The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

are all aware.Three and one - half years before the end of the Jewish age Christ came, in this year, October 29. Youremember Jesus at His birth was not the Christ. Jesus did not become the Christ until He was baptized, becausethe word' Christ is the same as the word Messiah, and simply means "anointed." So it was only when Jesus wasimmersed in the waters of Jordan, symbolizing His consecration to the will of God unto death, and after He wasraised up out of the water in symbolism of His rising in newness of life, receiving the holy spirit, that Hebecame the Christ, and that was in October, A. D. 29, all together a period of 40 years from October, 29 toOctober, 69, the Jewish harvest. Similarly -when we came to this time, 31/2 years before the spring of 1878, ourLord came the second time, and from there is a period of 40 years, ending in October, 1914, the end of theharvest of the Gospel age. Now, we have a great many prophecies pointing to October, 1874, and we have a fewof them shown here, and we have also some others pointing to 1914; and so this wonderful chart simplycorroborates what the other prophecies state.What I want particularly to draw your attention to now is this period at the end of each of these "days." You willremember how Daniel was promised that his people would get 70 weeks of favor from the time the commissionwas given to build the walls of Jerusalem, and in the beginning of the seventeenth week Messiah was to come,and in the midst of that week he was to be cut off, and at the end of that seventieth -week the exclusive favorwas to be ended. This part of the chart pictures the 69 weeks up to the coming of Jesus as Christ in 29 A. D.,and this part pictures the 70th week of years - a period of 70 years. He came in 29, and He was cut off in 33,and then in October, 36 the end of the 70 weeks had come, which was the end of the exclusive or special favorfor Israel. What favor? The favor of the high calling. What a wonderful favor that was! Just think what thatfavor means! It means that those who are invited to be partakers of this high and heavenly calling are invited tobe joint-heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ. As our Brother Brenneisen said in opening this convention, it wouldbe a very great favor to be invited to become president of this nation; most men would consider it was an honorperhaps too high for them, and some might be carried away altogether by such an honor being given to them;but what is that honor compared to the honor of being called to sit down on the right hand of Jesus Christ, towhom all power in heaven and earth has been given! And to sit down there, not for a period of four years, butfor all eternity. It is a matter really too vast for our minds to comprehend fully, dear friends. Just think of thehighness of your calling. And so during that period, up until October 36, none but the Jews had that wonderfulprivilege; not a. single Gentile was allowed to enter into that high calling. And then, because of the unbelief ofthe nation, it was cast off as a system in the midst of the week, and as individuals at the end of the week, and inOctober, 36 the exclusive favor had ended, and it was then that the first Gentile, Cornelius, received the holyspirit as an earnest of his inheritance.Now, dear friends, Brother Russell points out in the second volume, in the chapter on parallel