Universal Timeline

There was an incessant torrential downpour for “forty days and forty nights”; “the waters continued overwhelming the earth” a hundred and fifty days. (Ge 7:4, 12, 24)

Five months after the downpour began, the ark “came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” (Ge 8:4)

It was nearly two and a half months later before “the tops of the mountains appeared” (Ge 8:5), another three months before Noah removed the ark’s covering to see that the earth had practically drained (Ge 8:13), and nearly two months later when the door was opened and the survivors set foot on dry ground once again.—Ge 8:14-18.

Noah and his family entered the ark in the 600th year of Noah’s life, the 2nd month (October-November), the 17th day.

(Ge 7:11) One year later (a year consisting of 360 days) was the 17th day, 2nd month, 601st year. Ten days after that would be the 27th day of the 2nd month, when they came out.

This totaled of 370 days, or parts of 371 separate days, spent in the ark. (Ge 8:13, 14)

In the log that Noah kept, it appears he used months of 30 days each, 12 of them equaling 360 days. In this way he avoided all the complicated fractions involved had he used strictly lunar months consisting of slightly more than 29 1⁄2 days. That such calculations were used in the account is evident from the fact that a five-month period consisted of 150 days

The first major convention that the BIble Students held after World War I in Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A.

The gathering was attended by some 7,000 and was marked by the launching of a global preaching campaign.

Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A

A nine-day convention featured the dramatic impetus by Joseph F. Rutherford to "Herald the message far and wide. The world must know that Jehovah is God and that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the day of all days. Behold, the King reigns! Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom."

In 1931 the International Bible Students took the Bible-based name Jehovah’s Witnesses based on Isaiah 43:10

In the 1920’s the Bible Students became increasingly aware of the deep significance of God’s name, Jehovah. Then, on July 26, 1931, at a convention in Columbus, Ohio, the Society’s president, Joseph F. Rutherford, presented a resolution entitled “A New Name.” The words, “We desire to be known as and called by the name, to wit, Jehovah’s witnesses,” thrilled the conventioners, who approved the resolution with a resounding “Aye!” Since then, Jehovah’s name has gained worldwide prominence

In 1935 the “great crowd” of Revelation 7:9-15 was understood to be made up of “other sheep,” Christians with an earthly hope, who would appear on the world scene in “the last days” and who as a group would survive Armageddon.

During 1939, World War II started in Europe. In that same year, the November 1 issue of The Watchtower contained an article entitled “Neutrality.”

“All who are on the Lord’s side will be neutral as to warring nations.” Jehovah’s Witnesses in all nations and under all circumstances continue to hold to this position. They do not allow the world’s divisive politics and wars to break up their international brotherhood. They “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears.” Being neutral, they do not learn war anymore.

...watch this space

On January 8, 1942, Joseph Rutherford, who had been taking the lead among Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, died. Five days later the directors of the Society elected Brother Knorr to succeed him.

When W. E. Van Amburgh, the Society’s longtime secretary-treasurer, announced this to the Bethel family, he said: “I can remember when C. T. Russell died [in 1916] and was replaced by J. F. Rutherford. The Lord continued to direct and prosper His work. Now, I fully expect the work to move ahead with Nathan H. Knorr as president because this is the Lord’s work, not man’s.”

In 1942, in the midst of World War II, Nathan H. Knorr delivered the thrilling discourse “Peace—Can It Last?” In it, he identified the “scarlet-colored wild beast” of Revelation 17 and indicated that there would still be much preaching to do after the war.

In February 1942, it was announced that the “Advanced Course in Theocratic Ministry” would be started. It was designed to train those at Bethel in order to improve their ability to do research on Bible subjects, properly organize their material, and present it effectively.

In the wake of World War II, during which it had become standard practice to treat wounded soldiers with blood transfusions, there was increased light on the sanctity of blood.

The July 1, 1945, issue of The Watchtower encouraged “all worshipers of Jehovah who seek eternal life in his new world of righteousness to respect the sanctity of blood and to conform themselves to God’s righteous rulings concerning this vital matter.”

1945 Marked the beginning of Bible Lectures being broadcast across our very own radio station, New York.

At an international convention in New York City in 1950, the audience was delighted to receive the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, the first installment of a modern-language Bible that restored God’s name to its rightful place in his Word

The Watchtower of June 1, 1973, explained that from that time forward, an individual would need to quit smoking before he could be baptized and become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In1973 the use of tobacco was seen as a “defilement of flesh” and was to be viewed as serious wrongdoing.

1993 “Divine Teaching” International Convention in Kiev, Ukraine, where 7,402 were immersed—the largest baptism of Jehovah’s Witnesses on record.