I can't seem to get on my old xanga site, so I've moved here to Blogspot. Guess I'll post my thoughts here. I love to study the Bible and want the Lord to radically change my thinking and help me to love like Christ. This blog gives me a place to gather my thoughts and conclusions. If it helps someone else, that would be great, but I've studied enough to realize what will really "help" others is for me to truly grow and live a life of God's love at work, at home, in the community, wherever my responsibilities take me. So here are some more thoughts from my study of II Peter:

II Peter 3:8 – Exegetical Ponderings 4

II Peter 3:8 is an interesting verse, one that induces several exegetically and perhaps theologically significant discussions:

 ⁸But do not forget this one thing, beloved ones: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

Where do I begin? First I noticed in Ponderings 1, Peter’s affectionate appellation. Then, in Ponderings 2 I considered this interesting business of forgetting and remembering. In Ponderings 3 I considered the meaning of the 1000 years/1 day statement.

As I stated in 3, I don’t know how we could possibly assert, based on II Peter 3:8, that the “1 day = 1000 years” is some kind of secret formula to unlock prophetic timelines. Nothing whatsoever in the passage even hints that God is offering us a secret formula of any kind. As I said there, I feel it is almost beyond debate that Peter’s point is simply the irrelevance of time in light of God’s transcendent eternality.

On the other hand, anyone who reads and studies to any significant degree has run across some “1 day = 1000 years” arguments that definitely seem plausible. I am not referring to arguments to derive such a formula from this passage, but rather, the simple fact that there does appear to be some correlation.

John Gill stated:

“…the Jews interpreted days of millenniums, and reckoned millenniums by days, and used this phrase in confirmation of it. Thus they say (a),

‘in the time to come, which is in the last days, on the sixth day, which is the sixth millennium, when the Messiah comes, for the day of the holy blessed God is a thousand years’.

And elsewhere (b),

‘… the day of the holy blessed God is a thousand years. And in that day the King Messiah shall come, and it shall be called the feast of gathering, for the holy blessed God will gather in it the captivity of his people’.

So they call the sabbath, or seventh day, the seventh millennium …” ((a) Zohar in Gen. fol. 13. 4. (b) Ib. fol. 16. 1.)

The thought has intrigued me for years that all of human history could seriously comprise a period of 7000 years or 7 millennia. The Jewish calendar actually has Creation occurring about 4000 BC, then we are of course at about 2000 AD, and still looking for a final 1000 year Millennial Reign of Christ (Rev 20:4-6), which interestingly adds up to about 7000 years. If that were true, and in fact we are to expect a Pre-Millennial Rapture, then we are very close to His second Coming.

As the old Rabbi’s wrote in the quotes above, obviously they expected God’s timeline for history to follow the pattern of the week, with six “days” of labor and a seventh of “rest.” On the one hand, one has to be careful about taking everything they thought too seriously. After all, don’t forget, basically they were the Pharisees – not exactly the kind of guys you want to follow too closely. On the other hand (and I don’t know of anyone who would agree with me on this) I personally think it extremely important to realize that God’s prophets spoke orally to the Jewish people way more than they wrote down for us to read. Even reading Apocryphal and other non-Scriptural books, I try to keep an open mind as, they may not be Scripture, but it is also possible that they are expressing truths spoken by the Prophets but never written down. Ancient writings are windows into the minds of ancient people. And any window into the mind of God’s ancient people is worthy of attentive study.  Even reading the Bible itself, sometimes one has to ask, “How did they know this? There was no previously written Scripture that spoke to these issues. Obviously they were taught orally long before many subjects were ever written down.This is a subject I’d love to discuss with any one.

I wouldn’t build my faith on such things or even confidently propose any kind of prophetic timeline – but I wouldn’t just dismiss them either. They may not be “Scripture” but that doesn’t mean they’re untrue. It just isn’t “truth” I can build my life on.

All of that said, I certainly think the 1 day = 1000 years is at least an interesting concept. Again, I absolutely do not think that is the point of II Peter 3:8. And even if it was, it doesn’t say anywhere that human history will in fact comprise a period of 7000 years. It might be 70,000. All I’m saying is it’s an interesting concept and that the fact that the Jews had a tradition to this effect at least makes it worthy of some playful contemplation.

One more reason I think it worthy of at least playful contemplation – is the fact that I believe the fundamental logic of God’s creation is fractal. It is obviously true that the whole universe is built on the logic of repeating patterns – patterns that appear and re-appear on a million different scales – fractals. The possibility that God’s large scale timeline (7000 years) is built on the same pattern as His small scale (7-day week) – that it is fractal -- is to me entirely possible.

So … will human history amount to a period of 7000 years? And are we then extremely close to the Rapture? I don’t know … but it’s interesting.

Should we ponder such things even if the conclusion is “Maybe?” Theological pondering usually begs a conclusion that is of absolute certainty. But … I would contend that when it comes to prophetic timelines, we need to do our best to study, to understand, and even to conclude – then be careful to distinguish between what was clearly Scripture and what were merely our conclusions. Jesus said, “I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe” (John 14:29) … “so that when it does happen you will believe”. Clearly there is an element of prophecy which God has no intention we understand until it comes to pass. But this uncertainty is no deterrent to study and pondering. Rather it is a motivation to so. I want to know in fact what God has actually said, to have pondered it, to see it within the full vista of His great creation, and be as familiar as I can be, so that “when it does happen” I will recognize His touch. Realizing that God’s universe is not only linear but logically fractal as well is simply part of understanding Him. Who knows? Maybe the whole thing is a big Fibonacci Series!! Maybe it will come together in some kind of magnificent universal Golden Ratio. … maybe.

“O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise …”

O for a thousand lifetimes to ponder the greatness of my Redeemer’s creation!