23 Oct WHAT IS, WHAT HAS BEEN, AND WHAT IS YET TO BE
Only one narrative continues to authenticate itself over thousands of years. Scripture streams from eternity into time, from the unseen into the seen, from the spiritual realm into the physical realm—to confirm what it foretells in the unfolding events of history. In Genesis, God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit The Promised Land, and they did. Throughout the Old Testament, Moses and the prophets warned the Jews that they would be driven into exile among the nations. And they were. Scripture also foretells of God regathering the Jewish people to the land. And after almost two thousand years, the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God of the Bible, the God of the Hebrew prophets began to fulfill what He said He would do.
During their long exile, the Jewish people watched as The Holy Land passed from one empire to the next. Then Sultan Selim brought the land firmly under Ottoman control in 1517. Three Hundred and fifty years passed, bringing the year 1867, when signs began to appear. The Crimean War left the Ottoman Empire with a huge debt to European bankers, forcing the Sultan to pass the Ottoman Land Code in order to raise taxes. In 1867, for the first time, the Ottoman Empire permitted foreign citizens to purchase land. Slowly and imperceptibly, the unintended consequence was the release of the land to Jews in Europe and America. Though it went unrecognized by world powers, the Jubilee was reappearing in world history.
The ancient Jubilee was ordained by God to take place in the 50th year; it was marked by the release of the land to its rightful owner. If hardship had forced someone to sell or lose his family’s land, and he could not buy it back, the one who had gained possession of that land would release it to him in the Jubilee.
But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land. Leviticus 25:28
The Ottoman Empire couldn’t care less about The Year of Jubilee, but unbeknownst to them, they were fulfilling it.
Fifty years later, in 1917, the Ottoman Empire would fall, when Great Britain won the battle over Jerusalem, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule. This 400 years is significant because it is a multiple of 40. Whether it is 40 days, or 40 years, 40 symbolizes the time it takes for God to do the necessary work to bring about something new. It had taken 10 times 40 years of His people enslaved in Egypt, for God to do the work necessary to bring forth a new nation that was uniquely His. Moses would be 40 years old when he went out and killed an Egyptian taskmaster, thinking his people would recognize him as their deliverer. They didn’t. And fearing for his life, he ran away. After another 40 years of herding sheep in the wilderness, God’s work was done, and He appeared to Moses in a burning bush, sending him back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh, “Let My people go.”
10 times 40, or 400 years of Ottoman control was the time that it would take for God to bring about a new beginning for the land.
The number 7 is also highly symbolic. 7 is the number of completion. (As in a week being completed in 7 days, and the musical scale being completed with 7 notes) After 7 times 10 years, the Jewish people completed their exile in Babylon. It is significant that after 7 completions of seven years, or 49 years, the 50th year brings the Jubilee. After 7 completions of fifty-year periods of Ottoman rule, or 350 years from 1517, the Jubilee of 1867 burst into modern history. What God did in 1867 would bear fruit in the next Jubilee of 1917, when The Balfour Declaration would recognize the right of the Jewish people to a homeland in Palestine. Fifty years later, in the 6-Day War of 1967, Israel’s army would recapture the western wall. And fifty years after that, in 2017, the first world leader would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Every step has been deliberate, advancing the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel.
Is this all for the sake of Israel? Yes—they are beloved for the sake of their fathers. But no—all of this is not just for Israel’s sake, it is also for you. The Jews are a signpost pointing to Him, sometimes despite themselves. They are God’s showcase to all mankind, proving that in our greatest distress, in our separation from Him, that He will have mercy, moving heaven and earth to bring our exile to an end, to bring us back to Himself, to deliver us, and to restore us to our lost inheritance.
The nations rage. Those who deny God plot and scheme. A time of great distress is coming (1) (2). But God is not deterred. He is at work in history causing all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And nothing can stop it.
THE JUBILEE IS, IT HAS BEEN, AND IT IS YET TO BE.
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(1) There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning of nations until that time. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Daniel 12:1
(2) For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Matthew 24:21,22