The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

68 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
134 JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES -PROCLAIMERS OF GODS KINGDOM
subtitle "Herald of Christ’s Presence," which appeared on the cover of
Zion’s Watch Tower.
Recognition of Christ’s presence as being invisible became an
important foundation on which an understanding of many Bible
prophecies would be built. Those early Bible Students realized that the
presence of the Lord should be of primary concern to all true
Christians. (Mark 13:33-37) They were keenly interested in the
Master’s return and were alert to the fact that they had a responsibility
to publicize it, but they did not yet clearly discern all the details. Yet,
what God’s spirit did enable them to understand at a very early time
was truly remarkable. One of these truths involved a highly significant
date marked by Bible prophecy.
End of the Gentile Times
The matter of Bible chronology had long been of great interest to
Bible students. Commentators had set out a variety of views on Jesus’
prophecy about "the times of the Gentiles" and the prophet Daniel’s
record of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream regarding the tree stump that was
banded for "seven times."—Luke 21:24, KJ, Dan. 4:10-17.
They could see As early as 1823, John A. Brown, whose work was published in Lonthat
1914 was don, England, calculated the seven times" of Daniel chapter 4 to be 2,520
clearly marked by years in length. But he did not clearly discern the date with which the
Bible prophecy prophetic time period began or when it would end. He did, however,
connect these "seven times" with the Gentile Times of Luke 21:24. In
1844, E. B. Elliott, a British clergyman, drew attention to 1914 as a
possible date for the end of the "seven times" of Daniel, but he also
set out an alternate view that pointed to the time of the French
Revolution. Robett Seeley, of London, in 1849, handled the matter in
a similar manner. At least by 1870, a publication edited by Joseph
Seiss and associates and printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was
setting out calculations that pointed to 1914 as a significant date,
even though the reasoning it contained was based on chronology that
C. T. Russell later rejected.
Then, in the August, September, and October 1875 issues of
Herald of the Morning, N. H. Barbour helped to harmonize details
that had been pointed out by others. Using chronology compiled by
Christopher Bowen, a clergyman in England, and published by E. B.
Elliott, Barbour identified the start of the Gentile Times with King
Zedekiah’s removal from kingship as foretold at Ezekiel 21:25, 26,
and he pointed to 1914 as marking the end of the Gentile Times.
Early in 1876, C. T. Russell received a copy of Herald of the
Morning. He promptly wrote to Barbour and then spent time with him
in Philadelphia during the summer, discussing, among other things,
prophetic time periods. Shortly thereafter, in an article entitled
"Gentile Times: When Do
Page 134 of Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (1993), the
Watch Tower Society’s new book on the history of the movement.
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