The seven day theory or seven thousand years from creation theory

The seven day model of creation leads many to believe that there will be a millennial week of seven days (seven thousand years) from Adam until the end of the seventh millennial reign that exists under the rule of Jesus Christ.

The earth was created in six days according to the scripture. There are two places in scripture that say a day with the Lord is as a thousand years. Scripture also says that there still remains a day of rest for God's people. Further, we have been told that God rested on the seventh day and likewise He promised a day of rest for His people. This rest will occur under the rule of Jesus when He returns and sets up the promised kingdom on earth for one thousand years. We are told six times in Revelation that this reign on earth will last a thousand years.

After the thousand years Jesus will offer up the kingdom to the Father and Satan will be released out of his prison to deceive the world one last time. Satan will then be cast into the Lake of Fire and a new heaven and earth without sin, death or the curse will be created for man to dwell in for eternity. The seven day theory is based on this thousand year week model that has 7000 years from creation or from Adam until creation goes into eternity (some believers say 7000 years from creation and others say 7000 years from Adam).

Are there any problems with this dating?

Scholars have disagreement on the amount of time that passed since Adam and also on the date of the flood.

Some are dogmatic about the dating from Adam using only the Masoretic text of the Old Testament. By their count (using Bishop Usher's chronology), six thousand years from Adam would have occurred in 1996 AD because Bishop Usher determined that Jesus was born 4000 years from Adam in 4 BC. However, Bishop Usher's dating assuptions may not be totally accurate. Some ancient texts require Terah to be 130 when Abram was born and not the 70 assumed by Usher in his chronology. This reference explains the dating problem. If true, that one error would make Usher's dating off by 60 years. There can be other chronology problems as well.

After not not seeing the seventh millennium with the rule of Christ in 1996 AD, I am inclined to believe that Bishop Usher's dating from Adam is in error. It is my opinion that if the seven day theory is true, the fourth day since Adam should have ended when Jesus was cut-off around 33 AD and not when He was born. The seventh day Sabbath reign would then begin 2000 years after the Lord was cut-off or about 2033 AD.

In other words, since the death of Jesus we have been in the three last days of the biblical week. Scripture statements seem to support that we have been in the last days ever since Jesus died. After Jesus died, there are two one thousand years days of grace (the age of grace) for the Gentiles followed by the Sabbath day millennial reign by the Jewish Messiah. There will be a millennial rest for the earth when the Jewish Messiah rules the world with a rod of iron from Jerusalem.

Experts differ on the date and the year that Jesus actually was crucified. Good arguments exist on dates from 30 to 35 AD. If Jesus comes back to rule in the start of the Sabbath 7th day, and the thousand year day can be taken literally, than that would indicate that Jesus will come back to set up His kingdom between 2030-2035 AD.

Keep in mind that the Rapture of the Church would be prior to this date. Scripture makes it clear that the Church goes to be with Christ prior to the Antichrist and prior to the book of Revelation judgments of God. The Church returns with Christ to start the Sabbath day of rest. Most premillennial Bible prophecy teachers would put the Rapture of the Church at least seven years sooner than the actually second coming of Jesus to set up His earthly Kingdom. For various reasons of my own that I talk about in my Revelation commentary, I think the Rapture is more than ten years from the coming of Jesus in Glory.

Some insist that the dating given in the Old Testament had generation gaps that were perfectly allowable in Hebrew writing. Some proof that they use for this theory is the dating and genealogy given by the Jewish historian Josephus and the dating and genealogy given in the Septuagint (the Hebrew scriptures translated into Greek approximately 300 BC by seventy chosen Hebrew leaders). The Septuagint indicates Adam was created about 1,500 years before the date given by Bishop Usher. The Septuagint was actually translated 800 years earlier than the Masoretic text version of the Hebrew scriptures from which we get the Old Testament. The Septuagint is a good translation into Greek of the way the seventy elders understood the Hebrew texts in 300 BC. That should carry some weight since they were much closer to the Hebrew and Greek languages of their time. On the other hand, the Septuagint is a translation and exact translations are impossible. Ancient text scholars using ancient documents such as the "Dead Sea Scrolls" claim that the Masoretic text has some minor differences with more ancient Hebrew texts found. Therefore, there is the possibility of minor error in the Masoretic text that is used by many modern Bible. This can be a problem when trying to figure out exact dating and geneologies.

It appears that the Septuagint was either quoted by Jesus or that He understood the Hebrew scriptures in much the same way as those who wrote the Septuagint. If creation was almost 1,500 years earlier than Usher's chronology as the Septuagint indicates. The early dating might be considered. Calendar changes might have occurred that introduced error. Earth upheavals and time abnormalities recorded in the scriptures might explain the differences in the records. The Septuagint writers might have had better understanding of the amount of time since creation from records no longer available to us. The Septuagint and the ancient historian Josephus, have the flood several hundred years before Bishop Usher's chronology. Perhaps we should put more weight on these ancient texts then on Usher's chronology or even by our own counting of the years using our incomplete understanding of God's dating system. An earlier dating of the flood would dispel archeological dating criticisms that indicate that there are known civilizations prior to Ushers late date for the worldwide flood.

Having said all that, It seems to me that if a day is a thousand years with God then the only reliable dating is from when Jesus announced the acceptable year of the Lord when he started his 3.5 year ministry on earth (Lu 4:19). That can also be called the age of grace because we see in Isa 61:2 that what follows the acceptable year of the Lord that Jesus quoted is the Day of Vengeance of our God. The day of Vengeance happens to be a 42 month period right before Jesus returns to set up His millennial Sabbath day of rest for the earth.

Ages

Even the heavens proclaim God's plan and timetable. A zodiac age is approximately 2,000 years.

Jesus said He would be with His Church through the indwelling Holy Spirit until the end of the age (at which point He would come to take His Church to heaven). Jesus did not say "ages" although Jesus does speaks of a future age to come in another passage. Thus, we know Jesus was talking about coming at the end of this present age - not some distant future one.

Signs of the time

Jesus was raised from the dead early on the third day. The spiritual body of Christ is also likely to be raised early on her third day. (A day is as a thousand years so the Church would be taken to heaven shortly after 2030 AD if one uses modern solar years or anytime after 2004 AD if one uses the 360 day biblical year)

I do not believe we can be dogmatic about an exact thousand year seven day theory or the accuracy of ancient calendars but the theories and timing I present fit the scenario that most of the generation that is living today are likely to see Bible prophecy fulfilled within their life span. From what I know, I think two days from the Lord's death around 33 AD is the most logical time to expect the Lord to return to set up His seventh day millennial reign.

Selected References:

The next article is on subtle signs in scripture

Back to world current events index

The Prophetic Years | Bible prophecy and end time worldviews