Much is being made of blood moons and Shemitah with the belief being that something terrible is going to happen this month or next in the way of impending judgment and a shaking of our nation.
As modern day prophet after prophet speak to this, many people have begun stocking up on food water, candles, cash, silver, gold, salt, seeds, guns, ammo and so forth. They expect a catastrophic event that will result in bands of evil thugs roving the streets robbing and pillaging and a return to the rule of the jungle where only the strong survive.
I can’t speak against the veracity of their logic, because mysterious things have happened in the past throughout recorded history when conditions were the same. It all is based upon the Jewish calendar. The old year, which was a year of Sabbath (rest) is ending, and we are getting ready to enter the new year of Jubilee.
The Bible describes this period of time – the Jubilee year – as occurring after seven sets of seven yearly intervals (49 total) are finished. This proclamation of a fiftieth “liberty” year occurs on one of God’s annual feast days known as the Day of Atonement. Because God owns everything, he set up a special, regularly occurring time period where His will is that a man’s possessions are returned to him, slaves were to be set free, and all debt erased.
It is an important period of time to Jesus, in fact He began His public ministry with a quote about the Jubilee from Isaiah 61:1
He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And there was given Him the book of the prophet Isaiah . . . “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for this reason, He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to proclaim pardon to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
It is said that His official ministry began on Wednesday, September 11, 26 A.D. the Day of Atonement, which begins the Jubilee year. (September 11th – Did you notice that?)
So what was the Day of Atonement? It was a day when a price had to be realized for sin. The priest would cast lots to determine which of two goats would symbolize the Lord and which would symbolize the devil. (Casting lots was an ancient method of allowing God to decide something rather than imperfect man.) The goat for the Lord represents Christ taking away our sins.
When the high priest entered the veil of the Holy of Holies the goat’s blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant (representing Christ, on the Sunday after his resurrection, presenting himself to God in heaven).
“Therefore, He has the power throughout all time to save those who come to God through Him, because He is ever living to intercede for them. For it is fitting that we should have such a High Priest Who is holy, blameless, undefiled, set apart from sinners and made higher than the heavens; (Hebrews 7)
So what do you suppose Jesus did with sacrifice? He changed it!
“Now go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)
This feast was always accompanied by a 24 hour of fasting. He changed that too:
‘The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.’ (Isaiah 58:6-7)
All of the Bible including the Old Testament speaks to Jesus from its beginning to its end. Everything is perfect and in order and points towards the ultimate Day of Atonement. Is it a day of fear? It most certainly is a day to be feared for non-Christians because their Day of Atonement is coming fast and furiously and they must pay for their sins alone. But not so for Christians, to us it should be a day of joy and celebration for Jesus Christ atoned for our sins and forgave us allowing us to escape that dark day.
Too bad more people don’t study the Bible whereby they can gain a true perspective of God’s love for us even when it comes to that dreaded Day of Atonement.
Romans 5:11
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
September 15, 2015 – Click here to listen