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)

Questions From Readers

● What is the meaning of the illustration appearing on page 220 of the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth”?—B. T., U.S.A.

This picture illustrates the theme of chapter ten, The North Against the South. The South is pictured by the pyramids, which are associated with and stand for Egypt, the king of the South. The North is pictured by a Syrian shepherd, as Syrians were great sheep herders and Syria played the part of the king of the North.

● In the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures “Jehovah” is listed as YHWH. Should it not be YHVH?—B. Y., U.S.A.

It is rendered this way in the New World Translation, instead of “Y H V H,” because the Jewish letter, the third one in the name, is pronounced like a “W” instead of like a “V.” This fact is shown up in that some translators render the divine name into English as “Yahweh” instead of “Jahveh.”