Hi all,
When Barb and I lived in Colorado, we loved to walk in the mountains and prairies. We had 3 young boys, 2 walking and Chris carried on my back because he couldn’t walk, and off we would go into the wilderness.
I would first study the area with a map, and carry one with me as well. As we walked I was looking for particular mountains or signs along a trail, or noted features on a map like a rock formation. As we walked I would mentally make note of each sign, lake or rock outcropping so that I knew exactly where we were.
Seeing those features and signs assured us we were headed in the right direction. That is the role of the types and shadows of end time events found in scripture. We may have a basic idea of certain end time events, but our beliefs are confirmed by the types and shadows in scripture. Individually they are just events recorded, but together they form a body of knowledge that supports and confirms larger teachings about the plan of God.
This little study will list some of these scriptural ‘landmarks’ along the trail, especially about the time frame of 7,000 years given for mankind. It should further confirm and assure us of the Father’s overall plan for our lives, for we are a tiny part of a much larger drama being played out on planet earth.
Why 7,000 years?
This is a long-held Jewish belief based on God taking 6 days to create the world and then quit on the 7th day Accordingly, man will live 6,000 years and then the world will enter a 7th ‘day’ of 1,000 years of rest. What we call the Millennial age. The number of man therefore is 6, the number of God and completion, 7.
Peter was Jewish and grew up with this understanding as stated in II Peter 3:8 that “1 day with the Lord is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years as 1 day.”
While this is a statement of the timelessness of the Father, able to be in the past, present and future at the same time, the principle of 1 day equalling 1,000 years and 1,000 years equaling 1 day, is also verified throughout scripture.
Hosea
This theme of 1 day equalling 1,000 years is found in Hosea 6: 2. Following a plea for Israel to return to the Lord: “After 2 days He will revived us, in the 3rd day He will raise us up to live with Him.”
This has long been understood to mean God will not be seen by them for 2,000 years which is the 2 days. But in the 3rd day or the 3rd set of 1,000 years He will raise up Israel to live with Him on the earth.
This alludes to the 2,000 years of the ‘time of the Gentiles’, when Israel was destroyed in the year 70 and after nearly 2,000 years became a nation once again. They have suffered mightily the last 2000 years, and many wonder why God has forsaken them. To them, from their Jewish perspective, God has not been seen these last 2,000 years – but on that 3rd day, He will cause them to live again, and live with Him on the earth.
Noah
We are told in Genesis 7:6 that Noah lived 600 years then judgement came. So there will be 6,000 years for man, then judgement. During the judgement just as in Noah’s day, the righteous will be ‘floated’ above the earth. Then a 1,000 year ‘day’ of rest/fresh start follows. (Millennial age with Jesus ruling on earth)
Noah was instructed in Genesis 6:16 by the Lord to make the ark with 3 levels. This is a type of Colossians 2:9 which says: “For in Him is the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This showed Noah and those around him the triune God – Father, Son, Holy Spirit within and part of the Ark. Jesus Christ carries us to safety above the flood waters of judgment.
Genesis 7: 16 says as they entered the Ark, “the Lord shut them in”. This is a type of Ephesians 1: 13 and 4:30 which states when we believed in the Lord, the Holy Spirit sealed us in Him. As Noah and family entered Christ, the Ark, the Holy Spirit sealed them in Christ.
They floated above the flood waters because they were sealed inside the Ark – this is a type of the pre-tribulation rapture. Judgment came when Noah was 600 years old, a type of man living for 6,000 years and then the judgement – and believers will be lifted above it. We are nearing the end of that 6,000 years….
The wedding at Cana
John is led to count the days of John the Baptist’s ministry and the start of Jesus’ ministry over the course of 4 days. Those 4 days stand for 4,000 years of mankind and show something to come, then there are 2 missing days (2,000 years), then on the 7th day a wedding.
- John 1: 19-28 records day 1, starting with, ‘This is the record of John’ in v19.
- John 1: 29 says, ‘the next day’ which is day 2, and continues to v34.
- John 1: 35 says, ‘the next day’ which is day 3, and continues to v42.
- John 1: 43 says ‘the day after that’ which is day 4, and continues to v51, the end of the chapter.
The summary is that in John 1: 19-51 we see 4 days in the life of John and Jesus, or 4,000 years of history. In Judaism as the author John believed, this 4,000 years is the time from Adam to Jesus.
Those 4,000 years or 4 days in the life of John and Jesus, show both of them active, calling for repentance and to follow God.
Chapter 2 opens with this statement: “Three days later was a wedding in Cana.” So John lists the 4 days, skips over days 5&6, then says 3 days later, which was the 7th day, there is a wedding.
Days 5 & 6 are 2 days, or 2,000 years, when God is not seen by the Jewish people. They are the 2 days Hosea talks about, “After 2 days He will revive us” – and the 3rd day Hosea says, He will raise them up and they will live with Him in a wedding celebration. Weddings in their day as in some of today’s Jewish weddings, last 7 days…(7 years, celebrated in heaven while earth is in the Tribulation)
As I said at the start, these little types & shadows found in the Old Testament and here in the opening of the gospel of John, act as trail markers. They are guideposts along the path of life to confirm we are believing correctly.
Next week more types and shadows that confirm a 7,000 year plan God has for mankind. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
