Hi Doves,
I wanted to give credence to 2015-16
being a jubilee year which may help in pinpointing the second coming of Christ.
The Hebrew calendar is different from our
own calendar in that their civil year begins sometime in September-October, vs.
our civil year beginning January 1st. So Hebrew years will always begin sometime
around Sept./Oct. through Sept./ Oct. of the next year. Can we use this in
helping to determine the next Jubilee year???
Well, the last Jubilee year occured from
Sept. 24, 1966 to Oct. 13, 1967 (these dates are from atonement/yom kippur 1966
to atonement/yom kippur 1967). This entire span of time from Sept. 24, 1966 to
Oct. 13, 1967 of the following year was the Jubilee year. And it
was WITHIN this period of time (Jubilee) that Israel recaptured
Jerusalem on June 7, 1967. So looking to the next Jubilee we count 49
years of 365.25 days, from Sept. 24, 1966 and literally end up at Sept.
22, 2015...with the next day September 23, 2015 being the START
of that extra 50th Jubilee year, which would run through to Oct. 12, 2016.
Perhaps this is why Rabbi's in Israel celebrated the last Shmita (Sabbath) year
from Sept 22, 2007 to Oct 8, 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmita,
because the next Shmita year ocurrs 7 yrs later from Oct. 4, 2014 to Sept. 22,
2015, the next day being Jubilee from Sept. 23, 2015 to Oct. 11,
2016.
The 7th day is a sabbath rest day, the
7th year (Shmita) is a sabbath rest year, and the 7th Shmita is the 49th year,
with the next 50th year being Jubilee...then the cycle starts all
over.
But I think some ambiguity ocurrs when
we dont consider that a Hebrew year intersects 2 of our years. And so if you
bust out a calculator and add 49 yrs to 1967 you get 2016, or add 50 yrs to 1967
you get 2017. But the last Jubilee didn't start in '67, it began in '66 and ran
through to '67 (Sep. 24, 1966 to Oct. 13, 1967). Consider, If the Jubilee didn't
begin until Atonement of '67 (Oct 14, 1967), then Israel would have captured
Jerusalem before Jubilee even began, which would be outside the laws of
Jubilee...since all land is recaptured, debts cancelled, slaves set
free WITHIN the year of Jubilee. But instead, if you add 49 yrs
to Sept. 24,1966 you come to Sept. 22, 2015, with the very next day of Sept. 23,
2015 being the first day of that 50th year...Jubilee.
Israel capturing Jerusalem did not start
the Jubilee, Jerusalem was recaptured by Israel WITHIN the year
of Jubilee which had already begun 8 month earlier on the Feast of Atonement/Yom
Kippur.
This ultimately reinforces Daniel 9:25
and the 7 weeks (49 years). Because if you take 49 Hebrew years (17460 days)
from Israel capturing Jerusalem on June 7, 1967...you ALSO end
up at September 23, 2015 which is the Feast of Atonement/Yom Kippur, and next
Jubilee. Here are the past Shmita years which have been observed by rabbis since
Israel became a nation:
1916-17 (this was 7th Shmita/49th year,
following year 1917-18 is Jubilee) General Allanby captures Jerusalem from Turks
Dec 1918.
1923-24
1930-31
1937-38
1944-45
*1951-52
*1958-59
*1965-66 (this was 7th Shmita/49th
year, following year 1966-67 is Jubilee) Israel captures Jerusalem in 6 day
war.
*1972-73
*1979-80
*1986-87
*1993-94
*2000-01
*2007-08
*2014-15 (this will be 7th Shmita/49th
year, following year 2015-16 is Jubilee) Christ
returns??
Jubilee years can be confusing b/c the
bible doesn't specify whether they ocurr within the 7 year cycle. For instance
the 50th year is Jubilee, but it is also the 1st year of the next 7 year cycle.
There's division over this question among scholars. However, if the Rabbi's say
the next shmita year is from 2014-15, then 2015-16 would be the next
Jubilee.
And if anyone is interested in how you
can determine the hebrew feast days visit http://www.hebcal.com/converter/. or
just type in "hebrew date converter" to google or bing.
-passover (aka pesach) is always Nisan
14
-unleavened bread is Nisan
15
-first fruits is Nisan
17
-pentecost (aka shavuot) is Sivan
7
-trumpets (aka rosh hashanah) is Tishrei
1
-Atonement (aka yom kippur) is Tishrei
10...Shmita years (every 7th year) and Jubilee (every 7th Shmita plus 1 yr for
50 years) are always announced on this date, which ocurrs around
sept/oct.
-tabernacles (aka sukkot) is Tishrei
15-21
You can type in these dates and it will
convert them into our Gregorian dates ie. January 4th. Also, if you'd like to
count the amount of days inbetween dates, go to http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html,
or just type in "date counter" to google or bing.
Stefen Lopez