Appendix A – The Importance of 1994

“And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.” (Revelation 8:2)

Revelation 8:2 and 1994

For those who are willing to invest the time to study, the following sections explain why I believe that 1994 is the date the seven angels were given the seven trumpets, as described in Revelation 8:2.  For a more thorough study on this topic, please refer to my paper, Great Clocks from God which can also be downloaded at https://www.wake-up.org/time-periods/eight-great-clocks-from-god.html.

1. Two Different Ways of Measuring Time

In apocalyptic prophecy, God sometimes measures time according to the operation of the Jubilee Calendar in which a day is translated as a year.  For example, the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24 contain 490 days (seventy weeks  x seven days/week = 490 days).  The 490 days are translated as 490 years because they occur during the operation of God’s Jubilee Calendar.  History confirms that this translation is warranted and correct.  On the other hand, other instances of apocalyptic prophecy are found when God does not translate time as a day for a year.  Examples when a day is
to be understood as literal time include the 1,000 years in Revelation 20:2, the five months in Revelation 9:5, the 1,260 days granted to the Two Witnesses, and the forty-two months in Revelation 13:5.  One significant challenge to interpreting apocalyptic prophecy is understanding when God uses a day for a year or literal time.

I believe there is a rule in Scripture that answers this question.  The fourth rule governing the interpretation of apocalyptic prophecy says, “The presence or absence of the Jubilee Calendar determines how God measures time in apocalyptic prophecy.”  In other words, when the Jubilee Calendar is operating, God wants us to translate a day for a year according to His Calendar.  On the other hand, when the Jubilee Calendar is not operating, there is no translation.

A rule of interpretation has no exception.  As an example, the “seven times” imposed on King Nebuchadnezzar does not require translation because the prophecy directed at him is not an apocalyptic prophecy, and the king could not eat grass for 2,520 years (360 x 7 = 2,520 years).  The prophecy concerning King Nebuchadnezzar was a “local prophecy” directed at a specific person.  Each type of prophecy has its own rules, and they cannot be mixed or merged without putting the Bible in a state of internal conflict.  There are five types of prophecy in the Bible and these were discussed in detail in the Introduction.

2. The Jubilee Calendar

God created the Jubilee Calendar.  It is incredibly precise and God put this calendar in motion two weeks before the Exodus in 1437 B.C.  By divine decree, God forced Israel to abandon their use of the Egyptian calendar (a summer-to-summer calendar) when He imposed His spring-to-spring Jubilee Calendar.^[1] Three topics within the Jubilee Calendar need to be discussed to show how 1994 connects with the book of Revelation.

A. Even though God required Israel to let the land rest from cultivation every seventh year, Israel did not observe the seventh year Sabbath rest while in the desert. (This makes sense since they did not grow crops in the desert.)  However, the wording in Leviticus 25:2-4 causes some people to think that cycles of seven years began when Israel entered Canaan.  This understanding is incorrect.  God started counting cycles of seven years at the time of the Exodus and the proof only takes two steps.  First, we have to align the date of Christ’s death with the middle of the seventieth week and second, we have to identify one Jubilee year.

For reasons beyond the scope of this study, it can be proven beyond reasonable argument that Jesus died on Friday, April 7, A.D. 30.  (For a comprehensive study on this topic, see my book, Daniel, Unlocked for the Final Generation, pages 196-208 or go to this link http://www.wake-up.org/Daniel/DanChap6.htm.)  Once the date of the crucifixion is determined, we learn the synchrony of the weekly cycle of years because Daniel 9 declares that Messiah would die in the middle of the seventieth week.  Therefore, A.D. 30 has to be a Wednesday year because Wednesday is always the middle day of the week.  By knowing A.D. 30 was a Wednesday year, we can identify all Sunday years forward and backward.  For example, A.D. 27 and 457 B.C. were Sunday years.

The second step requires the identification of one Jubilee year.  If one Jubilee year is known, then Jubilee cycles can be calculated forward and backward like days of the week.  Fortunately, there is one Jubilee year that is easily identified.  It occurred during the fifteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign.^[2]  Since Jubilee years always fell on Sunday years, this forces Hezekiah’s Jubilee year to be 702 B.C.  All other dates have to be eliminated because known historical events do not align with that Jubilee year. (Many scholars, knowing nothing about the synchrony of the weekly cycle of years and the operation of the Jubilee Calendar, date Hezekiah’s Jubilee at 701 B.C.  This shows that good scholarship can get close to the truth, but sometimes there are limitations.  History can resolve questions to a point, but sometimes, history cannot precisely pinpoint the specific year.)  Jubilee years are forty-nine years apart and because Jubilee years are always Sunday years, we can precisely identify the Jubilee year during Hezekiah’s reign.  By counting forward or backward in forty-nine year intervals from 702 B.C., we find that God started the Jubilee Calendar on Abib 1, 1437 B.C., two weeks before the Exodus!  No other date is historically possible.  (This topic is discussed at length in my booklet, Great Clocks from God or go to this link https://www.wake-up.org/time-periods/eight-great-clocks-from-god.html.)

B. God treats the synchrony of time in a different way than we commonly treat time today. First, God counts time inclusively.  Any portion of a unit of time counts as a whole unit of time.  For example, Jesus spent a portion of Friday, all of Sabbath, and a portion of Sunday in the tomb.  Jesus counted this as three days and three nights.^[3]  All prophetic time periods are counted this way.  This explains how Luke counted A.D. 27 as the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, even though Tiberius took office on September 17, A.D. 14.^[4]

History records that Augustus died on August 19, A.D. 14.  Tiberius maneuvered the Senate for a few weeks and did not allow it to name him emperor for almost a month.  On September 17, A.D. 27, Tiberius became Emperor of Rome at age 56.  This means that Luke followed the Jewish tradition of inclusive dating and counted the ascension year of Tiberius as “year 1,” even though the ascension year was just a few days in length before a new civil year began on Tishri 1.  Josephus also followed this practice when he dated the reigns of the Herods.^[5]  The Mishnah further confirmed this method of Jewish regnal reckoning.^[6]

During the time of Christ, the Jews also observed a fall-to-fall civil calendar.  The first month of this calendar was the seventh month of the religious year called Tishri. Tiberius ascended to the throne on September 17, A.D. 14, during a Jewish civil year that ended about two months later (November 11, A.D. 14.)  So, Luke counted September 17 to November 11 as “year 1” because Tiberius, counting inclusively, ascended to the throne that year.  Therefore, the Jews regarded the following civil year Tishri 1 to Tishri 1 (November 12, A.D. 14 to October 31,  A.D. 15), as the second year of Tiberius’ reign.

Luke’s Account: The Reign of Tiberius Caesar

            Year   1 = A.D. 14/14 (September 17 – November 11)

           Year   2 = A.D. 14/15 (Tishri 1 to Tishri 1)

           Year   3 = A.D. 15/16 (Tishri 1 to Tishri 1)

           Year   4 = A.D. 16/17  Etc.

           Year   5 = A.D. 17/18

           Year   6 = A.D. 18/19

           Year   7 = A.D. 19/20

           Year   8 = A.D. 20/21

           Year   9 = A.D. 21/22

           Year 10 = A.D. 22/23

           Year 11 = A.D. 23/24

           Year 12 = A.D. 24/25

           Year 13 = A.D. 25/26

           Year 14 = A.D. 26/27

           Year 15 = A.D. 27/28  (Jesus baptized after Tishri 1, A.D. 27)

God also treats His weekly cycle in a different way than we commonly do.  For example, God starts a week with Sunday, the first day of the week.  We casually define a week as any period of seven days, but this is never the case in God’s calendar.  When it comes to God’s clocks, there is a big difference between seven days and a week.  God’s seventh day Sabbath and God’s seventh year rest for the land are determined by the first day of Creation and the first year of the Exodus, respectively.

C. One Jubilee cycle contained seven full weeks of seven years each. Thus, a Jubilee cycle was forty-nine years in length.  The forty-ninth year always fell on a Sabbath year that was synchronous with Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.^[7]  The weekly cycle is the basis for translating time – “a day for a year.”^[8]  The Year of Jubilee (the fiftieth year) always fell on the Sunday year that followed the forty-ninth Sabbath year.  This may seem strange at first, but the fiftieth year of the old Jubilee cycle and the first year of the new Jubilee cycle occurred simultaneously.  This method of counting time is confirmed by the Feast of Pentecost.

The Feast of Pentecost (the fiftieth day) was always celebrated on Sunday (the first day of the week).  This is how the countdown to Pentecost occurred:  Passover fell on different days of the weekly cycle (like our birthdays).  The priests waited until the first Sunday following Passover to start counting off forty-nine days (seven full weeks).^[9]  Then, on the fiftieth day, which was the first day of the eighth week, Israel celebrated the Feast of Pentecost.

Many Bible students believe each Jubilee cycle was fifty years in length .  However, Jubilee cycles were forty-nine years in length because (a) the weekly cycle of seven years was not interrupted,  (b) the weekly cycle of years remained synchronous with the year of the Exodus (year 1), and (c) the seventy weeks in Daniel 9 totaled 490 years.  If Jubilee cycles were fifty years in length as some people claim, it would be mathematically impossible to make the seventy weeks equal 490 years.  The seventy weeks are 490 years (70 x 7) and 490 years are ten Jubilee cycles (49 x 10).

You may wonder what the Jubilee Calendar has to do with Revelation 8:2.  The Jubilee Calendar appears to be important to Revelation 8:2 because God’s patience with mankind appears to be limited to seventy Jubilee cycles.  In other words, from the Exodus in 1437 B.C. to 1994, there are seventy Jubilee cycles.  I believe that in 1994 the Jubilee Calendar ended and Jesus handed the seven trumpets to the seven angels.  I believe that God’s patience with sin on Earth ended in 1994 at the close of seventy Jubilee cycles.  Jesus gave seven trumpets to the seven angels, and before the angels could release their harm on Earth, He told them to wait.  So, Jesus has delayed the first four trumpets from causing the overwhelming destruction that is soon to occur.

Thirty Jubilee Cycles

Because of Abraham’s friendship and faithfulness, God chose Abraham’s descendants to serve as trustees of His gospel.  Unfortunately, for about 800 years, the children of Israel failed to live up to the covenant they made with God at Mt. Sinai.  After God exiled Israel to Babylon, He gave the nation a second chance to become the model nation that He wanted to make of them.  He graciously granted the Jews ten Jubilee cycles or seventy weeks, which is 490 years!

Bible history reveals that during the Sunday year of the seventieth week (A.D. 27), Messiah began His ministry.^[10]  However, Israel rejected Messiah’s message of love, truth, and righteousness.  Instead, they crucified Him.^[11]  When we examine Israel’s history in light of the Jubilee Calendar, we discover a stunning fact:  God granted to Israel, down to the very day, a total of thirty Jubilee Cycles.  (1437 B.C. to A.D. 34)  This precision reminds me of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.  “At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.”^[12]  This precision also highlights the fact that the Second Coming will occur on the very day which God has predetermined. “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.”^[13]

Forty Jubilee Cycles for the Gentiles

When Israel’s thirty Jubilee cycles ended, God started over.  He wanted to give the Gentiles their chance as trustees of His gospel.  God raised up a brilliant young Jew, Saul of Tarsus, and made him an apostle to the Gentiles in A.D. 34.  As a result, the Christian church soon had more Gentile believers in it than Jewish converts.  Because there is a New Covenant, the Christian church did not displace Israel; it replaced Israel as trustee.  God abolished the Old Covenant by creating a New Covenant.  This redefined Israel.  Believers in Jesus are now the heirs of Abraham.^[14]  History confirms that God granted forty Jubilee cycles to the Gentiles! (A.D. 34 to 1994)  The proof of this assertion requires three steps:

First, the Jubilee Calendar could not end at the cross because Jesus’ death occurred during the middle of the seventieth week (A.D. 30 was a Wednesday year), and from our study in Daniel 8 we know that the 2,300 days began before the cross and they continue uninterrupted until A.D. 1844.  This means the 2,300 days are translated (a day for a year) past the date of the cross, without interruption, until 1844.  So, at a minimum, we are forced to recognize that the Jubilee Calendar with its day/year translation continued until the Thursday year of 1844.  However, the Jubilee Calendar could not end in 1844.

This brings us to the second step.  The Jubilee Calendar is divided into three units of time: (a) a week of seven years, (b) seven weeks of seven years, and (c) seventy weeks of seven years.  Since history indicates that God granted the Jews thirty Jubilee cycles to the very day, this indicates that the seventy weeks in Daniel 9 is one Great Day (seventy weeks), one unit of time.

The Great Week

I have concluded there are seven Great Days of seventy weeks each.  I like to call this week of seven Great Days, the Great Week.  If this structure truly exists, the seventy weeks in Daniel 9 becomes the Great Day of Tuesday.  It is interesting to note that from the Exodus in the Sunday year of 1437 B.C. to the dedication of Solomon’s temple in the Sunday year of 947 B.C., there are exactly seventy weeks or 490 years.  (I call this seventy weeks the Great Day of Sunday.)  Then, from the dedication of Solomon’s temple to the decree of Artaxerxes in the Sunday year of 457 B.C., there is another Great Day of seventy weeks or 490 years.   I call this Great Day, Monday.  Then, from the decree of Artaxerxes to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to Saul’s conversion in the Sunday year of A.D. 34, there is another seventy weeks or 490 years.   I call this Great Day, Tuesday.   I believe this information provides evidence that a Great Week exists.  If so, it would seem reasonable that there are four more Great Days to make up the Great Week since the prophecy describing the 2,300 days does not end until 1844.  If we fill the Jubilee Calendar with four more Great Days of seventy weeks each, we end up with The Great Week having seven Great Days.  Each Great Day has seventy weeks each, totaling 3,430 years.  (1437 B.C. – 1994)  So, the Great Week for the Jubilee Calendar began on Sunday, Nisan 1, 1437 B.C. and it ended 3,430 years (490 x 7) later on Sabbath, Adar 29, 1994.

Once the Great Week ends, the Jubilee Calendar with its weekly template of seven Great Days expires.   This leads us to an amazing discovery:  All remaining apocalyptic time periods after 1994 can occur without the translation of a day for a year.  If you can accept the premise that all prophetic time periods occurring after 1994 are to be treated as literal units, then everything stated in Scripture will perfectly fold into an even larger calendar called the “Grand Week,” a calendar where a day translates into 1,000 years!

The Grand Week

The Grand Week is a week of millenniums totaling 7,000 years.  Each day in the Grand Week represents 1,000 years.  When all of the genealogical records, historical events, and prophetic time periods mentioned in the Bible are assembled together, it appears that the Bible only speaks of 7,000 years for the duration of sin.  I call these seven millenniums the “Grand Week.”  In other words, the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 will be the seventh millennium and during this Sabbath millennium, Earth itself will rest from the works of sin.  There is no time period throughout all eternity, past or future, that reveals the love of God like the time He has spent resolving the sin problem!  I do not have words to describe the grandeur of this incredible process.  I am sure saints and angels will study the drama of the Grand Week throughout eternity.

Full Cup Principle / Jubilee Language

The final step to connect the Jubilee Calendar with Revelation 8:2 concerns the operation of the full cup principle as it pertains to timing.   Notice how this works.  God’s patience with the nation of Israel ended when Israel violated seventy Sabbath years.  When this limit was reached, God swiftly raised up King Nebuchadnezzar to take His people into Babylonian exile before another Sabbath year could be violated!^[15]  The Bible says God exiled Israel to Babylon for seventy years because Israel violated seventy Sabbath years.^[16]  After the Babylonian exile was over, God granted Israel a second chance with respect to time.  God granted the Great Day of Tuesday to Israel using Jubilee language.  He used Jubilee language so that if His people (who should have understood the Jubilee Calendar) had been observing the Sabbaticals, they could have determined which decree would start the countdown to Messiah’s appearing.  The timing of the first advent of Jesus was not supposed to be a surprise.

“Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, [Messiah] the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’. . . .”^[17]

Many Bible students do not understand why God stated the sixty-nine weeks in two parts.  The statement, “seven weeks” and “sixty-two weeks” is confusing when God could just as easily have said, “sixty-nine weeks.”  Once we understand the Jubilee Calendar, the reason for a description of “sixty-two weeks” and “seven weeks” becomes apparent.

(Note: The Hebrew word shabuwa’ translated as “weeks” or “sevens” means “the cycle of the seven” or commonly “the week.”  Compare Daniel 9:24 with Daniel 10:3.  Millions of people have read the words in Daniel 9:25 without realizing what they actually say.  Perhaps the easiest way to explain this text is to use interlaced commentary:  “[Israel] Know and understand this: [There will be a total of four decrees to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, however] From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem [that will occur during the Jubilee year, 457 B.C.] until the Anointed One [Jesus, Messiah], the ruler, comes [in
A.D. 27], there will be [one cycle of] seven ‘sevens,’ [a Jubilee cycle of forty-nine years.  In other words, Israel, watch for the one and only decree that will be granted during a Jubilee year] and [after that Jubilee cycle of forty-nine years ends, count off] sixty-two ‘sevens.’ [That is, count off sixty-two more weeks of years – 434 years.  Then, watch for Messiah’s appearing.  John the Babptist will baptize Messiah in the Sunday year of A.D. 27, the first year of His ministry and the first year of the seventieth week.]” [Daniel 9:25, insertions mine])

Think about this.  God could have granted any number of probationary weeks to Israel.  Why did He deliberately choose seventy weeks?  God could have established any time frame for the appearing of Messiah.  Why did He select “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks”?  Even more, God could have used the words “490 years” instead of saying “seventy weeks.”  God could have started counting the years to the appearing of Messiah from a contemporary event such as the victory of the Romans over the Grecians in 168 B.C. or He could have dated the appearing of Messiah from the date Antiochus Epiphanes IV desecrated the temple on Kislev 15, 167 B.C.

The more a person understands about God’s timing, the more profound this topic becomes.   I conclude that God set the time and He chose the descriptive words “seventy weeks” for two reasons.  First, a week of years always begins with a Sunday year.  Second, seventy weeks makes up one day in His Great Week.  In other words, God graciously granted Israel one more “day” to accomplish His objectives.  If God had said “490 years” instead of “seventy weeks,” the Jews would not have been able to determine which decree “to restore Jerusalem” God used to start His count.  (There were four decrees.)  The language “seventy weeks” should have been a huge clue because the first day of a week always begins on Sunday in God’s calendar.  It is as though God was shouting to Israel’s coming generations, “Watch for the decree that will be issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem in a Sunday year!”  This is precisely what happened in the Sunday year, 457 B.C.^[18]

(Note: Of the four decrees issued to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, only one occurred in a Sunday year and interestingly, it was also a Jubilee year.  Since this alignment only occurs every forty-nine years, Israel had no excuse for missing the appearing and ministry of Jesus.  One of the remarkable features of the Jubilee Calendar is that during the Year of Jubilee, the land was returned to its original owners free of charge.  God did no less!  He moved the heart of King Artaxerxes to return the land of Judah to the Jews free of charge!  He even gave them many resources to help rebuild Jerusalem.)

To be more precise, God divided the sixty-nine weeks into two parts of seven weeks and sixty-two weeks because He wanted His people to know and understand that the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem would not only occur in a Sunday year, but it would also occur in a Jubilee year!  Since each Jubilee cycle is forty-nine years in length, God used the first seven weeks (the first forty-nine years) of the sixty-nine weeks to help Israel determine which decree was important to determine the appearing of Messiah.  Every Jew knew that King Artaxerxes issued the all important decree on or about Nisan 1, 457 B.C., and as you might expect, 457 B.C. just happened to be a Jubilee year.  Remember, 457 B.C. was a Jubilee year because 702 B.C. is a proven Jubilee year.  It is as though God gave Israel every hint possible about the timing of Messiah’s appearance and yet, Israel’s learned scholars, pompous Pharisees and pious scribes, did not have a clue when the actual time arrived.

The arrogance and ignorance Israel exhibited at the time of Christ’s birth is no different than the attitude of Christians today.  This darkness cannot be measured.  There is no darkness like stubborn religious darkness.  Jewish authorities were speechless when the wise men showed up in Jerusalem to worship the newborn King.  How sad, you say, but the same problem exists today.  The second appearing of Jesus is imminent.  Bible prophecy has never been clearer and more understandable, yet the books of Daniel and Revelation are treated by many Christians as though they are full of darkness, gloom, and doom.  Open your eyes, and you will see that the darkness is gone!  The book of Daniel has been unsealed.  The rules that lead us toward understanding the ways, plans, character, and love of God are shining brightly!  “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”^[19]

Seventy: A Random or Deliberate Number?

Is the number seventy important to God or is it just a random number?  I am generally opposed to numerology because it is based on the notion that numbers have hidden or obscure meanings.  Since there are no defined rules regarding numerology, it is a nose of wax as far as I am concerned.  It has taken time for me to come to terms with the fact that certain numbers might have special meaning to God, but I have concluded that from God’s perspective, the number seven appears to represent completion.  There are seven colors in the rainbow. There are seven continents and seven oceans.  There are seven days in the week.  Jesus spoke seven times on the cross.  In the book of Revelation, there are seven angels, seven lamps, seven churches, seven seals, seven thunders, seven trumpets, seven heads, seven hills, seven thousand people, and seven bowls.  Furthermore, God’s Jubilee calendar is based on recurring and expanding units of seven.  After reading this paragraph, I hope you see the significance to God’s use of seven.

Unlike God, man uses many numbering systems.  For example, computers use a binary system of zeros and ones, but to program them, programmers use compilers that translate ordinary words into binary numbers.  Perhaps the most common numbering system that man uses is based on units of ten.  (Maybe ten fingers and ten toes got human beings going in this direction.)  The nice thing about base ten is that each time a count of ten is completed, the count continues expanding or shrinking by simply moving the decimal point one place to the left or right.  It is interesting to me that God’s numbering system and man’s numbering systems have one thing in common.  They express completion at intervals and in order to continue counting, expansion becomes necessary.  In God’s case, He translates a day as a year, whereas man moves the position of the decimal.

When God multiplies His “seven” with man’s “ten,” we find the limits of divine forbearance and human completion.  In other words, seventy indicates that God has gone as far as He will go and man has gone as far as God will let him go!   Multiplying seven and ten to determine completion helps us understand, in part, why God was moved to action when Israel violated seventy Sabbath years.  This seems to be the reason why God put Israel in Babylon for seventy years.^[20]  Again, the idea of completion helps us understand why God granted seventy weeks to Israel.  God is just too deliberate and purposeful for a person to maintain that God’s use of seven and ten is random and meaningless.

God has also used the numbers seven and ten in two other ways.  First, the annual Day of Atonement always fell on the tenth day of the seventh month.  The Day of Atonement was the most important day in Israel’s religious year because God required Israel to assemble and face His judgment on that day.  It was a somber day that included fasting.  It was the annual day of reckoning, and everyone in Israel was concerned whether God had accepted their individual efforts to make atonement.  Remember, the seventh month indicates that God’s justice has gone as far as He will go and the tenth day indicates that man’s behavior has gone as far as God will let him go!   So, the tenth day of the seventh month was judgment day.

Second, the great red dragon in Revelation 12, the leopard-like beast in Revelation 13, and the scarlet beast on which the whore rides in Revelation 17, all have seven heads and ten horns.  The seven heads on these beasts represent the same thing, namely the seven religious systems of the world.  The ten horns represent ten kings (political pawns) which the devil himself will appoint during the sixth trumpet.  When the time comes, the seven heads and ten horns indicate completion – a world whose leadership is full of theological and political evil.

A final interesting point regarding the numbers seven and ten involves the Great Week and the Grand Week.  The Great Week consists of seven Great Days and each Great Day consists of ten Jubilee cycles (seventy weeks).  Likewise, the Grand Week consists of seven Grand Days and each Grand Day consists of ten centuries (1,000 years).  When we add up the genealogical records given in Scripture, when we put historical events in their rightful places, when we place the seventeen prophetic time periods found in Daniel and Revelation in their proper places according to Rule Four, the dates and numbers will perfectly align so that everything neatly folds into a Grand Week of 7,000 years (seventy centuries)!

The Bottom Line

I believe there is a definite connection between the number “seventy” and 1994, and there is also a definite connection between the number “seventy” and the duration of sin.  We can see that from Creation, God allotted a total of 7,000 years for sin.  I call this time period, the Grand Week (each day of the week translates as 1,000 years^[21]).  From the beginning, God foreknew the limits of His patience with sin and He deliberately set the duration of sin to be seventy (7 x 10) centuries or 7,000 years!  When God’s use of seventy is further synthesized, I believe that God’s forbearance with mankind ended in 1994.  Seventy Jubilee cycles ended in 1994 and there is no further need to translate apocalyptic time as a day for a year.  In 1994, God gave the seven angels the seven trumpets and they are armed and ready, waiting for the divine command to harm Earth.

Because the second and third trumpets involve asteroid impacts, I do not think it is coincidental that God gave the whole world a “prophetic sample” of coming events in 1994.  You may recall the implosion of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter during July 1994.  That marvelous event was televised and published worldwide.  Those impact craters on Jupiter for the past fifteen years have been a harbinger of coming asteroid impacts on Earth.  The comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, broke up into a string of twenty-one chunks as it approached Jupiter and as these chunks accelerated into Jupiter’s gravity, they created the most powerful explosions ever witnessed by mankind.  In fact, one impact crater is so large that three planets the size of Earth can fit in it!

Summary

When I conclude that 1994 is the date the seven angels were given the trumpets, a fair amount of skepticism is appropriate.  Nevertheless, I believe that a synthesis of the topics just discussed will rule out any other date.  In summary, here are five major points:

1. Two Different Ways of Measuring Time – There has to be a valid rule governing the interpretation of apocalyptic time because it is clear that some prophetic time periods are to be translated as a day for a year and other time periods are not. Based on the information presented previously, I believe the dividing line is 1994.  Consequently, prior to 1994, an apocalyptic day should be translated as a year.  After the Jubilee Calendar expired in 1994, the translating time as a day for a year is not permitted or justified.
2. The Jubilee Calendar – The Jubilee Calendar did not
   end at the cross for two reasons. First, Jesus died in the middle of the seventieth week; therefore, the seventieth week was unfinished at the cross.  Second, the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14 operate both before and after the cross; therefore, the Jubilee Calendar and the translation of a day for a year exist before and after the cross.  In this case, the 2,300 day year prophecy extended from 457 B.C. to A.D. 1844.
3. The Great Week – The time between the Exodus in
   1437 B.C. and the date Solomon’s temple was dedicated in 947 B.C. was 490 years. Later, the time between the dedication of Solomon’s temple and the decree of King Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. was another 490 years.  In addition to this, the seventy weeks in Daniel consisted of 490 years.  Since these three units are 490 years each, it suggests an ongoing pattern is present.  Today, we know that God gave the Jews exactly thirty Jubilee cycles of grace to the very year.  It also appears that God gave the Gentiles forty Jubilee cycles of grace (A.D. 34-1994).  These two periods of grace total seventy Jubilee cycles in all.  Using the weekly template and aligning each unit of 490 years as a Great Day, we find the presence of a Great Week.  When the Great Week ends, so does the translation of apocalyptic time.
4. Full Cup Principle – Evidently, God uses the numbers seven and ten to express the limits of divine forbearance. When Israel violated seventy Sabbath years, God exiled them to Babylon for seventy years.  When God gave Israel a second chance, He gave the nation seventy weeks.  We also see God’s use of seven and ten used during Israel’s annual judgment day, the Day of Atonement.  This special day occurred on the tenth day of the seventh month.  Furthermore, the dragon and the leopard-like beast in Revelation 12 and 13 have seven heads and ten horns.  The heads and horns represent the sum of religious and political powers on Earth.  Finally, the whole drama of sin fits neatly into seventy centuries (7,000 years).  In other words, when the millennial Sabbath rest ends (the seventh millennium), Earth will be made new and life will resume!
5. God’s Timing Is Perfect – We find throughout the Bible that God’s timing is always perfect. He knows no haste or delay.  Given this fact, two things stand out very prominently.  First, if we translate the apocalyptic prophetic time periods prior to 1994 according to God’s calendar (a day for a year) and if we treat all apocalyptic time periods after 1994 as literal time periods, everything written about timing in apocalyptic prophecy harmoniously aligns with a 7,000 year picture for the duration of sin.  (Sin is destroyed at the end of the 1,000 years in Revelation 20.)  Second, now that we understand what the seven trumpets are all about, we can align Revelation 8:2 with the end of seventy Jubilee cycles.  This seems likely because Jesus could give the seven trumpets to the seven angels because God’s patience with mankind ran out at that time.  This means we are now living on borrowed time.  In fact, to my knowledge, there is no other way to determine a date for the delay imposed on the four angels in Revelation 7.

When all of the items discussed in this appendix are aligned with a working knowledge of God’s Jubilee Calendar and the precision of God’s actions, there appears to be only one “biblically reasoned” date for Revelation 8:2 and 1994 is that date.  I believe these conclusions are accurate, because there appears to be perfect harmony coming from the sum of the parts.

References

1.   Exodus 12:1,2 Return
2.   Isaiah 37:30 Return
3.   Matthew 12:40 Return
4.   Luke 3:1 Return
5.   Antiquities xv. 5.2; xvii. 8.1 Return
6.   Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1.1 Return
7.   Leviticus 25:8 Return
8.   Numbers 14:34 Return
9.   Leviticus 23:15,16 Return
10. Luke 3 Return
11. Acts 10:39 Return
12. Exodus 12:41, italics mine Return
13. Daniel 12:12 Return
14. Galatians 3:28,29 Return
15. Jeremiah 25:7-11 Return
16. Leviticus 26:31-35; 2 Chronicles 36:21 Return
17. Daniel 9:25, insertion mine Return
18. Ezra 7 Return
19. Galatians 4:4,5, italics mine Return
20. 2 Chronicles 36:21-23 Return
21. Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8 Return