Jubilee Intervals of Prophetic Importance

The year 2000 was proclaimed a jubilee year by the church of Rome.
Few inhabitants of planet earth ignored the significance of the year 2000. Why 2K?
Most of the world faced the approaching months and weeks of the "millennium" with acute anticipation, anxiety, and some with downright fear. But what is the basis of any year being a jubilee year?

Jubilee the Super Sabbath
The term jubilee was first used by Moses in the details he provided in his five volume epic work, the Pentatuch. The jubilee was the culmination of a trilogy of Sabbath concepts, the climax of rest, release and restoration.

The Seventh Day. Beginning in the beginning, God established the Sabbath as His holy day of rest and celebration of a perfect creation. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Genesis 2:2,3. This was the very first Sabbath-a celebration of God's six days of creative labor, the basis of the weekly cycle.

The Seventh Year. Then when God created the Hebrew nation and gave them rest from their slavery, He instituted a sabbath of years. "When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruits; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land…you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard." Leviticus 25:2. So after every six days man would rest from his weekly labor and after every six years the land would rest or lay fallow, and man would rest from his yearly cultivating chores.

The Seventh Seventh Year. But this wasn't all. After every six sabbatical years of land rest, a super sabbath was to be celebrated. "You shall number seven sabbaths of years…seven times seven years…forty and nine years. Then shall you cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound (throughout all your land) on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement." Leviticus 25:8.

Seven days made a week ending with the Sabbath.
Seven years ended with a sabbatical year of land rest.
Seven sabbatical years ended with the jubilee.

The jubilee was announced by the sound of the jubilee trumpet in the seventh month on that most critical of all days: the day of atonement, the day of judgment.

"And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land: it shall be a jubilee unto you." Leviticus 25:10. The jubilee was to be celebrated for an entire year and it was a time of liberty. What did Jesus proclaim when He began his ministry?

Jesus "came to Nazareth…and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day" and read from Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the lord." Luke 4:16, Isaiah 61:1,2.

What was Jesus saying? He was announcing His mission to "set at liberty" the bruised and battered human race. Moses described the jubilee as a time when "you shall return every man his possession and every man his family." Leviticus 25:10. Jesus came to redeem our world (His possession) back to Him, to "save his people (His family) from their sins" Matthew 1:21. Is it not significant that he began his work in "the acceptable year of the lord"?

"Jesus came into Galilee…saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." Mark 1:14. What time was fulfilled? The prophecy of Daniel 9 clearly identifies the last week of the 70 weeks "determined" upon the Jewish nation-a week of prophetic time or seven years that was divided into two three and a half year periods.

Jesus was born "in the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4) but he also began his ministry "in the fullness of time" and drew attention to "the acceptable year" because AD 27 was a sabbatical year when liberty was proclaimed "throughout all the land." It marked the beginning of the last week of the 70 weeks.

The jubilee was also noted as a second land sabbath. Leviticus 25:11 instructed the people, "You shall not sow, neither reap…for it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you." Two years of sequential land rest would have been devastating to the agricultural prosperity of Israel except for God's miraculous intervention. God said, "Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in you shall eat of the old store." Leviticus 25:21.

So, every seven years a land sabbath, and after 49 years (ending in a seventh land sabbath) the jubilee would come as a second year land sabbath occuring as the 50th year but also the first year of the next seven year cycle

While the land was to lay fallow once every seventh year, it was to rest for two consecutive years when a jubilee came around. This double-land sabbath was a rare event in the Biblical record. But one such episode is recorded in both Isaiah 37 and 2 Kings 19 (two chapters that are also unique in being exactly reproduced word for word!). These passages recount the threatened attack by Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and God's miraculous deliverance.

Like the little horn of Daniel 7, Sennecharib boasts of conquering 10 nations (2 Kings 19:12,13) and defies the God of heaven. Hezekiah described it as "a day of trouble" "and blasphemy". He called on Isaiah to "lift up prayer for the remnant that are left." God's people were faced with eminent annihilation. And then God says, "This shall be a sign unto you, you shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant."

Sennacherib loses his entire army and retreats back to Nineveh where he is assassinated by his own sons. This is reminiscent of another "king of the north" who sets up his headquarters "between the seas" (Mediterranean, Black and Caspian seas) and yet "comes to his end, and none shall help him." Daniel 11. The last king of the north will act during the final remnant of time, when God's final remnant will be facing the threat of death. Saddam Hussein was a miniature example of a king of the north who came to his end without getting any help from his surrounding Muslim nations.

Sennacherib's Last Stand occurred in 702 BC a known jubilee because it fits into future 49 year jubilee anniversaries, some of which we recognize as important dates:

Counting 49 year intervals from 702 BC, five jubilees later falls exactly on 457 BC, the starting date for Daniel's 70 week prophecy which would last 490 years or 10 jubilees, ending in AD 34 with the stoning of Steven, the first Christian Martyr. The 70 weeks began with the theird and final commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem which was issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes king of Persia (457 BC) as recorded in the seventh chapter of Ezra. After 69 weeks (483 years), the Messiah began His ministry with His baptism in AD 27. Three and one half years later, in the midst of the 70th weeks, He was "cut off" (Isa. 53:8; Dan. 9:26).

To demonstrate how the sabbatical years traverse the BC-AD boundary notice the following:

Then, the jubilees continue to link into the important terminating dates of the 1260 year-42 month-3 ˝ times and 2300 year prophecies as shown here:

Earthly Endings
Notice that the ending of the 70 week 10 jubilee time of probation for the Jewish nation in AD 34 as an "Ending on Earth." Exactly 36 jubilees later, another "Ending on Earth" occurred in 1798 when the papacy received thedeadly wound of Revelation 13 bringing to a temporary end the 1260 year "Dark Ages" reign of the Medieval Church when Napolean's General Berthie marched into Rome and deposed pope Pius VI on February 15 taking him prisoner to Avignon, France where he died the following year.

Heavenly Beginnings
Likewise, a "Beginning in Heaven" occurred when Jesus ascended to heaven 40 days after His resurrection in AD 31 to commence His ministry in the first compartment Holy Place.of the heavenly sanctuary. Exactly 37 jubilees later, another "Beginning in Heaven" took place on October 22 the Day of Atonement in the year 1844 when Jesus entered the second compartment Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin His final work of atonement as our Great High Priest. 1844 was exactly 2300 years after the degree to rebuild Jerusalem in 457 BC.

The Appointed Time
Some say, "The days are prolonged, every vision fails." Ezekiel 12:21.
"Where is the promise of His coming?" 2 Peter 3:4
"Of that day and hour knows no man, no not even the angels of heaven" Matt 24:36,
"neither the Son." Mark 13:32
"But learn a lesson of the fig tree...when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matt 24:33
"As it was in the days of Noah...they knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." vs. 39
"Watch: for you know not what hour your Lord comes." vs 42.
"If therefore you do not watch...you will not know what hour I will come." Rev 3:3
In other words, If you do watch, you will know when he will come.

"Take heed, lest...that day come upon you unawares." Luke 21:34.
"The end of all things is at hand: be sober and watch unto prayer." 1 Peter 4:7
"The end shall be at the time appointed." Daniel 8:19
"The Father has put the times and seasons in His own power." Acts 1:7
He "determines the times before appointed." Acts 17:26