Daily text, Saturday, June 18. 2016

[Queen Esther]

How long, O Jehovah?—Isa. 6:11.

Isaiah wanted to know for how long God’s nation would remain unrepentant. God’s answer? “Until the cities crash in ruins without an inhabitant and the houses are without people and the land is ruined and desolate.”1) I (Isa. 6:8-1saiah received his commission in the last year of King Uzziah’s reign, or about 778 B.C.E. He continued his prophetic service for some 46 years until after 732 B.C.E., well into the reign of King Hezekiah. That was 125 years before Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E. Thus, ample advance notice of what was going to happen to their nation in the future was given to God’s people. Today, Jehovah has also had his people give ample notice of what lies ahead. For 135 years, from its very first issue, The Watchtower has called on its readers to be awake to the fact that Satan’s wicked rulership will soon end and be replaced by the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ.—Rev. 20:1-3, 6. w14 7/15 3:8, 9