Smoodock's Blog

Gentiles believe time is cyclical. In our modern understanding, many experts conclude that time is like a string going round and round, and it is possible to leap off the sting of time one is on and go forward or backward in time as one lands on a different part of that circular string of time. Hindus believe one’s lives are repeated over and over, through what they call reincarnation. Depending upon one’s karma, one’s deeds (good or bad), one’s future lives could be better or worse than the previous life. Ancient stoics believed in cycles of time, wherein one universe was created and destroyed in one cycle and reborn and destroyed again in the next cycle of time with the number of cycles being infinite.

On the other hand, Jews believed time is linear. That is, it is like a string in a straight line, which has a beginning, a middle and an end. We see this pictured in the beginning pages of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. It took the Lord seven days to create the heavens and the earth, but he didn’t stop there, by resting, he created the seventh day, called a Sabbath, and he sanctified it, vis-à-vis he separated it from other days by resting from his labor, making the 7^th day holy. So, time, at least portions of time, is considered ‘holy’ by both ancient and modern Jews. Time is made up of weeks composed of seven days each, with each 7^th day a Sabbath. This keeps repeating until a year is fulfilled, and every seventh year is a sabbath year, wherein the land is permitted to rest, vis-à-vis it isn’t plowed or harvested. Folks live off what grows without cultivation (Exodus 23:11). Moreover, any Hebrew, who had to sell himself as a servant to pay his debts, was to be set free during the 7^th year (Exodus 21:2), and certain debts were forgiven during the 7^th year (Deuteronomy 15:7-10).

Additionally, the word of God speaks of seven cycles of seven years, calling it a jubilee.[1] In this year all family lands which had been sold to repay debts were returned to the original families who owned them (Leviticus 25:10). The jubilee is holy time and the land shall rest (Leviticus 25:11-12). Both the Hebrew servant and the foreign servant shall be set free in the year of jubilee (Leviticus 25:39-41).

Finally, Daniel spoke of seventy sevens or 490 years, vis-à-vis ten jubilees (Daniel 9:24), wherein the 70^th week was the week of the coming of the Anointed One, or the Messiah (Daniel 9:25-26). It was the time when the New Covenant would be made (Daniel 9:27; Jeremiah 31:31). The whole seven years was set apart and made holy to the Lord.[2] It was the time when Michael (vis-à-vis the Angel of the Lord) would stand up for his people. It would be a time of trouble like no other for the nation of Israel, a time in which the people would be delivered, meaning those written in the Book of Life (Daniel 12:1).

It would be the time when resurrection would begin (Daniel 12:2), and a time when the Lord’s servants would shine as lights to the world (Daniel 12:3), but it would also be the time of the end, vis-à-vis the time of judgment both for good and for evil. It would be the time that Jacob spoke of, vis-à-vis the last days, when he lay on his deathbed (Genesis 49:1), and the time of which Moses spoke, vis-à-vis the latter days (Deuteronomy 31:29), when the people will be like Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 32:32), ready to be judged. However, if the people repent, and obey the Lord, he would be merciful (Deuteronomy 4:30).

As the 70^th seven began, Jesus came preaching that “the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent…” In other words, the time of the return of God to his people (Malachi 3:1; Daniel 9:25-26; 12:1) has finally come; “…believe the Good News” (Mark 1:15).

Thus, Holy Time: the Sabbath day was repeated in an increasing sense of holiness, a crescendo of sevens, if you will: seven days, seven years, seven times seven years, and seventy times seven years, all holy to the Lord and set apart from other days and years, wherein, not only the space for God exists, but also the time for God’s purpose takes form. As Jesus came to Nazareth to announce the year of jubilee had come, the time when all the sevens came together in him to show the Lord had finally come to his people to deliver them, to enact the final Exodus, and lead his people out of the bondage of sin, cancelling their debts, and setting them free, free to rest from all their labors and free to walk with their God.

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[1] The jubilee is actually the 50^th year, but the 50^th year is also the first year of the next set of seven years counting toward the next jubilee.

[2] Consider Daniel 12:7 and 12:11 (1260 days plus 1290 days) make up the 70^th week in Daniel’s prophecy.