“I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day” (see Revelation 1:10).        

      Last week, we covered a little about what it meant for John to be “in the Spirit.” This week, we will seek to understand what it meant that he did this on “the Lord’s day.” Because Sunday is now often referred to as “the Lord’s day” as the Christian Sabbath, it is understandable that many would think “the Lord’s day” was a Sunday. As we proceed through Revelation, it seems apparent that John was referring to much more than just one day of the week.

      The Greek word translated “day” in this text is hēmera, which does not refer to a 24-hour day but rather an indefinite—but specific—period of time. It is a word that is defined by its context, so it could mean a 24-hour day, but it could also mean an age, such as "Napoleon’s day.” In this passage, it likely means the “day of the Lord,” also referred to as the one-thousand-year period in which Christ will reign over the earth called “the millennium.” Why is this called “a day” in biblical prophecy?

      Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” If we use genealogies to calculate the length of time that mankind has been on the earth, there have now been about six thousand years since Adam was created. That is six prophetic “days” as Peter referenced above.

      Some of the early church fathers asserted that “days” in prophecy often referred to one thousand-year periods. So, there would be six prophetic days, or six thousand years, from the time of Adam until the time when the “last Adam,” Jesus, would take His reign on the earth. It’s obvious that when Jesus referred to Himself as “the Lord of the Sabbath,” He was not referring to one day of the week but to His one-thousand-year reign over the earth called the millennium. That would be the prophetic Sabbath, or seventh day.

      As we will cover later, there is a remarkable prophecy of what would unfold over these six thousand years in the days of creation in Genesis. For now, we will focus on the last two days of this prophetic week, the last two thousand years.

      It is noteworthy that some of the early church fathers indicated they understood that, from the time Jesus walked the earth until His return, it would be about two thousand years, or two days in prophetic timing. For this reason, when they commented that they were in “the last days,” they were referring to being in the last two days of the prophetic week before Christ returned to establish His reign, becoming Lord of the prophetic Sabbath.

      This will become clearer later, but for now we need to just keep in mind the concept of the one-thousand-year prophetic day and that there have been approximately 6,000 years since Adam was created. So, we are nearing the time of the return of Christ and His rule over the earth. It is not possible to be exact about the time, because there is an ambiguous period in the book of Judges that requires a give or take of 100 years. Obviously, the Lord did this on purpose so no man could know the day or the hour of His return.

      We will find more evidence of this as we continue, but for now let us consider the most important thing that happened at the end of the sixth day of creation, which is prophetic of perhaps the most important event of our time. That is when man was created in the image of God. Is the creation story in Genesis a prophecy that, at the end of the sixth prophetic day, the “new creation” man will come forth in the Lord’s image? Is that what the apostle Paul was referring to in his letter to the Romans?

      Paul says this in Romans 8:19-21: “For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from  its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

      Are these also the ones Enoch prophesied would come in the last days, as recorded in Jude 14-16? I submit that there will be Christians at the end of this age who mature so as to become like Christ in nature, doing the works that He did. These will prepare the way for the age to come, in which He will rule over the earth and restore it to the paradise it was originally created to be.

      Could it be that these people are now alive and on the earth? Could it be that you are called to be one of them?