“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).

A sober and careful examination of the several visions recorded in the last three chapters of the Revelation we believe will bring the settled conviction that they do not meet their fulfillment in consecutive order as recorded; but rather that each one is designed to give a different aspect or picture of the thousand years during which Satan is bound. We shall endeavor to show that the details of these general pictures of this period constitute a large portion of the writings of the holy Prophets of Israel. St. Peter informs us that all the ancient Prophets spoke of a period in the future from their day in connection with the unfolding of the Divine Plan — a period which he calls, “the times of restitution” (Acts 3:19-21). It seems quite evident that the thousand years during which Satan and evil will be divinely restrained is identical with the period described by these Prophets of old. While most all expositors see this in a measure, they quite generally make the mistake of placing the judgment of the “great white throne” (Revelation 20:11-15), and the “new heavens and new earth” (Revelation 21:1), at the end of the thousand years, instead of discerning that they are symbolic visions covering the entire period.

Various Portraits of the World to Come

A careful review and comparison of the words of our Lord, the Apostles, and the Prophets, with these visions of St. John, reveals the perfect harmony and beauty of the Divine Program, and makes clearly manifest the fact that the fulfillment of these two visions — the new heaven and new earth, and the judgment scene, covers the entire period of the thousand years, and that they are designed to portray in brief symbolic statements certain developments looking toward the removal of sin and death and the curse from the earth — developments to be effected by that new arrangement or order of things purposed for this earth under the administration of the Son of God and his Joint-heirs. The most vital and essential features of that thousand-year judgment period will be the awakening of all the dead and the giving to each member of our race an individual judgment or trial purchased by the Redeemer; the results being eternal life to some and eternal death to others (Acts 3:21-23, Matthew 25:34,41,46, John 3:16).

Mr. Russell evidently grasped the true thought concerning this matter as early as 1882, and his latest utterances show scarcely any changes as to details. His words elucidate very much and describe what we believe forms a basis for a correct interpretation of these most striking visions of the Revelator:

“This repetition of the same things from different standpoints, and with other details, is a principle which applies especially to this last book of the Bible. A failure to recognize this, is, we think, one of the reasons why so many of those who study this book fail to get sense from it.

“The portion of Scripture we are about to consider [Revelation 20, 21 and 22], is frequently read as though it were one connected narrative, instead of several repetitions of the first statement. Because of failure to rightly divide, some get the thought that the ‘great white throne’ [Revelation 20:11-15] is to be established after the Millennial Age, and after Satan is destroyed; consequently, are at a loss to know why the dead are raised at that time, or how they could have a probation after the Millennial Age, and are much confused generally.

“To better illustrate the distinctness and harmony of these portraits, we have diagrammed them as follows:

“(1) Satan bound for a thousand years — evil and vice under thorough restraint. Satan (evil) loosed a little season, after the one thousand years” (verses 1-3).

“(2) Earthly thrones cast down, and the overcomers reign with Christ a thousand years (verse 4).

“(3) The holy and blessed of the First Resurrection, live and reign a thousand years with Christ. Satan loosed. The evilly disposed deceived and destroyed (verses 6-10).

“(4) The great white throne. Heaven and earth flee. The dead judged from opened books. Second Death (verses 11-15).

“(5) New heaven and earth. The Holy City (government). Its blessing to mankind — pain, sorrow, and death abolished. Second Death of the unbelieving and abominable (Revelation 21:1-8).

“(6) The Bride — The Holy City — The Kingdom of God — come to earth. The light of the world. The good may enter the Kingdom (Revelation 21:10-27).

“(7) The water of life flows freely. The world’s troubles healed. The curse (sin and its result, death) destroyed (Revelation 22:1-3).”

As we have pursued our study of these wonderful visions in the light of the foregoing statements, our convictions have become thoroughly settled that this writer’s expositions of this matter are correct. To summarize further, we believe these three chapters to portray the different features or aspects of what are termed by St. Peter, “the times of restitution,” and by St. Paul, the world’s great Judgment Day (Acts 3:19, 17:31, Psalms 98:8,9). This matter will be taken up in its order in connection with the interpretation of the vision of the great white throne.

In our exposition of the verse which is the special subject of this chapter, we will consider first who are represented as seated on the thrones. “And I saw thrones, (and they sat on them, and judgment was given them).” It will be noticed that the Diaglott rendering, which we are using, places the words, “and they sat on them, and judgment was given them,” in a parenthesis. This arrangement of the text plainly teaches that those who are seated on the thrones are those described as the overcomers of the beast, etc., and are the same ones that are represented in the last clause of the verse as reigning with Christ during the thousand years, and are also identical with those referred to in verse 6, as the kings and priests of God and of Christ. This interpretation seems to be the correct one for several reasons. A vision of the enthronement of the saints is what we should most naturally suppose would follow the events described in the visions immediately preceding. These visions portrayed the dethronement of the earthly rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, by the King of kings and Lord of lords and his armies then that which followed most naturally — the dethronement and imprisonment of Satan, the unseen ruler, for a thousand years. We could not expect that the saints would become enthroned to reign for the purpose of judging and blessing the people of the nations until the final conquest of evil was an accomplished fact, and Satan was shorn of his power to deceive.

The expression, “judgment was given them,” would mean in this connection the act or power of judging, which would comprehend the power to decide matters as judges and to execute judgment in harmony with these decisions. Alford, a most learned Greek scholar and translator, has remarked that the Greek word translated judgment in this verse signifies, “they were constituted judges.” Moses Stuart has thus referred to this word as used in this verse: “The word krima in this clause may be interpreted as applying to the supervision or making of statutes, ordinances, arrangements, etc., by those who are in a superior station. This seems to many to be the most easy and natural construction.” This judgment power is further expressed in the last clause of the verse, where it is said “they reigned with him.” The possession of judgment power is in the Scriptures intimately associated with sovereignty or ruling. We read that “David reigned over all Israel; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people” (2 Samuel 8:15).

It would therefore seem that both the text and context teach that these personages that St. John saw sitting upon thrones, were none other than the risen and glorified saints of God, the overcomers. This conclusion is in perfect harmony with the many Scriptures that describe the greatest feature connected with the future occupation of the “overcomers,” as well as the reward promised them. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne” (Revelation 3:21), are Christ’s own words; and again we hear him say, “Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28); and the inspired Apostle Paul has said, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2). Furthermore, this interpretation of these words is in full harmony with the Prophet Daniel’s description of the same events. Referring to the “little horn,” or Papacy, making war with the saints, the Prophet’s words serve to further confirm this interpretation: “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the Kingdom” (Daniel 7:21,22).

It will be found upon careful examination and comparison of this vision of Daniel and that of the Revelator that the two visions are identical and that they describe the same event. We place together the corresponding statements contained in the two visions:

(1) Daniel “beheld till thrones were placed”¹ (Daniel 7:9). St. John “saw thrones” (Revelation 20:4).

(2) Daniel “beheld … the judgment seat” (Daniel 7:10). St. John “saw … they sat on them” (Revelation 20:4).

(3) Daniel says, “judgment was given to the saints” (Daniel 7:22). St. John says, “judgment was given to them” (Revelation 20:4).

(4) Daniel beheld “the time came that the saints possessed the Kingdom” (Daniel 7:22).
St. John saw that “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).

Referring to this text as describing the judgment power to be given to the saints, a noted writer has thus both truthfully and eloquently expressed:

“Once it was the fate of believers to be judged by the ungodly world-powers. Jesus told his followers that they should be brought before councils, governors, and kings, and that a time would come when men would think it a holy thing to adjudge them worthy of stripes, imprisonments, and death. So Paul stood before the courts of earth, saying, ‘I stand and am judged.’ But man’s day has a limit, and then comes another order, when as Mary sung, God ‘shall put down the mighty from their seats,’ and ‘exalt them of low degree’ — when the Pauls shall be the royal judges and the Felixes and Festuses and Agrippas and Caesars then in place, shall be obliged to accept the sentences of heavenly justice from God’s immortal potentates, who once stood helpless at earth’s tribunals; for so it is written, ‘the saints shall judge the world’ (1 Corinthians 6:2), and ‘shall take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom forever, even forever and ever’ (Daniel 7:18); and Christ the victorious All-Ruler, according to his promise, will ‘give them authority over the nations to shepherdize them with a rod of iron’ (Revelation 2:26,27), invincibly and effectually.”

As St. John no doubt recognized these enthroned ones as identical with those he had seen in other visions enduring suffering and bearing testimony for Christ under most trying and difficult circumstances and conditions — in many instances even to the extent of laying down their lives, would he not be most forcibly reminded of the words of St. Paul, “If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12); “and I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us”! — Romans 8:18.

(1) The Common Version translation “cast down” is admitted by all modern translators to be incorrect.

It should be kept in mind when considering the various evils and evil systems that these enthroned ones have had to combat and become victors over, namely the beast and his image and mark, that not only are these to be understood as symbols, as we have hitherto shown, but that the beheading for the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God is likewise a symbol; in other words, the beheading is a symbolic beheading. It is quite true that in the earlier centuries some of God’s saints were literally beheaded, because in those times that was a way by which capital punishment was inflicted, but some suffered death in many other ways. It would be giving special honor to the particular manner by which the Lord’s people died for the Truth’s sake to understand these words literally. One has written quite extensively on this expression, interpreting it symbolically:

“All constituting the Kingdom class are here referred to as beheaded — every member of the glorified Church must, eventually, have this experience, whatever it signifies. But we reflect that our Lord was not beheaded and, so far as history shows, few, if any, of the Apostles were literally beheaded; indeed, very few, if any, of the Lord’s saints, from Pentecost to the present time, have died by decapitation. We are to remember, however, that this statement is from the symbolical book, and is therefore a figure of speech, a word picture, and its meaning must be sought for accordingly.

“The Apostle gives us the key, saying, ‘The head of every man is Christ; the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.’ (1 Corinthians 11:3). As a woman who becomes a wife accepts her husband as the head of the family, so the Church accepts Christ as its head, and each member of the Church thus comes into relationship with the Lord as a member of his Body — not the Head: and all of these, to be acceptable as members of the figurative Body of Christ, must be will-less, headless; their own wills must be surrendered, so that, like their Lord, they can say, ‘Not my will, but Thine, be done.’ They must be headless in the sense of ignoring their own wills, being dead to self and actuated henceforth by the will of the Head of the Body, Christ Jesus. It is this self-surrender to Christ on the part of his Church that is represented in the symbolism of the text before us.”

The symbolic significance of the beast, the image, and the mark, etc., have been previously explained. Considering all that is represented in these various symbols, it will be seen that all the overcoming class of the entire Gospel Age are represented in this symbolism which portrays those who will be privileged to reign with Christ the thousand years.

A Thousand Years Earth’s Coming Glory

It is said by some (Adventists chiefly) that this vision of St. John is the only place in the Scriptures where a period of a thousand years is mentioned. These are not able to make it harmonize with their narrow, erroneous theories of God’s great Plan of Salvation. While it is true that the exact words that Christ and the saints are to reign a thousand years is not found anywhere else in the Scriptures, yet it is true that the Scriptures explicitly speak of the Judgment Day, which is the same period as that of the reign of Christ and the saints. And St. Peter tells us that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day, thus clearly identifying the Divine standpoint of counting time. It is also true that all the peculiar and striking conditions that of necessity would prevail in connection with man’s life here on the earth if Satan and evil were restrained and Christ were ministering in the affairs of earth’s peoples, are portrayed in the Old Testament prophecies as well as in many New Testament statements. All these prophecies associate these grand and glorious scenes with the reign of Jehovah over the earth in the person of his Son. Indeed, this period of a thousand years, when Satan’s power is restrained, and Christ and the saints are represented as reigning over the nations, is the chief theme of all God’s Prophets of old.

These Millennial times, as already noted, are called by St. Peter, “times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). These Prophets describe a period when a knowledge of the true God shall fill the whole earth (Isaiah 11:9, Habakkuk 2:14); when the proud and haughty shall be humbled (Isaiah 2:11-17); when the evil influence and power of riches shall cease (Isaiah 2:20); when the humble and poor and meek shall be exalted (Isaiah 11:4, Psalms 37:11); when evildoers shall be cut off (Psalms 37:9, Acts 3:23); when the inhabitants of the earth, on account of God’s judgments will learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9); when “the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick” (Isaiah 33:24); when death shall be rare, and only willful sinners having full knowledge shall die (Isaiah 65:20, Leeser; Acts 3:23); when no one shall have any excuse for not learning obedience to God (Isaiah 35:8, Jeremiah 31:29,30); when nations shall have ceased warring forever (Micah 4:3, Psalms 46:9); when there shall be a general seeking on the part of humanity to learn God’s ways and to walk in His paths (Micah 4:2); when the multitudes of the “sea” class shall be converted unto God (Isaiah 60:5); when men shall no longer hurt or destroy (Isaiah 11:9); when righteousness shall be rewarded and sin receive chastisement (Isaiah 11:4); when the Great Ruler (and his associates) being endowed with such Divine, supernatural power as that he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears (Isaiah 11:3); when the desert places of earth shall bloom and the wilderness places rejoice (Isaiah 35:1,2). In fact, it will be a time when the Lord will make bare His Holy Arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God (Isaiah 52:10) — a salvation that will mean freedom from sin and all its effects, when sickness and pain, sorrow, crying, and death shall flee away and finally cease forever (Isaiah 35:10, Revelation 21:4). It is unquestionably a fact then that the reign of Christ and his saints during this thousand years has as its object the consummation of the great purpose of God — the restoring of all the willing and obedient of Adam’s race to mental, moral, and physical perfection, together with the complete restoration of paradise forever.

Humanity’s Final Trial for Life

That this Millennial period is the one foretold and described by the Prophets of Israel can hardly be questioned; that it is what is so frequently referred to in the Scriptures as the great Judgment Day, and represents one of those transcendent truths made known in a special vision given to St. Paul, concerning which he said that it was not lawful for him at that time to make known (2 Corinthians 12:1-4), seems also evident. The great truths that he was especially called to proclaim were those then due to be preached, namely the call, enlightenment, and trial of those who would be joint-heirs with Christ in his Kingdom. This special feature of God’s Plan is called the mystery (secret) hid from other ages. St. Paul distinctly declared that those associated with Christ in the glory and honor of the Divine nature, would be the judges of the world (1 Corinthians 6:2). This Millennial reign of Christ and his saints over the nations could therefore be for no other purpose than that of giving a probation or trial to the world. The following well describes in a general way this Millennial Kingdom:

“Messiah’s Kingdom repeatedly referred to throughout the Old Testament was the center of all Jewish hopes. But the fact that it will last a thousand years was not mentioned: it was merely Messiah’s Day. The holy Spirit by St. Peter first declared, ‘a day with the Lord is as a thousand years.’ St. Paul did not mention the thousand years, but merely proclaimed Messiah’s Kingdom, and that he would reign victoriously until he shall have put down all opposition to God’s will (1 Corinthians 15:25). It is in the book of Revelation that we have the clear statements that Messiah will reign for a thousand years; that his faithful Bride will reign with him, a ‘Royal Priesthood,’ that during that thousand years Satan will be bound and the whole world will be granted a judgment or trial, whose result will be life-eternal or death-eternal. …

“While the Jews, according to their light, looked forward to Messiah’s Kingdom as an earthly one, in which every man would ‘sit under his own vine and fig tree,’ and ‘the wilderness would blossom as the rose,’ and God’s footstool be made glorious — the Church, on the contrary, was given a different, a spiritual conception, of the Kingdom. We see the propriety of this: Messiah’s Kingdom is to be of two parts, the spiritual, which will be invisible to men, but all-powerful; and the earthly, which will be visible to men. Christ and his faithful followers, his Bride, will constitute the spiritual Kingdom; while Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the faithful of the Prophets down to John the Baptist will be the earthly rulers (Matthew 11:11)” (C. T. Russell).

A measure of light began to come concerning the earthly conditions of Millennial times when the claims made by Papacy that it was reigning in place of Christ were seen by many to be vain and empty. Clear light concerning the Millennium, however, did not come in until the days of the “presence of the Son of Man” began to become known. The comparatively small company of believers called “Pre-millennialists,” of the Nineteenth Century, had a considerable measure of light. While they came to believe that the thousand year period of Satan’s restraint was a probationary period, they seemingly failed to see that it would be a day of trial, probation for the vast numbers of the human family who had died without a knowledge of Christ, as well as for those who would be living at that time. They believed that the probation was for those only who would live to pass over into that age of trial. One of these writers, however — one whom we have frequently quoted in these expositions of the Revelation, seems to have grasped or at least to have been approaching the Truth. Cautiously writing concerning this matter in one of his several very remarkable volumes, he said:

“We need to remember that if we could perfectly understand and map out the whole procedure of the ages to come, the scheme would be clearly human and not Divine. Let us pause where Revelation pauses, nor seek to be wise above what is written; but let us search the Scriptures to see what they do reveal as to the future of humanity, and let our faith rest not on the traditions of men, but on the Word of God. It is important for many reasons that our views as to the future of our race should be as clear and definite as Scripture warrants.

“Whether we accept this view as to successive generations of mankind in the new earth or not, we cannot in any case escape the conclusion that … Scripture distinguishes between . . . the future portion of the Church of Christ, that of the Jewish people, and that of the nations of the earth. Too many in their thoughts of the future leave out this last — the destiny of the Church of this dispensation figures so largely in their anticipations that they seem almost to forget that ‘the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world,’ and to lose sight of the blessed prospect that not only is the present Church to be saved out of the ruined world, to become the Eve of the Second Adam, but the ruined earth itself is yet to be renewed, and to become the happy home of saved nations who participate in the results of redemption.

“The narrowness which sees nothing but the salvation of the Church of this dispensation is born of human selfishness and not of Divine love; it is founded not on the teaching of Scripture, but on tradition and prejudice. The Bible in this, its last revelation on the subject, plainly teaches that while the peculiar glories of the Church are hers, and hers alone, that while the special privileges of the natural seed of Abraham belong to Israel, and to Israel only, that there is also a blessed future awaiting mankind under the gracious government of Immanuel; that one of the effects of the completed work of Christ will be to place the saved nations of the eternal kingdom in a restored paradise, completely delivered from the Tempter, and so established in righteousness that the Holy One can take up His abode among them forever. ‘He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’

“The salvation of the Church of this dispensation is not the whole result of the death of Christ. There is to be in addition the establishment forever of a Kingdom of God in which His will shall be as fully done by men on earth as it is now done by angels in heaven. The consummation for which we daily pray is destined to come at last; and holy and happy service, without a flaw and without an interruption is yet to be rendered to God, not merely by the glorified saints of the New Jerusalem, but by redeemed nations on the earth, who walk forever in the light of the Celestial City.

“Such is the sublime vista of the future of our race, and of our earth in the eternal ages with which Scripture closes” (H. G. Guinness).

And we may add, the Scriptures plainly teach that the accomplishment of this grand and glorious state of affairs in this earth is assigned to God’s dear Son; and associated with him will be his glorified Bride. For the completion of this grand and noble work, these thousand years were set apart in the Divine counsels from before the foundation of the world; and all this is comprehended in the words, “And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).

Living in the Millennial Dawn

In consideration of all the array of testimony and evidence regarding the character and object of the reign of Christ and the saints — that it is for the purpose of removing the curse of death from the earth and granting life everlasting to all the willing and obedient of mankind — the question of the time of this thousand-year reign becomes of paramount importance. In the study of the visions of the Revelation thus far the careful student cannot have failed to be impressed with the accumulating evidence showing unmistakably that we are now living in the extreme end of this age; that the epoch or dispensation of evil is fast drawing to a close; that we are approaching nigh unto the glorious reign of prophecy — the Kingdom of God’s dear Son.

In addition to all the evidence heretofore noted bearing upon the commencement of the Millennial reign, the fact that the six thousand years (or the six great thousand-year days, from the beginning of human history) are now completed, is considered a very important testimony. While there is no positive statement in the Scriptures declaring that the ending of these years marks the Second Advent, yet there is strong evidence to this effect. Six great thousand-year days of human history represent man’s work-week, during which, under the unfavorable conditions of the curse, he has been laboring and toiling in the sweat of face, to earn his living and prolong life. They have indeed been six days of labor, travail and pain. And just as Israel of old in the typical arrangement was given the instruction that they were to rest and do no work on the Sabbath day, so this would be a strong hint that the seventh great thousand-year day of man’s history is to be a period of rest, of cessation from the labor, the toil, and the anguish of the past six thousand years. Thus the period termed “the day of Christ,” the day of his appearing and Kingdom, when he shall reign, is designated as one of these great epochal days — one thousand years (Revelation 20:4,6); presumably, therefore, the seventh thousand years of human history, which will be man’s great Sabbath day of rest from sin and death. In that day the curse will be rolled away, which will mean that all in their graves shall come forth (John 5:28), and all the willing and obedient will be ushered into everlasting life. Mr. Russell and many other writers are in agreement with this:

“And though the Bible contains no direct statement that the seventh thousand [years] will be the epoch of Christ’s reign, the great Sabbath day of restitution to the world, yet the venerable tradition is not without a reasonable foundation.”

Dr. Seiss, writing in 1856, quotes Mr. Johnston, a distinguished writer on the prophecies, whose thought was the same on this point:

“‘Through the whole Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testaments, there is a striking typical representation of some great and important Sabbath, as a great septenary that has not yet taken place, and which evidently appears to be the Millenarian septenary, as the great Sabbath of the whole earth. God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it. In the Decalogue this peculiar distinguishment of the seventh day or weekly Sabbath, was most solemnly renewed. Every seventh year was appointed a Sabbatical year. And the commencement of the year of Jubilee, which was every fiftieth year, was to be fixed by the running of the septenary of the Sabbatical years. ‘Thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.’ The number seven, because used in Scripture to complete all the sacred divisions of time, was regarded by the Jews as the symbol of perfection, and is used in this sense in the Scriptures. The question then arises, Is it to be supposed that all these events, which are interwoven in the Mosaic dispensation, which was itself symbolical or typical, and which are introduced into the New Testament, and abound so much in the book of Revelation, have no antitype to correspond to them? — no great Sabbatical septenary to which they all point, and in which they all shall be accomplished? Is it not highly probable that they are all typical of the seventh millenary of the earth, which is the great Sabbath?’”

Dr. Seiss remarks on these words:

“When we go back into antiquity, whether Jewish, heathen, or Christian, we find a general and deep-seated belief that the world shall endure six thousand years in its secular and toiling state … and then will follow a thousand years of holy rest, peace, and joy — the Millennial Sabbath or golden period of the world.

… It was held and inculcated as a branch of Christian faith or truth by Barnabas [a companion of St. Paul], Justin Martyr, Papias Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, and all orthodox Christians for the first three centuries of the Christian era. Luther entertained it. Melancthon wrote it on the fly-leaf of the Bible, as a matter not to be disputed. ‘I have shown,’ this writer further says, ‘that Christ will come before the Millennium, not after it.’”

As we examine these writers’ conclusions, we find that in calculating the six thousand years, all of them reckon from Adam’s creation, but make the six thousand years refer to the toiling state of man under the curse. As the chronology of the Bible includes the Edenic period, and as we have no positive way of determining its length, it becomes impossible to fix the exact date when the Millennium or seventh thousand years from Adam’s banishment from Eden is ushered in. However, all chronologists, with the exception of Usher and a very few others who follow his conclusions, are agreed that the six thousand years from Adam’s creation ran out at least thirty years ago; and, as it is perfectly reasonable to conclude that the sojourn of Adam in Eden was very brief — but a very few years at most — then the six thousand years of man’s history from the fall is past, and thus we have another inference in addition to those cited above, that we are now in the period of Christ’s parousia or presence.

The writer just quoted, as well as about all students of chronology, reject Usher’s findings, which concludes four thousand and four years at the birth of Christ. That reckoning places the Millennium one hundred years future. Dr. Seiss gives the conclusions of many eminent students of Bible chronology; and an examination of them shows that they are all agreed that the ending of the six thousand years from the creation of Adam is in the past, and is now a matter of history. In this connection, he says: “Sylvester Bliss, author of a very valuable Analysis of Sacred Chronology, computes the age of the world at Christ’s birth at four thousand one hundred and twenty years,” which makes the six thousand years end in 1880. “The Reverend R. C. Shimeall, in his Age of the World, reckons twelve years from the present [1856] as completing the six thousand years,” which would be 1868. “The Reverend C. Bowen, whose estimates and tables were adopted by Dr. Elliott and affixed to his exposition of the Apocalypse, computes the age of the world at the Savior’s birth at four thousand one hundred and twenty-eight years.” This would make the years run out in 1872. “Fynes Clinton, according to Bickersteth one of the ablest chronologers of the present time, whom Bowen mainly follows, and whose researches are deemed very valuable, computes the world’s age at four thousand one hundred and thirty-eight years when Christ was born,” making the ending of the six thousand years to be 1862. Others make 1866 to be the end. Dr. Seiss then sums up his own conclusions as follows:

“If, then, we be allowed to correct Usher and Jarvis, by [these] more recent investigations, we have the concurrent testimony of these half-dozen learned and received chronologists, that the six thousand years from Adam shall be fulfilled within the present [nineteenth] century — in less than fifty years [from 1856].”

Corroborative Signs of the Day at Hand

Though we may not be able to determine the exact year when the six thousand-year period ended, owing to some uncertainties as to the exact length of some of the Old Testament periods, the evidence is sufficiently strong to warrant the conclusion that six thousand years of human history ended at least thirty years ago, and that we are already living in the beginning of the seventh great thousand-year day, the early part of which, all prophetic testimony clearly shows, is devoted to the work of preparing for and establishing the new order of things.

Just before his death, in 1916, commenting on the beautiful hymn, “Beyond the Century’s Swinging Portal,” Mr. Russell most grandly portrayed and expressed his faith in the ushering in of this glad Millennial Day, near at hand:

(1) For a complete examination of the chronological periods and other data bearing upon the times and seasons, address the publishers of this volume.

“The portals of this wonderful Twentieth Century have been swinging but sixteen years; but more and more the glorious light of the New Dispensation is discernible. The Kingdom is coming, its glory is at the gates of the world! The political, social, and financial rulers of earth recognize not the King’s presence. Nevertheless, true to our Lord’s own prophecy, in this very time he is taking to himself his great power, and is about to glorify his Church and begin his reign of righteousness. The nations are angry, and are bringing upon themselves the Divine wrath, which has planned their utter destruction (Revelation 11:15-19).

“How forcefully the poet pictures the present great war, which is leading on to the Armageddon of revolution and anarchy! How almost prophetic are the words:

“‘And while the earth with strife is riven, And envious factions Truth do hide, Lo! he, the Lord of earth and heaven, Stands at the door and claims his Bride.’

“But Messiah’s Kingdom cannot take full control of the earth, nor the Sun of Righteousness scatter the ignorance and superstition, until God’s Elect Church shall have passed beyond the veil to be forever with the Lord, partakers of his glory, honor, and immortality (Romans 2:7).

“The object of the present great war for the commercial supremacy of earth, for national enrichment, may be hidden from the people for a time under various pretexts — called uplift, culture, and civilization. But soon the weakening of all these nations, predicted in the Bible, will be accomplished. Soon the people will see the folly of such waste of human life and the entailment of financial burdens upon coming generations. Then they will be angry, and the Bible declares, will dash their governments to destruction (Psalms 2:9, Revelation 2:26,27).

“This is the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty. It is man’s part! Then God’s part will come. He will smite the people with the Sword of his mouth, the Message of Truth, of love. The knowledge of God’s goodness and love will cut them to the heart and lead them to repentance. Ultimately, the world will rejoice in God’s Kingdom. It will be ‘the desire of all nations,’ as God has declared (Revelation 16:14, 1:16, Haggai 2:7).”

Again in a discourse delivered shortly before his decease, the same writer made the following interesting observations:

“Admitting that those who interpret the prophecies to teach that we are now living in the time of the Second Advent of Christ are not infallible in their interpretation, we must, nevertheless, concede that there are signs all about us today which closely tally with what the Bible tells us respecting the condition of things which will obtain at Christ’s Second Coming. Let us note some of these: St. Paul told of the end of the age (also St. Peter), that it would be marked by a form of godliness but lack of power; that it would be marked by disobedience to parents, by headiness, by high-mindedness, by love of pleasure, by unreliability (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Surely we see on every hand what answers well to these Apostolic prophecies of the closing time of this age and the dawning of the new age.

“On the other hand, we have prophecies which tell us of glorious blessings due to come to the world in conjunction with Messiah’s Second Advent. Hearken to the Lord’s Word in the prophecy of Daniel. We read that in the Time of the End (of the present order of things — in the time of the dawning of the new order of things) (1) ‘Many shall run to and fro’; (2) ‘Knowledge shall be increased’; (3) ‘The wise shall understand’; (4) ‘There shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.’

“Are we not at the time when the whole world is on the move as never before in the past? Steamboats, steam and electric railways, etc., are only a century old and are only reaching their climax of efficiency. It would seem as though God had prospered human intelligence along these lines just at the opportune moment to bring in the running to and fro at the appropriate time — in the end of this age.

“How about the increase of knowledge? Is it not true that greater increase has been made in knowledge within the past fifty years than ever before? Not only is this knowledge exemplified in tunnels, bridges, buildings, machinery, electric lighting and power, and in every conceivable device for human comfort, but it is especially marked in human education. Within the past thirty years free schools, yea, compulsory education, have seemingly been forced upon the people of every land, as though to fulfill this prophecy, ‘Knowledge shall be increased.’

“What about the statement that the wise shall understand? Many are perplexed by these things and wonderingly are deserting the Bible and flocking to evolution theories, only to find them unwise. The wise are those who hold fast to the Word of God, and in its increasing light see new beauties. The only satisfactory explanation of the times in which we are living is that these are the days of the Son of Man.

“Do not these things give the people of God a ground for faith that we are now in the closing of this Age and in the dawning of the Messianic Age, when the world is to be blessed by God’s Kingdom? Many, of course, may scoff at the thought; but many others, God’s saintly ones, are lifting up their heads and rejoicing, ‘knowing that their redemption draweth nigh.’”