“By inspiration I came to be in the Lord’s day.” (Revelation 1:10a) When is this “day”? Do the dramatic events of these tempestuous times have any connection with it? If so, we should pay close attention to the prophecy, as affecting our very lives​—even our survival.​—1 Thessalonians 5:20, 21.

In the Lord’s Day

2. When does the Lord’s day begin, and when does it end?

² In what time frame does this place the fulfillment of Revelation? Well, what is the Lord’s day? The apostle Paul refers to it as a time of judgment and of fulfillment of divine promises. (1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:14; Philippians 1:6, 10; 2:16) With the arrival of that “day,” Jehovah’s grand purposes move progressively and triumphantly toward their climax. That “day” begins with the crowning of Jesus as heavenly King. Even after Jesus executes judgment on Satan’s world, the Lord’s day continues, with the restoration of Paradise and the perfecting of mankind, until Jesus finally “hands over the kingdom to his God and Father.”​—1 Corinthians 15:24-26; Revelation 6:1, 2.

3. (a) How does Daniel’s prophecy of the “seven times” help us see when the Lord’s day begins? (b) What events on earth confirm the year 1914 as the beginning of the Lord’s day?

³ The fulfillment of other Bible prophecies helps us to see when the Lord’s day begins. For example, Daniel described a chopping down of rulership in the line of King David; after “seven times” it would be known “that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind, and that to the one whom he wants to he gives it.” (Daniel 4:23, 24, 31, 32) The major fulfillment of that prophecy started with the desolating of the kingdom of Judah, which is indicated by Bible evidence to have been completed by October 607 B.C.E. Revelation 12:6, 14 shows that 3 1/2 times amounts to 1,260 days; hence, seven times (twice that number) must be 2,520 days. Reckoning “a day for a year,” we arrive at 2,520 years as the duration of the “seven times.” (Ezekiel 4:6) Therefore, Christ Jesus began his heavenly rule in the latter part of 1914. The erupting of the first world war in that year marked “a beginning of pangs of distress” that have continued to plague mankind. Since 1914, how remarkably events in this bloodstained earth have confirmed that year to be the start of the “day” of Jesus’ presence!​—Matthew 24:3-14.a

4. (a) What do the words of Revelation itself indicate as to when the first vision is fulfilled? (b) When does the fulfillment of the first vision end?

⁴ Hence, this first vision and the counsel it contains are for the Lord’s day, from 1914 onward. This timing is supported by the fact that, later in Revelation, the record describes the execution of God’s true and righteous judgments​—events in which the Lord Jesus plays an outstanding part. (Revelation 11:18; 16:15; 17:1; 19:2, 11) If the fulfillment of the first vision began in 1914, when does it end? As the messages themselves show, the organization addressed is God’s congregation of anointed ones on earth. The fulfillment of this first vision ends, then, when the last faithful member of that anointed congregation dies and is raised to heavenly life. Nevertheless, the Lord’s Day, with blessings to the earthly other sheep, continues till the end of Jesus Christ’s Millennial Rule.​—John 10:16; Revelation 20:4, 5.

6. (a) What is meant by “the things that are”? (b) Why can we be certain that conditions in the congregation of anointed Christians today must be similar to those in John’s day?

⁶ Most of the prophecies in Revelation were to be fulfilled after John’s time. They referred to “the things that will take place after these.” But the counsel to the seven congregations deals with “things that are,” situations that really existed in the seven congregations at that time.