The “6000 Year” Age Of The Earth And The Author’s Intention

Another excellent illustration of how the original meaning of a sentence may be misinterpreted or “twisted,” using the apostle Peter’s expression, is the statement that Ellen White used on various occasions in referring to the history of this earth. ^{4Ellen White quotes more than thirty times the expression “6000 years.” Not one of them gives room to think in a specific date for the Second Coming.} Looking carefully at all the statements that contain the expression “6000 years” makes it immediately apparent that the author used the number as a relative figure, just as we might say that Christ’s death happened 2000 years ago, although that is not the exact number of years. Her intention was to affirm her belief in a short chronology—that the creation of the earth took place about 6000 years ago and that divine intervention to change the world order will soon take place. Some believers, however, have taken it upon themselves to develop a new interpretation of the sentence—that with this statement the messenger of the Lord set the precise year for Jesus’ coming. Based on simple mathematical calculations, these believers have fixed dates or specific years for Christ’s coming. One of those years, 1996, already passed into history without anything happening. ^{5These calculations about the year 1996 were based on a chronology generally accepted by Christians that Creation took place in 4004 B.C. In this case, the 6000 years would have been up in 1996 A.D.} The year 2000 is the next one. The end of the current millennium has an “aura” that tempts some believers to give it a special meaning.VOTS 105.1

This interpretation, however, does violence to the original meaning that the author gave to the sentence. How do we know this? Because she declared emphatically on various occasions that those who establish dates for Christ’s coming do not have a true message. ^{6See, for example, the following statement: “No one has a true message fixing the time when Christ is to come or not to come. Be assured that God gives no one authority to say that Christ delays His coming five years, ten years, or twenty years” (Selected Messages 2:113, 114).} As we have seen previously, Ellen White expected the Second Coming to take place any time. At the same time, she discouraged any attempt to set specific dates. While we also wait with longing for the coming of the Lord in our time, we must take seriously Christ’s words: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7).VOTS 105.2