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I’ve been studying the Sabbaticals and Jubilees a lot lately. And I’ve discovered some amazing things! So here is a brief explanation of it.
Considering the symbolic meaning of the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles, it seems like one or both of these cycles would have corresponded with some of the important dates in the life of Christ. That’s the purpose and focal point of all the prophecies in the Bible. So it seems like they must correlate with some of the important dates in the life of Christ. So primarily we have AD 27 when he was baptized, AD 31 when He died, and AD 34 when the gospel went to the gentiles.
And considering that the 490 years, which prophesied His coming, are split up into seven year divisions, it seems very likely that it is split up in this manner because they are Sabbatical cycles, which Daniel would have been very familiar with. The Jews were captives in Babylon on account of not keeping these Sabbatical cycles – which is exactly what Daniel was praying about at the beginning of chapter 9, before the angel comes and shows him this prophecy! So 490 years = 70 Sabbatical cycles, or 10 Jubilee cycles. Daniel 9:27 says Messiah would be cut off in the middle of the week, during the middle of the last seven year time period. So that would make AD 27 and AD 34 Sabbatical years. This would also make the Sabbatical cycle line up with some other important dates in world history as well. Here is a list of some of the more recent ones:
1798 fall of the Papacy
1812 fall of Napoleon
1840 fall of Turks
1917 fall of Israel into British hands instead of Turks
1917 fall of Russian Czar to Communism (Lenin)
1938 WWII
1945 fall of Hitler
1973 Vietnam war ends
1994 EU established
2001 USA starts fall
2008 Economic collapse
2015 Pope speaks to Congress on Day of Atonement
What about the Jubilees? Well if AD 34 was the beginning of a Jubilee year (Jubilees and Sabbaticals begin at the fall feasts), then it would correspond perfectly with some other important prophetic dates. Keeping in mind that the Jubilee was a year of freedom and release, AD 34 was when the Gospel of freedom from sin went to the Gentiles. This cycle would also make AD 1798 be the beginning of a Jubilee year, when the 1,260 years of tyranny ended and the world was given freedom from the power of the Little Horn. And it would also make 1847 begin a Jubilee year. It is interesting to note that Ellen White said that if the people had been prepared, Jesus could have come shortly after 1844. And in a vision she had on April 3, 1847 (which would have been about the beginning of the Biblical year), she saw the events just preceding the Second Coming and she wrote, “Then commenced the jubilee, when the land should rest. I saw the pious slave rise in triumph and victory, and shake off the chains that bound him, while his wicked master was in confusion, and knew not what to do; for the wicked could not understand the words of the voice of God.” {CET 96.1, April 3, 1847}
Could this have actually happened at the fall feasts in 1847, if God’s people had been ready? Could Jesus have come on the Jubilee in this year?
On January 5, 1849, which would have been a few months after the end of the Jubilee, she had a vision of how the four angels had been about to release the four winds, but the closing of probation was held off because the remnant had not yet been sealed.
“Jesus was clothed with priestly garments. He gazed in pity on the remnant, then raised His hands, and with a voice of deep pity cried, “My blood, Father, My blood! My blood! My blood!” Then I saw an exceeding bright light come from God, who sat upon the great white throne, and was shed all about Jesus. Then I saw an angel fly with a commission from Jesus, swiftly flying to the four angels who had a work to do in the earth, and waving something up and down in his hand, and crying with a loud voice, “Hold! hold! hold! hold! until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads.”” {CET 102.1}
We aren’t given a date when the events pictures in this vision took place, but I just wonder if it was in 1847-1848, when Jesus may have planned to come and the world would have ended, but Jesus pleaded His precious blood and asked for time to be extended, so the saints could be sealed.
Sometimes prophecies are given that could have been fulfilled at a certain time by a certain group of people, but because the people don’t act their part properly, the prophecy is fulfilled in a different way at a different time. Could Christ have been about to come in 1847, at the Jubilee, but chose to wait longer, so the saints could be sealed?
Since the saints weren’t ready, Heaven’s plans may have had to be deferred. So Christ may not come on a Jubilee anymore. But He may still come on a Sabbatical year. I don’t know.
So if we take this Jubilee and Sabbatical cycle, it lines up perfectly with the first phase of Christ’s ministry, beginning when He was anointed in AD 27; and it lines up perfectly with the final phase of His ministry around AD 1844. His entrance into the Most Holy place in 1844 would have been in the midst of the week (of years), just as the crucifixion in AD 31 was in the midst of the week. Both the week in 1844 and the week in 31 would have ended with a Jubilee.
Both these time periods were prophesied by the same vision in Daniel 8-9, and this is also the same vision were we get the hints on how to figure the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles.
Not only that, but using this Sabbatical and Jubilee cycle we find that most of the prophetic dates important to Adventism fall on a Sabbatical or Jubilee year as well.
723 BC – Sabbatical (beginning of Israel/Samaria’s 2520 time period – 360 Sabbatical cycles to 1798)
677 BC – Middle of the “week” (beginning of Judah’s 2520 time period – 360 Sabbatical cycles to 1844, which was also in the midst of a seven year cycle)
604 BC – Sabbatical (beginning of 70 years captivity – 10 Sabbatical cycles)
541 BC – Sabbatical (year after Babylon fell to Medo-Persia in 539 BC)
534 BC – Sabbatical (end of 70 years captivity)
520 BC – Sabbatical (second decree to rebuild Jerusalem)
457 BC – Sabbatical and beginning of a Jubilee (third decree – restoration of nation of Israel, beginning of the 2300 years)
444 BC – Sabbatical (fourth decree to finish rebuilding – the Sabbatical year would have begun in the fall of 444 BC and ended in the fall of 443 BC)
408 BC – Sabbatical and beginning of a Jubilee (completion of the first seven weeks of Dan. 9:25 – city being rebuilt)
331 BC – Sabbatical (Medo-Persia falls to Greece)
Greece Falls to Rome:
197 BC – Sabbatical (Power of Macedonia broken in Battle of Cynoscephalae)
191 BC – Sabbatical (Power of Seluciuds broken at Battle of Thermopylae)
148 BC – Sabbatical (Macedonia tried to rise, but was again defeated at Second Battle of Pydna)
AD 27 – Sabbatical (Jesus is anointed to begin His mission to the world)
AD 31 – Middle of the “week” – middle of the seven year period (Jesus is crucified)
AD 34 – Sabbatical and beginning of a Jubilee (the Jews stone Stephen and the Gospel is carried to the Gentiles)
AD 476 – Sabbatical (Pagan Rome falls)
AD 538 – Sabbatical (Papal Rome gains full power – beginning of the 1260 years, which is 180 Sabbatical cycles)
AD 553 – Sabbatical (Ostrogoths uprooted)
AD 622 – Sabbatical and beginning of a Jubilee (Mahomet received as prince of Medina in fulfillment of 4th Trumpet) (It was the Mohammedan power that limited the spread of the Papacy)
AD 629 – Sabbatical (first war of Mahometans against Rome, another part of the 4th Trumpet)
AD 1518 – Sabbatical (Luther nailed 95 Thesis to church door Oct. 31, 1517, beginning the Sabbatical year of 1518 – this was the start of the Reformation and freedom from slavery to Rome)
AD 1756 – Sabbatical (the Lisbon earthquake took place on Nov. 1, 1755, which would have been the beginning of the Sabbatical year of 1756. The first of the signs of the Second Coming)
AD 1798 – Sabbatical and beginning of the Jubilee (the Pope is taken captive and Rome receives a deadly wound)
AD 1833 – Sabbatical (William Miller receives license to preach, and the stars fall – the last of the signs of the Second Coming)
AD 1840 – Sabbatical (the Ottoman Empire falls in fulfillment of Rev. 9:15)
AD 1844 – Middle of the “week” – middle of the seven year period (Christ entered the Most Holy Place for the final phase of His work)
AD 1847 – Sabbatical and Beginning of a Jubilee (In this year Ellen White had a vision of Christ coming at a Jubilee, which began in the fall of 1847 – this was 47 Jubilee cycles from 457 BC)
AD 1889 – Sabbatical (the 1888 General Conference took place at the time of Feast of Tabernacles which was the beginning of the Sabbatical year of 1889)
There are also some very important dates in the history of the Christian Church that fall on the Sabbaticals, but I haven’t made a list of them yet.
So that’s a very condensed explanation of why it seems to me like Daniel 8-9 tell us when the Sabbaticals and Jubilees are. 🙂
Additional note on a similar topic:
Some friends have shared with me some other amazing things about the prophetic dates and time periods discovered by the early Adventists. Some people nowadays are questioning the validity of these dates and time periods. Some people are trying to change the dates, or even abandon the historic interpretation entirely and move the time periods into the future instead. But I have now seen what I consider to be proof that the dates and time periods discovered by the early Adventists are very accurate. I think there is plenty of proof already in history. And then there is the added evidence that most of these dates fall on Sabbaticals and Jubilees. But beyond that I have now learned that there is a whole network of mathematical relationships between the different time periods and the dates when they begin and end. There are mathematical formulas connecting all these dates together. It is absolutely amazing! It’s so complex that I don’t think any human being could have devised it. And the amazing this is that I’m very sure the early Adventists knew nothing about all these formulas and mathematical relationships! They were just going on the evidence they had from history to support the dates and time periods they were teaching. But now we have discovered another layer of proof that validates the early Adventist interpretation of prophecy. I don’t know of any other interpretation of prophecy that could have such amazing and complex mathematical relationships between all it’s different parts. It all fits so perfectly!
I believe God put these mathematical relationships in place to give us validation that the early Adventist interpretation of prophecy is correct. But you have to keep all the dates and time periods in their proper places. If you try to move one date or change one time period it affects the entire system. It’s is similar to the genetic code – if you change one gene it can cause a serious mutation – the majority of mutations lead to death. It’s not safe to be messing with the genetic code. In the same way, this “prophetic code”, if I can use that term, will be ruined if you try changing any of the major dates. You will come out with a mutated interpretation of prophecy that no longer functions properly.
So now I’m trying to figure out a way to lay out all this material in an easy to understand way so I can share it with people. A lot of this information has been shared with me by several friends who are also studying it. It’s all quite complex, and I’m trying to figure out how to lay it all out in an easy to understand way. It’s kind of like going through algebra class again.
So, once I get it organized hopefully I can start to share it with people. Stay tuned for more details…… 🙂
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