We are continuing our study in which we are looking at a date, the year 2033. We want to check it out as thoroughly as we can. We want to make sure that the things we are learning from the Bible are accurate, and true and faithful to God’s Word.
Let us say it was already the year 2030 or 2031 when the year 2033 came up. We would get so “caught up in it,” and there would be a lot of (hurried) activity and there would be a lot of people that suddenly became interested. But there would not be much time at that point to do an in-depth study. Of course, it is all by God’s grace, as God could still bring forth the information, but this is a great blessing to be able to study this so far in advance. I do not think we have had that experience. Maybe the date of 2011 was about as close as we had to a longer time frame. I do not remember exactly when Mr. Camping came out with that. It may have been 2004 or 2005, so we had six or seven years. But now we have about 15 years to look at these things, and it really is a good thing that we can take our time and go over these things. If there are any problems, we can address them and correct it now, rather than later.
I think if October 7, 2015 showed us anything, it is that the world does have its ears open to any kind of date. They might share it among themselves for the sake of ridicule and mockery, but we also know God can use that kind of thing. If you remember, it was just a little while before October 7, 2015 that the news media picked up on it. Although it was nothing like their attention to May 21, 2011, I was surprised at how far and wide it was being discussed, including several nations of the world. So, I expect that when we get closer to 2033, there will be a lot of interest. I may not see it and you may not see, because it all depends on the Lord’s will, but as we look at all the possible dates (for the end), there is nothing that compares to the year 2033. Nothing.
I believe the Alameda Fellowship just came out with a date for October of this year (2018). But there is not a chance of that happening. How can I say that? A date is a doctrine or teaching, and we need Biblical evidence to support any doctrine. So, if you come up with a couple of verses that you think support a specific year, it is just like anyone can come up with a couple of verses that can support just about any far-out thing they want to teach. You can go to the Bible and find a couple of verses that seem to support just about anything.
So, someone comes up with a date and a couple of verses that point to 70 years from 1948 when Israel became a nation, but it has little evidence and it is very meager. But then you have a date like 2033 that is supported by about 37 time paths, with many major time paths in the Bible pointing to that year. You look at the two dates, and you would see that the Biblical evidence is in favor of 2033, and it is not pointing to 2018. So, I think the year 2033 will be reached and these other earlier dates, like 2018 or 2025 or 2026 and others, are going to pass.
Again, we may not be alive to see that year. Fifteen years in this world is a long time, with all the possibilities that God could take any one of us at any time. Even though we may not be alive to see it, it is still a teaching from the Bible, and it is a doctrine that we want to get right and make sure it is what the Bible teaches.
As I mentioned yesterday, we are in the midst of this specific time alignment right now. It began in 1988 and 1994 was a significant year and, of course, so was 2011, but as far as the pattern set by Christ’s first coming, 2011 is not really in view, so the significant dates are 1988, 1994 and 2033. This alignment of years is the same alignment of years that took place when Christ entered into the world the first time: there was 13 B. C., 7 B. C. and 33 A. D. They match up and align with 1988, 1994 and 2033. It is exactly 2,000 years from each date. From 13 B. C. to 1988 is 2,000 years; from 7 B. C. to 1994 is 2,000 years (both Jubilee years). The year 1994 was the 40th Jubilee Year since the birth of Christ in 7 B. C., and from 33 A. D. to 2033 A. D. is 2,000 years. Each of the dates are parallel, separated by 2,000 years.
We have already passed two of the dates (1988 and 1994), with only one date still in the future, and we are approaching it. You know, it is going to come up fast. Time is going to fly by. Many days do not feel like they go by fast, but then we look back now and say, “Oh, wow, May 21, 2011 was seven years ago. Where did the time go?” Time passes, and it will continue to do so, and this date of 2033 will arrive and then there will be in effect the same time relationship there was with the first coming of Christ.
If nothing happens, that same time relationship will not occur again for a thousand years. I wrote that on the board here in the conference room. You can see in the third column that 13 B. C. was the 11,000th of earth’s history and 7 B. C. was the 11,006th. So, too, 1988 was the 13,000th year of earth’s history, and the year 1994 was the 13,006th. I did not write it down, but regarding the year of creation (11013 B. C.) to the cross (33 A. D.) was 11,045 actual years and 11,046 calendar years. From creation to 2033 is 13,045 actual years and 13,046 calendar years. There are identical time relationships that are separated by exactly2,000 years, and that will not happen again until 2988 A. D. That would be the 14,000th year of earth’s history and the year 2994 A. D. would be the 14,006th year. And 3033 A. D. would be the 14,045 actual year and 14,046 calendar years from creation.
So, we are looking at a major year (2033), as far as these time relationships are concerned. Some people might say, “Well, I do not pay attention to time paths any longer.” That was kind of the point of yesterday’s Bible study, because people pay attention to time in everything else in every area of life. I cannot think of an exception. There is school, work, marriage, retirement, and so forth. What do you see when you go to the cemetery? You see dates everywhere. The date of birth and the date of death is on every grave stone. You can calculate the number of years they lived. There are dates everywhere, like in the newspapers. The date today is July 17, 2018. Everyone keeps track of time. And it is amazing that the world has not changed this, but we keep track of time according to the earthly life span of who? Jesus Christ. It is 2018 A. D., which stands for “anno domini,” or “year of our Lord.”
It is just like in the day of Noah when God brought the flood and destroyed the earth. How did God keep track of time? It was the 600th year in the life of Noah. The calendar was tied to that person’s lifetime. And since the birth of Christ, it has been tied to Him. Of course, the date of the birth of Christ is incorrect. We would think that Christ was born 2018 years ago, but they made an error (which God permitted) in the development of our calendar. Jesus was born in 7 B. C., and it is the year 2018 now, so that is 2,025 years. But they made another error in going from B. C. to A. D. because there is no year “zero,” so we have to subtract “1,” giving us 2,024 years since the birth of Christ (not 2,018).
The world is still keeping track of time in that way, and the world still follows the calendar God created in the beginning of the creation. God worked six days and the seventh day He rested. The week came to an end. Today is Tuesday, and then comes Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and then comes the first day of the week, which is Sunday, and then we go into another week and the cycle continues. Even though the world wants nothing to do with God and nothing to do with the idea that the world will end at a specific time, the world still identifies with timelines that identify with the Lord Jesus, and they are following the weekly cycles that God put in place at the beginning of creation. Why does the world not just change the week? Why do they not change years? God has established these things with the celestial clock. It is very precise. Every year 365.2422 days pass, and then it goes around again, and again. If the world wants to be in sync with the celestial clock, they must keep the weekly pattern and many of these time relationships they have.
There is “time” in this world, and the world is completely fine with following time patterns in the world. They know a lot about “time” in the world. Remember it says in Luke 12:54-55:
And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
You know, the world has gotten pretty good at predicting the weather. The weather forecast is often accurate, even though when it does fail people say, “Oh, they never get it right.” But with modern technology, they do forecast the weather accurately. Then it goes on to say in Luke 12:56:
*Ye* hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
From this verse, we would say that they can discern the weather from the face of the sky, but if we go to the parallel passage it reads a little differently, in Matthew 16:1-4:
The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
Jesus related discerning the “face of the sky” with discerning the “sign of the times,” so He was relating it to “time.” Man can know much about earthly time to discern time relationships, like we have been talking about; everyone knows their birthday and how old they are; everyone knows how long they have been married; everyone knows how long it is before retirement and what age they will be; everyone knows what day, month, year and century it is. We are fully knowledgeable about “time,” but when it comes to the “times” of the Bible, Jesus said, “Why can you not discern the signs of the time? You can discern the face of the sky. You can discern earthly and natural things, but you cannot discern spiritual things, the sign of the times.”
That was the point we looked at last night in Ecclesiastes 8:5:
Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
The wise man’s heart can discern time, whereas the heart of the unsaved person is a foolish heart that cannot discern “time” insofar it comes forth from the Bible. Yes – they can understand the Biblical calendar of history on one level. They can understand that there are a specific number of years from creation to the flood, which is 6,023 years. Then there was a specific number of years from the flood to the cross, which is 5,023 calendar years. They can see these kinds of calendar relationships, but they do not have a deep understanding of these things which would prevent them from being easily shaken from what they know if anything comes against it. That is how you know if you really know that God has given you understanding because it is going to be “tested and tried.” Then some people go back from the Biblical information they said they knew, and they want nothing to do with it. They do not believe the Biblical calendar, the end of the church age, or that Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011. It is because they never really knew those things in their spirit because they had no real spiritual discernment of both time and judgment. The result was that when they were tested, they went back from it and retreated from that information.
Many people that profess to be the people of God have often failed to “discern the time.” For example, the Lord said in Jeremiah 8:7:
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of JEHOVAH.
God is saying that creatures like the turtle, crane and swallow do things according to set times God has instilled within them. And, yet, the people of Israel knew not the judgment of JEHOVAH. They could not discern it. That was very true of Israel of old. God judged the ten tribes in the North because even though He sent them prophets to warn them, they continued in their unfaithfulness. Then God judged Judah in the South. And, again, God also warned them by the prophets or by the Word of God, but they continued in their wickedness, showing they had no real understanding. They had no discernment of the time in which they lived, and it resulted in their destruction.
It was the same thing with the New Testament churches. Jesus said to the leaders of Israel that they could not discern the time, but He also said in Luke 19:41-44:
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Jesus said, “If thou hadst known,” which means they did not know. Yes – this was true of the Lord Jesus’ entrance into the world the first time and He was speaking directly to them, but they did not recognize Him as the Messiah, even though their supposed longstanding desire was for the Messiah to come. And they would have mouthed the same thing the people in the churches mouth today: “Oh, come, Lord Jesus! I cannot wait for the Lord to come. He could come any day.” The people of Israel would have said the same things: “We greatly desire for the Messiah would come!” And He did come into the world and He was fulfilling Scriptures that they should (and would) have recognized, like the fact that He would be born in Bethlehem of a Virgin, and so forth. And they heard reports. It is hard to “get over” what the Bible tells us in Matthew 2 about the coming of the Lord the first time when the timeline of creation with all its Biblical evidence had been fulfilled that pointed to His coming.
By the way, I started to put some dates on this blackboard. (Let us turn the camera and focus it on the board.) There are dates from creation, which was in 11013 B.C., to the birth of Jacob and Esau. But before the birth of Jacob and Esau, the year 2013 B. C. was exactly 9,000 years from creation. Then six years (or 2,300 days) later, Jacob and Esau were born. Then if we go another 1,000 years, we come to 1013 B. C., which was the 10,000th year of earth’s history. Then from 1013 B.C. to 1007 B. C. when David became king was another six-year period or 2,300 days. Then in 13 B. C. it was the 11,000th year of earth’s history. Then in 7 B. C., exactly 1,000 years from the coronation of David and exactly 2,000 years from the birth of Jacob and Esau, the Lord Jesus entered into the world in its 11,006th year from creation (or 11,000 years, plus 2,300 days).
So, there is a lot of Biblical evidence pointing to 7 B. C. and to 33 A. D. relating to the first coming of Christ. If we get a chance, we will look at some of the Biblical evidence that pointed to the first coming of the Lord because there are the same milestones or key dates in history, like creation, the flood, David’s 40-year period of reigning, the foundation of the temple, and so forth. These key dates would point to the first coming of Christ, and if we follow that pattern and project it into the future, we see that they also point to key dates in our time. They are the same dates I mentioned earlier: 1988, 1994 and 2033. They are all in that time alignment that has not been in view since the last thousand years. We could go back to what would have been 988 A. D. and then 994 A. D. and. 1033 A. D., and I am sure at that time people may have been looking for the coming of the Lord, especially since the Bible says that Satan was bound “a thousand years,” and the year 1033 A. D. would have been exactly a thousand years from the cross.
You know, the people of God do not change – they are always searching and always looking, desiring the coming of the Lord. And it would have been in view a thousand years ago, just as that time alignment is in view now. But for His own purposes, God arranged for the figurative “thousand years” of Satan’s binding being an actual 1,955 years, which brought 1988 (when Satan was loosed) in as the 13,000th year of earth’s history. However, the way the Bible speaks about it, it should have been the 12,000th year because there were 11,000 years leading up to the cross, then the binding of Satan was “1,000” year, bringing us to 12,000, the number of fulness and completeness. Yes – we would expect that it could have happened a thousand years ago. But God had His own purpose, and we saw this when Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was, and he responded that he was 130 years old. That had to do with the period of famine that identified with the Great Tribulation that was completed a few years ago. There are many other indicators using the number “13” in the Bible where God emphasizes two numbers, 11 and 13, in relationship to the coming of the Lord. Lord willing, we will look at some of the indicators for the number “11,” which point to the first coming of Christ. Then there is also the number “13.” These are the two numbers that are separated by “2,” or we could say the 11,000 years and the 13,000 years are separated by 2,000 years. The Bible emphasizes these two dates, and there is no emphasis in the Bible for 14,000 years. I am sure you are relieved to hear that. There is no evidence in the Bible that would indicate we could be here another thousand years.
Talk about shocking! That would be impossible because this world is on a pace to devour one another and destroy one another very shortly. When you cast off basic morality, it just leads to utter chaos in the societies of the world. We see men plummeting into the depths of depravity, and the amazing thing is that man is not totally depraved, but we are seeing how far down into sin mankind can go. We are witnessing these things. Let us be honest, even people that lived 100 years ago could never have imagined what goes on today, although people back then were as desperately wicked as people today. However, God was restraining sin in the world at that time and they were held back from the many things we now see in the world all around us.
Did I finish reading Matthew 2? I do not think I did. It says in Matthew 2:1-3:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things,* he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
There is the truth of what is deep down in the hearts of those in the churches that say they want the Lord to come. What happened when they heard the very serious and legitimate Biblically-based declaration about the coming of the Lord leading up to May 21, 2011? It should have been taken very seriously and checked out with all sincerity, but it was ignored and dismissed with a “wave of the hand.” They wanted nothing to do with it, but they were troubled because, just like the Jews of old, they want their religious system and the name of Christ, as it says in Isaiah 4:1:
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
The seven women identify with the seven New Testament churches of Revelation and the “one man” is the Lord Jesus. They will eat their own bread or develop their own gospels. They will wear their own apparel; they will sew fig leaves together and develop their own “covering” or righteousness, but they still want to be called by the name of Christ to take away their reproach. The Jews of old wanted to be known as the people of God, the “holy people” and children of Abraham. But God broke off that relationship and He developed a relationship with the Christian churches and they wore the name of Christ. But look at the corporate church today. They have their own gospels in abundance. They have their own righteousness. Here is what you do in one church to become saved, like accepting Christ. In another church, you walk down the aisle. In another church, you must be water baptized. In another church, you must attend regularly and partake of the Lord’s Table, and so on. “These are the righteous works we have developed, and we will have our own righteousness because we can get ourselves saved. We can think we are righteous before God and we can think we have salvation.” The reality is that they lack salvation, but they are deluded into thinking they possess their own righteousness in salvation, but they only want to “be called by” the Lord’s name. So, Matthew 2 reveals the true spiritual condition of the leaders of Israel and most of the people in that nation. They were troubled at the report of the Lord’s coming and, so, too, are the professed Christians that populate the world’s churches today. They were troubled by the information of the coming of Christ (on May 21, 20111) and they would rather put off the “evil day” a thousand years into the future.
When I talk about a thousand years, someone might tune in and say, “Oh, yes, Christ is going to reign on earth for a thousand years,” because many churches have the erroneous doctrine that the Lord will reign on earth for a literal thousand years. We have been saying that the Lord is (currently) reigning. He has put down Satan and He has taken the kingdom of this world and began to reign with a rod of iron on May 21, 2011. That is true, but there is no way He is going to reign on earth for a thousand years. When Revelation 20 speaks of “a thousand years,” it represents the completeness of eternity to come, and that is when the saints will reign with the Lord and it will be an everlasting reign.
Let us go to Acts 1:1-3:
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? 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.
The Lord was taken up in the year 33 A. D. in a very precise program. After His resurrection, He showed Himself alive with many infallible proofs for forty days. The Day of Pentecost was soon to come, and that very specific day was set up by God. I believe the Day of Pentecost in 33 A. D. was on May 21, and that started then the church age that continued for 1,955 years until the day before Pentecost in 1988. May 22, 1988 would be the Day of Pentecost, so it was as though He had renewed it if that day was reached, so He brought the church age to end the day before. The next day the people in the churches were no longer His holy people. God concluded that time period, all according to dates of the Biblical calendar. In the book of Leviticus it says that these feast days would occur at an appointed time in each year and then God would bring them to fulfillment.
For example, the Lord went to the cross at the time of the Passover, a set time in God’s timetable of events. Jesus came at a very specific time. He was born in 7 B. C., a Jubilee Year, and then came 33 A. D., which would be the 40th calendar year when He was taken up and these things took place. But the important thing in Acts 1 is that it said He shall come “in like manner.” We see He was taken up in a cloud, and we see in Matthew 24 that it says He will come in the clouds of heaven, we sort of think it just has to do with the clouds somehow. He was taken up in a cloud and He will come in the clouds, so we think it had to do with that. But it is much more than that. It has to do with the pattern and the timeline for the Biblical calendar when the Lord Jesus Christ came at key dates in a pattern designed by God, just as He was the designer of the creation.
We see a pattern of design all around us, and God did the same thing with the creation of “time,” as He set it in a timeframe with very specific design. It is followed very faithfully by God, as we saw with that verse in Exodus that said the children of Egypt were in the land of Egypt for 430 years, “to the selfsame day.” God planned exactly when they would enter into Egypt, and then God waited patiently. The people of God within Israel were crying out to Him to deliver them and, yet, nothing changes God’s timetable. Nothing “causes” Him to come sooner, even if we would want and expect it. We would want God to come as quickly as possible. God does speak of coming quickly in some cases, but when we read of the Lord Jesus coming “immediately,” it means in the first available instant after His timeframe has been reached and everything has been done according to the Scriptures. For example, it says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened,” and that is because a point in “time” was reached for it. May 21, 2011 was the precise time set for that to happen.
Let us just look at one more thing in Luke 19. I wanted to mention this earlier, but then I went off to Matthew 2. It says in Luke 19:44:
And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
This had to do with Israel of old, but we also know because of the statement that there shall not be left one stone upon another that it has to do with God’s judgment on the churches. That is the spiritual picture. It is a picture of the judgment that has taken place on the churches and congregations of the world. It says in Matthew 24:1-3:
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Very fittingly, regarding the statement, “they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another,” the Lord went on to explain it and lay it all out in Matthew 24 regarding the judgment that would begin at the house of God upon the corporate church and then transition to the judgment on the world, as it did on May 21, 2011. Now we are living in the Day of Judgment.
I will stop here. Lord willing, in our next study we will try to look a little closer at some of the timelines to the first coming of Christ. When we see that pattern, we can relate it to day we are living in. As I have said, the pattern will be followed pretty exactly.