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Divine Victory—Its Meaning for Distressed HumanityDivine Victory—Its Meaning for Distressed Humanity
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20. (a) As the opposite of that, what did God do at the end of the Gentile Times? (b) Why was God’s action not visible to political rulers on earth?
20 As the opposite of this, at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 C.E., God restored his kingdom, not in a typical way with a typical Messiah king, but in a real way, in the antitypical way. That is why he did not in that year reestablish the kingdom of the royal family of David at Jerusalem in the Middle East. Rather, he set up the kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ, who, when he was a man on earth, was a natural descendant of ancient King David. Also, since Jesus Christ is no longer a man on earth but was resurrected from a martyr’s death to heavenly spirit life, God set up the kingdom of this Descendant of King David in the heavens, in what is called the “heavenly Jerusalem.” (Matthew 1:1; 1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 12:22) That is why the birth of that Messianic kingdom in 1914 C.E. was not visible to the political rulers of Christendom and pagandom. And yet the birth had to be on time, and it made itself felt by the effects that it produced both in heaven and on earth.
21-23. (a) Why is that “war” in heaven nothing to scoff at unbelievingly? (b) How does John, in Revelation, chapter 12, describe the cause of this?
21 Do we realize that, in heaven, a war resulted from the successful birth of that Messianic kingdom that came forth from God’s heavenly organization like a newborn child from a woman? This is nothing to scoff at unbelievingly, for any war has its effects and this heavenly invisible war has had its effects on us people here on earth. The effects of that war are nothing for us to smile at, for we are painfully feeling them. This is what lends realism to the matter. The unseen heavenly cause of this was prophetically envisioned to the Christian apostle John. He gives us the following description according to The New English Bible of 1970:
22 “She [that is, God’s heavenly organization] gave birth to a male child, who is destined to rule all nations with an iron rod. But her child was snatched up to God and his throne;
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