The Six Days of Creation
The days of creation have spoken to mankind for thousands of years. Yet in no other generation have the six days of creation been more significant and yet so little understood.

From the generations mentioned in the Bible, there is biblical authority for four thousand years from Adam to Jesus. The Gregorian calendar of today shows about two thousand years since Jesus' birth. Sometime during this generation, mankind should reach six thousand years since the creation of Adam.

The Hebrew rabbis understood that a day with God is equivalent to one thousand years. This is seen in Psalms. "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Psalms 90:4).

This is also a principle in physics. The Bible says that God is light (Isa 60:19; 1 John 1:5; Rev 21:23). Physics teaches that if one were able to travel for twenty-four hours at the speed of light and then return to earth, this planet would have aged one thousand years while the traveler would have aged only twenty-four hours.

One day equivalent to one thousand years is how the Hebrew Rabbis interpreted the six days of creation in Genesis. They saw that one day of creation represented for one thousand years of mankind on this earth. After six days of creation (six thousand years) the Messiah would set up His kingdom on this earth, on the seventh day, for one thousand years, after which God will make a new earth. "And the Holy One, Blessed be He, will renew His world only after 7,000 years" (Talmud, Sanh. 97b).

Sanhedrin 97 further explains this traditional Judaic view and the Rabbinical explanation for the Messiah absence. "The Tanna debe Eliyyahu teaches: The world is to exist six thousand years. In the first two thousand there was desolation; two thousand years the Torah flourished; and the next two thousand years is the Messianic era, but through our many iniquities all these years have been lost." They saw the world being without God's Law for two thousand years. (It is Hebrew tradition that there were two thousand years from Adam until Abraham.) This would be followed by two thousand years of God's Law in the earth. After these four thousand years the Messiah should have come to begin the Messianic era for another two thousand years; but due to our sins He delayed His coming. The Talmud goes on to say that these six thousand will be followed by a seventh one thousand year period in which Messiah will be exalted.

The Rabbis also saw that the Passover lamb was hidden in the temple for four days before it was sacrificed. They saw the Messiah refered to as "the Sun of Righteousness" and linked it to the sun's creation on the fourth day. From these foreshadows, they believed the Messiah would come after four thousand years from Adam -- and He did!

Jesus Himself gave a foreshadow as to how He would be seen on the seventh day. After six days He took Peter, James and John to the mountain top, was "transfigured" before them and shone as the sun (Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:2).

It is very clear that the early church also believed that the Messiah would set up His kingdom the six thousand years from Adam. Peter himself taught this doctrine called chillism. "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 Peter 3:8. In fact, this was such a strongly held doctrine that an individual not holding to this was labeled a heretic.

While one can not put the first century writings as equal to the Bible, they clearly explain what was taught as foundational Christianity the first three hundred years. Justin and Ireneous are just two of many of these writings. Justin and Ireneous are known as Apostolic Fathers during the second Century. Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of the Apostle Paul.

Barnabus 15: The Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of the creation [thus]: "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... Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world.

Justin 80: But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.

Justin 81 For as Adam was told that in the day he ate of the tree he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years. We have perceived, moreover, that the expression, 'The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,' is connected with this subject.

5 Irenaeus 23:2 And there are some, again, who relegate the death of Adam to the thousandth year; for since a day of the Lord is as a thousand years, he did not overstep the thousand years, but died within them, thus bearing out the sentence of his sin.

5 Irenaeus 28:3 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.

5 Irenaeus 29:2 And there is therefore in this beast, when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. For Noah was six hundred years old when the deluge came upon the earth, sweeping away the rebellious world, for the sake of that most infamous generation which lived in the times of Noah. And [Antichrist] also sums up every error of devised idols since the flood, together with the slaying of the prophets and the cutting off of the just. Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number of the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception; for which things' sake a cataclysm of fire shall also come [upon the earth].

5 Irenaeus 28:2 And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the right hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six, that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years.

The Calendar
There is some argument over whether the seventh day begins 6000 or 6001 years from Adam. Is the year 6000 the last year of day six or the beginning of day seven? If the year 6000 is the end of day six, then the seventh day would not begin until the year 6001. Some would say Adam was created on year 0 and therefore the year 6000 is the beginning of the seventh day. The Rabbis today believe the Messiah will come the year 6001.

The main purpose of the Jewish calendar has always has been to set dates for the biblical festivals, not to count years. The first day of the month was indicated to the Jewish populace by the announcement of the new moon and the subsequent lighting fires on the mountains. Juda Hanasi (135-200 C. E.) had the decree of the first of the month sent by messengers to the Jews living outside of Jerusalem. In order to confuse the Jews, the Samaritans light fires on the wrong days. Then the Romans forbid the Jews to announce the new moon or celebrate the Sabbath.

The difficult times and dispersion of Jews from Jerusalem resulted in the Rabbis changing their calendar. They began to calculate the new moon in order to avoid announcing it. Hillel II adapted the Metonic calendar and used inter-calculation of the lunar-solar calendars in A.D. 359. In the eighth century, Christians started numbering years as "the year of our Lord." In response, the Rabbis numbered the years "since the creation of the world."

Uri Marcus at the Nehemiah Trust in Israel says that based upon many factors, the Rabbis' concessus is that the years have been miscalculated by 241 years. Since the Rabbis feel the Messiah is to come the year 6001, the seventh day, this fits their belief that the Biyat HaMashiach, the coming of the Messiah, is going to occur very soon. The Hebrew calendar calls AD 1998 the year 5758 C.E. (Common Era) since creation. When 241 is added to 5758 the year is 5999 C.E. Note: The Hebrew year begins on Tishri 1. On the Gregorian calendar, Tishri 1 occurs on different dates from year to year during the months of September and October.

A second witness to the fact that we are approaching the seventh millennium since creation are the signs of the time. The 25 signs of the time are at unprecedented highs. This escalation began in the 1960's. Jesus said that when these signs are seen, not one generation will pass until everything is fulfilled. The Bible counts generations, not years. Generations and history in the Bible indicates that there are 4,000 years from Adam to Jesus. Hebraic Heritage Ministries International has an article showing the 4000 years of biblical history. Modern history indicate that there are almost 2000 years since Jesus. This is the generation that will see the arrival of 6000 years, the seventh millennium since creation.

One cannot know when the year 6001 will arrive or when Jesus will return. Although this means something quite different, very literally "no man knows the day or hour" of the year 6001 or the return of Jesus. (See chapter two of Make Yourself Ready for more on this. Make Yourself Ready shows how God gave a picture of the biblical history of man in the six days of creation.) While "no man knows the day or hour" of Christ's return, one can see that the signs of the time and the year 6000 are both occurring in this generation. Believers are to see "the day" of the Lord approaching (Heb 10:25; 1 Thess 5:4). "...at the time of the end... none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand" (Dan 12:9-10).

The Seventh Day
Why are there seven days in a week? Today most people never stop to consider the significance of seven days in a week. The seventh day is literally one of God's prophetic signs to the world of what will occur the seventh millennium of creation.

The seventh day was a day that God set apart as holy to Himself. The Bible calls the seventh day, the Sabbath and the Day of the Lord. It was referred to so much that it became known as "that day" and "the day." Much can be learned about the coming seventh millennium through a study of the Bible's use of the terms "that day" and "the day."

Throughout the Bible, the Day of the Lord is referred to in terms of both war and peace. As each day in Genesis begins with darkness and ends in light, so will the seventh millennium. The seventh millennium begins with the darkness of "the day of His anger," "the day of His wrath," "the day of trouble," and "the day of darkness and gloominess," to name only a few.

After the initial seven years of darkness, will come the light of God's glory where all the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. This day will then be "the day of His coming," and "the day of redemption" when the earth will be at peace, with Jesus reigning over this world from Jerusalem. Further discussion on the seventh day's foreshadowing of the coming millennium is discussed in Make Yourself Ready.