[B173]
STUDY VI
EARTH'S GREAT JUBILEE
"The Times of Restitution of All Things" Foretold by Moses--The Date
of Their Beginning Indicated--They Cannot Begin Until the Great Restorer
Has Come--Evidence from the Law--Corroborative Testimony
from the Prophets--Logical Conclusions Drawn from these as Separately
and Unitedly Considered--Harmony of Present Indications.
"VERILY I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be
fulfilled." Matt. 5:18
It is only when we recognize the typical character of
God's dealings with Israel that we can rightly appreciate
the wonderful history of that people, or understand why
their history, in preference to that of all other nations, is so
particularly recorded by the Prophets and the New Testament
writers. In them, as the New Testament writers show,
God has given striking illustrations of his plans, both for the
Church and for the world. Their Tabernacle service, so
minutely prescribed in the divinely given Law, with its
bleeding beasts and all its peculiar appointments, their festivals
and holy days, their Sabbaths, and all their ceremonies,
as types pointed forward to antitypes, larger, higher
and grander far than those shadows. And the Apostle Paul
assures us that those antitypes will be laden with blessings
for mankind, when he says that the Law foreshadowed
"GOOD THINGS to come" (Heb. 10:1; 8:5; Col. 2:17); while our
Lord, in the above expression, assures us that all the good
things foreshadowed are sure of fulfilment.
However, in considering types, we should carefully avoid
the error of many well-meaning people, who, when they begin
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to see that there are significant types in the Scriptures
run to the extreme of treating every Bible character and incident
as typical, and are thus led into error by mere curiosity
and ingenuity. On no such unsafe ground do we build
when examining the ceremonies of the Jewish Law, given
specially as types and declared by the apostles to be such.
Nor can we afford to let these types pass without due consideration
and careful study of the lessons they teach, any
more than we can afford to spend time in speculating, and
in building faith upon mere conjecture.
When our Lord said that not one jot or tittle of the Law
should pass away until fulfilled, he referred not only to the
fulfilling of its covenant obligations for all under that Law
Covenant, finishing its hold upon them, by meeting its demands
against them in full with his own life, but he meant
more than this: He meant, further, that all the blessings expressed
in it typically would also be sure of fulfilment upon
an antitypical scale. In all the Jewish ceremonies, God
caused no type to be made which will prove meaningless, or
pass unfulfilled; and the observance of all types was kept up
until their fulfilment at least began. All types must be continually
repeated until their antitypes appear; for the keeping
of a type is not the fulfilling of it. The fulfilling is reached
where the type ceases, being displaced by the reality, the
antitype.
Thus, for instance, the slaying of the paschal lamb was
fulfilled in the death of Christ, the "Lamb of God," and
there began the special blessing upon the antitypical firstborn,
the believers of the Gospel age. The blessing, foreshadowed
in that type, is not yet completely fulfilled,
though the fulfilment began with the death of Christ, our
Passover Lamb. In like manner, every ceremony prescribed
in the Law proves to be full of typical significance. And the
particularity with which the observance of every detail of
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the types was enforced throughout the Jewish age gives emphasis
to our Lord's words quoted above--that every minute
particular, every jot and tittle, must be as particularly
fulfilled as it was carefully enforced in the ceremonies of
the Law.
In this chapter we propose to examine that typical feature
of the Mosaic Law known as the Jubilee, and to show
that it was intended to foreshadow the great Restitution,
the recovery of mankind from the fall, to be accomplished
in the Millennial age; that in its character it was an illustration
of the coming Restitution; and that in the manner of
its reckoning it furnishes time regulations which, when understood
and applied, indicate clearly the time for the beginning
of the antitype, the "Restitution of all things." Acts 3:19-21
Since the Jubilee was a part of the Law, and since repeating
does not fulfil it, and since our Lord declared that the
type could not pass away without fulfilment; and moreover,
since we know that no such restitution of all things as
that foretold "by all the holy prophets since the world began,"
and prefigured in this type, has ever yet occurred, we
know that it must be fulfilled in the future.
Israel's Jubilee Year
The year of Jubilee was a Sabbath of rest and refreshing,
both to the people and to the land which God gave them. It
was the chief of a series of Sabbaths or rests.* They had a
Sabbath day every seventh day; and once every year these
typical Sabbath days reached a climax--i.e., a cycle of
seven of these Sabbaths, thus marking a period of forty-nine
days (7 x 7 = 49), was followed by a Jubilee day, the fiftieth
day (Lev. 23:15,16), known among the Jews as Pentecost.
It was a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving.
*The word "Sabbath," signifies rest.
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The Sabbath year occurred every seventh year. In it the
land was allowed to rest and no crops were to be planted. A
climax of these Sabbath (rest) years was reached in the
same manner as the Pentecost or fiftieth day-Sabbath.
Seven of the Sabbath years, embracing a period of seven
times seven years, or forty-nine years (7 x 7 = 49), constituted
a cycle of Sabbath years; and the year following, the
FIFTIETH YEAR, WAS THE YEAR OF JUBILEE.
Let us examine the account of it and mark its fitness as an
illustration of the great millennium of restitution.
When Israel came into Canaan, the land was divided
among them by lot, according to their tribes and families.
Success thereafter might increase, or adversity decrease,
their individual possessions, as the case might be. If a man
became involved in debt, he might be obliged to sell a part
or even all of his property, and with his family go into servitude.
But God made a bountiful provision for the unfortunate:
He arranged that such adverse circumstances might
not continue forever, but that all their accounts--credits
and debts--must be reckoned only to the Jubilee Year,
when all must be freed from old encumbrances, etc., to
make a fresh start for the next term of fifty years.*
*A somewhat similar arrangement under a Bankrupt Law has been found
expedient in our day and land, thus endorsing the principle then enunciated.
Nor does it follow, that a cancellation of debt every fifty years, and
the Jewish form, would serve us better than the methods of today; for in
their case, the time, circumstances, etc., were not specially for
themselves,
their convenience, and their circumstances, but specially as prophetic
figures and lessons relating to God's plan in its future development.
Thus every fiftieth year, counting from the time of their
entrance into Canaan, was to Israel a year of Jubilee, a time
of rejoicing and restitution, in which broken families were
reunited and lost homesteads were restored. No wonder
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that it was called a Jubilee. If property had been sold for
debt, it was to be considered merely as a grant of such property
until the Jubilee year; and the price it would bring if
sold depended on whether the coming Jubilee was near or
far distant.
The account of this observance is found in Leviticus 25.
Verses 10 to 15read thus: "Ye shall hallow the fiftieth
year,
and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the
inhabitants thereof. It is a Jubilee unto you, and ye shall
return every man unto his possession and ye shall return every
man unto his family....And if thou sell aught to thy
neighbor, or buyest aught of thy neighbor's hand, ye shall
not oppress one another. According to the number of years
after the Jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according
unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell
unto thee. According to the multitude of the years thou
shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness
of the years thou shalt diminish the price of it."
This arrangement provided by God through their leader
and typical mediator, Moses, though itself a blessed boon,
foreshadowed a still greater blessing which God had in view
--the release of all mankind from the debt of sin and its
bondage and servitude, through Christ our Lord, the
greater Mediator and Deliverer, whom Moses typified.
(Deut. 18:15) It was thus, in types, that Moses wrote of
Christ and the blessings to come through him (John 5:46; 1:45)
--the Great Restitution and Jubilee to come to all the
race, now groaning under the bondage of corruption and
slavery to Sin.
If the shadow brought happiness and joy to the typical
people, the substance, the real restitution, will cause boundless
joy and will indeed be a grand Jubilee to all people--all
the world, including Israel, being typified by that people,
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even as their priesthood represented the Church, the "royal
priesthood." Even if we were not definitely informed, what
would be more reasonable than to surmise that the same infinite
love which provided for the temporary welfare of Israel,
a "stiff-necked generation," would much more make
provision for the lasting welfare of the whole world, which
God so loved as to redeem while yet sinners? And here it
may be well to note what will be more fully shown hereafter,
that while in one aspect the Israelites were typical of
the believers of the Gospel age, in another they represented
all who, in any age, shall believe God and accept his leading.
And in this character we are now viewing them. Their
covenant, sealed with the blood of bulls and goats, was typical
of the New Covenant, sealed with the precious blood of
Christ, under which the reconciling of the world shall be effected
in the next age. Their day of atonement and its sin-offerings,
though in type to that people, and for their sins
only, typified the "better sacrifices" and the actual atonement
"for the sins of the whole world." But note that the Jubilee
applied not to Israel's priesthood (typical of the Gospel
Church), but to the others only; for the priesthood was given
no possessions, and hence could neither lose any nor have
any restored. The Jubilee was for all the people except the
priestly tribe, and hence typifies, not those blessings which
are to come to the Church, the "Royal Priesthood," but the
restitution blessings--earthly blessings--in due time to come
to all those who become believers in and followers of God.
The teaching of this type is in perfect accord with what
we have learned in our examination of the divine Plan of
the Ages. It points unmistakably to "The Times of Restitution
of all things, spoken by the mouth of all the holy
prophets since the world began." Moses was one of the
prophets; and here particularly he speaks to us of the coming
restitution of man's first estate and liberty, long lost,
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sold under sin. By the failure of our first parents all was lost:
all rights were forfeited, and all became slaves to the tyrant
Sin and were unable to free themselves. The family circle
has been sadly broken by the bondage of corruption--
death. Thank God for the promised time of release! The Jubilee
is at hand, and soon the captives of Death and slaves
of Sin shall have back their first estate, perfect manhood,
and their first inheritance, the earth--the gift of God
through Jesus Christ, the mediator and ratifier of the New
Covenant.
While in the typical Jubilee Year many restored liberties
and blessings were at once entered upon, yet probably most
of the year was required to straighten out affairs and get
each one fully installed again in all his former liberties,
rights and possessions. So, too, with the antitype, the Millennial
age of Restitution. It will open with sweeping reforms,
with the recognition of rights, liberties and
possessions long lost sight of; but the work of completely restoring
(to the obedient) all that was originally lost will require
all of that age of restitution--a thousand years.
It is certain that no antitype of the Jubilee answering to
the features of this type has yet occurred; and, on the
strength of our Lord's assertion, we are equally sure that the
type could not pass away unfulfilled: "It is easier for heaven
and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the Law to fail."
(Luke 16:17) But, apparently, this feature of the Law has
failed. As a matter of fact, the type, which was observed
regularly every fiftieth year as long as the Israelites were in
their own land, has not been observed since their captivity
in Babylon. Apparently, therefore, this feature of the Law did
"pass away" without even beginning a fulfilment. What shall
we answer in the face of this apparent contradiction of the
Lord's statement? But is it really so? or can any antitype of
the Jubilee be found, beginning where the last observance
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of the typical Jubilee ended? Yes, we answer; a clearly defined
antitype had its beginning at that exact point, and on
a larger and grander scale, as antitypes always are. We see,
by actual fulfilment, that the cycles, as well as the Jubilee
Years in which they culminated, were included in the type;
and that the same method by which the typical Jubilee was
pointed out (by multiplying) was to be observed in calculating
the time for the antitype--Earth's Great Jubilee.
When the last typical Jubilee had been observed and had
passed away, the great cycle began to count, the close of which
will usher in the antitypical Jubilee or Restitution age.
We have already referred to the method of counting the
Sabbaths--that the multiplying of the Sabbath or seventh
day by seven (7 x 7 = 49) pointed out Pentecost, the Jubilee
Day which followed; and the multiplying of the seventh
year by seven (7 x 7 = 49) made the cycle which pointed
out and led to the fiftieth or Jubilee Year. And the same system
carried out would indicate that to reach the great antitype
which we seek we should in like manner square the
Jubilee--i.e., multiply the fiftieth year by fifty. That is to
say, the antitypical cycle, by the method of multiplying
here taught us, should be reckoned by multiplying the typical
Jubilee or fiftieth Sabbath year by fifty, just as in reaching
it we multiplied the seventh year Sabbath by seven.
Lev. 25:2-13
Following this divinely indicated method of reckoning,
wonderful results open before us, which assure us that we
have the correct key and are using it as was intended by
him who formed this treasure-casket. Fifty times fifty years
gives the long period of twenty-five hundred years (50 x
50 = 2500), as the length of that great cycle, which began to
count when Israel's last typical Jubilee ended, and which
must culminate in the great antitypical Jubilee. We know
that such a cycle must have begun to count where the type
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ceased; because, if not one jot or tittle of the Law could pass
away without a fulfilment at least commencing, then the
Jubilee type, which was far more than a jot or tittle, indeed
a large and important feature of the Law, would not have
been permitted to pass away until the right time for its antitype
to begin. That the antitype of the Jubilee did not in
any sense begin when the Israelites ceased to observe it, is
evident; hence that a grand cycle began to count then, we
may be certain. The new, long cycle began there, though
Israel and all the world are ignorant both of the fact that a
great cycle has been counting and also of the great antitypical
Jubilee by which it will be terminated. We are not to
look for the great Jubilee of Jubilees to begin after this cycle,
but as the antitype to take the place of the fiftieth or last
Jubilee of the cycle. An antitype never follows its type but
takes its place upon the same date. Hence the 2500th year,
which would be the great 50th Jubilee, must be the antitype,
the real Jubilee or Restitution. But instead of being a
year, as in the type, it will be larger; it will be the beginning
of the great thousand-year Jubilee--the Millennium. Just
so it has been in the fulfilment of every type in which time
was a feature. Thus the Pentecostal outpouring of the holy
Spirit came upon the typical day of Pentecost--or fiftieth
day. Christ, our Passover sacrifice, died in the same night in
which the typical lamb was appointed to be killed--a day
before or a day after would not answer. So here, not the
year after nor the year before the 2500th, or closing of
the typical cycle, would do; but that very year, beginning
October, 1874, must have begun the antitype of Restitution
times.
The observance of the type could not cease until the
great cycle (50 x 50) began to count. The important point
to be ascertained, then, is the exact date when the last typical
Jubilee was observed by Israel. With that date definitely established,
[B182]
it becomes a very simple matter to count the
great cycle of fifty times fifty or twenty-five hundred years,
and thus locate definitely the date of the beginning of the
great Jubilee of Earth--the "Times of Restitution of all
things."
But we must look for the beginnings only of this stupendous
work of restoring all things. The first few days in
the typical Jubilee Year would see comparatively little accomplished;
and so we must expect in the first few years in
the dawning of the great Millennial Jubilee to see but little
accomplished. The first work in the typical Jubilee Year
would naturally be a searching out of former rights and
possessions and the ascertaining of present lacks. Tracing
the parallel of this, we should expect in the antitype just
what we now see going on all about us; for, as will shortly
be shown, we have already entered upon the great antitypical
Jubilee period, and have been in it since October,
A.D. 1874. What do we see about us? We see investigation
on the part of the people of their original, God-given inheritance,
and their present lacks, rights, etc., many in ignorance
and selfishness claiming what others have; and the
attempt to hold on to as much as possible on the part of
those who have possession--causing disputes, controversies,
strikes and lock-outs, with more or less justice and injustice
on both sides, which must finally be left to Christ's adjudication,
as disputes under the Law were settled by Moses,
and after his death by those who sat in Moses' seat. (Matt. 23:2)
With these fixed conclusions and expectations, let us
seek the date which God evidently hid for us in this type,
"that we might know the things freely given unto us of
God," now due to be understood.
We have no direct Bible record of Israel's observance of
their typical Jubilees which would show which was the last
one observed. We fix upon the date for the Jubilee immediately
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preceding the Babylonian captivity and seventy years
desolation of their land, as the last one, for two reasons:
First, It could not have been this side of that desolation, because
there, surely, the type ceased, "passed away"; for the
land being desolate seventy years and the people in captivity
in a foreign land, a Jubilee must have been due somewhere
in the midst of those seventy years and must have gone
unobserved. A glance is sufficient to show that the commands
and provisions relative to the Jubilee Year could not be
complied with while they as a nation were in captivity and
the land was desolate. Hence we say the type either passed
away then, or before that interruption: it could not be this
side of it. And whenever the observance of the type ceased,
the cycle of the great antitype must have begun to count.
One such failure to observe the type would indicate that the
type had ceased and that the cycle leading to the antitype had
begun. Besides, never since the Babylonian captivity has Israel
had full control of the land: they and their land have
ever since been subject to Gentile dominion.
Secondly, In every captivity previous to that one, God
evidently delivered them from their enemies in time to get
back into their own land to celebrate the Jubilee Year, and
thus to perpetuate it as a type until the right time for the
great (50 x 50) cycle to begin counting; for their previous
captivities, though frequent, it seems never lasted longer
than forty years, thus permitting them, according to the Jubilee
arrangement, to go free and to receive back every man
his inheritance every Jubilee Year. Besides, when we shall
shortly show that, reckoned from the beginning of the seventy
years desolation under Babylon, the great cycle ends
with the year A.D. 1875, it will be manifest to all that it
could not have commenced at an earlier date, prior to that
Babylonian captivity; for if we place it even one Jubilee
earlier, it would locate the termination of the cycle fifty
[B184]
years earlier than A.D. 1875, namely A.D. 1825; and surely
no Jubilee age of restitution began with that year.
Satisfied thus that the last typical Jubilee, from which
the great (50 x 50) cycle counts, was not earlier, and could not
be since the captivity in Babylon, and hence that the one immediately
preceding that captivity was the last typical Jubilee
Year, and that at its close the great, silent cycle began
to count, we proceed to locate the exact time of that last
typical Jubilee, thus:
The system of year Sabbaths being identified with their
land, Canaan, and their inheritance in it, the first cycle of
forty-nine years, leading to the first Jubilee, should begin to
count from the time they entered Canaan. This reasonable
inference is made positive by the Lord's words--"When ye
come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a
Sabbath [observe the Sabbath system] unto the Lord: Six
years shalt thou sow thy field, and six years shalt thou
prune thy vineyard and gather in the fruit thereof; but in
the seventh year [from entering the land] shall be a Sabbath
of rest unto the land." So, then, the cycle of seven
times seven, or forty-nine years (7 x 7 = 49), began to count
at once, and the fiftieth year after entering Canaan was the
first typical Jubilee.*
*Some have suggested that as there were six years consumed in war before
the division of the land was finished, therefore the counting of the Jubilee
cycles did not begin until then. But no, the land was entered upon when
they crossed over Jordan, and the command reads, "When ye come into
the land," and not, When ye have divided the land. It was divided parcel
by parcel during the six years, but they did not get possession of all of
it
during those years, nor for an indefinite time afterward--until the
enemies were driven out, which in some cases was never done. (See
Joshua 18:2,3; 17:12,13; 23:4,7,13,15.) Hence, had they waited
for full
possession before beginning to count the cycles, they would never have
begun.
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It will be seen, by reference to the table of Chronology,
that 969 years elapsed between the entering of Canaan and
the seventy years desolation.
To the division of the land........................ 6 years
Period of the Judges...............................450 "
Period of the Kings................................513 "
---
Total....................................969 years
We may know how many Jubilees they had observed up
to that time by dividing 969 years by 50. There are 19 fifties
in 969, showing that number of Jubilees, and the remaining
19 years show that their nineteenth, which was the last of
the typical Jubilees, occurred just nineteen years before the
beginning of the seventy years of desolation of the land
while they were in captivity in Babylon, and nine hundred
and fifty years after entering Canaan.
There, then, just nineteen years before the "seventy
years desolation" of their land, at the close of their last
Jubilee--the nineteenth--the great cycle of 2500 years
(50 x 50 = 2500) began to count; and it becomes a very simple
matter to reckon where those 2500 years terminated, and
consequently where the twenty-five hundredth year, the
beginning of the great antitypical Jubilee, began. Thus:
From the last or nineteenth Jubilee to the
beginning of the desolation of the land......... 19 years
Period of the desolation.......................... 70 "
From the restoration of Israel by Cyrus, to
the date known as A.D. (Anno Domini--
the year of our Lord)........................... 536 "
----
Hence, from their last Jubilee to A.D. 1.......... 625 "
The number of years since A.D. 1, necessary
to complete the cycle of 2500 years.............1875 "
----
From the last observed Jubilee--Total.............2500 years
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CHRONOLOGICAL
TABLE
see page 184
--------
Jubilee type dates from entering
Canaan:
To the division of
the land............... 6 yrs.
Period of Judges......... 450 "
Period of Kings.......... 513 "
---
To the desolation........ 969 "
19 Jubilees.............= 950 "
---
Remainder:............. 19 yrs.
======================
From last Jubilee to
the desolation......... 19 yrs.
Period of desolation,
and captivity of
all in Babylon....... 70 "
From Restoration
to their land by
Cyrus, to A.D. 1....... 536 "
From year A.D. 1 to
A.D. 1875 (Jewish
time, beginning
Oct. 1874).............1874 "
----
2499 yrs.
---------
Thus, the year which began
October 1874 was the
2500th year, but since the
antitype is larger than the
type--1000 years instead of
one year--1875 (beginning
Oct. 1874), instead of being
a Jubilee year was the first
of the 1000 years of Jubilee.
THE JUBILEE AS A TYPE IN THE LAW
19 x 50 = 950 years
Typical Cycles and Jubilees,
nineteen,
Continued until the Great Cycle was
DUE TO BEGIN TO COUNT
ONE GRAND CYCLE
culminating in
The Great Antitype--Earth's Jubilee
50 x 50 = 2500 years
Where the Typical Ceased, the Grand Cycle Began
silently to count
its Fifty Times Fifty Years to the Great Antitype, the
JUBILEE OF EARTH--THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS
Jubilee
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Thus we find that the twenty-five hundredth year began with
the beginning of the year A.D. 1875, which in Jewish civil
time, by which this is reckoned (Lev. 25:9), began about
October 1874. So, then, if the great Jubilee were to be only
a year, like its type, it would have commenced October,
A.D. 1874, at the end of 2499 years, and would have ended
October, A.D. 1875. But this is not the type, but the reality:
it was not a Jubilee Year, but the antitypical Thousand years
of Restitution of all things, which commenced October,
A.D. 1874.
Thus we see that not only did Israel's Jubilee clearly and
forcibly prefigure the great "TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL
THINGS which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy
prophets since the world began," but that also the manner
of its reckoning just as clearly indicates the date of the beginning
of Earth's Great Jubilee. If we fail to accept these
conclusions, we see no other alternative than that this type
passed away without fulfilment, notwithstanding the most
positive assertions of our Lord that it could not--that it
would be easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one
jot or tittle of the Law to pass away without reaching a fulfilment.
(Matt. 5:18) We accept the facts thus divinely indicated,
however astounding the conclusions which we
must reasonably draw therefrom.
But what are the reasonable conclusions from these Bible
teachings? Let us consider what must follow, from the
standpoint of reason, and then see if any other scriptures
will either warrant or contradict those conclusions. First,
we infer that when the "Times of Restitution" are due to
begin, the presence of the GREAT RESTORER is also due.
This would be a very reasonable inference, but it
amounts to much more than inference when it is endorsed
by the Apostle's positive inspired statement, that "When
the [appointed] times of refreshing shall come from the
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presence* of the Lord [Jehovah],...he shall send Jesus
Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the
heaven must retain until THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL
THINGS, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his
holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:19-21
*The word here rendered presence is not parousia, but
prosopon; and apo
prosopon, rendered from the presence, does not signify as a
result of
presence, but rather out from the face of. The thought is common
to us,
and was much more common in eastern countries long ago: To show the face was a
mark of favor, while to turn the back was a mark of disfavor. Thus of our
Lord at his first advent it was written, "We hid as it were our faces from
him." i.e., we were ashamed of and would not acknowledge him. Thus,
too, Jehovah "would not look upon sin," and hid his face from sinners.
Now, however, since the ransom has been given, Jehovah waits to be
gracious, until the appointed time. Then he will no longer disregard men
and treat them as sinners, turning his back upon them, but will send
them refreshment from his face, his favor, and will send Jesus, his agent
in the restitution of all things. We have the same thought in our hymns:
"Show thy reconciled face"; and "Show thy face and all is
bright."
On the strength of this inspired statement alone, we have
clear evidence of the fact that our Lord's second advent was
due when the Times of Restitution were due to begin, viz., in
October, A.D. 1874, as marked by the Jubilee arrangement.
It seems evident, indeed, that the Jubilee, like all
other things of that dispensation, was arranged "for our admonition
[our instruction] upon whom the ends of the ages
are come." (1 Cor. 10:11) One thing seems clear--if they do
not profit us, they have been thus far almost profitless; for
the Scriptures inform us that the Jews never fully and properly
observed the type, even during the first nineteen Jubilees.
(Lev. 26:35) They no doubt found it almost
impossible to restrain their love of wealth. It, like all
prophecies and types, was no doubt arranged to cast light
when and where needed on the path of the just--to guide
the "feet" of the body of Christ.
[B189]
Now call to mind what was shown in the preceding chapter
concerning the manner of our Lord's return and appearing,
lest you stumble here because of erroneous ideas on
that point. Remember, that "As the days of Noah were, so
shall also the presence [Greek, parousia] of the Son of man be;
for as in the days that were before the flood they...knew
not,...so shall also the presence of the Son of man be."
(Matt. 24:37-39) Remember, also, what we have already
gathered from the inspired teaching--that only those faithfully
watching unto the sure word of prophecy, and loving
and looking for his appearing, will be able to discern his
presence, until he makes it manifest to the world "in flaming
fire, taking vengeance"--in the great time of trouble.
The fact, then, that his presence is not known and generally
recognized by the world, or even among Christians, is no
argument against this truth. The world has no faith in
prophecy, and of course cannot see anything in its light.
And lukewarm Christians (and such are the large majority)
are paying no attention to the "sure word of prophecy";
and many who profess to be watching are reading the
prophecies through the colored glasses of old and long
cherished errors, and with their eyes miserably crossed by
prejudice. All such should go to the Great Physician for some
of the "eye salve" or meekness (Rev. 3:18), and forever
discard the colored glasses of the traditions of men, and all
theories of their own and of others which will not harmonize
with every testimony of God's Word.
But neither the world's ignorance and unbelief nor the
lukewarm indifference and prejudice of the great majority
of professed Christians shall prove stumbling blocks to
God's elect--to those who in simple, child-like faith accept
the testimony of his blessed Word. Such cannot stumble;
nor is it possible that they should be deceived. By their faith
and God's leading such will overcome all. Fear not, precious
[B190]
Jewels of the Lord's own choosing: lift up your heads
and rejoice, knowing that your deliverance, your exaltation
and glory, draweth nigh. Luke 21:28; 12:32
Another reasonable expectation, if the Times of Restitution
actually began with October, A.D. 1874, and if our
Lord's second presence was then due, would be, that those
watching should see some distinguishable indications of
what the Scriptures explain to be the first work of his presence,
viz., the harvesting of the fruit of the Gospel age, the
gathering together of his elect (in mental association and
spiritual communion), and at least some preparatory steps
toward the establishment of Christ's Kingdom. Some of
these evidences we have already briefly hinted at; but there
is so much to be observed on this point that we must leave
its consideration for a subsequent chapter. The harvest of
the Church is indeed upon us; the wheat is being separated
from the tares; and affairs in the world are rapidly shaping
themselves, making ready for the permanent establishment
of the Redeemer's Kingdom. The foretold signs, in the
exact manner and order of their prediction, are made
clearly manifest to those watching; but this we leave for the
present--because we wish first to bring other prophetic testimonies
to view. Suffice it to say here that the sickle in the
"harvest" of this age, as in the Jewish "harvest," is the
truth; and that the "messengers" who use the sickle now are
disciples or followers of the Lord, though many of them
now, as then, realize but slightly the magnitude of the work
in which they are engaged.
Prophetic Evidences Corroborative
While the foregoing evidence is strong and clear just as it
stands, we now present prophetic testimony which proves that
we began counting the Great Cycle (50 x 50) at the right
point. Our Heavenly Father knew the fear and trembling
[B191]
with which our faith would grasp these exceeding great and
precious promises, and hence he has doubled the already
strong cord of evidence, furnished in the Law, by additional
testimony through the prophet. And our dear Redeemer
and Lord, who hands us this cord, and whose presence
this testimony points out to us, as he comes to us in the
early dawn of the Millennial Day, seems to say, as he once
said to Peter (Matt. 14:25-32), "O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt?" Learn that I am a spirit
being, no longer visible to human sight. I thus reveal myself
by the lamp of the Word to the eyes of thine understanding,
that as in coming days I shall walk upon the stormy sea of
the world's unparalleled trouble, thou needst not fear, but
"Be of good cheer." Remembering that it is I, be not afraid.
This truly marvelous prophetic corroboration, which we
now proceed to consider, lay hidden in its own simplicity
until the appreciation and application of the Jubilee type,
as above, gave it significance.
The seventy years, usually referred to as the seventy years
captivity in Babylon, is Scripturally styled the "seventy
years
desolation of the land." This desolation God had predicted by
Jeremiah the Prophet, thus: "And this whole land shall be a
desolation, and...shall serve the king of Babylon seventy
years." (Jer. 25:11) "Thus saith the Lord, that after
seventy
years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform
my good word toward you in causing you to return to
this place." (Jer. 29:10) In 2 Chron. 36:17-21
the fulfilment
of this prophecy is recorded; and the reason why it was just
seventy years, and why it was made completely desolate, is
stated thus: "He brought upon them the king of the
Chaldees [Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon],...and
them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to
Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until
the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfil the word of the
[B192]
Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her
Sabbaths; for AS LONG AS SHE LAY DESOLATE SHE KEPT SABBATH,
to fulfil threescore and ten [70] years."
From this we see that Israel had failed to observe properly
the Sabbatic years, of which the Jubilees were the chief.
It certainly was a severe test of obedience toward the Heavenly
King, to a people so notably avaricious, to be commanded
to let the land rest, to restore to former owners
lands acquired and possessed for years, and to restore to servants
their liberty--especially when obedience was only
commanded, and not summarily enforced by compulsion.
God had forewarned them, through Moses, that if they
were disobedient to the laws to which as a nation they had
pledged themselves, he would punish them for it. In the
same chapter in which he tells them of the punishment of
seven times under Gentile rule, he tells them, also, that if they
would neglect the year Sabbaths he would punish them for
it by desolating their land. (And, as a matter of fact, the
seventy
years desolation was also the beginning of the seven Gentile
Times, as already shown.) The Lord's threatening reads
thus: "Your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth
desolate and ye be in your enemies' land,...because it did
not rest in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it."
Lev. 26:34,35,43
God permitted for a while their half-hearted and half-way
obedience, but finally removed them entirely from the
land, made it desolate, without an inhabitant, and gave it
the full number of its Jubilee Years--not only for those they
had imperfectly observed, but also for the entire future
number which would elapse, according to his arrangement,
before the antitypical Jubilee, the Restitution or Millennial
age, would be due.
[B193]
And since the entire number of typical Jubilees, designed to
precede the antitype, is thus proved to be seventy, we are
thus furnished another means of calculating when the antitype
is due to begin. The calculating of this prophetic statement
of the entire number of Jubilees is simple and easy;
and, as we should expect, its results agree exactly with those
already obtained by the method of counting furnished by
the Law.
The entire number being seventy, and nineteen of these
having been observed in a half-hearted way by Israel before
the desolation, it follows that the remaining fifty-one
(70-19=51) mark the period from the last Jubilee which
Israel imperfectly observed, down to the great antitype. But
here note a difference in the manner of counting. Under the
Law reckoning, we counted the future as well as the past
cycles of forty-nine years with the fiftieth or Jubilee Year
added; for the Law shows things as they would have been,
had Israel carried them out properly. But prophecy records
things just as they will actually occur. We are now examining
the prophetic statement, remember, and hence should
now reckon these cycles as they have occurred--cycles of forty-nine
years, without Jubilees; for Israel did not observe a Jubilee
since their nineteenth one. The first nineteen cycles
had Jubilee Years, but the fifty-one since have had none;
hence we must reckon fifty-one cycles of forty-nine years
each, or 2499 years (49 x 51 = 2499), from the last typical
Jubilee observed by Israel to the antitype. This calculation,
though entirely distinct from the other, ends exactly as
shown by the Law method of reckoning previously examined
--October, A.D. 1874.
Let us state this last proof in another form, for the benefit
of some, thus: The full number of Jubilee cycles which God
had ordained was seventy, as shown by the plain statements
[B194]
relative to the reason for the seventy years desolation of their
land. This was to include those that Israel had observed in
an unsatisfactory manner, which we have seen were nineteen,
as well as all the cycles to follow, up to the antitype.
We will now reckon all these from their commencement on
entering Canaan, and see where they end.
19 Cycles with Jubilees added (50 years each)= 950 years
51 Cycles without Jubilees (49 years each) =2499 "
-- ----
70 Cycles, therefore, cover a period of 3449 years
This period of 3449 years, reckoned from the entering of
Canaan, ends as the foregoing, October, A.D. 1874, thus:
From entering Canaan to division of the land.. 6 years
Period of the Judges to Saul the king......... 450 "
Period of the kings........................... 513 "
Period of the desolation...................... 70 "
From the restoration to A.D................... 536 "
----
Total number of years before the date
known as A.D..................................1575 "
Years since A.D., to complete above
period of 3449 years, are 1874 full years,
which would end (Jewish time) October.........1874 "
The period of the 70 cycles, as shown
above, from the beginning of the Jubilee
system, on entering Canaan, until
the antitype, the Great Jubilee, or Times ----
of Restitution, began, Oct., A.D. 1874........3449 years
The logical conclusion, if these matters are accepted as of
divine arrangement, is easily drawn. And if not divinely arranged,
whence came they? We do not put them into the
inspired Word: we merely find them there in all their simplicity
and beauty, and, like all the other precious and rich
food from the storehouse, which our Lord is now serving us
[B195]
CHRONOLOGICAL
TABLE
see page 194
----------
From entering Canaan:
To the division of
the land........... 6 yrs.
Period of Judges..... 450 "
Period of Kings...... 513 "
---
To the Desolation.... 969 "
19 Jubilees........ = 950 "
---
Remainder:......... 19 yrs.
Thus their last Jubilee was
observed 19 years before the
Desolation.
----------
PERIOD SINCE LAST JUBILEE.
Before the "Desolation"
as above........... 19 yrs.
Years of Desolation.. 70 "
From the Restoration
by Cyrus to
A.D. 1............. 536 "
Years from A.D. 1
to A.D. 1874,
Oct. 10th (the
end of year--
Jewish time).......1874 "
----
2499 yrs.
----------
51 cycles (without Jubilees)
as they actually occurred
and were mentioned in prophecy,
49 years each = 2499
years. Or, total years from
entering Canaan to October
1874 = 3449 years.
The Period of 19 cycles
and Jubilees (950 years) and
51 cycles alone (2499 years)
= 3449 years.
THE JUBILEE VIEWED PROPHETICALLY
Jer. 25:9-12and 2 Chron. 36:21
TOTAL NUMBER OF JUBILEE CYCLES--SEVENTY
Cycles with Jubilees
observed, but unsatisfactorily,
NINETEEN
19 x 50 = 950 years
Cycles of 7 x 7 = 49 years each,
after the Desolation of the Land,
when no Jubilees were attempted,
FIFTY-ONE
51 x 49 = 2499 years
To 950 years of Jubilee Observance add 2499 years since = 3449 years;
The full Period from the Commencement of this Typical
Jubilee System to the Antitype--Earth's Great
Jubilee, the Times of Restitution of All Things--October, A.D. 1874
Oct. A.D. 1874, date of beginning of
Earth's Great Jubilee
[B196]
according to his promise (Luke 12:37), this is nourishing
"strong meat"--not especially intended for "babes in
Christ," but for those more developed, "who have their
senses exercised" (Heb. 5:14) to discern and appreciate this
meat now in "due season." If not of divine arrangement
and intended for our instruction, how and why come the
double proofs, matching and corroborating each other so
perfectly? To convince yourself of their divine arrangement,
notice that in no other place and way can these seventy
years of Sabbaths in desolation be made to harmonize
with the (50 x 50) cycle of the Great Jubilee. Try it. Prove it.
Suppose either a mistake, or a change of one of the nineteen
Jubilees kept by Israel: Suppose that eighteen (one less) or
twenty (one more) had elapsed before the seventy years desolation
began. Calculate, and you will see that these two lines of
evidence, which so perfectly unite in the testimony that
1875 (beginning October, A.D. 1874) is the date of the beginning
of the Times of Restitution, and the date, therefore,
from which we may know that the heavens no longer retain
our Lord, the great Restorer, cannot be united elsewhere,
without doing violence to themselves, to the chronology,
and to other prophecies yet to be examined.
If these time prophecies teach anything, it is that the
Great Jubilee, the Times of Restitution of all things, has begun,
and that we are already in the dawn of the Millennial
age, as well as in the "harvest" of the Gospel age--which
ages lap one upon the other for forty years--the "day of
wrath." We are already fourteen years into this forty-year-day
of wrath; and preparations for the struggle are progressing
rapidly. The coming twenty-six years, at the present
momentum, will be quite sufficient for the accomplishment
of "all things written."
[B197]
Let no reader hastily conclude that there are no evidences
of Restitution about us, nor that the Sun of Righteousness
is not already gilding the watch towers of Zion and
enlightening the world. Let him, on the contrary, reflect
that we are already in the day when the hidden things are
being made manifest; and let him remember that the first
work of Restitution is properly a breaking down of the old
and decaying structure which stands in the place which the
new is to occupy. Remember that the first work of the tenderest
physician is often to open the wounds, and to cleanse
and amputate according to the necessities of the patient, in
order to make thorough work of the healing. That such
service causes pain and is seldom appreciated by the
patient at the time, none need be told; and so it is with the
work of the great Physician, the Restorer, the Life-giver:
He wounds to heal, and the trouble and sifting in the
Church and the world are but the lancing and cleansing
needful, and a most important part of the Restitution work.
In the type, the Trumpet of Jubilee was to be sounded
when the Jubilee Year began, to proclaim liberty throughout
all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. (Lev. 25:10)
The antitype is ushered in with the sounding of the
(symbolic) "Seventh Trumpet," the "Trump of God," the
"Last Trump." It is indeed the great trumpet: it announces
liberty to every captive; and while at first it means the surrender
of many expired claims and privileges, and a general
time of disturbance and unsettling of usages, habits, etc., its
full import, when rightly appreciated, is "good tidings of great
joy which shall be unto all people."
In the early commotion, each one who hears the Jubilee
Trumpet of the new dispensation is forcibly struck by some
one of its many features and heeds no other. One sees the
propriety of, and calls for, governmental reforms, the abolition
of standing armies and their burdensome tax. Another
[B198]
calls for the abolition of titled aristocracy and the recognition
of every man by his manly qualities. Others call for the
abolition of landlordism, and demand that landholding
shall be as at first, according to necessity, and ability and
willingness to use. Others call for temperance reform, and
by prohibitory and other laws, by Law and Order Societies,
seek to chain this great evil, and begin to restrain men who
for the love of money would ensnare, enslave and destroy
fellowmen, and who, fastening their fangs into their weaknesses,
would fatten and luxuriate upon their blood. Others
form Humane and Anti-Cruelty Societies, to prevent those
who have the ability from injuring the weak and dependent.
Others form societies for the suppression of vice and of
demoralizing literature. Others form Anti-Adulteration
Societies to examine into adulterations of food, and to expose
and prosecute and punish those who for love of greater
gain adulterate food and make it even injurious to health.
Laws are enacted for the protection of the lives and the
health of the people. Miners must have pure air, no matter
what the cost; they must have two ways of escape in case of
fire. Working people, powerless to help themselves or to
choose their places of work, are cared for by the public laws.
They can no longer be paid when the employer may please,
and in store-orders, but the law now demands that pay-day
shall be at least every two weeks and in cash. They can
no longer be crowded into buildings where in case of fire
they would be liable either to burn to death or to maim
themselves for life by jumping; for "fire-escapes" are
compulsory, and for any death or injury traceable to
carelessness on the part of the employer, he is held responsible,
and is punishable, either by fines, damages or imprisonment.
Wealthy corporations, such as own railroad and
steam-ship lines, are compelled to care for the lives and interests
of the people, the poor as well as the rich. These reforms
[B199]
are the result of the awakening of the people by the
Jubilee Trump of knowledge and liberty, and are not
traceable to pure benevolence on the part of the more favored
class. For though all in the favored or wealthy class
who are benevolent, and such as love righteousness, can and
do rejoice in these beginnings of reform, others, and the majority,
regretfully yield from necessity. True, such laws and
arrangements are not yet perfected, nor are they universal;
but the beginnings noticed rejoice our hearts, and give evidence
of what may be expected in the exalting of the
humble and lowly, and the abasing of the proud, when the
Jubilee regulations are fully in operation. All these things
are parts of the reform commotion ushering in Earth's
Great Jubilee; and though much has been demanded, and
much has been gradually conceded, yet kings, and emperors,
and queens--political, social, ecclesiastical and financial
--will not submit to the great leveling process of this
Jubilee or Restitution age without a great and severe
struggle, such as the Scriptures point out as just before us,
and which, though severe, is unavoidable, and will work
out ultimate good.
The spirit of "liberty throughout all the land" is indeed
sometimes carried to an unreasonable extent by the ignorant
and the hot-headed; and yet it is all part of the great
unavoidable Jubilee excitement, occasioned by the ignorance
and oppression of the past. None but the Lord's
"little flock" is fully and correctly informed as to the grand
scope of the Restitution. These see the minor changes, the
straightening out of the lesser affairs of men, but they see
also what can be seen from no other standpoint than God's
Word--that the great enslaver, Sin, is to be shorn of his
power, that the great prisonhouse of Death is to be opened
and a release presented to each prisoner, signed in the precious
blood of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin
[B200]
of the world, the great Redeemer and Restorer. Glad
tidings indeed it shall be to all people, not only to the living,
but also to all that are in their graves. Before the end of this
great Jubilee every human being may go entirely free--may
get back to man's first estate, "very good," receiving back
through Christ all that was lost in Adam.
The Seventh Trumpet
"Blow ye the Trumpet, blow
The gladly solemn sound;
Let all the nations know,
To earth's remotest bound,
The Jubilee of Earth is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.
"Jesus, our great High Priest,
Hath full atonement made.
Ye weary spirits, rest;
Ye mournful souls, be glad.
The Jubilee of Earth is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.
"Ye who were sold for naught,
Whose heritage was lost,
May have all back unbought,
A gift at Jesus' cost.
The Jubilee of Earth is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home.
"The Seventh Trumpet hear,
The news of heavenly grace;
Salvation now is near;
Seek ye the Savior's face.
The Jubilee of Earth is come,
Returning ransomed sinners home."
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