1914, can understand. But not if we “act wickedly.” How, then, are we acting? Wickedly, or with spiritual insight? It results differently!
26 Let us think seriously about what the angel said to Daniel about the impending “time of distress,” namely, that Daniel’s “people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book.” (Daniel 12:1) Do we desire to be associated with Daniel’s “people”? Then it is our business to avoid being found among those acting wickedly in this time of the end. We want our names to be “found written down in the book” of God. To this end we need to exercise “insight” by consulting God’s Word, learning its instructive message for our crucial day and then acting in accord with God’s will. Let the “true knowledge” abound for us!
THE 1,290 DAYS AND THE 1,335 DAYS
27-29. What other periods were foretold for the “time of the end”?
27 Regarding the prophetic information given to Daniel, the angel said: “The words are made secret and sealed up until the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:9) The fact that the once secret and sealed “words” are now unsealed and brought out of secrecy adds to the abundance of proof that, since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, we have been in the exciting “time of the end.” We see how the “appointed time, appointed times and a half” of Daniel 12:7 have fitted into this “time of the end.” Although those three and a half years are now so far in the past, yet they marked a turning point in the course of the remnant of Daniel’s modern-day “people,” so that this has affected the Christian witnesses of Jehovah who are alive today. But there are other time periods that are assigned by Jehovah to this interesting “time of the end,” and Daniel 12:11, 12 now brings these to our attention:
28 “And from the time that the constant feature has been removed and there has been a placing of the disgusting thing that is causing desolation, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.
29 “Happy is the one who is keeping in expectation and who arrives at the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days!”
30. Who sets up the “disgusting thing” that causes desolation?
30 Here, for our guidance in understanding matters, we must bear in mind that religious Babylon the Great does not place or establish “the disgusting thing that is causing desolation.” The political elements of this system of things do this. For the “one thousand two hundred and ninety days” to start, both requirements must be met, namely, the “constant feature” must be removed and the “disgusting thing that is causing desolation” must be put in place. The removing of the “constant feature” took place during the “appointed time, appointed times and a half” that ran their course during World War I, from December 28, 1914, to sundown of June 21, 1918. The “constant feature” had to do with Jehovah’s “holy people,” whose spiritual “power” was dashed to pieces back there.
31. What was the “constant feature” offered by Daniel’s people?
31 In 537 B.C.E. the prophet Daniel’s people were released from ancient Babylon by the conqueror, Cyrus the Persian, and they returned to the land of Judah to reestablish Jehovah’s worship at Jerusalem. There, at the end of the seventy years of desolation of their homeland, they proceeded to “build the altar of the God of Israel, to offer up burnt sacrifices upon it, according to what is written in the law of Moses the man of the true God.” (Ezra 3:1, 2) From then on the “constant feature” of each day was offered by the priests, with the exception of a temporary interruption by the Syrians during the days of the Levite Maccabees in the second century B.C.E. (Exodus 29:38, 39) What, though, was the “constant feature” of each day that the spiritual Israelites were offering up to God at the beginning of the “time of the end” in 1914?
32. Of what did the “constant feature” since 1914 C.E. consist?
32 It did not consist of animal sacrifices offered upon an altar at Jerusalem in the Middle East. Such sacrifices ceased to be offered there in the year 70 C.E. at the destruction of Jerusalem and its gorgeous temple by the Roman legions. Years before that, the Christian apostle Peter wrote, saying that the anointed spiritual Israelites “are being built up a spiritual house for the purpose of a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5, 9) These “spiritual sacrifices” include “a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which make public declaration to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15) After the Gentile Times ended in 1914 and God’s Messianic kingdom was born in the heavens, the “sacrifice of praise” as part of the “constant feature” that was offered by the spiritual Israelites consisted particularly of bearing witness to the established heavenly kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ.—Matthew 24:3, 14.
33. When was removal of the “constant feature” accomplished?
33 By harassing the anointed Kingdom witnesses and finally by dashing to pieces their spiritual “power” for proclaiming God’s kingdom that must supersede all man-made governments on earth, the warring nations suppressed the Kingdom witnesses and thus removed the “constant feature.” This was accomplished by June 21, 1918. For nine months and four days thereafter the sentenced officers of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and their colaborers lingered in federal imprisonment, awaiting their being released on bail for a new trial and exoneration from all the false charges. Their unjust imprisonment for so long acted as a great deterrent to the offering of the “constant feature” by the Kingdom witnesses. But what about the “disgusting thing” that desolates?
34. How was the “disgusting thing” brought into existence?
34 The “disgusting thing that is causing desolation” is the international organization for world peace and security. This was first designed by the peace conference that assembled in Versailles, France, on January 18, 1919. The victorious war allies drew up the peace treaty that was submitted to the German delegates on May 7, 1919. On June 28, 1919, the German and the Allied delegates signed this peace treaty at Versailles. The international organization for world peace and security, then known as the League of Nations, was part and parcel of that peace treaty, and when the governments involved ratified the signed peace treaty, the League of Nations went into force.
35. How did the clergy of Christendom back up the League of Nations?
35 Prior to that, when the peace conference that paved the way for the League of Nations met on January 18, 1919, the clergy of the Church of England and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America had come out in favor of the proposed League and pressed for the creation of it. The clergy hailed it as “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth.”
36. So, when did the 1,290 days begin and end?
36 If, now, we measure 1,290 days from that marked date, January 18, 1919, when the eight representatives of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society were still under restraint in the Atlanta federal penitentiary, where do we end up? According to the Bible, those 1,290 days are the equivalent of three lunar years and seven lunar months. According to the lunar calendar, January 18, 1919, fell on Shebat 17, 1919. Three lunar years from then would lead up to Shebat 17, 1922, or February 15, 1922. Seven lunar months counted from that would end with Elul 16, 1922, or at sundown, September 9, 1922. So did the 1,290 days or three lunar years and seven months end at a significant time? The historical facts answer Yes!
37. How was the following day, September 10, 1922, marked?
37 The following day, September 10, 1922, a Sunday, proved to be the sixth day of a nine-day international convention of the International Bible Students Association at Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A. It was entitled on the program as “Activity Day.” The feature of the day was the public address to an audience of 18,000, by the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. At the close of his oral argument, the speaker submitted to his audience a resolution called “A Proclamation,” which set forth a challenge to all the world rulers. This Proclamation was meant, not for just those conventioners, but for all the world, and subsequent to the Cedar Point convention it was published in tract form and distributed by the tens of millions of copies in many languages.
38. What featured September 9, 1922, itself, and September 8?
38 The preceding day, Saturday, September 9, was entitled “Consecration Day” and was marked by the mass baptism of 361 men and women in symbol of their dedication to God through Christ. However, Friday, September 8, was entitled “The Day,” which featured the address of the Society’s president on the theme found in Matthew 4:17: “The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand.” (AV) Leading up to the climax of his address, the speaker said:
“Why, then, deliver the message to those who do not understand? Will any one hear? The Prophet of the Lord answers: ‘Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.’—Isaiah 43:8-12.
“Thus we see that those of the temple class are clearly designated as the Lord’s witnesses at this time, to bring a message of consolation to the people, that the kingdom of heaven is here, . . . ”
So, with all due fitness, the Society’s president could close his rousing speech with this exhortation: “Advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom.”
39. How was Monday, September 11, 1922, marked?
39 Immediate opportunity to advertise was offered on the day after the public talk and the challenging resolution adopted by all the conventioners. That Monday, September 11, 1922, was entitled “Service Day,” and the conventioners sallied forth into the field service, more keenly aware than ever that they were advance publicity agents of God’s glorious kingdom.
40. What expression of God’s wrath was thus started publicly?
40 Later on, it was discerned that the public message and the resolution adopted in connection with that public message was the start of the fulfillment of what was foretold in Revelation, chapters eight through sixteen. What was that? The sounding of the seven trumpets and the pouring out of the seven last plagues of Jehovah’s wrath upon this doomed system of things.
41. What supreme issue was thus coming to the fore universally?
41 Calculating the 1,290 days of Daniel 12:11 in this here-given way, do we find that they terminated at a very significant time? We have every reason to believe so. There can be little question that the 1,290 days thus calculated mark an epoch for Jehovah’s “holy people” in this time of the end. The supreme issue before the whole universe was then coming to the fore, namely, Jehovah’s Universal Sovereignty.
HAPPINESS AFTER 1,335 DAYS
42. The close of the 1,335 days was to be marked with what?
42 What, now, about the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days as marked out in Daniel 12:12? The angel said nothing about when these days were to begin; he merely indicated that they would end with the expectant ones entering into a happiness of noteworthy degree: “Happy is the one who is keeping in expectation and who arrives at the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days!” Evidently these 1,335 days are an extension of time beyond the 1,290 days just mentioned, which had ended in the midst of the I.B.S.A. convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1922. Such an extension of time—for 1,335 days more—called for further endurance on the part of the remnant of Jehovah’s “holy people” that had survived World War I. They had little idea then of the happiness that would be bestowed upon them for enduring and arriving at the end of those 1,335 days. So—when did those days begin and end?
43. By the Bible calendar, when did the 1,335 days end?
43 The second Cedar Point convention ended on September 13, 1922. If, now, we count from the next day, September 14, or, Elul 21, 1922, Bible calendar time, when would the 1,335 days end? As the 1,290 days amounted to three lunar years and seven months, so the 1,335 days would amount to three lunar years, eight months and fifteen days. Counting now from Elul 21 (or, September 14), 1922, we find that three lunar years from that date would end on Elul 20 (or, September 9), 1925. To this we add eight lunar months and fifteen days and arrive at the date Sivan 6 (or, May 19), 1926. That day was the 1,893rd anniversary of the happy day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., when the holy spirit was poured out upon Jesus’ disciples at Jerusalem.
44. What closely preceded and what closely followed that day?
44 Just prior to this, on May 13-16, 1926, a general assembly had taken place in Magdeburg, Germany, at which the president of the Watch Tower Society had addressed a public audience of 25,000 on the subject “Comfort for the People.” Now, on May 19, preparations moved ahead for the holding of the outstanding international convention of 1926, that at Alexandra Palace, London, England, May 25-31. Many happy delegates came from distant lands.
45. By then whom had the Christian Bible Students chosen to honor?
45 This London assembly made a tremendous contribution to the happiness of the prophet Daniel’s people, the remnant of spiritual Israelites. At that time, not too many people were really happy about the taking over of Italy by the Fascists. Fears were excited by the progress of the Nazi (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) movement in Germany. But the six-year-old League of Nations was going strong and was about to admit postwar Germany to its membership—on September 8, 1926. In spite of this the International Bible Students Association (I.B.S.A.) continued to expose the League as a man-made political substitute for God’s kingdom that had come to power in the heavens since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. These Christian Bible Students had responded to the question, “Who will honor Jehovah?” that the Watch Tower issue of January 1, 1926, had raised before its readers, and had chosen to honor Jehovah and his kingdom.
46. What marked Friday, May 28, of the 1926 London convention?
46 On Friday, May 28, J. F. Rutherford as president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society submitted to the London conventioners the resolution entitled “A Testimony to the Rulers of the World.” This was the fifth in a series of resolutions adopted at annual conventions of the I.B.S.A. This London resolution together with its supporting message proved to be the start of the pouring out of the fifth “plague” as foretold in Revelation 16:10, 11. Quite significantly that fifth plague began to be poured out at London, England, the capital of the British Empire, which was the British member of the Seventh World Power of Bible prophecy, the Anglo-American Dual World Power, the most mighty of all the world powers of history. The corporate offices of the I.B.S.A. were located in London.
47, 48. What unusual activity marked Saturday, May 29, 1926?
47 On Saturday, May 29, the whole day was devoted to the field service. Said the printed convention program: “This day is set aside for field service. Every consecrated one attending the convention is invited to share in advertising the King and the Kingdom. Get to the Alexandra Palace as early as possible, and report for service at the Service Department. A motor-car service is being arranged for places further afield.”
48 Those of us still alive who attended that London convention will remember how we boarded city buses in groups and were taken to our locations throughout the city to offer a new booklet on the sidewalks and at the Underground entrances. In this way 120,000 copies of the booklet The Standard for the People were placed in the hands of passersby. Reporting on this then unusual way of advertising the King and the Kingdom, The Watch Tower, under date of July 15, 1926, said: “Nothing like this has ever been known on Service Day at a convention. The friends were bubbling over with enthusiasm. They felt that they had done their best to obey the command of Jehovah: ‘Ye are my witnesses that I am God.’”
49. What events marked Sunday, May 30, 1926, at London?
49 Sunday, May 30, crowned the happiness and blessing of this history-making convention, with about 4,000 present. At 2:00 p.m., there was a baptismal service at the Alexandra Palace, after which 184 were immersed in water as dedicated witnesses of the Most High God. That night, the conventioners moved over to Britain’s then largest auditorium, the Royal Albert Hall, for the public lecture by the I.B.S.A. president, J. F. Rutherford, on the subject “Why World Powers Are Tottering—The Remedy.” The Hall was packed to overflowing, with more than 10,000 present. After the reading of the Resolution “A Testimony to the Rulers of the World,” President Rutherford proceeded with his talk. He led up to the Eighth World Power as foretold in Bible prophecy, then the League of Nations, and pointed forward to the failure of such an international organization for world peace and security. Human rule of mankind would end up in the world’s greatest catastrophe, and then would come The Remedy, God’s kingdom by Christ, with peace, prosperity, health, life and happiness for all humankind. In conclusion, the speaker said:
50. In conclusion, what did the public speaker say in appeal?
50 “Let the kings and rulers of the earth now give their allegiance and devotion to the Lord. Let them acknowledge Jehovah as God, and Christ Jesus as his anointed King; and thus doing they will render a real service to the people and put themselves in line for the eternal blessings of Jehovah.” The following day one of London’s newspapers came out with a full report of this public lecture spreading across an entire page, so that many more thousands read this challenging Kingdom message than heard it at Royal Albert Hall. So the foretold fifth “plague” was indeed being poured out!
51. How was the final convention day, May 31, marked?
51 The final day of the convention, Monday, May 31, 1926, the conventioners went out afield to place in the hands of the Jewish population of London a paperbound book especially written for them. That night the conventioners again moved over to the Royal Albert Hall to attend what proved to be a final large-scale public appeal to the Jews to turn to Jehovah’s Messiah, his now reigning Son Jesus Christ. There thousands of Jews responded to the public advertising and heard the Society’s president give them a stirring message that should have been for their comfort. Their only hope was in Jehovah’s Messiah. The choice was now up to circumcised natural Israelites!
52. What thrilling book was released Friday, May 28, 1926?
52 Among the notable features of this most happy convention of Jehovah’s remnant of spiritual Israelites was the public release on Friday, May 28, of the Society’s new publication entitled “Deliverance.” For the Biblical enlightenment this book gave, it was a thriller for Jehovah’s people. As no previous publication had done, it made God’s organization prominent, as symbolized by the woman in Revelation, chapter twelve, and drew a sharp contrast between God’s organization and Satan’s organization. This book was the first of a series of books that replaced the seven volumes of Studies in the Scriptures (of 1886-1917), which had served as the standard of Bible instruction till then. The following year there appeared the book Creation (1927), thereafter Reconciliation (1928), Government (1928), Life (1929), Light (in two volumes, 1930), Vindication (in three volumes, 1931, 1932), Preservation (1932), Preparation (1933), Jehovah (1934), and so forth, down till this year.
53, 54. (a) What expansion was arranged for at the 1926 London convention? (b) Also, what annual publication was promoted?
53 Furthermore, at the 1926 convention held in the capital of the British Empire, the Watch Tower Society’s president assigned experienced men to posts of service in foreign fields, including two who were to open up a new branch in Bombay, India, then a British colony. (See the Year Book I.B.S.A., copyrighted in 1926, page 90.) Also, he promoted arrangements for publishing the Society’s annual report in book form. So, in due time, in order to put on record the Kingdom activities of Jehovah’s people for the significant year of 1926, there appeared the “Year Book of the International Bible Students Association with Daily Texts and Comments.” (320 pages) The “Daily Heavenly Manna and Birthday Records,” which had been used in daily Christian worship since its publication in 1907, now went out of use, as new daily texts and comments appeared in each succeeding Year Book published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society down to date.
54 During the past half century not a Year Book has failed to appear with each passing year, setting forth in great detail the worldwide activities of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses in preaching this good news of the Kingdom.—Matthew 24:14.
55. What building program added to the remnant’s happiness?
55 Another important thing that added to the happy outlook of Jehovah’s people at the time of the international convention in London was this: Plans were under consideration for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to build an eight-story factory of its own at Brooklyn, New York, to meet the requirements of the expanding witness work world wide. On July 23, 1926, the real estate for this was finally purchased. In spite of the following winter, the construction of this Society-owned factory progressed.
56. Of what did that factory prove to be the nucleus?
56 Great was the joy of members of the Brooklyn headquarters staff when they moved into this specially designed, spacious factory and office building in February of 1927. So on the publisher’s page of the Watch Tower magazine issue of February 1, 1927, and of The Golden Age issue of February 9, 1927, there appeared the Publisher’s address: 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York. This building had to be added to later, and it became the nucleus of a growth of thirty-two printing plants related to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society around the globe. Output of Bible study literature by this globe-encircling printing chain till now has been enormous. Thereby a spiritual Paradise has spread!
57. Into a happiness of what duration did the remnant enter?
57 Truly the year 1926 deserved to be marked as the happy climax of the close of the 1,335 days. Those of Daniel’s “people” who kept in expectation and reached the end of the 1,335 days were launched off into a happiness that has not diminished, but that, despite mounting persecution and World War II (1939-1945) and subsequent world troubles, has persisted and increased. Particularly from that marked year of 1926 the dedicated, baptized worshipers of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ have entered into the Paradisaic happiness expressed by the inspired psalmist, when he said: “Happy is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he has chosen as his inheritance.”—Psalms 33:12; 144:15b.
58. After all those “days,” into what lot will Daniel enter?
58 The prophet Daniel was not privileged to see and enter into this happiness of the Christian witnesses of his God, Jehovah. He was told not to expect to do so, for God’s angel said to him: “And as for you yourself, go toward the end; and you will rest, but you will stand up for your lot at the end of the days.” (Daniel 12:13) For more than 2,500 years now Daniel has rested in the grave, in the sleep of death. In due time he will stand up in the resurrection to receive his lot under the Messianic kingdom of Jehovah God, about which he was inspired to prophesy so marvelously. (Hebrews 11:33-40) Moreover, God’s due time draws near when, not only Daniel, but also Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and all the other faithful prophets of old will stand up for their “lot,” waking up from the sleep of death “to indefinitely lasting life” and to the opportunity of serving as “princes in all the earth” under our incoming world government.—Psalm 45:16; Daniel 12:2.