The word chosen for 2016 year by Merriman Webster's dictionary was “surreal”, but for us the events are real. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3)
In 2016
January 3 – Following fallout from Nimr al-Nimr's execution Saudi Arabia ends diplomatic relations with Iran
February 12 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.
June 23 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.
November 8 election of US president Trump (wikipedia was so in shock it leaves November vacant...)
A 1260 time period of the nations, from Daniel 7, relating to our bondage as gentiles has ended. I was not sure how it would end, but I knew it would. It was spectacular. It was Brexit. As it was about Britain, it is fitting as It was Newton who pointed to 2016 (see here ). From Isaac Newton Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel 1733, Regarding the papacy, “It was his temporal dominion which made him one of the horns, and this dominion he acquired in the latter half of the eighth century” He then mentions 774-5 and 794. He also writes of Pipin who was first to open the way to the Grandeur of the church of Rome and writes in detail of his conquest in Italy in 754, 755 and the 756 donation. On 28 July 754 Pope Stephen had anointed Pepin, as well as his two sons Charles and Carloman, at Saint-Denis.
The Donation of Pepin in 756 provided a legal basis for the Papal States, which extended the temporal rule of the Popes beyond the duchy of Rome.
The first Italian kingdom to fall was in 752. Pepin invaded the Lombard kingdom in April 756 (spring). The Lombards hung out till Autumn 756 when they asked for terms of surrender. The Peace of Pavia is noted as June 756.
The laying the deeds and keys to the cities upon the tomb of Saint Peter occurred before December 756. This temporal state was reinforced in 744-5 and by 800 had become a power with the Holy Roman Empire. This was a foundation of Europe as we know it, and more so today as the Papacy has gained influence over the whole EU.
Now add 1260 years to 752 and it comes to 2012 when the first call for a referendum to leave the papal-influenced EU is discussed. 1260 years from 754 takes us to when Scotland voted to stay in Britain on 18 September 2014. Then after 1260 years from April 756 we come to when “the official campaign period for the referendum ran from Friday 15 April” where the world was convulsed until exactly 1260 years to the month (the day isn't known) from the Peace of Pavia, when Britain voted to leave Europe in June, so dealing a blow to the Papacy. On 24 August 2016 a quake destroyed the place of the papacy's spaghetti. Then October 26 and 30 a quake destroyed the basilica of St. Benedict Church and associated monastery. The Benedictines are players in the selection of popes.
Humanistic Europe is the historic Beast, with the false prophet the papacy, and the dragon the Military power from Rome inherited by Constantinople and subsequently Russia. In one day Britain was 'divorced' from Europe, not allowed to Europe's private meetings ('whinge-a-ramas') any more, and put on an outer, to arrange the details of the divorce.
Brexit was the first of a double political quake affecting the papacy and Europe as 8 days after the October 30 quake in Italy, Brexit Two influenced by Nigel Farage's foray into American politics occurred on November 8th, with Anglophone and anti-papal Eurosceptic Donald Trump's unexpected win.
For more detail see Daniel 7: time & times and the dividing of time
It is also this year an end marker of Revelation 17 of 10 'kings' who have 'one mind' 'one hour', or 30 years era, from the European SEA treaty made on 17th Feb 1986 and in action 1st July 1987. We can see how Europe has been troubled Since 15th February 2016 when the leaders of four anti-immigration eastern European countries met in Prague to demanded alternative EU policies on the influx of 'refugees' by the next month. From this point Europe was in a crisis that far exceeded that caused by Greece's debt. Europe is still reeling in crisis, even having crisis meetings over Trump's win. 30 years from ratification of SEA Treaty takes us into 1st July 2017, by which time Britain is likely to be well into the process leaving the EU if not out. The next 'hour' era end for the subsequent European Treaty that formed the EU (never ratified by Britain or Denmark) is February 7, 2022 /November 1 2023.
For more see Revelation 17: The prophecy of one hour
As the 2016 date end of 2 eras has passed with events that shocked the world, we may conclude that it will be a troubling time for the papacy until 2034 and for Europe until 2023. We can see why the papacy would seek to work with the Orthodox Church, and we can see how the blows to Europe will cause it to seek Russia.
The year 2017 – significant anniversaries
It will be 500 years since 31 October 1517 when Martin Luther, doctor of theology at University of Wittenburg, nailed his 95 theses to the church door to announce a university debate. Though Luther became anti-Semitic relegating Andreas Osiander, Hebrew scholar to obscurity and hated the Anabaptists, there would not again be a stranglehold on thought.
It will be 480 years since the Cromwellian dissolution of the Monasteries of Britain was occurring.
It will be 364 years since Cromwell's rule beginning 20 April 1653 (a 'year' of years in 2018).
It will be 170 years since 3 March 1847 from 'Confession, Abjuration and Declaration' that clearly the Role of Britain, India and Russia, Persia and the end of the Turkish empire and establishment of Israel. Britain would “cultivate the good will of the Jews, promote their resettlement in the Land of their fathers and guarantee to them their independence, or, at least, obtain their restoration under her powerful protection”. It was to be 50 years from 1847 to 1897. See next event
It will be 120 years from 29-31 August 1897 when the first Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland is convened by Theodore Herzl to discuss what John Thomas had concluded in March 1847 (exactly 50 years before) must occur…
It will be 100 years from when Russia was removed from its role, becoming the USSR for 70 years.
It will be 100 years from 2 Nov 1917 when the Balfour Declaration was made. It had been presented to the British Parliament on 31 October 1917, the same day that the most remarkable Cavalry charge in history took place to gain the wells of Beersheba. This win led to the capture of Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks December 9 which is dealt with in detail in the next section.
It will be 70 years from 29 Nov 1947 the UN votes seek to divide the land for “gain” and the formation of a partition for Jews in Palestine. This was rejected by Arabs and is not legally relevant.
It will be 60 years from March 25 1957 Treaty Of Rome that made the EU Telegraph EU fear Brexit will begin on 60th anniversary
It will be 50 years since 7 June 1967 Jerusalem is captured by Jews during the Six Day War, some 1,900 years after its fall.
As the events of 2017 were in the European theatre and events in nations there is no relationship to the Jewish calendar. Curiously Trump's teams choice of the end of T'sha B'av the time of mourning for the Temples does point to the end of the era of such destruction and mourning.
So let us turn to some detail of the times of Israel and Jerusalem in particular.
Jerusalem 1917
This coming year 2017 will be 100 years since the capture of Jerusalem by the British Commonwealth. Now it was not captured for 'Christmas' at all – but for Hanukkah please read a contemporary account by J.M.Sears
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“”Jerusalem, the most famous city in the world, was delivered from its centuries-long domination under the Turks, on 9 Decmeber 1917 by a British army under General Allenby. That Deliverance undoubtedly constituted the most amazing event of our times, since it fulfilled in minute exactness Bible prophecies given more than two thousand years beforehand.
The present writer had his attention drawn to the matter five months before it took place. He was at that time a mechanic in the Royal Flying Corps, being transferred from No.20 Training Squadron, stationed at Grantham, to No.35 Squadron at Farnborough, which was shortly going to France. This was on a Sunday in June 1917. We travelled back to London. We arrived at King's Cross Station about 8 p.m. This was too late to go to church, but we remembered the church of St.james, Pentonville, not far away, where we had been members, and where it had been the custom in summer to hold an open-air service in front of the church, after Evening Service, so we walked up to the churchyard and joined in the service being conducted by the Revd. John Hilton. In conversation after the service, the clergyman, having noted the Flying Corps uniform said, "Do you know, I believe Jerusalem is soon going to be delivered, and aeroplanes are going to have a lot to do with it. I am watching events and reading my Bible side by side with my newspaper." Opening his Bible at Isaiah 31:5 he pointed out God's promise, "As birds flying so will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem, defending it also He will deliver it, and passing over he will preserve it." That conversation was brought back sharply to mind, by the wording of a despatch published in the newspapers: The General commanding the Egyptian Expeditionary Force reported that his planes were "doing good work, 800 feet below sea-level". (the Dead Sea valley). Here was a reminder that the men "as birds flying" were certainly at work. Eventually, within five months of the conversation referred to, Jerusalem was indeed delivered.
Soon after being demobilized in 1919, the writer came across the works of the late Dr. Grattan Guiness. In his book, Light for the Last Days, written in 1886, Dr.Guiness pointed out (p.343) that the 1335 days of Daniel 12:12 (on the prophetic scale given in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6 -- a day for a year) were due to expire in 1917. Turning to the Book of Daniel we find that chapter 9 records Daniel's prayer concerning his home-town Jerusalem, and his own people of Judah. Therefore the "blessing" evidently indicated something good for Jerusalem and the Jews in 1917.
Here we have fulfilment. The city as we know was delivered. The oppressor was driven out, and a new epoch for both city and people commenced in A.D. 1917 (Moslem 1335) as had been foretold nearly 25 centuries before.
The writer felt led to apply the prophetic scale "a day for a year" to the other two time measures given in verses 7 and 11 of Daniel 12. Commencing with the rise of the desolating Moslem power (A.D. 622) and using the lunar year measure, the complete result was as follows:
A.D. 622
v.7: time, times and a half (i.e. 1260 days) = A.D. 1844 v.11:1290days=A.D.1873 v.12: 1335 days = A.D. 1917
Please note these do not compute please see Daniel 12: to the latter days: a time, times, and an half where we independently arrived at the same conclusion for the start date but show how the dates compute into modern times. The dates mentioned here are significant also.
The year A.D. 1844 is recognized as being the year in which the Powers compelled the Sultan of Turkey to sign the Decree of Toleration, abolishing the death penalty from conversion from Mohammedanism. This was a definite stage in the breaking of the power of the desolator (the drying-up of the symbolic waters of Euphrates, Revelation 16:12).
The question arose: What was the significance of the year 1873? The answer was found in a book entitled, A Short History of the Jewish People, 1600 B.C. - A.D. 1935, by Cecil Roth (Macmillan 1936). This book was written by a Jew, from an entirely secular point of view. Chapter 29 is entitled, "Anti-Semitism and the New Diaspora". Writing of the origin, towards the last quarter of the nineteenth century, of the modern anti-Jewish movement in Germany, he says, "Jews were held to be responsible for every trouble or misfortune...even the leaders of thought joined in the craze, led by the historian Treitschke, who spoke of the Jews as 'German's misfortune'; ultimately there even developed a movement of opposition to Christianity, as being essentially Jewish and non-Aryan in origin." Then follow these striking words: "The movement in its new form owes its inception to the year 1873." The author goes on to tell how Bismarck joined in, and continues: "Thus the anti-Semitic movement was born."
The Exact Day
Even more remarkable is the fact that the actual day of the month on which the Holy City was delivered is marked in the inspired message of the prophet Haggai. God sent Haggai to deliver a proclamation to the civil and ecclesiastical representatives of the Jewish people, the Governor of Judah and the High priest at Jerusalem. The prophet had to reprove the people through their leaders. They had been brought back from their 70 years' captivity to the city where God had placed His name, and part of their first duty should have been to rebuild and restore His house, in reverent thankfulness to Him for His mercy and grace. Instead of this they were building fine houses for themselves and neglecting the ruined Temple. Haggai has to remind the people of the "bad luck" that seems to dog them in every department of life. Haggai has to tell them that the reason for this is that God has withheld His blessing from them. If they change their ways, and begin to rebuild the Temple, God will restore to them His Blessing.
Both leaders and people did heed the message, and commenced the rebuilding of the Temple to the glory of God. As a result, a second message, a message of BLESSING, is brought to them from God by Haggai: it was given on the four and twentieth day of the nineth month, and the importance of the date is strongly emphasized; three times over the word "consider" is repeated.
Therefore, a special significance is meant to be placed on this date (Haggai 2:15,18). The nineth month of the Hebrew year is Kislev (November-December) and the Hebrew calendar being lunar the date varies in relation to our calendar. Therefore we may recognize here again the finger of God in the deliverance of Jerusalem, when we find that it occurred on the exact date of the blessing foretold through Haggai 24 centuries beforehand, for in 1917 the 24th Kislev fell on 9 December. Furthermore, all Jewish days begin at the previous sunset, and from the beginning of 24th Kislev (sunset on 8 December 1917), and all through the night, Turkish troops were evacuating the Holy City. By early morning all had gone, and soon after 8 a.m. on 9 December (24th Kislev) the Mayor of Jerusalem and a small party, under a white flag, were seen coming from the Holy City, to surrender the keys of the city of the British commander. Divine foreknowledge alone can account for these facts.
Isaiah 31:5 A. "As Birds Flying"
Whether one reads the record from the pen of the journalist on the spot, W.T.Massey, or the staff officer, Colonel A.P.Wavell, C.M.G., M.CV. (afterwards Field-Marshall Lord Wavell), or the terribly realistic book, With Allenby in Palestine by Lowell Thomas (Cassel, London) -- quite apart from the official Air Force records -- the fact stands out with striking clearness that the secret of the success which crowned Allenby's achievement was domination in the air, secured by the British airmen "as birds flying". Even Major Vivian Gilbert, writing in The Romance of the Last Crusade (Appleton, New York & London) from a machine-gunner's point of view, has reference to the airmen's work. Lowell Thomas points out that the first Turkish attack on the Suez Canal would have been far more serious had not our airmen gained vital information beforehand, although at that time, and even subsequently, our machines were much inferior to those of the enemy; he indicates later, in his reference to the 'Bristol Fighters' and the 'SE.5s' something of the vast improvement in air work that followed. Lord Wavell states in his book, The Palestine Campaigns (Constable, London), that General Allenby, a fortnight after his arrival in Palestine, cabled home his list of requirements in men and materials, which included five squadrons of aeroplanes. By the time the Palestine advance began, the enemy airmen had been "almost driven out of the skies". Our airmen, "as birds flying", rendered incalculable service by reconnaissance work, photography, machine-gunning, bombing, and spotting for the artillery both of the Army and Navy. "As Birds Flying" was indeed a new and outstanding feature of that historic campaign, demonstrating God's faithfulness and His overruling power, and indicating to those with "eyes to see" that now was the time, and in this manner.
B. "So will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem"
Observe the paradox! The enemy hold Jerusalem; British troops wer attacking the enemy, yet never at any time were our troops attacking Jerusalem. General Allenby had issued very strict orders that there must be no fighting of any kind in Jerusalem or its near suburbs. W.T.Massey, in his book, How Jerusalem was Won (Constable, London), records for us General Allenby's instructions to General Sir Philip Chetwode on 26 November 1917: "I place no restrictions upon you in respect of any operation which you may consider necessary against Lifta, or the enemy's lines to the south of it, except that on no account is any risk to be run of bringing the City of Jerusalem or its immediate environs within the area of operations." He also points out that the spirit as well as the letter of that order was scrupulously carried out. Lowell Thomas tells of the days of maddening delay, solely caused by not attacking Jerusalem itself. Allenby's aim was to attack the Turks at Lifta, to the north-west of Jerusalem, to encircle the enemy, and at the same time to leave him a way out, so that the Turk would find himself forced to evacuate the city, without it being damaged by fighting. This plan was entirely successful and, during the night of 8 December, the Turks evacuated the Holy City, thus fulfilling the next clause of Isaiah's prophecy. Surely such protection of an enemy position is unique in warfare, and just so surely was this God's foretold defence of His chosen city, which was to take place when
C. "Defending it He will deliver it"
As the Divine forecast had stated, this manner of "defence" coincided with the city's deliverance; here again we have exact fulfilment, for after being oppressed by the Ottoman empire for hundreds of years, Jerusalem was "delivered" and gladly surrendered to the British forces.
8-9 December. Until 8 December 1917, the whole of the fifth verse of Isaiah 31 had been prophecy, but during the night the Turks evacuated the city, and very early in the morning of the 9th practically every Turkish soldier had gone. From that date onwards two-thirds of the verse had become history. About half-past eight on the morning of the 9th, as we have stated, the Mayor of Jerusalem with a small party under a flag of truce, was seen by the British outposts on the road about Lifta, coming to surrender the city.
D. "And passing over He will preserve it
This last clause of Isaiah's prophecy was carried out as definitely, and as fully, as the previous ones. The battle had passed over, so also did the sign "as birds flying". Our airmen became the city's protectors: this was necessary, for when eventually the Turks found out they could not recapture Jerusalem, they trained their guns on the city to lay it in ruins, and it was the Royal Flying Corps which prevented them carrying out the destruction. Wherefore, you who have "eyes to see", behold this amazing phenomenon: One City, and ONLY one, on the whole world-wide battle front, which came though the war untouched, without being knocked about by shot and shell. What a deliverance! W.T.Massey tells of the joyful "clapping of hands"; "shrill cries of delight"; women throwing flowers into General O'Shea's car; and (repetition of sacred history) "they spread palm leaves on the road". Major Vivian Gilbert relates how "some of the older people kissed the guns and gun-carriages".
The Deliverer WALKS in
On 11 December, General Allenby, the leader of the delivering forces, WALKED into Jerusalem through the "Gate of the Friend" (Jaffa Gate), outside which military guards were drawn up, ready to join the procession into the city. The guard on the one side was formed by soldiers from Great Britain, and on the other side by Australian and New Zealand troops, for it must be remembered that this deliverance was carried out entirely by forces of the British "nation and company of nations" (Genesis 35:11). General Allenby officially accepted the surrender of the Holy City from the foot of David's Tower, and a comforting proclamation was read in seven languages, telling the people that they could go quietly and undisturbed about their ordinary business, and all their holy places would be respected. The Turks, however, made up their minds to get Jerusalem back at any cost; they attacked the British line furiously. Massey tells us that on 27 December they made 13 determined attacks during the morning, but failed to pierce the defence. Prisoners taken revealed that they had been promised as an inducement that when they recaptured Jerusalem, they should have one day in the city to do just as they liked. Meanwhile, during this fighting, the inhabitants of the "delivered" city were on the roofs of their houses, praying that their British deliverers might have strength to withstand the attacks. We all know the result: the Turkish oppressor was driven off, and Jerusalem came under British protection.
The Impossible
There is a curious fact concerning this event, which emphasizes God's overruling power. The Turks had a saying which seems to remind us of the incident recorded in 2 Kings 7:1-18 where the "impossible" happened. In their boast that the sword of Islam should hold sway over the land, they used the words to imply the impossibility of overthrowing their domination, saying, "When the waters of the Nile flow into Palestine, then will a prophet of the Lord come and drive the Turks out of this land", signifying that as surely as it was impossible for the waters of the Nile to flow across the many miles of desert to Palestine. The "impossible" happened those centuries ago at the gate of Samaria and the "impossible" happened in this case. In order to supply our troops crossing the desert, the waters of the Nile were brought by our engineers through a pipeline, which they laid under the Suez Canal and across the desert, and the "waters of the Nile flowed into Palestine" at the rate of many thousands of gallons a day. Not only so, but the great leader who drove the Turks out was named Allenby, which in its Arabic version became Allah-en-Nebi ("Nebi" means prophet, and "Allah" means God in Arabic), and by this Arabic name was he known throughout Palestine.
So the waters of the Nile did flow into the Holy Land, and the leader named "Prophet of God" did drive the Turks out of the land. The deliverance of Jerusalem was accomplished in 40 days (31 October - 9 December), a familiar period in the history of that country. Just about then, however, things were in a bad way on the Western front, and the cream of Allenby's army was brought back to serve in France, so that Allenby had to wait until new reinforcements were trained and organized into an efficient fighting machine. On 18 September 1918, the next advance began, and again in 40 days the objective was achieved, the Turks being driven right out of the land. So exactly to date, the Gentile dominion of the Holy Land had ended; the seven "times" (i.e. 2520 years) had run its course as foretold in the Bible. Britain did not annex the conquered territory, but administered it, under mandate from the League of Nations, for 30 years, until 1947, and then gave notice that she would lay down the mandate and hand it over to the United Nations the following 15 May, when British forces and administration were withdrawn.
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JM Sears notes the 1290-1335 era in Daniel 12 is from 622AD as I understood independently but the dates are 622-632 (+1260)=1882-1892 1st Aliyah (+1290) =1912-1922 1st world war and release of Jerusalem, (+1335) =1957-1967 Jerusalem freed. The relevant verse noting the date for the release of Jerusalem from Ottomans in 1917 is in Haggai. It can't be co-incidence. See the 2nd repetition and what is said of that date.
Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you. And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts. (Hag 2:18-23)
Thus we can see the deliverance of Jerusalem in 1917 on 24th of the Ninth month Kislev was one of a foundation work being done. Evidence is the foundation of trust/ faith. In the Torah we find that the root of the word Kislev means ‘trust’ and ‘hope’: “Did I place my kili (my hope) in gold…?” (Job, 31:24) “…And they placed in God their kislam (their trust).” (Psalms, 78:7)
iyyun.com/hebrew-calendar/re-awakening-light-kislev-chanuka It was a day before Hanukkah which prefigures a greater deliverance.
Is there any more significance? The Jews thought there was in 1918 they celebrated that “the British army had captured Jerusalem on the 24th day of Kislev, in December 1917, on the eve of the Holiday of Lights (Hanukkah) commemorating the re-establishment of worship in the Jewish Temple. How the Jews of Jerusalem responded can be seen in a flyer distributed on the first anniversary in 1918.. They called it “Liberation day, In the holy city Jerusalem may it be rebuilt soon, Amen.” (Source Picture a Day). Hanukkah was a remembrance of the Maccabees who were spoken of in Daniel 11, as the 'people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” who 'were helped with a little help' (32-34). The Maccabees stood up to the King of the North, a king who had made himself as god and prefigures the papacy who would compete with Islam over the Holy Land ruling Jerusalem during the crusades (1099-1187, 1229-1244) and who is still holding onto land in Jerusalem. So we see the king of the South push and take Jerusalem, for the Jews out of the hand of Islam (and of the influence of the papacy), on the same day 2085 years later as the Maccabees in 164BC had conquered the king of the North and cleaned the Temple. Without this cleansing in 164BC our Lord could not have done his work in the years CE. It is therefore of great significance then that we are told that Y'shua was in Jerusalem and kept the feast of Hanukkah.
It was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, (John 10:22-39)
The significance of the timing then at Hanukkah, which prepared for the 1st coming of our Lord, is that the drying up of the Euphrates Ottoman power achieved by the revived king of the South was to prepare the way of the 2nd coming of our Lord, the Messiah, this time as king.
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)
I suspect we have yet to see the final fulfilment of the 24th day of the 9th Month, but it will be found in the kingdom at the rebuilding of the Temple when “from this day will I (Yahweh) bless you.” and the “foundation of the LORD'S temple is laid.”
Jerusalem 1967
In 2017 it will be 50 years from Jerusalem becoming ruled by Jews in fulfilment of our Lord's prophecy recorded in Luke. Very few consider the timing of the miracle of the 6 Day War was for Shavout the feast of “Weeks” 7 weeks or 50 days after the Firstfruits ('day after Sabbath' of Passover). Firstfruits speaks of the first resurrection. After 1917 the foundation was laid for a national political resurrection of the Jewish people, and on a day for a year basis, Israel had “counted” 50 years by 1967. Firstfruits marked the Barley harvest whereas Shavuot marked the beginning of the summer harvest of wheat and the unique feature was 2 loaves of bread for a wave offering. In Greek it is called 'Pentecost'. It was at Pentecost the disciples spoke in Tongues of the nations and gathered the first fruits of the congregation of the covenant in Christ.
To remind us of how exciting this was this is an account:
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On the holiday of Shavuot, there was also the custom to visit the grave of King David on Mount Zion, since, according to Jewish tradition, the day of his birth and passing was the holiday of Shavuot.
When Shavuot arrived in 1948, it was a month after the establishment of the State of Israel, and Jews could no longer continue to make the pilgrimage to the Western Wall. The Jordanians, who occupied the eastern half of the city since the War of Independence, blocked all rights of passage to Jews. However, the pilgrimage to King David?s tomb on nearby Mount Zion, located on the Israeli side of divided Jerusalem, continued. Over the next nineteen years, crowds made their way to Mount Zion, where they could view the 'Old City' and the Temple Mount.
On the morning of Shavuot, June 15, 1967, just six days after the liberation of the old city of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War, the Old City was officially opened to the Israeli public. For the first time in almost two thousand years, masses of Jews could visit the Western Wall and walk through the cherished streets of Judaism's capital city as members of the sovereign Jewish nation. Each Jew who ventured to the Western Wall on that unforgettable day represented the living realization of their ancestor?s dreams over the millennia. It was one of those rare, euphoric moments in history.
From the late hours of the night, thousands of Jerusalem residents streamed towards the Zion Gate, eagerly awaiting entry into the Old City. At 4 a.m., the accumulating crowds assembled at Mount Zion were finally allowed to enter the area of the Western Wall. The first minyan (traditional quorum of ten men) soon began. Fifteen hundred people shared that historic moment. As the sun rose, there was a steady flow of thousands who had made their way towards the Old City. In total, two hundred thousand Jews visited the Western Wall that day. It was the first pilgrimage, en masse, of Jews to Jewish-controlled Jerusalem on a Jewish festival, in two thousand years, since the pilgrimages for the festivals in Temple times.
The Jerusalem Post described the epic scene:
Every section of the population was represented. Kibbutz members and soldiers rubbing shoulders with the Neturei Karta. Mothers came with children in prams, and old men trudged steeply up Mount Zion supported by youngsters on either side, to see the wall of the Temple before the end of their days. Some wept, but most faces were wreathed in smiles. For thirteen continuous hours a colorful variety of all peoples trudged along in perfect order, stepping patiently when told to do so at each of six successive barriers set up by the police to regulate the flow.
An eyewitness described the moment as follows:
I've never known so electric an atmosphere before or since. Wherever we were stopped, we began to dance. Holding aloft Torah scrolls we swayed and danced and sang at the tops of our voices. So many of the Psalms and songs are about Jerusalem and Zion and the words reached into us a new life. As the sky lightened, we reached the Zion gate. Still singing and dancing, we poured into the narrow alleyways beyond.?
On Shavuot three thousand two hundred and seventy nine years earlier, the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai and felt the gravity of the moment as a unique relationship was formed between themselves and their Creator. On the day of Shavuot following Israel?s amazing victory of the Six-Day War, multitudes ascended to the Western Wall, as their ancestors had done in the past, and they celebrated the holiday just a short distance from the Temple Mount. They, too, felt the magic of the moment.
Capturing the Wall: The Story of Shavuot 1967
Aaron Hirsh June 4, 2008 and the story of a taxi driver:
Kotel in 1967A brilliant flash shattered the darkness…
I guess the song transported him back to a memory because he asked suddenly: “Have you ever heard about the liberation of the Western Wall in 1967?”
“Sure” I answered.
“I was there. I was a soldier in a unit fighting the Jordanians in the Old City. Our troop advanced into a section of the Old city. Although I had never been there before, and the Arabs had animals grazing and manure scattered between their houses and the ancient walls of the Old City, I seemed to recognize where I was. Suddenly I realized I was standing at the Western Wall.
I went to a school that was not religious. I remember we only had one textbook with anything religious in it. It had three religious pictures: the Tomb of Rachel, the Cave of Machpella where Avraham, Sara and the other forefathers are buried, and the Western Wall. This was the picture of the place from my schoolbook. I was standing at the Western Wall. Suddenly I couldn’t move. My entire body was tingling, and I became overwhelmed by the holiness of where I was. Over my head I felt the presence of the “Shechina” (the Presence of G-d which is said to always dwell at the Western Wall), and I became completely paralyzed.
Meanwhile the Jordanians were shooting at us from the building tops. So when my fellow soldier ran up to me he thought I had been shot. He started checking me for bullet wounds, but he found none. No blood was flowing. Finally he realized I was in shock. He started shaking me till I came to.”
I could not believe the story I was hearing, but it got even better.
“Out of nowhere a Rabbi appeared. Rabbi Goren. We were soldiers ready for battle, but he was only a civilian. We ran to cover him. He was carrying a shofar, and was headed straight for the Wall.
As he reached the wall he said the Shehechiyanu prayer, and then took his shofar and began to blow. Then I heard him radio: ‘The Kotel Ma’arvi is in our hands, I repeat the Kotel Ma’arvi is in our hands’.”
As he told me his story I could not help but wonder why the Rabbi seemed to be more informed than the soldiers. How did he know to be there? Shouldn’t the soldiers have been radioing that they had captured their target? I understood as he continued:
“We had no orders to capture the Kotel. We just ended up there.”
As I heard his story it was as if it had been prophesized. It mirrored the words and events of the 3rd Jew to visit the place of the temple and his reaction over three thousand years earlier:
“Jacob…encountered (bumped into) the place…and behold G-d was standing over him and He said: …I will guard you wherever you go and I will return you to this soil…Jacob …said: “Surely G-d is in this place and I did not know! And he became frightened and said: “How awesome is this place!…this is the gate of Heaven.” (Genesis 28 vs. 10-17)
“You heard of Yitzhak Rabin?” the driver then asked. I couldn’t tell if he meant the question seriously. “He arrived next, and soon after him Moshe Dayan, and realized they’d captured the Kotel. Maybe you have seen two of the posters from that moment?” He asked pointing to his hair. “I am balding now, but I am in one of them, the one in the helmet,” he told me, and I did recognize him.
“We bumped into the Kotel, and the Rabbi blew the shofar, and then the Generals showed up,” but Jacob, after whom we call ourselves Israel, is described by the Torah as “bumping into the place, and he is described as “the man of truth”.
The beauty of the taxi driver’s story was what he told me next. “It was summer time. After the liberation, first we invited all the yeshivas, and the rabbis to visit the Kotel. The next week was Shavuot, and we opened it for all of Israel to come and visit.”
Even though the taxi driver was not wearing a kippa, he turned around and the words of a Gemara flowed from his mouth: “If you weren’t there to see the joy of the Simchat Beit HaShoeva (the water drawing festival in the temple on Sukkot) then you have never seen true happiness”
I nodded, waiting to hear what he’d tell me next.
“If you were not there to see the joy of the Jews coming back to the Kotel, then you have never experienced true happiness.”
You could see that he had experienced true celebration, and that its joy was alive within him now as it was when he experienced it forty years earlier.
“People were bawling, embracing, falling to their feet. For six months after you could not get an airplane ticket to Israel from abroad. Everyone was coming to see the Western Wall.”
Every Shavuot in Jerusalem, a few hours before sunrise from distant hills from every edge of the city the deserted streets begin to fill with Jews until from every direction Jews of every kind stream towards one central point– the Western Wall. You can hear the roar of people moving – old men, kids, groups of teenage girls, yeshiva students with their rebbes, and voices singing. And then in a single moment-at sunrise, the moment at which G-d gave His beloved Jewish people his beloved torah, all these different Jews step into prayer, as one man with one heart, and all is silent. I wondered if that tradition started that Shavuot in 1967 with the story of our taxi driver.
As he spoke the rest of the ride home I was thinking about all the holy men who wept bitterly to merit to see the Kotel and died with their dream unfulfilled. I wondered what it was about him that he had been chosen. ..
Perhaps out of all the people in the world, G-d had chosen a 19 year old boy from Haifa, our taxi driver, to redeem the Wall so that the flood of Jewish people could stream there again, in order to give us all a broader vision of who we are in essence. The torah is for all of us. It is our heart, and connects us even when we see ourselves as very far from it.
Each one of us is like a lone climber through the darkness of exile struggling to cling to whatever Judaism we have left. The flash of light that puts us back in touch with our mission, and how close we are to achieving it was the light that flashed for our driver and the whole Jewish world in 1967. It is the lightning that lit up our souls with a sense of who we truly are-the light of the giving of the Torah.
………………………….
Dates and Times from 2016 and 2017
There seems layers of significance about the coming year of the US presidency, from expectations from a Rabbi that went from Israel to Trump to predict he would win based on Bible codes to expectations from some evangelicals in the US that Trump is a 'Cyrus' who will encourage Israel to build on the mountains and in Jerusalem.
Some quote some astounding things from DailyCrow.com which I quote below:
“He raises up kings”. This is year in the Jewish calendar is 5777.
Trump turned 70, 7 days after the 49th anniversary of Jerusalem. Trump was born 700 days before Israel and will be 70 years, 7 months and 7 days on his first day in office.
Mike Pence’s birthday is on 6 / 7 1959. Mike Pence was born 8 years to the day before Jerusalem['s liberation] on 6/7. He turned 57, 8 days before he was announced as running mate. The last minute of Mike Pence’s 57th year will take place one minute before the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem 6/7 of 2017 (Pence was 50th governor of Indiana).
Pence was born in Columbus. Trump Tower is located 0.7 miles down 57th street from Columbus Circle. Pence the 57 year old from Columbus.
It by no means stops here. Trump was declared winner on Benjamin Netanyahu’s 7th year, 7th month and 7th day in office. Israel’s 70th birthday will be 700 days after Trump’s 70th.
Trump and Pence were declared winners 37 days from the first day of Hebrew year 5777. 37 or “three sevens” as indicated by the Hebrew year…..
November 7th US Election Day Eve was Pope Francis’ 1335th day in office “Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. Daniel 12:12
What will 2017 bring?
We can't know for sure, but the year is so significant many, even Jews, are watching.
From my study of time periods 2017 will also be 2300 days (years) from when the symbolic 'Little Horn' of Rome come from the Grecian 'Goat'. 2300 years ago in 279 BC (add 4 years to cross CE). In that year Ptolomy King of Macedon died. In the spring of 279 BC, Pyrrhus (Greek Macedonian) invaded Apulia. The Romans came upon him near Asculum and encamped opposite him. The ensuing war resulting in a 'Pyrrhic victory', the Greeks won the battle but lost so much they lost empire to Rome. The next era marker is the emergence of Rome as a colonial power in 275 taking us to 2021. For 2300 years the Sanctuary and the host are trodden under foot, at the very end of 2300 years the Sanctuary shall be cleansed (Dan 8:9-14). The first era marker I found was the end of the Alexander in 333 – adding 2300 years takes us to 1967.
This year 2017, is an era marker regarding Jerusalem, events relating to Jerusalem could be hugely significant. Trump has already said the US embassy is to be moved there, and unlike other presidents, his staff has been already making moves to carry out US Congress law, and move it there.
We are in the era of the revival of Tyre's successor Britain, after 70 years of being 'forgotten', from 1947-2015. We should see Britain continue to emerge as a motivator and initiator of world trade. The era markers suggest the 70 years when trade is turned to God's temple may go to 2023 (70 years from 1953 when the Queen began her reign, a reign which by 2023 will be longer than any known monarch).
We should see more heavenly interference in global affairs, as the degree of the Watcher speaks of the rule by 'base men' for 7 full solar years of days, which goes from Cyrus (537-530BC) to 2014 or to 2021 and can't be stretched beyond 2026. Lastly Generation X is 50 years on.
He spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Luke 21:29-33)
For more on Times and Seasons
We often see the Biblical hope hijacked by those seeking a name for themselves or seized by idealists who refuse to take into account human failures. As a result, this human thinking is often more foolish than not, leading to much harm and suffering.
