Having established our chronology for you, this next study is our argument for the belief that the seven days of creation are a shadow of the seven one-thousand year periods of human history. While this is not an original idea, it has been believed by Christians and Jews  alike for a very long time. This may be something completely new to you, so I will do my best to lay out the argument as logically as possible.

I will address the following points:

1. Figurative numbers in scripture.
   
2. A day is like a thousand years.
   
3. Evidence in the chronology given to us by Scripture.
   
4. What does all of this mean for us?
   

Figurative numbers in Scripture

Some numbers in scripture hold an important significance. While they may be used simply to convey measurement, quantity or time, they can also be used to express a deeper theme than the literal understanding of the number would normally convey. Before I go over several examples, I need to make it clear that these numerical themes are something we deduce based on God’s use of them in time. There is no verse in the Bible that specifically states what a number figuratively means, but based on its repetitive use in scripture, we can see God’s purpose for it thematically. The scripture often uses events, objects, and symbols to provide deeper truth.

Forty – The number forty is significant of hardship and trials, sometimes for the purpose of preparation and other times for the purpose of God’s judgment.

• Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert after being baptized but prior to His ministry. This intentional fasting on Jesus’s part seems to be in preparation for the temptation and attacks He would suffer over the following three years of His ministry (Matthew 4:1-2).
  

• It rained for forty days and forty nights during the flood of Noah. This was a time of extreme judgment by God on a world that had turned away from Him, but also a preparation for the fulfillment of His promise to Adam and Eve through the line of Noah (Exodus 7:12).
  

• The Israelites explored the land they would possess for forty days because they lacked faith. Because of this, God punished them to wondering in the dessert for forty years. This is both a punishment and to prepare the children of those who sinned to receive the promise the adults would miss out on (Numbers 14:33-34).
  

• Moses spent forty days on the mountain before receiving the law from God. This was a trying time for the Israelites who were without their prophetic leader and for Moses who was appointed to give the law to God’s people (Exodus 24:18).
  

• Jesus spent forty days teaching His apostles about the Kingdom of God before ascending to heaven. This period of preparation for the apostles was vital to Christ’s testimony through them to the world (Acts 1:3).
  

Twelve – Twelve is often symbolic of God’s chosen people.

• Jacob was renamed Israel and it was through him that God chose to continue the promise to Abraham, Adam, and Eve. Jacob’s line would bless the world as God’s chosen people and from them would come the Messiah. There were twelve sons of Jacob that became the twelve tribes of Israel.
  

• Twelve disciples were chosen by Jesus, and after Judas betrays Christ, the remaining eleven make sure to replace him. These twelve apostles acted as prophets and spoke with the authority from God (Acts 1:26).
  

• Israel is described as a woman with a crown of twelve stars representing the twelve tribes (Revelation 12:1).
  

• The description of the new Jerusalem, which will be the new city where God and His people will be together, has twelve gates with an angel at each, and on each gate are the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There are also twelve foundation stones which bear the names of the twelve apostles of Christ (Revelation 21:9-27).
  

• Christ seals for Himself 144,000 (12 x 12,000) who “have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14:1-5). These 144,000 are especially selected by God and their total being a multiplicative of twelve is intentional.
  

Six and Seven – These can either be used apart or together. In either case six is often associated with mankind and work, while seven is associated with God, rest, and completion. It is this pair of numbers we are particularly interested in for this study.

• God created for six days, and then on the seventh He rested. Because of these six days of creation and seventh of resting God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. He also commanded his people to remember it (Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 16:26).
  
  • This six days of work and a seventh of rest, which marks the completion of creation, is the earliest theme we are given in the Bible. Not only is it what God did but it is what God commands of His people.
    

• God commanded His people regarding their form of indentured slavery, that they should only keep the person in their service for six years, but on the seventh that person should be set free from the debt and servitude he owes (Exodus 21:2).
  
  • Instead of days, here we have six years of work for a person indebted to another (indentured servitude). At the end of the six years, the servant is to be set free and have his debts removed; the salvific imagery here is significant.
    

• God commanded His people to farm the land for six years but on the seventh allow the land to rest (Exodus 23:10-11).
  
  • Again we see six years of work and a seventh of rest but this time the rest is for the land. We see in Romans 8:22-23 that all of creation groans and suffers as it waits for the coming of the Lord which is the time when we will be adopted as sons and our bodies will be redeemed.
    

• After God called Moses to Mt. Sinai Moses and Israel waited at the base of the mountain for six days as the glory of the Lord rested on the mountain like a cloud. On the seventh day God called to Moses from the cloud and the glory of the Lord was revealed to all of Israel like a fire on top of the mountain (Exodus 24:15-16).
  
  • Instead of six days of work we have six days of being hidden, but on the seventh we have Revelation. This is reminiscent of Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 13:12 when he says that we only see and know in part, as if through darkened glass, but there will come a time when we know fully and see fully; there will be a revealing of God.
    

• After explaining to His disciples the cost of discipleship Christ waits six days (which would be the seventh day) and then takes Peter, James and John to the mountain where the three disciples witness His transfiguration. While there they see Moses and Elijah and hear the voice of God. He tells them of His approval of Christ and demands they listen to Jesus (Matthew 17:1-8).
  
  • Very much like the experience of Israel at Mt. Sinai, Christ takes three of His closest disciples after six days up to a mountain where they witness Christ in all of His glory.
    

The theme of toiling for six periods of time and then finding rest and witnessing God’s revealed glory in the seventh is recurring. Paul even states that the feasts (time of celebration), new moon (time of new beginning), and Sabbath (time of rest), are all shadows of what is to come (Colossians 2:16-17), and that the substance of these things belongs to Christ; the substance of those things will come when Christ does. His Millennial reign will begin with the wedding feast and will be a time of rest for the world and its people (Rev. 20:6; Rev. 19:7-9).  

Hebrews 4:1-11

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
            “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
            THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,”
            although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”; and again in this passage, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,

He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,
            “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
            DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

To those who do the work of God the Father (six days of work) - believe in Christ (John 6:29) - there will be a "day" of rest (seventh day).  

A day is like a thousand years.

In 2 Peter 3, we see Peter providing an apologetic, a defense, for the church against people who mock the church because our prophecies have not yet come about. In verses 5-7, Peter gives us the bookends of our history which begins with creation out of water and will end with destruction by fire. Directly after summarizing the world in that way, his short defense culminates with the following:

2 Peter 3:8-9

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

We see this also in Psalms.

Psalm 90:4

For a thousand years in Your sight

Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.

Now you could claim that this is meant to be figurative, meaning that a long time is like a short time to God because He is eternal. However, combined with the understanding of the Sabbath, and the significance of the numbers six and seven, it is not unreasonable to see that these verses can be taken literally. The fact that Peter gives us the bookends of creation and destruction, then makes the comparison seems to indicate he intended for his words to be read that way: The world was created out of water (beginning), destined for fire (end), and don’t forget this one very important fact, that to God a single day is like a thousand years. He gave us the pattern of six days of work and a seventh of rest, and to Him a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.

Hosea 6:1-2

Come, let us return to the LORD.
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.

Hosea is talking about our spiritual separation from God. We have been torn and wounded by Him, not that He caused our sin, but that He, by the Spirit and the Law, made our sin known to us (Romans 7:7). However, He has also made a way for us to be healed and bandaged, giving us a release from the penalty of our sins.

Then he states, in verse 2, that we will be revived and raised up on the third day to live before Him. I believe this verse has two meanings. The first refers to Christ’s burial and resurrection on the third day. Because of this sacrifice, we have a new covenant and can now draw near to God (Hebrews 10:19-22).

We believe it also refers to the resurrection of the saints at the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ (Revelation 20:4-6). These saints have been glorified in the likeness of Christ, and they will literally live before Him and reign with Him. Note that Hosea wrote this well before Christ, but the beginning of the two days is clearly the death of Christ. According to the timeline we find in scripture, Christ’s death was 4,000 years from creation, and the “two days” would be the final 2,000 before the Sabbath millennium when we are raised and live before Him.  

Have you ever asked yourself why Jesus was raised on the third day? What is the significance of being buried for two and then coming back at the dawn of the third day, and why wasn’t it the second or fifth day?

We believe the significance is that it symbolized His absence for two millennial days, before returning on the third. Further evidence of this is later in that same chapter in Hosea 6:11 and Hosea 7:1 where Hosea likens the healing of Israel to the harvest of Judah. This harvest is best described in Revelation 14:14-20, when Christ sends angels to gather His people at the end of the Tribulation, which marks the beginning of His thousand year reign on earth.

Evidence in the chronology given to us by Scripture

More evidence for this seven millennial day theory can be found in the chronology that we find in scripture. If you have not already, please read our Chronology of the Bible study to understand how we came by the dates we did.

I have to first point out that seeing the exact year each millennium began and ended isn’t really possible given the time that has elapsed between then and now. There is, however some defining points near each millennium. To see it most clearly, I am going to work backwards from Christ.

The Jewish Age

• The Jewish Age is distinct from the Gentile Age in that God had not set apart for Himself a physical chosen people until Abraham was called. This Jewish age lasted from the calling of Abraham by God until Christ’s sacrifice and the tearing of veil in the temple.
  

1. Christ was crucified in 33 AD marking the beginning of a new covenant.
   
2. 1,000 years prior Solomon built the first temple which was to be God’s dwelling place among His people.
   
3. 1,000 years prior, we find ourselves in Abram’s life, possibly coinciding exactly with his first call from Ur, though we can’t know that for sure.
   

The Gentile Age

• The Gentile Age was from Adam to Abraham, and was a period of severe judgment from God on the earth.
  

1. From Abram we can go back 1,000 years and be very close to the birth of Noah. Noah is a type and shadow of Christ in that the world was delivered through God’s judgment by, who was described as a righteous man (by faith, Heb. 11).
   
2. 1,000 years prior, we are in the midst of Adam’s life. We don’t know specifically when the fall occurred, but if the 1,000 years are exact (which we admittedly cannot prove) then Adam was in his 40s around the time of the fall.
   

The above image is the result of our hours of study (and that is the short version). It is remarkable to us that there are such momentous events at the beginning/end of each millennium. We accept that God is sovereign over time as much as He is sovereign over everything else, and these events do not fall almost exactly every 1,000 years by coincidence. 

The Church Age

Our spreadsheet above only shows the first four days of history (4,000 years), but it does not show the last two days (2,000 years) man has lived through. These last two days cover from Christ’s ascension in 33 A.D. to His return. Are there special events worth noting in the last 2,000 years that fit this pattern?

Well, it seems that our age, the Church Age, is different. It began with Christ’s atonement and it will go until His return but there is no significant event around year 1033 AD. Instead the Church Age is split into seven distinct periods of its own which are explained to us in the first three chapters of Revelation in the form of letters to the seven churches. We will have an overview article explaining why these letters to the seven churches are both messages to the historic churches and also representative of seven periods over the last 2,000 years. We will also have deeper, individual studies for each church because they are rich in detail and historic significance. I will note here, however, that the church of Laodicea, the last of the seven, very closely describes the church of our time. Feel free to spoil the study by reading ahead.

The Millennial Reign

The last 1,000 years of human history begins with Christ’s second coming, the resurrection and the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-16), the binding of Satan for 1,000 years (Rev. 20:2) and Christ’s reigning on earth with the Bride (Rev. 20:4). We will have a study specifically over the millennial reign of Christ, and we will defend our literal understanding of it versus opposing views.

What does this mean for us?

Well, to put it pretty bluntly, we don’t have much time left before Christ’s return. If history is going to play out over seven millenniums then we are on the cusp of the Sabbath millennium, which also means we are fast approaching the event that marks the end of our age, the Great Tribulation.

While Christ does say that no man knows the day or the hour of His return (it says nothing of not knowing the month or year), He does also state that we can see the signs of the time and understand the events taking place just like we can understand the changing of the seasons based on the changes of the leaves on a tree. The signs point to His imminent return. This will become even clearer as we progress through our look at eschatology.

We know that God established the times and boundaries for every kingdom so that men might seek Him (Acts 17:26-27). We also know that Christ tells the apostles that God the Father has fixed by His own authority the times or epochs of our world, though that mystery was not for the apostles to know (Acts 1:7). Finally, we see Paul say the following:

1 Thessalonians 5

Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day.

He says to the Thessalonians that He doesn’t need to instruct them regarding the times and epochs (epoch = kairos meaning the appropriate, opportune, or seasonal time; indicating a culmination). The truth is they are all aware the judgment of the Lord will come about swiftly upon a people who are unprepared. The unrepentant will have destruction come upon them suddenly, like labor pains, which Jesus tells us is the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:8). However, Paul reassures the Church that time will not be like a thief to those of us in the light, those of us who believe by faith. By faith we will recognize what is happening, and we will be prepared.  

We are very much like the ten virgins of the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 24:1-13), or the servants of the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 24:14-30). Our betrothed, our master, has been gone for some time but we are to wait vigilantly. We have work to do while He is gone and it is unwise for us to be caught off guard by His return. Let this motivate you to acting upon your faith.