Hi keras,
While I agree with you concerning the age of this realm of creation in which we live, and I also have pondered the possibility that there 'could' be a 7,000 year plan, I don't find any real Scriptural support that the 7,000 year plan is anywhere in the Scriptures definitely defined.
Yes, there is a real possibility that God has established this realm of creation to continue as it is, with all the sin and rebellion now associated with it, for 6,000 years and then followed by another 1,000 years of His Son's reign upon the earth after all the wicked have been destroyed, but...
I understand it as only a real possibility. Further, even if that were the plan, we aren't any of us so sure of exactly when the 6,000th year would be. While I applaud your work in dating the creation, and I have also run the numbers, I'm not particularly assured that I am exactly correct, down to the exact year, that the creation began.
According to the Jewish account of this calendar year, it is 5776 by most accounts. So, if I am correct that we can rely on the accounting of the years through the Jewish calendar, then we still have 224 years before we reach the 6,000th year. Your calculation says we are in the 5,986th year. It is, of course, only a small discrepancy, but does allow for a 200 year gap. In 200 years a lot can happen. In 13, not so much. Most of those here on these boards will still be here to see whether the 5,986 account is correct. However, one must allow that even if your accounting is correct, there is still no definitive explanation in the Scriptures that the duration of the creation will be one week of millenniums.
So, it is possible that we may be in the 5,986th year and that in 13 years we will pass the 6,000th year mark and nothing happen. It is also possible that the 5,776 year accounting of the Jewish calendar is correct and something may or may not happen 224 years from now. I believe that Jesus gave other, more definitive signs to allow us advance warning of the impending end. So, I will keep an open mind about this and keep looking for the other signs. I agree with Jesus that we won't know the day or hour, but we will know the season. We will see other signs and wonders that are foretold in the Scriptures come to pass and know that he is standing right at the door.
As I understand the Scriptures, we will see and know the great tribulation is upon us. I don't see that at the present time. Jesus said that it would be a time of tribulation like has never been seen before or will ever be. I honestly can't justify, looking at the world today, that Christians are in a time of persecution and tribulation as has never occurred before. Yes, there are many Christians dying for their faith, but the accounts I've heard of the days of Nero seem vastly more troublous than today.
Many accounts say that Nero impaled Christians through their bowels on stakes that were planted in the ground and then set on fire as lanterns to light roadways. Certainly a very gruesome act for which I can't see anything that would be considered 'worse' than that today. So, 13 years or 224 years I can't honestly say, but I'll likely be around in 13 years. I think a lot would have to happen quickly for that to be the correct account. And, of course, as I have said, I can't even definitively say that the 6,000th year mark will be the end of this present age.
God bless you.
In Christ, Ted
