Hello again! As I was thinking about what to write tonight, I was reminded that I left an open end on one of my emails: the seven day week.
In that email, I left it at you to wonder why God chose a seven day week. Not four, not eight, but seven. Well if you've started to notice a pattern with Him there's a reason for everything, and this is no exception. The seven day week is actually a representation of the life of the earth and mankind in general.
To explain this, let's start with 2 Peter 3:8: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing: that one day with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Some may dismiss this as Peter's way of saying God doesn't operate within the parameters of time, and he just said "a thousand" because it's a big number and people shouldn't get discouraged when they ask God for something and it doesn't happen right away. But we've already discussed the fact that the Word is from God and if He said it a certain way He meant it that way. Otherwise, why didn't Peter say 100 days? That's still a long time to wait. Or 100 years? For a people that died at such young ages, and arguably even now, that's still a long time and even longer than most people's lifetimes. No, He chose 1000. God also correlated the 1000 years to a day in Psalm 90:4: "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past..."
Where else do we see 1000? The majority of times the word "thousand" is used in scripture it's in reference to money, people or objects, not time. An exception is in Revelation in reference to the thousand year reign of Christ on earth (Rev 20). There's something else that's key about that thousand years as well: Satan will be bound so "that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." (Rev 20:3) What does that sound like to you? To me, it sounds like a great rest. For literally everything in creation. By this time, the earth has been pummeled with hail, meteors, fire, earthquakes, murders, war, etc., and for a thousand years these things will no longer happen because Satan will be bound up and Christ will be reigning on earth. So in the seven day representation of earth, the 1000 year reign of Christ is the Sabbath.
What does that mean for the rest of the days? Well, there's plenty of people that have mapped out lengths of time in the Bible, and what they've come up with is that from Adam to Jesus was 4000 years. So Jesus was alive during earth's fourth "day." In fact, when you break it down further it's even more evident that this is God's intention because from Adam to Abraham (who joined the covenant with God that had Him send His son to die for our sins) was 2000 years and from Abraham to Jesus was 2000 years. And from Jesus to us is about 2000 years. So we're living in the earth's sixth "day."
There's a lot of other "coincidences" that confirm this 7,000 year plan for mankind. A couple are 1) Lazarus (who represents Israel) was sick and dead for 6 days before Jesus raised him on the 7th (John 11:1; 5-6; 14; 39-44) meaning Israel has/will struggle for 6 days and even be killed (country destroyed and people scattered) before the second coming, and 2) Jesus stayed with the Samaritan woman (who represents the Church) for 2 days (John 4:40) meaning the Church will be around for 2 days before the second coming. But the most convincing confirmation, for me at least, is Hosea 5:15-6:2. Verse 15 is Jesus' resurrection. Verse 6:1 is Israel trying to return to the Lord (the Jews that were converted to Christianity following Jesus' resurrection). Verse 2 is Israel being revived after two days (being made a nation in 1948 and eventually, by the time of the second coming, having all scattered Israelites living there), and on the third day being raised up and living in His sight (being a part of Christ's kingdom during His reign on earth).
So what does that all mean to us? I'm sure everyone reading this has felt as if not just our nation but the world is a pot at its boiling point ready to boil over. I'm sure the parents reading this never could have imagined in all their years that they would see a point in their lives where the whole world would be shut down at the drop of a hat. I'm also sure that everyone at some point has been preached to about us living in the end times. To me, this 7,000 year plan for mankind is so clear given the state of the world, that it just falls into place and makes sense. It tells me that the Seven Trumpets of Revelation are right around the corner, and I don't want anyone to be caught off guard. "...the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night...but ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thessalonians 5:2,4.
Bonus verse: Gen 2:17 said Adam and Eve would die the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Adam died at 930 years old (Gen 5:5)...within the 1000 year "day" of 2 Peter 3:8!
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