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In the Question Chair

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 13, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 33.

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In the Question Chair.

(Designed for the consideration of such questions as will be of interest and profit to the general reader. All correspondents should give their names and correct post-office address, that queries not replied to here may be answered by mail.)

824.—The 7th Thousand Year.

A friend of mine thinks we are mistaken about the idea that Christ is coming so soon; thinks six thousand years from the creation of the world must elapse before the end comes. What is the evidence on this point? Mrs. M. J. T., Otho, Iowa.
Answer.—There is a long-standing tradition that the week consisting of six days of labor, and the seventh day, or Sabbath of rest, is an emblem of the course of time, spanning the existence of this world in its present condition; that is, that the days represent a thousand years each, the six working days representing six thousand years during which sin and sorrow will reign, and the seventh a thousand years of Sabbatical rest, or the millennium, during which the world will have rest from its troubles, and peace and righteousness will prevail. This, of course, is but conjecture and tradition. But suppose there should be something substantial and tangible to this, it would still be clothed with an element of uncertainty; for the question of chronology, especially in regard to the age of the world, is involved in doubt by the disagreement and confusion of the leading systems of chronology. The question of the nearness of the second coming of Christ is not left to rest upon such a foundation. There are prophecies that indicate approximately the time. Signs bear testimony to the fulfillment of the prophecies; the course of events show the age of the world in which we are living; the apostle says of the Church that they are not in darkness that the great day should overtake them as a thief; that is, evidences enough are placed around them, that they need not be overtaken as by a thief; and they are told, when they see certain phenomena occurring, to know that Christ has reached the very door that opens into the fulfillment of His promises, and the fruition of the hopes of His people. When He comes, He comes as the friend and redeemer of His people, and they greet Him with the joyful exclamation, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us;” and He will greet them, by saying, “Come, my people, enter into the joy of thy Lord.”