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America's Time of Jacob's Trouble--Part 1

As I explained earlier in my weblog regarding time and measures, the number 21 and 210 are associated with "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7). Jacob had two times of "trouble" (distress), each 21 years in length. His life established patterns that his descendants, the House of Israel, would have to live out in later years. But normally, when a nation fulfills the pattern of an earlier individual, the time cycle is increased by multiples of years. In this case, Jacob's 21-year cycles became 210-year cycles when applied nationally.

Then, as I mentioned also, there was still another long-term fulfillment of this time of trouble when the House of Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians, beginning in 745 B.C. It was 12 x 210 years, or 2,520 years, and this number forms the basic prophetic link between biblical history and modern events, beginning in 1776 with the founding of America.

745 B.C. + 2,520 years = 1776 A.D.

(Keep in mind that if you figure out the math for yourself, you have to add a year because there was no year zero. It went directly from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D. Thus, 2,520 minus 745 equals 1775, but with the added year, it is 1776.)

Israel's deportations began in 745 B.C., as the Assyrians took the Israel's land on the East side of the Jordan River. It took a full 24 years for them to finish their conquest, and so they took Samaria 24 years later in 721 B.C. after a siege of 3 years.

If we use 721 B.C. as a secondary beginning point, and add 2,520 years to the fall of Israel's capital city, we come to the year 1800, the year that America's capital was built (Washington D.C.).

I showed in my book, The Prophetic History of the United States, that Judah's history is also prophetic of modern events. Judah was captured and deported by the Babylonians a century after Israel had been taken by Assyria. So we find that Jerusalem was captured in 604 B.C., and 2,520 years later, Jerusalem was taken by British general Allenby in 1917 toward the end of World War 1.

In those days, prophetic teachers who saw these connections presumed that this would be the end of the 2,520-year cycles. However, as history has unfolded, we saw a new Babylonian captivity emerge in our day. In 612 B.C. Babylon conquered Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, and conquered that empire over a period of five years, completing the conquest in 607 B.C.  Looking 2,520 years later, we arrive at the dates of 1909-1914.

In 1909 the Corporate Income Tax Act of 1909 was passed, in which corporations began to be taxed, based upon their income. It was the model on which the 16th Amendment came into being later. The congressional bill thus became incorporated more firmly as a Constitutional Amendment, deciding that corporations were creatures of the state functioning under government privilege, and they were therefore subject to taxation.

But this bill in 1909 set the stage not only for the 16th Amendment, but also the Federal Reserve Act that President Wilson signed in 1914. The bill was important as a tribute-collector for the New Babylonian Empire. Thus, this five-year period (1909-1914) is important, especially when viewed as endpoints of the 2,520-year cycles from 612-607 B.C. In other words, these are the years in which the new Babylon was given power over America and, through it, the world.

Without understanding the 2,520-year cycle, and without having some knowledge of biblical history, it is hardly possible to understand modern history and the divine judgment, purpose, and plan.

The good news is that the 2,520-year cycles did not end with the establishment of Mystery Babylon. It appears to continue through the captivity and into the building of the Second Temple in the days of Ezra, Haggai, and Malachi. The foundation of the Second Temple was laid when the small band returned to Jerusalem in 534 B.C. and laid the foundation stone for this new Temple.

The local opposition from the Samaritans stopped the work for some years, but then in 521 the work resumed, and they finished the Temple on March 15, 515 B.C. These dates are all important to us today.

534 B.C. + 2,520 years = 1987 A.D.

521 B.C. + 2,520 years = 2001 A.D.

515 B.C. + 2,520 years = 2006 A.D.

The revelation we received in 2006 is that God's New Temple (people) was completed in 2006, and that we are now in the time of preparing the VESSELS of the Temple. The vessels prophetically speak of ministries or callings. How long this will take is not yet clear, but we suspect it is a 3-year period, or perhaps 3-1/2 years (1,260 days). It is hard to know if God has a specific date in mind, but it is possible. For this reason, we should watch two future dates:

March 15, 2009 (3 years from March 15, 2006)

August 26, 2009 (1,260 days from March 15, 2006)

Whatever happens, it appears that the year 2009 could be another major year in the development of the Kingdom of God and its new Temple. It may be, of course, that the Israelis will attempt to duplicate this prophecy by building a physical temple in the Old Jerusalem. Many Christians believe this will happen, though, if they do, it will not be glorified with the divine presence.

Solomon's temple was glorified (1 Kings 8:10), but even the Second Temple did not see the glory of the Lord, because Jeremiah had prophesied that God would forsake that place "as Shiloh" (Jer. 7:12-14). When God's presence left Shiloh in the days of Eli, He never returned, but moved to Jerusalem instead. But because of the sin in Jerusalem, God left that place "as Shiloh," which means that His glory will never again return to fill a temple in that location. This came about when God labeled that temple "a den of robbers" (Jer. 7:11).

Ezekiel saw the glory depart from Jerusalem (Ez. 10:4, 18; 11:23).

If any temple could have been glorified after the divine presence left Jerusalem, it would have been the Second Temple, for it was built according to the instructions of the Lord, as witnessed by the prophet Haggai. But it turned out to be a mere type of a greater Temple that God intended to inhabit--the temple of our bodies. In building a structure in Jerusalem, the people in 515 B.C. could not abolish Jeremiah's prophecy or the judgment of God upon that place. The best they could do was build a center of worship, because God would never again dwell in houses made of wood and stone.

This is why today we do not look for a physical temple in Jerusalem. If they succeed in building such a structure, it will not be glorified by the divine presence. Jesus will not live there for a thousand years. He has already gotten a taste of living in a living Temple made of living stones, and He does not plan to go back to the slums of dead physical structures.

So we are today living in a time when we ought to be preparing our hearts for the work of the ministry that is about to begin. Know your calling, and prepare your heart. Allow God to sand you down as a living stone in this corporate Temple. Be a vessel in God's Temple that is fit for divine use in the Tabernacles Age to come. While most of the Church seeks for an escape by means of a "rapture," we look for Him to glorify His New Temple that will begin the greater work of the manifested sons of God. As Birthright holders, they are called to fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6).