How Long is the Probation of Mankind?

“And on the seventh day God ended 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 sanctified it.” Gen 2:2-3

God created this world in seven literal days, and He set aside the seventh day as a blessed, sanctified day to rest from our labors and to spend that time with Him. God created miraculous things on each of the days of creation, but on the seventh day, He created just one thing, the Sabbath. Did you know the Sabbath was instituted at creation? Did you know that one of God’s commandments is a reminder to keep the Sabbath, as a sign that you are worshipping 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… 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

“I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:19-20

There are many object lessons that we can study from the creation story, but the one I would like to focus on for this study, is the prophecy contained in it. God labored for six days and then rested on the seventh. He set aside that day as blessed, as holy, as sanctified. It was a special day to rest from all our labors and spend that time with him. Why did God spend six days working, and sanctify the seventh day? Don’t you think He had a specific purpose in choosing that time period for creation?

Did you know that in Revelation it states that we will spend 1000 years with God in Heaven? That we will have a 1000 year period of rest from our labors and spend that time in direct communion with God?

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4

Here we see that when God’s people are delivered from this earth, we will spend 1000 years with Him in Heaven. Interestingly, for God one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day.

“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.” 2 Peter 3:8

So to put this together, God illustrated for us in Creation six days of work, and one day in which we would have a sanctified rest with Him. And furthermore, one day is as a thousand years. Will we go through 6000 years of struggle on this earth before spending the seventh thousand year (the Sabbath) resting with God in Heaven?

I believe the time period God used at Creation is a prophecy regarding how long we would need to labor on this sinful world before spending a special day with God in Heaven, resting from all the labors of this world. Then after that seventh day, the day of rest, God will make all things new. To put it simply, God has allotted 6000 years for the probation of mankind in which we are laboring in this world, and we will spend 1000 years, the seventh millennium, the Sabbath millennium, with God in Heaven.

Let’s look at this a little more closely…

We know from history that Christ entered the wilderness in 27 AD, to be tempted by Satan. Interestingly, through a careful study of the chronologies of the Bible, it can be shown that this was 4000 years after Adam failed his test in the Garden of Eden. Did this event occur at an arbitrary time, or was Christ fulfilling prophecy? Clearly the period of Christ’s first coming was not randomly selected, it was the time appointed by God. Let’s look at the type that Christ was fulfilling with His first coming. 

“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” Exodus‬ ‭12:3, 5-6

Christ fulfilled the role of the Passover Lamb perfectly! The Passover Lamb was to be selected (on the 10th day) and then four days later (the 14th day), it was to be killed by the congregation of Israel in the evening. Christ was the Lamb of God selected when Adam failed his temptation, at the foundation of the world. The moment Adam needed a substitute, Christ became the lamb.

“For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭5:7‬‬‬

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John‬ ‭1:29‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation‬ ‭13:8‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Just as the Passover Lamb was slain four days after being selected, Christ was crucified four thousand years after Adam sinned.

“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.” 2 Peter‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭KJV

Another type illustrating this point is found in Exodus. When God descended from Heaven in the sight of Israel, they were told to wash their robes and be ready against the third day, for the third day the Lord would come.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭19:10-11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

We are told to wash our robes in the Blood of the Lamb. We were only able to do this after the fourth day, after the lamb was slain before the congregation of Israel. Wash your robes… “and be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people…” After the fourth day we were able to wash our robes, three days later, at the beginning of the seventh day (the seventh millennium), “… the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people…”.

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:13-14

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7

“He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.” Job‬ ‭5:19‬

Some of you may not be familiar with Ellen G. White. She was a spirit-filled woman to whom God gave the gift of prophecy. She was one of the founding members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which teaches that the Seventh Day is still the Sabbath, and that the Advent (second coming) of Christ is imminent. Here are some quotes from Mrs. White regarding this topic.

“Though no man knoweth the day nor the hour of His coming, we are instructed and required to know when it is near. We are further taught that to disregard His warning, and refuse or neglect to know when His advent is near, will be as fatal for us as it was for those who lived in the days of Noah not to know when the flood was coming.” Great Controversy page 370.2

In the next quote from Mrs. White’s writings, she is describing the deliverance of God’s people at the second coming of Christ. She clearly states that Satan was permitted to tempt and harass humanity for 6000 years, to hold them captive, but Christ delivers His people after the 6000 years, just in time for the Sabbath millennium.

“For six thousand years, Satan’s work of rebellion has “made the earth to tremble.” He has “made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof.” And he “opened not the house of his prisoners.” For six thousand years his prison house has received God’s people, and he would have held them captive forever; but Christ has broken his bonds and set the prisoners free.” GC 659.3

When will the great controversy between Christ and Satan come to a close?

“The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat the work of Christ in man’s behalf and to fasten souls in his snares.” Great Controversy page 518.1

Can we know when the 6000 years is nearing it’s end? Well we just studied that Christ fulfilled the type of the Passover Lamb perfectly, and that He was slain on the “fourth day” or 4000 years from when sin entered the world. Since we know that He was anointed in the year 27 A.D. beginning His ministry as the Messiah and slain in the year 31 A.D. Simple addition tells us that the 6000 years would end around 2027 to 2031.

Mrs. White puts the 4000 year mark at the time of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, which was 27 A.D.

“Christ, in the wilderness of temptation, stood in Adam’s place to bear the test he failed to endure.  Here Christ overcame in the sinner’s behalf, four thousand years after Adam turned his back upon the light of his home.” 1SM 267.3

“What a contrast to this perfect being did the second Adam present, as He entered the desolate wilderness to cope with Satan singlehanded.  For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in size and physical strength, and deteriorating in moral worth.” ST, November 15, 1877

We are told that no man knows the day and the hour of Christ’s coming, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son.

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” Mark 13:32

The Son and the Father are one. Why would the Son not know the day and the hour of His coming? A more accurate translation of this text is that no man may make known the day and the hour, not the angels, neither the Son, but the Father only. The Son knows when He is coming, but the special honor of making it known is given to the Father only.

So clearly, we cannot know or make known exactly when Christ is coming, the Father will make that announcement, but we are told to watch and to know when it is near. Did Noah know the day and the hour of the Flood? No, but he did know the year!

“Though no man knoweth the day nor the hour of His coming, we are instructed and required to know when it is near. We are further taught that to disregard His warning, and refuse or neglect to know when His advent is near, will be as fatal for us as it was for those who lived in the days of Noah not to know when the flood was coming.” Great Controversy page 370.2

Why are we studying these topics? God has given us this information so that we may be awake and watching for His coming.

“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭29:29‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” 2 Thessalonians 5:4-6

Friends, I have good news. Jesus is coming very soon! I hope this study awakened in you a sense of urgency. Are you ready for Jesus to come? May you dig deeper in the Word and come closer in your walk with Christ as that day approaches. Jesus is coming and we need to be ready. May God be with you!