1 Corinthians 1:18-31
1 Kings 14
Joel 2:1-11
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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading
In Joel 2 we find an amazing and detailed portrayal of the Final Battle of Armageddon. To gain insights into this epic climax of the conflict between the forces of Good and evil, we may not only look to prophecies like Joel 2, but we may also look to historical shadow pictures from the past. Today, I will focus on this final Battle, as details emerge from Bible history as well as Bible prophecy.
Prophetically, the Final Battle in possessing their inheritance, was Israel’s conquest of Jericho. This took place in the final seven years! As Bible prophecy foretells, the Battle of Armageddon will be fought and Babylon will fall, in the same way that Jericho fell long ago. Thus, we see that the fall of Babylon will take place just prior to the ultimate Jubilee, in which Yahweh’s saved will enter the New Jerusalem.
Jubilee is the fiftieth year. Fifty is the number represented by the letter, nun (נ). Joshua was the “son of Nun,” Numbers 11:28. This number refers to the restoration of all things, returning us to the unfallen state of the original Garden of Eden. As we have seen in this series, End Time events match the “pattern” given to Moses (Hebrews 8:5), and bring into harmony the wilderness journey, the ministry of Messiah, and the prophecies of the End of the world. Knowing YAH's Ways (Psalms 103:7), we see that this harmony also includes the hidden meaning in the numbers.
From the Book of Genesis, we find a significant key regarding Jubilees. Yahweh ordained exactly 120 Jubilees to the fall of Babylon and the End of the World.
And Yahweh said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years,
Genesis 6:3
Notably, since old-time Creationists have understood the earth to be about 6000 years old, we find another evidence for the Jubilee cycles to conclude at 120:
50 (years in a Jubilee cycle)
x 120 (Jubilees) = 6000
6000= 120 Jubilees
At the conclusion of the 120th Jubilee, the 7000th year will commence.
The Jubilees also form an interesting pattern of 40’s:
o 40 Jubilees from Adam to Abraham
o 40 Jubilees from Abraham to Yahshua
o 40 Jubilees from Yahshua to the End
= a total of 120 Jubilees
Far more than just interesting trivia, one must note that we have already had one hundred and nineteen Jubilees. The next Jubilee will be the 120th!
Babylon’s fall parallels Jericho’s in that it will not only take place on a Jubilee, it will also happen at the time of the Fall Feasts, in the beginning of the final Jubilee. As we will show in Bible Prophecy, Babylon will fall specifically on the final Day of Atonement – the Day when the ultimate Jubilee begins.
Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the Seventh Month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubilee unto you… Leviticus 25:9-10
Trumpets are blown on the Day of Atonement to herald the beginning of a Jubilee year. Trumpets were also blown by the priests of ancient Israel as they encircled the doomed city of Jericho. The walls of Jericho fell down at the shout and the last trumpet blast. And, it will be at the Voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God on the final Day of Atonement, on which the kingdom of Babylon will fall, forever ending the reign of the Beast.
To fully establish that the Beast’s reign will be broken and that Babylon will fall on the final Day of Atonement, in addition to the commencement of the 120th Jubilee which takes place upon that Day, we must carefully examine the prophetic timelines. These timelines, largely given by the prophet Daniel, will all play out at the End of the World.
DANIEL’S TIMELINES
Of all the prophetic, biblical timelines, several of them culminate on the final Day of Atonement. For the purposes of this study, we will focus on only three of these timelines, which end on the Day of Atonement, as follows:
1. The Sabbatical/Year Jubilee Timeline
2. The 2300 Day Prophecy Timeline
3. The 1260 Day Prophecy Timeline
In order to conclude on the same Day, each of these timelines layers upon the other timelines, overlapping at times. Before we examine how this works, let’s begin by establishing the Day of Atonement as the ending point for the above-mentioned timelines.
First, as we have already seen, Sabbatical Years (Shemita Years) and Jubilees begin and end on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:8-13). Thus, since the final Day of Atonement will begin the ultimate Jubilee, and since all Jubilee Years begin after the seventh Sabbatical Year, we can conclude that the final Day of Atonement will culminate the Seventh Sabbatical (the 49th year counting from the previous Jubilee) and will start the final Jubilee. This longest prophetic timeline forms the base layer of our final prophetic timeline diagram:
43rd Year
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44th Year
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45th Year
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46th Year
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47th
Year
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48th Year
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49th
Year
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50th Year
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Year 1
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Year 2
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Year 3
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Year 4
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Year 5
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Year 6
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7th
Sabbatical
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120thJubilee
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The Final Seven Years
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The next longest of these timelines, ending on the Day of Atonement, is the 2300 days. This timeline will form the next layer in our diagram. But before we demonstrate that the 2300 day prophecy will end on Atonement, we must first establish that this prophetic timeline has an End-Time fulfillment. Noting that this timeline has had past application, many Christians do not believe that the 2300-day-timeline has a final fulfillment, which is yet future. In the future, it will play out in literal days.
Recorded in Daniel Chapter 8, the vision of the 2300 day prophecy has had past applications (such as from 457 BC to 34 AD, in which it was fulfilled in prophetic time). But, according to Daniel 8:17, the 2300 day prophecy is predominantly for the End and will ultimately be fulfilled in the Last Days.
So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the End shall be the vision, Daniel 8:17
Having established that the vision of Daniel 8 is for the End of Time, including the 2300 day prophecy, we next need to look for Scriptural evidence on its ending.
And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed, Daniel 8:14.
The Sanctuary was cleansed on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:16-20). Since Daniel 8 specifically states that the Sanctuary is cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, we can see that the 2300 day prophetic timeline will end on the final Day of Atonement – which is the same final Day for the Sabbatical Year / Jubilee Timeline. For this reason, we can accurately lay the 2300 Day Timeline upon the 7-Year Sabbatical/Jubilee layer, as shown below:
Final 2300-Day Timeline (6.38 years)
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50th Year
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Year 1
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Year 2
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Year 3
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Year 4
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Year 5
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Year 6
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7th
Sabbatical
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120thJubilee
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The Final Seven Years
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Layering a timeline upon the foundation of another timeline may seem strange and pointless, at first. After all, if the final seven-year timeline is already in play, why would Yahweh need to delineate another timeline within it? In Matthew Chapter 24, Yahshua compared the final Time of Trouble to labor pains, which come upon a woman with increasing intensity. Prophetic events like earthquakes, pestilences (diseases), famine and wars were the early birthpains, or the beginning of “sorrows”.
All these are the beginning of sorrows (the birth pains), Matthew 24;8
But just as labor pains start at a lower magnitude, but continue to increase until the point of giving birth, similarly, the Trouble foretold to come in the Last Days will continually uptick from one level to the next. This increase in intensity and pain will continue to rise until the Final 1260 Days, known as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, which will reach an intensity that is unprecedented in its magnitude. This End-Time principle was expressed through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel.
Howl ye; for the Day of Yahweh is at hand. It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth, Isaiah 13:6-8.
For thus saith Yahweh; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that Day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the Time of Jacob's Trouble; but he shall be saved out of it, Jeremiah 30:5-7.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a Time of Trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Book. Daniel 12:1
Considering this, we see that the Final Seven Years of earth’s history will be a troublous time, characterized by deception, false christ’s, wars, pestilences, famines, and earthquakes – described by Yahshua in Matthew 24:3-13. But while this timeline contains troubles, it will not begin at an unprecedented level.
The intensity of trouble upticks with the commencement of the 2300 Day Timeline, however. This Timeline begins with the establishment of the Abomination of Desolation, which Yahshua described in Matthew 24:14-20. The fact that the 2300 Days begins with the Abomination of Desolation is given by the prophet Daniel, as follows:
Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning… the Transgression of Desolation (also known as the Abomination of Desolation), to give both the Sanctuary and the host (God’s people) to be trodden under foot (persecuted)? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the Sanctuary be cleansed, Daniel 8:13-14.
The next increase in painful intensity occurs with the beginning of the final 1260 Day timeline, which layers upon the previous two. And it is during this timeline that the level of trial and trouble reaches an intensity which has never been seen upon this planet before – nor will again.
There are two key events which delineate this timeline and mark its commencement:
1) The Reign of the Beast power, as a demonic entity – Revelation 13:3-5 and Revelation 17:8
2) The Testimony of the ultimate Two Witnesses – Revelation 11:1-12
Once again, we see that the 1260 Day Timeline is layered upon the prior two timelines, as shown in the diagram below. Significantly, the 2300 Day Timeline marks the full rise of final Babylon. Babylon is the ideology and system of false worship, which is at its worst, when all the world wonders after the Beast and worships the dragon (Revelation 17:8, Revelation 13:8-12). Thus, this period is delineated as “The Reign of Babylon” on the diagram below:
THE REIGN OF BABYLON
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Final 1260-Day Timeline (3.5 yrs)
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50th Year
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Final 2300-Day Timeline (6.38 yrs)
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Year 2
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Year 3
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Year 5
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Year 6
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7th
Sabbatical
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120thJubilee
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Beginning of Sorrows
Matt. 24:1-13
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Abomination of Desolation
Matt. 24:14-20
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Reign of the Beast
(from the Abyss)
& Testimony of the Two Witnesses
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But what does all this mean to each of us - personally? Christians have been forewarned that Armageddon is coming. But where does that leave us? What are we supposed to do about it?
Every soldier knows about boot camp. Every enlistee expects to learn how to succeed in battle. In boot camp, each one must learn about weapons and when and how to use each one. To go into battle without learning the skill to win, produces only fear and defeat. That is the sorry scene in the life of most Christians. They seem to have forgotten that we can no longer rest in the pasture under the shadow of our Loving Shepherd. We are, even now, within the battle zone where land mines and sniper fire send us collapsing, wounded and defeated before our Captain.
It is time to learn the weapons and strategies of war! We must now, for the hour is late, and the threat by the enemy is intensifying, --in our homes, in our work stations, in our nation, and in ourselves! Will we continue to allow Satan’s thought-bombs to defeat us?
When we focus on our needs and wants and how to succeed in our own ambitions, we set ourselves up to be easily defeated by the enemy of souls by his surprise attacks and snipper fire. It happens on a daily bases. It is a life and death matter: Eternal Life or eternal death is guaranteed, according to our skill and concentration on the battle plan of our Captain.
Our Captain insures our victory if we listen and obey His Word. But, He will not back us (Jer. 21:4), if we choose our own way and convince ourselves that our part is not essential. After all, He’ll win the war whether we perform as good soldiers or not. That is the message of the false gospel.
Yes, it does matter, and He says of His people, “You are my battle ax and weapons of war, for with you I will break the nations and destroy their kingdoms.” Jeremiah 51:20. But our weapons are not carnal; they are mighty through God (2 Corinthians 10:4. Paul also tells us to put on God’s Armor. It is an Armor of Light, Romans 13:12. It is an Armor of Righteousness, 2 Corinthians 6:7. We must be covered in it (Ephesians 6:11-13) if we would stand, both now, and in the ultimate “evil day.”
1. Let this mind be in you… Eph. 2:5
2. Renew your mind in the Word daily – Romans 12:2; Eph. 4:23
3. Do not dwell upon negative thoughts (Satan’s plants) with memorized Scriptures. Don’t accept His thoughts of guilt, fear, bitterness, unworthiness, i.e., but counter them with the Words of Scripture, as Yahshua did, “It is written…” Lk.4:4.
4. Spirits operate through thoughts. Harboring the negative thought produces a stronghold for the enemy or your soul.
We are not wrestling with flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places, Ephesians 6:12
The rulers of darkness know their battle plan; you must know Yahweh’s, or you’ll lose! So, girding up the loins of your mind (1 Peter 1:13), be serious, sober, and obedient to your Captain.
The battle is over your mind!! With that territory settled, guarded, and committed, you may be trusted as a warrior against the enemy! But, that will never happen until you prove to yourself (in your mind) that you love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, mind, and spirit. This you prove by how much time you spend in the Word! Yahshua is God in the Flesh; the Scriptures contains God in the Word. Remember, the Word Creates what it speaks!!! You are fooling yourself (by Satan’s lies) if you think you can love God without time in His Word. The more time you spend there, the deeper your love will grow. Little time, little love; much time, much love.
When you have repeated victories in these preparations for daily scrimmages, you are ready to go on the offensive in the epic battles, into which God calls you. The more victories, the more power. God will give you only what you will use to secure your stand and reach others. Yahshua told us that when we received that power of the Holy Spirit, we would be empowered to be His witnesses, everywhere (see Acts 1:8). This mighty Work is what Israel’s camp experiences in the Wilderness were all about. They are the prophetic shadow-pictures which help us grasp and better prepare for the Father’s Work, through us, in giving the final Gospel Call and in defeating the kingdom of Babylon. May we all be ready to receive the Seal of the Living God and to advance in Yahweh’s Army, in whatever ways He will call us to serve!
