“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day.” (2 Peter 3:8 AV)
God
worked at the creation for six days and rested on the seventh. It is highly
likely that he has also determined that the whole creation will groaneth and
travaileth, as a woman in childbirth, for six thousand years and will find rest
in the seventh thousand years.
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and,
behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on
the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which he had made.” (Genesis 1:31-2:2 AV)
“For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Romans
It is
quite possible that in keeping with God’s use of the number seven as his number
of completeness and perfection, the heavens and earth have a seven thousand
year, or seven day life cycle.
Seven is
the sum of the number four (perfect world number) and the number three (perfect
divine number). It is of interest that the history of God and man is divided
into four days prior to
The first
four (thousand year) days likely ended with the crucifixion of the Lord (around
A.D. 30), which means we are now near the end of the sixth day.
The first
Adam was formed from the earth as a man in his prime, likely as a man in his 33rd year
(circa 3970 B.C). The last
The great
flood and the
The
day of the Lord’s resurrection would seem a logical point to start day five. The
Roman Catholic Church dominated the last half of day five and the first half of
day six. The Reformation and the
rediscovery and spread of Bible truth has characterised the last half of day
six.
Day six should end with the lead
up to the great tribulation – the great “falling away” or apostasy prophesied
by
If the
life cycle of the present heavens and earth is seven thousand years, then the
current grace dispensation commenced early on the fifth day of creation’s seven day life. We who are the firstfruits of
the Spirit groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption – i.e. being born from
the dead, in like manner to the firstborn from the dead; being delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
This will occur when the Church departs the earth six years prior to the end of
the sixth day.
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit,
that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with
Our apostle
The seventh day (the prophesied thousand years of rest
in the millennial kingdom) cannot include the seven years of Daniel’s 70th
week, the great tribulation, so days Five and Six must include the great
tribulation.
“For the mystery of
iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he
be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming:” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 AV)
The ‘he’ who
letteth (restrains) must be the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of God is powerful
enough to restrain the spirit of
During his
earthly ministry the Lord had said that the tribulation would be shortened.
“And except those days
should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake
those days shall be shortened.” (
“But Peter, standing up
with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and
all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to
my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the
third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my
Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on
my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in
the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts
The first part of
This interruption was also alluded to by the Lord
during his earthly ministry.
“And there was
delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the
book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To
preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it
again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the
synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (
Isaiah’s prophecy of the “acceptable year of the Lord”
refers to the Lord’s first coming. The Lord himself declared that it was
fulfilled “this day”. But Isaiah immediately went on to proclaim the “day of
vengeance of our God”, the great tribulation, but the Lord closed the book and
did not read that part or declare that it had come to pass.
“The Spirit of the Lord
GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our
God; to comfort all that mourn;” (Isaiah 61:1-2 AV)
The most likely point of God’s interrupting of the
tribulation prophecy was after the stoning to death of Spirit-filled
“Wherefore I say unto
you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it
shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to
come.” (
It is impossible to know the exact time span between
Acts 2 and Acts 7. How long would it take for the Spirit-filled little flock to
appoint deacons like
The seventh day follows after the great tribulation – the binding of
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the
key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on
the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a
thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set
a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years
should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I
saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I
saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for
the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image,
neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the
dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the
first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests
of God and of
Hosea prophesied
that
“Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath
torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two
days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live
in his sight.” (Hosea 6:1-2 AV)
Hosea’s prophecy could well be referring
to
“For I
would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should
be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all
The “after six days” of Matthew 17:1 and
Mark 6:2 may also be a clue as to when the millennial kingdom will commence.
Perhaps it is a scriptural clue that after six days (six thousand years) we will see the Son of man coming in his kingdom, just as after six regular days the Lord revealed his glory
to
“Verily I
say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall
not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. And
after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into an high mountain apart, And was
transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment
was white as the light.” (
The full context of Peter’s words regarding “a day being as a thousand
years with the Lord”, makes very interesting reading.
After the seven days are up, this present heavens and earth will not be
somewhere you want to be. All these things shall be dissolved and the whole
universe will become like the centre of a great sun.
“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you;
in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye
may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and
of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own
lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for
since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water
and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is
with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and
the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to
be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look
for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without
spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is
salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given
unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in
them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these
things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the
wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be
glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I
will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your
name remain.” (Isaiah 66:22 AV)
Please don’t
place any Godly significance onto our man-made calendar dates. The world may
well end in 3030 but the passage of exactly seven thousand years since its creation
doesn’t mean that 30 years were somehow lost or added on. Days and years in
themselves are Godly time measurements, defined by the movement of the heavenly
bodies. Our calendars have been invented quite recently. By our current BC/AD
calendars, heaven and earth were created in 3970 B.C. and will end in A.D.
3030.
The
years of the Jewish calendar are numbered sequentially from a year before the
creation of the heavens and earth. The current Jewish year is 5769. Day seven
then should commence in the Jewish calendar year of 6001. This is 232 years
away, not 22 years away as I calculated. Curses.
Foiled again!! But wait! On further investigation I find scholars reporting
that the Jewish calendar has somewhere between 165 and 240 missing years, so
that 210 (232 – 22) missing years is near the middle of their estimates.
I don’t
consider this study as yet another futile effort at date-setting for the Lord’s
return or the end of the world. It is purely the exploration of an attractive
hunch regarding God’s established use of the number seven and his established
use of a day as sometimes meaning a thousand years. I am not the first to have
explored this possibility and I am also not the most scholarly to have done so.