1914 a marked year?

 One of the main evidences of biblical inspiration is the prophetic nature of JEHOVAH'S Word. Indeed the Holy Bible does not only recount the uttering but the fulfillment of numerous prophecies these for a tapestry of a harmonious narrative that is itself prophetic,

Genesis ch.3:15NKJV"And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her Seed;

He shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise His heel.”"

The appearance of this offspring who will conquer the demonic intelligences whom the apostle Paul referred to as the cosmocrats See ephesians ch.6:12.  is a key element in this narrative. Many millions take for granted that Jesus of Nazareth a.k.a Jesus Christ an influential first century Jewish religious teacher, who was killed through a conspiracy of the religious and political elite of his time and place, but who Witnesses ,many on pain of death, testified had been resurrected by the God that both they and the Hebrew religious establishment claim in common. Is in fact that promised messiah/Savior. So it is interesting that the very year in which Jesus appeared as the Messiah and the precise length of his earthly ministry and the tragic end of his earthly course, and what it accomplishes are all precisely predicted in the book of Daniel.

Daniel ch.9:25-27ESV"Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built againe with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Itsf end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,g and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”"

Governor Nehemiah arrived from Shushan to Jerusalem with a royal proclamation to rebuild that city's walls with its gates and towers in the latter part of 455b.c.e , but of course the Messiah did not appear a literal 483 days thereafter. However in addition to a system of 7 day weeks the seventh of which was a sabbath the ancient Hebrews also had a system of 7 year cycles ( a week of years)

 A footnote in the JPS tanakh alludes to that in Daniel ch.925-27.

 Further the book of ezekiel mentions that figurative time measuring the penalizing and restoring of the nation should be reckoned as one day per year 

 Ezekiel ch.4:6NIV"“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year."

            So checking from 455b.c.e a total of 483 years we come to 29c.e where the historian Luke informs us 

             Luke ch.3:1,2NIV"In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness"

   John ch.1:32-34NIV"Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” f"

 

Additionally Daniel prophecy predicts the death of the mesiah and the destruction of the city.

         Daniel ch.9:27NKJV"Then he shall confirm a [k]covenant with many for one week;

But in the middle of the week

He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,

Even until the consummation, which is determined,

Is poured out on the [l]desolate.”"

Jesus alludes to Daniel prophecy in his endtimes discourse at Mark ch.13:5 onward,Luke ch.21:8 onward,Matthew ch.24:3 onward. Specifically the desolating abomination Matthew ch.24:15,16NKJV"“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16“then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. "

There is also specificity about the final week the at half of the week sacrifices at the physical temple will have no value being superseded by a better sacrifice,

          Daniel ch.9:26NIV"After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. g The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. "

   Certainly not something any Hebrew living at that time would conceive let alone fabricate. For another three and a half years the nation would continue to be privileged as the gospel would only be preached to the circumcised. 

   But eventually the desolation foretold by both Daniel and Jesus Christ came to past how long was this desolation to last.

 In answer Jesus made another reference to the book of Daniel, 

Luke ch.21:24NIV"They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times(kairoi) of the Gentiles are FULFILLED."

At Daniel ch. 4 a prophetic dream is given by JEHOVAH to King Nebuchadrezzar.

 The purpose of which was to make known JEHOVAH'S Right and might to but the world under which ever man he chose, even the lowliest, the one his fellows might judge as unqualified.

  Daniel ch.4:16,17NKJV"Let his heart be changed from that of a man,

Let him be given the heart of a beast,

And let seven times(kairoi)[b] pass over him.

17‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers,

And the sentence by the word of the holy ones,

In order that the living may know

That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men,

Gives it to whomever He will,

And sets over it the lowest of men.’"

Regarding the imagery of the tree the babylonian dynasty is likened to lumberjack

 In a prophetic dirge. 

Isaiah ch.14:8NIV"Even the trees of the forest— the cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon— sing out this joyous song: ‘Since you have been cut down, no one will come now to cut us down!’"

Many commentaries have stated that the trees referred to here are in fact the various royal dynasties brought to a finish by the babylonian regime,numbered among these "trees" would be the line of davidic kings leading to the messiah. A symbol of JEHOVAH'S Rightful rule over this earth.

  Nebuchadnezzar was not by any stretch lowly of mind, or he would gave heeded the wise counsel of the of the prophet Daniel. 

Daniel ch.4:27NIV"Therefore, Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.”"

Alas the Babylonian monarch demonstrated that he did not know his place and thus JEHOVAH Felt the need to put him in his place. The man receiving JEHOVAH'S Kingdom is the one humbling himself and thus not needing to be humbled.

     Acts ch.17:31NIV"For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”"

Humbling himself as far as a willing death, refusing the honor of his fellows but choosing instead to patiently wait on exaltation of his God JEHOVAH 

         John ch.6:15NIV"Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself."

       After the literal seven "kairoi" the lowest of men even among those existing at the time was not awarded the throne over JEHOVAH'S Kingdom,we can conclude that there is a larger and more significant antitypical fulfillment Than nebuchadnezzar restoration,Jesus's reference to the "kairoi" of the Gentiles that would be FULFILLED with an end to the trampling of the Rule of JEHOVAH as symbolised by Jerusalem further strengthens that conclusion.

               Using the same formula that work so spectacularly at Daniel ch.9:25-27 ,and taking the start of the conquest of Jerusalem and the effective end of the independence of davidic dynasty as the beginning of the seven "kairoi" we arrive at 1914,even secular historians acknowledge that 1914 is a unique year and that effectively one world(civilisation) ended and another began before and after that year,true the brothers forgot that JEHOVAH'S Assessment of time is worlds away from man's assessment of time and thus JEHOVAH'S Soon after us not the same as what we might consider soon

2Peter ch.3:8,9NIV"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

But the the sign that Jesus gave as signifying his "parousia" a noun symbolising the official visit of a dignitary see the way it is used at Philippians ch.2:12  for instance. So the synthelia of the present age and the parousia of Christ parallel each other neither succeeds or precedes the other.

         We can see this from the book of Daniel's commentary on the matter.

               Daniel ch.2:44NIV"“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. "

So there is no collapse of human rule prior to the setting up of the kingdom (the parousia) the kingdom is set up in the midst of its enemies, 

           Psalm ch.110:2NIV"The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”"

              So there is a period where the established kingdom of JEHOVAH Rules alongside the dregs of human rule before It pulverises these final human kingdoms and reasserts JEHOVAH'S Lawful sovereignty over his earthly creation. All of this in JEHOVAH'S Time so too slowly for his loyalists and too quickly for his enemies.