In terms of all of the Biblical types/shadows that we have learned over time in the watching for Jesus community, there is one I believe is not being taken into account for understanding the upcoming judgement years.
God was clear to the children of Israel in Leviticus 23:10-11 that they were to let the land rest every seventh year.
If they were not going to do it, God would eventually make it happen when He scatters them among the nations for persistent disobedience. Leviticus 26:33-34 says:
"You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths."
As you know, such a promise was carried out by God during Jeremiah's time. II Chronicles 36:20-21 says:
"Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete."
I believe that is going to happen again for the years that Israel of today has not let the land rest during the 7th year of each 'week of years'.
The nation of Israel today, as a whole, has not let the land rest every seventh year. Again, God will fulfill His Leviticus 26 promise.
Prior, I had thought that when God performed the recent miracle of gathering His people into the promised land when they become a nation in 1948, that the Bible taught that the nation of Israel would not be scattered from their land again. Indeed, Amos 9:15 says, "I will plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land."
However, I had not consider the context of Amos 9. That gathering referenced in Amos, I believe, is the gathering that Jesus will do at the end of the judgement years. It is not referring to what took place in 1948. Here is the whole chapter (a bit long but it validates my thinking):
1I saw the Lord standing beside the altar , and He said ,
“Strike the pillar capitals so that the thresholds will shake ,
And break them on the heads of them all !
Then I will put to death the rest of them with the sword ;
They will not have a fugitive who will flee ,
Nor a survivor who will escape .
2“Though they dig into Sheol ,
From there My hand will take them;
And though they ascend to heaven ,
From there I will bring them down .
3“And though they hide on the summit of Carmel ,
I will track them down and take them from there ;
And though they hide themselves from My sight on the bottom of the sea ,
I will command the serpent from there , and it will bite them.
4“And though they go into captivity before their enemies ,
From there I will command the sword and it will kill them,
And I will set My eyes against them for harm and not for good .”
The One who touches the land so that it quakes ,
And all those who live in it mourn ,
And all of it rises up like the Nile
And subsides like the Nile of Egypt ;
6The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens
And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth ,
He who calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the face of the earth ,
The LORD is His name .
7“Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me,
You sons of Israel ?” declares the LORD .
“Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt ,
And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir ?
8“Behold , the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom ,
And I will eliminate it from the face of the earth ;
Nevertheless , I will not totally eliminate the house of Jacob ,”
Declares the LORD .
9“For behold , I am commanding ,
And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations
As grain is shaken in a sieve ,
But not a pebble will fall to the ground .
10“All the sinners of My people will die by the sword ,
Those who say , ‘The catastrophe will not overtake or confront us.’
The Restoration of Israel
11“On that day I will raise up the fallen [b]shelter of David ,
And wall up its gaps ;
I will also raise up its ruins
And rebuild it as in the days of old ;
12So that they may [c]possess the remnant of Edom
And all the [d]nations who are called by My name ,”
Declares the LORD who does this .
13“Behold , days are coming ,” declares the LORD ,
“When the plowman will overtake the reaper ,
And the one who treads grapes will overtake him who sows the seed ;
When the mountains will drip grape juice ,
And all the hills will come apart .
14“I will also restore the fortunes of My people Israel ,
And they will rebuild the desolated cities and live in them;
They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine ,
And make gardens and eat their fruit .
15“I will also plant them on their land ,
And they will not be uprooted again from their land
Which I have given them,”
Says the LORD your God .
Note how God is described and what He will do in verses 5-6. Note that God will preserve a remnant in verse 9. Note the phrase "on that day" in verse 11, an indicator pointing to the day of the LORD. Note how verse 12 describes their destiny. Has that been fulfilled since 1948? Note how verse 13 seems to point to a time when the curse on creation is lifted. Verse 14 shows what Israel will eventually be able to do, those who survived the judgement years, while experiencing a blessing from God in terms of the thriving of the land. Now, read verse 15 in that light.
I understand that God's prophets each had a message for the populace during their time, yet as many of us know, interwoven within what the prophet was seeing are also clues, patterns, type/shadows of a future time. The "shape" of immediate events in front of the prophet was nested within the "shape" of a grander scale fulfillment in the distant future. The prophet was seeing both, in a sense, at the same time. So, yes, Amos was communicating with the northern tribes of his day. And there are aspect that only point to a future time. I believe verse 15 points to a future time from Amos, and that it is not referring to 1948 but to a time that is still future even for us.
Notice verse 10 above as it describes the mentality of the people. They presumed that the "calamity will not overtake us or confront us". What calamity? What God mentions in verses 5 and 6 does point to the judgement years in my understanding. I suggest that also now, because of presuming upon God that He will not allow Israel to be destroyed (except for a chosen remnant), that that same mentality embodies Israel of today, including a lot of misinformed Christians. They sincerely believe that the Israel of today will not be removed from the land again.
To be clear, I believe God will fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to have a people unto God descended through them, and that the promised land will be possessed by them in the Jesus earth-based kingdom to come. However, in the end it will be but a tiny remnant to start, not the State of Israel as we know it today. See a picture of how small the remnant can be in Ezekiel 5:1-5. Think also in terms of what God told Elijah of the 7000 amongst the millions. Also think in terms of Daniel's three friends amongst how many thousands.
I believe Islam will decimate the State of Israel during the seven years that God allows them to be scattered so that the land can rest. Once the land has been allowed to rest according to God's prior command in Leviticus 26, then the 70th week of Daniel will begin.
Many, many years have gone by between when the King has been "cut off" to the 70th week of Daniel beginning. I believe we still have to wait 7 more years.
In other words, the upcoming judgement years will be 14 years long. Two sets of seven. Seal judgements for the first set of seven years. Trumpet/bowl judgements for the second set of seven years.
There is a possibility that the two sets of '7 year judgment units' during the tribulation might be within a '15 year block of time'. I say this because the flood waters during Noah's days exceeded the tops of the mountains by 15 cubits. King Hezekiah was granted an extension of 15 years.
This '15 year block of time' could actually be made up of two seven and one half years periods.
I am speculating a 'half year' is attached to each 'seven year unit'. The first 'half year' will be at the end of the first seven year unit in order to adjust the calendar from focusing on the nations to then focusing on Israel (think of what God told Moses after the ninth plague about how He would then be offsetting the Jews' calendar from the nations' calendar that existed during Enoch's time). The second 'half year' will be after the second 'seven year unit', during which Jesus, after destroying Satan's minions, will then go on a long journey and return on the Second Passover, fulfilling the type/shadow during King Hezekiah's days as laid out in II Chronicles 29-31.
I speculate that the total of 15 years might be broken down into two "seven and one half year" periods because of David ruling in Hebron for seven and one half years, Solomon taking seven and one half years to build the temple, and Ezekiel being struck mute (except for proclaiming words of judgement from God) for seven and one half years.
With us possibly going home this year, the total 15 judgment years I am anticipating would end with Jesus being crowned by the surviving chosen remnant of Israel/Judah, along with resurrected ones like Daniel and David, in 2040.
Because the Plan of God "appears to have" a seven year "extension" on the surface, due to Israel's disobedience thereby requiring that the land of Israel rest, I speculate that Satan will cry 'fowl' when he is bound for 1000 years, thus explaining why he gets released for a short season (of 7 years?) after having been bound.
With respect to the upcoming judgement years including two sets of seven years instead of just one, recall the story of Jacob. He saw the gate/door of heaven opened when he was 77. He then worked 7 years and married the one who had problems with her eyes/sight yet made him a lot of babies (Leah represents the nations). He then married the desired sister (Rachel represents the remnant of Israel/Judah) a week later yet had to work seven more years. That's 14 years beyond when he saw the door of heaven opened before him.
Jacob then, after all of that, worked 6 years to, at first, pick out the animals that belonged to him per his agreement with Laban. And then Jacob grew a huge flock/herd for himself from those selected animals. Jacob's sons took care of those animals. Now, I believe this points to Jesus, after the judgement years are over, choosing those among the survivors that belong to Him (think of the sheep/goat judgment of Matthew 25:31-46 noting verse 32) and having his servants take care of them, while He also goes on to gather those whom the Father had given Him from around the world, making for a very large flock/herd belonging to Himself.
Now, after all that I have thought through and laid out above, for a while I had wrestled with this conundrum: Israel has just turned 77. Would they not owe God 11 years for not letting the land rest during that time instead of just 7?
Well, for one thing, it depends on when the count of weeks falls over those years and this is still not clear to me even today. Some present that we are in the midst of a Jubilee at this time. Make sense in light of the fact that we are about to go.
The question is: at what point does God start to hold the Israel of today accountable for letting the land rest on the seventh year of each week of years?
I think God has given us a clue as I look at the recent history of Israel. In 1973 was the Yom Kippur war. Israel was at a real disadvantage initially and suffered the loss of many lives yet they got through it, and were stronger as a result. It was like the manifestation of a reality that little Israel has truly been established as a country on the world stage, including having Jerusalem as their capital. No multi-country open warfare has been organized against Israel since.
In other words, they can do the years of letting the land rest from that point forward.
Yom Kippur, when the war started, is also when the Jubilee is to be announced. Since that war was in 1973, an announced Jubilee on Yom Kippur for Israel would then start in their 1st month in 1974 and would go through to their 1st month in 1975. God has their years start at Nisan, not Tishri.
Adding a count of 49 years after that takes me to 2024 for the beginning of another Jubilee. However, in 2023 (Oct 7th), just after the 8th day of Tabernacles, Israel has not even able to let the land rest during the 49th year, the 7th year of the 7th week of years within the count. Nor were they going to be able to let the land rest in the following Jubilee. (God was thereby not gong to hold them accountable for failing to let the land rest both of those years). So, from 1974-5, a Jubilee year to rest (including the land) up to Oct 7, 2023, there are a total of 7 years of resting the land that Israel is accountable to God for. Let me lay it this way:
1974-75 A Jubilee year to let the land rest referencing the Yom Kippur of 1973.1981-82 Land should rest.1988-89 Land should rest.1995-96 Land should rest.2002-03 Land should rest.2009-10 Land should rest.2016-17 Land should rest.2023-24 Land should rest but can't due to Hamas/Hezbollah/Yemen/Iran2024-25 A Jubilee year to let the land rest but can't due to continual battles.
So, the above shows the 7 years Israel could have let the land rest due to having been established in the land, but they did not obey. These are the seven years that God is going to hold them accountable for.
Like the type/shadow during the days of Jeremiah, such will happen again. That which has been is that which shall be. The Israel will be scattered. And like during Jeremiah's time, they will be a small number who remain in the land as well. However, there will be no agricultural production. The resting of the land will be forced upon them.
So, to summarize, I believe that Israel is about to get decimated for a 7 year period of time before the start of Daniel's 70th week. Per Amos 8:2, the LORD says "the end has come for my people Israel. I will spare them no longer." When might this take place for the Israel of today? I am thinking Pentecost/9th-10th of Av. In my posts last week I showed that I sincerely think that the timing of Amos 8 points to the time of Pentecost within its context.
What did Moses do after he broke the stone tablets on a Pentecost prior? He interceded for the people. Will that be us per Joel 2:15-17 this year? in heavenly places? as the Restrainer has been removed from the earth? and Israel starts to get decimated?
Recall the Jewish boy Nathan? He expressed from what he saw in his NDE that Israel's IDF will be overrun in just two days after the onslaught begins. Israel's defenses will be overrun by sheer numbers.
What will unfold for the first set of seven judgment years?
Islam will rise to power across the entire Middle East, and a Mahdi figure will rise.
In a future post I will try to add details to this idea.