Church of God News

One interesting feature of Mike Gendron’s chart is that he calls the millennium the Sabbath, particularly since Protestants generally do not keep the Sabbath.

That said, where did the idea of a 6000/7000 year plan come from?

One has to do with the seven day week cycle, with work for 6 days and the seventh day being the sabbath rest (Exodus) as well as passages in the Old (Psalm 90:4) and New Testaments (2 Peter 3:8) about a day being a thousand years to God.

While there are various scriptures that seem to support the 6,000 year plan, followed by a 1,000 year millennial reign (e.g. Revelation 20:4-6), Jewish tradition attributes statements to the ‘school of Elijah’ or and perhaps Elijah himself as the originator of that 6000/7000 year plan teaching. Here are two translations from the Talmud of the Jews related to that:

‘It was taught in the school of Elijah: The world will endure 6000 years — 2,000 years in chaos, 2,000 years with Torah, and 2,000 years will be the days of the Messiah’ (‘Talmud,’ Sanh.97a).

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 (Babylonian Talmud: Sanhedrin 97a).

While traditions should never supersede scripture, the above is certainly an interesting and ancient tradition is it shows that the idea of a 6,000 year plan followed by Christ establishing His kingdom on the earth was a common teaching among the early ones who professed Christ. Furthermore, from the above, it should be clear that the Messiah was to come 2000 years ago, which Jesus did. We in the Continuing Church of God call the time from Acts 2 to present the ‘church era,’ which is consistent with the Talmud (as far as the Torah goes, that time was closer to 1400 years than 2000 as it was not finalized until after the Exodus–see also Timelines and Early Church History and When was the Exodus? Did it Happen?).

Here are specific traditions related to the millennium from the Jewish Babylonian Talmud:

R. Kattina said: Six thousand years shall the world exist, and one [thousand, the seventh], it shall be desolate, as it is written, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day {Isaiah 2:11}.

Abaye said: it will be desolate two [thousand], as it is said, After two days will he revive us: in the third day, he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight {Hosea 6:2}.

It has been taught in accordance with R. Kattina: Just as the seventh year is one year of release in seven, so is the world: one thousand years out of seven shall be fallow, as it is written, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day,’ and it is further said, A Psalm and song for the Sabbath day {Psalm 92:1},  meaning the day that is altogether Sabbath — and it is also said, For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past {Psalm 90:4}.

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 (Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin Folio 97a).

And while there are some errors in the above, it appears that there is a six thousand year plan, that the current two thousand years essentially represents the Church/Messianic era, and that a one thousand year period remains.

Note: I inserted the scriptures quoted or alluded to above within {} as they are in the footnotes associated with the above.

Based upon certain calculations that I am currently aware of, it seems that Adam and Eve were created and/or apparently left the garden of Eden between roughly 3964-3968 B.C. (it is most likely that the 6000 years began once Adam sinned as Adam had not rebelled before then).

This would mean that when Jesus began to preach (roughly 27 A.D. +/-, over four thousand years later) He started preaching late in day four and then into day five. Day four is the middle of seven prophetic thousand year days, hence is not one of the “last days.”

Thus, days five and six would have been considered as part of the “last days” by the early disciples.

That being so, this helps explain why some New Testament figures indicated that they were in the last days:

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. (Acts 2:14-17).

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:1-2)

So, the “last days” began during a time that Jesus spoke.

If there is no 6,000 year plan of human rule followed by a 1,000 year millennial reign, then the New Testament statement above about then being in the last days seemingly make little sense. But, since it looks like God does have a 7,000 year plan, these statements do make sense with that understanding. And that also explains how come the end has not come yet–there is still a little more time in “the last days.”

Interestingly, yesterday, a reader of my article, Could God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End?, pointed to the following statement Jesus made, just before He died:

30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:30)

The reader speculated that could be the end of the four thousand years when Jesus spoke “It is finished!” And that could be so. Jesus spoke again to the disciples and others after that after He was resurrected (John 21:6-23; Acts 1:4-7)–and presuming that the Apostle Paul wrote Hebrews, we know Jesus spoke to him in Acts 9:4-16 as well. And perhaps it was after Jesus was buried was when day 5–of the last days–began.

If the 4000 years ended when Jesus died, then we might be able to conclude that Adam sinned on Passover when he ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6) and the 6,000 year countdown began. That, then, looks like it also would tie in with the annual date of Passover. And actually, that may be precisely why Passover is on the date that it is. Jesus, who the Bible says was “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), had the need to be slain for humanity on the day that Adam sinned– which could very well have been Passover. That would be another reason that the date of Passover should never have been changed–which is something that the Greco-Roman Catholics did (see Did Early Christians Celebrate Easter?).

This Passover date change to Easter Sunday–which Emperor Constantine made official for those who would support him–may be one more reason that the Greco-Roman Catholics stopped endorsing the biblical millennium (see also Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism?).

That said, related to the 6,000 years, the Continuing Church of God put out this sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel that was given at the Feast of Tabernacles in 2023:

Here is a link to the sermon: When Does the 6000 Years End? 2031? 2035?

If there is a 6000/7000 year plan, then the 6000 years is ending fairly soon and the millennial Kingdom of God is not very far away.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Could God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2031 or 2025 or? There is also a video titled: When Does the 6000 Years End? 2031? 2035? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism? Was the millennium (sometimes called chiliasm) taught by early Christians? Who condemned it? Will Jesus literally reign for 1000 years on the earth? Is this time near? Two related sermons are available Millennial Utopia and The Millennium.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.