Hi Joseph, you are going to be so busy trying to find out anti-Biblical issues you're going to end up converting yourself by accident!!! (haaa!)
Anyway, the 40 days or years is quite significant and is consistent enough in the Bible to understand that it basically is the time period associated with a period of "testing". You may want to check this out.
But because of the deliberate persistent reference to certain periods of time certain implied chronologies can be applied by PATTERN to other events. But since you bring up the issue of 40, the period of time Satan would be let lose to test the post-millennium population would be considered at least a standard 40 years, and as well Judgment Day that follows at least 40 years, but possibly 70 years or even 80 years.
So thanks for pointing this out, but the consistency in numbers do help us see hidden patterns.
Another implied 40 years is that applied to Adam. It would seem he was 30 years of age when Eve was created, the normal ideal Jewish time for a man to marry. Remember Jesus worked for his family for 30 years before going out on his ministry. Further Jesus who took the place of Adam was 33-1/2 when he died suggesting Adam sinned within that period, thus Eve may have only been less than 3-1/2 years old. Even so, Adam didn't pass his test which might have not extended past 40 years.
But on that note, some of this was manipulated. For instance, a generation is considered 40 years or 80 years. There were exactly 80 years from the death of Solomon until his grandsons were executed by Jehu in fulfillment of that prophecy. So while this was incidentally noticed the 40/80-year generation application seems consistent.
Another more clear evidence of MANIPULATION to make the chronology work out is the 70-year desolation period. That period is Biblically symbolic and related to the prophesied punishment of Judah and Israel. Since you're looking at numbers closely, note that the error for Israel was 390 years while the error for Judah, who ruled longer than Israel was only 40 years. But when you break this down by tribe, the 10-tibe's 390 years is 39 years each, just 1 year less than Juday. Combine the 390 years with the 40 years and you get 430 years. The 70 years was related to the sabbath rest of the LAND which had not been keeping it's sabbaths. If you divide the 430 years by the two types of sabbaths, 7 years and 50 years, you get the 70-year punishment period:
430 divided by 7= 61.4
430 divided by 50= 8.6
61.4 plus 8.6 = 70
All this connects to the 490 years chronology. Thus the 430 years of missed sabbaths is doubled for the actual testing period of 860 years which when you add in the 70 years of punishment ends up being 930 years which is within a year of exactly 19 jubilees (931 years = 19x49). This calculation can thus be used to establish that the EXODUS was 931 years from the return of the Jews to Palestine and thus allows us to date this INTERVAL. Add another 50 years to 930 and you get 980 years which is HALF of 490 years, a period of 70 weeks.
Thus you begin the pattern of chronology of a WEEK of 70 WEEKS beginning when Moses became age 30. He was age 80 when the Exodus occurred. Thus you have two DAYS of 490-years each from the time of Moses beginning a WEEK OF 70 WEEKS which points to when the 7th 490-years would end. Of course if there were two days of 490 years up until the return from Babylon ending in 455 BCE, then five more days to finish out the week would be another 2450 years. 2450 plus 455BCE is 1996! Therefore, the consistent pattern of numbers even from the period of the covenant with the Jews falls very nearly in line with specific weeks and dates, some of which relate to 40 years, or 70 years etc. Thus note that the JUBILEE, or 50th Jubilee from 455BCE when the Jews returned to Jerusalem from Babylon coincides with a critical JUBILEE in the 7th 70th week which adds even more significance and that is their final return to Palestine in 1947!!!
That is, each 70 weeks is a period of 490 years which is TEN JUBILEES which occur every 49 years. So 5 periods is 50 jubilees with the last Jubilee occupying the last 49 years of a 2450-year period. Thus if the last 70th week ended in 1996, you subtract 49 years to get the jubillee year which of course is 1947. An accident? Doubtful.
But please note the MANIPULATION.....
Even though Jerusalem was destroyed significantly beginning a period of "7 times" until the Messiah would arrive, some poor people were left in the land to continue to cultivate it for a period of time. This was likely to make the exact timing for the 70-years work out right on the button. But they rebelled after Gedaliah was killed and left the land and ran down to Egypt. This would seem to disturb the chronology just a bit and they were condemned for leaving. But as it were, Nebuchadnezzar in his 23rd year came down and executed practically everyone except for a "few" who were then to return to Judah in the 23rd year, (Jeremiah 44:14,24) so that the land was specifically still inhabited up until that last deportation in the 23rd year before the land then became completely desolated for exactly 70 years.
So some of the chronology seems to be technically MANIPULATED by events to work out in specific numbers that fit into an overall numbers pattern.
This isn't always that hard to do, however, which helps us to appreciate that the chronology is SPECIFIC. For instance, God could choose to inpire Jehu to execute the progeny of Solomon exactly 80 years after his death to work that out. He kept the Jews wandering in the wilderness for EXACTLY 40 years, which was no problem. He allowed Jesus to be tempted for 40 days. No problem. He allowed Jesus to remain a carpenter until exactly 30 years of age to make a pattern of 1290 days and 1335 days work out for his ministry and Pentecost, etc.
So it is true, some of the numbers in the Bible are symbolically rounded off for certain purposes, but most often when specific periods of time are mentioned for certain events, such as the 40 days or 40 years there is no reason to think they were really 38 years or 42 years, etc. since it wouldn't be hard to control these events to fit in a specific symbolic period of time.
At any rate, the periods of time that keep reoccurring seem to be more manipulated into their symbolic significance than simply generalized, particularly the 40 years.
But I'm wondering if this is such an obvious subtle pattern if we are not to make some references to our day?
For one thing a GENERATION of 80 years was applied from the time of the signs that would begin but not to exceed the time when the Messiah would arrive. The signs began with "kingdom against kingdom and nation against nation" meaning a world war. If that world war was 1914 then 80 years past that would mean the Second Coming must occur prior to 1994.
Or, if you believe a GENERATION that Jesus was referring to is only 40 years, which is Biblically applicable as well, then you have a date of 1954 limiting all things occurring within 40 years.
But that TECHNICALLY WORKS OUT TOO. Key points would be the appearance of the 'sign of the son of man' and the "preaching of the good news" worldwide, as well as the 'great tribulation'. For the Bible says, "Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days.....the sign of the son of man" would appear. And the "end" would occur after the "good news" was preached world wide.
This ALL happened before 1954!!! though a secondary fulfillment occurs prior to another GENERATION ending by 1994. Note:
1. The great tribulation which was the HOLOCAUST did happen before 1954.
2. The good news was specifically preached world wide after WWI when N.H. Knorr set out on a round-the-world lecture tour occurring in 1946 or 1947 (I have to check).
3. The END occurred after this world-wide preaching event, that end being the 'end of the gentile times' ending when the partition agreement occurred on November 30, 1947 ending the rule of Jerusalem by the Gentiles and restoring control of Jerusalem to the Jews, as prophesied.
4. In the meantime, the "sign of the son of man" likely began to occur as soon as the Messiah or would-be Messiah was born if you believe in the 'prodigal son' Messiah. Incidentally he would have to be tested at least 40 years before becoming the Messiah, so the 40 years does factor into the implied period of testing of the prodigal son. Thus, for instance, if you were applying the 40 years loosely, since the last 70th weeks ends in 1996 and the Messiah must appear for the beginning of his "ministry" at the beginning of the 70th week which would be 1989, then some might PRESUME based upon the implication of the 40-year testing period applied here that the Messiah would have to be at least 40 years of age or in his 40th year at least by 1989, but also SPECIFICALLY SO. That is, one could presume he was exactly 39-40 years of age in 1989-1990 to fit the "testing" 40-year pattern for the second coming, just as Jesus was specifically tested for 40 days before he began his ministry. Thus the actual AGE of the Messiah, who is born as a regular man first, then lives the life of the prodigal son, a period of testing but by the end of that testing period returns to God's house, should end up right on the money at 40 years.
BUT, considering that, if the Messiah were 40 years of age in 1989-1990, that means he would have been born by 1949-1950, in which case the "sign of the son of man" would have appeared at the time of his birth fulfilling all prophecies prior to 1954 when a generation of 40 years from 1914 would end.
Now the fact that this has to be considered is the fact that the "sign of the son of man in the clouds" began appearing to anointed ones before 1989 because a mock reference to the sign that has been appearing to anointed ones appears in the "Revelation Book" on page 198 and that book came out prior to 1989 I believe. Anyway, it came out significantly before 1992 when another specific "sign of the son of man" occurred at the time of the alleged "transmigration" occurring, which dates the end of "7 times" or 2520 years from the fall of Jerusalem in 529BCE.
So you see, there are lots of DOUBLE-FULFILMENTS going on. There are two "second comings" and two "ends" involved, depending on how you intepret it.
So again, the 40 years is quite significant and used by Biblical chrologists and numerologists to predict certain events or to look at IMPLIED chronology to fit certain patterns and so far a lot of it has come true consistently with the second coming event details.
Finally, the Bible says that ARMAGEDDON is totally within the JURISDICTION of God and thus one would not expect any chronologies implied to critically tell exactly when Armageddon is going to occur. However, it probably would NOT be a surprise if Jehovah brought Armageddon on precisely to fulfill some hidden pattern of chronology though some of the chronology is FLEXIBLE.
Since you're so interested in the FLOOD chronology for instance, please note that the original year for when the witnesses claimed when Jesus would appear, which is 1874, that there are 120 years tuntil the end of the last generation occurring 80 years after 1914 which is 1994. (1994-120=1874). So this is considered Biblically significant in fulfilling "just as the days of Noah". Noah went into the ark though and 7 days passed before the floods came. Therefore one might at least consider whether something might happen right at 7 years past or no earlier than 7 years past the fall of 1994. Those 7 years expired in the fall of 2001. So if there was an implied chronology for the time of the flood that would be superimposed onto our times the "flood" did not begin for us 7 years after 1994.
But then again, a lot of Biblical chronology ends in 1996 which gives God the option of a 120 years ending perhaps from 1876 to 1996 in which case a 7-year extension of "darkness" before Armageddon would not be up until the fall of 2003 with the 7th year beginning this very fall 2002!! Soooo.....we're not predicting, we're just looking!! (grinn).
Hopefully, though, Armageddon will not take 40 years and will only take 40 days or less. But another "great tribulation" is prophesied to occur.
Of course, God can choose to make total exception of the timing of Armageddon, but the PATTERN has been too cordinate everything into some relevant dating pattern so it wouldn't be a SURPRISE, after the fact, if Armageddon began right on some specific pattern chronology we are not seeing as yet.
Of course, wouldn't it be nice if Armageddon came within the next couple of years!!!
Then again, the longer the delay, the more people can be saved.
Hey Joseph, maybe God is WAITING FOR YOU TO CONVERT as the last convert!!! Better hurry up and make up your mind!!!!
Thanks for the focus on the 40 years!! It definitely figures in the chronologist's calculations for everything!
See ya!
L.G.
