Simple Bible Answers - A web site to further understand the Word of God.
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Simple Bible Answers - A web site to further understand the Word of God.
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When is the rebirth of Israel?
Ezekiel 4:3-6
Q: Did God predict the rebirth of Israel in modern times? Q: If so where can we find it and how can we understand it?
God’s clock and way of telling time isn’t the same as modern mans. Man in an attempt to honor God, and in an attempt to modernize the calendar, has confused the understanding when it comes to some of Gods Word. When dates were, and are now. What we what to look at is Ezekiel's prophesy for the return of Israel to her homeland. The first time I read this break down, it was in a book by Grant Jeffrey a number of years ago. It has shown up in a number of other places also. I’m surprised that it isn’t better known because of its accuracy, and fulfillment in the recent pass. It’s not hard to understand or follow once we correct what man has done by playing with time and dates. We will also state a few facts and dates that can be easily checked by anyone. First let’s get back to God’s calendar and way of telling time. God tells time often by days; 1. A “day” being 24 hours from sundown to sundown as in Genesis and the seven days of creation, and in the Jewish Calendar. 2. A day being 1000 years as in 2Pe 3:8 “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. This has a lot to do with the world’s time clock (we are just finishing the sixth day and about to enter day seven, when Jesus will rule the earth for a day. 1000 years). 3. And lastly with a day being a year, which is what we are going to deal with here. As in the weeks of Daniel, were a week is 7 years. 4. Lastly, so we don’t have any doubt we are told in Eze. 4:6 “…I have appointed thee each day for a year”. *So remember a “day” will be a year.*
Next God and the Jews went by a lunar year of 360 days. When in prophesy remember a year is 360 days (12 moon cycles of 30 days). Man later switched to the solar calendar that we know today, but the Bible uses the lunar. This is important because we need to convert the lunar predictions to our solar calendar when dealing with prophesy. Even in the New Testament the 360 day- year continues. In Revelations 12:6 we find “a time and times and half a time”. This comes to 1,260 days, a “time” being a year here. How do we know a “time” is a year? Because we are told in Rev. 13:5 “forty-two months”, which comes out to 1,260 days only if we use 30 days for each month. And “12”, 30 day months, as a year. *A year is 360 days. This means everything must be converted for our calendar*
Next there is no year “0” with the solar calendar. When Pope Gregory (a) tried to honor Christ by dating everything before (B.C.), or after (A.D.) the birth, he got a few things wrong. One, he was off on the birth of Christ by a few years (that won’t affect this and is another subject), and he didn’t include a year “0”. In math we have “0”. When counting from negative numbers (B.C.), and going to positive numbers (A.D.), we go “…3, 2, 1, “0”, 1, 2, 3,…” etc. But A.D. means Anno Domini (Latin for “Year of our Lord”). Year “one” is the year Christ was born by our calendar. One B.C. is a year before His birth. One A.D. is the year He was born. So in the solar way of counting we go “…3, 2, 1, 2, 3,…”. By our calendar Jesus was only a year old in the year two A.D. What that means is we have to add a year to all prophesy that is fulfilled in A.D., if it started in B.C., and we are converting it from the lunar to the solar calendar. *Add 1 year to correct the A.D., B.C. missing year*
Next we need to set a date in history. 536.4 B.C. is when the edict was given by Cyrus for the return of the Jews to Israel and for the rebuilding of the Temple (b). This is our starting date for Ezekiel’s prophesy. *Start with 536.4 B.C.*
The reason the Jews would be returning to Israel was that they were in exile. The reason they were in exile was that they were being punished for not obeying the Word of God. Now in Leviticus 26 God tells the Jews that if they continued to disobey God, after a punishment was given, the punishment then would be multiplied seven fold (c). Guess what happened when the Jews were told they could return to Israel? Almost no one went. By most estimates 95 percent of the Jews didn’t return. Even with a Bell curve getting 95 percent wrong (sin) is a failure. It’s in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that we find only 50,000 or so of the captives returned. The ones who did return weren’t all faithful hard core believers either. Many returned for their own reasons, not God’s. Many of the Jews that stayed in Babylon, were born in Babylon, they had become comfortable. With no Temple some had started to follow gods of Babylon. They were settled in and somewhat happy. It was a half hearted return for most. But God had a reason to bring some of the Jews back and rebuild a Temple. Even when the Temple was at it’s grandest it wasn’t under a Jew. King Herod was an Edomite (d), not a Jew, even though he was called their king by the Romans. This return wasn’t because the Jews had found favor with God, it was because God had a plan for the Salvation of all man kind, and this return was for His benefit, not His chosen people. The return of the Jews was no minor matter to God. This generation of Israelis was at a very important turning point in their history. So important that God had sent them no less then three prophets, in the same time period. We need to take a look at the writings of two out of the three to get a full understanding of what was happening. The great prophet Daniel is number three. His writings intersect with the other two, just not needed for this prediction.
Jeremiah Mr. Jeremiah is who wrote how long the Jews would be in Babylon. Jer 25:11 “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years”. The Babylonians came and kicked Israel’s butt in the spring of 606 B.C. The Captivity ended 70 years later in the month of Nisan (Nisan is were we get the .4), the year being 536 B.C. *70 years in Captivity*
Ezekial Lets take a look at this fine gentleman, for it’s his prophesy that we are looking at. This is the prophesy;
Eze 4:3 “Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel” (Notice that this is a sign to the house of Israel, NOT the Church. The Jews are still in the game). Eze 4:4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. Eze 4:5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. Eze 4:6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year”.
Put that together and you have 430 years of punishment.
Now take away 70 years that they had spent in Babylon (time served) and you still have 360 years of punishment to fore-fill after 536 B.C.. Because as a nation Israel still hadn’t repented and turned their faces back to the LORD, guess what? Poor Israel had that 360 years multiplied by 7. *7 X 360=2,520 Biblical (lunar) years*
The Jews have always been a stiff necked people, sometimes it worked to their advantage, sometimes to their dismay. Under the Law it’s either pass or fail. Partial keeping of the Law is total breaking of the Law in Gods eye. So as a nation the Jews were still in sin. God always deals with people as individuals, by situations, and how it fits in His over all plans. The Temple did get built, and for a time many Jews did in inhabit “palestine”. This was more for God’s will, and the plan of Salvation, then a reward of the Jews. 40 years after the crucifixion in 30 A.D. (Jesus was 33 when He died, born closer to 3 or 4 B.C. – Pope Gregory again), the Jews were scattered again. There was no need to keep them in “palestine”, they had rejected a real offer to accept their Messiah, and they said “no thank you very much”. Since God’s need to have the Jews, and a Temple, in Jerusalem was over for the time being, guess what ? It was everyone out of the pool ! The Jews were sent back into the world to complete their punishment. The Temple was leveled, and the clock was still ticking. The time spent in Israel was like a day leave from prison, not really a return. Don’t think too unkindly of the Jews, their stiff neckness is the reason we Christians, and/or gentiles, can be saved. In God’s fore knowledge He knew what His people would do, and it all worked in His plan to save you and me. The Jews have taken a lot of heat throughout history for the sake of the Gentile world. It maybe an honor to be God’s chosen people, but it ain’t easy.
I know this seems like a lot of writing and jumping though hoops to understand one prophesy, but that’s not Gods fault, it’s mans. If the Pope hadn’t changed the worlds way of marking time, if we had stayed with a lunar calendar, if the modern church didn’t believe the Church has taken up the mantel of the Jews (replacement theology), if man knew his Bible (Old and New Testament- Jesus said there are treasures in the Old Testament), if man knew world history better, if man cared, this could be shown in a quarter page. If my Grandmother had wheels she would have been a choo-choo also, if, if, if. I just needed to show that this is rooted in Scripture, factual dates, and sound theory.
With all that we know now, we will put it together, and you can see how simple it is.
We start with 536.4 B.C.
Now the Jews had 2,520 (lunar) years of punishment. Remember what we have to do so it works with our calendar? Covert to solar. That’s easy to do. Take 2,520 and multiply by 360. That equals 907,200 (lunar) days. Take 907,200 (lunar) days and divide by 365.25 (a solar year). That equals 2,483.8 modern (solar) calendar years. Take -536.4 (negative being B.C.) and add 2,483.8 solar years. That equals 1947.4 Now remember I said there is no “0” with the calendar? So add that 1 missing year, now we have 1948.4 That puts us to about May 15 of 1948. What may have happened on that date? Most of you know but for those that don’t, The British mandate ended and the nation of Israel was reborn!
Recap; -536.4 (B.C.) 2,483.8 (Calendar years of punishment) + 1 (Missing year from B.C to A.D) = May of 1948 (REBIRTH OF ISRAEL)
For the first time since Solomon we have a totally independent and united Israel. Sorry to the churches that teach the Church has replaced Israel in prophesy, Israel is BACK! And welcome back to our Jewish friends, this time don’t reject your Messiah. In fact you can accept Him now. His name is Jesus. How’s that for being spot on. What are the odds of this being just chance? You have to be in blind denial not to see God’s hand in this, or maybe it’s just me.
What does this mean?
a; In a attempt to make the
vernal equinox occur on March 31 as it had in 325 A.D. (first year of the
council of Nicaea) Pope Gregory XIII issued a decree dropping 10 days from the
calendar of the time (the “Julian” calendar, which is still used by some, like
the Greeks for church feasts). The pope also is the one who put the birth of
Jesus on 1 A.D. and the date on Dec. 25th. Most modern scholars place
the birth at 3 to 4 B.C. The reason for Dec. 25th was that is when
the pagans celebrated the winter solstice. In an attempt to make the pagans
convert to the Catholic faith, they would replace pagan holidays with Christian
Holy Days (Holidays). Since the solstice is on Dec.21 we can see how they would
mess up on the birth of our Lord, they weren't very good at their research. And
since the pope counted “….4, 3, 2, *1A.D.*,
2, 3, 4,….” We can tell their math wasn’t much better then their history
research.
b; Cyrus the Great lived about 600 B.C. to
530 B.C. He is proof that God works in the hearts and minds of believers, and
non-believers. In 536 B.C. he issued the order (decree) to release the Jews
back to their home land, 2 Chron.. 36:22,23 and
Ezra 1:1-4. Some lately have attempted to move this
date to 538 or 539 B.C.. This is done for the same reasons people won’t readjust
the time line of the Pharaohs, even though the best new evidence lines up their
lives to the Bible. They need to discredit the Bible even if it takes lies to do
it. Rest assured their exile’s last year was 536, in the month of Nisan.
c; Leviticus 26:18
“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times
more for your sins”. Also check Lev. 26:21, 23-24, 27-28
d. Edomites were descendants of Esau and
came from Edom. We still have Edomites, both in Israel and their home land.
Their home is in south Jordan. When the Romans cleared Israel in 70 A.D. they
left the Edomites, they didn’t consider them Jews. People know them better by
their modern name. We call them Palestinians now a days. |
Last modified: 12/15/07For a FREE downloadable KJV Bible click here. Opinions or questions: Mail@SimpleBibleAnswers.com
Re:22:18: For I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
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