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Jewish tradition has long held that human history (olam hazeh) would endure for 6,000 years - from the time of the impartation of the neshamah (soul) to Adam in the Garden of Eden to the coming of the Messiah. There were two primary arguments for this view of history. First, the sages argued that a "divine day" (יוֹם) equaled 1,000 years based on Psalm 90:4: "A thousand years (אֶלֶף שָׁנִים) in your sight is as a day (i.e., ke'yom: כְּיוֹם)." They reasoned that since man was made in the image of God, and the Torah describes six days of creation followed by a day of divine rest, mankind (as a whole) was therefore allotted 6 x 1,000 years (i.e., 6,000) for "works" to be established in the world, followed by a 1,000 year Shabbat (Sanhedrin 97a, Rosh Hashana 31a). The ancient Seder Olam Rabbah catalogs historical events from the start of Creation according to the 6,000 years of history. Humanity will have its time of reign on earth for 6,000 years and then the Messiah will begin his reign in the 7th millennium, a "Sabbath" of sacred history. Later midrash goes along with this basic outline: "Six eons for going in and coming out, for war and for peace. The seventh eon is entirely Shabbat and rest for life everlasting" (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer). The Apostle Peter may also have had this outline in mind when he wrote, "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Pet. 3:8).
Second, the Jewish mystics argued that there are six letters in the first word of the Torah, bereshit (בראשׁית), and since there are 6 Alephs (א) in the very first verse of the Torah, and that each Aleph (אלף) represents 1,000, there must be 6,000 years of human history. The Zohar states, "The redemption of Israel will come about through the mystic force of the letter "Vav" [the sixth letter of the Aleph-bet, corresponding to the sixth Aleph] in the sixth millennium. Happy are those who will be left alive at the end of the sixth millennium to enter the Shabbat, which is the seventh millennium; for that is a day set apart for the Holy One to effect the union of new souls with old souls in the world" (Zohar, Vayera 119a).
So according to both the sages and the mystics, human history will persist for 6,000 years - 1,000 years for each day of creation - followed by a 1,000 year "Shabbat" that represents the Messianic Age of global and universal peace. After the Messiah appears, there will be peace on earth, and all the promises of God given through the prophets will be fulfilled. It is worth noting that in the discussion from the Talmud, the 6,000 years of human history are divided into three epochs of 2,000 years (i.e., two days) each. The period of "tohu" (ימי טוהו) occurred from the time of the fall of Adam until the call of Abraham; the period of "Torah" (ימי תורה) occurred from Abraham until the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, and the period of the "Messiah" (ימי המשיח) refers to the time when the Messiah could appear to Israel before the Kingdom is established in Zion.
Note that the time immediately preceding the appearance of the Messiah will be a time of testing in which the world will undergo various forms of tribulation, called chevlei Mashiach (חֶבְלֵי הַמָּשִׁיחַ) - the "birth pangs of the Messiah" (Sanhedrin 98a; Ketubot, Bereshit Rabbah 42:4, Matt. 24:8). Some say the birth pangs are to last for 70 years, with the last 7 years being the most intense period of tribulation -- called the "Time of Jacob's Trouble" (ימי צרת יעקב, from Jer. 30:7). The climax of the "Great Tribulation" (הצרה הגדולה) is called the great "Day of the LORD" (יוֹם־יהוה הַגָּדוֹל) which represents God's wrath poured out upon a rebellious world system. On this fateful day, the LORD will terribly shake the entire earth (Isa. 2:19) and worldwide catastrophes will occur. "For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" (Rev. 6:17). The prophet Malachi likewise says: "'Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,' says the LORD Almighty. 'Not a root or a branch will be left to them'" (Mal. 4:1). Only after the nations of the world have been judged will the Messianic kingdom (מלכות המשיח) be established upon the earth. The remnant of Israel will be saved and the 1000 year reign of King Messiah will then commence (Rev. 20:4).
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Some Christian scholars such as the late Dr. Clarence Larkin have divided the days somewhat differently and have added an additional "day" based on the coming eternal state of the "Heavenly Jerusalem." Hence Larkin's depiction of the Eight Days of Creation:
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As for the exact timing of these events, "no one knows the day or hour." In fact, various Jewish sages have argued for "missing years" in the prophetic calendar (due to periods of exile or other factors) and therefore they say that the Day of the LORD may be delayed on account of national sins. For example, based on the gematria of the first two words of a verse from the Torah (i.e., וְהָיָה עֵקֶב, Deut. 7:12) Rashi explained that the 2,000 years of the Days of Messiah actually began 198 after the destruction of the Second Temple. "198 years after the destruction of the Temple the bells of the Messiah will be heard" (i.e., the days of the Messiah would begin). According to Rashi, the delay was the result of Israel's sin. (On the other hand, many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe they can "hasten" the Messiah's appearance through special acts of teshuvah: "Mashiach Now!").
Since the sages of Jewish tradition state that the "days of Messiah" (ימי המשיח) began after 4,000 years of history (i.e., after four "days"), we can understand the fervent Messianic expectation among the Jewish people during the first century in Judea. The Essenes were eagerly awaiting the advent of the "Teacher of Righteousness" and the "Zealots" wanted to establish the Kingdom of God by force of arms. if necessary. Even the common people of Israel expected that the Messiah would come soon appear to ransom captive Israel. It was in this context, then, in the "fullness of time" (Gal. 4:4), that our Lord Yeshua began His earthly ministry as the Suffering Slave (העבד הסובל) who redeemed us from the "tochechah," or the judgment of the law that held us captive (see: Lev. 26:14-45; Isa. 52:13-53:12; Gal. 3:13, Col. 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:24).
Hebrew Lesson
Psalm 90:4 reading (click):
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So to quickly review what has been said, both Jewish tradition (i.e., masorah: מָסוֹרָה) and ancient Jewish commentary (i.e., midrash: מִדרָשׁ) say that the six days of creation described in the Torah parallel six millennia of human history. The first day (היום הראשון) God created light which stands for the first thousand years that Adam lived: "He was the light of the world because he recognized his Creator." On the second day (היום השני) God separated the sky and the seas, which foretold when Noah was separated from the world of men at the time of the great flood. The sages here note that the Torah does not say "it was good" on the second day because of the great judgment upon the earth.
On the third day (היום השלישי) the earth became fertile and the first fruits were created, foretelling the time of Abraham and his descendants who accepted God's commandments. The fourth day (היום הרביעי) God created the sun and the moon, symbolizing the light of the two Temples and the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. On the fifth day (היום החמישי) the birds and fish were created, picturing the advent of Messiah and his followers who would fill heaven and earth. The six day (היום השישי) God created Adam, for within six thousand years the Messiah, the "Second Adam," would come to judge the nations and to restore Israel.
Finally, the seventh day (היום השביעי), or the Sabbath, represents the 1,000 year period of peace of the Kingdom of Zion, as foretold by the prophets. We rest on this day in honor of Messiah's finished work and his reign as King over all the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Note that this overall view of human history is consistent with the Christian eschatology of classical "dispensationalism," a theological framework that helped the Zionist movement establish the modern State of Israel.
Addendum:
What about the "Gap Theory"?
Some people have postulated a "gap" of indeterminate time between the first two verses of the Book of Genesis, namely: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1) ... [gap] ... "and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). The implicit hermeneutical assumption is that God created the heavens and earth but then something catastrophic happened: Satan rebelled, the earth became a realm of chaos, "without form and void," and darkness was over the face of the deep."
Instead of reading the opening verse as a grammatical summary statement of what is to follow, the "gap" theory reads the subsequent verse as a description of a cataclysmic state of the earth that resulted from divine judgment. In other words, the original earth was created before the description of the subsequent "creation week." This is supported because at the beginning of the narrative the earth is described as formless and empty (הָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ), darkness was upon the "face of the abyss" (חֹשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְה֑וֹם), and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters (רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם). When God therefore said, "Let there be light" (יְהִי אוֹר), He was recreating the heavens and earth, and the subsequent "days" of the creation narrative therefore pertain to this remade world.
The motive for the gap theory is to harmonize the biblical account of creation with modern scientific theories and presuppositions. The "gap" allows the earth to be billions of years old, subject to evolutionary biological processes, and to account for modern cosmological reasoning that vast amounts of time were required for light from the stars to reach the earth. In other words, the gap theory attempts to synthesize the claims of modern physical sciences such as geology, biology, and astrophysics, with the idea that the earth is only several thousands of years old (the age of the earth being derived from a literal reading of the creation account combined with the earliest genealogies presented in the Bible).
Most of the early parshanim (Jewish commentators) believe God created the universe "yesh me'ayin, or "ex nihilo" (out of nothing), but some (e.g., Rashi, Nachmanides, etc.) entertained the possibility that raw materials preexisted (e.g., earth, fire, water, and air) before this world began... Later kabalistic mystics, influenced as they were by pagan neo-Platonic Greek philosophy, taught that the world was created by "divine emanations" and that there were earlier forms of creation that God had dissolved in his quest to "perfect" the creation and make it just as he wanted... Some midrashim (traditional Jewish commentaries) say that these early worlds were rejected by God because the man did not eat the forbidden fruit and therefore did not need redemption and sanctification, and because of this God started over. In this connection it should be noted that even if there were any pre-Adamic people, it would have no bearing on the message of the Scriptures given for the generation of the heavens and earth today. In other words, it is irrelevant from a soteriological point of view, since the essential message of the Bible is how fallen humanity may be saved from sin and spiritual death by the salvation given in Yeshua.
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