A Future Jubilee

Next Part .Conclusion.

We have considered 5 great jubilees that occurred in Bible times. The following table shows these jubilees with their equivalent number of Bible years from Adam. I have added one further jubilee which we will now consider.

Event	Jubilee	Years
Birth of Abraham	40th	2000
Exodus	50th	2500
Dedication of Solomon’s temple	60th	3000
Decree to Rebuild Jerusalem	70th	3500
Death and Resurrection of Jesus	80th	4000
Consummation	120th	6000

Are these 5 great jubilees that took place in Bible times the end of the story, or are there more jubilees to come?

The first 4 of these jubilees all pointed forward to the fifth jubilee which was the death and resurrection of Jesus. Each of the first 4 jubilees was an event in the natural order concerning the people of Israel, the natural people of God. They were shadows and types of what was to come. The resurrection of Jesus and the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was their first fruit fulfilment. But even these great events of the new testament were not their complete and final fulfilment.

Jesus was the first fruit from the dead, and his resurrection pointed forward to a great harvest yet to come. So then just as the first 4 great jubilees of the past all point to the even greater fifth jubilee, so also the first 5 great jubilees of the past all point to the still greater sixth jubilee to come. What is there in scripture that indicates that this is so? We will call 4 witnesses.

Paul looked forward to an event, which in Romans 8 he described as the manifestation of the sons of God. He wrote, ‘The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the sons of God.’ When we look more closely at the context of these words, we find an exact parallel with the Exodus from Egypt. His words are filled with the language of jubilee. Rom 8: 18-23 reads as follows:

‘I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.’

The children of Israel groaned in their sufferings for more than 80 years in Egypt. They were crying out for deliverance and freedom. God was preparing Moses to be their deliverer. Moses was, I believe, the prototype of the manifested sons of God. For 40 years God had been setting him free from all that belonged to Egypt. After that preparation at last he was ready, in the mighty power of God, to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and into their promised inheritance. (See Moses and the Path of Sonship. http://www.growthingod.org.uk/moses.htm) Now I believe God has sons, like Moses, in the wilderness whom he is preparing for the deliverance of the whole creation. This time it will not just be one man delivering one people from a physical slavery. It will be a multitude of sons delivering a multitude of peoples from spiritual slavery.

2. Jesus said: "I will come again".

Many Christians all over the world have been taught to expect a literal fulfilment of these words. They expect Jesus to return physically in person and set up his kingdom on this earth. Further examination of the scriptures can lead to a very different view. Jesus is coming again in his people, just as he did at Pentecost. He will come with the clouds, and every eye will see him; but those clouds will not be clouds of physical water.

Rather they will be a great cloud of witnesses who have been spiritually drawn up from the earth to reign with him in heavenly places. Every eye will see him when he is manifested in the many sons whom he is bringing to maturity. I have written separately on this also under the title The Coming of the Lord http://www.growthingod.org.uk/parousia.htm

3. The Festival of Tabernacles.

As stated earlier, the Hebrew religious calendar had 3 great festivals, namely Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. These festivals have deep prophetic meaning. They speak of 3 stages of spiritual experience in the lives of the people of God, both as individuals and as a whole.

The church as a whole has experienced Passover and Pentecost and many individuals have celebrated these festivals in their personal lives. However the Festival of Tabernacles remains largely unfulfilled.

The Festival of Tabernacles was the climax of Israel’s religious calendar. Unlike the one day festival of Pentecost its celebration lasted a full 7 days. It was the final harvest festival of the year when all the crops were gathered. It was the festival of fullness and perfection.

This festival remains to be fulfilled and I believe it corresponds to the great sixth jubilee. For more on this read The Festivals of Israel http://www.growthingod.org.uk/festival.htm

4. The Sabbath.

The writer to the Hebrews wrote: ‘There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God’ (Heb 4: 9). He looked forward to a time that was yet to come. According to Peter, ‘With the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as a day’ (2 Peter 3: 8). 6000 years from Adam ended on the same day in 1933 that was also the 120th jubilee. The seventh millennium began.

When will this Jubilee Come?

When will this great jubilee come?

The normal Bible year is a lunar year of 354 days. Measuring on 1960 lunar years (counting as 2000 as I said earlier) from the death of Jesus we come to June 12th 1933. This date, as mentioned above, was the 120th jubilee or 6000 years from Adam. 3 other major Bible time periods ended on the same day, making this a very special day. It was, I believe, the official start date of the sixth great jubilee.

God marked this occasion in a remarkable way, as I have described in my writing on Bible Chronology http://www.growthingod.org.uk/chrono.htm. What happened then, however, was not an immediate and visible fulfilment of the manifestation that Paul spoke of in Romans. However I believe it was the official starting date.

The children of Israel came out of Egypt as I have described exactly on the 50th jubilee from Adam. However there was a lapse of 40 years before they set foot in the promised land.

Cyrus’s decree to rebuild Jerusalem fell exactly on the 60th jubilee, but again it took time for the exiles to leave Babylon and return to the Israel and rebuild Jerusalem.

At the 70th jubilee there were 50 days between the resurrection of Jesus and the great manifestation on the day of Pentecost.

So now I believe the trumpet of jubilee has sounded and we are waiting to see its great and glorious manifestation.