The 7000-Year Theory

[Houly]

History of the Millennium

o Jewish Origins

· “Millennium,” Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, page 459
“’In six days God created the world, on the seventh He rested. But a day of God is equal to a thousand years (Psalm 90:4). Hence the world will last for six thousand years of toil and labor; then will come one thousand years of Sabbath rest for the people of God in the kingdom of the Messiah.’ This idea must have already been very common in the first century before Christ.”

· “Eschatology,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, V, page 211
“The present world of toil is to be followed by a Sabbatical millennium, ‘the world to come.’ Of these the six millenniums were again divided, as in Parsism, into three periods: the first 2,000 years devoid of the law; the next 2,000 years under the rule of the law; and the last 2,000 years preparing amid struggles and through catastrophes for the rule of the Messiah.”


o Early Christians

· Barnabas, Epistle of Barnabas (100 AD)
“Of the Sabbath He speaketh in the beginning of the creation; ‘And God made the works of his hands in six days, and He ended on the seventh day, and rested on it.’ … In six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifieth a thousand years; and this He himself beareth me witness, saying, ‘Behold, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years.’ Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end. ‘And He rested on the seventh day.’ This he meaneth; when His Son shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the stars, then shall He truly rest on the seventh day.”

· Irenaeus, Against Heresies (180 AD)
“For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: ‘Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.’ This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year.”

 

[Mo0448]

Interesting I've never heard of this! I'd like to read up on it a little before drawing conclusions. Any suggestions?

 

[4enlightment]

According to the scriptures the new day start at evening time when the sun goes down or they didn't concider the night to be part of the day. God had said that satan will be ruling for a moment in the last days and which I believe the first part of the day which is the night. The milleniums before this day were fill with uncontrollable people by slaving others which they think were consider to be okay. Rome, Persia, Babylonia, and Egypt were slaving people like it was nothing wrong, and killing them for ungoly reasons. I believe the last millenium has started about four to five hundred years ago, because we were just coming out from it; and I believe the that the sun has risen in this day just recently when all the bad weather started occurring. I believe that God is causing all these disasters to get the people to repent for they are arrogant and believe that no one can't stand against them, but they are running to higher ground or basically moving where it is safe. I notice that a change is going on physically and spiritually, and a lot of people starting to turn toward God and which the scriptures says that He is going to rule in this last day. After He has establish His appearance to the world, then it will be the end of this day.

 

[c2cpa]

Four years ago I joined a LifeChurch.tv sponsored group that met weekly via a church provided video meeting service. The group was promoted as a study of eschatology from the Word. Every week was great fun sharing YouTube and WeJew videos, speculating about what this or that current event meant for the end times, joking and laughing about what we'd come up with. But, after awhile, I was convicted that there really wasn't any study in the Word going on, and that when the Word was referenced, it was always just one or two verses to sort-of verify some conclusion somebody had drawn from what they'd read, seen or heard.

I asked that we begin a real study of the Word, and that we'd become serious about what the group had come together to do. Well, we started into a study of the Revelation, and boy did the sparks fly. It's amazing what comes out when the Word of God squeezes people. We were only four or five chapters into the book when I decided that enough was enough, and quit the meetings.

Christ said that no man knows the time of His return, but only the Father knows. Since leaving that group, I've no more interest in whether Barack Obama is what Jesus said in Luke (?) when he described the devil falling from heaven. The anti-Christ will be revealed in God's time, and those in Christ will understand who he is and what's about to happen. Those who know Him will also understand that God protects and cares for what belongs to Him, and that none will be lost to the eternal punishment.

That experience focused me on knowing Him, Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit, and doing and praying as much as I can according to the example that Jesus provided us in the Gospels. Not of my own effort, but always seeking and accepting His blessing,help, guidance and provision; no matter the outcome.

 

[JaumeJ]

You may call it a theory if you wish. My faith has told me since first reading the Word the Sabbath is somewhat more than the Seventh Day, although it is the Seventh Day. This is my greatest reason for changing my "habit" of observing it on the first day back to the Seventh Day.

It would be awful were I to get to the Sabbath of the Father only to be told I did not believe Him when He said He rested on the Seventh Day. I want all of my Sabbaths to be correct and with Him, as I want all to share in the Sabbath, amen.

 

[nathan3]

2 Peter 3: 8 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.

It took about that many thousand years to rejuvenate the earth to make it habitable again, after God destroyed it in Gen 1: 2 ( Hebrew )

The six days only cover this earth age ( 2nd ). It does not date the earth itself ... Only when man started to live on earth in flesh. To gauge the age of the earth itself, you have to read Gen 1:1. It says it the beginning everything, was created. It dose not say how long ago the beginning was.

 

[enoch1nine]

Each "generation" of mankind has been half as many years as the previous generation.
4000yr "OT"
2000yr "NT"
1000yr Rest

The sun is going down right now between days 6 and 7

 

[enoch1nine]

[SUP]13 [/SUP]And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
[SUP]14 [/SUP]And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
[SUP]16 [/SUP]But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

--------- < 1st gen
4000yr OT
--------- < 2nd gen
2000yr NT
--------- < 3rd gen (now)
1000yr NT
--------- < 4th gen

 

[Michael50]

History of the Millennium

o Jewish Origins

· “Millennium,” Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edition, page 459
“’In six days God created the world, on the seventh He rested. But a day of God is equal to a thousand years (Psalm 90:4). Hence the world will last for six thousand years of toil and labor; then will come one thousand years of Sabbath rest for the people of God in the kingdom of the Messiah.’ This idea must have already been very common in the first century before Christ.”

· “Eschatology,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, V, page 211
“The present world of toil is to be followed by a Sabbatical millennium, ‘the world to come.’ Of these the six millenniums were again divided, as in Parsism, into three periods: the first 2,000 years devoid of the law; the next 2,000 years under the rule of the law; and the last 2,000 years preparing amid struggles and through catastrophes for the rule of the Messiah.”


o Early Christians

· Barnabas, Epistle of Barnabas (100 AD)
“Of the Sabbath He speaketh in the beginning of the creation; ‘And God made the works of his hands in six days, and He ended on the seventh day, and rested on it.’ … In six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifieth a thousand years; and this He himself beareth me witness, saying, ‘Behold, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years.’ Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end. ‘And He rested on the seventh day.’ This he meaneth; when His Son shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the stars, then shall He truly rest on the seventh day.”

· Irenaeus, Against Heresies (180 AD)
“For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: ‘Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.’ This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year.”

All pure speculation.. Do you have any scripture that suggests the millenium is 1000 years of Sabbath rest?

No one knows when the end of the age will be with the exception of the Father,, so, for you to now suggest that you know, is to prove the Bible to be in error. You cannot say with any certainty when the last day will be.

The idea of 1000 years of rest is foriegn to me. Do you have any scripture that says the 1000 years is about some Sabbath rest? We will have work to do in heaven.

"Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?"

 

[JaumeJ]

The following is reference to a thousand years without the influence of Satan, that would be peace and rest if nothing else. I cannot see business and industry during this period, but maybe you can fill that part in......God bless you....

Rev 20:2


And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3



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.
Rev 20:4



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.
Rev 20:5



But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6



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 Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7



And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8



And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

 

[Houly]

Michael,

The theory arose pre-Christ from Psalm 90: "A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by."

In the NT, Peter, in the midst of his end-time speech says "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" (2 Peter 3).

John then described a thousand-year period in which Satan is locked up and the resurrected saints reign with Christ (Revelation 20).

 

[Bookends]

Day 1 to 6 is God's order of creation in which God has completed. We know this because Genesis 1 ends each day with a "So the evening and the morning were the first day" which gives an idea of closure and completeness. God was done creating, God's work in creation is done, God rested and is still resting (from creating) until he brings the new physical order. However God is still working building His Church. Notice how the 7th does not end with this phrase. Therefore can we conclude that we are still living in the 7th day in which is on going span of earth history until it is all said and done at Christ's second coming in which brings in the New Heavens and New Earth?

Something to think about.

 

[Houly]

Also, the Book of Hebrews talks about a Sabbath rest for the saints, but it doesn't say how long the Sabbath will be.

 

[PennEd]

We may not have to know when the "week" (creation) started. We can start the end "days" clock (each day being a thousand years from God's perspective) from A.D. 70 when the Jews were destroyed and scattered. Hosea 5 describes this and Hosea 6 “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us;he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth" tells us that after 2 "days" (2 thousand years) he will revive the Jews.

If you do the math, and account for the fact that they operated off of a 360 day calendar, you come up with some time in the early 2030's.

Yes I know no man knows the day or the hour, but that doesn't mean we cant know the year or decade. In fact Jesus Himself gives us many clues when this time will be. Why would He even give clues if He didn't want us to know the APPROXIMATE time? God bless you all in Jesus name Amen!!

 

[Saved_Forever]

2 Peter 3: 8 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.

It took about that many thousand years to rejuvenate the earth to make it habitable again, after God destroyed it in Gen 1: 2 ( Hebrew )

The six days only cover this earth age ( 2nd ). It does not date the earth itself ... Only when man started to live on earth in flesh. To gauge the age of the earth itself, you have to read Gen 1:1. It says it the beginning everything, was created. It dose not say how long ago the beginning was.

This isn't directed at you only, it's for everyone. I just used what you said.


Consider this. What if a time, times and half times equate to 1 time to be a thousand years. What disappoints me is that you ONLY use the day= year philosophy for Daniel's 70 weeks. Why not try the other day prophecies as well? Have any of you considered that possibility?

Num 14:34
After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty
days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years
and ye shall know my breach of promise.

and

Eze 4:5-6
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the
number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear
the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished
them, lie on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house
of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

The reason nobody tries this is because it will not fit the 7 year doctrine that cannot be proven. You can say the Bible says there will be a seven year period when it has not even happened yet. Furthermore, it may never happen at all.

Answer me this. Which one of these statements you would rather believe.
1. Jesus is going to return again.
2. Jesus will return on this specific day down the road from now.

That's how I feel about calling a futuristic seven year period that hasn't happened yet, yet say it will occur without showing any evidence of it. You are going to look like a fool if you say it will when it doesn't. So, where does that leave your credibility not to mention the Bible and what Jesus said? If people keep giving false doctrine time and time again, I will refuse to believe them anymore! But that's just me!

 

[jerusalem]

in 6 yom God created......i e in 6 time frames......translated days

 

[Saved_Forever]

in 6 yom God created......i e in 6 time frames......translated days

6 days that actually have a 24 hour baseline except for day 1. All the other days are 24 hour periods. Day 1 could be also 24 hours but it doesn't clearly specify that.

 

[crossnote]

No. 'Is As' is a simile and does not mean 'Is'.

 

[Widdekind]

the Greek OT (LXX), favored by the Greek NT, dates Creation to 5500 BC, so that the 7th Divine Day of the Davidic Millennium = 500-1500 AD = Byzantine empire of Christian Constantinople

perhaps their are two over-lapping concurrent "Scriptural schedules", so that there was one Prophesied Divine Day for Christians of Constantinople; and another for those who favor the Hebrew OT. Such would not be beyond the ability of YHWH, to "double talk" (i myself do not know, except that the Greek OT dates Creation to 5500 BC).

 

[john832]

Not a theory, it is a fact.