Most of those reading this know that for Israel, every seventh day was a Sabbath, a day of holiness and rest. But what many people, even believers, don’t know is that the Sabbath was not only a day, but also a year (Lev. 25:1-4). During the Sabbath year, there was to be no working of the land. All sowing and reaping, all plowing and planting, all gathering and harvesting had to cease by the end of the sixth year so the land could “rest and lie fallow” (Ex. 23:11).
And yet this is only a part of the mystery. It gets even bigger still.
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| Encountering the mystery of the Shemitah |
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| Written by Jonathan Cahn |
| Wednesday, 05 November 2014 10:18 AM America/New_York |
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Could a mystery that began on a desert mountaintop in the Middle East 3,000 years ago possibly be determining the direction of world history, the course of our lives and the specific events that await us in the days ahead? Is it possible that the words of an ancient Hebrew text are controlling the rise and fall of the American economy, the timing of recessions, depressions and economic crashes, and the collapse of Wall Street and the great stock markets of the world? And could an ancient mystery that held the key to the timing of Israel’s judgment actually be determining the timing of critical and world-changing events in the modern world so precisely that it involves dates, hours, minutes and seconds? I didn’t plan on writing this article, much less a new book (just yet). I knew (and still know) I would ultimately write a sequel to The Harbinger, but I also knew this could only be written at the right time. The Mystery of the Shemitah is a book that no one person planned. I had initially agreed to help in the writing of a piece on the coming Shemitah. But as I began to prepare for it, I was flooded with new revelations—as I was with The Harbinger. And as with The Harbinger, The Mystery of the Shemitah flowed onto the pages rapid-fire. The Shemitah is one of the 14 major streams of mysteries that first appeared in The Harbinger. I knew there was more to it, but just how much more there was and just how colossal were the ramifications was beyond anything I could have expected. Not only does it lie behind the rise and fall of the economy, the financial realm, Wall Street and the stock market, the mystery of the Shemitah also lies behind: • The rise of America to world power It may sound like something from a Hollywood movie or science-fiction book, but it’s real. In fact, the mystery of the Shemitah is so real it can be measured and quantified. It is so big and far-reaching that it has been affecting the lives of everyone reading this article since birth. Two-and-a-half years ago, at the time of The Harbinger’s release, I was asked to give an exclusive “peak” or revealing as to some of the mysteries included in that book. With my new book, I have now been asked to give an exclusive peek into some of the revelations in The Mystery of the Shemitah. The Sabbath and the remission
At the end of the Sabbath year, something unique took place: “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release” (Deut. 15:1-2). “At the end of every seven years” refers to the last day of the Sabbath year. On the biblical calendar, the day was called Elul 29. So on Elul 29, the very last day of the Sabbath year, a sweeping transformation took place in the nation’s financial realm. Everyone who owed a debt was released. And every creditor had to release the debt owed. Elul 29 marked the day all credit was erased, and all debt was wiped away. The nation’s financial accounts were, in effect, wiped clean. It was Israel’s day of financial nullification and remission. The word in Hebrew used for this remission was “shemitah.” Thus Elul 29 became the Day of the Shemitah, while the Sabbath year was known as the Year of the Shemitah. The Shemitah as the sign of judgment The Shemitah bears witness that the land and, for that matter, the Earth, belong to God. It is only entrusted to man as a steward. God is sovereign. His sovereignty extends also to the realms of money, finances, economies and possessions. The Shemitah declares that God is first and above all realms of life and must therefore be put first and above every realm. During the Shemitah, Israel was, in effect, compelled to turn away from these earthly or worldly realms and turn to the spiritual. But when ancient Israel moved away from God and the keeping of His commandments, one of which was that of the Shemitah, judgment came upon the land. It happened in 586 B.C. when Babylonian armies set fire to Jerusalem, left the land of Israel in desolation, destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and took the people captive into Babylon. But behind all this lay the Sabbath year. The exact timing of that judgment was based entirely on the mystery of Shemitah. In Israel’s rejection of God’s way, the Shemitah turns from a sign of blessing to that of judgment. Thus the Shemitah became a sign of judgment against the nation that drove God out of its life and culture and placed money and material gain over God. It is a sign of national judgment that specifically strikes a nation’s financial and economic realms. In fact, the effect of the Shemitah itself is very similar to that of an economic collapse and the crashing of stock markets. The Shemitah mystery operating now Is it possible that this ancient mystery that ultimately led to the judgment of ancient Israel is at work and operating in our day? The amazing answer is yes. One of the most dramatic manifestations of this biblical phenomenon took place Sept. 29, 2008. On that morning, the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange refused to ring. Then came the greatest stock-market point collapse in Wall Street history. Massive amounts of money were wiped out as financial accounts were nullified. On what day did this greatest collapse take place? On the biblical day of Elul 29, the central day of the mystery of the Shemitah, the very day appointed to wipe out the financial accounts of a nation. And it was not only the day, but the year. The greatest wipeout of financial accounts in American history took place on the Elul 29 that only comes around once in seven years, the exact biblical day of financial nullification. It is a mind-boggling phenomenon. And yet it’s just the beginning. If you go back seven years earlier, according to the ancient seven-year mystery, you end up in September 2001, the month of 9/11. But it was also the month of the other greatest crash in Wall Street history, up to that day. It took place Sept. 17. On the ancient biblical calendar, this other greatest crash in American history took place on Elul 29, the exact same day—and the day that just happens to be appointed in the Bible for the wiping away of financial accounts! On top of that, the crash of 2001 was caused by the terrorist-inspired events of 9/11. Thus, all of these things could have taken place only on the exact date they did in accordance with the ancient mystery, if the timing of 9/11 was also in accordance with the ancient mystery. Thus, even behind 9/11 lay the ancient mystery of the Shemitah. And yet even this is only the beginning! The ancient cycles and the cataclysms Most people missed it. It appeared in two lines of The Harbinger on page 163 of the book, beginning with a question asked of the prophet by the story’s main character, Nouriel: “How far does the cycle go?” I asked. “Every seventh year in the past ... and into the future?” “The subject is for another time,” he said. The “another time” referred to by the prophet for revealing the answer is now. The Mystery of the Shemitah is, in effect, the revelation of the mysteries Nouriel was searching for. We don’t have the space here to go into what is so gigantic that it resulted in a book that even I didn’t expect. But I will seek to give an idea or taste of some of what is involved. Nouriel’s question opens the door to the fact that the mystery is much bigger than could be contained in that exchange with the prophet and that the phenomenon of the Shemitah did not begin with 9/11. It has, in fact, been affecting, even guiding the course of our lives, from the moment of our births. The Mystery of the Shemitah reveals: • How this ancient sign of God has been behind all of the greatest turning points and collapses in the financial and economic realm of the last 40 years.
The mystery of the towers One of the most unexpected revelations in The Mystery of the Shemitah begins at Babel. It involves the connection between the building of high towers and the rise of world powers. This particular mystery is especially revealing concerning the rise (and fall) of America. It includes the following: • How the rising of one particular tower ushered in the beginning of America’s ascent to world power. The Shemitah and the nations Perhaps the most far-reaching of the Shemitah’s manifestations concerns the rise and fall of nations, kingdoms and empires. In ancient times, it lay behind the timing of Assyria’s destruction, the rise of the Babylonian Empire, the fall of the Babylonian Empire and the rise of Persia. But amazingly, the phenomenon has not stopped. The mystery of the Shemitah lies behind: • The greatest global cataclysms and shakings of nations in modern history. The mystery of the seventh Shemitah Many people don’t realize the connection of the Shemitah and the Jubilee. The Jubilee was actually a super- or mega-Shemitah. As the Shemitah brought release, the Jubilee brought liberation, restoration, the redemption of possessions lost and the return of the dispossessed to their ancestral home. The Jubilee’s timing was linked to the seventh Shemitah. Thus it could only take place in the year following the Shemitah. The seminal event of end-time prophecy is the return of the Jewish people to their land and the liberation of their ancient city, Jerusalem. But behind this return is the mystery of the Shemitah moving on a prophetic stage and focused on the land of its beginning. There has been no greater manifestation of the Jubilee in modern times than the restoration of the Jewish people to their land. It is the fulfillment, on a massive and prophetic scale, of the Jubilee’s ordinance that every man return to the land of his fathers. Yet the key in the timing of these events is contained in the seven-year mystery of the Shemitah. It involved a world war, the collapse of empires and a British general’s march into the Holy Land. It also would dictate the timing of the Six-Day War and the return of Jewish soldiers after 2,000 years to the Holy City and the Temple Mount in 1967. If the progression continues, there is even a possibility of a major prophetic event happening in the near future. The Shemitah mystery and what lies ahead There is now intense interest swirling around this ancient mystery—for a very simple reason: The next year of the Shemitah is now upon us. So what does the future hold? The book’s subtitle is: “The 3,000 Year Old Mystery That Holds The Secret of America’s Future, The World’s Future ... And Your Future.” The mystery’s precision with regard to the timing of world-changing events has been uncanny. In its last two manifestations, the Shemitah’s Day of Nullification has pinpointed the day of greatest stock-market collapse in American history, twice. This brings up two inescapable realities. The phenomenon of the Shemitah is intensifying. At the same time, America’s moral and spiritual apostasy from God is likewise increasing in intensity, deepening and accelerating. Considering the link between the Shemitah and national judgment, these two phenomena are ominous. The book includes the key dates concerning the ancient mystery with regard to the future—the form, nature and dynamic the mystery assumes, as well as the scenarios in which it manifests. I included this, as I believe we should be ready for what could take place. There are two notes of caution, however: The first is that things do not have to happen as they have in the past. One cannot put prophetic manifestations into a box or onto a regular schedule and expect them to perform on cue. The phenomenon does not have to manifest in every cycle or with the same intensity. It may appear dormant in one cycle and manifest in the next. Nothing has to take place in this current year of the Shemitah. This second is this: The mystery can manifest as it has before. If so, the pattern is generally that it is the end of the Shemitah rather than the beginning that bears the most dramatic repercussions. Either way, God’s people should be prepared. We should also take note that the Hebrew word “shemitah” not only means “the release or the remission,” but also “the shaking, the fall and the collapse.” A great shaking Whether or not it takes place in the parameters of the Shemitah, I believe a great shaking is coming to this nation—and the world. I believe the shaking will involve the financial and economic realm but not be limited to those realms. It may even begin in another realm. I believe it will involve a breakdown of functioning and a time of scarcity as a type of famine in the land. I believe it will strike the pride, power, blessings and glory of this nation. And most importantly, I believe its purposes, beyond that of the judgment of sin, will be to call those who will hear the call back to God. It will even be a wake-up call to God’s people. Are we ready? Jonathan Cahn is the New York Times best-selling author of The Harbinger, president of Hope of the World ministries and senior pastor and messianic rabbi of The Jerusalem Center/Beth Israel in Wayne, New Jersey. |
