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Appendix A - The Importance of 1994

“And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.” (Revelation 8:2)

Revelation 8:2 and 1994

For those who are willing to invest the time to study, the following sections explain why I believe that 1994 is the date the seven angels were given the seven trumpets, as described in Revelation 8:2.  For a more thorough study on this topic, please refer to my paper, Great Clocks from God which can also be downloaded at http://www.wake-up.org/daystar/ds2000/Great%20Clocks.htm.

  1. Two Different Ways of Measuring Time

In apocalyptic prophecy, God sometimes measures time according to the operation of the Jubilee Calendar in which a day is translated as a year.  For example, the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24 contain 490 days (seventy weeks  x seven days/week = 490 days).  The 490 days are translated as 490 years because they occur during the operation of God’s Jubilee Calendar.  History confirms that this translation is warranted and correct.  On the other hand, other instances of apocalyptic prophecy are found when God does not translate time as a day for a year.  Examples when a day is
to be understood as literal time include the 1,000 years in 
Revelation 20:2, the five months in Revelation 9:5, the 1,260 days granted to the Two Witnesses, and the forty-two months in Revelation 13:5.  One significant challenge to interpreting apocalyptic prophecy is understanding when God uses a day for a year or literal time.

I believe there is a rule in Scripture that answers this question.  The fourth rule governing the interpretation of apocalyptic prophecy says, “The presence or absence of the Jubilee Calendar determines how God measures time in apocalyptic prophecy.”  In other words, when the Jubilee Calendar is operating, God wants us to translate a day for a year according to His Calendar.  On the other hand, when the Jubilee Calendar is not operating, there is no translation.

A rule of interpretation has no exception.  As an example, the “seven times” imposed on King Nebuchadnezzar does not require translation because the prophecy directed at him is not an apocalyptic prophecy, and the king could not eat grass for 2,520 years (360 x 7 = 2,520 years).  The prophecy concerning King Nebuchadnezzar was a “local prophecy” directed at a specific person.  Each type of prophecy has its own rules, and they cannot be mixed or merged without putting the Bible in a state of internal conflict.  There are five types of prophecy in the Bible and these were discussed in detail in the Introduction.

  1. The Jubilee Calendar

God created the Jubilee Calendar.  It is incredibly precise and God put this calendar in motion two weeks before the Exodus in 1437 B.C.  By divine decree, God forced Israel to abandon their use of the Egyptian calendar (a summer-to-summer calendar) when He imposed His spring-to-spring Jubilee Calendar.[1] Three topics within the Jubilee Calendar need to be discussed to show how 1994 connects with the book of Revelation.

A. Even though God required Israel to let the land rest from cultivation every seventh year, Israel did not observe the seventh year Sabbath rest while in the desert. (This makes sense since they did not grow crops in the desert.)  However, the wording in Leviticus 25:2-4 causes some people to think that cycles of seven years began when Israel entered Canaan.  This understanding is incorrect.  God started counting cycles of seven years at the time of the Exodus and the proof only takes two steps.  First, we have to align the date of Christ’s death with the middle of the seventieth week and second, we have to identify one Jubilee year.

For reasons beyond the scope of this study, it can be proven beyond reasonable argument that Jesus died on Friday, April 7, A.D. 30.  (For a comprehensive study on this topic, see my book, Daniel, Unlocked for the Final Generation, pages 196-208 or go to this link http://www.wake-up.org/Daniel/DanChap6.htm.)  Once the date of the crucifixion is determined, we learn the synchrony of the weekly cycle of years because Daniel 9 declares that Messiah would die in the middle of the seventieth week.  Therefore, A.D. 30 has to be a Wednesday year because Wednesday is always the middle day of the week.  By knowing A.D. 30 was a Wednesday year, we can identify all Sunday years forward and backward.  For example, A.D. 27 and 457 B.C. were Sunday years.

The second step requires the identification of one Jubilee year.  If one Jubilee year is known, then Jubilee cycles can be calculated forward and backward like days of the week.  Fortunately, there is one Jubilee year that is easily identified.  It occurred during the fifteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign.[2]  Since Jubilee years always fell on Sunday years, this forces Hezekiah’s Jubilee year to be 702 B.C.  All other dates have to be eliminated because known historical events do not align with that Jubilee year. (Many scholars, knowing nothing about the synchrony of the weekly cycle of years and the operation of the Jubilee Calendar, date Hezekiah’s Jubilee at 701 B.C.  This shows that good scholarship can get close to the truth, but sometimes there are limitations.  History can resolve questions to a point, but sometimes, history cannot precisely pinpoint the specific year.)  Jubilee years are forty-nine years apart and because Jubilee years are always Sunday years, we can precisely identify the Jubilee year during Hezekiah’s reign.  By counting forward or backward in forty-nine year intervals from 702 B.C., we find that God started the Jubilee Calendar on Abib 1, 1437 B.C., two weeks before the Exodus!  No other date is historically possible.  (This topic is discussed at length in my booklet, Great Clocks from God or go to this link http://www.wake-up.org/daystar/ds2000/Great%20Clocks.htm.)

B. God treats the synchrony of time in a different way than we commonly treat time today. First, God counts time inclusively.  Any portion of a unit of time counts as a whole unit of time.  For example, Jesus spent a portion of Friday, all of Sabbath, and a portion of Sunday in the tomb.  Jesus counted this as three days and three nights.[3]  All prophetic time periods are counted this way.  This explains how Luke counted A.D. 27 as the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, even though Tiberius took office on September 17, A.D. 14.[4]

History records that Augustus died on August 19, A.D. 14.  Tiberius maneuvered the Senate for a few weeks and did not allow it to name him emperor for almost a month.  On September 17, A.D. 27, Tiberius became Emperor of Rome at age 56.  This means that Luke followed the Jewish tradition of inclusive dating and counted the ascension year of Tiberius as “year 1,” even though the ascension year was just a few days in length before a new civil year began on Tishri 1.  Josephus also followed this practice when he dated the reigns of the Herods.[5]  The Mishnah further confirmed this method of Jewish regnal reckoning.[6]

During the time of Christ, the Jews also observed a fall-to-fall civil calendar.  The first month of this calendar was the seventh month of the religious year called Tishri. Tiberius ascended to the throne on September 17, A.D. 14, during a Jewish civil year that ended about two months later (November 11, A.D. 14.)  So, Luke counted September 17 to November 11 as “year 1” because Tiberius, counting inclusively, ascended to the throne that year.  Therefore, the Jews regarded the following civil year Tishri 1 to Tishri 1 (November 12, A.D. 14 to October 31,  A.D. 15), as the second year of Tiberius’ reign.

Luke’s Account: The Reign of Tiberius Caesar

            Year   1 = A.D. 14/14 (September 17 – November 11)

           Year   2 = A.D. 14/15 (Tishri 1 to Tishri 1)

           Year   3 = A.D. 15/16 (Tishri 1 to Tishri 1)

           Year   4 = A.D. 16/17  Etc.

           Year   5 = A.D. 17/18

           Year   6 = A.D. 18/19

           Year   7 = A.D. 19/20

           Year   8 = A.D. 20/21

           Year   9 = A.D. 21/22

           Year 10 = A.D. 22/23

           Year 11 = A.D. 23/24

           Year 12 = A.D. 24/25

           Year 13 = A.D. 25/26

           Year 14 = A.D. 26/27

           Year 15 = A.D. 27/28  (Jesus baptized after Tishri 1, A.D. 27)

God also treats His weekly cycle in a different way than we commonly do.  For example, God starts a week with Sunday, the first day of the week.  We casually define a week as any period of seven days, but this is never the case in God’s calendar.  When it comes to God’s clocks, there is a big difference between seven days and a week.  God’s seventh day Sabbath and God’s seventh year rest for the land are determined by the first day of Creation and the first year of the Exodus, respectively.

C. One Jubilee cycle contained seven full weeks of seven years each. Thus, a Jubilee cycle was forty-nine years in length.  The forty-ninth year always fell on a Sabbath year that was synchronous with Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.[7]  The weekly cycle is the basis for translating time – “a day for a year.”[8]  The Year of Jubilee (the fiftieth year) always fell on the Sunday year that followed the forty-ninth Sabbath year.  This may seem strange at first, but the fiftieth year of the old Jubilee cycle and the first year of the new Jubilee cycle occurred simultaneously.  This method of counting time is confirmed by the Feast of Pentecost.

The Feast of Pentecost (the fiftieth day) was always celebrated on Sunday (the first day of the week).  This is how the countdown to Pentecost occurred:  Passover fell on different days of the weekly cycle (like our birthdays).  The priests waited until the first Sunday following Passover to start counting off forty-nine days (seven full weeks).[9]  Then, on the fiftieth day, which was the first day of the eighth week, Israel celebrated the Feast of Pentecost.

Many Bible students believe each Jubilee cycle was fifty years in length .  However, Jubilee cycles were forty-nine years in length because (a) the weekly cycle of seven years was not interrupted,  (b) the weekly cycle of years remained synchronous with the year of the Exodus (year 1), and (c) the seventy weeks in Daniel 9 totaled 490 years.  If Jubilee cycles were fifty years in length as some people claim, it would be mathematically impossible to make the seventy weeks equal 490 years.  The seventy weeks are 490 years (70 x 7) and 490 years are ten Jubilee cycles (49 x 10).

You may wonder what the Jubilee Calendar has to do with Revelation 8:2.  The Jubilee Calendar appears to be important to Revelation 8:2 because God’s patience with mankind appears to be limited to seventy Jubilee cycles.  In other words, from the Exodus in 1437 B.C. to 1994, there are seventy Jubilee cycles.  I believe that in 1994 the Jubilee Calendar ended and Jesus handed the seven trumpets to the seven angels.  I believe that God’s patience with sin on Earth ended in 1994 at the close of seventy Jubilee cycles.  Jesus gave seven trumpets to the seven angels, and before the angels could release their harm on Earth, He told them to wait.  So, Jesus has delayed the first four trumpets from causing the overwhelming destruction that is soon to occur.

Thirty Jubilee Cycles

Because of Abraham’s friendship and faithfulness, God chose Abraham’s descendants to serve as trustees of His gospel.  Unfortunately, for about 800 years, the children of Israel failed to live up to the covenant they made with God at Mt. Sinai.  After God exiled Israel to Babylon, He gave the nation a second chance to become the model nation that He wanted to make of them.  He graciously granted the Jews ten Jubilee cycles or seventy weeks, which is 490 years!

Bible history reveals that during the Sunday year of the seventieth week (A.D. 27), Messiah began His ministry.[10]  However, Israel rejected Messiah’s message of love, truth, and righteousness.  Instead, they crucified Him.[11]  When we examine Israel’s history in light of the Jubilee Calendar, we discover a stunning fact:  God granted to Israel, down to the very day, a total of thirty Jubilee Cycles.  (1437 B.C. to A.D. 34)  This precision reminds me of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.  “At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.”[12]  This precision also highlights the fact that the Second Coming will occur on the very day which God has predetermined. “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.”[13]

 

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