Bible Chronology

"The Bible, our God-provided history of the first three thousand years, is the only work in the world which--beginning with Adam, the first man mentioned in history - whose name, the time of his creation and death are recorded, and from whom his descendants can be traced by name and age in successive links for nearly four thousand years--furnishes us a clear and connected history down to a period where secular history is well authenticated...the Bible record extends to the first year of Cyrus, B.C. 536, a well established and generally accepted date. There the thread of Bible chronology is dropped--at a point where secular history is reliable.

God has thus provided for his children a clear and connected record down to the present time. The Bible by its prophecies even supplements history, down to the consummation of 'the restitution of all things,' in the end of the seventh millennium, whence a new era of eternal blessedness will begin to date. The Bible is therefore the only record in the world which furnishes a view of human history as a whole. It carries us from the lost paradise of Genesis to the restored paradise of Revelation, tracing the pathway of humanity into eternity. Taken together, the history and prophecy of the Bible afford a panoramic view of the whole course of events from the creation and fall of man to his reconciliation and restitution. In the Bible alone, therefore, we may expect to find a record which will order aright the inharmonious periods and chronological irregularities which the annals of human history at first sight present--into harmony with each other and with the periods of nature." 
The Time is at Hand , pp. 37-38