The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

260 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
the Jerusalem that is trampled upon by worldly nations stands for
the kingdom of God. . . . So the end of the trampling down of
Jerusalem at the complete fulfillment of the “appointed times of
the nations” would mean the rising again of the symbolic
Jerusalem, namely, the kingdom of God.
Thus the end of the trampling down of Jerusalem was
interpreted to mean the installation of Jesus Christ on Jehovah’s
throne in the heavenly Jerusalem in 1914. 47 But this relocation of the
“downtrodden Jerusalem” from earth to heaven created other
questions, discussed below, which never have been satisfactorily
answered.
C-3: Have two “kingdoms of Christ” been set up?
In the publications of the Watch Tower Society it is constantly
stressed that Jesus Christ was “enthroned” and his kingdom “set
up” or “established” in heaven at the end of the Gentile times in
1914. At that time, it is held, he began to rule “in the midst of his
enemies” in fulfillment of Psalm 110:1–2. Thereafter, as an initial
action against these enemies, Jesus Christ is thought to have
thrown Satan and his demon angels out of heaven and down to the
earthly realm, in fulfillment of Revelation 12:1–10. 48
One problem with this scenario is that a number of texts in the
Bible clearly show that Jesus Christ was enthroned in heaven
already at the time of his resurrection and exaltation. For example,
in his revelation to the apostle John, Jesus said:
To the one that conquers I will grant to sit down with me on
my throne, even as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his
throne.—Revelation 3:21, NW.
That the kingdom of Christ existed already back in the first
century is also confirmed by the apostle Paul, who in his letter to
the Christians in Colossae stated:
He [the Father] delivered us from the authority of the darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, by means of
whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins.
—Colossians 1:13–14, NW.
47 See “Babylon the Great Has Fallen!” God’s Kingdom Rules! (Brooklyn, N.Y.:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1963), pp. 452–53; “The Nations Shall Know
that I Am Jehovah”—How? (1971), pp. 232–35; Insight on the Scriptures, Vo1. 1
(1988), pp. 132–33.
48 Recent presentations of these views may be found, for example, in the books You
Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth (1982), pp. 134–41, and Knowledge That
Leads to Everlasting Life (1995), pp. 90–97. Both books are published by the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.