Questions From Readers

● Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” states that, because of an error that a monk made, the year 1961 should be 1967. What effect does this have upon 1914 as the end of the appointed times of the nations?—G. B., United States.

In reply to an inquiry, the King Features Syndicate, which publishes “Believe It or Not,” had the following to say:

“Dionysius Exiguus, a scholarly Roman abbot of the 6th century, and an accomplished mathematician, is responsible for the fact that this is only 1961 and not 1967. He is the author of the calendar based on the Christian era. . . . According to the Bible, Christ was born during the reign of King Herod who died 4 B.C. The king ordered the Massacre of the Babes two years earlier, and that is why the Birth of Christ must be assigned to December 25, 7 B.C.”

The foregoing observation has absolutely no effect on the Bible prophecy regarding the end of the appointed times of the nations. How so? In that the number of years from the overthrow of King Zedekiah to the beginning of the fulfillment of the events listed in Jesus’ great prophecy, as recorded at Matthew chapter 24, is 2,520 years, regardless of where the change is made of counting B.C. and A.D. Daniel’s prophecy foretold the seven times, or 2,520 years, and that many years did indeed elapse from the ruin that came upon the kingdom of Judah making the land desolate and the time when the kingdom of God was established in the heavens.

To illustrate, let a long line represent the 2,520 years. ———————————— Now somewhere along that line the dates change from B.C. to A.D. But regardless of where that change would be made the total would still be 2,520 years. So, if as this popular article said, 1961 should be 1967, then 1914 should also have been called 1920. That also means that 607 B.C. would be called 601. And 601 B.C. to A.D. 1920 is a total of 2,520 years.

The year 4 B.C. is given by many as the year of Herod’s death because they count the beginning of his reign from the time the Roman Senate appointed him instead of when he actually began to reign, which was more than three years later, when he conquered Jerusalem. Counting his reign from the latter date allows for his still living 1 B.C. or A.D. 1, at which time the massacre of the infants took place.—Matt. 2:16.

This method of counting harmonizes with the time indicated in the Scriptures for the Messiah to come, as foretold in the prophecy of seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24-27, and with Luke’s account at Luke 3:1-3, 23, regarding the time when John the Baptist began his ministry, namely, the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, which lasted from August A.D. 28 to August A.D. 29. Jesus’ baptism took place six months after John began his ministry, and so reasonably still A.D. 29. Jesus having reached thirty years of age by this time, he must have been born during the year 2 B.C. Other scriptures pinpoint this at about October 1, since he died in the ‘middle of the week’ of years (A.D. 29 to A.D. 36) referred to by Daniel, or April 1, A.D. 33.