(2 Peter 3:8; Hosea 6:1-3; Daniel 8:11-14; 12:11)
Moses said, with the Lord, a day is as a thousand years.1Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8
In the First Century, Christians already understood that the six days of creation represented a 6,000 year plan of salvation. On the seventh day, the saints would resurrect with Christ. Then God would rest from all His work.
In the epistle of Barnabas, we read, “He ended in six days. He means this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifies a thousand years, and this He himself bears me witness, saying, the Day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years.”2Barnabas 15:4
The same belief is also in the Talmud of the Rabbis, “Six thousand years the world will exist and one [thousand, the seventh], it shall be desolate, as it is written, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day … and also it is said, ‘For one thousand years in Your eyes are but a day that has passed.’”3Sanhedrin 97a
The prophet Hosea also equated a day to a thousand years. He said that after two days, or 2,000 years, God would revive us. He would come to us like rain.4Hos 6:1-3 This signifies the second outpouring of His holy spirit. On the third day, the third thousand-year period, He will raise us up: that is after 6,000 years.
These 6,000 years can also be seen in Daniel’s prophecy of the Lawless One. Daniel said the saints would be given into the hand of the Lawless One for “a time, times, and half a time” — which he explained as 1,290 years.5Dan 12:7-11 But after 2,300 years, the sanctuary will be cleansed.6Dan 8:14 Then Christ will appear, and “those who sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake” after 6,000 years.
This 6,000-year work of God was outlined by six statements of God to Christ that began with “Let Us make man in our image.”7Gen 1:26
After 6,000 years, God will complete His plan to make man in His image.
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