The Great Week of Time - Part10 The Anticipatory "Sevens"

The Anticipatory “Sevens”

Part 10

Within the Biblical record numbers are presented hundreds of times related to prophecy, representing myriads of time periods or waymark events to guide God’s people through the great controversy process. The most significant number is seven. This was introduced at the very beginning with the creation week. It is the key that unlocks a door into the corridor of prophecy. Incredibly as it may seem, it also helps define God’s perception of good and evil.

Let’s look at the amazing sacred sevens:

Jesus, in a self-declaration said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.” Revelation 1:8. He repeated that three more times, the last when drawing that apocalyptic book to a close.

He announces within a framework of time that He was the first – the amazing One. Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, contextually affirms nothing is before Him.

At creation (Genesis 1:2-5) light was divided from darkness on the first day. Shortly thereafter our first parents were introduced to the great extremes between good and evil represented by the trees of life and knowledge. Light and darkness – life and death – enveloped the first covenant given to Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:16-17).

When they sinned God announced the first plan to restore what was lost (Genesis 3:15), a plan that was in place from the foundation of the world (Matthew 26:34). That plan was based upon sevens and then an eighth. The eighth would become a “first” – a beginning again.

The first millennium demonstrated the massive divide between good and evil. Redemptive history was set on a millennial timeclock. This is intimated in Revelation 20, where the saints, after Christ’s coming (Revelation 19:11-16) reign with Him for one thousand years (Revelation 20:6). At the same time, Satan is bound on this uninhabited earth for one thousand years (Revelation 20:2-3).

David ques in on this when he said, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night.” Psalm 90:4. Though this intimates God’s time can’t be compared to man’s understanding, it is a declaration to man that God has a millennial timeclock. This saga of life within this earth’s history is only a millennial moment to Him, even though it might seem “forever” to man.

“But, 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.” Peter 3:8.

This is another statement that time is nothing to God. The metaphoric period used is, once again, based on millennial thinking.

Thus, the first period of earth’s history – “one” – represented a beginning.

The second day of creation the sky (or heavens) was introduced within the midst of the waters. This firmament separated atmospheric waters from earthly waters. The Bible says that God called this heaven. A distinction now existed between heaven and earth.

During the second millennium of earth’s history God repented he had made man on earth, and it grieved him at heart (Genesis 5:6). This separation deepened approximately 1600–1700 years after creation – the great deluge came and the earth was returned to the waters that began the second day of creation.

It is significant that the world waited seven days after Noah and his family were safe in the ark. This was a reminder to the rabble that they had forgotten the sacred seven that began at creation. The end of that seven would begin desolation and destruction. In God’s redemptive plan, the end of a seventh would bring restoration.

As dry land was to protect from the waters, the ark became a promised symbol of Christ, a Savior, from the tempest of the world. First, we had a salvic promise, then a symbolic demonstration of what God would do for the faithful within His millennial plan.

On the third day of creation (Genesis 1:9-13) God gathered the waters together into one place, causing dry land to appear – “earth.” On that land he created grass, herb-yielding seed, herbs, vegetables and fruit trees, yielding fruit.

Symbolically, grass and flowers represent people – also life (Isaiah 40:6-7). The earth supported and sustained this life. Trees are seen as people, especially leaders (Psalm 1:1-3) as they stand in obedience to God’s law, bearing fruit (Psalm 1:1-3).

It was during the first part of the third millennium that God chose Abram (Abraham) to be the leader of a great nation (Genesis 12:2-3). Like a great tree he became the great “father” metaphor of the nation of Israel, the grass its peoples. God was bringing into existence another creation within the third.

On the fourth day of creation God made the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. It was then that light and darkness were divided (Genesis 1:14-19) by its leaders.

The Lord, spiritually, became our sun and shield. “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11. Jesus had said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5. Light became a symbol of righteousness, the sun an image of Jesus. “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” Malachi 4:2.

Lest anyone might misunderstand this amazing metaphor for purity and right, Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. There’s the embodiment of the sun, light and life.

Darkness became one of the representations for sin and evil. Jesus, in His interceptive message to Saul said, “I am Jesus” [I will send you] ... to open their eyes [Gentiles], and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Acts 26:15, 18.

Salvation is dependent upon coming out of darkness into the light of Jesus Christ. It means experiencing His sanctifying righteousness.

It was during the fourth millennium that apostasy reached another pinnacle. Darkness came in among God’s chosen. God sent beacons of light through prophets like Nathan, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Israel chose darkness and became snared within the clutches of Babylon – the great symbol of darkness.

Then in one of the profound prophecies of the Old Testament Gabriel told Daniel that his people were going to be put on probation – exactly 490 years.

Within that time period everlasting righteousness was to come in and God’s people were to give up all rebellion and sin “even until the consummation” (Daniel 9:27). During this fourth millennium God announced the parameters of mercy and justice. The great division between light and darkness was made emphatically clear. The fourth millennium was committed to prepare for the coming Messiah.

This fourth millennium is a great transition to the next 2–1. The parameters to the everlasting covenant are now indelibly riveted into the sacred pages. God has a part and man has a part. God is declaring and decreeing a covenant is incomplete without both! The “fourth” forever defines light.

This fourth theme looks forward to the heavenly seventh when: “There shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Revelation 22:5.

The fifth and sixth days of creation brought sea and air creatures into existence plus living creatures such as cattle, creeping things and beasts of the earth. Adam was commissioned to subdue the earth. Subdue (kabash) implies that creation would be submissive to man. Yet, man would have to guide it. God specifically said that Adam was to have dominion or authority over the “fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

As the animal kingdom yielded to man, the dignity of this hierarchy in a perfect creation provided harmony. As Christ was over the heavenly created angels, man was to be over the living earthly creatures. Man was also to dress and keep the Garden of Eden that he was placed in. In this beautiful accord, man in turn yielded his allegiance back to his Creator.

The order of things changed when man yielded to Satan. He was brought under the power of Satan. While he promised “them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” II Peter 2:19. That dominion that man held was transferred to Satan. He became god of this world” (II Corinthians 4:4).

He had usurped that dominion over the earth that was originally given to Adam¹ because of man’s submission. At the beginning of the fifth millennium something changed this order of dominion.

“Christ, by His sacrifice paying the penalty of sin, would not only redeem man, but recover the dominion which he had forfeited. All that was lost by the first Adam will be restored by the second. The prophet says, ‘O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall it come, even the first dominion.’ And the apostle Paul points forward to the ‘redemption of the purchased possession.’ God created the earth to be the abode of holy, happy beings. That purpose will be fulfilled when, renewed by the power of God, and freed from sin and sorrow, it shall become the eternal abode of the redeemed. ‘And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him.’”²

The fifth millennium ushers in the dispensation of grace. Dominion of all creatures with “brains,” those that move, that can be volitionally responsive, was now slated to be taken from Satan. The legal documents were signed by the blood of Jesus.

This era of grace is mediated by the Holy Spirit, Christ’s representative. “The dispensation in which we are now living is to be, to those that ask, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Ask for His blessing. It is time we were more intense in our devotion. To us is committed the arduous, but happy, glorious work of revealing Christ to those who are in darkness. We are called to proclaim the special truths for this time. For all this the outpouring of the Spirit is essential. We should pray for it. The Lord expects us to ask Him.”³

The fifth millennium paves the way for the transference of dominion control of His special creatures back to God. That occurs when mankind is elevated in God’s kingdom: “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:5-6. The “fifth” begins the Christian era.

Though apostasy continued, the blood of saints also flowed, affirming a growing core of activists against Satan during that thousand years.

As noted above, this day of creation saw the completion of the creative creature work. It also became unique in God bringing man into existence – “In His image.” The ultimate creation was a being just like He was. The last and crowning act was the creation of Adam and then Eve. “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31.

Sin marred God’s perfect work. The sixth millennium was to become the era to complete the reversal of what Satan and man did. It was the final preparation time of cleansing so man could enter into the “seventh” or eternal rest with God.

How complete was that restoration to be? Back to the moral image of God that Adam and Eve once enjoyed. This millennium represents man being made once again into God’s likeness and when our bodies will be renewed in the twinkling of an eye (I Corinthians 15:52).

“God desires us to reach the standard of perfection made possible for us by the gift of Christ. He calls upon us to make our choice on the right side, to connect with heavenly agencies, to adopt principles that will restore in us the divine image. In His written Word and in the great book of nature He has revealed the principles of life. It is our work to obtain a knowledge of these principles, and by obedience to cooperate with Him in restoring health to the body as well as to the soul.”⁴

“Let those who work for Christ keep their principles pure. Let the life be untainted by any polluting practice. All heaven is interested in the restoration of the moral image of God in man. All heaven is working to this end. God and the holy angels have an intense desire that human beings shall reach the standard of perfection which Christ died to make it possible for them to reach. It is His desire that we shall be one with Christ, complete in Christ, that we shall be heirs of heaven; but we are left free to choose. God calls upon us to make our choice on the right side, to connect with heavenly agencies, to adopt principles which have a reviving, restoring influence, which will restore in us the moral image lost through disobedience. As by faith we adopt the principles which characterize the life of Christ, they are in the soul as a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life. The soul overflows with the riches of the grace of Christ, and this overflow refreshes other souls.”⁵

This is what the apostle Paul called “the redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:14).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times [the millennial periods] he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:3-14.

“Higher education is an experimental knowledge of the plan of salvation, and this knowledge is secured by earnest and diligent study of the Scriptures. Such an education will renew the mind and transform the character, restoring the image of God in the soul.”⁶

This sixth millennium can’t be finished until that restoration is complete – for those who accept heaven’s provisions. That completed work is called the “sealing” in Revelation 7 and Ephesians 1:13-14. The final strife (political and militarily) of this world is held back (7:1-2) (the four winds) until God’s people are all sealed in their foreheads (7:3-4).

That sealing was talked about by Ezekiel – the “man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side” and was ready to “set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst” of God’s church (Ezekiel 9:3-4). When the sealing is ended – the restoration is complete.

At Sinai, as God was trying to reunite the people He had chosen, He gave the Deacalogue, written on stone. Of focused interest was the fourth commandment that recalled God as the Creator.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11.

Being written in stone, it was never to be changed. Why? Those principles were an outline of God’s character and interrelational ideals established during the first week of creation! It, along with the statutes, modeled the restoration plan.

At the end of the sixth millennium Jesus returns to receive those who make up the restored kingdom. That is when the separation of good and evil is forever made. “Before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:” Matthew 25:32. That is when the last half of Revelation 14 is fulfilled. That is when the millennial reign of Jesus begins – not on earth as so many misunderstand.

Jesus said He would go to His Father’s house – heaven – where there were many mansions. It was there that Jesus would go to prepare those places for all the redeemed. Then He said that if He would “go” (fulfilled in Acts 1:9-11), He would come again to receive His people to be with Him. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” I Thessalonians 4:17.

It is then – in the seventh millennium – that the saints will reign with Christ for one thousand years (Revelation 20:4, 6) in those heavenly mansions. It is also when Satan is chained to this earth for one thousand years (Revelation 20;1-3, 7).

What will be the character of man at the time he is sealed? “God will accept only those who are determined to aim high. He places every human agent under obligation to do his best. Moral perfection is required of all. Never should we lower the standard of righteousness in order to accommodate inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong-doing. We need to understand that imperfection of character is sin. All righteous attributes of character dwell in God as a perfect, harmonious whole, and every one who receives Christ as a personal Saviour is privileged to possess these attributes.”⁷

Man “reaches a perfection of intelligence and a purity of character but little lower than the perfection and purity of angels.”⁸

Many will object and claim that this is impossible. That grace has bridged the gap. It has. Grace that man can lay hold of brings in the transforming power of heaven, resulting in a new creation during the sixth millennial “week” of time.

“Everyone who by faith obeys God’s commandments, will reach the condition of sinlessness in which Adam lived before his transgression.”⁹

There it is. In the great millennial plan, what once was, is restored to its original beauty. That is one of the profound messages of the Great Week of Time. It is restoration history that ends in eternal life!

“Satan’s work of ruin is forever ended. For six thousand years he has wrought his will, filling the earth with woe, and causing grief throughout the universe. The whole creation has groaned and travailed together in pain. Now God’s creatures are forever delivered from his presence and temptations. ‘The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they [the righteous] break forth into singing.’ [Isa. 14:7.] And a shout of praise and triumph ascends from the whole loyal universe. ‘The voice of a great multitude,’ ‘as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings,’ is heard, saying, ‘Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.’”¹⁰

“The great plan of redemption results in fully bringing back the world into God's favor. All that was lost by sin is restored. Not only man but the earth is redeemed, to be the eternal abode of the obedient. For six thousand years Satan has struggled to maintain possession of the earth. Now God’s original purpose in its creation is accomplished. ‘The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.’”¹¹

Creation was completed before the “evening” of the seventh day. On that day – the last day of the week that He decreed – He blessed it and sanctified it. The “seventh” became sacred. It became a day of rest, a Sabbath to honor the Creator!

“The saints will rest in the holy city, and reign as kings and priests one thousand years; then Jesus will descend with the saints upon the Mount of Olives, and the mount will part asunder, and become a mighty plain for the Paradise of God to rest upon. The rest of the earth will not be cleansed until the end of the one thousand years, when the wicked dead are raised, and gather up around the city. The feet of the wicked will never desecrate the earth made new. Fire will come down from God out of heaven and devour them, burn them up root and branch. Satan is the root, and his children are the branches. The same fire that will devour the wicked, will purify the earth.”¹²

A day of a thousand-year duration is seen in the limit established for man’s longevity before the flood and with Adam. God said in the “day” he would eat of the forbidden tree he would die. Before the end of the millennium – 930 years – Adam died.

Within the thematic period of “seven” is its application as “week,” “weeks of years”, “weeks of months” and in millenniums “week of millenniums”. Repeatedly, after the seventh comes an “eighth” – the “day” when all begins again. That will be the study of the next chapter. As Jesus rose on the “eighth,” so our grandest hopes rest on the eighth millennium, when all will be made new again.