The Society loves using the buzzword "stream of time". Did they know where they were in the stream of time in 1968?
*** w68 5/1 pp. 271-273 Making Wise Use of the Remaining Time ***
5 God's seventh day and the time man has been on earth apparently run parallel. To calculate where man is in the stream of time relative to God's seventh day of 7,000 years, we need to determine how long a time has elapsed from the year of Adam and Eve's creation in 4026 B.C.E. From the autumn of that year to the autumn of 1 B.C.E., there would be 4,025 years. From the autumn of 1 B.C.E. to the autumn of 1 C.E. is one year (there was no zero year). From the autumn of 1 C.E. to the autumn of 1967 is a total of 1,966 years. Adding 4,025 and 1 and 1,966, we get 5,992 years from the autumn of 4026 B.C.E. to the autumn of 1967. Thus, eight years remain to account for a full 6,000 years of the seventh day. Eight years from the autumn of 1967 would bring us to the autumn of 1975, fully 6,000 years into God's seventh day, his rest day.
6
After 6,000 years of misery, toil, trouble, sickness and death under Satan's rule,
mankind is indeed in dire need of relief, a rest. The seventh day of the Jewish week, the sabbath,
would well picture the final 1,000-year reign of God's kingdom under Christ when mankind would be uplifted from 6,000 years of sin and death. (Rev. 20:6) Hence, when Christians note from
God's timetable the approaching end of 6,000 years of human history,
it fills them with anticipation. Particularly is this true because the great sign of the "last days" has been in the course of fulfillment since the beginning of the "time of the end" in 1914. And, as Jesus said,
"this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur." (Matt. 24:34) Some of the generation that discerned the beginning of the time of the end in 1914 will still be alive on earth to witness the end of this present wicked system of things at the battle of Armageddon.--Rev. 16:14, 16.
7
The immediate future is certain to be filled with climactic events, for this old system is
nearing its complete end. Within
a few years at most [now running on
37 years] the
final parts of Bible prophecy relative to these "last days"
will undergo fulfillment, resulting in the liberation of surviving mankind into Christ?s glorious 1,000-year reign. What difficult days, but, at the same time,
what grand days are just ahead!
8
Does this mean that
the year 1975 will bring the battle of Armageddon? No one can say with certainty what any particular year will bring. Jesus said: "Concerning that day or the hour nobody knows." (Mark 13:32) Sufficient is it for God's servants to
know for a certainty that, for this system under Satan,
time is running out rapidly. How foolish a person would be not to be awake and alert to the limited time remaining, to the
earthshaking events soon to take place, and to the need to work out one's salvation!
9
Knowing about
God's timetable,
where we are in the stream of time, is one thing; using the time available is another. If an understanding of time is valuable, using it wisely is even more so.
