Millions Now Living Will Never Die - Part 2
GENTILE TIMES
The term Gentile times as used in the Scriptures designates a period of time during which the Gentiles were to govern the peoples of earth. At the death of Jacob God organized Israel into a nation and dealt with that nation, to the exclusion of all other nations of earth, for a specific time. Time and again they departed from their
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covenant with Jehovah and he punished them. Time and again be warned them against a punishment of greater duration unless they profited by previous experiences. They had many kings -some good, some wicked. Zedekiah was the last king, and he became so very wicked that God issued this decree against him, saying: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose night it is; and I will give it him." -Ezekiel 21:24-27.
It is a well-known historical fact that Zedekiah at the time here mentioned was taken prisoner by King Nebuchadnezzar and carried away to Babylon. Afterward the Israelites were permitted to maintain a national existence by other nations exercising a supervisory control oven them, and this condition continued until the year A. D. 73. What happened at the time of the dethronement of Zedekiah was that the crown, or dominion, or ruling authority oven the peoples of earth, was taken away from the
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Jews and permitted to be assumed by the Gentiles. The first universal empire was that of Babylon, followed by Medo-Persia, then by Greece, and later by Rome; and out of the Roman empire have grown all the Gentile nations of Christendom. As to how long this punishment should be inflicted upon the Jews, and therefore how long God would permit the Gentiles to have the dominion, is fixed by the Scriptures as seven symbolic times. (See Leviticus 26: 18) A time in the Scriptures is used to represent a symbolic year. According to the Jewish method of calculation a year is 360 days. A day for a year, then, would make each time 360 years in duration. The seven times would be a period of 2520 years, during which the Gentiles should have the lease of power, and at the end of which their lease of power would legally cease to exist.
The date of Zedekiah's overthrow and the establishment of Nebuchadnezzar's Gentile dominion, which was the first Gentile world government, is definitely fixed both by secular history and the Scriptures as B. C. 606. In the year A. D. 1, 606 years of the whole period had expired. Adding 1914 years to the 606 would make a total of 2520 years, therefore bringing the period of the Gentiles' lease of power or dominion to an end in the year 1914. This date corresponds with the circumstantial evidence proving conclusively when the world would begin to end, i.e., when the old order would
begin to pass away, and fixes the time for the manifestation of Messianic power and the bringing in of the new order of things.
By way of illustration, if a man purchases a piece of property on which is situated a decayed building and upon which lot he expects shortly to erect a new structure, the first work in which the new owner engages is to clear the lot of the decayed building, preparatory to erecting the new. By analogy, then, if the old order began to pass away in 1914 and Messiah began to exercise his power, preparatory to setting up the kingdom of righteousness, then we should expect that his first work would be the destruction of the old systems of unrighteousness.
We here introduce the testimony of a witness whose competency cannot be questioned and whose testimony must be accepted as absolutely true. This witness is Jesus of Nazareth. To orthodox Jews he was a great teacher amongst the Jews. To Christians he was not only a great teacher, but by them is accepted and recognized as the Son of God, the Redeemer of mankind, the Savior of the world, the King of glory. He testified that the Jews should be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. {Luke 21:24) He gave to John the Revelator instruction as to what would take place when that time should arrive and when he, the Messiah, should begin to exercise his kingly power. He pictures the prophets, the mouthpieces of Jehovah, as saying concerning
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himself, the Messiah: "We give thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned [exercised regal authority]. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come."-Revelation 11:17, 18.
Here, then, we definitely see that the Gentile times ended in the fall of 1914. At that time, true to the prophetic statement, the nations did become angry and God's wrath has been upon the nations since. Every nation under the Sun has been growing weaker.
END OF THE WORLD
Fully corroborative of this testimony, we direct attention to the further testimony of Jesus set forth in the 24th chapter of Matthew only a few days before his crucifixion, to wit, in the spring of A. D. 33: "As he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy presence, and of the end of the world?" After giving them warning not to be deceived by other testimony, the Lord plainly answers their question: "Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:7, 8) In other words, he stated that a great world war would ensue, in which the nations and kingdoms of the earth
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should be involved. That great war began exactly on time, at the end of the Gentile times; and there the old order began to pass away. The war, involving nearly all the nations of earth, continued for about four years, and its destructiveness of treasure and human life is unparalleled in any other time of man's history.
It will be noticed that Jesus said this would be accompanied by famine. Since the coming of the war there has been great distress in the world because of the shortage of food. In many of the countries of Europe thousands have literally starved to death. The food shortage in every country on earth is very apparent and the cost of living mounts higher and higher. This is not due to the fact that the earth is less productive, nor is it due to the fact of man's inability to plant and produce more; but it is due to the unsettled conditions resulting from the world war, which conditions Jesus clearly foretold would accompany the war; and it is another evidence that 1914 marked the beginning of the end of the world; for Jesus plainly said, "These are the beginning of sorrows".
Furthermore, it is observed, Jesus said that the war and famine would be accompanied by a pestilence. This has been literally fulfilled. The Spanish influenza swept over the earth and in less than twelve months the victims from that dread pestilential disease outnumbered two to one of those who died during the great world
war in four years; and now this is being followed in the European countries by the direful pestilence of typhus, against which the people are being warned.
Again Jesus said that the war, famine and pestilence would be followed by earthquakes. It was not unusual for Jesus to use symbolic language; in fact, he often used symbolic language or dark sayings to conceal the real meaning until the due time should come. In Biblical symbology earthquake means revolution. Following the war have come famine, pestilence and revolutions in many countries -some bloody and some bloodless. Russia has experienced her revolution and there the Babylonish systems have fallen. The same thing has occurred in Germany, in Austria and Hungary; and the spirit of revolution is rife everywhere. This does not mean the end of the trouble, but it does mean, according to Jesus' words, that the old world legally ended in 1914 and the process of removing the worn out systems is now progressing, preparatory to the inauguration of Messiah's kingdom.
CORROBORATIVE TESTIMONY
It will be interesting here to examine a picture that Jehovah caused to be made centuries ago. The prophet Elijah was used as a type of the true followers of Christ Jesus. His journey to Mount Horeb pictures the journey of the true Christians down to the time of the end of the
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world. The Lord directed him to go forth and stand on the mountain, picturing the church in such a position as to obtain a clear vision of the events about to transpire and transpiring. To Elijah the Lord said: "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wing rent the mountains [symbolically representing kingdoms], and brake in pieces the rocks [strong parts thereof] before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind [symbolic of war]: and after the wind an earthquake [symbolic of revolution]; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire [symbolic of greater troubles]; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. " -1 Kings 19:11, 12.
In 1898 Pastor Russell, the greatest Bible student of modern times, commenting on the above Scripture, said:
'The four exhibitions of the Lord, given to Elijah, represent, we believe, four manifestations in which the Lord is about to reveal himself to mankind, the first three of which will prepare men for the final one, in which will come the desired blessing to all the families of the earth. These are:
"(1) The mighty winds rending the very rocks. Blowing winds seem to be used in Scripture for wars. The wars, whose dark clouds have threatened the civilized world so ominously for the past thirty years, have been miraculously hindered to give opportunity for 'sealing' the Lord's consecrated people in their foreheads
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(intellectually) with the present truth. We are therefore to expect that when these winds of war shall be let lose, it will mean a cataclysm of warfare which shall divide kingdoms (mountains) - prefigured by the mighty wind shown to Elijah (1 Kings 19:11), which rent the rocks. But God's Kingdom will not follow the epoch of war; the world will not thus be made ready for the reign of Immanuel. No; a further lesson will be needed and will be given. It is represented in
"(2) An earthquake. Throughout the Scriptures an earthquake seems always to represent revolution; and it is not unreasonable to expect that an era of general warfare would so arouse the lower class of Europe and so discontent them with their lot (and especially with the conditions which would follow such a war) that revolution would be the next thing in order. (Revelation 16:18) But, severe though those revolutionary experiences will be to the world, they are not sufficient to prepare men to hear the voice of God. It will require
"(3) The fire from heaven - an epoch of divine judgments and chastisements upon a maddened but unconverted world, wild in anarchy, as other Scriptures show us. The results of their wars, revolutions and anarchy, in the failure of their schemes, will have a humbling effect, and will prepare mankind for God's revelation of himself in
"(4) The still small voice. Yes; he who spoke to the winds and the waves of the sea of Galilee will, in due time, 'speak peace to the peoples'. He will speak with authority, commanding the observance of his long neglected law of love. 'And whosoever will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people. ' - Acts 3:23"-The Finished Mystery.
Every close observer will witness that this
prophecy has been partially fulfilled and is still in course of fulfillment.
ISRAEL'S DOUBLE
The Jewish people God used as a typical people. Their law foreshadowed better things to come in the future. (Hebrews 10:1) Keeping in mind that prophecy means history written in advance, i .e., that the divine mind foreknew from the beginning the end and caused the salient points to be recorded for the benefit of those living at the times when they should happen, let us now examine further the testimony of Jesus on this point. He said: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors". (Matthew 24:32, 33) The fig tree here is symbolic of the Jewish nation. We reach that conclusion from what Jesus himself said in cursing the fig tree a few days before he gave utterance to the words above quoted.-Matthew 21: 19, 20.
Jehovah, through Jeremiah his prophet, foretold to Israel that the climax of their punishment would come when he would drive them out of the land of Palestine into a strange country, where they would have to serve others and be oppressed for the same length of time that he has shown them his favor, the words of the prophet here being: "Therefore will I cast you
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out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favor. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall nor more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things." - Jeremiah 16:13-18.
Here it is to be seen that God not only foretold driving them out and punishing them, but that he would ultimately bring them back into Palestine; and the length of their punishment would be an exact double - a counterpart of duplication-of the time during which he has bestowed his favor upon them. "First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double." The word
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double here means duplication or exact counterpart. If we can get the proper location of these time features, ascertain where the double began, we can very easily determine when God's favor should be due to return to the Jews and what relation that has to the budding of the fig tree, as above stated.
God is his own interpreter and will make plain his plan to those who study to understand it. Through the mouth of another prophet he gives us the key to the location of the very day of the beginning of this double. The prophet Zechariah records concerning Jerusalem these words: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass". "Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee." (Zechariah 9:9, 12) This prophetic statement of the Lord must have a fulfillment at sole time and it is quite evident that its fulfillment would mark the date from which the double counts.
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