When Will Jesus Christ Return?

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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 7th ‘Millennium’?
The creation date of 4004BC was a calculation by James Ussher in his detailed biblical chronology, The Annals of the World, published in 1658. This and other dates calculated by him were 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.
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.
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 and 1 Thess. 4:16, and the ‘sevens’ in Joshua 6 with the ‘sevens’ in 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

  

   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 Abib, irrespective of the month when the reign began. These two kings were deposed before the 1st of Abib.

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 was exactly 500 years (10 jubilees) after King Solomon ordered the building of the 1st temple in 2934AM, the 4th year of his reign.

Ussher records that, in the Autumn of 538BC:
[947] “When Cyrus had spent one whole year with his wife in Babylon, he assembled his whole army … When he outfitted his troops he undertook that campaign whereby he is said to have subdued all nations from Syria to the Red Sea. (Xenophon, Instit.1.8.).”
He then writes that in the Autumn of 537BC:
[949] “… 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’.” Ezra 1:1-3
Not until Cyrus had gained an empire stretching as far south as the Red Sea could he make the proclamation, guaranteeing the Jews safe passage to Jerusalem to build the temple.
Ussher records that one of those nations:
[954] The Cuthaeans, the old enemies of the Jews, who had previously been settled in Samaria by
Esarhaddon, cunningly offered to join them in building the temple. When the Jews refused their help, they hindered the Jews all they could in the work and discouraged the people from completing the task. Ezra 4:1-4

 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 Abib) in the month of his death.


“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.”


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


Hebrews 4 shows that Jesus will bring us spiritual rest in the seventh millennium
– note 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.”


Author : Peter Cross

The above is not copyright, but kindly acknowledge the source in any published work.

 

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