Thursday, May 29, 2008
Crossing the Threshold
672 comments - Click for Blog by Will Devine
Disclaimer: While FSHOD is not a Christian blog or even a blog about Religion, we do not hesitate to discuss matters pertaining to Religion. We in no way advocate any one religion over another. Thanks to Will for this interesting blog article. Regards, Sunking
Hello friends!
In my last blog I presented my theory regarding the significance of the number 14. My recent discoveries, however, lead me to believe that the number 14 signifies, not so much a "resurrection", per se, but the beginning of a new cycle or a "crossing over", if you will. Abraham is said to have "crossed over" the Euphrates into the Promised Land (a metaphor for the heavenly realms) on 1/14 of the Jewish calendar, the same day as Passover (i.e. "pass over" or cross over), and the same day Jesus died and "crossed over" into the netherworld (whatever your concept of such may be). Well, I have a couple of new theories relating to the number 14 in this context. Take them for what you will.
I happened to be listening to a Christian radio show and the host mentioned something about a fellow who believed he had found a way to calculate Christ's return based on the length of the "generations" spoken of in Matthew 1:17, namely, "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations." (Oh, by the way, 1/17 of the Jewish calendar happens to be both the day Jesus is said to have been resurrected and the day Noah's ark is said to have landed). I can't remember how his formula worked exactly, but he put the year of Christ's return at (your favorite and mine) 2012 A.D.
I was intrigued. I had been kicking around the idea of Christ's return in 2018 based on 70 years from Israel's modern-day inception in 1947 (For the significance of 70 years, see http://www.creation-answers.com/seventy.htm), and I wondered if there might be anything in Biblical chronology to back this up that would tie in to the aforementioned 42 (that is, 3 times 14) generations. Now keep in mind that the following IS based partially on the Watchtower's exposition of scripture, so take it with a grain of salt.
Diving into the Insight on the Scriptures volumes, I was surprised to discover that Abraham, according to the WT's biblical chronology, was born in the year 2018 (B.C.)! Could it be possible that the same amount of time (3 times 14 generations) which transpired between Abraham's birth and Christ's birth would transpire again until His return? Of course, we all (should) know that Jesus of Nazareth was not actually born in 0 A.D. (or rather 1 A.D. since there is no "zero" year between B.C. and A.D.). But that's where things get really interesting. Based on Scripture rather than historical data, the WT puts Jesus' birth at 2 B.C. This would mean that the interval of 42 generations would be a total of 2016 years. Guess what number you get when you divide 2016 by 14?
144.
I don't think I have to point out the significance of that little ditty ;) Interestingly, if you divide 2016 by 42 (or 3 x 14) you get 48 - which is the number of times the word "fourteen" appears in the (Western/Protestant) Bible.
Anyways, as I was saying, if we take the 2016-year interval and apply it starting at 2 B.C., we end up at A.D. 2015. Not quite the number I was looking for, but pretty darn close. But then I got to thinking about something else. What about Adam? Does the time period between the first man of the Bible and Abraham or Christ have any significance? Adam is said to be a "type" of Christ, and Jesus is referred to at 1 Co 15:45 as "the last Adam". Well, according to the WT, Adam was born (or should I say "created") in 4026 B.C., making for a total of 4024 years from Adam until Christ. And if you divide this number in half, what do you get?
2012 years.
I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that 14 and 144 also figure into the Mayan Calendar. If I'm not mistaken, the 14th "baktun" or "creation cycle" of 144,000 days begins after December 21, 2012. Anyways, the "halfway marker" between Adam and Christ would therefore come to 2014 B.C. If you apply the interval of 2012 years from Christ at 2 B.C., you end up at 2011 A.D., which is actually the year some scholars have arrived at for the end of the Mayan calendar.
But then there's another thing to think about. At that 2012-year "halfway mark", 2014 B.C., could there have been another Christ-significant event? Well, 2014 is just 4 years after Abraham... Now who was a contemporary of Abraham who might have significance in this context? Think for a moment. I mentioned him in a previous blog... I'll give you a hint: King of Salem (Jerusalem). Bread and Wine (body and blood). Genesis 14.
Why, Melchizedek, of course! As I mentioned before, Melchizedek was a "type" of Christ... and I'm pretty convinced now that Melchizedek was indeed Christ himself in the flesh. According to Heb 7:3, Melchizedek was "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God". Especially in light of the above chronology, it makes a lot of sense. Could Christ have "materialized" on the scene as this man at the end of this 2012-year period? Will he "materialize" again at the next "halfway mark" in 2011? Remember the following Scripture (and again, note the number):
Zec 14:4 - "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."
Regardless of if and when this Scripture will be fulfilled, there's one thing I'm certain of: These next few years will be a VERY intense window. I believe it will be a crucial time for humanity. But will we be crossing a threshold of hope - or one of fear?
Time will tell.
posted by Anonymous at 5/29/2008 01:25:00 PM
672 comments
