Chapter 3 The Sabbath Day and the Sabbath of a Thousand Years
【Heb 4:3-5】 「And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”」
When the Lord said about the Israelites, “They shall never enter my rest”(Heb 4:3), it did not mean that they would not be living in Canaan. God was referring to an everlasting rest. The Book of Hebrews interpreted the creation of six days as a prophecy that the Sabbath day stands for the everlasting rest after 6,000 years of human history.
The Sabbath day coming after six days and the Sabbath year coming after every six years are prophecies for the future. A day is counted as a year prophetically, and sometimes as a thousand years.(Num. 14:34, Eze. 4:6) There is a parable that a day is like a thousand years.
【2Pet 3:8】 「But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”」
Just as there is a Sabbath day every seven days and the Sabbath year every seven years, we can reason prophetically that there will be the Sabbath of a thousand years, after six thousand years of human history. Revelation has the record that the devil will be seized to the Abyss for a thousand years and the saints will reign with Christ a thousand years.
【Rev 20:2-4】 「He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, …… I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. …… They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.」
The fact that God rested after six days’ work of creation shows that He will enter the everlasting rest with the saints who have been redeemed after six thousand years of the perfect creation. The Scripture says, “They shall never enter My rest”.(Heb 4:5) It is also prophesied that there are those who will enter the Lord’s rest. The apostle John said, “Some will enter that rest”, as “they will come to reign with Christ for a thousand years”.(Rev. 20:4)
We must understand that we are in the same situation with Adam and Eve. Adam stands for all mankind, who were not the finished yet. We have sinned and are destined to die as like Adam and Eve. Since we belong to the dust and cannot live forever, we must be changed into the finished to live forever through the redemption of Jesus’ blood.
