2005-11-28 04:46:00
Ruth writes:
I have a query about this 3 and a half time period principle.
Why did the Christ say He would return in about 2000-2500 years, if it takes about 3500 years or 3 and a half times longer as the principle?
Is this because if one is to add the 2500 time period of His return and then the 1000 years of peace this is the principle of that 3 and a half times period of endurance/struggle etc?
The three and a half does not refer to a thousand years any more than it would refer to three and a half times 100 or 50. Instead it refers to natural cycles. Specific natural cycles mentioned in the scriptures where this figure applies are days, years and months.
Other natural cycles are generations, seasons, hours, periods of work, repeating cycles, etc. It could refer to 1000 only if an identified period of a cycle covering that time period is discovered.
I do not see the three and a half used in reference to the absence of Christ, but it is used in reference to the church of Christ being hidden from the earth, which we shall cover in the next chapter.
What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? Dr. Robert Schuller
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