The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

these kings. 53
The History of an Interpretation 51
These were indeed very daring predictions. Did Russell really
believe that all these remarkable things would come true within the
next twenty five years? Yes, he did; in fact, he believed his
chronology to be God’s chronology, not just his own. In 1894 he
wrote of the 1914 date:
We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we
change them if we would. They are, we believe, God’s dates, not ours.
But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the
beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble. 54
Thus it was thought that the “time of trouble” was to
commence some years before 1914, “not later than 1910,” reaching
its climax in 1914. 55
In 1904, however, just ten years before 1914, Russell altered his
view on this matter. In an article in the July 1, 1904 issue of Zion’s
Watch Tower, entitled “Universal anarchy—just before or after
October, 1914 A.D.,” he argued that the time of trouble, with its
worldwide anarchy, would begin after October, 1914:
We now expect that the anarchistic culmination of the great
time of trouble which will precede the Millennial blessings will be
after October, 1914 A.D.—very speedily thereafter, in our
opinion— ‘in an hour,’ ‘suddenly,’ because ‘our forty years’
harvest, ending October, 1914 A.D., should not be expected to
include the awful period of anarchy which the Scriptures point out
to be the fate of Christendom. 56
This change caused some readers to think that there might be
other errors in the chronological system, too—one reader even
suggesting that Bishop Ussher’s chronology might be more correct
when it dated the destruction of Jerusalem as having happened in
587 B.C.E. rather than in 606 B.C.E. This would end the 2,520
years in about 1934 instead of 1914. But Russell strongly
reaffirmed his belief in the 1914 date, referring to other claimed
“time parallels” pointing to it:
53 C. T. Russell, The Time is at Hand (= Vol. II of the Millennial Dawn series; later
called Studies in the Scriptures), Pittsburgh: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society,
1889, pp. 77, 78. Some of the predictions were slightly changed in later editions.
54 Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1894 (= Reprints, p. 1677).
55 Ibid., September 15, 1901 (= Reprints, p. 2876).
56 Ibid., July 1, 1904, pp. 197,198 (= Reprints, p. 3389).
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