Does Revelation start over in Chapter 12?

Some people have Revelation completely non-chronological.  But among those who choose only one place to see it as Rebooting, the by far most popular place is the start of Revelation 12.

"We are back at the birth of Christ" they will say.  I no longer agree with that assumption, but even if John is seeing Signs that represent some already past events.  I believe these Signs will one day be seen in the Heavens, not just by John but by everyone.  Luke 21:25 foretells "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars".

Matthew and Mark has Jesus refer to "The Sign of The Son of Man" being seen in the Heavens.  I have two theories on what that correlates to in Revelation. One I've said before is the Ark being seen in the Heavenly Temple in Revelation 11.  But another option is perhaps the Signs John sees in Revelation 12, the Birth of the Son of Man/Seed of The Woman.

Again, both the Chapter and Verse divisions are not in the original text. If you read Revelation from the sounding of the 7th Trumpet on till when The Dragon is cast down without letting the man made divisions effect your perception, I don't think it's possible to fail to see they're all one continuous sequence of events.  I will provide an easy way to do that at the end of this post.

Revelation 12:1 in the Greek text begins with Kai, Kai is translated in the KJV "and there" but in fact "and then" would be more accurate here, the word is translated "then" elsewhere in the KJV often.  It's also the exact same word that begins 12:3.  That word is how many verses in Revelation begin, including the last to chapter 11 and all of them in chapter 12 and most in 12.

Some defending the idea of Revelation starting over and showing us the same events from a "different angle" mention that we have Four Gospels, and that Chronicles repeats much of the history from Samuel and Kings.

Those are different books.  And when we do see different events from different angles within the same book on the subject of prophecy they're defined as distinct separate visions, usually given at different times.  Like the many visions Daniel has (or interprets for others).  And I indeed do believe we see most of what's in Revelation from different angles in other Prophetic books.

Revelation however is one continuous vision.  John was taken out of the Earth to the Heavenly Throne Room and is walked through everything that will happen step by step.  Revelation ceases to be confusing when people just accept that and interpret other Bible Prophecies chronology based on where John explicitly identifies them in Revelation.  Including that when the Son of Man comes on a cloud is in Revelation 14.

Even if some start over were the case, we're clearly caught up to the midway point and the Abomination of Desolation when The Woman flees as synchronization with Matthew 24 shows.  Her time in the wilderness is clearly the second half not the first.  It's generally the desire to justify putting the Trumpets in the second half that comes from this specific start over theory.  I've dealt elsewhere with why the Trumpets and Bowls being concurrent doesn't work.

Revelation 11:14-12:12

The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, "We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth."  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
And then a great wonder appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.  And then appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

Seven Bowls time period

Part of the Pre-Wrath view is that the Seven Bowls take place over a short peirod of time, a month tops.

The reason that's illogical is mostly because of the 2nd and 3rd Bowls.  It will take a long time for the full effect of turning the world's Water into Blood to be felt.  Today lots of people are storing up Water to prepare for a future calamity.

And even in Ancient Egypt, well over a month clearly happened from the first Plague till when God's judgment on Egypt was over.

Wrath Word Concept Fallacy

So I point out to Pre-Wrathers and Pre-Tribbers that Revelation doesn't mention Wrath until after the 7th Trumpet except in one passage where fallible human beings say they think it's already come, after the 6th Seal.

But Alan Kurschner goes on about what he calls a "Word-Concept fallacy" and says that concepts are in Scriptures that don't mention the word.  And yes that is true many times.  But when you're building doctrine you need a higher standard then just that the concept is vaguely there.  Those other passages can demonstrate a doctrine but they don't build it.

And there are plenty of times when The Bible specifically avoiding saying something means something.  My view on God's Wrath is not about when the word isn't used but when it is used.  Only with the Bowls is it clearly linked to the entirety of that group of judgments.

The thing is, not even every passage with the word "Wrath" is about the concept of an Eschatological time period in which God pours out his Wrath on an unbelieving world after The Bride of Christ has been removed from it..

In fact even tough I do see the timing of The Rapture as before The Bowls.  I must reluctantly admit that the Post-Trib objection to how Pre-Tirbbers read 1 Thessalonians 5:9 is valid.  In that verse Wrath is contrasted with Salvation, not being Raptured.  Yes the Rapture is discussed around that same area, but that doesn't prove what he's referring to.  Comparing it to John 3:36 and also Romans 5:9. proves Wrath means Damnation in those kinds of verses.

The Lake of Fire and Hell is not "Eternal separation from God" as Liberals want to water it down to. (Revelation 14:10, Psalm 139:8)  It is God's Eternal Wrath.  The Fire that Burns you is the Fire that emanates from God's presence (Isaiah 30:33, II Thessalonians 1:8-9).

God also poured out his Wrath on Jesus on The Cross, that's the Cup Jesus spoke of in Gethsemane. And that's a conclusion I come to without needing the word to be used.

In Romans 1:18 Paul spoke about the Romans of that time being subject to God's Wrath, hence him delivering them unto certain Sins.

Ephesians 5:6 and Colossians 3:6 show that Christians when we're in Disobedience can be Subject to God's Wrath.  Salvation cannot be lost but there are ramifications when a believer Sins.  We are always God's Children but a Father can still be angry with his Children.  1 John 5 clearly warns of even a Sin unto Death for Believers, like what happened to Saul.

1 Thessalonians 2:16 refers to God's Wrath having already come upon the unbelieving Gentiles.

 And I'm also not one of those futurists who wants to remove 70 AD from Bible Prophecy all together.  Luke's Gospel especially has Jesus and John The Baptist saying things that clearly apply to 70 AD, not just in the Olivite discourse.  And Luke 3:7 and 21:23 refer to what happened in 70 AD as God's Wrath against Israel.

So let me explain why just saying what happens in Revelation 8 and 9 is obviously God's Wrath is stupid. And has nothing to do with a lack of the word Wrath.

The first 4 Trumpets in Chapter 8 are about Natural Disasters.  Jesus specifically tells us not to consider such things signs, for such things always happen.

Revelation 9 is about things Demonic creatures do.  God allowing these creatures to be released from the Abyss could be called his Wrath in a sense.  But when he pours out his Wrath is only what God does himself.  So to me saying Revelation 9 is God's Wrath is outright blasphemy.

Biblically Trumpets are warnings.  In the days of Joshua the Trumpets were sounded for 6 days before Jericho fell on the 7th.  Ezekiel 33 further makes that clear.

The Bowls are distinct from The Trumpets for a reason.  The entirety of the accounts of the Seals and Trumpets used the word Wrath 3 times.  The third after all 7 Trumpets are sounded.  But this word is linked to what happens with the Bowls for the entirety of their role.

At the end of Chapter 14 which clearly describes The Parousia "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.".

The Bowls alone are defined by The Text as synonymous with God's Wrath.  Therefore a sound Biblical hermeneutic says only they should be refereed to as synonymous with God's Wrath.

Messiah The Prince of Daniel 9

The 70 weeks Prophecy four times refers to an awaited personage at the the end of the 69 weeks and/or the 70th week.

Messiah The Prince in verse 25
The Messiah in verse 26
The Prince that shall come in verse 26
He in verse 27

The standard view among Christians who are Premillennial Futurists (and even some Preterists) has been that the first two are Jesus Christ and the last two the person we commonly call The Antichrist.  Chris White however promotes a theory he didn't invent himself that makes each of the four something different. predicating it largely on how unclear it is which of the earlier personages the He in verse 27 appears to be.

However most people reading this Prophecy without a Christian starting point, as well as many Christians who are Preterist, see the clear grammatical logic as saying all four are the same person.

When verse 25 says to await the coming of a Messiah The Prince and then verse 26 says The Prince that shall come logic dictates that it's the same Prince.  And if there aren't two or three different people refereed to earlier, figuring out who He is, isn't that complicated.

It's also pretty much unique to Christians to see a Villain in any of the four references.  Because you see the "he" after "Abominations" in the KJV of verse 27 isn't in the Hebrew.  So the first He is not the one who sets it/them up.  That can agree with seeing him as The Antichrist however, because in Revelation while The Image is of The Beast, it's the second beast (False Prophet) that sets it up and enforces it's worship.

I'm going to suggest that the traditional Christian view, and this "only one person is mentioned" view can both be right, via the principle of Double Fulfillment.  I've already documented that there are Jews without a Christian bias who see the 70th Week as yet future and separated from the first 69.  But I've also argued that seeing the 70th Week as being entirely fulfilled from 30-37 AD is more plausible then my fellow Futurists realize.  Recently I've argued that some of our assumptions about how the End Times 70th Week will play out are wrong.

The suggestion that there is a Prophecy which is fulfilled by both Jesus and the Antichrist is certainly controversial.  But Solomon was a type of both Jesus and The Antichrist.  When doing well he was the near fulfillment of the Messianic Kingdom.  But when he backslid, the number 666 was directly linked to him.  Samson likewise has been argued to prefigure both, especially by those who see Genesis 49 as implying a Danite Antichrist.  Saul could also be viewed this way.

The word "Antichrist" means, false Christ, or counterfeit Christ, or opposing Christ, or replacement Christ, or enemy of Christ. or antithesis of Christ, or opposite of Christ.  I've seen several different meanings argued for it, but they all involve Christ, which is Greek for Messiah.  Many Old Testament types of The Antichrist were anointed by true Prophets of God (Jeroboam and Jehu, also Solomon and Saul I already mentioned).  Jesus refereed to Judas as someone He Choose, and Judas could perform divine Miracles by Jesus authority.  Yet he was a Devil and the Son of Perdition.

And at any-rate, he'll need to be able to make Messianic Prophecies apply to him if he'll be a credible Messiah Ben-Joseph.

Given what I argued on those posts I linked to.  This would mean his Mortal Wounding is at the beginning of the 70th week.  We tend to assume that his Resurrection happens soon after his death.  But I notice that there is no reference in Revelation to The Beast being active during the first half of The Week.  The first undisputed appearance of The Beast is when he kills The Two Witnesses, and hes' already ascended out of The Pit by then.

I do agree that The First Horseman is likely the man who'll become The Beast.  But I've become inclined to view all of the first 6 Seals as being right at the start of The Week, due to my Sixth Seal view and other things.

Maybe the opening of the First Seal has him doing his own Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, after winning many wars.  Doing it maybe even on the same day Jesus did his, the 10th of Nisan.  Then he is Crowned Messiah Ben-Joseph.  But the next thing to happen is the Red Horseman.  Who I argued in that same Four Horseman study could be The Antichrist's killer because of his Sword.  And many Christians and Jews will assume that that killer is The Antichrist/Armillus.

My main False Prophet theory wouldn't have it be possible for him to have The False Prophet with him already at this point.  But I could be wrong, he could also have a Prophet with him all through those Wars.  They could together claim to Christians to be The Two Witnesses, and to Jews that they're Messiah Ben-Joseph and/or Elijah and/or The Prophet like unto Moses and/or the Priest of the order of Melchizedek and/or Enoch.  And then people might selectively use the day=year theory to say that The Witnesses being dead three and a half days really means three and a half years.

This deception could fit what Perry Stone (who I respect and consider truly Saved) is predicting.  He's saying that The Temple will be under construction during the first half of the week, after Elijah/Witnesses conquers the Muslims.  Then The Mahdi will conquer Jerusalem and kill them and stop the sacrifice sin The Temple right after it was just finished being constructed.

The 1290 days are the first half of The Week

Daniel 12:11

"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."

The common assumption among my fellow Futurists is that both the Sacrifice being taken away and the Abomination of Desolation being set up occurs at the beginning of this time period.  Pre-Wrath needs this to some degree for their view on the Bowls.  And it's been a part of many of my past studies.

The problem is it doesn't tell us what marks the end of this period.  It's a useless Prophecy to say was proven true if we don't know what is supposed to happen at the end of this time we're keeping count of.

The Hebrew Grammar, and also the English when you read it carefully, is actually intending to tell us that there would be 1290 days from the Sacrifice being taken away until the Abomination of Desolation set up.  It's the very problematic Septuagint rendering adding the word "when" that is the source of this common error.

We keep assuming that clearly those events must be at the same time.  But neither Jesus in any account of The Olivite Discourse, or Paul in II Thessalonians 2, or Revelation in Chapter 13 tell us a taking away of Sacrifice occurs when The beast deifies himself and the False Prophet sets up his Image.  Revelation 11 clearly has The Temple standing during the first half, but I must now admit it says nothing to verify Sacrifices being carried out.  Jerusalem is trodden under foot of The Gentiles.

In the case of the near fulfillment linked to Antiochus Epiphanes they did happen at the same time, roughly.  But double fulfillment prophecies often have differences in how they're fulfilled.  And at any-rate Antiochus's had a different time period linked to it in Daniel 8, 23000 Mornings and Evenings (1150 days, or 37 months on a lunar calendar).

Many Preterists view the 1290 days this way.  But their interpretation of what sacrifice is taken away is clearly not the intent of Daniel.  They think it refers to sacrifices being made in honor of Caesar being stopped at the start of the First Jewish-Roman War.

Chris White even argues in his Mystery Babylon Theory, that I have objected to for many reasons, but now I'm rethinking some of those.  That the Temple services will be carried out (in worship of The Beast) during the second half after the Abomination is set up.

The Seventieth Week Prophecy says in Daniel 9:27 "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

First note, the "he" after Abomainitons isn't in the Hebrew text.  More importantly for this however, the word translated "midst" is also translated elsewhere "half".  So it could be valid to render it as "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and for half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease".  And that the Abominations are defining the second half.

A note I want to add.  When this happens, who it appears to the world, (and to believers who don't put enough thought into it) is responsible for the Sacrifice ceasing may not be who God actually blames.  I say this because of my belief that there could be a Decoy Antichrist(s).  We're likely to think of it as the person who by force says "I won't let this go on anymore", but that may not be who God considers ultimately responsible.

Going back to Daniel 12, this allows us to make more sense out of the 1335 days.  That is what is meant to equate to the second half.  Rather then usually seeing it as some kind of extension to the 1290 days.  This could add to/adjust what I argued here.

"Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." I'm now thinking could be further proof of a Mid-Seventieth Week Rapture.  Because that event is what we're supposed to be waiting for.  So maybe The Rapture is about where the 1335 days begins.

We do return to what the old 1290 days assumption left us with.  Some implied time after when the 1260 days Israel hides and 42 months The Beast rules the World ends.  Once again I think that could include Israel as a nation celebrating a Second Passover.  And then The Millennium is formally instituted.

The most telling thing this conclusion of mine tells me is that it backs up my reasons for thinking that part of the End Time deception will be trying to pass off the First Half of the Week as the second. With the way Pre-Wrathers and Post-Tirbbers have the 6th Seal and Trumpets and the Two Witnesses all in the second half while the more plain reading of Revelation clearly says they're the first half.

So if the Sacrifice and Oblation is made to cease when it starts.  And they pass something else off as the Abomination, like an allegorical interpretation of it.  Or just the Decoy Antichrist being really arrogant while in The Temple but falling short of what Paul describes.  Then that can make that deception fit together.

Revelation 11 is also dealing with the time periods of the first half of the week.

The 42 months the outer court is trodden under and the 1260 day ministry of the Two Witnesses are basically the same time period I believe, but possibly with slight variation.  For one thing the 42 months I don't think needs to be calculated to the day, in fact I think based on the Hebrew concept it's drawing on that it could only mean 42 New Moons transpire during the period, and thus could hypothetically be barely more then 41 months.  During a period of 1290 days there would be at least 43 New Moons and maybe even 44.

The 1290 days most likely begins rather then ends at the same time as the 42 months, since Jerusalem would have been trodden underfoot if the Sacrifices are stopped by force.  And the wording in Daniel 12 could allow the Sacrifices to be restored before the 1290 days are entirely over. And on the other hand there is no guarantee the Sacrifices would be restored right away when the gentile presence is removed since Revelation 11 doesn't address sacrifices at all.

It could be the Beast after his resurrection liberates Jerusalem and waits a month or so before actually performing his Abomination.  I used to be set on seeing the AoD as the same day as his resurrection, but now I'm not so sure.  Or it could be the actual Image of Revelation 13 is set up sometime after he does what II Thessalonians 2 describes.   Or a combination of both.

The Ministry of the Witnesses ends with their Martrydom, which I still feel instinctively is likely to be the same day as the II Thessalonians 2 Abomination event.  It must be after his resurrection since he's ascended form the Pit.  Matthew 24:15 I believe is not about the actual Image of Revelation 13 but the II Thessalonians 2 event. Three and a half days latter they are Resurrected and Raptured and Jerusalem repents.

Some Calculations I have done on how things could work out.

Historia Augusta, Hadrian refrences Christians, In a letter

I'm not even gonna go into the fact that the Historia Augusta's historical reliability is questionable.

The following passage is about a letter written by the Emperor Hadrian which certain Atheistic scholars use to make a certain point, please read it in context.

For the Egyptians, as you know well enough, are puffed up, madmen, boastful, doers of injury, and, in fact, liars and without restraint, always craving something new, en [sic] in their popular songs, writers of verse, makers of epigrams, astrologers, soothsayers, quacksalvers. Among them, indeed, are Christians and Samaritans and those who are always ill-pleased by the present, though enjoying unbounded liberty. But, lest any Egyptian be angry with me, thinking that what I have set forth in writing is solely my own, I will cite one of Hadrian's letters, taken from the works of his freedman Phlegon, which fully reveals the character of the Egyptians.

       From Hadrian Augustus to Servianus the consul, greeting. The land of Egypt, the praises of which you have been recounting to me, my dear Servianus, I have found to be wholly light-minded, unstable, and blown about by every breath of rumour. There those who worship Serapis are, in fact, Christians, and those who call themselves bishops of Christ are, in fact, devotees of Serapis. There is no chief of the Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no Christian presbyter, who is not an astrologer, a soothsayer, or an anointer. Even the Patriarch himself, when he comes to Egypt, is forced by some to worship Serapis, by others to worship Christ.

Again, make sure you've read this without any preconceived notions before I go on.
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Now, here is how this is used by many modern Skeptics.

"Followers of Serapis were called Christians as demonstrated in a letter from Emperor Hadrian to Servianus, 134. (Quoted by Giles, ii p86)".

The implied message being that before Christianity even existed the word "Christian" was a term for worshipers of Serapis in Alexandria, and how that becomes a term for followers of a Jewish Messiah varies but you get the point, it's another one of those Christ Myth theories.

Now, how many people reading the above citation without any bias or preconceived notions got that from the letter itself?????

If even one person did I'd be genuinely shocked.

Hadrian is clearly criticizing the way in Alexandria various distinct Religious traditions become mixed up together. Serapians act like Christians and Christians act like Serapians. And Christians are clearly placed with the Jews and Samaritans as people whose religious laws are supposed to be against the kinds of occult activities they were engaging it.

Does it contradict what the Bible implies about our History that Christians in Alexandria were doing this? No, The Bible warms about bad doctrines already popping up before it was even finished. And the problem of Christians engaging in Pagan rites they shouldn't be is addressed in Jesus message to the Churches of Thyatira and Pergamos.  Pergamos interestingly also had a Temple to Serapis as I noted here.

I'm sure there was a remnant of good Christians in Alexandria not doing this that Hadrian wasn't aware of, but that's besides the point, it shouldn't surprise Christians at all that this went on.

The alleged silence of Theophilus of Antioch

Atheists sometimes say that "Theophilus of Antioch wrote a

History of the Wold from Adam to Marcus Aurelius and failed to mention Jesus" and they do this as evidence of Jesus not being historical.

All this is manipulative, his history isn't "Detailed" as sometimes described at all, it's not even a historical work, it makes up part of Volume 3 of Apologia ad Autolycum. You can read it online here.

He uses this chronology to prove that Moses and the other Hebrew prophets preceded the philosophers. The leading chronological epochs correspond to the Old Testament prophets. It's OT figures he's primarily concerned with. Only reason it can be said to go to Marcus Aurelius is because of the dating information he uses in chapters 27&28

CHAP. XXVII.--ROMAN CHRONOLOGY TO THE DEATH OF M. AURELIUS.

    When Cyrus, then, had reigned twenty-nine years, and had been slain by Tomyris in the country of the Massagetae, this being in the 62d Olympiad, then the Romans began to increase in power, God strengthening them, Rome having been rounded by Romulus, the reputed child of Mars and Ilia, in the 7th Olympiad, on the 21st day of April, the year being then reckoned as consisting of ten months. Cyrus, then, having died, as we have already said, in the 62d Olympiad, this date falls 220 A.V.C., in which year also Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, reigned over the Romans, who was the first who banished Romans and corrupted the youth, and made eunuchs of the citizens, and, moreover, first defiled virgins, and then gave them in

marriage. On this account he was fitly called Superbus in the Roman language, and that is translated "the Proud." For he first decreed that those who saluted him should have their salute acknowledged by some one else. He reigned twenty-five years. After him yearly consuls were introduced, tribunes also and ediles for 453 years, whose names we consider it long and superfluous to recount. For if any one is anxious to learn them, he will ascertain them from the tables which Chryserus the nomenclator compiled: he was a freedman of Aurelius Verus, who composed a very lucid record of all things, both names and dates, from the rounding of Rome to the death of his own patron, the Emperor Verus. The annual magistrates ruled the Romans, as we say, for 453 years. Afterwards those who are called emperors began in this order: first, Caius Julius, who reigned 3 years 4 months 6 days; then Augustus, 56 years 4 months 1 day; Tiberius, 22 years; then another Caius, 3 years 8 months 7 days; Claudius, 23 years 8 months 24 days; Nero, 13 years 6 months 58 days; Galba, 2 years 7 months 6 days; Otho, 3 months 5 days; Vitellius, 6 months 52 days; Vespasian, 9 years 11 months 55 days; Titus, 2 years 22 days; Domitian, 15 years 5 months 6 days; Nerva, 1 year 4 months 10 days; Trajan, 19 years 6 months 16 days; Adrian, 20 years 10 months 28 days; Antoninus, 22 years 7 months 6 days; Verus, 19 years 10 days. The time therefore of the Caesars to the death of the Emperor Verus is 237 years 5 days. From the death of Cyrus, therefore, and the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, to the death of the Emperor Verus, the whole time amounts to 744 years.     CHAP. XXVIII.--LEADING CHRONOLOGICAL EPOCHS.     And from the foundation of the world the whole time is thus traced, so far as its main epochs are concerned. From the creation of the world to the deluge were 2242 years. And from the deluge to the time when Abraham our forefather begat a son, 1036 years. And from Isaac, Abraham's son, to the time when the people dwelt with Moses in the desert, 660 years. And from the death of Moses and the rule of Joshua the son of Nun, to the death of the patriarch David, 498 years. And from the death of David and the reign of Solomon to the sojourning of the people in the land of Babylon, 518 years 6 months 10 days. And from the government of Cyrus to the death of the Emperor Aurelius Verus, 744 years. All the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5698 years, and the odd months and days.

 (He disagrees with most sources on the Reign of Galba interestingly.)

So they describe it as though it's a comprehensive History like Jospehus, but it's really only a brief discussion designed to tie OT history to then contemporary historical dates.

Yet the simple fact that he didn't stop and give any little footnotes for the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius saying "This is when Jesus lived", is taken as proof he was unfamiliar with a Historical Jesus.  Kind of ridiculous don't ya think?

Now elsewhere in this same work, in Volume II Chapter 22 he says.

CHAP. XXII.--WHY GOD IS SAID TO HAVE WALKED.

    You will say, then, to me: "You said that God ought not to be contained in a place, and how do you now say that He walked in Paradise?" Hear what I say. The God and Father, indeed, of all cannot be contained, and is not found in a place, for there is no place of His rest; but His Word, through whom He made all things, being His power and His wisdom, assuming the person of the Father and Lord of all, went to the garden in the person of God, and conversed with Adam. For the divine writing itself teaches us that Adam said that he had heard the voice. But what else is this voice but the Word of God, who is also His Son? Not as the poets and writers of myths talk of the sons of gods begotten from intercourse [with women], but as truth expounds, the Word, that always exists, residing within the heart of God. For before anything came into being He had Him as a counsellor, being His own mind and thought. But when God wished to make all that He determined on, He begot this Word, uttered, the first-born of all creation, not Himself being emptied of the Word [Reason], but having begotten Reason, and always conversing with His Reason. And hence the holy writings teach us, and all the spirit-bearing [inspired] men, one of whom, John, says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," showing that at first God was alone, and the Word in Him. Then he says, "The Word was God; all things came into existence through Him; and apart from Him not one thing came into existence." The Word, then, being God, and being naturally produced from God, whenever the Father of the universe wills, He sends Him to any place; and He, coming, is both heard and seen, being sent by Him, and is found in a place.

 He quotes John's Gospel, so he clearly wasn't ignorant of the historical person of Jesus.