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Below is an excerpt from a Jack Van Impe Newsleter (Original Article found HERE) showing texts and quotes from Early Church Fathers regarding the 1,000 year Reign of Jesus Christ on Earth.
(For some of the Bible references that I have posted showing a literal Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ on the Earth go HERE to my post.)
… What about the six-day theory? Second Peter 3:8—9 contains a tremendous mathematical formula: “Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” For years, I have referred to this passage as a mathematical masterpiece. Let us review it together. The promise God keeps is found in 2 Peter 3:4. It is the promise of His coming. Because God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), He will come again! His heart of love toward sinners is filled with patience, but soon the day of grace will end. His patience cannot go on eternally. His prearranged timetable must be fulfilled. What is this time frame? Can we mortals know such secrets? Yes, we can! Jesus said, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors” (Matthew 24:33). Though we will never know the precise day or hour (Matthew 24:36), we can know God’s approximate schedule. How can this be? We read that a thousand years is as a day, and a day is as a thousand years. This is not as mysterious as it sounds. In fact, a few mental calisthenics give us the solution to this often-misunderstood equation.
God created the world in six days (Genesis 1:31) and rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2). Since a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day, we have six days of labor, signifying six thousand years of burdensome toil for humanity, and a final seventh day of rest—the millennial reign of Christ—when they live and reign with Christ a thousand years (Revelation 20:4). The calendar on your wall or in your wallet or purse demonstrates that this timetable is practically fulfilled.
Chronologists such as Archbishop James Ussher have worked strenuously on historical timetables to produce the following information: From Adam’s creation to Christ’s birth, approximately 4,000 years passed. From Christ’s birth to our day, 1,998 years have transpired. This gives us a total of 5,998 years. We are on the threshold of the final day! The six-day theory is not my invention, but rather the theory of scores of church fathers in earlier centuries. With that in mind, I want you to consider the following from the amazing document titled the Epistle of Barnabas—missionary with the apostle Paul (see Acts chapters 13—15). He said in A.D. 110—nineteen centuries ago:
And God made in six days the works of his hands; and he finished them on the seventh day, and he rested the seventh day, and sanctified it. Consider, my children, what that signifies, he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this; that in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is a thousand years; as himself testifieth saying, Behold this day shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished. And what is that he saith, And he rested the seventh day, he meaneth this; that when his Son shall come, and abolish the season of the Wicked One, and judge the ungodly; and shall change the sun and the moon and the stars; then he shall gloriously rest in that seventh day. (vv. 3—6)
Other early Church writings confirm the “signs of a thousand years.” Irenaeus, an early church father who lived 1,850 years ago, wrote, “For in so many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded.. . and God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works he made.” The Jewish Talmud states, “The world is to stand 6,000 years, viz., 2,000 confusion and void, 2,000 with the law, and 2,000 the time of the Messiah.” The chronological tables could be off by as much as five to twelve years. However, we know that the time of the end is near, even at the doors, though we are not privy to the day or the hour. One thing is certain: Only a few minutes remain before midnight. Closing time is upon us. The Age of Grace is about to end, and believers are soon to rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ.
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