The History of Israel Teaches Us
Israel was especially blessed of God.
We are blessed by studying Israel. God
illustrates His plans in their history.
“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things ...” Hebrews 10:1
Who [the law] serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things ...” Hebrews 8:5
So God gave Israel the Law in part to provide a shadow of a much better reality to come.
The Sabbath, A Part of the Law
Sabbath means rest.
Every seventh day was a day of sabbath rest.
Once a year, the day after the seven sabbath, was a Jubilee day. Or seven times seven plus
one = the 50th day. See Leviticus 23:15
Every seventh year was a sabbath year of even greater rest.
Every fifty years was a Jubilee year, preceded by seven cycles of seventh year Sabbaths.
Or seven times seven plus one year = the 50th year. Leviticus 25:10-15
The Jubilee Year of the Law Points to Earth's Great Jubilee!
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19-21
“And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land
unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every
man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” Leviticus
25:10
The Jubilees of the Law pictured in advance the “times of restitution of all
things” mentioned in Acts 3. The 2nd presence of the Lord Jesus Christ happens when
this greater grander restitution begins. Probably most of the Jubilee year was required
for the restitution of liberty, returning of the land and restoring of families. So also
the great Millennial age takes a 1000 years to restore all mankind.
Starting Point of Jubilees Being
Observed
“And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount
Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the
land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath [observe sabbath system] unto
the LORD.” Leviticus 25:1,2
The system of Jubilees began to count when Israel entered Canaan.
Jubilee Calculation as Viewed
from Law
What Israel Should Do “For verily I say
unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18
The Sabbath system was an important part of the law. The Jubilees, “passed away”
[type ceased] when God removed their opportunity to observe the Jubilee Year during their
70 years of desolation, when Israel was not in the land. Based on the words of Jesus, we
should look for the antitypical fulfillment to start when the Jubilees passed away.
The antitype began following the last possible typical Jubilee Year observance
opportunity. Nineteen complete 50 year Jubilee cycles could have been observed before the
70 years of desolation, Babylonian captivity. Perhaps they were partially observed. As the
minor cycle of 7 x 7 years points to Israel's Jubilee, correspondingly the grander cycle
of 50 x 50 years points to Earth's Grand Jubilee. We start the grander cycle of 50 x 50
years when Israel's observance of the Jubilees passed away.
Jubilee Calculation as Viewed from Law
What Israel Should Do
The 2500th year of the above Grand Cycle is from
October 1874 AD to October 1875 AD. This 50th Jubilee of the Grand Cycle, starting in
October 1874 AD, is the Grand Jubilee that lasts a 1000 years. Earth's Grand Jubilee or
Times of Restitution begins in October 1874 AD.
Jubilee Calculation as a Prophecy
What Israel Will Do
"He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees [Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon],...and them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where
they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfil
the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths;
for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil 70 years."
II Chronicles 36:17-21
The prophecy states that the Land was to keep 70 Jubilee years of sabbath. Nineteen
complete 50 year Jubilee cycles could have been observed before the 70 years of
desolation, Babylonian captivity. Perhaps they were partially observed.
According to the prophecy, if seventy Jubilee cycles were to be observed and in fact
nineteen were, then 70 – 19 = 51 the number Jubilee cycles to be observed after
Israel's last Jubilee cycle observed.
The prophecy records things as they really occur. Hence, the 51 cycles after Israel's last
Jubilee cycle observed would not include the Jubilee year. That period would be 2499 years
(51 x 49 years).
Jubilee Calculation as a Prophecy
What Israel Will Do
The Earth's Grand Jubilee begins after the 70 total Jubilee cycles mentioned in prophecy,
starting in October 1874 AD.
The 51 cycles x 49 years (2499 years) end in
October 1874 AD. Those cycles did not include a Jubilee year.
Earth's Grand Jubilee or Times of Restitution begins in October 1874 AD.
Summary Conclusion
The view of the Jubilees from the Law and from
Prophecy are a double proof that match and corroborate each others starting point for
Earth's Grand Jubilee. The date of the beginning of Earth's Great Jubilee is October 1874
AD, the beginning of the “Times of Restitution of all things”. When the
"Times of Restitution" are due to begin, the presence of the GREAT RESTORER is
also due. The second presence of Jesus Christ, the Great Restorer, occurred in October
1874 AD.
Appendix
Character Lessons in the Jubilees
“Now all these things happened unto them
for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come.” I Cor 10:11
“The land shall not be sold for ever: for
the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.” Lev 25:23
Everything is the Lord's, we are only renting
our possessions. Touch lightly the things of this world. We are sojourners, we are
temporary. We have hope that if faithful we will have the crown of life. “Perhaps the
Jews never fully and properly observed the type, even during the first nineteen Jubilees.
(Lev 26:35) They no doubt found it impossible to restrain their love of wealth ...”
We should restrain our love of wealth and seek first the kingdom. What an example of long
suffering mercy by Jehovah to permit the imperfect keeping by Israel of the Jubilees for
almost a thousand years. Should not we likewise be long suffering in applying mercy?!
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads;
for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21:28 Knowing that the “times of
restitution” have began, don't be downcast, lift up your head and rejoice that your
deliverance is soon. The Jubilee applied to all people—except the priesthood which
did not possess land—even as those blessings of restitution will be earthly.
“For here we have no continuing city, but seek one to come.” Hebrews 13:14
______________________
A summary of Studies in the Scriptures, Volume 2, "The Time is at
Hand" Study 6, by Pastor Charles Taze Russell
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