Glossary

This glossary collects the principal Hebrew, Greek, and technical terms used throughout the book. Each entry gives a brief working definition; the fuller treatment is provided in the chapter where the term is first introduced. Where a Hebrew or Greek word appears, it is rendered in transliteration with the original script in parentheses for the reader who wishes to consult it in a Hebrew or Greek text.

Adar II. The leap month occasionally added by the Jewish ecclesiastical authorities to keep the lunar calendar synchronized with the solar agricultural year. The addition of Adar II in 31 AD pushed Passover into late April, allowing the crucifixion to fall on a Wednesday and the resurrection seventy-two hours later, in fulfillment of Matthew 12:40. Introduced in chapter 2.

Anno Mundi (AM). Latin for in the year of the world. The reckoning of years from the creation of Adam, used in the chronological framework of this book. Anno Mundi 6000 corresponds to the autumn of 2034 AD on the standard calendar. Introduced in chapter 2 and Appendix A.

Aparchē (ἀπαρχή). Greek for firstfruits. The first sheaf of barley or the first loaves of wheat brought to the Lord at the festivals of Firstfruits and Pentecost as a legal pledge that the main harvest belonged to Him. The term carries the weight of a down payment. The Church is the aparchē of the wheat harvest; the 144,000 are a special part of the Bride, and within that a pledge toward Israel the nation. Introduced in chapter 2.

Avenger of Blood. The English translation of the Hebrew Goel ha-dam (גואל הדם) — the redeemer of the blood. Under the Mosaic law, the kinsman whose duty was to pursue and punish the killer of a relative (Numbers 35). The second of the three offices of the Goel, alongside redeemer and bridegroom. Introduced in chapter 1.

Bozrah. A fortified city in ancient Edom (modern Jordan), referenced by the prophets as the place where the orthodox Jewish remnant takes refuge during the 1,260 days of the second half, into the closing forty-five days of the seventieth week (Isaiah 34, 63; Micah 2:12). The Redeemer descends here first, before continuing to Armageddon. Treated in detail in chapter 15.

Chain. The image by which this book characterizes the chronology (the dating, the year 2034): a chain is only as strong as its weakest link — here the Masoretic creation-epoch, which bears the consummation. Over against the fan of the structure (which see), the chain is held with an open hand: the window, argued but falsifiable. The methodological key of the model is to keep the chain distinct from the structure-bearing fan. Treated in Appendices F, G, and H.

Charagma (χάραγμα). Greek for engraving or brand. The mark imposed by the Antichrist's regime on the right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:16-18). With the same verb Ptolemy IV had the Jews whom he reduced to servile status marked "with fire on the body" with the ivy leaf of Dionysus (3 Maccabees 2:28-29; χαράσσεσθαι). Introduced in chapter 11.

Cheirographon. Greek for handwritten document or certificate of debt. The legal IOU representing the debt of humanity that was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Mentioned in passing; treated implicitly throughout chapters 1 and 5.

Cheshvan. The eighth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar, corresponding to October-November. The 17th of the second month is the day the flood began and Noah entered the ark (Genesis 7:11, 13); the seven days of the announcement precede it (7:4, 10). That the second month is Cheshvan holds under the autumn reckoning of Rabbi Eliezer (b. Rosh Hashanah 11b); Rabbi Joshua counts from the spring and arrives at 17 Iyar. Mentioned in chapter 2 as one candidate window for the gathering of the watching Bride.

Day of the Lord (Yom YHWH, יום יהוה). The Old Testament time of judgment, read in this book as a period with two faces, not as a single day. The first face is the period itself: the extended visitation that opens with the signs of the sixth seal (Joel 2:31) and spans the trumpets — so that the wrath begins before the abomination and the beast is an object within the Day, not a precondition of it. The second face is the climax: the Day of Christ, the appearing that destroys the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:8), after the abomination. It is a period of judgment with the preservation of a remnant straight through it. Treated in chapter 7 and Appendix E.

Eikon (εἰκών). Greek for image or likeness. The image of the beast that the False Prophet animates with breath in Revelation 13:15. Introduced in chapter 11.

Elul. The sixth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar, corresponding to August-September. The first of Elul opens the forty-day period of teshuvah (repentance) leading to the Day of Atonement. The lifting of the protective shield over Bozrah on day 1,290 falls in early Elul 2034. Treated in chapter 15.

Fan. The image by which this book characterizes the structure of the model (over against the chain of the chronology, which see): the whole/peak distinction, the two cohorts, the thlipsis/orgē key, the ek, the sixth-seal position. A fan is redundant and robust — it rests on several independent supports, so that it remains standing if one is struck away. For this reason the structure is defended with a firm hand, while the chain (the date) is held with an open hand. Treated in Appendices F, G, and H.

Firstfruits. See Aparchē. The English term used throughout this book for the harvest pledge.

Goel (גואל). Hebrew for kinsman-redeemer. The relative whose threefold duty under the Mosaic law was to redeem a kinsman's lost inheritance, marry the kinsman's widow to raise up an heir, and avenge the kinsman's blood (Leviticus 25; Numbers 35; Ruth 4). The three offices are inseparable. The whole Bible identifies Jesus as the Redeemer of humanity. Introduced in the Introduction and developed throughout.

Goel ha-dam (גואל הדם). See Avenger of Blood.

Harpazō (ἁρπάζω). Greek for snatch away or catch up. The verb used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 to describe the gathering of the watching Bride to meet the Lord in the air. The Latin Vulgate translates this with rapiemur, from which the English term rapture is derived. Introduced in chapter 7.

Hoshana Rabbah. Hebrew for the great Hosanna. The seventh and final day of the Feast of Tabernacles, traditionally regarded as the closing day of the divine judgment. Day 1,335 of Daniel's prophecy falls on Hoshana Rabbah in 2034 (21 Tishri); Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day, follows the day after. Treated in chapters 17 and Appendix A.

Karath (כרת). Hebrew for cut off, severed, killed. The verb used in Daniel 9:26 to describe the cutting off of the Anointed One after the sixty-ninth week. Introduced in chapter 2.

Maranatha. An Aramaic greeting used among the earliest Christians, meaning Our Lord, come. Found in 1 Corinthians 16:22. The breath of the Bride, as the book describes it. Introduced in the Introduction; closing word of chapter 18.

Maskilim (משכילים). Hebrew for the wise or those who instruct. The term used in Daniel 11:33-35 and 12:3 for the wise teachers who shine like the stars during the seventieth week. Treated in chapter 17.

Master Clock. This book's term for the six-thousand-year framework of human history, from the creation of Adam to the close of the sixth millennium in 2034. The clock runs in millennial days corresponding to the seven days of creation week. Introduced in the Introduction; framework throughout.

Master Contract. This book's term for the seventy weeks of years (490 years) of Daniel 9, the legal framework within which the Redeemer buys back His Bride and reclaims His throne. Introduced in chapter 2.

Olive tree, the one (Romans 11). Paul's image by which this book delimits the Bride: one cultivated olive tree, of which the believing Israelites are the natural branches and the believing Gentiles are grafted in as wild branches (Romans 11:17-24). The Bride is therefore all true believers of all ages — Jew and Gentile, old and new covenant, together one body (Abraham the father of all believers, Romans 4; made perfect together, Hebrews 11:40). The image keeps the model free of both dispensationalism (no two peoples with two ways of salvation) and replacement theology (the natural branches are grafted in again, Romans 11:24). Within that one tree stand three distinct redeemed categories: the glorified Bride, restored national Israel, and the sheep-nations. Treated in chapters 16 and 17.

Pentecost. The feast occurring fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, also called Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks). The day on which the Spirit was poured out in 31 AD and the Church was born as the wheat firstfruits (Acts 2). Treated in chapter 2.

Pleroma (πλήρωμα). Greek for fullness. The term used in Romans 11:25 for the fullness of the Gentiles — the predetermined number of believers from the nations whose ingathering closes the present age. Mentioned in chapter 2.

Pleura (πλευρά). Greek for side. The word used in John 19:34 for the side of Christ pierced by the Roman spear. The same word in the Septuagint translates the Hebrew tsela (rib/side) used in Genesis 2:21-22 for the place from which Eve was taken. The Bride comes from the Bridegroom's side. Treated in chapter 16.

Pneuma (πνεῦμα). Greek for breath or spirit. The same word translates the Hebrew ruach. In Revelation 13:15, the False Prophet gives pneuma to the image of the beast — a deliberate inversion of Genesis 2:7, where God breathed neshamah into Adam. Mentioned in chapter 11.

Sanhedrin. The supreme Jewish council of seventy elders during the Second Temple period, convening in Jerusalem and exercising religious and judicial authority over the nation. Mentioned throughout.

Shavuim shivim (שבעים שבעים). Hebrew for seventy weeks (literally seventy sevens). The phrase used in Daniel 9:24 to designate the 490-year master contract. Introduced in chapter 2.

Shavuot. See Pentecost. The Hebrew name for the same feast.

Shemini Atzeret. Hebrew for the eighth day of assembly. The festival immediately following the seven days of Tabernacles, the day after Hoshana Rabbah; in 2034 on November 4, the Sabbath on which the kingdom begins. Treated in chapter 17.

Shomem (שמם) / Meshomem (משמם). Hebrew root meaning to make desolate. The participle meshomem means the one who desolates (the active destroyer); the simpler form shomem means the desolated thing (the passive ruin). Daniel 9:27 plays on this distinction: the destroyer is reduced from meshomem to shomem. Treated in chapter 15 and Appendix A.

Sitnah (שטנה). Hebrew for accusation or adversary's letter. The legal complaint filed against the Jewish people in the first regnal year of Xerxes I, recorded in Ezra 4:6; it falls in the winter of 486/485 BC, Anno Mundi 3481. The word shares its root with Satan (the accuser). No clock begins at the Sitnah in this book. The block line of the dial lies at AM 3480 and arises from the mirroring 480 + 480 — from the form of the clock, not from an event. The Sitnah falls one year after that line; it is the first accusing voice of the epoch that opens there, not the opening of it. Block IV is a span from AM 3480 to AM 6000, and 2034 hangs on the epoch alone. Treated in Appendix A; the full historical case in the companion volume God's Algorithm.

Squatter. This book's working term for Satan and the rebel powers occupying the earth as an illegal possessor. The squatter holds the property he has no legal right to and refuses to leave until the rightful Owner returns to physically evict him. Introduced in the Introduction; framework throughout.

Stephanos (στέφανος). Greek for crown, specifically the laurel wreath awarded to a victor or athlete. Distinct from diadema, the royal crown of a sovereign. The redeemed are crowned with stephanos in the new Jerusalem. Mentioned in chapters 4 and 17.

Sukkot. Hebrew for the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, the seven-day autumn festival commemorating Israel's wilderness sojourn (Leviticus 23:33-43). One of the three pilgrimage feasts. Treated in chapter 16.

Teshuvah (תשובה). Hebrew for return or repentance. The forty-day period from the first of Elul to the Day of Atonement, traditionally observed in orthodox Jewish practice as a season of preparation. The Bozrah remnant cries out in teshuvah during these forty days in 2034. Treated in chapter 15.

Tetelestai (τετέλεσται). Greek for it is finished. The final word of the Redeemer from the cross (John 19:30). The Greek perfect tense indicates a completed action with continuing effect — the work is done and remains done. Mentioned in chapter 5.

Tishri. The seventh month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar but the first month of the civil calendar, corresponding to September-October. Tishri 1 is the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah); Tishri 10 is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur); Tishri 15-21 is the Feast of Tabernacles. The seventieth week opens on Tishri 1, 2027 in the chronology proposed in this book. Treated throughout, with technical detail in Appendix A.

Tsela (צלע). Hebrew for side. Genesis 2:21-22 records that Eve was built from Adam's tsela. The traditional translation rib understates the term. Treated in chapter 16.

Two cohorts. The two companies that stand in opposed relation to the one great tribulation (see Whole and peak). The first is the Bride, taken out (ek) of the whole before the peak — upward, to the throne (Revelation 7; the male Child caught up, Revelation 12:5). The second is the remnant, kept through the peak — downward, into the wilderness (Matthew 24; the woman, Revelation 12:6; Jacob's trouble, Jeremiah 30:7). One people cannot at the same time flee to the mountains and stand glorified before the throne: they are two cohorts, not two waves of the Bride. Treated in chapters 7 and 9 and Appendix E.

Wedding guests. Those bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) — distinct from the Bride herself. In this book exclusively those who come to true faith after the closing of the door of the catching-away (Matthew 25:10): the tribulation-saints, the innumerable multitude that comes out of the great tribulation (Revelation 7:9, 14). They are a distinct category after the closed door, not a left-behind or demoted Bride; there is no partial rapture, for the catching-away takes all the regenerate. Treated in chapters 16 and 17.

Whole and peak. The manner in which this book reads the great tribulation: not as two separate tribulations, but as one great tribulation (the whole seventieth week, Revelation 7:14) with a peak (the second half after the abomination — Satan's hour — Matthew 24:21; Revelation 3:10). Whole and peak rightly bear the same name, as a war and its hardest battle bear the same name. The Bride is taken out of the whole before the peak; the remnant is kept through the peak — the two cohorts (which see). Treated in chapter 7 and Appendix E.

Yeshua (ישוע). The Hebrew name of Jesus, meaning He saves or YHWH is salvation. The book uses Yeshua and Jesus interchangeably, with Yeshua preferred where the Hebrew background carries argumentative weight. Introduced in the Introduction.

Yom Kippur. Hebrew for the Day of Atonement, the most solemn day of the Jewish year, falling on Tishri 10. Treated in chapter 15.