God’s Seven Thousand Year Plan for Mankind (Abridged)

By Lynette Schaefer

It is really important to understand God’s thinking in His wonderful design and plan for mankind as outlined in the Bible. In our studies of the Bible, we often read its history or study its lessons with an emphasis on how it generally applies to us. While that is certainly not a bad thing and it should be encouraged, I daresay we overlook the importance of chronology in the Bible because it directly relates to Bible prophecy and God’s plan and purpose with the earth. The Jews always believed genealogy and chronology was extremely important, and it was included in the Bible for our learning. Also, in studying chronology, one can get a sense of when various events took place, or when key people lived. Also, the Bible is chock full of types and ante types, and the number “seven” is highly significant in terms of Biblical times. The number “7”, “70”, or “70 times 7” is seen throughout the Scriptures and it is used in connection with prophecy or is representative of a week. Another point is that the Bible uses the term “day” for a thousand years (2 Pet. 3:8); thus, the correlation between the “week” and the seven thousand years plan. I’ve outlined below the main highlights of the six millennia of the history of mankind, broken down into three groups of two thousand years each. As you go through and look at each block of two thousand years’ history, they will build on each other until we get down to the last millennia (the seventh thousand years). The seventh thousand years is the culmination of all the millennia of mankind in which he has lived and toiled. It represents the final time when God will usher in peace and rest, patterned after the creation week of six days (man) and one day of rest (Sabbath). You will also note the role that Israel has played throughout history…it is central! The nation of Israel began with Abraham, and God promised to Abraham to make of Him a nation and to give them an everlasting covenant. (1Chron. 16:17)
As you go through the unfolding of the history of mankind, I want you to bear two things in mind: 


1. This is not an attempt to date-set the Rapture, because that date is known only to God. It is simply an outline of God’s Seven Thousand Year Plan for the earth and to show where we generally are on the timeline of history. This outline has been laid out to give you a more in-depth understanding of the whole plan of the Bible in its chronology, not a specific date for any one event.
2. The calculations of historic events as set forth below are only approximate. Various scholars and experts arrive at different dates for these events, so there is no way to really know exact dates or times in many cases. 

Adam to Abram (Abraham). It is easy to figure out by simple mathematical calculation that there is about a two thousand year span of history between these two men. In Genesis Chapters 5-11 is a long list of the genealogies of Adam’s descendants, listing each successive father and son by name and how old each of the fathers were when they begat their sons. So you start with the first man, Adam (created in the year 0) and add 130 (the age he was when he begat Seth), all the way down to Teran who is 29 when he begets Nahor, Abram’s father. The year you come to is 1879 BC. Some scholars believe that Nahor was 70 when he begat Abram (Gen. 11:26), while others date him at 130 years (Gen. 5:32; 10:1; 9:24). In any case, the timeline of this section of history is approximately two thousand years by general consensus. Events like the Flood occurred around 2348 BC, according to one source. The Tower of Babel happened around 2188 BC (Gen. 10-11). The event of Sodom and Gomorrah is reported to have happened about 1868 BC.

Abraham to Jesus. We now have another approximate two thousand year span of time, which covers the history of the Jewish people. It is broken down into many parts, as follows:

Jesus’ crucifixion to present day. A third span of approximately two thousand years:

The Thousand Year Millennium. After all six periods of man’s history, sin, and various judgments of mankind (including the 7 year Tribulation and Armageddon), Jesus and His Saints will return from heaven to usher in a thousand year period of peace and will rule from Zion (Jerusalem) (Is. 2:3). This will be the seventh thousand years of God and man; but this time, it’s totally different than previously because the earth has been cleansed of all the sin, disease and depravity. Those who come out of the Tribulation alive who were saved will enter into the Millennium and they will live long and good lives. It’s now a time of rest. Satan will be bound into the Abyss for the duration, so he will not be able to walk up and down in the earth causing havoc in people’s lives. People will still be mortal and will be able to marry and have children. Many of those children will reject Christ during that time and some will be saved, as there will always be Free Will. At the end of the Millennium the devil (after he has been released for a short time from the abyss and rises up to rebel once again) will finally be thrown into the Lake of Fire, along with all the unsaved from all time who appear at the Great White Throne judgment. (Rev. 20:10-15) After that, God will make a new heaven and a new earth, wherein He will dwell with His people for all eternity. (Rev. 21: 1-5)
We can see from looking at the total span of mankind on the earth that God brings His people full circle. From Adam’s fall in the Garden, which started the separation of man from

God (Gen. 3:16-19), all the way down to the end where man is ultimately again reconciled back to God forever (Rev. 22:1-5). What an awesome Plan God has for us, and we have so many wonderful things to look forward to!

You will notice that Biblical history is dominated by the Jewish people as they have been around and survived for four thousand years when they should have been annihilated by other nations many times over! Pretty amazing, isn’t it? I would say that God still has Israel in His plan and has not abandoned His covenant with them, nor will He ever! (Gen. 17:7)
Now, can anyone look at the panoramic view of the history of mankind and say that man has been here for much longer than six thousand years, or will be on this earth for another several thousand years before we even get to the Rapture? I don’t think so, according to what the Bible says! Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by school professors, television programs, books, the Internet or what other people say about the duration of mankind’s history. God created the heavens and the earth in a total of six (6) literal days and the seventh day of rest, then He patterned mankind’s span of civilization for seven thousand years in the same way.

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