Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday Bible study. Today we are going to turn to the Bible in order to see how 40 years fits in with the end of the world occurring in the year 2033, and we are going to look at several references to 40 years in the Bible. Also, we will see some time paths that fit in, which we can see in the Biblical timeline of history.
We are going to begin by looking at the fact that the Bible teaches that Judgment Day can be a prolonged period of time. A couple of the proofs that show that Judgment Day can be longer than a literal day (and can actually be years) has to do with 40-year periods. For example, we read in Hebrews 3:8:
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
God calls this 40 years the “day of temptation” in the wilderness. We have talked about this before, regarding how that establishes a Biblical precedent which allows God to refer to the Day of Judgment and, yet, have a much longer period of time in view and, here in Hebrews 3, it is 40 years.
Now the interesting thing about the 40 years that Israel wandered in the wilderness is that it was based on the fact that they had searched out the land for 40 days. It says in Numbers 14:32
But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Here, God is pronouncing the judgment on Israel, and it is very clear when we look at this 40-year wilderness sojourn that it has to do with the wrath of God. Actually, this is stated in Psalm 95, and it is very similar to what we read in Hebrews 3. It says in Psalm 95:8-11:
Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Verse 11 of Psalm 95 declares that God swore in His wrath, and Judgment Day is the day of wrath, so “the day of temptation in the wilderness” for Israel was a time of the outpouring of the wrath of God. So that fits very well with the overall characteristic of Judgment Day itself and, therefore, 40 years has to be taken seriously as a legitimate possibility for the actual duration of Judgment Day.
Also, just to show that God does use extended periods of time and identifies them as single days, let us turn to 1Chronicles 29:26-28:
Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.
We are told that David reigned over Israel 40 years. This was the time that he reigned. The Hebrew word translated as “time” is Strong’s #3117 (yôm), and it is the typical word for “day.” The “day” that he reigned over Israel was 40 years, and, again, God is using the word “day” that is contained in Judgment Day, but He is saying that the actual length of time was 40 years. It is very interesting that this is used in regard to David’s reign, because we know that David began to reign in the Jubilee Year of 1007 B. C., and he reigned 40 years until 967 B. C. And David was a great type of Christ. It is interesting how the Lord breaks down his reign: “…seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.” And the beginning point began with a Jubilee Year, just as the Lord Jesus Christ was born in the Jubilee Year of 7 B. C., and we see that this seven years was “set apart,” and then Jesus lived to 33 A. D. when He went to the cross. So we can see that break down of seven years on the Old Testament side and 33 years on the New Testament side. It is really remarkable that God broke up David’s reign. (And, again, 7 B. C. was a Jubilee Year, just like 1007 B. C.) So David’s 40-year reign was a historical parable pointing to the coming reign of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, exactly 1,000 years later, from 1007 B. C. when David ascended the throne to 7 B. C. when the King of the Jews, the Lord Jesus Christ, entered into the world.
And from David’s death in 967 B. C., which was also the time the foundation of the temple was laid, until the cross in 33 A. D. was 1,000 calendar years. So this is a highly significant timeline of 1,000 years going from David commencing to reign as king until Christ’s birth, and then 1,000 years from David’s death until Christ’s death. And at the same time of David’s death, the foundation of the temple was laid. And, of course, when Jesus died, He demonstrated His atoning work that was done at the foundation of the world, which was, indeed, the “foundation” of the spiritual temple consisting of God’s elect. So David’s reign was a very significant 40-year period.
And since we are talking about Christ, there is another 40-year period, which was the actual duration of Christ’s ministry in the world, from 7 B. C. to 33 A. D., or 40 calendar years. And, yet, we know it was only 39 actual years, because there is no year “0,” so we have to minus one year. And, yet, God very intentionally broke up the Lord’s lifespan on earth by having Him live seven years on the Old Testament side, plus 33 years on the New Testament side, as far as the calendar goes.
So we see a definite pattern to Christ’s coming, which has everything to do with fulfilling the Bible’s prophecy that the Messiah would come, and when He came, He came over a 40-year period of time (39 actual years). And that is something that must be noted because when Jesus returned to heaven, there was still the promise of His second coming: “…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” And now we find that at the end time, 40 years are in view. We will look at that later, but this is all the Biblical evidence we need to show that God can speak of a single day and, yet, have a very long period of time in view – in this case, it is 40 years. It is interesting that when we see these examples, it is 40 years, and not some other period of time, but 40 years.
We also find the number “40” and judgment come into view in Deuteronomy 25:1-3:
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
This is God’s law for judges, which stipulates a limit on the punishment (judgment). There is a certain number that a judge may apply when he sentences a wrong doer or evil doer. It is the penalty phase and the application of the punishment toward someone who has done a wrong. God is very clear. He is not speaking of the innocent or righteous. It is the wrong doer. God says a judge may sentence a wicked man to a certain number of stripes, and stripes would be lashes with a whip, so a thief (or other wrong doer) does wrong and comes before the judge, and the judge hears the case to find out whether he did wrong, or not. If it is found that he did do it, then the sentence is passed, and the sentence can only be a maximum of 40 stripes. Here, God is tying together “judgment” of evil or wickedness that men do with the number “40.” And, of course, that has everything to do with the final judgment of God upon mankind. A judge judges whether a man has done wickedly, and notice that God says in verse 1, “…the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.” This relates to all who would be judges and, yet, God is the Supreme Judge. Therefore, this is a law that God Himself is under because God tells us that He has submitted Himself to His own Word, as we read in Psalm 138:2:
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
God’s Word is above all His name, and the name of God has everything to do with His characteristics, attributes and His very being. His Word is above all, and that means that God has submitted Himself to it and will obey it. He will not violate His own Word. He will not go contrary to His own Law, without question, and especially a Law that applies to judges. That is, there is not one Law that God makes for creatures and another Law for Himself. It is the same Law. It is the same standard, and according to the righteous, holy standard of God’s Law, a judge may not punish a wicked doer in an unlimited away. In other words, you cannot cast someone into a placed called Hell, and then keep on whipping and whipping him for eternity without end. That is a violation of the Law of God in Deuteronomy 25.
And, yet, we also see that when God is selecting a “number” where He states a maximum penalty that the sinner will experience, He selected the number “40.” Forty stripes. Remember, in the New Testament, we read of “stripes” in relationship to the final judgment, in Luke 12:45-48:
But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Here, the Lord is laying down other Biblical principles having to do with judgment, and that is that the one who knew His lord’s will shall be beaten with many stripes, while the other who did not know the lord’s will shall be beaten with few. And if we were to lay it out, we would see God’s end time judgment program, so let us do that.
We know that 1988 was the end of the church age and the beginning of the Great Tribulation, and it began with 2,300 evening mornings of a grievous famine where virtually no one in the world became saved , and no one was saved in the churches. As far as we know, the Biblical language would leave for a slight possibility that someone could have become saved somewhere in the world outside the churches. So that is why we say, “virtually no one,” and I think it was no one at all, but we have to leave that little bit of leeway. So there was absolutely no one saved in the churches and, virtually, no one out in the world for the six years and almost 4 months, or 2,300 days, that separated the “seasons” of rain. The “early rain” fell for 1,955 years on the churches and brought in the firstfruits, and then the rain ended and there was famine. And that is the pattern in the Bible: rain followed by famine; followed by rain. Then on September 7, 1994 the second rain began, the Latter Rain, or the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And that is why 1994 was the “official” end of the church age, because over the course of the 2,300 days that was the first part of the Great Tribulation, there was no program to bring the Gospel, as the Holy Spirit was not being poured out. It was not until 1994, a Jubilee year, beginning on September 7, that it could be known for certain that God has truly brought judgment on the churches and congregations of the world. Prior to that day in 1994, we would have to say that, potentially, the Lord might use the churches once again. Maybe it was just a temporary famine for them, and He might use them, once again, during the Latter Rain. But then we saw, as the Bible declared, that the church age was over and God had departed out of their midst, and the Holy Spirit was now bringing the Gospel to the nations of the world and blessing His Word outside of the churches. Then we could be certain, and that is why 1994 was the official year of God’s judgment on the churches and congregations.
Or, we can look at it this way. The churches were not entrusted with the Gospel during the 2,300 evening mornings, but neither was anyone else. So there was no criteria, and we could not determine if God were just judging the churches or the whole world, because the famine was inside and outside the churches. But once the Latter Rain began to fall (exclusively) outside the churches, that sealed it and made it absolute that the churches were under the judgment of God. And that is why 1994 was the official beginning of the judgment on the churches.
The churches had been entrusted with the Word of God. They were the caretakers of the Oracles of God, and the Oracles of God is the Bible and, therefore, they “knew” their master’s will, as we read in Luke 12. The one who knows His Lord’s will shall be beaten with many stripes; that is, the “professed Christians” that have identification with the Word of God, the Bible. In that way they “knew” the Lord’s will and, yet, they failed to obey it. They will be beaten with many stripes, so from 1994, God was afflicting the churches and congregations with spiritual judgment, and it was grievous. It was very grievous. It meant that all within the churches would not find salvation. Their families would not find salvation. The door to heaven was shut in the churches, while outside the churches the door to heaven had been thrown wide open, and God was saving a great multitude. How terrible for the hundreds of millions of people and families that remained inside the churches and congregations. They were being “beaten with stripes,” although they did not know it. But that is not the point. This is speaking of the wrath of God, and God’s wrath had begun. Judgment began at the house of God, and they were receiving the stripes, not the world. The people of the world were not receiving stripes at that time. They were receiving the Gospel for about 17 years of the Latter Rain, from September 1994 through May 21, 2011. Then on May 21, 2011, the rain stopped, and God completed His salvation program. He saved the great multitude out in the world, and then He brought judgment on all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth in all the nations. And now they began to receive “stripes,” but not as many as those who were in the churches.
Look at it this way. From the perspective of an unsaved person in the churches, he has been under the judgment of God since 1994. And then on May 21, 2011, he remained under the judgment of God because the churches had been annexed by Satan and became like another province of his kingdom. So when God began judging all unsaved people, He continued to judge all these unsaved people, all that had remained within the corporate church, so that their judgment was extended beyond the Great Tribulation, from that period in 1994 when that official period began and right through May 21, 2011, and to our present time. And now they are receiving many stripes.
And, yes, I think we can make an application here where God says, “Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed,” and we can apply that to years, with each year being likened to a stripe. So the number “40” fits in with the timeline very well, extending from 1994 until 2033. And Biblical evidence is pointing to the year 2033 as the conclusion of Judgment Day and the end of the world. From 1994 through 2033 is 40 inclusive years. It is not 40 actual years. It is 39 actual years, but 40 inclusive years, and in order to count inclusively, we just start with the beginning year (1994) as “year 1,” and we keep going, and when we get to the year 2033, it is 40 years. In actual years, we have to go from 1994 to 1995, and that is counted as “year 1,” and when we get to the year 2033, it is 39 years.
This period of time from 1994 (a Jubilee year) until 2033 is the identical space of time as the Jubilee Year in 7 B. C. (when Christ was born), until Christ went to the cross in 33 A. D. It was 40 calendar years, but 39 actual years. Someone might ask, “What is the difference between calendar years and inclusive years?” The calendar year has to do with the fact that there is no year “0” in the calendar, so we have to minus one (when going from an Old Testament date to a New Testament date). So we can say it is 40 calendar years, but it is 39 actual years. On the New Testament side, there are no calendar years, because it does not involve the year “0,” but you get the same number of years by counting inclusively.
So, very significantly, both 7 B. C. and 1994 A. D. were Jubilee Years. By the way, from 7 B. C. to 1994 is 2,000 actual years (7 + 1994 = 2001 – 1 = 2000). When we look at Jubilee years, they come every 50 years, so if we decide 2,000 by 50, then the year 1994 was the 40th Jubilee, and we are looking at the number “40.” And that means that 40 Jubilee periods from the Jubilee Year in 7 B. C. when Christ entered into the world bring us to 1994, when God started a 40-year count down leading to the end. If all the Biblical evidence pointing to 2033 is correct, that would mean that from Christ’s birth to the end of the world would be 40 Jubilees, plus 40 inclusive years. That will bring us to the time of the end.
In addition to matching the exact duration of Christ’s first coming, this time period we are looking at from 1994 to 2033, we can see these two numbers – 40 and 39 – coming into play again. This involves years, but those two numbers are also tied to “stripes,” if we go to 2Corinthians 11. I am going to read a statement the Lord moved the Apostle Paul to make. It says in 2Corinthians 11:23:
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Five times the Apostle Paul said he was sentenced to receive “forty stripes save one.” And, here, we can see how carefully the judges in his day followed the Law of Moses. And remember that the Law of Moses had been given some 1,400 or 1,500 years earlier, and these judges were aware of that Law in Deuteronomy that stated that a wicked man they condemned may not receive more than forty stripes. And this was on five different occasions, so the Apostle Paul probably stood before five different judges, so it was a very widespread law the judges followed meticulously. Paul was a man they wanted “dead,” so their thought was, “Let us give him the maximum penalty we can give him, and apply 40 stripes.” However, they were fearful of exceeding that amount, so they said, “Give him 40, minus one.” That is what it means when it says, “five times received I forty stripes save one.” On five different occasions, the sentence was 40 stripes, but it had become the tradition for the judge to give a sentence of “40 stripes minus 1,” in order to be super-careful that they did not exceed. You know, if somebody is sentenced to 40 stripes, if the “count” goes wrong and they lost sight of the count and mistakenly would give 41 (stripes), this was sort of a built-in protection. So even if they miscounted, they would still give 40 (stripes), and that is how careful they were not to go beyond the limitation on the judgment.
Of course, with the doctrine of “hell,” the churches have run rough-shod right over it (this law), and the punishment goes on forever and ever. You cannot get a more contrary doctrine than unlimited and eternal damnation, with unlimited torture and unlimited application of stripes in a place called Hell. It just tramples underfoot the Law of God in Deuteronomy 25.
Anyway, the stripes were applied to Paul five times, and the number “5” identifies with atonement. And atonement is the two-edged sword of the Word of God. Payment for sin is really what atonement points to, and as far as Christ paying for our sins, it identifies with grace and mercy. But for all of those whose sins were not paid for by Christ, they must pay (the penalty) themselves, and that means it has everything to do with the wrath of God and the exacting of payment. The Law’s demand for justice is in view. And, again, a judge can sentence a man to 40 stripes as the payment for wrongdoing. And, yet, notice that “forty save one” equals 39 stripes. So Paul received 39 stripes, five different times.
And we have two timelines, one with the first coming of Christ, which is certain. We have all the Biblical information and it is already done, so we can look back and see the pattern. It is a pattern that speaks of 40 calendar years, but (actually) 39. And now we come to the time of the end, and the Biblical calendar of history lays out the church age, the timeline for the Great Tribulation, and lays out the very day of Judgment itself. We have these dates – like 1988, 1994, and May 21, 2011 – and now the Bible is bringing forth much evidence for the date of the year 2033. And when we line up these dates, it matches, not just closely, but perfectly. It is the identical space of time, even beginning with a Jubilee Year as did Christ’s first coming, and it goes to 2033, which is 40 inclusive years from 1994 or 39 actual years. “Forty stripes save one,” the maximum penalty that all those within the churches and congregations that have lived during this period of time will receive. They will receive many stripes, while those in the world that remain unsaved began to receive stripes in 2011, and they will receive fewer stripes.
So, here, we can see God’s end time judgment program, but there is much more. If we go to the book of Jonah, it is one of the most interesting books in the Bible, and it is one of the clearest books in the Bible, as far as its spiritual meaning, where we can actually breakdown the chapters of Jonah in relationship to Christ’s first coming and His second coming. Or, we could look at it as a breakdown of the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit, because, significantly, the prophet Jonah’s name means “dove.” And in Matthew 3, as well as in a few other places in the New Testament, God ties together the “dove” with the Holy Spirit. It says in Matthew 3:16:
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
And Jonah is the Hebrew name for “dove,” and he was sent to Nineveh. How many times was Jonah sent to Nineveh? The answer is, “twice,” because we read in Jonah 1:1:
Now the word of JEHOVAH came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of JEHOVAH…
That was the first time. A good number of theologians like to call Jonah a rebellious prophet because he fled from the presence of JEHOVAH, but that statement itself is what ties him to the Lord Jesus Christ! How can that be? Well, let us go back to Genesis 3, after man’s fall into sin, and we find in Genesis 3:8:
And they heard the voice of JEHOVAH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of JEHVOAH God amongst the trees of the garden.
Once man sinned, he ran from God. He is going from the presence of JEHOVAH and, therefore, at the first coming of Christ when Jesus entered into the world and became a man, in order to illustrate that, God causes Jonah (a type of Christ as well as the Spirit) to go from JEHOVAH, because that is the direction that mankind was going. So the whole entering into a ship that was going away from God points to Christ entering into the world as a human being. While on that vessel, a storm arose, and it forced the mariners to come to the point of casting Jonah overboard, and we know from the New Testament that it has everything to do with Christ’s death on the cross in His demonstration of the atonement, because Jesus said, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Jonah 2 is his experience inside the whale, and the first two chapters have everything to do with Christ’s entry into the world and His birth in 7 B. C. and His death in 33 A. D. So Jonah 1 and 2 cover the span of 40 years of Christ’s first coming and ministry. Then at the end of chapter 2, Jonah was vomited out of the whale, and we read in Jonah 3:1:
And the word of JEHOVAH came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
He was sent the second time, and when we read the Bible, we find that there were two major outpourings of the Holy Spirit. There was the outpouring that began in 33 A. D. (on Pentecost) and spanned the course of the church age, as God sent the early rain to bring in the firstfruits, all those saved within the churches and congregations of the world. Then the church age ended, followed by that grievous 2,300-day period between the end of the church age and the Jubilee Year of 1994. Then on September 7, 1994, there was the second outpouring of the “dove” or of the Holy Spirit. That is why Jonah entered into Nineveh the second time. The dove or Holy Spirit was sent to Nineveh, a type of the world, a second time, as God stretched forth His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people, as it says in Isaiah 11. From the point he arrived in Nineveh, it identifies with the Jubilee Year of 1994. When we look at the Bible spiritually (and that is what we must do), we cannot arrive at any other conclusion. This is the Bible’s teaching. Jonah’s entry into Nineveh at the command of God the second time is a picture of the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Jubilee Year of 1994.
And what did he proclaim? We read in Jonah 3:3-4:
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of JEHOVAH. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
“Yet forty days.” Is that not interesting? It is interesting because, spiritually, we can pinpoint that Jonah’s entry into Nineveh locks in the Jubilee Year of 1994. As we have been discussing, from 1994 to 2033, it is 40 inclusive years, or 39 actual years. And, here, Jonah went into the city a day’s journey, and proclaimed, “Yet forty days.” That is all he did – just a single day. Yet the proclamation was, “Yet forty days.” So if he did this one day, then he did not do it for 39 days. And, actually, after going into the city a day’s journey, he went out and he goes to dwell in a booth. We will not get into the fact that the booth (or tabernacle) ties in with the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of Tabernacles was a feast that God instituted as a remembrance of Israel’s 40-year wilderness sojourn, because throughout the entire 40-year period, they dwelled in booths or makeshift tabernacles. They had no homes. So that is another reference to 40 years, but that will be for another study.
So it does break up this 40 days of Jonah. There was a one-day proclamation, and then he went out and dwelt in a booth for 39 days. There is the 40/39 relationship, just as we saw with Christ’s first coming, and now with His second coming as Judge. And He has come as Judge. He came as Judge way back in 1994 officially as Judge of the churches. Then on May 21, 2011, He came as Judge of the world. You do not have to see Him for Him to be actively judging because the Bible says the Word He has spoken will judge in the last day, and that is how He is carrying out His judgment.
But, again, here is another strong evidence that Jonah’s proclamation, “Yet forty days,” began with the Jubilee Year of 1994 and it is the thing we see in Jonah 3 where the whole city of Nineveh began to repent. They sat in sackcloth and ashes, and they cried mightily unto God. We read in Jonah 3:6-8:
For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way…
Then it says in Jonah 3:10:
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
They are an example of God’s elect. God did actually accomplish a great work of salvation in Nineveh by saving many of them. As a matter of fact, if we were to ask, “Where, in the Old Testament, do we see a great multitude saved? Where do we see the most people saved at any one time?” It would be Nineveh. This is the great multitude of the Old Testament, and we can see how that fits in with Jonah (the dove) going to Nineveh a second time, connecting it to the Jubilee Year in 1994 and the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit outside of the churches. This was not great salvation in Israel or Judah. This was great salvation in a heathen nation, outside of the churches, and it was a great multitude, just as God saved the great multitude out of Great Tribulation, and not one of them was saved in the churches.
So when we put it all together, there is absolutely no doubt that 1994 was the beginning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the beginning of when God saved the great multitude outside of the churches and congregations. How could anybody have “connected these dots”? For one thing, Jonah had the name of “dove,” and then God applied the idea of the “dove” to the Holy Spirit. What if Jonah had a name that means “bear” or any other kind of animal? But it was a “dove.” And then there was the timeline of 40 days, and it is broken up into one day and 39 days, so we see the number “39” in view. Then the number of people saved was the most in Old Testament history, and it happened when Jonah, the dove, went to Nineveh the second time.
Someone might say, “Oh, it just so happened.” But, no, it did not just happen – this is the hand of God. It is the teaching of the God of the Bible. It is not haphazard. It is not coincidence. These things were done very intentionally and purposefully in order to instruct us and to let us know that we are on the right track. We have the right idea, spiritually. We actually have a timeline that has already happened. It was already done with the first coming of Christ, and now God has laid it out right before our eyes for His second coming. And Jonah is strong confirmation that we have the starting point correct, the year 1994, a Jubilee Year. Then we have the idea of the 39/40 relationship. We have the great multitude, and we have the “booth” correct, as far as the Feast of Tabernacles and 40-year spiritual fulfilment of that feast beginning in 1994, and so forth.
Well, there are several more points of strong evidence that connects with 40 years. There would be Esau (Edom) who was 40 years old in 1967 B. C., and he failed the test when he married some heathen wives. If we go from 1967 B. C. to 2033 A. D., that is 4,000 years. Esau or Edom is basically the name “Adam,” so Esau is a representation of man failing the test, so 4,000 years later in 2033 mankind, ultimately and completely, fails all of God’s testing programs and is destroyed. (And 4,000 years is 40 x multiples of 10, representing complete testing.)
Then there is the timeline from Ezekiel 4 that follows 390 days on the left side, followed by 40 days on the right side, and that can also be shown to go from 1907 B. C., when Jacob had his name changed to Israel, to 1994, for 3,900 years. From 1994 to 2033 would represent the “40 days” (years) on the other side. I am saying these things too fast, but I wanted to get them all in, but there are actually more things. But we have sufficient (evidence) to see that we are taking it step by step, and each year is like a “stripe” upon all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth, and, yet, God will not exceed “40,” from everything we can read in the Bible.