Timeline

Prophecy and interpretation through time

When prophecies were given, the dates people predicted from them, proposed fulfillments and later interpretations. Choose a view: the overview shows where the material lies, the chronicle reads century by century, life-lines follow one prophecy or one line of prediction, and said vs. expected shows how far ahead each prediction looked.

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2 dates

15th century

  1. 901–1000 AH · 1495–1592 CE · reported by al-Suyuti

    A fatwa answered by al-Suyuti: the Mahdi, the Dajjal and Jesus in the tenth century AH, the resurrection before 1000 AH

    Predicted dateal-Suyuti: the community exceeds the thousandIslam — Sunni

    Dating basis

    Al-Suyuti reports that in Rabi‘ al-Awwal 898 a man brought him a sheet he had copied from a fatwa by a senior scholar: وأنه يقع في المائة العاشرة خروج المهدي والدجال ونزول عيسى بن مريم وسائر الأشراط وينفخ في الصور النفخة الأولى وتمضي الأربعون سنة التي بين النفختين وينفخ نفخة البعث قبل تمام الألف — “that in the tenth century the Mahdi and the Dajjal would come forth, Jesus son of Mary would descend, with the rest of the signs; the first blast would be blown on the trumpet, the forty years between the two blasts would pass, and the blast of resurrection would be blown before the thousand was complete.” Al-Suyuti wrote al-Kashf to answer it. The tenth century is 901–1000 AH; the Aladhan Hijri calendar converts 1 Muharram 901 to 30 September 1495 and 1 Muharram 1001 to 8 October 1592.

    hijri_range: the tenth Hijri century, 901–1000 AH, within which the fatwa places the signs and the resurrection blast

    Date reference ↗ Additional dating source ↗ Additional dating source ↗

16th century

  1. 1001–1500 AH · 1592–2077 CE

    al-Suyuti: the community lasts beyond 1000 AH and ends within 1500 AH

    Predicted dateal-Suyuti: the community exceeds the thousandIslam — Sunni

    Dating basis

    Al-Suyuti writes: الذي دل عليه الآثار أن مدة هذه الأمة تزيد على ألف سنة ولا تبلغ الزيادة عليها خمسمائة سنة — “what the reports indicate is that the duration of this community exceeds a thousand years, and the excess over it does not reach five hundred years.” He writes in Rabi‘ al-Awwal 898 and counts “one hundred years and two years” remaining to the thousand, so his years are Hijri years. The conversion uses the Aladhan Hijri calendar: 1 Muharram 1001 = 8 October 1592; 1 Muharram 1501 = 17 November 2077.

    hijri_range: from the completion of 1000 AH to the completion of 1500 AH, the window al-Suyuti gives for the community’s end

    Stated 898 AH (1492–1493). Al-Suyuti writes that 102 years now remain of the thousand, placing his statement in 898 AH (1 November 1492 to 20 October 1493).

    Date reference ↗ Additional dating source ↗ Additional dating source ↗ Additional dating source ↗

Durations and conditions

Some passages give a span of time, a relative deadline or a condition. Explore those expressions here, with the words and context that define them.

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112 timing expressions

General Judaism · Duration

“A. D. J.”: seven years of temple building from 1874

Seven years from the autumn of 1874

the time of building is seven years

The seven years of Solomon’s temple building are applied to the period from Christ’s presence in the autumn of 1874, giving the fall of 1881.

Zion’s Watch Tower, January 1881 · Article “How Long, O Lord?” signed “A. D. J.”, Zion’s Watch Tower, January 1881, pp. 4–5 (reprint [180]–[181]), from “The laying of the foundation-stone” through “the time given for building.”

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General Christianity · Relative deadline

“This generation”

Before this generation passes

[34] Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished.

Matthew records this relative expression without defining it as a fixed count of years. Interpretations of the generation and the events remain attached to the source passage.

Gospel according to Matthew

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Jewish / Christian — Shared scriptures · Condition

A warning to those who reject Southcott’s words

Fatal consequences for denying the woman’s words

confess the Woman true, or fatal now will it be for you all that deny her words

Within her claimed divine answer, Southcott adds a conditional threat to people who deny her words. It is an attributed warning beyond the Genesis interpretation.

A Communication Given to Joanna in Answer to Mr. Brothers’s Last Book · Joanna Southcott · introductory account and claimed divine answer

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General Judaism · Maximum interval

Arnold, writing in 1297: the present age ends before two centuries are completed

Before two centuries are completed

priusquam duo centenaria compleantur, status presentis seculi finietur

Arnold, writing when “we now count 1297 years from the Lord’s coming”, says the state of the present age will end before two centuries are completed.

De tempore adventus Antichristi · Arnold of Villanova, De tempore adventus Antichristi (1297), as printed by H. Finke, Aus den Tagen Bonifaz VIII. (1902), pp. CXXXI–CXXXII; English translation by Rainbow Watch (2026)

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General Latter-day Saint · Condition

Cannon: no return until the Saints obey the earlier order

Until the Saints obey the revelation on consecration

until we did obey that the privilege of going back

Cannon reports what he had been taught: the return to Jackson County and the temple promised for “this generation” would wait until the Saints obeyed the early revelation on living as one family.

George Q. Cannon on the temple to be reared in this generation · George Q. Cannon, as reported by David W. Evans, 8 October 1874; Journal of Discourses 17, pp. 232–233, two paragraphs from “If then, my brethren and” through “in the beginning to obey.”

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General Christianity · Alternative durations

Colin Deal: forty years from 1948, or seventy or eighty from 1918

A forty-year generation from 14 May 1948, or a seventy- or eighty-year generation from the Balfour Declaration of 1918

each brings us near the same termination point

Deal reads the fig tree as Israel and says the generation that sees its rebirth will see Christ’s return. He sets out a forty-year generation from 1948 and a seventy- or eighty-year generation from 1918, says “each brings us near the same termination point,” calls the length and starting point “open for speculation,” and concludes that the generation that will witness the return “is none other than our own.”

The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return · Colin Deal, The Day and Hour Jesus Will Return (Colin H. Deal, 1988), pp. 89–92; short excerpt of six paragraphs.

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General Judaism · Duration

Daniel’s closing periods

1,290 days and 1,335 days

11 And from the time that the continual burnt-offering shall be taken away, and the detestable thing that causes appalment set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Happy is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

The passage connects its count with removal of the continual offering and the setting up of the detestable thing.

Daniel

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