8
He goes on to describe the events that should occur at the end of the six thousand years,
especially the advent of the antichrist.
Hippolytus, who wrote about 205, asserted in the context of a discussion on the
book of Daniel that "the Sabbath is the type and emblem of the future kingdom of the
saints, when they will reign with Christ, when he comes from heaven, as John says in his
apocalypse."
9
He also asserts the common "one day is as a thousand years" formula,
apparently derived from 2 Peter 3:8.
Commodianus, writing in approximately 240, expected that "We will be
immortal when the 6000 years are completed."
10
Commodianus understood that 6000
years were to elapse from the creation of Adam to the consummation of world history.
The ultimate culmination of world history was to be the glorification of the righteous.
Lactantius composed his Divine Institutes from 304 to 313, a seven volume
set.
11
In discussing the fact that Christians have, by reason of the Holy scriptures, the
knowledge of both the beginning and end of history he writes
Therefore let the philosophers, who enumerate thousands of ages from the
beginning of the world, know that the six-thousandth year is not yet completed, and
that when this number is completed, the consummation must take place, and the
condition of human affairs will be remodeled for the better...Therefore, since all the
works of God were completed in six days, the world must continue in its present
state through six ages, that is, six thousand years. For the great day of God is
limited by a circle of a thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says, ,,In Thy
Sight, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day. ... And again, since God, having
finished his works...at the end of the six thousandth year all wickedness shall be
9
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Fragments from Commentaries. Vol.5, 179.
10
Ibid., The Instructions of Commodianus. Vol.4, 209.
11
J. Comfort and P. Comfort, Eds. Who's Who in Christian History (Wheaton
Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992) "Lactantius".