Scripture Reading: Isaiah 46:10; Psalms 90:12
‘Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.’
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
These two portions of scriptures are mentioned here because it relates to God’s 7000-year plan. God already has a plan from the very beginning.
When the bible says in Deuteronomy 46:10, ‘declaring the end from the beginning’, it means the end of the world and all things in it, is already mentioned in the very beginning; as early as the times of Enoch, the seventh from Adam. Jude 1:14-15 declares the LORD is coming at the end with ten thousand of his saints, more than 5000 years ago, at the cradle of civilization. This world is only 6000 years old. Then the portion which says, ‘from ancient times the things that are not yet done’, it means the end of every event, before they come to pass, and particularly things relating to Christ, is already issued at the very beginning and declared very early and spoken by all the prophets that were from the beginning of the world.’ ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure’ means that what YHWH had declared in very beginning will surely come to pass and God will execute it according to his liking.
Then Psalms 90:12 tells us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Of course, it means to consider the shortness and miseries of this life, and the certainty and nearness of death, and the causes and consequences therefore. But it also means that God instructs us to estimate our days alright; their number and thus the certainty that they must soon come to and end.
Let’s point out a few truths for God’s 7000-year plan.
1. Numbers
Many of the numbers in the bible have deeper prophetic or spiritual significance. Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, numbers reveal hidden concepts and meanings that commonly escape the casual reader. And throughout history, men with great minds, like Saint Augustine, Isaac Newton and Leonardo Di Vinci showed more that just a passing curiosity regarding the importance of Biblical numbers. Once, Jesus said, ‘The very hairs of your head are numbered. So obviously bible numbers should be carefully considered.
In Hebrew, numbers are represented by the corresponding letters of the alphabet, such as in numbers 1-10.
Each letter in the Hebrew Alphabet has a numerical value. The first Hebrew 10 letters (consonants actually) have the values 1-10. The next 9 letters are valued at 20, 30, 40… 100. The Hebrew letters are results of spiritual sensations (inspiration, Rhema). At the same time, Hebrew letters are also codes (number) for sensations (inspiration) the writer receives from the Creator. So, when the scriptures are written, the author is giving us the source code (number) from the Creator, which is YHWH our ELOHIM.
While numbers are mundane to most people, in Judaism they have a personality and metaphysical (conjecture) meaning; they help reveal the universal truths of the Torah; first five books of the Bible, as well as the writings of the Prophets and Jesus’ disciples’ writings. Indeed, many people notice when they are reading Scripture that certain numbers show up frequently, and their appearance does not seem coincidental. I mean when I was reading the bible recently, the number 7 keeps appearing. Please understand that I did not intentionally source out the number 7 but it was shown during my regular, systematic reading of the bible. So, if it appears, God is trying to tell me something. While it is important to recognize that numbers are significant in the Bible, they are not magical. Rightly interpreting the Scriptures requires literal as well as symbolic understanding of Biblical numerology. Still, this understanding needs to be combined with sound interpretation procedures and is not to be used as witchcraft or fortunetelling.
You will notice that certain numbers functioned both as numerals and symbols.
Take for instance; one. One is the symbol for God. Deuteronomy 6:1 says, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.’ As a number, 1 is unique in the fact that it is the only number that can be multiplied or divided by itself and remain unchanged; for instance, when one is divided by one, the answer is one.
1 x 1 = 1
1 / 1 = 1
From the Jewish understanding, like the Number 1, God is indivisible. The unique properties of the number 1 reflect God’s unchanging Unity and Oneness.
Four is the number for the whole earth. The bible mentioned the whole earth as the four corners, the four winds. Thus, the number 4, is related to creation, the physical realm, the earth, and the four seasons. In the Torah, the fourth commandment, is the first commandment that mentions the earth. Also, the fourth clause of the Lord’s prayer is the first to mention the earth.
More importantly in relations to us, Four is the number for trials of life. So, on earth there is the trials of life. There will be thorn and thistle in life. The number 40, related to 4 represents time, a man’s lifespan, his time on earth. So, our life on earth will be one of thorn and thistle. But it is also interesting that the number 4 represents being chosen by God. I was with Pastor Lily and we were conducting SOZO with this certain lady. And as she was relating her life, suddenly the figure 4 appear before my mind concerning her. And it was this revelation that causes me to understand the number 4 more clearly. God was with Israel his chosen people in the wilderness of life and the wondering life for 40 years, the life span of the first generation of Israel in the wilderness. Please remember that Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Solomon was the fourth son of David. Both were specifically chosen by God and not by man. And because they were chosen and willing to walk in obedience to God, in spite of the trials of life on earth, they rose to prominence eventually. I want to speak to many of you. It is in the wilderness of life and this wondering this, God has chosen you. You just need to be obedience and walk in submission to God and things will go well.
Six is the number for human imperfection. Six is one less than 7. The number 6 symbolizes man, and the six directions of the physical realm (forward, backward, left, right, up and down). Scripture reveals that God created the natural world in six days and then rested on the seventh, so this number reflects physical completion. In the same way that God completed His work of creation in six days, people have six days of activity in the week to leave their mark on the world, and are to rest on the seventh, in honor of the Creator of the Universe. I am going to touch on the number 6 later which is one of the themes of this message. Six has been called the number of men, since Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day and the six commandments forbids murder. Man is valuable and another is forbidden to snuff out his life. The number 6 is considered as the path to the holiness represented by the number 7. If human activities are not sanctioned by God, and not directed toward the final destination of the World to come, then they are inconsequential. So, whatever you do (you are a man and your number is 6) if it is not approved by God and not directed toward your final destination of the world to come and in honor of God it is unimportant, insignificant, minor, worthless, useless, a waste. The work of you life is what the bible says, wood and hay that will burn because they cannot stand the test of fire when tested by YHWH.
Seven on the other hand is divine perfection. Psalms 12:6 says, ‘The words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.’ The number 7 is so prominent in Scripture that even scholars who do not give much weight to Bible numerology recognize its importance. Seven is the divine number of completions, fullness, and spiritual perfection, typifying holiness and sanctification. Seven is such a favorite number to Judaism. In fact, the Midrash (Rabbinic literature) states, ‘All sevens are bellowed (shouted out, roared out).’ I will also be touching on the number 7 later. During the Rodney Howard Browne Revival, the Pensacola revival, the Toronto Blessing, one of the manifestations is the roaring of the lion. Well it means the end is coming. All sevens are bellowed, to be shouted out and yelled out and roared out, signs that the end of near.
Ten is the number for completeness; ten days of tribulation, ten crowns.
Twelve is the number for human organization. 12 sons of Jacob. 12 pillars in the tabernacle. 12 stones on the breast plate of the High Priest, Twelves loaves for the table in the Holy Place. Outside of the bible we have 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 months in a year.
Forty is the number for time. Forty years in the desert; Jesus fasted for 40 days.
Seventy is the round number for people; 70 elders, 70 mission team
2. God’s 7000-year plan
Why did God take 6 days to create the world when He could have just snapped His fingers and poof, there it was? Why did God not create in 1 day, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 days; yet He could but He created for 6 days and rested the 7th day?
There is a reason. Isaiah 46:10 gives us a hint of a plan. It says, ‘Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. YHWH is such a wise God. If there is such a thing as a Master Architect, it is none other than YHWH.
Many believe that since God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day; that God has a 6000-year plan for man followed by 1000-year reign by Jesus Christ. In biblical times, it was commonly believed among the Jews, and early Christians, that at the end of 6000 years of history, Christ would return and reign for 1000 years. Early Christian writers, such as Barnabas, who was with Paul the Apostle in Lycaonia wrote: ‘Therefore children in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end. Another Christian author, Lactantius wrote: ‘As there had been 2000 years from Adam to Abraham, and 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ; so, there will be 2000 years for the Christian era and then would come the Millennium. There is 2000 years as a whole for the human race to return to God. There is also 2000 years from the beginning of the Hebrew people, considered God’s people. There is also 2000 years of the believers in Christ.
There is even an old tradition that the prophet Elijah taught there would be six thousand years for humans to rule under Satan’s kingdom, followed by one thousand years of abundance in the kingdom of God. The fact that both Jews and early Christians believe God had a 7000-year plan, it is a factor worth considering. What is this factor worth considering?
3. Biblical hints of a 7000-year plan
Let’s look at some interesting things in Scripture that support this belief.
There are two places in Scriptures that say a day with the Lord is as a thousand. Psalms 90:4 says, ‘For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday ( a day) when it is past.’ 2 Peter 3:8 says, ‘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.’
Curiously, these verses do 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’. So, when the Apostle Peter tells us that a ‘day’ is with God as a thousand years, we should sit up and take notice.
Secondly scripture also says that there still remains a day of rest for God’s people. Paul tells us in Romans 8:22 that ‘the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, which means that the creation has not yet entered into the rest that the scriptures mandate. This rest will occur under the rule of Jesus when He returns and sets up the Promised Kingdom on earth for one thousand years.
I mean the whole earth today is groaning and travailing in pain. That is the most accurate description. Practically every day, we witness the greenhouse effect. Level of gases such as carbon dioxide are still rising due to deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. These greenhouse gases may cause the world to warm up as heat cannot escape effectively from the surface of the planet. The melting of the ice in the North Pole and South Pole causing flood has become a yearly occurrence. It is said that it has been raining in winter in Greenland and the rain causes gigantic sheets of ice to melt. It shouldn’t be raining in Greenland because it is in the Artic. But because it is raining the ice are melting and it raises the sea level which causes flood. I mean flood has become a common occurrence in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and even Singapore. The extinction of so many of God’s created animals, plants leads to diseases because the ecological world has reached imbalance status. The weird storm (Chicago becoming the Artic for 3 days) are examples of ecological imbalance. All these points to the fact that mother earth needs a day of rest; a thousand years of rest.
Interestingly, In Hebrew 4:4, 11, the seventh day of the week is pictured as a type of the peaceful ‘rest’ on earth which will follow Christ’s return! Being a time of ‘rest’ and lasting a thousand years, it makes perfect sense that God would correspond it to the seventh day of rest of Genesis 2:2; God rested on the seventh day. Since the last ‘day’ of God’s plan for mankind is 1000 years, it is logical to conclude that the other six days of creation typify 6000 years of man’s government on earth.
Furthermore, the number 6 represents mankind and rebellion (6000 years of man’s self-rule). The number 7 represents perfection (The Millennium?). The number 8 represents new beginnings (New Heaven and New Earth). Could it be that God is trying to show us something here?
Thirdly, there are many ‘pictures’, ‘shadows’, and ‘types’ in the Bible that would seem to confirm the 7000-year theory. King Solomon, a type of Jesus had 6 steps to his throne and the 7th step was his throne. Lazarus (a type of Israel) was sick and dead for a total of 6 days. Jesus resurrected him on the 7th day. After 6 days, Jesus took his closest disciples up into a mountain and was transfigured (a picture of the second advent) before them. After 6 days, Moses was called up to Mount Sinai to be in the presence of God, in the midst of the cloud. After 6 days, Jesus went to the wedding feast in Cana. Noah was 600 years of age when God destroyed the world with the flood and the Ark rested in the 7th month. King Joash was the rightful king of Israel but who was hidden in the temple of God for 6 years while an imposter reigned (Queen Athaliah – a picture of Satan the Devil). At the beginning of the 7th year, the King was brought forth to set on his rightful throne, and the usurper was put to death. Slaves worked for 6 years and 7th year was freedom. The list goes on.
Fourthly bible chronology shows there were approximately 2000 years from Adam’s creation until Abraham and 2000 years from Abraham until Jesus Christ. Is this merely coincidence? Given that the Millennium, the final ‘day’, in God’s plan for human history, will be 1000 years, it requires no great leap of exegetical skill to posit a comparable 2000 years from Jesus’ First Coming to His Second Coming.
The notion that there will be 2 days, or 2000 years from Christ’s death till the Second Coming, or 4000 years from Adam to Christ’s death, also seem to be confirmed by Biblical analogies:
Jesus stayed with the Samaritan woman (a type of the church) for 2 days. The Good Samaritan (a type of Jesus) gave the innkeeper 2 pence (equals to 2 days wages) to care for the wounded man, promising to return and settle the account. During the 6 days before going to the wedding feast in Cana, Jesus took a trip on the 4th day and was not seen again until the 7th day. The Passover lamb was set aside 4 days before it was sacrificed. This of course is a type and shadow that pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was to come and die for the salvation of mankind. The Lamb of God was sacrificed from the foundation of the world and was killed at Passover 4000 years later. ‘Life’ shows up after the 4th day of creation narrative. Likewise, Christ shows up after 4000 years and brings ‘life’.
Lastly, Hosea pictures Christ’s Second Coming 2000 years after his ascension, in one of the most remarkable passages that supports the theory of God having a 7000-year plan. Hosea 5:15-6:2 says, ‘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.’
No one seems to be able to explain this verse. But if you apply this verse inside the 7000-year template: ‘I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence’, refers to Jesus returning to heaven after being rejected and crucified by the Jews. He will return 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 the third 2000-year time slot in God’s plan, towards 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.
Keep in mind that not all uses of the word ‘day’ in scripture mean a 24-hour solar day. Take for example what God told Adam in Genesis 2:17, ‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall sure die’. Adam died at the ripe old age of 930 years. The ‘day’ in which he died was certainly not the ’24 hour’ day. But the word of God also speaks of the ‘millennial’ day, or the ‘thousand-year day.’
Fifthly, scripture statements seem to support that we have been in the LAST DAYS ever since Jesus died. Acts 2:17 says, ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.’ Hebrew 1:1-2 says, ‘In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. These verses are likely referring to the latter days of the 7000 year week. If there is no 7000 year plan, then the New Testament statements above about then being in the last days make little sense.
Sixthly, everyone is aware of the weekly Sabbath, the seventh day of the week under the Law of Moses, but most do not realize that God has more than one Sabbath. In the Bible, there is a ‘week of days’, ‘week of weeks’, ‘week of months’ and a ‘week of years.’ If there are ‘weeks’ (groups of seven) of days, weeks, months, and yet years, what about millennia” (week of thousands)
4. When does the 6000-year rule end?
Have you ever wondered why the Bible records the ages of people all the way back to Adam? Or why it records the numbers of years the Kings of Israel ruled? It seems God wanted us to be able to count the years from creation. Interestingly, after stating a thousand years as a day in Psalms 90:4, the Psalmist writes that our own days are limited and we should number our days that we may have a heart of wisdom. Could understanding approximately where we are in the 6000 years be a wise thing to do?
Historical records indicate that almost 6000 years have elapsed since the recreation of the earth and almost 2000 years since the death of Jesus Christ. Based upon certain calculations that I am currently aware of, it seems that Adam and Even were created and or apparently left the garden of Eden between roughly 3959-3975 B.C. It is most likely that the 6000 years began once Adam sinned as Adam had not rebelled before then. This would suggest that the 6000 years should be up sometimes between 2026-2042 A.D.
However, a more accurate way to calculate when the 6000-year period ends would be to add 2000 years from the year Jesus Christ was crucified; and the Church Age began, which likely marks the beginning of the third 2000-year time slot in God’s plan. Although we cannot state with absolute certainty the amount of time that passed since Adam, we can establish the date of the crucifixion with fair certainly. Virtually all scholars believe, for various reasons, that Jesus was crucified in the spring of either 30 A.D. or 33 A.D. Based upon this calculation, we could expect the 6000 years to end, and Jesus Christ to return in 2030 A.D. or 2033 A.D. Please note that I am not setting specific date for Jesus to return, but only suggesting a ‘possibility’ based on whether the 7000-year plan is correct.
5. What About the Rapture of the Church?
Since there is a seven-year tribulation period foretold to occur just before Christ’s return, the Rapture of the Church would be prior to this date. Most pre-millennial Bible prophecy teachers would put the Rapture seven years sooner, however, logically, it seems there has to be some amount of time (a short stage setting gap of perhaps a few years) between the Rapture and the tribulation period beginning. So, the Rapture could be up to a total of 10-years, and possibly more (some prophecy scholars like Bill Salus believe it could be 11.5-years), from the coming of Jesus in Glory. I won’t attempt to calculate an approximate timeframe of when the Rapture will occur based upon this, since we don’t believe in setting dates, but I’m sure you can work out the implications of this!
Conclusion
Mind you, considering almost 2,000 years have passed since Christ’s crucifixion (making a total of nearly 6,000 years—or six millennial days—from Adam), and at this precise juncture in human history mankind stands poised with the ability to blow up and blast out of existence all life on planet Earth, the 7,000-year plan is more believable than ever!
In any case, with Israel being a nation in the land again, and many other prophetic implications ramping up as of late, we know that Jesus will return very soon. The time is short.
