Answer
Written by C. J. Lovik and published by Rock Island Books in 2019, The Berisheet Passover Prophecy maintains the seventieth week of Daniel, also referred to as the tribulation period, will commence in 2023 followed by the establishment of the millennial kingdom of Christ in 2030. If, as Lovik states, the rapture will take place prior to the beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week, the rapture of the church must occur sometime in 2023.
Lovik’s calculations in The Berisheet Passover Prophecy are based on a symbolic and numeric understanding of the first Hebrew word in Genesis 1, b'reshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית) and the pattern of six days of creation followed by the one day of rest. Finding several Hebrew words embedded in the first word of the Bible and using the creation week as a model of God’s timeline, Lovik maps out the history of the world. According to Lovik, the word berisheet contains seven prophetic beginnings:
1) The beginning of creation (4004 BC)
2) The beginning of sin (3970 BC)
3) The beginning of the church age (the crucifixion of Christ, AD 30)
4) The beginning of the church’s time in heaven (the rapture, date unknown)
5) The beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week (the tribulation, AD 2023)
6) The beginning of Christ’s millennial kingdom (AD 2030)
7) The beginning of the new heavens and new earth (AD 3030)
Based on this chronology, the time of Jesus’ death on the cross (Passover, AD 30) marked exactly 4,000 years from the fall of Adam, and the second coming of Christ to set up His kingdom will take place exactly 2,000 years after His death and resurrection. This gives a total of 6,000 years for mankind’s “work,” and the final 1,000 years is reserved for “rest” in the millennial kingdom—seven prophetic “days” (https://passoverprophecy.com, accessed 5/22/23).2) The beginning of sin (3970 BC)
3) The beginning of the church age (the crucifixion of Christ, AD 30)
4) The beginning of the church’s time in heaven (the rapture, date unknown)
5) The beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week (the tribulation, AD 2023)
6) The beginning of Christ’s millennial kingdom (AD 2030)
7) The beginning of the new heavens and new earth (AD 3030)
For The Berisheet Passover Prophecy to be credible,
• C. J. Lovik’s elaborate system of numeric and symbolic calculations based on a single Hebrew word must be meticulously accurate.
• the earth must be about six thousand years old.
• Adam must have willfully disobeyed God at the age of thirty-three years and six months.
• the book’s author must not have violated Jesus’ statement that “concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36, ESV).
To his credit, C. J. Lovik adheres to the historic essential doctrines of Christianity; his teachings support the deity of Jesus, the triune nature of God, the inerrancy of the Scriptures, and salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. With this said, should the Berisheet Passover Prophecy be taken seriously? Has C. J. Lovik unraveled an eschatological mystery that has eluded Bible scholars for two thousand years? As we are currently in the year 2023—the year of the rapture, according to Lovik—the matter will be settled soon enough.In the meantime, let us consider this warning against false prophets: “And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:21–22, ESV).
