by thinker 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
The WT claims that each "day" in Genesis (chap.1) is really 7000 yrs. Can anyone provide an explaination of this belief? Please list references from WT literature or scripture that backs up this idea.
Personally, I can find nothing; which is interesting since so much JW doctrine and teaching hinges on this number "7000".
thinker
I think they get some of their reasoning from 2 Peter 3:8.
Thomas,
2 Peter 3:8 mentions that a day is like 1000 years, not 7000.
*** w61 6/15 378-9 The Seventh Day-A Sabbath of Rest ***
The number seven is used frequently in the Bible and carries with it the thought of completeness. The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia points out that the root for the Hebrew word for seven suggests “the idea of sufficiency, satisfaction, fullness, completeness, perfection, abundance.” Thus there being seven days of the creative week indicated completeness or perfection. Since the seventh creative day has proved to be thousands of years in length, nearly 6,000 years having elapsed since Adam’s creation, and since Bible prophecy proves that we are living in the time of the end of this wicked system of things immediately preceding the restful 1,000-year Kingdom reign of Christ, it is reasonable to conclude that this great rest day would be complete with 7,000 years. The 1,000-year reign of Christ would logically be included in this 7,000-year rest day of God. This means the seventh creative day is in itself a week of 1,000-year days. Because Jehovah’s name will be vindicated during this time and his purposes for the earth and for man completely fulfilled, the day is sacred. His blessing of it will be manifested in the 1,000-year reign of the Messiah.
That God’s rest day consists of seven 1,000-year days was also observed by some Jewish rabbis several hundred years ago. In 1626 Henry Ainsworth quoted one of them in his Annotations upon the First Booke of Moses Called Genesis as saying: “If we expound the seventh day, of the seventh thousand of years, which is the world to come, the exposition is, and he blessed, because in the seventh thousand, all souls shall be bound in the bundell of life . . . so our Rabbins of blessed memory, have sayd in their commentarie; God blessed the seventh day, the holy God blessed the world to come, which beginneth in the seventh thousand (of years).” The world to come is the 1,000-year reign of the Messiah, a fitting climax to the symbolic week of 7,000 years that make up man’s existence on earth during God’s rest day. It will bring to mankind rest from slaving toil and from the bondage of sin.
Thus we see God’s use of the perfect number seven. The creative week consisted of seven days that were made up, not merely of hours, but of 7,000 years each. This means that each creative day was, within itself, a week of 1,000-year days. Following this master pattern, the nation of Israel was given a symbolic week of one-year days, with every seventh year being a sabbath rest for the land. This brings us down to the literal week of seven days, the seventh day of which was a sabbath in the nation of Israel. It was logical, therefore, that the fourth commandment should make reference to the great creative week of which the literal week is a small replica.
*** w67 7/15 446-7 The Removal of Mankind's Chief Disturber ***
According to the Bible timetable, man’s history on earth has been nearly 6,000 years. Adam was created in 4026 B.C.E., which means that six thousand years of human history end about the fall of 1975 C.E. We are in the great 7,000-year rest day of God, starting at the time he rested after the creation of Adam and Eve. There are, therefore, a thousand years left to run. Without Satan and his demons to disturb mankind it will indeed be a restful time. It will be like a sabbath. In a way it will be a sabbath within a sabbath. The last thousand years of God’s great seven-thousand-year rest is a special sabbath over which the Son of man will be Lord.—Matt. 12:8.
*** w68 5/1 267-8 Understanding Time a Help to True Worshipers ***
The word day can refer to a longer period of time. At 2 Peter 3:8 we are told: “One day is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” An even longer period of time than that can be embraced by the word, for Exodus 20:11 declares: “For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day.” This refers to the creative periods of time, each of which, judging by the seventh, appears to be 7,000 years long. However, there is an even longer period of time that can be attached to the meaning of the Bible word day, one that includes all of the creative days together. Genesis 2:4 states: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” So the word as used in this sense apparently covers a time period far longer than each creative day.
*** w87 1/1 30 Questions From Readers ***
Second, a study of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and of our location in the stream of time strongly indicate that each of the creative days (Genesis, chapter 1) is 7,000 years long. It is understood that Christ’s reign of a thousand years will bring to a close God’s 7,000-year ‘rest day,’ the last ‘day’ of the creative week. (Revelation 20:6; Genesis 2:2, 3) Based on this reasoning, the entire creative week would be 49,000 years long
7,000 years is no longer found in recent publications or the Insight on the Scriptures. Now says “thousands of years in length,” an indeterminate period.
*** w93 1/1 4 Our Grand Creator and His Works ***
In an orderly sequence of six ‘creative days,’ each thousands of years in length, “God’s active force” proceeded to prepare earth for man’s habitation.
*** it-1 545 Creation ***
Length of Creative Days. The Bible does not specify the length of each of the creative periods. Yet all six of them have ended, it being said with respect to the sixth day (as in the case of each of the preceding five days): “And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.” (Ge 1:31) However, this statement is not made regarding the seventh day, on which God proceeded to rest, indicating that it continued. (Ge 2:1-3) Also, more than 4,000 years after the seventh day, or God’s rest day, commenced, Paul indicated that it was still in progress. At Hebrews 4:1-11 he referred to the earlier words of David (Ps 95:7, 8, 11) and to Genesis 2:2 and urged: “Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest.” By the apostle’s time, the seventh day had been continuing for thousands of years and had not yet ended. The Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ, who is Scripturally identified as “Lord of the sabbath” (Mt 12:8), is evidently part of the great sabbath, God’s rest day. (Re 20:1-6) This would indicate the passing of thousands of years from the commencement of God’s rest day to its end. The week of days set forth at Genesis 1:3 to 2:3, the last of which is a sabbath, seems to parallel the week into which the Israelites divided their time, observing a sabbath on the seventh day thereof, in keeping with the divine will. (Ex 20:8-11) And, since the seventh day has been continuing for thousands of years, it may reasonably be concluded that each of the six creative periods, or days, was at least thousands of years in length.
Thank you Blondie for the quotes. I had not seen them before. As with many other doctrines, it doesn't really clear things up; but I appreciate the info.
Thinker
Sorry, thinker. I went back and bolded the appropriate parts.
Based on Bible chronology (adding up the years of people's lifetimes given in the Bible), it has been determined by the WTS that Adam was created around 4026 BCE. Counting down to 1975 that made 6,000 years approximately plus the Millenial Rule of Jesus of 1,000 years makes a creative day 7,000 years long....at least that was the thought up until the 1980's. The Insight Book (bible concordance) and all WT publications since then have side-stepped that issue and merely said a creative day is an indefinite "thousands of years in length."
The numbers 7 and 10 do have significance in the Bible.
Blondie, good info-I picked up on the insight move to
thousands of years and laughed. Because of course
I was taught by old dim light that a day was 7000 years.
You know a lot of the faithful don't even know about the
change. If they do it's because they got a new light bulb.
Some scholars think a creative day is 12000 years. Of course the WBTS won't have enough light on that for at least another
5000 years or so.
As for me I think a creative day is as long as needed.
If it takes 100million years to create something well
that was a day. After all if HE could just snap HIS fingers
and so it is,why isn't this creative weak just a regular
MANMADE week.
Thinker we have been in the last days ever since the
LORD has died. You can fit any time period since with the
events of the "last days". As for revelation find a comfy
chair your favorite drug and put Hendrix on, play as
loud as you can stand keep taking the drugs start reading
Revelation. After your all done tell me what it all means.
I will definitly believe what you have to say on the book
as much as I believe anyone else.
Whats written is whats written everything else is
MANMADE--Twaddle and Malarky
Peace and Love
Mark
As a JW for almost forty years, I thought when I was a kid that the teaching was each creative day was a thousand years. At some point I remember it changing to 7000.
Maybe I just wasn't paying attention. Or maybe it was just one of the many things they taught that I had my own slant on. The first time I ever really remember realizing the 7000 year thing was in the Creation book.
Is my memory faulty or did they change this at some point?
Also what year did the Creation book come out?
TW
Hi Thinkers Wife,
I went back to 1951 to find the understanding of a creative day being 7,000 years long. The 1987 Watchtower article was the most current I could find that still espoused that thought. Notice that the 1985 Creation book uses the ambiguous language of thousands of years which is repeated in the 1998 Creator book. I only remember the 1,000 year being used to show that a figurative day can be longer than 24 hours and that the 1,000 year rule of Christ is also called a day.
*** w51 1/1 27 The Christian's Sabbath ***
Paul counsels Christians to enter into God’s rest, it must have continued until his day, 4,000 years after creation. Other scriptures indicate that God’s day will continue until the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ, thus giving it a total length of 7,000 years.—Heb. 4:11; 1 Cor. 15:25-28; Rev. 20:5, 6.…A day in the Bible is not always 24 hours long; 7,000 years for each of the creative days as well as the rest day is consistent with the Scriptures.—2 Pet. 3:8.
*** w54 8/1 478 The Purpose of Your Witnessing ***
So the end of Jehovah’s 7,000-year sabbath will see his purpose accomplished by the 1,000-year reign of Christ Jesus.
*** w70 2/15 120 The Days of Creation from God's Viewpoint ***
Thus we find the seventh “day” of the creative week to be seven thousand years long. On the basis of the length of the seventh “day” it is therefore reasonable to conclude that each of the other six “days” also was a period of 7,000 years.
*** Creation Book (1985) 26 3 What Does Genesis Say? ***
How Long Is a Genesis “Day”?
“Day” as used in the Bible can include summer and winter, the passing of seasons. (Zechariah 14:8) “The day of harvest” involves many days. (Compare Proverbs 25:13 and Genesis 30:14.) A thousand years are likened to a day. (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8, 10) “Judgment Day” covers many years. (Matthew 10:15; 11:22-24) It would seem reasonable that the “days” of Genesis could likewise have embraced long periods of time—millenniums.
*** Creation Book (1985) 92-3 6 An Ancient Creation Record-Can You Trust It? ***
The book of Genesis was written in Hebrew. In that language, “day” refers to a period of time. It can be either a lengthy one or a literal day of 24 hours. Even in Genesis all six “days” are spoken of collectively as one lengthy period—‘the day in which Jehovah made earth and heaven.’ (Genesis 2:4; compare 2 Peter 3:8.) The fact is, the Bible reveals that the creative “days,” or ages, encompass thousands of years.
*** w87 1/1 30 Questions From Readers ***
Second, a study of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and of our location in the stream of time strongly indicate that each of the creative days (Genesis, chapter 1) is 7,000 years long. It is understood that Christ’s reign of a thousand years will bring to a close God’s 7,000-year ‘rest day,’ the last ‘day’ of the creative week. (Revelation 20:6; Genesis 2:2, 3)
*** Creator Book (1998) ct 93 6 An Ancient Creation Record-Can You Trust It? ***
A person can see this from what the Bible says about the seventh “day.” The record of each of the first six “days” ends saying, ‘and there came to be evening and morning, a first day,’ and so on. Yet, you will not find that comment after the record of the seventh “day.” And in the first century C.E., some 4,000 years downstream in history, the Bible referred to the seventh rest “day” as still continuing. (Hebrews 4:4-6) So the seventh “day” was a period spanning thousands of years, and we can logically conclude the same about the first six “days.”
After reading all the WT quotes and all the referenced scriptures in context, I believe I'm ready to comment on the JW doctrine that states each "creation day" in Genesis is actually 7000 yrs. long:
1) Despite the fact that Genesis 1 clearly defines "a day", five times, as "evening and morning"; the WT ignores this and informs us that a "day" can mean an indefinite period of time; as in "..in my day..."
2) To prove this they quote HALF of 2Peter 3:8, "... that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,.." (BTW, the 2nd half says "and a thousand years as one day." So Christ's 1000 yrs reign could last only one day !). Obviously, 1000 years is not long enough to fit their preconcieved ideas, so...
3) They use numerology (isn't that an occult practice?) to show the special significance of the number seven. (w61 6/15 378-9) "The Seventh Day-A Sabbath of Rest ***
The number seven is used frequently in the Bible and carries with it the thought of completeness." And...
4) Use a vague Jewish quote from a book written in 1626 (same article as above). (I'm sure any of us could run right down to the local library and check the context of this quote !! LOL)
5) After completely ignoring the 5 definitions provided in Gen. for a day, they then note with interest that this definition is missing from the 7th day account and conclude that the 7th day is still continuing. (They didn't seem to care about the other 5, so why should they care about this one?)
6) Then using 4026 BC as man's starting point, factoring in their own WWI prediction (failed, changed, and re-changed; then agreed upon 11 yrs. after the fact-1925) they come to the completely uneventful year 1975 as 6000 years + 1000 yrs. of Christ's reign = 7000 years. By this complex formula, based on THEIR OWN unfulfilled predictions, they conclude that each "creation day" is actually 7000 yrs. long.
7) Then, to back up this bizarre thought process, they focus on the meaning of the word "rest" (Gen. 2:2) in the account of the seventh day of creation. (w67 7/15 446-7 ): "According to the Bible timetable, man’s history on earth has been nearly 6,000 years. Adam was created in 4026 B.C.E., which means that six thousand years of human history end about the fall of 1975 C.E. We are in the great 7,000-year rest day of God, starting at the time he rested after the creation of Adam and Eve." They then refernce scripture (it-1 545 Creation ): "Also, more than 4,000 years after the seventh day, or God’s rest day, commenced, Paul indicated that it was still in progress. At Hebrews 4:1-11 he referred to the earlier words of David (Ps 95:7, 8, 11) and to Genesis 2:2 and urged: 'Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest.' " So the definition of "rest" refered to in Ps 95:7, 8, 11 & Hebrews 4:1-11 is "the time period from 4026 BC to 2975 AD !!!??? Read those scriptures and insert the WT definition in each place you find the word "rest". Does it make sense?? NO.
8) To further cloud matters, the WT says about the word "history": "Genesis 2:4 states: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” So the word as used in this sense apparently covers a time period far longer than each creative day." (w68 5/1 267-8 ). Please note that history means in the past, already happened. By this argument alone you can reason that the seventh day had a completion. Also in Heb. 4:4 ...and God rested...(past tense) amd Heb. 4:10 "...just as God DID from his own...(past tense).
So to summarize:
To accept this "spiritual food", all you have to do is
1) Ignore the definition of "day" in Gen.1
2) Define history as not only Past, but also Present & Future
3) Ignore Heb. 1 "rested" and "did", past tense
4) Accept the WT changing and failed prophesy to get to the number 7000
5) Accept the definition of "rest" as the time period 4026 BC to 2975 AD
6) Explain how Ps 95:7, 8, 11 & Hebrews 4:1-11 can deny a man already living from entering into a time period which encompasses his life !!!
May God forgive me, but I'm starting to think that anyone who swallows all this deserves to be a JW.
thinker
