The Fullness of Time

The name for the title of this article comes from the bible verse in Galatians 4:4,5; “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,” This verse declares that God the Father sent His Son when “the time had fully come.” I have heard many sermons on the fullness of time where the preacher expounded upon the fact that, unlike other periods in time, the Romans had built roads making it possible for the early Christians to easily spread the gospel. Prior to the Roman occupation, the Greeks had ruled over the area and forced everyone to learn the common Greek language making it easy to communicate and spread the gospel. Also, for some reason, the Jews at that time were anticipating the arrival of their promised Messiah who would restore the kingdom to Israel and rule from the throne of David forever.

I know that more than likely these were factors in God’s decision to send His only begotten Son at that time but similar to eating a one-course meal of lettuce only, when I heard those sermons, it filled my belly but I was not satisfied, there must be more. We know from the wording that the time had fully come, His arrival was right on time as scheduled. We also know from other verses that Christ’s crucifixion to save mankind was determined before creation. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:7 that Christ’s death as the atonement for sin was a mystery, hidden from the princes of this world (Satan and his angels) which God ordained before the world.

Of course, we know that the prophecy of the 70 weeks of years given to Daniel pinpoints Christ’s death to the very day but that was a fairly recent prophecy roughly 500 years prior to Christ’s crucifixion which leaves me still not satisfied in my spirit. Daniel’s prophecy only puts it in perspective to another point in time, the command to rebuild Jerusalem and the wall, not from the beginning of creation. C. J. Lovik of Rock Island Books has proposed that Christ’s crucifixion as the atonement for sin is hidden in the very first word of the scriptures of Genesis 1:1, which is translated into English as; “In the beginning.” But that still does not give us a timeline. The meaning of the names of the first ten Patriarchs, Adam through Noah, also gives us the story of Christ’s crucifixion as the atonement for sin but likewise, does not give us a timeline. There must be more.

Historically, many have believed that the seven days of creation are a picture of time from creation until the end of Christ’s 1000-year reign on earth. Psalms 90:4 reads; “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” We know from the scriptures that God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day.

Personally, I believe that He could have snapped His fingers and it would have been created in a split second but by spending seven days, He created more than the creation, He also created a picture of time from beginning to end. Hebrews 4:8-10 seems to back this up: “For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” Knowing this, we would expect to see something in those first six days pointing to the fullness the of time of Christ’s first visitation.

Interestingly, we see that what God created on the second day seems to set the stage for Noah’s flood which took place in the second thousand years after creation in 1656 AM. “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:6-8) “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” (Genesis 7:11) 

Also, of interest is the first day when God said; “Let there be light and there was light.” This is not the sun, moon, and stars as they were created on the fourth day. We can only speculate what that light on the first day was. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Genesis 1:3-5) 

“And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Genesis 2:2,3) 

The book of Hebrews informs us that Christ is our Sabbath rest. When we trust Christ as our savior, we cease from our labor of trying to earn our salvation by our works. The Jewish people refused Christ through unbelief two thousand years ago and therefore will not enter into His rest until the seventh millennium (Hebrews 4:3-6) after God brings them through the fires of the tribulation and refines them like silver. (Zachariah 13:8,9)

Day four of creation is the one I want to focus on.

“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,  And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” (Genesis 1:14-19) 

At the beginning of day four God said; “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” Since they are for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, we should see some fulfillment of these lights of the firmament at a future time. Since these were created on the fourth day, would it not be reasonable to expect to see their fulfillment in the fourth millennium, possibly stated as “In the fulness of time?”

Of the two great lights, one is greater than the other. Jesus said; “My Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28) The moon (The lesser light) sees the light of the sun, (The greater light) lighting the day and it does likewise as it reflects that light into the night. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19) The lesser light was to rule the night. John tells us that Jesus was the light that shines in the darkness; “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:4,5)

 And He made the stars also. The astronomers tell us that there are more than two trillion galaxies and more than a hundred million stars in each galaxy, they are literally everywhere. Ten days after Christ’s ascension He sent the comforter, the Holy Spirit who is omnipresent, literally everywhere.

Finally, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” God, the Father, turned His back on His only begotten Son because the Son had taken the sins of the world upon Himself and God cannot look upon inequity. This was not a surprise to Jesus but His words spoken here were fulfillment of Psalm 22:1 and also to help us to understand that He had taken our sins upon Himself.

If the greater light represents God the Father and He turned His back on the Son, how would He present that symbolically? “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45,46)

This was not an eclipse as a solar eclipse is not possible during a full moon and the Passover is always on a full moon. This was a supernatural event showing us that God, the greater light, had turned His back on the Son because He had taken our sins upon Himself. Also of interest, Passover is always on a full moon when the lesser light is at its peak illumination. Jesus said; “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

Now I know that many will say that Christ’s first visitation was not in the fourth millennium rather it was in the early part of the fifth millennium. C. J. Lovik of Rock Island Books has proposed that the seven-millennium timeline did not begin until Adam first sinned which he places about 30 years after creation and he believes that Christ was crucified in 30AD at the end of the fourth millennium. Although this would place Christ’s entire ministry in the fourth millennium, I believe that he is wrong. Randy Nettles said that Christ’s death was in 3793 AM (After creation) on the Jewish calendar. This also would place Christ’s entire ministry in the fourth millennium. Although this would fit well with the scenario that I presented above, I will rely on scripture alone to clear this up issue.

If the seven days of creation are a snapshot of time from creation until the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign then Christ will return to earth to set up His earthly kingdom at the very end of the sixth millennium and the very beginning of the seventh millennium. Therefore, if we knew the time of Christ’s second coming, we could simply back up two thousand years to find the end of the fourth millennium. But no man knows the day nor the hour. Alternatively, not knowing the time of His return, if we could merely establish a timeline between the two points, Christ’s resurrection, ascension and His second coming, we could clear up this issue.

Peter, speaking about the end times, gives us a clue; “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. 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.” (2 Peter 3:3,4,8)

• We know from the scriptures that Christ came to fulfill the prophecies (Matthew 5:17) of the Messiah.

  
  

• (Isaiah 9:67) He preached the gospel (Good news) of the kingdom restored to Israel (Matthew 4:23, Acts 1:6) with Him ruling from the throne of David.

  
  

• (Luke 1:32,33) He came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel only. (Matthew 10:5-7 & 15:24,26) We also know that because of their unbelief, that kingdom was postponed until they acknowledged their offense of unbelief.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23:37-39 & Acts 1:7)

This is fulfillment of Hosea 5:15; “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction, they will seek me early."

Their affliction is the time of Jacob’s trouble, (Jeremiah 30:7) the last half of Daniel’s 70th week of years. (Daniel 9:27 & Matthew 24:15-22) Interestingly, the next two verses after Hosea 5:15 is 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.”

We now have a timeline connecting Christ’s ascension and His return. The third day is the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth from the throne of David with Israel as the head of the nations and the two days are the two thousand years that God chased them with the sword through the world before bringing them back to their homeland still in unbelief and taking them through the tribulation (Daniels’s 70th week) to refine them like silver. (Zachariah 13:8,9)

We don’t know the exact year of Christ’s ascension therefore; we don’t know the exact year of His return but we do know that there is exactly two thousand years between the two. Since Christ will return at the end of the sixth millennium, we also know that His ascension was the last year of the fourth millennium making the above scenario feasible.

We know that the rapture of the church is pre-tribulation from many different verses. We know that the stage is being set to fulfill the seven-year tribulation, the one world government, (Revelation 12:7) a digital currency and a digital ID for every person on earth, (Revelation 13:15-18) the depopulation agenda, and forbidding to eat meat. (1 Timothy 4:3) Plus we now have all the technology to fulfill all these things for the first time in history.

On top of that, all the theologians estimate Christ’s ascension to be between 29AD and 33AD. That places Christ’s second coming at 2033 at the latest, meaning that the rapture of the church is 2026 at the latest. At present, most Christians are awaiting the shout which sounds like the voice of an archangel and the voice of a trumpet. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 & Revelation 4:1,2)

FYI; Christ said; “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40) Many theologians have said that any part of a day constitutes as a day and therefore, Friday was the day Christ was crucified. But Christ did not say three days in the belly, instead, He said three days and three nights. You cannot get three days and three nights from Friday to Sunday.

It had to be a Thursday with Friday being the first day of Unleavened bread therefore, a Sabbath day and Saturday was also a Sabbath day therefore, the two Marys did not return until Sunday, the first day that was not a Sabbath day, to prepare the body. Christ was crucified on preparation day Nissan 14th. Nissan 14th fell on Thursday in 30AD and again in 33AD making those two days the only possible date for His crucifixion. Had His crucifixion been in 30AD, the church would have already been raptured. Could I be wrong on any or all of this?

Of course, I could. Although, all that I have written above is based on my interpretation of scripture. You must be a Berean and search the scriptures to see if these things are true. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28)