The Mystery of the Shemitah (19 page)

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  From 4:00 p.m. Friday to 4:00 p.m. Thursday—the fourth day

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  From 4:00 p.m. Thursday to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday—the fifth day

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  From 4:00 p.m. Wednesday to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday—the sixth day

The seventh day, going back in time, begins at four o’clock Tuesday afternoon. Is this significant? It could not be more so.
The seventh day is September 11, 2001.

So the seventh day in its entirety, proceeding backward in time, would begin at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday (September 11). The time period would include Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday morning, Monday evening (September 10), and late afternoon. It is in the midst of these hours that the attack of 9/11 will take place. The mystery of sevens has brought us back not only to the minute of the stock market crash of 2001, but also to the day of the attack, 9/11.

Third Sequence: The Chain of Hours

Now what happens if we follow the chain of sevens once more—seven hours? Starting at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, September 11, and going back in time seven hours:

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  From 4:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.—the first hour

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  From 3:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.—the second hour

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  From 2:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.—the third hour

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  From 1:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.—the fourth hour

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  From 12:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.—the fifth hour

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  From 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.—the sixth hour

The seventh hour falls on Tuesday morning, between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m.
Is this significant? Yes. This is the key time period of 9/11. As the hour approaches, the first tower is hit. At the beginning of the hour, the second tower is hit. And just before the hour is over, the first of the two towers will have collapsed. The mystery of sevens has brought us back to the very morning and hour of 9/11.

The two strikes happen within a space of seventeen minutes. The end of the seven hours brings us to 9:00 a.m., and 9:00 a.m. falls within the seventeen minutes between the strikes.

Fourth Sequence: The Chain of Minutes

What happens if we follow the mystery of sevens into the realm of minutes? The mystery has already led us to 9:00 a.m. The crash of the second plane into the South Tower happens at 9:03 a.m. So the chain of sevens has taken us from the crash of Wall Street in 2008 to a point in time less than five minutes from the attack.

If we now go back two more cycles of seven, cycles of seven minutes, we end up at 8:46 a.m., the minute in which the first strike takes place—the exact moment 9/11 began.

From the Closing Bell to the Time of the Strike

Starting from the biblical “end of the seventh year,” the Shemitah’s climax, the mystery has taken us from the number 777 and the closing bell of one stock market collapse to the closing bell of the other. From there it has brought us to the day of September 11, 2001—and then to the hour of the attack—and then to the period of minutes in between the two attacks.

The Mystery of Sevens

The mystery of the Shemitah involves the striking of a nation’s financial and economic realms. And yet, as we have seen, it can extend beyond these realms to involve national calamities, even attacks on cities and nations, as it did in 586 BC and as it did on September 11, 2001. And the timing of these calamities is contained within the Shemitah’s mystery of sevens—in both 586 BC and AD 2001.

Between the crash of 2008 and the attack of 9/11 are 2,575 days. Within those days are 3,708,000 minutes. And yet the mystery pinpoints America’s greatest crashes and the attack of 9/11 down to the minutes—if not to the very minute.

And even without the mystery of sevens we have three of the most dramatic shakings in recent history, 9/11 and the collapse of Wall Street in 2001 and 2008, all connected to the mystery of the Shemitah—not only in their timing but in their origins. The crash at the end of the Shemitah of 2008 was linked to the crash at the end of the Shemitah in 2001. That crash, in turn, was linked to what happened on 9/11. In view of all this, we must once again take note of the Shemitah’s specific prophetic meaning—as the sign of judgment to a nation that has driven God out of its life and brought in idols and gods of increase in His place. In such a scenario the sign appears as warning of things to come.

We are now about to enter a new realm within the mystery of the Shemitah—a realm so different that one might wonder how it could be connected at all. And yet, as we will see, it is strangely connected and concerns the rise and fall of nations up to our day.

Chapter 16
The FIRST TOWER

Towers

T
OWERS HAVE RISEN
from the center points of civilization from the days of Egypt and Mesopotamia onward. From the beginning of recorded history they have stood as symbols of kingdoms, empires, cities, and cultures—embodiments of man’s aspirations, monuments to the greatness and glory of the powers that produced them.

The Migdalim

Though, in Scripture, towers can stand as symbols of strength and glory, they often stand as symbols of pride. The very first tower mentioned in the Bible is the most famous of all towers and their archetype—the Tower of Babel:

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves . . . ”

—G
ENESIS
11:4

The account is filled with far-reaching themes and ramifications.

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  The first is the theme of civilization. The tower isn’t built in a desert but appears within a specific context. First comes the city and then the tower. Towers are linked to civilization. They stand as symbols of the civilizations out of which they arise.

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  The second is the theme of greatness. By building the tower, the people intend to make a name for themselves. The tower is the embodiment of man’s aspiration for greatness.

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  The third theme will come into play further on.

The word for towers in Hebrew is
migdalim
, the plural of
migdal
. The word
migdal
comes from the Hebrew root word
gadal
, which can be translated as:

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  “To increase”

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  “To be lifted up”

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  “To be promoted”

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  “To wax great”

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  “To be magnified”

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  “To be enlarged”

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  “To become great”

In Hebrew, even the word for towers is linked to greatness. This parallels the age-old function of towers as monuments and testaments of greatness. Even in our day the greatest of towers invariably function in some way as symbols of greatness.

In the past thousand years of history cathedrals constituted the tallest man-made structures on the earth. Accordingly, for most of this period, the institutionalized church of Europe constituted one of the greatest centers of power on the earth. But in the latter part of the past thousand years cathedrals have been replaced by secular buildings as the tallest man-made structures or buildings on the earth. The towers reveal a massive shift from ecclesiastical power to secular power.

Considering the connection of towers to greatness, and the connection in biblical Hebrew, could the rising of towers reflect the “lifting up,” the “waxing great,” or the rise to greatness of nations?

The World’s First Skyscraper

In the nineteenth century a new way of building was developed. Instead of using walls to bear the building’s weight, the building would be supported by an internal skeletal structure of iron or steel. This was not only more practical, but it also allowed for buildings to rise higher than ever before, paving the way for the creation of the skyscraper.

In the late 1860s construction began on what is considered by many to be the world’s first skyscraper. It would be built on American soil. It was called the Equitable Life Assurance Building. It is considered the first building in the world to combine great heights, usable stories, a lightweight fireproof construction, and an interior skeletal metal frame. It was also the first office building in the world to have passenger elevators. It was built in New York City at 120 Broadway. It was also the tallest non-cathedral building on the earth. And its rising would not be an isolated phenomenon—but the beginning of many such tall buildings.

The Rising Tower and the Changing of World Power

In view of the biblical connection of towers to increase, greatness, and rising, is it possible that the rising of this unprecedented tower in New York City is connected to a parallel changing and transference of world power?

The rise of what some consider the world’s first skyscraper in New York City signaled the end of Europe’s reign as the land of the tallest buildings on earth. The tower, which stood at 120 Broadway, heralded the age when American towers would reign supreme over every building on the earth, no matter what type or kind.

Did this change in the world’s towers reflect a shifting in world power as well? If so, the change would reflect a shift from the old world to the new. Did any such change take place?

In the last decades of the nineteenth century a dramatic transformation took place in the world. The period saw the rise of America’s industrial economy, large-scale agriculture, big business, and the largest economic expansion in American history. When did it begin?

The year recognized as its starting point is 1870—the same year that the American tower was completed. The tower marked the beginning of the “Gilded Age,” the nation’s massive transformation into an industrial power. The rise of the tower coincided with the rise of American world power.