Christian Churches of God

No. 210C

Cutting Short the Time

(Edition 20240612-20240612)

Christ uttered what appears to be the most puzzling of comments regarding God cutting short the time. What does it mean?

Christian Churches of God

PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA

Email: secretary@ccg.org

(Copyright © 2024 Wade Cox)

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Cutting Short the Time

Introduction

We see the text in Matthew Chapter 24:

Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered them, "Take heed that no one leads you astray. ⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: ⁸ all this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs. ⁹ "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. ¹⁰ And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. ¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. ¹² And because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. ¹⁵ "So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; ¹⁷ let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; ¹⁸ and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. ¹⁹ And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! ²⁰ Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²² And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³ Then if any one says to you, 'Lo, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

The time is cut short

To understand this prophecy one must unpack the elements mentioned by Christ. We have been plagued by false christs over the centuries from all walks of life. We have seen the laws of God done away in the entire structure of the pseudo-Christian Church where God's Calendar (No. 156) has been done away from 70 CE. The false Christians changed the Sabbath to Sunday to attract and appeal to the Baal worshippers of the Mystery and Sun Cults. The Calendar was changed to the Babylonian system as explained by the prophets and from v. 15 onwards we see that the prophecy of Daniel is held to stand fast in its authenticity. These prophecies interlink as we see from Isaiah to Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, on to the Twelve prophets to Malachi ending the early Canon. The texts of Christ's prophecy show that God had already shortened the days when Christ spoke. God, in His Omniscience (Predestination No. 296) saw what the long term effects would be (Problem of Evil No. 118). God had acted to shorten the days even before Christ was on earth. However, the cutting short was for the sake of the elect yet to come. We see that the latter prophets all develop from the Psalms to the Messiah and the Apostles of the Churches of God (see F019_1; F019_2; F019_3; F019_4; F019_5i, 5ii; 5iii; F023 series, F024 series, F025; F026 series and F027 series). The prophecies all tie into the Last Days (see Nos. 036; 036_2 and also F027xi, xii, xiii; F066 series).

So at the time of Christ we see that God had already cut the time short so that it would not affect the elect at the very end. However, when was it done? When does the Bible indicate it happened? Is there a record?

The cause of the Cutting Short of the time happened from the very time that Satan sinned with the creation and that was when he told Adam and Eve that they “would not surely die.”

This was the lie of the Immortal Soul Doctrine (see No. 092). This lie caused Adam and Eve to sin (see Doctrine of Original Sin Part I No. 246; Part II Generations of Adam. No. 248)).

Conflict in the texts

To identify the time frame we must examine the two texts available to us. That is the LXX and the later MT. We have identified the discrepancy in the text outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272). The LXX was a translation of the early Hebrew text ca 200 BCE before 160 CE and the construction of the Temple at Heliopolis under order of Onias IV in accordance with Isa. 19:19.

Appendix B to No. 272

Conflict of the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text

The Septuagint (LXX) differs from the timing of the lineage of the Patriarchs in the Masoretic Text (MT) and both cannot be correct. The timeline continues in the line of the kings from the MT. The creation timeline of the MT can be reconstructed precisely. The commencement year is 4004 BCE and Ussher’s chronology arrived at that date fairly accurately even though some things were unknown at the time.

The explanation for the huge difference between the two texts is at first perplexing. One has to look at the facts of the history of the Ptolemies in Egypt to understand what is happening. Josephus records how the Septuagint came about. We would expect the Septuagint to be correct as it is quoted by the NT church. The problem is easily explained when we realise that Greek was the language of the entire church over the Hellenised world and was used in Rome itself for the first two or more centuries of the church. Genesis in the LXX is the very reason that Paul issued his comments in the NT in 1Timothy 1:4 and Titus 3:9. The LXX is reliable except for the book of Genesis and the contradiction of 440 years from the Exodus to the commencement of the building of the Temple. The LXX says 440 and the MT says 480 years. This conflict is easily resolved if we assume one is quoting the end of the Exodus and entry to Canaan and the other is recording the beginning of the Exodus from Goshen. Genesis however is another matter. There is a difference of some 1425 years between the two texts and both cannot be correct.

The answer is simple if we understand that at the same time Ptolemy II was creating the great library at Alexandria and he had given instructions to compile the histories of the world. Manetho the Egyptian historian was commanded to compile the history of Egypt. He was aware of and was also trying to compete with Berossus the Chaldean who was writing the history of Chaldea. Egypt and Chaldea were competing for the oldest civilisation in the world and the writers of the LXX were faced with making some accord possible between their extended reigns. We now know that they were all wrong in the dynasties and the regnal years by an extended period.

When we examine the LXX and the MT we are faced with an obvious conclusion. That is that round figures of up to 100 years are added to the ages of the Patriarchs at the birth of their sons (and some ages were incorrect) to extend their lives to take the beginning of creation back to accommodate the errors of Manetho.

A separate paper will be issued on the History of Egypt to show the errors of Manetho and the correct placement of the dynasties in accordance with their real history and their relationship to the record of the Canonical Text.

What follows is the record of both the LXX and the MT in table form to enable the early errors of the LXX to be seen against the Canonical or Masoretic Text.

The table is compiled showing both LXX and MT and continues on in the line of the kings on the MT text. The errors and confusion of the line of the kings of Israel and Judah are caused by the differing calendars under the influence of the Assyrian civil calendar (which continued into rabbinical Judaism) and a reconciliation has been provided by Edwin R. Thiele but he himself is held to have made an error in the reign Hezekiah. The following is our biblical reconstruction of the dates. The reconstruction shows a coherent view of the Bible texts and eliminates the errors claimed to exist in the text. The Book of Genesis in the LXX is not a received text. It has not been used or incorporated into either the Judaic or Christian Canons of the Bible.

Table of the Age according to the LXX and the MT

Completed at Annexure A.

It is obvious from the two texts that there is a discrepancy and that one is shorter than the other. The contradictions with Manetho may also disguise a serious deficiency in the time frames that saw a time sequence deducted from the beginning effected by the sin of Satan in deceiving the young under his charge and care.

The MT allows for the smooth flow of the three time sequences as we saw in the texts of Nos. 282A, 282B and 282C. And follows the divisions in accord with the Life of Moses also allows for the establishment of Israel as God foretold Abraham.

However, we will never determine the exact differences between the ages of the Patriarchs and the time taken from the end to enable the exact time cut short to be exactly determined.

For that exactitude we will have to wait on the Messiah. After all he was there when it happened. See the Pre-existence of Christ (No. 243).

q

Table of the Age according to the LXX and the MT

Person	Age as per MT	Age as per LXX	MT Year of Creation	LXX Year of creation	MT from 4004 BCE	LXX from 5429 BCE	Event
Adam			1	1	4004	5429	Creation
Adam	130	230	130	230	3874	5199	Adam b Seth
Seth	105	205	235	435	3769	4994	Seth b. Enos
Enos	90	190	325	625	3679	4804	Enos b. Cainan
Cainan	70	170	395	795	3609	4634	Canaan b. Mahalaleel
Mahalaleel	65	165	460	960	3544	4469	Mahalaleel b. Jared
Jared	162	162	622	1122	3382	4307	Jared b. Enoch
Enoch	65	165	687	1287	3317	4142	Enoch b. Methuselah
Methuselah	187	167	874	1454	3130	3975	M’lah b. Lamech
Adam			930	930	3074	4499	d. of Adam @ 930
Enoch			987	1487	3017	3942	Enoch taken @ 365
Lamech	182	188	1056	1642	2948	3787	Lamech b. Noah
Seth			1042	1142	2962	4287	d. Seth @ 912
Enos			1140	1340	2864	4089	d. Enos @ 905
Cainan			1235	1535	2769	3894	d. Cainan @ 910
Mahalaleel			1291	1690	2714	3739	d. Mahalaleel
Jared			1422	1922	2582	3507	d. Jared
Noah	500		1556	2142	2448	3284	Noah b. Japheth
Noah	501		1557	2143	2447	3283	Noah b. Ham
Noah	502		1558	2144	2446	3282	Noah b. Shem
Lamech			1651	2207	2353	3227	D. Lamech @ 753 (MT 777)
M’lah			1656	2256	2348	3173	d. M’lah @ 969
Noah	600	600	1656	2242	2348	3187	FLOOD
Shem	100	100	1658	2242	2346	3185	Shem b. Arphaxad
Arphaxad	35	135	1693	2379	2311	3050	Cainan (MT says Salah)
Cainan		135				2915
Salah	30	130	1723	2644	2281	2785	Salah b.Heber
Heber	34	134	1757	2778	2247	2657	Heber b. Phaleg
Cainan				2844		2585	d. Cainan
Person	Age as per MT	Age as per LXX	MT Year of Creation	LXX Year of creation	MT from 4004	LXX From 5429	Event
Phaleg	30	130	1787	2908	2217	2527	Phaleg b. Ragau
Ragau	32	132	1819	3040	2185	2395	Ragau b. Seruch
Seruch	30	130	1849	3170	2155	2265	Seruch b. Nachor (Nahor)
Nachor	29	179	1878	3349	2126	2085	Nachor b. Tharra (Terah)
Terah	70	75	1948	3424	2056	2011	Terah b.Haran
Terah							Terah b.Nahor
Phaleg			1996	3117	2008	2418	d. Phaleg @ 239
Nahor			1997	3474	2007	2117	d.Nahor @ 148
Noah			2006		1998	2837	d. Noah @ 950
Terah			2008	3424	1996	2005	Terah b.Abram
Sarai					1986		Sarai b.
Ragau			2026	3226	1978	2203	d. Ragau @ 239
Seruch			2049	3370	1955	2059	d. Seruch @ 230
Terah			2083		1921	1930	d. Terah @ 205
Abram	75		2083	3499	1921	1930	Abram departs from Haran with Lot
Abram	86		2094	3510	1910	1919	Abram b.Ishmael
Abram	99		2107	3523	1897	1906	Covenant given Circumcism introduced
Abraham	100	100	2108	3524	1896	1905	Abraham b. Isaac
					1878		430 yrs so-journing commences.
Sarah					1859		d.. Sarah (127 yrs)
Isaac	40	40	2148	3564	1856	1865	Isaac m.Rebecca
Isaac	60		2168	3584	1836	1845	Isaac b. Esau & Jacob
Abraham			2183	3599	1821	1830	d. Abraham
Heber			2187	3048	1817		d. Heber @ 464
Esau		20+	2188+		1816-1808		Esau sells birthright to Jacob
Esau	40	40	2208	3624	1796	1805	Esau m. Judith & Basemath
Jacob		72	2240	3684	1764	1773	Jacob goes to work for Laban for 1^st 7 yrs
Jacob			2247		1757	1766	Jacob m. Leah, then Rachel for 2^nd 7 yrs
			2248		1756		Leah b.Reuben
			2249		1755		Leah b. Simeon
			2250		1754		Leah b. Levi
Person	Age as per MT	Age as per LXX	MT Year of Creation	LXX Year of creation	MT from 4004	LXX From 5429	Event
			2251		1753		Leah b. Judah
			2252		1752		Bilhah b. Dan
			2253		1751		Bilhah b. Napthali
			2254		1750		Zilpar b.Gad
			2255		1749		Zilpah b. Asher
			2256		1748		Leah b. Issachar
			2257		1747		Leah b. Zebulun
			2258		1746		Leah b. Dinah
Jacob			2259		1745/4		Rachel b. Joseph
Joseph		17	2277	3701	1727	1728	Coat of many colours & dream. Sold to Ishmaelites
Isaac			2288	3704	1716	1725	d. Isaac @ 180
Joseph		30	2289	3714	1715	1715	Joseph stands before Pharaoh in Egypt
Joseph		30-37	2289/90	3714	1715/4	1715	7 yrs of  plenty start
Joseph		37-44	2296/7	3721	1708/7	1708	7 yrs famine  start
Jacob		130	2298		1706		Entered Egypt
Jacob			2315		1689		d. Jacob @ 147
Joseph			2369	3794	1635	1635	d. Joseph @ 110
Moses			2476		1528/7		b. Moses
Joshua			2492		1512		b. Joshua
Moses	80		2556		1448		Exodus commences
Moses			2595/6		1409/8		d. Moses @120
Israelites			2596		1408		Entered Promised Land
Joshua			2601		1403		Division of the Inheritance of Tribes
Joshua			2602		1403/2		d. Joshua @110
			2602		1403		Mesopotamia oppression for 8 yrs
Othniel			2608		1396		40 yrs rule
					1349		Othniel d.
							Moab oppression 18 yrs
Ehud					1332		Ehud raised up and land rested 80 yrs
Shamgar					1253		3^rd Oppression under Jabin – 20 years
Person	Age as per MT	Age as per LXX	MT Year of Creation	LXX Year of creation	MT from 4004	LXX From 5429	Event
Deborah/Barak					1243-1234		Raised under oppression. Suppress Canaan and provide peace - Rule 40 yrs.
					Ca 1203		Midian oppression 7 yrs
Gideon					1199		Land rested 40 yrs
Abimelech					1160		Ruled 3 yrs with Tola.
Tola					1160		Judged 23 yrs
Jair			2839		1157		Judged 22 yrs
Jephthah			2861		1153		Judged 6 yrs
Ibzan			2867		1148		Judged 7 yrs
Elon			2874		1142		Judged 10 yrs
Abdon			2884		1133		Judged 8 yrs
							Philistine oppression 40 yrs
Sampson			2892		1110		Judged 20 yrs
Eli			2912		1090		40 yrs
Samuel							Prophet 40 years covering both periods of Eli and Saul
Saul			2952		1052/51		40 yrs
David			2992		1012/11		40 yrs
David			2999		1005		In Jerusalem
Solomon			3032		972		40 yrs
Jeroboam			3072		932
Rehoboam			3073		931		King of Judah
Abijar			3090		914		King of Judah
Asa			3093		911		King Judah
					910		d. Jeroboam
Nadab			3094		910		King Israel
					909		Nadab murdered
Person	Age as per MT	Age as per LXX	MT Year of Creation	LXX Year of creation	MT from 4004	LXX From 5429	Event
Baasa			3095		909		Baasa K. Israel
			3118		886		d. Baasa
Elah					886		K. Israel
			3120		884		Elah murdered
Zimri					884		k. Israel 7 days
Tibni					884		k. Israel
Omri			3123		881		k. Israel
Ahab			3130		874		k. Israel
			3133		871		d. Asa
Jehosaphat					871		k. Judah
Ahaziah			3151		853		k. Israel
			3152		852		d. Ahaziah
Joram					852		k. Israel
Jeroram			3156		848		k.Judah
			3163		841		d. Jehoram
Ahaziah					841		k. Judah
					841		d.Ahaziah
Athaliah					841		Q. Judah
					841		d.Joram
Jehu					841		k.Israel
			3169		835		Q.Athaliah killed
Joash					835		k.Judah
			3190		814		d. Jehu
Jehoahaz					814		k. Israel
Jehoash			3205		799		k. Israel
			3207		797		d. Joash
Amaziah					797		k. Judah
Jeroboam II			3211		793		k. Israel
Uzziah			3229		775		k. Judah
Jotham			3247		757		Reigns for Uzziah
			3251		753		d. Jeroboam II
Zechariah					753		k. Israel
Shallum			3252		752		k. Israel one month
Menahem					752		k. Israel
Pekah			3253		751		k. competing with Menahem @ Gilead
			3263		741		d. Menahem
Pekahiah					741		k. Israel
			3265		739		d.Uzziah
Ahaz			3270		734		k.Judah
Hoshea			3274		730		k.Israel
Hezekiah			3277		727		Regent of Judah
Shalmenesser			3280		724		k. Assyria dies
Person	Age as per MT	Age as per LXX	MT Year of Creation	LXX Year of creation	MT from 4004	LXX From 5429	Event
Sargon II					724		k. Assyria
			3282		722		d. Hoshea
Hezekiah			3287		717		k.Judah, Temple cleansed
Manasseh			3306		698		k. Judah
Amon			3361		643		k. Judah (agreeing with E. R. Theile)
Josiah			3363		642/1		k. Judah
			3380		624		Book of the Law found for the Reading of the law in the Jubilee of Josiah’s Restoration (18^th yr of Josiah)
Jehoahaz			3395		609		k. Judah
Jehoiakin					609		k. Judah
Jehoiakin					597		Taken captive on We-Adar 15/16 March 597.
Ezekiel’s Vision			3410		594 BCE		30^th year of the Sacred Calendar; in the 5^thyear of Jehoiakin’s captivity

The tables and dates are also now related to the following papers in order to explain the later Bible texts. The table is found in the papers The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 013) and The Meaning of Ezekiel's Vision (No. 108).