2017 Jubilee and Jesus Now to Return?
Are we now in the ‘Year of Jubilee’?
If so, could Jesus return this year?
Some seem to think so:
A current theory is that Jesus will return in 2017, based on the idea that 2017 is a Jubilee year that will fulfill a medieval rabbi’s prophecy. … there is no way to be certain that 2017 is an actual year of Jubilee. And, even if it is, it would not signal the return of Christ. … In ancient times, the Jubilee year began with the Sanhedrin’s blast of the shofar (ram’s horn). http://www.gotquestions.org/Jubilee-2017.html
The Jubilee year began on the Day of Atonement, which is today.
So, supposedly we are now in the 2017 jubilee year.
A while ago, the editor of World Net Daily, Joseph Farah, posted the following:
JERUSALEM – Several years ago, Ludwig Schneider, a German-language scholar, discovered an amazing prophecy dating back to 1217 by a scholarly and highly respected rabbi by the name of Judah Ben Samuel.
…in the year Judah Ben Samuel died in 1217, he prophesied that the Ottoman Turks would rule over the holy city of Jerusalem for eight Jubilees. Now, keep in mind, he made this prediction 300 years before the Turks seized control of Jerusalem in 1517. In fact, the Ottoman Empire, as it would become to be known, did not even really exist yet in 1217.
According to Judah Ben Samuel, 1217 was a Jubilee Year. If he was right, that would also make 1517 a Jubilee Year. …
The rabbi also prophesied that during the ninth Jubilee, Jerusalem would be a “no-man’s land.” This is exactly what happened from 1917 to 1967, due to the fact that the Holy Land was placed under British Mandate in 1917 by the League of Nations and literally “belonged” to no nation. …
The rabbi also prophesied that during the 10th Jubilee, Jerusalem would be under the control of the Jews and the Messianic “end times” would begin. The 10th Jubilee began in 1967 and will be concluded in – 2017.
What should we expect to happen in 2017? I will leave that to your imagination.
But one thing is certain: Judah Ben Samuel made some truly remarkable prophecies that came to pass. November 8, 2015http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/will-2017-be-a-jubilee-year/#TYEyp5EYgHULig9h.99
Before going further, I would add that WND’s editor pushed the false idea that the so-called Shemitah year ran from September 25, 2014 through September 13, 2015. Global economic collapse was predicted to occur on September 13, 2015 according to items his site posted (see Does end of Mark Biltz’s Shemitah mean that the Tribulation starts tomorrow?). That was wrong (see Jonathan Cahn defends ‘The Mystery of the Shemitah,’ whereas COGwriter denounces it).
Furthermore, if the Shemitah year really was from September 25, 2014 through September 13, 2015, then we should have been in the Jubilee until October 2016 as the Jubilee year begins ten days after the seventh Shemitah year in that cycle ends.
WND has also promoted nonsense like the ‘blood moons,’ solar eclipse of August 21 2017, and the ‘virgo’ issue of September 23, 2017–all of which were unbiblical and wrong (see Blood Moons, Eclipses, and Prophecy and ‘No, the world will not end on September 23’ nor Christians raptured then). They simply did NOT take into consideration what Jesus said must happen before His return.
Not only did I denounce all of those promotions BEFORE time proved them false, I also denounced this claim about Jesus and the Jubilee year in the past (watch 2017 Year of Jubilee and the Messianic Age?).
As far as the Jubilee year, here is a lot of what the Bible itself teaches about it:
8 ‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 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. 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. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12 For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.
13 ‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. 14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. 15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. 16 According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. 17 Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 25:8-17)
25 ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. 26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, 27 then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. 28 But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
29 ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. 32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. (Leviticus 25:25-34)
40 As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 And then he shall depart from you — he and his children with him — and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. (Leviticus 25:40-41)
47 ‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, 48 after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. 50 Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him. 51 If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. 52 And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. 53 He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee — he and his children with him. 55 For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 25:47-55)
2 And they said: “The Lord commanded my lord Moses to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 Now if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when the Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. (Numbers 36:2-4)
16 ‘If a man dedicates to the Lord part of a field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand. 18 But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money due according to the years that remain till the Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation. 19 And if he who dedicates the field ever wishes to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall belong to him. 20 But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore; 21 but the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a devoted field; it shall be the possession of the priest.
22 ‘And if a man dedicates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not the field of his possession, 23 then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation, up to the Year of Jubilee, and he shall give your valuation on that day as a holy offering to the Lord. 24 In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to the one who owned the land as a possession. (Leviticus 27:16-24)
Essentially, the jubilee was a reset for society and a new chance for those who had not handled their finances as well as others may have. People would get their ancestral lands back, if they would have sold them. And since it was supposed to be observed once every 50 years, most people who did not die in childhood would have experienced it once or even twice in their lifetime (yes, even three times was possible).
As far as the meaning of the term translated as jubilee, notice the following:
The translation “Jubilee year” results from a mistaken application of cognates (similar words in different languages). In the original Hebrew, the year was called the “year of the horn,” or, in Hebrew, “the year of the yovel.” The Latin for yovel is iobileus, which just happens to sound like the Latin word iubileus, connected to the verb iubilare, “to celebrate.” The English “Jubilee year” comes from the Latin. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-joel-hoffman/five-mistakes-bible-translation_b_1129620.html
Some have suggested that because the jubilee is not observed, that this is perhaps why there tends to be major economic problems every 50-60 or so years. Notice the following:
“Kondratieff long wave cycle (K-wave) was originally used to explain long wave economic cycles. Its originator Nickolai Kondratieff was a Russian economist (1892-1938) in Stalin’s Agricultural Academy and Business Research Institute (“Long Waves in Economic Life” – originally published in German in 1926). Kondratieff’s major premise was that capitalist economies displayed long wave cycles of boom and bust ranging between 50-60 years in duration. Kondratieff’s study covered the period 1789 to 1926 and was centered on prices and interest rates.”
“The 50-60 year cycle of catastrophe and renewal had been observed and recorded by the ancient Mayans of Central America and by the ancient Israelites. Further studies have discovered similar long economic waves from the period of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Kondratieff identified four distinct phases the economy goes through. They are a period of inflationary growth, followed by stagflation, then deflationary growth and finally depression.” http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_02/chapmand062902.html See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kondratiev_wave
Some now point to Judah Ben Samuel’s track record as proof that his Jubilee cycle predicted many events, but there have been many reasons to discount his prediction for 2017.
One of the most important is that it is NOT possible for Jesus to return in 2017. Jesus said He returns AFTER the tribulation:
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31)
The period know as the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21) cannot start until 3 1/2 years AFTER the deal in Daniel 9:27 has been confirmed by a prince for seven years (see The ‘Peace Deal’ of Daniel 9:27).
Let’s look more into another report about this rabbi Samuel:
A 13th century German rabbi from Regensburg wrote many books in German. He was Judah Ben Samuel, AKA Judah he-Hasid (Judah the Pious) and he has made some astonishing and specific predictions about the future of Israel that have come true already. He made a prophecy 750 years before it has happened So far it has been fullfilled to the letter. This rabbi died in 1217 and was a mystic. He devoted himself chiefly to kabbalistic studies. …
Judah Ben Samuel was a student of Gematria and astrological observations http://www.rapturewatch.net/2017-end-of-10th-jubilee
Essentially, the above report says that Judah Ben Samuel followed kabbalistic teachings and astrology. He was not God’s prophet (see also How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God). Even The Protestant World Net Daily should realize this.
That being said, Satan does have a plan and throughout the centuries he has had false prophets make predictions that have some accuracy. In the time of the end, many will be confused by false prophecies and other doctrines of demons.
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1).
Nearly everyone will be deceived in the end times. Though not by Judah Ben Samuel.
There will be lying wonders as well:
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)
Many will be deceived.
From time to time I receive emails from some who think they know when the jubilee year is, despite the fact that history does not clearly record a particular year that the children of Israel actually observed it. There was, for one example, someone who emailed me and claimed that the 50 year biblical jubilee would begin on October 8, 2011. He was upset that I would not proclaim that as he was convinced that was the year. I told him I did not believe that the jubilee period could have begun then. One of the reasons is that since God has a 6,000 plan for humankind that should be up within a decade or two and since 6,000 years is divisible by 50, I did not believe that 2011-2012 could possibly have been the year of jubilee.
I have looked at a lot of calculations for the next Jubilee year and am not absolutely certain which is correct. One that is supposedly based upon the reign of King Josiah seems to point to the 2028 or 2027 time period (see The Book of Life and the Feast of Trumpets?), but there are others that point to Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:29-34) that suggest more like a 2050 or 2051, date which seems too distant. Another from the Talmud that leaves over 200 years off of the age of the world, seems to point to 2038, while one related to Ezekiel 40:1 (which the Pulpit commentary says may have been 575 BC) points to 2026 , and one by the Rabbi known as Maimonides seems to point to 2025 (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12967-sabbatical-year-and-jubilee#anchor9).
Here is some information from what seems to be a Protestant source that suggests 2028 as the next Jubilee:
The Bible relates this information about the year of Jubilee.
“Count off seven sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years [seven ‘sevens’]. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.”
Leviticus 25:8-12
The Bible further states the Jewish year begins in the first month of Nisan, since the time of Exodus, although modern Jews actually begin the civil New Year six months later in the seventh month (Tishrei). So using this understanding, the forty-ninth year (seventh Sabbath) would have started in the month of Nisan and ended just before the month of Nisan the following year. There would have been no planting in that year if they followed God’s laws. God also says not to sow or reap in the year of Jubilee as well, the fiftieth year, so why does He say to wait until the tenth day of the seventh month before the year is proclaimed when the Jews clearly should already be “observing” the Jubilee by not planting crops? We will examine this issue shortly. So a year of Jubilee begins on the first of Nisan, is proclaimed midway through the year on the Day of Atonement, and ends at the start of a new year in the month of Nisan.
Assuming Josephus was correct on this point, the year of Jubilee he reported would probably have been Nisan 1, 3738 A.M. to Adar 29, 3739 A.M. This corresponds to March 28, 23 B.C to March 16, 22 B.C. Projecting these dates 50 years ahead across the B.C. to A.D. threshold gives us March 14, 28 A.D. (Nisan 1, 3788 A.M.) to March 31, 29 A.D. (Adar II 29, 3789 A.M.) as the first year of Jubilee in the year of our Lord (anno domini – A.D.). This period of time partially overlaps the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, which ended in August of 29 A.D. If you aspire to do your counting from the first of Tishrei (using that as the beginning of the New Year), then the Jubilee Year would have been September 21, 23 B.C. to September 10, 22 B.C. instead, effectively moving the dates six months into the future. The next Jubilee (28/29 A.D.) using this accounting method would have lined up very close to the 15th year of Tiberius… being off by only three to four weeks longer…
So we see from using more accurate calendar math that the next year of Jubilee from Josephus’ writings was between 28 and 29 A.D. not just 28 A.D. as we originally calculated. If we project this Jubilee year 2,000 years into the future… forty (generations) fifty year periods (Jubilees), we get the first of Tishrei in the year 5789 A.M. This translates into September 21, 2028 A.D. on the Gregorian calendar and the end of that Jewish year using the same calendar is September 9, 2029 A.D. The tenth of Tishrei of this Jubilee year, the Day of Atonement, is September 30, 2028 A.D. as you already know. (Vargo RH. 2028 ~ GOD’S PLAN FOR MANKIND. Chapter 26. ASIN: B00885RJ9Y, 2007. http://webwaydrive.com/2028/Jubilee%20Year%20Revelation.htm; the same conclusion is in R.H. Vargo’s 2009 book: Tribulation: God’s Plan for the End of The Age, p. 16)
I am not certain that 2028 must be the year, but it could be the next Jubiliee. I never accepted Harbinger author Jonathan Kahn’s belief that the Shemitah year was from Trumpets 2014 to Trumpets 2015. But I would add that it is possible that the millennium could start on a year of Jubilee.
Why?
Well, since the Bible teaches “the land shall enjoy its sabbaths” (Leviticus 26:34-35), the jubilee year is considered one of them (in addition to the every seven year land Sabbath of Exodus 23:10-11), and the final Day of the Lord lasts one year (Isaiah 34:8), it is possible that the Day of the Lord or the period immediately after the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His kingdom will be the next jubilee year.
But that is speculation.
What is NOT speculation is for me to declare that according to what Jesus taught in Matthew 24 as well as passages in the Book of Daniel that Jesus is NOT going to return in 2017 or 2018 and the ‘Messianic era,’ which some would consider to be the millennium, cannot possibly start this year.
As far as prophetic teachings go, we in the Continuing Church of God “have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV).”
Why?
Because we really do rely on what the Bible teaches.
Jesus will NOT return in 2017.
A video we made is available: 2017 Year of Jubilee and the Messianic Age?
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2026 or 20xx? There is also a video titled The 6000 Year Plan: Is the end of humanity’s reign almost up? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2017, 2018, or 2019? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2016 o 2017? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter video is: Will the Great Tribulation Start in 2017?
The ‘Peace Deal’ of Daniel 9:27 This prophecy could give up to 3 1/2 years advance notice of the coming Great Tribulation. Will most ignore or misunderstand its fulfillment? Here is a link to a related sermon video Daniel 9:27 and the Start of the Great Tribulation.
Blood Moons, Eclipses, and Prophecy There were four ‘blood moons’ expected in 2014 and 2015. Some claimed that they signaled the Day of the Lord or the return of Jesus Christ. I denounced that view in advance. Some claim an eclipse in 2017 signals the end, is that true? Two related videos are available: Blood Moons, Prophecy, 2014, and 2015. and Solar Eclipse and the Apocalypse.
Is There A Secret Rapture for the Church? When and Where is the Church Protected? What does the Bible really teach? Does the Church flee or is it taken up just prior to the great tribulation? Who really is left behind? There is also a YouTube video with information Did Jesus Teach a Pre-tribulation Rapture?
The Day of Atonement–Its Christian Significance The Jews call it Yom Kippur, Christians “The Day of Atonement.” Does it have any relevance for Christians today? What is the Jubilee? Is fasting healthy? Here is a link to a sermon: Day of Atonement: How Jesus fulfilled His part for the Atonement. Here is a link to a related article in the Spanish language: El Día de Expiación –Su significado cristiano.
Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the Continuing Church of God How has God used dreams in the past? Does God still use dreams? Did He use any involving those in the Continuing Church of God? A related sermon is also available: Dreams, COGs, and One Man Rule.
How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God There are many false prophets. How can Christians determine who is a true prophet? There is also a sermon-length video titled How to determine if someone is a true prophet of God. Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Cómo determinar si alguien es un verdadero profeta de Dios?
Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful among all real Christian groups to the word of God.
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