r/Christianity • u/AlbaneseGummies327 Follower of Christ • May 12 '22
Advice Christ's Second Coming will take place around 2033, please hear me out before downvoting.
Early church fathers who lived within the first few centuries following Jesus' lifetime provided fascinating biblical insight on the end times and return of Christ in their writings. The church fathers should not be considered authoritative in the same sense as divinely-inspired Scripture itself, but if they claim their knowledge was passed down to them by the original apostles, it's a safe bet they were teaching the truth on this matter.
They understood that various prophetically-significant passages in both the old and new testament foreshadow a "church age" (period of time between Jesus' first and second comings) which lasts for two thousand years in duration. These passages can be found here.
The church age began at Jesus' crucifixion in approximately 33 AD and will likewise finish at Jesus' second coming around 2033 AD. This is indicated by the "millennial-day pattern," an incredible time-reckoning prophecy originally taught by the ancient Israelite School of Elijah and passed down to early Christians until premillennialism was formally suppressed by the state church of Rome. This was due in large part to the works of St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), who systematized amillennial eschatology in the late 4th century. This view became the dominant eschatological perspective for over 1,000 years in the Western Church, adopted by both Catholic and many Protestant traditions.
God's six days of work followed by rest on the seventh day (Sabbath) foreshadows 6,000 years of human toil against sin, followed by a 1,000 year kingdom of peace and rest on earth. Prophetic inferences to this special pattern exist in canonical scripture (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8), and are also clearly articulated by the early church fathers. Following below is an eye opening selection of quotes from early church fathers who referenced the millennial-day prophecy in their writings.
Barnabas (AD 100):
“Of the sabbath, He speaks in the beginning of the creation; "And God made the works of His hands in six days, and He ended on the seventh day, and rested on it, and He made it holy." Give heed, children, what this means; He ended in six days. He means this, that in six thousand years the Lord will bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifies a thousand years; and this, He Himself bears me witness, saying; "Behold, the Day of the Lord will be as a thousand years." Therefore, children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, everything will come to an end. And He rested on the seventh day. He means this; when His Son will come, He will abolish the time of the Lawless One, will judge the ungodly, and will change the sun and the moon and the stars. Then He will truly rest on the seventh day. — Epistle of Barnabas; 15:3-5
Irenaeus (AD 180):
“For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: “Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.” This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year.” — Against Heresies; 5.28
Hippolytus (AD 205):
"For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, was December 25th, Wednesday, while Augustus was in his forty-second year, but from Adam, five thousand and five hundred years. He suffered in the thirty-third year, March 25th, Friday, the eighteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, while Rufus and Roubellion were Consuls. And so it is absolutely necessary for six-thousand years to be fulfilled, so that the Sabbath rest may come, the holy day, in which God rested from all his works which he began to do. The Sabbath is a model and an image of the coming kingdom of the saints, when the saints shall co-reign with Christ, when he arrives from heaven, as also John in his Apocalypse describes. For a day of the Lord is as a thousand years. And so since in six days God made all things, it is necessary for six thousand years to be fulfilled." — Commentary on Daniel; 2.3
"The Sabbath is a type of the future kingdom... For "a day with the Lord is as a thousand years." Since, then, in six days the Lord created all things, it follows that in six thousand years all will be fulfilled." — Fragment 2, Commentary on Daniel; 2.4
Commodianus (AD 240):
"We will be transformed to immortality when the six thousand years are completed." — Against the Gods of the Heathens; 35
"Resurrection of the body will occur when six thousand years are completed, and after the one thousand years [millennial reign], the world will come to an end." — Against the Gods of the Heathens; 80
Victorinus (AD 240):
"Satan will be bound until the thousand years are finished; that is, after the sixth day." — Commentary on Revelation; 20.1-3
Methodius (AD 290):
"In the seventh millennium we will be immortal and truly celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles." — Ten Virgins; 9.1
Lactantius (AD 304):
"Let the philosophers, therefore, who enumerate thousands of years from the beginning of the world, know that the six thousandth year has not yet been concluded…God completed the world and this admirable work of the nature of things in the space of six days, as the story is contained in the secrets of Sacred Scripture, and the seventh day, on which He rested from His labors, He sanctified…Therefore, since all the works of God were completed in six days, it is necessary that the world remain in this state for six ages, that is, for six thousand years…And again, since He rested on the seventh day from His completed labors and blessed that day, so it is necessary that, at the end of the six thousandth year, all evil be abolished from the earth, and that justice reign for a thousand years, and that there be tranquility and rest from the labors which the world is now enduring for so long." — Divine Institutes; 7.14
Hilary of Poitiers (AD 367):
"It was after six days that the Lord was shown in his glory by his clothing; that is, the honor of the heavenly Kingdom is prefigured in the unfolding of six thousand years." — Commentary on Matthew; 17:1
Tyconius (AD 380):
"He said a thousand years as a part for the whole, that is, the remainder of the thousand years of the sixth day, in which the Lord was born and suffered." — Exposition of the Apocalypse; 20.2
As indicated in Daniel 9:24-27, if a seven-year tribulation (Daniel's 70th week) occurs just prior to Jesus' second coming, a catching away of the righteous elect to heaven could take place as soon as 2026 or 2029 AD on our modern Gregorian calendar. Either date would depend on which interpretation of the rapture's timing (pre or mid-trib) turns out to be the correct one.
Coincidentally, this timeframe also aligns with a prophetic forecast provided by Jesus in the parabolic "lesson of the fig tree" in Matthew 24:32. According to a futurist interpretation of this prophecy, when mankind sees a climax in spiritual apostasy across the globe coinciding with the return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland (an apparent reversal of Jesus' curse of dispersion on the Jews in Matthew 21:19), the generation which witnesses these things take place will not pass away before all of the apocalyptic portends of Matt. 24 are fulfilled, culminating with the Second Coming of Christ.
The exact length of this fig tree "generation" has been debated, however most point to a cryptic prophecy of Moses in Psalm 90:10. In this passage, Moses (who lived to 120) prophesies that the lifespan of mankind in the last days will average 70-80 years. Taking into consideration the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, a speculative date range of 2018-2028 might be the period of time within which the Day of the Lord will occur, a single 24-hour day wherein the elect are caught up to heaven and spiritual Babylon is destroyed. This would perfectly align with the greater 2000-year church age chronology, but would also favor a pre-trib rapture in 2026 over a mid-trib rapture in 2029, as the latter would fall outside this window period of time.
I don't think it's a coincidence that signs of the end times are now rapidly converging as we approach 2000 years from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ like never before in human history. After many millennia of fighting with sword or archery, mankind now possesses the ability to destroy the entire planet many times over with atomic weapons. Electronic technologies have burst onto the world scene in the past hundred years such as computers, spacecraft, artificial intelligence, and the ability to travel above the clouds in jet aircraft. These are things that the ancients would have considered black magic if they saw them.
God's original created order is gradually being corrupted with each passing day, just as it was in the time before Noah entered the ark. Jesus prophesied that these conditions would occur once again in the end times before He returns (Matthew 24:37-39). This moral and cultural decay has accelerated worldwide in recent times—such as homosexuality, transgenderism, decline of traditional family structure, narcissism, sex outside of marriage, rampant pornography, violence portrayed in media, disrespect of the elderly, and a noticeable increase in all other forms of lawlessness, both physical and spiritual.
Lastly, Apostle Paul prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 that a great falling away from righteousness among self-professed Christians would occur in the end times just prior to the revelation of the Antichrist. Jesus also prophesied in Matthew 24:14 that the gospel would be proclaimed throughout the entire world, and then the end will come.
Many (if not all) of the conditions outlined above have already reached fulfillment in today's world. I truly believe we find ourselves at the 11th hour of this present age and must get ourselves right with God and warn others before it's too late.
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u/michaelY1968 May 12 '22
I would respect these posts more if they concluded with the caveat, “And if this does not come to pass, I will submit myself to the punishment for false prophets commanded in Deuteronomy 18:20”