• To a nation that seeks material blessing or pleasure as an end, in and of itself.
• To a nation that once knew God but has now largely forgotten Him.
• To a nation that once knew the ways of God but now rejects them.
• Upon a nation that specifically strikes that nation’s blessings, prosperity, and sustenance.
• That bears witness to that nation that all of its blessings come from God, and without Him those blessings cannot remain but will be removed.
• That bears witness against that nation’s materialism.
• That strikes the nation’s economic realm.
• That wipes out the nation’s financial accounts.
• That humbles the nation and casts down its objects of pride and glory.
• That separates wealth and possessions from that nation.
• That causes cessation, pauses, interruptions, and endings.
• That releases entanglements, attachments, and bondages among the people of the nation.
• That lays bare the nation’s total dependence on God.
• That holds the key to the specific timing of national judgment.
• That directs the nation away from the worldly and the material.
• That calls the nation back to God.
The Global Manifestation
The Shemitah, in its most far-reaching manifestation . . .
• Operates on an epic and global scale, transcending national borders and involving every realm of life.
• Involves not only the economic and financial realm but also the political realm, the cultural realm, the sociological realm, the military realm, and even the natural realm.
• Though directly impacting the financial and economic realms, its outworking can be triggered or accompanied by events of entirely different realms.
• Can manifest in the form of a cataclysmic event.
• Can wipe away not only financial accounts but also physical realities—buildings, walls, towers, and cities.
• Can alter the landscape of nations and powers.
• Can involve and affect the rise and fall of great powers and determine the course of empires.
We have now identified the dynamics and nature of the Shemitah as a pattern and template as well as a sign of national judgment. But one question remains. In ancient times, the focal point of the Shemitah was the nation and land of Israel. If the Shemitah was to manifest in the modern world, on what stage would it operate? Where would it play out?
To answer that question, we will need one more clue . . .
Chapter 7
FOURTH KEY: The SECRET ISRAEL
Beyond 586 BC
IN ITS FIRST and original context the Shemitah is connected to Israel. It is the only nation commanded to observe it. And, as we have seen, it is still kept, in varying degrees, by the observants of that nation. But we are not dealing here with the Shemitah as an observance but as a prophetic sign—particularly as a warning or manifestation of national judgment.
Such a prophetic sign could be given to any nation as long as that nation in some way matched the description or shared the attributes of ancient Israel in 586 BC. In other words, it would have to be:
• A nation warranting a prophetic warning or manifestation of judgment, a nation in defiance of God’s ways
This description could, to varying degrees, fit much of the world’s nations—whether religious or secular, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or communist. Let’s narrow it down further with a more specific description:
• A nation that had once known God, but had now turned away from Him and rejected His ways
This description could match several of the world’s Western nations, formerly seen as “Christian” but now largely post-Christian.
Let’s narrow it down still further:
• A civilization established on the Word of God, dedicated to His purposes, and consecrated to His glory from its very inception
Now the field of candidates is severely reduced. It can be argued that only two civilizations in human history were established, dedicated, and consecrated to the will, the word, the purposes, and the glory of God from the moment of their conceptions. The first was Israel; the second was America.
American civilization was established and dedicated at Cape Henry, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay to the purposes of God.
The Israel of the New World
But let’s take it even further:
• A civilization specifically established after the pattern of ancient Israel
Most would find it surprising to learn that America was consciously, intentionally, and specifically founded and formed after the pattern of ancient Israel. Its founders saw it as a new Israel, the Israel of the New World. It was their exodus from Europe like the Hebrew exodus from Egypt. The New World was their new promised land, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony was their New Jerusalem.
As for the legal system of the new American commonwealth, the Puritans sought to incorporate the Law of Moses. They instituted a day of rest after the pattern of the Hebrew Sabbath. And the American holiday, Thanksgiving, was formed after the pattern of the Hebrew Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles.
They named the mountains of America after the mountains of Israel: Mount Gilead, Mount Hermon, Mount Ephraim, Mount Moriah, Mount Carmel, and Mount Zion. They called their towns and cities, Jericho, Jordan, Salem, Canaan, Goshen, Hebron, and Beersheba. They named their children Joshua, Rachel, Ezra, Zechariah, Esther, Jeremiah, and a host of other names derived from the people of ancient Israel.
They even taught Hebrew in their schools and universities. On the seal of Yale University appear the Hebrew words from the breastplate of the high priest. On the seal of Columbia University appears the ancient Hebrew name for God. And on the seal of Dartmouth University appear the Hebrew words translating to “the Almighty God.”
America’s link to ancient Israel has undergirded its national identity, in one form or another, consciously or unconsciously, from the time of its inception onward. It is clearly evident at the time of American independence when Benjamin Franklin proposed that the new nation’s Great Seal should feature the image of Moses parting the Red Sea, while Thomas Jefferson proposed that of the Israelites journeying through the wilderness.1
The connection is unique, deep, and intrinsic. The pattern of ancient Israel is embedded in the DNA of American civilization. It’s in the root from which America sprang. One observer wrote this:
No Christian community in history identified more with the People of the Book than did the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who believed their own lives to be a literal reenactment of the Biblical drama of the Hebrew nation.2
There is no nation in the modern world so deeply linked to ancient Israel as America. There is, therefore, no stage or platform on earth so well suited for the manifesting of the mystery of the Shemitah as America. Is the Israel connection necessary for the mystery to manifest? No. It could manifest to any nation, just as God could send a warning of national judgment to any nation. No unique connection to ancient Israel is needed for America to be given a biblical sign of national judgment. But the fact that America does bear such a deep connection to ancient Israel makes it all the more striking and fitting for the same signs used to warn Israel of judgment to warn America.
The Fall of Ancient Israel
But a key factor is still missing: Why would the sign of the Shemitah, an ancient portent of judgment, be given to America in the first place? The answer lies in a metamorphosis that began thousands of years before America was born.
Israel was unique among the nations of the ancient world. No nation had ever been brought into existence so directly connected to the purposes and promises of God. No nation had ever been given a divine revelation as that which was given to Israel on Mount Sinai. No nation had ever seen the hand of God so directly affecting its course as had Israel. And no nation had ever been joined to God in a national covenant.
But a
t the peak of its blessings a metamorphosis began. The nation began turning away from the God of their foundation. The change was subtle at first but, in time, grew more and more blatant and brazen. Whether by conscious intent or unconscious abandonment, the people began driving God out of their lives, out of their culture, out of their government, and out of the instruction of their children. In His place they brought in idols and foreign gods, and in place of His ways they now followed the ways of the pagan nations that surrounded them.
They redefined what was right and wrong. They created a new morality to replace the old. They called evil “good,” and good “evil.” What they had once celebrated, they now condemned, and what they once worshipped, they now reviled. On the other hand, what they had once condemned, they now celebrated, and what they had once reviled, they now worshipped. They grew increasingly carnal, materialistic, sexually immoral, and self-indulgent, and their culture, likewise, grew increasingly coarse and vulgar. And then, as did the nations surrounding them, they began to lift up their children as sacrifices on the altars of their new gods.
As for those in their midst who refused to go along with their moral and spiritual apostasy, those who remained faithful to God and His ways, they were now marginalized, mocked, vilified, and, finally, persecuted. The nation that had been brought into existence to be a vessel of God’s purposes had now transformed into its very opposite—a civilization turned in upon itself, at war against its own foundations, and at war with God.
This is the setting and the stage, the nation to which the warnings, the signs, the harbingers, and manifestations of national judgment are sent—one of which is the sign of the Shemitah.
The Fall of the Second Israel
What about America? What happened to the civilization so uniquely joined from its foundation to ancient Israel?
America’s founders prophesied that inasmuch as the new civilization would follow the ways of God, it would be blessed with the blessings given to Israel. And what they foretold came true. America became the most blessed nation on earth. By the twentieth century it had become the most prosperous, the most secure, the most revered, and the most powerful nation on earth.
But at the pinnacle of its power and the height of its prosperity relative to the rest of the world, a metamorphosis began. The “Israel of the New World” would reenact the apostasy and fall of the Israel of the ancient world. America now began a progression that would end with the nation’s turning away from the God of its foundation.
The metamorphosis was subtle at first but, in time, would grow more and more blatant and brazen. As did ancient Israel, so now America began removing God from its national life, from its culture, its government, and its public squares. It would ban prayer and the reading of Scripture from the instruction of its children. The school system that had come into existence for the purpose of teaching the Word of God would now treat that Word as contraband. And as America eliminated the presence of God from its national life and culture, it filled the void with idols and formed gods out of its desires.
As did ancient Israel, America progressively redefined what was right and wrong, adopting a new morality to replace the old. It now called evil “good,” and good “evil.” What it had once celebrated, it now condemned, and what it had once worshipped, it now reviled. And on the other hand, what it had once condemned, it now celebrated and what it had once reviled, it now worshipped. American culture grew increasingly carnal, materialistic, coarse, vulgar, and self-indulgent.
Instead of being “a light to the world” as its founders had envisioned, America was now saturating the world with pornography. And while Israel had killed thousands of its children on the altars of its new gods, America killed not thousands but millions of its unborn children on the altars of its pleasures and convenience. Its collective hands were covered in blood.
As for those within America who refused to go along with its moral and spiritual apostasy, those who remained faithful to God and His ways, they were now increasingly marginalized in the nation’s newly apostate culture, mocked in its media, vilified in its public discourse, and increasingly in danger of persecution.
America, brought into existence and dedicated by its founders to be a vessel of God’s purposes, had now transformed into its very opposite: a civilization turned in upon itself, at war against its own foundations, and at war with God.
Those who founded America not only foretold its future blessings—but also gave warning. It was this: if America ever turned away from God, then the same judgments that fell upon ancient Israel would fall upon America.3 The appearance of the same harbingers in America that had once appeared in the last days of ancient Israel matches their prophecies.
The Shemitah and the Nations
So we now have the missing key—a civilization uniquely joined to the pattern of ancient Israel but now undergoing the same apostasy that brought the ancient nation into judgment and destruction—a nation that had once known God but had now not only turned away from Him but also against Him. It was this scenario that, in ancient times, invoked the judgment of the Shemitah.
Added to this is America’s place among the nations. In modern times America has occupied the center stage of world history as the greatest economic, financial, military, political, and cultural power on earth. That alone would give it a central place in the mystery.
On the other hand, though America is central to the mystery, it is not alone in the mystery. The issue of judgment and the specific judgments revealed in this book concern all nations and peoples—for several reasons:
• First, because of its centrality, what happens to America affects the rest of the world.
• Second, the sins and immoralities that echo the sins of ancient Israel are shared by many nations beyond American shores.
• Third, the overall setting for Israel’s judgment—a civilization that had once known the ways of God but now is in defiance of God and His ways—is shared by other nations other than America.
• Fourth, though the Shemitah may focus on specific nations, its effects are far-reaching and transcend geography and the borders of nations.
We now have the stage. The mystery will touch America, but its effect will not be confined to America. Its consequences and repercussions will touch the entire world. Having located the place of the mystery, one last clue is needed to reveal the time.
Chapter 8
FIFTH KEY: The TISHRI CONNECTION
The Most Holy of Months
THE HOLIEST MONTH on the biblical Hebrew calendar is that of Tishri. On the Western calendar Tishri falls in the period between September and October. It is so sacred a month that ten of its days are known as “the High Holy Days.” Every Hebrew month begins with the day or night of the new moon. But the month of Tishri is so sacred that the day on which it begins, its new moon is itself a high holy day. Most Hebrew months contain none of the sacred appointed holy days given at Sinai. But Tishri contains ten of them, not including at least nine other days also deemed as holy.
Hebrew Month of Tishri
Seventh Month of the Sacred Calendar—
First Month of the Civil Calendar
Thus there is no month in the biblical year like Tishri. What are its themes, its meaning, and its message?
The Time of Judgment
The rabbis saw Tishri and the high holy days of autumn as focusing on the kingship of God, His rule, His power, His sovereignty, and His dominion. The sounding of the shofars during the Feast of Trumpets was, among other things, the proclaiming of the Lord as King and Sovereign over the world, over the nation, and over the lives of His people.
The month of Tishri is also known as the time of judgment. Its opening day, the Feast of Trumpets, is also known as Yom Ha Din, or “the Day of Judgment.” During the Feast of Trumpets the shofars are sounded. The sound of the shofar is not only that of a solemn gathering but is the sound of alarm and warning, the harbinger of approaching danger, the warning of impending judgment. Tishri is
the month of reckoning, when the nation stands before God and when sin is dealt with.
The Time of Teshuvah
In view of the judgment associated with its coming, Tishri has become the month of repentance. The “Ten Days of Awe” with which the month begins are also called “The Days of Teshuvah.” Teshuvah is the Hebrew word for repentance. It comes from the root word shuv, which means “to turn.” The Days of Awe were given for the purpose of turning the course of one’s life, forgiving and being forgiven, repenting of one’s sins, withdrawing from worldly pursuits, and doing whatever was needed to get right with man and God.
The Shemitah-Tishri Connection
The themes of Tishri match the themes of the Shemitah. Both speak of God’s sovereignty. Both are linked to judgment. Both call the nation to return to God. Both are linked to nullification, cancellation, and release—one concerning sin and the other concerning debt. The Shemitah is the seventh year. Tishri is the seventh month.
The Beginning and the End
Ancient Israel reckoned time by two different calendars: the sacred calendar and the civil calendar. The sacred calendar began in the springtime, in the month of Nisan. In the sacred calendar Tishri is the seventh month. But in the civil calendar Tishri is the first month, the beginning of the New Year. Why is this significant?
Elul and Tishri
Elul—Sixth Month of Sacred Year
The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future! Page 5