I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, “My plan will stand, and I will do all that I please.”
Isaiah 46:10
This paper proposes a mathematical model to prove the existence of God, validate God’s promises, summarize God’s plans throughout history, and predict the date of the Second Coming of Christ Jesus. For such a model to be useful, it needs to fit all (or most) available historical data, give answers to some controversial questions, and make predictions about the future. I collect the dates recorded in the Scriptures and secular literature as raw data. Using these raw dates as inputs, I build a (linear) mathematical model represented as a calendar or a timeline such that the model or fitted dates (not the raw dates) are consistent and that it satisfies the linear constraints constructed from some known or pretty-much-universally-agreed-upon dates and durations. I use some unknown key dates as the model variables to be solved. Given these variables, I show that the regression model found is unique so no other calendar, i.e., no other sets of inputs, could satisfy all the constraints. Using such a model, I can answer some interesting questions, such as the exact date of Exodus, and predict the precise date of the Second Coming. I provide the gsheet of my model so that the reader can replicate, test, modify, correct and improve my calculations. Please cite this paper when you re-distribute the work.
Introduction
I do not need any further proof or evidence for the existence of God. I also do not need any convincing to believe in what the Scriptures say what will happen in the future. I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me (Acts 27:25). There is already overwhelming evidence in physics, chemistry, biology, and science in general that is beyond doubt that there is a creator God (Romans 1:20). The next question is which god is real. Among the major religions, Buddhism has no god. Hinduism has too many. These two are more a way of life or a philosophy than a religion. The Abrahamic God is worshipped in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Their one fundamental difference is in how they see Jesus. Jews see Jesus as a man. Muslims see Jesus as a prophet. Christians see Jesus as God. The most solid evidence to prove that Jesus is God is the resurrection event. In fact, Christianity is the only falsifiable religion. All the other religions are collections of beliefs. It is difficult to argue whether one particular belief, e.g., a state of perfect happiness can be obtained by breaking away from material attachments and purifying the mind, is true or not, or more true than others, as it is difficult to argue why red is preferable to blue. They are preferences. On the other hand, the cornerstone of Christianity (Ephesians 2:20) is the resurrection of Christ as an actual historical event. Even Paul admits that if Jesus had not been raised, Christianity would amount to nothing and would be a false religion (1 Corinthians 15:17). There are two millennia’s worth of research on this topic that the readers can google. Because of my interest in mathematics, I have always wanted to provide a mathematical argument to prove that Jesus is God. Plus, this challenge is fun, as it has been attempted by many great minds throughout the generations, such as Isaac Newton.
The plan is as follows. I will prove that the Scriptures are indeed inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16) by showing that they foretell the historical events long before they happen. The Scriptures that Paul refers to must only be the Old Testament and not include the New Testament, as the New Testament was not compiled at the time. I doubt that Paul, when writing his letters, would think that he was actually writing the Bible. I will use the prophecies in the Old Testament to show that these prophecies are indeed prophecies and were not made up after the facts. To prove the validity of the Bible prophecies, I need a calendar to show when the prophecies were announced and when the prophecies were subsequently fulfilled. The difficulty lies in constructing a calendar such that it is consistent with all the events described in the Scriptures as well as the events agreed upon by secular historians. There are many Bible timelines on the Internet but none of them I can use. They do not agree with each other. Because none of them shows how it was constructed, I cannot tell which one is correct and which one is incorrect. I need a calendar that shows not only the dates but also how they arrive at those dates. The calculations need to be reproducible and verifiable by other scholars.
Before I delve into the calculations, I will show you my results first. The Bible timeline that I computed can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/118q3ruGNXGlP_J7Xe5ito0HV4Cw062xsi9jqcHJvzR8/edit?usp=sharing
I am going to refer to this gsheet as we go along.
God’s Grand Plan for Humanity
As with any mathematical model, I need to make some assumptions. The first assumption I need is the purpose of this calendar or timeline that I am going to devise. I assume that the timeline is a representation of God’s grand plan for humanity from start to finish in 7 periods of physical time spanning over precisely 7000 years.
God in Isaiah 46:10 announces that He made known his plan for humanity at the onset of human history. There are purposes and plans in historical events, and God dictates history from the beginning to the end. I believe that this is literally what the very first chapter in the Scriptures is all about. Many people would read Genesis 1 as an account of how the Earth was physically created. It does not take a lot of education to see that cannot be true. The Earth developed over billions of years. The Sun could not possibly be created after the Earth. (What gravity was pulling the Earth then?). More importantly, why would God want to give us a lecture on Earth formation in the first place? If that was the case, God could instead write, “Let there be light! And there was light that consisted of tiny particles of a fixed amount of energy depending on the wavelength and carried no mass. The movements of these particles are governed by a set of partial differential equations.” (Genesis 1:3) The Bible, written before physics was invented, is a book on spirituality, not physics.
Genesis 1 can only mean one thing: God’s grand plan for humanity announced in the very first chapter of the Bible. The entire Bible or God’s ultimate objective can be summed up in one sentence: God creating a new being, the Church, for his Son, Jesus, to rule together in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1). Genesis 1 is about how God executes His plan. Referring to my Bible timeline, you will see that I break down the 7000-year plan into 7 periods.
| Day | Events | Dispensational Years |
| 1 | From Adam’s sin to Lamech | 1 – 1000 |
| 2 | From Noah’s birth to Noah’s death | 1001 – 2000 |
| 3 | From Abraham entering Canaan to Solomon’s reign | 2001 – 3000 |
| 4 | From Rehoboam (the first king after Solomon) to Jesus (the last King) | 3001 – 4000 |
| 5 | Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection and the beginning of the Church age | 4001 – 5000 |
| 6 | The making of the Church in God’s image | 5001 – 6000 |
| 7 | Christ Jesus’ millennial reign | 6001 – 7000 |
God loves to speak in parables, so He reveals the secrets to only those He pleases with (Matthew 13:10-13). The Bible is full of parables. If I were to decipher Genesis 1 or to translate it into modern language, I would write the following.
In the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית) God chose planet Earth to stage his grand plan to make a new creation, the Church.
There are seven stages, each spanning over a duration of 1000 years.
In the first millennium, God separates and teaches us good from evil. The line of Seth is righteous, walks the path of light, and maintains the worship of God. In stark contrast, the lineage of Cain succumbs to sin and violence, plunging the world into darkness. This is the age of goodness/light and evil/darkness.
In the second millennium, God unleashes a great flood to cleanse the world of ungodliness. This is the age of Great Tribulation and divine retribution, a time when the unfaithful pay for the consequences of their actions.
In the third millennium, God chooses Abraham and plants his seeds in Cainan. God grows Israel, the olive tree (Jeremiah 11:16). God sets Abraham and his descendants apart from the other nations so that they can bear good fruit of righteousness and bear witness of God and His covenant. Meanwhile, many other nations emerge from the post-flood world (Genesis 10). This is the age of nations (trees and plants).
In the fourth millennium, God appoints kings to lead the nation in worship and set an example of faithful living (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). God raises prophets to communicate His divine messages (Amos 3:7), provide guidance (2 Kings 19:5-7), and sometimes deliver warnings to the people (2 Samuel 12:7-14). These kings and prophets are like shining bodies in the sky, bringing lights to the world. Toward the end of this period, the one true great light, Jesus God incarnate, will come (Matthew 4:16, Isaiah 9:1-2). This is the age of kings and prophets (lights and stars). It is noteworthy to point out that the Scriptures do not use the words “Sun” and “Moon.” It says “lights.” When the Bible uses the word “light,” it does not mean “photon.”
In the fifth millennium, the age of the Church dawns. Disciples and followers, known as Christians, are sent forth to cast their spiritual nets and “fish for people” (Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-20, Luke 5:2-11, John 1:40-42). The Holy Spirit empowers and strengthens the Church in the faith (Acts 2:47, Acts 12:24, Acts 16:5). The Church becomes a sanctuary where birds find rest (Luke 13:19).
In the sixth millennium, the Holy Spirit creates the Church in His own image. In the image of Jesus, the body of Chris is built until the Church reaches unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature bride, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13).
In the seventh millennium, Jesus and the Church together rule the Millennial Kingdom from Jerusalem. They judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many people. Nation will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4). The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Note that the Scriptures do not say “evening and morning” for the seventh day because Jesus and the Church’s reign has no end. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:27).
The seven days of creation are not about creating the physical world we live in right now. It is about creating the spiritual world that we will live in the future. It is still in progress, going through the birth pain of giving birth to and creating in His image of the Church. We are now in the sixth day. I think that God did a pretty good job of providing a comprehensive outline of His plan for humanity over the span of 7000 years at the dawn of civilization. Admittedly, this chapter by itself is not comprehensible. God chose to unveil his secrets gradually over many generations throughout history. For instance, the Old Testament foretells the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the salvation of the Gentiles, but there is no mention of the Church. These things were mysteries since creation and were only revealed in the New Testament time (Rom. 16: 25-26). This is the very reason why Jews rejected Jesus because in the Old Testament, there is no First Coming, no Second Coming. The prophecies do not distinguish different comings. The Jews expected the Messiah would raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel (Isaiah 11:12), but that did not happen in Jesus’ First Coming. God split the coming into two and put a (hidden) Church period in between so that the Jews did not see. Even the wisest figures, like Solomon, could not possibly understand the specifics of the “Third Day” as the next 1000 years after him with the many kings and prophets (lights and stars). He simply did not have the data. We are blessed to be at the conclusion of the sixth day and have access to the historical records spanning the last 6000 years. This enables us to understand and appreciate the wisdom and wonders in God’s grand plan. If you were to write the very first Chapter of the Bible, how else would you do it better than God?
To sum up, I can write our first three assumptions or constraints for our model:
- c1: the time span of the dispensational calendar is 7000 years
- c2: Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection must be the dispensational year 4000 or 4001
- c3: Jesus’ Second coming must be in the year 6000 or 6001
But I don’t know when the calendar starts.
The Beginning of God’s Dispensational Timeline
To figure out which year in the Gregorian Calendar our dispensational calendar starts, we look into Genesis 2 and 3. There are two notable events: the creation of Adam, and the sin of Adam. There is much misunderstanding of these two chapters because, again, we read it as a book on biology. I do not think that God intended to teach us how He created homosapiens (Genesis 2:7). I disagree that a woman’s labor pain magically and perpetually escalated to a very severe level. Assuming and considering Eve was the first woman and had not experienced childbirth before, how could she comprehend the full extent of this alleged curse? Whether the forbidden fruit was one of those three legendary apples that changed the course of history is irrelevant. (The other two apples were the one that struck Isaac Newton’s head and the one that came to Steve Jobs’ mind.) I doubt that the fruit had any magical power. God could have chosen an orange, a banana, or a chocolate for the same purpose. To see my point, let me translate Genesis 2 and 3 into plain language so you can skip mediating and praying day and night (Psalm 1:2).
Then the LORD God called a Homo sapien and bestowed him His Spirit. This is the first living being. You are not living in God’s eyes before becoming a Christian (Ephesians 2:1). You are only living after you are born again and have received the Holy Spirit. There were many Homo sapiens around, male and female. That explains the “whoever” Cain was afraid of (Genesis 4:14) and his wife (Genesis 4:17). God called Adam the first of spiritually living beings among many contemporaries in a similar fashion that He called Abraham the first of Jews among many contemporaries. The objective was also the same: to single out an obedient person, and through him the whole world shall be blessed (Genesis 22:18) . Only the second Adam, aka. Jesus, the first of the Church, accomplished this divine purpose through the Church.
The LORD God said, “It is not good for a man to be alone, Adam or Jesus. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Out of all creation, no suitable helper was found for Adam or Jesus. Then the LORD God made a woman for Adam from his deep sleep. God made the Church for Jesus from his death.
Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” We are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27, Romans 12:5, Ephesians 4:12, Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:24, Hebrews 13:3). That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. That is why Jesus will join the Church in a divine marriage relationship for all eternity (2 Corinthians 11:2, Revelation 19:7).
After the First Sin, God said this to the humans: Oh well, we could have done this much easier if you had chosen the tree of life. We could have grown the Church in this garden, happily innocent and ignorant, like the blue Smurfs. But you rather chose to know good and evil. I am not going to give you a book to read for the knowledge. Instead, you and your descendants will experience firsthand what evil means through blood-shedding wars, acts of cruelty, oppressive regimes, systemic injustices, genocides, slavery, discrimination, exploitation and poverty. Your innocent eyes shall be opened to know good and evil (Genesis 3:5). The birth of the Church will go through immense birth pain (Genesis 3:16), persecution, and tribulation.
After He drove the man out, He guarded the tree of life so man would not live in sin and suffer forever. Maybe some billionaires and emperors dream of living forever with their expensive anti-aging programs, but that only prolongs their bodies or fake minds longer in this blood-soaked and sinful world full of lies. Who else would want that? God will freely give out the tree of life again one day to His bond-servants, but most likely not those billionaires and emperors (Revelation 22:2).
To sum up, there are two possible times that we can use as the beginning of the 7000-year dispensational timeline, the creation of Adam, or the First Sin. We do not know when these happened in the Gregorian Calendar. Let’s denote them using two variables.
- t1: the Gregorian year that Adam was created
- t2 >= 0: an offset from t1 in the Gregorian calendar to correspond to the first year in the dispensational calendar
Mathematically, t2 can refer to any event not before Adam, the first living man, was created. A negative t2 makes no sense. When t2 = 0, the dispensational timeline starts in the year that Adam was created. However, I found no event more suitable than the First Sin to start God’s clock on salvation. What is there to save before t2? If that is the case (to be determined), solving t2 gives the number of years Adam spent in the Garden of Eden. We call this the Age of Innocence.
From Adam to the Exodus
We build the calendar from t1 to the date of the First Passover, the Exodus. This is rather straightforward, using the chronological data in Genesis. The Scriptures give an unbroken male lineage, with numbers of years, from the creation of Adam to when Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans. (When I was a kid, I found these numbers boring and unnecessary. They turn out to be critical in validating the biblical prophecies, as we shall show.) I believe that these numbers (long longevity) are to be taken literally. In ancient Chinese literature, Shan Hai Jing (山海经), it records that in the mythological age before the Flood, every man in the Xuanyuan Kingdom (轩辕国) could live to be eight or nine hundred years old. The stories in Shan Hai Jing (山海经) are highly similar to those in the Scriptures. Perhaps they share the same source?
I simply follow the inspiring work of Ussher by summing up the ages of Adam and his descendants up to Abraham. These numbers need to add up so that this constraint is satisfied:
- c4: There are 430 years between when Abraham left Haran and the Exodus (Exodus 12:40)
Let’s also make the year of Exodus an unknown because there are many possible suggestions. In our model, we choose to, equivalently, make the birthday of Moses a variable.
- t3: Moses’ birthday
The Exodus is simply 80 years after Moses was born, i.e., t3 + 80, (Exodus 3-4:1, 18; Acts 7:30, 35). So, we have:
\(T_\text{Exodus}\) is the year of Exodus or the First Passover. \(a_i\) is the age at which the person’s son in the lineage was born. For example, \(a_\text{Adam} = 130\) because Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old; \(a_\text{Terah} = 130\) because Abraham was born when Terah was 130 years old. Abraham left Haran and entered Canaan at the age of 75 (Genesis 12:4). You can refer to my gsheet for the data. The unknown or to-be-determined dates are highlighted. (I put down the numbers in the table below because I have already solved the system of linear equations. For the reader, at this point, they are still unknowns.)| Year | Biblical Event | Length | Bible |
| -4004 | The creation of Adam | Gen 1:27, 2:7 | |
| -3968 | The Fall; sin introduced; God’s dispensational timeline started | Gen 3:1-24 | |
| -3874 | Seth born when Adam was 130 | 130 | Gen 5:3 |
| -3769 | Enos born when Seth was 105 | 105 | Gen 5:6 |
| -3679 | Cainan born when Enos was 90 | 90 | Gen 5:9 |
| -3609 | Mahalaleel born when Cainan was 70 | 70 | Gen 5:12 |
| -3544 | Jared born when Mahalaleel was 65 | 65 | Gen 5:15 |
| -3382 | Enoch born when Jared was 162 | 162 | Gen 5:18 |
| -3317 | Methuselah born when Enoch was 65 | 65 | Gen 5:21 |
| -3074 | Adam died at the age of 930 | 930 | Gen 5:5 |
| -3130 | Lamech born when Methuselah was 187 | 187 | Gen 5:25 |
| -3017 | Enoch taken by God | 365 | Gen 5:24 |
| -2948 | Noah born when Lamech was 182 | 182 | Gen 5:28 |
| -2446 | Shem born when Noah was 502 | 502 | Gen 11:10 |
| -2348 | Flood when Noah was 600 | 600 | Gen 7:6 |
| -2346 | Arphaxad born when Shem was 100 | 100 | Gen 11:10 |
| -2311 | Salah born when Arphaxad was 35 | 35 | Gen 11:12 |
| -2281 | Eber born when Salah was 30 | 30 | Gen 11:14 |
| -2247 | Peleg born when Eber was 34 | 34 | Gen 11:16 |
| -2217 | Reu born when Peleg was 30 | 30 | Gen 11:18 |
| -2185 | Serug born when Reu was 32 | 32 | Gen 11:20 |
| -2155 | Nahor born when Serug was 30 | 30 | Gen 11:22 |
| -2126 | Terah born when Nahor was 29 | 29 | Gen 11:24 |
| -1998 | Noah died at the age of 950 | 950 | Gen 9:29 |
| -1996 | Abraham born when Terah was 130 | 130 | Gen 11:32, 12:4 |
| -1921 | Abraham left Haran and entered Canaan at the age of 75 | 75 | Gen 12:4 |
| -1910 | Abram had Ishmael by Hagar at the age of 86 | 86 | Gen 16:15-17, 17:24-25 |
| -1897 | God promised a son to Abram at the age of 99 | 99 | Gen 17:21-26 |
| -1896 | Isaac born to Abraham at the age 100 | 100 | Gen 19:30-38 |
| -1891 | 430 years between the time Abraham left Haran and the Exodus; 400 years of suffering for his descendants | 30 | Gen. 15:13-14; Ex. 12:40, Acts 7:6 |
| -1856 | Isaac married Rebekah | 40 | Gen. 24:67, 25:20 |
| -1836 | Isaac born to Abraham at the age of 100 | 60 | Gen. 25:22, Hos. 12:3 |
| -1821 | Abraham died at the age of 175 | 175 | Gen. 25:7, 10; cf. Heb. 11:9 |
| -1773 | Ishmael died at the age of 137 | 137 | Gen. 25:17 |
| -1745 | Joseph born when Jacob was 91 | 91 | Gen. 45:6, 47:9 |
| -1728 | Joseph sold into slavery at the age of 17 | 17 | Gen. 37:2, 3, 6 |
| -1716 | Isaac died at the age of 180 | 180 | Gen. 35:28-29 |
| -1706 | Jacob reunited with Joseph in Egypt at the age of 130 | 130 | Gen 45:6; 46:1, 27; 47:9; Deut. 26:5 |
| -1689 | Jacob died at the age of 147 | 147 | Gen. 49:1-33, 47:25 |
| -1635 | Joseph died at the age of 110 | 110 | Gen. 50:22-26, Heb. 11:22 |
| -1571 | Moses born | Ex. 2:1-10 | |
| -1531 | Moses fled Egypt for Midian at the age of 40 | 40 | Ex. 2:11-12, 3:1, 18:1-2; Num. 10:29; Acts 23:30; Jude 4:11 |
| -1491 | God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, at the age of 80 | 80 | Ex. 3-4:1, 18; Acts 7:30, 35 |
| -1491 | Exodus, The first Passover, 430 years after Abraham left Haran | 430 | Ex. 12:40 |
From Exodus to Solomon’s Temple
We know that there are 480 years between the First Passover and the beginning of the construction of the First Temple (1 Kings 6:1). There are two difficulties in building the timeline for this period. First, we do not know when the period of judges started or, equivalently, the year Joshua died. The Scriptures only say that Joshua died at the age of 110 (Joshua 24:29) but do not mention how old he was when he left Egypt, when he was sent out as a spy, when he crossed the Jordan River, or how long he judged the Israelites. The closest information we have on this topic is about his friend, Caleb (Joshua 14:7–10). But Joshua is not Caleb, so we don’t know. Let’s make it a variable. Yep, we just make everything that we do not know a variable and then solve for it later using constraints.
- t4: Joshua’s age at Exodus
Then we know the period of judges started in the year
\(T_\text{judges} = T_\text{Exodus} + 110 – t_4\)The second difficulty is the Book of Judges does not present a clear chronology of the judges. For example, if we simply add up the numbers, that would give 410 years from Cushan-Rishathaim’s oppression to Samson. If we also add Saul and David’s reigns, that would give 600+ years. That is too big for the 480 years between the Exodus and the building of the First Temple in the 4th year of Solomon’s reign. Proposed solutions to the problem usually involve overlapping dates and events to one degree or another, but there is no consensus on a chronological calendar. Here, we adopt Chisholm’s proposal that the stories of the central section be arranged in two chronologically concurrent panels. (Note that the solution to our mathematical model is insensitive to whichever proposal that we adopt so long as they add up to 480 years.) The Othniel (Judges 3:7) and Gideon (Judges 6:1) stories are parallel, with Ehud (Judges 3:12) and Deborah (Judges 4:1) following Othniel in succession, and Jephthah (Judges 10:6), and Samson (Judges 13:1) following Gideon-Abimelech in succession, with two lists of minor judges being placed after the Gideon-Abimelech and Jephthah accounts, respectively. One panel writes about the south and the other about the north, mirroring the later division of the Israel kingdom into south and north. Chisholm’s proposal allows one to fit the events of Judges, as well as events both immediately before and after the Judges period, into the 480 years designated by (1 Kings 6:1). I, however, do not use his dates because I disagree with him on the date of Exodus or Joshua’s age or the date of crossing the Jordon River, as we shall see in the model solution. In fact, we can’t be certain of the dates of the judges. To accommodate any error in totaling the years of oppression and the years of judges, we allow a variable for the accounting error, called the number of gap years.
Let
- t5: the number of gap years
- t6: the year when the construction of Solomon’s temple began
Then we have this constraint:
- c5: the years between the Exodus and the First Temple construction is 480 years
| Year | Biblical Event | Length | Bible |
| -1491 | Exodus, The first Passover, 430 years after Abraham left Haran | 430 | Ex. 12:40 |
| -1451 | Moses died at the age of 120 | 120 | Num. 27:12-13; Dt. 3:23-29, 31;2-4, 7; 32:49-50, 34:1-5 |
| -1446 | Joshua led Israel against Canaanites for six years; conquered in the 7th year | 6 | Josh. 11:23 |
| -1440 | The first Sabbatical year, reckoning Jubilee | 1 | Lev. 25:8-13 |
| -1400 | Joshua died at the age of 110 | 110 | Josh. 24:29 |
| -1400 | Joshua died at the age of 110 | ||
| -1392 | Cushan, king of Mesopotamia, oppression, 8 years | 8 | Judg. 3:8 |
| -1352 | Othniel, son-in-law of Joshua, peace for 40 years | 40 | Judg. 3:11 |
| -1334 | Eglon, king of Moab, 18 years. Naomi to Moab. | 18 | Judg. 3:14 |
| -1254 | Ehud, peace for 80 years. | 80 | Judg. 3:30 |
| -1234 | Jabin of Hazar oppression, 20 years | 20 | Judg. 4:3 |
| -1194 | Deborah, peace for 40 years | 40 | Judg. 5:31 |
| -1382 | gap years | 18 | |
| -1375 | Midianites oppression, 7 years | 7 | Judg. 6:1 |
| -1335 | Gideon, 40 years | 40 | Judg. 8:28 |
| -1332 | Abimelech reigned 3 years over Israel. | 3 | Judg. 9:22 |
| -1309 | Tola of Issachar judged Israel for 23 years | 23 | Judg. 10:2 |
| -1287 | Jair of Gilead judged Israel for 22 years | 22 | Judg. 10:3 |
| -1269 | Philistines and Ammonites oppression, 18 years | 18 | Judg. 10:8 |
| -1263 | Jephthah judged Israel for 6 years. | 6 | Judg. 12:7 |
| -1256 | Ibzan judged Israel for 7 years | 7 | Judg. 12:9 |
| -1246 | Elon judged Israel for 10 years. | 10 | Judg. 12:11 |
| -1238 | Abdon judged Israel for 8 years. | 8 | Judg. 12:15 |
| -1198 | Philistine oppression, 40 years | 40 | Judg. 13:1 |
| -1178 | Samson judged Israel for 20 years | 20 | Judg. 16:31 |
| -1138 | Eli judged Israel for 40 years | 40 | 1 Sam. 4:18 |
| -1118 | Ark captured for 20 years | 20 | 1 Sam. 4:11; 6:1 |
| -1098 | Samuel judged Israel for 40 years since Eli; Israel relief from Philistine oppression for 20 years | 20 | 1 Sam. 7:3-12 |
| -1056 | Sual reigned over Israel for 42 years | 42 | 1 Sam. 13:1; Acts 13:21 |
| -1016 | David reigned forty years. | 40 | 2 Sam. 5:4 |
| -1012 | Solomon’s 4th year in reign | 4 | 1 Kgs. 6:1 |
The 70-Year Prophecy of Jeremiah
I intend to prove the divine nature of the Scriptures and that there is only God in heaven who reveals mysteries (Daniel 2:28) by showing the accuracy of the prophecies in the Bible. There are many prophecies in the Bible and many of them are about Jesus Christ. There are many books on the subject. However, many of these prophecies can’t be really proven to satisfaction because the only source of information about them is in the Bible. This is not to say that they are not true, just that they can’t be proven by our scientific standards. For example, Micah 5:2 foretold that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and the Gospels in the New Testament agree with that (Matthew 2:1, Luke 2:4-6). However, this claim can’t be proven. We have no external contemporary source about Jesus apart from the New Testament. We have no evidence of where Jesus was born other than these two sentences in Matthew and Luke. Unless we had the authentic Jesus’ birth certificate signed by Caesar Augustus, one could argue that Matthew and Luke made up the story to the prophecy. Where did Matthew and Luke get the information by the way? Most likely hearsay I would say. These are the kinds of prophecies that we will not use to prove the divinity of the Bible. We will use three indisputable facts that are widely documented throughout history, such as photographs taken by The New York Times, and agreed upon by both religious believers and secular scholars to show that there is God in heaven who has made known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come (Isaiah 46:10).
The 70-Year Prophecy of Jeremiah, recorded in the Book of Jeremiah, is one of the most significant prophecies in the Old Testament. It is a verifiable prophecy that we have credible historical and archaeological evidence for. Jeremiah announced the prophecy in 605 B.C., the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah king of Judah, and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Jeremiah 25:1). Jeremiah declared the impending desolation of the land and a temporal exile to Babylon for a span of seventy years. He said,
Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
Jeremiah 25:8-11
In 605 B.C., king Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and sent many Israelites, including Daniel, to Babylon. The Israelites endured seventy years of exile and displacement, as foretold by Jeremiah. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, he issued the decree that permitted the exiled Israelites to return to their homeland and undertake the reconstruction of the sacred temple in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 36:22, Dan. 9:2, Ezra 1). The 70-year exile ended in 536 B.C. We do have different historical and archaeological sources to provide compelling evidence to affirm the accuracy of Jeremiah’s prophecy.
(I cannot match the year of the Fall of Babylon, the first year of Cyrus, and the year of the return of Jews, but this does not change the mathematical model or the calendar. I simply do not know what the first year of Cyrus to his contemporary Jews meant. Perhaps the first year that Cyrus took over Jerusalem or made a public and official announcement that he now ruled over the Jews a few years after he conquered Babylon? Or, it took the Jews some time to prepare for the journey and also some time to travel back to Jerusalem from Babylon after Cyrus’ first year? Maybe the date of the Fall of Babylon is off by a few years?)
Babylonian Captivity: Historical records outside the Bible corroborate the Babylonian Captivity. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem in 605 B.C. is well-documented in Babylonian chronicles and other ancient sources. The Babylonian Captivity itself is attested to by the Babylonian exile narratives found in the Bible and ancient Jewish historical writings.
Cyrus’s Decree: The decree of King Cyrus of Persia permitting the Israelites to return to their homeland aligns with historical records. The Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient clay cylinder inscribed with Cyrus’s edicts, confirms his policy of allowing displaced peoples to return to their ancestral lands and rebuild their temples. This aligns with the biblical account of the Israelites’ return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity.
Archaeological Evidence in Jerusalem: Archaeological excavations in Jerusalem provide tangible evidence of the city’s destruction during the Babylonian conquest. The discovery of layers of destruction corresponding to the period, including burned structures and artifacts, supports the biblical narrative of the city’s fall.
Cuneiform Tablets: Babylonian cuneiform tablets, such as the Babylonian Chronicles, provide historical documentation of events during the Babylonian period. These records mention the capture and exile of Judah’s king Jehoiachin, aligning with the biblical account of the Babylonian invasion and the first wave of deportations.
Papyri and Inscriptions: Outside the Bible, ancient Near Eastern documents and inscriptions mention individuals and events related to the Babylonian Captivity. For instance, the Elephantine Papyri, discovered in Egypt, contains references to Jewish communities and individuals affected by the Babylonian exile.
There were two curses in the prophecy: serving the king of Babylon and desolate wasteland. Accordingly, there were actually two Babylonian sieges of Jerusalem by king Nebuchadnezzar. During his first siege, he deported the Jews including Daniel and his three friends (Daniel 1:3-7) to Babylon, hence serving the king of Babylon. This ended after Cyrus’ decree that 40,000 exiles returned to Jerusalem, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua. 19 years later, in the last year of Zedekiah the last king of Judah, king Nebuchadnezzar again attacked Jerusalem and plundered and razed Solomon’s Temple and the city wall, hence desolate wasteland. This ended when the Second Temple completed the construction, exactly 70 years after it was destroyed. Therefore, Jeremiah prophesized two overlapping 70-year periods, separated by 19 years apart. Zedekiah knew or could possibly know about this prophecy announced 19 years before his rebellion against king Nebuchadnezzar, and he still did it anyway and suffered a horrible fate (2 Kings 25:1–7, Jeremiah 32:4–5, 34:2–3; 39:1–7; 52:4-11, Ezekiel 12:13).
To construct the timeline for this period of the kings, from Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, to the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, and then to the Jewish return from exile, and then to the completion of the Second Temple, we need to account for this 70-year prophecy. I follow Ussher and simply add up the reigns of Judah’s kings (430 years) and post a few overlapping years for rounding errors. Ussher shortened this to 424 years. I computed it to 426 years. The number of overlapping years is an unknown. (It is 6 for Ussher.) I make the years when the First Temple was built and destroyed unknowns because I do not find any undisputable records of the dates. Instead of relying on historians, in mathematics I trust.
- t7: the number of overlapping years for rounding error
- t8: the year when the First Temple was destroyed
We can write Jeremiah’s 70-Year Prophecy as constraints like the following.
- c6: \(T_\text{Jehoiakim} + (4 – 1) + 70 = T_\text{return from exile}\)
- c7: \(t_8 + 70 = T_\text{Second Temple completed}\)
| Year | Biblical Event | Length | Bible |
| -1012 | First Temple started to build | 1 Kgs. 6:1 | |
| -1005 | Construction of the Temple concluded | 7 | 1 Kgs. 6:38 |
| -1004 | The 9th Jubilee celebrated by Israel in the Promised Land (next year)? The Ark is moved from Zion into the Temple’s Holy of Holies. The Tent of Meeting and the artifacts used in it are moved from Gibeon into Temple storerooms. | 1 | 1 Kgs. 8:1-2, 65-66; 2 Chr. 5:3-5, 6:1, 8:1-11 |
| -976 | Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years | 40 | 1 Kgs. 11:42 |
| -958 | Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, ruled Jodah for 18 years | 18 | 1 Kgs. 15:1 |
| -955 | Abijah, Rehoboam’s son, ruled for 3 years | 3 | 1 Kgs. 15:2; 2 Chr. 13:1 |
| -914 | Asa, Abijah’s son, ruled for 41 years | 41 | 1 Kgs. 15:8-9 |
| -889 | Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, ruled for 25 years | 25 | 1 Kgs. 22:42 |
| -882 | Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, ruled alone for 7 years | 7 | 2 Chr. 21:5 |
| -881 | Jehoahaz (also known as Ahaziah and Azariah), Jehoram’s son, ruled for 1 year | 1 | 2 Chr. 22:7 |
| -875 | Athaliah ruled. Ahaziah’s son, Joash, hidden for 6 years | 6 | 2 Kgs. 11:3 |
| -835 | Joash, Ahaziah’s son, ruled for 40 years | 40 | 2 Kgs. 12:1 |
| -806 | Amaziah, Joash’s son, ruled for 29 years | 29 | 2 Kgs. 14:2 |
| -754 | Uzziah, Amaziah’s son, ruled | 52 | 2 Kgs. 15:7 |
| -738 | Jotham, Uzziah’s son, ruled | 16 | |
| -722 | Ahaz, Jotham’s son, ruled | 16 | 2 Chr. 28:1 |
| -693 | Hezekiah, Ahaz’s son, ruled | 29 | 2 Kgs. 18:2 |
| -638 | Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, ruled | 55 | 2 Kgs. 21:1 |
| -636 | Amon, Manasseh’s son, ruled | 2 | 2 Kgs. 21:19 |
| -639 | Overlapping years of the Kings | -3 | |
| -608 | Josiah, Amon’s son, ruled | 31 | 2 Kgs. 22:1 |
| -608 | Jehoahaz, Josiah’s son, ruled | 0 | 2 Kgs. 22:30 |
| -605 | Seventy Years of Captivity declared in the 4th year of Jehoiakim; first year of Nebuchadnezzar; beginning of Judah’s exile | 4 | Jer. 25:1 |
| -603 | Nebuchadnezzar had dreams | 2 | Dan. 2:1 |
| -602 | Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams | 3 | Dan. 1:5, 2:24-48 |
| -597 | Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, ruled | 11 | 2 Kgs. 23:36 |
| -597 | Jehoiachin, Jehoiakim’s son, ruled | 0 | 2 Kgs. 24:8 |
| -592 | Ezekiel’s Inaugural Vision at the age of 30 | 5 | |
| -586 | Zedekiah, Josiah’s son, ruled | 11 | 2 Kgs. 24:18 |
| –586 | First Temple destroyed; Jerusalem destroyed | 19 | Jer. 38:8, 52:13 |
| -572 | Ezekiel has a vision of Jerusalem and Temple restored | 25 | Ezek. 40:1-4 |
| -562 | Nebuchadnezzar died | ||
| -562 | Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts | Dan. 7:1 | |
| -539 | Fall of Babylon; Cyrus conquered Babylon and therefore ruled the Jews | 2 Chr. 36:22 | |
| -539 | Daniel interpreted the Writing on the Wall | Dan. 5 | |
| -536 | Cyrus first year | ||
| -536 | Jews returned to Jerusalem | 70 | |
| -533 | Daniel given the last prophecy before he died | 3 | Dan. 10:1 |
| -522 | Darius first year | Dan. 9:1 | |
| -521 | Rebuilding the Second Temple resumed in the 2nd year of Darius | 2 | Ezra 4:24 |
| -516 | The Second Temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius | 6 | Ezra 6:15-16 |
Note that in this section, I am merely describing Jeremiah’s 70-year prophecy. I have not proved that it was indeed a prophecy (announced before the events). The main challenge is that none of these ancient dates, e.g., when Jehoiakim became king, \(t_7\) and \(t_8\), are well documented and universally accepted by everyone. Historians simply make their best guess from artifacts dug up from the ground. One could potentially make an argument saying that all these (the books of Jeremiah and Daniel) were written after the Second Temple was built so they were not prophecies. That is, all fulfilled predictions had to have been composed no earlier than the Maccabean period (second-century B.C.) after the fulfillments had taken place. Or, simply, they were historical fictions of ancient times. The prophecy is validated if and only if my timeline is unique and true, i.e., prophesized before the events, as we shall proceed to prove in the next sections.
Daniel’s Prophecy of Seventy Weeks
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 One.
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. 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 the desolated city.
Daniel 9:20-27
Many interesting stories happened after the Second Temple was built (516 B.C.) during Darius’ rule. Note that Daniel had already died before then (533 B.C.) so he saw the return of the exiles but did not live to see the completion of the Second Temple or the rebuild of Jerusalem much later (454 B.C.). Esther became the queen of Darius in 515 B.C. (Esther 2:16). Xerxes, son of Darius, succeeded Darius in 486 B.C. Does that make Esther, the beautiful and wise girl in the Bible, Xerxes’ (step)-mom? Xerxes is the guy who chopped off Butler’s head (Sorry, I mean Leonidas’) and forever immortalizes the king of Sparta. Xerxes was later defeated by Themistocles in “Rise of an Empire”. Artaxerxes I, son of Xerxes, succeeded Xerxes in 465 B.C. Artaxerxes I or the date of his coronation is most important because Artaxerxes I was the one who sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem in his 12th year of reign (Nehemiah 2:1-6). That year is the countdown of the (7 + 62 + 0.5 + 0.5) = 70 weeks of Daniel’s 70-week prophecy. Because I can’t be certain of the dates that historians suggest, I again make it (everything that I don’t know or am not sure) a variable.
- t9: the first year of Artaxerxes I
Daniel’s 70-week prophecy is one of the most important prophecies in the Scriptures. It is like a conclusion of the entire Old Testament. It is so important that God stopped speaking for about 500 years (after Malachi). It was as if it was waiting for something big, something major, something significant, some climax, some finale to happen. Indeed, that was the case. Let me rewrite Daniel 9:20-27 in plain language so you can see.
God has decreed to end sin and bring in everlasting righteousness after 70 times 7 weeks, one day for a year (Ezekiel 4:6). That is, God plans to end sin in \(70 \times 7 = 490\) years. The first year starts counting from when the Jews are allowed to rebuild Jerusalem. In \((7 + 62) = 69\) weeks or \(69 \times 7 = 483\) years, the Anointed One will come. He will work in the last 7 years to set up a new covenant. After the first 3.5 years, he will be murdered. Because of his death, Jerusalem will be desolated until the end. In the latter and the last 3.5 years, he will continue to confirm the new covenant. After these 70 weeks, he will create the everlasting righteous kingdom.
Wait! This does not make sense. Did I say that he will die in 3.5 years and then create the new kingdom? How can he do anything after he dies? Yes, that does not make sense, well, normally. That is exactly why the Jews failed to understand all of this prophecy.
The Anointed One is Jesus!
God told Daniel more than 500 years ago unambiguously and unequivocally and precisely when Jesus would show up! That is 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem! After solving this system of equations, I got \(t_{10} = -465\). Adding 483 years and 12 years to 465 B.C. yields \(-465 -1 + 12 + 483 + 1 = 30\), that is, 30 A.D. Jesus began his ministry and was baptized by John in exactly 30 A.D (Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21). Hallelujah! Immanuel! (The -1 term is to include the first year of Artaxerxes I in the counting. The 12 term is the year when the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was made. The +1 term is because there is no 0 A.D. It is 1 B.C. and then 1 A.D.) The date that the Messiah came was not the first Christmas. It was the date that Jesus began his ministry with his baptism by John. Jesus’ birthday (most likely not December 25) is only important to Jojo Space and shoppers and holidaymakers. What is important to God’s timeline and salvation is Jesus’ death and resurrection. We know exactly when Easter is, as we will also show in our computation later.
The Jews, including Caiaphas the high priest, certainly understood the first part of this prophecy. They had kept and studied the prophecy for 500+ years, and that was what they did for a living. They had one job. Just the one – prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him (Matthew 3:3). And their career failed catastrophically. God only appeared to Solomon in dreams (2 Chronicles 1:7, 1 Kings 9:1) and prophets in visions (Isaiah 1:1, Ezekiel 11:24, Daniel 8:1, Amos 1:1, Obadiah 1:1, Nahum 1:1, Hosea 12:10). But when the God that they had been worshipping for 2000 years appeared to them in the flesh, instead of bowing, hugging, kissing, shaking hands, and having fun together, they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and mocked him (Matthew 26:67-68). They knew they were the generation of the promise and therefore expected the immediate restoration of the Israel kingdom. What they failed to understand was how the Appointed One could be put to death. They did not have the concept of the death and resurrection of the Messiah. They did not have the concept of the First and Second comings of Christ. They only knew one coming. The first 3.5 years were Jesus’ ministry during his First Coming. The last 3.5 years or 1260 days will happen during the Second Coming of Christ. (So the 70 weeks is not a continuous period in time but is split into two, 66.5 + 3.5, with the then hidden Church period in between) With much disappointment in Jesus not leading an army in shining armor to march into Jerusalem (or Rome and put Tiberius’ head on a pole?), they put Jesus to die on the Cross, exactly like what Daniel had prophesized 500+ years ago. This is an amazing prophecy with exact calculations!
The historicity of the Book of Daniel has raised suspicion among critics. They claim that the book was composed after all the supposed “prophecies” were fulfilled, Babylon, Persia, Alexander the Great (Greece) and then Rome, not later than the 2nd century B.C. The alleged “prophecies ” were made up after the facts. Daniel did not exist. The skepticism is understandable and is a rational explanation if there was no God that drives history (Job 12:23). (If that was the case, then history had no purpose. This is not what we claim in this paper about God’s 7000-year plan for history and humanity.) However, this argument does not work for Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks. This particular prophecy was foretelling what would happen 500+ years later. Daniel and whoever those possible pseudonymous authors might be could not possibly guess the murder of the Messiah or Jesus (that was beyond their understanding and culture and time), let alone pinpoint the exact year when these would happen (Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion) centuries later. Only God can foretell events in history before they happen so that when they do happen, we will know that He alone is God (John 13:19).
In addition, critics cannot possibly claim that this prophecy or the Book of Daniel was composed after 30 A.D. They can’t even if they want to. We have the Dead Sea Scrolls. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls between 1947 and 1956 in the vicinity of the Dead Sea near the ancient settlement of Qumran is considered one of the most significant archaeological findings of the 20th century. The scrolls were found carefully stored in jars, providing a remarkably well-preserved collection of Jewish texts. Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls places their origin between the third century BCE and the first century CE. The majority of the scrolls are thought to have been written (copied) and deposited during the Second Temple period, roughly spanning from the second century BCE to the first century CE. The scrolls include a diverse array of documents, from biblical manuscripts to sectarian writings and non-canonical Jewish texts. Among the significant contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls is the presence of portions of the Book of Daniel, specifically chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 12. Fragments of Daniel were discovered in Cave 4 at Qumra. The finding provides a valuable comparison to later manuscripts and traditions, shedding light on the transmission and textual history of this biblical book. The dating of the Book of Daniel could not possibly be later than the 2nd or 1st century B.C. In other words, the exact prediction of the coming of Jesus in 27 A.D., his 3.5 years of ministry, and his subsequent death in 30 A.D. can only be acts of God, hence a true prophecy. (While scholars may hold varying opinions on the resurrection of Jesus, the consensus among serious academics, including secular scholars and even staunch critics of Christianity, is that the existence and death of Jesus are undisputed.)
Therefore, if I have the date of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem or the date of Artaxerxes I’s coronation date \(t_{10}\), then I can compute when Jesus showed up, his death and resurrection, and thus also the Day of Pentecost. Because there is a dispute about whether Jesus was crucified in the year 30 A.D. or 33 A.D., I make it a variable.
- t10: Jesus’ death and resurrection year
I write Daniel’s prophecy of seventy weeks as a constraint. Also, I want to match Jesus’ death/resurrection as the beginning of the 4th Day in the 7000-year calendar.
- c8: \(t_{10} = t_{9} + 69 \times 7 + 3\)
- c9: \(t_{10} – t_2 = 4001\)
| Year | Biblical Event | Length | Bible |
| -515 | Esther became queen of Darius | 7 | Est. 2:16 |
| -486 | Xerxes succeeded Darius, first year | 21 | |
| -480 | Leonidas, king of Sparta, and the 300 Spartans; Themistocles and his fleet | ||
| -465 | Artaxerxes I succeeded Xerxes, first year | ||
| -465 | Artaxerxes I succeeded Xerxes, first year | ||
| -459 | Erza and some Israelites came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. | 7 | Ezra 7:6-8 |
| -454 | Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem, in his 12th year of reign | 12 | Neh 2:1-6 |
| -454 | Daniel’s (69+0.5+0.5)x7 prophecy began | Dan. 9:24-27 | |
| -353 | Alexander the Great died in Babylon | ||
| -44 | Julius Caesar stabbed to death in Rome | ||
| 14 | Augustus died | ||
| 30 | Jesus baptized by John | John 1:33 | |
| 33 | Jesus crucified and resurrected | ||
| 33 | Day of Pentecost, birthday of the Church |
Ezekiel’s 430 Days Prophecy
I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.
Ezekiel 4:5-6
The Bible is very strong evidence to substantiate the existence and providence of God. God reveals his plans before the events so that we can know that he alone is God and that he alone writes history. God proclaims his 7-day or 7000-year plan in the first chapter of the Scriptures to lay out his plan for the entire humanity and salvation. Likewise, God made clear to the Israelites his plans for them in plain language (not parables) when they first founded the nation before they even entered Cainan so there could be no misunderstanding. In 1491 B.C. Moses delivered God’s message to Israel and made clear the curses for disobedience.
If you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.
Deuteronomy 28:15-64
God set aside an entire tribe, Levi, to teach and preserve the law (Torah) and communicate God’s commandments among the Israelites (Deuteronomy 33:8-10). And yet, they did not even bother to properly keep the Book of Law and lost it for centuries until Hilkiah found it during the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign (2 Kings 22:8-13, 2 Chronicles 34:14-21). Those priests were corrupted. They did not teach the people so that the people rejected God’s law (Hosea 4:6-10). They despised justice, built with bloodshed, and taught for personal gain (Micah 3:9-11). They caused people to stumble and violated their covenant with Levi (Malachi 2:7-9). They did violence to God’s law, profaned holy things, and neglected the distinction between the sacred and the common (Ezekiel 22:26). Those priests were unprincipled and treacherous people (Zephaniah 3:4).
The kings of Israel and Judah were no better. The main recurring theme in both Kings and Chronicles is: they did evil in the eyes of the Lord (1 Kings 11:6, 1 Kings 11:11, 1 Kings 15:26, 1 Kings 15:34, 1 Kings 16:19, 1 Kings 16:25, 1 Kings 16:30, 1 Kings 22:52, 2 Kings 3:2, 2 Kings 8:18, 2 Kings 8:27, 2 Kings 13:2, 2 Kings 13:11, 2 Kings 14:24, 2 Kings 15:9, 2 Kings 15:18, 2 Chronicles 12:14, 2 Chronicles 15:2, 2 Chronicles 20:35-37, 2 Chronicles 21:6, 2 Chronicles 28:1). The kings succumbed to the allure of idolatry, injustice, and moral compromise. Their actions became a stumbling block for the people, leading them away from God’s righteous path. Instead of setting an example of faithful obedience, the kings became ensnared by the practices of neighboring nations, which God repeatedly sent prophets to warn not to follow foreign practices (Leviticus 18:3, 1 Kings 11:1-2, 2 Kings 17:15, 2 Chronicles 33:2, 2 Chronicles 33:9).
Because of their lust for foreign practices, in 722 B.C., the capital of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria, fell to the Assyrians. His successor, Sargon II, completed the conquest and deportation of the Israelites. The Assyrians deported a significant portion of the population and resettled other peoples in the region, contributing to the assimilation and disappearance of the northern tribes of Israel. The Southern Kingdom of Judah continued to exist for a time but eventually faced its own destruction by the Babylonians in 539 B.C. God did exactly what he warned them about – scattering them among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other even unto China – in 1491 B.C., almost one thousand years before the event, hence another long-range prophecy fulfilled.
Moses could no way possibly foresee the Assyrian captivity and Babylon captivity. One might argue that Deuteronomy was not written by Moses but sometime after the captivity. Their religious leaders reflected on the fall of their country and coat it with a religious ideology. This is the same kind of argument to say that the Book of Daniel was a forgery because long-range prophecy was not possible and there was no divine dispensation; there was no God. Jesus was a fictional character. People these days are skeptical of everything until there is a movie made about it or there is an article in the major media. To prove my claim, we need some evidence from The New York Times. (No, I don’t have a picture of Jesus nailed to the Cross. Even if I did, how would I ID the person to be Jesus anyway?)
A recurring theme in the Old Testament, including the Torah, is that God loves Israel with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3) and will restore Israel once his anger turns away from them (Hosea 14:4). Shortly after Moses declared the curses on Israel, he also announced God’s backup plan for salvation (should they did sin against God in the future and we now know they did in history).
When all these curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.
Deuteronomy 30:1-3
If the Torah was a forgery compiled during the captivity period, those pseudonymous authors could not possibly know about a restoration. Deuteronomy 30:1-3 is not just a hope from an exiled race but it is a historical event. Many wise men dating the Bible and prophecies, e.g., Isaac Newton, did not see the restoration of Israel, so they could not possibly make an accurate calendar as I do. We are very blessed to see a grandeur miracle right before our eyes. So, did God also say when he would restore Israel and gather them again from all the nations where he scattered them? Yes, he did. The prophecy was given to Ezekiel before the siege of Jerusalem, before they even went into exile.
I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.
Ezekiel 4:5-6
God intended a (390 + 40) = 430 years of punishment for Israel, after which he would gather them back to Jerusalem from all corners of the earth. By my calculation, the punishment or the Babylonian captivity started in 605 B.C. Seventy years later in 536 B.C., by Cyrus’ decree, some of them returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and later the city. We know from Nehemiah’s recount (the dude who was sent to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes) that the Jewish people did not repent to obey God. They sinned and forsook the Second Temple of God as soon as Nehemiah left his term as a governor (Nehemiah 13:10-11). Here is what Moses (yeah, Moses again, at the onset of founding the nation) says for repeated sinners.
If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.
Leviticus 26:18
This is a brief recap of all these verses and history. When God founded the new nation of Israel in 1491 B.C., he told Moses to tell the Israelites that he would punish them by scattering them to every foreign nation in the world and to be hated by everyone, or in modern language antisemitism or anti-Judaism (Deuteronomy 28:15-64). The kings and the priests did evil in the eyes of the Lord (1 Kings 14:22). The judgment came in 605 B.C. when king Nebuchadnezzar sent many Jews into exile for 70 years (Jeremiah 25:8-11). If after the punishment, they still would not repent. God would punish them seven times of the original sentence (Leviticus 26:18). Eventually, they would repent, and God would gather them again back to Jerusalem, as promised to Abraham (Deuteronomy 30:1-3). The length of the original sentence was 430 years, as pronounced by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 4:5-6).
| -605 B.C. + 70 years = -605 +70 -1 = 536 B.C. | 70 years of Babylonian exile |
| 430 – 70 = 360 | 360 years left in the original punishment |
| 360 x 7 = 2520 | remaining sentence increased to 2520 years |
| 2520 x 360 = 907,200 | equivalent to 907,200 solar days |
| 907200 / 365.25 = 2483 | equivalent to 2484 Gregorian years, which every 4 years is a leap year |
| -536 B.C. + 2483 years = -536 + 2483 + 1= 1948 | May 14, 1948 A.D. + 1 because there is no 0 A.D. |
The Jews spent 70 years of their sentence in Babylon until 536 B.C. So there were (430 – 70) = 360 years left. Because after all this, they would not listen to the Lord, God punished them for their sins 7 times. That increased the remaining sentence to be (360 x 7) = 2520 years. Because the Jewish calendar that Ezekiel knew of has 360 days (the 365-day Gregorian calendar that we are using nowadays was not invented until 1582), 2520 years amount to (2520 x 360) = 907,200 days. To convert that into the number of Gregorian years, we have (907200 / 365.25) = 2483 years. Adding 2483 years to 536 B.C. gives us (-536 + 2483 + 1) = 1948! Voila! On May 14, 1948 A.D., Israel became a state officially at midnight (IST). I will give you a picture of the news article from the New York Times to prove this.
Ezekiel or whoever those fictitious pseudonymous authors might be in the periods of Babylonian captivity (c. 6th century B.C.) or post-Exilic period (c. 5th century B.C.) could not possibly predict the creation of the Israel state in 1948, no way! Only God can!
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was a miraculous act of God, who was, still is, and will be in control of history. After enduring an exile that spanned an astonishing 2,553 years since the Babylonian conquest in 586 B.C., the establishment of Israel seemed to defy the odds and surpass the realms of possibility. Just a few years before then, they were experiencing large-scale and systematic genocide. Against a backdrop of centuries marked by diaspora, persecution, and longing, the return of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland in 1948 was a fulfillment of ancient prophecies and a divine promise. The restoration of Israel is a singular occurrence in history, unparalleled and unprecedented, as no other nation or civilization has experienced such a miraculous return to their homeland after an extended period of exile.
Nineteen years later in the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel achieved a historic and remarkable victory that led to the reunification of Jerusalem. The conflict erupted between Israel and its neighboring Arab states, and within six days, Israel emerged victorious. One of the significant outcomes of the war was the capture of East Jerusalem, including the Old City, which had been under Jordanian control since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. On June 7, 1967, Israeli forces, in a swift and strategic move, entered the Old City, marking a pivotal moment in history. Israeli paratroopers reached the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, and the city was officially reunified under Israeli control. This reunification of Jerusalem was met with widespread jubilation in Israel, and it remains a moment of deep historical significance, symbolizing the restoration of Jewish access to their holy sites in the heart of the ancient city. The aftermath of the war saw Israel extending its sovereignty over the entire city of Jerusalem.
Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem twice. The first siege in 605 B.C. marked the beginning of the “Servitude of the Nation.” 19 years later, in 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon’s Temple, leaving Jerusalem desolate. The “Servitude of the Nation” endured for 70 years until King Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem in 536 B.C. Subsequently, the “Desolations of Jerusalem” persisted for also 70 years (overlapping) until the completion of the Second Temple in 516 B.C. Remarkably, after a span of 2,553 years, the Jews returned to Jerusalem in 1948 A.D., establishing the modern state of Israel. In 1967 A.D., exactly 19 years later, Israel reclaimed the entirety of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War. Both Jeremiah’s 70-Year Prophecy and Ezekiel’s 430 Days Prophecy are duel prophecies, fulfilled, showcasing God’s precise timing in fulfilling his promises. Through historical events, we find evidence of God’s existence, sovereignty, and the divine nature of Scriptures. Amen!
I write Ezekiel’s 430-day prophecy as a constraint. Let
- \(T_\text{Jews return to Jerusalem}\) be the year when Jews returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity
Note that this is not a variable itself but is a function of other variables as it is determined from the rest of the linear system.
- c10: \(\left \lfloor (390 + 40 – T_{\text{Jews return to Jerusalem}}) \times 7 \times 360 \div 365.25 + T_{\text{Jews return to Jerusalem}} + 1 \right \rfloor = 1948\)
| Year | Biblical Event | Length | Bible |
| 70 | Second Temple destroyed and Jerusalem burnt to the ground | ||
| 1948 | Creation of Israel state | Ezek. 4:4-6; Jer 23: 7,8; Amos 9:14,15 | |
| 1967 | Six-Day War after which Israel regained all of Jerusalem | 19 |
Solving for the Integer Linear System
We summarize our variables in the following.
- t1: the Gregorian year that Adam was created
- t2 >= 0: an offset from t1 in the Gregorian calendar to correspond to the first year in the dispensational calendar
- t3: Moses’ birthday
- t4: Joshua’s age at Exodus
- t5: the number of gap years
- t6: the year when the construction of Solomon’s temple began
- t7: the number of overlapping years for rounding error
- t8: the year when the First Temple was destroyed
- t9: the first year of Artaxerxes I
- t10: Jesus’ death and resurrection year
We summarize our equations in the following.
- c1: the time span of the dispensational calendar is 7000 years
- c2: Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection must be the dispensational year 4000 or 4001
- c3: Jesus’ Second coming must be in the year 6000 or 6001
- c4: There are 430 years between when Abraham left Haran and the Exodus (Exodus 12:40)
- c5: the years between the Exodus and the First Temple construction is 480 years
- c6: \(T_\text{Jehoiakim} + (4 – 1) + 70 = T_\text{return from exile}\)
- c7: \(t_8 + 70 = T_\text{Second Temple completed}\)
- c8: \(t_{10} = t_{9} + 69 \times 7 + 3\)
- c9: \(t_{10} – t_2 = 4001\)
- c10: \(\left \lfloor (390 + 40 – T_{\text{Jews return to Jerusalem}}) \times 7 \times 360 \div 365.25 + T_{\text{Jews return to Jerusalem}} + 1 \right \rfloor = 1948\)
- c11: Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection must either be 30 A.D. or 33 A.D.
Because we have 10 variables but only 9 equations (c9 supersedes c2), we add one more equation c11 to make the system well-defined, i.e., 10 variables and 10 independent equations. Note that this is an integer system so all variables must be solved to integers.
There are many ways to solve this system of integer equations. My 11-year-old boys/students propose to solve it using guess-and-check, which is an excellent technique in mathematics. I got this solution.
- t1, the Gregorian year that Adam was created = -4004
- t2, an offset from t1 in the Gregorian calendar to correspond to the first year in the dispensational calendar or the age that Adam/Eve sinned = 33
- t3, Moses’ birthday = -1571
- t4, Joshua’s age at Exodus = 19
- t5, the number of gap years = 18
- t6, the year when the construction of Solomon’s temple began = -1012
- t7, the number of overlapping years for rounding error = -3
- t8, the year when the First Temple was destroyed = -586
- t9, the first year of Artaxerxes I = -458
- t10, Jesus’ death and resurrection year = 30
This solution satisfies all the constraints/equations. The solution is not unique. A Jesus’ resurrection of 33 A.D. would satisfy the constraints as well. Because of the overwhelming evidences for 30 A.D., I believe that 30 A.D. is the correct date. The reader is encouraged to study my calculated timeline in the gsheet to verify my result. The computation provides answers to some interesting questions.
I computed that Adam (not the homosapien species) was created in 4004 B.C. This agrees with Ussher’s chronology. I don’t agree with his interpretation that the year is the creation of the earth, as explained above.
Assuming Adam and Eve left Eden right after they sinned, they ate the forbidden fruit at the age of 33. After 33 years of happy and worry-free life, they decided to venture into something unknown, not knowing what they had wished for. This is the same age that Jesus died on the corss. It can’t be all coincident.
The year of Exodus is (-1571 + 80) = 1491 B.C. My calculation is 45 years earlier than the common suggestion of 1446 BC.
My dating of Solomon’s temple began construction in 1012 B.C. and finished in (-1012 + 7) = 1005 B.C. This is 48 years earlier than the common suggestion of 957 B.C. or 39 years earlier than 966 B.C.
Most importantly, I computed that Jesus’ death and resurrection must be in 30 A.D. The debate surrounding the precise date of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion has been a topic of scholarly discussion and historical inquiry for centuries, with two prominent contenders: 30 A.D. and 33 A.D. While the crucifixion itself is a pivotal event in Christian theology, the exact year of this profound moment in history remains a matter of contention among scholars, historians, and theologians. The debate revolves around reconciling various historical accounts, biblical references, and astronomical calculations, each offering distinct perspectives on the timeline of Jesus’ final moments on the cross. I hope my calculation provides a new argument for 30 A.D., which must be correct for the rest of the calendar and, hence, prophecies to be consistent.
The Rapture, the Great Tribulation, and the Second Coming of Christ
| Year | Biblical Event | Length | Dispensational Year |
| 2023 | Today | 5991 | |
| 2026 | Beginning of the 3.5 years of Great Tribulation | -3 | 5997 |
| 2029 | The Second Coming | 2000 | 6000 |
| 2030 | Jesus’ Millennial Reign first year | 1 | 6001 |
For any mathematical model to be useful, it needs to (1) fit well the in-sample data and (2) make reasonable out-sample predictions. My gsheet shows that this particular model fits all biblical dates and prophecies. It is an internally consistent model. Assuming that it is a correct model, we can make some useful predictions of the future using it.
The Second Coming of Jesus will happen near the end of the year 2029 A.D. or 2030 A.D. Yes, I am aware of verses that say, e.g., that no one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36, Acts 1:7). I would like to point out that this recurring theme of the uncertainty of the timing occurs only in the New Testament. In contrast, the restoration of the Israel state after 430 prophetic “days” (Ezekiel 4:5-6) or the beginning of the Millennial Reign on the 7th day (Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-11) is absolutely clear in the Old Testament. Therefore, the Old and New Testaments must talk about two distinct events. As a general rule, the Church is a hidden mystery in the Old Testament, so any prophecies with dates in the Old Testament must be about Israel and not the Church. The uncertainty about the date in the New Testament must, therefore, refer to an event before Jesus’ Second Coming for the Millennial Reign in Israel. The coming of Jesus or Messiah in the Old Testament is always about Israel. The Jews see only one coming but not two. The First Coming of Jesus in 27 A.D. was for the Israelites and Jerusalem to finish transgression (as prophesized in Daniel 9:20). The Jews rejected Jesus in 30 A.D., so God’s 70-week timeline was put on pause. The focus has shifted to the Church. The resume of the Coming, a.k.a., the Second Coming, to fulfill the remaining 3.5 years in Daniel 9:27 must then also be about Israel. Therefore, the Second Coming of Jesus is about Israel, not the Church. The timing has been prophesized in multiple places in the Old Testament. It is 2030 A.D. as we have computed.
The New Testament event is the rapture. That is when, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left (Matthew 24:40-41). Note that this event happens in the air and people will be taken up to heaven like Enoch (Genesis 5:24). Jesus does not come down to the earth to establish his Millennial Kingdom at that time. The date of the rapture we cannot know for sure. Because it must happen before the Second Coming of Christ, we can range bound the date to between 30 A.D. (the Pentecost when the Church was first born) to 2030 A.D. (the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom). In fact, early Christians expected Jesus to come back to receive them imminently or at least in their generation. When some had already died without seeing Jesus’ return, they were disappointed. Paul comforted them saying, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep (1 Thessalonians 13-15).” Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).” Conditional upon today is almost the end of the year, the rapture time must be in the interval [2024, 2030].
In fact, we can make the upper bound even tighter. I believe that the rapture must have happened before the Great Tribulation (Daniel 12:1, Matthew 24:21-22, Mark 13:19, Revelation 7:14, Revelation 13:1-18). The pre-tribulation view, that believers will be taken up to heaven by Jesus before a period of intense tribulation on earth, is mainly supported by the belief that believers are not destined to suffer God’s wrath. Biblical passages, such as 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 1 Thessalonians 5:9 state that the tribulation is a time of divine judgment on humanity, and believers will be removed before this period begins. Revelation 3:10 promises that believers are to be kept from the hour of trial coming upon the whole world. The Church will not experience the tribulation but will be taken away before it begins. In fact, the Church is not even there in the descriptions of the tribulation events in Revelation 6-18. The Church shall not be present on earth during that time.
How long is the Great Tribulation before the Second Coming of Christ? A very prevalent misconception is that the Great Tribulation will last for 7 years. They interpret Daniel 9:27 last week, i.e., 7 prophetic days or 7 solar years, as the whole Great Tribulation period. The “middle of the seven” is seen by many people as marking the midpoint of the tribulation.
I believe that there are only 3.5 years of Daniel’s 70th week left. There is no seven-year tribulation. In Daniel 9:27, we are told that someone “confirms” or “strengthens” a covenant, not that a covenant is “made.” Thus, a covenant already exists and it is strengthened. It needs to be confirmed/strengthened (not broken) for seven years, as demanded by the prophecy found in Daniel 9 regarding the 70th week. This is the work of Messiah Jesus, who “strengthened” a covenant with us or “enacted by better promises (Hebrews 8). This process will take 7 years. It began in 27 A.D. and was temporarily suspended in 30 A.D. (3.5 years) when Jesus was cut off. We know this because it was the Messiah who strengthened the New Covenant, which is in the scope of the Messianic work detailed in Daniel 9:24. The Messiah will then fulfill the second half of the work between 2026 A.D. and 2029 A.D. This will again take another 3.5 years to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place (Daniel 9:24).
The Anti-Christ is mentioned in Daniel 9, the “he” who “strengthens the covenant is not the Anti-Christ but refers back to the Messiah, as the context and focus of Daniel 9. Daniel 9’s focus is not on the Anti-Christ but on the Messiah. Eschatology has mistakenly made the focus of Daniel 9 about an anti-Christ when that is not really the point. The “he” who strengthens a covenant (new covenant) is Jesus, but he was cut off at his death after 3.5 years in the midst of the 70th week, per Daniel 9. The process will resume at the Great Tribulation, which is, of course, 3.5 years in length. The Messiah will then finish the remaining action items that need to be finished, concluding with anointing the Most Holy when Jesus establishes the millennial temple (Ezekiel 40-48). Thus, there are only 3.5 years left, which is why Daniel 12 only mentions 3.5 years. In fact, in the book of Revelation, all mentions about the tribulation period are always 3.5 years or 42 months (Revelation 11:2-3, 13:5) or 1260 days (Revelation 11:3, 12:6) or a time, and times and half a time (Revelation 12:14). A period of 3.5 years, not 7 years, is mentioned repeatedly in the book Revelation‚ because there are only 3.5 years left to go related to the 70th week.
There are six things that the Messiah must do in order to “strengthen” the new covenant (Daniel 9:25). As an example, did the Messiah “atone for iniquity” in his 3.5 years of his first coming after the 69th week? Of course, he did. Since that is true, then the Messiah’s First Coming of 3.5 years must be inclusive of part of the 70th week. (7 – 3.5) leaves us with just 3.5 years left. In addition, it is mentioned that after the seven and sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. This means that the Messiah is cut off (dies) after and not before the 69th week (i.e., in the 70th week) which also means that the Messiah’s death is part of the 70th week, 3.5 years after his arrival 483 years (69 weeks) after the decree.
Therefore, the rapture must have happened before the Great Tribulation in 2026 A.D. That is, the rapture can only happen in these six years: 2024, 2025 and 2026. In other words, if you buy a 10-year Treasury note now, you won’t get your money back! Perhaps that’s why people are not buying the U.S. government bonds but preparing for the rapture instead?
The Millennial Kingdom
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity — in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground — in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
The main theme of this paper is that God announced his plans in the beginning so that we know that he alone is God when the events happen. He reveals his plan for humanity and salvation in the first word and the first chapter of the Scriptures. He declared his plan for Israel when Moses was founding the country. I quoted the curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-64). This is exactly what had happened in history for the Israelites — scattered among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other, until 1948 A.D. God’s plan was not to curse the Israelites. In fact, it was the very opposite. Before the curses, God made it very clear that he intended to separate Israel from the other nations so that they could be holy and set an example to teach the entire world about the knowledge of the glory of the Lord (Habakkuk 2:14). God intended prosperity and leadership for the Israel state. That has never happened, yet.
I believe that this will happen when Jesus returns to earth to establish his Millennial Kingdom in Israel. OK, I am writing a science fiction here. The following is a total speculation of what I think is a possible realization. Given the information we have today, the future is still a stochastic process. Between now and 2030 A.D., the Church (a.k.a. Jesus’ bride) will be taken up to heaven to marry Jesus in a holy wedding for union (Revelation 19:7-9). That is the climax and the conclusion of salvation and the destiny God has always intended for the chosen ones (the Church) before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, Genesis 2:18). For us, that is an eternal supreme glory that far outweighs anything (2 Corinthians 4:17). That is the conclusion and ultimate purpose of all histories. With the Church taken out of the way and nothing holding him back (2 Thessalonians 2:6), the Anti-Christ or anti-christs can appear to substitute Christ and the Church on earth (2 Thessalonians 2:7). After the rapture, some people will repent and want to enter the kingdom of God after they have seen God. (They are Christians, but they are not part of the Church as that opportunity will have been gone after the rapture. You can’t be in the Church before Pentecost and after the rapture. More blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).) They and one other witness (my guess would be some Jewish people) will preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3). They will torment those who live on the earth for 3.5 years (Revelation 11:10). The Anti-Christ and his followers will persecute the witnesses because they hate the two. (Well, in general, people hate you when you point out their mistakes despite your good intentions. Don’t believe me? Try to do that to your boss tomorrow, and you will see how HR persecutes you.)
Some Israelites (the other witness) will recognize Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah (Genesis 42:8, Genesis 45:4). They will also preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to the world. That will further aggravate the hostile situation they are in today. Anti-Christ will lead neighboring countries to throw everything at Israel, sworn to erase it from the map. This will be not a regional war but a global war on a scale surpassing the two World Wars. If the war is not cut short, no one will survive, but for the sake of Israel, the length of the war will be shortened to 3.5 years (Matthew 24:21-22). There will be two camps, the for-Israel camp and the anti-Israel camp. The for-Israel camp will no doubt be led by the U.S.A. The opposite super-powers will want to support the anti-Israel camp, not necessarily because of Israel per se, but because doing so will divert America’s resources in the Middle East and subsequently advance their plans elsewhere in the world. The U.S.A. is unlikely to fight three battle fronts simultaneously. In 2030 A.D., the U.S.A. will lose. Israel will lose. Jerusalem will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city (Zechariah 14:2). They will face enemies far worse off than king Nebuchadnezzar, who would look like a saint by merely sending them to Babylon. The new enemies are sworn to wipe Israel out from the face of the earth this time. Facing despair and genocide, Israel will repent and call out to God for help. The pattern of oppression, repentance, deliverance, victory, and rest is a recurring theme throughout the biblical narrative, particularly in the Old Testament. This pattern is often evident in the historical accounts of the Israelites as recorded in the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings. For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable, Israel is loved on account of the patriarchs. For this time, the deliverer will be God himself. Jesus will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle (Zechariah 14:3). Coming out of his mouth is the truth, that with it he rebukes the nations. Then, the anti-Christ and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against Jesus and his army (Psalm 2:2). Eventually, Jesus will triumph and destroy them all (Revelation 19:15, 19-20). All Israel will be saved in 2030 A.D. (Romans 11:26-27).
The first resurrection will happen. They will reign with Jesus for a thousand years in the Millennial Kingdom. The survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship Jesus and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest (Isaiah 11:6-8). Israel will be the head of all nations, not the tail like today (Deuteronomy 28:14). Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will come, and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, “Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek Jesus. I myself am going.” And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek Jesus and to entreat him. In those days, ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, “Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you (Zechariah 8:20-23). The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9) in 2030 A.D. Amen!
The Lord is Coming Back Very Soon
When king Frederick the Great of Prussia asked his physician to give him proof of the existence of God, the physician replied, “Jews!” God chose Abraham and his descendants to bear witness to him throughout history. God proclaimed the fate of Israel at the dawn of their civilization through Moses. In this paper, we walk through the history of Israel. We verify the promises that God made in the Old Testament to the Israelites. These promises span over decades, centuries, and even millenniums. The recurring theme of oppression and salvation, sins and forgiveness, diaspora, genocide and the miraculous reestablishment of the Israel state. We see the hand of God behind all these to fulfill his prophecies, curses and blessings announced at the onset. Indeed, the Jews are a living proof of God since ancient times.
Only the eternal living God has interacted with mankind throughout history. Only the Christian God has made known his plans before the events happen. Siddhartha Gautama did nothing after 400 B.C. Muhammad might have written a book before 632 A.D. Confucius was just a banner raised by kings to unify thoughts and rule the country. Greek gods are only good for Hollywood. None of them had plans for mankind and continued to drive history through all generations.
God does nothing before he reveals his plan (Amos 3:7). God always acts using man as an instrument or an agent. In the Old Testament time, God taught us good and evil, rewards and punishments using Israel, hoping to set an example for all other nations. That plan failed because man failed. My boys once asked what God has done since Jesus’ time. In the New Testament time, God acts through the Church to spread the gospel across the globe, preserve the Scriptures in the Middle Ages, inspire numerous masterpieces in music, paintings, sculptures, poetries, books and arts, build universities, schools, hospitals, charities, promote love, friendship, kindness, family values, social justice, equality, help the poor and sick, transform the life of billions of people, provide moral and spiritual guidance. I am one of the many who are blessed by the free and high-quality education of my church school, Ying Wa College founded by Rev. Robert Morrison. All the good deeds by the Christians are done in the name of Jesus by the Spirit of God.
God has prepared for the world two witnesses, first the Jews and then the Church, to give the world testimony. God has inspired the writing of the Scriptures to tell us his nature, his plans, his promises and fulfillment. The Bible was not written by an unemployed dude in his mom’s basement. It was written by various authors in different spaces and times over millenniums. The authors did not live together to collude with each other in writing. Some might not even be aware of the work of others. Yet, the Bible is remarkably consistent in its message and unity. In fact, it has one and only one message: God creating a new being, the Church, for his Son, Jesus, to rule together in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1).
This paper is written that you may believe that God is true, the Scriptures are divine and Jesus is the Son of God (John 20:31). Jesus’ return is imminent. You have less than six years left. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15).
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