Teachings Bible Chronology A critique of Arthur Wares Chronology with proposed improvements (technical)A critique of Arthur Wares Chronology with proposed improvements (technical)
BIBLE-CHRONOLOGY (Overview & Critique) - Derek Walker
1. History
A. Sir Edward Denney-the discovery of JUBILEE-principle which combined with UNRECKONED TIME formed the basis for the REDEMPTION CHRONOLOGY as the controlling structure of time.
It also revealed the way 490 year cycles are compatible with the fundamental structure of ONE DAY = 1000 years. Denney also gave
us the correct understanding of Daniel’s SEVENTY WEEKS.
Denney therefore laid the foundations for the subject.
B. Gratten Guinness developed the typological application of the
7 TIMES prophecy, establishing some key end-time dates for the ending of the Times of the Gentiles. Although his dates were a pre-fulfilment
to the final dates of 1948 and 1967, they pointed out 1933 as a key year which led to the further discoveries by A.E. WARE and his team.
C. A.W and his team were led to mark the key date of June 12th as the cutting off of the Gentiles (Romans 11), thereby marking the end of a major cycle of time that began with the cutting off of
Assuming a fundamental Bible Year of 354 years they tried to use this as for the basis for a complete Bible Chronology, only departing from it for the time of
Now we can accept this because 33-1933 indicates God measures Gentile years in 354 day years. Moreover before the Flood the lack of seasonal variation meant a solar year was not needed. Likewise a solar year was only really needed by God’s people from the Exodus. Now it is possible that a luni-solar year was also in operation, but it is a reasonable assumption that God measured this Gentile time in 354 day years.
Then when He separated
Even if they were not always right, AW and his team broke much new ground and massively moved the BC forward by developing many of the ways of thinking necessary to getting exact calendar dates for the Bible.
The corrections we make, although important, are of the nature of fine-tuning a engine that they developed. However this engine needs these adjustments or it will never work properly. It has personally taken me many years (on and off) to reach the point of sufficiently understanding the inner workings of this engine and how it was put together, to feel able and competent to try and take it apart and put it back together as it should be. The end result will show if this venture is successful or not.
Problems: However despite their claims that they had found a perfect chronology there remained obvious problems and incompleteness.
1. Understanding the nature of time after 1933 became difficult and involved mystical interpretations why the rapture did not happen then. Attempts to make predictions were mostly unsuccessful.
2. Daniel’s 70 Weeks do not work out to the day, unlike apparently the more popular, but inferior
3. They had to adjust the start of Daniel’s 70 Weeks by 14 years from well-established history of the time (444BC-458BC). This was corrected by Martin Thompson (MT) who modelled their chronology with a computer program, having deduced they used the Jubilee based luni-solar calendar rather than the later Metonic system. He found an error in one of the intercalated months. He also realised from strong biblical reasons that the starting point was Ezra’s decree in 458BC not Nehemiah’s
in 444BC (which AW dated to 458BC against historical evidence).
This was Nisan 1, 458BC, and combined with a more precise modelling of the calendar led to a refined and simplified model of the chronology of Christ, whose winning advantage was an agreement with the times in Daniel 12 concerning the Tribulation re-run (1260+1260+75=2595 days). However it lost a key revelation of AW concerning the week after His baptism. Neither did it solve other problems with AW’s model such as the age of Christ at His baptism was not 30, the fact that He would break the law during his 40 day temptation, and maintaining AW’s assumption that His calendar was 354 days meant other problems remained. However these issues did not affect the large scale chronology much. Also MT helpfully clarified the key distinction between calendars & chronologies. Without MT’s computer model further progress on the chronology in developing improvements and testing them would not have been possible.
4. Other things difficult to explain and justify were also incorporated by AW, which bore the marks of trying to make something work that was not quite right, which is not the mark of Divine Perfection. The most obvious was the unreckoned time of 147 days of the Flood when the Bible clearly states otherwise (150/151 days). This unsatisfactory contradiction of scripture drove me (DW) to find a resolution.
What would be the effect of 3 or 4 more unreckoned days?
I also noticed a problem with AW’s 4 extra unreckoned days at the time of the Exodus that required a mystical explanation. Perhaps one error produced the other. Together with MT the solution was found.
There were 4 extra unreckoned days at the Exodus, and 4 less unreckoned days before the Exodus, so that the overall chronology was unaffected. The effect was basically to move Abraham’s birth from 11/7 to 15/7 - a definite improvement as well as a simplification. It also solved the problem of the use of the 360 day year during the Flood. This is a special year only used during times of worldwide judgment such as the Tribulation. However this adds 3 days to the normal year of the Flood, unless the remaining months were 29 days each (but see later for how even this works for good in solving another problem).
5. AW’s 6,000 Julian years of the Chronology of Man to June 12th 1933 (omitting the Time of Messiah, from John to the Ascension) can’t be quite right, as AW had to start it on the 9th day (an obvious fiddle). However in MT’s changes this Chronology starts after Creation Week (the 8th day) which makes more sense. However MT has to end the Time of Messiah at Pentecost instead of the Ascension but this can be justified.
DW (who does not like Julian years) proposes the 6,000 years of Man should more consistently be measured from the Fall (AW described this time as a Probation). This works if we use a luni-solar Calendar!
(by omitting John-Pentecost as MT does).
6. There was also the problem of a messy calendar change at the Exodus (and the need to stop the DC at the Flood even though it is a Calendar,
not a chronology), which was exposed when MT did the computer model. This was caused by AW only starting his Divine/Civil Calendar after the Fall of man, even though his Messiah’s Calendar started 40 days before. This strange decision was motivated (as far as I can tell) by the need to get a lunar alignment at the Flood (17/2). However, this was a false criteria as a true lunar year was not in use and so the Bible never requires or implies the moon to be 17 days old. Moreover if 17/2 was aligned then 17/7 would be out of alignment. DW suggested the problem is resolved by starting the Calendar after Creation week, so that the Divine/Civil Calendar (DC/CC) at that time is identical to the Messiah’s Calendar. In that case the Divine Calendar at the month of the Exodus is (1,7), leading to an exact 6 month adjustment to (1,1) for the start of
7. This in turn led to a realisation of a better way of thinking about the Calendars. AW’s Messiah Calendar (354 day) is simply the initial Calendar used by God, and would better be called the Gentile Calendar as it has no special messianic significance. This agrees with the use of this year from 33-1933AD. At the Exodus it did not stop but continued. It is just that as the anointing moved to Israel as His representatives, then the Divine Calendar switched to Israel’s luni-solar calendar which started at that time (hence the 6 month change). This luni-solar calendar was operating from Creation (Gen 1:14), but the Divine-Calendar was not according to it. This led to the thought that the Church (as a distinct people of God from
Nevertheless AW’s 6000 years ending in 1933 was valid, only it was not the Redemption Chronology (RC) but the Favour Chronology, which measured the transfer of favour between
(as described in Romans 11), but does not involve the Church which is distinct group called out from all nations without affecting national distinctions. June 12th 1933 marked the end of 6000 years of the Favour Chronology for Israel and the Gentile Nations and we are now on unreckoned time on this Chronology until Israel is anointed again after the Rapture to be God’s witnesses in the Tribulation (the 144,000),
and also for the Millennium (the 7 years Tribulation are a re-run of the
7 years of special Favour to
After the Rapture the remaining apostate church is rejected by Christ as His witnesses for He will spew it out of His mouth as He warns in Revelation 3.
Thus God’s anointed now is the Church alone, and the RC, which is still in operation (and not on unreckoned time) is measured by the Church and must have been since its Birth in AD33. Now the Rapture did not happen in 1993 after 1960 solar years. This implies the 2 Days of RC must be 2000 years (not 1960 years). This is confirmed by the fact that the Millennium being 1000 years not 980 years (Revelation 20:1-6).
The reason for this is that since the Cross the Jubilee has been fulfilled.
In the Tribulation a special 360 day world-wide judgement Calendar will also be in use according to Daniel and Revelation (as it was at the Flood) In the Millennium the DC will probably operate according to Israel’s
luni-solar calendar as Isaiah suggests in his reference to new-moons.
8. I also developed a revision of the Times of the Gentiles (see ‘The 7 Times of the Gentiles’) which showed how they end in 1948 and 1967 when correctly understood. This also shows the correspondence between the historical 7 Times and the Tribulation, leading to a reconstruction of the Tribulation with 34 days at Middle-Tribulation:
1260 (2 Witnesses) +4 (death and resurrection of the 2 witnesses) +30 (escape of the remnant to
the Lord) +40 days (leading up to the official start of the Kingdom).
I developed this structure before the further revisions described later in this document. I was pleased to discover that these revisions (especially the use of a solar year for the Time of Messiah) offer strong support for this chronology of the Tribulation. Understanding the Tribulation is essential for future projections, as well as for understanding how the Times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
*9. So far these were issues raised, shared and discussed with MT before 2007, and I had thought this was probably all the revision of the Bible Chronology that was needed. But at the turn of the year of 2007, I came to realise that there were still serious problems that had to be dealt with, before we could claim it was manifestly correct. There were a whole set of things ‘hard to believe’ that were unique to the AW chronology and that were without good biblical or historical support (and often against the evidence) that required a number of steps of faith in AW’s inspiration. These ‘strange’ things (which are readily identifiable to a student of chronology) felt like ‘sticky-plaster’ that has to hold something together that is a bit out of position; it needs to be added to make something work that has not been put together quite right. They indicate that the AW chronology is not perfect, for the true chronology should carry the marks of Divine perfection (the elements of a well built, fine-tuned engine will fit together and work together perfectly without the need for special devices to make it work properly). These things are not clearly taught by scripture, but are essentially of the nature of special ‘revelations’ or inventions of AW, discovered by him in the process of trying to make the details work out OK. Anyone following the chronology is required to believe them on the basis of AW’s authority, rather than other evidence.
This set of problems creates a sense of unease and uncertainty about the correctness of the chronology and makes it hard to fully understand, receive and teach, and the errors they represent and signal explain why God could not release the chronology on a large-scale. Many followers of AW’s chronology knew about these ‘special features’, but took them on faith in AW’s authority in the area, and because they could tell that AW had understood many things right and they knew the spiritual value and blessing of the AW chronology. It seemed that these features were all connected and intrinsic to the chronology and so rejecting them would mean rejecting the whole thing. So not wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater, we felt we had to receive it all and override our unease at certain features. However if it is possible to discard these problems without destroying the overall AW chronology, these improvements should be welcomed.
It should be noted that in analysing and critiquing AW’s work (including his mistakes), we are acknowledging the great work he did with his team
in moving the Bible Chronology forward, and without their work we would not be anywhere close to where we are in understanding BC.
We are not destroying it and starting again, but we are trying to purify, preserve and promote his good work. Unless this is done it will never reach the body of Christ as it should. We believe AW in heaven would be pleased with this project. Although AW expressed great authority and certainty, he would not claim infallibility. Reading many of his writings with the advantage of hindsight reveals errors in terms of date-setting and interpretation of the times we live in. So my position is that AW was called of God and often heard from God, and I witness to the basic value and correctness of his work, but also that it was not complete and contained a handful of errors that spoilt its perfection. Our project is to identify and correct these errors and bring BC to perfection. I believe that we should accept what AW claims the Lord clearly told Him, but that we should not necessarily accept AW’s interpretations and deductions, but test them. We have the advantage over AW of: (1) hindsight - being able to look back and see another 50 years of end-time history, (2) having access to modern technology (computers) and astronomical knowledge of lunations & equinoxes, and (3) developments in understanding the prophetic scriptures. This puts us in a good position to revise his work.
The same 4 questionable issues would be listed by anyone who has studied AW’s work. (They primarily relate to the chronology of Christ‘s life, but they also have a small effect on the overall chronology):
(1) The Moon-Miracle (God stopped the moon for 2 days in AD 33,
a major miracle not mentioned by the Bible or noticed by history).
(2) The Calendar Rule (Nisan 1 must be after the vernal equinox, especially at the time of Christ, in contradiction to the Jewish records).
(3) The Monday Resurrection of Christ (contradicting the plain meaning of scripture and the uniform belief of the Church from its start).
(4) The use of the 354 day year for measuring the life of Jesus, without any scriptural basis, when this year was not even in use then.
After analysing the interconnections between these 4 issues (which I give in more detail in other document), I was surprised to find they were bound together in such a way that they all stand or fall together. Also I found that they all originated from AW’s discovery of the 354 day year in use from 33-1933AD. The basic mistake was that AW then assumed this was the main Bible year (in contradiction to Genesis 1:14). This in turn caused him to overuse the 354 day year. In particular he assumed it was used for the Jesus calendar in constructing the chronology of His life (issue 4 above). Issues 1-3 were then a logical consequence of trying to make issue 4 work. Moreover if issue 4 is wrong then it follows that so are issues 1-3. Thus all the remaining problem areas are all rooted in the overuse of the 354 day year, which we now understand to be merely the year God uses for the Gentiles. When these corrections are made certain dates (especially in the life of Christ) are changed, but the large-scale structure is preserved, including 6000 years ending on June 12th 1933.
I believe that the end result is much simpler and easier to understand and teach, requiring no leaps of faith (having to believe something without biblical foundation). Thus I believe this removes the remaining kinks.
It is clear to me now that the use of the 354 day year for the two time measurements in Luke 3 (30 years) and Luke 13 (3/4 years) was a mistake, and if so then it follows that the other 3 issues are also in error.
Luke tells us Jesus was 30 when He was baptised, and that He then ministered for 3 years, and then warned
the Romans used), both of which stay in step with the seasons, and so
on average are 11 days longer than the 354 day year used by AW.
This is confirmed by the internal evidence of these passages:
Firstly, the priestly requirement in the law (Numbers 4:2,3) is that a
priest must be 30 luni-solar years, which Jesus did not fulfil if He
was 30 in 354 day years (actually He would only be just over 29!).
Jesus Christ, of course, is the fulfilment of the offices of prophet, priest and king. Moreover, His Baptism on the AW system requires Him to also break the law during His Temptation as it puts Him in the wilderness during Tabernacles when all Jewish males are commanded to be in
when He was baptised as Luke implies (only generally close).
Moreover in Luke 13 the parable is based on an agricultural situation
when the owner comes every year at the same time looking for fruit on
the fig-tree (
for fruit! Clearly a solar or luni-solar year is in view. If Luke is writing primarily to Jews then it would be luni-solar, or if as a Greek or Roman himself he was writing to Romans and Greeks (see the reference to Theophilis at the beginning) then He would be using a solar year.
At first I assumed it would be luni-solar, but crunching the numbers
has led me to believing these are primarily solar year measurements.
I shall argue that this makes theological sense, as well as being consistent with the context of Luke’s Gospel (why it was written and who it was written for). Many believe Luke wrote Luke-Acts to be part of Paul’s defence when he was on trial in
of Christianity and in particular the nature of Paul’s ministry and what
was behind his arrest, thus establishing his innocence.
Although the plain reading of Luke would indicate he was using a solar or luni-year (as that is what his readers would assume, and Luke would not want to mislead them), AW (in his desire to use the newly discovered 354 day year) claimed that Luke used this year for Jesus’ life. In so doing he had to interpret these scriptures in terms of a ‘secret calendar’ of Jesus not known to the reader. Now the idea that Jesus would have had a personal calendar was a genuine insight, but if it operated on a 354 day year then we would expect better results from it than we actually get, especially for His death. But the main problem is that AW interprets these key scriptures in Luke according to a secret calendar using a year length that was not being used at that time. If Luke was doing this without indicating it, he was misleading his readers. This is not good Bible interpretation. Yes, we may discover spiritual meanings, types and patterns that lie under the surface of scripture, but these must be built upon a foundation of the plain reading of scripture. We are not free to replace the plain meaning with mystical (secret) interpretations.
Any interpretation or application must never violate its plain meaning. This is my main reason for rejecting AW’s use of the 354 day year for the life of Jesus. The second reason is that it does not work well, and as
a result it spoils and distorts the Bible chronology for His life.
AW’s justification for using a 354 day year for Jesus was that calculating back from Christ’s death on Passover AD 33 gets you to His birth on Tabernacles in 1BC (a Feast alignment) - only it doesn’t - it is out by
over 3 days (based on the calculated position of the moon at that time),
even by making the Feasts at that time a month later than most would make them based on the historical records of that time.
Moreover even before we consider how AW solved this 3 day problem, we should point out that even then the 10 hours of Hezekiah have to be invoked to make things turn out right, which is fine except that AW does not invoke these 10 hours at any other time - which is inconsistent.
As MT’s computer program makes clear there is a serious fudge here.
AW says (correctly) that these 10 hours meant that Divine time (which is lunar) was displaced by 10 hours from civil time, so that the sacred day started at 8am, 10 hours before the civil day started at 6pm. Thus Jesus was born at 8am and the days of His personal calendar all start at 8am. (all good so far). MT’s program shows Jesus born at 8am on 14th Tishri (not 15th) DC, but this is explained by the fact that the 15th on the DC actually opens 10 hours earlier at 8am of that day. But if that is the case why does MT not show that day as the 15th Tishri on the DC according to his noon-rule? If he applied the 10 hours in this way to the DC at Christ’s birth, then he would have to do it generally, but that would be difficult because AW didn’t do it generally and MT was modelling his chronology Why didn’t AW apply the 10 hours generally to the DC, especially to the time of Christ’s death and resurrection? Because doing so would have spoiled it all, in such a way to destroy his whole system using the moon-miracle. So he had to hold back from saying clearly that the DC was generally displaced by 10 hours.(Only the Jesus calendar has a consistent 8am start). However for Jesus’ birth, AW is forced into a special pleading that Divine time is adjusted by these 10 hrs. We can’t have it both ways! Either the 10 hours is applied to the DC or it isn’t! On AW’s system, if it is applied, then his chronology for Christ’s birth is saved, but His chronology for Christ’s death, burial and resurrection is fatally messed up. On the other hand if the 10 hrs are not applied, then His Birth is not on Tabernacles which is unacceptable. Without this result the Chronology loses its key result and verification, and the 354 day year assumption
(the basis of AW’s calculation of Christ’s birth) loses all credibility.
This subtle inconsistency (well-disguised) is actually a fatal flaw to
AW’s system, and by itself shows something is fundamentally wrong.
Now let’s get back to the less subtle 3 DAY error.
To correct this discrepancy it was necessary for AW:
(1) To say that two weeks after the Exodus God moved His DC ONE DAY from Israel’s civil calendar as a judgment (before they even sinned). Now something like this happened later with the 10 hours of Hezekiah putting the DC out of phase with the Civil Calendar (but this is clearly an action of God adjusting His astronomical clock). But if both of these corrections were made the Divine new month would actually took place before the last astronomical month ended! In fact, I believe that it was only with the later 10 hour adjustment that the DC moved out of phase with the CC, moving more into line with the astronomical new moon.
(2) It was also necessary to claim that the moon stopped for 2 DAYS between the death and resurrection - an amazing miracle, of which the Bible is unfortunately silent! AW claimed God spoke to him about this, but the Lord only told him that He did not ‘reckon time for one who is dead’ (that is, on Christ’s personal chronology/calendar and probably on the DC). But the Lord never said He actually stopped the moon - that was AW’s thought. This also led him to the novel idea that Jesus rose Sunday midnight/Monday morning (as 2 complete DAYS/48 hours were now required) which is not otherwise implied by the Bible or even suggested, much less accepted at any time of church history (we will discuss this in full along with the 3 days & 3 nights in another document) Basically an AD 33 crucifixion means it could not happen on a Thursday, which means the extra day needed for the moon miracle must be found by making the resurrection a day later. Now this requires unusual mystical interpretations of some scriptures which in their plain meaning refer to a Sunday morning resurrection which the church has always believed. Now ‘the 3 days and 3 nights’ is the only biblical evidence that can be given in support of this, but this by itself (without the moon miracle) would never lead to the Monday resurrection, as it would clearly contradict scripture. This is why those looking for a literal interpretation of the 3d & 3n always go for a Wednesday or Thursday crucifixion rather than a Monday resurrection.
The bottom line is that the moon miracle in AD33 requires a Monday resurrection, and if there was no moon miracle a Monday resurrection would be impossible. Thus the Jesus 354 day year, Moon Miracle and Monday Resurrection stand or fall together. They are either all true or all false. Each is vital to the others for the system to work. But if one is false they all are. I believe the initial error was the 354 day year and the other 2 are ingenious fixes to try and make the chronology work.
(3) Moreover to make the chronology consistent with the 354 day year for Jesus, AW’s year-starts tend to be later than what we know the Jews used at that time (see Josephus and other ancient sources) especially in 1BC (His birth) and 33AD (death), leading to a April 29th AD33 Passover (about a month later than the generally accepted time of Passover 33 - April 1st) - although this is out by 2 days for there to be a full moon then, and this has to be corrected by the moon miracle. AW’s system gets these late year-starts by using the year start rule that requires Nisan 1 to be in Spring (that is, after the equinox), when the Bible simply insists that the Feasts must be in their seasons, that is Nisan 14 must be in the Spring (after the vernal equinox), and probably also Tishri 15 (Tabernacles) must be after the Autumnal equinox (this is a stronger condition which would automatically mean that Nisan 10 is also after the equinox, which is appropriate,
as it could be seen spiritually as being part of the Passover).
Again it is clear that this year-start rule stands or falls with the other 3 issues already mentioned. If the moon-miracle did not happen then it follows a Friday AD33 Passover had to be on April 1st which requires
a different rule (Passover a month later in May would have been on a Sunday!). Conversely, if we did not have this late year-start rule, then again Passover would be on April 1st and the moon-miracle (as well as
the 354 day year and the Monday resurrection) would be impossible.
In conclusion, the 354-day Jesus year, the moon miracle, the late year start and the Monday resurrection all stand or fall together, and they all happen to be the issues people have a problem with, because they don’t seem to agree with the biblical and historical records. They are either all true or all false. I submit they are all false, and their origin is easily explicable from one false assumption - the 354 year for Jesus. Without that, not only are they impossible, but they are not needed to fix things. In fact I hope to show that without this assumption, we end up with a simpler and clearer chronology, in better agreement with the biblical and historical sources.
There are only two alternatives:
(1) All 4 issues above are true, or (2) all are false.
The 4 issues again: (1) The Moon-Miracle,
(2) The Calendar Rule, (3) The Monday Resurrection of Christ,
(4) The use of the 354 day year for the life of Jesus.
Let us test these 4 issues against the historical & astronomical evidence:
*1. The moon miracle is by nature unlikely, but we could believe it if the Bible teaches it, but it does not. Moreover the historical records deny it by their silence. Surely such an event (a month 2 days longer than usual) would be noticed by the people of that time. Even more convincing is the fact that all the records of eclipses before AD33 would be made false. However it seems that these records are in excellent agreement with the astronomical calculations which assume that there was no moon miracle.
So, recorded historical eclipses before Christ’s death are well matched astronomically, which should not happen if there was a moon miracle.
AW’s original confirmation, namely that the age of the moon at Creation (March 3rd 4075BC) was 2 days out from being new (as AW assumed it should be), now works against him, because a more accurate knowledge of lunation variation now shows that the moon would actually have been new at Creation without the moon miracle, and a 2 day correction would now spoil that! (see Hermetic Systems online for the relevant lunar phase software). As for the Julian calendar starting on an astronomical new moon, that provides poor evidence for the moon-miracle (even negative evidence) for the Romans were able to calculate when the conjunction took place and use that for the start of the new month & their new system
NEW MOON RULE. I believe that
La Yahweh Press) says if the conjunction was during the night, then it is reckoned as belonging to the last day of the old month, and the next day (6pm) would be the first of the new month. If the conjunction was
during the day, then it would be reckoned as if it happened that evening and the New Month would not start until the next evening at 6pm.
This rule means that the New Month starts approximately when the new crescent would be visible under ideal conditions. Only relatively late did the Jews base it on the actual observation of the new moon crescent.
So it would not be strange for the Romans to start their Julian calendar at an astronomical new moon. Moreover even if there was a mystery over why the Romans started the calendar before the sighting of the crescent, the moon miracle would be a long way down the list of explanations.
Thus this Julian argument by itself carries little weight.
The unrevised AW chronology stands or falls on this unrecorded miracle. It’s not an isolated extra for the other 3 key issues depend on it being true It has a fundamental role in determining the key dates of Christ’s birth, life and death and therefore it is imperative we determine its truth value.
*2. The year start can easily be checked with records of the practice of the time such as Josephus: “The observation of the autumnal equinox, i.e., ‘the going out of the year’ (see Exodus 23:16), and of the spring or vernal equinox, called ‘the return of the year’ (1Kings 20:26; 2Chron 36:10 AV), was important for controlling the calendar and consequently the festivals. Thus the year began with the new moon nearest the vernal equinox when the sun was in Aries (Jos., Ant. 3.201 [better to see
There is clear evidence that the year start rule used by
Also evidence is strong for a Friday April 1st Passover a month before: Firstly, it gives an exact fulfilment of Daniel’s 70 Weeks to the day
in the calendar-year in use (ending at His death and resurrection),
whereas any chronology using AW’s calendar-year for Jesus and his resulting date for the Cross will not give an exact fulfilment (and certainly not one in the calendar-years used by that chronology)
Secondly, it has been established that on April 1st there was a lunar eclipse reaching its maximum at 5pm and becoming visible from Jerusalem as the sun set and the moon rose, at about 6pm, causing a blood-red moon in fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy of the moon turning to blood and the sun turning to darkness on the same day, which Peter quoted in Acts 2 as evidence that Jesus was the Lord-Messiah. Peter was speaking to people who had just recently personally witnessed these very signs in the heavens. No wonder his words had great impact, as Peter reminds them how Joel connects these signs with the Coming of the Lord! Now we know that the cancellation, rewind and rerun of the 70th Week meant that Joel’s prophecy was not completely fulfilled in AD33, but there was enough correspondence for Peter to say:
“This is that which was spoken by Joel.” God did enough through the signs in the heavens, earthquakes and the outpouring of the Spirit to show He was ready to fulfil it all on time, had
Interestingly, I will show that the Day of the Resurrection is the last day of Daniel’s 70th Week (the last day of 7 solar years = 2556 days).
There follows after that the 40 days. On the DC, there is an exact rerun of the 70th Week in the Tribulation, ending at the Second Coming (the great and manifest Day of the Lord), with 40 days following after that. Therefore the Resurrection Day corresponds exactly to the Great
and Manifest Day of the Lord on the Tribulation rerun.
It was heralded by a supernatural Blackout, just as we know the
Second Coming will be (according to Joel 2 and Matthew 24)!
We also know that at about the same time as the Blackout before the Second Coming there will be a total lunar eclipse (Joel 2, Revelation 6).
Thus we would expect to have a lunar eclipse on the day of the Cross,
to fulfil prophecy, to indicate God was ready to fulfil the 70th Week,
to have a true agreement with the rerun; especially in view of Peter’s use of Joel 2 to show the outpouring of the Spirit was a fulfilment of prophecy - for he extended the quote to include the two astronomical signs, surely because they were both fulfilled a few weeks before!
The Day of Christ’s manifestation closes the 70th Week and marks the fulfilment of the prophecy, namely the Kingdom established through the Presence of the King - (had Israel received Him, Christ would have initiated the establishment of His Kingdom on the day of His Resurrection). However Daniel 12 indicates a further 40 days of preparation before the Kingdom officially begins. These 40 days are mirrored in the 40 days from the resurrection to the ascension, when instead of sitting on David’s throne, Jesus had to sit on Father’s throne, waiting until He could return and sit on His own throne on earth.
Now if on the DC, God does not reckon time during Christ’s death, that means the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord in AD 33 (15th Nisan DC) opened at 8am on the Day of Christ’s death, with the Christ on the Cross and the sun turning to darkness and (if the April 1st date is correct) the moon turning to blood. Then within the same sacred Day there is the glorious manifestation of the resurrected Christ! Truly a great and manifest Day of the Lord! Likewise in the Tribulation on the CC,
the last Day of the 70th Week will start with a full lunar eclipse and supernatural darkness (Rev 6:12) and end with His glorious manifestation. All this demonstrates that the Day of the Cross and Resurrection foreshadowed the time of Christ’s Return, and it would have been the day He would have appeared in glory to establish His Kingdom had Israel received Him. But because of their rejection of Him, He only manifested Himself to His disciples. However God marked the start of this great day with heavenly signs in the sun and moon as Joel prophesied, so that men might know the Lord had indeed come on time, and that He had been ready to fulfil all prophecy.
Peter’s reference (in His Pentecostal sermon about Christ’s Resurrection) to Joel’s prophecy of the sun turning to darkness, just before the Lord’s glorious manifestation and the outpouring of His Spirit was a clear reference to the supernatural darkness at the Cross that they all witnessed. He was saying: ‘Look how the sun went dark, and the earth shook when Jesus was crucified, just as it was prophesied in Joel. Look at His empty tomb, as it was prophesied in Acts 16. Look at the Spirit poured out upon all as Joel prophesied. All this proves Jesus is the Lord and Messiah!’ Now in the very same sentence when he mentioned the fulfilled sign in the sun as evidence for Jesus being the Christ, he also quoted Joel’s prophecy about the moon turning to blood (their standard way of describing a certain kind of lunar eclipse where the earth’s shadow makes the moon appear blood-red). The implication of Joel’s prophecy and Peter’s quote is that both these signs happen at about the same time, just before the Lord appears in glory. Surely this implies that a lunar eclipse had to happen on the day of the Cross along with the supernatural darkness. This establishes April 1st as the day of the Cross, not April 29th (AW).
*3. There is no Biblical or historical evidence for a 354 day calendar in use for Jesus’ life. On the contrary we know He observed the feasts according to the Jewish luni-solar calendar. Moreover He would have been familiar with the solar calendar used but the Roman occupiers.
*4. A Monday resurrection seems to disagree with the plain meaning of scriptures. Whether it is: ‘the first day of the week’ (as in Mark 16:9) or: ‘of the weeks’ makes little difference as the first day of the weeks leading up to Pentecost is always a Sunday (the day after the Sabbath).
Thus scripture plainly says He rose on Sunday morning. AW’s alternative explanation is certainly not the plain reading of these verses. In any case, Mark 16:9 makes AW’s interpretation impossible and
thus He is forced to deny that the ending of Mark 16 is even scripture - and I strongly disagree!
Thus the historical evidence is against all 4 of these definitive issues
which makes AW’s chronology hard to accept without reservation. Moreover we have seen that even if one of these 4 is wrong then they
must all be wrong. This means that the probabilities are very much
against AW being right on these issues.
God made the sun, moon and stars for signs (Genesis 1:14) and put the Gospel in the stars, in which the sun represents Christ and the zodiacal constellations represent various aspects of His work (see my power-point). Thus the Sun in a certain Sign signifies the Son in that phase of His mission. Now we would expect confirmation in the stars of the correct chronology, especially that the sun would be in the appropriate sign when Christ was actually fulfilling the prophecies in His Birth, Death and Second Coming. By using the corrected earlier year-start rule Christ’s birth at Tabernacles is when the sun in Virgo. Moreover Revelation 12:1-5 specifically tells us that there was a sign in the heavens connected to Christ’s birth and describes a specific alignment of the sun, moon and Virgo as the woman was about to give birth to the Messiah. On September 27th, which is Trumpets 2BC (His birth in the revised chronology is now in 2BC) this very sign appeared as an announcement of His impending birth 2 weeks later at Tabernacles on October 11th. On this day we have the exact picture in the heavens that is described in Revelation 12:1-5 where the woman (Virgo) is clothed with the sun and the moon is under her feet, with the serpent Hydra moving past! Thus there literally was a sign in the heavens announcing Messiah’s birth exactly as Revelation 12:1 describes and claims! However according to AW’s timing and dates Trumpets and Tabernacles are a month later, and the sun is not even in Virgo, let alone the moon. This rare configuration and my other constellation claims can be verified by free astronomy software, e.g. at: www.stellarium.org (it uses Julian dates). This software will also verify the lunar eclipse of April 1st 33.
Moreover, as Josephus says, the sun must be in Aries at Passover, and indeed it is on April 1st 33AD. It is fitting of course that at His sacrificial death as the Lamb of God, the sun should be in Aries, the Ram, who is in the act of breaking the bands holding Pisces (believers) to Cetus (the monster of sin and death). This would have been all the more dramatic when the stars appeared at midday when the sun was darkened as the Roman records inform us (in other words it was not a freak dust-storm). They would have all seen the darkened sun in Aries, signifying that the Son of God was suffering as the sacrificial Ram of God, our sin offering, bearing the darkness of our sin upon Himself. Of course there is no such confirming sign on AW’s dates a month later. All this confirms the year-starts should be a month earlier than AW’s at Christ’s birth and death.
This is confirmed by the Return of Christ at Trumpets-Tabernacles ~2033 According to the revised chronology, the sun will be in Leo, the Lion, signifying the appearance of Christ as the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings (pouncing on the head of Hydra). This is just as we would expect But there is no such alignment a month later. (The reason the sun is not in Virgo at Tabernacles anymore is precession of equinoxes over 2000 yrs).
The late year-start rule is a serious matter as it seems this was an error Jereboam introduced when the Northern Kingdom rebelled and he desired to set up an alternative worship system changing the times and places of worship. One thing the Bible criticises him for is celebrating Tabernacles one month later (in the 8th month according to God):
1Kings 12:32-33: “Jeroboam ordained a feast in the 8th month, on the 15th day of the month, like unto the feast that is in
by changing the year-start rule and adding an extra intercalated month accordingly. Ever since then it is known that the Samaritans (the remnant of the Northern Kingdom that stayed in the land) have continued to this day to use Jereboam’s late start rule, which says that the new year must start after March 25th (the equinox used to be March 25th on the Julian calendar). This is essentially the year-start rule used by AW, but it is
not the Divinely ordained rule! Jesus said to the Samaritan woman that ‘salvation was of the Jews’ which among other things meant He endorsed
This pile of problems leads me to conclude that AW’s original assumption must be wrong. The Jesus calendar is not 354 days, and neither are the time measurements of the life of Christ in 354 day years! Therefore these must either be in luni-solar (l-s) or solar years.
I originally assumed that l-s years were meant, but now after some number-crunching it seems clear that the time measurements related to Christ are in TRUE SOLAR years. This includes Luke’s 30 years and 4 years, also the Time of Messiah (Daniel’s 70th Week, the 7 years starting with John the Baptist) and the personal calendar of Christ. In solar years things work out so much better with the 70 Weeks Prophecy and with the chronology of His Life and Ministry, as I shall endevour to show.
The key time periods are all in Luke and so a solar year agrees well with the purpose of Luke’s Gospel in presenting Christ to the Romans and Greeks (for God caused the Romans to start using a proper solar calendar in 45BC in time for the Coming of Christ). More importantly, Messianic time must be solar for theological reasons and consistency. It strikes me how right it is for Messianic time to be solar. Since He was of
during His life), but as for His own Messianic Ministry chronology surely the Sun of Righteousness would use a true solar calendar! Moreover the Church Calendar is solar as AW himself realised.
Now if Christ’s body is on solar time, then since the Head is identified with the Body, He must also be on the same calendar-year.
Thus Messianic time is TRUE SOLAR, not the 354 day year.
When we apply this rule then the Chronology of Christ works perfectly. Messianic Time is true solar - not Julian, not even Gregorian.
These are just approximations to true solar by which God reckons.
His personal Calendar is solar from His birth, with days starting at 8am. His Messianic chronology that covers His ministry starting at the opening of the 70th Week with John’s ministry is also solar. Therefore the 30 years of Luke 3 and the 3/4 years of Luke 13 are all true solar years.
Thus it follows that there was no moon miracle, and the rule for the year start must be changed to let it start earlier. So rather than requiring the start of Nisan and Tishri to be after their respective equinoxes, the rule becomes that the Feasts Passover and Tabernacles must be in their seasons after the 2 equinoxes (20/21st March, September 22/23).
Now this does not mean that God’s original rule meant that the year must necessarily start on the nearest New Moon to the equinox (so that Passover is on the first full moon after the equinox) because there was a Jubilee system of intercalated months (on the 3rd, 6th, 8th years of each 8 year cycle, with the Jubilee cycle made up of 6 of these, with a final 49th year before the next cycle began) which also governed the year starts. Only very occasionally (about every 600-900 years) did an extra month
have to be added on top of this to stop the year starting too early.
This may help to explain why the recorded Elephantine recorded year-starts from 500-400 BC are late in that this may be a natural consequence of Israel’s Jubilee l-s system if the rare extra intercalation had happened just before. Another possibility is that Israel’s exile calendar came under Babylonian influence from when she came under Babylonian dominion (as shown by their adoption of Babylonian month names). Now it is known that about 500BC the Babylonians changed to the later year-start rule of Nisan 1 after the equinox, whereas before that their year starts could be before the equinox. The reason seems to be to do with the zodiac, which was very important to them. Their year until then had always by definition started in Aries, but because of precession this rule was about to be broken. Therefore so that the year would always start in Aries they changed their year-start rule, and then continued with this rule, and the Jews in exile may have followed suit. However, we also know that the Jews who returned to the land did not conform to this Babylonian change in the year-start at 500BC, and so their year-starts would often be earlier than Babylon’s. Certainly we know that at the time of Christ the Jews were not using the Babylonian rule, but often had year-starts before the equinox. This is of course the crucial issue as far as the Christ’s life is concerned. This alone disproves AW’s dates, since he was in effect unknowingly using the Babylonian system. The fact that Christ and God honoured the feasts as practiced by the Jews at the time proves that they were applying the correct year-start rule originally given by God to Israel at the Exodus.
In conclusion, I believe we can apply a single year-start rule for all of Israel’s history, which is the rule practiced by Christ and the first-century Jews, which basically is (according to Jewish records) that Passover (Nisan 10-14) must be after the equinox, but not necessarily Nisan 1 . This disproves the AW use of the 354 day year for Christ, as it necessitates using the later year-start rule. However it would be interesting to test the Elephantine data to see if it is consistent with any l-s system (Jubilee v Metonic, and Biblical v Babylonian year-start) - giving 4 combinations to test. In testing the Jubilee system we must test its 3 variations that are based on when the first Jubilee cycle starts (Exodus, Exodus+40, or Exodus+45/46/47). I believe Exodus +46/47 may be correct. The results will be illuminating, but not determinative for BC. If the l-s calendar starts before the Exodus, this may also affect the start of the Jubilee cycle.
The effect of changing the year-start rule, as discussed above, is to lower the baseline below which the year start is not allowed to go by about 10 days. This in turn will mean that the extra intercalated month will be added later (after the time of Christ rather than just before). This means that the year-starts in 458BC are unaffected, but the actual year starts for the time of Christ and the early church will be uniformly earlier by a month than AW has them. Thus revising the year-start rule will lead to the correct dates for the life of Christ in agreement with Jewish records of the time. Thus although Josephus’ rule is an oversimplification and would not hold at all times of Israel’s history, it was generally true for the time in which he lived, when the full-moon was normally the first after the equinox on the Jubilee system (since it was in the time just before the end of the 900 years when it was necessary to add the extra month which made the year generally start later again).
Julius Africanus tells us that Israel originally used the Jubilee system. Now even if the Jews stopped using this system by the time of Christ,
and instead used a system based on Josephus’s rule (the first full moon after Passover) it would have made little difference as far as the time of Christ was concerned. In either case the years would often have started
a month earlier than on AW’s system (including the years of His birth and death), and so the true date of the Cross is 4 weeks before AW’s date.
The Birth of Christ in 2BC. With a l-s or solar year for Luke’s ‘30 years’ and ‘3/4 years’ leads to a 2BC date for Christ’s birth, rather than 1BC which has the advantage of being a more straightforward reading. We know His death is Passover 33AD. We know His life is about 33.5 years (30 years to His baptism and 3.5 years ministry until His death). This leads to His birth at about Tabernacles 2BC - there is no year 0).
In fact, since He was born on Tabernacles 2BC, His life was exactly 33.5 luni-solar yrs.
Moreover 2BC agrees well with the Census of Cyrenius at Christ’s Birth (see ‘Handbook’ - Finegan, Secrets of Time - S.Jones, Earnest Martin).
Also significantly most early Church historians give Christ’s birth at 2BC. The main issue with 1BC or 2BC has been the general view based on Josephus that Herod died in 4BC, so Christ had to be born before that. Josephus says he died just after a lunar eclipse and then details a series of events leading up to Passover that year (that would take at least a month, maybe 3). Now there was a minor eclipse on 13th March 4BC which has been generally understood to be the one, but this leaves little time before Passover. Moreover there are 2 better candidates in 1BC (January 10th
and December 29th). Now taking December 29th means Herod died in early 1AD and thus it is possible Christ died in 1BC as AW says if the wise-men came soon after His birth. However to reconcile 1AD with other statements of Josephus requires Galloway’s assumption and explanation (which is possible but not generally accepted).
If however we take the January 10th eclipse with Herod dying soon after in 1BC, then Christ’s birth was in 2BC. Now it is easier to reconcile this date for Herod’s death with Josephus (as Filmer demonstrates and as Finegan accepts in his Handbook of Bible Chronology). In this case Galloway’s extra assumption is not needed. Thus a 2BC date now has significant support by a section of modern scholarship on Josephus, unlike the 1BC date. In fact this recent scholarly realisation and re-evaluation of Josephus is most welcome as it removes one of the main stumbling blocks for people to accept the chronology - namely the belief that Jesus was born in 4BC. However their work which is gaining greater acceptance only justifies a 2BC birth of Christ from Josephus, not a 1 BC birth. Again we note that the wise-men came only a few months after the birth which makes sense (why would they delay 2 years?, and why are the family still in Bethlehem after 2 years?).
Stephen Jones uses Ernest Martin’s astronomical work to show why Herod killed babies 2 years and under just to make sure. This involves
the signs in the heavens that the Magi followed. Martin’s book on the
Star of Bethlehem shows an unusual series of astronomical events including planetary conjunctions that the Magi would have seen as significant that took place over 18 months starting in the middle of 3BC, concluding on December 25th 2BC (the visit of the wise men).
He explains the star of Bethlehem in terms of the ‘king planet’ Jupiter.
This activity was sufficiently impressive for many planetariums to adopt
it as a Christmas show. Now perhaps the Star of Bethlehem was supernatural, but the wise-men would have had these signs in addition,
and they would have been part of their explanation to Herod.
Moreover Sept 29th (Julian) which is Trumpets 2BC has the astronomical confirmation described in Revelation 12:1-3, which announced the impending birth of Christ. Notice how judgment fell on Herod immediately for he fell sick and died within a month!
All this establishes that a 2BC birth is clearly consistent with:
(1) Josephus, (2) early church historians and (3) the signs in the heavens, whereas a 1BC birth cannot make this claim:
(1) For Josephus one must follow Galloway’s reconstruction (unfortunately no one else does nowadays).
(2) Early church historians almost uniformly go to 2/3BC.
(3) There are no signs in the heavens connected to a 1BC birth.
Therefore one also has more difficulty explaining Herod’s massacre of
2 year olds. One has to then explain it in terms of a delayed arrival of
1 or 2 years of the Magi, but then one gets big problems with reconciling Herod’s death with Josephus and his eclipse. Moreover we have to ask why they would arrive so late for such an important date!
Thus the historical evidence is in favour of 2BC over 1BC, and this in turn gives us another test for the 354 day year over a solar or luni-solar year for the 30 years of Jesus until His baptism. Assuming His death was in Passover 33AD (which is foundational to AW chronology and confirmed by records of the supernatural darkness) then His baptism was in the Fall of AD 29 (3.5 year ministry). Now 30 years back takes us to the Fall of 2BC, hence a 2BC birth is the straightforward interpretation.
Only by taking these 30 years in a secret 354 day year calendar do you get to the Fall of 1BC. If this unusual interpretation was true we would expect some historical confirmation, but the opposite is true as we have seen. Thus if we use the birth of Christ as a test for the use of the 354 d year for the life of Christ (verses a solar based yr) we again find against it, and this agrees with our earlier conclusions (the 3 other tests of the 354d year related to the yr-start, moon-miracle and day of resurrection).
In conclusion we submit that the AW chronology should be adjusted by:
(1) Changing the year-start rule.
(2) Rejecting the use of the 354 day year for the life of Christ.
(3) Rejecting the moon miracle.
(4) Rejecting the Monday resurrection.
(5) Having the Civil and Divine Calendars (CC & DC) identical until the 10 hr adjustment at Hezekiah. The two did not go out of phase at the Exodus.
In fact there are good reasons to believe that the Civil, like the Divine is calculated on the basis of astronomical New Moon, as previously described, which enables us to know, rather than guess when it was. However we will have to apply the right rule carefully especially to important years, using lunar-phase software. In his program MT applied the next day rule for the Civil Calendar which is an over-simplification.
The same rule applies for the DC as the CC except for the 10 hour adjustment after 700BC. Joshua’s long day actually has no effect as both sun and moon were stopped and God does not work by atomic time (otherwise we might as well give up now with the complications that would cause!). Hezekiah’s 10 hours does cause the Divine to move ahead of the Civil by 10 hrs. If the DC stops at Christ’s death
(and I believe it does) there would be a further adjustment
(but not quite the same as the 2 Days required by the AW moon miracle). Then again when the sun and moon stop for a time at the Second Coming (Habakkuk 3) and that will cause another calendar adjustment.
Now I believe that the Bible dates are generally Civil (not DC), by the nature of the case, for the Bible writer would record dates according to what was being used by man at the time. The main exception seems to be the synoptic Gospels in their record of the Last Supper, where it seems that the disciples were keeping the Passover Meal on the Divine Calendar, where the 14th Nisan would be from 8am Thursday to 8am Friday. Harold Hoehner (in his ‘Chronological aspects of the life of Christ’) says that many Galileans followed this sunrise calendar, in which Passover was celebrated a day earlier. It seems that Jesus kept and endorsed this calendar also since it was the Divine Calendar.
However to avoid confusion God did not mix the Civil and Divine for dates, but on this occasion it was important for Him to show that the Last Supper was a true Passover Meal. One could speculate that one reason Hezekiah’s 10 hours were to make this double Passover possible to achieve the full revelation of the New Covenant. Moreover in revealing
a different Calendar at the Last Supper, God was demonstrating the existence of a distinct Divine Calendar, which at that time was about
10 hours out of phase with the Civil one. (The main reason, I am sure, for Hezekiah’s 10 hrs has to do with creating the right calendar positioning for the DC for the time of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection). However, unless there are strong reasons to believe otherwise, we should assume all Bible dates are Civil.
The Revised Chronology. It should be apparent that the chronology resulting from these changes will be simpler to understand and easier to receive, since many questionable issues are removed. If it is correct then we would expect this to become evident when it comes to the number crunching. That is, when the life of Christ is calculated to the day on this new basis, it should all work out in an exact and pleasing way without having to twist things to make them fit.
We make the following observations as to the result of these changes:
(1) Christ’s death is now Friday 1st April (Gregorian), 3rd April (Julian)
(2) Christ’s resurrection is Sunday 3rd April (Gregorian). 6am.
(3) Christ’s ascension is Saturday May 14th
(I believe it is at 6pm May 13th, at the opening of the 14th in Jewish thinking, after He appeared to the apostles for 40 days, remembering that He only first appeared to them after 6pm on the day of the resurrection. See Acts 1:3 for the exact definition of the 40 days.
(4) Pentecost is now May 22nd.
These dates are about a month earlier than AW. The Cross is 4 weeks earlier. The Resurrection and Pentecost are 4 weeks and 1 day earlier.
(5) The birth of Christ is Tabernacles 11th October 2BC (Gregorian),
14 days after Trumpets 27th September (with Rev 12:1-3 in the stars).
However because of equinox positions, the true solar anniversary of
His birth will usually be 10th October.
*What a perfect solution should achieve. (If we achieved all of these it would confirm that we are using the right chronological measurements):
The capstone of BC is the measurement of Christ’s Life and Ministry.
*Requirement 1. We expect an exact result connecting:
(1) His BIRTH (Tabernacles 2 BC), (2) His BAPTISM (AD 29),
and (3) The end of the time of grace to Israel (AD 33).
That is, we expect to have exact time spans connecting these 3 events as described in Luke 3 & 13. We have seen how this was attempted using the 354 day year and that this attempt failed in a number of ways:
(1) the 30 & 3 years do not connect at Christ’s Baptism as they should,
(2) the span of 34 years only works by invoking a set of unlikely assumptions (such as the moon-miracle) as discussed previously.
(3) Moreover there is an inconsistency not yet mentioned concerning the 2 cut-offs on Oct 10th (Israel) and June 12th (Gentiles). AW, by Divine leading, which I believe we must respect, clearly marks June 12th 1933 as the cut off date (not June 11th). The opening of the 2nd Tower of Babel was the final act that demonstrated the Gentile ripeness for judgement, and was therefore the moment the Gentiles were cut-off. Therefore June 12th is the last day of the 1960 Gentile (354 day years). Thus this new cycle started on Oct 11th AD33. Therefore Israel were cut off the day before on Oct 10th when Stephen was murdered, the corresponding act of Israel’s leaders when they confirmed their rejection of Christ and demonstrated their ripeness for judgement. This interprets the parallel events of AD33 and 1933 in a consistent way. This means that the last day of Luke’s 34 years is Oct 10th, but this gives the birth of Jesus one day too late. If on the other hand we work forward from Christ’s birth on Tabernacles, then the 34 years end on Oct 9th as MT shows on his program. He then has to date Israel’s cut-off to Oct 9th, with the new cycle starting on Oct 10th 33 and ending on June 11th 1933, which means the last day of Gentile favour is June 11th, and thus they were cut off on June 11th. The events of June 12th then have to be interpreted differently - now they simply demonstrated that the Gentiles had already been cut off. Now AW fudged this one day problem, but MT exposed it and reinterpreted it in the only way possible. But the problems of this interpretation are (1) that the parallelism between the ways God dealt with Israel and the Gentiles in 33 & 1933 is lost
(namely: a final rejection of God followed by the cut-off) and much more seriously:
(2) it contradicts the account of AW concerning the events of 1933 where God clearly marks June 12th not 11th.
*2.We expect an exact fulfilment of Daniel’s 70 Weeks starting at Nisan 1 458BC and ending at its true climax, the death and resurrection of Christ.
*3. AGREEMENT BETWEEN the 70th WEEK and its RERUN.
We expect a similar patterning of the original 70th Week to its rerun in the Tribulation, involving a period of 3.5 years for John’s main ministry.
It was Sir Edward Denney who realised that the 70th Week (AD26-33) would rerun at the end of the age and that it would have a similar pattern. He saw how the Tribulation was in two 3.5 year halves and that Christ’s ministry was 3.5 years according to John’s Gospel. He deduced John’s ministry must have covered the first half of the 70th Week (the fact that the Time of Messiah actually began with John’s ministry is supported
by the Gospels). Now when we get down to precise calculations,
we would expect to see an exact outworking of this principle.
The fundamental structure of the 70th Week is 7 years divided into two halves (John and Jesus Christ). This pattern of 2 halves is repeated in the Tribulation rerun where Elijah has a ministry of 1260 days corresponding to the time of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit of Elijah (exactly 3.5 years on the calendar of that time which seems to parallel his original 3.5 luni-solar year ministry) followed by the antichrist’s 1260/90 days (3.5yrs) corresponding to the ministry of Christ of 3.5yrs. As a judgment for rejecting the prophet John and Jesus Christ, Israel must go through
a corresponding time under Israel’s false-prophet and the antichrist.
This 7 year judgement (2026-33) 2000 years (40 Jubilees) after 26-33 was fore-shadowed by the 7 year Jewish War (Spring AD 66-Spring 73), exactly 40 years after. This is significant as this war is described in the 70 Weeks Prophecy of Daniel 9 as a consequence of Israel rejecting Messiah (Daniel 9:26b). Thus Daniel 9:24 gives the overall view of the 70 Weeks, v25 gives the breakdown of the first 69 weeks leading up to the 70th Week described as the Time of Messiah. But this time ends in apparent failure with the Messiah not having His Kingdom yet (v26a). The 70th Week is left blank, because it is cancelled and rerun in v27 as the Tribulation, at the end of which Messiah must return and establish His Kingdom to fulfil the prophecy of v24. Therefore by its very nature the Tribulation is the rerun of Daniel’s 70th Week (AD 26-33) and the two 7-year period should have much in common in their timings.
But before that, Israel comes under a more immediate judgement as a result of her rejection of Messiah (v26b), fulfilled in that same generation in AD 66-73. Then follows the second consequence -the Tribulation in v27. Thus there are two 7 year judgements (one at the start of the intervening age and one at its close) corresponding to the 7 years of grace rejected. These two judgements are clearly both connected to the events of v26a, and to each other by the phrase: “the people of the prince to come (antichrist).” Thus the invaders of Jerusalem in v26 (which we know were Romans in AD 70) are the same people as the antichrist who will later invade in the Tribulation (AD 2030).
Thus AD 66-73 (v26b) foreshadows the Tribulation of 2026-2033 (v27). Both involve a Jewish holocaust with massive casualties. They both divide into two halves with the 2nd half being far worse than the first half. At the mid-points the Roman general (Vespasian) and the Roman leader (antichrist) are both made emperor (world dictator). In both sets of 7-years Jerusalem is invaded and the Temple desecrated/ destroyed. This will happen at the half-way point in the Tribulation (v27), and it happened soon after the half way point in AD70. Jesus in His exposition of Daniel’s prophecy in the Olivet Discourse spoke of both of these invasions, the first resulting in the Temple’s destruction, and the second resulting in the Temple’s desecration. In connection with these two parallel events, He gave two similar warnings for believers to escape Israel before it was too late. The sign for the first escape (in AD 66-73) was Jerusalem surrounded by armies, and for the second escape (in the Tribulation) was the Abomination of Desolation that antichrist will erect in the Temple.
Now in the Tribulation there is also a Mid-Tribulational interval between these two halves. In particular Revelation 11 marks out 3.5 days before the second half (the Great Tribulation begins). After Elijah completes 1260 days he is killed but is resurrected on the 4th day. In one sense his ministry ended after 1260 days, but his final greatest witness to Israel was 3.5 days later. It would be interesting if something similar happened in AD 29. Also the total Time of Messiah (from John to the Ascension) must agree with what Daniel 12 etc tells us about the corresponding total length of time of the rerun (2595 days).
Thus the two 70th Weeks (the Time of Messiah and its Tribulation rerun)
should have the same fundamental characteristics. There should be a demonstrable repeat of the main timings of the 70th Week.
Now we know from the Tribulation 2,595 days that there are:
*Two exact 3.5 year halves with a 3.5 day interval in the middle,
with another interval at the end after the main 7 Weeks are finished.
*The Week reaches its climax on the Day of the Lord - the 2nd Coming.
*The total period that is rerun is 2,594-5 days (Note the special wording of: “Blessed is he who comes to the 1335 days” in Daniel 12).
Moreover we know from the first run of the 70th Week, that there is a clear second half of about 3.5 years (the ministry of Jesus), and that the Week (7 Years) reaches its climax at the Day of the Lord’s Resurrection,
after which follows a final interval of 40 days before His Ascension.
(This tells us that the last 40 days of the 2594/5 take place after the 2nd Coming, leaving 2554/5 = 1260+3.5+1290+1 for the 70th Week itself).
Thus the fundamental pattern we should discover repeating when the right calendars are used is: 3.5 years-3.5 days-3.5 years (which should also form an exact 7 years on another calendar), with these 7 years reaching their climax with the great day of the Lord’s manifestation to set up His Kingdom (‘the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord’ which really means His Great and Manifest Day), thus fulfilling the 70 Weeks Prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. This is then followed by 40 days of preparation before the Kingdom is officially established.
Thus we should not just expect the total number of days of the rerun (2594/5) to repeat, but the number of days of the 70th Week itself
(leading up to the day of Christ’s glorious Manifestation) to repeat exactly, since the 40 days after that is a distinct period of time that follows on after the 70th Week (which by definition must be exactly 7 yrs). Thus there must be a repeat of length and structure.
Clearly it is quite a tall order to achieve all these alignments, so if we find all these things automatically fall into place when we choose a different year from the 354 day year, then we know we have struck gold!
One of the appeals of the AW chronology was that it seemed to achieve some of these results with a 354 day year. However we have discussed some reasons why it was not as successful in fulfilling Requirement *1
as it may have seemed, in that it required a number of unfounded and
even strange assumptions (sticky plaster) to even make it partly work.
Although AW got a start and end point for the 34 years (but he needed
the moon-miracle for this to work), a closer look at the intermediate time of Jesus’ baptism and temptation shows it to be not fully satisfying.
Also Requirement 2 is not satisfied - Daniel’s 70 Weeks don’t work out exactly on AW’s dates whatever way you choose to measure them.
Requirement 3 is only partly satisfied. Yes, AW specified 1260 days
for John until Christ’s Baptism, on the basis of the Tribulation rerun. But then he had to have various other periods of time before His 30th birthday and the actual start of His ministry (thus the start of His ministry and His 30th birthday is disconnected from His Baptism). Now MT’s work tidied things up somewhat, and importantly he realised the need to get and indeed got (on the DC) the same length for the total Time of Messiah as the Tribulation rerun (2595 days - as given in Daniel 12). Moreover with MT’s revised date for the start of the Time of Messiah, Nisan 1, AD 26 (but not with AW‘s original date) there are exactly 7 solar years to the resurrection making a perfect 70th Week! This also means that ‘the 7 years (until the resurrection) + the 40 days’ pattern works. This is clearly a step forward, but we did not notice it or its significance, because the 7 years is a solar measurement, and we did not imagine solar years were part of the chronological system for the life of Christ and so they were not considered relevant. In fact this fact that is revealed by MT’s improved version (which corrected the error in the starting point, and which as a result got the right total length of the Time of Messiah, thereby bringing this fact into focus) is another strong indicator from God that for the Time of Messiah we should think solar! My result of proposed version is basically similar to MT’s, but with the start and finish dates moved a month earlier. So, although this is an oversimplification of the effect of my changes this key ‘7 solar-year’ result is not affected by my revision. In other words, although MT’s version was not perfect, it got close enough to reveal a genuine result that in turn points us to the final solution.
However in many ways the result was still not really satisfactory.
For example, I had noticed that it could not be right as Jesus would be breaking the law during His Temptation by not being at Tabernacles as commanded by God. Also His Baptism was still disconnected from His 30th birthday and ministry-start. Also in the AW chronology there is no exact 3.5 year measurement connected with the ministry of Jesus for the 2nd half of the Tribulation. Thus we do not have a very good similarity of pattern between the 70th week and its rerun. We can’t even get two 3.5 year halves with a mid-tribulation interval, because of the timing of the start of Jesus ministry. The only similarity is the 1260 days of John and we only have that by assumption. The only other positive is that through MT’s work the total length of the Time of Messiah is correct.
In conclusion, we cannot say we have achieved a satisfying chronology
of Christ that comes close to satisfying the stated Requirements.
The Solution.
To understand the overall structure of Christ’s ministry, let us consider the 2 key passages in Luke upon which it must be based (in Young’s Literal):
Luke 3:21 And it came to pass, in all the people being baptised,
Jesus also being baptised, and praying, the heaven was opened,
22 and the Holy Spirit came down in a bodily appearance,
as if a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, saying,
`Thou art My Son -- the Beloved, in thee I did delight.'
23 And Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, son of Joseph, 24 the [son] of Eli…
The plain reading of the Gospels marks His Baptism as the definitive start of His ministry (surely the 40 days is an important part of His work). Moreover Luke tells us His Baptism was on His 30th birthday! At His baptism Luke says (literally): He was beginning to be (turning) 30. The link with His birth-day is confirmed in that Luke chooses this moment to trace His human genealogy! Why else would Luke wait till now to talk about the origins of His birth? He is connecting His anointing and the start of His ministry to priestly requirement in the law of being 30. His credentials for Messianic ministry are connected to His birth, and so Luke gives His birth information (His human descent and time of birth), telling us He had the right pedigree and that He had just reached the right age (30). Thus the fact that this baptismal section is all about His BIRTH, confirms that we should take Luke literally when he says Jesus was just becoming or turning 30 when He was baptised.
In other words, it was His 30th Birthday! Luke was making an exact chronological statement here! Now AW also took this statement literally as exactly 30 years, but in order to fit it into his chronology he had to disconnect Jesus’ 30th birthday from His baptism and put it over 40 days later. But scripture clearly connects the end of these 30 years to His Baptism! (Luke 3:21-4:2). If we take it literally it has to mean Jesus was baptised when He was 30! This is so obvious I can’t believe I did not see this before, but it was MT that brought this inconsistency to my attention and set me on the right path.
The second key passage measuring His ministry to Israel is:
Luke 13:6-9: “A certain one had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit in it, and he did not find; and he said unto the vine-dresser, Lo, 3 years I come seeking fruit in this Fig-Tree (Israel), and do not find, cut it off, why also the ground doth it render useless? And he answering said to him, Sir, suffer it also this year,
till that I may dig about it, and cast in dung; and if indeed it may bear fruit; and if not so, thereafter you shall cut it off.”
When I realised that the 354 day year was wrong I naturally tried
to apply a luni-solar year to the Time of Messiah (Daniel’s 70th Week),
but I was disappointed to not find a perfect solution.
The key breakthrough was when MT pointed out that he had always felt that a weakness of the previous models was that Jesus was not exactly 30 at His Baptism as the scriptures imply. On MT’s program, Jesus is 30 only after His 40 day temptation, and this is then taken to be the start of His ministry (for Luke 13’s 4 years of Christ’s ministry are measured from His 30th birthday). Thus the baptism is sidelined and is not the central link of Christ’s chronology, whereas scripture surely marks it as the key event (with the manifest presence of the Trinity with their authorisation and empowerment of Christ).
The problem with the previous solutions is that: (1) the plain wording
of scripture in Luke 3 links His 30th birthday to His baptism.
(2) theologically the start of His ministry must be His baptism!
Thus a perfect solution would have Him baptised on His 30th birthday (His birth being at Tabernacles) after John had ministered 3.5 years,
and this would initiate the start of His ministry of grace to Israel, and
after 4 years of Israel’s rejection Israel is cut off on October 10th 33AD.
Moreover Daniel’s 70 Weeks should be fulfilled at His death/resurrection.
Amazing Results when a True Solar Year is used.
Having rejected the 354 day year and failing to get anywhere with the l-s year, I turned to consider the solar year without any great expectations.
I then noticed that with His birth on October 11th 2BC and 10th October 33AD - the date discovered by AW as the cutting off of Israel - we have 34 solar years (a perfect match with the 34 years of Luke, giving an exact fulfilment of Luke 3 &13)! I then realised we should take the solar year seriously. This indicates that Luke is measuring by a Solar Calendar (and not Luni-Solar) and that the personal calendar of Jesus is probably also Solar.
This makes good sense from the readers’ viewpoint as Luke was writing his Gospel to a Roman official called ‘Theophilis.’ On a wider level, Luke was a Greek Gentile writing a Gospel to appeal to the Gentiles (showing Jesus as the perfect man), and measuring time in Roman (Gentile) terms (Luke 3:1), so that the reader would naturally understand his years to be solar, in general agreement with the main Gentile year of that time as used by the Roman Empire which was then dominant over Israel and the world. More importantly on a theological level we know the Calendar of Christ’s Body, the Church, is solar, so it is logical that the Calendar of the Head is also solar. John’s Gospel seems to measure time in Gentile Roman terms (e.g. in his day starts and references to the Feasts of the Jews) which would of course suit his mainly Gentile readers), but I believe he is really thinking in terms of the Church Solar Calendar with its midnight day-start. In preparation for the Gentile dominated Church Age, God led the Gentile world into using a Solar Calendar with a midnight day start, so that our calendar would at least be in approximate conformity with His. Therefore it is a divinely designed coincidence that when the Gospel writers (Luke and John) used Christ’s solar calendar, it was in many ways like the Roman Calendar their readers would have used. Thus in naturally assuming that the writers were using the current Roman Solar Calendar they were not being mislead. There are of course subtle differences between the Roman Julian/Gregorian Calendars and Christ’s (and His Church’s) true Solar Calendar, but the point stands that the Gentile readers would have correctly understood the time references in the Gospels. It has been shown by other usages of the word, that the insertion of ‘about’ in Luke 3:23 does not necessarily imply a lack of precision. But it may have been added, because although Jesus was exactly 30 at His baptism on the Messianic true solar and the Jewish luni-solar calendar, He would have been 30 a day later on the Roman Julian Calendar. Thus inserting ‘about’ meant that the statement was true in all 3 calendars, and that readers assuming that Luke used the Roman year were in no way mislead!
At this point I realised that in order to have the accuracy required to reconstruct Christ’s solar-based chronology and demonstrate its perfection and that it fulfils all the requirements, we need to establish and define what kind of solar year is used by God. My belief, confirmed by the number crunching, is that there is only one candidate that God would use: the TRUE SOLAR YEAR. The Julian and Gregorian years are simply two human approximations. But how can we define the true solar year?
It became clear that its main reference points have to be the equinoxes, and I was surprised to find that they divide the year into two unequal halves. Vernal to Autumnal = ~186 days. Autumnal to Vernal ~179 days.
“The autumnal equinox is ‘the going out of the year’ (Exodus 23:16),
and the spring equinox, is called ‘the return of the year’ (1Kings 20:26; 2Chron 36:10 AV). The start of a solar years must be defined in relation to the VERNAL EQUINOX (~March 21st) which defines the start of Spring, and this has always been the case in history until the Romans unfortunately changed it to January 1st for political reasons.
In my reading I discovered that easily the best solar year around was the Persian year whose two halves began at the two equinoxes. The year begins at the spring equinox and the first 6 months are 31 days, then the next 5 months are 30 days, with the last month either 29 or 30 days.
The length of the last month was such as to start the next year at the vernal equinox. When I saw this, I realised that this was the only obvious way to set up a true solar year. Thus in making accurate solar measurements it is necessary to know the exact timing of the vernal equinox of every year. Fortunately there is accurate and not very expensive software for this (see Hermetic systems mentioned before
and their Chinese Calendric software which also does lunar phases).
I also determined that in God’s mind this kind of Solar Calendar has been running from Creation (although its use on earth was reserved for Time of Christ and the Church-Age) with its days being measured from Midnight. Therefore Luke’s time measurements for Christ should be understood against this kind of true Solar Calendar.
The Midnight start is important for determining the day of the equinox in some years.
The Midnight start is confirmed by the fact that when this calendar came into manifestation for the Church-Age (through Rome) 2000 years ago, it had a Midnight start, and John’s Gospel and Acts also put God’s seal upon Midnight. I believe that the ultimate reason for Midnight is that this Calendar is calibrated to when the DC moved to it at the Resurrection (the details of this will have to wait, but I am not implying by this that I believe in a Midnight resurrection, but that the time changes in the DC during Christ’s death and burial, effectively changed the DC day start from 8am to Midnight). Based on this calibration in AD33, this solar calendar must have had a midnight day-start throughout time (God being outside time). Thus God started this calendar at creation with a midnight day-start, so that when the DC would start operating according to it (at the resurrection) it would be correctly aligned.
In summary, the solar year used by God is tied to the vernal equinox,
has a midnight day start and is calibrated to the key events of the life of Christ. Time periods may sometimes differ by a day from the Gregorian measure, according to the timings of the vernal equinoxes in the years concerned. That is, the extra (366th) day happens on different years on a true solar calendar than a Gregorian. This is revealed in the fact that the Vernal equinox can be on the 20th or 21st March on the Gregorian Calendar. The year-start is tied to the Vernal Equinox (it must be a fixed number of days after it) and the second half of the year must start 186 days later at about the time of the autumnal equinox (intercalated days are only at the end of the year, not half way through the year).
It strikes me how similar this Persian style solar calendar feels to Israel’s original luni-solar calendar: in being tied to the vernal equinox, in having a consistent month pattern, and in having an occasional intercalated day at the end of the year that is added in order to start the next year at the right time. The same Designer!
Now we are ready to show how well Christ’s life works on this Calendar:
1. Jesus was born on the Feast of Tabernacles 2BC, October 11th.
2. His 30th Birthday on both the Luni-Solar & True Solar Calendars was October 10th 29AD! Thus Jesus was baptised on His 30th birthday, which was also the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, fulfilling the type of the Dedication of Solomon’s Temple, which is as we would expect. Tabernacles signifies God’s indwelling of man, so what Divine event (apart from His birth) has more connection to fulfilling Tabernacles? This is why in John’s Gospel as Christ’s ministry begins, the focus is on Christ being the true Spirit-filled Temple (1:32,33,43-51, 2:13-22, 4:20-26).
3. This means Jesus’ ministry was exactly 3.5 luni-solar years!
4. Jesus then had 7 days of priestly consecration at the Temple,
in fulfilment of the law (as AW discerned in Leviticus 8:33-35).
Now we can see that this was during the Feast of Tabernacles, so He also fulfilled this Feast, whereas in the AW chronology He could not, because He was being tempted in the wilderness. These 7 days would probably start the next day and finish at the end of the 8th day of Tabernacles. Then after these 7 days, He entered the 40 day Temptation (note the parallel with the 7 days of Creation week, followed by the 40 days).
5. Jesus’ Baptism is also on 15/1 on Jesus’ personal solar Calendar (JC). This is significant as it prefigures His death, burial, resurrection and anointing in 33 which all take place on 15/1 on the Divine Calendar. The basis for this is that I have started His personal Calendar at Divine Trumpets 2BC, so that its first month starts at the start of the 7th month in the DC (which was then 10 hours behind CC), that is at 8am. In this way His Calendar (JC) starts in phase with the DC (with both DC and JC starting a new month together at 8am and continuing to have day-starts at 8am). It seems certain to me that the JC must be in line with the DC rather than the CC, because of the unity of the Father and Son. Thus initially (1,7) on DC = (1,1) on JC. Now the precedent for this is at the Exodus when the identical thing happened when the l-s calendar of Israel was introduced (at her national birth) alongside the existing Gentile Calendar. Notice the Israel Calendar was not started at her birth on the 15th, but 14 days before at the start of the month, such that (1,1) on the new calendar is (1,7) on the previous calendar. So I suggest that the Calendar of Jesus, the King of Israel, is introduced just before His birth in the same way that the Calendar of Israel was introduced just before her birth at the Exodus, with the same kind of sychronisation with its companion that had already been in operation (Israel & Gentile, Father (DC) & Son (JC). If this is acceptable then we find the amazing result that all the events of His death and resurrection take place on the Day of Atonement (10/7) on His personal Calendar! Thus the Book of Hebrews is correct in saying the Day of Atonement has been fulfilled! It had always been a problem to me that while the events of the Day of Atonement formed the main Type of Christ‘s death and resurrection, on no calendar did these events happen on the Day of Atonement (10,7). The events of the Day were fulfilled by Christ, but not the Day itself, which is inconsistent with how God generally fulfils the feasts on their actual day (for by their very nature they are time-markers and sign-posts). But now I see that most appropriately the Day of Atonement was fulfilled on Christ’s personal calendar.
I believe that this result verifies the way I have set up the Jesus Calendar.
*If Jesus was baptised at 8am on this day, then it was when He was exactly 30 in true solar and luni-solar terms, and the close of 15/1 JC!
6. We have an exact fulfilment of Luke’s 30 years and 4 years, running from His birth (Oct 11) to the cutting off of Israel (Oct 10th)!
Luke 3:23 tells us His Baptism is on His 30th birthday. Thus this scripture actually covers a total time-span of 30 years and 1 day (from His Birth to His Baptism) Luke 13 covers a time span of exactly 4 years. Therefore together they cover 34 years and one day, so that the final day would have been His 34th birthday (Tabernacles on a solar calendar calibrated to His birth). I believe He gave a second chance to Israel in the 141 days from Pentecost (implied in Luke 13 by the special efforts made in the 4th year to cultivate the fig-tree) and theoretically on this final day He would have manifested Himself at Tabernacles as their King. I believe that His ‘standing at the right hand of God’ at Stephen’s death (rather than sitting which is His posture throughout this age) indicates that He was ready to return to earth at that time as Israel’s Saviour-King. However instead on this day (Oct 10th) they were cut off.
Now although some translations say Jesus was 30 when He began His ministry, it literally says He was ‘beginning to be 30’ when He was baptised, in other words on His 30th birthday. I believe this means
His ministry officially began on the next day, October 11th, with His
7 days of consecration. Luke 13 says that after He had completed 3 years of this ministry, Israel had exactly one more year before being cut off.
4 true solar years from October 11th AD 29 end on October 10th AD33, the date for the cutting off of Israel, that follows from AW’s discernment of June 12th 1933 as the cutting off of the Gentiles after another 1960 Gentile years. This solves the problem highlighted before, that arose with the 354 day year, namely the Oct 9th cut off of Israel leading to a June 11th 1933 cut off of the Gentiles in contradiction to AW’s claims of God’s leadings at the time. If however it is thought that the day of Christ’s baptism is also the first day of His ministry and the
4 years, then we get the 4 years ending again on Oct 9th (as on MT’s program) but this leads us to the same inconsistency as before.
Therefore after much thought I believe the interpretation set forth above is the correct one.
Thus Luke 3 & 13 give us two precise time measurements that fit together perfectly and exactly span His whole life and ministry of favour to Israel from His birth to their cutting off. Moreover they connect together at His Baptism and the start of His ministry!
Therefore I submit Requirement 1 is well and truly fulfilled! Now we turn to the Requirement 2 - a satisfying fulfilment of the 70 Weeks.
2. Daniel’s 70 Weeks fulfilled exactly!
Only on this system do we have an exact fulfilment of Daniel’s 70 Weeks. 490 l-s years end 13 days before the Cross implying the Daniel’s 70 Weeks are not purely measured in l-s years. Nisan 1 26 AD is on April 5th. This is the start of the 70th Week (naturally the first 69 Weeks are measured on Israel’s Luni-Solar Calendar). However, as we have seen the Time of Messiah (Christ) is SOLAR. There are 483 years ‘until Messiah’ but once the Time of Messiah has come it is appropriate that Messiah’s solar takes precedence over Israel’s l-s as far as the chronology of the 70th Week is concerned. Now if anyone is concerned that this means that the 70th Week is measured in a different way from the other 69 Weeks, then a look at the rerun of the 70th Week in the Tribulation will put this worry to rest. For Daniel and Revelation make it clear that the calendar of this 70th Week is the 360-day judgement calendar (it is based on ‘Times’ of 12 months of 30 days each, making 360 days) which is manifestly different from the l-s calendar of the 69 Weeks. Thus
scripture tells us plainly that the 70th Week is measured on a different calendar than the 69 weeks because of its special nature and purpose.
Now 7 True Solar years from April 5th AD26 end on April 3rd AD33, the day of the resurrection! On this day, had Israel received Him,
He would have manifested Himself in glory as their King to establish His Kingdom. Thus the 70 Weeks would have been literally fulfilled this day.
We have an exact fulfilment of the 70 Weeks ending at the Resurrection!
The 70 Weeks also have an exact true solar fulfilment
from Nisan 1 458BC (April 2nd) to Christ’s death (April 1st).
Although it is exactly 490 Gregorian years, it is actually the true solar 490th anniversary. But perhaps this is really an exact solar measurement from when the Decree was made to a key moment on the day of the Cross (8am-3pm). Also if this was a measurement on the DC it could be seen as ending at the resurrection.
There is of course another way 490 years are fulfilled (which works as before). The Time of Messiah is not a full dispensational change and so I believe the Redemption Chronology continued with luni-solar years. Thus there are 490 years of RC that run from 15/1 458BC-14/1/33. Thus 490 years on RC end at the Cross as before. Again, since the RC is probably related to the DC rather than the CC, this 490-Year Redemption Cycle actually finishes on the Day of the Resurrection as well (because of the almost 2 days of unreckoned time at that time).
Thus the end of 4000 years (4 DAYS) on the RC is April 3rd AD33 (the day of the resurrection) and the next day (April 4th) is the start of the new Redemption Cycle and
the next DAY of 1000 years. (In order for the 2000 years to end at Tabernacles 2033 there must be about 6 months of unreckoned time between 33 & 2033).
Thus we see that by using true solar for the 70th Week we have an exact fulfilment of Daniel’s 70 Weeks at Christ’s Death and Resurrection.
Thus Requirement 2 is satisfied!
This leaves us to see if Requirement 3 is satisfied - do we have a satisfying patterning of the 70th Week which agrees with what we know about its rerun in the Tribulation? In my work on the 7 TIMES of the Gentiles (see www.oxfordbiblechurch.co.uk) I deduced the exact patterning of the 7 Times of the Tribulation (1260+3.5/4+30+1260 days) before I had even considered the solar aspect of the Time of Messiah.
This also agreed with a similar pattern in the historical 7 Times of Gentile Dominion
(which corresponds to the 7 Times of the Tribulation, with years instead of days, as discerned by Gratten Guinness). Parallels include the desecration of the Temple at the midpoint (Dome of the Rock), and an interval of 30+3.5 days/years that is not reckoned as part of the 7 Times (2520). The 33.5 days at Mid-Tribulation correspond exactly to the 33.5 years of Christ (and both sets of 3.5 years end with a death, resurrection and ascension). 33.5 years is an exact measure of the Life of Christ in luni-solar years! Even the breakdown into 30+3.5 is exact with His Baptism on His 30th birthday at Tabernacles and His death 3.5 years later at Passover, and His Ascension soon after. By taking this time of the King’s Presence (33.5 years) as unreckoned in the Times of the Gentiles I show why the Times of the Gentiles actually ended in 1948 and 1967 rather than 1914 and 1933. The exact calculation that demonstrates why these 7 Times ended on the precise days that they did will have to wait for another Paper.
Therefore it was a great confirmation to me when I saw how well the patterning of the two 70th Weeks now matched. First of all let us construct the chronology of the Tribulation from the available data.
Tribulation Data
Daniel 9:24,27 tell us that the Tribulation lasts a Week (7 years) and that
at its close, Christ will have returned to fulfil the prophecies, destroy antichrist, consecrate the Temple and establish His Kingdom on earth-v24. The Week begins with antichrist and Israel making covenant and ends with him being destroyed by Christ at His Second Coming. At the middle of the Week, antichrist breaks covenant, invades Jerusalem and desecrates the Temple (we will see that this all takes place during a mid-tribulation interval of 3.5 days of unreckoned time). The Temple desecration/desolation marks the opening of the second half of the Tribulation. The desolation of the Temple will continue until the end of the Week when judgement is poured out on the desolator at the Return of Christ (v27).
Daniel 11:45 describes antichrist’s invasion of Israel at mid-tribulation. Daniel 12:1 announces that the Great Tribulation will then begin, but that God would provide a way of escape for the Jewish believers with the help of Michael (this is explained in more detail in Matthew 24:15-21, Revelation 12). In Christ’s commentary on Daniel, He says that the Great Tribulation will start when they see the Abomination put in the Temple (Matthew 24:15,21) and at that moment they are to flee for God will provide a way of escape for them. Revelation 12 describes Michael’s intervention to restrain and cast down satan at this time, and that the remnant (the woman) escape to a place where they are kept safe until Christ’s Return after another 3.5 Times (Revelation 11 covers the first half of the Tribulation and the 3.5 day interval. Then the 7th Trumpet is blown (11:15) and then Revelation 12,13 describe the events of the second half (the Great Tribulation). From the context the remaining time references in Daniel 12 (v7,11,12) relate to the second-half of the Tribulation, giving us more detail.
1. The First Half:
The 2 witnesses minister in the Temple for 1260 days (Rev 11:3).
Meanwhile the Gentiles control the outer court for 42 months (Rev 11:2). (Clearly a year with 12 30 day months is being used). This period is ended by antichrist killing the 2 witnesses and capturing the Temple.
There is then a 3.5 day interval while festivities go on celebrating the death of the 2 witnesses before they are resurrected on TV (Revelation 11:9-11). It is only after their resurrection that the 7th Trumpet is blown in response to the Abomination (Rev 11:13-15) - which initiates the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15,21). Thus the antichrist must desecrate the Temple at the end of the 3.5 day mid-tribulational interval. Daniel 9:27 tells us that at the mid-point of the Week (after the first 3.5 years) antichrist breaks the covenant and takes control of the Temple. He then sets up the Abomination, which Jesus said in Matthew 24:15-21 marked the start of the Great Tribulation (the second half of Daniel’s 70th week). The mid-tribulation interval is thus defined as the time from antichrist’s invasion to when he puts up the Abomination. In Revelation 11:9 this time-period is given as 3.5 days.
2. The Second Half (the Great Tribulation):
The Remnant flee and are then kept safe for 1260 days (Rev 12:6).
The Remnant flee and are then kept safe for 3.5 Times (Rev 12:14).
Antichrist is given authority as world-dictator for 42 months (Rev 13:5).
The antichrist will speak against God and persecute the saints
for 3.5 Times (a Time, Times and half a Time) (Daniel 7:25, 12:7).
Clearly these all refer to the same period of time of 3.5 Times = 42 months =1260 days and therefore a Time by definition is made up of 12 months of 30 days =360 days. The starting point for this period of time is when antichrist achieves full world-dominion. The end point has to be the Second Coming of Christ when He destroys the antichrist.
From this information we might assume the Great Tribulation lasts 1260 days. However Daniel 12:11 also describes a 1290 day period covering the time of antichrist, in terms of the total time the Temple is desecrated. Daniel 9:27 tells us that this desecration happens at mid-Tribulation (in the midst of the Week, that is during the mid-tribulation interval) and ends when judgement is poured out on the antichrist at the end of the 70th Week when Christ returns (Revelation 19). Daniel 9:24 also tells us that the desecration must end and the Temple area re-consecrated to God at the end of the 70th Week at Christ’s Return. It is impossible to imagine and also against these clear scriptures to say that the Temple remains defiled for some days after Christ’s Return. Therefore both the 1290 and the 1260 days end at the same time, the Return of Christ. This tells us that the Great Tribulation is 1290 days long, and that the Temple Desecration is 30 dys before the 1260 dys of antichrist’s world dominion begins. Thus there is a 30 day period in which the remnant flees to safety and antichrist establishes world-power and his mark of the beast system.
Daniel 12:11 tells us that the time of the Abomination desecration is 1290 days, which as Jesus confirmed is precisely the Great Tribulation, which is cut short (ended) by the Second Coming. Daniel 9:24-27 also confirms that the desecration of antichrist must end at the close of the 70th Week. Daniel 12:7 breaks the 1290 days into 30d +1260d. Antichrist is given 1260 days of world dominion. Therefore there is an initial 30 days (Rev 12,13) during which he quickly gains world-power, the remnant escape, and he sets up his mark of the beast system. Antichrist must desecrate the Temple 30 days before his world-dictatorship of 1260 days is established, for the 1260d and 1290d must clearly both end at the Second Coming. Now so far we have accounted for all 2594/5 days except for a final 41 days (see Dan 12:12) which must include the 1 day of His 2nd Coming and the 40 days after that before the Kingdom officially starts.
How are we to think of these 30+1260 days (30 days +3.5 Times)?
If this 360-day calendar is solar(and it is) then it would have an inter-calated month every 6 years, in which time it would have slipped 31.5 days. Therefore there would be an intercalated month of 30 or 31 days during the Great Tribulation (I believe the better solution is 31 days). This means that either the 1290 days of the Great Tribulation or the 1291 days (the 1290 days of the Great Tribulation + the 1 Day of the Lord’s Return) are exactly 3.5 Years on this calendar! I proceed assuming a 31 day extra month. (Do not confuse a Time with a Year, since a Time is always 360 days. The Years of this Calendar are usually Times, but when it has an extra month, a Year is 391 days, that is: a Time + 31 days).
Finally Daniel 12:12 talks about believers (only) coming to the 1335th day. The best solution for this longer measurement is to take it as measuring the extreme end-points of the time-period under discussion.
The start-point is the invasion of antichrist at the end of the first 1260 days (Daniel 11:45), which is the start of the mid-tribulation interval. This makes the total time period under discussion to be 2594/5 days.
We have already accounted for 1260 days (the first 3.5 years)
+ 3.5 days (the mid-tribulation interval) +1290 days (the Great Tribulation) + 1 day (the Day of the Lord’s Return).
This makes a total of 2554.5 days which leaves 40 days unaccounted for.
These 40 days must be after the Second Coming. They must tell us the length of the time interval before the Kingdom is officially established
(in which there are preparations, including resurrections and judgements, for the coming age). This explains why only the blessed (believers) make it to this 1335th day, for the rest (the cursed) are removed from the earth in the sheep and goats judgement during the 40 dys (Matt25:34,41)
This agrees perfectly with the corresponding 40 days of preparation that formed the epilogue of the first 70th Week (the day after the resurrection
to the ascension). Thus the Time of Messiah mentioned in Daniel 9:25, which is measured from John’s Baptism to the Ascension (Acts 1:21,22), consists of the 70th Week itself (up to and including the resurrection-day) followed by an epilogue of 40 days. This pattern is repeated in the rerun, which consists of the 70th Week (up to and including the day of Christ’s Return) followed by an epilogue of 40 days before the Kingdom starts.
Thus we have a total of 2594.5 days for the Tribulational 70th Week (+epilogue), which is broken into sections. The main sections are two
3.5 year halves of 1260 days and 1291 days (1260 +an intercalated month) with a 3.5 day mid-tribulation interval between them.
The 1291 days are the 1290 days of the Great Tribulation plus the one day of the 2nd Coming which closes out the 70th Week. Finally there
is a 40 day epilogue, making in total 2594.5 days which takes us to the official start of the Kingdom on the 2595th day, or the 1335th day after
the end of the first half of the Tribulation (Daniel 12:12).
Actually the original 70th Week is exactly 7 solar years (2556 days) on the CC,
but only 2554.3 days on the DC. It is rerun on the DC starting at about 10am and ending about 6pm on the Day of Christ’s Return. After this, there is the final 40 days until the Kingdom officially begins (at about noon). Fuller explanation and justification of these (provisional) detailed timings will be in another paper.
It seems that the 360 day judgement calendar (12*30) is basically solar and so it needs an intercalated month every 6 years to keep it in line with the seasons. Therefore there is an extra month added in the Great Tribulation and this is even revealed by Daniel 12:7,11. Thus the second half of the 70th Week which is 1291 days long (the Great Tribulation+ the Day of the Second Coming) is also 3.5 years exactly. The 70th Week is therefore made up of 3.5 years +(3.5 days)+ 3.5 years. It would seem that the 3.5 days are unreckoned on the chronology of the final 70th Week so that it is reckoned in its own right as exactly 7 years (as well as being the exact rerun on the DC of the exact 7 solar years of the original 70thWeek)
The reason we are told 3.5 days is clearly to indicate a specific hour change in the day by which we should measure. We obviously need this information to measure accurately and it will not work properly if we round it up or down to 3 or 4 days. This means we will have to work to the hour to get it right. Since the original measurement of Daniel’s 70th Week was from 6pm (10 hours into the day on the DC) and since the rerun is governed by the DC (which I found was necessary to make the rerun equal in length, a conclusion also made by MT, for on the CC his Time of Messiah is 2 days longer than the 2595 days) the first 1260 days of the Tribulation and the ministry of the 2 witnesses should also start 10 hours into the day on the DC (which now starts at midnight), namely at 10am. (I must admit I only came to this after a good deal of trial and error of other possibilities). The 2 witnesses are therefore killed at 10am and rise and ascend after 3.5 days at 10pm. Shortly after, at midnight, antichrist desecrates the Temple with the Abomination and his enthronement in the Temple, which is also the moment of the 7th Trumpet (God‘s response). These extra 2 hours at the end of the 3.5 days correspond exactly (in the historical 7 Times where a day=a year) in proportion to the 40 days of Christ after His resurrection and ascension, before sitting on His Father‘s throne instead of David‘s throne
(in the holy of holies), followed by the anointing of His new Temple (the Church) at Pentecost soon after. Moreover we will find that there is an exact counter-correspondence to this desecration of the Temple with the anointing of God’s Temple (Christ) at His Baptism at 8am, at exactly the same point (moment) mid-way through the initial 70th Week! Therefore the Great Tribulation (of 1290 days) begins and ends at midnight with the 2nd Coming of Christ and the opening of the Great Day of the Lord‘s Manifestation, which Matthew 25:6 says is at Midnight!
Now the prophets say that there will be a Blackout just before the
Second Coming of Christ (Isaiah 13:10, Ezekiel 32:7,Joel 2:31).
This is an obvious repeat of the Blackout at the close of the 70th Week in AD33. At that time the DC was suspended, suggesting something similar will happen again. This time it is the CC that will stop (I believe for 30 hrs) while God again stops the sun and moon, this time for the Greater than Joshua! (Hab 3:11).
The result will be to synchronise the DC & CC (Israel) for the Millennium (the DC goes from +10 (Hezekiah) to -30 (Death & Burial of Christ) to 0 (2nd Coming) relative to the CC). Amos 8:9 speaks of the sun going dark at NOON. The context shows this is a prophecy that was primarily fulfilled on the day of the Cross, as it then goes on to describe the spiritual famine that would come upon Israel. However, since the Tribulation is a repeat of AD26-33 and since both Seven-Year periods have a time of supernatural darkness near their close, this could also be a hint that the future Blackout will also start close to noon, although we can’t be dogmatic about that.
My discovery of a full lunar eclipse on Tabernacles 2033 (see later) indicates it will probably be shortly after noon, for the eclipse enters its full phase at 12.30pm Jerusalem time (see Rev 6:12). Thus the Blackout will start soon after noon (probably between 12.30-2pm) while the whole moon is blood-red. (The blood-red will also be enhanced by the smoke from the recent destruction of Babylon in Revelation 18). The Lord will return a few hours later, at the close of the Tribulation (at the end of antichrist’s 1260th day) and at the opening of the new day, the Great and Manifest Day of the Lord. Therefore He will appear at Midnight (Matthew 25:6). Zechariah 14:6,7 tells us that this will be a unique day, when the sun, moon and stars will not shine, for the only light will be the glory of the Lord. Therefore they will not shine for some hours (about 12) on the last day of the Tribulation, and also for most of the Day of the Lord’s Return.
Zechariah 14:7 then tells us when they start shining again: “But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light.” This implies that in the evening the sun, moon and stars will resume their normal service, except that it won’t be twilight or dark as you might expect, but bright (as if during the day). This confirms that not only were they darkened for this time, but that they were also stopped by the Lord. This would be a suitable demonstration of His glory, where the heavenly bodies visibly bow and submit before His glory (as the King enters they show respect by not only being silent, but also by not moving). Also His fighting the armies of antichrist at the battle of Armageddon to save His covenant-partners (Israel) will then perfectly fulfil the Type of Joshua (Jesus) coming quickly to save his (unworthy) covenant-partners (Gibeon) when they called upon him, when he commanded the sun and moon to stand still until all his enemies (who had come against Gibeon in order to destroy them) were destroyed. This would mean that the CC will be stopped, but the DC will continue because of His personal Presence (it is the Day of the Lord). Let us say that the natural lights are both stopped and subdued at 12.30pm on the day before the Lord’s Return. After 30 hrs it will be evening time (6.30pm) on the next day, the Great and Manifest Day of the Lord. At this time God will turn them back on, and let them resume their motion. Although it is evening, their position in the sky will be as if it were about midday, just as Zechariah predicts! The day of the Lord ends at midnight 5.5 hours later (which is 6pm on the CC-Israel). Hence the DC and CC day-starts will be synchronised again at 6pm (sunset) as would be required for the Millennium.
Now a more sophisticated version would take into account that the actual difference between the DC and CC since the resurrection only averages 6 hours by our definition of an hour (Midnight and sunset) but really varies through the year. That is, it is really a HALF-NIGHT. A more biblical definition of an hour may be “are there not 12 hours in a day?”, in other words it is 1/12th of the time from sunrise to sunset (likewise for the night hours). On this definition there are always 6 hrs from sunset to midnight, from midnight to sunrise, from sunrise to noon and from noon to sunset. Then the difference between the DC and CC is a constant half-night (6 bible-hours). Now to synchronise the DC and CC the sun and moon would have to stop for 24hrs + a half-night. Now on October 8th sunset is 5.30pm and in our hours the night was then 13hrs and the day 11hrs. A half-night is 6.5 of our hours and so the sun must stop for 30.5 hrs. Thus it stops from (say) 12.30pm and restarts at 7pm the next-day. 5 hours later it is the end of the day on the DC (midnight) and 5.30pm on the CC with the sun setting. Thus it is also the day-end of the CC. Therefore the next day starts at this moment in both the DC and CC (
it is the first day after the end of the 70 Weeks (October 10th, 2033) - which is Christ’s birthday, and exactly 2 DAYS (2000 years) after Israel was cut off on Oct 10th AD33 fulfilling Hosea 6:1,2 to the day !
When Jesus describes the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15-28) He says
it will be cut short (ended) by His Second Coming as lightning from the east (as He goes from
Note that ‘after’ in “immediately after the Tribulation” is ‘meta’ (more often translated as ‘with’) which allows the interpretation, which is also dictated by the context, of “right at the close of the Tribulation” (c.f. Jesus was resurrected ‘after (meta) 3 days’ can be shown to be equivalent to ‘on the 3rd day’ by comparing Gospels. Thus it was not after 3 days were completed but on the 3rd day.
Likewise the Blackout is not after the end of the Tribulation, but it comes immediately before its end or at its end, that is, it brings it to its close. The 70th Week however ends a day later, because it must include the Day of the Lord’s Return - Daniel 9:24. The Bible describes the Blackout as ending the Tribulation and as coming before the great Day of the Lord which concludes the 70th Week. Thus the 70th Week =
The 7-Year Tribulation + the Great and Terrible (Manifest) Day of the Lord).
Thus the closing hours of the Tribulation are a total Blackout, from soon after midday to midnight when the Lord appears in glory. Joel 2:31 and Acts 2:20 confirm this by saying that the moon shall be turned to blood and the sun to darkness just before the great and manifest Day of the Lord. This double astronomical sign in the sun and moon is confirmed by Luke 21:25 and Rev 6:12. This means we should expect another lunar eclipse (when the earth’s shadow causes the moon to turn blood-red) about the same time as the supernatural darkness (just as happened on the day of the Cross). Also Revelation 6:12 tells us it must be a total eclipse (unlike the one in AD 33). This time the total eclipse would have to appear before the Blackout for obvious reasons. Our model (as discussed above) requires it to take place within a couple of hours of noon.
Thus for Joel’s prophecy to be fulfilled, on the day before the Return
of Christ, at about noon, there must be a natural total lunar eclipse, followed by the supernatural darkness, which is only broken by the glory of the Lord when He returns, when this last day of the Tribulation closes. This will then be an exact repeat of the 2 astronomical signs that happened at the same point at the close of the first 70th Week, as we would expect, seeing that this future 70th Week is a rerun (repeat) of the first 70th Week. Thus one clear improvement of the revised chronology is that in many ways it reveals a better correspondence between the two runs of the 70th Week. One example of this is the double fulfilment of Joel 2:31 (in the sun and moon) just before the 70th Week closes with the manifestation of Christ, that we only get through having April 1st as the day of the Cross.
VERIFIED! Now when I realised all of this, I also realised that this provides a test for any date for the Second Coming, since lunar eclipses are natural and predictable (and God has ordained the sun and moon to be used as signs for special events - Genesis 1:14). Now being aware of Hosea 5:15-6:3, and the fact that 6000 Redemption years end in 2033 (2000 years from AD 33, when the 4000 years ended) I have believed for some time that if we are right in understanding God’s structure of time then 2033 should be the year of the Second Coming (unless there is some unreckoned time we don‘t know about). I therefore went to the first day of Tabernacles 2033 (October 8th) on my www.stellarium.org astronomy program, believing He must fulfil Tabernacles (the final Feast celebrating the climax of Redemption, God dwelling with and in man, which is also His birth and baptism day) at His appearing in glory to reign upon earth.
Since then I realised that since a lunar eclipse can only happen at a full moon at the middle of a l-s month, and since scripture clearly tells us there is a lunar eclipse just before His Return, then it follows He must return at Tabernacles (rather than at Trumpets or Atonement), if (as He surely will) He fulfils a Fall Feast at His Second Coming.
As I focused on the moon on October 8th Tabernacles 2033,
I was amazed as I watched the moon start to turn red (as the umbral phase began) at 11.30am Jerusalem time. As time went on the whole moon was covered by with the earth’s shadow, turning blood-red (a total eclipse). This will last from 12.30-1.50pm, satisfying all the requirements for the eclipse connected with the Lord’s Return! Now October 8th is Tabernacles on the CC and the next day of His Return (Oct 9th) is Tabernacles on the DC. But since the CC is stopped soon after midday and restarts after about 30 hours, it is still Tabernacles on the CC for the Day of the 2nd Coming! The Day of Tabernacles on both the DC and CC closes at the same time (as the 2 calendars are synchronised) at the end of the great and manifest Day of the Lord (midnight).
Let us now continue seeing how well the parallel patterning between the two 70 Weeks works on the revised chronology. First we need to deduce the chronology of the Tribulation, and then see how well our revised chronology of the Time of Messiah (based on a solar calendar) agrees with it. Now I had previously done this independently from any attempt to make it agree with a solar calendar for Christ and recorded it
in my ‘7 TIMES of the Gentiles’ article. The only modification I now introduce to my previous work is to take the 3.5 days in the middle literally instead of rounding it up to 4 days. (The parallel outworking to the historical Times of the Gentiles also works better thinking like this, and it also gives us the correct end-dates in 1948 and 1967 of the Times of the Gentiles, but the explanation of this must wait for another paper).
Therefore I will now assume my work on the Tribulation is valid, so that
I can demonstrate in detail how well it works now. If however the reader doesn’t accept the exact way I combine the data in Daniel and Revelation to recreate the Tribulation he will still be able to see that a solar measure of the Time of Messiah leads to a satisfactory parallel patterning to the Tribulation, although I believe it won’t work quite as well! I believe in turn this patterning-fit will validate my work on the 7 TIMES.
I deduced that the structure that works best on every level is:
1. 1260 days - the first half (the ministry of Moses & Elijah, Rev 11:2,3)
2. A 3.5 day interval before antichrist’s 3.5 years (Revelation 11:9, the time of the witnesses’ death and resurrection). It is at midnight after these 3.5 days that the Abomination is set up in the Temple, the 7th Trumpet blows and the Great Tribulation begins. So this starts a major new phase.
3. 30 days before antichrist establishes world-power.
In this time the remnant escape to Petra (Bozrah).
4. 1260 days of antichrist’s world dictatorship.
*Together the 30 days and 1260 days are 1290 days-the Great Tribulation
5. 1 Day, the Second Coming, the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.
*This closes the 70th Week. The 1290 days together with this final Day make 1291 days or exactly 3.5 years of 360 days each, with one extra intercalated month of 31 days (this is the second half of the 70th Week).
The remaining time (40 days) is an epilogue to the 70th Week.
6. 40 days preparations until the Kingdom Age officially starts. The 33.5 solar years of Christ in the 7 TIMES of years (corresponding to the 33.5 days of the middle of the 7 TIMES of days - the Tribulation) also confirms that the 33.5 years of Christ were unreckoned in the 7 Times of the Gentiles (because of the Presence of the King) bringing the end of these Times of Gentile Dominion to: 1914+34= 1948, 1933+34= 1967. The exact calculation of this will have to wait (it does work!).
For now think of the 34 years as the 33.5 years as being rounded up to 34 years. Had these been 34 ‘354 day’ years = 33 solar years, this wonderful result would not work
So to agree with the final 70th Week the Time of Messiah should ideally be about 2594.5 days long with two exact 3.5 year halves corresponding to the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, with an interval between them of 3.5 days, the final day being a climactic Day of Christ’s manifestation (heralded by darkened sun and bloody moon) ready to set up His Kingdom, and then a final 40 days preparation for the new era.
1. Now AW correctly discerned that there should be a correspondence between the two 70 Weeks, and on that basis made John‘s ministry to be 1260 days. But this was a mistake. Clearly the exact breakdown of the two 70th Weeks when measured in days must differ since they have different calendars in operation! The correspondence must surely be in YEARS -thus John’s initial ministry must be 3.5 years (half of the 7 years). In the Tribulation JUDGEMENT calendar 3.5 years is 1260 days,
but this calendar does not govern the time of John’s ministry of grace!
It’s not appropriate to measure John’s ministry by the Tribulation Calendar. So Elijah’s initial ministry in the OT was 3.5 luni-solar years, John’s initial Messianic ministry was 3.5 Solar years and Elijah’s initial end-time ministry is 3.5 judgement years! The correspondence to the 3.5 judgement years of the ministry of Moses & Elijah is 3.5 true solar years of John. John’s initial ministry is thus 3.5 true solar years. Now to calculate 3.5 true solar years from April 5th AD26, it is necessary to know the vernal equinoxes for AD 26 & 29, and then to add the half year of 186 days as previously explained. Then the 3.5 true solar years of John’s initial ministry ends on the 6th Oct AD 29, 4 days before His Baptism!
2. In the Tribulation at this point, antichrist invades Jerusalem and kills the 2 witnesses (at 10am, if the 70th Week starts at 10am, as mentioned previously), thus ending their initial ministry, but actually the climax of their ministry was to be in exactly another 3.5 days with their resurrection, a confirming sign of their preaching of Christ in the Temple, even a type of His resurrection after 3 days. At this same time in the original 70th Week, Jesus would have presented Himself to John as the Lamb of God, typically setting himself apart 4 days before His typical death, burial and resurrection at His Baptism (which was to be performed by John). During this time I believe John would have stopped His public ministry, and Jesus would have abided with John, having a time of fellowship together (referenced in John 3:26), which explains John’s deep insights about Christ being the Lamb of God that he declares when Jesus appears after the Temptation (John 1:29-36) as well as his teaching in John 3:26-36.
In any case we have the same pattern as in the Tribulation: An initial ‘Elijah ministry’ of 3.5 years, followed by a 3.5 day interval (7th-10th October 33). In both cases, after 3.5 days there is a Divine Intervention (declaring and confirming Christ’s resurrection from the dead) when Jesus is baptised at about 8am (corresponding to the resurrection of the 2 witnesses). The resurrection of the 2 witnesses after 3.5 days corresponds to Christ’s resurrection after 3.5 years of ministry, when comparing the year/day fulfilment of the 7 Times prophecy. (There are 3 parallel fulfilments to compare, two in ‘days’ and one in ‘years‘. I will eventually make some parallel diagrams for all of this that will make it easier to see)
Now Jesus’ Baptism (the Temple anointing) after 3.5 days is at 8am,
about 2 hours after the end of the 3.5 days (which would begin at 6pm).
Corresponding to this, the Temple desecration by antichrist will be at midnight, about 2 hours after the resurrection of the 2 witnesses which marked the end of the 3.5 days. (This also corresponds to the anointing of God’s Temple (the Church) 50 days after the resurrection on the year/day fulfilment). As the midnight Abomination marks the start of the second-half of the Tribulation (the Great Tribulation) at the opening of
a new day on the DC), so Christ’s 8am Baptism marks the start of the second half (3.5) years of the Time of Messiah (the ministry of Christ), also at the opening of a new day on the DC.
Thus we have the repeating pattern of a 3.5 year preparatory ministry of John/Elijah, which comes to a climax after an interval of 3.5 days,
and a Temple consecration/desecration at this time, which initiates the
final 3.5 years (the 2nd half of the 70th Week) which includes the ministry
of Christ/antichrist followed by the final Day of Christ‘s open Victory.
3&4. Jesus says the Great Tribulation begins the moment the antichrist desecrates the Temple (the Abomination) which he can only do after overcoming the 2 witnesses who had dominated the Temple for 3.5 years (who were invincible until now). The Great Tribulation lasts 1290 days
(Daniel 12:11 tells us that antichrist’s time measured from the desecration is 1290 days). This means there is a month (30 days) before antichrist’s 1260 day world dictatorship begins. The 1290 days (the time of antichrist’s ‘ministry’ to Israel) are one day short of being exactly 3.5 yrs, because the 360 day calendar has an intercalated month (of 31 days) every 6 years to keep it solar, so there is an intercalated month in the Great Tribulation. Antichrist’s Temple Desecration is at midnight at the opening of a new day in the DC, and so the Great Tribulation (the time of antichrist’s ‘ministry‘ to Israel) will also end at midnight 1290 days later (one day short of 3.5 years).
Likewise, the 2nd half of the original 70th Week began with Christ’s Baptism (Temple Anointing) at 8am (the opening of a new day in the DC) which is also the first day of Tabernacles. This was the start of Christ’s ministry to Israel which was one day short of 3.5 luni-solar years. That is, if you measure 3.5 l-s years (minus 1 day) from His Baptism at 8am on (Tabernacles 15/7) you get to 8am (Passover 14/1), which is the very hour of Christ’s crucifixion! This moment then marks the end of His ministry to Israel and the start of the special last day of the 70th Week (the Day of the Lord, the Day of His Death and Resurrection). Thus the chronology marks off His special redemptive work on the Cross from His general ministry. John’s Gospel records how that during His ministry He often looked forward to ‘His hour’-the time of His death and resurrection.
5. The final Day of the final 70th Week opens at midnight (the opening
of a new day in the DC) with the Return of Christ in power and glory. This is the Great and Terrible (Manifest) Day of the Lord. This completes the final 3.5 years. Likewise, the final Day of the original 70th Week is a ‘Day of the Lord.’ It opens at 8am (the opening of a new day in the DC) with the crucifixion and only ends on the DC at midnight on the day of the Resurrection (due to unreckoned time). Therefore it contains both the death and the resurrection of Christ. It is therefore the Day of Christ’s manifestation, for in it Christ was revealed risen from the dead. Technically both 70th Weeks end at 6pm on the final day. This is based on the original Week being 7 solar years 6pm to 6pm. On the DC 1 day 16 hours were unreckoned. When the Week (the exact same length of time as measured on the DC) is rerun starting at 10am it will therefore end at 6pm on the final day (the Day of the Lord). In the original Week, 6pm on the resurrection day marks the start of the 40 days leading up to the ascension at 6pm (Acts 1:3, Jesus starts appearing to the apostles after 6pm). Likewise, 6pm on the Day of the 2nd Coming marks the start of the 40 days leading up to the Kingdom at 6pm (although really this will be about midday in terms of the sun’s position due to the stopping of the sun for about 30 hrs). Thus the Kingdom will officially begin at about noon. This will then complete the rerun of the Time of Messiah. What He was unable to accomplish in the allotted time at His First Coming (because of Israel’s unbelief) He will accomplish in the same time frame at His Second Coming.
6. After the end of the 70th Week there are a further 40 days before every thing is in place for the Kingdom to begin. Had Israel accepted the King, He would have manifested Himself to Israel on the day of the resurrection and after 40 days the Kingdom would have begun. But instead He just manifested Himself to some disciples, and then from 6pm (when the 70th Week had ended) He started appearing to the apostles for 40 days preparing them for the coming church age. Then when the 40 days were complete at 6pm, when He should have been able to ascend to David’s throne to start the Kingdom, He ascended to Father’s throne instead (Hosea 5:15on). In the rerun, the 40 days start at 6pm on the Day of the Lord (about when the lights are turned on again, revealing it actually to be about midday). The 40 days will therefore close at about midday, when He ascends to sit on David’s throne to officially start the Kingdom.
Jesus ascended first on the day of the resurrection and received all authority and sat down having completing His work of redemption. Then He returned to earth for 40 days. His ascension 40 days later was really just formally taking up His position for this age. Likewise the throne of David will be possessed by Christ at the Day of His return and He will judge from it (Matt 25), but after 40 days He will formally take up His position on the throne for the Kingdom age, and in this way He will cause it to officially start.
Thus we have the pattern for the 70th Week (consisting of exactly 7 years): 3.5 years + 3.5 days + 3.5 yrs (ending with the Day of the Lord‘s manifestation), which is exactly what we see in the Time of Messiah.
Moreover there is a repeat of the epilogue of 40 days.
1. 3.5 years of John = 3.5 yrs of Elijah.
2. 3.5 days when (in type) Christ is set apart for death until His Baptism.
=3.5 days the 2 representatives of Christ are in death until their resurrection
The first 3.5 days end with the Temple Anointing (Christ‘s Baptism).
The second 3.5 days end with the Temple Desecration (by antichrist).
3. 3.5 yrs (less one day) of Christ’s ministry (l-s)
3.5 yrs (less one day) of antichrist’s ‘ministry.’
4. The 1 Great Day of the Lord (Christ’s Manifestation) completing the 70th Week. Christ’s Resurrection = Christ’s Second Coming.
Also on this last day Christ dies. On this day on the rerun antichrist dies.
5.The 40 days resurrection to ascension=40 days 2nd Coming to Kingdom
The patterning only works perfectly if we think in terms of the Divine Calendar for the measurement of the Time of Messiah (Daniel’s 70th Week) and its rerun. The primary difference with the CC is the reckoning of time at the time of His death and resurrection. In fact the central purpose of the DC seems to be in connection with Christ’s death and resurrection in revealing aspects of this that would be otherwise hidden. Although Bible dates are generally in the CC, we should expect the DC to come to the fore in some aspects of the chronology, and it is not surprising that this is a case in point. In other words God measures
the 70th Week through His DC, rewinds it and reruns the identical period
at the end of the age (as a time of judgement).
Now what is different about the DC and CC in this respect?
I believe that AW was onto something when he discerned that the DC and the JC were stopped because of Christ’s death (the 2 Calendars operate in harmony). As the Lord told AW: “We do not reckon time to him who was dead.” Now AW deduced that this meant the moon had to stop, but I don’t believe that was necessary. It was a sovereign act of God to mark these unique events in honour of the Son.
The basic result of stopping time is that the death, burial and resurrection are seen as happening together on the same day, as a unified event. All the events of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection and anointing take place on the same day (15/1) on the DC and (10/7) the Day of Atonement, on the JC. His Baptism forms a type of all these events combined into one.
Also it changes the time of the day-start. In my version where 40 hours are unreckoned, the DC day-start changes from 8am to midnight,
hence explaining why solar days start at midnight for the church age.
If time is unreckoned on the DC during Christ’s death, then (as MT did) we find that the Time of Messiah (as measured on the DC) is exactly the same as the time of the rerun (2594/5 days). Of course if a slight variation of my version (of unreckoned time) is used instead, the rerun result will still hold. In my version the clock is stopped for 40 hours in total. The time from 6pm Nisan 1 April 5th AD26 to 6pm Ascension Day May 13th AD33 is 2596 days (7 solar years + 40 days). This same time in the DC is 2594.3 days, or the 2595th day (1260d+1335th day). QED.
The exact hours that are unreckoned could be debated a few hours either way.
I give my solution below which is partly motivated by the fact that the day starts for the church-age are midnight, and my solution shows how that was brought about.
My proposed reconstruction of unreckoned time in the DC at His death.
I suggest that there are two distinct times the DC clock is stopped in connection with His death and burial, also marked by the 2 astronomical signs in the sun and moon. This was done to distinguish the two events of His death on the Cross and His burial in the grave, before His final resurrection (the 3rd of this trinity):
15th Nisan opens at 8am with the crucifixion of Christ.
1. At midday (after 4 hours) with the sun darkened, signifying Christ becoming the sin offering, cut off and covered in darkness, forsaken of God, the DC is stopped for 3 hours in recognition of this.
2. At 5pm (after 6hrs on DC) Christ is buried at the very time the moon turns to blood in a lunar eclipse (the moon is hidden from the light of the sun by the earth, likewise man was hidden from the light of the Son when under the earth). The clock stops for 37 hours until His resurrection at dawn on 6am Sunday morning.
This still leaves 18 hours of the 15th Nisan to run in the DC. The day therefore closes at midnight of the day of the resurrection. Time on the DC and JC stops for a total of 40 hours= 1 day 16hours, so that the new day-starts after the resurrection are midnight
I believe the solar calendar by which the Church operates is calibrated to the DC at this point and so it has midnight starts. I expect that after the resurrection the RC & DC change to solar for the church-age (the RC is now measured in solar years, because it is reckoned according to God’s representatives - the Church, now that Israel failed to receive the Kingdom at the resurrection, even though she has a further 6 months grace before being cut off) although Israel continues with her l-s calendar.
The Church Solar Calendar should be based on commemorating the key events of Christ’s life: October 10th Birth and Baptism (Tabernacles), April 1st Death (Passover) and April 3rd Resurrection (Firstfruits), Ascension/Enthronement Day (May 13th/14th),
and of course Pentecost (May 22nd - 50 days from first fruits).
I expect Jesus personal calendar (starting at Trumpets 2BC) to produce interesting results, such as being about 15/1 on Oct 10th. It might prove relevant and interesting for future events in the Tribulation/Second Coming/Millennium.
Comments on: “No man knows the day or the hour”
1. This always applies to the Rapture (people in the Tribulation will certainly know the day of the Second Coming from direct statements of scripture).
2. We can only KNOW if we have a direct plain statement of scripture.
But any of our predictions of the Rapture or even the 2nd Coming are deductions based on TYPOLOGY (based on Creation Week, the Feasts etc). Even if believe we are right, we can’t say we KNOW it, because God has kept it hidden as a mystery in the Typology. That does not mean someone can’t discern it, but we can’t have the same certainty that a plain statement of scripture would give. (Similarly the Church was a mystery in the OT. It was there, hidden in the Typology (Eve, Rebekkah, Pentecost etc) but not directly revealed. It is OK to find the church in typology. Being only in the typology it was not revealed clearly until the time God chose, although now we can look and see it was there. Likewise the timings of the Second Coming are not random but set by the Father according to His sovereign plan, and no doubt revealed in scripture in the typological patterns so that after the event all will see these types fulfilled. Therefore it should be possible to discern these types correctly ahead of time with God’s help. However even if we think we have done this we must maintain the humility that we do KNOW, because our projection is based on deduction rather than the plain statement of scripture.
Interesting Results:
1. Birth (Tabernacles 2BC) - Baptism (Tabernacles 29AD) =30 solar and 30 luni-solar years (baptised on His 30th birthday), then from His Baptism (15/7) to His Death (14/1, Passover 33AD) there is exactly 3.5 l-s years!
2. May 14 1948 and June 7/11/12 1967 (marking the end of the Times of the Gentiles) have interesting solar and luni-solar anniversaries (connected to the exodus, ascension/enthronement), both also possibly being at Jewish Pentecost, made possible because of the 19 year l-s line-up. This in turn leads to a way of seeing how the 7 Times of the Gentiles end on both these dates (to the day) using a l-s year. This will provide a test to help determine whether the right l-s calendar is being used
(i.e. in the year-start rule, and when the Jubilee cycles start and
end - both of which determine when the extra months are added).
We will only get this great result for the end of the Times of the Gentiles if there is a particular configuration of intercalated months between these 2 dates 19 years apart, so that there is one more than usual (this happens only rarely, so it provides a good test/confirmation). This is similar to the Acts 20 test. This will all be developed in a future paper.
3. Leaving the best till last! Hosea 5:15-6:3 fulfilled to the day!
I provisionally have Christ’s Return on October 9th, 2033 completing the 70 Weeks, and the next day, the first day of the new era is October 10th (His birthday) - which is an exact fulfilment to the day of Hosea 6:2!
The prophecy speaks of
2 DAYS (2000 years) being revived, so that on the 3rd DAY she will live in His sight. There is a ‘kairos’ (the 2nd Coming) at the end of 2 DAYS followed by a ‘chronos’ (a new era, the 3rd DAY or Millennium) brought in as a result of the ‘kairos.’ The key event (turning-point) is at the close of the 2nd DAY (2000 years) and is Messiah’s Second Coming in glory, described in Hosea 6:3 as His going forth (from Heaven) as the morning sun (the Sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings). His rising (appearing) is as sure (certain) as the dawn and just as the sunrise happens at an established time, so the Son will surely return in glory at a time fixed by God as the Sun of Righteousness, ending the time of darkness and bringing healing and salvation to Israel. This fixed time is after 2 DAYS! On the basis of this event (the glorious appearing of the Messiah) at the end of 2 Days,
Fulfilment:
“2 DAYS” (2000 years) of being cut off ends on October 9th 2033,
the very day of Christ’s Return to save and revive His people,
He will come as prophesied at the end of the 2 DAYS, so that
Having revived them (from being on the point of death) at His Return on October 9th (the end of the 2 DAYS), on October 10th (the start of the
3rd DAY) He will start to raise Israel up spiritually and nationally, so that she will live in His sight and take her place as the chief nation at the heart of His world-government throughout the 3rd DAY (the Millennium). This process of preparation will take 40 days, after which everything and everyone will be in place for the new administration to function, and the Kingdom will then officially begin and continue in stability for 1000 yrs.
CONCLUSION: This concludes my overview of the chronology and suggested revisions, which contain my foundational thoughts.
There are 2 or 3 more papers to come covering some technical and prophetic (future) issues. What I have really done is challenge one
of AW’s assumptions (that the Life of Christ is governed by a 354 day calendar) and I have followed through on the logical ramifications of that. The exciting consequence of this is that as a result the chronology is not destroyed, but enhanced.
Firstly, it followed from dropping that assumption that certain other associated assumptions of AW have to be abandoned, but these were precisely the aspects of AW chronology that were strange and hard to accept (being against the biblical and historical evidence).
Secondly, we find that free from this assumption, we can obtain the dates for Christ’s birth and death according to best evidence, and this in turn reveals that the Life of Christ was actually governed by a solar calendar, for when we use a solar calendar for Christ everything works out perfectly and we end up with a chronology that:
(1) is still built on the foundation of the work of Denney and AW,
(2) has many of the difficulties removed,
and (3) gives much more pleasing results for the Life of Christ.
We honour AW & his team for their work, but we have the advantage over them: (1) of hindsight, (2) computers and (3) not being emotionally attached to the 354 day year which led him to overuse it, thus leading him on a wrong path. These advantages enable us to perfect (hopefully) what he started.
*a final revision to be considered is the adoption of the luni-solar calendar from the Flood rather than from the Exodus (Genesis 8). It was a new-year start at the Exodus not necessarily a new type of year being introduced. There are many good reasons why a solar based calendar would be needed after the flood with the agricultural seasons beginning. Abraham came from a moon-worshipping culture that developed after the Flood-surely he would use true lunar based years rather than 354 day years.
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