Chapter 7 

From the Book of Exodus 

     Then the L

ORD

 said to Abram, `Know of a surety that your descendants 

will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and 

they will be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on 

the nation which they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great 

possessions.'   (Gen 15:13 14). 

     The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and 

thirty years.  (Exodus 12:40). 

    God tells Abraham of the future of the Israelites in Egypt and how they 

would be delivered from slavery and oppression. Christians today are the 

spiritual descendants of Abraham, and so this prophecy refers also to the 

Church. Just as the Israelites were oppressed in Egypt for 400 years, so will 

the Church have to endure about 400  years of trials and sufferings. The 

length of time from the  beginning of the events described in Revelation 

(A.D. 2009/2010) to the end of Antichrist's reign (A.D. 2437) and the Seven 

Bowls of God's Wrath (A.D. 2438/2439) is 430 years. Subtract from these 

430 years about 25 or 30 years of relative peace and holiness during the great 

monarch's reign (beginning in A.D. 2040). 

    The Israelites were oppressed for 400 years in Egypt, but they dwelt there 

for 430 years. Thus, for about a generation, the Israelites were prosperous 

and free in Egypt:  they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong; so that the 

land was filled with them.  (Exodus 1:7). So also, will the Christians be 

oppressed for most of these 430 years. However, there will be a relatively 

brief time of great success and prosperity for Christianity and the Church 

(lasting about 30 years, beginning in A.D. 2040) after the Forty Years. 

    The 430 years begins in A.D. 2009/2010; at that time the events described 

in the Book of Revelation begin to occur.  Some years later, in 2039/2040, 

the first set of sufferings described in the Book of Revelation cease. In the 

2040's, there is a time of relative peace and holiness. As the decades pass, 

the degree of peace and the degree of holiness gradually diminishes. Then 

sin increases and the world falls back into all kinds of sin and violence. Near 

the end of these 430 years, the Antichrist has his reign of nearly seven years 

(2431 to 2437). Thus the 430 years that the Israelites spent in Egypt  are 

related to this future time of 430 years. 

    Most of the years that the Israelites spent in Egypt were years of 

oppression. Therefore, most of the years from 2009/2010 to the time of the