The seven day week one-thousand year model is mention by a number of ancient writers it is not a new concept. However, without more knowledge it proves impossible to precisely date how long the Adamic race has been on the earth even through many people have tried. Bishop Usher figured that creation was in 4004 BC. Dr. Ken Johnson believes it could be as late as 3925BC. Most other Bible believing dating scholars fall somewhere between those two dates. Whatever the case about the exact timing, the seventh millennium is due to begin in the first half of the 21st century.
This dating is important for those that study Bible prophecy because the scriptures has types, shadows and clues that suggest that the reign of the Lord’s kingdom on earth will begin after the six days of 1000 years are completed. In the year 6001 the thousand-year Sabbath reign of Jesus starts.
The Bible is full of cyclical time periods so it only stands to reason that God would also use a week of years to fulfill the redemption plan of humankind. As the Bible says, a day with the Lord is as a thousand years. God told Noah that His spirit would strive with man for only 120 time periods. I think that is talking about 120 time periods of fifty years (Jubilees). On the seventh day God pours out His spirit on all flesh that remains on earth.
We cannot precisely determine when the week of 7000 years started because we have to backdate and there are many unknowns. For example is the week to be dated from creation or from Adam’s fall into sin? I believe the dating actually should be from the fall because until Adam sinned no redemption plan could be implemented. If that is correct, how old was Adam when he was expelled from the garden? The Bible does not say. Adam obviously spent some time in the garden before he sinned. He tended the garden, walked with God, named all the animals and time was taken to make Adam a woman.
The dating can be thrown off by many things. We know Bishop Usher’s dating is probably off by 60 years because his timeline has Terah being 70 years old when Abraham was born. That seems not to be the case, Terah was probably 130 years old. The reasonable argument for 130 years can be found on this webpage. If that is true, 60 years gets added to Usher’s timeline since creation. Instead of the sixth day ending in 1996 AD, it would end in 2056 AD, getting in more agreement with the Dr. Johnson’s timeline.
There are many dating issues. We do not know how portions of years are counted in the Bible genealogies. Fractions of years could add up to over a decade over the many generations. There also are known co-reigns and possibly unknown co-reigns. Overlapping reigns could produce double counting. Do we use the Enoch/Essene calendar, the Rabbic calendar or the solar calendar? Were the years always the same length or did they change because of earth and planetary interactions? There are many issues, In fact, all these issues throws attempts at dating enough off that I think we would be much better off taking a New Testament approach to the dating.
Regardless of calendars, Jesus came right on God’s schedule. Believing Gentiles have now had the Messiah for almost two days or 2000 years. In Acts 2, Peter said that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy about what would occur in the last days. Hebrews 1:2 also said believers were already in the last days. It has been almost 2000 years since these scriptures were written. The last days mentioned in the New Testament are obviously the last days of the biblical week of years and not literal last days. Peter and the writer of Hebrews were saying that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit found in the believing Church is being fulfilled in the last days of the biblical week of years.
Therefore, if the last days with the fifth day started as soon as the Lord started His ministry around 27-28 AD or as late as Pentecost 32-33 AD. Add two days of one-thousand years to complete last days 5 and 6. The start of the seventh millennium then would be due to begin between 2028 and 2034 AD.
Further complicating the issue is that we do not know if part or all of the last seven years for Israel would be in the sixth millennium or in the start of the seventh. I suspect that the thousand reign of the Lord actually begins when Revelation says the world is given to the Lord (Rev 11:15). The seventh millennium starts with the Day of the Lord. This day occurs right after Satan and His angels are booted out of heaven. It occurs in the midst of the final seven years. In other words, the first half of the tribulation is in the sixth millennium but the second half could be in the seventh millennium.
That conjecture seems reasonable to me because God always sends His prophets to give people a chance to repent before He sends judgment. If the world had accepted the message of God’s two witnesses proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, they would have accepted Jesus as Messiah and gone into the thousand-year Kingdom. Because they rejected the message, killed the prophets and received the Antichrist, they will now receive God’s wrath. The earth will be cleansed of all the enemies of the Lord and His kingdom.
Knowing this does not change the dating since the fall of Adam. However, we might keep in mind that only 3.5 years of the tribulation may be in the six thousand years. In other words, my 2028AD to 2034AD dating conjecture is until the mid point of the tribulation. That would make the start of the tribulation between 2024AD and 2031AD with the Rapture of the Church being even sooner.
Some want to make the tribulation as late as the 2050’s or 2060’s but I do not see it. World signs of the times point to a much earlier date. The time clock for Bible prophecy fulfillment is Israel. Israel is a state again and God is bringing back the Jews to fulfill what He said would happen to them. The unique alignment of nations we now see taking place around Israel is a fulfillment of scripture. The whole world is now focused on forcing a peace deal between Israel and the enemies surrounding Israel.
This alignment is just as Bible prophecy indicates would happen before all hell breaks loose. Those denying the stage setting are blind to the prophetic scriptures. With 200,000 missiles now pointed at Israel from surrounding enemies, there will either be a forced peace deal very soon or there will be a world war. It actually will be both.
The signs of the time are everywhere. Leaders of the world are focused on globalization by 2030 and setting up fascist like control over everyone on earth. The 5G grid of the 2020’s allows for the Beast buy/sell system. Russia has modernized its military and is about ready to fulfill the Ezekiel prophecy. China and other eastern nations have modernized and are building up their military and are well on their way to fulfill the prophecy about the invasion from the kings of the East.
Religious leaders like the Pope and leaders in Islam are trying to form a harlot world religion. True Christianity is under attack everywhere and paganism is rapidly rising all over the world. Even science has been totally corrupted. They just make things up as they go along. Science denies the God of creation. So called “intellectuals” are set on corrupting everything God made including changing sexes and the programing (DNA) of human beings. Humans are being replaced with soulless cyborgs that have no God given conscience to guide them from doing evil. God has to intervene soon or there will be nothing human alive for Jesus to save at His return. That really is Satan’s objective.
The seventh millennium given to the Lord will start right on schedule in the 21st century, but most people living today will die before it starts because they will refuse to believe God. They will die in their sins while believing the lie that humans are evolving and becoming more enlightened.
WOW!, Great article Don.
I never thought about the Mid Point of the Tribulation being the 7th day marker. If we figure the GAP to be at minimum 3.5 years (to allow for the 7 yr Magog burning of weapons timing up to the mid point of the Tribulation) the Rapture could happen anywhere from 2021 onwards. 🙂
I didn’t find anything concrete in Dr Johnsons 2075 timing, even after lastnights’ Q&A. Although the Rapture could happen anytime, and Dr Johnson admits that, I found the whole concept of 2075 AD to be depressing.
Hi Mike,
The seven year burning of the weapons has nothing to do with the timing of the Rapture. The Rapture could happen anytime.
Dr. Johnson derives his early dating from questionable sources. Experts are all over the board on the dating of creation so I think it would be wiser to agree with Paul and the writer of Hebrews. They suggest that we have been in the last days of the 7000 year week since at least Pentecost. Two thousand years after that we will have arrived to the seventh day rest in the Lord.
Hi Don,
I meant to say that if the beginning of the 7 year tribulation is 2024, and we assume a Gap period of 3.5 years we would arrive around 2021 for the Rapture event (or sooner of course).
If we assume we are not here for the Magog invasion, and assume the 7 year burning of weapons ends at the Tribulation midpoint, then it points to the Rapture at least happening 3.5 yrs prior to the final 7 years was my thinking – of course the Rapture could happen today and the Magog war could still be 5-10 years off.
This is the first time i have heard of the Mid Tribulation point being the beginning of Day 7.
Don,
Another great article! Looks like you have settled into an every other Friday post and I always look forward to it. I was one of those who got a little hyped up back in Sept. of 2017. Here we are coming up on two years later. I hope we are just a year or two away from the Rapture. Heck, really, I wish it was a day or two! I think we are close and so many things are happening prophetically in regards to Israel. But it truly feels like God has hidden everything in plain sight. It could easily be 1 day or 10 years away. But I don’t think it will be much more than 10 years before he comes for his Bride. Admittedly, 10 years seems like a lonnnggg slog…but we need to occupy.
Don,
If, horror of horrors, the Democrats gain total control of the government, do you think they would abandon Israel given their hatred of Israel and the Jews? If something like that were to happen, could that be a possible reason the U.S. would be removed from the world stage as God most likely would completely remove his hand of protection from us?
Hi Adriana,
I think it more likely that we could be judged for our own abominations before the tribulation.
I think the whole world turns against Israel but much of that happens after the Rapture of the Church. This will occur because the two witnesses who proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom and bring judgments on the earth as often as they please are really going to make the nations angry.
I too believe the 7,000 year model of the first Christians. That means 6 days ruling by God and then 1 day of ruling by Jesus – the 1,000 year period we call the Millennial Reign (of Jesus being on earth and actually ruling all of it as a King).
The biggest point most moderns miss when looking at this situation comes about from using the Ussher (published in 1650 AD) dating system of using the Masoretic Text – setting creation in 4004 BC.
The original Christians would have all dismissed the Ussher system as wrong because their OT text was from the LXX (Septuagint text). Many of them had a wide variety of dates. At the outer ranges: Clement of Alexandria had creation at 5592 BC; the Orthodox church still has a 5509 BC creation (since the mid 7th century); Jerome in 380 AD said 5199 BC. My own research shows a creation date of 5285 BC (and to explain all of this in detail requires a book, which I am writing).
I still believe the 6,000 years from SOME EVENT until the 1,000 years of Christ’s reign is still valid. It is just that we have no way of anchoring that specific 6,000 years to the Bible.
But I also see the second anchor event. This being the 2,000 years from the time of Christ until His reign. This is very viable anchor as Peter himself proclaimed that he was in the “last days” (meaning being in the last two thousand years) at the first Pentecost. My timeline shows that Jesus was crucified in 30 AD (on 14 Nisan)so Peter was speaking in 30 AD. Makes for a rapture before 2030 AD very likely.
This could be a few years earlier than Don’s most likely period – but as things are so rapidly unwinding in our world today – this a very reasonable Biblical position.
Maranatha!
Good blog Don. I find such thoughts interesting but have never worried too much about the 7000 years. It may be true, but we need to watch for Christ’s return regardless of timing criteria. I look to places like 2 Tim 3 for one real indication of the signs of the last days. This blog concerns end times depravity, 2 Tim 3 has a lot of detail of the end times depravity. We are there and IMO beyond there. Only God’s mercy to allow maybe one more person to come to salvation seems to be the reason he has waited. I am very thankful that he waited for me. There are, of course, a multitude of signs of the times in other parts of the Bible that you and others list much more eloquently than I can, but because they do seem so clear, the 7000 years has not seemed the most important indicator.
I do like verse 7 of 2 Tim 3 though (as a retired engineer) I have known and discussed these issues with PhD co workers. 7. “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
That verse sums up how so many people are these days. I like how Rabbi Dennis Prager describes this in his “Rational Bible”. He plans five books, one for each book of the Torah, I have read his first on Exodus and have started his second on Genesis, which was just released. But he describes that we place our education on knowledge, not wisdom.
Anyway thank you Don.
Phil
another great article don,
There is good indication that Dr. Johnson is wrong because we have the peace deal of the century that’s about to be revealed and the antichrist is going to confirm it.I think this might be the start of the major peace deals that are coming out and this deal might be ratified couple more times or changed but im not going to believe that this deal is gonna drag itself to 2070 and then be confirmed, its gonna happen much sooner than that just because of all the other signs pointing that we are much closer to the end as don pointed out.
I used 3 BC as a starting point because of the evidence I found of that being Jesus’ birth year. (It could be off a year.) Follow it through and it falls into the same timeline that Don and Fount have.
I know things are picking up momentum but I’m still wondering if 2023 for the start of the tribulation is enough time to fulfill everything that’s prophesied to happen. I guess there are overlapping events?
Always look forward to the new blogs. What an exciting time to be living. I wish more Christians could realize it.
I enjoy watching Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin I’ve been learning a lot over the past 6 months or so.
Apparently in the Hebrew Adam actually named the women ‘wife’ this part is always mistranslated according to Daniel Lapin he reads it straight from the Hebrew. It’s closely related though. Wife Woman
http://www.tct.tv/watch-tct/on-demand-ajw
Go to 4th video down from the top labeled ‘identity’ then directly to 3:15 mark on video.
5,776 years since the first time God’s sovereignty was accepted by Adam and that is when Adam had first spoken a word once he was created.
..go 6 video’s down from the top directly to 19:30 in video.
This was an excellent article Don things are ramping up I agree with you I don’t know how 5776 plays into all this but do we know when Adam was kicked out of the garden? You did address that I see.
Hi Bill,
I believe the Rabbis corrupted the dating since creation so I would not go with the Jewish Year.
The Church age was inserted into the Jewish prophetic timeline. I doubt if Daniel’s seventieth week has any bearing on the length of the Church so if the Church age is 2 x 1000 years it will end 2000 years from the Pentecost of its inception… AD ??
Playing devils advocate here. If the 2030s come and go uneventfully what do y’all think we may have missed?
Hi Jim,
You will have missed the 2020’s.
Brian
Great point that we may have a 2 day or 2,000 year marker starting from the birth of the Christian church.
The question then becomes, when did the Christian church really start? Did it start at where most folks say – at Pentecost when 3,000 were added to their number? Added to what number? The people who were already in the Christian church. There were many – 120 were there to go to the Pentecost event. So, was it when Jesus called His first disciple years before? I believe it most likely when Jesus Himself was baptized in the Jordan River. So, the end of the 2,000 years may be earlier than most believe!
Maranatha!
Jim
We are 20.62 years away from the end of the 2030s. If we (well maybe some of us in this forum) are still alive after all that amount of time then I think we will have missed one very major thing in our projections that Jesus would have come before then… That one thing is our current understanding of God’s mercy upon us… a major part of which is Jesus’ promise to cut those days short for the sake of the elect.
The current trajectories all show: China rising; Russia rising; Islam rising; Socialism rising; Atheism rising; Radical Liberalism rising; huge government rising; the ability of computers (including social networks) to remove us from influencing the rest of the world rising; weapons technology rising; remote monitoring ability (both governmental & private parties) rising; New Age beliefs rising; cultural (non-born again) Christian rising; immoral behavior rising; drug use and abuse rising… this list truly goes on.
Soooo, if we have to live through 20+ more years UNDER these negative yet upward trends then what we have missed is our current understand of God. At January 1, 2040 we will have to confess that our old picture of the mercy of God is not as merciful as we thought back on May 17, 2019. May this not come to pass!
I can’t find a good reason why God’s 7000 year plan of mankind is not true. It just makes alot of sense. I get there are dating innacuracies but as Don as pointed out before the end of the fourth day was likely at the cross and resurrection. That puts a very narrow window for the 2nd coming. If we are still here in the 2030s then the 7000 year timeline is false, or there are time discrepancies over the last two millennia we never accounted for.
Here’s my 2 cents guy’s
Serve the Lord obedient as you can w/ the guidance of the Holy Spirit hope for that Day look for His Coming on a daily bases and make plans to live your life as fruitful as u can by setting goals small & big achieve the smaller one’s that get you closer to the bigger one’s.
The rapture will happen when we least expect it in the meantime I got work to do.
Good day boy’s
As for the rebuilding of Babylon, I see no requirements in the scripture that it has to be on the original foundations. It seems the only requirement is that it be in the plain of Shinar. That area is actually a vast location spanning northern to southern Iraq. Hillah, Basrah, and Baghdad are all large cities of the plain. Perhaps one of these places could be renamed New Babylon.
Hi Jim,
One military power may take over the whole Assyrian and Babylon empires area. Even so, because of the Zec 5:11 passage I do believe the Antichrist will move his headquarters to the original Babylon site. Should one power take over these areas the rebuilding of Babylon may become a major priority in response to the Saudi Arabian building of Neom.
Also keep in mind that Babel is the foundation of ancient paganism. After Satan and his angels are booted out of the heavens, the fallen angels may once again appear at that site to pose as demigods or as much superior aliens.
Hello,
I have been a member of a strong Bible teaching church for 50 years now. It is premillennial, teaches Revelation and Daniel in detail
verse by verse, acknowledges the 7 year tribulation period and the rapture of the church before that. While I believe there is a lot of truth in God’s 7000 year plan, my church has never mentioned it; I have not read of any of the major prophetic teachers except you bringing up this 7000 year plan. All my church friends never heard of it. Why is this 7000 year plan seldom brought up even in strong Bible teaching churches? Are the pastors afraid of being “too far out?”
Hi Del,
Yeah, For various reasons most of them believe that creation was longer ago than 6000 years. The theory does not hold water if that is true. They also think nobody can know the time of the second coming. That is true of the Rapture but things pertaining to Israel have been fulfilled right on schedule. This also is not specially taught in the New Testament you have to see it in types and shadows in the Old Testament. It also is taught in the ancient non canonical books but most are not aware that it is taught or else they are afraid to go there.
Don,
Well on that case Hillah is almost bordering ancient Babylon. In a few more years the city could grow to encompass the region. Maybe then it could be renamed Babylon. Makes more sense than to build a new city out of the desert in 10 or 15 so years
Excellent commentary and very thought provoking discussions. Love this particular topic regarding timing.
Pete
Hi Jim,
The province Hillah is located in is named Babylon.
Del, neither you nor your church has ever seen a Clarence Larkin book? I find that hard to believe.
http://clarencelarkincharts.com/Clarence_Larkin_5.html
Del
Look into what was called “Chiliasm” – this was the earliest Christians believing the 1,000 reign of Christ in the book of Revelation would come true in the real world.
The Epistle of Barnabus was written (probably from Alexandria) between 70 and 135 AD (probably around 100 AD). It was printed in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus, right behind the NT so it was highly regarded book in those days.
In chapter 15 Barnabus said the 6,000 years of creation matched the 6 days of creation because, quoting Peter from the Bible “a day is like a thousand years).
My original research shows something amazing about this prophecy in this time frame.
St. Augustine of Hippo (North Africa) was a Chiliast until around 408 AD. Why? Because using the LXX Clement of Alexandria had said creation occurred in 5592 BC. The year 408 AD was thus the 6,000 year and the end of the world. When this did not happen, Augustine felt that the calendar couldn’t be wrong & the prophecy couldn’t be wrong & the words of the Bible couldn’t be wrong. So what did he come up with? In 426 AD he published “City of God” in which he turned Revelation into an allegorical writing – thus keeping the failed prophecies “correct”. But leading so many millions (billions) of Christians down the wrong pathway for over almost 1,600 years.
As usual, Don is also correct about his observations about modern non-implementation of this prophecy.
Maranatha!
Dear Neil & Fount: No,I never heard of a Clarence Larkin book. Our sound words library at our church is just that – books comprised of SOUND words. We have books with beautiful graphics of Daniel and Revelation. Everything is carefully vetted that comes into our library – all premillennial authors. For example, We carry books by John Macarthur, Ray Stedman, Thomas Ice, John Walvoord, et cetera. Our senior pastor is also in his 50th year and his own personal library consists of some 4000 books, but he has never brought up the 7000 year theory, never even mentioned it. Have a good day.
This John MacArthur?
https://youtu.be/iU3tjRq6tX4
Neil – no, not that John MacArthur, the one I knew back in the 1980’s who wrote several good commentaries on the New Testament books. He’s past 80 now, and it is sad concerning some of the statements he makes.
Del: Here’s a good scripture that fits into the 7,000 year theory:
Hosea 6:2 KJV
[2] After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Don: Thanks again for a great article and forum for bible centered discussion amongst brethren.
the two days are almost up so anytime now shall we be in his presence..
Hi Neil,
I recognize that many 7000 year theorists like the “fit” of
Hosea 6:2. However exegetically, most Bible scholars take it to
mean the quickness of the healing and restoration of Israel.
Hi Front,
Thank you for your comments. Indeed, the epistle of Barnabas is
a very interesting non-canonical book. But being not part of the
Scriptures, I am reminded of a verse from a hymn, “all other ground is sinking sand.” Would you claim the proof of the 7000 year theory
based entirely on the epistle of Barnabas? Have a good day.
Hi Del,
The epistle of Barnabas is not the only ancient source for the 7000 year theory. There are many sources.
Im not sure what the starting point of Hosea 6:2 would be. Would it be at the Death of Christ? 70 A.D.? Or sometime earlier in the OT? I would think he would be referring to sometime in the first century A.D. If he was referring to the contemporary time he was alive around 750bc then the 3rd day would begin in 1700s and end in the 28th century. That’s a huge window for the start of the millenium and wouldn’t do us any good for dating purposes.
A picture of the last two thousand years?
John 4:40 KJV
[40] So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
Del,
If you have read all of my comments on this thread you will see that while I think the earliest Christians were on to something, the 7,000 year period has NO BEGINNING ANCHOR. Thus with no beginning date – it can be made to say anything as to an ending date.
One subset of that theory could be the Hosea 6:2 – giving us two thousand years from Christ and then being raised up as the the third thousand years begins. That puts this time frame as starting between 5 BC and 30 AD (how I date Jesus’ life on earth the first time) and ending between 2005 and 2030 AD. Do you not think this is a reasonable range?
Yes, Don is correct in saying that Barnabas is not the only ancient source – he is just the first one I read (quite a few years ago) of many.
As to the sinking sand. You mentioned your pastor has some 4,000 books in his library. Would that be 4,000 different Bibles or Bibles and some large number of sinking sand books. I can’t believe that there are NO Christian commentators that don’t interpret the words of the Bible correctly. Certainly would make the Holy Spirit seem ineffectual if that were true. So, I know you agree with me – so also consider “sinking sand” as a blanket argument to be a weak argument.
Maranatha!
Fount,
Hosea seems to be possibly referring to two different times. Hoses 5:15 is clearly talking about the time between the resurrection and 2nd coming.
Hoses 6:2 seems like it’s referring to the jews at the end of the tribulation as in a literal 3 days from Israel’s national repentance and petition for the Messiah to His return. Maybe they are both true.
Jim,
Hosea wrote mostly of the fall of the northern empire – Israel or Ephraim. When he wrote chapter 5, God was showing Hosea what was to befall Ephraim… and what came to pass in 723 BC (during Hosea’s lifetime). But, Hosea also said in 5:14 that God said He would tear them (Epharim & Judah) to pieces and carry them off (Judah got this treatment in 586 BC).
In 6 they (Ephraim & Judah) are to return to the LORD and he will heal us and revive us after two days and on the third day He will raise us up so we can live in His presence. The teaching of Peter says a day is as a 1,000 years, so…
723 BC – first day – 278 AD – second day – 1278 AD (after this)
to
586 BC – first day – 415 AD – second day – 1415 AD (after this)
Were the Jews revived after the 1278 AD to 1415 AD time frame? Yes!
On (during) the third day:
1278 AD… during the third day – before 2278 AD
to
1415 AD… during the third day – before 2415 AD.
What I believe God is saying here is that He will raise up His faithful Jewish followers so they can live in His presence between:
1278 AD to 1415 AD AND 2278 AD to 2415 AD. Does not help us much in pulling down a more specific date but it does tell us today that this prophecy was not for the ancients but was for us living in their far future.
One of the more interesting gems of this interpretation is that Israel/Judah would be revived BEFORE they would be raised up. Only since 1948 has this been true…
Maranatha!
Dear Don, could it be that the 6,000 years will be completed in 2070, exactly 2,000 years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD? So Isaac Newton would be close with his theory that the end will come shortly after 2060, and that would also fit with your theory from your table regarding 2075 (The ten 700 year weeks of humanity found in the book of Enoch in the “Apocalypse of Weeks “.)God bless.
Hi Neno,
It is not my theory. That is Dr. Ken Johnson’s premise among some others and it is partly based on their interpretation of Enoch and other non biblical writings. I do not agree with it or Johnson’s 3075 BC dating of creation. I do not think we have that much time.
Now, if there is a total world reset where billions of people get killed and powerful nations have to basically start over I might be more inclined to believe in the 6000 years since creation being that far in the future. As things stand now I see no way the world can keep from destroying itself that long.
I forgot we had this conversation last year. So much good information on these blogs we don’t see in the feed anymore. Im sort of leaning toward the last 7 years starting 2030-2035 and ending 2037-2042 instead. Im just going to believe Hillah will be renamed babylon and greatly expanded and modernized.