No eschatological analysis would be complete without some kind of attempt to predict the future, even an analysis like mine that puts all of Daniel and Revelation in the past. Indeed, I do have a theory about our future that I will simply present as a possibility.

The resurrection of Jesus happened on the 80^th Jubilee from creation, which as I’ve previously discussed represented the end of the connection between every tenth Jubilee and the portion of Israel’s history that started with the Exodus. However, we are currently in the Jubilee cycle that started the year after the 120^th Sabbath of Sabbaths in 5880: the 120^th Jubilee, 5881, began in Nisan/spring of 1992 AD. The number 12 is strongly associated with Israel, and thus the 120^th Jubilee (the 12^th tenth Jubilee) could have been the beginning of the time period that will bring in the salvation of all Israel mentioned in Romans 11:25-27.

There is a second layer of numerological symbolism here. Gary North has speculated (I am currently unable to locate where I read him saying this) that there may be a Sabbath millennium starting around the year 6000 (though he does not claim to be the first to do so), if every 1000 years of history symbolically corresponds to a day (as suggested in Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 – note that the first millennium would be from 0 to 1000). Also, as previously mentioned, for the 50^th, 60^th, and 70^th Jubilees, each one was preceded and/or followed by a corresponding number (50, 60, or 70) of years or Sabbath year cycles before or after another significant event. Mathematically the 120^th Jubilee of 5881 would be the first year of 120 years that would end in exactly the Biblical year 6000. This potentially connects the idea of the conversion of the Jews after the 120^th Jubilee to the Sabbath millennium that would begin around 2111 AD.

Yet a third layer of numerological symbolism is that there were exactly 40 Jubilees between the 80^th Jubilee and the 120^th Jubilee. The number 40 typically represents completion or totality in the Bible, so 40 Jubilees could represent the entirety of the Church Age prior to the 120-year countdown to the Sabbath millennium. Furthermore, there were two Jubilees between the crucifixion and the Third Jewish-Roman War, so the time of the Jewish church and the time of the almost completely Gentile church (provoking the Jews to jealousy) would fit the standard 2 + 38 = 40 paradigm we’ve seen so often in Scripture. The 120-year countdown would then be exactly three final 40-year generations.

Looking at modern history, the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the Sabbath of Sabbaths of the previous Jubilee cycle, establishing the world order we have today right at the beginning of the 120-year countdown. Also, if there will indeed be a mass conversion of the Jews before the year 6000, Jews from around the world being gathered within the borders of the historical nation of Israel (which has been happening for almost a century) would be a very obvious precursor.

I therefore speculate that the Jews in the nation of Israel will experience a massive national conversion before spring of 2111 AD, after the gospel finishes permeating the Gentile world. The final 120 years of the current Biblical millennium will thus encompass the conversion of Israel and the ushering in of a Sabbath millennium of global faithfulness to Christ and the peace and prosperity described in Isaiah 65:17-25.

That passage from Isaiah 65 describes the Jerusalem of the New Earth, which will be inhabited by the converted Jews of the Sabbath millennium. Isaiah 66 then describes the gathering of Jews from around the world to the restored faithful Jerusalem (v. 20), their peace with the Gentiles (v. 12, 19), their final happy state (vv. 22-23), and the eternal punishment of their enemies in the Lake of Fire (v. 24). All of this could culminate by the biblical year 6000.

When the gospel has finished spreading across the world, suffering and sin will be greatly minimized in the New Earth. I would speculate that eventually humans will spread to other habitable planets (possibly we will develop terraforming technology), and the Church will encompass Christian empires that span galaxies.

The Spread of the Gospel

The overarching model for the Church Age that I have laid out reflects the model of the spread of the gospel to the early Church on a larger scale.

Early Church:

1. The gospel came to the Jews from the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist until the conversion of Cornelius. This was the first phase of the Great Commission (Matthew 24:14; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 13:10), which was originally understood by the apostles as applying to the Jews scattered amongst the nations.
2. The gospel and the Great Commission were extended to the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy (Romans 11:11). Indeed, the Gentiles proved more receptive than the Jews (see Romans 10:18-21). Eventually the Great Commission was fulfilled when the gospel was preached throughout the nations of the Roman Empire to both Jew and Gentile (Colossians 1:5-6; Colossians 1:23).
3. The Jews had an opportunity to respond with conversion, but only a remnant did (Romans 11:5). The remnant (the elect) was saved, while the Jewish nation that was beyond hope was destroyed during the Third Jewish-Roman War.

The larger paradigm of the Church Age:

1. The Church from John’s ministry to the end of the Third Jewish-Roman War was founded on Judaism and primarily focused on Jews, with Gentiles being allowed in to provoke the Jews to jealousy.
2. Israel as a nation was destroyed, while the Christian faith was taken over by Gentiles and is being spread throughout the entire globe, to the literal ends of the earth. Jesus said that after the old heavens and the old earth passed away (which happened in 70 AD), His words would become the directing force for God’s followers (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). They are therefore our guide as the Gospel spreads throughout the world like leaven in meal (Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21). Note: I call this spread of the gospel the “Greater Commission,” as it is similar to the original Great Commission but much vaster and more thorough in scope.
3. Once the “fullness of the Gentiles has come in, all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-27), implying that the entire Jewish people, centered in the nation of Israel with Jerusalem as its capital, will finally convert en masse to Christianity when the world is conquered for Christ.