This article is meant to address a portion of Elohim’s Timeline pertaining to Yeshua’s prophetic words about shortening the time of tribulation.
Do we know when Elohim shortens those days? Yes we do know. Elohim shortened those days at the ‘foundation of the world’ at the time They were developing Their plan before creation.
The following four points will explain how we know when They shortened the days, namely that it does not take place in the end times but instead has already taken place at the foundation of the world. As we all know, Elohim has filled the scriptures with very specific dates and times which has purposely been done to give us bountiful clues so we can understand Their timeline. A fifth point will discuss another point of view that has been circulating as a plausible explanation to Yeshua’s prophesy about cutting short the days, while still upholding the tribulation ending at its appointed time.
Point One:
In a number of Biblical versions, the two scriptures of Matthew 24:21-22 and Mark 13:19-20 speak in the past tense when referring the cutting short of the days (see underlined segments). Interestingly, the King James Version of the Matthew 24:21-22 verses does not use the past tense, yet in the Mark 13:19-20 verses, it does use the past tense. The NIV, the NASB95 and other versions do use past tense. As we go through the information in this article, we will come to understand that the King James Version of Matthew 24:20-21 does corroborate with the past tense style.
· NIV - Matthew 24:21-22 “21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. “
· NASB95 - Matthew 24:21-22 “21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
· NKJV - Matthew 24:21-22 “21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
· KJV - Matthew 24:21-22 “21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”
· NIV - Mark 13:19-20 “19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.”
· NASB95 - Mark 13:19-20 “19 For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. 20 Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. “
· NKJV - Mark 13:19-20 “19 For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. 20 And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.”
· KJV - Mark 13:19-20 “19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.”
So, why does Yeshua speak in the past tense for this particular part of His prophetic words about the tribulation? This question is answered in Point Three and Point Four.
Point Two:
As mentioned earlier, Yeshua knew that the days had been cut short because He was with Abba at the time They established the plan of man before the foundation of the world (meaning before creation).
There are actually no scriptures to support this thought directly. However, there is intriguing information that enables us to come to the understanding that the cutting short of the days took place a long time ago. We are going to discover that this is not an event that happens in the end time. The cutting short of the days is something Yeshua included in His end time teachings to express the love and compassion which He and Abba have for us as Their creation.
To make this discovery we must considered this: most of the prophetic numerical counts given in Daniel and Revelation must be fulfilled to each of their ends because of the events that are specifically mentioned to occur at the end of the counts. Not all the prophetic counts have specific events that are to occur at their completion, but three of the six prophecies do, which means that – this will most likely apply to the other numerical prophecies too. Nevertheless, since three of the numeric prophecies do have specific events that can only happen at the end of the counts, this is sufficient to know that there cannot be a cutting short of the days within the tribulation.
The counts in question are the 1290 days (Daniel 12), the 1335 days (Daniel 12), the 1260 days for those in Judea to flee (Revelation 12:6, 14-16), the 1260 days of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:1-19), the 1260 days for the Greater Exodus (Revelation 12:17), and the 2300 evenings and mornings (Daniel 8). Traditionally, it has been an unspoken thought that Matthew 24:20-21 and Mark 13:19-20 indicates that these counts will be ‘cut short’. Yet the specific details of what happens at the end of these prophetic numerical counts, clearly refutes this.
Let’s go through each of the prophetic numerical counts that have been listed above.
1290 days:
· Daniel 12:11 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”
When this verse is read together with the following verse 12, the manifestation of the end results of the 1290 days and the 1335 days is about being blessed. We have to achieve 1290 days in order to go further and ‘attain’ the 1335 days. Would the blessings happen if the days are cut short?
1335 days:
· Daniel 12:12 “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!“
Those who endure for 1290 days and then a further 45 days to attain to the 1335 days will be blessed. The scripture is very specific that we must wait that full amount of time to receive the blessing. The completion of 1335 days is Cheshvan 17 (October 23/24, 2040). This is the day that Noah and his family and the gathered animals entered the Ark, shut the door and the flood began. The Flood cleansed the earth in Noah’s day. In 2040, this day will be a blessed day (Daniel 12:12) because the injustice done against Elohim’s people will be finished and the earth will be considered cleansed (Isaiah 30:18). From this time, all the prophetic numerical counts are completed except for the 2300 evenings and mornings (which is completed on June 14/15, 2043).
This count is meant to keep track of the time between the stopping of the sacrifice and offering to a time when those who WAIT are blessed. If the altar is dedicated during the eight days of Sukkot (which ends on Tishri 22)and further honoured with the twelve tribes having two days each to offer gifts (patterned after the altar dedication with the tabernacle in the wilderness), this takes us to Cheshvan 17 and the completion of the 1335 days. Could the completion of the altar dedication (should it be started at Sukkot) be the blessed day everyone waits for as mentioned in Daniel 12:12? Would the altar dedication and the blessings happen if the days were cut short?
1260 days: those in Judea flee
· Revelation 12:6 “6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”
· Revelation 12:13-14 “13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”
Elohim specifically designates that those in Judea will receive nourishment for 1260 days. This is one of the numerical prophecy counts that do not specify anything significant that is planned to happen at the end of the count. This is one of the counts that do not have a specific event to happen at the end, but since so many others do, we can extrapolate that this one must as well. It does indicate that the nourishment of Israel will end after this time. This harkens to the exodus when Elohim provided for Israel with manna (nourishment). It was only after Israel entered the Promised Land that the manna ended. Could this be the case with those in Judea? They have returned to the Promised Land because there is no further threat to them from the beast and his kingdom?
1260 days: the Two Witness's minister
· Revelation 11:3 “3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
· Revelation 11:7 “7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.”
· Revelation 11: 11- “11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”
The two witness’s have a specific ministry that must be completed to the very last day. On the 1260th day they are killed, but three and a half days later they are graciously resurrected by Yeshua as He comes in great glory and commands them to “Come up here” to be with Him in the clouds. Therefore, this numerical prophetic count cannot be cut short.
Once the 2 witness’s have ascended, it triggers the time when the 2nd Woe takes place upon Jerusalem with the great earthquake that kills 7000 people and destroys a tenth of the city. The timing of this must happen at the end of their 1260 days count otherwise the 2nd Woe will be out of sync with the rest of Yeshua’s Battle Plan.
1260 days: Greater Exodus
· Revelation 12:17 “17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
· Jeremiah 16:14-15 “14 “Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.”
· Jeremiah 23:7-8 “7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”
These verses do not give an actual description of how long the Greater Exodus is, but by extrapolating other information that occurs at the same time, a date of 1260 days becomes clear. What happens after 1260 days for those taking part in the Greater Exodus? They get to look up and see Yeshua coming. And once again, we know that Yeshua’s coming has been precisely determined by Abba and the Plan which They have created from the foundation of the world. Again, this is one of the numerical prophetic counts that does not have a specific event happening at the completion of the count, but we can extrapolate that it must complete to the end since three other counts do.
2300 evenings and mornings:
· Daniel 8:13-14“13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?” 14 He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”
Only at the end of the 2300 evenings and mornings will the Holy Place be properly restored, not before. This is another count that cannot be cut short.
The following graph should give some visual understanding to the necessity of the prophetic numberical counts needing to attain to their full conclusion.
Point Three:
What this means is that these prophetic numerical counts are part of a greater plan which Elohim has in play at the end times. In fact, these counts and the complete book of Revelation is Yeshua’s Battle Plan laid out for those who have an ear to hear. The book of Revelation explains that the tribulation is not about judgment on Israel (it is not about suffering for His people), but is describing what Yeshua will be doing towards hasatan and his kingdom with its capital city of Mystery Babylon. It is a warning to all humans to get out of the way as He attacks hasatan and his kingdom. If there are people who do not…they will be destroyed along with hasatan. However, it is not the end for these people because we know they will have yet another opportunity to hear and obey Elohim at the White Throne Judgment when they are resurrected.
So, if the days at the end cannot be cut short because of the strategies in Yeshua’s Battle Plan with the various counts, then the only determination we can conclude is that from the foundation of the world is when Elohim built in the ‘cutting short’ of days.
Elohim tells us this.
· Genesis 6:1-4 “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
During the early days of Noah’s life, Elohim revealed part of the timing of Their plan for mankind. The 120 years can be a literal time frame of a man’s life. But it can also refer to one of Elohim’s more profound timing cycles – the Jubilee/Yovel cycles. It is widely believed that Elohim is referring to only striving with mankind for a period of 120 of the Jubilee/Yovel cycles.
Elohim knew that in the physical fleshly form, mankind is susceptible to hasatan’s influence which causes mankind to strive with Elohim in all matters. Of course, it is necessary for hasatan to be upon this earth for the purpose of enabling mankind to see the difference between right and wrong, blessing and curse, life and death, but in the flesh, mankind is gullible and tends to listen to hasatan’s smooth talk/influence. And it is not surprising that hasatan uses this influence to paint Elohim’s way of life as being a burden. It’s not difficult to realize that most people will choose what they think is not a burden. And most do not choose wisely – thus there is strife between mankind and Elohim.
Elohim knew this before They began creation (foundation of the world) so They wisely capped the duration of Their plan for mankind to be for the period of 120 Jubilee/Yovel cycles.
The 120th Jubilee/Yovel cycle starts on October 3 / 4, 1995 to September 20/21, 2045. Yeshua’s second coming happens on Yom Teruah (Tishri 1) September 7/8, 2040 followed by the altar dedication, the completion of the Holy Place, the 7th Shmita, the completion of a 19 year Metonic solar/lunar cycle and finally the 120th Jubilee/Yovel year (see the Timeline chart for the details).
Traditionally, the END or completion of the 120th Jubilee/Yovel has been the accepted time that mankind has been looking for regarding when Yeshua returns. Yet, in order for ‘those days to be cut short’, Yeshua must return before the completion of the 120th Jubilee/Yovel, otherwise no flesh will be saved alive. This shows that the days which were cut short are referring to the Yovel cycles and not the actual tribulation days.
Most interesting is that the completion of the 120th Jubilee/Yovel is the 6000 Biblical year (determined by the calculations for the timeline this author has developed – see graphic below). Concurrently, the 120th Jubilee/Yovel year is also the 70th Jubilee/Yovel since the year Israel entered the Promised Land in 1406 BC.
Point Four:
Elohim originally created mankind with a physical body that could last a very long time. We know this from what Elohim said in the account in the Garden of Eden when Adam and his wife disobeyed Elohim and ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The consequences resulted in the introduction of death (cutting short the life) to mankind as recorded in Genesis 2:16-17 “for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Take note of the words “in the day” for these words are the pronouncement by Elohim about cutting short the days of Adam. To Elohim, one day is as a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8).
Adam died at the age of 930 years which is clearly within the “one day as a thousand years” and is clearly quite a number of days after he had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If Adam had not sinned, he would have lived an exceedingly longer life and may even be alive in our day and age, all due to being created in the image and likeness of Elohim. Yet, due to his sin, he no longer was in the full image and likeness of Elohim but now in a greatly reduced version of life. There is a lot more on this particular subject in the article titled “A Game Changing Anomaly About Our Understanding of the Original Sin”.
Elohim made two pronouncements about mankind’s life time. The first, which we have already covered is the pronouncement by Elohim of the shortening of lifespan of human beings beginning with Adam and his wife when they sinned (Genesis 2:16-17).
The second pronouncement by Elohim is about the length of time They will strive with all mankind through the generations while man is in the flesh and in a sinful state of being. As stated in Genesis 6:3 “Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”. This is a period of 120 years or Yovel cycles of 50 years each. Interestingly, this works out to 6000 years.
From the foundation of the world, Elohim knew that mankind would sin and so it was determined that They would not strive with man any further than the 120 years/Yovels of man. Otherwise, if man did live long lives, they would acquire a great deal of knowledge (probably even beyond what we know today). Elohim knew that mankind would not know how to control and wisely use the knowledge they learn. That is attested to today with the explosion of information we have and how mankind is misusing it.
Thus, at the foundation of the world Elohim mercifully and wisely cut short those days of man so that all flesh will be saved (except those who are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb Who was slain from the foundation of the world). This is what Yeshua was expressing with His teaching recorded in Matthew 24 and Mark 13.
Point Five:
There is also a different point of view being taught which must be addressed here too. Many are making the statement that there is not so much a ‘cutting short’ of the days, but instead there is a ‘delay’ of the events at the start or in the midst of the tribulation. The prophetic understandings about when the tribulation ends is too compelling to argue against, so this point of view has become the reasonable way to explain what Yeshua meant in Matthew 24:22 regarding the cutting short of those days.
To uphold this view point they cite the scripture of Revelation 10:5-6 “Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer”.
All of the newer versions of scripture utilize this underlined phrase in one form or another - except for the KJV. In the King James Version the scripture is written and worded in a different manner; “And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:”
The KJV actually offers a more accurate interpretation than the phrase “delay no longer” in the NASB95, etc. The wording of “time no longer” means that it is now time for the next element of the battle plan of Yeshua to be activated. This element must be very special if it requires an angel to make such a pronouncement. Is there mention of this next element?
Yes there is, in the very next verse. Revelation 10:7 “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”
The angel standing on the sea and on the land who made the announcement about ‘time no longer’ is stating that it is now time for the seventh angel to sound the trumpet. In the very next chapter, Revelation 11:15-19 describes the outcome of the sounding of the seventh trumpet. It is declaring the triumph of Yeshua over the evil in the world. This means that Yeshua’s battle plan prevailed and now the tribulation is nearly finished. Verse 15 states “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Yeshua is now ruling all the kingdoms and there will be faithful saints living and learning the way of Elohim. Right now, we know a few mysteries of our Elohim, but in the millennial kingdom with Yeshua, He will teach us everything, so that the mystery of Elohim should be finished.
Revelation 10:6 cannot be used to refer to any form of delay of the events within the tribulation, for it is clearly showing (by utilizing the KJV) that the original intent of this verse is a pronouncement that it is now time for the seventh trumpet to sound the end of the battle and the end of the tribulation. This means that everything prophetically detailed about the tribulation has already happened – therefore how can anything be delayed? Yeshua has won the battle and the whole war. Hasatan (as the dragon) is captured and thrown into the bottomless pit while with the beast and the false prophet are also captured and thrown into the lake of fire.
So at the moment when Yeshua’s final decisive attack resulted in hasatan’s complete defeat which immediately began His rulership on this earth, it was declared by the angel with one foot in the sea and the other on the land that there should be time no longer for Yeshua’s kingdom to be established. The time no longer is in reference to something we have been earning for since our creation - finally having Yeshua ruling in His millennial kingdom.
Do not fear the days of the tribulation. This is a period of time when Yeshua is at war with hasatan and his kingdom, it is not about judgment against His people (for we will have already gone through that with the time of famine of His word – see article “The Prophetic Time of Plenty and Time of Famine”). Instead, we are being nourished as either those who flee Judea or those who are part of the Greater Exodus.
Let this mind be in you that is in Messiah Yeshua
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