When Is The Next Biblical Jubilee?
When I wrote the previous article “The Biblical Jubilee”,
I did not have any intention of dealing with any endtime event. My desire
was simply to study how Israel celebrated their Jubilees according to
the Bible.
But after reading the article, someone asked me this very interesting question, “When is the
next Biblical Jubilee?” I did some studies, and I was
totally awed by what I found.
There are many different opinions on this matter. I will attempt
to answer this question by presenting only 3 different scenarios.
Scenario One: When All The Tribes
Have Returned Home To Israel
Source:
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/513212/jewish/When-is-the-next-Jubilee-year.htm
According to the Jewish rabbis, the Jubilee year is currently not observed
or commemorated in Israel. The main reason is that the Jubilee
is only observed when all twelve tribes of Israel are living
in the Promised Land.
Leviticus 25:10
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.
According to this verse, Jubilee is only sanctified when all its
inhabitants are living in all the land, and when each tribe is living in the specific area of the land which the
LORD had divinely allotted to them.
In the 6th century BC, the Assyrians conquered the Northern
Kingdom of Israel. Majority of these Israelites went into exile,
and till now, their descendants have still not yet returned home. They are historically known as the
Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
After this point in time, the Jubilee was not regularly observed
or commemorated in Israel.
Thus, according to this reasoning, the next Biblical Jubilee year in Israel will
only be celebrated when God brings back all the tribes home to
Israel. It will begin on the most important and holiest day of
the Hebraic calendar - Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. The year
is only known to God.
Leviticus 25:9
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.
Scenario Two: Yom Kippur 2027
Source:
http://www.giveshare.org/HolyDay/Jubilee.html
According to William Whiston's footnotes to Josephus's book
entitled
“Antiquities of the Jews”, 24 BC was a Sabbatical year, and 23 BC
was a Jubilee year.
If 23 BC was a Jubilee year, then its next Jubilee would
begin on Yom Kippur in 27 AD. That was the year that Jesus
began His ministry. Jesus was born in 4 BC and crucified in 30 AD.
Luke 4:17-19
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.
And when He had opened the book,
He found the place where it was
written:
“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
brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of
sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To
proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
By adding 2000 years or 40 Jubilees
later, the next Biblical Jubilee in Israel will be in 2027 AD. It
will begin on Yom Kippur in the evening of October 10.
Scenario Three: Yom Kippur 2017
Sources:
http://focusontheprophecies.org/Jubilee_2017.htm
http://destination-yisrael.biblesearchers.com/destination-yisrael/2012/12/rabbi-judah-ben-samuels-Jubilee-prophecy-gives-the-year-of-the-messiah.html
This will be the 120th Jubilee or 6000 years from the day of
creation.
| From
Creation to Exodus (1483 BC) |
2500 years |
50 Jubilees
|
| From
Exodus (1483 BC) to 2017 AD |
3500 years |
70 Jubilees
|
| From
Creation to 2017 AD |
6000 years |
120 Jubilees
|
There was an interesting prophecy given by Rabbi Judah ben Samuel in 1217 AD
that revealed the year of the Messiah.
Also known as Judah He-Hasid or Judah the Pious, this rabbi lived
in the 12th and 13th century in Germany. He was born in
Speyer in 1140, and died in 22 February 1217 in Regensbug.
He was one of the fathers of Chassidei (Hassidic Judaism), a
movement of Jewish mysticism that was very different from
Kabbalistic mysticism. The Chassids emphasized strong moral
ethics and prayer.
It was in the year of 1217 AD that this legendary rabbi made an astounding
prediction about the future of Jerusalem and the coming of the
Messiah.
In 1217, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel began publishing his Biblical
calculations called the Gematria, plus his astronomical observations
and gave this prophecy:
In summary - “When the Ottomans (Turks) – who were already a
power to be reckoned with
on the Bosporus in the time of Judah Ben
Samuel –
conquer Jerusalem they will rule over Jerusalem for eight
Jubilees.
Afterwards Jerusalem will become no-man’s land for one
Jubilee,
and then in the ninth Jubilee it will once again come back
into the possession of the Jewish nation –
which would signify the
beginning of the Messianic endtime.”
According to some of his pupils, Rabbi Judah the Pious was an
excellent and godly example of strict abstinence and selfless
service to others. His burning desire was praying for the coming of the
Messiah.
When people questioned about his source of revelation and
wisdom, his answer was: “The prophet Elijah, who will precede
the Messiah, appeared to me and revealed many things to me and
emphasized that the precondition for answered prayer is that it is
fueled by enthusiasm and joy for the greatness and holiness of God.”
Unknown to Rabbi Judah ben Samuel, the first known reference of
the Ottomans was in 1215 AD, just two years before he died. The
Ottomans were a Turkish speaking tribe that was first ruled by
Ertugrul in the land of Anatolia. His son, Osman, then became the
father of the Ottoman Turks.
As Judah ben Samuel had predicted, 300 years later or six Jubilees after
1217 AD, the Ottoman Turks took control of Jerusalem for 400 years
(8 Jubilees) until they were overthrown by the British
and Allied forces under the command of General George Allenby in 1917.
Even after the Declaration of Independence by Israel in 15 May
1948, the city of Jerusalem remained a divided city. The
Jordanian government controlled the eastern part of Jerusalem
including the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem. There was
a strip of land dividing Western Jerusalem (controlled by the State of
Israel) and East Jerusalem (controlled by the Jordanians). This strip of
land was called “The No-Man’s Land” by both Israelis and Jordanians.
Then in 1967, Israel was attacked again. After the Six Day
War, on 17 June 1967, the entire region of the West Bank was
conquered by the Israeli Army. The entire city of Jerusalem was
returned back to the Jewish people.
750 years after the prophecy was first made by the rabbi, from 1217 to 1967, almost all the texts of the prophecy were fulfilled to
the date.
The remaining portion of his prophecy is this: “In the ninth
Jubilee Jerusalem will once again come back into the possession of
the Jewish nation – which will signify the beginning of the
Messianic endtime.”
According to this Jewish rabbi, the end of this ninth Jubilee
will “signify the beginning of the Messianic endtime.”
If so, the next Jubilee in Israel will be Yom Kippur 2017. It
will begin in the evening of Friday, 29 September 2017.
Our God is faithful to fulfill whatever He has promised in His
written Word – the Holy Bible:
Isaiah 55:11
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I
please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
When I read about Rabbi Judah ben Samuel, my heart was thrilled. Why?
Simply because God is still revealing His plan and purpose to His beloved people in Israel who
are waiting upon Him and desiring to hear His still small voice.
If you ask me which scenario is most likely to happen, my reply will
be: "Please seek God and ask Him personally." Maybe another scenario
may happen. Hereby I am not prophesying or making any prediction. I
am just sharing my findings with you. Like the question whether we will be taken by the Lord before the
Tribulation (pre-Trib) or in the middle of the Tribulation (mid-Trib)
or after the Tribulation (post-Trib). My answer is: “Pray for pre-Trib
but be prepared for post-Trib. If mid-Trib happens, we will be both
ready and thankful.”
This one thing I will do: Read Matthew 25.
1. Be ready (The Parable
of the Wise and Foolish Virgins)
2. Be faithful (The Parable
of the Talents)
3. Be loving (The Parable of
the Sheep and Goats)
And while we are redeeming the time, let’s remember to proclaim
the acceptable year of the LORD – His Jubilee!
Maranatha! Come, O Lord!
Note: You may be interested to know what another
well-known rabbi did before his death in 2006. Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri
revealed the name of the Messiah! Just
click here to watch a 5-minute video.
Please also read:
The Biblical Jubilee
Written on 11 July 2014