In What Year Are We Living?

The question above may sound a bit naive. After all, everyone knows that (at the time this blog is published 25/12/2024) we are on the threshold of the year 2025. And by that, we obviously mean the year according to the conventional calendar, known in English as the Common Era (CE). It was the monk Dionysius Exiguus who, in the year 525, laid the foundation for this Christian calendar and retrospectively based it on the birth of Jesus. Generally, this calendar is still considered accurate today. Except for the starting point of the calendar, since the birth of Jesus did not actually take place in the year 1 (as Dionysius assumed), but several years earlier.

Anno Hominis

With the question of what year we are currently in, I am referring to a different chronology: the one that begins with the first human, Adam. This is called Anno Hominis (AH). On this website, many studies (both spoken and written) present a strictly Biblical chronology. It is strictly Biblical because, in this approach, all years leading up to Christ are substantiated solely with Biblical data. And the results of this approach are extraordinarily precise and symmetrical. Consider the following:

• Abraham was born in the year 2000 AH, which was also the year Noah died.
• The exodus from Egypt took place in 2500 AH (70 + 430 years). The fiftieth Jubilee year since Adam.
• Both the house of God and the house of King Solomon were completed in 3000 AH.
• Cyrus gave the command to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem in 3500 AH (430 + 70 years). In that same year, Daniel received the prophecy of the seventy weeks, which began to take effect from that moment.
• The seventy weeks (= seventy sabbatical years plus ten Jubilee years = 490 + 10 years) conclude at the calling of Saul: in 4000 AH. Four years earlier (midway through the seventieth week, in 3996 AH), the Messiah died and was raised, and forty days later, He ascended from the Mount of Olives, leaving the earth.

The Seventh Millennium

Since then, the Biblical chronology has, of course, continued. There were still two millennia to go (which are as two days to the Lord; 2 Pet. 3:8) before the seventh millennium would begin at 6000 AH. That is the great Sabbath that still remains for the people of God (Heb. 4:8). The seventh millennium is the Millennium—the thousand years during which Satan will be bound so that he will no longer be able to deceive the nations. It goes without saying that this seventh millennium begins at 6000 AH. This very fact makes the question at the top of this blog so highly relevant. For what year are we currently in on the Anno Hominis calendar? In other words, how many years remain before 6000 AH arrives?

A Weak Link

The question, then, is: how does the Anno Hominis calendar relate to our conventional Christian chronology? And this is where it becomes challenging… To answer this question, purely Biblical data is not sufficient. For even if we could, with good reason, align both calendars, such a conversion would still rely on extra-Biblical assumptions. And that inevitably introduces a weak link in a reasoning that claims to be Biblical.

70 AD and 30 AD

In the chronology studies I referred to earlier, I use two anchor points for converting the two calendars. The first is the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. To my knowledge, this is a historically undisputed date. My second anchor point is that Jesus’ death occurred forty years prior. That means it took place in (70 – 40 =) 30 AD. This date is not undisputed, but the differences between alternative options are relatively minor. In general, all historians point to a year within the range of 30 to 33 AD as the year of Jesus’ crucifixion.

A Remarkable Forty Years

In the GoedBericht approach, 30 AD is strongly preferred as the year of Jesus’ death. An important reason for this is that it results in a period of exactly forty years between Jesus’ death and the destruction of Jerusalem. This period corresponds to the time Israel wandered in the wilderness after being delivered from Egypt. These forty years, or that single generation, often serve as a model in the New Testament (1 Cor. 10 and Heb. 3 and 4) for the time that began with the redemption accomplished by the Messiah. It also aligns with the sign of Jonah, who, after spending three days in the fish, foretold the overturning of the city within forty days (Luke 11:30).

Even the Talmud, which (as is well known) assigns no significance to Jesus’ death, serves as an unbiased witness to those forty years. According to this famous Jewish reference work, remarkable divine signs took place in the temple during the forty years preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. This means those signs began in 30 AD! But why from that year onward? Is that not a compelling indication that Jesus died in that very year? With the first sign being that the great veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom!

2034 AD = 6000 AH

If we take 30 AD as the year in which Jesus died, rose, and ascended into heaven, we establish a link between the Anno Hominis calendar and the Christian calendar. In the Biblical chronology (as presented on the GoedBericht website), the spring of 30 AD corresponds to 3996 AH. Four years later, in 4000 AH, Saul of Tarsus was called. That was in 34 AD. From that point, the calculation is straightforward: if 34 AD corresponds to 4000 AH, we do not need a calculator to determine that in 2034 AD, the year 6000 AH will begin. More precisely, on September 14, 2034 AD, which corresponds to 1 Tishri, the Hebrew date marking the beginning of every Biblical year.

We Are Almost There…

These dates, based purely on chronological grounds, make it clear that the seventh Millennium is very near. If 6000 AH begins in ten years, this means we are currently in 5990 AH. Moreover, we must also consider that this Millennium will first be preceded by a false peace and Israel’s great tribulation. And after that, even “the day of wrath.” From this perspective, we are living mere seconds before midnight. If we imagine sixty centuries (= 6000 years) as a clock, then each minute represents a century. A decade is no more than six seconds…

Not a Prophecy

I will conclude this blog with two disclaimers. The first is that I do not claim to be a prophet. I believe the prophets, and I read and study what they have recorded by divine inspiration. To support my chronological conclusions, I provide the evidence, and it is up to the reader and listener to critically “examine whether these things are so.” This warning is found at the bottom of every page on this website. As much as I stand behind what I present, I am a fallible human being. In my statements and conclusions, I am offering an interpretation of the Bible, not a prophecy. If the mentioned dates turn out to be incorrect, they do not fall into the category of false prophecy.

An Indication

The second disclaimer is that, although I have little (read: no) reason to doubt the conventional chronology, I do not provide guarantees for it. Even if it is indeed reliable, its reliability does not rest on Biblical statements. This is not a critique but an observation. Therefore, when I state that the seventh Millennium begins in the fall of 2034 AD, I do so with some reservations. It is a comparable uncertainty to the calculated due date of a pregnant woman. The date serves as an indication—nothing more, but certainly nothing less. Even the mere time reckoning in light of Scripture should sharpen our awareness. Regardless of everything happening in the world—such as the situation in the Middle East, the explosion of technology, and the spiritual darkness in Christendom—the (seventh) day is near!

Delen: