One Thousand Years Equals One Day —
Wrong Interpretation
When the Bible becomes the recreational
playground of suit-yourself-interpretation enthusiasts
the consequences are confusing at best. And, the real
result of this kind of thing has been the development
of some very strange and controversial “rules” of biblical
interpretation which are, in fact, not rules at all.
And among the most prominent conclusions of that kind
of interpretation has been the idea that in God’s economy
one thousand years equals one day. The favorite text
for those folks is 2 Peter 3:8, But do not let this
one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the
Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day (NASB).
If this verse is taken out of the Bible
and placed on a table for dissection, separate from
what goes before it and what comes after it, one might
conclude that God is flipping time on its ear and giving
us a new way of looking at the calendar. This, of course,
is not the case at all for the Holy Spirit is not equating
one thousand years to one day, but is using a common
figure of speech called simile. A simile is
a comparison of two different things using the words
like, as, etc. We will see how one thousand
years and one day relate shortly.
The fact of the matter is the Bible
is to be taken literally, both in word and idea. That
is, when the Holy Spirit wanted us to know it rained
40 days and 40 nights in the days of Noah He said so
in a literal manner. When He wanted us to know Jesus
rose from the dead He again said so very clearly. On
the other hand, when He wanted us to know the heart
and character of Jesus He used figures of speech such
as, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), “I am the
door” (John 10:9), “My food is to do the will of Him
who sent Me…” (John 4:34), etc. There is nothing mysterious
about these words, and though they are not literal in
themselves, yet they contribute to an idea about Jesus
that is indeed literal. This is done by using another
type of figure of speech called metaphor, which
is an implied comparison of two different things where
such words as like, as, and so is
are not used.
We use the same kind of figures of
speech every day, and nobody has to develop new rules
of interpretation to know what is meant. “He was hungry
as a bear” does not mean a man became a bear, and, “He
was dead on his feet” does not mean a corpse was standing
upright — we easily understand such statements for what
they are. Yet, some people take to inventing new so-called
“rules of interpretation” when such figures of speech
are used in the Bible. This is insincere and is an
inconsistent means of handling of the Word of God.
Interpretation is all about context,
and context is both grammatical and historical in nature.
Further, there are three areas of context in which all
scripture is to be studied: immediate, book and entire
Bible. When any scripture is removed from its surrounding
verses, the book in which it is found and how it fits
with what the whole Bible says about its subject, that
scripture becomes a pretext, and many Bible prophecy
teachers through the years have become expert at just
that. Applying their methods of interpretation to everyday-life
circumstances could lead to a traffic STOP sign meaning
just about anything except stopping.
Some wild ideas have been developed
through the years regarding the thousand-years/one day
conclusion. One such idea is that the entire history
of the world is going to be seven thousand years. That
means there was a four-thousand year period of time
prior to the life of Jesus, a two-thousand year period
for the church age and a one-thousand year period for
the millennial reign of Jesus on the earth. Wah-lah!
You now have seven thousand years of human history which
corresponds with the seven days associated with the
creation of the world and God’s day of rest afterward.
They say it fits nicely. So...it fits nicely with what?!
Some say it fits nicely with the theory
of evolution, an absurdity in itself. In this way,
you see, one day is actually one thousand years, and
this gives God much more time to do His creative work,
with the result being the creation story becomes a little
more palatable and realistic in the minds of modern
Christians who do not want to be seen as ignorant Bible
thumpers. Is it not amazing what can be done to Bible
texts with just a little bit of interpretive maneuvering?
So, what does 2 Peter 3:8 mean? This
is not a difficult question to answer at all, for Christians
have been correctly interpreting it for 2000 years.
The immediate context goes back to verse 1 and continues
through verse 13. Peter warned us about those who would
mock the promise of Jesus’ coming (vs 4). Those mockers,
of Peter’s day and ours, deny Jesus’ return and, as
proof, point to the fact that He has not returned in
a long time. By this they conclude it simply is not
going to happen. In verse 8 Peter put a stop to their
heretical ravings by pointing out God’s promises are
not affected by time. That is, they are as valid today
as they were on the day they were made thousands of
years ago.
You see, time is not a factor when
it comes to God keeping His promises, and in order to
illustrate that great truth the Holy Spirit inspired
Peter to say, in essence, a thousand years has no more
bearing on God’s promises than does one day. Not
only is the clarifying use of this verse readily accepted
by the average reader, but its meaning is just as easily
understood. Put another way: this verse is an illustration
of God’ relationship with time, and not the establishment
of a law of scriptural interpretation.
The dates of all prophetic fulfillments
cannot be charted according to time as we know it because
Jesus and His inspired writers did not give us specific
dates, rather they gave us signs. Perhaps one of the
reasons for signs instead of dates is that God works
according to events and spiritual circumstances instead
of according to the calendar. When Jesus began His
ministry He said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom
of God is at hand…” (Mark 1:15). He did not refer His
listeners to a calendar. Later Paul wrote, “When the
fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son…” (Galatians
4:4). Again, a calendar was not mentioned. This fact
in itself gives clear indication that God, in His plan
for man’s redemption, regeneration and reinstatement
has no regard for certain days, weeks, months and years.
Yes, God knows the day and hour of each prophetic fulfillment,
but knowing them does not mean those same days and hours
dictate policy to Him, nor does knowing them restrict
His activity by putting Him into a box.
There is another text that adds understanding
to the truth about the one-thousand-years/one-day verse.
In 2 Peter 1:19-21 the scripture says in part, “...no
prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own
interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an
act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God” (emphasis mine). The verb “is”
means to come into being. That is, no prophet was allowed
to write his own personal opinions in the place of the
Holy Spirit’s inspired words. It was not about what
the prophet thought about those matters, but it was
about what God said about those matters. Can you imagine
what might have been written if men like the modern
Schullers, Osteens and Warren’s had been the scribes
and allowed to write their own interpretations?! God
forbid!
Further, “moved by the Holy Spirit”
emphasizes the fact that God does not contradict Himself.
Said another way, each prophecy is to be interpreted
in light of all God has said on a subject. Each text
is part of the whole picture. The greatest illustration
of that truth is the necessity of knowing the Old Testament
prophets (especially Daniel) before one can understand
Revelation. I am convinced the major reason Revelation
is so often taught in such a skewed, illogical and confusing
way is many teachers either know little of Daniel to
begin with, or they reject the early date of its writing.
If either is true, then Revelation is impossible to
understand. God put it after the other 65 books for
a reason.
The one-thousand-years equals one-day
theory is not only distorted interpretation, but bad
theology. Why? Because using such haphazard “rules”
for biblical interpretation leads to similar problems
with other texts. On the short list of such texts are
those that teach the deity of Jesus, His virgin birth,
His literal death, His literal resurrection, our own
literal resurrection, the existence of hell, etc.
There is an old saying that has been
around for years that says: When the plain sense makes
sense look for no other sense, else your conclusion
will be nonsense. That is absolutely true. Further,
no student should ever forget that, as is the case in
normal human conversation, context is the key to understanding
scripture. DLM
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