style="font-size:15px;"> (16) But someone will ask: when will it be? (Mt 24:3) When and at what time will this man of sin be revealed, and what is the day of the Lord’s coming? So the disciples wanted to learn the exact time from the Lord but He hid it from them in order to encourage them and all of us to look ahead into the future and expect the Bridegroom of heaven every day – so that they would not slack off, become careless, and, having fallen asleep, lose their eternal life on account of the Lord’s delay (Mt 25:5). «Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come» (Mt 24:42; compare Mt 25:13; Mk 13:35). That’s why He says: «Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth» (Mt 24:46—51). «Therefore be ye also ready» (Mt 24:44; Mk 13:37). This is what the Lord Himself states in the Gospels while admonishing his disciples. In the same way, after the resurrection, the disciples asked Jesus again: «Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?» He answered: «It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth» (Act 1:6—8).
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(22) Why do you wish to know the time and day of the Lord’s coming if the Savior Himself has hidden it from us? Tell me, do you know the day of your death? Why then are you curious about the end of the whole world? If the Lord in His abundant mercy had not been patient, everything would have perished long ago. See what John also says in the Apocalypse: «I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for (the name of Jesus) [preaching the word of God], and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, (O Lord, our God), holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled» (Rev 6:9—11). So, even if martyrs who shed their blood for the sake of Christ are commanded to be patient, then why don’t you persevere so that [in this way] others might be saved and so that the number of the saints who are called might increase?
(23) But so that we do not leave [here] this question unresolved – for men are curious – we will speak out of our need and about something we should not be speaking of. By calculating time from the creation of the world and from Adam, we can easily find what we are looking for. The fact is that the first coming of our Lord in the flesh happened in Bethlehem, eight days before the January calends, on Wednesday, in the forty-second year of Augustus. It was the year 5500 from Adam. He suffered in the year 33, eight [days] before the April calends, on Friday, in the 18th year [of the reign] of Tiberius Caesar during the consulship of Rufus and Rubelion and <Gaius Caesar who was [consul] for the fourth time, and Gaius Sentius Saturninus>. So, these six thousand years must be fulfilled for the Sabbath <rest, the holy day, in which «God rested from all his work which he had made» (Gen 2:3) to come>. For the Sabbath is also an image and likeness of the Kingdom of the saints which is to be revealed, even as John says in the Apocalypse – they will reign together with Christ after He comes down from heaven. Indeed, for the Lord one day is like a thousand years. So just as God created all things in six days, so six thousand years must be fulfilled. But they have not yet been fulfilled, according to John: «Five are fallen, and one is», that is, «the other is not yet come» (Rev 17:10). «The other» means the seventh day which will be the day of rest.
(24) But in any case, someone will ask: how can you prove that the Savior was born in the year 5500? Easily. What was written by Moses regarding the tabernacle of old, built in the desert, was an image and likeness of the spiritual mysteries. And indeed, with the coming of this very truth in the last days, i.e. with the coming of Christ, you can see all this fulfilled. [The Lord] commands him: «Make an Ark [of the Covenant] of shittim wood… thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about…two cubits and a half shall be the [length] thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof» (Ex 25:10—11). So, if you add it all up you will get five and a half cubits which stand for 5500 years – when the Savior, born of a Virgin, brought to the earth the Ark of His body, overlaid with pure gold on the inside, that is, with the Word, and with the Holy Spirit on the outside. And in such a way the truth and the ark were revealed. So, we must add 500 years to Christ’s birth, which remain until the completion of the six thousand years, and then the end will come. John confirms that the Savior came into the world bringing an imperishable ark, that is, His body, in the year 5500: «It was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour» (Jn 19:14). This indicates half a day. Since the day of the Lord is like a thousand years, half a day is five hundred years. He could not come before this time because the yoke of the law was still there, nor at the end of the sixth [millennium] – for this is when the baptism ceases – but [precisely] after five and a half [thousand] years so that the Gospel might be preached to the whole world in the remaining half the time. And then, after the sixth day, the present world would cease. And since the Persians reigned for 230 years, and after them, the Romans reigned with even greater glory for 300 years, it is, therefore, necessary that the fourth beast, who is stronger and mightier than all the former ones, should reign for 500 years. After this time, when the ten horns have grown out of this [kingdom] in the last days, the Antichrist will appear from among them. When he begins his fight against the saints and starts persecuting them, then we should expect the appearance of our Lord from heaven. Then He, the King of kings, will appear again, openly, and, as the Judge of judges, He will come forth with confidence and glory. In a word, everything that has already been set by God and announced through His prophets – all this will be fulfilled in due course.
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(55) The king that they set up [the Antichrist], worshiped by all, made himself the abomination of desolation to the world; he will reign for a thousand two hundred and ninety days. And, as Daniel says, the abomination of desolation will last for one thousand two hundred and ninety days. «Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days» (Dan 12:11—12). In fact, when the abomination sets in and begins its fight against saints, those who are able to endure its domination and persevere for the following forty-five days, until the end of Pentecost – only those will attain to the Kingdom of Heaven. After all, the Antichrist, intending to receive the inheritance together with Christ, will only remain for a part of this [i.e. final] Pentecost. That’s why Isaiah says: «Let the ungodly be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord» (Is 26:10 LXX). Paul says in the letter to the Thessalonians: «The Lord shall consume [the Wicked] with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming» (2 Thess 2:8). And the Kingdom will be inherited by the saints together with Christ (compare Dan 7:27; Mt 25:34; Rev 20:6).
Commodian of Gaza (3rd century)
Excerpt from «Carmen apologeticum adversus judaeos et gentes», also known as «Carmen de duobus populis»:
…The law and the prophets proclaim who is worthy of God’s heaven,
And reveal the secrets of the golden age.
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In addition, he adds that we will be immortal,
To enjoy what the eye hath not
