three times two thousand years (7) – one hundred and twenty jubilee years

Originally posted on March 11, 2026 – by Andre Piet

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Scripture does not present world history as an open and indefinite timeline, but as an ordered whole. It shows that the time from Adam to the coming of the Messianic kingdom comprises six thousand years, divided into three equal periods of two thousand years. This division is not a construction afterwards, but rests on coherent scriptural data.

Six thousand years are sixty centuries, that is: one hundred and twenty jubilee cycles. In Scripture the jubilee year is the year in which God grants justice. Debts are cancelled, property returns and freedom is proclaimed. That this structure culminates in the seventh millennium underscores the character of the coming sabbath as a time of restoration and justice.

In that light a statement from Genesis 6:3 receives particular significance. There YHWH says about humanity:

My Spirit shall not be judging in humanity for the eon, since he also is flesh. His days shall be one hundred and twenty years.

These words are usually related to the period before the flood. The text itself, however, gives no explicit time indication in that direction. No starting point is mentioned and no end moment is designated. The statement therefore has a more general character: justice will be granted to humanity within a term of one hundred and twenty years.

Even when the one hundred and twenty years initially refer to the period before the flood, this does not exclude a broader meaning. Scripture itself uses the days of Noah as a pattern for the coming of the Son of Man (Matt. 24:37). What took place on a smaller scale in the days before the flood may therefore also point forward to the larger period in which God deals with humanity.

When Scripture speaks about granting justice to humanity, it concerns a decisive turning point in history. That moment coincides with the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. Precisely the jubilee year is the year in which God sets right what is crooked. When the one hundred and twenty years from Genesis 6:3 are understood as one hundred and twenty jubilee cycles, a remarkable coherence emerges: the one hundred and twentieth jubilee year coincides with the beginning of the seventh millennium.

Moses: three times forty years

The same structure is seen again in the life of Moses. He lived one hundred and twenty years, divided into three periods of forty years. This threefold division does not stand on its own, but reflects on a smaller scale the course of world history.

The first forty years of Moses’ life are characterized by rescue from the water. He is preserved in a wicker ark, the same word that is also used for the ark of Noah. This period runs parallel with the first two thousand years of humanity, which are likewise characterized by judgment and preservation through water.

The second forty years begin when Moses turns to look at his brothers. Moses looks to his brothers, but Israel is still in slavery. This corresponds with the second two thousand years: from Abraham until the death and resurrection of Christ. The promise is present, but the people still live under bondage.

The third period of forty years begins with the deliverance from Egypt. Israel is set free, yet does not reach the promised land. The people die in the wilderness and remain outside the promised land. This reflects the last two thousand years: the great deliverance has been accomplished, yet Israel, because of unbelief, has not yet entered the promised Kingdom.

At the end of these three periods Israel reaches the border of the land. Moses dies; Joshua brings the people in. Not Moses, but Joshua brings Israel into the rest. In the same way it will not be the law, but the true Joshua who will bring the people into the promised sabbath rest of which Hebrews 4:8,9 speaks.

After three times two thousand years, after one hundred and twenty jubilee cycles, the seventh millennium dawns. This is not a continuation of the existing time, but its fulfillment and completion. Scripture has not concealed this outcome, but from the very beginning embedded it in its structure of time.

Delen: