The Mystery of the Shemitah (30 page)

Every heartbeat is borrowed. Everything in this world that draws us or repels us, entangles us or compels us, everything we seek after, dwell on, or live for, is temporary, fleeting, and passing away. Therefore the meaning of this life is not found in anything of this life, but only in Him who lies behind it. And the purpose of this life is not found in seeking anything of this life, but only in seeking Him who gave it.

The Shemitah, as we have seen, is connected to the number seven. In the Bible the number seven speaks of completion, the finishing, the end. The last Shemitah is that which comes at the completion of our time on the earth, the finishing, the ending of our lives. The Shemitah declares that a nation’s blessings are gifts from God. The final Shemitah declares that everything and every moment we had on the earth was a gift from God. Everything we “owned” was only entrusted. It all belonged to Him, even our days.

The Shemitah separates possession from the possessor. The last Shemitah will separate us from all we owned on the earth. The Shemitah wipes away that which has been built up in the preceding period of time. The last Shemitah will wipe away all that has been built up in our time on the earth. The Shemitah brings cessation, so too the last Shemitah. As does the Shemitah, so the last Shemitah calls us away from the material realm to the spiritual. As does the Shemitah, so the last Shemitah sets free entanglements, attachments, and bondages.

As the Shemitah means “to let fall,” so too the last Shemitah will be the letting fall of our earthly being and existence. As the Shemitah is observed by letting go of one’s possessions, so too in the last Shemitah we will each let go of our earthly possessions and of this life itself. As the Shemitah means “release,” so in the last Shemitah we will each be released of this life. And as the Shemitah draws one away from the physical and to God, so the last Shemitah will draw us away from the realm of the physical and to God.

The Final Question

Near the end of
The Harbinger
the prophet asks Nouriel a question: “And what will you do on the Day of Judgment?”

It is the ultimate question any of us could be asked. For the last Shemitah leads to eternity. We have seen the link between the Shemitah and judgment. So too the last Shemitah and the final judgment are joined together. When people hear the message of
The Harbinger,
they often ask, “What should I do in view of coming calamity?” The question is an important one. The Bible says, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself” (Prov. 27:12).

But regardless of whether we see the judgment of a nation or nations, the fact is we will all see the Day of Judgment. Scripture declares we will each stand before God on that day. And on that day the degree of our sins will not matter. Any sin, regardless of its nature and no matter its degree, will be infinitely and eternally judged. If we are not then right with God, if we are not then saved, if we have not received the salvation offered us, then there will be only one possibility—eternal separation from God—eternal judgment.

In the end it comes down to two destinies—heaven or hell. According to God’s Word, what stands between the two eternities is not how religious we were, not how good or bad we were, or anything else but one thing: Were we born again? This fact could not be more clearly stated in Scripture: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Yeshua

How can one be safe in the days of judgment? The answer is that in Hebrew, the word for “safety” is
yeshua
. This is the same root word from which we get the name Yeshua, which, translated into English, becomes “Jesus.” In the days of a nation’s judgment, and on the day of the final judgment, outside of Yeshua, Jesus, there is no safety or salvation. But inside of Him there is no fear. The key is to get one’s life, every part of one’s life, inside of Him who is salvation. As it is written:

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

—J
OHN
3:16

The Bible records that the greatest love ever manifested in this world was the love of God in Messiah, dying on an execution stake in our place, for our sins, to bear our judgment, and then rising from that death to life, that we could be saved. How does one become born again? In the Bible it is also declared that anyone who truly receives Him, truly believes in Him, truly makes Him the Lord and Savior of their lives, and who truly follows Him as His disciple, that is the one who is born again—saved. It can begin with a decision, a prayer, a committing of one’s heart, the answering of a call—the beginning of a new life.

That Which Falls and That Which Remains

As the Shemitah of the year 2001 approached its end, America saw the collapse of its two colossal towers. But when the towers fell, one object was left standing. It was a steel cross forged out of the calamity—in the midst of calamity, a symbol of hope; in the face of man’s hatred, the love of God. That, in and of itself, was a sign.

The Shemitah declares that, in the end, all things will pass away, everything will collapse and fall—except this—God, His love, and His salvation. Everything else we sought after or dwelt upon will mean nothing. They will all pass away. But the love of God and His salvation will not fall, nor collapse, nor fail, but will remain forever. And the only thing that will then matter is whether we sought Him, found Him, and became right with Him—in that love and in that salvation.

Now and Forever

The Bible says “now” is the time of salvation. Now is the time to get one’s life right with God. It cannot be put off until tomorrow. The only day we have is today, and the only moment, now. The time is late. Whatever is not right in your life, whatever is not of God or in His will, now is the time to rule it out of your life. And whatever God is calling you to do or be, now is the time do it, to be it, and to rule it into your life.

The sound of an alarm cannot, by nature, be pleasant. It can’t be. Otherwise it wouldn’t serve its purpose to awaken and to warn.
The Harbinger
and
The Mystery of the Shemitah
are not only the revealing of mysteries but also the sounding of alarms. Whenever I’ve been tempted to rest from sounding the alarm, I’m reminded of God’s word to Ezekiel: If the watchman sees the danger coming and doesn’t sound the trumpet to warn the people, when the calamity comes, their blood will be upon his head. So I sound the trumpet.

The time is late. One way or another, judgment will come. Therefore now is the time to be saved. Now is the time to do whatever one must do to get right. And for those who will answer the call, now is the time to become great.

The alarms have gone off. The trumpets have sounded. The call has gone forth. One is left with a choice—to respond or not.
The Harbinger
closes with one final call—the last words of the prophet. I leave the one reading this with the same words:

Let those who have ears to hear it, let them hear it. . . and be saved.

Epilogue, Part 1
ONE LAST NOTE: The BLACK SUNS (and the RED MOONS)

The Signs and the Moedeem

T
HE PHENOMENON
OF solar eclipses has come up, thus far, twice. The space we have here will allow for a little more detail to be given. We have noted that the ancient rabbis saw solar eclipses as signs of judgment. The reference is found in the rabbinical writing Sukkah 29a:

Our Rabbis taught, when the sun is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for the entire world. . . . Our Rabbis taught, “When the sun is in eclipse it is a bad omen for those who worship idols. But when there is an eclipse of the moon, it is a bad omen for Israel, since Israel reckons time by the moon and those who worship idols by the sun.”
¹

Now, of course, solar and lunar eclipses are natural and regular phenomenon as determined by the relative movements of the sun, the earth, and the moon. And the rabbinical writings do not carry biblical authority. But there is a biblical basis for connecting the darkening of the sun and moon, in specific circumstances, to judgment.

Behold, the day of the LORD comes. . . . For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

—I
SAIAH
13:9–10

For the day of the LORD is near. . . . The sun and the moon will grow dark . . .

—J
OEL
3:14–15

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.

—M
ATTHEW
24:29

Black Suns and Red Moons

The events spoken of in these passages are not regular or natural occurrences, but apocalyptic events. Added to that, a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse cannot naturally take place at the same time.

The Scriptures speak of the sun and the moon and the celestial lights functioning as “signs.” The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:14 is
otote
; it can also be translated as “evidence,” “mark,” and “omen.” The same verse declares that they will be connected to days and years and “seasons.” But the Hebrew word translated as seasons is
moedeem
.
Moedeem
literally means “an appointment,” or “the appointed time” or “the appointed meeting.” It is the same word used for the holy days of Israel. Add to this the Scriptures’ emphasis on these celestial lights as signs of judgment and the end times, and we have to, at the very least, conclude that they may at times serve as signs of significant events.

With regard to lunar eclipses, it has been noted that a unique series of four such eclipses are to appear from the spring of 2014 to the autumn of 2015, each on a Jewish holiday. They have also been called “blood moons” because of the red color they acquire in the midst of the eclipse. The occurrence of four consecutive lunar eclipses, each on a Jewish holiday, has taken place only six times in the last two thousand years. Three of those times have been associated with pivotal events in Jewish history: the expulsion of the Jewish people from Spain, the rebirth of Israel, and the regaining of Jerusalem.

Is there any possible link between these occurrences and the Shemitah?

Aside from its first six months, this series of blood moons or lunar eclipses will all take place within the coming Shemitah or its autumn wake. One lunar eclipse will take place in the Tishri that begins the Shemitah. The next will appear in the spring marking the center of the Shemitah. And the final one will take place in the Tishri that ends the Shemitah and marks its climactic wake.

But what has often been missed is the significance of the solar eclipses in regard to their timing.

The Black Sun and the Harbinger

We have noted the link in timing between the darkening of the sun and the tower of Ground Zero. As the fourth of the nine harbingers, the tower already constitutes a sign of judgment. But, as we have seen, at the time the tower reached its full height, on the day the tower was crowned with its spire, the sun was darkened. The tower was crowned on the day of a solar eclipse.

Another attempt had been made to crown the tower two weeks earlier. But the endeavor had to be abandoned because of the heavy gusts of wind at the tower’s summit that day. The date was April 29. On the anniversary of the first attempt to crown the tower, on April 29 of the following year, the sun was again darkened, another solar eclipse linked to the timing of the tower’s ascent.