Where are we along the timeline of Revelation? It's difficult to say, and the time of Christ's Second Coming is not for anyone to know, not even the angels (Mark 13:32-33, Acts 1:7). But just as we know the trees by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20), and the weather and the season by their telltale signs (Mark 13:28-29, Luke 12:54-56), and we can discern the signs of the time (I John 2:18) so we can only guess. Of course the important thing is to always be prepared to meet our Maker, because chances are great that our time on earth will end much sooner than the Second Coming, but we may make an educated guess about where we stand by the information we've been given in the book of the Apocalypse.
It may be correct, or it may very well be wrong, but an educated guess is that we are somewhere past the opening of the seventh seal in Revelation 8:1, “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” (NKJV). This statement assumes that before the silence there was a lack of silence--a noise or commotion. And the fact that the silence is limited to about half an hour concludes that the previous noise or commotion continues on, that the silence was merely a break or a breather in an ongoing cacophony. The question is this: how long is this symbolic half hour to the eyes of mankind, and when did it occur?
“For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psalms 90:4, KJV) “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.” (II Peter 3:8, KJV) This is the key to the time conversion. If 1 Godly day is equal to 1,000 human years, then 24 Godly hours is equal to 1,000 human years. Therefore 1 Godly hour is equal to 41.66667 human years, and 1/2 Godly hour is equal to 20.8333 human years. This turns out to be 7,604.16667 days, or 20 years and 10 months.
So what time in history was marked by a great noise heard unto the heavens that was paused for 20 years and 10 months, which then resumed again? Though there may be several time periods of this length, the one that seems to stand out immediately is the time of peace between the end of World War I (November 11, 1918) and the beginning of World War II (September 1, 1939), which many historians consider to be a mere breather in one long, single world war. The actual time of peace between the wars is 7,599 days or 20.819178 years. That amounts to 20 years and 9.830 months. The difference between the calculated Bible time and the actual historical time is a mere 5 days. But does this discrepancy invalidate the possibility that the half hour of silence is the pause between the two great wars? Hardly. After all, the Bible doesn't say that the silence would last exactly half an hour. It says "there was a silence in heaven of about a half hour." (Emphasis mine) This is an approximation. And an error margin of 0.0679% is negligible for all practical purposes.
So what does this all mean for us? If this educated guess is correct then we are living in the end times. It means that we should expect to witness very many great things in this world, awesome and terrible things. It means we may see our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in our generation or in the next generation, or we may not. Of course, what really matters is that we focus on our own salvation because we may not live to see tomorrow, and what’s written in Revelation may not be relevant to us, except for the Resurrection.
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