God's Work Week

Have you ever seen that one guy on the street corner, with long shaggy hair and looks like he time warped straight out of the 70's? You know the guy...he's holding that long pole with a giant sign screaming in red letters "The end is near!" Well, I'm not that guy, but for a while, I probably could have been. I was an end times fanatic for about a year because I learned of the "Revelation 12 sign" that was supposed to appear in September 2017 (and did appear). Then, I made probably one of the most important realizations of my life - the key to understanding the end, is understanding the beginning. It's so simple and yet it shows just how awesome and complex God really is. What's even more amazing about this realization is that God has even told this to us in his word. He says, "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please" (Isaiah 46:10). So what did he mean that he has made known the end from the beginning? Let's take a look back at the very beginning and see what we can discover. The beginning starts with the account of creation week given to us in the book of Genesis. Not to get too side tracked, but when was the last time you read this book? Do you remember how God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them? Remember how he did all of this in 6 days and then he rested on the 7th? That's right, he did everything in 6 days, not 7 because on the 7th day he did not work, but instead, He rested, blessed the 7th day and called it holy.

So what did he create and what was the order? Let's review:

Day 1 - He created the heavens and the earth, created light, then he separated the light from the darkness. The light he called "day" and the darkness he called "night." God called the light "good."

Day 2 - He created a vault between the waters to separate the water under it from the water above it. He called the vault "sky."

Day 3 - He caused the water under the vault to be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear. He called the dry ground "land," and the waters he called "seas." Then he caused the land to produce seed-bearing plants and trees that bear fruit with seed in it. And God saw that it was good.

Day 4 - He created the sun, moon and stars for signs and for seasons. The sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night. These also served to separate light from darkness. God said that it was good.

Day 5 - He created the fish and the birds. He blessed them and told them to be fruitful and increase in

number. He said that it was good.

Day 6 - God said let the land produce animals. He said that it was good. Then, he created mankind in his own image so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds of sky and over all the other animals. He blessed them and told them to be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Then he gave them all the seed bearing plants and trees bearing fruit for food. He saw all that he had made and it was very good.

Day 7 - He rested, blessed the 7th day and called it holy because he rested from the work that he had done.

Would you believe me if I told you that what God did during creation week was a pattern for the rest of the age (or history)? I say age, because the so called end is not really the end, but rather, only the end of a particular time period. Truly, there is no end. Whether you believe or not, your soul is eternal since all of mankind is created in the very image of God and God is eternal. But, what is this particular time period? It took God 6 days to create creation, then he rested right? Well, that's a work week. Just like many of us, we reserve one "play day" or "rest day" each week, and all the other days we work. These days are all 24 hours, but God's days each last 1000 years. Check out 2 Peter 3:8, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a 1000 years, and a 1000 years are like a day." If a day is 1000 years to God, then that means that God created all of creation in 6000 years, then spent a 1000 years resting! Isn't that amazing? So much for the earth being millions of years old! I'm sure it would be no problem for the creator of the universe to create the earth "pre-aged." Scientists certainly have their work cut out for them. So what happens at the end of the week? Doesn't it repeat itself? Every week, we can't wait for our day off, when we are able to rest from the work of our hands. Then, we dread the day we have to return to work. And on and on the cycle goes, over and over. The same is true for God's plan. He worked for a week, then He rested. Now man is working His week, a period of 6000 years, then He too will rest for 1000 years! The only way that I know to test this idea is to overlap God's work days and Man's work days and see if we find any symmetry. In the next post we will look at each day of creation week and compare it to each "day" or each 1000 years of man's history and see if the these weeks match up.