The comment that Apollos made to our post, 1914—A Litany of Assumptions, shocked me. (If you haven’t read it already, you should do so before continuing.) You see, I was born in the 1940s, and I’ve been in the truth all my life, and I’ve always believed that the title the Watchtower had at its inception in 1879—Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence—was heralding the presence of Christ as starting in 1914. Here are three representative excerpts from Watchtower articles that gave me that understanding. Read them and tell me that you didn’t arrive at the same conclusion yourself when you read things like this.
(w99 8/15 p. 21 par. 10 Jehovah Prepares the Way)
Well, a monumental development was the enthronement of Jesus in heaven, which marked the beginning of his presence in Kingdom power. Bible prophecy shows that this took place in 1914. (Daniel 4:13-17) Anticipation of this event also caused some religious people in modern times to be filled with expectation. Expectation was evident also among the sincere Bible Students who began to publish this magazine in 1879 as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. [Boldface mine]
(w92 5/1 p. 6 The 1914 Generation—Why Significant?)
SINCE 1879 the magazine then known as The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (now known as The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom) frequently pointed to 1914 as a marked year in Bible prophecy. As the year approached, readers were reminded that “an awful time of trouble” could be expected.
This information was published far and wide by Christians, who based it on their understanding of the “seven times” and “the times of the Gentiles” mentioned in the Bible. They understood this period to be 2,520 years—starting with the overthrow of the ancient Davidic kingdom in Jerusalem and ending in October 1914.—Daniel 4:16, 17; Luke 21:24, King James Version.
On October 2, 1914, Charles Taze Russell, then president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, boldly announced: “The Gentile Times have ended; their kings have had their day.” How true his words proved to be! Unseen to human eyes, in October 1914 an event of world-shaking importance took place in heaven. Jesus Christ, the permanent Heir to “the throne of David,” commenced his rule as King over all mankind.—Luke 1:32, 33; Revelation 11:15. [Boldface mine]
(w84 12/1 p. 14 par. 20 Happy Are Those Found Watching!)
Russell and his associates quickly understood that Christ’s presence would be invisible. They disassociated themselves from other groups and, in 1879, began publishing spiritual food in Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. From its first year of publication, this magazine pointed forward, by sound Scriptural reckoning, to the date 1914 as an epoch-making date in Bible chronology. So when Christ’s invisible presence began in 1914, happy were these Christians to have been found watching! [Boldface mine]
So I came to believe that for decades, Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence had been pointing to 1914 as the start of Christ’s invisible kingly presence in the heavens. What a shock then, to learn from the quote Apollos gave us from the Creation book, published in 1927, that for the first quarter of the 20th century, at least, we still believed Christ’s presence to have started in 1874. The presence that Zion’s Watch Tower was heralding had nothing to do with 1914 at all! The presence the magazine was heralding never happened! We are still touting this historical magazine title as prophetically prescient as if to say, ‘Weren’t we ever so clever to have unearthed this Bible truth when all the rest had it wrong’. That fact is, we had it wrong too! And yet, instead of admitting it, we continue to engage in a nifty piece of revisionist history, claiming we were right all along and that we were pointing to 1914 from the start. Sure, we believed 1914 was significant back then. We thought it was the start of the great tribulation and that it would end in Armageddon. We didn’t believe it marked the presence of Christ; yet that is what we are now, and for decades have been, implying. How can we state something so patently untrue?
Are the publishers of the aforementioned excerpts unaware that Zion’s Watch Tower was, from 1879 until at least 1927, heralding not 1914, but 1874, as the start of Christ’s presence? I find it hard to believe that they would willfully engage in a deception. Perhaps I’m just being naïve, but I would like to think that they just didn’t do their research very well. Whatever the case, it is a sobering thought to see how easily an untruth can creep into our cherished framework of Scriptural understanding.
I’ve been in “the truth” all my life. My maternal Grandfather was baptized before 1914. He partook of the emblems during the memorial. He was a coal miner in the western part Virginia and I remember him saying that he witnessed to his fellow miners about 1914. I’m unclear if he said it would be the conclusion of this system (i.e. Armageddon) or whether it would just mark a drastic change. My mother married my Dad in Michigan where I was born in 1954. We moved to Tennessee in 1959. My mother got baptized relatively late, in 1961 at a… Read more »
No wonder the earliest WT publications are not available…
what we now have is a sanitized history.
[…] wasn’t heralding the 1914 presence of Christ, but that’s a topic we’ve covered in another post.) Pretty well every church in Christendom believes in Christ’s second coming, while we preach […]
In a way, it’s not so surprising that the “presence” being heralded wasn’t the one that supposedly started in 1914. After all, Russell thought the end would come in 1914, so if he believed in an invisible presence it’s only logical that he would have believed it to have begun earlier. What IS surprising is that 13 years later they still hadn’t figured out what was supposed to have happened in 1914. What was their interim interpretation? More surprising still – yes, shocking – is that as recently as 1999 the publications have given the impression that they foresaw 1914… Read more »
I have not read the whole post as unable to take in any information due to a pain flare. But I did have a short conversation with 2 lovely people about the ‘end of the world’ and that it’s referenced all over the place. I also think it is relevant to this post. We discussed that when people think the end of the world is coming, how people are planning for the worst. But it could just mean that change is happening and it could be a good change of affairs. Maybe in some form or other christ will walk… Read more »
It is one thing to criticize someone and another to criticize an action that has been taken. The Bible says we should not judge another, while at the same time, demanding that we judge the actions of others. If we do not judge between right and wrong actions, how are we to avoid following in the course of the world? There is no question that Jesus will return and that his presence will be felt by all on earth. That is a matter of clearly stated Scriptural record. What the Bible states clearly, we must believe, or we are fools… Read more »
Thank you for the references for me to follow in the bible. I am sorry if i have offended you, that was not my intention. I am former Church Of England and I left the church when I was roughly 15yrs old. I was never taken as a child, all services were attended by myself, in the choir. Then later as a bell ringer in a different parish. So I do have hazy memories of the teachings etc. I have started bible study with members of witnesses that first visited me on at my door. Then I began more interested… Read more »
No offence taken whatsoever, Jenni. In fact, I welcomed your comment as it gave me the opportunity to clarify in my own mind and subsequently in print something that had been troubling me for some time. You see, it’s hard to find fault with the teachings one has been raised with since childhood. One doesn’t want to appear disloyal to those men from whom one has received so much valuable instruction; men whom Jehovah is clearly using to care for the needs of the flock. On the other hand, truth should take a back seat to no man or group… Read more »
I am afraid that this does not appear to be just a matter of poor research. Note how carefully all the quotations are worded. In every case the presence is said to have begun in 1914, and a pointing forward to something significant in 1914 is said to have been going on prior to that, but the statement is never explicitly made that they expected the presence to begin then. The reader is allowed to infer that, and the full title of the Watchtower at the time reinforces that impression. However, now note the following earlier quotation from 1954: ———————————-… Read more »