"The Path of the Just is as the Shining Light,
That Shineth More and More
Unto the Perfect Day."
SERIES II
"Times of Refreshing Shall Come From the Presence of the Lord; and He Shall Send Jesus Christ, * * * Whom the Heavens Must Retain until THE TIMES OF RESTITU-
TION OF ALL THINGS
Which God Hath Spoken by the Mouth of All His Holy Prophets Since the World Began." "Ye Brethren, Are Not in Darkness, That That Day Should Overtake You as a Thief."—Acts 3:19-21; 1 Thes. 5:4.
——————
PUBLISHED BY
LAYMEN'S HOME MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
1156 St. Matthew's Road
Chester Springs, Pennsylvania 19425
1937
Reprinted 2005
To the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
IN THE INTEREST OF
HIS CONSECRATED SAINTS,
WAITING FOR THE ADOPTION,
— AND OF —
"ALL THAT IN EVERY PLACE CALL UPON THE LORD,"
"THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH,"
— AND OF —
THE GROANING CREATION, TRAVAILING AND WAITING FOR
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD,
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED.
_____________
"To make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God," "Wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of His will, accord-
ing to His good pleasure which He hath pur-
posed in Himself; that in the dispensation
of the fulness of the times He
might gather together in one
all things, under
Christ."
Eph. 3:4, 5, 9; 1:8–10.
_____________
COPYRIGHT 1937
BY PAUL S. L. JOHNSON
PREFACE
THE EDITOR and publisher takes pleasure in presenting God's people this edition of Volume II of THE STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES. The time prophecies set forth in this book are as striking as they are true. They have been a source of enlightenment, comfort and stimulation to God's people; and their remarkable fulfillment has greatly strengthened the faith, stimulated the hope and increased the love of the saints everywhere. They have been subjected to the hard test of time, events and the sharp attacks of the adversary delivered through deluded servants of his, among whom, alas! have been some formerly rejoicing in the teachings of this book. But they have emerged from the fiery crucible as pure gold and silver of Divine Truth. While, when written, they in the nature of the case could not forecast Epiphany conditions clearly, they were a wonderfully true forecast of Parousia conditions. Since the Author's ministry was divinely limited to the Parousia, it should not be expected that he should have given accurate descriptions of the Epiphany.
A few cases like the typist's mistake of substituting 1873 for 1874 in the Author's Foreword, several like mistakes in substituting 1915 for 1914 and the mistake of making the Jewish Harvest end in 70 instead of in 69 (a mistake that the Author in 1904 corrected (p. 245, par. 2), but did not correct in the various places of its occurrence, because prohibited by the condition of the plates) the Editor silently corrected. As in the case of Volume I, linotype, which considerations of economy made him use instead of the more compressible hand type of the earlier edition, forced him to make slight verbal condensations without affecting the sense, in order to keep the pages of uniform size with the earlier editions, a thing necessary, if a pocket edition with greatly reduced margins is to be published, and if confusion is to be prevented in index matters. The same thing is true of other slight inaccuracies, e.g., where the period from 29 to 70 A.D. is spoken of as 40 years, and a few cases of the kind that the Author corrected on pages 77, 78, etc., but left uncorrected elsewhere.
To give the reader the benefit of some chronological clarifications that the Author endorsed in 1914, but that
iii
to correct in the plates was practically impossible, the Editor gives as the first part of the Appendix a letter of his to the Author. This letter defends the Author's result against certain attacks. The second and third parts of the Appendix strongly corroborate the Author's chronological periods by pointing out facts that were fulfilled long after the Author's view of the situation in a general way forecast them. The Berean questions as Part IV of the Appendix will be helpful to the study of this book, whose prophetic veracity, being now established by the fulfilled facts, invites all the more to a careful proving of the things herein written. May the Lord graciously bless the book to its readers in its divinely intended mission!
Your brother and servant,
PAUL S. L. JOHNSON.
Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.A., Oct. 5, 1935.
_______________
THE AUTHOR'S FOREWORD.
THE FIRST EDITION of this Volume was given to the public in 1889. Since then, one edition after another has gone forth in various languages, until now more than one million and a half copies are in the hands of the people. These figures are astonishing when we consider how few people today have any faith in the Bible as a Divine Revelation, and how few of those who do have faith in the Bible have an appreciation of prophecy and of chronology, especially of Bible chronology and the Bible's history of the world.
The author and the publishers have great cause for rejoicing in the evidence continually coming to hand that this Volume has proven very helpful to the people of God in every land in the study of the Bible—in collating the message of the Lord's Word under various headings and classifications assistful to the student. Especially have we heard of many being blessed in their study of the manner of the Second Advent—in the Scriptural proof set forth in this Volume that our Lord will never again come to this earth as a man, having fulfilled completely His mission as a human being when He by the grace of God tasted death
iv
for every man at Calvary. The texts brought to the attention of the reader, proving that now our Lord is the glorified One at the Father's right hand, and is soon to become King of the world, have been assistful to many, as their letters testify.
This Volume makes no claim to infallibility, and no claim of any direct inspiration from God in the interpretation of His Word. On the contrary, it does claim that the Divine Revelation is the Bible. Its endeavor has been to collate the Bible evidences and to offer suggestions in respect to their significance.
Dealing with subjects so difficult that they are rarely touched by others, it is not to be considered strange if some of the suggestions made in this Volume have not been fulfilled with absolute accuracy to the very letter. But the author, the publishers, and the thousands of readers of this Volume are not ashamed of its presentations, and are still handing it forth to all who have an interest in Bible study, as most interesting and most helpful in an understanding of the Lord's Word.
The Bible chronology herein presented shows that the six great thousand-year Days beginning with Adam are ended, and that the great Seventh Day, the thousand years of Christ's Reign, began in 1874. The events of these 42 years, which this volume claims as the beginning of the Millennium, we still find fully corroborating Bible prophecies, as herein set forth. During these 42 years, nearly all the inventions of our day have been accomplished. The sewing machine, one of the first, began to reach its perfection 42 years ago. Since then, we have all kinds of farming machinery and tools, and workshop, store, factory and home conveniences, in abundance and cheap, through human invention. These are shortening the hours of labor, and doing away with the sweat of face, which the Bible declares to be identified with the curse.
It is entirely safe to say that in these 42 years the world has increased its riches one thousand fold. And when we remember that behind the 42 years lies a total of six thousand years of human endeavor, it seems almost a miracle that the world should accomplish one thousand times more in the past 42 years than in the six thousand years preceding. Surely this well attests the claim of this Volume that we have entered the great Seventh Day, and that what we are already experiencing as a race are only the foregleams
v
of the much greater blessings still to come, when the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams, and scatter all the darkness, ignorance, and superstition of the world!
This Volume sets forth, what its author has been preaching for over forty years, that the Times of the Gentiles chronologically ended in the fall of 1914. The expression, Times of the Gentiles, in Bible usage signifies the years, or period of time, in which the Gentile nations of the world were to be permitted to have control, following the taking away of the typical kingdom from natural Israel, and filling the hiatus between that event and the establishment of God's Kingdom in the hands of Messiah—"whose right it is"—Ezek. 21:27.
We could not, of course, know in 1889, whether the date 1914, so clearly marked in the Bible as the end of the Gentile lease of power or permission to rule the world, would mean that they would be fully out of power at that time, or whether, their lease expiring, their eviction would begin. The latter we perceive to be the Lord's program; and promptly in August, 1914, the Gentile kingdoms referred to in the prophecy began the present great struggle, which, according to the Bible, will culminate in the complete overthrow of all human government, opening the way for the full establishment of the Kingdom of God's dear Son.
We are not able to see behind the veil; we are not able to know the things progressing under the direction of our glorious Lord and the members of His Church already glorified. Our thought is that somehow the Lord is taking a hand in the affairs of the world now as He did not do in times past. We do know that the great Time of Trouble, which has begun, very closely corresponds to the Divine declaration respecting the time and conditions of the establishment of Messiah's Kingdom. The Lord Himself informs us that, at the time He shall take to Himself His great power and reign, the nations will be mad and the Divine wrath will come. A little later on the time will come for the judging of the dead, and the giving of the reward to God's servants, small and great, leading on finally to the destruction of the incorrigible, who would exercise a corrupt influence upon the earth—Rev. 21:8.
All over the world people knew of the expectations of Bible Students in respect to the year 1914; and when so
vi
stupendous a war as the present one broke loose, when the winds of strife began to blow with such fury and destruction, thousands remembered what they had heard and read respecting the end of the Gentile Times. Thousands today have come to fully appreciate the times in which we are living. The influence is very helpful and inspiring. A realization that we are in the Day of the Lord, and that very soon all of His saints will be gathered to Him by the resurrection change, has a stimulating and encouraging influence upon Bible students, separating them from the world and its fears and ambitions and fixing their eyes upon the Crown of Life, which the Lord has in reservation for them that love Him most.
The author acknowledges that in this book he presents the thought that the Lord's saints might expect to be with Him in glory at the ending of the Gentile Times. This was a natural mistake to fall into, but the Lord overruled it for the blessing of His people. The thought that the Church would all be gathered to glory before October, 1914, certainly did have a very stimulating and sanctifying effect upon thousands, all of whom accordingly can praise the Lord—even for the mistake. Many, indeed, can express themselves as being thankful to the Lord that the culmination of the Church's hopes was not reached at the time we expected; and that we, as the Lord's people, have further opportunities of perfecting holiness and of being participators with our Master in the further presentation of His Message to His people.
Our mistake was evidently not in respect to the ending of the Times of the Gentiles; we drew a false conclusion, however, not authorized by the Word of the Lord. We saw in the Bible certain parallels between the Jewish Age and the Gospel Age. We should have noted that these parallels follow the nominal systems to destruction in both cases, and do not indicate the time of the glorification of the New Creation. This explanation will help the reader as he studies "THE TIME IS AT HAND." We have no doubt that the great blessings which have come to many of us in the past will continue to go through the Volume to thousands of others. So with it go the prayers of the author,
CHARLES T. RUSSELL.
Brooklyn, N.Y.,
October 1, 1916.
vii
CONTENTS
_______
STUDY I.
SPECIAL TIMES AND SEASONS DIVINELY APPOINTED.
THE TIMES AND SEASONS OF DIVINE APPOINTMENT. WHY NOT MORE PLAINLY STATED. IN DUE TIME REVEALED. EARNEST DESIRE TO KNOW THE TIMES AND SEASONS COMMENDABLE. MISTAKES OF ADVENTISTS. THE REAL OBJECT OF TIME PROPHECIES. OUR PRESENT POSITION. THE OBJECT OF SUCCEEDING CHAPTERS....13
STUDY II.
BIBLE CHRONOLOGY.
CHRONOLOGY NECESSARY TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF PROPHECY. INDISPENSABLE DATA FURNISHED IN THE BIBLE. FROM THE CREATION OF ADAM TO A.D. 1873 WAS SIX THOUSAND YEARS. A STATEMENT OF BIBLE CHRONOLOGY IN GREAT PERIODS. ITS EXAMINATION IN DETAIL. FROM CREATION TO THE DAY THE FLOOD WAS DRIED UP. TO THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. TO THE GIVING OF THE LAW. TO THE DIVISION OF CANAAN AMONG THE TRIBES. THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES. THE PERIOD OF THE KINGS. THE PERIOD OF THE DESOLATION. TO A.D. 1873. WHEREIN THIS CHRONOLOGY DIFFERS FROM THAT OF BISHOP USHER, NOTED IN OUR ENGLISH BIBLES. THE TRUE DATE OF OUR LORD'S BIRTH....33
STUDY III.
THE FULFILMENT OF TIME-PROPHECY AT THE FIRST ADVENT OF CHRIST.
Dan. 9:23-27.
THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL'S PROPHECY. EVENTS FORETOLD TO TRANSPIRE WITHIN THAT TIME. THE TIME OF MESSIAH'S ADVENT INDICATED, AND A PRINCIPLE ESTABLISHED BY THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS INDICATED. A KEY TO OTHER TIME PROPHECIES. THE TIME OF MESSIAH'S CRUCIFIXION INDICATED. THE SPECIAL FAVOR TO ISRAEL AS A NATION CUT SHORT IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT CONTINUED INDIVIDUALLY. ANOINTING THE MOST HOLY. TROUBLE POURED UPON THE DESOLATE ONE....63
viii
STUDY IV.
THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES.
WHAT ARE GENTILE TIMES? THEIR BEGINNING; THEIR LENGTH; THEIR END, A.D. 1914. ATTENDANT EVENTS. EVENTS TO FOLLOW. LITERAL AND SYMBOLIC TIME. A REMARKABLE TYPE. PRESENT INDICATIONS. GOD'S KINGDOM TO OVERTHROW GENTILE RULE. THEREFORE ORGANIZED BEFORE IT ENDS. BEFORE A.D. 1914. WHY OPPOSED BY GENTILE KINGDOMS. HOW AND WHY ALL WILL FINALLY ACCEPT IT JOYFULLY. THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS SHALL COME....73
STUDY V.
THE MANNER OF OUR LORD'S RETURN AND APPEARING.
HARMONY OF THE MANNER OF OUR LORD'S SECOND ADVENT WITH OTHER FEATURES OF THE DIVINE PLAN. HOW AND WHEN THE CHURCH SHALL SEE HIM. HOW AND WHEN THE GLORY OF THE LORD WILL BE SO REVEALED THAT ALL FLESH SHALL SEE IT TOGETHER. STATEMENTS APPARENTLY CONFLICTING SHOWN TO BE HARMONIOUS. HE COMES AS A THIEF. NOT WITH OUTWARD SHOW; AND YET WITH A SHOUT, WITH VOICES AND WITH THE SOUND OF THE GREAT TRUMPET. HE SHALL BE REVEALED IN FLAMING FIRE, TAKING VENGEANCE, AND YET, HE SHALL SO COME, IN LIKE MANNER, AS HE WENT AWAY. IMPORTANCE OF PROPHETIC TIME IN THIS CONNECTION SHOWN. HARMONY OF PRESENT INDICATIONS....103
STUDY VI.
EARTH'S GREAT JUBILEE.
THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS FORETOLD BY MOSES. THE DATE OF THEIR BEGINNING INDICATED. THEY CANNOT BEGIN UNTIL THE GREAT RESTORER HAS COME. EVIDENCE FROM THE LAW. CORROBORATIVE TESTIMONY FROM THE PROPHETS. LOGICAL CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THESE AS SEPARATELY AND UNITEDLY CONSIDERED. HARMONY OF PRESENT INDICATIONS....173
STUDY VII.
THE PARALLEL DISPENSATIONS.
THE JEWISH AGE A TYPE OF THE GOSPEL AGE. REMARKABLE PARALLELISM OR CORRESPONDENCY BETWEEN THE TWO DISPENSATIONS. YET THEY ARE DISTINCT. SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN EPOCH, THE ANTITYPE. FLESHLY AND SPIRITUAL ISRAEL CONTRASTED. PROMINENT PARALLELS EXAMINED. TIME PARALLELS SPECIALLY NOTICED. PERIOD
ix
OF FLESHLY ISRAEL'S FAVOR. TIME OF THEIR CUTTING OFF FROM FAVOR. THE PERIOD OF DISFAVOR SHOWN FROM PROPHECY TO BE EQUAL TO THE PERIOD OF FAVOR. APOSTOLIC TESTIMONY THAT THEIR PERIOD OF DISFAVOR IS THE PERIOD FOR THE HIGH CALLING OF SPIRITUAL ISRAEL. THE LENGTH OF THE GOSPEL AGE THUS SHOWN INDIRECTLY BUT CLEARLY. HARMONY OF THE BIBLE CHRONOLOGY, JUBILEE TESTIMONY, GENTILE TIMES AND OTHER PROPHECIES WITH THE LESSONS OF THESE PARALLELS UNANSWERABLE, CONCLUSIVE AND SATISFYING....201
STUDY VIII.
ELIAS SHALL FIRST COME.
HOW THIS IMPORTANT PROPHECY STANDS RELATED TO THE SECOND ADVENT. A PARTIAL AND TYPICAL FULFILMENT IN JOHN THE BAPTIST. THE REAL FULFILMENT. THE VISION ON THE HOLY MOUNT. REMARKABLE CORRESPONDENCIES BETWEEN ELIJAH, THE TYPE, AND THE ANTITYPICAL ELIJAH. THE TIME IS AT HAND. THE OUTLOOK. ELIJAH'S SUCCESSOR, ELISHA....249
STUDY IX.
THE MAN OF SIN—ANTICHRIST.
ANTICHRIST MUST BE DEVELOPED, REVEALED AND SMITTEN BEFORE THE DAY OF THE LORD. A CONTRARY VIEW OF THIS SUBJECT CONSIDERED. PROPHETIC DELINEATION. ANTICHRIST'S BIRTH. HIS RAPID DEVELOPMENT. THE HISTORIC PICTURE AND BIBLE DESCRIPTION AGREE. HIS KINGDOM A COUNTERFEIT. HIS HEAD AND MOUTH NOTABLE. HIS GREAT SWELLING WORDS OF BLASPHEMY. HIS BLASPHEMOUS TEACHINGS. HIS WEARING OUT OF THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH. HIS MILLENNIAL REIGN. ANTICHRIST SMITTEN WITH THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. HIS FINAL STRUGGLE AND END....267
STUDY X.
THE TIME IS AT HAND.
NOTHING INTERVENES. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM, THE WORK NOW IN PROGRESS. THE TESTIMONY OF PROPHECY CONCURS. THE WORLDLY-WISE SEE MUCH. THE WATCHING SAINTS SEE MORE DISTINCTLY. THE IMPORTANCE, TO ALL, OF OPEN EYES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION....363
x