Oftentimes, preachers teach that this verse means that God took up to a thousand years to accomplish everything that He did on each of the "days" of creation. However, Genesis says that each "day" of creation was a literal "evening and morning," which makes them, by definition, 24-hour days. So, this verse is not a reference to how long it took God to make everything he created.

In actuality, though, the days of creation do have some relationship to this verse. You will notice that the whole context of 2 Peter 3 is the time "from the beginning of the creation" to the "new heavens and a new earth," (2 Pet 3:4, 13). If we take the six days of creation and assign each day a 1000-year period, we get a perfect timetable of man’s history. Furthermore, if we assign 1000 years to the seventh day when God "rested," we can identify God’s prophetic calendar.

The following table shows the 1000-year periods assigned to the days of creation.

Day of Creation	Approximate Date	Notable Occurrence Beginning the Period
First	4000– 3000 BC	Creation of Adam
Second	3000 – 2000 BC	Birth of Noah
Third	2000 – 1000 BC	Birth of Abraham
Fourth	1000 – 0 BC	Birth of David
Fifth	0 BC – 1000 AD	Birth of Jesus
Sixth	1000 – 2000 AD	Middle Dark Ages
Seventh	2000 – 3000 AD	2nd Coming of Jesus

There are some interesting parallels between what happened on a few of the days of creation and what happened in history. For instance, the sun was created on the fourth day. Likewise, at the end of the fourth 1000-year period, Jesus was born. Jesus is perfectly typified by the sun (Ps 19:1-6; Mal 4:1-2). On the fifth day of creation, the fowls and whales were made. Fowls and whales typify devils and the number five is the number of death. During the fifth 1000-year period, Jesus cast out many devils and he died. On the sixth day of creation, God made man. The number of man is 6. At the end of the sixth 1000-year period, the "man of sin" shows up (2 Thes 2:3). He is the antichrist and his number is 666 (Rev 13:18). On the seventh day, God rested. Likewise, the seventh 1000-year period is a period of rest (Heb 4:5-8) while Jesus rules this earth for 1000 years (Rev 20). If this timetable is right, Jesus is due to return very soon!!!

We find other evidence in the Bible that this timetable is indeed right and very significant. For instance, by this method we discover that the resurrection of Lazarus pictures the physical resurrection of Israel at the second coming of Jesus. In Jn 11:6-39, we detect something strange. Jesus was notified of Lazarus’ illness but decided to tarry 2 days before going to him. By the time he arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead 4 days. Using God’s timetable, here is what we find.

Approximate Date	Event	Match To Lazarus	Occurrence In John
2000 – 1000 BC	Abraham, father Of the Jews	1st Day	Jesus Tarried
1000 – 0 BC	David & Solomon	2nd Day	Jesus Tarried
0 BC – 1000 AD	Beginning of Church Age	3rd Day	Jesus Went
1000 – 2000 AD	Second half of Church Age	4th Day	Met Mary & Martha
2000 AD	Resurrection of Israel Eze 37:1-12	End of 4th Day	Lazarus Resurrected

At times, these 1000-year periods are represented in the Bible by a year instead of a day (Num 14:34; Eze 4:6). One such case is in Lk 13:6-10, where the Lord gave a parable of the fig tree, which pictures the break between the Old and New Testaments. In the parable, a man came three years seeking fruit on the tree and found none. The dresser convinced the man to let him dig around the tree and dung it. If it didn’t produce fruit in the fourth year, then he would cut it down. Fig trees in the Bible are always typical of self-righteousness. For example, the first time a fig tree showed up in the Bible, its leaves were used to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. Consequently, by this parable, we can locate the time when God provided his own righteousness in Jesus Christ, instead of man’s self-righteousness, which is only filthy rags (Rom 10:3-4; 2 Cor 5:21).

Approximate Date	Parallel in Parable	Significant Event
4000 – 3000 BC	1st year - No fruit	Adam & Eve’s fig leaves
3000 – 2000 BC	2nd year - No fruit	Man’s self-righteousness
2000 – 1000 BC	3rd year - No fruit	Is 64:6
1000 – 0 BC	Dig and dung it	Assyrians and Babylonians Attack Israel & Judah
0 BC	End of 4th year – No fruit
70 AD	Cut it down	Titus destroyed Jerusalem Israel scattered until 1948

Another discovery from this timetable is the time of the work of Christ in the Church Age and during his millennial reign. In Lk 13:32-35, Jesus sent a message to Herod that "I do cures to day and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." He also said, "I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following." Here’s what we see on the timetable.

Approximate Date	The Day	The Event
0 BC – 1000 AD	Today	First half of the Church Age
1000 – 2000 AD	Tomorrow	Second half of the Church Age
2000 – 3000 AD	Third day or Day following	Millennial reign of Jesus when Jesus is perfected and we are Glorified

One more time we find the time of the Second Advent and the restoration of Israel (Rom 11:25-26). In Hos 6:2 the Bible says, "After two days he will revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Here is how this looks on the timetable.

Approximate Date	The Day	The Event
0 BC – 1000 AD	One day	First half of the Church Age Israel dispersed
1000 AD – 2000 AD	Second day	Second half of the Church Age Israel still dispersed, gathered at The end of this day (1948)
2000 AD	After two days	Second Advent, Israel revived
2000 – 3000 AD	Third day	Israel literally restored in this day Is 60, Rom 11:25-26, Eze 37

The significance of doing this study is that it points to the approximate date of 2000 AD for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we still have a period of tribulation ahead of us before the Lord returns. So, that must mean that we are at the very end of the Church Age and awaiting the imminent rapture of the Church. It could literally be ANY DAY NOW!!!! Are you ready???

Hope this helps,

Pastor Welder