Understanding the Everlasting Covenant – The Sabbath
by Paul Sides
Not only did God reveal the major goals of His predestined plan for man in the first few pages of Genesis, but God also revealed to man the Everlasting Covenant of the Sabbath. This covenant was made with man as a portrait of a greater truth and to establish the overall timeline of God’s plan for man. This overall plan and the truth concerning the meaning of this portrait is found in 2 Peter 3.
In the first few pages of the Book of Genesis, God reveals His complete plan. That Plan is laid out in Genesis as follows:
- God’s timeline for His Plan – The Everlasting Covenant
(Genesis Chapter 1) - the 6 days of creation and then in Chapter 2 the Seventh day rest, called the Sabbath was established as an Everlasting Covenant. This is the 6 thousand year reign of sin and the thousand-year reign of the Messiah defined in 2 Peter 3. - God’s Plan Revealed
(Gen 1:26-27) “Made man in His image to rule” referring to God’s purpose in revealing His Sons and train them to rule with the Messiah for 1,000 years and beyond in the eternal state. - The Prophecy of Judgment and the System of Training
(Gen 2:16,17) “Eat and Die” - Establishing the system by which we will be taught, the penalty of disobedience, and the need for a savior to deliver us from the second death. - The Prophecy of Yahshua’ Death
(Gen 3:15) “you shall strike His heal”, referring to the coming savior and Satans attempt to stop God’s plan through the crucifixion. - The Prophecy of a Promised Savior and Satan’s Ultimate Defeat
(Gen. 3:15) “He (the Messiah) shall crush your head”, refers to Yahshua conquering the power of sin and death, releasing the Elect from the power of Satan to hold God’s People in the grave.
Understanding these first few prophecies requires the full revelation of God in the Bible to compliment and shed light on the book of Genesis. Specifically, “how do we know the Everlasting Covenant of the Sabbath represents God’s 7,000 year plan for man?”
The Everlasting Covenant Points to the 7th Millennium
God established a covenant with man from the beginning of this “age” that is called the “Everlasting Covenant”. This covenant is the Sabbath. The Sabbath Covenant was given to man in the form of 6 days of work and a 7th day of rest. The Sabbath covenant is truly EVERLASTING. It was never nullified or made void by any of the following covenants God made with man. The Sabbath was in effect through the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants and holds true even now in the New Covenant of Yahshua the Messiah.
The reason this covenant is special and was never made void is because it represents God’s timeline during which He will execute His Plan for man. It represents 6,000 years of “labor” whereby man would be under the curse of Sin and self-government; then 1,000 years of “rest” whereby man would be released from the curse of Sin and be under the divine government of the King Yahshua the Messiah.
God’s people are commanded to keep the Sabbath Covenant because by doing so, we keep the knowledge of God’s timing alive, we continually celebrate the Second Coming, and we honor the blessings of God to enter into the rest of the 7th Millennium.
Understanding that September 13, 2000, was the end of 6,000 years since Adam and the beginning of the 7th Millennium, the time in which we are living is defined as the Millennial Reign. Bringing a new dimension of urgency to every minute that passes in this, the Sabbath Millennium.
The question is, where in scripture are we told specifically that the covenant of the Sabbath represents 7,000 years and points to the second coming? We find the explanation in 2 Peter 3. Below is my commentary on this most important scripture that defines God’s plan as 7,000 years and that Yahshua returns in the 7th Millennium.
The Millennial Scale of the Everlasting Covenant
Interestingly enough, even the numbering scheme of 2 Peter 3 even points to the timing of the Second Coming. Yahshua returns again after 2 millenniums in the 3rd millennium after His first coming!
2 Peter 3:2-18 (NKJV)
“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
NOTE: We’ve all heard this quote. Many times this is MIS-quoted to mean the 7 days of creation are not literal “days” but rather “unknown periods of time”. NOT TRUE. That is not at all what 2 Peter 3 is about and another example of worthless shepherds taking the Word of God out of context to explain away things they do not understand. The truth of creation being “literal days” in Genesis is another story all together. 2 Peter 3 has nothing to do with the duration of creation days. That is clearly established in Genesis. I have never heard 2 Peter 3 accurately taught.
2 Peter3 is not referring to the length of days in creation, but rather confirming that the Everlasting Covenant represents 7,000 years and that the Second Coming occurs after the 6,000thyear. In context, 2 Peter 3 is discussing the TIMING OF THE SECOND COMING… not creation.
The first step in understanding the timing of the Second Coming and the beginning of the Millennial Reign is to establish through scripture that the Everlasting Covenant is in fact a portrait of God’s plan and that it represents 7,000 years.
We will discover that Peter is telling his audience that:
1. God’s plan and timeline can be known by studying prophecy.
2. The context of discussion is the timing of the Second Coming.
3. This “age” began with Adam and ends 7,000 years later after the Millennial Reign.
4. The Everlasting Covenant of 6 days and a 7th day is a millennial portrait.
5. The Second Coming is PREDESTINED to occur after 6,000 years.
Below, I provide a commentary on 2 Peter 3; establishing the context is the Second Coming and the timeframe of this “age” represented by the Everlasting Covenant is 7,000 years.
God’s Plan is Laid Out in Prophecy and the Words of the Apostles
1“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
Commentary: Here in verse 1, Peter is again reminding us to study prophecy and the words of the apostles to avoid being mislead concerning the second coming. God’s plan for man is laid out through prophecy.
The Context of This Chapter is the Second Coming in the Last Days
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
Commentary: Verse 3 establishes the context of this scripture is LAST DAYS. Verse 4 establishes that in CONTEXT of the LAST DAYS the subject is the timing of the SECOND COMING. Saying that over the years between the first and second coming, false prophets will predict an immanent return (rapture) causing End Time people to mock the entire concept of a Second Coming because predictions over the ages have all been untrue. These false prophets and “mockers” should never have expected the Second Coming prior to the end of 6,000 years, as we will see.
Peters Refers to the Everlasting Covenant and Establishes the Boundaries of this “Age”
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Commentary: Verse 5 indicates that the End Time people will “willfully forget” the portrait of the Sabbath Everlasting Covenant. Peter directs our attention to the story of Creation, in which God gave us the Everlasting Covenant of the Sabbath.
In Verses 6-7, Peter establishes the boundaries of this “age” represented by the Everlasting Sabbath Covenant. The boundaries are the creation of Adam (when the Earth was destroyed due to the rebellion of Lucifer) through the end of the Millennial Reign when the Earth will be destroyed by fire.
Now, having redirected our attention to the 6 days of creation and 7th day of rest (the Everlasting Covenant of the Sabbath) and establishing the boundaries that this covenant covers as being from the creation of Adam through the end of the Millennial Reign… Peter then defines the duration.
Peter Defines the Duration of this “Age” to be 7,000 Years
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Commentary: In verse 8, having just redirected our attention to the 6 days of creation and 7th day of rest (Sabbath Covenant), Peters clearly defines the duration of God’s Plan for man from Adam until the end of the Millennial Reign to be 7,000 years. That in regards to the Lord’s return a day is a thousand years. A Millennium for each of the days in the portrait of the Everlasting Covenant. With the 7th day, the Sabbath, representing the 7th Millennium or the Millennial Reign of Yahshua the Messiah.
Peter Reminds Us that the Second Coming is Predestined
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Commentary: After having establishing that God’s Plan is 7,000 years and knowing that Yahshua reigns for the last 1,000 years… Peter drives the point home that the Lord IS NOTslacking concerning His promise to return. Because Yahshua is not due back until after 6,000 years as predestined by God to allow the fullness of the harvest to come in!
Summary
2 Peter 3:2-18 is one of the most vivid explanations of God’s Plan shedding light on the rest of the Bible’s references to the 6/7 Plan. This scripture tells us to:
“Study God’s prophetic words concerning Yahshua second coming, do not listened to the scoffers of the last day that say don’t pay attention or who look for a premature rapture. It tells us that God’s Plan began after the Earth was destroyed by a flood in judgment of Lucifer’s fall resulting in the creation of Adam and that this current age is reserved for FIRE after the 7thMillennium. It defines God’s timeline of 6 thousand years and a thousand year Millennial Reign. And then in verse 9 it tells us that all this is talking about the return of the King and that return is predestined to occur ON TIME.”
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