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"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. ."--2 Pet. 3:3-4 |
The Berean Christadelphians |
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Index
Chronological Charts |
THE FIFTH PERIOD The Period of the Times of the Gentiles
A Jewish friend of mine told me that when he was young, he once asked his mother, "I know we are God's chosen people. But just exactly what is it that we are chosen to do?" This question was asked half in jest, and half seriously, recognizing the suffering of the Jewish people for the past 2,600 years. She answered him, "We have been chosen by God to suffer for the sins of the world." This is a common Jewish answer, but one that could not be farther from the truth. The Jews were called to be God's chosen people, and they yet will be. But the calling had conditions attached to it. If they behaved in a certain way, God would bless them. If they rebelled against divine principles, then God would curse them. The persecutions of the past 2,600 years have been the direct result of their disobedience. But more important to our discussion, the times of this persecution is an important factor in determining the age of the world. A time is a specific prophetic measurement. It is the period of one Jewish year, or 360 days. The 360 day year is where the 360 degrees in our circle comes from, for those familiar with geometry. It is 12 periods of 30 days each. The Jewish year was 12--30 day months or 360 days. Of course each year actually has 365.25 days. The difference in each year was made up with a second 12th month from time to time. The first day of the first month was the first new moon after the sun had crossed the vernal equinox. We would call it the first new moon of spring. If they counted 12 months, but the sun had not crossed the vernal equinox by the next new moon, they had a second twelfth month, and their calendar self corrected. Leviticus says that the Jewish people were to be punished seven times for their sins. This means that they were to be punished 7 times 360, or 2,520 days for their sins. On the prophetic principle of a day for a year which we saw in Ezekiel, the Jews were to be punished for 2,520 years. They are not suffering for the sins of the world, as they flatter themselves. They are suffering for their own disobedience, and for which God brought the nations raging against them. It is by using this prophesy that we can tie our current calendar into the ancient calendar. The ending date for the 2,520 appears fairly clear. We have two possible ending dates for the end of the Jewish persecution. They are November, 1917, when the British drove the Turks out of the Holy Land, or November 1947 when the United Nations declared Israel a nation. The 1947 date would result in the Diaspora (the dispersion of the Jews after the Babylonian exile) beginning in 573 BC, which is a date of no import relating to Israel and Jerusalem. The 1917 date, however, takes us back to 604 BC, which is the date given by Encyclopedia Britannica (the winter of 604 BC) for the first invasion of Judah by Babylon. 604 BC equates to 3299 AM. Adding 2520 years to this tells us that 1917 AD. was actually the 5,819th year since creation. To get a little bit ahead of ourselves, it is not necessary for the 6,000th year of God's plan to end in Y2K, or 2000 AD, but rather 181 years from 1917, or 2098 AD, 98 years from now. That does not mean there are 98 years till the return of Christ. Students of Bible Prophesy know and understand that before the 6,000th year arrives, the Millennial Rule of Christ will already have begun. There are many events which must take place before the Millennial Rule of Christ can begin, such as will be discussed in the final period, period six. For a chronology of this time, please go to Chart of the Times of the Gentiles. |
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