What principle of prophecy is essential to get right? We can have many approaches to this question, but this article will approach it by considering some comments Paul made to Timothy. Though the apostle addresses his remarks to a minister, they have implications for all Christians.

We will read II Timothy 4:1-2 from the New Living Translation, which nicely resolves the figure of speech Paul uses at the end of the verse. The apostle begins with a profound statement: “I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus . . ..” Of course, Paul had God’s Holy Spirit in Him, the indwelling of the Father and the Son. In this way, he speaks in Their presence.

. . . who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. . . .

The word the translators rendered as “comes” is not a verb but a noun in Greek, epiphaneia (Strong’s #2015). It appears only six times in the New Testament, four of them in Paul’s letters to Timothy, and it means just what the King James and New King James versions say: an “appearing” or “appearance.” We can easily recognize the word “epiphany” lurking behind the Greek word. False Christianity connects the concept of epiphany—appearing—with the incarnation of Christ, His first coming. They observe a holiday, Epiphany, usually around January 6, celebrating this event, inserting it as part of their winter solstice celebrations.

Some teach that when Christ comes, when He appears, He will work quietly, behind the scenes. They aver that people, even church members, will not even know He is around. II Timothy 4:1 is one of many verses demolishing this silly notion, as it connects His appearing with the establishment of His Kingdom, resolving any possible misunderstanding. Paul writes that His appearing, His coming, is “when he comes to set up his Kingdom.”

Christ’s disciples understood this connection. Remember, just before He ascended, they asked Him when He would restore the Kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). They understood then, and we understand now, that Christ will come to establish His Kingdom, to restore Israel. When He comes, His Kingdom will come to the earth.

Stay Urgent!

Paul continues by telling Timothy to stay busy, never to slack off. We will revisit verse 2, this time in J.B. Phillips’ The New Testament in Modern English: “[P]reach the Word of God. Never lose your sense of urgency, in season or out of season.”

It has been nearly 2,000 years since that first Feast of Trumpets after the church’s founding in AD 31, a day that undoubtedly surprised, perhaps disappointed, more than a few members of the first-century church of God. During that span of time, there has been considerable opportunity to lose a sense of urgency, to let down. Paul instructs Timothy to avoid that at all costs.

We must avoid it as well, instead promoting and fostering the same sense of anticipation the original disciples had at the dawning of that Day of Trumpets after the church’s founding or on the Day of Atonement or during the Feast of Tabernacles that year so long ago. It is the attitude of “next year in Jerusalem,” an approach to life Christians must not abandon.

In II Timothy 4:7-8, Paul continues, this time on a more personal note:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing.

The final clause, “all who have loved His appearing,” contains epiphaneia again, the second time in the passage. The verb tense is inclusive, not just past, not just present, not just future—at any time. God will give this crown of righteousness “to all who have loved¹ His appearing” over the centuries, to all who have looked forward to Christ’s coming (emphasis ours throughout). That is what we need to get right, not the details of prophecy.

Paul, then, uses the term epiphaneia to indicate Christ’s returning to establish His Kingdom. Another evidence of this is that the noun epiphaneia is related to the adjective epiphanēs (Strong’s #2014), which means “conspicuous” or “illustrious.” Epiphanēs appears but once in the New Testament, and it is important to note its context: Acts 2:19-20, where Peter, speaking on that first Pentecost of the newly formed church, quotes the prophet Joel:

I will show wonders in the heavens above
And signs on the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Epiphanēs is translated here as “awesome.” Peter quotes Joel 2:31, where the King James Version uses the adjective “terrible.” Other versions render the Hebrew word² as “awesome,” “dreadful,” “fearful,” or “terrifying.” The day of the Lord, the day He returns to set up His Kingdom, will be magnificent, awesome, and terrifying.

The takeaway is that the adjective epiphanēs and the noun epiphaneia appear in the context of the Day of the Lord, specifically, Christ’s return. We understand that “day” to be one year long. Yet, the final literal day, when He actually appears and sets His feet on the Mount of Olives, is also the Day of the Lord.

Seeing Christ’s Day

Let us look at this from another angle. Remember, Paul wrote in II Timothy 4:8 that God would award a “crown of righteousness” on that day. What day?

New Testament writers often refer to the day of Christ’s return as “Christ’s day” or “His day,” another form of “the Day of the Lord” or “the Lord’s day.” A few scriptures provide unambiguous examples of this meaning. Christ is speaking in Luke 17:24: “For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.” He describes here what His return will be like. Paul comments to the members of the Philippian church, “. . . being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).³

In John 8:56, Jesus again speaks: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Some use this verse to “prove” that Abraham went to heaven when he died and saw Christ from there when He lived on earth. Hebrews 11:8, 10, and 13 (ESV) tell us otherwise:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. . . . For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. . . . These all [including Abraham] died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Abraham was alive, living on this earth, not in heaven, when He saw Christ’s day. He saw it through the eyes of faith. Because he believed God, he foresaw the reality of the city, the New Jerusalem, designed and built by God; in faith, he saw the promises fulfilled and rejoiced in God’s revelation of his future in the Kingdom.⁴

In Matthew 24:30, we again run into the concept of seeing: “. . . all the tribes of the earth will mourn [as they] see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” While they mourn, we who long for and indeed love the appearing of Christ will rejoice. In II Timothy 4:8, Paul is confirming that God will bestow the crown of righteousness—a great blessing indeed—on those who do so, on those who love Christ’s coming.

Numbers of Days

Consider this great blessing. Recall that in Part One, we began with a historical focus on Christ’s disciples’ anticipation of His return. We will balance those remarks with a few general remarks about prophecy. Notice Revelation 11:1: “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God . . ..’” When John wrote this, the Temple Mount had already been scraped flat by the victorious Romans. However, he is measuring something.⁵

Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there, but leave out the court which is outside the temple; and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.

Sometimes, the reference to 1,260 days or 42 months in Scripture refers to longer spans of time, like 1,260 years. However, it is evident in Revelation 11 that the Two Witnesses will not preach for 1,260 years. Here, the reference is to 1,260 literal days or 3½ prophetic years. We generally assign the time of their ministry to the period God calls the Time of Jacob’s Trouble,⁶ that period of distress⁷ and intense tribulation to come just before Christ’s return.

However, God throws us a curve in Daniel 12:11-12:

And from the time that the daily sacrifice [or, regular burnt offering (ESV)] is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

Now, assuming all these figures—1,260, 1,290, 1,335—start their count on the same day (which, incidentally, may not be justified), we see that a significant event happens 30 days after the 1,260 days mentioned in Revelation 11, on day 1,290. Then, God says those who wait an additional 45 days, to day 1,335, will be blessed.

We do not know exactly what will happen during those days or their sequential events. We know that the heavenly sign⁸ will appear then, the Year of the Lord will transpire, the Two Witnesses will preach, and Christ will return. However, for the purposes of this article, it is not vital to comprehend these events in detail.

We can make a big mess if we try to figure out some things, likely as big a mess as people in the early church did when they “figured out” Christ would return after a time-cycle or some similar failed prognostication. But we can establish this by simple math: Between day 1,260 and 1,335, there are 75 days.

The start of the 1,260 days may not come for a while, so the old among us may not live to see those 75 days between day 1,260 and day 1,335 transpire. But those middle-aged and younger might very well see them. We can feel confident that some of us alive today will live through them.

Like the disciples of old, they will see a great deal happen very fast. During those 75 days, God will fulfill prophecy almost daily. He will then indeed work a work that a person would not believe even if he were told it (see Habakkuk 1:5).

We know, of course, that the vital point is not that we have it all figured out, as some claim to have done. We even know that we do not need to live to see those last 75 days firsthand. After all, Abraham, Moses, and David will not experience them.

What is important is that we see day 1335, the day of the great blessing, the day Christ the King and Judge will award the crown of righteousness to those who over the years of their conversion have loved His appearing, as Paul put it in II Timothy 4:8.

As the sun set on the Feast of Trumpets way back in AD 31, some in the church may have been disappointed, perhaps even upset, that their Savior had not returned according to their timetable. Similarly, some may have felt let down at the close of Atonement or the Feast of Tabernacles that year. Yet, of this we can be sure: Those who have lived their lives loving the appearing of Christ, in any age, will not be disappointed. For us, there will be no disappointment, no disillusionment, only joy on the day of great blessing, day 1335.

Deuteronomy 33:29, the last recorded words of Moses, contains the same Hebrew word for “blessed”⁹ as used in Daniel 12:12; in fact, its first appearance in the Bible. The verse speaks of the great blessing of our salvation, that immeasurable gift with which God blesses us. Recognizably, Moses projects his words to spiritual Israel, God’s converted people, the true church:¹⁰

Blessed are you, O Israel;
Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,
Who is the shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty!
So your enemies will cringe before you,
And you will tread upon their high places.
(New American Standard Bible)

Endnotes

¹ The verb translated “loved” is agapaō (Strong’s #25), used 147 times in the New Testament, first appearing in Matthew 5:43: “You shall love your neighbor . . ..”

² The word is yārē’ (Strong’s #3372), which appears 314 times in the Old Testament. Its first use is in Genesis 3:10, where Adam said he was “afraid” (yārē’) because he was naked and so hid himself from God.

³ See also Philippians 1:10; 2:16; II Thessalonians 2:2; I Corinthians 3:13.

⁴ See Hebrews 10:37: “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.”

⁵ John was not measuring a literal Temple, which had been already destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, but people, obviously not their physical stature but their spiritual one, their level of spirituality.

⁶ See Jeremiah 30:7 (New English Translation):

Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! There has never been any like it. It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob, but some of them will be rescued out of it.

⁷ See Luke 21:23-25, parallel to Matthew 24:21.

⁸ Compare Endnote 2.

⁹ The Hebrew noun for “blessed” (or “happy,” KJV) is ’esher (Strong’s #835), which appears 45 times in the Old Testament, 26 as “blessed” and 18 times as “happy.” It is often use as an interjection, “How blessed!” This is the “Blessed” of Psalm 1:1.

¹⁰ See Galatians 6:16.