"What is the 'age' of Man?" and other questions

Several people over the years have written to The Refiner's Fire asking for an explanation about science and the age of the earth. To provide the best possible response, we suggest you first check out our article, Science versus the Bible. Concerning the time it takes for wood to petrify, please read Does it take millions of years to petrify wood?

Regarding the time of man on earth, we learn the following from Talmud (the "Oral Torah" - which is commentary on Torah, the first five books of the Bible):

Sanhedrin, Babylonian Talmud p. 97 a.: Rabbi Kattinna said: Six thousand years shall the world exist, and one [thousand, the seventh], it shall be desolate, as it is written, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. [quotation from Isaiah chapter 2 verse 11]. Rabbi Abaye said: It will be desolate two thousand as it is said, After two days will he revive us: in the third day, he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight [quoting from the prophet Hosea chapter 6 verse 2]. Two days meaning two thousand years according to Psalms 90 verse 4.

In other words, for mankind there will be: Two thousand years of chaos; two thousand years of Torah and learning about Yahweh; and two thousand years of Messiah (for a total of 6,000 years ... the approximate age of the Earth, according to the sages.)

Let's examine this a little further:

• Two thousand years of chaos (the age of man before Yahweh gave us His written Torah) when the world was steeped in paganism (which is why He destroyed the world by Flood - see Genesis 7 through 9; also read through Exodus 20 when The Ten Commandments were given at Mt. Sinai at a time when YHWH was in the process of trying to show His people how to BE set apart for Him, via what would later be known as "Torah"...
  
  NOTE: By the way, "Torah" (first officially presented to God's people at Mount Sinai - see Exodus 19 through 24) is our ONLY blueprint for moral, holy living - and the astute person recognizes that God's Divine Instructions began way before the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. For instance, Cain and Abel knew to present animal sacrifices (Genesis 4); and Noah knew the difference between "clean and unclean" animals (Gen. 7:1-3). For those who insist Torah is just a "Jewish thing" you need to realize there we no "Jews" until our Third Patriarch, Jacob, fathered his son Yehudah/Judah, who headed the Tribe of Judah (where the term "Jew" originated) - and yet EVERYONE up until that time who believed in, and obeyed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was "TORAH OBSERVANT"...
• Two thousand years of Torah and learning about Yahweh and studying His teachings of morality (the age which began with Abraham, who became a "Hebrew" when he physically and spiritually "crossed over"; and included not only the 613 commandments, but later the Ten Commandments given to Moshe/Moses).
• Two thousand years of Messiah. The age which we are in now from the time that Yeshua walked the Earth and died to redeem us from sin and death. And soon, as the Bible says, we will enter the Millennium with Yeshua as ruler of the earth for one thousand years, being taught personally by Him. After that, as the Bible tells us, there will be a "new heaven and a new earth."

As of this writing, in 2026, we are in the Hebrew calendar year of (5926 - Eternal Torah Calendar/5786 - Rabbinic Calendar - not really that far from the year 6000 - especially, given the fact that that some Hebrew calendar and Bible experts are suggesting there might be some mathematical miscalculations resulting in "missing years" in the Bible.

What we can be sure of, however, is this: Judging from all the events going on in the world and specifically, in the Middle East with Israel at the center, we can be sure that Yeshua's Second Coming isn't that far off! (We know of one Hebrew and Aramaic scholar who suggests that Yeshua's Second Coming could be as close as either at Rosh Hashana/Yom Teruah 2030 or 2045 - but who really knows for sure?)

What we must realize is, YHWH's Feasts - His Appointed Times - reflect many major biblical events. Yeshua has so far fulfilled the first four of the seven and the next one to be fulfilled is Rosh Hashana/Feast of Trumpets - the day when YHWH calls His people together...

The above concepts are very deep and requires us to have some understanding of God from the Hebrew, as opposed to the Greek mindset.