Introduction
Most people are not concerned with the destiny of the world because this issue may be too complex to comprehend, or simply because it seems irrelevant to their daily lives. There are other difficult questions as to the existence of immortal souls and invisible things such as demons, angels, and gods. If they exist, do they influence and direct our visible world? More particularly, if God does exist, what kind of plan does He have for us?
There are essentially three groups of people in the world who have different views on the existence of God or gods and on the origin of the universe and life (in this book the capitalized "God" is used to refer to the most-high God only). The first group believes in the existence of God or gods. For example, the people who place their faith in Christianity, Judaism, or Islam believe that there is only one God who created the heavens, the earth, and life, although some doctrines in these religions are fundamentally repulsive to each other. The second group is made up of atheists who refuse to believe in the existence of supernatural beings. They believe that the universe was generated through natural processes such as the one described by the big-bang cosmology. The third group is composed of agnostics who believe that nothing can be known about the existence and nature of a god or anything beyond the material world.
The atheists argue that they do not believe in God or gods because there is a lack of empirical evidence and because there are inconsistent revelations. They argue that the burden of proof lies not on them to disprove the existence of gods but on the theist to provide rationale for theism.
In this book, we will provide arguments for theism. We hope that our arguments are convincing enough to change the minds of even the atheists and agnostics. The following fundamental questions will be addressed in detail:
1. Can the theists provide consistent and convincing evidence for the existence of God/gods?
2. What is the Name of the only true God if the universe and life were created by Him only?
3. Is the God in the Hebrew Bible the only true God who created the universe and life?
4. Is Yeshua the true Messiah and the Son of God?
5. Can we construct the world's true chronology without error?
6. Does God direct the history of the whole world?
7. Were all the past numerical prophecies in the Bible fulfilled perfectly?
8. What is the destiny of the world based on the Biblical end-time numerical prophecies and on the true Biblical chronology?
We must begin by addressing the first three questions, since all other questions are related to these three fundamental ones. We can prove that the God of the Hebrew Bible is the true Creator and God of the universe by demonstrating:
1. All the past Biblical numerical prophecies foretold by the true prophets of God were perfectly fulfilled in the time frames specified in the prophecies.
2. The historical events recorded in the Bible are consistent with reliable extra-biblical historical records and astronomical phenomena.
3. The Biblical chronology agrees perfectly with the Chinese chronology, which is constructed here, based on the concurrently recorded historical events and astronomical phenomena.
4. God's perfect number of 7 and its multiples are coded in the orbital motions of the Moon and the Earth. The number 7 has also been coded in the history of the world. The age of the universe in the human view is almost exactly equal to 712 years, which is constructed from the two perfect numbers of 7 and 12 in the Bible.
5. The God of the Hebrew Bible has directed world history.
6. The science presented in the Bible agrees with the confirmed physical laws.
7. The Word of God does not contradict Itself.
Several Biblical chronologies have been established by some Biblical scholars. However, none of these previous Biblical chronologies is consistent with all the relevant verses in the entire Hebrew Bible nor with the recorded astronomical phenomena and reliable extra-biblical records. In contrast, our current Biblical chronology agrees with all the relevant verses in the complete Hebrew Bible and with the reliable extra-biblical records.
The details of our construction of the Biblical chronology will be presented in Chapter 10. The chronology basically includes the following important events:
1. Adam was created on Nisan 1 (the first day of the first month in the Hebrew calendar) of 3970 BC, which was on April 15 (Friday) in the Julian solar calendar.
2. Noah's flood began on 25 May 2315 BC. Noah and his family left the ark on 3 June 2314 BC, which was one week before Sivan 6 (the 6th day of the third lunar month, the feast day of Pentecost). After Noah's family and all the living creatures had completely left the ark, possibly on the Feast of Pentecost, God established the covenant with Noah and put a rainbow in the sky as a sign of His everlasting covenant with every living creature on the earth.
3. The Israelites were brought out of Egypt on 25 April (Sunday) 1457 BC.
4. Solomon began to build the temple of God on 16 April 977 BC.
5. Solomon dedicated the temple to God on 24 September (Saturday) 969 BC [on Tishri 15 (the 15th day of the 7th month) in the Hebrew calendar].
6. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, was taken by the Assyrians in the fall of 721 BC.
7. Daniel and his friends were carried to Babylon in the spring of 606 BC (the first exile).
8. Ezekiel, along with about 3,000 priests and prophets, was exiled into Babylon between 29 March and 13 April 598 BC (the second exile). At the same time, the continual daily sacrifices were suspended.
9. Jehoiachin, together with about 10,000 officers, fighting men, and all the craftsmen and artisans, was carried into Babylon on 16 March 597 BC (the third exile).
10. Zedekiah and 831 others were carried into Babylon between July 19 and 27 of 587 BC (the fourth exile), which was near the end of the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.
11. Solomon's temple was destroyed by the Babylonians on 28 July (Friday) 587 BC, which was on Av 10 (the 10th day of the fifth month in the Hebrew calendar).
12. Yeshua was born on 9 March 5 BC, which was on Nisan 1 (the first day of the first month in the Hebrew calendar).
13. Yeshua was baptized on 24 February 27 AD.
14. John the Baptist proclaimed Yeshua to be the Lamb of God on 5 April 27 AD (Nisan 10).
15. Yeshua was crucified on 5 April (Wednesday) 30 AD and buried just before sunset on April 5. He died at the end of the fourth day, in the fourth year of a sabbatical cycle, and at the end of the fourth millennium from the creation of Adam.
16. Yeshua resurrected just before sunset of 8 April (at the end of Saturday) 30 AD.
17. Yeshua ascended to heaven on 26 May 30 AD, which fell on the Feast of Pentecost.
18. The Church was born on the Feast of Pentecost in 30 AD.
19. The second temple was destroyed on 5 August (Sunday) 70 AD, which was also on Av 10 (the 10th day of the fifth month in the Hebrew calendar).
20. The Dome of the Rock was constructed in the beginning of 69 AH (Islamic calendar), which was after 5 July 688 AD. The date was most likely on July 12, the 9th day of the 5th month in the Hebrew calendar.
21. The construction of the Dome of the Rock was complete in the end of 72 AH, which was before 24 May 692 AD. The date was most likely on May 8, right after the end of the Islamic Festival of the Sacrifice.
22. Israel's declaration of independence was on 14 May 1948, which was exactly on Sivan 6, on the Feast of Pentecost (if a correct Hebrew lunisolar calendar is used).
23. Israel's war of independence ended on 10 March 1949.
1. It shows that many important historical events in the world took place during sabbatical years (see Chapter 14).
2. It shows that Yeshua was crucified and buried at the end of the fourth millennium from the creation of Adam. He was also buried at the end of the fourth day and in the fourth year of a sabbatical cycle.
3. From 1 Nisan 3970 BC to 1 Nisan 3031 (7,000 lunisolar years), there are exactly 2,556,700 days. The average number of days per lunisolar year is neatly expressible in terms of some Biblical numbers: 2,556,700/7,000 = 365.242857 = (7×7×7) +(7+7+7)+7× (1/7+1/49+1/70).
4. Israel's declaration of independence was on the Feast of Pentecost (14 May 1948), which is exactly 274 sabbatical cycles (274×7 years) from the birthday of the Church on the Feast of Pentecost in 30 AD.
5. All of God's covenants including the Noahic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the new (Yeshua) covenant were established on the feast days of Pentecost.
Within our current Biblical chronology, all the past numerical prophecies in the Bible (a total of about 20) were fulfilled perfectly within the time frames specified by the prophets of God. The detailed descriptions and interpretations of the numerical prophecies will be given in Part III. Listed below are all the numerical prophecies in the Bible, which we have found:
1. Prophecy of Daniel on seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24-27):
This prophecy of the 69th week (out of the 70 weeks) was perfectly fulfilled in the baptism and anointing of Yeshua on 24 February 27 AD. The first half of the 70th week was also perfectly fulfilled in Yeshua's earthly ministry from 27 to 30 AD. The last half of the 70th week shall be fulfilled in a future time when Yeshua will come to judge the ungodly and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. The prophetic 70 weeks contain three numerical prophecies, two of them were perfectly fulfilled and one of them will be fulfilled in a future time.
2. Prophecy of Daniel on suspension of 2,300 evening-morning offerings (Daniel 8:13-14):
This prophecy was exactly fulfilled in the events related to the institution of the Festival of Hanukkah by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers in the second century BC. The temple was trampled down on October 29 (Saturday) of 168 BC by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and then the continual burnt offerings were taken away. After 1,150 days (2,300 evening or morning burnt offerings were suspended), the temple was cleansed by Judas Maccabeus on 22 December 165 BC. Then the daily burnt offerings were restored. This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
3. The prophetic dream of Nebuchadnezzar on seven times (Daniel 4:10-17):
This prophetic dream of Nebuchadnezzar was doubly fulfilled in a short period of 2,520 (7$\times 360)$days and in a long period of 2,520 years. The short period was fulfilled in Nebuchadnezzar whose kingship was removed for 2,520 days from 17 March 572 BC. The prophecy was also fulfilled perfectly in the nation of Israel within the long period of 2,520 solar years starting also from 17 March 572 BC. The nation of Israel lost power and sovereignty for exactly 2,520 solar years. The end of the prophetic period was on 10 March 1949 when Israel won the war of independence and established its true sovereignty. This prophetic dream contains two numerical prophecies, which were perfectly fulfilled.
4. Prophecy of Daniel about the period of shattering the holy people's power (Daniel 12:5-7):
This prophecy was perfectly fulfilled in the people of Israel. Their power (sovereignty) was completely removed in July 688 AD when the construction of the Dome of the Rock began. The total loss of their sovereignty ended on 14 May 1948 when the nation of Israel was re-established. The day of 14 May 1948 was the feast day of Pentecost and was also in the 1260th year from July 688 AD. This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
5. Prophecy of Daniel on the 1290th day and on the 1335th day (Daniel 12:9-13):
The prophecy on the 1290th day (year) was fulfilled perfectly in the Dome of the Rock, construction of which was finished in May 692 AD. The Dome of the Rock has been sitting on or near the most holy site, the temple site of God. This building should be the abomination of desolation to the God of Israel. The daily sacrifices were taken away in the spring of 598 BC. The 1290th year from the spring of 598 BC fell between the spring of 692 AD to the spring of 693 AD, when the construction of the Dome of the Rock was finished. The prophecy on the 1335th day is yet to be fulfilled. These prophetic words contain two numerical prophecies, one of them was fulfilled perfectly and another will be fulfilled in a future time.
6. Prophecy on the population of Israel at its re-birth (Ezekiel 36:37-38):
The word of God appears to be qualitative here. In fact, it is a prophecy on the true population of Israel at its re-birth on 14 May 1948. The prophetic population (807,732), which is calculated from verse 38 and the number of flocks on the feast days prescribed in the book of Numbers, matches within 0.21% the published population (806,000) on 15 May 1948 (see http://www.cbs.gov.il/statistical/statistical60_eng.pdf). This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
7. Prophecy of Ezekiel on two destructions of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:1-8):
This prophecy on 390 days was perfectly fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in July 587 BC. Solomon started to build the first temple in the spring of 977 BC, and the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed after 390 years in July 587 BC. Another prophecy on 40 days was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem and the second temple in August 70 AD. Yeshua built the spiritual temple of God (Church) in the spring of 30 AD. The second physical temple and Jerusalem were finally destroyed after 40 years. These prophetic words comprise two numerical prophecies that were fulfilled perfectly.
8. Prophecy of Jeremiah on 17 shekels of silver for a field (Jeremiah 32:6-15):
This prophecy of Jeremiah was perfectly fulfilled in the story about the betrayal by Judas, one of Yeshua's twelve disciples. This story was recorded in detail in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew correctly told us that this prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled in the story of Judas (Matthew 27:9). The thirty pieces of silver coins paid to Judas for his betrayal contained exactly seventeen shekels of silver. This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
9. Prophecy of Jeremiah on the 70-year exile to Babylon (Jeremiah 29:10):
This prophecy was fulfilled perfectly in the first exile of the Jews in the spring of 606 BC and the first return in the spring of 536 BC. It was also fulfilled perfectly in the last exile of the Jews in July 587 BC and the last return in the fall of 517 BC. This single numerical prophecy was fulfilled exactly.
10. Isaiah's prophecy on the breaking of Ephraim in 65 years (Isaiah 7:3-8):
The 65-year prophetic period began in the fall of 733 BC when Ahaz started his sole reign. The prophetic period ended in the first year (668 BC) of Asnappar (Ashurbanipal), the last Assyrian king. From 733 BC to 668 BC, there were exactly 65 years. This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
11. Prophecy of Zechariah on the strike of the Jews (Zechariah 13:7-9):
This prophecy was fulfilled perfectly in the Jews of Europe during the second world war when the Nazis killed about 6 million Jews, two thirds of the Jews living in the whole land of Europe. This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
12. Prophecy of Moses on the ages of the world and the universe (Psalm 90:4):
When Moses said this, he was not speaking figuratively but prophesying the ages of the world and the universe in the modern time using a human clock versus God's clock. The ages of the world and universe in the modern time are about 4 and 14 billion years in terms of the human clock, while their ages are about 6,000 years in terms of God's absolute clock. Moses' prophetic words contain two numerical prophecies, which were perfectly fulfilled (see Chapter 28).
13. Prophecy of Yeshua on his burial and resurrection (Matthew 12:38-40):
This single numerical prophecy was fulfilled perfectly in Yeshua according to the Gospels of Matthew and John (see Chapter 31).
14. Prophecy of Yeshua on the destruction of the holy temple (Matthew 24:1-3 and 34):
The average time of one generation in the time of Yeshua was about 42 years according to Matthew's genealogy. The temple was destroyed 40 years after Yeshua made the prophecy. Forty years are indeed less than one generation of his time. This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
15. Yeshua's prophecies on his first century return (Matthew 10:16-23):
No Biblical scholar has ever published a correct understanding of this prophecy of Yeshua. The true meaning of the prophecy is that Yeshua would return shortly after he went back to his Father in 30 AD. Appearing as the Almighty messenger of God, Yeshua descended to the earth and stayed in the temple of God for about half an hour in the spring of 67 AD. He revealed himself to John the Apostle and asked him to measure the temple of God and prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem exactly after 42 lunar months. This single numerical prophecy was perfectly fulfilled.
This book contains 5 parts, 40 chapters, and 4 appendixes. In Part I, we compare various calendars and show the construction rules of these calendars. After reading this part, readers will become experts in the various calendars. The correct calendars we have used are crucial to the accurate construction of several chronologies. In Appendix D, we list the Hebrew lunisolar calendars for some important years related to the main texts. The Hebrew lunisolar calendar used by modern Israel is based on a computer program, which should be valid within a short period of less than 300 years due to a slight misalignment between the true lunar phases and the solar year. In many of these years, the Israeli calendars are not correct because of their unnecessary and incorrect intercalation of a 13th month. Our Hebrew lunisolar calendars of some important years in Appendix D are based on the exact lunar phases and the calendar rules from the Bible. The calculated Julian solar calendar and the Hebrew lunisolar calendar are superimposed on each other. Readers could initially skip Part I and come back to it when the calendar's information is needed to understand the latter parts.
In Part II, we will show how to construct the chronology of the Ancient Near East, the chronology of Babylon and Persia, the chronology of ancient China, the Biblical chronology, and the chronology of Judah and Israel's kings, as well as the timelines of Yeshua and Herod. The Biblical chronology is consistent with all reliable extra-biblical records and has uncertainties of less than 6 months. The accurate Biblical chronology is necessary for us to interpret the numerical prophecies correctly. This part may be difficult to understand to those who do not have a strong background in science, history, and the Old-Testament Scriptures. Readers could initially skip this part and directly jump to Part III.
In Part III, we will provide detailed descriptions and explanations for the numerical prophecies in the Old-Testament Scriptures. The precise fulfillments of these prophecies suggest that these prophecies must come from the true God who fully orchestrates all the historical events in the exact years specified in the prophecies. No human can predict these events in such a distant future. No pagan god has the power or might to prevent these foretold events from happening in such exact time frames. The prophet Isaiah explained the difference between the true God and false gods in Isaiah 41:21-24:
The true God foretells what will happen in the future and makes it happen exactly according to His words.
In Part IV, we provide clear proof that Yeshua is the true Messiah foretold by the prophets in the Old-Testament Scriptures. We will show that all his own numerical prophecies were fulfilled perfectly and that all of the Old-Testament numerical prophecies about him were fulfilled exactly. In addition to the exact fulfillments of the numerical prophecies, we will also show that some descriptive prophecies about him in the Old-Testament Scriptures were fulfilled.
In Part V, we will present end-time prophecies, which show the destiny of the world and that of mankind. While these prophecies are derived from the Bible, our interpretations may contain personal bias and/or error. Since we show that all the past numerical prophecies were fulfilled perfectly in the times specified in the prophecies, we believe that the end-time numerical prophecies should also be given a measure of earned respect. Uncertainty must be related to our possible misinterpretations of the prophecies.
In order to precisely determine the time and magnitude of solar eclipses, we need to know the delta-T (ΔT) parameter, which is the arithmetic difference between Terrestrial Dynamical Time and Universal Time. In Appendix A, we present the curve of the delta-T parameter versus year, which is obtained from the known solar and lunar eclipses. In the construction of various chronologies, we used the recorded solar and lunar eclipses, which can be precisely predicted from the Stellarium Program if the reliable delta-T parameters are used. The uncertainties of the predicted eclipse times are less than 2 hours. Because of this accuracy, the constructed chronologies of several regions in the world have small uncertainties.
In Appendix B, we provide experimental evidence for slowing down of the speed of light and the atomic clock. This result is crucial to the understanding of the prophecy of Moses in Chapter 28. If we assume that the speed of light is constant, one infers that the world would be much older than 6,000 years. In contrast, if we use God's absolute clock— in which the speed of light decays—one infers that the world is less than 6,000 years old. Moses' prayer in Psalm 90:4 provides prophetic words about the ages of the world and the universe in the modern time (right before God and His Messiah reign on the earth) in terms of God's absolute clock and the human relative clock.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram for the destiny of mankind.
In Appendix C, we modify the standard cosmological model with "cold dark matter" being negative-mass antimatter. The basic assumption of the cosmology model is that the speed of light is constant, which is true if the speed of light is measured by the atomic clock. Our modified model can quantitatively explain all the observed results including: 1) the primordial abundances of 7Li, 4He, 3He, and deuterium, 2) the power spectra of the cosmic microwave background, and 3) the locally measured Hubble constant. The observed quantization of some red shifts is also naturally explained within the model. It is amazing that the age of the universe within our model is almost exactly equal to 712 years.
Unless otherwise specified, the Biblical verses quoted in this book are mostly from New King James Version (NKJV). In the quotations, we have changed "the LORD" back to "Yehowah" according to the original Hebrew Bible and the pronunciation of God's name by the Karaites. We have also changed "Jesus" to "Yeshua" and "Christ" to "Messiah" according to the original Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. An angel of God, who appeared to Joseph in a dream, called our Messiah "Yeshua" while Matthew simply called him "Yeshu," the Galilean pronunciation or a short version of "Yeshua."
In summary, the Biblical chronology and the numerical prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation lead to a schematic diagram for the destiny of mankind (Figure 1). The most likely dates of these years are the following: 15 April (1 Nisan) 3970 BC, 10 June (6 Sivan ) 2314 BC, 3 April (10 Nisan) 598 BC, 17 March (10 Adar II) 572 BC, 12 July (9 Av) 688 AD, 8 May (16 Iyar) 692 AD, 7 December (25 Kislev) 771 AD, 14 May (6 Sivan) 1948, and 12 May (6 Sivan) 2027, 25 March (1 Nisan) 2031, and 17 March (1 Nisan) 3031. The prophetic periods connected by solid lines were perfectly fulfilled while the prophetic periods marked by dashed lines are to be fulfilled. Readers need to read the entire book with critical thinking in order to make their intellectual judgment on the correctness of the diagram. If readers are convinced of the diagram, they should prepare for the final coming of Yeshua, which are imminent.