The Bible and the Counting of Time/Part 1

In the United States of America in the 1800’s, there arose a great interest in Bible Chro­nology. Leading the pack was Nelson H. Barbour, an early Adventist. The young (24) Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Watchtower Society, quickly fell under his influence and embraced the date 1874 as the date for the Lord’s presence and harvest to begin (See Zion’s Watchtower & Herald of Christ’s Presence, extra edition, April 25, 1894, p. 99). Later, Russell abandoned this date in favour of 1914.

The Bible is used in these calculations, so we want to carefully consider the methods used to arrive at this date of 1914. Time periods are assigned by the Watchtower Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses to Bible ages which have no specified length. An example of this is found in connection with the Scripture at Luke 21:24, which reads, “and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”

Obviously, the Bible does teach a time period called “The time of the Gentiles,” but does not specify a time length. Jehovah’s Witnesses have nevertheless assigned the “time of the Gentiles” a length of 2,520 years.

They arrived at this number by doubling another number found in Revelation, chapter 12, and changing the term “days” to “years.” In the Revelation account a woman gives birth to a son. Verses 5 and 6 of Revelation 12 read, “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

Verse 14 of Revelation 12 is now considered, which reads, “And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”

“A time, times, and half a time” is now added up by Jehovah’s Witnesses to total 3 1/2 times. So, in their reasoning, 3 1/2 times equals 1,260 days, or years. This figure is again expanded upon by turning to the Bible book of Daniel.

In Daniel, chapter 4, we find King Nebuchadnezzar troubled by his dreams. God is about to humble this King, and sent His servant Daniel to pronounce sentence on Nebuchadnezzar. The King hears his sentence from God, “Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let a beast’s mind be given to him and let seven periods of time pass over him” (Daniel 4:16).

As we read the remainder of Daniel chapter 4 we find that, indeed, the King lost his mind for seven periods of time and acted like a beast in the field. Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson well, and Daniel 4:34 records, “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.” The truth of the dream’s interpretation became a fact in the King’s life and came to pass exactly as foretold by God’s servant.

This prophecy and its fulfillment seem to be complete at this time. There seems to be no apparent tie-in with “the times of the Gentiles” mentioned in Luke, or with the 1,260 days of Revelation, but this did not deter the Jehovah’s Witnesses from inventing one.

We could title what follows as “How’s that again?!” Here is Jehovah’s Witness’ reason­ing: The seven periods of time that passed over King Nebuchadnezzar are said to be, by the Watchtower, the same as “the time of the Gentiles,” since Nebuchadnezzar was one. Revelation mentions 3 1/2 times (with their peculiar interpretation) and they equate this with 1,260 days (changed to years). Why the time spent in the wilderness by the woman in Revelation is equated with the “time of the Gentiles” is unclear, since the male child re­ferred to is obviously Jesus Christ, and He did not have a Gentile mother! Undeterred by logic, the Jehovah’s Witnesses carry on. By doubling 3 1/2 to 7, and 1,260 to 2,520, the Jehovah’s Witnesses arrive at 2,520 years as the length of the time of the Gentiles! Whew! No wonder the “other sheep” have to rely on the “spiritually superior” “remnant” class! Who could ever come up with these mental gymnastics on their own?

I submit that if the Lord had wanted us to know the exact length of time which is to pass in “the time of the Gentiles” mentioned in the Bible, then I am sure He could have told us plainly. Playing “number games” with unrelated Scriptures always results in embarrassment in the long run. Christians should leave second-guessing the Lord’s perfect timing to the Cults! Most groups who attempt to interpret Bible Chronology have the habit of changing the various Bible words for “days” into “years” without so much as a blush while doing so.

Remember Daniel 4:23 said “seven periods of time” would pass over King Nebuchadnezzar. The Hebrew word used here is “iddan,” which means “a moment, a situation time, or time” according to the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance, p. 1570. Why do we know this should not be arbitrarily changed from “periods of time” into “years”? Aside from the fact that “years” is not mentioned as a meaning, another Scripture, Daniel 4:34, refers to these same “seven times,” but uses a clearer Hebrew word, “yowm.” Page 48 of the Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible states, “to be hot, a day (as the warm hours, whether lit., from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next).” This is the root meaning of “yowm”.

Yes, Nebuchadnezzar’s “seven times” were probably literal 24-hour days, not years, and were totally fulfilled during his lifetime. They should not be linked with unrelated portions of Scripture to try and make the “seven times” fulfilled on him expand into the entire “time of the Gentiles,” mentioned in Luke 21:24, via a strange interpretation of Revelation 12.

The dates, or the chronology in the Bible, is not absolute, but relative. Old Testament chronology ends at a point hundreds of years before the beginning of our Christian era, and no absolute dates are found in the Bible at all. Our Christian era extends back only about 2,000 years.

Events prior to that time can be related to each other in a relative way, but establishing these events in relation to our time frame and method of counting time is a difficult, if not impossible task. Since the Bible contains no absolute dates, scholars are forced to use secular dates as a basis for their Bible Chronology.

MacGregor Ministries

Read Part 2