How to determine the birth and death of Jesus and the time of the rapture

How to determine the Birth and Death of Jesus, and the rapture of the Church

In the gospel of Matthew the disciples came to Jesus and asked him what would be the sign of his coming, and of the end of the world.  Matthew 24:3 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? 

We have always been curious about these dates, and the scripture is clear that no one will ever know the day or the hour, but we can follow the signs to get fairly close. I’ll try and answer some of the most asked questions such as: When was Christ born? When was he crucified? When will the Rapture be?  When does the Tribulation period start?  We’ll not be able to get exact dates, but I believe we can get pretty close.

A lot of the answers to these questions are fairly plain in scripture.  Should the Jews have been able to calculate the birth of their Messiah?  When the eastern wise men showed up looking for the King of the Jews, the reigning king Herod contacted the religious leaders of that time to find out when and where.  They knew the where, Bethlehem, and by using scripture as that of Daniel chapter 9 to get within 30 to 35 years of the Messiah being “cut off’, then they could backtrack to a general birth time.  So the Jews should have been looking for their Messiah.  Maybe they weren’t looking because King Herod had all the babies in Bethlehem killed that were two years old or less, and thought he killed their Messiah.  That doesn’t seem very likely though.  Maybe it was because Jesus didn’t appear until some thirty years later, and they had forgotten about their Messiah.

I’ll use some dates the scripture gives us, to try and get a starting point of Jesus’ ministry.  In the gospel of Luke we can see when John the Baptist started his ministry.  Luke 3:1-3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priest, the word of God came unto John the son of Zachari as in the wilderness.  And he came into all the country about Jordan,k preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;  We know from history that Tiberius Caesar reigned from 14 AD until 37 AD.  That means in the year 29 AD John the Baptist was sent out to preach and baptize, proclaiming for the Jews to prepare for the way of the Lord.  In the book of Numbers, a man had to be at least 30 years old to be able to serve in the tabernacle.  Numbers 4:3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.  So we can now calculate the Jesus began his ministry at 30 years old, and if he was baptized by John in 29 AD, that puts the birth of Jesus sometimes around the year 1 BC. 

In the book of Daniel, Daniel was praying for the children of Israel, when the angel Gabriel came to him and spoke to him of things to come.

Daniel 9:20-27    And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.  And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.  At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.  Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation(end), and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. 

First there is a total of 70 weeks (70 weeks. A week is 7 days x 70 = 490, but he is not talking days as we know them but years.). So we are looking at a total of 490 years to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.  Next we read that this 490 year period is broken down into three parts and the timeline begins at the command to restore the city of Jerusalem.  Remember, the Jews had been taken captive by the Babylonians and after 70 years, the City of Jerusalem was in pretty run down shape.  The first is the rebuilding of the city and the wall is seven weeks or 49 years.  The second is from the time the city is rebuilt to the time the Messiah is cut of is three score and two weeks or 434 years. The third and final part is what we call the tribulation period of one week or seven years. The prophecy is in week but must be converted into years.

The first part of the time is seven weeks or (7 weeks x 7 days in a week) is 49 or 49 years.  Then second part is three score and 2 weeks or (20 x 3 +2 = 62)  Using the same calculation as before turning weeks into years we have (20 x 3(weeks) plus 2 (weeks) = 62 (weeks) x 7 (days) = 434 years), and the third part is 1 week or 7 years for a total of 490.

It would take a lot of studying  and reading of historical documents to come up with exact dates, so for the purpose of this article we are just looking for close approximates.  To find the start of the 490 years we’ll go to the book of Nehemiah.  Here we find the King of Asria was Artaxerxes and his cupbearer was a Hebrew prophet named Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 2:1  And it came to pass in the month of Nisan (the Hebrew month of Nisan covers part of March and into April). In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king,   According to historical texts Artaxerxes reigned from around 465 – 424 B.C.  So sometime around the year 445 or so (465-20), he gave Nehemiah to decree to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was before the king with a sad heart because the city was in ruins, and the king asked him why his countenance was so sad.  Nehemiah explained to the king about his home city and in verse 7-8 the king issues the decree.  Nehemiah 2:7  Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall enter into.  And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

If we start our timeline at 445 B.C. and know that Daniel prophesied 49 years to rebuild the city, then that puts us at 396 B.C.  We also have the 434 years for the Messiah to come and be cut off, so taking 393 B.C minus 434 put us somewhere around 38 A.D.  The actual date of the birth and death of Jesus is unknown.  Based on historians of that age and others, they put the crucifixion some time within 29 A.D. to 33 A.D. As we calculated above, Jesus would have started his ministry in 29 A.D, and he ministered for around 3 years.  So that would put his crucifixion sometimes between 32 or 33 A.D. assuming Christ was crucified between 29 and 33 AD.  But either of those dates are very short of the date we calculated above for the Messiah to be cut off at around 38 AD.   To Re-visit the word of Daniel, he states that after the three score and two weeks the Messiah shall be cut off.  The word cut off in the Hebrew is Karath and when I looked this word up on Wikipedia, it states the following:

                                                                                                                                   

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  (partial excerpt)

The Hebrew term kareth ("extirpation"; "cutting off", Hebrew: כרת‎‎, [kaˈret]) is derived from the Hebrew verb karat ("to cut off"). The noun form does not occur in the Hebrew Bible. The plural, Kerithoth ("Excisions"), is the seventh tractate of the fifth order Kodashim of the Mishnah. In the Talmud, kareth means not necessarily physical "cutting off" of life, but extinction of the soul and denial of a share in the world to come.^[1]

Hebrew Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, to "cut off" (Hebrew: כרת‎‎ karath), is a form of punishment which may mean killing or excluding from the people.^[2][3] The Book of Numbers states that anyone who sins deliberately or high-handedly is to be cut-off from the community:

By looking at this definition, the term Messiah being ‘cut off’ surely cannot mean his crucifixion.  That would mean Christ was being punished and/or exiled from his people, so this must be referring to the Jews.  They rejected their Messiah time and time again and so I think this refers to either the stoning of Stephen or the conversion of Paul.  Jesus appears to Paul (then called Saul) and Jesus instructs Paul to takes the gospel to the Gentiles, and the Jews are cut off until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled as stated in Luke 21:24 spoken by Jesus saying:  And they (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 

Stephens stoning was much earlier than 38 AD, so this must mean Jesus converting Paul and delivering the New Covenant of the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles.  Paul was converted between 34 and 36, and he went up into the mountain like Moses and was taught this new Gospel directly from the Resurrected Christ.  He was up there between 1 and 3 years, before he came back down and started his ministry.  That puts us right at 38 AD.

Gabriel gave Daniel 70 weeks of years or 490 years.  From the starting point above or 445 BC to our finish date of 38 AD, that is only 483 years.  So that means there is still 7 more years to go to fulfill Daniels prophecy.  The 12 disciples knew this and were expecting the 7 year Tribulation to start any time.  After the death of Christ, on the day of Pentecost the 11 disciples were in the upper room and the Holy Spirit came upon them.  People down on the streets heard them speaking in all different languages and each heard them in their own native tongue and some thought they were full of wine.  Here is how Peter responded to that:  Acts 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see vision, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in the heaven above , and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:  The first part of the prophecy was fulfilled here, but the last part is still yet to come.  Peter didn’t know that.  He was expecting the 7 year Tribulation period to start any day.

Jesus, being God, did know that there would be a separation between the 483 years and the last 7 years.  Luke 4: 17-21  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet E-saias.  And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.  And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.  And he began to say unto them,  This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61:1-2  The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

In Isaiah Jesus stopped and closed the book in the middle of the verse that went on to say, and the day of vengeance of our God;  because Jesus knew he was only fulfilling what he read, and the rest would be fulfilled later.  The day of vengeance of our God will be fulfilled in the last 7 years of Daniel’s 490 years prophecy. 

Jesus knew there would be a times of the Gentiles, and the last 7 years wouldn’t start until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled.  Here again, no one knows how long the “times of the Gentiles” will last.

The important thing to remember here is that even though the Jews rejected their Messiah, and their Messiah turned to the Gentiles for an unknown period of time, the entire 490 year prophecy is about the Jews.  The Jews are not “cut off” forever, but only until the “times of the Gentiles” are fulfilled. Then Jesus will return to earth and destroy all the enemies of Israel, and become the King over all the earth for the next 1000 years.

Trying to determine how long the “times of the Gentiles” will last, has been a challenge for eschatologists for years.  In Matthew 24:34 Jesus makes the following statement: Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.   A lot of eschatologists applied this verse to the time when Israel became a nation again and entered back into the land God gave them.  That was in 1947, so the idea was that this generation wouldn’t pass away until all things were fulfilled.  They were sure the Rapture of the church and the beginning of the Tribulation would happen in the 1980’s. 

There is an interesting scripture in the Old Testament of Hosea that might shed some light on when the “times of the Gentiles” might be.  Hosea 6:1-2  Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.   According to 2^nd Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.   There is another interesting passage in Mark 13:34-37 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to everyman his work, and commanded the porter to watch.  Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.  And what I say unto you I unto all, Watch.  The first 3 words of the very next verse states this:  Mark 14:1  After two days   

Hosea talks about the Jews being torn, and healed and smitten and bound up, then after 2000 years being revived and then on the 3^rd day or the next 1000 years being raised up again. Christ was crucified and on the third day he was raised. The bible tells us that Mary arrived at the tomb of Jesus in the early morning of the third day, and he wasn’t there.  So to me, I think it would be safe to assume that shortly after the 2000 years are up, then we can expect the Rapture of the body and Christ followed by the Seven years of tribulation.

If we look back to when Jesus was crucified around 29 to 33 AD or when the “times of the Gentiles” started with the ministry of Paul around 36 to 38 AD and add 2 days or 2000 years, we are somewhere between 2029 and 2038. There is also 7 years that are the Tribulation, so we would need to deduct those 7 to estimate the time of the Rapture.  Jesus doesn’t return back to earth until the end of the 7 year Tribulation.  That would give us somewhere between 2022 and 2031.  But, like we said, no one can know the day or the hour, but we can see the signs and know that it is close and the Rapture could happen any time. 

There are actually two events that will happen when the “times of the Gentiles” are fulfilled.  First there will be a “taking away” or Rapture of the body of Christ.  From the start of Jesus sending Paul to the Gentiles until the Rapture, all Gentiles that heard and believed will be taken out of the earth before the Tribulation starts. I believe this is God’s way of blessing all those who for the last 2000 years have believed in and been faithful to the son of God, even though they have not seen him.  The Second event happens at the end of the seven year Tribulation when Jesus actually steps foot back on earth setting up his kingdom.

We have all heard different things about the Tribulation, and what is the role of the Christians during the Tribulation.  Some say Christians will go through the Tribulation, some say they will only go through the first half of it, and others say they won’t go through any of it.  We hear lots of different theories from lots of different people, but let’s take a look and see what God says.

Jeremiah 30: 1 – 7  The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,  Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.  For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.  (Notice that God declares both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel shall come together and shall possess their land.)  And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.  For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.  Ask ye now and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned unto paleness?  Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.  Here God calls the Tribulation period the time of Jacob’s trouble.  God later changed Jacob’s name to Israel when Jacob believed God. It will be the believing Jews that will make up the fleeing remnant of Israel.  They won’t believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah though, until after they meet him when they are safely hidden by God.

In the book of St. John 5:43 Christ foretells his rejection and Israel’s reception of the coming antichrist.  43) I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

In the above scriptures it is obvious that the children of Israel will be going through the Tribulation because of their unbelief.  They rejected Christ but will receive another.  Christ which is brought out in Mathew 24: 15 – 22  15) When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) this is the midpoint of the Tribulation where the antichrist goes into the Jewish temple and desecrates it. 16) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17) Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18) Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19) And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20) But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day: 21) For then shall be great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22) And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.  Here Christ is informing the Jews, so they will know that when that day comes they need to drop everything and head for a pre-appointed place God has already prepared for them. 

Another name for this Tribulation period is called the wrath of God.  Revelations 6: 15 – 17  15) And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16) And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17) For the great day of his wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand?  God will send Israel through the Tribulation, but will pull out a remnant and save them.  But what of the Christians?  As you read through these prophecies, there is no mention of the body of Christ.  At the time of the Tribulation, the world has gotten so wicked that God’s anger finally comes to the full, and he pours out his wrath upon the earth just as he did with Noah’s flood.

Now let’s look at what God says concerning the body of Christ, or the Christians.  I Thessalonians 1: 9 – 10  9) For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10) And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.  Here Paul is talking to the new Christian believers in the church of the Thessalonians.  Commending them for their faith and turning from idols and putting their faith in Christ, and waiting for Christ to take us up from this world and deliver us from God’s wrath that is coming upon the world.  At this time, Paul and also the twelve apostles of Christ in Jerusalem believed that Christ would be returning in their lifetime.  Paul repeats this in I Thessalonians 5: 9 – 10  9) For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10) Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.  In I Thessalonians 13 – 17  Paul explains the process Christ will use to remove the believing Christians or the Body of Christ from the earth before the wrath of God ( Tribulation) starts.  13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (died), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep (have died) in Jesus will God bring with him. 15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Paul describes that when Christ does call for the Body of Christ, those Christians who have already died will get their new resurrected bodies first and they will come down into the clouds with Christ and meet the Christians that are still alive in the air, where they will receive their new resurrected bodies also.  Then we all go back up into heaven with Christ. Jesus does not come back to earth at this time.  We all meet him in the air, then he takes us all back to heaven with him.  Paul further explains this in II Thessalonians 2: 6 – 8. 6) And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7) for the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth (the Holy Spirit) will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8) And then shall that Wicked (the antichrist) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Paul explains that the antichrist shall not be revealed upon the earth until the Holy Spirit of God is removed.  And we know that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so the Spirit is within us.  That being known unto us, we also know that when the Spirit is removed, we will also be removed with him.  I Corinthians 3: 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

When the Holy Spirit is removed from the earth and all the believing Christians, the world will quickly turn against God through Satan’s deceptions.  The antichrist will be revealed and the vast majority of the earth will follow after him. When God destroyed the earth the first time with a flood, he gave the people of the earth ample time to join Noah.  When the time finally came for Noah to enter the ark, God closed and sealed the door.  As the rain began to fall, it didn’t matter how may people came and pleaded to get in the ark of safety, there was no mercy shown.  No one got into the ark after God sealed the door.  During the Tribulation period though, God is going to show some mercy to the inhabitants of the earth that refuse to accept the mark of the beast. In the book of Revelations chapter 7 verses one through 4; between the 6^th and 7^th seal of the first round in the Tribulation events, God ordains 144,000 Jewish believers, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and sends them out into the world to minister the gospel of the Kingdom to any who has not accepted the mark of the beast.  There will be many saved during the few years that follow, but they will be killed almost as soon as they believe. They will lose their lives here on earth, but their spirits will go directly to heaven.  Remember there will be no Godly presence left on the planet, and even worse, Satan and all his demons are cast out of heaven and they come down here to earth to reek havoc. 

The apostle Paul makes it clear, that the body of Christ will be delivered from the wrath of God coming upon the earth.  Now is the time to examine yourself and make sure you are ready spiritually to meet the Lord in the air. Revelations 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.

We also just need to look back in the scriptures and see how God handled these type of events in the past.  God did not allow one drop of rain to fall until he had first removed Noah and his family.  God closed the door and sealed them in the ark, then destruction came.  When God told Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he first removed Lot and his family, then their destruction came.

In my next posting called The Tribulation Period, I will go through what those last seven years will be like. 

God sent his Son Jesus down here to earth.  His sole purpose was to die as our substitute, and spill his blood to cover our sin.  Then he rose from the dead on the third day signifying the resurrection of the dead.  To join this “body of Christ” all you have to do is believe in Jesus, and that he died for you, and shed his blood to cleanse you of all your sin (past, present and future), and that he is the Son of God.  Believe this and you shall be saved.  It shouldn’t be hard.  Even history confirms there was a man named Jesus who claimed to be God, and he was crucified sometime between 29 and 33 AD.  Please when you get a moment alone, kneel down, and ask God to save you, and let him know you believe in his Son, and you want to be delivered from the death and suffering that is coming.  God would not have sent his beloved Son to die a tortuous painful death for you if he didn’t love you and want you to spend all eternity with him.

I Corinthians 15: 1-4  Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

The gospel: Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again the third day.

Romans 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  These words were spoken to you by Jesus himself while he was still on this earth.