Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

2030 -- End of An Era?

by John D. Keyser

Before attempting to determine the date of Adam’s creation, and the chronology down to our present time, I want to make a few comments about the historicity of Genesis to supplement and complement the arguments in the following discussion. The early chapters of Genesis are not poetry, a series of parables or prophetic visions, or mythology. The chapters actually recount YEHOVAH God’s acts in time-space history: acts of creation, providence, and redemption.

When we insist that Genesis 1--11 is history, we are not saying that this section of the Bible is only history, i.e., that it was only inspired to satisfy some of our curiosity about origins. It is far more than history, for it teaches theology, morality, and redemption, and those truths are vitally important to YEHOVAH's people. But Genesis 1--11 is not less than history, and what it teaches on the latter themes is rooted in that history. If the history is not true, then the theology, morality, and gospel based on that history is seriously called into question -- if not rejected altogether.

The Bible does not directly give us a precise date for the creation of Adam and Eve, so the only way it can be determined is by using chronological events within its pages. So the answer one gives to this question will therefore depend heavily on how literally one reads the account of creation in Genesis and other events in the Bible's pages. Since Christians differ widely as to how to interpret the opening chapters of the Bible, including the creation account and other events, Christians therefore differ on when Adam and Eve were created.

Absolute Dates

Reliable Bible chronology requires the determination of certain absolute dates. Absolute dates are starting points coinciding with proved secular historical dates from which a series of Bible dates can be reckoned forward and backward in time with certainty.

With a literal reading of the first chapters of Genesis we can, for example, use the genealogies and ages recorded in Genesis 5 to estimate the date of Adam and Eve’s creation. Genesis 5 traces the line of Adam through Seth. For example, Genesis 5:3 says, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.” Verse 6 continues the timeline: “When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.” Then verse 9 says, “When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.” Based on the example of those three verses, the time from Adam’s creation to the birth of Kenan was 325 years:

130 years from Adam’s creation to Seth’s birth
105 years from Seth’s birth to Enosh’s birth
90 years from Enosh’s birth to Kenan’s (or Cainan’s) birth
325 years total

An outstanding absolute date for the B.C. period of the Hebrew Scriptures is that for the fall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus, king of the Persians on October 13, 539 B.C. Julian calendar. (Or October 7 by our present Gregorian calendar). This event is referred to in Isaiah 45:1 and is made absolute by reason of the archaeological discovery and deciphering of the famous Nabonidus Chronicle [1] which itself gives a date for the fall of Babylon and which specialists have determined equals October 13, 539 B.C., according to the Julian calendar.

Tied to this date are the 70 years of the desolation of the land of Judah, which ended with the fall of Babylon, and obviously started 70 years earlier in 607 B.C. So with the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. and the start of the 70 years of Judah's desolation in 607 B.C. dependably fixed on the Gregorian Calendar, we can move farther back in the count of time and date other important events in Bible history. Using this method, it is possible to place the date of Adam’s creation at about 1,656 years before the flood. Then, using known dates of the reigns of Babylonian rulers, compared with further biblical genealogies and lists of kings, we can figure backward to arrive at Adam’s creation date.

Archbishop James Ussher

In the marginal references of the Protestant Authorized or King James Version of the Bible, and in the footnotes of certain editions of the Catholic Douay version, the date of Adam's creation is said to be 4004 B.C. It is an insertion based upon the conclusions of an Irish prelate, the Anglican Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656). For events before the founding of the Median empire Ussher relied solely on data from the Bible to erect his historical framework. He chose the death of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as a reliable date upon which to anchor all the earlier biblical dates. Working meticulously backward from there, he ended up with his date for creation of October 23, 4004 BC. [2]

Paul W. Finch, in his book 2030: The Sixth Thousandth Year, states that,

"In modern times the chronology of the Old Testament was classically outlined by the Reverend Archbishop James Ussher back in the year 1650 of the common era. With few exceptions, his monumental work represented the most honorable attempt at presenting the chronology from the Biblical texts to date. His brilliant thesis has stood the test of time, but, unfortunately, it has been determined by the present author that he constructed a chronology that was made to make the creation of Adam a four thousand period to the birth of Jesus. In so doing he had to purposely manipulate he data to make it come out so" (page 5). [3]

Ussher's chronology was only one of the many sincere efforts made during the past centuries to determine the time of Adam's creation. A hundred and fifty years ago when a count was taken, no less than 140 different timetables had been published by serious scholars. In such chronologies the calculations as to when Adam was created vary all the way from 3616 B.C. to 6174 B.C., with one apparently wild guess set at 20,000 B.C. However, with the understanding that there were two creation events listed in Genesis 1 and 2, then the 20,000 year figure may not be unreasonable for the first creation of Genesis 1 -- with Adam's creation falling in the 3616 to 6174 year range. Such conflicting answers contained in the voluminous libraries around the world certainly tend to compound the confusion when seeking an answer to the above questions.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York (the Jehovah's Witnesses)

Since the late 19th century, when Charles Taze Russell's teachings were established, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York (the Jehovah's Witnesses) believed that 4028 B.C. was Adam's creation date. Russell's book, Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World, published in 1877 [4], articulated this idea amongst others. in 1944, while preparing  the book The Kingdom Is at Hand, a two-year error was detected by internal Bible scholarship. In the following quotation from this 1944 publication of the Society, full explanation is offered:

"In the book The Truth Shall Make You Free, published in 1943, the chronology on pages 150, 151 concerning the kings of Jerusalem, from Solomon's successor to Zedekiah, is based on the book of 2 Chronicles, chapters 12 to 36. This appears to show the reigns of those kings as successive, end to end. Actually, however, this was not so, as is plainly shown in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, which books give us a countercheck on the successors of Solomon by a comparison of these kings of Judah with the neighbor kings of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel....

"Measured by 2 Chronicles, the period of kings from Saul to Zedekiah was 513 years. Measured by the more precise and detailed books of Kings, the period was actually 511 years, or 2 years less. This fact affects the chronology as a whole and pulls man's [Adam's] creation 2 years closer to A.D. 1 and gives it the date 4026 B.C., not 4028 B.C." [5]

The book gives no indication of how the Society arrived at the date of 4028 B.C. in the first place.

The Watchtower magazine for August 15, 1968 gives a more detailed account of how the Society arrived at the 4028 and then the 4026 B.C. creation date, commenting on page 499, "Thus, through a careful independent study by dedicated Bible scholars who have pursued the subject for a number of years, and who have not blindly followed some traditional chronological calculations of Christendom, we have arrived at a date for Adam's creation that is 22 years more distant in the past than Ussher's figure [of 4004 B.C.]"

The magazine goes on to say that "for one thing, if 4,026 is added to 1,968 [when the magazine was published] (allowing for the lack of a zero year between C.E. and B.C.E.) one gets a total of 5,993 years,...since Adam's creation. That means, in...the year 1975, a little over seven years from now (and not in 1997 as would be the case if Ussher's figures were correct), it would be 6,000 years since the creation of Adam..." (page 499).

In the book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God, published in 1966 by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, we find the following on pages 28-29:

"Since the time of Ussher intensive study of Bible chronology has been carried on. In this twentieth century an independent study has been carried on that does not blindly follow some traditional chronological calculations of Christendom, and the published timetable resulting from this independent study gives the date of man's [Adam's] creation as 4026 B.C.E. According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man's [Adam's] creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human [Adamic] history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E. So six thousand years of man's [the Adamic line's] existence on earth will soon be up, yes, within this generation." [6]

Then, in The Watchtower magazine of October 15, 1966, is found a comment regarding the Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God book published by the Society earlier the same year:

"It did not take the brothers very long to find the chart beginning on page 31, showing that 6,000 years of man's [the Adamic] existence end in 1975. Discussion of 1975 overshadowed about everything else. 'The new book compels us to realize that Armageddon is, in fact, very close indeed,' said a conventioner. Surely it was one of the outstanding blessings to be carried home!"

Four years later, in 1970, The Watchtower magazine for May 1 continued to tout the 4026 B.C. date for Adam's creation:

"Bible chronology which indicates that Adam was created in the fall of the year 4026 B.C.E. would bring us down to the year 1975 C.E. as the date marking 6,000 years of human [Adamic] history with yet 1,000 years to come for Christ's Kingdom rule" (page 273).

Finally, in the very year of the supposed appearance of the Messiah and the beginning of the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God, the Society was still promoting the 1975 expectation and hence the 4026 B.C. creation of Adam:

"And then if we turn to page 35 [of the book Live Everlasting Life in Freedom of the Sons of God] we are starting to see the year nineteen hundred and seventy-five [1975], where we actually are. And, what does it say with regard to 1975? It says, the end, now notice this, the end of the six one thousand year day of man's [Adam's] existence in early autumn. And then it carries us beyond that, beyond this year, the next date is 2075. So you see, we haven't much left till this year 1975" (February 10, 1975 Assembly in Los Angeles).

And 1975 came, and 1975 went!

This belief in the specific creation date of 4026 B.C. has remained a consistent part of the Society's teachings since 1944.

Herbert W. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God

It is interesting to note that the Worldwide Church of God -- considered a distant cousin of the Jehovah's Witnesses -- became fixated on the same date of 1975! In 1956, twelve years after the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York corrected their 4028 B.C. date for the creation of Adam, Herbert W. Armstrong published a booklet entitled 1975 in Prophecy [7] -- the 1975 date assuming an Adamic creation date of 4026 B.C.! It appears that Herbert W. Armstrong only became fixated on this date in 1956 after the Jehovah's Witnesses had earlier set up their prophetic narrative, which brings to mind the question of plagiarism.

The similarities are truly remarkable. How could they be so similar without some sort of influence? Did the Society's reach attract so many people that they influenced the Worldwide Church of God indirectly, without anyone fully realizing what was happening? While short on chronological details, Armstrong's booklet specifically stated that we were then approaching the end of 6,000 years of Adamic history, the very same belief the Jehovah's Witnesses had that 1975 marked the end of 6,000 years since 4026 B.C.

To be fair -- is it possible the Worldwide Church of God independently came up with the 4026/1975 dates? In 1962 Herman L. Hoeh, the churches historian, published his thesis Compendium of World History in partial fulfillment of his pursuit of a PhD at Ambassador College. Did he come up with these dates in his research, or did Armstrong just latch on to the Jehovah's Witnesses' dates and run with them? We will probably never know. Paul R. Finch seems to think that Hoeh came up with these dates independently, and makes the following statement in support of this on page xi of his book:

"First of all, Dr. Hoeh made two significant mistakes concerning Biblical chronology. He accepted archbishop Ussher's belief that Abraham was born in his father's 130th year, instead of his 70th year. This introduced a 60-year period that should not have been included. And second, he placed the death of Solomon in the year of 972 BCE, which was five years short of the true date of 977 BCE. Thus, when you subtract that five-year period from the 60-year period he introduced, we end up with the fact that his overall chronology was off by 55 years. Once that correction is made, then it is apparent that the 6000th year of Adam was not 1975, but in fact 2030 (1975 + 55 = 2030)." [8]

In coming up with the 2030 date, Finch computes a date of 3971 B.C. for the creation of Adam -- see page 140 of his book.

Once again, in the case of the Worldwide Church of God, 1975 came, and 1975 went!

Can We Know for Sure?

Now we come to the crux of this article -- can we know for sure when the 6,000 years end and YEHOVAH God and the Messiah return to this earth to set up the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God? Exactly WHEN will all this come to pass? Can we have any definite idea? The Messiah told his disciples, "But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). He added in verse 33, "Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is."

Clearly, the disciples of that time did not know the time or the hour of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah's future appearance. They actually thought that they would return in their own lifetime. Little did they realize that the Messiah was going to heaven, at the right hand of YEHOVAH God, for almost two thousand years, before he would appear again! (see Mark 13:34-37). But notice -- although the Messiah clearly said that the disciples to whom he was speaking would not know the time, he did NOT say we could not have a good idea when he and his Father would appear in our age!

Although the Messiah implied that we would not be able to foretell either the exact day, or the precise hour, of their coming, he did not necessarily say we couldn't calculate the approximate YEAR. In fact, he commanded us to watch. He commanded us to be alert and vigilant! The prophet Amos tells us, "Surely the LORD God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).

So, before it actually happens, YEHOVAH God promises to reveal to His true servants that which He is about to do! And this promise includes knowledge and information relating to the dramatic return of YEHOVAH God and His Messiah -- which all the prophets boldly foretold in the pages of the Old Testament. YEHOVAH has told us that His true servants need not be in the dark, like the world around us is. The prophet Daniel was expressly told by the archangel Gabriel, "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase" (Daniel 12:4). He was told, further, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end" (verse 9).

The words were to be sealed only until the "end time"! But that means that in the end times, YEHOVAH God intends to reveal His secrets -- and His prophetic timetable!

Before looking at verses that corroborate Paul Finch's proposed 2030 date for the end of six thousand years from Adam's creation, we need to establish some important principles: (1) The importance of numbers (2) A day equals a thousand years, and (3) The date of the Messiah's death.

The Importance of Numbers

The numbers 3 and 40 are significant in YEHOVAH's plan for His people Israel. Three indicates completeness, and forty indicates trial and testing -- which may, or may not, lead to repentance. We read in Jonah 3:

"Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.' So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first days' walk. Then he cried out and said, 'Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (verses 1-4).

We see here that Jonah preached for 3 days, and Nineveh had 40 days to repent or face destruction. Is there a parallel between this event in Jonah's life and what happened to the Messiah? Indeed there is. It is a proven fact that the Messiah preached in Judea for three years before he was crucified in the beginning of his fourth year (31 A.D.) Jonah preached for three days. The Messiah preached for three years. What about the 40 days Nineveh had to repent? Did this also apply to Jerusalem? At the beginning of the Messiah's fourth year of his ministry he was crucified. So the Messiah preached from 28 A.D. to 31 A.D. and then was crucified. And when was Jerusalem destroyed? Forty years later, in 70 A.D. by Hebrew inclusive counting. This fulfilled the Sign of Jonah in terms of the prophetic day for a year principle!

Nineveh had 40 days to repent, and they did. The disciples had 40 days to repent of any unbelief before the Messiah ascended to the throne of his Father so that they could receive the gift of the holy spirit to enable them to carry out their ministries to the House of Israel. The Jews in Jerusalem were given 40 years to repent of the violations of the Pharisees and Sadducees but they didn't, and Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans.

The Jubilee year is a significant number in YEHOVAH's plan. A Jubilee year was to be marked every 50 years, since this would be an “extra” year, one which would happen every seven weeks of seven years, i.e., every 49 years (cf. Leviticus 25:8-13). Even though it wasn’t easy to organize, it was intended to be marked as a time to re-establish a proper relationship with YEHOVAH God, with one another, and with all of creation, and involved the forgiveness of debts, the return of misappropriated land, and a fallow period for the fields.

By applying the day for a Jubilee year principle, we can calculate 40 (days to Nineveh's possible destruction) times 50 years (Jubilee) and come up with 2,000 years. If we calculate that from the Messiah's crucifixion in 31 A.D. we obviously end up with the year 2030 A.D. (Hebrew inclusive counting)! This is also the time that the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, that were scattered throughout the extended Roman Empire and beyond, have to repent and turn to YEHOVAH God and His Commandments to avoid loosing their inheritance! From the prophecies of Jonah and other prophets -- and even the admonitions of the Messiah -- we can see that the year 2030 will be very significant indeed.

A Day Equals a Thousand Years

Many believe that since YEHOVAH God created the world in six "days" and rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3), that YEHOVAH God has a 6,000-year plan for Adamic man followed by a 1,000-year reign by the Messiah (Revelation 20:4). In Biblical times, it was commonly believed among the Judeans, and early Christians, that at the end of 6,000 years of history, YEHOVAH God -- along with the Messiah -- would return and reign for 1,000 years. Early Christian writers, such as Barnabas, who was with Paul the apostle in Lycaonia, wrote:

"Of the Sabbath, He speaks in the beginning of the creation; 'And God made the works of His hands in six days, and He ended on the seventh day, and rested on it, and He made it holy.' Give heed, children, what this means; He ended in six days. He means this, that in six thousand years the LORD will bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifies a thousand years; and this, He Himself bears me witness, saying; 'Behold, the day of the LORD will be as a thousand years.' Therefore, children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, everything will come to an end." [9]

Another Christian author, Lactantius, wrote:

"As there had been 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham, and 2,000 from Abraham to Christ; so there will be 2,000 years for the Christian era and then would come the Millennium." [10]

Irenaeus, in his Against Heresies, notes that,

"in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded...This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the LORD is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed; it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the six thousandth year" (Book 5, 28.3).

There is even an old tradition that the prophet Elijah taught that there would be six thousand years for humans to rule under Satan's kingdom, followed by one thousand years of abundance in the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God.

There are two places in the Bible that say "a day with the LORD is as a thousand years":

Psalm 90:4: "For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night."

II Peter 3:8: "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the LORD one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

The Date of the Messiah's Death

Now when we take an objective look at the events of the year 31 A.D., there can be no doubt that it was the true year of the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah. In proving this the following points need to be considered:

(a) Several references in the Talmud describe certain unusual events taking place "Forty years before the destruction of the Temple" -- which took place in 70 A.D.

(b) Talmud, Yoma 39b: "Forty years before the Temple was destroyed [i.e., 40 years before 70 A.D., or in 31 A.D., Hebrew inclusive counting]…the gates of the Hekel [Holy Place] opened by themselves, until Rabbi Yohanan B. Zakkai rebuked them [the gates] saying, Hekel, Hekel, why alarmist thou us? We know that thou art destined to be destroyed."

(c) Flavius Josephus speaks of the mysterious extinction of the middle and chief light in the Golden Candlestick (Menorah), forty years before the destruction of the Temple. Every night for 40 years -- or over 12,500 nights in a row -- the main lamp of the Temple lamp stand went out of its own accord -- no matter what attempts and precautions the priests took to safeguard against this event! [11]
  
(d) Talmud, Yoma 39b: "The Sages taught: During the tenure of Shimon HaTzaddik, the lot for God always arose in the High Priest’s right hand; after his death, it occurred only occasionally; but during the forty years prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, the lot for God did not arise in the High Priest’s right hand at all. The odds for this happening are enormous.

(e) The church father Jerome, in a Letter to Hedibia, relates that the huge lintel of the Temple was broken and splintered and fell. He connects this with the rending of the Veil at the time of the Messiah's death. This coincides with the other strange events that took place 40 years before the destruction of the Temple. [12]

(f) Talmud, Shabbat 15a: "Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the Sanhedrin was banished (from the Chamber of Hewn Stone) and sat in the trading-station." The Sanhedrin moved in the very year the Messiah was crucified. It was forced to do so because of damage due to the earthquake associated with the crucifixion of the Messiah that tore the Temple curtain -- and in direct punishment for their complicity in handing the Messiah over to the Temple guard for crucifixion.

(g) Beginning in 31 A.D., the red strip placed on the Azazel goat, symbolizing the sins of the people, did not turn white, for forty years, till the destruction of the Temple itself! The clear indication is that the whole community was guilty of some great "sin" in 31 A.D., for which they were not pardoned, and their collective guilt remained for every year until 70 A.D. After 31 A.D., the crimson thread never turned white again for 40 years, until the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of all Temple rituals. [13]

When we take an objective look at the events of 31 A.D., who can doubt that it was indeed the true year of the crucifixion and resurrection of the true Messiah YEHOVAH God sent to Israel? Who can deny that Yeshua of Nazareth is the one and only true Messiah?

New Testament Dating of the End of the Age

Let's now look at the New Testament references that indicate the Messiah will possibly return in 2030:

(1) In John chapter 4 the Messiah stayed with the Samaritan woman -- a prophetic type of the ecclesia -- for two days. "...and he stayed there two days" (John 4:40).

Writes Daniel Speck:

"The Lord's two day stay with the woman at the well may have little meaning for the casual reader but it is immensely important when the prophetic picture of this story is fully understood. The Samaritan woman is a prophetic type of the Church, whom Jesus offers the gift of living water that, '...will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.'" John 4:13." [14]

The Messiah is talking here about the baptism of the holy spirit to YEHOVAH's people Israel in His Ecclesia. "After two days he went out from there..." These two days are an important detail in the prophetic picture that the Messiah is painting here when you consider what Peter said in II Peter 3:8: "...with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." States Daniel Speck, "With this key we can unlock the prophetic picture the Lord painted with his two-day stay in Samaria: the Church age will last for two thousand years after which he will "go forth." [15]

(2) The Messiah remained two days after hearing that Lazarus was sick before crossing the Jordan to raise him from the dead. We read about this in John 11:6: "So when he [the Messiah] heard that he [Lazarus] was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was." Notes Daniel Speck,

"The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11 is one of the most amazingly detailed prophetic pictures of the return of the Lord. It begins when the Jews of Jerusalem threaten to stone him so he leaves the city and goes over to the east bank of the Jordan River. There the word comes that his friend Lazarus is sick." [16]

After the two days the Messiah crossed over the Jordan and traveled up to Bethany where Lazarus's sister, Martha, came out to meet him.

The fact that the Messiah deliberately stayed on the east bank of the river for two more days after hearing the news that Lazarus was sick has been an enigma that people have struggled to explain. However, it is a particular and exact number and numbers, as we have seen, have very important symbolic meaning in the Bible. So with the picture of the Messiah's second appearance graphically laid out for us in this event -- together with Peter's time key -- this is another prophecy that the Messiah will appear again to raise the dead and restore Israel after two thousand years.

(3) The Good Samaritan, a prophetic type of the Messiah, gave the innkeeper two dinarii to care for the wounded man, promising to return and settle the account. Equaling two day's wages, the two dinarii symbolize the two thousand year "days" that would pass until the Messiah appears again. Let's read the Messiah's account in Luke 10:

"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend” (NIV, verses 30-35).

The Samaritan is a prophetic picture of the Messiah himself. Of the three travelers who came across the injured man, the Samaritan was the only one who helped him and took him to the inn to recover, giving the innkeeper two denarii to care for him. An important point to consider is that the Samaritan promised to return and settle the account. This is a metaphor for the future appearance of the Messiah. Writes Daniel Speck:

"The two denarii is a key detail as well. One denarius was equal to a day's wage at the time...so two denarii would be enough for two days stay at an inn, meaning that the good Samaritan intended to return after two days...hidden in this story is another prophecy of the two thousand years until the Lord Jesus will return." [17]

So filling in the rest of the prophetic types here, the wounded man on the road to Jericho represents Israel in its wounded spiritual condition which the Pharisees and Sadducees of the Temple cult were unable and unwilling to help. It is the Messiah who cares for the man and takes him to the innkeeper -- a type of the Ecclesia. Spiritually speaking, Israel is wounded and half dead, and it is the Ecclesia of YEHOVAH God who cares for Israel over the centuries and has taken on their burden of bearing fruit for the Kingdom (Matthew 21:43). Just as in the account of Good Samaritan, the Messiah will appear after two thousand years to reward the Ecclesia and restore YEHOVAH's people Israel in 2030.

The Prophecy of Hosea

The Old Testament prophet Hosea predicted the exact year when YEHOVAH God -- along with the Messiah -- will return to this earth! Notice Hosea 5:15, 6:2:

"I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me...After two days He [YEHOVAH God] will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight" (NKJV).

YEHOVAH God's "Shekinah" Glory remained in the Temple all through the life and death of the Messiah and up to the year 66 A.D. -- when it was seen leaving the Temple and alighting on the Mount of Olives. According to Eusebius the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and hovered over the Mount of Olives during "the siege of Jerusalem" (66 A.D. to 70). However, Eusebius was not the only observer who mentioned that the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple before the destruction of the Temple and hovered over the Mount of Olives. A Jewish rabbi named Jonathan -- who was an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem -- said the "Shekinah" Glory left the Temple and for three and a half years,

"abode on the MOUNT OF OLIVES hoping that Israel would repent, but they did not; while a Bet Kol [a supernatural voice from heaven] issued forth announcing, Return, O backsliding children [Jer. 3:14]. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you [Mal. 3:7], when they did not repent, it said, I WILL RETURN TO MY PLACE (Midrash Rabbah, Lamentations 2:11)" [18]

YEHOVAH God returned to His place when He ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives. He will not return until the prescribed time -- after two thousand years (one day equals a thousand years -- II Peter 3:8) He will revive the called-out ones of Israel, and at the beginning of the Millennium He will raise us up in the resurrection "that we may live in His sight." YEHOVAH God will return to raise up those of His Ecclesia who have fallen asleep in death; and this is pictured by the White Horse of Revelation 6:2 returning permanently to fully restore Israel as a nation. With the help of the Messiah He will gather those of Israel from around the world and install them in the Promised Land of modern-day Israel.

Comments Daniel Speck, "There is only one possible year when this prophecy can be filled. That must be the single year in which the second millennium after Christ's ascension ends and the third millennium begins, which is the year 2030." [19] The year 2030 marks two thousand years after the Messiah was taken up into Heaven in 31 A.D., but it is also the beginning of the third millennial "day" after he ascended. There is no other possible year when Hosea's prophecy of YEHOVAH and the Messiah's future coming can be fulfilled. The 2030 date, of course, assumes a 3971 B.C. date for Adam's creation.

No One Can Know the Day or Hour

It should be clearly noted here that even though the year of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah's return can be determined through the prophetic pictures found in the Gospels and the Prophets, the appearance will still be like a "thief in the night" and no man will know the day or hour. It will be a complete surprise for unbelievers, but those of us of Israel who have been called to YEHOVAH's service will certainly know when the event is near.

Matthew 24:36: "But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (NKJV).

I Thessalonians 5:1-4: "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then suddenly destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you brethren, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief" (NKJV).

Anyone who says they know the exact day of YEHOVAH God and the Messiah's future appearance is a false teacher. However, it does not preclude knowing the year or even the season. The Messiah was clear that shortly before his arrival those of his Father's Ecclesia would know that the time was near. We, the Ecclesia of YEHOVAH God, YEHOVAH's called out ones, are going to know when the time is near because of the events prophesied to occur just before YEHOVAH God and His Messiah return.

While it is certainly true we could have missed something in Bible chronology, I don't think there is any doubt that something momentous is about to happen in 2030 following 2000 years since the Messiah's death in 31 A.D. -- the end of an era?

Luke 21:28: "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near" (NKJV).

Bibliography:
 
[1] Dougherty, Raymond Philip, Nabonidus and Belshazzar: A Study of the Closing Events of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR 2008.

[2] Ussher, James, The Annals of the World. Master Books, Green Forest, AR 2005.

[3] Finch, Paul R., 2030: The Sixth Thousandth Year. Volume 1, First Edition. 2022, page 5.

[4] Barbour, Nelson H, Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World 1877. Gyan Books, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2023.

[5] The Kingdom Is at Hand. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Brooklyn, NY 1944. Footnote page 171.

[6] Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Brooklyn, NY 1966, pages 28-29.

[7] Armstrong, Herbert W., 1975 in Prophecy. Radio Church of God, Pasadena, CA 1956.

[8] Finch, Paul R., 2030: The Sixth Thousandth Year. Volume 1, First Edition. 2022, page xi.

[9] Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas. 13:3-5. Beloved Publishing, 2016.

[10] Lactantius, The Works of Lactantius. Forgotten Books, London, England, 2018.

[11] Josephus, Flavius, The Complete Works of Josephus. Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 1991.

[12] Jerome, Letter 120 to Hedibia, Question #8.

[13] Babylonian Talmud (Soncino version, Yoma 39b).

[14] Speck, Daniel, 2030 Second Coming. Las Vegas, NV 2022, page 11.

[15] Ibid., page 12.

[16] Ibid., page 15.

[17] Speck, Daniel, Tribulation 2023: A Field Guide to the Apocalypse. Las Vegas, NV 2022, page 44.

[18] Martin, Ernest L., Secrets of Golgotha: The Forgotten History of Christ's Crucifixion. ASK Publications, Alhambra, CA 1988,  p. 84.

[19] Speck, Daniel, 2030 Second Coming. Las Vegas, NV 2022, page 23.