Quote from The Gentile Times Reconsidered p50-52:
Looking forward to 1914
What, exactly, would the end of the "Gentile times" mean for mankind? Although monumental events relating to Christ's return were proclaimed to have taken place in 1874, these were all said to be invisible, occurring in the spirit realm unseen by human eyes. Would 1914 and the termination of the Gentile times be the same, or would it bring visible, tangible change for the earth and for human society on it?
In the book The Time is at Hand, published in 1889 (later referred to as Volume II of Studies in the Scriptures), Russell stated that there was "Bible evidence proving" that the 1914 date "will be the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men." What would be the consequences of this? Russell enumerated his expectations for 1914 in seven points:
Firstly, That at that date the Kingdom of God ... will have obtained full, universal control, and that it will then be ‘set up,' or firmly established, in the earth.
Secondly, It will prove that he whose right it is thus to take dominion will then be present as earth's new ruler ...
Thirdly, It will prove that some time before the end of A. D. 1914 the last member of the divinely recognized Church of Christ, the ‘royal priesthood,' ‘the body of Christ,' will be glorified with the Head ...
Fourthly, It will prove that from that time forward Jerusalem shall no longer be trodden down of the Gentiles, but shall arise from the dust of divine disfavor, to honor; because the ‘Times of the Gentiles' will be fulfilled or completed.
Fifthly, It will prove that by that date, or sooner, Israel's blindness will begin to be turned away; because their ‘blindness in part' was to continue only ‘until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in' (Rom. 11:25) ...
Sixthly, It will prove that the great ‘time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation,' will reach its culmination in a worldwide reign of anarchy . . . and the ‘new heavens and new earth' with their peaceful blessings will begin to be recognized by trouble-tossed humanity.
Seventhly, It will prove that before that date God's Kingdom, organized in power, will be in the earth and then smite and crush the Gentile image (Dan. 2:34)-and fully consume the power of these kings.53
These were indeed very daring predictions. Did Russell really believe that all these remarkable things would come true within the next twenty five years? Yes, he did; in fact, he believed his chronology to be God's chronology, not just his own. In 1894 he wrote of the 1914 date:
We see no reason for changing the figures-nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble.54
Thus it was thought that the "time of trouble" was to commence some years before 1914, "not later than 1910," reaching its climax in 1914.55
In 1904, however, just ten years before 1914, Russell altered his view on this matter. In an article in the July 1, 1904 issue of Zion's Watch Tower, entitled "Universal anarchy-just before or after October, 1914 A.D.," he argued that the time of trouble, with its worldwide anarchy, would begin after October, 1914:
We now expect that the anarchistic culmination of the great time of trouble which will precede the Millennial blessings will be after October, 1914 A.D.-very speedily thereafter, in our opinion- ‘in an hour,' ‘suddenly,' because ‘our forty years' harvest, ending October, 1914 A.D., should not be expected to include the awful period of anarchy which the Scriptures point out to be the fate of Christendom.56
This change caused some readers to think that there might be other errors in the chronological system, too-one reader even suggesting that Bishop Ussher's chronology might be more correct when it dated the destruction of Jerusalem as having happened in 587 B.C.E. rather than in 606 B.C.E. This would end the 2,520 years in about 1934 instead of 1914. But Russell strongly reaffirmed his belief in the 1914 date, referring to other claimed "time parallels" pointing to it:
We know of no reason for changing a figure: to do so would spoil the harmonies and parallels so conspicuous between the Jewish and Gospel ages.57
Answering another reader, he said:
The harmony of the prophetic periods is one of the strongest proofs of the correctness of our Bible chronology. They fit together like the cogwheels of a perfect machine. To change the chronology even one year would destroy all this harmony,-so accurately are the various proofs drawn together in the parallels between the Jewish and Gospel ages.58