Before describing what actually took place, as the Heavens observed it, on June 12th, it is opportune to disclose the true meaning of this date, as it afterwards came to light in research which lasted some four years.
Through the writings of one of the early Brethren, Sir Edward Denny, Bart., whose works had been in print for half a century, a full understanding was granted of the divine principle governing the measurement of time by 'Jubilee' cycles of 49 years, as shown in Leviticus 25. (See Chart 5.) As soon as this was applied, and it was also seen that, prior to the Exodus from Egypt, the years recorded in Scripture had been lunar and not solar, (see Chart 4 and Chart 1) it became possible to trace time perfectly from Genesis 1 through to the end of those well-known 'seventy weeks' or 490 years of Daniel 9: 24-26. It was clear from this prophecy of Daniel that 'Messiah the Prince' had been proclaimed by John the Baptist seven years before He was 'cut off,' that is, put to death, and the year when John's testimony commenced was given in Luke 3:1 as the fifteenth year of the reign (lit. leadership) of Tiberius Caesar.' As Tiberius had been appointed 'leader' of the army by Augustus Caesar in AD 12, his 'fifteenth year' as such was AD 26. When time was calculated, according to the Bible records, from Genesis 1 to this year, AD 26, it was found that a total of 4,100 solar years had accumulated.
Then came the most important seven years in history, so far as God was concerned, when His 'only begotten Son' was being presented to men and 'went in and out among us,' as Luke expresses it in Acts 1: 21, defining the time as 'beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that He was taken up from us.' (Acts 1: 22.) (This period we later found was exactly seven years and seven weeks).
After the day of Christ's Ascension, 1,900 solar years ran their course to the day of June 12th 1933.
This meant that in 1933 - apart from the seven years just mentioned, when the sinless Son of God was heralded by the Baptist, and trod this earth to the glory of His heavenly Father - the history of our fallen race according to the Bible had registered just 6,000 solar years. (The exact figure of 6,000 Julian solar years from the Fall of Adam to the day and hour of the opening of the World Economic Conference on June 12th, at 3pm, was eventually perfectly established from the Scriptures. See Appendix 8.)
It was mentioned in our previous Chapter that the 40 days to June 12th were subsequently discovered to be the last 40 days of an era of 40 Jubilee years from the opening of the dispensation AD 33. This fact came to light after the great key to the understanding of the Bible's chronology had been revealed. The key was that God had only dealt with the human race, from Adam onwards, on the ground of 'Forgiveness, as the result of Redemption.' Many are familiar with the answer Jesus gave to Peter in Matthew 18: 22 concerning 'forgiveness' when He said, 'I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but until seventy times seven' - that is, until 490 times. And it was found that the reason why hundreds, if not thousands, of chronologers and students of Scripture had found themselves entirely baffled when they tried to get some kind of accurate and consecutive build-up of the time periods given in the Scriptures - so that practically every one had ended up with a different result - was because without the use of the 'key' in reliance upon the leading of the Spirit of Truth nothing could fully fall into place.
By the use of the key, however, the absolute perfection of the true timing of history could come to light, as should be abundantly proved in our later pages. But none of this was known to the few who had staked everything on the directive leading of God by giving the warning beforehand to do with June 12th 1933. They had simply acted in faith and obedience to the Holy Spirit.
What then happened on June 12th 1933 when, for the first time, all the separate nations of the earth (as represented by members of their several governments) came together into one place?
The Conference duly opened at 3pm and it was then that God gave Britain, whose sovereign bore the title of 'Defender of the Faith,' her great opportunity to be His witness to the nations of the world. In his opening address, King George V said:
'I believe this to be the first time in history that any Sovereign has presided at the opening of a Conference of all the nations of the world. It cannot be beyond the power of man, so to use the vast resources of the world as to ensure the material progress of civilisation.'
In those days, among so-called 'Christian' nations at such a gathering as this, there would have been at least an official, or formal, acknowledgment of the Godhead, and considering what was at stake, there would no doubt have been the asking of His blessing; but it is an amazing fact that on this first occasion in history when the whole human race was representatively assembled in one place, God's Holy Name and that of His Son, Jesus Christ - 'the Saviour of the world' - were not given so much as a single mention in all the opening speeches of the delegates of the leading Governments of the world.
Because the King's opening speech was being broadcast to hundreds of millions all over the earth, there is little doubt that it had been decided by his Government to avoid any mention of the one true God who might not be acceptable to all races - but, whatever the cause of this omission, one thing stood out in stark clarity: the Nations of the World were providing positive evidence to Heaven that their leaders had 'forgotten God' and were, therefore, demonstrating to the universe that they were no longer continuing in His goodness. We remember again the warning of Romans 11: 22: 'Continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.'
(Very shortly after the Conference, while some of the little company were in prayer, the Lord revealed that He had 'fulfilled the counsel of His messengers'(Isa 44:26), and His word came clearly: 'The nations have been cut off').
Like His action when 'the fig tree' (Israel) was 'cut down', after their Sanhedrin had stoned Stephen at the end of that last 'year', which Jesus had spoken of in parable in Luke 13: 6-9, this was a judicial enactment in Heaven, but the effects of the 'cutting off' were not long in making themselves felt upon earth.
Before continuing, it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that from that actual day when Israel did as a nation confirm their act of rejecting their Messiah, by the murder of Stephen on October 12th, AD 33, exactly four times 'seventy times seven' years - that is, 1960 Calendar lunar years of 354 days each - can be traced through to June 12th 1933. So God had given the Gentile world His four times of 'forgiveness' from the day when He 'cut down' the Jewish 'Fig Tree' to the day when the Nations also were 'cut off'. We should note that it was an official governmental assembly (the Sanhedrin) that rejected the testimony of the Holy Ghost, through Stephen, and it was an official assembly of the whole Gentile world that treated its Creator as though He did not exist, in spite of the warning in His Name, given in the same city just 40 days beforehand.
And what of the Christian Church? What was its reaction to this disturbing
testimony and reminder of Romans 11: 22? In the main they mocked and derided the
warning which had been given - some attributing it to the devil, while others
later confessed that they had held their hand until after the date had passed,
in case, by chance, the matter was of God. This was hardly to be wondered at as,
having no 'understanding of the times'(1 Chronicles
12:32), the masses of God's children were ignorant of His 'ways' and oblivious
of the seriousness of the days they were then entering.