1. Why should we be planning for Jesus’ return in 2033 or 2034?1.1. According to Jewish tradition and the belief of the early church, the shelf-life of God’s first Creation – before the final return of Christ and the beginning of His second and eternal Creation, would be 6,000 years, a corollary to the six literal creation days of Genesis one. “Six thousand years the world will exist and for one thousand, [the seventh], it shall be desolate [no longer exist], as it is written, ‘And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day” (Sanhedrin 97a) “Six eons for going in and coming out, for war and peace. The seventh eon is entirely Shabbat and rest for life everlasting.” - Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus (2nd century A.D.) “For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years (2Pe 3:8); and in six days created things were completed; it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousandth year.” - Irenaeus[1] (130-202 A.D.) “Give heed, children, what this means; ‘He ended in six days’ (Gen 1:2): He means this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifies a thousand years; and this He himself bears me witness, saying; “Behold, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years” (2Pe 3:8). Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end.” - The epistle of Barnabas[2] (75 A.D.) “And 6,000 years must needs be accomplished, in order that the Sabbath may come, the rest, the holy day on which God rested from all His works. For the Sabbath is the type and emblem of the future kingdom of the saints, when they shall reign with Christ, when He comes from heaven, for ‘a day with the Lord is as a thousand years’ (2Pe 3:8). Since, then, in six days God made all things, it follows that 6,000 years must be fulfilled.” - Hippolytus[3] (170-235 AD) 1.2. Peter confirms this as God’s view (2Pe 3:1-13) = God’s first Creation was never meant to last forever. From the beginning there has been a date “reserved” when all of it will be destroyed by fire. This will be followed by a judgment of humanity to determine who is worthy to enter His new (and eternal) Creation. This day will also fulfill the “promise” of Jesus’ return and can be calculated by viewing each day of His Creation as representing 1,000 years (v8). Just as there were 6 days for man to work, there will be six thousand years allotted to humanity to do the work of God and determine who among them is worthy to enter the “new heavens and earth where righteousness dwells” (v13). Or as the writer of Hebrews refers to it, God’s eternal Sabbath (or seventh day) rest (Heb 4:9). 1.3. Peter’s preaching on Pentecost revealed only 2,000 years left after the ascension of Christ. (Act 2:17-20) = Peter’s divinely inspired interpretation of Joel 2:28 as “And it shall be in the last days” indicates that the IPO of the indwelling Spirit marks the beginning of the final two millennia before the Sabbath millennium/time of Christ’s return. Why? 1) Peter indicates there will be plural days [or millennia] before the end – or Christ’s return (17, “last days”). 2) At the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we were already somewhere in the range of 4,000 years – which means Peter’s reference cannot be three or more. This puts Jesus’ return somewhere around 2033/34 (or two thousand years after Christian Pentecost which took place in 33/34 A.D.). 2. Why should we be confident that it is exactly two thousand years (versus two thousand and fifty years, etc.,)? 2.1. We serve a God Who – in human terms, is OCD and likes to do history in neat, complete and repeated packages. Which means nothing is arbitrary or imprecise. Everything has meaning and is connected. God’s past acts and intentions always establish patterns and principles that will be followed in the future. God therefore making the number of millennia for Creation’s shelf-life match exactly the number of days He took to create it should come as no surprise. It is what we should expect. Examples of other things where we see such meaningful redundancy: 1) The first verse of the Bible which introduces us to God’s week of Creation (Gen 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”) is seven words (in Hebrew), followed by seven paragraphs which unpack the six days whose end goal is the Sabbath – or the seventh day. 2) There exists no overlap or spill-over with respect to the things assigned to the days of Creation (e.g., all creatures of the water and air on the fifth day only, all creatures of the earth on the sixth day only). 3) God saw to it that Jesus’ genealogy was communicated as three complete sets of 14, the numerical value of the Hebrew letters “dwd” (David) to emphasize (hence the reason for three), His identity as the Messianic son of David (Mat 1:17).2.2. Paul communicates that ...
