Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
Time -Gap Principle
This is where in certain verses or between
verses in Scripture there is a gap in time from a few days or even up to
thousands of years. If we have a long
gap in time in Scripture it is important to understand that this is happening. Sometimes this time gap is mentioned, but
sometimes it is not mentioned.
This
principle is not to be underestimated by the Bible student, it is one
demonstrated by Jesus Christ Himself in the use of Isaiah 61:1-2 in Luke
4:17-21.
Nehemiah
2:8-9: “And a letter…And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my
God upon me. Then I came to the
governors beyond the river….”
Isaiah
9:6-7: “For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder…. “The
first part of verse six in about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Then time jumps more than two-thousand years
to when Jesus Christ will actually rule the earth for a thousand years on the
Throne of David in the New Jerusalem. At
that time the government will be upon His shoulders.
Isaiah 61:1-2: “To proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God…. “Verse one
and the first half of verse two, is about Jesus Christ and his ministry here on
earth. Whereas, the last part of verse two
jumps ahead more than two-thousand years when Jesus shall return a second time
to judge and reap vengeance on the world as He takes His saints away. So, this comma separates a gap of more than
two-thousand years. We know this because
Jesus Christ Himself proclaimed this in the beginning of His ministry as
recorded by Luke in his Gospel (Luke 4:16-21).
Jesus reads this verse and a half then closes the book. The rest of chapter sixty-one of Isaiah will
be fulfilled later.
Daniel 9:24-27: “…And he shall confirm the covenant with many
for one week…. “These were not weeks of days, but of weeks of years. Of the seventy weeks of years (490 years),
sixty-nine were from the seventh year of the Persian king Artaxerxes the first
in 457 B.C. to the crucifixion. The last
week (7 years) has to do with the restoration of Israel. Two-thousand years later this still has not
happened. So, in verse twenty-six just
after the Messiah is “cut off” we have a gap of about two-thousand years. We can read about this further in book of
Revelation chapters ten and eleven.
Hosea 1:4. God: commanded Jehu
to judge the house of Ahab for his wickedness (2 Kings 10). He did this, but he was much to severe and
now God will judge the house of Jehu and cease the kingdom of Israel. From the death of Jehu and the taking of
Israel by the Assyrians is about forty years.
So, the last part of verse four has a forty-year gap in it.
Luke 2:40: “And the child grew….” This
describes Jesus growing up from a baby to about twelve years old. So we
have about a twelve year time jump.
Luke
2:52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom
and stature….” This time jump takes
Jesus from about twelve years old to thirty years old, about eighteen years.
Acts
1:8: “…ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
of the earth. “Here God commands His disciples to preach to the whole
world. They finally do, but this
transitional period lasted about ten years before the first Gentiles were saved
in Acts chapter ten.
Acts
9:6: “…go into the city, and it shall
be told thee what thou must do. “Jesus tells Paul to arise and go into the
city. We must realize that Paul was not
outside the walls of Damascus, but he was still three-days from the city. There is a three-day gap in time before the
story picks up and Paul is healed.
Acts
9:23: “And after that many days were
fulfilled. “Three years passed between 9:22-23. This event is recorded in Galatians 1:15-18
and also in Second Corinthians 11:32-33.
While Luke did not record it, he did leave room for it.
Acts
9:43: “…he tarried many days in
Joppa…. “Peter did not return to Lydda, but stayed in Joppa possibly as
long as one year.
Acts
11:26: “…a whole year….” We
should understand that this one verse spans one year of time.
Acts 13-14: This first missionary journey reads very
fast but we should keep in mind it lasted about two years!
Acts 14:28: “And there they abode long time with the
disciples.” Between missionary
journeys they stayed the city of Antioch in Syria and ministered for quite some
time, maybe several years. During this
delay the conference in Jerusalem in chapter fifteen takes place.
Acts 15:36-18:22: This second
missionary journey of Paul, which was much more extensive than the first one,
spanned a period of three to four years.
Acts 18:11: “…a year and six months…. “This verse is
important, it tells us that Paul was in this city for a year and a half. This was a long time just in this one
city. If we read the book of Acts to
quickly it will seem as if Paul is just moving along, but he did not constantly
move, but did make long stops to teach.
Acts
18:23: “And after he had spent some
time there….” There is a gap in time
when Paul rests and ministers in Antioch in Syria. Most scholars seem to agree Paul stayed about
three years in Antioch during this time.
Acts
18:23-21:16: This third missionary
journey was Paul’s longest trip and probably lasted about four to five years.
Acts 19:8-10: “…three months….” Paul spent three whole months in just one
synagogue preaching Christ before he was forced to leave. “…space of two years… “In verse ten we see
that Paul did not leave the city but instead preached in the school of Tyrannus
daily for two more years. Church history
says that the Ephesians worked in the morning and did their resting from eleven
in the morning to four in the afternoon.
Paul probably preached during this time.
1 Peter
1:10-11: “…searching what, or what
manner of time… “The prophets of old did not understand that the Messiah
would humble Himself on the cross to provide God’s grace we enjoy today. They did not understand there would be a gap
of more than two-thousand years until fulfillment.
William J. Roop, M.A.B.S.
