“But about that day
or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son
of Man.” (Matthew 24:36-37)
Many Christians quote this verse from Jesus to those who predict the second coming of Christ. In so doing they inad-vertently and subtlety change its meaning to “no one can know the time” so stop trying to figure it out.
But is this really what Jesus meant? Or does He mean exactly what He says… nothing more and nothing less. That no one knows the “exact” day or “exact” hour of the day, but they should know the season.
Jesus further
clarifies His statement when He says, “Now learn
this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves
come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things,
you know that it is near, right at the door.” (Mat. 24:32-33)
Christ
also adds, “Therefore keep watch, because you do
not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of
the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have
kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be
ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
(Matthew 24:42-44)
We see from these additional verses that Jesus is precise with His choice of words by consistently using the words “day” and “hour”. He further instructs those who follow Him to be ready at all times and to continuously watch for the signs of His return. Not to ignore them as most Christians do… typically out of ignorance of what scripture has to say on these matters. Lastly, Jesus says by watching for the signs, we will know when the season is right for His return.
These are just some of the lessons we need to learn if we are to know when the end of the Age is upon us. This new Age will begin at the time of Christ’s return to earth. But when will this happen? Those who believe it is impossible to know the time do not understand what is written in other parts of scripture. Since the Bible is one hundred percent true, then all that is written about the end-times must also be true.
In the book of Daniel, we find key prophecies that give us the necessary information to determine just precisely what Christ meant about “not knowing the day or the hour.” Let me give you some examples. Gabriel tells Daniel after heart-felt prayer that there will be seventy ‘weeks’ for certain things to take place. After which Gabriel separates specific times and tells Daniel certain things will take place that are associated with each particular block of time. These periods of time all have to do with predictions of the Messiah’s first and second coming, Jesus’ death, the last seven years before the return of Christ and much more.
Let’s see what Gabriel told Daniel.
“Seventy ‘sevens’
are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put
an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. “Know and
understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will
be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and
a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed
One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who
will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a
flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the
middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the
temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that
is decreed is poured out on him.” (Daniel 9:24-27)
Let’s focus on the one ‘seven’… the last ‘seven’ of this prophecy. Most students of eschatology understand this time to be the seven-year Tribulation period. We are given a key sign as to when this last seven years before Christ’s return will begin; the signing of a covenant by a leader that will come from the European Union (“The people [Romans] of the ruler who will come [antichrist] will destroy the city [Jerusalem] and the sanctuary [temple].”)
Now those who believe in a pretribulation rapture will not see this key sign, but regardless of your beliefs there will obviously be millions of people on the earth that will witness this historical event. This covenant will be a peace treaty signed with Israel and many other nations of the world. The Bible says when this covenant is signed there will be only seven years remaining until Christ returns.
So I ask you, if
you were here when this took place, could you calculate the time of Christ’s
return? How close could you get? Let’s say the covenant was signed in August
2008. When would Jesus return? Gabriel says it will be seven years from the
signing date… or August 2015. Do we know the day or the hour using this
reasoning? Possibly; if we count exactly seven years into the future from the
day the treaty is signed. If you believe God is not this precise, surely we can
agree that when we see this messianic sign we will know the year with certainty.
Jesus says the end time will be cut short or else all life would perish. How much time does He mean… days, weeks, or maybe years? What time is He really talking about? Well He is actually talking about the “appointed” time of the end marked on God’s calendar. A time that is knowable, but that subject is for another time.
Nevertheless,
He cannot be talking about years since shortening the end time cannot shorten
Daniel’s time or else it would make Daniel’s prophecy a lie. In other words, if
the covenant was signed in August 2008, using our example, then Jesus could not
come back in 2010 or 2012 because what is written in Daniel would be untrue.
And since Jesus himself acknowledges Daniel when He is speaking of the signs of
the end times, we can infer He had no issues with what was prophesied in
Daniel. His direct reference gives credibility to those prophecies.
This is an important concept to grasp. If a pre-tribulation doctrine is the correct Christian doctrine, then every day a Christian wakes up in the morning means Christ cannot return for at least seven more years. So do not be deceived by those who say the Day of the Lord has come or Christ will return at any moment. His second coming is at least seven years from now! Furthermore, if this is not the correct doctrine and there is no rapture, Christ still cannot return for at least seven years because the signing of the covenant with Israel has not taken place.
Since the Bible is the true word of God, then for Jesus’ words to be true and Daniel’s prophecies to be also true, we can deduce a few more things. First, it is possible to calculate the return of Christ given enough information and signs. Second, those that say the time can “never” be calculated and to stop trying are in error. Lastly, the only way Jesus’ words and other scriptures on the end-times can be true as a whole is to take His words literally or they were only true at the time in which he said them.
In Daniel chapters 10-12, Daniel is given an explanation to a vision that covers history from the time of the Persians until Christ’s second coming. Daniel is told that the time it will take for all the things in his vision to be fulfilled will be “time, times and half a time”. Let’s see what Daniel is told after he is given this answer.
“I
heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of
all this be?” He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up
and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and
refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will
understand, but those who are wise will understand.” (Daniel 12:8-10)
What will be the outcome of all this? When will this really take place? Daniel is told that this information will be sealed up “until” the time of the end and only at that time will the “wise” understand it. So when Christ made His statement, the exact timing had not been revealed even to Him, but we see that it would be unsealed (uncovered, revealed) at the “appointed” time of the end.
Realizing
that God’s plan involves in-forming the wise (Christians that pay attention to
the signs and listen to the Holy Spirit) at the end, we can rightly infer that
those who preach it is impossible to know the time of Christ’s return must be
wrong.
$64,000 Question
So when will Christ return? That is the $64,000 question! Many have tried to find this time and having failed, they were ridiculed. Ridiculed for keeping watch and looking for the signs of our Lord’s return. Shame on those who chastise these watchers over the centuries for they were only following Jesus’ instructions to keep watch at all times. Those that don’t know the Word and don’t pay attention to the signs should be the ones who are chastised.
Predictions of Christ’s return have occurred so many times in the past that Christians of today brush them off with-out even a thought. This is how it will be at the end. Having heard the wolf cry so many times, when the wolf actually comes the shepherd will not be ready. Christian hopes have been squashed at each passing of a predicted time of Christ’s return to the point many do not believe in their hearts that Christ will return since it has been so long. They use this as proof; evidence that Jesus meant no one could know the time… ever. But you should know by now that is not what He meant.
But has it really been a long time?
We are living in the forty-second generation since the birth of Christ. This really doesn’t seem like a long time when stated this way. But when you say it has been almost 2,000 years since Jesus’ first coming it does give the impression it has been a long time. Recognize that the reason all the forecasters have been wrong in the past was because this information was “sealed” until the real end-time was upon us. So if you truly believe we are living at the time of the end foretold in the Bible and it really is the prophesied end-time, then you should understand that this knowledge is now unlocked for the wise!
If you still believe no one can know the time, then what you are really confessing is one of two things. First, we are not living in the end-times or you are ignorant (unwise) to the truth provided by Word of God. If you really believe we are living at the end of days, then as a Christian you should be listening more intently to the Holy Spirit and realizing there are now those in the world that know this information and are trying to tell you. Resisting or not listening to them is really resisting the Holy Spirit… the consequences of which are not very good.
Do not misunderstand; I am not saying to believe everyone who forecasts a time for Christ’s return for there are many false prophets, teachers, and ideas in the world today. Another sign that we are living in the last days before Christ’s return. I am only telling you to listen to them and “test” what they say. Let the Holy Spirit come into your heart by spending more time in the Word and in prayer so that the truth God wants you to know will be revealed to you… the wise. Weed through the final harvest and find that which is ripe… the truth of the vine of Christ and cast aside all the weeds in the process.
What is the answer to the $64,000 question? Well the answer is complex, but whatever the true answer is it must be supported by all of scripture… not just parts of it. We should recognize that it might not be possible to know the exact day or hour, but surely it is possible to know the year and the season. Daniel is given the answer of the Messiah’s first coming, second coming, his death and many other times on God’s calendar. He was shown many of these momentous events many times and many different ways. We just need to understand what it was he was told.
Many cannot see or understand this revelation because of some of the wrong doctrine they have been taught to believe. The Christian denominational “baggage” we all carry is a heavy burden. When presented with the real truth, many refuse to let go of this baggage (lies they believe) they carry.
I’ve had this problem myself and realize how hard it is to admit that those teachers, pastors, and priests who we respected and who were suppose to know the truth of Christ, got some things wrong. We are all human so we should not be surprised when they are wrong too.
But rest assured that the truth of Christ’s resurrection and the saving power of His blood is a truth that transcends all the inconsistent ideologies preached in true Christian churches. We are saved not by our works, but by our belief and acceptance of the free gift of God that Christ is our personal Savior.
For instance, those Christians that believe it is impossible to predict the time of Christ’s second coming (not the rapture although we can make a very good approximation of this as well) are struggling with what I have already written. Even though there is no other way to reconcile Jesus’ own words with what has been prophesied in Daniel and Revelation. That baggage is already weighing them down and they will have to let it go if they are to believe and understand the rest of what I am going to write.
Let’s go back to Daniel’s prophecy of the “Seventy Sevens”. This prophecy is true on many levels of understanding. God is awesome in his use of numbers and His plan for mankind. Seeing the “big picture” and unlocking the methods He uses allows one to see the timing of Christ’s return. Remember Daniel is given the timing for these events it’s just that the times given were not understood in the past.
To believe it is possible to unlock the timing of future events foretold it is best to put aside the baggage we carry before proceeding.
In the middle of 2007 I was studying my Bible late one night and the light bulb turned on. I was shown some timing for Noah’s flood. That timing ultimately led me on a journey that unlocked many secrets of God’s plan.
Now
I cannot cover all of those in so short an article, but I can show you some of
the wonders the Holy Spirit revealed… revealed is a way that makes it hard to
dispute. One of those things was the time of
Christ’s return… a time I had no intention of finding and was not even
searching for. But the Lord uses us in ways we cannot even fathom.
How do I know this time He showed me was the “right” time? Because the Holy Spirit showed me this timing many different ways. A few I will discuss here.
Let’s first investigate the death of the Messiah foretold by Daniel. Gabriel says after seven ‘sevens’ (‘weeks’ in the KJV) and sixty-two ‘sevens’ the Messiah will be put to death. So after sixty-nine ‘weeks’ Christ will die. Did this happen? Yes and no. If you understood that from the starting time given in the prophecy that there would be literally sixty-nine weeks and then Christ would die, then this did not happen.
But
since the Bible is totally true, then this term ‘sevens or weeks’ must mean
something else. Christians that studied these passages in the past began the
slow process of coming to the true under-standing and they were aided by years
of history. Since they had a good idea about when Christ had died, they could
use this information to look for understanding to this piece of the prophecy.
By unlocking this piece they could then use the knowledge gained and apply it to other parts of this prophecy to gain the knowledge of Christ’s return. So what does “weeks” actually mean? Well, on the level of understanding they were investigating (the lowest level), they realized that “weeks” meant seven years and so sixty-nine ‘sevens’ were really 483 years in duration.
They next searched for the starting time and without going into the details of this hunt, the correct starting time was when Ezra was given a decree from the Persian King Artaxerxes in 458 B.C. There were actually four decrees spoken of in the Bible and some say one of the others is the correct one, but they are mistaken.
Now a simple calculation is in order. Moving ahead 483 years from 458 B.C. gets us to the year 26 A.D. But this is not the year of Christ’s death. In fact, using this method with any of the four decrees written will not get you to the date of Christ’s death. We still have a problem with understanding the prophecy, but progress is being made nevertheless.
Understand that all God’s prophecies are given from His perspective and we need to convert them to our perspective… mankind’s point of view if we are to understand them. These years are “prophetic” years and not regular earth years. God does not measure time as 365.25 days in a year, but with 360 days in a year.
So we need to convert these 483 “prophetic” years into regular years be-fore doing the final calculations. In fact, this step needs to be applied for the times given in both Daniel and Revelation! So the easiest way to make this conversion is as follows:
483 x (365.25/360) = 490.044 years
Something
interesting happened when we made this calculation. We gained one additional
‘week’. In other words, sixty-nine prophetic ‘weeks’ are effectively seventy
‘weeks’.
Now I used 365.25 days for a year, but the reality of this is that this number is an approximation. Using a more accurate number for the amount of days in a year (365.2421199) yields a slightly smaller number: 490.033 years.
We are ready to finish our analysis of Daniel’s prophecy of Christ’s death. The first of Nisan in 458 B.C. (3303 A.M. on the Jewish calendar) was when Ezra officially left to go to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8). This was March 9, 458 B.C. ac-cording to the calendar website (www.abdicate.net/cal.aspx).
However, Ezra really didn’t leave until the 12th of Nisan after gathering things together for the trip (Ezra 8:31). This would have been March 21st (vernal equinox… the first day of spring) and the day the Persian king Artaxerxes gave him the decree mentioned as the starting point in the prophecy; a decree to aid him in his journey through the Persian Empire.
We need to start counting sixty-nine ‘weeks of years’... or 483 “prophetic” years from this date until the Messiah is crucified. But remember prophetic years are 360-day years and not 365.25-day years (or more accurately 365.2421199 days) so we need to make our modification to account for this fact.
Therefore, 483 prophetic years are actually…
490.03318 earth-years...
or really 490 years and 13 days.
Adding this amount of time to the 12th of Nisan (March 21, 458 B.C.) gives us Friday, April 3, 33 A.D. as the exact date of Jesus’ crucifixion! Those who use the word of God as being completely true… completely reliable… know this to be the day of our Lord's death!
This is an example of using “prophetic” years that comes to an exact date. Jesus said, “no one knows the day or the hour” (of His second coming only). He did not say this applied to everything in the Bible.
This prophecy not only confirms the exact day of His death, but also if I knew the hour the decree was signed; it would probably predict the hour of His death (which scripture records around 3 pm).
Those who teach “no one can know the time” miss the truth of Christ's words and also try to extrapolate them to other parts of scripture (which in some cases is appropriate). It’s clear in this case that practice is a mistake. The mathematics proves this to be a false assumption. Let’s continue.
Now if you are still carrying your baggage you may want to argue that the date I specify is not the correct date of Christ’s death. Some say 30 A.D. some say 31 or 32 A.D. Isaac Newton even claimed it was in 34 A.D.
A few Christians maintain Christ died on a day other than Friday because they wish to believe in a literal fulfillment of the “Sign of Jonah”. I can say with one hundred percent certainty that if they understood God’s plan and the way He uses numbers; they wouldn’t continue to believe these ideas.
Just to make a few simple points on this subject before moving on. If you believe that Christ died on a Friday, but believe it was a year other than 33 A.D. then realize that the day before the Passover (the day Christ died… the 14th of Nisan) did not fall on a Friday for any year between 25 and 35 A.D. except the year 33 A.D.!
And if you believe Christ died on a Thursday, realize the 14th of Nisan never falls on a Thursday because the Jews have a rule that prevents the Passover (15th of Nisan) from falling on a Friday.
Lastly, if you think Christ died on a Wednesday for which two years are possible between 25 and 35 A.D. (they were 26 A.D. and 30 A.D.) then recognize that Christ had to rise at sunset (night; which scripture doesn’t support) and that Jesus’ followers had to ignore anointing His body at the earliest possible time which would have been a Friday according to this scenario. They would have had to consciously choose to wait two extra days to complete this work in the dark when they could have performed it on Friday during daylight hours.
None of these alternative dates can be arrived at using Daniel’s prophecies except one… 32 A.D. using the wrong starting point (the decree given to Nehemiah in 445 B.C.) and a wrong conversion method and not coming to the exact day of his death. What day did the 14th of Nisan fall on in that year? Monday! Clearly scripture doesn’t sup-port six days in the tomb.
We now know it is possible to use Daniel’s prophecy and actually decipher a date that is factual. Can it be done in finding Christ’s return date? Yes!
Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy ‘sevens’ was one I prayed to the Lord for understanding and He showed me that Christ would return after five periods of seventy ‘weeks’... or five periods of 490 (70 x 7) “prophetic” years. Therefore, 490 x 5 equals 2,450 “prophetic” years.
Making our conversion from prophetic years to regular years gives us 2,485.73 years and so let’s add these years to the starting time from Ezra:
-457.78 (March 21, 458 B.C.; B.C. numbers are negative) + 2,485.73 years equals 2,027.95.
We need to add one more year to get an actual date because we crossed the B.C./A.D. threshold and there is no
“zero” year using this method of dating.
This gives us 2028.95 A.D. as the ending date. The 0.95 decimal portion of the date when converted further gives us the day (.95 x 365.25)... December 12, 2028 A.D.
If you search the Internet there is a site - http://www.returntogod.com/jubilee/jubileehypothesis.htm that calculates Jesus’ return in 2027 A.D. However, their starting point was in error and they should have calculated 2028 A.D. The website states the authors had a revelation from God in 1997 that told them there would be seven ‘weeks’ of “Jubilees years” before Christ's return. Jubilee years are fifty-year periods and so seven ‘weeks’ really means forty-nine Jubilees... or 49 x 50 = 2,450 years.
The same result I just showed you, but with a different answer than the one I received when I asked God in prayer for the meaning. They assumed these were regular years and started counting from the first Jubilee year after Ezra’s decree and this method would have worked too, but they had the wrong starting year and hence got the wrong ending year or they missed adding a year when crossing the BC/AD date threshold which would cause the same error.
But they received from the Holy Spirit the same answer and the same number of years (2,450) as I had. Understanding them as prophetic years or just counting them as Jubilee cycles yields the same time. Remember I said Daniel’s prophecies are true on different levels? Using Jubilees as the basis is a higher level of understanding.
How else can we verify that the year 2028 is the correct year of our Lord’s second coming? Well we now know that one of the ways to understand the prophecy is using Jubilee years. So applying this understanding to the complete prophecy of seventy ‘sevens’ would give us seventy Jubilees or 3,500 years and not 3,430 years as some claim. How do I know this… let me come back to that answer after we finish this line of reasoning?
Adding these years to our starting date in 458 B.C. leads to the date 3043 A.D.; the spring of this year to be precise. But what is this date? Well if you go back and reread what was prophesied for the fulfillment of the overall prophecy, you will recognize it is a description of the new heaven and earth as described in Revelation (Rev. 21:1).
When Christ comes back to rule the nations of the earth, sin will not be eliminated. It will just be controlled by the iron scepter of Christ and not influenced by Satan who will be bound during this time. How long will Christ rule on earth… during the Millennial Kingdom? Revelation tells us it will be for a thousand years (Rev. 20:3).
But wait. I told you timing in prophecy was based on 360-day years and so is this time! That’s right it needs to be adjusted the same way as Daniel’s prophecies. These are “prophetic” years and when you convert them to regular years you get one thousand years plus fourteen years and seven months exactly (a most curious use of numbers) or 1,014.5833 years.
We know the date for the end of the Millennial Kingdom is March/April in 3043 A.D., and we now know the actual length of time for this future kingdom. Knowing these two pieces of information allows us to determine Christ’s return because he will return at the beginning of this new Age for mankind.
What year do you suppose it is? I think you already know, but I will do the math for you. 3043 – 1,014.5833 years gives us the year 2028 again, but a different day. By applying this totally independent method, we arrived at the same year!
Jubilees are not 49-Year Cycles
What if we used 3,430 as the number of years for seventy ‘sevens’ and followed the same logic? Why 3,430 years? Because some theologians insist Jubilees are forty-nine year time cycles instead of fifty-year cycles. Hence, forty-nine times seventy equals 3,430 years.
So 3,430 years from 458 B.C. is 2973 A.D. and just subtracting one thousand years for the time of the Millennial Kingdom would give the year 1973 as the date of Christ’s return… a date long passed. Subtracting the one thousand years as prophetic years would make this problem even worse (1958). Not to mention these dates calculated do not corroborate using other analytical methods and the Bible’s prophecies.
There are many more independent methods that come to this same year in my book “2028”, but I will leave you with just one last one as further proof. Many eschatology students recognize Israel’s rebirth, as a nation is a key sign of the end-times (Ezekiel’s “Dry Bones” prophecy). Christ infers in Matthew 24 that the generation that witnesses this sign will see the return of Christ.
Those that have searched in the past believed a generation was forty years in length and so they added this time to 1948 (the year Israel became a nation) and got 1988 as the return date. We know now this time was wrong just like many other forecasted dates that have passed. But these dedicated watchers for Christ’s return didn’t understand that all the prophecies pertaining to the Lord’s coming must converge to the same time or they were an incorrect interpretation.
Now the Bible doesn’t support the length of a generation is only forty years long, but provides other timeframes for a generation. Psalm 90:10 says it can be seventy years and even eighty if our strength endures. Adding eighty years to 1948 results in the year 2028.
If you need more proof, and I know of several more Bible prophecies that come to the exact year, then it probably doesn’t matter how many ways you are shown because you are probably blind to this revelation.
I have never read the book “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Happen in 1988” and only very recently heard of this book. But I am confident all but one of the reasons could not have been based on the word of God. Others that have made these types of predictions based them on one analysis… one data point. I have provided three proofs and there are many more.
Understanding God’s plan and prophecies only supports the year 2028 as the true year of Christ’s return. Can we know the “day and the hour” of Jesus’ earthly return? Probably not, but you can be certain the year of His second coming will be 2028.
God bless you and may the Holy Spirit bring you the wisdom of this knowledge. Helping you to complete the good works He has predestined for you before the creation of the world. For those that truly believe in our Lord’s return, they find the urgency to tell their unbelieving friends and family… to find Christ’s lost sheep.
Scripture
quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.
TNIV®. Copyright© 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission
of Zondervan. All rights reserved.