³¹ At the close of those Gentile Times, in 1914 C.E., David’s royal Heir could rightfully apply to God for Kingdom rule.

That was the precise time for the symbolic bands of iron and copper to be removed from around the “rootstock” of Divine Universal Sovereignty now that the prophetic “seven times” of 2,520 years had ended. It was then the marked time for Jehovah’s Universal Sovereignty to assert itself toward our earth once again. How? By having a “sprout” grow up out of that long-dormant “rootstock,” and thereby prove that “the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that to the one whom he wants to, he gives it and he sets up over it even the lowliest one of mankind.”​—Daniel 4:17, 23, 32; Isaiah 11:1; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12.

35. What royal “stone” was then put in motion, against what?

³⁵ That, too, was the time for the symbolic “stone” to be cut out of the “mountain” of God’s Universal Sovereignty and then to be hurled against the “image” of political world power on earth. It is aimed to strike the “feet” of iron and molded clay. Then it must grind the whole idolatrous image to powder. Finally it must grow into a mountain, to fill all the earth.​—Daniel 2:34, 45.