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Measuring time by Sabbaths, part 1

The first mention of time in Scripture is found in Genesis 1:14,

¹⁴ Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.”

Man did not invent the idea of using the lights in the heavens to measure time in terms of “days and years.” God did this and gave this knowledge and instruction to Adam.

Sabbaths

The six days of creation, followed by the day God rested on the seventh day also set forth the basic pattern of time measurements in long-term chronology and in prophecy. Genesis 2:2, 3 says,

² By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested [shabat, “ceased, rested”] on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested [shabat, “ceased, rested”] from all His work which God had created and made.

By blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, God put His seal of approval upon this manner of time measurement. There are three main levels of rest that unfolded in the years to come: the seventh day, the seventh year, and the Jubilee, which came after a full cycle of seven sevens.

The Jubilee trumpet was to be blown after 49 years had passed. It was blown ten days into the 50^th year, later known as the Day of Atonement. The Jubilee Year extended until the start of the next new year on the day marked by the blowing of Trumpets. This same year also served as the first year of the next cycle of sevens in order to provide a continuity of sevens in measuring time.

Hence, while a Jubilee cycle is 50 years, ten Jubilees is not 500 years, but 490 (plus the ten days leading to the Day of Atonement). This is seen clearly in Daniel’s seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24), which is a period of seventy weeks of years—that is, 490 years. It is also ten Jubilees.

Entering God’s Rest

From a prophetic standpoint, these three Sabbaths show us the path by which we may enter God’s rest. These overlay upon the three main feasts that God instituted during the time of Moses: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. These three feasts also present three levels of faith in our progressive relationship with God. The Israelites all had a Passover-level of faith, by which they came out of Egypt, but their level of faith was meant to increase during their journey.

So also is it with us today. As we progress on our journey to the Promised Land (i.e., to receive the promises of God), we enter our first level of rest when we leave Egypt (so to speak) at Passover. Just because we were justified by faith in the Lamb of God does not mean that such faith will get us into the Promised Land. We should not be satisfied with our justification by faith, as if Passover were the only feast to be kept. We must also experience Pentecost in order to hear His voice and respond in obedience. This involves an increase in faith as well as a higher level of rest.

We enter the second level of rest if we ascend the mount to receive the Holy Spirit. The Israelites under Moses failed to do this (Exodus 20:18, 19, 20), but years later, the 120 disciples went to the upper room in Jerusalem (Acts 1:13) to await the coming of the Spirit. Acts 1:12 reminds us that from the place of Christ’s ascension on the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, where the upper room was located, was “a Sabbath day’s journey.” These disciples were the first to experience the second level of rest when the day of Pentecost arrived (Acts 2:1, 2).

The third level of rest is the Jubilee, which God called “My rest.” (Hebrews 4:3, 5). The Israelites under Moses failed to enter God’s rest, when they had opportunity to do so at Kadesh-barnea. Having failed to enter a Pentecostal level of faith at Mount Sinai, they were unprepared to enter God’s rest with a Tabernacles level of faith. So it was a foregone conclusion that their Passover level of faith would be too weak to overcome fear of the giants (Numbers 14:1-3).

This disqualified them from experiencing the third level of rest. Hebrews 3:19 says,

¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief [i.e., lack of faith].

Hebrews 4:2, 3 says,

² For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. ³ For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said [in Psalm 95:11], “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

The author of Hebrews had already experienced God’s rest on a second level (Pentecost), and he assumed that other believers had achieved this as well. He then spoke of a third level of rest in Hebrews 4:8, 9,

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. ⁹ So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

When Hebrews was written in the first century, the author was not so concerned with three levels of faith. He was still reveling in the second level of faith, derived from Pentecost. So his main point was to show that the Israelites under Moses had not entered God’s rest, even though they were “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV) that had been redeemed from Egypt through the feast of Passover.

His main point was to show that God’s rest had remained unfulfilled. Whether or not he considered Pentecost to be the fulfillment of God’s rest is unclear. Yet it is clear that this particular “Sabbath rest for the people of God” was associated with Israel’s entry into the Promised Land. This is complicated, however, by the fact that they entered under Joshua at the time of Passover, not Tabernacles. Hence, they did not receive the glorification of the body, which is the promise of Tabernacles. Joshua was unable to give them this true rest.

So we can say that even after Pentecost was fulfilled in Acts 2, there yet remains a Sabbath rest to be fulfilled at the time of the second coming of Christ. This will occur when the Autumn feasts are fulfilled: Trumpets, Jubilee, and Tabernacles.

Only when we experience that third level of rest will we truly be able to say that we have entered God’s rest. It is not enough to keep a Sabbath day, nor even a Sabbath year. We must have the revelation of the Jubilee and of the feast of Tabernacles. For a fuller study of this, see my book, The Rapture in the light of Tabernacles.

Sabbath Years

For purpose of measuring time in long-term chronology and prophecy, it is not necessary to study or account for Sabbath days. While there may be personal prophecies that are fulfilled in the short term, chronology is measured in years, not days. Having said that, most of us are aware that even personal promises and prophecies can take many years to fulfill.

So our main attention must focus upon time that is expressed in Sabbath years and Jubilees. The Israelites were supposed to enter the Promised Land in the 50^th Jubilee from Adam. If their faith had been strong enough to overcome fear at Kadesh-barnea, they would have blown the Jubilee trumpet on the 50^th Jubilee from Adam, and five days later, on the feast of Tabernacles, they would have entered Canaan from the south

This did not happen, of course, so they had to remain in the wilderness another 38 years (Deuteronomy 2:14). They finally crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan from the east—at the time of Passover (Joshua 5:10), for they still remained on a Passover level of faith and rest.

When they crossed the Jordan, the event was significant enough to be the beginning of Year One on their calendar. In other words, this was when they began counting years toward their first rest year, when they received the tribal land inheritances. So we read in Leviticus 25:2-4,

² Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, “When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. ³ Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyards and gather in its crop, ⁴ but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.”

While the Israelites remained in the wilderness, land rests did not apply to them, because they did not sow crops. They lived on daily manna and meat from their herds. But once they entered the land, they became liable for keeping rest years and Jubilees.

After 42 years in the land (six rest years), their adoption of the Canaanite ways caused them to enter their first captivity to the king of Mesopotamia (old name for Babylon). See the chart in the back of Secrets of Time. This captivity lasted eight years (Judges 3:8), when God raised up the first Judge (Othniel) to deliver them (Judges 3:9) in their first year of Jubilee in the land.