The Lord deals in sevens, and restoration week in Genesis 1 has six days of His calling forth life from a ruined Earth, and Genesis 2 a seventh day of rest. This seven-day week is comprised of seven literal 24-hour days, and it foreshadows a 6000-year history in which Yahweh accomplishes His dual purpose of producing a Bride (Israel) and a Body (Ecclesia – the gathering of the called out Christians) for His Son. At the end of this 6000-year period of human history, there is a Sabbath day of 1000 years – the millennial kingdom of Christ. This concept of a 7000-year history is not hard to grasp when we realize what Peter said: “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” (2 Pet. 3:8). The Psalmist said the same thing in 90:4: “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” We should note that “thousand” is the key word. The verses do not say tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, but thousand. A day with the Lord is one thousand years. He is not open-ended, and never has been. He is very specific and precise. He has a 7000-year plan for accomplishing His purposes, and we do well to realize that the sixth “day,” the sixth thousand-year “day” is nearing its completion.
The Lord has allowed man (whose number is 6) to rule for these six thousand years, but soon Christ will rule in His kingdom for the Sabbath rest of one thousand years. The exhortation to the Hebrew believers is very clear:
“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (4:1-10).
This rest speaks of the millennial kingdom, the final thousand-year day, and emphasizes Yahweh’s 7000-year plan. For six thousand years humankind has struggled through life, some more successfully than others, but ultimately those six “days” come to an end, and Christ will rule on the seventh day.
John makes it abundantly clear that humankind is allotted six thousand years, and Christ the last thousand years. Listen to this description:
“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (Rev. 20:1-7).
Six times, the number of man, John mentions the thousand years. The six thousand years are for humanity, the seventh is for Christ. In fact Enoch was the first to prophesy of the Lord’s second coming, which will usher in the seventh day of rest, and he was the “seventh” from Adam. Again, this shows and proves that the Lord’s second advent is all about the number seven.
Jesus’ transfiguration reveals the same truth.
“Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. ”While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
(Mat 16:28-17:5).
The transfiguration typifies the “Son of man coming in his kingdom.” This coming is after six days. The Messiah and His kingdom will come after six days, six one thousand-year days. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, because He was operating according to His Father’s 7000-year plan.
Hosea wrote a remarkable passage concerning this 7000-year doctrine.
“I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” 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” (5:15-6:2).
The Lord goes away to His Father until Israel acknowledges their offence. But that acknowledgement comes with a great price of affliction during the Tribulation. At that point Israel comes to a much-needed realization. “After two days will he revive us!” This is the Jewish Diaspora in which they have been torn and smitten, but there is a third day – the millennial kingdom – when “he will raise us up.” This is marvelous!
Micah also contains this truth. It contains seven chapters, and in the fifth chapter (the fifth day) Jesus is born.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (5:2).
Jesus was born during the fifth thousand-year day. Then in chapter seven there is a reference to the seventh day:
“Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness. (Mic. 7:7-9).
After centuries of bearing the Lord’s indignation, He pleads her cause at the end of the Tribulation, and brings her forth to the light of the millennial kingdom, the seventh day.
We don’t know for sure where we are in the sixth day, but as we look into the following foci, we may get a pretty good idea. We are no doubt at the threshold of the seventh day, because, among several reasons, Israel is now a nation in its land, and in possession of Jerusalem. It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of this fact in our world. That, perhaps more than any other reason, lends viability to the 7000-year plan of Yahweh. After two days of Diaspora, Yahweh has revived His nation. The Sabbath day of rest is coming soon.