Chapter 22 The Chronological Significance of the Apollo Missions to the Moon

'A faithful witness in the sky' (Psalm 89:37, RV)

The Word of God Spoken from the Moon

On December 24th-25th 1968

'The light' which God appointed to 'rule the night' (Genesis 1:16) was the moon, and most Christians have agreed that, because its light is reflected, the Moon is a type of the Church (see Song of Solomon 6: 10). For this reason it seems right to add this chapter relating to the achievements of the American astronauts in actually reaching the Moon successfully on Seven occasions, and the significance of the timing of these events which held the attention of the whole world.

In Revelation 3:14, our Lord Jesus Christ addresses His Church as 'the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of the creation of God' - but when we find this expression used in the Psalms, it is 'the moon' that is described as a 'faithful witness' (Psalm 89:37).

In our previous Chapters we have summarised the total years and days which have been traced in the Bible's chronology which has been presented in its outline, rather than in detail, but in the final appendix it will be found possible to check time in the various sections to the day and hour from the beginning in Genesis chapter 1. It is important to remember that the whole course of time has been accounted for and recorded by the moon, which is the celestial timepiece of the people of Israel.

In the winter of 1968 the Christian world made much of the fact that the first ten verses of Genesis were read by the three astronauts on the eve of their return from the Moon, late on the 24th or in the early morning of December 25th 1968, while still in orbit around it.

As that Christmas approached, the writer had the thought that, while the world was celebrating the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, the intention of God was to cause men to know the truth concerning Christ's rising again as 'the firstborn' or 'first begotten of the dead' (Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 1:5) - in other words, to have the real facts to do with His Resurrection. We then looked into the timing of the incident more closely. The first fact discovered was that the Creator had allowed men to reach the Moon early in a lunation which was:

The 74,740th Lunation from Creation

Measuring from the first new moon at the opening of 'the first day' of Genesis chapter 1 (March 3rd, 4075 BC at 6 pm), we found that on December 19th 1968, the span of 74,739 lunations had been completed, and so it was on the sixth day of the 74,740th Moon (Dec. 24th -25th) that the three Americans read out from the heavens the account of God's handiwork in the first three days of Genesis.

The Significance of '74'

'74' is twice '37', and all who know the meaning of numbers in the Scriptures will realise the significance of this figure. But for the benefit of others, we will quote R T Naish, the author of 'Spiritual Arithmetic'. Writing of '37' he says:

'Of all the numbers, this is perhaps the most sublime, setting forth the wonders of the written WORD, and revealing through its pages, Him, Who is the Living Word of God!

'My attention was first directed to it by a remark of that gifted writer, Ivan Panin, that there were no less than six different combinations of this number (37) in the very first verse of the Bible. This set me thinking, and the Lord graciously opened up the wonders of this glorious number, till my heart was filled with praise!'

As previously explained, all Greek and Hebrew letters of the alphabet possess a numerical value (having been used instead of figures) and it has already been shown that the number of the Name of 'JESUS' in the Greek is '888', which is 12 times '74'. Following the same pattern:

The numerical value of 'CHRIST' is 1,480, or 20 times '74'

The word for 'GODHEAD' amounts to 592, or 8 times '74'

The numerical value of the Greek for 'BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH; GO YE OUT TO MEET HIM' (Matthew 25:6) is 5,920, or 80 times '74'.

These few examples must suffice as a clue to the significance of the number 74, as space forbids further elaboration here. Those who have checked and verified the accuracy of the Bible's chronology will realise that there was no accident about the timing of the Apollo 8 venture when, for the first time, men set out from the shores of earth to explore and survey that dead celestial sphere. For the moon, as God's 'faithful witness in the sky' (Psalm 89:37, RV) will, by its exact recording of the whole Divine Plan of the Ages, play a vital part in the heralding of 'the Bridegroom's' approach.

No wonder that the Most High required the opening words of the Scriptures read out to the whole civilised world on this first occasion when He allowed men within orbiting reach of the moon. The reason for this will become more apparent as we go on to examine the hidden significance of the 'Christmas 1968' date in relation to the Church dispensation which commenced at the Pentecost of Acts chapter 10, that is, when the first Gentiles received the gift of the Holy Ghost in the house of Cornelius on June 22nd AD 36, just three solar years after the Jerusalem Pentecost of Acts chapter 2.

This dispensation had proved to be exactly 1,900 solar years but, owing to the error made by Pope Gregory, when he adjusted the solar calendar in 1582, this period ended on June 20th 1936, by which time it had pleased God to allow the Bible's Chronology of Redemption to come to light in all its perfection. There have been several occasions when we have had to take note of this dual ending of the dispensation over the three years 1933 to 1936 - on account of its commencement over the three years between Pentecost, AD 33, and its solar anniversary when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Gentiles in AD 36.

A Chronological Repetition of the Life of Jesus

From 'Pentecost' 1936 (June 20th) we may measure the exact span of 32 years and 187 days to December 24th-25th 1968. This, to the day, was the length of the Life of Jesus from His Birth in Bethlehem, on October 29th (Tisri 15th) in 1 BC to the day when He became 'the firstborn from the dead' (Colossians 1:18) on May 4th AD 33.

So, while the civilised world was remembering His Birth in Bethlehem, God had designed that this era of 'the consummation' should total the precise age of Jesus at His birth from 'among the dead' (Luke 24:5).

Praise God, those who love our Lord Jesus Christ will rejoice that the Almighty should take man's highest achievement in the realm of science (to reach the moon and orbit it ten times) and make it the occasion of proclaiming His Creatorship to the whole earth - at the same time setting His seal on the true age of His Beloved Son when He was raised from the dead! For His Resurrection was the point at which the Most High brought in His 'new creation.'

(When the Bible's chronology has become better known, it will be possible to show other time-patterns of the period of the Lord's death which reach to December 24th-25th 1968, as the 'resurrection' point, one of these beginning from the time of His Baptism in Jordan and the opening of His temptation in the Wilderness, but it would take too long to touch on these here).

The Two Moon Landings in 1969

The first occasion when man set foot on the Moon's surface was July 21st 1969, and this date also appears to confirm the length of the whole course of time from Creation to June 12th 1933. God has shown that He has wondrous ways of manipulating time for the glory of His Son, Jesus. In this case we have to remember the number of days in the whole era to the end of the 6,000 years in 1933 on June 12th, but take no account of the two full days in AD 33, when the moon was turned 'into blood' (Joel 2:31) - that is, while the body of Jesus lay in the grave. The total of days in this case was 2,194,112.

We had found the Chronology of Redemption to have commenced on the day following the Fall of Adam and Eve, after their probationary period of 40 days in the Garden of Eden which ended on April 19th, 4075 BC. This was the point where Adam's first '130 years' of Genesis 5:3 began to be measured; that is, it was the commencing date of the Chronology of Redemption, the first day of which being April 20th.

Measuring time from this beginning, but omitting the whole era from Christ's Nativity in Bethlehem (October 29th, 1 BC) through to the Feast of Tabernacles in AD 36 (October 23rd) for reasons we are about to give, the close of the 2,194,112 days (the total shown above) will be found to be July 21st 1969, when man first set foot upon the Moon. (This date was July 20th in Eastern Daylight Time (USA), but the 21st in Middle East Time).

It should be remembered that October 23rd (Tisri 15th) AD 36, was the date of the conference of Acts 11, when 'the apostles and brethren' met in Jerusalem, to whom the Apostle Peter rehearsed all that had occurred the previous Pentecost when he had opened the door of the Kingdom to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius.

Not until this point in the history of the Acts were the Lord's Jewish Apostles given to see that 'God also to the Gentiles' had 'granted repentance unto life.' It was then that 'they glorified God,' being at last brought into communion with Him concerning His purposes to do with the new age then starting (see verses 1-18). It was this 'Tabernacles' date in AD 36 from which many main measurements relating to our Gentile Dispensation have had their beginning (see chapter 20).

After considering the matter, we were shown that in this aspect of time God was looking at the period from the Birth of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles in 1 BC to the Feast of Tabernacles in AD 36 as being an interval in the whole course of time, specially related to His First Advent, when He came to Israel. It was time lost to the nation, because they rejected the Messiah. Therefore, the end of the period (which we can view as the close of the last two thousand years) is extended to July 21st 1969.

When the 2,194,112 days had run their course in 1933, on June 12th, the whole world had its eye upon the World Economic Conference - 'the World's Second Tower of Babel' - but on July 21st 1969 the world's attention was fixed upon the Moon. Man, indeed, had climbed up to heaven and the feeling was, as at the Tower of Babel, that 'now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do' (see Genesis 11:6).

There was, however, another side to the picture, which came only more recently to the writer's attention.

It had been impressed upon Col. E. E. ('Buzz') Aldrin (the second man to set foot upon the Moon on that day), and many others in the programme with him, that what they were doing was 'part of God's eternal plan. He determined, with the agreement of his pastor, that he should take communion on the moon, in the Eagle, before stepping down onto the surface of the planet. This he did, with the comment: 'It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.' And, before partaking of these, he read the 5th verse of the 15th chapter of John's Gospel, which concludes with these words: 'without Me ye can do nothing.' (We are indebted to 'Guideposts' of October 1970 for this information).

It is certainly significant to read of this remembrance of God and of the Sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, taking place as man's first act before treading upon the surface of the moon, which is God's 'faithful witness in heaven.' And especially so, as we recall the last act of the whole human race (through its governments on June 12th 1933) which was to ignore the very existence of the Creator of heaven and earth!

Before proceeding, we feel it right to state that it was not until we had watched and noted the Divine time-patterning's of the whole series of Apollo Moon Missions that it pleased God to show us why He had chosen to overrule these exploits.

These reasons we will attempt to explain fully in due course.

The second occasion when the astronauts set foot upon the Moon was on November 19th 1969. In this further aspect of time we shall see God taking account of those exact 280 days of our Lord's Incarnation in the womb of the virgin. For if the 13,301 days between January 23rd, 1 BC - the day when the Angel Gabriel came to Mary with the Annunciation of His First Advent - and the Day of Pentecost in AD 36 (June 22nd), when the Holy Ghost came down upon the Gentiles be viewed as an interval (similar to the one described above) related to our Lord's first advent to Israel, we shall find the total of 2,194,122 days reached on November 19th 1969. This is the full total of days from Creation to Pentecost (June 20th) in 1933, when these run their course without a break.

We are fully conscious that the above are time-designs which can only have weight with those who have personally measured every detail of the Bible's chronological chain of time and become assured of the accuracy of the figures - but, at least, they can hardly be seen to be coincidental or fortuitous!

The next occasion when American astronauts set out to make a further landing on the moon, had no significance whatever in relation to the Bible's plan of the ages. The abortive attempt of Apollo '13', in Mid-April 1970, will be remembered by the 600,000,000 viewers all over the world who watched their perilous journey through to the end, after an accident to their oxygen supply and two minor engine failures after take-off. No doubt, millions of prayers went up for the safety of the astronauts in Apollo '13', and God showed mercy, but He also withheld that full support which had been the mark of the previous journeys into space.

As Col. Aldrin quoted from the Psalms, before returning to earth in Apollo '11' in July 1969, 'When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him?' (Psalm 8:3-4).

But God is mindful of man, and millions over the earth today are praising the wonderful Name of Jesus, as they experience His loving-kindness in the pathway of their individual lives. But the day of grace is rapidly drawing to an end, and God in His great mercy would use every means to warn His creatures of the approaching doom of this apostate civilisation. We can praise Him that He has kept in reserve a final means - the same for the Gentile world now as He reserved for Israel: 'last of all, He sent unto them His son' (Matthew 21:37). This is the reason the Bible's perfect record of time has been restored to the human race: it is to reveal the truth concerning the Birth, the Life, the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.

The Moon Landing of February 5th 1971

The third landing of man on the Moon, from Apollo '14', has once again marked the ending of a time-pattern relating to the First Advent of Christ, the interval in this case being the exact space of time between His Nativity on October 29th 1 BC and the Day of Pentecost which was June 22nd in AD 33. The 1,960 years of the Gentile age, however, was measured in terms of true lunar years from October 23rd AD 36. These terminated on June 11th 1938, which day was marked by an earthquake in Britain which was also felt in other spheres on the Continent of Europe.

The date of June 11th 1938 was 2,195,939 days inclusively from March 4th, 4075 BC (the first day of Genesis 1). But when the interval relating to the first Advent of Christ - from His birth to Pentecost, AD 33 - is omitted, then we shall find that the total of 2,195,939 days is reached on February 3rd 1971. The interval was 11,925 days, so that the total days from Creation amounted to 2,207,864. Why was this figure apparently 2 days short of the required number needed to reach February 5th?

The simple answer to this enigma came when we realised that the above 2,207,864 days contain 74,765 lunation's and 10 days (apart from odd minutes) in Mean Time, but the moon does not show this recording until two days later, that is, February 5th, the day when this third lunar landing was made. (The Moon was in conjunction at 5.55 pm, Eastern Standard Time (USA) on January 26th, and several hours later than this in Middle East Time, so that the following 10 days extend to February 5th).

It would seem that God's purpose in thus overruling the timing of this fourth successful Apollo Mission to the moon was to call attention specifically to the fact that its revolution has, indeed, been arrested for two whole days since the Creation in 4075 BC. As we have shown, each of the preceding arrivals of man (either to orbit around the moon, as with Apollo '8', or actually to land on its surface, as with Apollo '11' and '12') has been to confirm various aspects of the Bible's exact chronology, and in each case it can be shown by calculation that the moon fails by two days to accord with the total of days given.

(Quite apart from this, as we know, is the fact positively stated in Joshua 10: 12 & 13, that both Sun and Moon were together caused not to record time for 'about a whole day', soon after Israel's entry into Canaan in 1599 BC).

This revelation concerning the cessation of the recording of time for two whole days, while the body of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lay lifeless in the Sepulchre after He had suffered the death of the cross to take 'away the sin of the world' (John 1:29), is not only basic to the entire structure of the Bible's chronology, but without it no one can fully 'see' and appreciate the whole Plan of Redemption.

The Three Further 'Signs' in the Moon

It will be no surprise to anyone who has carefully considered the chronological significance of the preceding four successful Moon Missions of Apollo '8', '11', '12' and '14', to learn that the dates when the American astronauts landed on the lunar surface from Apollo '15', '16' and '17', have also been overruled by Almighty God so as to provide 'signs' which perfectly confirm the Bible's amazing time structure.

Apollo '15' - July 30th 1971

As in the case of Apollo '14', the timing of this arrival on the moon was designed to mark the end of the 2,195,939 days which, when recorded in unbroken sequence, terminated on June 11th 1938 - see our Chapter 20. If we compare this Apollo '15' Mission with that of Apollo '11' in July 1969 we shall find that the time-pattern again commences with April 20th, 4075 BC, which was the first day of the Redemption Chronology and the beginning of the years of Adam's life, which were timed to start immediately after the Fall, 47 days from the new moon of Creation. Leaving these first 47 days unmeasured, we may trace time through to the day when the silence of God was broken concerning the Coming of the Messiah.

We discover from Luke 1:59-79 that this was through the testimony of the Holy Ghost which was 'noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea' (verse 65) after, at the circumcision of John the Baptist, the tongue of his father Zacharias was loosed. It was then that he uttered his great prophecy concerning Jesus which ends with these words: 'The dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace' (verses 78-79). Prior to this moment the events recorded by Luke had been of an entirely private nature which had not reached the outside world, and Zacharias' utterance broke an age-long silence when it was 'noised abroad.'

The date of the circumcision of John was June 11th 1 BC, and it is from this date that we can trace an exact 33 solar years (extended only by the 2 days of Christ's entombment which, in this aspect, God ignores) as yet another expression of an interval related to the First Advent of Christ through to the day of His Ascension - June 13th AD 33 - which His Father designed should stand out as a period apart from the rest of time. We shall then find that the end of the above 2,195,939 days is extended to the close of July 30th 1971, when Apollo '15' landed its astronauts on the surface of the moon. We shall later be able to reveal the significance of man's being allowed by God to reach, and then to stand up and walk about upon the 'dead' planet, but will first record the patterning of time relating to the landings from Apollo '16' and '17'.

Apollo 16 - April 21st 1972

Underlying this date there was found to be an exact expression of the three periods of 1,960 years (of 354 days) extended into true lunar time. These three eras of 4 x 490 years had constituted the whole of the Bible's Chronology of Redemption which ended with June 11th-12th 1933. As we know, in this Chronology all other time is viewed by God as lost, and is therefore unreckoned.

But in this time-pattern we find an interval of exactly 34 years (of 354 days) which dates from the Birth of Jesus on October 29th 1 BC, through to the Martyrdom of Stephen on October 11th AD 33. This was at the end of the one 'year' of Luke 13:8, after which the 'fig tree' of Israel was 'cut down'(see verses 6-9). These 34 years formed an interval related to our Lord's First Advent which God designed to stand out apart from the rest of time by this sign. (It must not be forgotten that the last era of 1,960 years referred to above commenced from Israel's official rejection of Jesus when they put Stephen to death, and ran exactly to the date of the World Economic Conference in June 1933).

In order to measure this time-pattern accurately we have to take the total days from Creation to June 11th 1933 (2,194,113 days)- when the 3 periods of 1,960 years ended. To this we must add 2,158 days, which is the excess when these 5,880 years are expressed as true lunar years of 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes and 33.6 seconds. This extends the total to 2,196,271 days, and to this the interval of 34 x 354 days (or 12,036 days) has to be added. This makes the full number of days from Creation 2,208,307, and the last day will be found to be April 21st 1972, in the evening of which the two Apollo astronauts clambered down on to the moon's surface from Orion. After this, one more 'sign' remained.

Apollo 17 - December 11th 1972

It is a most significant fact that this seventh and last arrival on the Moon was timed to take place exactly seven times seven (49) lunation's from the first orbit of Apollo 8 on December 24th-25th 1968, and it is clear that God had designed that there should be a sevenfold period set apart for the fulfilment of these seven 'signs in the Moon.' To see this last sign clearly we must again take the total days from Creation to June 11th 1933, that is, 2,194,113 days, and add to these an excess of 2,273 days. This is the difference between the total number of 354-day years contained in the 6,000 Solar Years - that is 6,191 years - and, when this whole period is given its true lunar expression of 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes and 33.6 seconds per year, this extends the period to September 1st 1939, when the Second World War opened with the invasion of Poland by Germany.

Lastly, we have to discover what interval, related to the First Advent of Christ, that God has designed to stand out as apart from the rest of time by this sign. We find it is the whole of His earthly pathway as Man in the flesh - from His Incarnation in the virgin's womb, on January 23rd, 1 BC, to the moment when Jesus became 'the Firstborn from the dead' in the night of May 3rd AD 33 - a period of 12,155 days. Adding this number of days to September 1st 1939, we are brought to December 11th 1972, when the final landing of American astronauts on the Moon took place.

Without further comment on the above 'signs', we must proceed at once to provide the answer to those who are asking: "How much can we say that these 'signs' 'in the moon' are actually related to those of which Jesus Himself spoke in Luke 21:24-25, as immediately following the fulfilling of 'the times of the Gentiles' - are they really intended to be 'signs'?"

The answer to this question, significantly enough, was given to the writer on May 4th 1972, and we dare not withhold it from those who are honestly seeking to know the truth in this matter. The two days during which the 'moon' was 'turned into blood' (see Joel 2:31) (and became 'dead' in its recording in AD 33) were May 2nd and 3rd, while the Body of God's Son lay in the tomb. These two days are symbolical of our past age or dispensation, during which the Jews have been in dispersion, but at the end of which Israel has come again to nationhood in her land, and the bloodstained history of Christendom has come nigh to its close.

We have noted that each of the seven time-designs of the Apollo Missions has registered the end of the 6,000 years (in one or other aspects) and that this has therefore also been the close of the last 2,000 lunar years - or the 'two days' of Hosea 6:2, of which the two literal days in the Sepulchre were typical. During those two literal days the 'moon was turned into blood,' which speaks of death. We asked then, "What sign could be given at their close to herald the opening of 'the third day' - the day of the Lord's Resurrection?"

What Sign could be Given but the Sign of LIFE?

What! Life on the moon! Living men on that dead planet? None but the novelist could have imagined it forty years ago, but it has happened under our own eyes and the eyes of all the world. Men have stood up and walked upon the moon and, of course, spoken to the whole world from it.

I remember thinking, as I watched the astronauts making their return journey to earth for the last time this century, how, needless to say, we never had a doubt as to their safe return, knowing that their mission had been in the plan of the Almighty.

Once again we are reminded of Col. Aldrin's words, read from John 15:5, just before that first landing on the Moon in July 1969 ... 'Without Me ye can do nothing.'

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