Jehovah​—The God of Times and Seasons

“For everything there is an appointed time.”​—ECCLESIASTES 3:1.

1, 2. (a) In what ways are humans conscious of time? (b) What would happen to much of life today if we had no way of telling time?

IN EVERYDAY life, we are quite conscious of time. For example, when a clock shows that it is evening and we see the sun setting and the skies darkening, we know that nighttime has approached. Too, in certain parts of the earth, when the calendar shows that it is late autumn and we see the temperature dropping week by week and the leaves of trees falling off, we confirm that winter is near. So the evidences of what time or season it is verify what clocks and calendars tell us.

² Not being able to tell times and seasons would turn much of life today into a sort of anarchy. For instance, think of hundreds of airplanes trying to land at a busy airport if there was no way of telling time in order to schedule them! Or think of millions of people trying to get to work on schedule if they had no way of telling time!

3. Who originated times and seasons?

³ Who originated times and seasons? It was the Creator of the universe, Jehovah God. Genesis 1:14 states: “And God went on to say: ‘Let luminaries come to be in the expanse of the heavens to make a division between the day and the night; and they must serve as signs and for seasons and for days and years.’”

More Important Times and Seasons

4-6. (a) What is more important than knowing times or seasons for human activities? Why? (b) What questions should we ask?

⁴ Although knowing the time or the season is important for human activities, there is something far more important: What time or season is it from God’s viewpoint? Ecclesiastes 3:1 states: “For everything there is an appointed time, even a time for every affair under the heavens.” While this is true from the human viewpoint, it is even more so from God’s viewpoint. He has definite times and seasons for accomplishing his purpose. If we do not harmonize our lives with this fact, then all the arranging of our lives to conform to clocks or to calendars will eventually prove to be useless.

⁵ Why is this so? Because Jehovah has a purpose for this earth and for human creatures on it; otherwise he would not have created them. If we do not coordinate our lives with that purpose, we will not be included in it. And his purpose is certain to be carried out right on schedule. He declares: “So my word that goes forth from my mouth will prove to be. It will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.”​—Isaiah 55:11.

⁶ Thus we need to ask: What time or season is it from Jehovah’s viewpoint? How do the nations and peoples of this world fit in with his timetable? Indeed, how do you fit in? Have you planned your life in harmony with God’s purpose and timetable?

Is This World Fulfilling God’s Purpose?

7. What view do most religious people have, but why is it without substance?

⁷ Many people feel that they are included in God’s purpose because they say that they believe in God. Yet, when you ask them to show you from God’s own Word what that purpose is, they are unable to do it. They go their own way, and still they feel that somehow God will favor them. Most world rulers have had a similar attitude throughout the centuries. They have felt that God was working out his purpose through them, regardless of their actions. But they, too, are unable to say what that purpose is.

8. Why is it unreasonable to think that the Creator could be backing the rulers and people of this world?

⁸ Does the Bible show that God backs this world, including the rulers and people who have a religion? Consider this: God’s power is awesome. He created the universe, which includes billions of galaxies, each containing many billions of stars. (Psalm 147:4) In addition, God has infinite wisdom. If God, with his power and wisdom, were backing the nations, would they have experienced so much violence, war, injustice, and suffering for so many centuries? Would God direct national leaders and millions of their people to go to war and kill other national leaders and millions of their people who also claim to be directed by God? Is that reasonable?

9. What does God’s Word say must be the spiritual condition of his true servants?

⁹ The Bible tells us at First Corinthians 14:33 that “God is a God, not of disorder, but of peace.” Further, Jehovah tells those who are truly his people: “You should all speak in agreement, and . . . there should not be divisions among you . . . that you may be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought.” (1 Corinthians 1:10) If any among God’s people do not conform to this standard, what then? Romans 16:17 counsels: “Keep your eye on those who cause divisions . . . contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and avoid them.” So national and religious divisions and conflicts are clear evidences that God is not backing such nations, religious leaders, and their followers.

10, 11. What scriptures show who is backing the rulers and people of this world?

¹⁰ Then who actually is backing them? First John chapter 3, verses 10 to 12, states: “The children of God and the children of the Devil are evident by this fact: Everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, neither does he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should have love for one another; not like Cain, who originated with the wicked one and slaughtered his brother.” Also, First John chapter 4, verse 20, says: “If anyone makes the statement: ‘I love God,’ and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot be loving God, whom he has not seen.” Thus Jesus laid down this rule at John 13:35: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”

¹¹ Do you see any resemblance between the love and unity that must exist among God’s true servants and the course that world leaders and people in general have followed for centuries? In our century alone, the slaughter of religious people by other religious people has taken tens of millions of lives. Often those killing one another have been of the very same religion! That is sure evidence that God is not backing them. Instead, as God’s Word shows, their backer is no one else but Satan the Devil. That is why the apostle John could say: “We know we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19) Yes, Satan is “the god of this system of things.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) He is the power behind the leaders and people of this world whose actions show that these men cannot be from God.

Jehovah’s Purpose for Meek Ones

12, 13. What is God’s purpose for this earth and for humans?

¹² However, when Jehovah created humans, he purposed that the entire earth should become a paradise like the garden of Eden, populated by perfect, unified, happy people. (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15; Isaiah 45:18) That purpose has not been canceled by rebellious humans and wicked spirit creatures. Also, since Jehovah is a God of times and seasons, his purpose will be accomplished at the appointed time that he has set for it. He will not allow human rule independent of him to continue fighting against his purpose beyond the allotted time.

¹³ Jesus had complete confidence in Jehovah’s purpose for this earth. He said to an evildoer who showed some faith in him: “You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) That was the earthly Paradise to come. On an earlier occasion, Jesus had said: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) Here, Jesus likely referred to the thought in Psalm 37:11, which says: “The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

14. What kind of people will inherit the earth?

¹⁴ Who are these who will inherit the earth? Psalm 37:34 states: “Hope in Jehovah and keep his way, and he will exalt you to take possession of the earth. When the wicked ones are cut off, you will see it.” Verses 37 and 38 of Ps 37 add: “Watch the blameless one and keep the upright one in sight, for the future of that man will be peaceful. But the transgressors themselves will certainly be annihilated together; the future of wicked people will indeed be cut off.” Thus people who will inherit the earth must come to know Jehovah, believe his promises, and be considered by him upright and blameless because they obey his laws. As First John 2:17 declares: “The world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”

15. For major beneficial world changes to take place, what is one vital thing that must happen?

¹⁵ However, for those changes to take place would require an enormous reversal of the state of affairs that now exists. For one thing, it would have to mean the removal of all present rulerships of the earth, since human rule has never brought about desirable conditions. But such earthshaking changes are well within the ability of Jehovah. For example, the Bible states: “He is changing times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings.”​—Daniel 2:21.

Removing Opposers

16, 17. (a) How did Jehovah deal with the Pharaoh who opposed His purpose? (b) How was Jehovah’s prophetic word confirmed?

¹⁶ Consider what Jehovah has done to powerful rulers and dynasties in the past, especially to those who have tried to interfere with his purposes. They have been broken and scattered to the winds like mere dust, as have their empires. For instance, there was the Pharaoh of Egypt who had enslaved God’s people. But Jehovah had a purpose for his servants, and he sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to free them. Instead, Pharaoh arrogantly declared: “Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice?” He added: “I do not know Jehovah at all and, what is more, I am not going to send Israel away.”​—Exodus 5:2.

¹⁷ Jehovah gave Pharaoh many opportunities to change his mind. Yet, time after time, as Exodus 11:10 says, Pharaoh ‘became obstinate.’ However, Jehovah has irresistible power. When his appointed time came, he drowned Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea. Exodus 14:28 says: “Not so much as one among them was let remain.” On the other hand, Jehovah’s servants were protected and freed. This, moreover, came at the exact time that Jehovah’s prophetic word had foretold, at the end of a 400-year period he had spoken about to faithful Abraham centuries before.

18. What did Jehovah do with Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon? Why?

¹⁸ Then there was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He got to boasting about his power and accomplishments, as though he were a god. But Daniel 4:31 says that “while the word was yet in the king’s mouth, there was a voice that fell from the heavens: ‘To you it is being said, O Nebuchadnezzar the king, “The kingdom itself has gone away from you.”’” Jehovah told him that he would be brought low like a beast of the field until, as verse 32 of Dan 4 says, he would know “that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind, and that to the one whom he wants to he gives it.” That is just what happened at the exact time that Jehovah had purposed for it.

19. Why did Jehovah’s adverse judgment come against Babylon and its ruler, Belshazzar?

¹⁹ The last king to rule in Babylon was Belshazzar. It was then Jehovah’s time for that monstrous empire to fall. Why? Because the Babylonians held Jehovah’s people captive and blasphemed Jehovah. Daniel chapter 5 relates that Belshazzar made a big feast for a thousand of his officials. Then Belshazzar “said to bring in the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken away from [Jehovah’s] temple that was in Jerusalem, . . . and from them the king and his grandees, his concubines and his secondary wives drank.” (Daniel 5:2, 3) Note what they did next: “They drank wine, and they praised the gods of gold and of silver, copper, iron, wood and stone.” (Daniel 5:4) By drinking from the sacred utensils that had been used in Jehovah’s worship, they mocked and blasphemed Jehovah. By worshiping their false gods, they worshiped Satan.

20, 21. What message did Daniel deliver to Belshazzar, and how was it fulfilled?

²⁰ However, at that moment a startling thing happened. The fingers of a hand were seen writing on the wall of the palace! It shocked the king so much that “his very complexion was changed in him, and his own thoughts began to frighten him, and his hip joints were loosening and his very knees were knocking each other.” (Daniel 5:6) None of Belshazzar’s religious advisers could understand the handwriting, so Jehovah’s servant Daniel was called in to interpret it. Daniel informed the king that the message was from Jehovah, and it was this: “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and has finished it. . . . You have been weighed in the balances and have been found deficient. . . . Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.”​—Daniel 5:26-28.

²¹ That very night, Medo-Persian armies invaded the city through gates carelessly left open. As Daniel 5:30 concludes: “In that very night Belshazzar . . . was killed.” Babylon’s fall allowed for Jehovah’s people to return to their homeland exactly 70 years from the start of their captivity. That was precisely according to Jehovah’s timetable, as revealed at Jeremiah 29:10.

22, 23. How did Jehovah deal with King Herod Agrippa I, who opposed Christians in the first century?

²² In the first century, King Herod Agrippa I was the last ruler of Palestine, part of the Roman Empire. Herod had the apostle Peter imprisoned, and he persecuted other Christians. He even had the apostle James killed. (Acts 12:1, 2) Herod also arranged murderous gladiatorial combats and other pagan shows. All of this gave the lie to his claim that he was a worshiper of God.

²³ But, then, Jehovah’s due time came for executing this opposer. Acts 12:21 to 23 tells us: “On a set day Herod clothed himself with royal raiment and sat down upon the judgment seat and began giving them a public address. In turn the assembled people began shouting: ‘A god’s voice, and not a man’s!’” What happened next? The Bible says: “Instantly the angel of Jehovah struck him, because he did not give the glory to God; and he became eaten up with worms and expired.” Here was another example of Jehovah’s “removing kings,” as Daniel 2:21 had stated.

24. To what do such historical facts testify?

²⁴ Such historical events testify that Jehovah has his times and seasons for his purposes. They also demonstrate that he surely has the ability and the power to fulfill his purpose to transform this earth into a paradise where “righteousness is to dwell.”​—2 Peter 3:13.

What Jehovah’s Times and Seasons Mean for Our Day

“Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire.”​—MATTHEW 7:19.

1. What can we learn from the way that Jehovah dealt with some rulers in the past?

THE record of history testifies to the fact that Jehovah can change “times and seasons, removing kings and setting up kings.” (Daniel 2:21) In previous centuries, when it suited his purpose, he removed Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Herod Agrippa I, and others. ‘However,’ some may say, ‘those events were all ancient history. What do they have to do with us?’ They have a lot to do with us because there are powerful lessons in them. What we learn from those events is that when Jehovah’s time for it comes, he brings an end to the rulership of world leaders. And when he has chosen to do so, he has put into power the ruler of his choice.

2. For what has Jehovah’s time arrived in our day?

² In our day, Jehovah’s time has again arrived for “removing kings and setting up kings.” Having now ‘set up’ the King of his choice, God will soon remove all of this world’s rulers, as well as the entire system of things that they dominate. Why? Because they, like Belshazzar of ancient Babylon, “have been weighed in the balances and have been found deficient.” The situation today is just as it was when God’s servant Daniel told Belshazzar: “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and has finished it.” (Daniel 5:26, 27) Therefore, in our time Jehovah “will certainly break kings to pieces on the day of his anger. He will execute judgment among the nations.”​—Psalm 110:5, 6.

“Found Deficient”

3, 4. With regard to peace, how have world rulers been “found deficient” in this century?

³ How have earthly rulers been “found deficient” with regard to world developments? They must take a major share of the blame for what has happened to the human family in our time, a time filled with calamities unlike any other age. For instance, just since 1914 about a hundred million people have been killed in various wars! Today, nuclear weapons threaten the survival of life on earth. Right this minute, thousands of nuclear missiles, with firing crews at the ready, are pointing at population centers.

⁴ Regarding nuclear war, Science magazine reported this chilling analysis: ‘In any large-scale nuclear exchange, the extinction of a major portion of plant and animal life on earth is likely. The extinction of humankind cannot be excluded.’ A government official in Europe said: “Losses would not be counted in terms of cities but in terms of whole continents.” The president of a Latin American country stated as to the cost of defense: “Mankind is sailing in a fragile ship which may well founder . . . If it does go down, it could take everyone with it.” And a Japanese newspaper observed: “The world seems further from [peace] than at anytime in history.”

5, 6. What is the economic condition of many lands and peoples?

⁵ Yet, the nations keep spending more and more on armaments. The cost has now risen to about a trillion dollars (U.S.) a year! One source notes that the world spends about 50 times as much money on each soldier as it does on each school-age child. Consider, too, a United Nations report that shows that at least 450 million people throughout the world are hungry, and their numbers are growing. Another report states that “every year 30 to 40 million people starve to death” in underdeveloped lands. It says, too, that about half of those dying are children under the age of five.

⁶ A government official of one large country in South America says that “40 percent of the work force lives in absolute poverty.” In another country there, the lack of employment in its capital city affects 51 percent of the labor force. A report concludes: “A continent of 260 million people has sunk into its deepest depression in a half century.” Then notice these three headlines from different lands: “Poverty Rate Called ‘Alarming.’” “Poverty Rate Is Up.” “Poverty, Painful Experience.” Were these reports from underdeveloped lands? No, they were from government officials in Canada, the United States, and the Federal Republic of Germany. Yes, even so-called wealthy nations are mired in difficulties.

7. What observations have been made about the crime and violence so rampant in our time?

⁷ In many lands these problems are mirrored by an avalanche of crime, violence, and terrorism. For example, in the United States the Federal Centers for Disease Control notes that each year more than 50,000 Americans are murdered or commit suicide! Thus an editorial in The New York Times concluded: “Things are out of control.” Another editorial observed: “This is a time of international anarchy.” So, in spite of centuries of effort, experience, and technological progress, world leaders are unable to give many of their people their basic needs.

8. To what does the record of history testify?

⁸ Surely, the record of history, both ancient and modern, testifies that man, on his own, does not have the answers. The political, economic, and religious leadership of this world can never bring the peace, security, happiness, health, and life that we want and need. Therefore, this world must go! And it will go because that is what Jehovah has purposed for it. It is as the Bible says: “The ax is already in position at the root of the trees; every tree, therefore, not producing fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”​—Luke 3:9.

Another Reason for Judgment

9. How do world leaders generally regard Jehovah’s purposes?

⁹ The bad fruitage that this world and its leaders have produced is one reason why Jehovah, having weighed the world in the balances, has found it deficient and will destroy it. But there is another reason: World leaders have left Jehovah​—the Creator and Universal Sovereign—​out of their considerations. They have no real interest in his purposes or times and seasons. That is why First Corinthians 2:8 accurately says of them: “This [divine] wisdom not one of the rulers of this system of things came to know.” Thus Psalm 146:3 counsels us: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.”

10, 11. (a) What should be done by those who want to know Jehovah? (b) How are God’s servants able to know what others do not?

¹⁰ Instead, Proverbs 3:5, 6 urges: “Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways take notice of him, and he himself will make your paths straight.” People who do this will not remain in the unenlightened hopelessness of this world. Jehovah will bless them with his spirit so that they will come to know his purposes and his times and seasons for them. As Acts 5:32 says, Jehovah gives his holy spirit “to those obeying him as ruler.”

¹¹ So God’s servants know what this world’s rulers do not. They know Jehovah’s purposes and his seasons. First Peter 1:11 says that, in the past, God’s servants “kept on investigating what particular season or what sort of season the spirit in them was indicating.” With God’s spirit indicating this, the apostle Paul could say to true fellow worshipers: “You people know the season.” (Romans 13:11) Since Jehovah’s servants of today obey him as ruler, God’s holy spirit also reveals to them what season it is from his viewpoint. Amos 3:7 says: “The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.”

Still Another Reason

12, 13. What is another strong reason why Jehovah finds this world and its leaders deficient?

¹² This brings us to still another reason why Jehovah has found this world and its leaders to be deficient and will finish them. Recall what Pharaoh, Belshazzar, Herod, and other rulers in the past did to Jehovah’s servants. They opposed, persecuted, and even killed them. God held those rulers accountable for that.

¹³ It is similar in our day. Various world rulers have opposed, persecuted, and even killed Jehovah’s peaceful servants. Such rulers “speak even words against the Most High, and . . . harass continually the holy ones themselves of the Supreme One.” (Daniel 7:25; 11:36) But the inspired account at Isaiah 54:17 declares: “Any weapon whatever that will be formed against you will have no success . . . This is the hereditary possession of the servants of Jehovah.” Hence, all opposers will be brought low, just as were others in the past. On the other hand, Jehovah promises the survival and prosperity of his people.

Closing Time Nears

14, 15. (a) In what time period do we live, and what warnings should we heed? (b) Despite any efforts by world leaders, what comes on apace?

¹⁴ So, what time is it from God’s viewpoint? It is closing time for this world. Its sun is setting. Nighttime is fast approaching for it. Its winter is nearly upon it. All the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy and Jehovah’s timetable shows that we live in “the last days,” at “the conclusion of the system of things.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; Matthew 24:3-14) Thus we need to take to heart Jesus’ warning: “Keep praying that your flight may not occur in wintertime.” (Matthew 24:20) When this world’s nighttime, or winter, comes, it will be too late to seek Jehovah’s favor.

¹⁵ The time for bringing this god-dishonoring world to an end comes on apace. When it comes, Jehovah will forcibly remove all world rulers from office. However sincere they may be, their fruitless and hopeless plans will cease. True, the rulers may try to cheer up their people with arms treaties and various plans for peace and security, even with ‘holy years’; but the march toward the final showdown at God’s war of Armageddon continues relentlessly.​—Revelation 16:13-16.

16. To whom has Jehovah given world rulership?

¹⁶ Also, recall that not only is Jehovah “removing kings” but he is also “setting up kings.” (Daniel 2:21) The heavenly armies that Jehovah will use to execute his judgments at Armageddon will be led by the Ruler that he has ‘set up’ for all the earth. That one is his faithful Son, Christ Jesus, now in heavenly power and glory. Revelation 19:16 calls him “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Daniel 7:14 says: “To him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”​—See also Daniel 2:44.

17, 18. (a) What does God’s Word say will happen to those who do not acknowledge him and his appointed Ruler for this earth? (b) Who else knows that there is not much time left?

¹⁷ In plain language God’s prophetic Word tells what will happen to those who do not acknowledge Jehovah and his appointed Ruler for all the earth. It states: “I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven: ‘Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God, that you may eat the fleshy parts of kings and the fleshy parts of military commanders and the fleshy parts of strong men and the fleshy parts of horses and of those seated upon them, and the fleshy parts of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.’”​—Revelation 19:17, 18.

¹⁸ Jeremiah 25:33 describes it this way: “Those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth. They will not be bewailed, neither will they be gathered up or be buried. As manure on the surface of the ground they will become.” Yes, it is closing time for Satan’s entire corrupt system of things. And even he knows it! Revelation 12:12 states that he knows he has only “a short period of time” left.

Seek Jehovah Now

19. What thrilling day and season will begin after this system is brought to an end?

¹⁹ When the nighttime, or winter, of Satan’s system is over, what then? Then it will be Jehovah’s time to usher in a bright new day, a thrilling new springtime season. It will be time to begin Jehovah’s righteous new system under the rule of his heavenly King, Christ Jesus. In that new system, violence, injustice, suffering, sickness, and death will be no more. Humans will be lifted to perfection, with eternal life in view. What an inspiring outlook!​—Psalm 37:10, 11, 29; Revelation 21:4.

20, 21. How are people in great number from all nations now seeking Jehovah?

²⁰ However, before this system ends and the new system begins, it is Jehovah’s season to do something vital for meek ones of the earth. It is his time to collect together those who want to learn about him, who want to submit to his will, and who will bow to the King of his choice. By doing this, they come under Jehovah’s protection: “The name of Jehovah is a strong tower. Into it the righteous runs and is given protection.”​—Proverbs 18:10.

²¹ Today, people in great number are doing this​—in fact, millions of them are. They come from every nation on earth. These are described at Zechariah chapter 8, verses 20 and 21: “This is what Jehovah of armies has said, ‘It will yet be that peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will come; and the inhabitants of one city will certainly go to those of another, saying: “Let us earnestly go to soften the face of Jehovah and to seek Jehovah of armies.”’” Verse 23 of Zech 8 adds: “It will be in those days [yes, in our time] that ten men out of all the languages of the nations will take hold, yes, they will actually take hold of the skirt of a man who is a Jew [anointed praisers of Jehovah], saying: ‘We will go with you people, for we have heard that God is with you people.’”

22. What must we appreciate and do if we want to survive the day of Jehovah’s anger?

²² Therefore, worship Jehovah with his people and come to his place of security. Have a share in the most important work that is being done on earth today​—the gathering together and training of those who will survive Armageddon and who will have the wonderful prospect of cultivating a paradise on earth and living in it forever. Appreciate what time and season it is and do what Isaiah 55:6 urges: “Search for Jehovah, you people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near.” Yes, “seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”​—Zephaniah 2:3.