2000AD

...this is from way back in 1998AD, when we were contemplating the dawn of a new millenium and Y2K...

Does the number 5,760 excite you? How about the number 1,378? Or does an indefinite number of billions interest you? What does your calendar say? In under fifteen months, the calendar we are most accustomed to will proclaim the beginning of the year 2000, Anno Domini. Anno Domini, in case you are unaware of it, is Latin for "in the year of our Lord." Let us examine this 2000AD more closely. Calendars are a means of measuring and recording time. They are based chiefly on cyclical movements of the sun, moon, and stars, as from ancient times those were the only means of marking time. The Hebrew calendar starts with their traditional date of Creation, 3,760BC, and is based upon the lunar cycle. The Muslim calendar is also lunar, and counts back to the flight of Mohammed to Medina in 622AD, with reference to our own calendar. Our calendar is regulated by both the sun and the moon, with Christmas based upon a solar calendar and Easter based upon a lunar calendar. But it is fully based upon the Son.

"In the AD 500's the monk Dionysius Exiguus introduced the present custom of reckoning the years from the birth of Christ, which he miscalculated four to six years later than the actual date."-World Book, 1962 Thus every calendar we use honors the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2000 is not some mystical or magical number, but despite human error in its calculation still is very important in that it points to the central character of all history, the one who divides time. "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son,...." For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given," and "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." GAL 4:4, ISA 9:6, LK2:11. That day of reckoning marked the most important lifetime in the world. What is the purpose of his coming? "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God." ISA 61:1-2 Christ came at the appointed time for his appointed mission, sent by the God who said,

"Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the sky and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day from the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. GE1:14-18

Our calendars proclaim exactly what God said at the beginning, by means of the sun, moon, and stars. He has sovereignly used the calendar to point to his Son for a special purpose. "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2PE 3:8

A Jew might count time from his estimate of the Creation of the world; a Muslim might count from the flight of Mohammed. The coming year would then be for them 5,760 or 1,378. What would be appropriate for someone who denies God? Probably nothing more exact than an indefinite number of billions, variable in accordance with the latest theory. For one who has a relationship with Jesus, counting from his entrance into the world as a babe would be appropriate. We could laughingly look upon the error in calculation of his birthday, knowing full well that Jesus came specifically because of our imperfection. I pray that you will thing of that every time you write the date or look at a calendar.

For this is the day the Lord has made,
I will rejoice and be glad in it!