“In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.” Genesis 1:1. About 6,000 years ago on earth’s very first day God created time, starting with the
day. He said, “the evening and the morning were the first day”. Genesis 1:5.
For six days God did His work of
creating the heavens and the earth. Then God did something completely different. On the seventh day He stopped creating and
rested. He blessed and sanctified the seventh day of the week and He called it the Sabbath.
“On the seventh day God ended
His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” Genesis 2:2. “The
seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work.” Exodus 20:10.
The rotation of the earth defines
the 24-hour day. But the seven-day week is specified by God’s word alone. The movement of the sun, moon, and earth
do not define the weekly cycle. It exists in the mind and actions of God and His people. Each week the seventh day is set
aside for rest.
Every week follows the pattern of six days for work followed by one day for rest.
Seven-day Clock | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| What you do | Work |
Work | Work |
Work | Work |
Work | Rest |
| Name of day | | | | |
| | Sabbath |
Seven-year Clock
God applied the same pattern to a week of seven years. He told the children of Israel to
plant and to harvest their land for six years and then let the land rest the seventh year. He called the seventh year a sabbath.
It is also called a sabbatical.
“Six years you shall sow your field, and six years
you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for
the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.” Leviticus 25:3,4.
The seven-year
clock did not start at creation. The seven-year clock started in 1416 BC when God brought the children of Israel into the
land of Canaan. (See: When did the children of Israel enter Canaan?).
“Speak to
the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a
sabbath to the LORD.’” Leviticus 25:2.
This seven-year pattern has been repeating for over
3,000 years. Six years of working the land are always followed by one year of letting the land rest. After teachers have
taught for six years in a row they are sometimes offered a one-year sabbatical for rest.
Seven-year Clock | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Activity | Work |
Work | Work |
Work | Work |
Work | Rest |
| Name of the year | |
| | |
| | Sabbath |
Seven-thousand-year Clock
A third time scale for the weekly pattern is 7,000 years. For almost 6,000
years people have been corrupting the earth by their sins. In 2016 the 6,000 years will be completed and people will be
removed from the earth. Then the earth will have a sabbath rest for 1,000 years.
The seven-thousand-year clock started
a few years after creation when Adam and Eve first sinned.
Seven-thousand-year Clock | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Activity | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Work | Rest |
| Name of the 1,000 years | |
| | |
| | Sabbath |
Seven-sabbaticals Clock -- The Jubilee Cycle
Seven sabbaticals brought God’s people to the Jubilee,
which is another one-year sabbath. The Jubilee cycle is a 49-year repeating pattern. It consists of seven sabbatical cycles,
followed by a 50th year called the Jubilee. During the Jubilee year the land rests, debts are cancelled, and land is returned
to its original owner.
“You shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven
times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the
trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet
to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land
to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you.” Leviticus 25:8-11.
Every seventh sabbatical, on the Day
of Atonement, the trumpet announced the start of the Jubilee.
The 50th year Jubilee is also the 1st year of the next Jubilee
cycle. In the following chart:
- The first number in each cell is the number of the
year in the 7-year sabbatical cycle.
- The second number in each cell is the number of the year
in the 49-year Jubilee cycle.
| Jubilee cycle | | |
| | |
|
| 1 - 1, 50
Jubilee sabbath | 2 - 2 | 3 - 3 | 4 - 4 | 5 - 5 | 6 - 6 | 7 sabbath - 7 |
| 1
- 8 | 2 - 9 | 3
- 10 | 4 - 11 | 5
- 12 | 6 - 13 | 7
sabbath - 14 |
| 1 - 15 | 2 - 16 | 3 - 17 | 4 - 18 | 5 - 19 | 6 - 20 | 7 sabbath - 21 |
| 1 - 22 | 2 -
23 | 3 - 24 | 4
- 25 | 5 - 26 | 6
- 27 | 7 sabbath - 28 |
| 1 - 29 | 2 - 30 |
3 - 31 | 4 - 32 |
5 - 33 | 6 - 34 |
7 sabbath - 35 |
| 1 - 36 | 2 - 37 | 3 - 38 | 4 - 39 | 5 - 40 | 6 - 41 | 7 sabbath - 42 |
| 1
- 43 | 2 - 44 | 3
- 45 | 4 - 46 | 5
- 47 | 6 - 48 | 7
sabbath - 49 |
| Jubilee cycle |
| | |
| | |
| 1 - 1, 50 Jubilee sabbath | 2 - 2 | 3 - 3 | 4 - 4 | 5 - 5 | 6 - 6 | 7 sabbath - 7 |
Notice
that every 49-year Jubilee cycle has eight sabbaths in it. The land rests during these eight holy years. They are numbered:
1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49.
The Jubilee clock and the sabbatical clock both began when the children of Israel entered
Canaan in 1416 BC (See: When did the children of Israel enter Canaan?). The 49-year Jubilee cycles have been repeating without
interruption for over 3,000 years. The 70th and last Jubilee will begin in the fall of 2015 and continue until the fall
of 2016.
70
Sabbaths without Rest
The Lord gave Ezekiel a prophecy to enact. Ezekiel lay on his right side for 390 days for the 390
years of iniquity of the children of Israel. Then he lay on his left side for 40 days for the 40 years of the iniquity of
the people of Judah. The total years of iniquity were 430 years. (390 + 40 = 430).
“Lie
also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you
lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of
the days, three hundred and ninety days; so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty
days. I have laid on you a day for each year.” Ezekiel 4:4-6.
For 430 years God’s people
refused to keep the sabbaticals and the Jubilees holy to God. The land was kept from its rest during the 70 sabbath years.
The land
was not allowed to rest for eight complete Jubilee cycles plus part of a ninth. Remember how each 49-year Jubilee cycle contains
eight sabbath years? Here is how the math works:
70 Sabbaths without Rest | Jubilee cycles | Years per cycle |
Total years | Sabbath
years per cycle | Total sabbath years |
| 8 | 49 | 392 | 1,7,14,21,28,35,42,49 | 8 x 8 = 64 |
| part | 38 | 38 | 1,7,14,21,28,35 | 1 x 6 = 6 |
| | | Total: 430 | | Total:
70 |
Notice that the land was without rest 70 sabbath years during the 430 years of iniquity.
Later God allowed the land to rest exactly 70 years while His people were in captivity in Babylon. God’s accounting
system is completely accurate.
70
Years of Captivity
The children of Israel were taken captive to Babylon for 70 years. Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel were
all prophets of God during the 70 years of captivity. They sent warnings to God’s people.
Even though they were warned repeatedly,
the children of Israel did not repent and return to the Lord. They continued to rebel against Him. Finally there was no
remedy and God’s wrath was poured out on His people.
Here is the sad story of what happened:
- God told the children of Israel that if they did not keep the sabbaticals and Jubilees they would be taken out of
their land so the land could enjoy its sabbath rest.
Leviticus 26:27-35. - The children
of Israel neglected the sabbaticals and Jubilees for 430 years. During this time the land missed 70 sabbath years. Ezekiel
4:1-6. (See chart above: 70 Sabbaths without rest).
- The children of Israel were taken into
captivity to Babylon for 70 years.
Jeremiah 25:8-12. - Jerusalem was burned and ruined,
many people were killed, many people were taken captive to Babylon, and God’s beautiful temple was destroyed. Then
the land was allowed to lay desolate for 70 years to enjoy her sabbath rest. 2 Chronicles 36:15-21.
