IS THE EARTH SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS OLD?

Many traditional Christian teachers teach their flock that the Bible says the Earth is somewhere between six and seven thousand years old. To think this is true and to teach it means the person has not done much research in the original languages and taken the New Testament into account. At the beginning of Genesis, it does speak of how God formed the Earth and stars we see as day by day went on. There were some days that weren’t exactly consecutive, besides it is written twice in the Bible that a day to the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. Many days to us were between each day to the Lord God.

In the New Testament, which was originally written in Greek, the word “world” many times was mistranslated. For instance, the phrase “end of the world” was mistranslated each time it shows up in the King James. The Greek word for “world” is “κοσμος” (kahs-mohs), but in neither instance was that word used in those phrases. Instead the original Greek word was “αίων” (ah-KHEE-own), which is their word for “age”. Let’s look at Matthew 24:3, for example. The disciples asked Jesus “what are the signs of Your return and the end of the world?” They were really asking about the end of the age. An age is a period of time that has both a beginning and an end. Jesus is the foundation of this age. When Jesus returns, that ends this age and this age alone. Revelation 20 is about what happens after His return. There is a whole thousand year period written after His return where He and His saints live here peacefully while Satan is imprisoned in the bottomless pit. Many falsely believe this already happened somehow because it was written in the past tense. The reason why much of Revelation and many prophecies throughout the Bible are written in the past tense is because those prophets saw the future. It was past to them, not us. This causes a lot of confusion with many prophecies throughout the Bible. Keep that in mind, always. It does say Satan is released after his millennial term is up in the bottomless pit. When did he get out? Where is the bottomless pit? The bottomless pit is described as something people can see. These things have not happened yet. Anyways, after Satan is released, he tries to tempt those who still need to make a choice. Those that fall for him will try to make war with the saints, but God stops them and ends that age. Then the books are opened and the great judgment comes. If someone follows Satan then, that is it for them.

Speaking of judgment, there are those among our creation that have already been judged. Romans 8:30 explains that those that God foreknew He predestinated, those He predestinated He justified. The original Greek word there for “justified” is “δικαιοω” (dik-ah-yah-oh), which means “to judge/render one innocent”. If they were judged innocent, then when and how were they judged? What did they do to set themselves apart from most of our creation? There must have been a time and way for them to prove their worth to God, which is why they are called the election (chosen) of grace. Romans 11:6 explains that they were not chosen for any work they’ve done in their life or else it would not be called grace by which they were chosen. Let’s also look in Jeremiah 1:5 where God told Jeremiah “I knew you before you were in the womb. Before you were out of your mother’s belly I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet to the nations.” What could Jeremiah do before he was born to be named a prophet? Obviously nothing, which goes directly with what Romans 8:30 and 11:6 explains. Truth is God knew all of us. We are of the same creation. Very few have already been judged and were judged innocent, and there are those who are not in the Book of Life, who have been completely condemned. God has not judged most of our creation yet, which is a good thing for most.

Atheists like to mock Christianity because of this belief that the world is only six or seven thousand years old. Christian teachers do Christians no favor by saying things like dinosaur bones are part of Satan’s plot or that Satan put them there. They don’t take one second and consider Romans 8:30. They don’t wonder “how were they already judged and when?” A question that anyone should ask before arriving to a staunch-hearted conclusion. This age is somewhere between almost six and seven thousand years old. The world itself is much older as our souls are also much older than our bodies. Three Earth ages and three chances to make things right. If you don’t do it in this life, you better hope the third time’s the charm. If it’s not, then you’ll be right alongside Satan and you’ll have no excuses. God has given and will give everyone every chance under the Sun.