YEAR OF JUBILEE and its global effect

[Choir Loft]

Some are aware of Mosaic LAW with regard to observance of the Year of Jubilee.   Many are not.  For the benefit of those who aren't familiar with the YEAR OF JUBILEE, here is a thumbnail presentation.  The consequences of Jubilee will be discussed afterward.

According to the LAW God handed down to Moses, one day in seven is to be observed as a day of rest.  The day of rest, called Shabbat, is to be observed on the last day of the week - Saturday. (*) No work, no financial transaction and no lengthy travel is to be done on Shabbat.  In addition, every seventh year was also to be observed as a Sabbath Year.  This LAW establishes two things; divine assignment of seven years as a week of years and a wider definition of shabbat to extend to the land.   During the seventh Shabbat year the land was not to be tilled or cultivated in any way.  It was to be allowed to go fallow.

At the end of every seventh Shabbat Year a YEAR OF JUBILEE was to be observed. 7 x 7 = 49 + 1 = 50 years. During the Jubilee Year everything was to be restored to its previous state.
For example, slaves were to be set free. In addition all debts were to be forgiven or reset to zero.  Land purchased or traded was to be returned to its original owner.   The list goes on, but the general idea is that during Jubilee much is restored - according to divine intent.  Unfortunately Moses didn't live long enough to observe the first Jubilee and Joshua, his successor, didn't observe it either.  Consequently the actual march of dates has been lost because nobody remembers when it was supposed to be first held - except the Father.

Consequences of Jubilee for today.

In the year 1867 various statements made by famous persons, Mark Twain being one, stated the deserted nature of the Holy Land and remembered God's promise to restore it according to Ezekiel 37 (the dry bones prophecy).

In the year 1917, 50 years later, the Balfour declaration was announced by Great Britain and announced international recognition of Eretz Israel (land of Israel) as a legitimate homeland of the Jewish people.   

In 1967, 50 years later, the Israel Defense Forces liberated the ancient capital of Israel - Jerusalem.  A series of aliyahs occurred both before and after 1967.   Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the State of Israel from the diaspora - from all the places they were scattered throughout the world.  Aliyah is also the fulfillment of the second prophecy of Ezekiel 37 (verses 15-28) due to documented members of all 12 tribes being reunited in Eretz Israel (land of Israel).  The two houses of Israel are being reunited as we read these words.

"Jerusalem will be trampled upon by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." Jesus as quoted by Luke 21:24   In June of 1967 Jesus' prophecy was fulfilled when the IDF liberated Jerusalem. 

In December 2017, 50 years later, US President Donald Trump announced US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the US embassy would be merged with the US diplomatic mission already established there.

While many End Times readers and writers glean information for Israel from that event, FEW realize its importance to the church as well as the rest of the world.

JUBILEE means restoration - for the Jews first and then for the gentiles.    This means that ALL things are to be restored prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ.   By All Things I mean All Things.

In the last thirty years of the twentieth century it began to be noticed that the church was becoming severely anemic.  The advent of TV evangelists and their cheapening of the Biblical message rendered the gospel illegitimate in the eyes of many.  These matters were widely discussed and bemoaned among many theologians of the late twentieth century.   Among them were Francis Schaeffer, Billy Graham, Reinhold Neibuhr and others. 

By the beginning of the twenty-first century statistics proved the church was withering on the vine.   According to Gallup and PEW polls, 2010 regular attendance (measured as one visit to church per month) had declined to 50% of 1948 levels.  Projections suggested the trend would continue to a 10% level by 2050.  The Pope made public statements that Europe had become completely secularized.  Traditional evangelical revivals ceased and foreign missions devolved from spiritual illumination into financial enterprises.   The people of the world gradually returned to their pagan ways and embraced ancient fundamental traditions.  Islam began a spectacular unprecedented rise in popularity.  Even Muslim leaders were caught off guard and cannot explain it.

Explanations for the decline in the fortunes of Christendom have been many.  Fingers have been pointed in all directions as guilt was pressed home and answers sought.  To date, no certain answers or causes have been discovered - except one.   JUBILEE.

Submitted for your consideration is the cause of the international decline in the fortunes of the church - that the reason is JUBILEE. 

If JUBILEE indeed finds its source in the Will of Almighty God, then it is not only Israel that will be affected, but the entire world.   If Christ is to return, according to the LAW and Biblical predictions, then He MUST return to a world that has been restored ACCORDING TO DIVINELY ESTABLISHED JUBILEE.

Why?

Because the second coming of Jesus Christ signals the ultimate restoration - the redemption of mankind.

Question:  When is the next Jubilee?

that's me, hollering from the choir loft....

(*) A rather curious item appears in the book of Genesis.  During creation God blessed every day of the week except the second day - Monday.

[robycop3]

  Right now, only the Jews are being restored. We don't know who the other tribes of Israel now are, but we DO know they exist, as God said they do. The only ones who kept their national ID are the Jews.
  But the rest of Israel hasn't generally undergone nearly the same punishment, persecution, & abuse the Jews have. Remember the stories of Aholah & Aholibah?  Aholah (the 10 tribes of Israel whose capital was Samaria) were punished with exile for idol worship, (playing the harlot, in Scriptural symbolism) while her sister Aholibah (Judah) saw Aholah's punishment, but exceeded her in harlotry (idol worship) & other sins, & thus, her punishment was much-greater. Furthermore, the Jews went on to reject Jesus & have Him murdered. For the rejection, Jesus prophesied the "days of vengeance" against that generation of Jews, which came about in 66-70 AD, and for having Him murdered, they received much-greater punishment, beginning in 135-136 with the Jews' being expelled from their land by Hadrian & the Roman army. For over 1800 years, the Jews were hated & persecuted wherever they went; this culminated in the nazi holocaust, but after that, God began to lift their punishment. But they are not at all restored, and still reject Jesus as Messiah & believe the Old Covenant is still in force.
  I don't think this has anything to do with a jubilee.

[Choir Loft]

  Right now, only the Jews are being restored. We don't know who the other tribes of Israel now are, but we DO know they exist, as God said they do. The only ones who kept their national ID are the Jews.
  But the rest of Israel hasn't generally undergone nearly the same punishment, persecution, & abuse the Jews have. Remember the stories of Aholah & Aholibah?  Aholah (the 10 tribes of Israel whose capital was Samaria) were punished with exile for idol worship, (playing the harlot, in Scriptural symbolism) while her sister Aholibah (Judah) saw Aholah's punishment, but exceeded her in harlotry (idol worship) & other sins, & thus, her punishment was much-greater. Furthermore, the Jews went on to reject Jesus & have Him murdered. For the rejection, Jesus prophesied the "days of vengeance" against that generation of Jews, which came about in 66-70 AD, and for having Him murdered, they received much-greater punishment, beginning in 135-136 with the Jews' being expelled from their land by Hadrian & the Roman army. For over 1800 years, the Jews were hated & persecuted wherever they went; this culminated in the nazi holocaust, but after that, God began to lift their punishment. But they are not at all restored, and still reject Jesus as Messiah & believe the Old Covenant is still in force.
  I don't think this has anything to do with a jubilee.

You only read and/or addressed the first part of my post.

Israel IS being restored.  Personally, I believe that the next Jubilee will see a rebuilt temple.  Reappearance of Messiah is years away.

Paganism IS being restored.   This is the second part of my post I meant to relay to readers. 

Restoration doesn't necessarily imply rebuilding or forward movement - as in the restored fortunes of the State of Israel.   It also implies reversal of fortunes.

According to Mosaic LAW with regard to the Jubilee, all debts are to be forgiven/reduced to zero.  All traded real estate is to be returned to the original owner.   Slaves are to be freed or given the option to remain so for the rest of their natural lives.  It goes on and on.   For those who've made profit by their real estate trades and their loan business, Jubilee is NOT forward movement.  Its a reversal.

Paganism is being restored worldwide.

I've witnessed this personally in remote locations and I've spoken to disappointed missionaries who've returned home with little or nothing of value to report with regard to advancement of the gospel.   We don't hear about it during fund raising campaigns that deliberately ignore the truth, but its out there and is reported by people without financial or political agendas.

The church is dying.

Several years ago the Pope stated Europe had become a secular continent.   Ironically, some churches in Africa have declared Europe to be a mission field and have sent teams there to reintroduce the gospel to the unchurched of Europe.  They aren't meeting with much success as Europe has traditionally been hamstrung by institutionalized religion - first the Catholics and now the Muslims.

In Asia, the gospel is barely treading water.  Teams returning from mission trips to Japan have told me there is a wave of fundamental traditionalist revivals for the old ancestor worship.   In Communist China, every mall has kiosks selling crucifixes and Bibles.  Home churches still exist, but church property has been confiscated to the point that almost nothing remains of religious venues.  Chinese Christians aren't imprisoned, but they are subject to bureaucratic harassment - lost jobs, lost medical benefits, public humiliation, etc.  Less than a half dozen Christian leaders are in prison and nobody, repeat nobody, has any idea how many or few actual believers actually exist in China.  Anybody that tells you they know - is a liar.

In America polls such as PEW and Gallup record fewer than half professed Christians attend church on a regular basis. 

By 2050 the figure is expected to fall to 10% of 1948 levels.  The church is heavily divided between evangelicals, who no longer practice evangelism on a large scale, cult types and independent churches.   Mainline Christian denominations are heavily infected with political correctness and no longer hold to the principles of the faith in any traditional sense.   In other words, the American church is infested with secularism and is already dead in large part.

What will Jesus find when He returns to earth?  He will no doubt find a pagan planet heavily opposed to Judaism and those gentiles who've decided to risk freedom and property for their faith.

The night is coming when no one will be able to work. - Jesus as quoted by John 9:4b

Jubilee means the death of Christianity as we have known it.

It's already history.  It's already in the wind.  Those that deny the truth of it do so for their own advantage - or simply to hide themselves from disquieting news.

that's me, hollering from the choir loft...