How does 1914 + 31/2 = 1919 ?

by UnConfused 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Justitia Themis

  *** w94 8/1 p.31 Questions From Readers ***

  Questions From Readers

  We enjoyed studying prophecies of Daniel as treated in "The Watchtower." Why, though, did the dates for the three and a half times of Revelation 11:3 differ from the "Revelation Climax" book?

  Yes, The Watchtower of November 1, 1993, did offer a minor adjustment as to the dating of the modern fulfillment of Revelation 11:3. Why?

  Let us first look at Revelation 11:2, the end of which mentions "forty-two months." We continue in verse 3: "I will cause my two witnesses to prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days dressed in sackcloth." When does that apply?

  Well, Jehovah’s Witnesses have long recognized that this prophecy found its fulfillment with spirit-anointed Christians after the end of "the appointed times of the nations" (the Gentile Times) in 1914. (Luke 21:24; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22) Commenting on this, Revelation — Its Grand Climax At Hand! (1988) says on page 164: "There was a marked period of three and a half years when the hard experiences of God’s people matched the events prophesied here—starting from the outbreak of the first world war in the latter part of 1914 and continuing to the early part of 1918."

  Note that the dating offered was "the outbreak of the first world war in the latter part of 1914 [till] the early part of 1918." This matches the dating often presented, such as in "Then Is Finished the Mystery of God," pages 261-4, (1969).*

  However, The Watchtower focused on prophecies in Daniel, a book that twice mentions a period comparable to that mentioned later in Revelation—3 1/2 years, or 42 months. To be specific, Daniel 7:25 says that God’s holy ones would be harassed "for a time, and times and half a time," or 3 1/2 times. Later, Daniel 12:7 foretells "an appointed time, appointed times and a half," or 3 1/2 times, that would be climaxed with "a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people."

  So we have prophecies dealing with a comparable period at Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, and Revelation 11:2, 3, as well as at Revelation 13:5. Our publications have shown that all of these found fulfillment in the 1914-18 period. But in treating each of these prophecies separately, the dates for the beginning and for the end varied a little.

  However, The Watchtower of November 1, 1993, asked: "How were all these parallel prophecies fulfilled?" Yes, the prophecies of 3 1/2 times mentioned at Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7, and Revelation 11:3 were recognized as "parallel prophecies." Hence, they would correspond as to their beginning and their end.

  As to the ending, the magazine showed how the harassment of God’s anointed ones (Daniel 7:25) climaxed in June 1918 when J. F. Rutherford and other directors of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society were "sentenced on false charges to a long term in prison." That event certainly was "a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people," as noted at Daniel 12:7.

  Counting back from June 1918 leads us to December 1914 for the beginning of the 3 1/2 times. In that closing month of 1914, God’s anointed ones on earth learned the theme scripture for the coming year: "‘Are ye able to drink of My cup?’—Matthew 20:20-23." The article announcing it warned: "Who knows but that there may be some special trial, cup of suffering or ignominy, for the loyal followers of the Lamb during 1915!" As Daniel 7:25 foretold for this period of 3 1/2 times, ‘harassment arose and continued against the holy ones themselves of the Supreme One.’ Nations were embroiled in World War I, making it easier for them to carry out unjustified harassment. The conclusion is: All three parallel prophecies—Daniel 7:25, 12:7, and Revelation 11:3—found fulfillment in the 3 1/2 years, or 42 months, from December 1914 to June 1918.

  This explains the slight refinement in dating the fulfillment of Revelation 11:3. This adjustment is something we can bear in mind as we study and use the Revelation Climax book in the future.

  [Footnotes]

  Published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
• 

  M.J.

  Interestingly, if they admitted that the Jews returned from exile in Babylon in 538 BCE (rather than 537), that would put the fall of Jeruslam at 608 BCE...Thus Christ returned in 1948, the year the State of Israel was re-established!!!!!

  Of course that would have to be explained as having some sort of double-fulfilment, type/anti-type sort of thing where the WTS got the true crown while the Jews did not...
• 

  MidwichCuckoo

  Since when can JWs do maths? No wonder they discourage education, that way the R&F have to trust the dodgy 'workings-out'. I asked a couple of Dubs (about 6/8 months ago) how THEY arrived at 1914,,,and just like the one I'd previously asked, the reply was that they DO know, but have forgotten, they'll get back to me...
• 

  Leolaia

  There is an interesting story in this. The actual expectation originally was that Babylon the Great would be smitten in 1918...specifically, on April 27, 1918 (Finished Mystery, 1918, p. 530). This was based on both the 3 1/2 years of Daniel and Revelation and an unusual interpretation of Ezekiel 33:21. Thus it was expected that "the Spring of 1918 will bring upon Christendom a spasm of anguish greater even than that experienced in the Fall of 1914" (p. 62), "when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions" (p. 485), and even that there would be "the glorification of the Little Flock in the Spring of 1918 A. D." (p. 64). Even to this day the Society maintains some elements of this failed expectation, that Babylon the Great did (invisibly) fall in judgment in 1918 and that the 144,000 were (invisibly) resurrected in 1918.

  But a really funny thing did happen around April 27, 1918. That was when the Society weakened its stand on "Christian neutrality" and began to give political support to Allied victory in WWI. First, the 15 May 1918 Watchtower (p. 152) published an article recommending the Bible Students to support the war by buying Liberty Bonds since "the United States has always stood for religious liberty and freedom of speech". This statement was written as a response to "an unpleasant occurrence at the Brooklyn Tabernacle last Sunday, April 28th". That's the very next day after the expected date. Then the 1 June 1918 issue urged its readers to join with the rest of Christendom on May 30th to pray to God "for the promised glorious outcome of the war, the breaking of the shackles of autocracy". This offended a significant portion of the Watchtower readership and a schism arose in which the Standfasters broke away from the Watchtower Society, viewing it as now apostate. They pointed out that the fall of the Watchtower Society occurred on almost the exact date expected for the fall of Babylon itself. And then when the directors were arrested on 21 June 1918, this only backed up the belief that the Society was no longer used by God. Here is the interesting thing. The Society today concedes that the Standfasters were right. Even though breaking away from the Society would today be viewed as proof of apostasy, they admit that the Standfasters had the correct view of things. They say that the 1 June 1918 article "amounted to a violation of Christian neutrality" (Watchtower, 15 June 1987, p. 15; cf. 1975 Yearbook, p. 119, Watchtower, 1 October 1984, p. 22), and they claim that they were in "Babylonian captivity" in 1918, explaining why they were " not conducting themselves in a strictly neutral way during the war years " (Watchtower, 15 July 1960, p. 436). One would then wonder by 1919, Jesus supposedly chose Rutherford's group and not the Standfasters who kept their loyalty to scriptural principles.

  The number of days between December 21, 1914 to June 21, 1918 is 1,278 ! Not 1,260!!!....The WTS goofed here! They used modern solar years and to calculate time expressed in "prophetic years".

  M.J. ... I think I should point something out here, as I have a few times in the past. What is certainly disingenuous is the arbitrary selection of "December 21, 1914" as a starting date in order to get the 3 1/2 years to end on June 21, 1918, and of course the whole exercise is eisegetical (i.e. reading into the text) rather than a real interpretation of the meaning of the text. But your criticism incorrectly assumes that the 1,260 days of Revelation 11 (and the 1,290 and 1,335 days of Daniel 12) is a continuous period exactly 1,260 days in length. This is a reasonable assumption, but it is incorrect. What you call a "prophetic year" is really the calendrical reckoning of the Jewish solar calendar, which consists of four seasons that, in turn, consist of three months that are each 30 days in length, giving a total of 360 monthly days in a year. But the actual length of the year was 364 days. This was necessarily the case because the calendar was sabbatical, and 364 days yields 52 weeks per year (and thus, all sabbaths and festivals occur on the same day each year). Also, a calendar that only has 360 days would quickly get out of whack with the seasons before long. The real solar calendar that was used by the Jews (at least before the Essenes combined the extra four days with the months) construed the four equinoxes and solstices as outside of the months, as special days that lie in between the seasons. That is why the 1,260 days of Revelation 11 are 42 months....these are 1,260 days making up the 42 months, but there are a few more days in a day-to-day reckoning that would need to be added because they do not belong to the months. So if you are taking the 42 months and use them to get from one calendar date to another one in a day-to-day reckoning (as the Society does here), one would need to add the solstices and equinoxes back in. Moreover, since the solar calendar was synchronized with the lunar calendar, there was a system of intercalation that maintained the sabbatical structure of the solar calendar, such that a leap week would probably have been added every seven years. So the total number of sequential days of the 1,260 days would have been either 1,274 days or 1,281 days depending on which year the intercalation occurs in....still not the 1,278 days assumed by the Society using the Gregorian calendar, so there is still a goof but for a slightly different reason.
• 

  UnConfused

  Leolaia,

  What a terrific contribution.

  Thanks!
• 

  M.J.

  M.J. ... I think I should point something out here, as I have a few times in the past. What is certainly disingenuous is the arbitrary selection of "December 21, 1914" as a starting date in order to get the 3 1/2 years to end on June 21, 1918, and of course the whole exercise is eisegetical (i.e. reading into the text) rather than a real interpretation of the meaning of the text. But your criticism incorrectly assumes that the 1,260 days of Revelation 11 (and the 1,290 and 1,335 days of Daniel 12) is a continuous period exactly 1,260 days in length. This is a reasonable assumption, but it is incorrect. What you call a "prophetic year" is really the calendrical reckoning of the Jewish solar calendar, which consists of four seasons that, in turn, consist of three months that are each 30 days in length, giving a total of 360 monthly days in a year. But the actual length of the year was 364 days. This was necessarily the case because the calendar was sabbatical, and 364 days yields 52 weeks per year (and thus, all sabbaths and festivals occur on the same day each year). Also, a calendar that only has 360 days would quickly get out of whack with the seasons before long. The real solar calendar that was used by the Jews (at least before the Essenes combined the extra four days with the months) construed the four equinoxes and solstices as outside of the months, as special days that lie in between the seasons. That is why the 1,260 days of Revelation 11 are 42 months....these are 1,260 days making up the 42 months, but there are a few more days in a day-to-day reckoning that would need to be added because they do not belong to the months. So if you are taking the 42 months and use them to get from one calendar date to another one in a day-to-day reckoning (as the Society does here), one would need to add the solstices and equinoxes back in. Moreover, since the solar calendar was synchronized with the lunar calendar, there was a system of intercalation that maintained the sabbatical structure of the solar calendar, such that a leap week would probably have been added every seven years. So the total number of sequential days of the 1,260 days would have been either 1,274 days or 1,281 days depending on which year the intercalation occurs in....still not the 1,278 days assumed by the Society using the Gregorian calendar, so there is still a goof but for a slightly different reason.

  Leolaia,

  Thanks for that clarification and great explanation. I chose not to get into the REAL story behind "prophetic" years (as you so well explained in the past), and rolled with the WTS assumptions to make a point. Point being, of course, that their assumptions do not hold up. The WTS assumes the 1,260 days is a continuous period of consecutive days, in the same way they assume the 2520 years are a continuous period of consecutive years. The 1,260 days can't BOTH be representative of 3.5 years AND be consecutive and literal.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  LEOLAIA's post here is really interesting. . .