three times two thousand years (6) – after two days

10-03-2026 - Posted by Geert-Jan

Originally posted on March 09, 2026 – by Andre Piet
reading time: about 5 minutes

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

In the previous articles it has been examined step by step how Scripture orders history up to Christ. It appeared that the biblical chronology leads to two great periods of two thousand years each. The first extends from Adam to Abraham. The second runs from Abraham to Christ and proves to be built up from four connected periods of five hundred years.

Up to Christ, Scripture therefore lets time be counted precisely. The genealogies, regnal years and prophetic periods interlock and together form a closed chronological line.

With the coming of Christ this second two-thousand-year period reaches its completion. In Him the prophecies converge and the Messiah is presented to Israel.

Yet the coming of the Messiah does not end with His national acceptance. Israel does not receive Him and the Lord returns to His place. It is precisely this situation that is already described by the prophet Hosea.

YHWH withdraws

At the end of Hosea 5, YHWH speaks about a deliberate withdrawal. Verse 15:

I will go and return to My place until they are guilty and seek My face. In their distress they will seek Me.

These words mark a clear transition. YHWH withdraws “to His place”. That does not mean a rejection of His people, but a temporary absence. The key word in this verse is “until”. This makes it clear that this situation is not permanent.

In this statement no moment is mentioned at which YHWH will return to His people. What is indicated, however, are the circumstances under which this will happen. Israel will acknowledge its guilt, seek God’s face and call upon Him when it is in distress. In other words: when the people come under severe pressure, they will again turn to their God.

This makes clear that there is a period between the withdrawal of YHWH and His return to Israel. How long that period lasts is not yet stated here. The emphasis in this verse lies on the condition of Israel when that turning takes place.

Only in the continuation is more revealed about this. In Hosea 6 the voice of Israel itself is heard. There it is not only expressed that the people will return to YHWH, but also when that restoration will take place.

Israel’s confession

In Hosea 6 the same situation is described again, but now from the perspective of Israel. What is spoken by YHWH in Hosea 5 is heard here as the confession of the people.

Come, let us return to YHWH, for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has struck, but He will bind us up.

This confirms that both Israel’s distress and its restoration come from YHWH.

after two days

Israel’s restoration is connected to an explicit time indication:

After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His presence.

Here the restoration is not only announced, but also connected to a concrete term. The expression “after two days” is striking, because prophecies rarely give such a precise indication of time.

why two days?

But what does this time indication mean? Does it refer to two ordinary days, or does the prophecy speak about a longer period? In itself a day means a normal unit of time. Yet here it is not obvious to think of two twenty-four-hour periods. Hosea is speaking about the national restoration of Israel, preceded by a period in which YHWH has withdrawn.

This also appears from an earlier statement of the same prophet. In Hosea 3:4 it is spoken of the time in which the Israelites will be many days without king, without sacrifice and without cult. It therefore concerns a prolonged period of deprivation and absence.

When Hosea in chapter 6 then speaks of restoration “after two days”, this therefore cannot be seen apart from those preceding “many days”. The prophecy itself compels the conclusion that this is not a matter of literal days, but of days that are reckoned in another way. Scripture does not leave that question unanswered.

how does the Lord reckon?

At first Peter and the other apostles lived in the expectation that the return of the Lord would take place in their own generation (John 21:23). That expectation was not unfounded. In the days after the resurrection Israel was called to repent, so that the Messiah would return. Peter preached on the temple square:

Repent, then, and return, that your sins may be blotted out, so that seasons of refreshing should be coming from the face of the Lord and He should dispatch the One fixed upon before for you, Christ Jesus.
-Acts 3:19-21

This call presupposes that Israel’s repentance was within reach. This expectation of nearness also lived among the apostles. Thus we read at the end of the Gospel of John that the thought was circulating that John would not die before the coming of the Lord (John 21:22,23).

At the end of his life Peter looks back, however. In his second letter, written as a spiritual testament, he does not correct the hope of the coming of the Lord, but the way in which that time was thought of. The coming has not failed because God delays, but because He reckons differently than man. Then he writes:

Yet let not this one thing be escaping your notice, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

This statement does not stand alone, but precisely in the context of the delay of the coming of the Lord. Peter thereby shows that the return of the Lord should not be reckoned in terms of years or decades, but in terms of millennia. What for men is a long time is reckoned by God as days.

In this way Peter provides an important key for understanding such time indications in prophecy. When Scripture therefore speaks of restoration and return “after two days”, it is therefore obvious that no short period is meant here, but a period determined by God of two millennia.

Thus Hosea’s time indication receives its meaning. Two days are, in God’s reckoning, two thousand years.

no delay

Peter immediately adds that this time is no delay:

The Lord is not delaying the promise, as some are deeming it delay, but is patient.

The absence of Israel’s restoration and of the coming of the Lord is not a delay, but patience. God takes the time He has set for Himself. The two days are not a miscalculation, but part of His counsel.

That also explains why this period is not empty. In this time God continues to work, though in another way.

Paul and the two days

Paul describes this period as the time in which Israel’s rejection coincides with the reconciliation of the world, which Paul was allowed to proclaim. While Israel as a nation stands aside, the evangel goes to the nations. That is no coincidence, but a coherent part of God’s plan.

Paul writes:

For if their casting away is the conciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be except life from among the dead?

Here the same expectation sounds as in Hosea. After the period of rejection follows acceptance. After death follows life. The acceptance of Israel marks the moment when the period of the two days ends and the third day begins.

looking ahead

Hosea does not speak about a vague restoration, but about life before God’s face. He speaks about knowing YHWH and about His coming as the dawn. That dawn does not indicate an arbitrary moment, but the beginning of a new day. The night then lies behind, but the light breaks through. Thus the coming of YHWH as the dawn marks the beginning of the third day. At the breaking of the morning He will appear, not after an indefinite time, but at the moment determined by God.

Thus it is established that the third two thousand years in Scripture are not a coincidental historical interval, but a period designated by God. It has a starting point, a duration and a determined conclusion.

After two days He will come.
On the third day He will raise up Israel, and it will live before His face.

Delen: