EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS AND THE 7,000 YEAR PROPHETIC PLAN
James L. Melton
Before Rome took over and plunged the world into the Dark Ages, it wasn't unusual to find believers preaching pre-millennial doctrine, and some of them even believed in writing. In fact, some even believed that God has a 7,000 year plan with the millennial kingdom of Christ being a Sabbath rest for the earth and the righteous. Here are a few quotes from the first four centuries of church history:
Barnabas - The Epistle of Barnabas – first century: "And God made in six days the works of His hands, and made an end on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it." Attend, my children, to the meaning of this expression, "He finished in six days." This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day is with Him a thousand years. And He Himself testifieth, saying, "Behold, to-day will be as a thousand years." Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. "And He rested on the seventh day." 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 - Bishop or leader of the Church of Lyons - second century: "For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: "Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works." This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year." (Against Heresies V. XXVIII, 3)
Commodianus - a Christian poet – third century - "This has pleased Christ, that the dead should rise again, yea, with their bodies; and those, too, whom in this world the fire has burned [martyrs], when six thousand years are completed..." [Instructions of Commodianus, LXXIX]
Methodius - Bishop and author who died a martyr - "For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday: seeing that is past as a watch in the night." For when a thousand years are reckoned as one day in the sight of God, and from the creation of the world to His rest is six days, so also to our time, six days are defined, as those say who are clever arithmeticians. Therefore, they say that an age of six thousand years extends from Adam to our time. For they say that the judgment will come on the seventh day, that is in the seventh thousand years." [Extracts From The Work on Things Created. IX]
Lactantius - Christian apologist of the fourth century - "Therefore let the philosophers, who enumerate thousands of ages from the beginning of the world, know that the six thousandth year is not yet completed, and that when this number is completed the consummation must take place, and the condition of human affairs be remodeled for the better, the proof of which must first be related, that the matter itself may be plain. God completed the world and this admirable work of nature in the space of six days, as is contained in the secrets of Holy Scripture, and consecrated the seventh day, on which He had rested from His works. But this is the Sabbath-day, which in the language of the Hebrews received its name from the number, whence the seventh is the legitimate and complete number. ….Therefore, since all the works of God were completed in six days, the world must continue in its present state through six ages, that is, six thousand years. For the great day of God is limited by a circle of a thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says "In Thy sight, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day." And as God labored during those six days in creating such great works, so His religion and truth must labor during these six thousand years, while wickedness prevails and bears rule. And again, since God, having finished His works, rested the seventh day and blessed it, 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]
My note: Six days man is to work and receives his rest (sabbath) on the seventh “day”—the Thousand Year Reign of Christ.
Seven is the number of completeness. Eight is the number for a new beginning. When the seven days are finished, the eighth day begins and the last chapter of Revelation confirms it.
God’s 7000 Year (7-Day) Plan
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by MrW, Dec 16, 2023.
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Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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Marooncat79 Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
@Alan Gross he is the guilty one. Hahahaha
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I did not think this particular one was too long--maybe I was mistaken. Sorry. -
Alan Gross Well-Known Member
Speaking of the flesh, if that one word is gotten out of the way, all of this would go out of the way, too: God’s 7000 Year (7-Day) Plan
2.) I just write down what is my heart and click the button.
If you are backsliden (Whhoooo, Nelly! ...that is just my attempt at being funny and unfortunately I don't know how to be, so alas) anyway, a couple of things here, anytime you can't be bothered with postings of mine.
I am learning how to 'collapse them' where you wouldn't have to see their length or decorative colorations, but would just be given the option to 'expand' it, if you ever cared to.
I also have a blog where extended secondary sources material can be posted by me instead of here. I'll get around to that more, in case anybody wants more in-depth study.
Otherwise,
In viewing any posts of mine;
The highlighted portions may be scanned to get the gist of what I'm saying, if you want a shorter, quicker take, to save time.
And/or;
3.) The scriptures are mostly oftentimes highlighted purple, to give emphasis to them and also to save time, if you just want to feed on them, or to see basically where I'm at on a subject, and move on.
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
II Peter 3:18.
from: I don't see how a soul can say they are saved without cutting and pasting all over creation. -
Alan Gross Well-Known Member
I want to do it! I want to do it! -
Alan Gross Well-Known Member
I'd rather see too much information, than those who don't say a nickel's worth in six months.*
Why don't they take the opportunity to worship the Lord?
Don't they have any Joy bells in there somewhere that they want to ring?
(*where you rarely ever see the words, "God", "Jesus", "The Holy Spirit", or a scripture hardly ever quoted. They get to be too much like a church bulletin or advertisement, or sometimes even religious websites, where it is if they have, "Programmed The Lord Jesus and The Bible out of their program"(?) I see there to be much more to worshipping God than whining. But that's just me). -
(John 21:23)
So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” -
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Alan Gross Well-Known Member
Mr. Barnabas is saying that he knows when the Lord will Return?
Looks like that is exactly what he thought he know;
"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 Peter 3:8.
This teaches that time is irrelevant to God and nothing more.
"one day is with the Lord as a thousand years" is some special formula to be arbitrarily applied and plugged into somewhere that there is no indication for it to be used that way anywhere, any more to try and do that with,
"a thousand years as one day".
Which one would you be supposed to be using, if so? Where?
Where did he get that? From calling the account of Creation a PROPHECY?
He sure did!!
I suppose, unless the Earth is here 10,500 years before Jesus Returns. Right?
How would he know?
Looks to me like revealed Word on the subject regarding the time of Jesus' Return, blows a big shotgun blast hole into these speculations made by men. At least we know where they came from.
Matthew 24:35
"Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away.
36 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no,
not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 "But as the days of Noe were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
"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 Peter 3:8.
It is a simile, making a comparison between two things.
And then that the converse is just as true from God's perspective, to Whom time is irrelevant.
1 day = 1,000 years = 1,000 years = 1 day.
And?
Not the Bible, then.
Two questions: Who are "they" and who are "they"?
"when this number is completed the consummation must take place".
Did you know that?
That's what Lactantius - Christian apologist of the fourth century said.
I don't know if he was a comedian too.
You're certainly not going to get there, by mixing any scriptures with faith);
And in the Thousand Year Reign, Jesus is going to make me the Governor of your state, so you better be good to me.
Not there. Nothing like it. Nothing close.
It ain't happening to find confirmation anywhere for these wild rash guesses, based on the carnal mind of man and their sin-cursed imagination, toying with the Bible like it is a set of Tinker Toys or something.
Hint: they don't know. -
Some take Exodus 20:9 as prophetic. God compares this commandment to the 6 days of creation. Peter compares the 6 days of creation to the time given to humanity. What God did in 6 days, would take 6,000 years for humanity to accomplish. It is not arbitrary, because Peter said not to be ignorant. Saying time does not matter to God, is being ignorant. Time was built into creation. Time is very much relevant to God.
"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." -
How does that not falsify this idea?
The World: Born in 4004 BC? -
The Lord Jesus said we are supposed to know the times and the seasons. Hey criticized people for not knowing.
What we don’t know, is the hour or the day, meaning we cannot be specific, but we should know in general.
Records have not been kept well enough for us to know when the 6000 years are completed and the seventh day, the Sabbath rest for all the earth, 1000 years is to start.
How appropriate that after six days, 6000 years of man’s rule, the earth gets to rest for one day, 1000 years to see what it would have been like if man had not sinned. -
88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988
I read that book several times and believed it, at the time. I've since learned that ALL 88 reasons were wrong.
Imagine that! Imagine writing a book where the whole premise is to list 88 reasons for something and you manage to get all 88 reasons wrong. When the rapture didn't happen, he wrote another book the next year called "89 Reasons...". Stunning!
There were at least hundreds, if not thousands of Christians who sold their houses and did completely irresponsible things because of that false teaching and I myself had a pretty tough time working through the disappointment and confusion that it caused in my own faith.
The thing I always try to remind people is that literally every generation of Christians that has ever existed, starting with the Apostles themselves, believed that they were living in the end times. If the current generation is wrong, which they almost certainly are, then we're all in good company. -
That could indicate the first Adam disobeyed God after living in the Garden for about 30 years.
Creation did not start 6,000 years ago, and no dating method works prior to sin and death. Because the decay of atomic structures only started after Adam disobeyed, and the curse was placed on creation.
The Sabbath of God's rest would be the first 1,000 years of creation, after 6 literal days of creation. That Sabbath will happen again as the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. God does not spell it out for us. It would be in God's Word as a mystery to discover. Even Peter told us not to be ignorant in 2 Peter 3, but many choose to remain in ignorance.
Many want to manufacture "gaps" in Genesis to explain how evolution and sin works. Sin is clearly explained in the NT, but we still have to connect the dots. -
Can't do that. The Lord could come back tomorrow. And it could easily be 50 years from now.
History ebbs and flows; speeds up and slows down. -
Matthew 24:27, ". . . For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. . . ."
Matthew 24:44, ". . . Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. . . ." -
That is a VERY abbreviated version of a very well thought out argument that they fell quickly. In fact, there is fairly good reason to suspect, although you could not be dogmatic about it, that they fell on the Friday, one week following their creation, which would have been the 13th day A.M. (Anno Mundi) making it the very first Friday the 13th.
The point being that we need to guard against getting carried away and making connections where they don't actually exist.
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