The Bible Timeline

THE BIBLE’S PROPHETIC TIMELINE (GOD’S REDEMPTIVE TIMELINE) Another form of documentary evidence in support of the correctness of the Bible is seen from the following detailed chronology of the Bible, from the time of Abraham through the 20th century. This Timeline reveals that the progress of God's Redemptive Timeline over more than 4000 years of history has been prophetic. PATRIARCHS 2167/66BC

Abraham born

2067/66BC

Isaac born

DIVIDED KINGDOM 931/30BC

Reoboam/Jeroboam

853-841BC

Ahab-Ahaziah-Joram-Jehu 723BC

589BC

| 2007/06BC

(Jubilee)

Jacob born

Jerusalem besieged (Babylon) 586BC

POST KINGDOM

520BC

1876/75BC

| | | 430 years

| | | |

| ISRAEL IN EGYPT | Silent years without a word from God | | No Temple | |

483 years

| 1446/45BC

| Pharaoh's genocide | COVENANT OF LAW | Exodus ---

| |

Moses gives the Law

40 years

Israel wanders in unbelief

445BC

1407/06BC

1406/05BC

APOSTOLIC PERIOD ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION AD67

Jerusalem besieged (Romans) AD70

OLD TESTAMENT COVENANT TO KINGDOM (TRIBAL PERIOD) 1406/05BC

First year in Promised Land

1400/99BC

Occupation of Land complete

|

Jesus crucified Israel rejects Messiah

(Jubilee) Israel at the Jordan Israel enters the Land

Temple rebuilt (Haggai) City walls rebuilt (Nehemiah) (Start of Israel's "70 Weeks") Malachi

| INTERTESTAMENT PERIOD | | Silent years without a word from God | | | | '430 years' A Temple but God had departed | | | '483 years' | | | 07/06BC (Jubilee) Jesus born | | COVENANT OF GRACE | | AD28 John the Baptist | Jesus fulfills the Law | 397BC

AD32

| |

Jerusalem destroyed (Babylon)

"70 years"

| Jacob's blessing by God (Israel's 1929/28BC Messianic future) Entrance into Egypt

No. Kingdom falls (Assyria)

Jerusalem destroyed (Romans)

NEW TESTAMENT COVENANT TO KINGDOM (CHRISTENDOM) AD73

|

Masada (Destruction complete)

| | | 1047/46BC

Period of the Judges

| | |

Samuel the last Judge

AD1939-45

ISRAEL'S KINGDOM

1007/06BC

(Jubilee)

World War II & the Holocaust

MESSIAH'S KINGDOM AD 1945

1047/46BC

Jews scattered among the nations

Jubilee

Saul (people's choice)

AD 1948

Rebirth of the State of Israel

David (God's choice)

AD 1988

40 years after Israel's rebirth

King over Judah 1000/99BC

King over all Israel

971/70BC

Solomon reigns

967/66BC

Temple built

AD 1995

Jubilee

40th Jubilee after Jesus' birth

The Bible's Prophetic Timeline in the above chart was developed over a period of many years, but the starting point was Edwin R. Thiele's study on the chronology of the Old Testament period of the Divided Kingdom, following the reign of King Solomon. Thiele began his study of this period of Old Testament history in the early 1940's, and his final book on the subject was published in 1983, under the title, "The Mysterious Numbers Of The Hebrew Kings". Whenever Biblical events occurred in connection with archaeologically dated findings, those synchronisms were used in his book, therefore the result agrees with our knowledge of secular history during those times. Dr. Thiele was a world-renowned expert on Old Testament chronology, and this book remains the foremost authority on Bible chronology in print today. The "Divided Kingdom" link in the above chart will display the result of his work, and a summary of his entire work can be studied at Thiele Summary. All of the dates entered in the left side of the chart, going back to the time of Abraham, were calculated directly from Thiele's 931/930 BC date for the beginning of the Divided Kingdom, using time periods appearing directly in the Bible. It should be remarked that the one-year uncertainty in Thiele's dates stems from the fact that the Bible does not say how many months elapsed following Solomon's death until the dispute between the tribes to the North and those to the South finally resulted in the Divided Kingdom. Therefore, we are forced to retain the one-year uncertainty through Biblical times. Nonetheless, the time of the Exodus is determined within a year simply by reading that Solomon reigned 40 years (I Kings 11.42), thereby requiring that his reign must have begun in 971/970 BC. However, (I Kings 6.1) indicates that Solomon began to build the Temple in the 4th year of his reign, i.e. 967/966 BC, and that this was 480 years after Israel made their Exodus out of Egypt. Therefore, according to Thiele and the Bible, the Exodus should have occurred in, 967/66 BC (Solomon’s 4th year) + 480 years (inclusively) = 1446/1445 BC Using such an approach, along with other time periods and the relative ages of people given in the Old Testament, it was possible to build the Bible's Prophetic Timeline all the way back to Abraham. Of course, this whole process initially assumed that both Thiele and the Bible were correct. On the other hand, if Thiele's secular chronology is incorrect or if the Bible contains historic errors in dating events, then we would not expect coherent or repeatable patterns within the above timeline. This observation gave rise to the following

way in which the accuracy of Biblical dates could be evaluated. Consider the implications embodied in the following two charts.

"40-YEAR" + "7-YEAR" MULTIPLES (HIGHLIGHT TIMES OF SILENCE) •

The Egyptian sojourn from Israel's entrance into Egypt until their Exodus was, 9 x "40" years + 10 x "7" years = 430 years (Exodus 12.41)

•

The Intertestament period from the prophet Malachi until John the Baptist apparently was, 9 x "40" years + 10 x "7" years = 430 years (Counted in a 360-day Calendar) .

"40-YEAR" MULTIPLES (HIGHLIGHT EPIC TIME PERIODS) •

Israel's time in Egypt following the death of Joseph was, 9 x "40" years = 360 years Joseph lived 71 years after the start of Israel's sojourn in Egypt, so 430 years (Exodus 12.41) - 71 years (Genesis 50.26) = 359 years (or 360 years inclusive)

•

The time from the Exodus till the building of the Temple was, 12 x "40" years = 480 years (I Kings 6.1)

•

The period of Old Testament Israel's unbelief following the Passover Exodus was, 1 x "40" years (Numbers 14.33-34)

•

Israel's time in the Promised Land prior to the United Kingdom was, 9 x "40" years = 360 years

•

Saul's reign lasted, 1 x "40" years (Acts 13.21)

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David's reign lasted, 1 x "40" years (I Kings 2.11)

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Solomon's reign lasted, 1 x "40" years (I Kings 11.42)

You will observe a very interesting characteristic of the chronology over the time periods shown, using the Thiele-Bible dating methodology. Even though a casual reading of Bible history over these time periods reveals no underlying patterns in the Biblical dates and time periods, it is obvious from these two charts that patterns do exist. Furthermore, those patterns make it clear that the Biblical chronology is intentionally highlighting specific designed epochs of time over 2000 years of Biblical history. Thus, the Bible is indicating that God's silence during the Hebrew's sojourn in Egypt was repeated during the Intertestament period (When the time period in the right-hand portion of the chart is

counted in a 360-day Calendar), and consistently indicating that major happenings from Abraham to Solomon occurred in multiples of 40 years. This evidence made it clear that the Bible is not providing a chronology of events that are spurious, but is declaring a chronology that appears to be prophetically designed. With this discovery, it only remained to determine whether or not this "designed" chronology built into Bible history was simply manufactured, devoid of true history, or is this chronology verifiable on the basis of recorded history? The following chart uses a set of other dates taken from the Bible's Prophetic Timeline to provide a preliminary answer to this question.

"7-YEAR" MULTIPLES (HIGHLIGHT COVENANT FULFILLMENTS) •

The period from the Lord's promise to Jacob concerning Israel's future blessing until Israel could make their Exodus out of Egypt and receive the Covenant of Law was, 69 x "7" = 483 years

•

The period when the Lord fulfilled His Old Testament Covenant by giving Israel the Land was, 1 x "7" years The Land was conquered in 6 years (Joshua 14.7-10), and allocated in the 7th year.

•

The period from Gabriel's promise to Daniel concerning Israel's future blessing until Israel could make their "exodus" out of sin and receive the Covenant of Grace was, 69 x "7" = 483 years (Counted in a 360-day Calendar) (Daniel 9.25)

According to the Bible, we see that the Old Testament Covenant of Law and the New Testament Covenant of Grace were both keyed to time periods governed by multiples of "7" years, a number prophetically signifying completion or perfection. However, of great significance here is also the fact that the final 483 years in (Daniel 9.25) began with Nehemiah's rebuilding of Jerusalem in the 20th year of the reign of Persian king Artaxerxes, known from secular history to have been 445 BC (Nehemiah 2.1). Furthermore, a direct calculation will show that the subsequent 483 years (counted in a 360-day Calendar) ended on April 6, AD 32, the Sunday just prior to Passover in that year, and the Sunday recorded in the Bible when Jesus Christ made His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem as King, thereby fulfilling (Daniel 9.25)! Consequently, that 483-year linkage between the Covenant of Law and Covenant of Grace proves that the first one was not manufactured, because the dates that produced that first 483-year period were in the Bible centuries before 445 BC, making it impossible to know that it would be the time period required to repeat that second 483-year period associated with the coming of King Messiah. The following chart completes the assertion that the dates in the Bible's Prophetic Timeline are in fact true historic dates, because the following Jubilee Calendar produced from them not only highlights key Timeline events during Biblical times, but also highlights key events in 20th century recorded history!

"50-YEAR JUBILEE" MULTIPLES (HIGHLIGHT KEY EVENTS) •

The year of "Israel's" birth was, "Jubilee" 2007/06 BC.

•

The year when Israel was ready to enter their promised inheritance was, "Jubilee" 1407/06 BC.

•

The year when the Davidic Kingdom began was, "Jubilee" 1007/06 BC.

•

The year when Messiah was born was, "Jubilee" 07/06 BC.

•

The year when World War II ended occurred at the advent of,, "Jubilee" 1945

•

The year of the "40th" Jubilee and start of the second Millennium after Jesus' birth was, "Jubilee" 1995

You will notice that the above chart, taken from the Bible's Prophetic Timeline, shows the Jubilee-year dates over a period of 4000 years. The Jubilee Calendar from which these years were obtained was developed in the following way: Using the Thiele-Bible methodology explained previously, Israel must have entered the Promised Land in 1406/1405 BC, after their 40 years in the Sinai wilderness. (Leviticus 25) then explains how the Jubilee years were to be determined, so a Jubilee Calendar could be constructed (See "Jubilee Calendar") . You will observe that the resulting Jubilee years designate very important events in Israel's prophetic history. Since the Jubilee Calendar repeats on a cycle of 50 years, it can also be projected into the future, following Biblical times, thereby giving rise to those two 20th century Jubilees of 1945 and 1995. Notice that the one-year uncertainty inherit in Thiele's work can now be removed for the 20th century Jubilees, because of a unique association between Jubilee year 1944/1945 and World War II. The Thiele one-year uncertainty would have allowed either 1944 or 1945 to be the Jubilee year. However, we know from (Leviticus 25) that the Jubilee year was a time when Hebrews who had lost their inheritance through confiscation or some other misfortune were forgiven their debts, released from slavery, and permitted to return back to their rightful inheritance. Consequently, if 20th century Jubilee years continue to reflect prophetic events indicative of the meaning of the Jubilee, as they did during Biblical times, 1944 could not have been a Jubilee year for the Jews, because that year witnessed the height of the Holocaust, when their future appeared hopeless. However, World War II ended in Europe in the spring of 1945, and the Jews were released from their captivity. (Leviticus 25) specifies that each Jubilee year officially begins in the seventh month of Tishri on the day of Atonement. In 1945, that would have fallen a few days after the September 1 official end of World War II, when the Jews were beginning their return to the Land of their inheritance. Therefore, 1945 had to be the Jubilee year, thereby permitting us to also designate 1995 as the second Jubilee year in the 20th century. The above connections between the Bible's Prophetic Timeline and 20th century history provide powerful evidence to validate the historicity of the Bible, and to refute attempts to

discredit its authenticity as the inerrant Word of God. For example, an archaeological timeline currently in vogue appears to discredit Bible chronology by building on a supposed Hebrew Exodus from Egypt at the time of Pharaoh Raamses II, who ruled Egypt in 1300-1234 BC. However, Professor Hans Goedicke, a world-famous Egyptologist proved in a September/October, 1981 article in the Biblical Archaeology Review that such a construct is incorrect. Moreover, two other archaeologists, John Bimson and David Livingston showed in a September/October, 1987 article in the Biblical Archaeology Review that a revised archaeological timeline based on Biblical dates, produces better correlations with the physical evidence actually unearthed from archaeological digs in Israel. You can find additional detail related to the Bible's Prophetic Timeline at "Israel's Redemptive Timeline" and related to archaeology at "Timelines for Biblical Archaeology". The Bible's Prophetic Timeline seems to possess a final intriguing feature seen in the following chart.

PERIODS OF "REPEATED" HISTORY "ISRAEL IN EGYPT" suggests a relation to the "INTERTESTAMENT PERIOD". "COVENANT OF LAW" suggests a relation to the "COVENANT OF GRACE". "TRIBAL PERIOD" suggests a relation to "CHRISTENDOM". "ISRAEL'S KINGDOM" suggests a relation to "MESSIAH'S KINGDOM". Let's look at the relationships between these highlighted periods of history. Israel's sojourn in Egypt can be related to the Intertestament Period in at least the following respects. •

Both of them lasted for the same 430-year period of time.

•

Both of them were times when there were no prophetic words from God.

•

Both of them resulted in times of apostasy among the Hebrew people. When the Hebrews came out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus, they had fallen into an idolatrous state, for they tried to revert back to their Egyptian heritage at Sinai when they had Aaron fashion the golden calf for worship. Similarly, the Jews during the Intertestament had compromised many of the strict provisions of the Covenant of Law, and their form of worship had degenerated into the religion of Judaism.

The Old Testament Covenant of Law can be related to the New Testament Covenant of Grace in the following ways. •

We have already observed in the Bible's Prophetic Timeline how the time periods associated with the Covenant of Law are repeated in those associated with the Covenant of Grace.

•

The previous Topic, which discussed the "Bible's Prophetic Organization" shows how these two Covenants are intentionally related in the way that the Bible is organized.

•

A study of the four Gospels in the New Testament, dealing with the Covenant of Grace, shows clearly that they were intended to fulfill the provisions of the Old Testament Covenant of Law.

The Tribal Period suggests a relation to Christendom in several interesting ways. •

Both of them spanned a long period of time between the giving of a Covenant and the arrival of a Kingdom. In the case of the Old Testament, the Tribal Period was that period between the giving of the Covenant of Law and the arrival of the United Kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon. In the case of the New Testament, Christendom was that period between the giving of the Covenant of Grace and the arrival of Messiah's Kingdom.

•

The following Bible dictionary detects the following parallel between the Old Testament period of the Judges, i.e. Tribal Period, and the New Testament period of Christendom. "A parallel in church history is found (to the period of the Judges) in the professing church since the apostolic age, in which the rise of numerous sects and the forfeited sense of the unity of the Spirit and of one body appear." (New Unger's Bible Dictionary)

•

Finally, it will be shown later in Topic V on "The Revelation" that the characters and actions of the four principal Tribes of Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan (Numbers 2) accurately depict the four principal periods during the New Testament period of Christendom.

With these established relationships, it only remains to demonstrate that relationships also exist between Israel's Kingdom in the Old Testament and Messiah's Kingdom in current times. Those connections will be shown convincingly in Topic III, dealing with "Modern Israel", and with major events that have occurred during the 20th century. (Topic III)

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