[426]It might be reasonably expected that the clergy of various denominations would be anxious to know and anxious to tell the people about the presence of the Lord, and would therefore joyfully receive any news concerning his presence. We find the facts to be just to the contrary, however, and we again notice that this is one of the evidences given by Jesus himself marking his second presence. He said: "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming [presence] of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming [presence] of the Son of man be." (Matthew 24:37-39) Instead of these clergymen as a class joining in the proclamation, 'Behold the Bridegroom! the Lord has returned, the kingdom is at hand,' they scoff and jeer, and if they say anything concerning the Lord's second presence, even though they get all their information from what Pastor Russell wrote, they discredit him and mock and scoff at what he wrote or said. Of course the Lord foreknew this and therefore he caused the Apostle under inspiration to write: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming [presence]? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation". —2 Peter 3:3,4.

END OF THE WORLD

[427]Jesus having taught his disciples concerning his second coming, and having informed them that the world would end at or during that time, they desired to know how they might be able to ascertain the fact of his presence and what would be the indication or proof of it to them or to any one. He was sitting on the side of the Mount of Olives when his disciples came to him privately and propounded the question: "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign [proof or indication] of thy presence, and of the end of the world?" (Matthew 24:3) The word world as here used does not mean the earth. The earth will never end or pass away, because "God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited". (Isaiah 45:18) "The earth abideth forever."—Ecclesiastes 1:4.

[428]The word world means the social and political order or rule governing the people. From Adam to the time of the great deluge was the first world or social order of government; which was under the administration of angels (Hebrews 2:5), and which passed away in a great flood, during which only Noah and his family, consisting in all of eight persons, were carried over from the old to the other or newer world, and were saved. (2 Peter 3:6; 1 Peter 3:20) There began with Noah and his family a new order or world, which in the time of the Apostle's day and before that time had grown evil, and which he designated as "the present evil world". (Galatians 1:4) The Apostle clearly shows that that world must pass away to make way for the new and righteous kingdom, which will rule and govern and bless the people.

[429]It was during the early part of this world that God made promise to Abraham that through his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. Later, at the death of Jacob, God organized the nation of Israel or the Jews into a nation and at Mount Sinai made a covenant with them. Jehovah dealt with the nation of Israel exclusive of all other nations for a number of years. They had many kings, some good and some bad. Zedekiah was their last king, and because of his wickedness God said concerning him: "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 right it is; and I will give it [to] him,"—Ezekiel 21:24-27.

[430]In the year 606 B.C. Zedekiah was overthrown. He was taken a prisoner, carried away to Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar established in the earth the first universal empire and the gentile times dated from that time forward. The length of the gentile times is definitely fixed in the Scriptures as a period of seven symbolic times of 360 years each, or a total of 2,520 years. This period beginning with the year 606 B.C. necessarily must end in 1914 A.D. God had declared that he would overturn the right of the descendants of Abraham to rule, thereby permitting the gentiles to have an uninterrupted sway until he should come whose right it is. The one whose right it is is the great Messiah, Christ Jesus the Lord. It would be reasonable to expect him to be present some time before he would take unto himself his great power to reign. His presence beginning in 1874, he has carried on his harvest work from 1878 forward, but has not interrupted the gentile dominion until that dominion should end. The end of the gentile rule, therefore, would mark necessarily the end of the present order; therefore, the end of the world. We should expect, then, to find 1914 as the beginning of the end of the old world or order of government. And that this would take place during the presence of the Lord he definitely stated.

[431]When the gentile dominion legally ends, the order being a wicked one under the supervision of Satan, the god of the evil world (2 Corinthians 4:3,4), and all these nations lying in the wicked one (1 John 5:19), it would be expected that the gentile kingdoms and nations would strive to hold on to their power. But when the proper time should come it would also be expected that the Lord, whose right it is, would take over the affairs into his own hands. And so he said: "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. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth."—Revelation 11:17,18.

[432]It will be observed that the Lord does not do all of his work in a twenty-four-hour day, but that gradually he performs his sovereign will. Specifically answering the question concerning the end of the world during the time of his presence, Jesus said: "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes [literal and symbolic—revolutions] in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:7,8) Exactly on time, at the end of the gentile dominion, at the beginning of the end of the world, nation rose against nation and kingdom against kingdom in the most devastating war that man ever dreamed would come to the world. There followed in its wake a great pestilence, the Spanish influenza, which swept the earth; and the famine is still raging amongst many peoples and kindreds of the earth; and there have been revolutions, as well as many literal earthquakes in various parts of the earth. And these, said the Master, mark the beginning of the end of the world, which takes place during the time of his presence. The evidence here is overwhelming, proclaiming his presence and the end of the world.

[433]These facts mark a corroboration and a clear fulfillment of the words of Jehovah's Prophet announced centuries before, namely: "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever". (Daniel 2:44) Literally the kingdoms of earth are being broken in pieces, and any one who takes a map of Europe today and looks it over can see how completely this prophecy is now in course of fulfillment. Nearly all the kings of earth are gone and their kingdoms are broken in pieces and are being consumed. This is being done because the Lord is present, because the old world has ended and he is clearing away the unrighteous things to make way for his new and righteous government.

[434]Furthermore Jesus said concerning the end of the world within the time of his second presence: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake". (Matthew 24:9) "But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils [courts]; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them." (Mark 13:9) "But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony." (Luke 21:12,13) Literally did these Scriptures have fulfillment in the years 1917, 1918, and 1919. The World War furnished the excuse for the world-wide persecution of humble and honest and faithful Christians.