Keypoints
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The innacuracy in the calendar used by most people today is the result of various changes made over the centuries. |
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The symbology of the creation week adds further significance to the start of the current millennium. |
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Comparing Bible prophecies with current events strongly suggests that the return of Christ is very near. |
 The history of our current calendar
In BC 45 Julius Caesar, having been advised by a Greek astronomer named Sosigenes, decided to use a solar calendar rather than one based on the lunar cycle. So at the time of the birth of Jesus the Roman or `Julian calendar' was in common use throughout the Roman Empire. The calendar fixed the normal year at 365 days and the leap year, every fourth year, at 366 days. The year was actually 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the solar year proper. This discrepancy gradually built up and by AD 1582 the vernal equinox occurred ten days early and church holidays did not occur in the proper seasons. In order to make the vernal equinox happen on or about 21st March, as it had in AD 325, the year of the First Council of Nicaea, Pope Gregory X111 issued a decree reducing the calendar date by ten days.
To overcome further error he instituted a new calendar, known as the `Gregorian calendar', which decreed that only century years divisible evenly by 400 would be leap years and all other century years would remain common years. Therefore, AD 1600 and 2000 were leap years, but AD 1700, 1800 and 1900 were common years.
The `Gregorian calendar' or `New Style calendar' as it was first known, was eventually adopted by Europe and it is used today throughout most of the Western world and some parts of Asia. The calendar was eventually adopted in Great Britain in 1752, when a correction of 11 days was required, so the day after 2nd September became the 14th September. Britain also adopted 1st January as New Year's day, which is currently used world-wide with few exceptions.
The Gregorian calendar is also known as the `Christian calendar' because it sets the birth of Jesus at year `zero.' The birth of Christ is traditionally celebrated on December 25th but many scholars place it at around October between 4 BC and 7 BC. Whether the 2,000 year period should be calculated from the birth or crucifixion of Jesus, is a matter of opinion. The accurate date of his birth is not known but we are certainly very near the promised time of his return.
Due to the number of revisions of the calendar during the past two thousand years, there is some doubt about today's exact date!! But although this has created uncertainty about the exact time in which we live, it is a small percentage of error during the two thousand years since the birth of Jesus Christ, who was destined to change the lives of huge numbers of men and women the world over.
The importance of his life and work is barely recognised by many people today, who have been deluded for the most part by two millennia of myths and mis-information from both church and secular bodies. This has resulted in the rejection of Christianity by many who no longer consider that the record of Christ's life has any relevance to the present order of things.
Why was the start of this particular millennium so important in the grand scheme of things? Because it was the beginning of the last of the 7 x 1,000 year periods covered by the Biblical record. Using the symbology of the creation week, the period covered from the Creation to the end of the final 1,000 years of world-wide peace is represented by six days of creation followed by a day of rest. The seventh millennial period corresponds with the Sabbath day. This is represented as a peaceful day of rest at the end of a six day period of work. [Compare Genesis 2.2,3 with Hebrews 4.8-11]
Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Apostle Peter had to reassure those who had expected the immediate return of Jesus to overthrow the Romans and to free Israel from occupation. He wrote to the believers at that time and in every age:
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." [2 Peter 3:3-4]
The second coming of Christ was, and still is, instrumental to the restoration of the monarchy in Israel, for that has been the message of the prophets now for more than 3,000 years. So he concludes:
"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. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." [2 Peter 3:8-9]
We are left in no doubt that the second coming of Jesus is now imminent.
Signs in the sun, moon and stars
The world-wide New Year celebrations at the start of this millennium have already dimmed in the memory of most people. Celebratory events and firework displays costing vast sums of money, turned the celebration of Christ's `2,000th birthday' into a frenzied secular orgy of material pleasure. In the Millennium Dome at Greenwich, the U.K.'s heralded `miracle' of the century, the religious celebration lasted all of 10 minutes and consisted of one Archbishop and two children, one prayer and two statements for peace.
The feared Millennium computer bug has now passed, although time will tell if the world will inherit any delayed action glitches, which will justify the huge sums of money expended to overcome them.
While the Bible does not speak of a millennium computer bug, it does tell us about the `heavenly' signs, which precede the return of Christ at the beginning of the seventh millennium. Jesus himself said:
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man (Jesus) coming in a cloud with power and great glory." [Luke 21:25-27]
The August 1999 eclipse of the Sun has already passed. Every past and present nation or empire that is cited in the prophecy of Daniel was under the path of the eclipse and physically blacked out by the shadow. The most dense and spectacular experience was in Turkey. Bearing in mind that God's withdrawal of the sun is linked with the end of human rule and the return of Jesus, it was only a couple of days later that a huge earthquake struck that unfortunate country. The military base at Golchuk, one of the worst affected areas, was one of the Turkish navy's largest and most important facilities but now almost half its buildings are in ruins. The earthquake could not have struck at a worse time; hundreds of extra personnel including Western military participants, as well as admirals and other senior officers were there for a special ceremony held just hours before the earthquake hit. In destroying the country's largest military base and port on the Black Sea coast guarding the entrance into the Bosphorus Straights, one of the most formidable defences against Russian aspirations in that area was crippled. We should not ignore the significance of this event in relation to Bible prophecy.
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On December 22nd/23rd 1999, the moon was at its closest point to the earth, on the elliptical path it prescribes, for the last 100 years. In this country, the cloudy night sky made viewing impossible until the early hours of the morning. Anyone watching the moon as the sun rose witnessed a spectacle on this last full moon of the sixth millennium - it was coloured deep red.
Once again we can view this in the light of prophecy. Speaking of these `last days', a terminology used in Scripture to prepare believers for the return of Jesus, we read these words of the Apostle Peter:
"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 visions, and your old men shall dream dreams...And I will shew wonders in 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..." [Acts 2:17-20]
More recently, the U.K. had a lunar eclipse; once more the moon was deep red. Is this just another co-incidence or do these signs in the heavenly bodies point us to the imminence of the `day of the Lord?' The powerful message of Jesus to his followers, as we pass the beginning of God's new millennium, is to observe the signs of the times and be prepared for that great event:
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." [Matthew 24:42]
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