Should We Believe in a Thousand-Year Prophetic Day?

Should We Believe in a Thousand-Year Prophetic Day? - Gary Stearman - www.prophecywatchers.com

 

Christians often divide history into thousand-year packages. At the turn of the 20th century, many Bible-believing Christians had begun to observe a series of historical epochs, each of which was about a thousand years in length. The period from about 4000 B.C. to 3000 B.C., were called the years of Adam. From 3000 B.C. to 2000 B.C. were the "days of Noah," as Peter called them.

 

From 2000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. were the days of Abraham through Moses, and the giving of the Law. From 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1 were the years of David and the Kingdom through the birth of Christ. At that point, four thousand years were complete.

 

Then came Christ's crucifixion and His resurrection in about 32 A.D., which marked another period - the "Church Age." Its first thousand years came to be called the "Dark Ages." Its second thousand years culminated in a series of global missionary movements and "great awakenings." At present, we're marking the passing days of the second millennium of the Church, or roughly six thousand years since Adam. Christians have traditionally believed in a thousand-year reign of Christ that opens with a period of judgment called the Tribulation. The end of this period would mark the termination of the seventh millennium, and final judgment. These seven thousand years have been called, "The Great Week of Human History."

 

At present, we're coming very close to the end of the second millennium of the Church. Will he return within a very few years? Counting from that first Pentecost, it will reach the end of the second millennium about 2032 A.D. What then?

 

"3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (II Pet. 3:3,4).

 

Peter is writing about the Age of the Church, as it comes toward its closing years. After nearly two thousand years of exposure to Christianity, the scoffers are all around us. In this context, Peter continues:

 

"8 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. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (II Pet. 3:8-10).

 

Using Peter's own metaphor, it's been about two days since Christ's departure.

 

The Old Testament prophet Hosea uniquely describes Christ's first and second comings; first to be crucified and remove the twelve tribes from their land, then to come back and restore them. He addresses the following words to Israel, which has been suffering now for about two thousand years:

 

"14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. 15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. 6:1 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. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hos. 5:14 - 6:2).

 

We're almost at the end of the second day, and rapidly approaching the third. Keep watching!