The Millennium Chronology

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The 2011 Revised Edition is now available as an eBook on Amazon. In this book I argue that a pattern exists in biblical chronology. Every event the New Testament writers identified as promised by God under the Old Testament covenants adheres to a scheme. A proper construction of the chronology reveals such events occur a perfect millennial-multiple (i.e., 1000-year multiple) from either an identifiable creation date or from some other prior Old Testament event "related" to the promised event.

Also I discuss the "year/day" millennium. The theory is that a day sometimes is equated with a year in a millennium. Thus it is possible to compress a timeline of a thousand years to a much shorter time frame. The present millennium will end on the last day of the Jewish month Adar in the year 2149. The last day of Adar is essentially New Year's Eve in the Jewish calendar. If the present millennium ends on the last day of Adar in the year 2149, then the "millennium" also could end on New Year's Day (Nisan 1) in 2148. In that case New Year's Day in 2148 is equated with a year for prophetic purposes. In short, the world could end on Nisan 1, 2148. By the same token, in 2147 both New Year's Day (Nisan 1) and the following day (Nisan 2) are designated as "years." So, the millennium ends on Nisan 2, 2147. In 2146, the millennium ends on Nisan 3 (three days are designated as years for prophetic purposes), etc.

Using this scenario the millennium ends on the 139^th day of the Jewish year that begins on Nisan 1, 2010. All 139 days are designated as years for prophetic purposes. But it could also end on the 138^th day of the year that begins on Nisan 1, 2011, etc. Based on the Book of Revelation, on one of these potential dates a global disaster presumably will occur. Then the end of the world is near. We can determine these potential dates in the near future using new moon tables (and dates in the Eastern Time zone):

Potential dates for a global catastrophe that precedes the end of the world
August 18, 2011
August 5, 2012
July 25, 2013
August 12, 2014
August 1, 2015

These dates are based on a Hebrew calendar in which Nisan 1 coincides with the date of the astronomical new moon that arrives closest to the vernal equinox. I have also computed the dates based on the predicted arrival of the new moon in Jerusalem and assuming one reckons the day from sunset (6:00 pm) to sunset. Moreover, Nisan 1 is reckoned as being the calendar date in Jerusalem just before the day ends at sunset or 6:00 pm. Jerusalem time is six hours ahead of Eastern Time.

The Year/Day Millennium

A "year/day millennium" is a combination of consecutive years and days that equal 1,000. For example, the millennium might be comprised of 700 actual years (from Nisan to Nisan) and the first 300 days of the 701st year. The concept of the year/day millennium probably arose from an interpretation of Ezekiel 4. Moreover, the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the "day of the Lord" depicted the end of the world as being imminent in the 6^th and 7^th centuries BC (Joel 1:15, 2:1; Zephaniah 1:14). Therefore, in order to consistently portray the end of the world as an imminent event the concept of the year/day millennium emerged. In short the year/day millennium is a unique concept that only applies when one watches for the end of the world.

In Ezekiel 4 certain calendar days represented prophetic years. Scholars are uncertain how to interpret the Ezekiel 4 prophecy. The events of Ezekiel 4 can be dated between the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity under Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 1:2) and the sixth year of the captivity (Ezekiel 8:1). I date these years in 594 and 593 BC. In Ezekiel 4:5 Ezekiel is told to lie on his left side for 390 days. Therefore the 390 days would end in 592 BC. The days on his left side represent years of Israel's iniquity (v.5). However, he then lies on his right side for 40 days "each day for a year" to bear the iniquity of the house of Judah (Ezekiel 4:6). Does this mean Judah's iniquity only lasted 40 years or does it possibly mean that the 40 days are to be subtracted from the original 390 days representing 350 years of Judah's iniquity (since lying on the right side might imply a reduction in the original number)? The 350 years seems more likely because 350 years earlier king Solomon, who descended from the house of Judah, began to worship idols. Moreover, The Septuagint (LXX), which represents an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, reads 190 in place of 390 in verses 5 and 9. The LXX also introduces the number 150 in verse 4. This clearly implies the forty days of verse 6 are to be subtracted from the original 390 days.

Mathematically, the numbers yield curious results. I explain that a millennium must have begun on Nisan 1, 852 BC. The actual years that elapsed from 852 BC to 592 BC are 260 years. Since Ezekiel mentions two distinct periods of time in Ezekiel 4:5-6 it is implied that they should be added together. However, since the 40 days are to be subtracted from the original 390 days this implies the resulting numbers should be added. If one adds the prophetic days of 350 and 390 days this yields a year/day millennium (260 + 350 + 390 = 1,000). This would suggest that the millennium leading up to the end of the world is a year/day millennium. The first year/day of the prophecy would expire on the last day of Adar in 591 BC. This would leave 350 + 390 - 1 or 739 days remaining of the prophecy. The 739^th day from and including Nisan 1, 591 BC would have been the first date to watch for the end of the world. Interestingly, Ezekiel was to perform an act of shaving his head and beard and then burning a "third part" of the hair, cutting up another third, and destroying the remaining third with a sword when the days mentioned above were "fulfilled" (Ezekiel 5:2). This act would have then been performed every year (as in 2 Samuel 14:26) on a day which coincides with the last day of the year/day millennium-the day the world might end. Arguably the author of Revelation understood that the hair represented the entire human race (Revelation 9:15-18).

When might the world end?

As I described in the book, the following scenario is possible: the world could end in the year 2030. That year would be 2,000 years after the resurrection of Christ and 3,000 years after the death of King David. However the actual date when the world is destroyed would be at the end of a year/day millennium from the creation date in 3852 BC.

The 7,000 Year Timeline

As I further explained in The Millennium Chronology the belief was that a single day is equated with a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). Moreover the general belief was that the world would end within a week from the creation date in 3852 BC or within 7,000 years from that date. As of 2010, only 1,139 calendar dates remain when the world could end before the year 3149. Therefore, the probability of some catastrophic event is dramatically increasing over time. With this interpretation the final week of Daniel 9:27 also could represent a week of 7,000 years. The phrase "he shall confirm the covenant" is a reference back to Daniel 9:4 and is addressing God himself. "In the midst of the week" means that some time during the 7,000 years God will fulfill all the events described in Daniel 9:27 which includes bringing in "everlasting righteousness" (Daniel 9:24)-i.e., the end of the world.