Arthur Ware and the Final Hour
Arthur Ware Video
The notice of a public meeting, published on May 2nd 1933, in several newspapers. It's purpose was to warn of the end of the 6,000 year period from Adam.
The First World War ended on the 11th Day of the 11th month of 1918 at 11.00am. Some bible believers at the time believed that this was a sign from the Lord that it was the end of the 11th hour. I.e. there was just one more hour to go. An example of this was Mr A.E Ware, a man who worked in the motor trade in both the USA and England. In 1917 the Balfour Declaration was signed by the British Government supporting a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Mr Ware had a growing conviction that he should research the scriptures relating to prophetic events and God's End Time purposes. With a group who shared his desire to understand these things, he devoted the rest of his life to the prayerful study of biblical chronology.
Mr Ware and his team, known as the Watchmen, noticed that in bible prophecy one day often equalled one year. They also believed that in scripture one day could prophetically represent 360 years. See the page of this site titled "The 360 Day Year" for more details. (We are talking here about prophetic time. Mr Ware believed that all calendar years in the bible were of 354 days). If one day, so they thought, equalled 360 years then 1 hour equalled 15 years as this is one twenty-fourth of a time which is a 360 year time period. 15 years on from 1918 came to 1933. After constructing a complete chronology of the world from creation they calculated that the end of 6,000 years of history ( see page titled "The 7,000 Year Cycle") would end on June 12th 1933.
Mr Ware believed this so strongly that he took out large adverts in The Times newspaper and other papers, on Tuesday May 2nd 1933, warning people of what was to come. He also announced a public meeting that evening at 7.30pm, the Queen's Hall, Langham Place. The purpose of the meeting was to speak on "The Immediate Prospects of the Earth and its Inhabitants in the Light of the Holy Scriptures". In the end June 12th came and went without the Lord's return but the day was marked by the start of the World Monetary and Economic Conference in London. This was a meeting of representatives from 66 nations in an attempt to agree on measures to fight the great depression.
The Watchmen had booked the large Queen’s Hall in faith before they knew anything about the “World Monetary and Economic Conference” (WMEC) as it came to be called, which they soon discovered had been privately planned in November 1932, and was to open in London at the Geological Museum at 3 pm on Monday 12th June 1933, 40 days on from 2nd May. At this Conference representatives of virtually all the world governments would gather, the first such gathering since the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). As there was no mention of God at this conference the watchmen saw it as evidence of mankind trying to control its own fate without turning to the Lord. As such, although this date did not mark the return of the Lord it did mark a new era of the whole world turning from God and attempting to solve its problems without Him.
If I can get permission from The Times I will reproduce the advert he placed on Tuesday May 2nd 1933 which warned of the end of the age and announced the public meeting described above.
A E Ware published a chart entitled "The Chronology of the World" which was a summary of his findings in chart form. He followed Sir Edward Denny's principle that history was built on "redemption" cycles of 490 years. See the section on Jubilee Cycles. Each 490 year period was made up of redemption years but there were also years that were not reckoned by God because his people were out of fellowship with him. For example the first 2,008 years from creation to the birth of Abraham were made up of four cycles of 490 years making up 1,960 years. These years were recognised by God. There were also 48 years from the time of the murder of righteous Abel by Cain to the birth of righteous Seth that were not recognised by God. The following is an abridged version of the chart.
There are a couple of things to mention about this chart. Firstly, Arthur Ware believed that time in the bible was reckoned exclusively by the civil lunar year of 354 days. In this he was at odds with Sir Robert Anderson. He also believed that the seventieth week of Daniel was fulfilled in a seven year period that incorporated the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. Sir Robert believed that the seventieth week remains to be fulfilled.
Arthur Ware gave a full explanation of his chronology and the assumptions on which it was based in his book "The World in Liquidation". It has to be said that Arthur Ware was fallible as were all the people mentioned on this site. In particular he got things wrong when he extrapolated his findings into the future. For example, in the 1953 edition of "The World in Liquidation" he stated that the Lord Jesus Christ would return in the Spring of 1961 after "the seven years of the apocalypse". My 1964 edition has an amendment which shifts the date of Christ's return to 1971. This is a common pattern in bible prophecy. When we see a pattern in the bible we try to extend it into the future and usually get it wrong. Mr Ware also published a book called The Restored Vision" in 1957 which investigated the time measurements in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. At the end of this book he states
" We learnt in the course of our researches after giving the warning to Christendom that on the 12th June 1933 the great span of man's 6,000 years from Adam, which is typified by the six days of creation, terminated to the day and hour."
Arthur Ware's work on the chronology of the world still stands on its own merits as one of the most comprehensive attempts to provide a systematic chronology which incorporated the 490 year jubilee cycles into its framework. I have reproduced a photo of his Chronology of the World chart below
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Arthur Ware's Chronology of the World Chart. My photo