‘And
you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years;
and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years.
‘Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of
the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound
throughout all your land. ‘And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and
proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a
Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of
you shall return to his family. Leviticus 25:8-10 NKJV
I
suppose some of you might believe I am starting to sound like a broken record,
which skips and repeats itself over and over, but the truth is that as much as
I repeat the phrase “coincidence isn’t kosher”, more coincidences occur. While being careful not to place unjustified
significance to some of these occurrences, the fact remains that somehow it
just seems there is no explanation for some of them. Another one which has made the news in the
past year or so concerns the jubilee year instituted by God at Mount Sinai, and the
possibility that it has something to do with the rapture of the Church and the
timing of Jerusalem being recaptured in the 1967 Six Day War.
While
many have speculated that this year is the jubilee year in Israel, it is
important to understand that there is no way anyone can be sure of that for at
least a couple of reasons. The first is
that although there is some evidence the jubilee was still counted until the
destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, it had ceased to be observed as
instituted by God. The second is that
among Jewish scholars, there is disagreement on how to calculate the jubilee
because some believe the forty-ninth year is the jubilee while others believe
the fiftieth year is the year of celebration.
As a result, especially considering the amount of time which has passed,
most scholars agree there is no way to know for sure when the jubilee year
occurs.
That
said, am I the only one who thinks it’s curious that at a time when so many of
us are expecting the trumpet blast and the call to “come up here”, it has been
forty nine years since Jerusalem became the undivided capital of the Jewish
nation? Then of course, speaking of a
trumpet blast, did you notice the jubilee begins with one? Along with the fact that according to God it
also means that all slaves are freed, all debts are forgiven, and the land
reverts to its original owner. If you
follow that train of thought, and compare those events with what occurs at the
rapture of the Church, I believe you can see why many believe the rapture
occurs during a jubilee year and are excited at the possibility that this might
indeed be a jubilee year.
Jesus
answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of
sin. John 8:34 NKJV
I
think most believers at one time or another have felt burdened by sin, and the
reality of living in a body with a sin nature that produces such
struggles. Jesus certainly makes it
clear in this passage that we are slaves to sin. Although saved by grace as a result in our
belief that Jesus died for our sins, we still struggle with our sin nature
until we are set free from this body of sin.
Paul made many comments during his ministry about we as believers being held
captive by our sin nature and the struggle he personally had with his. Many times Paul reveals the depth of his own
despair concerning being a slave to sin, and in this passage from Romans makes
it clear just how much he is looking forward to being “set free”.
Wretched
man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Romans 7:24
NASB
The
answer of course, is that at the rapture of the Church all who have accepted the salvation offered by the death of Jesus for our sins will be freed
from their earthly bodies and its sin nature and become new creatures as we are
taken home to live with our family of fellow believers and our heavenly Father
for all of eternity.
For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV
While
I did say that it is impossible to know if this is a jubilee year or not, I did
mention something about another coincidence.
We discussed a few weeks ago the length of a generation in the Bible,
and the fact that according to the Word it is seventy years. We also noticed that Israel became a nation
in 1948 and that Jesus said that the generation who witnessed that would know
that the end was near. Many believe that
the capture and reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 was, in fact, a jubilee year
and considering that fifty years have passed also makes this a jubilee
year. Is it just coincidence that if
this is indeed true, that it also is occurring just as a seventy year
generation is also ending?
“Take
heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. “It is like a man
going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants,
and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. “Watch therefore, for
you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at
midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—“lest, coming
suddenly, he find you sleeping. “And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” Mark 13:33-37 NKJV
Keep
watching.
