Methodology

Why "The Meaning of History"

The Meaning of History is a biblical chronology that shows not just dates, but God’s unified design: from the fall to the First Coming of Christ and on to the year 1844 — the end of the prophetic periods calculated in the Word of God. Every event is part of the plan of salvation. Here you will see who lived at the same time, how old the heroes of the Bible were, and how the exact prophetic periods were fulfilled in history. We still await the Second Coming of Christ according to the promise, but its time is unknown to us — it can be discerned only by the signs of the times, not by calculation.

Another striking confirmation of this design is the biblical prophetic time periods, which were fulfilled with precision in human history. This is not a coincidence, but evidence that behind these events stands the One who knows and determines time in advance.

Reading biblical stories alongside this timeline, you can see the real age of people at any given moment, and who lived alongside them at that time. The chronology reveals many fascinating observations that are lost when reading the text without this dimension.

That is why "the meaning" in the name is not "the contents" (a list of events), but the meaning itself: the purpose this history serves and where it leads.

What the chronology is based on

The chronology is built on the biblical genealogies — from Adam through the patriarchs, judges, and the kings of Judah and Israel — and on prophetic time periods calculated on the day-for-a-year principle (Num.14:34, Ezek.4:6). The dates of biblical events are aligned with known secular reference points in history (in particular, the reigns of Persian and Babylonian kings), which allow the biblical chronology to be anchored to the modern calendar.

The following sources were used: “The Bible. Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in a Modern Russian Translation”, edited by M. P. Kulakov and M. M. Kulakov (2015, Institute for Bible Translation (IBT), Zaoksky); the writings of Ellen White — the 5 volumes of the “Conflict of the Ages” series: Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, The Desire of Ages, The Acts of the Apostles, The Great Controversy — and other works.

This biblical chronology research was carried out from 2016 to 2026 and is still ongoing. The research tools were: Bible citation software, the Word text editor and Excel spreadsheets. The chronology was compiled by Oleksandr Kravchuk. The author of this biblical chronology research acknowledges that it may contain errors.

Why these Bible translations

The main Scripture texts on “The Meaning of History” were chosen according to two criteria:

Modern Bible translations:
- Ukrainian — the Modern Translation of the Ukrainian Bible Society (Fr. Rafail Turkoniak), CUV2020 / 2023 (2nd ed.);
- English — the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), 2020;
- Russian — the translation edited by the Kulakovs (Zaoksky), 2015.
These translations aim to combine accuracy with clear, living language.
Bibles translated from the 3 original languages (Hebrew and Aramaic for the Old Testament, Greek for the New Testament).

The purpose of the site, the program, and the mobile app

The purpose of "The Meaning of History" is to make it possible to see biblical history as a whole: not as disconnected fragments, but as a single chronological flow, showing who lived at the same time as whom, how much time passed between events, and how precisely prophecies were fulfilled. The same tool is meant to be at hand anywhere — for personal study, sermon preparation, or a Bible lesson.

Copyright

Scripture quotations are taken from the translations listed in the section “Why these Bible translations”.