God's Final Week - 4

Signposts To The Year 4000

CHAPTER 4

SIGNPOSTS TO THE YEAR 4000

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

— II Timothy 2:15

Have you ever wondered why God included the Old Testament stories in the Bible? What is their meaning and applicability to us today, living so many years removed from these ancient characters?

If you went to Sunday school, then you were probably told, as I was, that these stories are there to provide us both with examples of right living and with warnings about the consequences of wrong living. No doubt there is a good deal of truth in this explanation. And yet, I believe God has included these stories in the Good Book for reasons beyond these.

One of those reasons is to declare his redemptive plan and the specific timeline he has ordered for its accomplishment.

There are many ways in which Yahweh uses the stories in the Tanakh to foreshadow future events. One of those ways is through the use of typology or repeated patterns. A simple example of biblical typology is the familiar story of Noah’s Ark. The saving of one family from the death and destruction of the Flood prefigures Yeshua’s similar deliverance of one family – those who believe in him – from the final day of judgment. The Bible abounds with this sort of typology, and we will examine further examples throughout this chapter. The key takeaway to remember is that pattern in the Bible is often prophetic.

Remarkably, when looking into the details of the Old Testament stories, we will continually find clues pointing to the year 4000 as a pivotal moment in God’s redemptive plan. Taken together, these many repeated prophecies provide us with strong evidence that Yeshua’s crucifixion took place during this exact year.

Interestingly, one of the most famous biblical chronologies ever formulated – Archbishop Ussher’s seminal work – calculated the year of creation at 4004 BC. Now, for any such proposed timeline, reaching back so far into antiquity, we should expect a degree of uncertainty. I think it safe to assume at least plus or minus 1% as a general error band. This would turn 4004 BC into a range of roughly 4064 BC to 3944 BC, at best. As we will discover, the cross does indeed appear to have occurred 4000 years after one of the years within this particular range. What are the odds that this is merely a coincidence?

In case you’ve been wondering about the timestamp hidden within bereshit, I will go ahead and spell it out. When does the hand (yod) get nailed to the cross (tav), fulfilling the Suffering Servant role? Yod is 10 and tav is 400. Multiply them to get 4000. Now, from 4000, when does the hand (yod) return as Prince (resh), fulfilling the Conquering King role? Yod is 10 and resh is 200. Multiply them to get 2000 years after the cross.

I realize most will discount this sort of subtle numerical foreshadowing. But fear not, this is only the beginning of such coincidences. You will see greater things than these.

Now, if God were in fact trying to subtly point his people toward a recognition of the significance of the 4,000th year, what specific methods might he employ? Well, first off, we know that he hides these sorts of truths from those who lack discernment. Have you ever wondered why Jesus spoke so frequently in parables? There is a deep reason for this. Doubtless, part of the reason was the Messianic secret mission referenced earlier. In other words, his hour had not yet come. Additionally, though, parables have a natural way of sorting out the true seekers from the rest of the crowd. And God desires those who truly seek him.

God does not wish to overawe any human being with excessive displays of his power, majesty, and beauty. In short, he wants us to choose to love him of our own free will, not because we are scared to death of him, as anyone who truly experienced his awesome power rightfully would be. And so, he whispers the truths about himself to us, through his creation and his Word, hoping we will hear and respond and repent. He does not scream at us. Yet, he does reveal himself remarkably plainly, for those willing only to knock.

Think about it this way, on the day Jesus returns to earth in fiery judgment, there will doubtless be many unrighteous and evil people who have a last-minute “change of heart.” They will suddenly discover that God is indeed quite real and quite powerful. But do they really love God in their final moments? Or do they not rather love themselves and wish to keep from perishing? This is not the type of love which God desires. He desires us to choose him above all else, hence the test posed to each of us in this world.

In his mercy, God has given each of us time to repent and to turn our hearts toward him before the end. How we use that time is up to us.

So, subtlety, hidden clues, whispers, and parables are what we should expect when God reveals something as momentous as his master timeline for human history. And that is precisely what we find woven throughout the text of Scripture.

Secondly, we should expect that he would point to the larger number primarily through the use of smaller numbers. This is simply a function of mathematics. If the momentous event were to take place in the year 40,000, then God might well use the number 4,000 during the lead up to 40,000 as a way of subtly pointing to it. However, if the key year were 4000 itself, then he might skillfully use the numbers 4, 40, and 400 (and even, astoundingly, the number 80) to point to it.

In other words, God might have controlled the timing details contained in the Bible stories we know and love to quietly prophecy regarding future events and his overall timeline. These are the sorts of clues we seek.

1. Years of bondage in Egypt

One of the key perspectives to grasp concerning the Old Testament nation of Israel as God’s chosen people, is that they served multiple important purposes in his redemptive plan. Most significantly, they were the group of people through whom the Messiah would come to earth to make his sacrifice for sin. “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

However, another crucial and oft-overlooked role Israel played in the Old Testament was helping to communicate God’s message of love and redemption, which would eventually be shared with all the families and peoples of the earth in the New Testament age. God’s message is for all of mankind, but he blessed the children of Israel by choosing them to help him visually display the hidden truths he wished to reveal. (This blessing was a double-edged sword for those Israelites who refused to believe, because of the reality that to whom much is given much is required.)

As one example, the Israelites kept Passover, as God had instituted it, for over a millennium before Jesus was born. Do you think that God viewed the sacrifice of lambs as full atonement for his people’s sins? No, it was a picture. It was a living, visual picture of the sacrifice his Son, Yeshua, would one day make for the sins of all mankind. This picture was ultimately fulfilled in Christ.

The Passover is one example of many instances we find in Scripture where the physical reality precedes the spiritual reality. This is an important theme.

As part of using Israel to communicate deep truths, I believe that God controlled the events of Israel’s bondage in Egypt and their deliverance to covertly reveal his redemptive plan for all of humanity.

God seems to have had a specific time period of 400 years of affliction and bondage in mind for the people of Israel. Indeed, before Jacob’s father Isaac was even born, God declared to Abraham in a dream that his descendants would be afflicted 400 years in a strange land (Genesis 15:13).

Much later, in the New Testament, Stephen bore witness to the Jews that Yeshua was the Messiah. In his famous speech found in the book of Acts, he specifically makes mention of the 400 years of bondage in Egypt (Acts 7:6). Interestingly, in addition to the number 400, the number 40 is likewise found throughout Stephen’s speech, which he gave just a few years after Yeshua’s crucifixion and resurrection.

Through the details of the Israelites’ story, I believe God is revealing to us a more profound truth. And he has made the numbers match up beautifully for us. Just as Israel was in bondage for 400 years, until God acted mightily and delivered them with a strong arm, so too mankind was in spiritual bondage to sin and to the forces of darkness for 4,000 years until the Messiah came and shed his sinless blood for our redemption. The 400 years points to the first 4,000 years of history, which culminated in the cross.

The prophetic foreshadowing found in the deliverance of Israel is striking. Moses (an early forerunner of Christ) even stretches out his hands to part the Red Sea and allow the people to pass over, just as spiritually we pass over from death to life thanks to the work of Yeshua and his outstretched hands on the cross. Likewise, the blood smeared on the doorposts on the first Passover night points to the blood of Yeshua spilt on a wooden cross many years later.

Paul, speaking of Yeshua’s work in the spiritual realm, said, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). Ironically, this is also exactly what God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea deliverance of his people.

2. Moses slays the Egyptian taskmaster

Anyone who studies the Bible for any significant period of time, cannot help but notice the frequent repetition of the number 40. Now, not everyone is as fond of numbers as I am. And yet, it seems odd that this particular number should be found so often when, statistically speaking, other numbers should eventually be expected to show up in its stead.

In Stephen’s bold speech from Acts 7, he says this of Moses: “And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian” (Acts 7:23-24).

What was Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, doing in this his final witness on earth? He was, quite simply, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to a group of unrepentant sinners. Then why this story about Moses killing an Egyptian taskmaster? We all know that Jesus died in his early 30s, so what’s the parallel with Moses at 40?

The answer is startlingly simple. Read those verses again: “And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed.” Take special note of the word full.

Do you see what God, the Master Storyteller, is doing here? I believe he is precisely orchestrating the life of Moses to foretell of an even greater story he plans to bring to pass.

Paul alludes to this grander story this way.

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

— Galatians 4:4-5

The fullness of time for Yeshua’s redemptive work is linked to the full forty years old from the story of Moses and the Egyptian taskmaster. It came into Yeshua’s heart to visit mankind, and to defend and avenge us by dealing a deathblow to the Devil and to death.

In the Torah, Moses said: “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15). That prophet, of whom Moses was merely a type, was Jesus Christ.

The story of Moses and the Egyptian is a parable pointing us to the work of Jesus, and the timing is significant.

3. Samson delivers the people of Israel

Samson was another man God used to prophecy about his Son. His mother was visited by an angel who foretold of her son’s coming and special calling. Much later, after being betrayed for money, the man Samson stood with arms outstretched between two great pillars in the Philistine’s temple, surrounded by their dark rulers. In a final act of defiance, Samson toppled the pillars, willingly giving up his own life. And with this selfless deed he slew all the princes inside. In so doing, he delivered Israel after exactly 40 years of bondage to the Philistines.

Do you really think God is providing us these numbers in the Bible for no reason? Are you beginning to see how the little details in these stories are full of typology and latent prophetic meaning?

4. Lazarus

Mere weeks before his crucifixion, Jesus performed one of his final miracles, and at the very same time gave one last pointer to the year 4000. Remember, this signpost actually took place during the year 4000 itself.

It’s a familiar story to most Christians. When Jesus first heard that his good friend Lazarus was sick, he tarried two more days in the place where he was (John 11:6). Afterward, he and his disciples traveled to Bethany. But by the time they arrived, they discovered that Lazarus had been dead for four days already. Jesus said to Martha, Lazarus’ sister, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

To the keen eye, the carefully curated buildup to this miracle reads almost like a parable. Ultimately, Jesus does miraculously bring Lazarus back to life, after exactly four days of being in the grave. Of course, you’ve probably guessed by now that these four days signify the four millennial days, or 4,000 years, of mankind’s spiritual deadness prior to the gift of Christ’s blood shed for the forgiveness of sins.

5. Goliath

Goliath of Gath was a giant Philistine from the land of Canaan, and so he was in many ways a fitting representation of the seed of the serpent. Goliath challenged and defied the armies of Israel, in effect profaning the name of Yahweh. He dared the Israelites to send him a man for one-on-one combat, to the death. Whoever prevailed would take the loser’s nation captive.

And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

— I Samuel 17:16

The boy David, representing the seed of the woman – a role which would ultimately be fulfilled by another in his line, Jesus of Nazareth – boldly accepted Goliath’s challenge and slew him on the field of battle. The 40 days of mocking by the forces of darkness led inexorably to the victory of the beloved of God, the Lion of Judah.

6. Dimensions of the Altar

By his Spirit, God gave David specific understandings concerning the building of the Temple altar, where the lambs were to be sacrificed (I Chronicles 28:11-12 & 19-20). David passed this knowledge along to Solomon, his son. Solomon made the altar of brass, and it measured 20 cubits by 20 cubits and was 10 cubits high (II Chronicles 4:1). This means its volume was 4,000 cubic cubits in all.

To some, this connection might seem like a stretch. Yet in light of the many other markers, I don’t believe we can simply chalk it up to coincidence. On the contrary, God artfully orchestrates such fine details in the telling of his larger story.

7. Isaac and Rebekah

Isaac is one of the first figures to foreshadow Jesus in the Bible. His father, Abraham, is in many ways typological of our heavenly Father, Yahweh.

When God tested Abraham, by asking him to offer up his “only son Isaac” (Genesis 22:2), the patriarch did not doubt the Creator. Acting in faith, he bound his son upon the altar and was ready to slay him when the Angel of the LORD called out from heaven and provided a ram caught in the thorns as a substitutionary sacrifice. This entire scene is rife with typology and symbolism on many different levels, but for our purposes it is enough to understand that Abraham represents God the Father and Isaac is a forerunner or type of Jesus Christ.

Accordingly, when we learn that Isaac married his wife Rebekah at the age of 40, we should not gloss over the detail provided. For me, this signpost is most powerful when understood in its fullness, which involves an appreciation of the fact that Isaac’s two children – who themselves are referred to throughout Scripture as symbolizing the two fundamental houses of humanity, or the sheep and the goats – were born when he was 60 years old. We will examine this second signpost in a forthcoming chapter.

Through the cross, Jesus paid the bride price for his people, the Church. We were betrothed to him at the year 4000, which nicely mirrors Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah at age 40.

EASTER EGGS

The creators of modern-day movies and video games have grown fond of adding hidden little details, features, or messages which have come to be known as Easter eggs. Remember, God is the Master Storyteller. Accordingly, here are a few additional concealed prophetic patterns pointing to the year 4000.

1. Passover Lamb

The specific requirements for the Passover lambs were first introduced by God when Israel was still in the land of Egypt. They involved choosing the lamb on the tenth day of the month Nisan (day 0) and sacrificing the lamb on the fourteenth day of the month (day 4) at nightfall. In similar fashion, Jesus Christ was chosen as our Lamb without blemish before the foundation of the world, and he was slain precisely after earth’s fourth millennial day had come to a close.

The four days holding the Passover lamb symbolize the 4,000 years humanity spent awaiting the Messiah, the promised seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent.

2. Moses at the first Passover

When the first Passover took place in Egypt, Moses was 80 years old. I believe this points to 80 Jubilee years having passed when our Passover Lamb, Yeshua HaMashiach, made his sacrifice and fulfilled Pesach once and for all. We will explore the Jewish Jubilee cycle in its fullness later, but for now it is enough to know that God instituted every fiftieth year as a special Jubilee year. Therefore, the 80th Jubilee took place during earth’s 4,000th year.

3. Jesus in the Wilderness

After his baptism, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil for 40 days. During all this time, he fasted.

In the Bible, the idea of wilderness is often used to represent a time of testing. It is also used as a point of contrast to the luscious garden of Eden, itself symbolizing paradise. From this perspective, our lives in this mortal realm are but journeys through the wilderness of this world on the way to the incorruptible beauty of the next.

For 4,000 years mankind was wandering in a spiritual wilderness. Christ’s death on the cross changed everything and opened up the doors to the kingdom of heaven for all men. How interesting that the fast he endured at the outset of his earthly ministry quietly pointed to the year of his death. Satan was there to tempt Yeshua, but he had yet to grasp the larger narrative at work.

These ten are a good start, but, in truth, there are many more signposts hidden within Scripture pointing to the year of the cross. The consistency of this pattern is hard to ignore once you have glimpsed it for yourself. For example, I noticed recently that there are exactly 39 books in the Old Testament. And the fortieth book of the Bible, the Gospel of Matthew, contains the story of Yeshua on the cross.

Now, if you’re thinking that all this typology can’t possibly be real, then I want you to consider this verse carefully. This is after Jesus had risen from the dead when he appeared to his disciples.

And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.

— Luke 24:42-46

Yeshua opened their understanding to the Scriptures and showed them how these things had been foretold all along. Paul repeats this same theme when he says of Christ that he was “raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:4, ESV). The only problem is, we don’t find a single verse in the Old Testament that says anything about the Messiah rising from the dead on the third day.

Or do we?