To TJ - The End of Age, 2000 Years Question - What Happened? (Part 1)Okay - Many have recently been asking and answering the same question, starting with TJ's question:
TJ - April 3rd - http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2006/tj43.htm
Peggy - April 4th - http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2006/peggym44.htm
Keith - April 5th - http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2006/keith45.htm
TJ - April 6th - http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2006/tj46.htm
Background
Back in the late 1990's I had started the web site www.EndOfAge.com to try to answer the same question. It's not a forum like Five Doves but more of a reference site and I personally don't even contribute to it a regularly as I do to Five Doves. So we all should really appreciate the effort of John Tng. Thanks John.Back in the 90's it looked to me like there were two good End of Age possibilities, the year 2005 and the year 2007. I had been a regular anonymous contributer to MJ Agee's what could best be described as a point/counterpoint ask Marilyn site similar to Hank, "The Bible Answer Man" talk show. (I didn't discover Five Doves till the year 2000.) Anyway, I thought there were reasons to watch 2005 instead of just September 12, 2007 for the end of this Age as proposed by Marilyn. After reevaluating all the evidence I'd seen, since 2003 I've come to look more towards 2015 as having the best evidence for the end of this age although 2017 comes in a close second and 2034 not far behind.
The basis for Marilyn's 2007 date was using a 40 year and around 120 day "trials and tribulations" period following Jerusalem Unification Day, 6/7/1967. This was based on assuming a 30 AD to 70 AD basis for the "generation" spoken of that would not pass away by Jesus. As confirmation, the Oslo Accord was seen to start 7 good years followed by 7 bad years, with the end of this age being exactly 14 years to the date before the anniversary of the initial signing.
However, using the 32 AD crucifixion date Sir Robert Anderson came to from the other direction in "The Coming Prince", and noting the 38 years spoken of from Kadeshbarnia (Deut 2:14) would bring us two years earlier by the same reasoning, to 2005. Couple with that adding 2002 prophetic years (1973 regular years) to 32 AD brings one also to 2005. A convergence of two other applications of biblical prophecies, both pointing to 2005. While faithfully watching the convergence of these two prophecy applications, sadly nothing materialized.
2002 Years = 286 Weeks of Years
Okay, you may ask why were we watching the end of 2002 years instead of 2000? The reason is the theme throughout the Bible of the number 7 being connected with completion of a period of time or bringing a time period to an end. Time appears to be inextricably connected to the number 7, origin of 1, by God's design. In seven days was the creation of the world completed. God set up seven days to the week, the last day reserved for rest, and seven years for a crop cycle, the last year reserved for rest, and seven crop cycles to a Jubilee, the last year reserved to set the bond servants free and the land to return to the original owner. And there are various references, inferred, counting up the patriarchal time periods, and also in extra-Biblical sources, that Man's time on earth will be brought to an end after 7,000 years. Four thousand years had passed up to the time of Christ, two thousand years are reserved for the Church Age or Age of the Gentiles, and one thousand years are for Christ's reign as King of Kings on Earth.The bottom line is that 2000 years is not divisible by this 7 year cycle. However, 2002 years is divisible by the 7 year cycle. Conversely the 1000 year reign of Christ would be actually 1001 years to complete the last 7 year cycle. Otherwise the cycle would not have been brought to an end but have been cut short without the sabattical rest.
There are 40 Jubilees plus six 7 year cycles in 2002 years.
Is there a precident to defining the millenium to not be 1000, but in this case Base 7, Origin 1 multiples equal to 1001 years? Yes, in computer information storage. Everything in a computer is stored as one of two states such as a spot on a hard disk either magnetized in one direction or another. These two states mean that everything is in Base 2, Origin 1. One storage unit is called a bit. Eight storage units are usually used to store one character which is called a byte. A byte can represent 2^8 or 256 different character symbols. Bytes are also measured in powers of 2. So a kilobyte is not 1,000 bytes but 2^10 or 1024 bytes.
Something of interest is while "The Arithmetic of God" book states that the number seven means completion or bringing to an end, it also states that the number four means the first creation or flesh. It is interesting that God designed flesh to be Base 4, Origin 1. Inside of every cell of our body, of which we have billions, there are strands of our unique DNA, which if unrolled from the double helix's inside just one cell would be over 6 feet long, and which codify all the information needed not only to make us human, but to make us, us. This information is stored using 4 different molecules represented by A, C, G, & T which means this information is stored in Base 4, Origin 1.
The obvious application now is that if Jesus was crucified in 33 AD, adding 2002 prophetic years (1973 solar years plus 97 days), brings us to 2006! And if Jesus was crucified in 34 AD, as Peggy correctly pointed out that Isaac Newton believed, this brings us to 2007!
Let's do the quick math to see where in the ballpark we land:
33 AD: Passover per Computerized Calendar (Nisan 15 = Saturday, April 4, Julian, and April 2, Gregorian, with Modified Julian Day = -666796) Add 2002 times 360 days = 720,720 days which brings one to Modified Julian Day = 53924, July 8, 2006. Tammuz 11. Add 1 day to First Fruit plus 49 days to Pentecost brings one to August 27, 2006, Elul 3.
34 AD: Passover per Computerized Calendar (Nisan 15 = Tuesday, March 23, Julian, and March 21, Gregorian, with Modified Julian Day = -666443) Add 2002 times 360 days = 720,720 days again which brings one to Modified Julian Day = 54277, June 26, 2007. Tammuz 10. Add 5 days to First Fruit plus 49 days to Pentecost brings one to August 19, 2007, Elul 5.
Church Age/Times of Gentiles not Start at Pentecost?
It is generally accepted that the Church was born on Pentecost, 10 days after Jesus ascended into Heaven. We were expecting the Church Age/Times of the Gentiles to be 2,000 years. However, there were no Gentiles at Pentecost. The Church was composed at that time completely of Jews. This is clearly evident from reading Acts and the progression it took before the Gospel was taken to the Gentiles. How long was this? One timeline online shows the crucifixion at 30 AD and Peter baptizing the first Gentile (Acts 10) in 38 AD. Without even using 2002 years this gives us 38 + 1971 = 2009 for the End of this Age. But was this lone Baptism the true start of the Gentile Church? Definately this is a line of research that needs to be much more fully investigated to come to a more clearer date.Shalom,
Ted Porter
porter@EndOfAge.com