THIS WAS THE TEACHING OF EARLY THE CHURCH

 

       According to Edward Gibbon’s classic secular book, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, it was the belief of the early Christians that from the creation of Adam to the coming of Christ would be 6000 years followed by a sabbatical rest of 1000 years” (described in Revelation 20)       This is confirmed by the writings of early church fathers such as Saint Irenaeus who had seen and heard the teachings of Polycarp, who, in turn, had been a disciple of the apostle John. This is significant in that John was the closest apostle to our Lord and was the one to whom the glorified Christ gave the vision that John recorded in the Book of Revelation and outlived all the other apostles. In both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches, Irenaeus is a highly venerated saint. In his book, Against Heresies, Irenaeus wrote that “For in so many  days as the world was made, in so many years shall it be concluded...it is a prophecy of what is to come...in six days created things were completed ;it is evident that they come to end in the six-thousandth year.”

                  The Epistle of Barnabas, though not part of the our Bible, was regarded as sacred by the early church fathers. In the letter, he writes “...in six thousand years God will bring everything to an end. For with Him, one day is a thousand years...on the seventh day His Son will come and abolish the season of the wicked one [Antichrist] and judge the ungodly...”  

             As late as 300 A.D. Lactantius, Christian scholar and adviser to Constantine, wrote the following in his book Divine Institutions: “Because all the works of God were finished in six days, it is necessary that the world should remain in this state six ages, that is six thousand years. Because having finished His works, He rested on the seventh day and blessed it; it is necessary that at the end of the six thousandth year all wickedness should be abolished out of the earth and justice should reign one thousand years.” The writings of many other church fathers could be cited to support this teaching.  

                                     

                                                   HOW CLOSE ARE WE?

 

             Just how close are we to the completion of 6000 years?  From Adam’s forfeiture of his dominion to Satan to the crucifixion was about 4000 years.  From the crucifixion to the second coming would be 2000 years, adding up to 6000 years from Adam. There is ample support in the Bible to justify this. Hosea prophesied that Israel would return to the Lord after 2 days (2000 years) from their rejection of Him as Messiah: “Come, let us return to the Lord...After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” -Hosea 6:1-2 “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” -2 Peter 3:8  Israel will not return to the Lord as a nation until the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, the seven years of tribulation preceding Jesus’ triumphant return. These seven years are described in detail in Revelation and as the 70th week of years in the Book of Daniel. The resurrection of the “dead in Christ” (1Thessalonians 4:13-18)  and transformation of living believers  occurs just before the seven year tribulation. Therefore we must subtract seven years from the 2000 years to estimate the resurrection and ascension of the “dead in Christ” and transformation of living believers. Dates for the crucifixion vary from 31A.D. through 33A.D. Therefore the resurrection and transformation of those in Christ could possibly be between 2024 and 2026. The end of the seven year tribulation and Christ’s return in glory could begin between 2031 to 2033.

          Our generation is the first in history to have all the necessary conditions in Bible prophecy present for His return. Israel had to exist as a nation again because most Bible prophecies, including those given by Jesus center around national Israel. The technology to implement the mark of the beast via digital currency were not in existence until recently. Jesus warned that “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive”. -Matthew 24:22.  Weapons of mass destruction with sufficient power to destroy the world at the push of a button are in the hands of politically radical and unstable countries.  Many nations have developed genetic-altering technology to create super soldiers and have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into their weapons systems. Some AI systems have already gone rogue and had to be shut down. Many tech experts and even developers of AI warn that AI cannot be controlled by humans and can outwit us at every turn. But AI development will continue at full speed because of the need to stay ahead of our enemies. Trans-humanism poses an even greater dilemma in that it seeks to transform humans into something other than humans. That is a problem because Jesus had to become fully human in order to redeem humans. Therefore, trans-humans will not be eligible for redemption. Some have speculated that this may be the plan of the antichrist. The fact that all the prophecies seem to have converged near the end of 2000 years from the crucifixion and 6000 years from Adam’s betrayal is beyond coincidence.

Kevin John