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!

by Jonathan Cahn

  But there are other possibilities. While nothing has to take place on or around this time, if something were to happen, a collapse or calamity could take place just before or after that weekend, or both before and after. It could also take place within the larger Elul-Tishri period surrounding Elul 29. Another possibility is that of a trigger event that takes place outside the time of the markets’ openings that could bring about a market collapse—as in the case of 9/11. And there is the possibility of a calamity taking place beyond and apart from the financial and economic realms, and yet which causes the collapse of both these realms.

  It is worthy to note that as it was in 2001, so it will be again in 2015—the last day the market will be open before Elul 29, the Day of Nullification, will be September 11.

  During 2015 there will be two solar eclipses. Interestingly both of them will bear significance with regard to the Shemitah’s timing. One will mark the Shemitah’s exact center point. The other will mark its climactic last day, Elul 29. The last time a solar eclipse fell on Elul 29 of a Shemitah year was twenty-eight years earlier in September 1987. It ushered in the greatest stock market percentage crash in American history that same month. (See the epilogue for more about these solar eclipses as well as blood moons.)

  The What of the Mystery

  Again, as stated before, we cannot expect prophetic happenings to show up on a regular schedule or to perform on cue. Nothing significant has to happen within the Shemitah of 2014–2015. The phenomenon may manifest in one cycle, and not in another, and then again in the next. And the focus of the message is not date-setting but the call of God to repentance and return. At the same time, something of significance could take place, and it is wise to note the times.

  Regardless of what does or does not take place in the coming Shemitah, and regardless of the when involved in the mystery, it is wise that we now take note of the what—the mystery’s essence—and apply it to America and the world concerning a judgment in days to come.

  The Mystery of the Shemitah—Future Tense

  If the Shemitah is to manifest in the form of judgment concerning America and the American-led world order, and the American age, we can expect several things concerning its manifestation:

  • The judgment will affirm the sovereignty of God over all things.

  • The judgment will strike the realm of America’s blessings, prosperity, and sustenance, and that of nations.

  • The judgment will involve collapse.

  • The judgment will humble America’s pride and that of man.

  • The judgment will lay bare the dependence of America and man on God.

  • The judgment will separate wealth from the wealthy and possessions from the owner.

  • The judgment will wipe away that which has been built up.

  • The judgment will level imbalances and erase accounts within the nation and among the nations.

  • The judgment will cause a cessation of functioning and an ending within America and the world.

  • The judgment will bear witness against materialism within American civilization and throughout the world.

  • The judgment will make clear the link between America’s physical and material realm and that of the spiritual.

  • The judgment will release entanglements, attachments, and bondages within the nation and among the nations.

  • The judgment will strike America’s economic and financial realms, and that of the nations.

  • The judgment will impact the realms of labor, production, employment, consumption, revenue, and trade.

  • The judgment will cause production, commerce, trade, labor, investment, profit, and trade to cease or severely decrease.

  • The judgment will annul, transform, and wipe clean the financial accounts of America and the nations.

  • The judgment will cause credit to go unpaid and debt to be released within America and the world.

  • The judgment will wipe away that which has accumulated in America’s financial realm and that of the world.

  • The judgment will manifest as a sign of judgment to a nation that has driven God out of its life, rejected His ways, and pursued material blessings and idols in His place.

  • The judgment will cast down the objects of America’s pride and glory.

  • The judgment will touch not only the financial and economic realms but every realm of society and life.

  • The judgment will wipe away structure of culture, of systems, of civilization.

  • The judgment will wipe away physical realities.

  • The judgment will alter the landscape of nations and powers.

  • The judgment will involve and affect the rise and fall of great powers.

  • The judgment will call America back to God.

  The Shemitah of the American Age

  The issue of what lies ahead would not be complete without dealing with the prophetic warning lying at the center of the mystery. We have watched as stock markets crash, economies collapse, and that which has been built up is wiped away—and all these things joined to the Shemitah. Each of them have to do with the removal of blessing. Why is that?

  The Shemitah is the reminder to any nation or civilization that its blessings come from God. And without God those blessings cannot endure. It is a warning to a nation founded on the purposes of God and blessed by God’s hand, but now increasingly warring against the God of its blessings. The Shemitah is a warning to that nation that its blessings cannot endure.

  And then there’s the prophetic warning contained within the Hebrew, as shemitah literally means, “the letting fall,” “the letting collapse.” The warning is this: No nation can defy the ways and will of Him who is its source of blessings and expect those blessings to continue. Without Him as the foundation, the blessings will be removed and that which has been built up, no matter how highly built up, will collapse.

  The “American age” and the “American Empire,” as some have called it, have been highly built up. The warning here is this: if America continues on its present course, its place as the head of nations will fall and the American age and global order will be allowed to collapse.

  A Great Shaking

  As for things to watch: After the timing of the Shemitah, what may be of note is the timing of the last harbinger’s completion—the tower at Ground Zero. Beyond that, it would be wise also to take note of America’s crossing of key thresholds in its spiritual and moral descent.

  Regardless of when it takes place, whether in the days of the Shemitah or beyond, I believe a great shaking is coming to this nation and to the world. I believe that this shaking will involve financial and economic collapse, though it will not necessarily be confined or limited to these realms. The collapse in the financial and economic realms may be marked, triggered, or accompanied by events in other realms. And whether figuratively, or more than figuratively, I believe will be, in one form or another, as a famine in the land.

  Though such things take place as signs of national judgment, they happen also for the purpose of redemption and mercy, so that a nation hardened and deafened to God’s voice may finally hear, awaken, turn, and return.

  We began by overlooking the ruins of Jerusalem with the prophet Jeremiah in 586 BC. One can only imagine what he felt as he looked out into the devastation. Beyond his sorrow was the fact that he saw it all coming before it happened. What if we, in the present case, have been given an advance look and an advance warning? What do we do? If calamity should come, how do we prepare ourselves? Is there hope? And what is the answer?

  To these last and critical questions we now turn.

  Chapter 25

  The LAST SHEMITAH

  The Ruins, the Prophet, and the Hope

  IS THERE HOPE? Can we avert judgment? And if judgment comes, is there hope in its midst? And after judgment comes, is there any hope in its wake?

  For the answer we must return one last time to the burning ruins of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The prophet Jeremiah
had warned his nation unceasingly that the day of its calamity was coming. Could they have averted it? They could have, had they turned back to God. A revival would have saved them. But that would have required repentance, a change of course, the turning away from their sins. But they refused to listen to the warning of the prophets. They refused to turn back. And the judgment came.

  And in the midst of their judgment, was there any hope? The answer is, again, yes. The judgment had come in stages. During these stages Jeremiah still prophesied to the nation, still warned them, and still pleaded with them to follow God’s will and avert total calamity. Again, they refused. And again, judgment fell.

  And after the judgment fell, was there any hope then? Anyone who witnessed the burning of Jerusalem, the desolation of the land, and the forced deportation of the people into exile would have answered that the nation’s hope was gone. Yet there was hope.

  Had there been no hope, why would God have sent prophets, warnings, and prophecies concerning the future? But there was an even more ancient reason for hope—the mystery of the Shemitah. It was this mystery that specifically ordained that the land would lie desolate until the time was complete. At the set time the captivity would be over, the people would return, and the nation would be restored.

  The Question of Hope

  What about now? And what about America? Is there hope? If there was no hope, there would be no harbingers. What would be the purpose of giving warning if there was no hope of responding to that warning? If there is warning, then there is hope.

  Is there any hope of America averting judgment? If there is repentance and revival, yes. But if the nation continues on its present course, then the answer is no. Does it look likely that America will turn back to God? At present and in the direction in which the nation is now proceeding, no.

  What about when judgment falls—will there be hope in that day? For those who respond to God’s voice and call, yes. For those who do not, no.

  And after the falling of judgment or calamity, will there be hope? Yes, for all who turn to God.

  Judgment or Revival, Shaking, and Calamity

  So will there be judgment or revival? There can be both: judgment and revival. Revival can even come through judgment. There can be judgment upon a civilization and the salvation and revival for those within that civilization who turn to God.

  If there is to come a great shaking, what is the hope? I would answer that it is just the opposite: with no shaking, there is little chance of hope. America has grown so hardened to God’s will and so deafened to His voice, that only something of great magnitude has any hope of breaking through. It is written that God is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). The heart of God is to save, to restore, and to redeem. And thus all things, even shaking and calamity, must be seen through that truth.

  The Fall of Idols

  The Shemitah has a purpose. It manifests God’s sovereignty and dominion over all things and exposes the illusion of man’s sovereignty and dominion. It declares that all blessings come from God. It calls man away from the physical realm to the spiritual. It calls him to return to God. Thus the Shemitah is necessary. And when dealing with a culture or civilization enmeshed in materialism, prosperity, carnality, idolatry, arrogance, self-absorption, and the idea that man is sovereign to do however he pleases—the Shemitah becomes even more necessary.

  In the day of the Shemitah’s coming, illusions are exposed, entanglements are broken, pride is humbled, the gods are judged, and the idols are wiped away—even the illusions, entanglements, idols, and gods in the lives of His own people.

  The Last Shemitah

  Even when it comes in the form of judgment, the Shemitah is ultimately a manifestation of mercy in that it reminds, calls back, and warns—in view of a greater Shemitah yet to come. This greater Shemitah concerns not so much nations, but every individual, every life. It is the last Shemitah.

  The last Shemitah declares that all things—our lives, our beings, our breath—come as gifts from God. Of ourselves we have nothing. All our notions of ownership are an illusion; all our pride, a deception. We are not sovereign but completely dependent. Everything we have—our possessions, our money, our riches, every moment of our lives—everything has been given to us.

  Every heartbeat is borrowed. Everything in this world that draws us or repels us, entangles us or compels us, everything we seek after, dwell on, or live for, is temporary, fleeting, and passing away. Therefore the meaning of this life is not found in anything of this life, but only in Him who lies behind it. And the purpose of this life is not found in seeking anything of this life, but only in seeking Him who gave it.

  The Shemitah, as we have seen, is connected to the number seven. In the Bible the number seven speaks of completion, the finishing, the end. The last Shemitah is that which comes at the completion of our time on the earth, the finishing, the ending of our lives. The Shemitah declares that a nation’s blessings are gifts from God. The final Shemitah declares that everything and every moment we had on the earth was a gift from God. Everything we “owned” was only entrusted. It all belonged to Him, even our days.

  The Shemitah separates possession from the possessor. The last Shemitah will separate us from all we owned on the earth. The Shemitah wipes away that which has been built up in the preceding period of time. The last Shemitah will wipe away all that has been built up in our time on the earth. The Shemitah brings cessation, so too the last Shemitah. As does the Shemitah, so the last Shemitah calls us away from the material realm to the spiritual. As does the Shemitah, so the last Shemitah sets free entanglements, attachments, and bondages.

  As the Shemitah means “to let fall,” so too the last Shemitah will be the letting fall of our earthly being and existence. As the Shemitah is observed by letting go of one’s possessions, so too in the last Shemitah we will each let go of our earthly possessions and of this life itself. As the Shemitah means “release,” so in the last Shemitah we will each be released of this life. And as the Shemitah draws one away from the physical and to God, so the last Shemitah will draw us away from the realm of the physical and to God.

  The Final Question

  Near the end of The Harbinger the prophet asks Nouriel a question: “And what will you do on the Day of Judgment?”

  It is the ultimate question any of us could be asked. For the last Shemitah leads to eternity. We have seen the link between the Shemitah and judgment. So too the last Shemitah and the final judgment are joined together. When people hear the message of The Harbinger, they often ask, “What should I do in view of coming calamity?” The question is an important one. The Bible says, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself” (Prov. 27:12).

  But regardless of whether we see the judgment of a nation or nations, the fact is we will all see the Day of Judgment. Scripture declares we will each stand before God on that day. And on that day the degree of our sins will not matter. Any sin, regardless of its nature and no matter its degree, will be infinitely and eternally judged. If we are not then right with God, if we are not then saved, if we have not received the salvation offered us, then there will be only one possibility—eternal separation from God—eternal judgment.

  In the end it comes down to two destinies—heaven or hell. According to God’s Word, what stands between the two eternities is not how religious we were, not how good or bad we were, or anything else but one thing: Were we born again? This fact could not be more clearly stated in Scripture: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

  Yeshua

  How can one be safe in the days of judgment? The answer is that in Hebrew, the word for “safety” is yeshua. This is the same root word from which we get the name Yeshua, which, translated into English, becomes “Jesus.” In the days of a nation’s judgment, and on the day of the final judgment, outside of Yeshua, Jesus, there is no safety or salvation. But inside of Him there is no fear. The key is to get one’s life, ev
ery part of one’s life, inside of Him who is salvation. As it is written:

  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

  —JOHN 3:16

  The Bible records that the greatest love ever manifested in this world was the love of God in Messiah, dying on an execution stake in our place, for our sins, to bear our judgment, and then rising from that death to life, that we could be saved. How does one become born again? In the Bible it is also declared that anyone who truly receives Him, truly believes in Him, truly makes Him the Lord and Savior of their lives, and who truly follows Him as His disciple, that is the one who is born again—saved. It can begin with a decision, a prayer, a committing of one’s heart, the answering of a call—the beginning of a new life.

  That Which Falls and That Which Remains

  As the Shemitah of the year 2001 approached its end, America saw the collapse of its two colossal towers. But when the towers fell, one object was left standing. It was a steel cross forged out of the calamity—in the midst of calamity, a symbol of hope; in the face of man’s hatred, the love of God. That, in and of itself, was a sign.

  The Shemitah declares that, in the end, all things will pass away, everything will collapse and fall—except this—God, His love, and His salvation. Everything else we sought after or dwelt upon will mean nothing. They will all pass away. But the love of God and His salvation will not fall, nor collapse, nor fail, but will remain forever. And the only thing that will then matter is whether we sought Him, found Him, and became right with Him—in that love and in that salvation.