THE SEVENTH DAY (The Year of the World 4128 B.C.)

“Thus were finished the heavens and the earth and their entire host. And by the Seventh Day God had finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the Seventh Day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the Seventh Day, and hallowed it … These are the geneses [historical accounts] of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” (Gen 2:1–4)

Evening and morning, Day Six, closes, 42,000 years after “work” had begun, finding the earth ready for man to subdue it, but yet still, as a whole, unfit for him. Knowing in advance of his creature’s disobedience (and of his entire plan connected with his sentence of death, his redemption and the ultimate recovery from sin and death of all rightly exercised by their experiences), God did not wait to create man until after the whole earth was completely ready for him, but rather merely prepared a specific area, a Paradise, a garden in Eden–perfecting it in every way for the brief trial of the perfect pair, this would be all that was necessary at that moment as God in his foreknowledge knew that due to their lack of experience with evil, the perfect pair would fell the test.

Thus the earth left in its unfinished condition would serve both as a blessing and as a curse –leaving to mankind, as convict laborers, the work of “subduing” it and at the same time gaining thereby valuable lessons and experiences.

Thus we read:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake” or we could say, “Blessed is the ground for your sake” (Gen 3:17)

The earth is in its present imperfect condition for your profit and experience even though you may not esteem it so, See Eccl 1:13; 3:10, 18

God saw best to permit his creature Adam (i.e. mankind) to exercise his free will and fall under temptation into sin and its legitimate penalty, death–including a long period, 6,000 years of dying and battling, as a convict, in an evil environment. God saw best to permit him thus as a convict to do a part of the subduing of the earth; that to bring it as a whole toward its foretold Paradisiacal condition would be profitable to man under the circumstances; that it would be expedient that man realize the principles underlying divine righteousness and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and be thus prepared for the grace to be brought to the world in due time.

God’s resting on this day “from all his work“ was not from tiredness, since we are told that “the Creator of the ends of the earth faints not, neither is weary” (Isa 40:28).

One of the chief reasons for Jehovah’s cessation of the creative work undoubtedly was that it might be accomplished by another–by his Only Begotten–in a manner that would not only glorify the Son, but glorify the Father also, by displaying the perfections of the Divine attributes as no other course could do. This was by the giving of his Son to be man’s redeemer–an exhibition not only of Divine Justice, which could by no means violate the decree that “the wages of sin is death,” but which simultaneously illustrated Divine Love- compassion for his fallen creatures to the extent of the death of his Son on man’s behalf. Divine Wisdom and Power (pictured by the two cherubs upon the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant) will also ultimately be exhibited in every feature of the arrangement when completed.

God beheld the ruin and fall of his noblest earthly creation through sin, yet put forth no power to stay the course of the death sentence and started no restitutional procedures. Indeed, by the law, which he himself imposed, he precluded any opportunity for his exercise of mercy and clemency toward Adam and his race, except through a ransomer.

The penalty being death, and that without limit—thus styled everlasting death, “everlasting destruction” and it being impossible for God to lie, impossible for the Supreme Judge of the universe to reverse his own righteous decree, for he changes not, it was thus rendered impossible for the Creator to become directly the restorer of the race, or in any sense or degree to continue his creative work in the condemned man or in his estate, the earth. Thus did Jehovah God manifest his confidence in his own great plan of the ages, and in his Only Begotten Son to whom he has committed its full execution. God rested by placing in the hands of another, i.e. his son Jesus — the responsibility for perfecting the human creation.

Note closely that the expression “evening and morning,” regularly used to describe the first six days, is significantly lacking here, and suggesting that the Seventh Day is yet still in progress.

At the start of each epoch a certain amount of confusion and uncertainty prevailed, termed “evening” or darkness. (The uncertainty here was not on the part of God who knows the end from the beginning, but rather on those not privy to his foresight, such as the angelic host) However by the close of each period, it became abundantly evident what God had intended to accomplish, hence described as “morning” or light. (For a similar principle see Zech 14:6, 7) Thus, not until the end of the Seventh Day, when the messianic kingdom rule will have restored mankind to harmony with God and the earthly creation is completed, will it be appropriate to say, “And there was evening and morning, the Seventh Day.”

If our Creator’s resting, or desisting from coming promptly to the relief of his fallen creatures, has in any degree the appearance of indifference or neglect, it was not really so, but merely the outworking of the wisest and best means for man’s assistance–through a Mediator. If it is suggested that the restitution work should have commenced sooner, we reply that the period of the reign of Sin and Death, 6,000 years, has been none too long for the bringing forth by births of a race sufficient in number to “fill the earth“; none too long to give all a lesson in the “exceeding sinfulness of sin” and the severe wages it pays; none too long to let men try their own devices for their own uplift and note their futility.

The coming of our Lord at his first advent to redeem (purchase) the world so that he would have a just, equitable right to come again to bless, uplift and restore all who will accept his grace, although it was more than 4,000 years after the blight of sin and death entered, is, nevertheless, declared in Scripture to have been in God’s due time: “In due time God sent forth his Son.” Indeed, we see that it would not even then have been due time, except that it was the divine intention and purpose to call, gather and polish and make ready the elect Church to share with the Redeemer in the great Millennial work of blessing the world. God who foresaw that it would require this entire Gospel age (a little over 2000 years thus far) for this election sent forth his Son for the redemptive work just long enough in advance to accomplish it.

How long has it been since Jehovah ceased, or rested in, his creative work? We reply that it is now a little more than six thousand years (6134+ years now according to the true Bible Chronology). How long will his rest, or cessation, continue? It will continue throughout the Millennium–the thousand years of the reign of the great Mediator, effecting “the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21)

Will the confidence of Jehovah in the outworking of his plan, which led him thus to rest it all in the care of Jesus prove to have been fully justified? Will the conclusion be satisfactory? Jehovah God, who knows the end from the beginning, assures us that it will, and that the Son, at whose cost the plan is being executed, “shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” (Isa 53:11)

Yea, all believers who are resting by faith in their Redeemer’s work–past and to come–may have full assurance of faith that “eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath in reservation for those who love him,” specially for the Church; but also the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of love and mercy and restitutional blessings, for all those of the non-elect world, who in their Millennial day of grace shall heartily accept the wonderful divine provisions on the divine terms.

Six thousand years past and one thousand years future, seven thousand years total of Jehovah’s “rest,” will carry us to the time when the Son’s Millennial reign shall cease because of having accomplished its design–the restitution of the willing and obedient of mankind to the divine image, and the subjugation of the earth under man, as his estate, his kingdom, then the Mediatorial throne and reign having served their purpose, and all corrupters of the earth having been destroyed, “the Son shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father”-by delivering it to mankind for whom it was originally designed, as it is written. (1 Cor 15:24-28) “Then shall the King say unto them…Come, ye blessed [approved] of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world“—mundane creation. Matt 25:31-34

It is the length of this Seventh Epoch-Day, so distinctly marked by history and prophecy that furnishes us the clue to the length of all the other epoch-days of the creative Week. And the whole period of seven times seven thousand years, or forty-nine thousand years, when complete, will lead up to and introduce the great Fiftieth, as is so prominent in the Scriptures, as marking grand climaxes in the divine plan; Israel’s day Sabbaths culminating in 7 x 7 equals 49, leading to and introducing the fiftieth, or Pentecost, with its rest of faith; their year Sabbaths 7 x 7 equals 49, introducing the fiftieth, or Jubilee, year; the still larger cycle of 50 x 50, marking the Millennium as Earth’s great Jubilee.

And now, finally, we find the Sabbath, or seven-day system, on a still larger scale measuring earth’s creation, from its inception to its perfection, to be 7 times 7,000 years equals 49,000 years, ushering in the grand epoch when there shall be no more sighing, no more crying, no more pain and no more dying, because God’s work of creation shall then have been completed, perfected so far as this earth is concerned. No wonder that, that date should be marked as a Jubilee date!

Here we have presented what we believe is a more reasonable (or logical) view of the creative days one which appears to harmonize the scientific account (geology) with the Scriptural account given us in Genesis, as in contrast with that suggested by many naïve Christians who insist in the literal 24-hour day theory, one which only serves to discredit the testimony of the Holy Scriptures before the eyes of the world and the skeptic.