The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during the year. This may be accomplished. It may not be.
THE RETURN OF THE PATRIARCHS-- 1925 c.e.
by Gerald Sigal
In reference to itself the Watchtower Society states:
Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a "prophet" of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?1
Well, what does the record show? In the book entitled Millions Now Living Will Never Die, published in 1920 by the Watchtower Society, it is predicted that the Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other worthy biblical personalities from Abel on (as listed in Hebrews, chapter 11) were to be resurrected in the year 1925. They would then rule the earth as God's representatives.
. . . That period of time beginning 1575 before A.D. 1 of necessity would end in the fall of the year 1925, at which time the type ends and the great antitype must begin. What, then, should we expect to take place? . . . The chief thing to be restored is the human race to life; and since other Scriptures definitely fix the fact that there will be a resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other faithful ones of old, and that these will have the first favors, we may expect in 1925 to witness the return of these faithful men of Israel from the condition of death, being resurrected and fully restored to perfect humanity and made the visible, legal representatives of the new order of things on earth.2
This same book, under the sub-title "Earthly Rulers," predicts:
As we have heretofore stated, the great jubilee cycle is due to begin in 1925. At that time the earthly phase of the kingdom shall be recognized. The Apostle Paul in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews names a long list of faithful men who died before the crucifixion of the Lord and before the beginning of the selection of the church. . . . They are to be resurrected as perfect men and constitute the princes or rulers in the earth, according to his promise. (Psalms 45:16; Isaiah 32:1; Matthew 8:11) Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews chapter eleven, to the condition of human perfection.3 How did Rutherford derive his calculation of the jubilee cycles and how did he arrive at the year 1925 for the redemption of humanity? Rutherford cited the verse "You shall hallow the fiftieth year. . . . It shall be a jubilee for you" (Leviticus 25:10). According to Rutherford the tribes of Israel entered the Land of Canaan in 1575 B.C.E. Citing Jeremiah 25:11 and 2 Chronicles 36:17-21 he deduces that until the beginning of the liberation of the Jews, seventy jubilees will pass. By multiplying seventy by fifty, he obtains 3,500 years, which he counts from the year 1575 B.C.E.; thus he reaches the year 1925 C.E.4 Confident that the Watchtower Society's predictions were correct The Watchtower proclaimed, in 1922, that "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914."5 In the following year it mused: "Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge."6 In 1924 the Society published The Way to Paradise, which stated:
The Jewish legal year begins in the fall, about our October first. The year 1926 would therefore begin about October first, 1925. . . . We should, therefore, expect shortly after 1925 to see the awakening of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Melchisedec, Job, Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, John the Baptist, and others mentioned in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews.7
The Watchtower Society's prophecy having not materialized and its interpretation of Scripture having been shown, by the passage of time, to be ludicrous, the organization revised its claims. With the arrival of January 1925, caution set in, to be followed in time by silence concerning this date:
The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during the year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his own people. Christians should not be so deeply concerned about what may transpire during this year that they would fail to joyfully do what the Lord would have them to do.8
The year 1925 has long since passed without any of the positive physical signs the Watchtower Society predicted with so much confidence. In fact, as we have seen, none of the Watchtower Society's original pronouncements for the years 1914, 1925, or 1975 have come to pass. The Watchtower Society has stated:
Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a "prophet" of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?
Yes, indeed, what does the record show?
1 The Watchtower, April 1, 1972, p. 197. 2 J.F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1920, p. 88. 3 Ibid., pp. 89-90. 4 Ibid., pp. 87-88. 5 The Watchtower, September 1, 1922, p. 262. 6 Ibid., April 1, 1923, p. 106. 7 William E. Van Amburgh, The Way to Paradise, Brooklyn: International Bible Students Association, 1924, p. 224. 8 The Watchtower, January 1, 1925, p. 3.