We showed in our last issue the 50-Jubilee cycle from the building of Jerusalem's wall in Nehemiah's day (445 B.C.) to the year 2006 A.D. We saw the importance of this time period after the first 10 Jubilees (490 years), for it concluded with the commissioning of the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey (Acts 13).
It was also 50 Jubilees (2,450 years) from Adam to the day the 12 spies gave their report in Numbers 13 and 14. In other words, it took a Jubilee of Jubilees for God to bring Israel to the place where they could return to their inheritance--which is the stated purpose of a Jubilee. It now appears that Daniel's 70 weeks (490 years) began a time count toward a 50-Jubilee climax, as well as a 10-Jubilee climax recorded in the New Testament.
The first of the 50 Jubilee cycles extended from 458 B.C. to 1993 A.D. It began with the Edict of Artaxerxes and concluded with the end of the Pentecostal Church Age in 1993.
The second of the 50 Jubilee cycles extend from 445 B.C. to 2006 A.D. It began with the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem and will end in 2006.
The 13-year difference between these two cycles seem to provide us with a transition from the dominance of the Pentecostal anointing to that of the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Transition: 1993-2006 A.D.
The transition has been divided into two 7-year periods, in which the 7th year overlaps with the first year of the second 7-year period. The year 2000 is that overlap year. It began with the Feast of Trumpets (Sept. 11, 1999), which is the Hebrew New Year, and ends Sept. 29, 2000.
In our way of applying biblical symbolism, we often say that King Saul died May 30, 1993. This was Pentecost and the 40th Jubilee of the Church since Acts 2. King Saul was a Pentecostal, crowned on the same feast day 1,082 years earlier. Because Saul reigned 40 years, we believe his reign was prophetic of the reign of Pentecost for a period of 40 Jubilees. Hence, "Saul" died in 1993.
The transition of authority from Saul to David took 7 years and 6 months to accomplish (2 Sam. 5:5, 6). From this, we believe that the same length of transition could extend from May 30, 1993 to November 30, 2000. We believe we have the Word of the Lord on this, because we have seen many signs accompanying the Word in the past seven years.
Even so, because the year 2006 concludes the end of the Temple cycle and the 40-Jubilee cycle of the Apostle Paul's commissioning, we understand that the Feast of Tabernacles will not be fulfilled in 2000 A.D.
The 7-Year Tabernacles Fulfillment: 1999-2006
This revelation dates only back to last March. It is new, and so still requires some time to monitor. Things should clarify after we have been able to complete the first full year of this cycle the end of September 2000 A.D. We believe that we have entered into a 7-year fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, ending at the Feast of Trumpets in 2006.
The 8th day of the feast--in this way of looking at it--would begin, then, in the autumn of 2006. This makes the autumn of 2006 a major watch date for the fulfillment of the outpouring of the Spirit prophesied in John 7:37-39.
However, we must still also consider the fact that Jesus came to the temple in the MIDDLE of the feast of Taber-nacles (John 7:14). He arrived "late" after sending his disciples ahead of Him (John 7:8). Likewise, in John 6:19 Jesus sent the disciples ahead of him across the sea of Galilee, and then came to them in the middle of the lake, walking on the water. (A more complete teaching on this story is on our tape: "When Jesus Kept Tabernacles.")
When Jesus came to the disciples in the storm-tossed boat in the middle of the sea of Galilee, Peter went out to meet Him and to escort Him back to the boat. As soon as they both got into the boat, the storm ceased and they were immediately transported miraculously to Capernaum. This name, Kippur-Nahum, literally means the "covering of the Comforter."
We know that this is a prophetic story that has to do with the pattern of Christ's coming. It should be overlaid upon the story of Tabernacles in John 7, where Jesus came in the midst of the feast.
This strongly suggests that we are to watch the middle of this coming 7-year period--say, perhaps, the year 2002-2003. No doubt the events that occur during that year will teach us much about how the 7-day feast of Tabernacles will actually be fulfilled. Meanwhile, we are merely giving you watch dates, so that you will be able to watch and pray in a more informed manner. We are not making any claims as to the time of Christ's coming.
The Seven Vials (Bowls) of Tabernacles
The book of Revelation is literally entitled, The Unveiling of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:1). The flow of the book speaks of 7 Seals. In the 7th Seal we find 7 Trumpets. In the 7th Trumpet we see 7 Vials, or Bowls, of wine being poured out.
This sequence of events is portrayed in the Hebrew calendar in each rest-year cycle of 7 years, which is like the 7 Seals.
In the 7th year (seal) are 7 months in the original feast days given in the law. These are the 7 trumpets in the 7th year. They used to blow the trumpet at the beginning of each month in ancient times.
The 7th Trumpet was the 7th month on the Hebrew calendar. In this 7th month was the Feast of Tabernacles. For 7 days the priest offered 70 bulls in sacrifice (Num. 29:7-32) on behalf of the 70 nations of the world. He also poured out a drink offering, which is the 7 bowls, or vials, of new wine.
For some years we have taught that the 7 vials (bowls) in Revelation 16 are a fulfillment of the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. These bowls of wine have both a positive and a negative impact upon the world. The positive side of it is the "new wine" (teaching) that will be done, which will bring restoration to the earth and set creation free by means of the Jubilee. The negative side of this, of course, is the fact that this will only be accomplished by means of judgments and corrections.
Most of the Evangelical and Pentecostal world has over-focused upon the negative side of judgment, without seeing also its positive side. The fact that Jesus arrived at the boat in John 6 in the middle of a storm indicates some sort of tribulation period. However, most have failed to see the positive side of this. The NEW WINE is about to be poured out as well. The earth is about to be covered with the blood of Jesus Christ, who represents the 70 bulls sacrificed at Tabernacles.
The Church will not be removed from the earth during this time. Rather, they will remain here to receive their portion of judgment and correction for refusing to hear the Word of the Lord and the Gospel of the Kingdom. The overcomers will also remain here, but they will find a new empowerment to teach and preach the Word during this time.
Those who doubt that we will remain on the earth should read the story of Jesus walking on the water to the disciples. It is found in John 6:16-24. Compare this with Matthew 14:24-34. You will see that when Peter went out to meet Him, Jesus did not whisk Peter away to the place from whence He had come. Instead, Peter escorted Jesus to the boat where the disciples were. The so-called "rapture," or harpazo was the time-travel that occurred when Jesus got into the boat. They were immediately transported to the land where they were going--Capernaum.
This prophesies of a time when we will receive the ability to move without limitation in both the physical and the spiritual world, even as Jesus after His resurrection. Like Christ, the overcomers will have authority in both heaven and in earth. They will be the new priesthood of the Zadok order (i.e., Melchisedec) prophesied in Ezekiel 44:15-19. They will be able to "change garments" at will in order to minister to men on earth in their woolens, or minister to the Father in heaven in their linens.
Grapes From God's Vineyard
Most of the year 2000 is the time of the growing of the grapes for the new wine offering at Tabernacles of 2000. The grapes are now growing and ripening for the first bowl of new wine to be poured out. We believe that the Father has given us the revelation that we are to speak such a word, or decree, during the Feast of Tabernacles this year. Precise details are yet unknown, but we know that God will show us what to do when we need to know. We seldom know such details this far ahead of time.
As we have shown in Part One of this series (June issue), we were led to plant a seed for this vineyard in September of 1996. By the law of fruit-bearing trees found in Leviticus 19:23-25, the fourth-year harvest was to be dedicated fully to God. We are now in the fourth year, but the harvest of these "grapes" has not yet taken place. We expect to see the signs of ripened grapes by October.
The Mark of the Beast
In Revelation 16:1 and 2 we read,
1 And I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels," Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth." 2 And the first angel went and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.
This first bowl is directed against those who have the mark of the beast and who worship his image. These are those who worship money and material things as their god. It is essentially the same as the golden calf that Israel tended to worship in Moses' day (Ex. 32:4) and in the days of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28).
The mark of the beast is not a tattoo or a computer chip, nor is it the Social Security card, or MasterCard. It is the love of money, which is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10). It is a heart problem, not a computer problem. All of the external conveniences of the world's money system are mere symptoms and manifestations of the real mark of the beast. In Revelation 13:16, 17 we read of this same mark:
16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
This says that you cannot buy or sell, except that you have this "mark" (money). Even German currency today is called the German MARK. Money is an imprinted image of wealth, used as a medium of exchange to buy or sell. Currency in America is owned by the Federal Reserve System, which is a private corporation of international bankers, who were given the right to create money in 1914. (This was 2,520 years after the original Babylon became an empire in 607 B.C.)
This SYSTEM and those controlling it are the heads of this beast that came from the earth (Rev. 13:11).
The mark on the hand and forehead of men is not a physical mark. It is the earthly counterpart to what we as God's people are instructed to do in the divine law. We read of this in Deuteronomy 6:5-8,
5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
In ancient times the religious people used to take this very literally by making little boxes and putting portions of Scripture in them. Then they would tie them to their wrists or their foreheads in an effort to appear righteous. In spite of their outward show of religiosity, many of them had a heart that worshipped the golden calf.
Jesus did not follow this tradition, because He did not interpret this law so literally. He taught us to have the Law written on our hearts where it belongs. Those who love God with all their heart will not have the mark of the beast upon their hands nor upon their hearts. The mark is upon our hands when all our labor is to obtain money, regardless of the ethics of divine law. The mark is upon our foreheads when all of our mental energy is spent to obtain money, regardless of the ethical limitations of divine law.
Wealth itself is neither good nor bad. It is the LOVE of money that makes men destroy each other in order to obtain more and more wealth. Likewise, a credit card is only a convenience within the world system by which we can more easily buy or sell. It is no more a sin to own a credit card than it is to own money.
A person may, of course, choose not to participate in the world's system of monetary exchange. That is their choice, based upon whatever benefits they feel are derived from that choice.
Countless sermons and books have been written about the mark of the beast. Some feel that Christians will escape "the tribulation" in a rapture--in which case they will not have to face the choice of obtaining this mark or not. Others believe that Christians will go through this time of trouble and will have to make this choice. Does it not seem a bit ridiculous that the expected Antichrist would have all this power on earth, but would then give men a CHOICE? It seems to me that the history of law enforcement in the world shows that they would simply tranquilize Christians and insert the computer chip into the hand or forehead without their consent. Revelation 3:16 says, "he causes all" to be given this mark. He does NOT say, "he asks them to make a choice, please."
If we study the historicist view of Revelation, we see clearly how this book has been fulfilled throughout Church history in the past 2000 years. This was commonly known in Protestant circles in the past few hundred years. The futurist view, where it is said that most of revelation has a future fulfillment after the "rapture," is a relatively recent view that has become popular only in the past century and a half. This view totally ignores plain history and exists only because most Christians have not been taught their own Church history.
Of course, one must understand that Revelation does not mean teach the existence of dragons and strange beasts. These are symbolic language for nations and empires, as the book of Daniel clearly shows. Revelation is a series of visions that must be interpreted according to actual events and nations in history.
Chapters 6-8 deal primarily with the early Church and the overthrow of the Roman Empire up to about the 7th century. Chapter 9 deals with the rise of Islam, which God raised up to judge the idolatrous Church. This chapter perfectly describes the Saracens as they swept through the Middle East and set up their headquarters at Baghdad in the year 762 A.D. This was precisely 150 years from when Mohammed began his mission in 612 A.D. This 150-year period is prophesied in terms of a 5-month period in Rev. 9:5. (5 months x 30 days each = 150 prophetic days.) John described the Saracens perfectly as having gold turbans ("crowns"), long hair, iron armor, and on horseback.
In the last half of Rev. 9 we are given the second woe, that of the Ottoman Turks. They crossed the Euphrates river in 1062 A.D. with 200,000 men. The time period they were given to complete their mission was a year, a month, a day, and an hour (9:15). This is, prophetically speaking, 360 + 30 + 1 = 391 years, plus an hour, which is 1/24 of a year, or about 2 weeks.
The Ottoman Turks completed their mission with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 A.D., which was precisely 391 years after they crossed the Euphrates in 1062. In that siege, they used cannons for the first time in the history of warfare. The cannons were shaped to resemble lions, out of whose mouths issued fire and brimstone. The soldiers sat upon them in order to use the ramrod, and the tail was the fuse.
John described them perfectly in Revelation 9:17-19.
Revelation 10 describes the Protestant Reformation, along with the key battles on land and sea, which allowed this new movement to be established.
Chapter 13 focuses upon the beast that came from the earth, but does so in the context of the earlier beast that came from the sea. The sea beast had dominion for 42 months, or 1,260 "days" (years). This prophesies that the Roman Church was to have political power for 1,260 years. It began when the emperor Justinian scrapped the entire Roman law system and replaced it with Orthodox Church law in 529 A.D. It was called the Codex Vetus.
In 534 it was revised and replaced by the Codex Repeitae Praelectionis.
1,260 years later brings us to 1789-1794 A.D. These are the years of the French Revolution, which began to overthrow one of the main strongholds of the Roman Church. The revolution was financed and backed by a new coalition of bankers and industrialists, led by the Rothschild family. This coalition of families were the beginnings of the beast that rose up from the earth, which began to eclipse the power of the previous beast system.
Although this new money power assisted the new Protestant movements, it was itself just another beast prophesied by John. Its crowning achievement was the formation of the Israeli state. To many Christians it appears to be the Kingdom of God, for it looks like a lamb. But listen closely; it speaks like a dragon (Rev. 13:11).
The First Bowl of Wine
As we said earlier, the first bowl of wine is to be poured out upon the earth as judgment upon those who have the mark of the beast. The second is to be poured out upon the sea. To understand the fulfillment of these first two bowls of wine, one must know against whom they are directed.
Revelation 13 helps us to define the terms in Rev. 16. It appears that the first bowl of wine will primarily affect the banking and financial system of the world. In America we have had an unprecedented 7 years of plenty, even as in the days of Joseph. It is quite possible that we will see this prosperity begin to come to an end by the end of the year 2000.
If so, keep in mind that this will not be a total collapse over night. The effect of the first bowl will probably be seen throughout the next year, 2001. It also remains to be seen how this will affect the Israeli state. Judging by the feverish pace of the current peace negotiations, along with Arafat's stated intention to declare a Palestinian state on September 13, 2000, it is clear that this is a major turning point in history. The leaders of both nations must do as their people demand. The people on both sides prefer to have war than give up their claims upon Jerusalem.
Yet regardless of our views and interpretations, we do recognize that we do not know for sure what God will do. All we know is that the angel is about to pour out the first bowl of wine upon the earth, and that there will be serious consequences. We have received this revelation, and we will always agree with God, regardless of the outcome, for our faith is in Him. Our understanding of Him and His plan is incomplete, but we are resolved to say Amen to Him in all that He does.
