Christ in the Clouds (1)

By Doug Peterson

In the article The Millennium Chronology I have argued that New Testament writers would not have believed Christ could return in our lifetimes. In this article I will take a radically different approach and argue that perhaps he already did return in our lifetimes. Is it possible?

In this article I will examine two events which I believe New Testament writers likely would have viewed as appearances of Christ in the clouds of heaven. The primary reason why these two events are likely candidates is due to the timing of the events. They occurred in a timely manner in relation to the biblical creation date in 3852 BC and in relation to each other. These two cloud comings were to serve as "signs" for when to watch for the end of the world. I will discuss this more in part 3 at the end of this article.

Matthew 24:38-51 suggests when these two comings would occur. Matthew 24:38-39 reads:

For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

One could argue that the passage means Jesus would return on the calendar date when Noah entered the ark. According to Genesis 7:11-13 that was the 17^th day of the second month. This date is Marheshvan 17 when Tishri is the first month. The date is Iyar 17 if Nisan is counted as the first month. Matthew 24:50-51 will be cited in part 3.

Our millennium (from AD 1149 to 2149) or "watch" is likely divided into seven hours. As I will show later, the millennium in Christ’s time presumably corresponded to a 12-hour “day.” If so then our millennium corresponds to the middle or second “watch” of the night. The Old Testament does not indicate how many hours comprise each of the three watches. Christ would return at some hour:

And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. (Luke 12:39)

A proper interpretation of Mark 13:35 reveals the number of hours in each millennium. It reads:

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

These times likely correspond to specific Roman hours which reflect the following times (by our standards): evening (8:00 p.m.), midnight (12:00 a.m.), cockcrowing (7:00 a.m.—since cocks crow at dawn), and morning (8:00 a.m.). These hours imply that the second watch, from midnight to when the cock crows, is seven hours in duration.

This chart reflects the number of hours in each millennium:

# of hours in each millennium based on Mark 13:35

millennium hours of day total hours

852 BC – AD 149 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. 12

AD 149-- AD 1149 8:00 p.m. to midnight 4

AD 1149-- AD 2149 midnight to 7:00 a.m. 7

AD 2149-- AD 3149 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. 1

This cycle continues and repeats itself for every subsequent millennium until the world ends.

When dividing each millennium into its respective number of hours (and assuming Tishri 1 begins each millennium) one can determine that a Marheshvan 17 date coincides with the beginning of only one hour. That hour is the sixth hour of our millennium--coinciding with 6:00 a.m. in the table above. That date is November 7, 2006 (Marheshvan 17) when applying biblical principles that the first day of the month coincides with a new moon.

The computations are as follows: multiply 1,000 years by 6/7. The answer is 857.142 years. Now multiply .142 by 354 days since there were 12 lunar months in the year from Tishri 1, 2006 to Tishri 1, 2007. The result is 50 days. Marheshvan 17 is within 3 days of the 50^th day of the year.

On November 7, 2006 a UFO appeared over Chicago’s O’hare airport and vanished in the clouds. This was not a typical UFO incident since it was the only UFO story to make national news in some time. Could it have been a fulfillment of Bible prophecy? Probably you’re skeptical. However, a UFO incident certainly might have been viewed as a coming of Jesus in the clouds.

The Bible would not have been more explicit about the timing of this possible appearance of Christ because the world might have ended much sooner in AD 149 (see The Millennium Chronology).