Biblical Chronology

1. Biblical Chronology • Biblical chronology… • … from creation to the return of Christ • … no gaps • … often overlapping evidence • The chronology is based on the Hebrew Bible only • The most reliable tie to our chronology is Jerusalem’s destruction at 70 A.D. or Jesus’ crucifixion at 30 A.D. • Earlier attempts have been unsuccessful due to: • The Septuagint has systematical errors in genealogies • Synchronization with unreliable secular data • Based on personal visions or astronomical data • The credibility is bases on: • The inspiration of the Scriptures • An internal consistency and symmetry • Already fulfilled prophesies

2. But are we supposed to know? But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father… Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matt 24:36-44) • Our understanding grows with time: • That ”no one knows” does not mean that “no one will ever know”. • Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end… None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.(Dan 12:9-10) • Even so, when you see all these things [the fig tree], you know that it is near, right at the door.(Matt 24:33) • That we cannot know is a modern view, asserting Jesus’ return is imminent: • Pretribulationists await an immediate rapture • Amillennialists await an immediate end of the world • But the day of the Lord will come like a thief(2 Pet 3:10, 1 Tess 5:2): • The day, not the Lord, is the thief • Only applicable to the unprepared: But you, brothers and sisters, arenot in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. (1 Tess 5:4) • We are exhorted to keep watch, i.e. we are exhorted to find out when the thief comes.

3. Two Calendars • Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month [Tishri]; on the Day of Atonement [Yom Kippur] sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you;(Lev 25:8-10) • Jubilee years are counted from the fall, which is symbolized in the Day of Atonement. God’s limitation to 120 years (Gen 6) relates to His struggle with man’s sin. Since the Day of Atonement is Tishri 10, it seems like the fall was 10 days after creation. • Jubilee years are counted to Christ’s return, which means liberty in the same way as the Day of Atonement does. • … when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpetcall…(Matt 24:30-31) Millennium Calendar  Jubilee Calendar Creation The Fall (+10d) Christ’s return • Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded… The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; (Lev 25:8-11) • My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.(Gen 6:3) • 3 interpretations: • Man’s lifespan (but Adam lived 930 years) • The time to the flood (but it was less than 100 years) • 120 jubilee years = 6000 years • The Creation Week is both historical and prophetic (6 days/millennia + rest) • The view of the first Christians. • Peter about the return: … With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Pet 3:8) • I make known the end from the beginning… (Is 46:10) • … for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen 2:17 KJV) Adam lived 930 years. • … some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power. After six days… (Mark 9:1-2) the transfiguration came. • For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. (Ex 24:16) 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Deut 19:15)

4. Episodes, Events, Years Anno Mundi = Year after Creation Jubilee Years 2500/50 Creation Creation Abraham’s birth Exodus Construction starts Promise of reconstruction Start of Tribulation Fall (+10d) Fall (+10d) Abraham’s promise Law (+7w) Finished/Warning Finished (incl. walls) A.o.D. Isaac’s birth Conquest Solomon dies Crucifixion Christ’s return Flood Christ’s return Destruction Destruction 6000/120 2000/40 2100/42 2500/50 2550/51 3000/60 3500/70 3550/71 1651f/- 0000/0 +3,5 år 2070/- 2980/- 3017/- 3430/- 3993/- 4033/- 5993/- 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years Before Flood Pat-riarchs Stran-gers Con-quest Judges, David Solomon’s Temple Cap-tivity Second Temple Church Age Tribu- lation King-dom

5. From Creation to the Exodus • And the dwellingof the sons of Israel, which dwelt in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, they and their fathers – four hundred thirty years. (Ex 12:40, Septuagint) At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.(Ex 12:41) • The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed… The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. (Gal 3:16-17) • The law was given 7 weeks after the Exodus: On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. (Ex 19:1) • Genealogies in Gen 5 & Gen 11 with ½ year subtracted per generation gives: • 2000 years • Abraham is born the same year as Noah dies • New jubilee year and new millennium • Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.(Gen 21:5) • New jubileeyear • Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. (Gen 15:13, Acts 7:6) • The Exodus on the jubilee of jubilees Creation Abraham’s birth Exodus Construction starts Promise of reconstruction Start of Tribulation Fall (+10d) Abraham’s promise Law (+7w) Finished/Warning Finished (incl. walls) A.o.D. Isaac’s birth Conquest Solomon dies Crucifixion Christ’s return Flood Destruction Destruction 70 y 430 y 2000 y 100 y 400 y 6000/120 2000/40 2100/42 2500/50 2550/51 3000/60 3500/70 3550/71 1651f/- 0000/0 +3,5 år 2070/- 2980/- 3017/- 3430/- 3993/- 4033/- 5993/- 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years Before Flood Pat-riarchs Stran-gers Con-quest Judges, David Solomon’s Temple Cap-tivity Second Temple Church Age Tribu- lation King-dom

6. From the Exodus to Solomon • He had spent seven years building it [the temple]. It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. (1 Kings 6:38-7:1) • When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace… The Lord said to him: “… But if you or your descendants turn away from me… then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple… (1 Kings 9:1-7) • New jubilee year • The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord… Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you.” (Lev 25:1-10) • The new jubilee calendar is perfectly synchronized with the one in use since creation. • The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors… for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. All this took about 450 years. (Acts 13:17-20) • New jubilee year In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt… he [Solomon] began to build the temple of the Lord. (1 Kings 6:1) Creation Abraham’s birth Exodus Construction starts Promise of reconstruction Start of Tribulation Fall (+10d) Abraham’s promise Law (+7w) Finished/Warning Finished (incl. walls) A.o.D. Isaac’s birth Conquest Solomon dies Crucifixion Christ’s return Flood Destruction Destruction 450 y 70 y 430 y 2000 y 100 y 400 y 480 y 20 y 6000/120 2000/40 2100/42 2500/50 2550/51 3000/60 3500/70 3550/71 1651f/- 0000/0 +3,5 år 2070/- 2980/- 3017/- 3430/- 3993/- 4033/- 5993/- 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years Before Flood Pat-riarchs Stran-gers Con-quest Judges, David Solomon’s Temple Cap-tivity Second Temple Church Age Tribu- lation King-dom

7. From Solomon to end of Exile • He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword… The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.(2 Chron 36:20-21) • During the exile, the land rests as a compensation for the missed out sabbath years. • 500 years are 10 jubilee years, i.e. 7*10 = 70 years • New jubilee year • Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.(2 Chron 9:30) • … in the fourth year [i.e. after 3 years] of Solomon’s reign over Israel… he began to build the temple of the Lord… (1 Kings 6:1) • He had spent seven years building it [the temple]. It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. (1 Kings 6:38-7:1) • Therefore, 40-3-7-13 = 17 yearsremained of Solomon’s reign. • Unsure sums of the reign lengths of kings from 2 Chronicles, with some assumptions: • Only full years (from new-year) are registered for each king. • Years with shift of throne are not registered, and are therefore added ”manually” • Reign lengths under one year are not calculated. • I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel… and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. (Ez 4:5-6) • 390+40=430 years • The split probably depends on Judah’s special prophet, Jeremiah, who prophesized during 40 years. • This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.(Jer 25:11) • The exile was ended after 70 years, but also after 70 jubilee years from creation. Creation Abraham’s birth Exodus Construction starts Promise of reconstruction Start of Tribulation Fall (+10d) Abraham’s promise Law (+7w) Finished/Warning Finished (incl. walls) A.o.D. Isaac’s birth Conquest Solomon dies Crucifixion Christ’s return Flood Destruction Destruction 450 y 17 y 413 y 70 y 430 y 500 y 2000 y 100 y 400 y 480 y 20 y 430 y 70 y 6000/120 2000/40 2100/42 2500/50 2550/51 3000/60 3500/70 3550/71 1651f/- 0000/0 +3,5 år 2070/- 2980/- 3017/- 3430/- 3993/- 4033/- 5993/- 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years Before Flood Pat-riarchs Stran-gers Con-quest Judges, David Solomon’s Temple Cap-tivity Second Temple Church Age Tribu- lation King-dom

8. Note the Symmetry! 500 y 500 y 500 y 70 y 430 y delayed promise 500 y fulfilled promise 430 y delayed judgment 70 y The Exodus God’s warning Abraham’sbirth Abraham’s promise Destruction of Temple Promise of reconstruction Creation Abraham’s birth Exodus Construction starts Promise of reconstruction Start of Tribulation Fall (+10d) Abraham’s promise Law (+7w) Finished/Warning Finished (incl. walls) A.o.D. Isaac’s birth Conquest Solomon dies Crucifixion Christ’s return Flood Destruction Destruction 450 y 17 y 413 y 70 y 430 y 500 y 2000 y 100 y 400 y 480 y 20 y 430 y 70 y 6000/120 2000/40 2100/42 2500/50 2550/51 3000/60 3500/70 3550/71 1651f/- 0000/0 +3,5 år 2070/- 2980/- 3017/- 3430/- 3993/- 4033/- 5993/- 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years Before Flood Pat-riarchs Stran-gers Con-quest Judges, David Solomon’s Temple Cap-tivity Second Temple Church Age Tribu- lation King-dom

9. From Cyrus’ Decree to Tribulation • This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven… has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.” (2 Chron 36:23) • ... From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens’. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench… Afterthe sixty-two ‘sevens’, the Anointed One will be put to death… (Dan 9:25-26) • Daniel’s 70 weeks start at the decree of Cyrus • The split is to show the connection to the jubilee calendar:1 week of Daniel (D.w.) = 1 sabbath cycle = 7 years7 D.w. = 49 years plus a jubilee year = 50 years=> 70 D.w. = 500 years. • Jesus dies after 69 D.w. = 500-7 = 493:th year • Temple/walls finished after 7 D.w. = 50 years => new jubilee year • Secondexile: They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled…(Luk 21:24) • If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. (Lev 26:18, also 21, 24 och 27) • Second exile will be ”seven times” worse than the first (Babylonian), i.e. 7*70=490 years • ”seven times” are repeated 4 times in Lev 26, i.e. 4*490 = 1960 years • For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away… until they have borne their guilt and seek my face… After two days [2000 years] he will revive us… (Hos 5:14-6:2) • Starts the year of the crucifixion when Jesus announces: ”I will go away” (Joh 8:21) Talmud describes special omens occurring in the temple during 40 years prior to its destruction, which probably started when the curtain was torn at the crucifixion. Creation Abraham’s birth Exodus Construction starts Promise of reconstruction Start of Tribulation Fall (+10d) Abraham’s promise Law (+7w) Finished/Warning Finished (incl. walls) A.o.D. Isaac’s birth Conquest Solomon dies Crucifixion Christ’s return Flood Destruction Destruction 450 y 17 y 413 y 70 y 430 y 500 y 493 y 40 y 1960 y 2000 y 100 y 400 y 480 y 20 y 430 y 70 y 7 D.w. 50 y 62 D.w. 443 y Gap in D.w. 2000 y 6000/120 2000/40 2100/42 2500/50 2550/51 3000/60 3500/70 3550/71 1651f/- 0000/0 +3,5 år 2070/- 2980/- 3017/- 3430/- 3993/- 4033/- 5993/- 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years Before Flood Pat-riarchs Stran-gers Con-quest Judges, David Solomon’s Temple Cap-tivity Second Temple Church Age Tribu- lation King-dom

10. The Time of the End • The Jews repent via the sacrificial service • OT closes with: Remember the law of my servant Moses… See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes… (Mal 4:4-6) • He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’. In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering… (Dan 9:27) • As far as the gospel is concerned, they [the Jews] are enemies for your [the Romans]sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Rom 11:28-29) • The abomination of desolation • So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’… then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains… For then there will be great distress… (Matt 24:15-21) • … for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed.. he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thess 2:3-4) • Christ’s return • We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Kor 15:51-52) • The last trumpet initiates the 120:th jubilee year • Five representations of 3,5 years: • He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’. In the middle of the ‘seven’he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. (Dan 9:27) • … It will be for a time, times and half a time… all these things will be completed. (Dan 12:7) • For three and a half days some… will gaze on their bodies [the two witnesses]… (Rev 11:9) • And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days… (Rev 11:3) (From the time the daily offering is removed (and AoD) it will be 1290 days. (Dan 12:11)) • The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. (Upp 13:5) Creation Abraham’s birth Exodus Construction starts Promise of reconstruction Start of Tribulation Fall (+10d) Abraham’s promise Law (+7w) Finished/Warning Finished (incl. walls) A.o.D. Isaac’s birth Conquest Solomon dies Crucifixion Christ’s return Flood Destruction Destruction 450 y 17 y 413 y 70 y 430 y 500 y 493 y 40 y 1960 y 3,5 y 3,5 y 2000 y 100 y 400 y 480 y 20 y 430 y 70 y 7 D.w. 50 y 62 D.w. 443 y Gap in D.w. 2000 y 1 D.w. 7 y ∞ y 6000/120 2000/40 2100/42 2500/50 2550/51 3000/60 3500/70 3550/71 1651f/- 0000/0 +3,5 år 2070/- 2980/- 3017/- 3430/- 3993/- 4033/- 5993/- 6 millennia & 120 jubilee years Before Flood Pat-riarchs Stran-gers Con-quest Judges, David Solomon’s Temple Cap-tivity Second Temple Church Age Tribu- lation King-dom

11. And it came to pass on a jubilee year… Jubilee year Creation 0 God reveals 120 year limitation 31 Abraham is born (and Noah dies) 40 Isaac is born 42 The Exodus 50 Conquest finished (and calendar synchronization) 51 David’s covenant 59 God’s Promise to Solomon 60 Cyrus’ decree (and start of Daniel’s weeks) 70 Second temple finished 71 The return of Christ 120