God’s 7000 Year Plan & The Return of Christ

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When will Jesus Christ return to establish God’s kingdom?
If the 7 day week is a type of God’s 7000 year plan (Hebrews 4), and God created man in 4004BC, surely we should already be living in the 7th day – the ‘Millennium’?

The creation date of 4004BC was calculated by James Ussher in a detailed chronology, The Annals of the World, published in 1658. His was not the only scholarly biblical chronology, but this creation date was incorporated in some bible versions from 1701 onward, and gained widespread popularity when it was promoted by C.I. Scofield in the 1917 edition of the Scofield Reference Bible.

Ussher wrote his work in Latin, but in 2003 Larry and Marion Pierce, authors of the Online Bible, published an English translation on the internet. This provided the opportunity to check Ussher’s calculations and the validity of the 7000 year plan.

Ussher began the AM years (AM = ‘Anno Mundi’ – year of the world, counting from creation), in the Autumn, because the Jewish calendar year begins then. Exodus 12, however, shows that the biblical calendar begins 6 months earlier, but the 1st of Nisan is not even a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar.

In order to align AM years with the Roman BC/AD years beginning in January, he affixed a letter to each AM year: a = Autumn; b = Winter; c = Spring; d = Summer.
Although many who observe the annual holy days talk of the Spring and Fall (Autumn) feasts, these seasons are not found in the Bible. There are only two Biblical seasons, Summer and Winter.

In the following tables a purely scriptural chronology is set alongside Ussher’s dates.

Chapter and Verse	Event	Scriptural AM	Ussher’s AM	Ussher’s BC
Gen. 1:27	God created Adam and Eve	1	1a	4004
Gen. 5:3	Seth born when Adam 130	131	130d	3874
Gen. 5:6	Enos born when Seth 105	236	235d	3769
Gen. 5:9	Cainan born when Enos 90	326	325d	3679
Gen. 5:12	Mahaleel born when Cainan 70	396	395d	3609
Gen. 5:15	Jared born when Mahaleel 65	461	460d	3544
Gen. 5:18	Enoch born when Jared 162	623	622d	3382
Gen.5:21	Methusaleh born when Enoch 65	688	687d	3317
Gen. 5:25	Lamech born when Methusaleh 187	875	874d	3130
Gen.5:28-29	Noah born when Lamech 182	1057	1056d	2948
Gen. 7:6	Flood begins when Noah 600	1657	1656a	2349
Gen.8:13-16	Flood ends 1 year later	1658	1657a	2348
Gen. 11:10	Arphaxad born 2 years after flood	1660	1658d	2346
Gen. 11:12	Salah born when Arphaxad 35	1695	1693d	2311
Gen. 11:14	Eber born when Salah 30	1725	1723d	2281
Gen. 11:16	Pelag born when Eber 34	1759	1757d	2247
Gen. 11:18	Reu born when Pelag 30	1789	1787d	2217
Gen. 11:20	Serug born when Reu 32	1821	1819d	2185
Gen. 11:22	Nahor born when Serug 30	1851	1849d	2155
Gen. 11:24	Terah born when Nahor 29	1880	1878d	2126
	Abram born when Terah age 70	1950
Gen. 11:26	Abram born when Terah age 130		2008c	1996

Acts 7:4 “Then came he (Abram) out of the land of the Chaldees, and dwelt in Charran: and from there, when his father was dead, removed him into this land, wherein you now dwell.”
Genesis 11:32 states that Terah died age 205, and Genesis 12:4 that Abram left Haran age 75. Ussher therefore concluded that Terah was age 130 (not 70) when Abram was born.
The stumbling block with this reasoning is Abraham’s reaction to God’s announcement that he and Sarah would have a son. “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old?” (Genesis 17:17)
Why should Abraham laugh, if his own father Terah was 130 when Abraham was born?
Strong’s Lexicon defines the Greek apothnesko in Acts 7:4, ‘to die off (literally or figuratively)’. Jesus spoke figuratively of the dead burying their dead in Matthew 8:22. Adam Clarke’s Commentary states: “Let the dead bury their dead. It was usual for the Jews to consider a man as dead who had departed from the precepts of the law; and, on this ground, every transgressor was reputed a dead man.”
Paul uses this figurative sense many times, e.g. “But she who lives in self-pleasure has died while living.” (1 Timothy 5:6)
Haran, like Ur, was a center of moon worship, and Joshua records that Terah was an idolater: “And Joshua said to all the people, So says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers lived beyond the River (Euphrates) in times past, Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.” (Joshua 24:2)
Albert Barnes’s Commentary says, “The Jews unanimously affirm that Terah relapsed into idolatry before Abraham left Haran; and this they denominate death, or a moral death … Stephen (in Acts 7:4) only used language which was customary among the Jews.” 

Scripture	Event	Scriptural AM	Ussher’s AM	Ussher’s BC
Gen.12:1-5	Abram leaves Haran age 75	2025	2083a	1922
Ex. 12:40-41 Heb. 11:8-9 Gal. 3:16-17	Exodus from Egypt – 430 years after Abram begins his sojourn in Canaan.	2455	2513b	1491
Josh.14:7-13 Num. 36:4 Josh 22:4-5	45 years after the Exodus, the 50th Jubilee from Creation, Israel receives its inheritance.	2500	2560a	1445

Ussher comments: “Joshua, a type of Jesus, had brought them into this place of rest, which was a type of that Sabbath and rest which the true Jesus was to give to God’s people (Hebrews 4:9). From this time is reckoned the years of Jubilee, which was every fifty years (Leviticus 25:8-13).”
Joshua (Jesus in Greek) is a shortened form of Yehoshua, which means ‘God our salvation’.
Compare the trumpets of jubilee in Joshua 6 with Rev. 8:2, 1 Thess. 4:16, Heb. 12:18-23, and the ‘sevens’ in Joshua 6 with Revelation.

Scripture	Kings of Judah	Scriptural AM	Years	Ussher’s AM	Ussher’s BC
1 Kings 6:1 2 Chron.9:30	Solomon begins reign: 476 years (480th-4th) after the Exodus	[2455] 2931	40	[2513b] 2990a	[1491] 1015
1 Kings 14:21	Rehoboam begins reign	2971	17	3029c	975
2 Chron.12:16, 2 Chron.13:1-2	Abijah begins reign	2988	3	3046c	958
1 Kings 15:8-10	Asa begins reign	2991	41	3049c	955
1 Kings 22:42	Jehoshaphat begins reign	3032	25	3090c	914
2 Chron.21:1,5	Jehoram begins reign	3057	8	3115c*	889
2 Kings 8:26	Ahaziah begins reign	3065	1	3119c*	885
2 Kings 11:1-3	Athaliah begins reign	3066	6	3120c	884
2 Kings 12:1	Joash begins reign	3072	40	3126c	878
2 Chron.25:1	Amaziah begins reign	3112	29	3165c	839
2 Kings 14:1-2	Azariah begins reign	3141	52	3194c	810
2 Chron.27:1	Jotham begins reign	3193	16	3246a	759
2 Kings 16:1-2	Ahaz begins reign	3209	16	3262a	742
2 Kings 18:1-2	Hezekiah begins reign	3225	29	3278b	726
2 Kings 21:1	Manasseh begins reign	3254	55	3306c	698
2 Kings 21:19	Amon begins reign	3309	2	3361c	643
2 Kings 22:1	Josiah begins reign	3311	31	3363c	641
2 Kings 23:31	Jehoahaz begins reign	3342	0**	3394c	610
2 Kings 23:36	Jehoiakim begins reign	3342	11	3394d	610
2 Kings 24:6,8	Jehoachin begins reign	3353	0**	3405c	599
2 Kings 24:18	Zedekiah begins reign	3353	11	3405c	599
2 Chron. 36:6 2 Chron.36:19-21	70 years desolation begins Jerusalem destroyed	3364	70 70	3398a 3416c	607 588
2 Chron.36:22-23 Ezra 1:1-3	Cyrus’s proclamation to build second temple	3434		3468a	537

* This is not a typo – Ussher reduced the reign of Jehoram from 8 years to 4.
** Kings were deemed to have completed one year’s reign on the 1st of Nisan, irrespective of the month when the reign began. These two kings were deposed before the 1st of Nisan.

As 588BC-537BC is only 51 years, Ussher reconciled scripture with the dates given by secular historians by reckoning the 70 years desolation from the 4th year of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1-2) in 607BC. However, 2 Chronicles 36:19-21 clearly shows when Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled.

The proclamation by Cyrus for the building of the second temple in 3434AM is exactly 500 years (10 jubilees) after King Solomon ordered the building of the 1st temple in 2934AM, the 4th year of his reign.

Scripture	Event	Scriptural AM Date	Scriptural AD Date	Ussher’s AM Date	Ussher’s BC Date
	Birth of Christ			4000a	5BC
	Death of Christ	4000	30AD
Rev.11:15	Final year of this world	6000	2030AD	(6000)	(1996AD)

The net difference between the two chronologies – 34 years (3468-3434AM) – shows that the year 4000AM is not the year of Jesus Christ’s birth, but his death. (If he began his ministry at age 30, he would have become 34 on new year’s day (1st of Nisan) in the month of his death.

Note: Jesus Christ might well return in 2030AD, but this should not be inferred as a specific prophecy, since this dates relies on 537BC being the correct year for Cyrus’s proclamation.

According to Ussher’s chronology, in 538BC:
[940] “Darius the Mede, son of Assuccus or Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, took over the kingdom as given to him by Cyrus the conqueror. (Daniel 5:31; Daniel 9:1)”
Daniel 5:30 In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
He then writes that in 537BC:
[949] “After Cyrus’s father Cambyses died in Persia, Cyaxares in Media held all the empire of the east. From this year, both Xenophon, [8.Inst.] reckons the 7 years of his reign, but the Holy Scripture from the records of the Medes and Persians, reckons this the first year. It states that in this year came that famous edict of his. Thus said Cyrus king of Persia: ‘Into my hand hath God given all the kingdoms of the earth’.”

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“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8)
“In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house …..And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” (Exodus 12:3,6)
The Lamb of God, chosen for sacrifice from the foundation of the world, was killed at Passover 4 days (i.e. 4000 years) later, in the 1st month of the 80th jubilee year.
Jesus Christ was sacrificed at the due time:
Romans 5:6 (KJV) “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

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Luke 4:17-19 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written [Isaiah 61:1], “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
“a manifest allusion to the proclaiming of the year of jubilee” – Adam Clarke
“an allusion to the jubilee year” – Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
“Plainly alluding to the year of jubilee” – John Wesley

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Hebrews 4 shows that Jesus will bring us spiritual rest in the seventh millennium – also Hosea 6:2:
“After two days [i.e. 2000 years after his resurrection] will he revive us: in the third day [the “millennium”] he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”

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Author: Peter Cross – e-mail 7th-day@mail.com