A seldom recognized theological truth can be found in the 25th Chapter of the Book of Leviticus, where God had ordered the Hebrew people to measure time in multiples of 7. Hebrew time was to be measured thusly in:
- Weeks-There were to be 6 days of work followed by a day of rest, making each week to be comprised of 7 days.
- Sabbatical Cycles of Years- God also ordained that there would be weeks of years, or “sabbatical year cycles”. In these groupings of years, in the 7th year, the land was to be given a complete year of rest, and there was to be no sowing or reaping done by the people. In addition to this, there was also to be a
- Jubilee Cycle of Years- Whereby after 7 sets of sabbatical year cycles, there would be an additional year in which there was to be yet another year of rest for the land. In addition to this extra year of rest for the land, all properties within the land in the jubilee year were to be restored to the families of the original owners of the land, all debts were to be forgiven, and all prisoners and slaves in the land were to be set free. The “jubilee year” was to be not only the 50th year of the 7 weeks of 7 years cycle, but also the 1st year of the next Jubilee Cycle, making the Jubilee Cycle to last not 50 years, but 49 years.
When Gabriel gave Daniel his vision for the future of 70 sets of 7 years in the 9th Chapter of the Book of Daniel, it would have triggered the Hebrew mindset of “sabbatical years”, which would then also contain “jubilee year” implications, thereby creating both a “micro” and a potential “macro” timetable(s). We know that the 70 sets of sabbatical years started with the decree by Artaxerxes II in 457 B.C. to restore Jerusalem, with the presentation of the Messiah after 69 sets of sabbatical years which occurred in 27 A.D. at the time of Jesus’ baptism (Mark 1:15). After the Messiah was cut off, there was to be a gap of time before the beginning of the conclusion of Daniel’s 70th week of years, commonly referred to as the 7-year Tribulation Period (Daniel 9:24-27). This will then be followed by the setting up of the Messiah’s Millennial Kingdom at the conclusion of Daniel’s 70th week of sabbatical years (Daniel 9:24).
When we consider the “macro” or Jubilee Cycle of Years, we need to determine just when the Jubilee Cycles were initiated for the Hebrew people to calculate the time frame of the 70 sets of Jubilee Cycles. We know from Scripture that the Jubilee Cycles were tied to the sowing and the reaping of the land (Leviticus 25:11). In order to determine just when the Hebrew people began to “sow and reap” the Land of Israel, we need to first establish the dates associated with their Exodus from Egypt. Fortunately, Scripture shines a bright light on this matter, as we are told in I Kings 6:1 that Solomon began to build the Lord’s Temple in the 480th year after the children of Abraham left Egypt.
Thankfully, we know as an established historical date that Solomon’s 4th year as King of Israel was 967 B.C. When we go back 480 years, we see that the Hebrew people would have left Egypt in the year 1446 B.C. When we subtract the 40 years that the people wandered in the Wilderness, we find that the Nation of Israel did not arrive at the land until the year 1406 B.C. It is then that they crossed the Jordan River. But entering the land is not the same as possessing the land, for they still had to drive out the inhabitants of the land. The question then arises, “How long did this fighting for control of the land last?” The answer to this timeline question can be found in the life of Caleb.
Caleb was one of the 2 spies who had brought back a positive report when the Nation of Israel had first examined the Promised Land and had come under God’s discipline of the Wilderness wanderings for lacking the faith to enter into the land. We are told that at the start of the Wilderness wanderings, Caleb was 40 years of age (Joshua 14:7). Because he had “wholly followed the LORD God of Israel”, he was given the Land of Hebron as his inheritance at the time that Israel had fully conquered the land (Joshua 14:14). We are told that Caleb was 85 years old when he had received this inheritance (Joshua 14:10), therefore we can conclude that the fighting for the possession of the land had taken 5 years. This would make 1401 B.C. the year that Israel would begin the “sowing and reaping” of the land and would thereby at this time, initiate the 49-year Jubilee Cycles.
When we multiply the Jubilee Cycles of 49 years times Daniel’s “determined” 70 cycles of years, we come to a total of 3430 years (70 X 49 = 3430). When we remember that there is no “0” year bridging the B.C. and A.D. calendars, and subtract 3430 years from 1401 B.C., incredibly, we once again arrive at the year 2030 A.D. as being the end of both Israel’s 70th Jubilee Cycle in addition to the conclusion of man’s 6,000 years of self-rule!!!
This would therefore potentially make the year 2031 A.D. the Year of Jubilee, a year in which the Jewish people would once again fully possess the land of their inheritance, and the time of new beginnings and freedom for all at the start of the Messiah’s 1,000 Year Millennial Reign.
Here we again have yet another Scriptural indication as to the potential prophetic significance of the year 2030 A.D. in the outworking of God’s Historical Plan for mankind. As Paul proclaimed so magnificently in Romans 11:33:
“Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
