Why count time from Jesus?

This calendar grew out of a long investigation that began with a simple question: why do we count years from the birth of Jesus, and how did civilizations count time before him? The era now commonly called Anno Domini was devised by the monk Dionysius Exiguus around 525 CE. Although his calculation of Jesus’ birth was inaccurate, acceptance of the era spread gradually (Catholic Encyclopedia, “Christian Era”).

To continue the investigation, we also had to face a fundamental question: which account is right?

• Creationist view: explains the origin of the world and universe through the action of an intelligent Creator.

• Conventional model: explains the origin of the world through chance, the Big Bang, and evolution.

We will not attempt here to refute the Big Bang and evolution; we leave that work to creationism as a field of study. Our task is to show that Judaism and conventional science belong in the same category: either both should be called sciences or both religions, because at their foundation both ask us to exercise faith. We presented that argument in Judaism and Conventional Science: Two Sides of the Same Coin?.

For the reasons explained there, along with the many other arguments creationism offers, we chose creationism as our foundation. The next logical step was to look for a calendar that counts the present year from the creation of the world. Since this site is called Judaizam, we examined the Jewish creation-era calendar first. It is not the only creation-based reckoning. Several other systems developed separately from Jewish chronology:

• Ethiopian calendar: historical Ethiopian world-era calculations often placed creation around 5500 BCE.

• Alexandrian era: placed creation around 5493 BCE.

• Armenian chronology: placed its era around 2492 BCE.

• Byzantine chronology: counted time from the creation of the world in 5508 BCE.

• Ussher’s chronology: Archbishop Ussher’s well-known calculation places creation in 4004 BCE.

• Chinese traditional calendar: reckons eras from the divine Yellow Emperor.

• Zoroastrian / Persian system: describes a cosmic cycle of 12,000 years.

The modern Ethiopian civil calendar itself does not currently count from creation. These systems arose among cultures with different religious beliefs, which makes their creation-era chronologies especially interesting to compare.

We will also examine why the mainstream Jewish calendar is incomplete. It contains a chronological gap of more than 150 years, openly discussed by secular historians and by a significant number of Jewish and rabbinic scholars.

The Mayan calendar is often brought into this discussion because of the 2012 phenomenon. That year drew widespread public fascination and fear. Predictions circulated online, disaster films such as 2012 filled cinemas, and media countdowns suggested that December 21 would mark the end of the world. In the Maya Long Count, the date marked the completion of a major 13-baktun cycle, about 5,125 years, and the beginning of a new cycle.

Hindu texts, meanwhile, describe cosmic cycles measured not in thousands but in billions of years. In a future article, we will examine how the claims of conventional science that Earth is about 4.5 billion years old strikingly correspond with those Indian cycles.

Creation, inherited memory, and the biblical calendar

After establishing this foundation, we turn to confirmed historical events that we believe correspond precisely with patterns described in biblical prophecy. These prophecies are historically established as at least two thousand years old. Under our hypothesis that oral traditions reach back to the beginning of the world, they are even older. We do not believe that all ancient civilizations were lying or experiencing mass hallucinations. We believe they shared ancestors and that the stories of the Abrahamic religions were passed down over generations. Our article on Preflood Revelation develops this argument.

When we consider these traditions, we ask whether our ancestors believed a mass delusion or remembered historical reality. We compare ancient biblical prophecies with confirmed historical events and modern trends.

Biblical patterns in modern events

• Environmental disruption. The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate 2025 reports that 2015–2025 were the hottest eleven years in the instrumental record, alongside continued glacier loss and very low sea-ice extent. We see these developments alongside Revelation’s images of damaged seas and vegetation (Revelation 8:7–9; Revelation 16:3–4).

• The Euphrates and Yellowstone. The Euphrates faces serious water stress. A World Bank report on Iraq describes declining flows over recent decades, driven by upstream water use and climate pressures. A CSIS analysis reports an Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources warning that the river could dry by 2040. Revelation 16:12 describes the Euphrates drying to prepare a way for the kings from the east. Yellowstone also draws attention because of its destructive potential and history of powerful eruptions. The US Geological Survey reports that there are no signs of an imminent eruption and that Yellowstone is not “overdue”. A genuine geological hazard should not be turned into a prediction that an eruption is about to happen.

• Digital trade and control. Revelation 13:16–17 describes a system in which buying and selling are restricted (Revelation 13:16–17). The Bank for International Settlements’ 2024 survey found that 91% of surveyed central banks were exploring a central-bank digital currency. Although exploration is not the same as a decision to abolish cash, require biometrics, or establish a single global control system, the technological ability to make access to transactions conditional is no longer difficult to imagine.

• Asteroids and solar storms. NASA’s planetary-defense overview explains why near-Earth objects are monitored. Severe space weather is also a documented infrastructure risk: NOAA describes how solar flares and geomagnetic storms can disrupt radio, satellites, navigation, and power grids (NOAA Space Weather Impacts). We see these dangers alongside Revelation’s descriptions of calamity (Revelation 8:7–9; Revelation 16:8).

• Pandemics and new pathogens. The World Health Organization’s “Disease X” program is a preparedness framework for an as-yet-unknown pathogen. Jesus names pestilences among the signs to come (Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:11).

• Supranational coordination and global authority. International bodies such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the World Health Organization bring countries and other groups together around issues that cross national borders. Major crises can strengthen calls for more centralized global governance. Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 describe a final empire and rulers yielding authority to one central figure, which is why we see the growth of supranational coordination as relevant to this biblical pattern (Daniel 7:23–25; Revelation 13:7–8).

Which Year Would the Antichrist Choose?

Let us return to our research and to the point where we have drawn closer to the truth, or perhaps moved farther from it; you can decide.

We proposed an interesting hypothesis involving psychology and an understanding of biblical patterns. After reading Revelation, we asked: if we were the Antichrist, in which year would we try to enthrone ourselves on Earth? Which year would the Antichrist not let pass without trying to humiliate the greatest number of monotheists?

Since Jews make up barely about 1% of the world’s monotheists, let us look at what the two largest groups, Christians and Muslims, have in common.

Their shared figure is Jesus. Their views of Him differ, from the Son of God and God-man in Christianity to one of God’s greatest messengers in Islam, but both religions deeply revere Him. Mainstream Judaism, on the other hand, rejects Him entirely.

As an enemy of monotheism, the Antichrist would target this very point of vulnerability. By humiliating Jesus, he would wound both of the largest religious groups, “prove” to the rest that God does not exist, and satisfy his ego by making people worship him as a deity.

That is why most theologians expect the sequence of events we described in detail in The End Times According to Most Theologians.

Many agree that there will be key periods of three and a half years, with the Antichrist’s abomination of desolation as the turning point. The crucial question now is: when could this happen?

The claim that Jesus was crucified in 3993 AM (Anno Mundi, from Creation), corresponding to 30 CE, is held by certain independent biblical chronology researchers and authors who use the Masoretic Text, Jubilee cycles, and the internal chronological patterns of Scripture.

1. Researchers of biblical and Jubilee chronology

Tim Warner presents his biblical chronology, based on Jubilee cycles, in The Time of the End and in his biblical chronology introduction. In a detailed critique of Warner’s chronology, Leslie McFall explicitly states that according to Warner’s dates, Jesus died in 3993 AM. Yves Péloquin’s Ezekiel 4: The Master Key to Unlock the Bible’s Chronology also states directly that Yeshua died in 3993 AM.

2. Proponents of the “120 Jubilees” model

In this theological model, the whole 6,000-year span of human history is divided into 120 Jubilees (each Jubilee lasts 50 years: 120 × 50 = 6,000 years).

• The first 2,000-year milestone (40 Jubilees) ends with Abraham.
• The second 2,000-year milestone, the 80th Jubilee, falls in 4000 AM.
• In this calculation, the crucifixion in 30 CE occurs in 3993 AM, exactly 7 years (one prophetic week) before the end of 4000 AM, closing the Old Testament era and beginning the Church era.

3. Researchers of biblical numerology

Some authors devoted to the mathematical structures in Scripture point out that the year 3993 AM has a deep symbolic factorization:

3993 = 3 × 11³ (3 × 11 × 11 × 11)

• The number 3 represents God’s nature and His priceless seal.
• The number 11 signifies a “beheaded 12.” While the number 12 in the Bible symbolizes the fullness of divine order, perfection, and arrangement, the number 11 points to a state of being beheaded and losing that order:
  • After Judas’s apostasy and death, 11 apostles remained, so they had to choose Matthias by lot to restore the full number of 12.
  • After Jacob’s sons sold their brother Joseph, a prophetic picture of Jesus, 11 sons remained in Canaan.
  • Jacob had 11 sons before wrestling with Jesus Christ, after which he was named Israel and had a son, Benjamin.
  • After a terrible civil war, 11 tribes remained in Israel.

By multiplying the number 3 (God’s nature) by the number 11 repeated three times (3 × 11 × 11 × 11), God prophetically shows that without Christ, not only Israel but the whole world was left beheaded and deprived of divine order.

4. Independent eschatological and chronology projects

The independent chronologies cited above offer two distinct approaches that place the crucifixion in 3993 AM. Their shared timeline can be displayed as follows:

0 AM (3964 BCE) → 1948 AM (Abraham’s birth) → 3993 AM (30 CE, the crucifixion) → 6000 AM (2037 CE)

After these analyses, we present the following predictions, which time will test:

• 2033: We believe the Antichrist could commit the abomination of desolation in 2033 (exactly 2,000 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection).
• 2033-2037: A three-and-a-half-year period representing the most difficult time in human history.
• 2037: The Messiah’s coming and entry into the seventh, Sabbath millennium (the millennium of rest).

Next, we will analyze creationist timekeeping through the hypothesis that 2037 is the year of Armageddon, that is, year 6000, and examine how the biblical text aligns with that claim.

The proposed chronology and its number patterns

Our creationist calendar counts years from creation (AM, anno mundi). Some of the most striking patterns are:

• Abraham and modern Israel: Abraham, the ancestor of Israel, was born in 1948 AM. The modern State of Israel was established in 1948 CE.

• The chronology of Jesus’ life and ministry: Jesus was born in 3 BCE (3960 AM), began his public ministry at age 30 (3990 AM / 27 CE), and was crucified and resurrected at age 33 in 30 CE (3993 AM). The digits of 3993 add up to 3 + 9 + 9 + 3 = 24, corresponding to the 24 elders who appear throughout Revelation.

• The number patterns in our calendar: Israel’s entry into the Promised Land is placed at 2488 AM; 2+4+8+8=22, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The Flood is placed at 1656 AM; 1+6+5+6=18, which we connect with Jesus’ reference to the eighteen people killed by the tower of Siloam and the call to repent (Luke 13:4–5). The number 18 is also associated with life in Jewish tradition, and 24 (12 doubled) recurs in Revelation (Revelation 4:4; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 19:4). We discuss these patterns in Symbolism in Biblical Texts.

Moses receives the commandments at 2448 AM. Our calculation gives 1515 BCE, whose digits add up to 12, a number associated with the tribes of Israel, the twelve loaves, the apostles, and the gates of the New Jerusalem. The complete chronological table below records 1516 BCE, whose digits add up to 13, and shows that year 6000 corresponds to 2037.

Year (AM)	Civil-year estimate	Digit sums (AM / civil year) and event
0	3964 BCE	0 / 22: Creation
1656	2308 BCE	18 / 13: Flood
1948	2016 BCE	22 / 9: Abraham’s birth
2368	1596 BCE	19 / 21: Moses’ birth
2448	1516 BCE	18 / 13: Exodus, Sinai, and the commandments
2488	1476 BCE	22 / 18: Israel enters the Promised Land
2892	1072 BCE	21 / 10: David / beginning of the Davidic period
2928	1036 BCE	21 / 10: Construction of the First Temple begins
2935	1029 BCE	19 / 12: First Temple completed
3960	4 BCE	18 / 4: Birth of Jesus
3990	27 CE	21 / 9: Beginning of Jesus’ public ministry
3993	30 CE	24 / 3: Crucifixion and resurrection
4033	70 CE	10 / 7: Destruction of the Second Temple
5990	≈2027 CE	23 / 11: “Present day” in this timeline
6000	2037 CE	6 / 12: Messiah’s coming / beginning of the next era
7000	3037 CE	7 / 13: End of the millennial period

When we consider the dates and number patterns together, we see a remarkable harmony. The digits of 1948 CE add up to 22, matching 2488 AM. The First Temple’s completion and Moses’ birth each yield 19 on one side of the comparison. Numbers 19 concerns the red heifer, and the First Temple was destroyed in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.

The number 21 also appears in this chronology. The AM digit sums for David’s period (2892) and the beginning of Temple construction (2928) are both 21, as is the digit sum of 1596 BCE, the civil-year estimate for Moses’ birth. We connect these patterns with the chronology of Jesus’ life and ministry.

We also connect Matthew 24:22 and Mark 13:20, where the days are shortened for the sake of the elect, with the widespread feeling that time has seemed to pass faster since the pandemic (Matthew 24:22; Mark 13:20). Daniel 12:4 speaks of knowledge increasing in the latter time (Daniel 12:4). Jesus’ fig-tree saying in Matthew 24:32–34 is central to our reading of the generation and the approaching summer (Matthew 24:32–34); our related fig-tree article explains this interpretation.

The 5990 row, approximately 2027, marks the present year in our chronology. From that point, the calendar counts about ten years to 6000. We see the 7,000-year span as a creationist calendar confirmed by Scripture and by the patterned course of history.

Our conclusion

We know that biblical chronology has been challenged throughout history. When we place historical events, calendar dates, and prophetic cycles together, the pattern becomes clear to us.

We do not rely on human speculation, but on the Bible as the only infallible foundation. We believe the Bible is infallible because, if God exists, preserving Scripture from being rewritten is hardly a problem for Him. Moreover, He promised this in Scripture itself. In other articles on this site, we demonstrate that the Bible contains ideas originating from a non-human Being, because its content is far too advanced for the civilizations in which it was written. If the Creator calls us to understand His signs and calculate the number in Scripture (Revelation 13:18), He may also call us to recognize the time in which we live.

Human history is directed toward a clear goal, and all the seals listed above confirm that year 6000 from Creation is the turning point where all earthly suffering, disease, hunger, wars, death, cruelty in nature, sorrow, and misery cease.