THE HEAVENLY CLOCK

by: DeWitt Smith

   The key to understanding the prophecies concerning the Messiah’s return involves understanding the Sabbaths of Yahweh.

   There are many kinds of Sabbaths. Besides the weekly Sabbath, there are seven yearly Sabbaths. There is also the septennial Sabbath that lasts an entire year and occurs every seventh year. Then there is the Jubilee Sabbath that also lasts an entire year and occurs every fiftieth year. Finally, there is the millennial Sabbath of 1,000 years. We will focus on the Jubilee Sabbaths here because they are pivotal in calculating long-range events.

   A Jubilee year always follows seven Sabbatical years or seven times seven years. The Jubilee year was always the year of release in which debts were cancelled. Any person who had sold himself into slavery would become a free man. If he had a mortgage on his land, he could have that mortgage cancelled.

   At least once in a person’s life, a man would experience a Jubilee year, or perhaps two, if he lived a long life. This has a spiritual significance in that the Messiah came the first time to liberate all of us from the bondage of sin and death. He is coming the second time to redeem His possessions.

   A remark that Yahshua made in the synagogue of Nazareth gives us a clue in determining these Jubilee Sabbaths. If we can locate just one Jubilee year, we can work forward or backward from that date.

   We cannot proclaim the Jubilees with total certainty, since Israel did not keep any record of the Jubilee Sabbaths as they did their seven-year Sabbaths. In fact, there is no secular or biblical evidence that they were ever observed by Israel. Yet they were commanded to keep them.

Yahshua and Jubilee Equals Release

   I believe that the year Yahshua preached His sermon at Nazareth was a Jubilee year, when He used a quote from Isaiah 61:1-2 in Luke 4:16-19: The Spirit of Yahweh is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 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 Yahweh (King James Version).

   Yahshua our Messiah did not read the last phrase of verse 2 because it applies to the Day of Judgment. This is a good example of rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

   It is evident that the year Yahshua read this verse from the Prophet Isaiah was a year of release. The purpose of the Jubilee Sabbath was to bring relief to the poor, to deliver the captive, and to bring liberty or freedom again to those who had been sold into slavery. Yahshua then said, This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.

   The possibility exists that He was alluding to the Sabbatical year rather than the Jubilee year, since the Jews, in the time of Yahshua, were not observing the Jubilee years. Yet this need not exclude it from being the proper year for a Jubilee.

   While the Sabbatical Sabbath did bring relief to the poor, it did not bring liberty to those who had been sold into slavery as the Jubilee law demanded (Leviticus 25:8-14). This speaks of complete liberation—the acceptable year of Yahweh.

   The “acceptable year” is reminiscent of the year of Jubilee, when not only debts were cancelled, but also slaves were freed. His remark had particular significance because He came to deliver us all from the captivity of Satan and from the bondage of sin.

His Ministry Begins

    Now the question is, can we locate the date Yahshua delivered His message in the synagogue of Nazareth that Sabbath morning? I believe we can. There is documentary evidence today showing that Yahshua was born in the fall of the year, 3 B.C.E., and that He was baptized in the fall of 27 C.E. The difficulty in pinpointing the exact date that He would have given the sermon at Nazareth is because the evangel writers did not always list events in the life of Yahshua in their chronological order. From reading Matthew, Mark and Luke, it would seem that Yahshua began His ministry in Galilee immediately after His baptism and His temptation in the wilderness. Luke mentions the incident of the sermon at Nazareth as if it had occurred at the beginning of His ministry, but this was not the case.

   Yahshua officially began His ministry at Jerusalem by publicly driving the money changers out of the Temple. That occurred in the Jewish year 27-28 or in the spring of 28 C.E. Both John the Baptist and Yahshua were ministering in the area in and around Judea at the same time.

   The Apostle John is the only one of the four Evangel writers who records the early Judean ministry of Yahshua. Not until jealousy developed among some of John’s disciples over who was baptizing more people did Yahshua leave Judea to make a temporary journey up north to Galilee (John 3:23-24; 4:1-3).

   While up in Galilee, Yahshua again visited Cana, where He performed His first miracle and ministered in the region around the Sea of Galilee (John 4:45-47). After a short ministry there, He returned to Jerusalem to attend an unnamed feast. He worked in the region of Judea again until John the Baptist was imprisoned.

   Now after John was put in prison, Yahshua came into Galilee, preaching the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom of Yahweh (Mark 1:14). This was not the case when Yahshua first left Judea to go into Galilee, as John was still preaching (John 3:23-24; 4:1-3). It was when He heard that John was imprisoned that He returned again to Galilee and it was at that time, while in Galilee, that He preached the sermon at Nazareth.

   If Yahshua had come to Nazareth the first time He came into Galilee, the Apostle John does not say so, and we cannot assume from silence that He did.

Seven Cycles Bring Jubilee

   The early ministry of Yahshua in Judea was during the Sabbatical year 27-28 C.E., and most of His ministry was spent there that year. It was the following year that Yahshua was at Nazareth and preached the sermon that alluded to a Jubilee year.

   A Jubilee year always follows a Sabbatical year once every 49 years. A Jubilee Sabbath is a Sabbath that follows the close of seven Sabbatical years (7 x 7 = 49 + 1 = 50).

   Some difference of opinion exists in the counting of a Jubilee year, but the consensus of most scholars is that, while the Jubilee year is always the 50th year after the completion of seven Sabbatical cycles or 49 years, the first year of the Jubilee cycle is also the first year of the ensuing Sabbatical cycle. In other words, from one Jubilee to another covers exactly 49 years. This is the method I have used in counting the Jubilee Sabbaths.

   Because Yahshua was baptized at the beginning of the Sabbatical year of 27-28 C.E., and because His ministry began at Nazareth a year later, and because His remarks implied a Jubilee Sabbath—then we have a Jubilee date from which we can work both forward and backward in time.

Sabbatical Years Documented

    The dates for the Sabbatical years are based on the meticulous research of Jewish scholar Ben Zion Wac-holder. His work is entitled, The Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles During the Second Temple and the Early Rabbinic Period, published by the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, 1973.

   The following Sabbatical years are documented by historical evidence:

• 163-162 B.C.E.—Judas Maccabee's defeat at Beth-Zur (1 Maccabees 6:48-57).

• 135-134 B.C.E. and 37-36 B.C.E. (Josephus, the Jewish historian, concerning Simon the Hasmonean and Herod's conquest of Jerusalem. This would mean that 98 years, or the equivalent of 14 Sabbatical years, intervened between these two Jubilee Sabbaths).

• 41-42 C.E.—King Agrippa I recited the section of Deuteronomy 31:10-13 that was required to be done according to the law (see Mishnah Sotah 7:8).

• 55-56 C.E.—A document written in Aramaic was discovered that states that the second year of Nero was a Sabbatical year.

• 69-70 C.E.—A Jewish work called the "Seder Olam" can be interpreted as indicating that the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in a Sabbatical year.

• 132-133 C.E.—A document discovered which states that Bar Kochba's revolt of the Jews against the Romans occurred on a Sabbatical year.

• 237-238 C.E.—The ruins of an old synagogue were discovered recently, having a mosaic dating the Jewish year 4000 to the second year of the Sabbatical cycle.

• 531-532 C.E.—There is a reference in the Jewish Talmud (Sanh 97 b) that the Messiah will release the world from the bondage of corruption in the year 4291 of the Jewish calendar. This was believed to be a Sabbatical year.

   The 70 "sevens" of Daniel 9 involve a period of time consisting of 10 Jubilee periods (49 x 10 = 490 years). Could there be any significance to 50 of those Jubilees? If so, there is a time gap elapsing from the time that Yahshua stated, Your house is left unto you desolate (Matthew 23:38), to the time that Israel will once again be brought into a New Covenant relationship with the Messiah, which could be a period of 1963½ years.

   If we date that rejection as occurring in the year 31, after 483½ years of that prophecy had expired, then their acceptance could occur 1963½ years later.

   If we add the 70 years of the captivity of Israel, we would have a time period of 2520 years. The date 1994, was one of many Sabbatical years.

Nothing Left to Chance

   The Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation from revelations given to him by the Messiah Yahshua. The book pertains specifically to people who will be living in the last days. During the last 3½ years, a powerful world dictator will rule over ...all kindreds, and tongues and nations (Revelation 13:7). He is called in the Scripture the Beast and the anti-Messiah. Satan will be manifested in him, controlling his every thought and action.

   No one knows for certain when this false messiah will appear. But when he does, it may just be a matter of counting 1260 days or 3½ years before Yahshua comes with His angels to establish His Kingdom.

   I do not believe that the time element of Yahshua's second coming is based on the conditional readiness of His elect saints as many teach, but rather on the time schedule that He has foreordained.

   Nothing in the past has been left to chance. Everything in the past has been on scheduled time—Yahshua's birth, His baptism, and His death (Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 26:18; John 7:6). Even the time to favor Zion (Israel) has been a set time (Psalm 102:13; Isaiah 60:22).

   Everything has been foreordained in accordance with Yahweh's own time schedule and eternal purpose (Ephesians 1:5-10; 3:11). Yahshua (our Husband) will surely come home to this earth at the day appointed (Proverbs 7:20).

   Because these Sabbaths serve as signs, this date appointed will very likely be on one of His feast Sabbaths.

He Brings His Reward

   The Scriptures are sometimes hidden from those who do not thirst for its understanding, and revealed to those who do. Many obscure passages in the Psalms and in the writings of the Prophets, which allude to the first coming of the Messiah, have been read in the past by people who did not understand their meaning. For example, how many Jews, when they read: As many were astonished at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men (Isaiah 52:14), realized that this referred to the cruel treatment that Yahshua received at their hands?

   They, too, should have realized that the passage in Zechariah concerning the thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12) had a relationship to their Messiah's future betrayal by Judas. Many such hidden gems of truth outlined throughout the Bible have similar reference to His second coming. One such passage is found in Proverbs 7. This passage is an allegory describing a woman who played the part of a harlot (v. 10) while her husband, called the goodman, went on a long journey (v. 19). The woman in this passage is a description of Israel as the harlot (Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:20, 3:8). The relationship between Israel and Yahshua has always been depicted in the Scriptures as a marriage (Jeremiah 31:32; Isaiah 54:5). The "goodman" or husband is referred to in the parable of Luke 19 as a certain nobleman. In both of these passages, the "goodman" and the "nobleman" went on a long journey and returned. This "far country" and "long journey" are an allusion to heaven where Yahshua went.

   When Yahshua the Messiah ascended on High from the grave, He was given all power and authority, including the right to bestow the gift of eternal life (Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 1:20-22). He took with Him a bag of money, which will be distributed as rewards to those who are justified in His sight to receive them.

   For the goodman is not at home; He is gone on a long journey: He has taken a bag of money with Him and will come home. Notice the phrase, ... He will come home. That agrees with Luke 19:12 and John 14:1-3. When will He return? Will He come tomorrow? No, His return will be on schedule, ...at the day appointed (Proverbs 7:19-20).

Sabbaths Crucial for Messiah’s Return

The return of the Messiah will be according to a set or appointed time. The note in Strong’s Concordance states, in regard to the word appointed, that it is a “festival appointed time.” It is not clear when this festival appointed time will be, but because it is an appointed, set time, it could very well occur on one of the feast Sabbaths.

   The column footnote reference on Proverbs 7:20 says in some versions that it is on a new moon, such as Trumpets. Other versions state that it refers to the full moon, which means His return could possibly occur at the Feast of Tabernacles, or on the Passover Sabbath, which also falls on a full moon. Regardless, His return will likely occur on one of these festival Sabbaths.

   We do know that there were 70 Sabbatical years or 490 years allotted to Israel. At the end of this period, their sins, as a nation, would be pardoned and reconciliation would take place (Daniel 9:24). These Sabbaths are said to be signs between Yahweh and His people throughout all generations. That includes the last generation.

   All of this evidence should impress upon us that these Jubilee and Sabbatical years are critical. Time may be shorter than we think. Very likely, Yahshua will return soon. He could come at any time within this 120-year generation period.

   How many Sabbatical years remain? Only one Jubilee Sabbath remains. May we not be so engrossed in this world that we do not watch for our Bridegroom to come.

   But know this, that if the Goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore you be also ready: for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes (Matthew 24:43-44).

   By observing Yahweh’s calendar, including the new moons, Sabbatical and Jubilee years, you will be watchful and ready when Yahshua the Messiah returns again in all His glory to establish His millennium Kingdom!