S. Collins: There is a 6,000 Year Plan

One article in the latest “The Journal” that I found of interest was by Steven Collins. Steven Collins was formerly with UCG, but The Journal currently only identified him as “a Church of God” member.

Now while I do not agree with most of the writings I have seen from Steven Collins, I did feel that the following was of sufficient general interest to post this here:

As many readers of THE JOURNAL realize, there is a belief (valid, in my view) that the seven-day week reveals a 7,000-year divine plan for mankind, with 6,000 years for mankind to “labor” under the rule of Satan and sin’s penalties and a 1,000-year period of “rest” under the rule of Jesus Christ. Revelation 20:1-5 clearly prophesies that there will be a 1,000-year (millennial) period in which Jesus and the saints will reign. Since 2 Peter 3:3-8 records that the 1,000-years-for-a-day principle is valid in considering prophetic timetables regarding the return of Christ, I believe the 7,000-year plan of God is still scripturally valid.

…if the 6,000 years of mankind’s labor began in 4004 B.C. (Archbishop Ussher’s date for creation week), then there is a problem with the timetable because the 6,000 years has already expired and Jesus has not returned to establish the Millennium. Keep in mind that Archbishop Ussher’s calculations are not gospel, and his calculations could be flawed. However, let us assume for the sake of discussion that Mr. Ussher got it right. How is the 6,000-year period of labor still valid?…

I see no basis for starting that period at the creation of Adam and Eve. Until they sinned, the entire physical world was perfect, and so were they. There was no sin, corruption, aging or death until they sinned. If the 6,000 years pictures mankind’s labor under sin, then labor can begin only once sin has entered the physical world…

In Number 1:3 males were also not counted in a census of Israel’s males eligible for military service until they reached age 20. Could Adam and Eve have been tempted at age 20? If so, Ussher’s chronology would indicate the end of this age would be due in about A.D. 2016…

The Bible doesn’t tell us (a) the date of creation week and (b) how long Adam and Eve lived in Eden before their fall. God likely hid that information so humans could not precisely calculate the year of Christ’s return. We also do not know if Archbishop Ussher was correct in his calculation about the year of creation week. However, the angels know what year Adam and Eve fell because they saw it happen. Revelation 12:12 prophesies that, as the end of this age draws near, the devil will have “great wrath because he knows that he has but a short time.”

This account confirms Satan knows that the end of this age and the return of Christ are fixed to a specific timetable that dictates that he is running out of time to do his deceptive work. This affirms that Satan is keenly aware that there is a divinely appointed timetable for him to influence mankind and that this timetable is a nonnegotiable, godly deadline that is about to expire.

This timetable has to be the 6,000-year period for mankind to “labor” under the rule of Satan and sinfulness.

Not the day and hour

In Matthew 24:36 Christ stated that neither He nor the angels knew the day and hour of His return. This makes sense because in verse 22 He prophesied that the end of this age will be “shortened” by an unspecified number of “days.” Christ’s language confirms that our age has a divine timetable that will be slightly “shortened,” but Christ’s words do not allow for this age to be “lengthened”…

Comments by COGwriter:

While neither Ussher’s nor Collins’ calculations are necessarily correct, I do suspect (based upon biblical chronologies) that the 6,000 years will be up +/- 6 years from 2020 (with +/- 4 years more likely).

In addition to the time of creation vs. when Adam sinned factor, the other factor is that kings often shared time periods in which both the father and the son reigned. And thus, part of the co-reign was often essentially counted twice in some cases.

But either way, the 6,000 years is close to up, to be followed by the millennial reign of Christ on the earth. A teaching that many Roman Catholics used to accept, but now consider to be a “doctrine of Antichrist“.

More information on the 6,000 year plan is included in the article Did The Early Church Millenarianism?