In the late 7th century BCE, the Kingdom of Judah was a client state of the Assyrian empire. In the last decades of the century, Assyria was overthrown by Babylon, an Assyrian province. Egypt, fearing the sudden rise of the Neo-Babylonian empire, seized control of Assyrian territory up to the Euphrates river in Syria, but Babylon counter-attacked. In the process Josiah, the king of Judah, was killed in a battle with the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo (609 BCE).
After the defeat of Pharaoh Necho's army by the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim began paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Some of the young nobility of Judah were taken to Babylon.
In the following years, the court of Jerusalem was divided into two parties, one supporting Egypt, the other Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar was defeated in battle in 601 BCE by Egypt, Judah revolted against Babylon, culminating in a three-month siege of Jerusalem beginning in late 598 BCE. Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, died during the siege and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah) at the age of eighteen. The city fell on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BCE, and Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and its Temple and took Jeconiah, his court and other prominent citizens (including the prophet Ezekiel) back to Babylon.
For 70 biblical years (approximately 69 years on the Gregorian calendar), the Jewish people were held as captives in Babylon. In mid 537 BCE., the Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon and issued a decree for the Jews to return to their land and rebuild the Temple.
It was during the Babylonian captivity and this return to Israel that Ezekiel appeared as a prophet and provided the following information on the future existence of the nation of the Israelites as an independent nation, Jerusalem as the nation's capital being the representation of the kingdom (nation) of the Israelites in Ezekiel's prophesc:
"Now lie on your left side and place the sins of Israel on yourself. You are to bear their sins for the number of days you lie there on your side. You will bear Israel's sins for 390 day; one day for each year of their sin. After that, turn over and lie on your right side for 40 days; one day for each year of Judah's sin." Ezekiel 4:4-6 (New Living Translation)
According to this passage, the peoples of the nation of the Israelites would not be free until this period of punishment passed. This time is known as the "Servitude of the Nation," and the time allotted by God is 430 years. However, 70 years of atonement for their sins had already been served during the Babylonian captivity, so only 360 years of punishment remained when, in the year 537 BCE., Cyrus the Persian issued his proclamation to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
In the Book of Leviticus, however, it is revealed that if, upon their return to the land, the people refused to obey God, he would increase their punishments seven-fold. This is repeated several times:
"And if in spite of this, you still disobey me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. And if you fail to learn a lesson from this and continue your hostility toward me, then I myself will be hostile toward you, and I will personally strike you seven times over for your sins ... If after this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me, then I will give full vent to my hostility. I will punish you seven times over for your sins." Leviticus 26:18-28 (New Living Translation).
When the Israelites refused to repent of their sins, this punishment was multiplied seven-fold from 360 years to 2,520 years.
The punishment relates to the occupancy of the land given to the whole 12 tribes of the Israelites. Ezekiel 4: 5-6 indicates that this period of symbolic "bearing of the iniquity of the sins" applied to both Houses - the House of Israel (v5) and of the House of Judah (v5). As the year in which the House of Judah (the southern kingdom) lost their land and were taken into captivity was 587 BCE, Judah's period of "bearing of the iniquity of the sins" appears to have begun in their first year of captivity, which was 605 BCE.
In 605 BCE, Jehoiakim began paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, at which time some of the young nobility of Judah were taken to Babylon. If we see this as the time the Nation of Israel lost possession of the land God had promised to Abraham, by adding a further 2,520 years, we should be able to arrive at the year the "seven times" period of punishment was completed. That year was 1915, a crucial year in the formulation of the Balfour Declaration, .
Immediately following their declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, the British War Cabinet began to consider the future of Palestine; within two months a memorandum was circulated to the Cabinet by a Zionist Cabinet member, Herbert Samuel, proposing the support of Zionist ambitions in order to enlist the support of Jews in the wider war. A committee was established in April 1915 by British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith to determine their policy toward the Ottoman Empire including Palestine. Asquith, who had favoured post-war reform of the Ottoman Empire, resigned in December 1916; his replacement David Lloyd George, favoured partition of the Empire. George negotiated what is now known as the Balfour Declaration, 1917, which set in motion the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people", which came to fruition on May 14, 1948.
Is there any connection between the time the rebuilding of the Temple commenced (mid 537 BCE.) and Judah's restoration of occupancy of the Promised Land on May 14, 1948? Yes there is. As the Jewish calendar was based on a 360 day year, unlike the Gregorian calendar which has 365 days), The 2520 years of punishment equates to 907,200 days. Subtracting 907,200 days from the Gregorian date of May 14, 1948, the calculation reveals a date of July 15, 537 B.C as when the 2520 years of punishment began.
Historians have established that Cyrus the Persian issued his proclamation to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem sometime in the first half of the year 537 BCE. and began the rebuild almost immediately. We don't know the exact day of the proclamation, but the Bible reveals that it had to be prior to the seventh month because in that month, "the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled together as one person in Jerusalem." Ezra 3:1 (New Living Translation).
Without an exact starting date, it's more accurate to count backward 907,200 days from the day of the Judah's restoration of occupancy of the Promised Land. Israel declared its status as an independent nation on 14th May 1948. Numerous online calendar conversion tools are available for counting days as well as converting between the Gregorian calendar and the Jewish calendar; the following calculation was made on one of them.
I'll begin our examination of the prophecy and its impact on the House of Israel by re-visiting a previous paragraph relating to the Israelites having refused to repent of their sins, the punishment was multiplied seven-fold from 360 years to 2,520 years.
The punishment relates to the occupancy of the land given to the whole 12 tribes of the Israelites. Ezekial 4: 5-6 indicates that this period of symbolic "bearing of the iniquity of the sins" applied to both Houses - the House of Israel (v5) and of the House of Judah (v5). As the year in which the House of Judah lost their land and were taken into captivity was 587 BCE, Judah's period of "bearing of the iniquity of the sins" appears to have begun when they lost possession of their land, being their first year of captivity - 605 BCE.
Likewise, we must calculate the beginning of Judah's punishment as when they lost possession of their land, which was 722 BCE. In that year, ten to twenty years after the initial deportations of captives of the House of Israel (the northen kingdom), the ruling city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Samaria, was finally taken by Sargon II after a three-year siege started by Shalmaneser V.
Using the same method of calculation as we did for Judah, the House of Isreal's punishment - multiplied seven-fold from 360 years to 2,520 years - began in 722 BCE and ended in 1798.
Before we start digging through the history book looking for an event that might signify the return of the House of Israel to their land of Promise and a renewed relationship with God as his people, we must remember that after they were freed from captivity, only a handful returned to their former homeland. The majority were scattered and over a period of numerous centuries made their way to other lands. They became known as the lost tribes of the House of Israel, not because they didn't know where they were but who they were - the nation chosen by God to fulfil his promise to Abrahman - that through them would all the nations of the earth be blessed.
Churches tell us that Jesus came to die for the sins of the world, and that may well be, but that was never the reason given by Jesus as his purpose and calling. He said he had come to seek and to save those which are lost (Luke 19: 10). This concept was echoed in Mark 2: 17, when the leaders of the temple asked Jesus, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”, as if to say "why do you choose to eat with him, rather than us richteous ones?", he tols them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
There are many occasions when what seem like throwaway remarks from Jesus say far more than we may realise. One in particular is heard in an exchange between a Canaanite woman where he tells her, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 15: 24). Here Jesus qualified specifically which lost people he was referring to. That is not to say he did not care about the rest of humanity, rather that the job of reaching the nations of the earth was someone else's calling: "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1: 8) he told his disciples; that was their task. His task was to seek and to save those which are lost, the House of Israel - to make disciples of them and send them out to fulfil God's promise to Abraham that "through his seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed".
Of "backsliding Israel", Jeremiah 3: 8 says: "(when) Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce." If you want to see the terms of this divorce and the promise of a reconciliation, read the first chapter of Hosea. Jeremiah also speaks of a reconciliation in Ch 3 verse 12: "Go and proclaim these words towards the north and say, Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord, and I will not cause My countenance to fall and look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says The Lord; I will not keep My anger forever (13) Only know and acknowledge your iniquity and guilt - that you have transgressed against the Lord your God ... return, O faithless children, says the Lord for I am the Lord and Master and Husband to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a tribal family - and I will bring you to Zion". This is not God speaking to the Jews (Judah); this is God speaking to the House of Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh), who have been scattered, who have lost their identity but not their calling as God's people.
God gave the Old Testament prophet Isaiah a similar vision of how God would recover, restore and use His "lost people of the House of Israel". The picture begins to come together in chapter 8:13-18 which tells us that the "rock of offense" (Jesus) will be sent to look out the divorced and hidden Israel (see also Jeremiah 3:6-12). Jeremiah says that the House of Israel will be called back to God not as a nation, but as hand-picked individuals called out from among the nation, "one from a city and two from a tribal family".
The book of Isiaiah from chapter 40 onwards tells of God's reconciliation with the House of Israel. Isaiah 41 gives the first Biblical inference to where the divorced and hidden of Israel would be when God goes looking for them. They are identified as the peoples of islands and regions bordering on the sea to the north and west (of the then known world) in the vicinity of the ends of the Earth. It's interesting to note that the name of the biggest country in the islands in the vicinity of this "end of the earth" is called England. The name is derived from the French "angle-land" meaning "end land". Even its name identifies it as being the land at the end of the earth!
In Verse 4 of chapter 42, referring to the people of the isles, God says that they will wait upon His law. It is interesting to note that, during the revivals of 19th century Britain and the formative years of the Charismatic movement there, the most important meetings on a church's weekly calendar were what were referred to as tarrying (waiting) meetings. These meetings, where Christians came and waited in silence in prayer before God, were instigated for the purpose of waiting on the Lord in accordance with the scripture, for the purpose of receiving divine direction in their day-to-day living and walk with The Lord. Truly could it be said of them that they literally "waited upon His law".
Looking back in time from where we are, we can see that the prophecy of Isaiah was spot on. "A light to the Gentiles" is exactly what the British and north-west European descended peoples have been comparatively speaking to the rest of the world, despite frequent moral mistakes. On the whole these nations have been the best civilizing influence the world has ever known, their principles of law, justice and democratic governmental systems have been adopted and copied the world over and are accepted universally as the fairest systems available. Their classical arts (music, painting, sculpture, literature) are accepted the world over as the standard by which all others are judged; it is from among them that the greatest scientific discoveries and inventions throughout the ages have come; their languages have become the second languages of most non-English speaking peoples of the world, in particular English, which is today the universal language though which all nationalities communicate with each another.
These people are exorted to sing a new song, and His Praise from the end of the earth (v10), giving glory and praise to God with a song that the heathen world has never heard before. Is it coincidence that singing - hymns (Amazing Grace etc), Negro spirituals, gospel music - has been the most effective mediums whereby the English speaking nations has spread the gospel message?
Isaiah 42: 9 refers to former things that have now come to pass. What former things are these? The promises of the covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. given many years ago, that through his seed - the nemnants (third) of the House of Israel who inhabit these islands at the end of the earth and the coastal regions in the Last Days - will all the nations of the world be blessed.
Isaiah prophesied it; we are witnesses to it. There is so much more in Isaiah 42 which adds more detail and contains more evidence that the peoples of the British Isles and the coasts of North West mainland Europe are where God found the lost of the House of Isreal. For more information, check out the full study I have done on this.
Read the Old Testament prophecis quoted above and corrolate them with our study on the Book of Revelation and 1798 seems to be the year in which it all started to come together. In that year, the Roman Catholic Church lost its strangehold of the followers of Jesus - they were now free to follow God's leading outside the strict guidelines and control of the church universal. Further more, our study above on Isreal's punishment - multiplied seven-fold from 360 years to 2,520 years - shows it ended in 1798. God was now free and ready to hand-picked individuals called out from among the nation, "one from a city and two from a tribal family" as Jeremiah had prophesied.
In our journey through the "Sevens" of the Book of Revelation, 1798 falls at the end of the 5th Era in Church History. At this juncture God's says "stop" the Revelation, "John, lets have a stocktake of who is and who isn't in the Kingdom. Separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, because it's harvest time.
God had been calling the peoples of the British Isles and the western seaboard of Europe to come out from under the control of the Roman Catholic church for a number of years, as evidenced by the founding of the Protestant Movement, the Wesleyan revival under the ministry of John (1703–1791) and Charles Wesley (1707–1788), as a movement within the Church of England; the founding of the Evangelical party of John Newton, William Wilberforce and his Clapham sect that became inspired to combat social ills at home and slavery abroad.
In 1798, freedom to read the Bible in their own tongue was made lawful. Laïcité - the name of the nearly sacred principle guarding the separation of church and state in France today - ensured that all religious groups in both France and across Europe are free and the state will not meddle in any of them. The two witness - the Old and New Testaments - were back, and very much alive! What is referred to as the Second Great Christian Awakening of the Anglican Church began in 1800, followed the founding of numerous Bible and missionary societies between 1799 and 1803.
On 25th January 1813, Pope Pius VII, in the presence of four Cardinals signed a document called the Concordat in which the Vatican renounced all power of the Pope and all of his successors over Europe and their empires (Spanish, Portuguese, Prussian, Dutch, French - the British Empire never was under Papal rule). For the first time since 538 A.D., the people of the world could legally practice Christianity outside of the covering of the Roman Catholic Church. For the first time in 1,275 yearst was now lawful everywhere to preach the Gospel as taught by Jesus and the Apostles, and to read and teach from the Bible in public.
God had returned to find and restore the lost House of Isreal - they had waited on Him for his law, and now, with their years of banishment over, were ready to fulfil God's covenant to Abraham - He would be their God, and they would be His people. All systems were 'go' for them to take the light to the gentiles - thereby fulfilling the promise to Abraham and birthright granted to the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh by Israel/Jacob, that through them would all the nations of the world be blessed. The Missionary Age had arrived!
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