The Millennium

As this chart shows, 6000 years from Adam will close with the year 2043 AD. How is this date computed? We begin with the date 966 BC, the year Solomon commenced building the famous Temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem. Then, from the records of Scripture, we count from there 479 years back to the Exodus, 430 years back further to God’s Covenant with Abraham, 427 years back more to the end of the Flood, and 1656 years further back to the creation of Adam. This produces a date for Adam of 3958 BC. (See the heading The Count of Years for specifics.)

From there, 6000 years forward bring us to the date 2043 AD—the end of 6000 years of human experience. There begins the Seventh Millennium from Adam, namely the Thousand Year Millennium of Revelation 20.

The Harvest

The “Harvest” period, colored in green, is the period preceding the Millennium. This is the ending period of the present Gospel Age. “The harvest is the end [suntelia, ending period] of the age” (Matthew 13:39). During this time Christ accomplishes four principal works.

(1)   Separating the wheat class, true Christians, from the tare class, through the “sickle” of Truth—an understanding of God’s Plan of the Ages.

(2)   Raising them to their heavenly reward with Christ. This began with the raising of the sleeping saints, and continues throughout the harvest. Each member of the bride class is raised to heavenly life as he or she falls asleep in death.

(3)   Regathering the Israelites to their ancient land, in preparation for the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, which will begin at Israel and expand outward to the world.

(4)   Inaugurating a time of judgment. This includes a “time of trouble” unlike any before, starting with World War I, through to Armageddon, which will introduce the Millennium.

 The Harvest period commenced at the close of the 1335 years of Daniel 12:12. Comparing that prophecy with Luke 12:36-38, shows that this prophecy takes us to the second advent of Christ—his promised parousia, or presence. During this harvest Jesus is present, invisible to the world, supervising the close of this age, to prepare for the next. The apokalupsis, or revealing of Christ to the world, comes at the close of the harvest. He will revealed to the world through the judgments incident to Armageddon, the deliverance of Israel, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God at Jerusalem.

Laodicea

If one compares Luke 12:36-38, with Revelation 3:20, it seems apparent that the parousia of Christ during the Harvest is coincident with the seventh stage of the Gospel Age—the stage represented by the Church of Laodicea (see Revelation 3:14 and forward). We are in that period of time today. So we should specially heed the message of this period—to buy gold tried in the fire (divine principles), secure white linen (the righteousness of Christ to cover our sins), and anoint our eyes with eyesalve (learn and understand the Plan of God).

This is the present privilege of God’s people. Vital in all of this is a full consecration of our mind and heart, to do the will of God. Our commitment is full hearted—our enlistment is to death. If we are faithful in this, then we will hear “well done, good and faithful servant ... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matthew 25:23).

The present Harvest commenced with the year 1874 -- the date referred to in the closing prophecy of Daniel 12:12. (See the heading The 1335 Years.)

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The Count of Years

Today, among historians who accept the testimony of the Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles, there is general agreement that the 40^th and last regnal year of King Solomon closed in the autumn of 930 BC.

The foundation of this conclusion is the record of the kings of Judah and Israel in the Old Testament. When Solomon died, the kingdom was split into two parts -- 10 tribes in the north, “Israel,” and two tribes in the south, “Judah.” The intertwined history of these two kingdoms forms a double cord of testimony, all the way up to the close of the 10 tribe Kingdom. This period of time spanned 207 years.

The testimony for this conclusion is published in the well known work of Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, specially the 1965 edition of that work (revised and republished in 1983). His work has been improved{1}, but his date closing the reign of Solomon remains.

The Scriptures tell us that the Assyrian King Shalmaneser conquered Samaria, putting an end to the independent kingdom of the 10 tribes after a three year siege (2 Kings 17:3-6). The Assyrian records locate the close of the three year siege in the fourth year of Shalmaneser, which fell in the year 723 BC. Thus 207 years earlier take us to 930 BC for the close of Solomon’s last regnal year.{2}

This means that the fourth year of Solomon, 36 years earlier, closed with Tishri of 966 BC. The spring of that year was the time Solomon founded the famous Temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem. That event is linked to the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt, by the scripture 1 Kings 6:1. That text says the founding of the temple occurred in year 480 from the Exodus, which means that 479 years intervened between the two events. Thus if 966 BC was the founding of the temple, then 1445 BC was the date of the Exodus.

According to Galatians 3:16, 430 years earlier take us to God’s Covenant with Abraham. This covenant was secured by Abraham when he entered Canaan after the death of his father Terah. The date for that Covenant was thus 1875 BC.

Genesis chapter 11 gives us, generation by generation, the following numbers of years from the end of the flood until the death of Terah—

This sum of 427 years means that the flood closed that many years before the Covenant with Abraham—namely, in 2302 BC.

Genesis chapter five gives us, generation by generation, the following numbers of years from the his creation, until the close of the flood.

This sum of 1656 years means that the creation of Adam was that many years before the end of the Flood—namely, in 3958 BC. From that date, 6000 years forward take us to the date 2043 AD. (Remember, when computing across the BC/AD divide, adjust by one year to account for the absence of a year “zero” between the BC and AD eras. Thus 6000 - 3958 = 2042, plus one = 2043 AD.)

 The 1335 Years

The most oft-repeated time prophecy in scripture is the 1260 years of Papal dominion. This period appears seven times in Scripture—twice in Daniel, and five times in Revelation.{3} It appears in three forms — 1260 days, 42 months, and “time, times, and half a time.” These are all equivalent periods, for 3½ “times” or years are the same as 42 months, and at 30 days per month, this is the same as 1260 days.

Of course in time prophecy, each day mentioned in the prophecy is fulfilled as a year. That is the way the prophecy of 70 “weeks” of Daniel 9:24 takes us from 458 BC (the decree authorizing the work of Ezra), until 33 AD (the death of Jesus at Calvary) — 490 years. (See also Number 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6).

So the 1260 “days” of Papal dominion refer to 1260 years, during which Papacy, at Rome, secured political power. This commenced in 539 AD when the defeat of the Ostrogothic Kingdom permitted the Pope, in supervision of Rome, to exercise political authority. The period closed in 1799 when the Pope, a prisoner of the French government, died in captivity, and Napoleon refused to allow the election of a successor. This is marked by Catholic historians as a low ebb of Papal fortunes in modern times. Never thereafter was the Pope accorded power to rule and judge among kings.

Daniel 12:10,11 tells us that at 1290 years (30 years later, 1829), the spiritually wise would understand more clearly the prophecies of Daniel which were sealed so long. This was fulfilled by prophetic studies in England, America and elsewhere, which came into focus about 30 years beyond the close of Papal authority.

Daniel 12:12 adds the last prophecy, this one of 1335 years. The year would be 1874. From this point forward we can mark the beginning work of Present Truth among the saints, the restoration of Israel to their ancient homeland, and subsequently a Time of Trouble unprecedented in former history.

A more complete treatment of these prophecies is contained in Volume Three of the “Studies in the Scriptures” series, titled The Kingdom of God, specially chapter two, “The Time of the End,” and chapter three, “Days of Waiting for the Kingdom.”

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(1)   Notably, Leslie McFall, “Did Thiele Overlook Hezekiah’s Coregency?,” Bibliotheca Sacra, October-December 1989, pages 393-404. That article gives technical support to our earlier surmise that 2 Kings 17:1 refers to the end of Hoshea’s reign rather than its beginning.

(2)   All the specifics can be found in 20 pages of “Time and Prophecy” (here) or the briefer treatment in Appendix B of “The Stream of Time” (here). Both treatments also explain how the years represented in the intertwined history of Judah and Israel from Ahab to Hoshea are corroborated by a parallel span of years in the state records of ancient Assyria. Chart for Appendix B.

(3)   Daniel 7:25, 12:7, Revelation 11:2, 11:3, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5.