The Final Countdown: Preparing for What’s Next
(Based up Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Mystery of the Shemitah)
First Things First: 5 Keys to Understanding the Sabbatical Year (1 of 5)
November 2, 2014 CFBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A In ancient times, God warned people & nations of impending judgment before He lowered the boom.
1 He sent warnings (harbingers) by various methods.
a Visions, dreams, audible voices, signs, prophetic utterances, natural events.
b Malachi 3:6 (NASB) 6 "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Hebrews 13:8 (NASB) 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
aa God doesn’t change.
bb Not only can God send a prophetic warning into the modern world, I believe He will send a warning that is consistent with what He did in biblical times.
2 Three years ago I preached a series entitled, “The Final Countdown” that gave secrets to an ancient mystery that unlocked much of what happened in Ancient Israel and Modern America (9/11, Wall Street collapse, Global economy tanking)
c I’m going to give you several things over the next month that points to a coming time of judgement for the nations (and of America.)
aa I’m not putting God in a box . . . He doesn’t have to do anything before judgement, 2015 may come & go and none of what I teach you comes to pass next fall, God is still God and He can do whatever He wants.
bb Nothing has to happen . . . but on the other hand–it could and we should be altogether ready.
B Nine alarms Israel heard in 732 B.C. & we heard after Sept. 11, 2001.
1 The Breach (Lifting/Raising of a national hedge of protection)
a In A.I. it occurred in 732 B.C when Assyria attacked/breached their walls after the nation had refused God.
b In America, it occurred on 9/11 when the enemy breached out protective hedge.
2 The Terrorist (The breach wasn’t just a miliary action, but also an action of terrorism)
a In A.I., the attach was masterminded by the Assyrians - ancient father of all terrorists.
b In America, the attackers where spiritual children of Assyria, used the sister language of the terrorists who attacked A.I.
c The attack of 9/11 even put U.S. soldiers on the soil of Ancient Assyria, modern day Iraq.
d After the attacks, there was a vow of defiance.
aa Isaiah 9:10 (NASB) 10 "The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with cedars."
(You will not humble us; We will not repent)
bb We’ll rebuild, replant - The vow becomes the key to the 9 alarms.
cc In place of repentance was pride; humility was arrogance.
3 Fallen Brick “The bricks have fallen down.”
a A.I. the alarm looked like the run heaps of the buildings the Assyrians destroyed.
b America, the World Trade Center & the ruin heaps that stood in their place.
4 The Tower “But we will rebuild...”
a A.I. will rebuild stronger, bigger, and better than before.
b America, we have seen the rebuilding of the One World Trade Center aka Freedom Tower.
5 The Gazit Stone “... we will rebuild with hewn stone.”
a After the attack in 732 B.C., Israel carves out a huge rectangular stone from a mountain & put it as a foundation in their new, bigger, better, stronger building.
b July 4, 2004, A stone from the mountains in NY is brought to NY city & lowered into the floor of ground zero at a ceremony where our leaders made vows of defiance.
6 The Sycamore “The sycamores have been cut down...”
a The sycamore is a sign of national judgement, in 732 BC the Assyrians took down the trees during their attack in Ancient Israel.
b When the WTC fell, a tree that had stood about 100years from the site was struck down... a sycamore.
7 The Erez Tree “But we will plant cedars in their place.”
a The English cedar stands for Hebrew erez tree. (Conifer, evergreen) which A.I. planted in the place of the sycamores.
b Two years after the Sycamore fell at Ground Zero, another tress was planted in it’s place, in the same soil... Hebrews erez tree.
8 The Utterance (9.10)
a In A.I this utterance was spoken by a national leader over the nation - only a national leader speaks for and sets a course for a nation.
b Senator John Edwards at Congressional Caucus. (9/11/04)
9 The Prophecy: Spoken into the atmosphere put the nations of A.I. and American on a course to judgement.
a 09/12/01 Senate/Congress @ Capitol Hill
b “I know that there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation, but there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that I think speaks to all of us at times like this. ‘The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; The fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.’That is what we will do. We will rebuild and we will recover.” – Tom Daschle
C Having set the prophetic context, we will not begin to unlock the ancient mystery that has set the course of modern history/events in America.
1 This mystery has not only set the course, but also the timing of those events - The mystery of the Shemitah.
2 Today, I’m going to help you understand the mystery of the Shemitah by assembling 5 keys.
I First key to the Shemitah: The Seventh Year.
A In Judaism, every seventh day is a special, uniquely observed, dedicated & consecrated day unto the Lord. - Lord’s Day - Sabbath (Different than the six days prior/after)
1 Leviticus 25:1-4 (NASB) 1 The LORD then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD. 3 ~'Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, 4 but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
This tells us there is also a sabbatical year (at the end of 6 years cycle) that was different than the others.
a This special sabbatical year is called the SHEMITAH.
aa Shemitah often translated as “the release” or “the remission” is a time when the land is released and there is nullification of debt/credit, ordained by God on a national scale.
bb For that year there was NO sowing, reaping, plowing, harvesting, selling/buying fruits of the land.
cc During this Sabbath year, the people of Israel were to leave their fiel ds, vineyards, and groves open for the poor.
Exodus 23:10-11 (NASB) 10 "You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11 but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
b The first day of the seventh year, the land was released; on the last day of that year, the financial debt was cleared, people’s credit was released & credit canceled, nations accounts wiped clean.
aa Credit/debt were erased “at the end of every seven years.” All credit was nullified.
Deuteronomy 15:1-2 (NASB) 1 "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 "This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD'S remission has been proclaimed.
bb The last day of the Hebrew years falls on 29 Elvl... more specifically the sunset on Elvl 29.
2 The whole year leads to that moment & manifests in the economic/financial realm. (Ie. 12AM/12-31)
B The Shemitah was meant to be a blessing yet Israel’s disobedience to God turned it into a judgement.
1 The Shemitah was given to...
a Bear witness that everything belongs to God. (Econ, Land, Possessions)
b People weren’t possessed by their possessions.
c God is the source of all blessing.
2 It shares the attributes of a Sabbath day.
a Rest & let rest; release & be released.
b It’s the appointment time for rest, refreshing, & revival.
c Sign of covenant; Everything they had was hinged on covenant & their relationship with God.
T.S. How could something intended to be a blessing turn into judgment?
II Second Key: 586 BC & the Judgment Sign
A In 586 BC, Jerusalem/Kingdom of Judah lay desolate, razed, people exiled to Babylon, Temple destroyed.
1 God sent a prophet (Jeremiah) with a word of revelation concerning exactly how long the nation would be down. 70 Years.
Jeremiah 25:4-11 (NASB) 4 "And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, 5 saying, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; 6 and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.' 7 "Yet you have not listened to Me," declares the LORD, "in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm. 8 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' declares the LORD, 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 ~'Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 ~'This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
a 2 Chronicles 36:15-21 (NASB) 15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy. 17 Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. 18 All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 20 Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.
This gives us more revelations as to “why?”
aa The land will get it’s rest, sabbath, Shemitah.
bb The Shemitah is the key to the timing of the Lord’s judgment.
Leviticus 26:31-35 (NASB) 31 ~'I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 32 ~'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. 33 ~'You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34 'Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 ~'All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it.
b If keeping the Sabbatical year showed trust, failing to keep it showed distrust, breaking covenant & rejecting the sovereignty of God.
aa Israel’s rejecting of the Shemitah set in motion a series of judgments, consequences, repercussions.
bb When a nation blessed by God rejects, removes, rewrites His law... Nothing is holy (or un holy) Anything goes.
2 Judgment for Israel started when they rejected Shemitah & climaxed with the offering their sons/daughters on the altars of Baal & Molech.
B What was order at Sinai (Sabbath year) was fulfilled in 586 BC.
Leviticus 26:34-35 (NASB) 34 'Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 ~'All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it.
1 The invasion of Israel in 586 BC was a pivotal even in biblical & Jewish history.
a The Temple was destroyed, Prophecy fulfilled.
b The fall would trigger...
aa Diaspora (Scattering of the Jews, stage set for what would be called Judaism)
bb And the coming of a Jewish Rabbi, Yeshua.
2 Shemitah has already affected the entire planet!
T.S. The Shemitah is behind one of the most pivotal events in history... it is still in effect.
III Third Key: The Prophetic Manifestation.
A What would the Shemitah look like/accomplish if it was operating today?
1 What would it look like if...
a Nobody worked, planted, produced for 12 months?
b Rock our economical/financial realms.
c Labor, employment, consumption & trade, lay-offs, warehouses full.
2 Elvl 29 (Day of nullification) Debt is released.
a Corporation/factories shut their doors.
b Billions wiped out in minutes.
c It would be like an economic collapse. (Recession/depression)
B It’s the effect of the Shemitah that needs noted.
1 Whether Shemitah was observed voluntarily or was forced by an invading military actions.. The efforts were not different.
a The Shemitah inputs a nation’s material blessings, prosperity, sustenance.
b If it operated today, we’d expect it to manifest economically.
c Would translate to an economical/financial collapse.
2 The Shemitah would have economic, prophetic, global, manifestations.
a Transfer of power, wealth, AND
aa Affect our culture, military, natural realms.
bb Wipe out not just finances - but also wiping out buildings, towers, walls, cities.
b It’s humbling - sent the people back to God.
T.S. In ancient times, Sabbatical year was for the nation of Israel & the land of Israel... if it operated in the modern world, in what stage world would it operate? Where would it play out?
IV Fourth Key: The Secret Israel
A Shemitah (in it’s original context) is commanded & conntected to Israel, but the prophetic sign (warning/judgment) is to the nation(s) whose Lord is the One true God.
1 There what only been two civilizations in history who were establish, dedicated, & consecrated to the will, word, purposes, and the glory of God from the moment of their conception: Israel & US.
a The US was consciously, intentionally, & specifically founded & formed after the pattern of ancient Israel.
aa Our puritan laws are based upon the Torah.
bb Thanksgiving was formed after the feast of tabernacles/Sukkot.
cc Seals of Yale, Columbia University, Dartmouth University.
b America & Israel have a deep spiritual connection - Ancient Israel’s DNA is at the heart of our nation.
aa No nation was formed like Israel was, dedicated to God, seen His hand/blessing/favor, covenant. (They got carnal, rebellious & brought judgment)
bb America’s foundation was prophesied by this nation’s founders (Puritans) but we’ve put our light out, answered God.
2 Ancient Israel & modern America have a similar pattern: Not only turned away from God - but actually turned against Him.
B Just as the judgment of 586BC not only changed Israel (& history, borders) when judgment hits America, it affects the world.
V Fifth Key: The Tishri Connection
A Tishri is the holiest month of the Jewish calendar. (Sept/Oct) Rosh Hashanah, Days of Awe, Yom Kippur, Sukkot (SI #1)
1 Ancient Rabbis saw Tishri as a time to celebrate God’s Kingship & also as a month of judgment, reckoning. (Day of Atonement)
a Tishri & Shemitah share a connection.
aa Both speak of God’s sovereignty, judgment, call the nation back.
bb Both are linked to release, cancellation, nullification.
b Shemitah is the 7th year, Tishri is the 7th month.
aa Israel has both a sacred & civil calendar.
bb The sacred calendar begins in the spring (Nisan) & Tishri is the seventh month.
cc The civil calendar has Tishri as the first month.
2 (SI #2) The Shemitah is based upon the CIVIL calendar - thus the Shemitah starts in Tishri (fall)... specifically on Tishri 1 (Trumpets)
a The last day of Shemitah was the last day of the last month of that year. (Elvl 29) ie. December 31
b The Shemitah years ends the moment Tishri begins.
B Shemitah has 2 dates of great significance: The first day & the last day.
1 On the last day of Sabbatical/Shemitah year, at sunset all debt/credits are wiped away.
a Elvl builds up to the Shemitah’s beginning & closing.
aa (SI#3) The beginning of Shemitah is quiet. (No work, no crops that need tending) - at the beginning it’s barely noticeable.
bb Economic terms; beginning of a downturn int he nations economy that gets worse as the year progresses.
b (SI#4) On the last day of Shemitah year the nation’s debt/credit vanishes, marking the end of the Shemitah year.
aa (SI#5) The effects of Elvl 29 would have repercussions for months. (Heshran)
bb What it looks like is a collapse in the financial realm - as in a stock market crash.
c The effect isn’t only financial. (Borders, institutions, land, military, government, banks, labor, etc.)
Conclusion
A I’m leaving you with the 5 keys of the Shemitah.
1 These five keys are...
a The Seventh Year (Shemitah)
b 568 BC & The Judgment Sign
c Prophetic Manifestation
d The Secret Israel
e Tishri Connection
2 You need to understand/know these keys to really get this fresh revelation.
B Financial analysts have been mystified at a specific phenomenon - the greatest collapses in stock market history occur in the fall. (Sept/Oct) The Hebrew month of Tishri.
1 The five greatest wall street crashes in history occur 99% on (or near) Elvl 29 on a Shemitah/Sabbatical year.
a When did the last Shemitah begin? Sept. 24th on the Blood Moon.
b End? Sunday on Sept. 13th next year. (Also a Blood Moon)
2 Joel 2:31 (NASB) 31 "The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
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