Bible Baptist Publications

God’s 7,000 Year Plan

Booklet, 25 pages

Copyright © 2010 James L. Melton

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            “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.”  (II Pet. 3:8)

            Most Christians in Bible-believing circles are probably familiar with the idea that God has a 7,000 year plan that corresponds to the original creation week of seven days, but I have found that most are not familiar with the many portions of Scripture that support this doctrine.  They’re familiar with II Peter 3:8, and they’re familiar with maybe one or two other verses, and that’s about it.  But that should not be about it.  If God has a 7,000 year plan, then this is major stuff (especially since we are approaching the second coming and the millennium!), and we should be familiar with many verses of Scripture that support the doctrine.  If you will read through this material carefully and prayerfully, you will become very familiar with this great truth, and you will be able to effectively communicate it to others.

            Now, our opening text says that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.  In a general sense, the verse is simply saying that time is irrelevant to God.  What seems like a lot of time to us is really very little time to God, since He is eternal.  Anyone can see that the verse teaches that by merely observing its context, which is the second coming.  Though it seems to be taking the Lord forever to get around to sending His Son back to rule the earth, it really has been only a couple days (in God’s timing) since He left.  But that’s only the general teaching.  There is also a very specific doctrine to be gleaned from the verse.

            The verse does not say that a day is with the Lord as thousands of years (plural), ten thousands of years, or millions of years.  It specifically states that “one day” is with the Lord as “a thousand years.”  To the serious student of Scripture, such specific terminology mandates a closer look at the subject.  If the Bible says nothing more of the matter, then the verse should be understood in the general sense only and not pressed for any additional meaning.  However, if other portions of Scripture show support for a 7,000 year plan, then II Peter 3:8 should be understood in that context as well.  As we are about to see, other portions of Scripture show much support for a 7,000 year plan, and the lateness of the hour makes this truth more relevant today than at any time in human history.

The Six Days of Creation

            Alright, let’s begin with the creative week in Genesis.  We read in Genesis 1:31, “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.”   So, in six literal days the earth was created and populated with all its life forms.  The fact that many have forsaken this truth for such fallacies as the day-age theory (in order to allow a convenient time frame for Darwin’s theory of evolution) doesn’t disannul the fact that the word of God teaches clearly and only a literal six day week of creation.  Exodus 20:11 says, “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”  The Scriptures are very clear about the matter: the earth was created and populated in six literal days. 

The Sabbath Principle

            Then we are told that God “rested” on the seventh day:  “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.”  But we aren’t told this in Genesis chapter one, the chapter that tells of the creation week.  God saves the seventh day information until chapter two (2:2).  By doing this, He not only told us that the seventh day was special and different from the other six; He also illustrated it by placing it in a different chapter.  As we shall see in this study, this 6/1 division is not unusual in the Scriptures, as it reflects God’s plan of 6,000 years for man to rule the earth and a final 1,000 year Sabbath in which Christ Himself shall rule.

            The number six is the number of imperfect man (the ultimate imperfect man being Mr. 666, the antichrist; Revelation 13:18).  God’s number is the perfect number seven, a number that occurs well over four hundred times in the Bible (the number six occurs only 202 times).  The number seven is found fifty-four times in the book of Revelation alone, mainly because Revelation is the book that ushers in God’s seventh day Sabbath rest for the earth and its inhabitants (the number six occurs only four times in Revelation).

            So, the original creation week of seven days foreshadows God’s prophetic plan, a seven thousand year plan (six days in God’s eyes) with the final thousand years being a holy Sabbath for planet earth and its inhabitants.

            The fact that God established a Sabbath day at the end of the standard week is not foreign to most people, but most do not realize that God has more than one Sabbath.  The weekly Sabbath, the seventh day of the week under the law of Moses, was clearly one Sabbath, but there are other Sabbaths as well.  In fact, one could probably understand the Sabbath better in the context of a principle rather than a particular day.  For example, God expressed disappointment in Leviticus 26:34 over the fact that the Israelites would neglect to observe her land Sabbaths:  “Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.”  This was not a seventh day Sabbath, bur rather a seventh year Sabbath.  There are also jubilees in the Bible that are based on forty-nine year cycles (seven times seven), and there are designated 490 year time periods in the Bible (seventy times seven).  The day of Pentecost always fell under the Sabbath principle since it always occurred immediately after the seven weeks following Passover.  Of all the months on the Hebrew calendar, it was the seventh month that was most sacred (Lev. 23:33-36).  We even learn from Daniel chapter nine that Christ will not return until after the completion of Daniel’s seventieth week (Dan. 9:24-27), and it is after the seventh church period that the church age comes to an end in Revelation chapter three.  We’ll see more examples of God’s Sabbath principle as this study continues, but please understand, for now, that these facts have been in the Bible for thousands of years.  We are merely attempting to show how they also serve as brush strokes that paint a much larger picture.

A Neglected Doctrine

            The idea that God has a 7,000 year plan is not a new one.  In fact, it has been around for many centuries.  The Epistle of Barnabas taught it in the first century A.D. by stating that “in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished . . . This meaneth: when His Son, coming [again], shall destroy the time of the wicked man, and judge the ungodly, and change the-sun, and the moon, and the stars, then shall He truly rest on the seventh day.”  (Epistle of Barnabas, XV verses 4-6)   Irenaeus taught it in the second century, Commodianus in the third century, and in the fourth century Lactantius wrote that “the world must continue in its present state through six ages, that is, six thousand years . . . at the end of the six thousandth year all wickedness must be abolished from the earth, and righteousness reign for a thousand years…” (The Epitome of the Divine Institutes, Chapter 70)

            We quote such authors because we believe they understood what the Bible had taught all along about God’s prophetic plan and that these truths have been neglected for centuries by most scholars and commentators, largely because it was a seemingly insignificant doctrine centuries ago and it is a negative and uncomfortable doctrine to many today.  Our position is that a Bible doctrine is a Bible doctrine, regardless of what people think of it, and it should be taught.

There Remaineth a Rest

            Hebrews chapter four has a bit to say about God’s coming rest.  Notice some of the verses that place an emphasis on the rest that God has planned for His people:

Verse 1:  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Verse 3:  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Verse 4:  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

Verse 5:  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Verse 8:  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

Verse 9:  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Verse 10:  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Verse 11:  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

            I realize that much of this refers to the spiritual rest that the believer enjoys by fully trusting Christ and resting in the abundant life that only Jesus can offer (Mat. 11:28; John 10:10), but much of it also refers to the coming millennial rest for the earth and its worthy inhabitants.  After all, Paul tells us that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:22), which means that the creation has not yet entered into the rest that the Scriptures mandate (Isa. 14:7; 44:21-23; 49:13; 55:12).  Isaiah 14:7 makes the point very clear:

            “The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet:

they break forth into singing.”

            This has happened at no time since the garden of Eden, and it certainly isn’t happening now.  It will happen only after the Antichrist and his followers have been destroyed, Israel has been delivered, and Christ’s throne of righteousness has been established in Jerusalem.  Being a time of “rest,” it makes perfect sense that God would correspond it to the seventh day rest of Genesis 2:2, and since the Bible plainly states that Christ’s earthly kingdom will last one thousand years (Rev. 20:1-7), it also makes perfect sense that this one thousand year kingdom should be the seventh thousand year period, or seventh millennium, of human history.  This makes Christ’s kingdom the Sabbath day of the earth and human history.

A Thousand Year Sabbath Kingdom

            “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 Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.” 

            The underscoring above is for two reasons: (1) to emphasize the fact that the Scriptures specify that Christ is to rule the earth for a “thousand years” and (2) to point out the fact that the Holy Spirit led John to record the term six times.  Why six times?  Because man must have dominion on the earth for 6,000 years (six millennial days) before Jesus returns to rule His kingdom.

The Original Second Coming Prophet

            If I were to ask you to name the first man to prophecy the Second Coming, who would you name?  If you are thinking of anyone in the New Testament, you are way too late.  If you are even thinking of any of the standard Bible prophets, you are still too late.  Strange as it may seem, the Second Coming of Christ was first prophesied before Noah’s flood (which makes the flood a type of the Second Coming – Luke 17:26).  We learn this from Jude 14:  “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”  This tells us that God has planned an earthly kingdom since the very beginning!  In fact, Jude’s words offer us a very strong hint as to when this kingdom will be by telling us that Enoch was the “seventh” from Adam.  Why would it matter that Enoch was the “seventh” from Adam?  The Bible is filled with truth-telling prophets who have no connection to the number seven at all, yet for some reason the Holy Spirit wants us to know that the first man to prophecy the Second Coming was connected to the number seven.  Could it be that this is because Christ’s Second Coming will begin the seventh day, or seventh millennium, on God’s calendar?

Leah’s Seven Children

            One of the strongest examples in the Bible is God’s 6/1 division principle is found in Genesis chapters twenty-nine and thirty with the birth of the children of Leah.  In Genesis 29:32-35, she gives birth to four sons.  Then in Genesis 30:17-20 she gives birth to two more sons, making six sons in all.  Finally, in perfect correspondence to God’s 6/1 principle, she gives birth to a daughter.  But God isn’t finished yet.  Notice the meaning of the names of these children:

            1. Reuben – behold a son

            2. Simeon – hearing

            3. Levi – joined

            4. Judah – praise

            5. Issachar – reward

            6. Zebulun – dwelling

            7. Dinah – Justice

            So the sinner beholds God’s Son and hears the gospel. Then he is joined to Christ by being born again.   Then he lives a life of praise unto the Lord.  He is then rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ, after which he dwells with Christ.  He also rules with Christ in the millennial kingdom, which is a time of true justice in the earth. 

The Sabbath Provision of Manna

            After leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites began receiving daily provisions of manna, a miraculous bread from God.  They were commanded to go out in the morning and gather enough manna for that day’s eating.  But they were not permitted to gather manna on the seventh day, therefore God supplied them with a double portion on the sixth day.  “Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”  (Exo. 16:4-5)  The manna pictures Christ (John 6:51), but it also pictures the word of God:  “. . . man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”  (Luke 4:4)  Thinking of the six day manna provision as a type of God’s word, notice how perfectly it matches the six thousand years of human history.  For the first two thousand years  (4,000 BC to 2,000 BC), there was no written Scripture at all, and a very limited number of prophets.  For the next two thousand years (2,000 BC to Christ), Scripture began to be recorded and preserved, and God’s prophets increased, but there was still a very limited supply.  That’s four millennial days so far.  Then on the fifth millennial day (Christ to 1,000 AD), the canon of Scripture is complete and the Great Commission gets underway, but within four hundred years the Roman Catholic Church plunges the world into the Dark Ages for the next thousand years!  So, day five offers a very limited supply of manna as well.  Then comes the sixth day (1,000 AD to 2,000 AD).  The first half of this day looked rather gloomy and no more promising than the other days.  Then came the Reformation (roughly 1,400 AD to 1,600 AD).  The printing press was invented, Bibles began showing up everywhere, Rome’s heresies were seen for what they were, and people by the millions began leaving the harlot church and embracing the word of God.  Then in 1611 God gave the world the King James Bible, the book that would be used by Clark, Stearns, Wesley, Whitfield, Cartwright, Spurgeon, Moody, Talmadge, Sunday, Jones, Larkin, Scofield, and Ruckman.  All of this happened on the sixth millennial day of God’s calendar (1,000 AD to 2,000 AD), and more manna was fed to more souls than on any other millennial day since the creation of the world.  Why?  Obviously, God is getting people ready for the Sabbath, just as He did in Exodus, except this time it will be a 1,000 year Sabbath!

The Real End of Slavery

            Exodus 21:2 tells us that Hebrew servants were to be set free after six years of service:  “If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.”  So man has to serve under the “bondage of corruption” for six millenniums.  Then in the seventh millennium, he enters into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21) while Satan the slave master is bound for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3).

Moses, the Clouds, and

The Second Coming at Seven

            “And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.  And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.  And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.”  (Exo. 24:16-18)  Notice that the cloud covered Sinai for six days, and then God called Moses up into the midst of the cloud on the seventh day.  Likewise, God will call His people up “in the clouds” (I Ths. 4:17) when He calls out the church in the Rapture, and this well be after six thousand years, or six millennial days. Also, it is interesting that God spoke to Moses out of a cloud since Christ also “cometh with clouds” (Rev. 1:7).  It’s also significant that Moses is one of the two witnesses that are taken up to heaven “in a cloud” in Revelation 11:12.  This too happens after six thousand years.

Israel Cleansed of Her

“Leprosy” on the Seventh Day

            “And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days. But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.” (Lev. 14:8-9)  Here we see that under Israel’s Mosaic law the leper could not be considered clean until the seventh day.  Leprosy pictures sin throughout the Bible, and it isn’t until the seventh millennial day that Israel is cleansed of her sins (Isa. 40:2), and this doesn’t happen until “the glory of the LORD” is revealed at the Second Coming (Isa. 40:5).

Israel’s Seventh Month

            Israel’s calendar had twelve months, just as ours has twelve months, but God chose to make the seventh month the most special (Lev. 23:23-44).  It was in the seventh month that three major Jewish events occurred (the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles).  This likely signifies the fact that the tribulation trumpets will sound, Israel’s sins will be atoned for, and Christ will tabernacle (dwell) among His people on the seventh millennial day.  In fact, this is not some new symbolism.  The Scofield Reference Bible has been tying the Levitical feasts to Bible prophecy for over one hundred years.  Unfortunately, this truth has been largely ignored and understudied by Christians.

The Land Sabbath

            “Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.” (Lev. 25:3-4)    Again we see the 6/1 principle that is so common in the Scriptures.  The Hebrew under the law would till his land and grow his crops for six years, but then allow the land to rest during the seventh year.  Obviously, this foreshadows the coming millennial Sabbath of Isaiah 14:7:  “The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.” 

Seven Trumpets after Six Days

            “Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.”  (Jsh. 6:1-5)  Anyone familiar with the book of Revelation recognizes the typology.  The six days obviously picture the six thousand years of man’s dominion on earth.  Joshua and his men picture Jesus and His saints who will take possession of the kingdoms of this world after six millennial days.  And, just as in Joshua’s day, this happens after seven trumpets sound.  Revelation 11:15 says, “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”  Furthermore, the words Joshua and Jesus mean the same thing and are used interchangeably twice in the New Testament (Heb. 4:8; Acts 7:45).

The King Revealed at Seven

            “And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land.”  (II Kgs. 11:1-3) The name Joash means “whom Jehovah bestowed,” which makes him a picture of Jesus Christ, along with the fact that he was a good Jewish king who replaced corrupt leaders.  He was hid in the house of the Lord six years before becoming king.  Then notice what happened in the seventh year:  “And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king's son . . . And he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.”  (Verses 4 & 12)  So Jesus is presently “hid” in heaven, and He will be revealed and crowned after six thousand years of Satan’s corrupt leadership.

Six Steps to the Throne

            “And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays.”  Solomon’s peaceful kingdom was a foreshadow of the coming millennial kingdom of Christ.  In fact, Jesus is called the “son of David,” like Solomon (Mat. 9:27), and He compared Himself to Solomon (Mat. 12:42).  Notice that there were exactly six steps to the throne.  There were not three or four, and there were not seven or eight.  There were six steps to Solomon’s glorious throne.  The reason is clear: there are six millennial steps to Christ millennial throne, each step being a thousand years.

A Kingdom after Six Days

            “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. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” (Mat 16:28-17:5)

            This passage is loaded with prophetic truth.  Matthew 16:28 speaks of the son of man coming in His kingdom, then the next verse begins with “And after six days . . .”  So, the kingdom will come after six days on God’s calendar.  What follows in the passage is clearly a reference to the Second Coming of Christ:  “. . . an high mountain . . . his face did shine as the sun . . . Moses and Elias . . . tabernacles . . . a bright cloud . . . a voice out of the cloud . . .”  All of this is Second Coming language, and it all comes “after six days.”  Clearly, this is no accident.

The Witness of Micah

            The book of Micah has seven chapters.  Interestingly enough, it is the fifth chapter that speaks of the birth of Jesus:  “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”  Why is the fifth chapter interesting?  It is because Jesus was born on the fifth day of human history.  Four thousand years had already transpired (four millennial days), and the fifth day had begun.   But Micah chapter five is the fifth chapter out of seven, so does anything in chapter seven correspond to God’s seventh day.  Naturally, something does: “Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.”  (Mic. 7:7-9)  Here we have Israel looking to the Lord and finding Christ as her “light.”  She bears her indignation through the church age and the tribulation, and then God pleads her cause and fights for her at Armageddon.  He then brings her forth “to the light” of Jesus Christ, and she beholds “his righteousness.”  All of this happens after six thousand years, so Micah chapter seven is a fine placement for the above words.

Christ Abiding Two Days

            “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.”  (John 11:5-6) 

            When you hear that someone you love is sick, it is highly irregular to abide two days still in the same place where you are!  Yet, this is precisely what Jesus did in the case of Lazarus.  We are told why He did this in verse four:  “. . . This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”  Well, Lazarus certainly did die (vs. 14), but it wasn’t Jesus’ plan for him to remain dead.  Jesus tarried two extra days before going to Lazarus so that there would be enough time for Lazarus to die and be dead for four days (vs. 39).  Any Jew understood that corruption set in on a corpse after three days (Psa. 16:10), so raising Lazarus from the dead after four days would be perceived by everyone as a genuine miracle, thus glorifying God as Jesus stated in verse four.  What’s so interesting, as far as the typology is concerned, is the fact that there just happens to be a two day waiting period, allowing Lazarus time to be dead four days.  This two day period pictures the two millennium church age in which Israel appears to become dead as a nation.  Then, when it seems that all hope is gone (as with Lazarus), Christ restores His chosen people to their land (1900-1948), resurrects them as a nation (1948), then gives to them a new birth (Great Tribulation).  See Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Isaiah 66:8 for the Scriptural support.  When Jesus returns, He will revive Israel just as He revived Lazarus, after “two days.”

Jews Believe after Two Days

            “So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word.”  (John 4:40-41)    Here we see Jesus abiding “two days” with the Samaritans, a people that the Jews counted unclean (vs. 9).  Then, we read in verses 43 to 45:  “Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him . . .”

            The Galilaean Jews received Christ after He had spent “two days” with a people that they counted to be unclean.  So, Israel will receive Him after He has spent two thousand years with mostly Gentiles, calling out a people for His name (Acts 15:14).

Israel Revived after Two Days

            One of the most remarkable passages that supports the doctrine of God having a seven thousand year plan is found in Hosea 5:15-6:2:  “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. 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.”

            About the best the standard commentators can do with the passage is make some application to the third day resurrection of Jesus (a no brainer, if you ever saw one), and some can’t even manage that.  This is largely because most commentators before the twentieth century were post-millennial or a-millennial and did not believe in the pre-millennial return of Christ.  Naturally, this blinded them to just about everything you’ve been reading in this booklet.  With God’s help, I believe we can make a little more sense out of the passage.

            “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence . . .” This refers to Jesus returning to heaven after being rejected and crucified by the Jews.  He will remain there until they “acknowledge their offense” and “seek” him in the Great Tribulation, which the passage calls “their affliction.”  They will then “return unto the LORD” and be revived “after two days,” which equals a two thousand year church age, toward the end of which Israel becomes a nation (1948) in preparation for a spiritual revival later.  Finally, “in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” refers to the nation being totally revived and regenerated at the Second Coming of Christ and living in His sight in the millennial kingdom, which is the “third day” after Calvary, the “third day” after their offense of rejecting Christ.

Today, Tomorrow, and the Third Day

“And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.”  (Luke 13:32)  Isn’t the language interesting in light of what we’ve been studying?  Obviously three literal days can be meant in the immediate context, but the picture is crystal clear for anyone with a prophetic eye.  Jesus spends the two millennial days (the church age) after Calvary curing people of their sins and replacing their devils with His Holy Spirit.  Then He is “perfected” at His Second Coming, which is the third day after Calvary  “when that which is perfect is come.”  (I Cor. 13:10).

The Third Day Marriage

            “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:  And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.”  (John 2:1-2)  Why does the Holy Spirit bother to mention that this marriage was on the “third day” in distinction from other days?  What difference does it make, if it were on the third day, the second day, or the tenth or fifteenth day?  It makes a big difference in the context of our study, because it is on the third millennial day after Calvary that the Marriage of the Lamb occurs, when Christ receives His bride (Rev. 19:7).  To remind us that all of this is after six millennial days of human history, we see in John 2:6-11 that there were “six” water pots, and the water content of each was turned into wine, thus pointing to the joy that Israel and the heirs of the earth will display when Christ rules on the third millennial day following Calvary (Zch. 10:7; Song. 1:4; Deu. 14:26; Joel 2:19; Psa. 4:7).

The Lord Comes Down

On the Third Day

            “And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.”  (Exo. 19:10-11)  There it is again.  The people were sanctified for two days before the Lord came down in their sight on the third day, obviously pointing to the third millennial day after Calvary, which follows 2,000 years of Christ sanctifying a people for His name.  But that’s not all.  Verses  sixteen through twenty offer numerous Second Coming references on this “third day.”  There is the “morning” and the “thunders and lightnings,” the “thick cloud,” the “voice of the trumpet,” the “smoke,” the fact that the mount “quaked,” then “the LORD came down,” and “Moses went up.”  I trust that by now an explanation of each term is unnecessary.  If I’m wrong, a good concordance should do the trick.

The Third Day House of the LORD

            In II Kings 20:5, God assured Hezekiah that He would heal him of his sickness by saying, “. . . behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.”  Again, we see two days of healing and then a completion on the third day.  Christ began healing sinners at His First Coming, and He continues healing sinners for two thousand years.  Then the “house of the LORD” is established in the third millennial day after Calvary, which is the seventh and final millennial day from the creation.  A good reference is Micah 4:1:  “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.”

The Good Samaritan’s “Two Pence”

            The parable of the good Samaritan is one of the most favorite lessons given by Jesus, obviously due to the strength of its moral teaching.  But, as we are about to see, the story offers a bit of prophecy as well.

            “And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”  (Luke 10:30-35)

            Okay, put on your typology helmet just one more time; we’re going for a little ride.  In type, the man that went “down” from Jerusalem to Jericho is mankind, who took a big step down into sin in the garden of Eden.  When he did so, Satan “stripped him of his raiment,” which speaks of man originally being clothed in righteousness, but losing his righteousness due to sin.  He is now “wounded” and “half dead.”  The term “half dead” is perfect because man died spiritually in Eden, but not physically.  To this day, all lost men are “half dead.”

            The priest and the Levite fail to help the man, picturing how religion and legalism fails to help sinners today.  Then a Samaritan, picturing Jesus, had compassion on him and did a number of things for him.  First, He “bound up his wounds,” picturing how Jesus can bind up the wounds of sin and make a man whole again.  Then he poured in “oil and wine,” which reminds us of how we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, which gives us the joy of the Lord once we are saved.  Then he “set him on his own beast,” picturing the way Jesus wants us to bring our burdens to him.  Then He “brought him to an inn, and took care of him,” rather than leave him where He found him, which speaks of Christ wanting His people to become part of a good church so He can take care of them.  Then He departed on the next days with the promise of coming again:  “. . . he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”  If you’ll check Matthew 20:2, you will see that a penny was a day’s pay at that time, which means that two pence is two day’s pay.  The good Samaritan planned to return after two days.

Conclusion

            Now, I hope everyone accepts this study for what it is: an attempt to shed light on God’s prophetic plan, which I believe fits into the timeframe of seven thousand years.  Having about six thousand of those years behind us, this means that we are at the threshold of the seventh millennial day, which will be Christ’s Sabbath kingdom rest on earth.  However, we’ve been very careful to not speculate about days, months, or years.  Such speculation could not be firmly supported by Scripture since (1) the Scriptures speak against such speculation, and (2) modern calendars are so mixed up that it would be useless to engage in such speculation.  Less than three months prior to this writing, a well-meaning gentleman predicted the date of the rapture and missed like everyone else has done.  I prefer to follow the advice of a much wiser gentleman who said that we should never predict anything because no one will remember, if we are right, and no one will forget, if we are wrong.

            My guess is that we haven’t yet reached the true year 6,000, and there are calendars from other cultures that agree, but that’s only a guess.  Also, it might be that God’s prophetic plan is to be taken generally, not specifically, at least as it fits into the 7,000 year system.  That is, the seventh millennial day might not begin at exactly the end of the 6,000 years, but, when rounded off, it falls closer to the 6,000 year end than anything else.  However, I tend to doubt this since God is so exact with so many other things, including dates. My best guess is that we have not yet completed 6,000 years.

            It must be stated that standing alone, this doctrine carries far less weight, which is probably why it was forsaken centuries ago by many.  They lived at a time when there were no visible indications that our Lord’s return was near, and the doctrine being taught then would indicate that His return would not be near for many centuries.  But today we have many Biblical indicators flashing, such as Israel being a nation in the land again, more wars and rumors of wars then ever, Gog and her Muslim allies rising to power, the decline of the west and the rise of the east, a new world order being set up before our very eyes, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, etc.  All of this makes the 7,000 year plan more believable than ever, especially since we are at the threshold of the seventh millennial day.  Probably more than any other time in history, we ought to heed the words of our Lord from Luke 12:40:  “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”