Daily text, Sunday, December 10. 2017

[Queen Esther]

Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?—Acts 1:6.

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, his apostles asked the above. Jesus’ answer showed that it was not the time for them to know when God’s Kingdom would start ruling. He told his disciples to focus on the important witnessing work that they needed to do. (Acts 1:7, 8) Nevertheless, Jesus taught his followers to look forward to the coming of God’s Kingdom. So Christians since the days of the apostles have been praying for it to come. When the time approached for God’s Kingdom in the hands of Jesus to start ruling from heaven, Jehovah helped his people to understand the timing of events. In 1876, an article written by Charles Taze Russell was published in the magazine Bible Examiner. That article, “Gentile Times: When Do They End?,” pointed to 1914 as a significant year. The article linked the “seven times” of Daniel’s prophecy with “the appointed times of the nations” spoken of by Jesus.—Dan. 4:16; Luke 21:24. w15 6/15 4:11, 12

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/dt/r1/lp-e/2017/12/10