To Ballistic et al,
CREATIVE DAYS ARE 7,000 YEARS LONG -
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"[footnote] Each creative day was 7,000 years in length. See "New Heavens and a New Earth", pages 40-43." - THE WATCHTOWER, AUGUST 1, 1954, page 478, "The Purpose Of Your Witnessing"
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"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. [...] 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." - THE WATCHTOWER, June 15, 1961, page 378, "The Seventh Day - A Sabbath Of Rest"
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"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." (Gen. 1 :31) However, this statement is not made regarding the seventh day, on which God proceeded to rest, indicating that it continued. (Gen. 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 and also 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" (Matt. 12 :8) , is evidently part of the great sabbath, God's rest day. (Rev . 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. And, as the week of the Israelites was composed of seven individual days of equal length, it may reasonably be concluded that each of the six creative periods or days was the
same length as the seventh day or God's great rest day.-Ex. 20 :8-11.
That a day can be longer than twenty-four hours is indicated by Genesis 2 :4, which speaks, in part,
of "the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven ." Also indicative of this is Peter's inspired
observation that "one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day ."
(2 Pet . 3 :8) Ascribing not just twenty-four hours but a longer period of time, thousands of years, to
each of the creative days better harmonizes with the geological evidence found in the earth itself . - AID TO BIBLE UNDERSTANDING, 1971, page 392, "Creation"
"In 1626, Henry Ainsworth in "Annotations upon the First Booke o f Moses Called Genesis" expressed a belief he attributed to rabbinical commentaries, that Genesis 2 :2, 3 refers to a 7,000-year sabbath . This great rest day of God ends a creative "week" of "days," each of which days were thousands of years long . God `rested' or desisted from creative works toward the visible universe, as described in Genesis 1 :1 to 2 :4 . This seventh day is not spoken of as ending, as are the previous six creative "days ." Why, then, did Jesus say, "My Father has kept working until now, and I keep working"? (John 5 :17) God has not created any new earthly things, but he has performed
his good purposes toward his people and toward the earth. The "new creation," a spiritual work, has been brought forth by him, and perhaps other things, in a spiritual way, unknown to mankind .-2 Cor. 5 :17 ;Gal . 6 :15 .
THE THOUSAND-YEAR SABBATH
Following the sabbatical pattern of sanctifying the seventh part would make the last 1,000 years of God's 7,000-year rest a grand sabbath day or a sabbath within the 7,000-year sabbath . Interestingly, Revelation 20 :1-6 says that Satan is bound "for a thousand years" so that the nations of the earth will not be misled while Christ Jesus, who was the "Lord of the sabbath" while on earth and is such now in heaven, reigns as the King . What rest! The miraculous works he performed on earth during his first presence, many of them on the sabbath, evidently show what he will do as "Lord of the sabbath" to raise mankind to spiritual and physical perfection . (2 Pet . 3 :8 ; Matt. 12 :8 ; 1 Cor .
15 :25-28 ; Luke 13 :10-17 ; Rev. 21 :1-4) Thus the literal sabbath day is "a shadow of the things to
come, but the reality belongs to the Christ ."-Col. 2:16, 17 ." AID TO BIBLE UNDERSTANDING, 1971, page 1427, "Sabbath Day"
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"If it is his purpose to have this beautification of the whole earth accomplished by the end of his seventh creative day-Scripturally a period of seven thousand years, then the time is near at hand for the ruining of the earth by exploiters to be stopped by theocratic power and for the blessed transformation to a delightsome garden to begin." - PARADISE RESTORED TO MAKIND - BY THEOCRACY!, 1972, page 18, "Our basis For Hope In Its Restoration"
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"It was in the third creative day when God superimposed upon inanimate atoms of matter the force of life, saying: "Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth, vegetation bearing seed, fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds, the seed of which is in it, upon the earth." (Gen. 1:11) In vegetation, especially in woody plants, a juice or vital circulating fluid called sap was to course, delivering essential food to the tiniest branch, leaf and blossom. Thus it might be said that the life of the tree is in the sap, which carries the life-sustaining properties of the plant throughout its entire system. However, some fourteen thousand years later, in the fifth creative day, when sea creatures and the flying creatures began to be created, and another seven thousand years later, in the sixth creative day, when land animals began to be created, Jehovah prepared in them a different kind of circulatory system." - THE WATCHTOWER, May 15, 1973, page 301, "Avenging The Blood Of The Innocent Ones"
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"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." - THE WATCHTOWER, January 1, 1987, page 30, "Questions From Readers"
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"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." - Insight, 1988, page 545, "Creation"
