THE GREAT JUBILEE

THE GREAT JUBILEE

PART I

The arrangement with the 7 times 7 sabbath years and the 50th Jubilee year in Israel is a unique arrangement. I am not aware of any other nation in the ancient world that had a similar arrangement. The uniqueness of this account alone suggests that it is not included in the Law of Moses only for the benefit of the Israelites. But it must have a more universal application. And this is exactly what Paul shows in Colossians 2:16, 17:

¹⁶ Therefore, do not let anyone judge you about what you eat and drink or about the observance of a festival or of the new moon or of a sabbath (sabaton). ¹⁷ Those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.

We note that “festival” and “new moon” are singular. There were several festivals, and by not using the Greek article, the reference must be to any festival. There was only one new moon festival, but there were different sabbats, the weekly sabbath, the sabbath year, and the Jubilee. The Greek word sabbaton is plural, and this shows that any sabbath is a prophetic type. Because of Paul’s words, we must conclude that each of the sabbats of the Jubilee cycle and the Jubilee that is a sabbath year as well, serve as prophetic types.

In this article, I will discuss the truthfulness of the 39 books in the Hebrew Scriptures and words that are used in connection with types and antitypes. Because the members of the Governing Body have watered down a great number of accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures and only ask what these accounts remind the Governing Body of, instead of asking about their meaning, I demonstrate that the different parts of types have concrete antitypes.  I show that the Jubilee is a type of the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ and that there are several chronological accounts in the Scriptures that related to the antitypical Jubilee.

“YOUR WORD IS TRUTH”

Jesus argued with a group of Jews, and after he had quoted Psalm 82:6, he said according to John 10:35, “and yet the scripture (grafē) cannot be nullified.” The Greek word grafē (“scripture”) is singular, and it refers to the scroll that Jesus quoted from. According to Matthew 21:42, Jesus said: “Did you never read in the Scriptures?” These words show that in the days of Jesus, the Jews believed in a group of scriptures that were viewed as the authoritative word of God.

After his resurrection, Jesus met some of his disciples, and in his conversation with them, he said according to Luke 24:44, 45:

⁴⁴ He then said to them: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all the things written about me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened up their minds fully to grasp the meaning of the Scriptures. 

The words of Jesus show that “the Scriptures” that the Jews believed in consisted of the same three parts as the Hebrew Scriptures today consist of, and this again suggests that the same 39 books that the Hebrew Scriptures consist of today, were accepted as the inspired Scriptures of God by the Jews in the days of Jesus. Regarding these scriptures, Jesus said according to John 17:17

¹⁷ Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth.

The word alētheia has the meaning “truth; truthfulness; reality.” (United Bible Society (UBS) Lexicon) When Jesus used the phrase “God’s word,” he must have referred to any word from God, spoken or written. And the word alētheia in this context must include both truth opposed to lying, and truthfulness, and reality. I will now study how the noun alētheia is used in connection with Jesus.

THE WORD “TRUTH” (ALĒTHEIA) USED WITH THE REFERENCE “ANNTITYPE” 

Often the noun “truth” (alētheia) is used as a contrast to a lie. But in John 1:17, there is a special contrast:

¹⁷ Because the Law was given through Moses, the undeserved kindness and the truth came to be through Jesus Christ.

The contrast here is between the law of Moses and “the truth” (alētheia). In July 1965, there was an international assembly in Oslo, and I still remember the talk of N.H. Knorr entitled “Answering the Roman Governor’s question, ‘What is truth.’” One reason why I remember this talk was that Knorr discussed John 1:17, and for the first time I learned that “truth” could be used in the sense of “antitype.” This was an aha experience for me.[1]

I remember that Knorr asked: “Was not the Law of Moses the truth? Then he showed that the contrast was not between what was a lie and what was the truth. But the word “truth” in John 1:17 has the meaning of “reality.” The law was the type and Jesus was the antitype, the reality. I quote from page 649 of The Watchtower of November 1. 1965:

¹⁶ Thus there was much more to the Law given through Moses than merely commandments to point out what sin was and to tell the Jews what was the pure, right, holy and unselfish thing to do, to keep them walking in harmony with God. Besides that, the Law commanded certain meaningful ceremonies to be carried out regularly in order to draw prophetic outlines that give a true picture of grand things to come according to God’s purpose. The inspired writer calls these prophetic outlines ‘shadows,’ saying: “There being men who offer the gifts according to the Law, but which men are rendering sacred service in a typical representation and a shadow of the heavenly things; just as Moses, when about to make the tent in completion, was given the divine command: For says he: ‘See that you make all things after their pattern that was shown to you in the mountain [of Sinai].’”—Heb. 8:4, 5…

 ¹⁸ Many other things that were commanded in the Law, such as the passover supper, the festival of weeks or Pentecost, the weekly sabbath day, the Jubilee year, the festival first day of each month or new moon, particularly the seventh new moon of each year, all these were ‘shadows.’ They were true in themselves, giving a true outline or small picture of greater things to come. However, they were only ‘shadows.’ A shadow is a dark image or design that is cast upon some surface by some solid, untransparent substance that gets in the way of the light. The shadow is not substantial; it is not the real thing. The substance or body that the shadow outlines or images is the real thing. If the substance or body is in front of the light, then its shadow extends ahead of the substance or body. For that reason it is a common saying: “Coming events cast their shadows before them.” In God’s purpose, the shadow came first, to give a small-scale idea of the grand things that he had in mind for the future of mankind. Those shadows aroused true expectations in people who obediently kept God’s law. Because the ‘shadows’ were true, these people would not be disappointed in their expectations.

The Watchtower of September 15, 1991, page 12, also used “the truth” in the sense “reality” or “antitype. We read:

He lived a life of devoted service to Jehovah and fulfilled the many prophecies foretelling the Messiah. Jesus thus made the truth about the promised Seed clearer and put the things foreshadowed by the Mosaic Law into the realm of reality. (Colossians 2:16, 17) It could therefore be said that “the truth came to be through Jesus Christ.”​—John 1:17.

A great part of the prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures function as shadows pointing to Jesus, as Revelation 19:10 says:

For the witness concerning Jesus is what inspires prophecy.”

The words of John show that generally speaking, the prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures were inspired in order to be fulfilled in connection with Jesus. Confirming this are the words of Jesus when he became visible to some disciples after his resurrection. We read in Luke 24:27:

²⁷ And starting with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them things pertaining to himself in all the Scriptures.

A great part of the law discusses the actions of the priesthood and the sacrifices that were required. And all these points to Jesus as the antitypical High Priest and to his ransom sacrifice. This is the very kingpin of the purpose of God, and a great part of the Christian Greek Scriptures discusses these antitypes.

But we must not forget that the prophecies also show that Jesus would be king and how his kingship would lead to blessings for humans. We read in Colossians 2:16, 17:

¹⁶ Therefore, do not let anyone judge you about what you eat and drink or about the observance of a festival or of the new moon or of a sabbath. ¹⁷ Those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.

The things mentioned by Paul were shadows or types, and the body or reality that cast the shadow would be related to Christ. As I will show, these types did not relate to the ransom sacrifice, but the antitypes are related to the Kingdom of God and the function of Jesus as king.

[1]. The article was printed in The Watchtower of November 1, 1965, pages 645-658. I recommend this article.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROPHETIC TYPES AND ANTITYPES

When we are trying to understand prophetic types, we may be tempted to use our imagination and interpret the types in the way we think the meaning is. Because of this, there are many different competing interpretations of the same Bible texts. In order to try to see the situation from God’s viewpoint, we need to carefully study the way the inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures treated the prophetic types of the Hebrew Scriptures.

HOW THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES TREAT PROPHETIC TYPES  

The basic issue we need to explore is whether each of the basic parts of a prophetic type refers to a concrete antitype, or whether we should understand a prophetic type in the same way that we understand an illustration. An illustration consists of a number of basic parts. But these do not have a concrete meaning in themselves; they are there to keep the illustration together as a whole. Together, these basic parts illustrate an important principle or procedure that the listeners should keep in mind or follow.

The words in Hebrews 8:5 may solve this question:

 ⁵ These men are offering sacred service in a typical representation (hypodeigma) and a shadow (skia) of the heavenly things; just as Moses, when about to construct the tent, was given the divine command: For He says: “See that you make all things after their pattern (typos) that was shown to you in the mountain.”

These words show that the Tabernacle was a typical representation of heavenly things. Were the words “a typical representation” used as an illustration? Were they used to show that we who live on the earth must worship Jehovah in his Tabernacle, just as his heavenly sons worship him in heaven? Or should the existence of the Tabernacle where the priests offered sacrifices to Jehovah every day remind the Israelites that they should also worship Jehovah privately in their homes?

The last clause gives the answer. The Tabernacle had to be constructed exactly after the pattern that Moses was shown when he spoke with Jehovah’s angel on the mountain. This means that of the basic parts of the Tabernacle, each one had a concrete antitypical application. I will discuss some examples:

The priests made their service in the Holy compartment of the Tabernacle. But the High Priest entered the Most Holy compartment one time a year, on the Day of Atonement. What are the antitypes? We read Hebrews 9:11, 12, 24:

¹¹ However, when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have already taken place, he passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. ¹² He entered into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and of young bulls, but with his own blood, once for all time, and obtained an everlasting deliverance for us…²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with hands, which is a copy (antitypos) of the reality (alethinos), but into heaven itself, so that he now appears before God on our behalf.

The quotation shows that the Most Holy in the Tabernacle was a type of heaven. In Hebrews 10:19-22, there is a further identification:

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness for the way of entry into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ which he opened up for us as a new and living way through the curtain, that is, his flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us approach with sincere hearts and complete faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from a wicked conscience and our bodies bathed with clean water.

How could the curtain between the Holy and the Most Holy picture the flesh of Jesus? First Corinthians 15:50 says that “flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s Kingdom.” The fleshly body of Jesus prevented him from ascending to heaven. However, 10:10 says:

¹⁰ By this “will” we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

Jesus as the High Priest could not enter the Most Holy, which is heaven, with his fleshly body, just as the curtain prevented the High Priest from entering the Most Holy. When Jesus offered his body, the curtain, which symbolized his body, was taken away, so to speak. Jesus was raised as a spirit, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45. And now he could enter heaven.

In Israel, the priests served at the temple and offered sacrifices to Jehovah. Who were the antitype of the priests?  Paul uses the pronouns “we” and “us,” and verse 22 says that “our bodies bathed with clean water.” This was a requirement of the priests before they entered the Holy compartment. But to whom does the word “we” refer? We read Hebrews 3:1:

 ¹ Consequently, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest whom we acknowledge—Jesus.

Those who are mentioned in this verse are both the children and brothers of Jesus, as 2:11-13 says. They look to Jesus as their High Priest, and that they have the “heavenly calling” identifies them as priests. To show this, I again quote Hebrews 10:19, 20:

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness for the way of entry into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ which he opened up for us as a new and living way through the curtain, that is, his flesh.

The priests could enter to Holy compartment, but not the Most Holy compartment. However, because of the new situation with the ransom sacrifice, Paul points to an expansion of the type, which was implied by what happened when Jesus died.  We read Matthew 27:51:

 ⁵¹ And look! the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two, from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.   

The curtain had prevented the priests in Israel, who entered the Holy, from entering the Most Holy. But now this curtain, symbolized by the body of Jesus, was torn in two. Verse 20 in chapter 10, which is quoted above, shows that contrary to what happened in Israel, the underpriests with a heavenly hope could, because of the ransom sacrifice, enter “the holy place” which is the Most Holy symbolizing heaven. The requirement was that each one of the underpriests also sacrificed their body, just as Jesus did. (Romans 8:23)

The High priest entered the Most Holy with blood on the Day of Atonement each year. This was a type of Jesus Christ who entered into heaven with the value of his blood, as we read in Hebrews 9:24-26:

²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with hands, which is a copy (antitypos) of the reality (alethinos), but into heaven itself, so that he now appears before God on our behalf. ²⁵ This was not done to offer himself often, as when the high priest enters into the holy place from year to year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise, he would have to suffer often from the founding of the world. But now he has manifested himself once for all time at the conclusion of the systems of things to do away with sin through the sacrifice of himself.

The action of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement foreshadowed that Jesus would die a sacrificial death, that he would get a resurrection, and that he would ascend to heaven to present his sacrificed blood before Jehovah.

However, the High Priest offered two animals, a bull and a goat, which may have a prophetic meaning. We read in Leviticus 16:11-16:

¹¹ “Aaron will present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement in behalf of himself and his house; afterward he will slaughter the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself. ¹² “He will then take the fire holder full of burning coals from the altar before Jehovah and two handfuls of fine perfumed incense, and he will bring them inside the curtain. ¹³ He will also put the incense on the fire before Jehovah, and the cloud of the incense will envelop the Ark cover, which is on the Testimony, so that he may not die. ¹⁴ “He will take some of the bull’s blood and spatter it with his finger in front of the cover on the east side, and he will spatter some of the blood with his finger seven times before the cover. ¹⁵ “He will then slaughter the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the curtain and do with its blood the same as he did with the bull’s blood; he is to spatter it toward the cover and before the cover.¹⁶ “He must make atonement for the holy place concerning the acts of uncleanness of the Israelites and concerning their transgressions and their sins, and that is what he should do for the tent of meeting, which is located among them in the midst of their acts of uncleanness.

The Scriptures show that the ransom sacrifice will be applied for two different groups. The blood of the bull that made atonement for The High Priest and his family would foreshadow the application of the ransom sacrifice for the spiritual priests, the 144,000 with the heavenly calling. And the blood of the goat for the people of Israel would foreshadow the application of the ransom sacrifice for those who will live in the earthly paradise.[1]

Table 1.1 Types and antitypes

TYPE	ANTITYPE
The High Priest.	Jesus Christ.
The underpriests.	Anointed Christians with the heavenly calling.
The Most Holy (the holy place).	Heaven.
The Holy.	The situation of the anointed Christians on the earth.
The curtain between the Holy and Most Holy.	The body of Jesus.
Temple sacrifices.	The sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus.
The High Priest went into the Most Holy with blood.	The sacrificial death of Jesus. His resurrection. Presenting his blood before Jehovah.
The blood of the bull.	The ransom sacrifice applied to those with the heavenly calling.
The blood of the goat.	The ransom sacrifice applied to those with the earthly hope.

From the discussion above we understand that the basic parts of a prophetic type have concrete antitypical fulfillments. This means that prophetic types are not similar to illustrations where we only are taught one or more basic principles or procedures. When we study prophetic types, we must ask for the antitypical fulfillment of each part. It is wrong  just ask what the whole prophetic type reminds us of, as is the procedure of the members of the Governing Body.

Contrary to the pattern given in the Scriptures, as described above, the members of the Governing Body treat prophetic patterns in the same way as they treat illustrations. This means that they do not ascribe any prophetic meaning to the prophetic types, but they ask what the types remind us of, and the principles we can learn from the prophetic types.

HOW THE TYPES SHOULD NOT BE APPLIED 

The Epistle to the Hebrews teaches us several things regarding prophetic types and their application. Studying this today is particularly important because the members of the present Governing Body no longer follow the pattern of the application of prophetic types found in Hebrews and other books in the Christian Greek Scriptures. In this case, and in many other cases, they have watered down the truth.

The pattern that I have shown and will show in detail, is that the principal parts of a prophetic type have concrete antitypical applications. This is ignored by the present members of the Governing Body, and instead, they have made general subjective comments regarding situations written in the Scriptures that are prophetic types.

Instead of showing how the basic parts of a prophetic type point to concrete future events, they tend to use the general saying: “This (event) reminds us of…” In the book My Beloved Religion — And The Governing Body, pages 387, 388, I have a list of 19 examples of the expression “this reminds us of” in that book Pure Worship of Jehovah — Restored at Last (2017). And there are many more similar examples expressed with other words.

The focus of this article is on the Jubilee in Israel. The Watchtower of December 2019, had the study article 50, entitled “Jehovah provides for your liberty”. After the article, we find the following statement:

Jehovah made a special arrangement for liberty, or freedom, to be declared in ancient Israel. It was the Jubilee. Christians are not under the Mosaic Law; yet, the Jubilee has meaning for us. In this article, we will see how the ancient Jubilee reminds us of a provision Jehovah has made for us and how we can benefit from it.

The reader gets the impression that the article discusses the antitypes of the Jewish Jubilee, which is not the case. On page 12, we find the chart “Aspects of the Symbolic Jubilee.” The text says:

30 CE Jesus announces liberty in the synagogue of Nazareth. (Luke 4:21)

33 CE The symbolic Jubilee begins with the anointing of Christ’s followers. (Rom. 8:2, 15–17)

Today The anointed are enjoying many benefits of the symbolic Jubilee.

Millennium During the Thousand Year Reign of Christ, humans will experience restoration and liberation.

End of Christ’s Millennial Reign The symbolic Jubilee ends, having completely liberated mankind from sin and death. (Rom 8:21)

The important question is: What is the meaning of the word “symbolic” in the expression “the symbolic Jubilee”? The question is pertinent because the members of the Governing Body have an aversion to types and antitypes, and the previous article in The Watchtower about the Jewish sabbath does not say anything about the sabbath as a prophetic type.

The second and fifth paragraphs in the article may illuminate the issue:

² We will examine a better jubilee, even better than the year-long festival that was proclaimed every 50 years in ancient Israel. That ancient Jubilee brought liberty to the people who observed it. Why is that of interest to us today? Because Israel’s Jubilee year reminds us of a wonderful provision for lasting liberty that Jehovah is making now, liberty that Jesus spoke about. . . . (My italics.)

⁵ . . . we have reason to be interested in the Jubilee. Why? Because we can enjoy liberty, or freedom, that reminds us of what Jehovah set in place for the Israelites. (My italics.)

According to Paul, the sabbath cycles that included the Jubilee represent prophetic types whose antitypical fulfillments are connected with Christ, as we read in Colossians 2:16, 17. This article, and the previous article discussing the sabbath, ignore Paul’s words, and neither the sabbath nor the Jubile are applied as prophetic types. But the article discusses what the Jubilee reminds the members of the Governing Body of. So, the word “symbolic” does not refer to the antitype of the Jubilee, although many readers will draw this conclusion. The word symbolic seems to be a synonym for the word reminder.

The article refers to Jesus’ words in the synagogue in Nazareth, where he quoted Isaiah 61:1 (NWT13) “to proclaim liberty (d^eroœr) to the captives (s∑^ebūyim); Luke 4:18 has the words, “to proclaim liberty (afesis) for the captives (aichmalōtos).” No part of the words of Jesus focuses on the Jubilee. Both the Hebrew and the Greek word for “captives” refer to those who were taken captive in war. But those who were liberated in the Jubilee were all who served as slaves for the Israelites, and all people in the land. The article says that “the symbolic Jubilee” began in 33 CE when “Jehovah anointed with holy spirit the apostles and other faithful men and women.” (paragraph 12)

However, after quoting the words of Isaiah about liberty to the captives, Jesus said, “Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled.” (Luke 4:21, NWT13). Therefore, Jesus’ words could not refer to the “symbolic Jubilee,” which is supposed to have begun in 33 CE, three years later. Moreover, when the horn sounded on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement in the Jubilee, that would “proclaim liberty in the land to all its inhabitants,” as we read in Leviticus 25:9, 10. This does not fit the day of Pentecost in the year 33 CE when only a few persons were anointed with holy spirit. But it fits perfectly the Thousand-Year Reign of Jesus when all the billions of humans in the whole earth will get perfect liberty.

The readers get the impression that the article discusses the prophetic meaning of the Jubilee in Israel. But that is not the case. What is discussed is what the events at the Jubilee remind the members of the Governing Body of. And the prophetic meaning of the word of God simply is ignored.

[1]. See the book, Life Everlasting in the Freedom of the Sons of God (1966), pages 389-391.

THE PROPHETIC TYPE AND ANTITYPE OF THE JUBILEE 

I have already quoted the words of Paul in Colossians 2:16, 17 where he writes that the sabbaths in the Law were types that will be fulfilled in connection with Jesus Christ. And because the Jubilee is a sabbath year and a part of a sabbath cycle, it must also be a type that will get an antitypical fulfillment in connection with Jesus. Hebrews also corroborates this, as we read in 10:1 (above) and 8:5 (below):

¹ For since the Law has a shadow (skia) of the good things to come, but not the very substance (eikõn) of the things, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make those who approach perfect.

⁵ These men are offering sacred service in a typical representation (hypodeigma) and a shadow (skia) of the heavenly things; just as Moses, when about to construct the tent, was given the divine command: For He says: “See that you make all things after their pattern (typos) that was shown to you in the mountain.”

The Greek word skia means “shadow” and the body casting the shadow, i.e., the antitype is in 10:1 expressed by the word eikon, with the meaning “image.” In 8:5, the Greek word hypodeigma (typical representation) is a synonym for skia. The antitype can be expressed by the Greek words eidōn (“image), sōma (“body”), and alētheia (“truth”). The words in 10:1 do not say that the whole law is a shadow. But it says that the Law has a shadow, which means that parts of the Law represent prophetic types, and 8:5 shows that the sacred service of the priests is a typical representation.

THE JUBILEE AS A PROPHETIC TYPE 

The 49th year was a sabbath year when all the land rested, and the same was true with the 50th year, the Jubilee. I will now present the basic characteristics of the Jubilee, and we read Leviticus 25: 8-10:

⁸ “‘You will count off seven sabbath years, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven sabbath years will amount to 49 years. ⁹ You will then sound the horn loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month; on the Day of Atonement, you should cause the sound of the horn to be heard in all your land. ¹⁰ You must sanctify the 50th year and proclaim liberty (derūr) in the land to all its inhabitants. It will become a Jubilee for you, and each of you will return to his property and each of you should return to his family.

The Hebrew noun translated as “liberty” is derūr, and its meaning is “freedom; liberty.” (Kohlenberger and Mounce) The liberty or freedom mentioned in verse 10 was particularly applied in two areas: 1) All Hebrew slaves were set free, regardless of how long they had been slaves,  and 2) Any land and possession that had been sold, usually because of poverty, were returned to the original owners. There was liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. The entire year was a festival, a year of liberty for all Jews, and the whole land had a complete rest, as was the situation in the sabbath year. Insight on the Scriptures Volume 2, page 122, has the following fine description of how all the inhabitants experienced liberty:

The wonderful provision of the Jubilee year can better be appreciated when one considers not only the beneficial results to the individual Israelites but especially the effect on the nation as a whole. When the Jubilee arrangement was properly observed, the nation was restored in the Jubilee year to the full and proper theocratic state that God purposed and established at the beginning. Government was on a sound basis. The national economy would always be stable, and the nation would have no crushing debt. (De 15:6) The Jubilee brought about a stable standard of land values and also prevented a great internal debt and its resultant false prosperity that brings inflation, deflation, and business depression.

There can be no doubt that the Jubilee was a unique year that we do not find in any other nation.

THE JUBILEE AS AN ANTITYPE 

When we look for passages that may throw light on the antitype of the Jubilee, we should first find the Greek word used by the Septuagint for the Hebrew word derūr (“liberty”). This word is afesis with the meaning “forgiveness; cancellation (of sins); release (of prisoners). (UBS Lexicon) The noun afesis is used 18 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Fourteen of these refer to the forgiveness of sins, and two refer to the release of something. The two occurrences are found in a quotation from the Hebrew Scriptures, and I will first look at this quotation from Isaiah 61:1-2:

¹ The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, Because Jehovah anointed me to declare good news to the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty (derūr) to the captives And the wide opening of the eyes to the prisoners, ² To proclaim the year of Jehovah’s goodwill And the day of vengeance of our God, To comfort all who mourn.

The Hebrew noun that is translated by “liberty” is derūr, the same word that is used with the meaning “liberty” in connection with the releasing of the Hebrew slaves in the Jubilee. The Greek Septuagint translates derūr with afesis, as it does in the account of the Jubilee. Jesus was in the synagogue in Nazareth, and he read from the Scriptures. We read in Luke 4:17, 18:

¹⁷ So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸ “Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim liberty (afesis) to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away free (afesis), ¹⁹ to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.”

The clause “to send the crushed ones away free” is neither found in the Hebrew text nor in the Septuagint. But the Syriac Peshitta has the rendering “to release the bound” and the Dead Sea Scrolls have “to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness the prisoners.” The DSS and Peshitta show that Jesus’ use of the Hebrew word derūr. translated as Greek afesis two times, is found in the ancient manuscripts.

Even though Jesus used the same Greek word afesis (“liberty”) as the Septuagint uses in connection with the Jubilee, Jesus was not referring to the Jubilee. The freedom Isaiah spoke about was the freedom of those who would be taken captive to Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 BCE.[1] We, therefore, have no reason to believe that the antitypical Jubilee started in the first century CE when Jesus was on the earth. But Jesus released (afesis) persons who were in religious bondage and he released (afesis) people from their sins.

APPOINTED TIMES OF REFRESHING 

 But there are two passages in the Christian Greek Scriptures that directly point to the antitypical Jubilee. I quote the words of Peter in Acts 3:19-21:

¹⁹ “Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out (eksaleifō), so that seasons (kairos) of refreshing (anapsyksis) may come from Jehovah himself ²⁰ and he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus. ²¹ Heaven must hold this one within itself until the times (khronos) of restoration (apokatastasis) of all things (pas) of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old.

I will first consider the words: “all things (pas) of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old.” The Greek word pas means “all; every; all sorts of; all other.” Here the word is plural and is correctly translated by “all things.” To what does Peter refer? We find one answer in 1 Peter 1:9-12

 ⁹ as you attain the goal of your faith, your salvation. ¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the undeserved kindness meant for you made a diligent inquiry and a careful search. ¹¹ They kept on investigating what particular time (kairos) or what season the spirit within them was indicating concerning Christ as it testified beforehand about the sufferings meant for Christ and about the glory that would follow.¹² It was revealed to them that they were ministering, not to themselves, but to you, regarding what has now been announced to you by those who declared the good news to you with holy spirit sent from heaven. Into these very things, angels are desiring to peer.

The Christian goal was their salvation, as verse 9 says. Daniel was told that his prophecies could not be understood before the time of the end (Daniel 12:9), and other prophets did not understand all the things they were writing about. The prophets and the angels knew the first prophecy in Genesis 3:15, and they would understand that this prophecy pointed to a restoration of God’s purpose. But they did not understand how and when this would happen.

The Greek words telling what the prophets were investigating are difficult to translate. NWT13 has the rendering “what particular time or what season” and NIV has “the time and circumstances.” Two words are clear, namely poios and kairos. The word poios is an interrogative pronoun with the meaning “what kind of; which,” and kairos has the meaning “appointed time.” The problem is the interrogative pronoun tis with the meaning “who, what, why”? The interrogative pronoun poios determines the noun kairos, and the meaning is “what kind of appointed times.” But the interrogative pronoun tis stands alone without any noun following. However, both tis, poios, and kairos are masculine singular accusative. Therefore, I take the three words as a unit and suggest the following translation. “They were investigating which or what kind of appointed times the spirit within them was indicating…” Thus, the focus is on the appointed times, but also on the glory that would follow.

Returning to Acts 3.19-21, we see that the focus of Peter is on “the glory that would follow.” And this is seen in the expression “appointed times of refreshing (anapsyksis).” I will now discuss the noun anapsyksis and the corresponding verb anapsyksō. The noun has the meaning: “relief from distressful, burdensome circumstances,” (Louw and Nida)  and “a refreshing coolness after heat; met. refreshing, recreation, rest. (Mounce) The verb has the meaning, “to cause someone to recover a state of cheer or encouragement after a time of anxiety and trouble,” (Louw and Nida) and “to recreate by fresh air; to refresh, cheer.” (Mounce).

In the Christian Greek Scriptures, the noun anapsyksis occurs only in Acts 3:20. In the Septuagint it occurs only in Exodus 8:15:

¹⁵ When Pharʹaoh saw that there was relief (anapsyksis), he hardened his heart and he refused to listen to them, just as Jehovah had said.

The verb anapsyksō occur one time in the Christian Greek Scriptures and four times in the Septuagint, as we see below:

2 Timothy 1:16

¹⁶ May the Lord grant mercy to the household of On·e·siphʹo·rus, for he often refreshed (anapsyksō) me, and he did not become ashamed of my prison chains.

Exodus 23:12

¹² “Six days you are to do your work; but on the seventh day, you are to cease from your labor, in order that your bull and your donkey may rest (anapsyksō) and the son of your slave girl and the foreign resident may refresh themselves.

Judges 15:19

¹⁹ So God split open a hollow that was in Leʹhi, and water flowed from it. When he drank, his spirit returned and he revived (anapsyksō).

1 Samuel 16:23

²³ Whenever a bad spirit from God came upon Saul, David took the harp and played it, and Saul found relief (anapsyksō) and felt better, and the bad spirit would depart from him.

2 Samuel 16:14

¹⁴ At length the king and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted, and they refreshed (anapsyksō) themselves.

The examples show that the noun was translated as “refreshing” and “relief,” and the verb was translated as “refreshed,” “may rest,” “revived”, and “found relief.” Peter said in Acts 3:19 that “appointed times (kairos) of refreshing (anapsyksis) may come from Jehovah himself.” The definition of the verb of Louw and Nida is the common denominator: “to cause someone to recover a state of cheer or encouragement after a time of anxiety and trouble.” This is a very good characteristic of the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, in contrast with the time of anxiety and trouble in this old system of things. I will come back to Peter’s point that there are “appointed times of refreshing.”

I will now discuss the central words of Acts 3:21, “the times (khronos) of restoration of all things.” The word “times” is translated from the Greek noun khronos, that refers to time generally speaking and not to appointed times. The key word is apokatastasis with the meaning, “a restitution or restoration of a thing to its former state; hence, the renovation of a new and better era.” (Mounce) The noun occurs only in Acts 3:21 and not in the Septuagint. But the corresponding verb apokathistēmi occurs eight times in the Christin Greek Scriptures, always translated by “restore.” One example is Acts 1:6:

⁶ So when they had assembled, they asked him: “Lord, are you restoring (apokathistēmi) the kingdom to Israel at this time?”

Peter says that what should be restored are “all the things of which God spoke through the mouth of the holy prophets of old.” Hebrew does not have a word that corresponds to the Greek word apokatastasis (“restoration”). However, NIV has 82 examples of the word “restore” in the Hebrew Scriptures.  These are translated by the Hebrew verbs shūb (“return”) in the causative hifil stem (“cause to return to; restore”), and qūm (“rise; rise up”) in the causative hifil stem (“cause to rise up; restore”). But the prophets also used words that described the paradise in Eden to show how the earth would be restored and become a paradise.

A great number of the words of the prophets express different sides of the grand purpose of Jehovah with the earth and with the humans. Adam and Eve were perfect, and they lived in the paradise. Regarding the two first humans, God said according to Genesis 1:28:

²⁸ Further, God blessed them, and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many, fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving on the earth.”

Any person whom God inspired to speak, was a prophet, and this means that Moses also was a prophet. These inspired words show the purpose of God when he created humans, and these words are among those that God’s prophets of old spoke. This means that when all things that the prophets spoke will be restored or fulfilled, this means that the earth will become a paradise, and it will be full of perfect humans who never will die. The book of Revelation, chapters 20-22, describe how the restoration will occur during the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ.

We should remember that the essence of the Jubilee is restoration, the restoration of Hebrew slaves to freedom, and the restoration of land and property that had been sold to the original owners. This is real restoration and liberty. Therefore, the words of Peter of “the restoration of all things” point to the antitype of the Jubilee, to the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ where the essence is restoration.

The words in 3:19 about “appointed times of refreshing” also fit very well the millennium as an antitype to the Jubilee because anapsyksis (“Refreshing”) has the meaning “to cause someone to recover a state of cheer or encouragement after a time of anxiety and trouble.” This was what the Jubilee meant for the people of Israel, and this is what the millennium means for all the humans on the earth, both those who have survived the great tribulation and those who have received and resurrection.

THE FREEDOM OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD 

In the last section, we discussed the word anapsyksis with the meaning, “relief from distressful, burdensome circumstances,” or “rest.” I will now discuss a Greek word that has some similarities, namely, eleutheria, with the meaning “liberty; freedom” (Mounce) This word is a synonym for the Greek word afesis (“liberty; freedom) that is used in the Septuagint to describe the Jubilee. I quote Romans 8:18-21:

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of the present time do not amount to anything in comparison with the glory that is going to be revealed in us.¹⁹ For the creation is waiting with eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility (mataiotēs), not by its own will, but through the one who subjected it, on the basis of hope ²¹ that the creation itself will also be set free from enslavement (douleia) to corruption and have the glorious freedom (eleutheria) of the children of God.

The word mataiotēs is defined as “vanity, folly, futility.” (Mounce), and the Septuagint consistently translates the Hebrew word hæbæl (“futility”) with the Greek word mataiotēs. When Paul used this word in Romans 8:20, he probably had Ecclesiastes in mind and referred to the extensive use of hæbæl/metaiotēs in this book. This book describes what it means to be subject to futility, and the most important side of this is that everything one has achieved is taken away by death.[2] This also shows the relationship between being “subjected to futility” and being subject to “enslavement to corruption” — both are connected with death.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:26 (above) and Romans 6:23 (below) the following:

²⁶ And the last enemy, death, is to be brought to nothing.

²³ For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because all of us inherited sin from our first father, all of us also die. And, as Ecclesiastes says, death is the principal reason why we are subjected to futility. Romans 8:23 says that the freedom of the Sons of God means “the release from our bodies by ransom.” The Sons of God with the heavenly calling will sacrifice their bodies in death, and they will get a resurrection with a spiritual body, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:44. In this way they get their freedom.

Those who are termed as “the creation,” which are all the descendants of Adam who have not received a heavenly resurrection, and who have not sinned against the holy spirit, will receive “the freedom of the Sons of God” by a resurrection when the earth has become a paradise. This freedom is described in Revelation 21:1-4:

¹ And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. ² I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them. ⁴ And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”

Acts 3:21, that I discussed in the last section, said regarding Jesus Christ that “Heaven must hold this one within itself until the times (khronos) of restoration (apokatastasis) of all things (pas).” The context shows that New Jerusalem is the heavenly government with Jesus and the 144,000 co-rulers. This city “comes down out of heaven from God” in the sense that the members of the heavenly government who are kings, judges, and priests, will help those who live on earth to proceed toward perfection during the 1,000 years. This means that heaven does not “hold this one (Jesus Christ) within itself” any longer because New Jerusalem is “coming down out of heaven from God,” and the restoration of all things has started.

The quoted text describes a side of the restoration of all things, and it describes how humans no longer are subject to enslavement under corruption because “death will be no more”. The text describes how Adam’s descendants will get the freedom of the Sons of God. And it describes a situation of liberty that exists for all living humans that is similar to the situation of liberty in the Jubilee for all the inhabitants of Israel. The millennium is the antitypical Jubilee![3]    

[1]. See the book, Isaiah’s Prophecy — Light for All Mankind II, page 327.

[2]. A discussion of what it means to be subjected to futility is found in my article, “Why did God kill thousands of men, women, and children?” in the category, “Bible study.”

[3]. A discussion of what will happen during the antitypical Jubilee is found in my book, The Atonement Between God and Man, chapters 8 and 9.

THE APPOINTED TIMES OF THE GREAT JUBILEE 

   PART II  

Jehovah God wants humans to be aware of time, so they can connect particular events with particular times. In Genesis 1:14 we read:

¹⁴ Then God said: “Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to make a division between the day and the night, and they will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years.

Jehovah wants that humans shall be able to count the general time of days months and years, as well as the prophetic time.

THE CALCULATION OF THE COMING OF JESUS TO THE EARTH  

In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are many prophecies about the coming Messiah and about different things he will do and experience. All these prophecies are put into one time frame in Daniel 9:24-27:

²⁴ “There are 70 weeks that have been determined for your people and your holy city, in order to terminate the transgression, to finish off sin, to make atonement for error, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. ²⁵ You should know and understand that from the issuing of the word to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Mes·siʹah the Leader, there will be 7 weeks, also 62 weeks. She will be restored and rebuilt, with a public square and moat, but in times of distress.

²⁶ “And after the 62 weeks, Mes·siʹah will be cut off, with nothing for himself. “And the people of a leader who is coming will destroy the city and the holy place. And its end will be by the flood. And until the end there will be war; what is decided upon is desolations. ²⁷ “And he will keep the covenant in force for the many for one week; and at the half of the week, he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease. “And on the wing of disgusting things there will be the one causing desolation; and until an extermination, what was decided on will be poured out also on the one lying desolate.”[1]

The 70 weeks of years started in the 20th year of the Persian king Artaxerxes I, which is 455 BCE.[2] They ended 490 years later, in the year 36 CE, when Cornelius, the first believer from the nations was baptized. The Messiah should come after 69 weeks, which ended in the year 29 CE. In the middle of the 70th week, after 3 1/2 years, he would die. The Jewish people heard the Word of God be read in the Synagogue, and occasionally in the temple. And even though the individual Jews did not possess scrolls with the text of one or more of the Scriptures, many had a good knowledge of these Scriptures.

Jesus knew all the Hebrew Scriptures, and in Mark 1:14, 15 we read:

¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galʹi·lee, preaching the good news of God ¹⁵ and saying: “The appointed time (kairos) has been fulfilled (pleroō), and the Kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent, and have faith in the good news.”

The word Greek word kairos has the meaning “appointed or proper time; season, age.” (UBS Lexicon) One of the definitions of Mounce is “a limited period of time marked by a suitableness of circumstances.” The Greek word khronos refers to time generally but kairos refers to a particular time period that is appointed or limited. The real nuances must be construed on the basis of the context.

The word that can help us find the real meaning of kairos is the verb pleroō with the meaning “to fill; make full; fill up.” (Mounce) Because of this verb, kairos in this verse, cannot refer to time in general, or to a season or an age. But it must refer to a particular time period that has come to its end. The rendering “appointed time” is excellent, and the only appointed time that refers to the Messiah and the Kingdom of God is the 70 weeks mentioned in Daniel chapter 9, especially to the end of the 69th week when the Messiah should come.

Jesus spoke Hebrew, and he probably used the word ‘ēt. This word can refer to “time (in general); a unit of time (of various lengths): season” (Kohlenberger and Mounce). In Daniel 12:9, we find the words ‘ēt kets (“time of the end”), which refers to an appointed time. If Jesus used the word ‘ēt, Mark interpreted the meaning to be “appointed time” because he used the Greek verb “fulfill.”

Jesus used the Hebrew word ‘ēt many times, and in the Gospels this word probably is translated with kairos. Jesus used the Hebrew word ‘ēt  (Greek: kairos) in the plural according to Matthew 16:2, 3: (above).

 ² In reply he said to them: “When evening falls, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is fire-red,’ ³ and in the morning, ‘It will be wintry, rainy weather today, for the sky is fire-red but gloomy.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but the signs of the times (kairos) you cannot interpret.

In connection with “the signs of the times,” in Matthew 16:4 Jesus refers to the sign of Jonah. Because the plural of kairos is used, I would have used the rendering, “the signs of the appointed times.” The “sign of Jonah,” that Jesus was three days in hadēs, just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, was not “the signs of the appointed times.” However, the only times that had been appointed in connection with the Messiah, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, were the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter 9. And there were a number of signs connected with these 70 weeks, including that the Messiah should die. This may have been “the signs of the appointed times” that Jesus referred to.

Even though khronos refers to time in general, it can also refer to a fixed time with a marked end when it is determined. We read in Galatians 4:4:

⁴ But when the full limit (plēroma) of the time (khronos) arrived, God sent his Son, who was born of a woman and who was under law.

The Greek word plēroma has the meaning “that which fills up; full measure; entire content; complement; full extent; full number.” Because the word khronos refers to time in general without different units of time, the rendering “full limit” is an accurate rendering. However, in connection with kairos in the plural, which refers to a particular unit of time, the rendering of plēroma would be “full number,” as in Ephesians 1:10. But the words of Paul to the Galatians confirms the fact that the exact time for the coming of the Messiah was marked and could be calculated.

[1]. This prophecy is discussed in detail in my book, When Was the Book of Daniel Written? A philological. Lingusitic, and Historical Approach, pages 198-218.

[2]. The universal view is that the 20th year of Artaxerxes I is 445 BCE. I have studied the relevant Babylonian and Persian cuneiform tablets, and in my book, Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible — Volume I Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Second Edition (2012), I show there is strong evidence in favor of the year 455.

THE APPOINTED TIMES RELATED TO JEHOVAH’S DAY AND THE MILLENNIUM 

The words in Daniel chapter 9 about the 69 weeks until the coming of the Messiah show that calculating time periods in connection with the purpose of God was something that God’s servants should do. I will now discuss different time periods that are found in the Christian Greek Scriptures.

APPOINTED TIMES MENTIONED IN THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES 

After his resurrection, Jesus became visible to his disciples on several occasions. Immediately before his ascension to heaven, he said something that is important in our context. We read in Acts 1:7:

⁶ So when they had assembled, they asked him: “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” ⁷ He said to them: “It does not belong to you to know the times (khronos) or seasons (kairos) that the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction (eksousia).

 As I already have shown, the noun khronos refers to time generally and kairos refers to an appointed time. The translation of kairos as “seasons” in NWT13 is in my view unfortunate because of the noun eksousia. This noun has the meaning “authority; right; liberty; ability; capability; supernatural power; ruling power; government; official; jurisdiction.” (Mounce) The object is “times and appointed times,” and it is important to see exactly what is said about this object. The last sentence begins with the relative pronoun ous (“who, what, which) as masculine plural accusative. This shows that the relative pronoun ous refers back to khronos and kairos, which also are masculine plural accusative. I translate the last clause in 1:7 this way: “which the Father has appointed (or, “put in place”) by his own authority.”

The important point in Acts 1:7 is the existence of appointed times that God has arranged. We find one of these appointed times in Luke 21:24:

²⁴ And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until the appointed times (kairos) of the nations are fulfilled.

The word kairos in Luke 21:24 is in the plural, and in chapter 1 of my book, My Beloved Religion — And The Governing Body, I show that these appointed times started in the year 607 BCE and ended in 1914 CE, when Jesus became king in the Kingdom of the heavens and his presence started. This means that both the time of the coming of Jesus to the earth, and his coming as King could be calculated on the basis of concrete numbers in the Scriptures. The existence of appointed times is also confirmed by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5:

¹ Now as for the times (khronos) and the seasons (kairos, “appointed times”), brothers, you need nothing to be written to you. ² For you yourselves know very well that Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. ³ Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly on them, just like birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape. ⁴ But you, brothers, you are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you as it would thieves, ⁵ for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We belong neither to night nor to darkness.

When Paul says that there is no need to write to the Thessalonians about the times and appointed times, does that mean that the appointed times do not exist? Absolutely not! Paul speaks about the day of Jehovah that will come as a thief and not about particular appointed times. We can draw home this point by quoting Matthew 24:32-36

 ³² “Now learn this illustration from the fig tree: Just as soon as its young branch grows tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ Likewise also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors. ³⁴ Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things happen.³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. ³⁶ “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.

The time period mentioned by Jesus is his presence and the conclusion of the system of things (the time of the end). The followers of Jesus could know when this time period was because of the fulfillment of the sign that he gave in Matthew chapter 24, and because of the calculation of the appointed times of the nations (Luke 21:24). But the exact time of Jehovah’s day no one should know. Paul makes the point that no one should know when Jehovah’s day came. But because of the knowledge of the followers of Jesus of the time of the end, this day should not “overtake them as it would thieves.” But the important point of Paul’s words in our context, is that he used the same words as Jesus used and shows the existence of “times and appointed times.”

THE APPOINTED TIMES ENDING WITH THE DAY OF JEHOVAH

This heading seems to be contradictory because Jesus said that no human would know the day and hour of Jehovah’s Day. How can it then be correct to say that particular appointed times end with this day? I will now discuss this issue.

In his first letter to Timothy 6:13-15, Paul also uses kairos. We read:

¹³ I give you orders¹⁴ to observe the commandment in a spotless and irreprehensible way until the manifestation (epifaneia) of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which the happy and only Potentate will show (deiknymi) in its own appointed times (kairos). He is the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords.

The word kairos (“appointed time”) is in the plural, and the verb deiknymi has the meaning, “to make known the character or significance of something by visual, auditory, gestural, or linguistic means.” (Louw and Nida) According to the context, the “only Potentate” is Jesus Christ, and when he is made manifest, he will make known (deiknymi) his manifestation for all humans. When will his manifestation be? We read in 2 Timothy 4:1:

¹ I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his manifestation (epifaneia) and his Kingdom.

Because the manifestation of Jesus is connected with his judging of the living and the dead, his manifestation must be the same as his revelation in the great tribulation, when he will destroy people who are like those who persecuted the Thessalonians, and when he after that will judge the living and the dead. We read in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9

⁷ But you who suffer tribulation will be given relief along with us at the revelation (apokalypsis) of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels ⁸ in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. ⁹ These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength.

There is one important point in 1 Timothy 6:15, namely, that the humans in the world will realize the situation when the manifestation of Jesus comes “in its own appointed times.” As Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, the Father has appointed the time when the great tribulation will begin, and no one knows this time. However, Paul says in 2 Thessalonians that this day will come “in its own appointed times (kairos in the plural). This shows that just like the appointed times of the nations that are mentioned in Luke 21:24, which God has appointed, there is also other appointed times that will end at the manifestation of Jesus, Paul’s use the plural form of kairos in 2 Thessalonians 6:15 shows this explicitly.

Paul shows that there are particular appointed times that will end at the manifestation of Jesus in the great tribulation.

Is there any support for this conclusion elsewhere? Please consider Ephesians 1:10:8-10:

⁸ This undeserved kindness he caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and understanding ⁹ by making known to us the sacred secret of his will. It is according to his good pleasure that he himself purposed ¹⁰ for an administration (oikonomia) at the full limit (pleroma) of the appointed times (kairos), to gather all things together (anakefalaioō) in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth.

I have already shown that the meaning of plēroma is “that which fills up; full measure, entire content, complement, full extent, full number.” (Mounce) In Romans 11:12 and 26, NWT13 translates plēroma with the words “full number” because the complement is plural — in one instance the Jews and the other instance the people of the nations. In Ephesians 1:10, the complement for kairos is “an administration,” and therefore I translate the clause as “an administration at the full number of the appointed times.”

What would come when the number of the appointed times were full? Paul uses the noun oikonomia with the meaning “the management of a household; a stewardship.” The word oikonomia does not refer to something concrete, such as a government, but to something abstract, to the management of something. And what is this “something”? It is “to gather all things together again in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth.” And this would come at the full number of the appointed times. What does this mean?

The Watchtower of July 15, 2012, pages 27, 28 says:

This administration will carry out its objective in two stages. The first stage prepares the congregation of anointed ones for life in heaven under Jesus Christ as their spiritual Head. This stage began at Pentecost 33 C.E… The second stage prepares those who will dwell in Paradise on earth under Christ’s Messianic Kingdom. The “great crowd” make up the initial part of this group. (Rev. 7:9, 13-17; 21:1-5) During the Thousand Year Reign, they will be joined by billions of resurrected ones. (Rev. 20:12, 13)

There are three important reasons why “the administration” will not make the gathering together of those with a heavenly calling and those with an earthly hope in two stages.

First, the gathering of both groups is said to occur at the “full limit (number) of the appointed times.” This shows that the unity caused by the gathering of the things in heaven (those who will come to heaven) and the things on the earth (those who will live on the earth) must occur simultaneously because these appointed times cannot both end in 33 CE and at the beginning of the millennium.

Second, the verb translated as “to gather together” is anakefalaioō with the meaning “sum up, unite, bring together.” (UBS Lexicon). The verb is aorist middle infinitive, and because this is the perfective aspect — the action is viewed from the outside as a whole with details not visible. This corroborates the view that the unity caused by the gathering together occurs at the same time. If the author wanted to show that the gathering together occurred in stages, we would have expected present infinitive. Present represents the imperfective aspects, and the action would be seen as continuous or in stages with details visible.

Third, the NWT84 says, “to gather all things together again in the Christ.” The adverbial “again” does not occur in NW13. But there are strong reasons for the occurrence of this adverbial.[1] Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was unity in heaven and on the earth. The point of Paul is that by gathering together in Christ the members of the heavenly government and all the creatures in the paradise earth, again there will be unity in heaven and on the earth. This unity cannot occur in stages when this old system of things is still standing; it can only occur during the millennium.

Paul shows that there are particular appointed times that will end at the beginning of the millennium.

I have already shown that the words of Peter in Acts 3:19-21 refers to the antitypical Jubilee. But because the text also has chronological information, I discuss it again.

¹⁹ “Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out (eksaleifō), so that seasons (kairos) of refreshing (anapsyksis) may come from Jehovah himself ²⁰ and he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus. ²¹ Heaven must hold this one within itself until the times (khronos) of restoration (apokatastasis) of all things (pas) of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old.

The text has two parallel chronological expressions: “that appointed times of refreshing may come” and “until the times of restoration.” As I already have shown, the words “refreshing” and “restoration” refers to the antitypical Jubilee, which is the millennium. And the text connects appointed times with the refreshing and restoration. But it does not tell whether the appointed times refers to the beginning or end of the millennium or to the millennium as a whole.

Paul shows that there are appointed times that Jehovah has decided in connection with the millennium.

Table 1.2 The appointed times related to the antitypical Jubilee

Appointed times ending with the great tribulation.	1Timothy 6:15
Appointed times ending with the beginning of the millennium.	Ephesians 1:10
Appointed times related to the millennium.	Acts 3:19

Because the millennium begins after the great tribulation, we may assume that the appointed times that end with the great tribulation and those that refer to the beginning of the millennium refer to the same appointed times. The appointed times that are mentioned in Acts 3:19 relates to the millennium, but they are neither connected with its beginning nor with its end.

[1].  In my book, The Atonement Between God and Man (2023), pages 33-34, I discuss some linguistic evidence in favor of using “again” in the translation.

THE CREATION WEEK AS JEHOVAH’S APPOINTED TIMES 

Paul wrote in Romans 15:4

⁴ For all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.

In the previous section, I discussed three texts that mentioned appointed times that refer to the great tribulation and the beginning of the millennium. When Paul says that all the things that were written, were written for our instruction, we must expect that it must be possible to identify the mentioned “appointed times.” He also shows that the instruction of the Scriptures is connected with hope. This supports the view that we must be able to identify the mentioned appointed times — hope is especially connected with the “gathering together” in the millennium mentioned in Ephesians 1:10.

THERE IS A FUTURE ANTITYPICAL SABBATH 

But how can we identify these appointed times? We have discussed the appointed times of the 70 weeks and the appointed times of the nations. We may get a clue in Matthew 12:5-8:

⁵ Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbaths the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and continue guiltless? ⁶ But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ However, if you had understood what this means, ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless ones. ⁸For the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

An explanation of the meaning of the words, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” is found in the study note of NWT13 below:

Lord of the Sabbath:

Jesus applies this expression to himself (Mr 2:28; Lu 6:5), indicating that the Sabbath was at his disposal for doing the work commanded by his heavenly Father. (Compare Joh 5:19; 10:37, 38.) On the Sabbath, Jesus performed some of his most outstanding miracles, which included healing the sick. (Lu 13:10-13; Joh 5:5-9; 9:1-14) This evidently foreshadowed the kind of relief he will bring during his Kingdom rule, which will be like a sabbath rest.—Heb 10:1.

Why must we conclude that this explanation is wrong? Galatians 4:4 (above) and Romans 6:16 (below) may help us to see that:

⁴ But when the full limit of the time arrived, God sent his Son, who was born of a woman and who was under law.

¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Paul says that Jesus “was under the law,” and he also says that when you obey someone or something, you are a slave of that one. Because the Law was still valid, Jesus had to obey the law. So, he was a slave of the sabbath and not the Lord of the Sabbath. When Jesus did miracles on the sabbath, he did not violate the Law, but he violated some extreme sabbath rules that the religious leaders had made. The words of Jesus about the temple in Matthew 12:6 may help us, and we read in John 2:19-22:

¹⁹ Jesus replied to them: “Tear down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said: “This temple was built in 46 years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was talking about the temple of his body. ²² When, though, he was raised up from the dead, his disciples recalled that he used to say this, and they believed the scripture and what Jesus had spoken.

The word “temple” in verse 19 is naos (masculine singular accusative) and the pronoun auton (3. person masculine accusative) is of the same gender, number, and case as naos. Linguistically, the English pronoun “it” must refer to the literal temple. Nevertheless, the reference of Jesus was not to the literal temple but to “the temple of his body” — he would die and be raised up after three days.

When Jesus in Matthew 12:6 says “that something greater than the temple is here,” he also had to refer to “the temple of his body.” Because Jesus was a slave of the Law, including the sabbath, it could not rightly be said that he was “the Lord of the Sabbath.” Therefore, “the sabbath” must be viewed as in the same class as “the temple.”

 It had to refer to something different from the literal sabbath. This is also implied in Mark 2:27, 28:

²⁷ So he went on to say to them: “The sabbath came into existence for the sake of man, and not man for the sake of the sabbath; ²⁸ hence the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.”

Jesus and the apostles were proceeding through the grainfields on the sabbath, and the disciples were plucking the heads of the grain and eating them. Because of this, the Pharisees criticized them. This was not against the Law but it was against the human traditions of the Pharisees. A part of the answer of Jesus is found in verses 27 and 28 above. The point of Jesus is that the sabbath was made for the sake of man, so everyone could rest from their work. It was not made to put extra burdens on the people by the creation of human commandments.

However, the construction of the last sentence indicates that Jesus used the word “sabbath” in the antitypical sense. This is seen by the use of the Greek conjunction hōste, that is translated by “hence”. Louw and Nida defines hōs and hōste as “markers of result, often in contexts implying an intended or indirect purpose  — ‘therefore, (so) accordingly, as a result, so that, so then, and so.’” New American Bible stresses the result with the rendering: “That is why the Son av man is lord even of the sabbath.” So, because the sabbath came into existence for the sake of man, therefore, the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.

This suggests that there must be a future sabbath that Jesus was referring to, over which he was the lord, and this sabbath was created for the sake of man. The miracles Jesus made on the literal sabbath would foreshadow bigger actions of the same kind that would occur on this future sabbath. Paul confirms this view in Colossians 2:16, 17:

¹⁶ Therefore, do not let anyone judge you about what you eat and drink or about the observance of a festival or of the new moon or of a sabbath. ¹⁷ Those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.

A future “sabbath” must be the seventh period of a “week,” and the only place where the Scriptures speak of “a week” is in the creation account in Genesis chapter 1.

THE SABBATH DAY OF JEHOVAH STILL  CONTINUES 

The first chapter of Genesis speaks of a creation week of six days (yom), where animals and plants were created. The Hebrew word yom is often used for a day of 24 hours, but it can also be used for different time periods. We are particularly interested in the length of the 7th day. Genesis 2:2, 3 says:

 ² And by the seventh day, God had completed the work that he had been doing, and he began to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had been doing. ³ And God went on to bless the seventh day and to declare it sacred, for on it God has been resting from all the work that he has created, all that he purposed to make.

Most of the verbs in chapter 1 are imperfects, and this means that the focus is on continuous action. Verbs in the imperfect can be translated as “he began to”, “he proceeded to”, and “he was…ing.” When Moses wrote Genesis, all the actions were historically completed. When NWT13 translates the imperfects in Genesis chapter 1 with English simple past, the nuances of the verbs are lost. Because of this, there is no linguistic reason to translate the verb shābat in the imperfect in 2:2, 3 with “began to rest” and “has been resting” in verse 3. But the pattern of the translation would require simple past and the rendering “rested.” All verbs in the imperfect should be rendered in the same way, as is the case in NWT84.

However, the verb shābat is not an action but a state. And even if a translation uses simple past, such as “rested,” the state of rest would continue until it is said that it is finished. Thus, the verb shābat in the imperfect tells us that God rested but it does not tell us that the rest was completed. However, chapters 3 and 4 in Hebrews tell us that the day of Jehovah’s rest was still lasting in the middle of the first century CE when the letter was written and that Jehovah’s rest would continue into the future.

EXCURSUS ON JEHOVAH’S DAY OF REST ACCORDING TO HEBREWS CHAPTERS 3 AND 4 The nation of Israel wandered about in the wilderness for 40 years. Because the nation did not obey Jehovah and put faith in him, none of them were allowed to enter the promised land, except Joshua and Caleb. We read in Hebrews 3:15-19: 15 As it is said, “Today if you listen to his voice, do not harden your hearts as on the occasion of provoking to bitter anger.” 16 For who heard and yet provoked him to bitter anger? Was it not, in fact, all those who went out of Egypt under Moses? 17 Moreover, with whom did God become disgusted for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest (katapausis)? Was it not to those who acted disobediently? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of lack of faith. The Greek word translated as “rest” is katapausis, and its meaning is “the act of giving rest; a state of settled or final rest” (Mounce). This is the first time God’s rest is mentioned after the creation account. And it shows that God’s day of rest had lasted for 2,500 years. The writer of Hebrews uses the situation in the wilderness as a point of departure, and he connects this situation with the situation among those to whom the Epistle was written. We read in 4:1, 2: 1 Therefore, since a promise of entering into his rest remains, let us be on guard for fear someone among you seems to fall short of it. 2 For we have also had the good news declared to us, just as they had; but the word that they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. In verse 1, the writer shows that in the middle of the first century CE, “a promise of entering into his rest remains.” This shows that God still rested. In verse 2, there is a parallel between “the good news declared to us” and “the word that they heard.” What was “this word”? It was the good news those heard who went out of Egypt regarding the invitation to enter the promised land and rest with Jehovah. They did not achieve this because of lack of faith. The Hebrews had heard the good news of the kingdom, and this also included an invitation to enter Jehovah’s rest, which they did, as we read in 4:3-5: 3 For we who have exercised faith do enter into the rest, just as he has said: “So I swore in my anger, ‘They will not enter into my rest,’” although his works were finished from the founding of the world. 4 For in one place he has said of the seventh day as follows: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5 and here again he says: “They will not enter into my rest.” The Jewish nation who was in the wilderness did not enter God’s rest because of lack of faith. Faith is one of the basic sides of the Christian life, and when the verb pisteuō is used, it often is in Greek present. Therefore, it is correct to render it as “to exercise faith,” which means actively showing faith. In verse 3, the verb pisteuōis in Greek aorist, so the rendering “have exercised faith” is inconsistent. The aorist does not signal actively showing faith. The NIV has the rendering “have believed,” which is an accurate rendering. However, the point is that Christians who have faith enter the rest of God. Verse 3 shows that Jehovah still was resting when the letter to the Hebrews was written. This rest continued, as we read in verses 6-9: 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter into it, and those to whom the good news was first declared did not enter in because of disobedience, 7 he again marks off a certain day by saying long afterward in David’s psalm, “Today”; just as it has been said above, “Today if you listen to his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had led them into a place of rest, God would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 So there remains (apoleipomai) a sabbath-rest (sabbatismos) for the people of God. Verse 6 shows that during the sojourn in the wilderness, Israel heard the word of God, the good news about entering his rest in the promised land. But because of disobedience, they did not enter the promised land. Verse 7 shows that Jehovah’s rest did not end during the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness. But another opportunity remains. This is shown by the reference to Psalm 95:7-11: 7 For he is our God, And we are the people of his pasture,The sheep in his care. Today if you listen to his voice, 8 Do not harden your heart as at Merʹi·bah, As in the day of Masʹsah in the wilderness, 9 When your forefathers tested me; They challenged me, though they had seen my works. 10 For 40 years I felt a loathing toward that generation, and I said: “They are a people who always go astray in their hearts; They have not come to know my ways.”11  So I swore in my anger: “They will not enter into my rest.” Psalm 95 was written more than 400 years after Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, and the words “today” refers to this time.  This shows that entering the rest of Jehovah was still possible in the days of David. On the basis of the words of David, the writer of Hebrews draws the conclusion that this “today” still remains; God is still resting. The verse says, “So there remains a sabbath-rest for the people of God.” The rendering “sabbath-rest” is excellent, because the Greek word sabbatismos is an abstract substantive. This means that the word does not refer to a future time period, for example, to the Thousand-Year Reign of Jesus. But the word refers to the state of “resting on the sabbath”; the sabbath resting “remains.” The Greek word translated “remains” is apoleipomai, and according to Louw and Nida its basic meaning is “continue to exist.” This shows that Jehovah’s day of rest continued beyond the time of David, and it still continued when Hebrews was written.[1] This is also confirmed from verse 10 onward. We read in verses 10-13: 10 For the man who has entered into God’s rest has also rested from his own works, just as God did from his own. 11 Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall into the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word (logos) of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is not a creation that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account. Entering into God’s rest means to believe in Jehovah God and Jesus Christ and to be obedient to God’s laws. By this, a Christian is resting from the Laws of Moses and the attempt to make oneself righteous. Becoming righteous is based on the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ and not on particular personal actions. Paul exhorts the Hebrews to do their utmost to enter God’s rest by showing faith and obedience. Then Paul refers to the penetrating force of “the word of God” (logos). The expression “the word of God” does not refer to the Bible, as many believe. But we can find the reference of “the word of God’” in 4:2. In this verse, “the word of God” (logos) refers to the good news Israel received about entering into God’s rest in the promised land, and to the good news about the possibility of entering the rest in the first century CE. So, “the word of God” that is mentioned in verse 12 refers to the good news preached in the wilderness, and in the first century about entering God’s rest. This message is like a penetrating sword, for the reaction to this “word of God,” this good news. shows whether the inner self of a person really believes in God and his Son and if the person by heart wants to obey the laws of God.

THE LENGTH OF JEHOVAH’S DAY OF REST 

As I have shown above, Hebrews chapter 4 shows that God’s day of rest continued in the first century CE, 4,000 years after it started, and that it would still continue. There is no evidence that God’s rest has ended. And because it still is possible to show faith in Jehovah and his Son and follow God’s laws, which means to rest together with Jehovah, we must conclude that the day of rest still continues. But how long will the day of rest continue?

The appointed times of the nations ended in the year 1914, and the presence of Jesus started. Today, we can see the sign of this presence and the conclusion of the of the system of things, and according to Matthew 24:34, the great tribulation will come within one generation. After that, the thousand-year reign of Jesus will begin. Paul says in Colossians 2:17 that the sabbaths were types and the antitypes were connected with Jesus.  He also shows in 1 Timothy 5:4 and Ephesians 1:10, that there was “appointed times” that would end with the great tribulation and the beginning of the millennium. Peter also shows in Acts 3:21 that there are appointed times that relates to the millennium. When we see this in light of his words in Romans 15:4 that “all the things that were written beforehand, were written for our instruction,” and that this would give us hope, we expect to find the length of Jehovah’s day of rest in the Bible.

It is interesting to see that all the information that we need to calculate the time from the creation of Adam is found in the Holy Scriptures. We may, for example, consider Genesis chapter 5. In this chapter, the age of ancient persons when they got sons are listed. When everything is written for our instruction, which kind of instruction can this chapter give us? There is only one possibility, that the ages are written to give us the possibility to calculate the time from the creation of Adam. This is supported by Luke 3:23-38 where there is a complete genealogy of Jesus back to Adam. The information in 1 Kings 6:1 also shows that God’s servants are given the tools to calculate the length of Jehovah’s day of rest:

¹ In the 480th year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year after Solʹo·mon became king over Israel, in the month of Ziv (that is, the second month), he began to build the house of Jehovah.

The only reason for such information as the text gives us, is that Jehovah wants to instruct us with chronological information.

I refer to the book Life Everlasting in the Freedom of the Sons of God, pages 33-37, where the time from Adam is calculated on the basis of the information in the Bible. And 6,000 years from Adam ends in the year 1975 CE. When we know, on the basis of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:34, that the great tribulation will begin in “this generation,” and we know from Revelation chapter 20 that the thousand-year reign of Jesus follows, we know that Jehovah’s day of rest is 7,000 years long.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JEHOVAH’S DAY OF REST AND THE CREATION WEEK

I start with quoting Colossians 2:16, 17 one time more:

¹⁶ Therefore, do not let anyone judge you about what you eat and drink or about the observance of a festival or of the new moon or of a sabbath (sabaton). ¹⁷ Those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.

We note that “festival” and “new moon” are singular. There were several festivals, and by not using the Greek article, the reference must be to any festival. There was only one new moon festival, but there were different sabbats, the weekly sabbath, the sabbath year, and the Jubilee year. The Greek word sabbaton is plural, and this shows that any sabbath is a prophetic type. But of course, different sabbaths do not represent different prophetic types. But all the sabbaths that are connected with the number seven, represent the same prophetic type.

I will now apply the words of Paul to the creation week. We have found that Jehovah’s day of rest is 7,000 years long. Because all the days in a week are of equal length, the six days of creation must each have the same length as the sabbath, conceptually speaking. The word conceptually refers to the viewpoint Moses who wrote the account had. Paul says that a sabbath is a prophetic type, and because the sabbath is a part of the week, the whole week is a part of the sabbath type. This means that the week mentioned in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 is 49,000 years long — 7,000 times 7.

Is it possible that each creation day literally can be 7,000 years long? The sedimentary rocks on the earth with their fossils must represent days three, four, five, and six of the creation week when plants and animals were created. Geologists believe that these rocks are hundreds of millions of years old. The sedimentary rocks were formed by small pieces of igneous rocks, and possibly by material from space. The pieces of igneous rocks and the supposed material from space may be millions of years old. But there is nothing in the sedimentary rocks that would contradict the possibility that they —the sedimentary rocks—are less than 49,000 years old, and the creation week consists of 49,000 literal solar years. Evidence in connection with the ages of rocks is presented in R.J. Furuli, Can We Trust the Bible? With Focus on the Creation Account, the Worldwide Flood, and the Prophecies, pages 26–102.

But regardless of how many solar years each creation day lasted, conceptually, each day is 7,000 years long. How can we apply this in relation to the type of the Jubilee year? We may read Leviticus 25:8-10:

⁸ “‘You will count off seven sabbath years, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven sabbath years will amount to 49 years. ⁹ You will then sound the horn loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month; on the Day of Atonement, you should cause the sound of the horn to be heard in all your land. ¹⁰ You must sanctify the 50th year and proclaim liberty in the land to all its inhabitants. It will become a Jubilee for you, and each of you will return to his property and each of you should return to his family. ¹¹ A Jubilee is what that 50th year will become for you. You will not sow seed or reap what grew on its own from leftover grain nor gather the grapes of unpruned vines. ¹² For it is a Jubilee. It is to be holy to you. You may eat only what the land produces by itself.

The arrangement with the Jubilee follows the pattern of the creation week. But it is unique compared with the arrangments in other nations. Something similar is not found in any other nation in the ancient Near East. And there is no necessity in the arrangement of 49 and 50 years. A Jubilee of liberty could have come every 40 years or every 70 years, or at another number of years. In view of Paul’s words in Romans 15:4, the arrangement of the Jubilee did not only serve the nation of Israel but the Jubilee was arranged for our instruction. When we also keep in mind that Paul in Colossians 2:17 says that a sabbath is a prophetic type, and both the 49th and the 50th year are sabbaths, there is strong reason to believe that the chronology of 49 and 50 years are prophetic types with a future fulfillment.

If we apply this chronology to the creation week, the 7,000 years of God’s rest is a sabbath in relation to the creation week. And here I am not speaking of a type and an antitype but I speak of the real situation because the 7,000-year long sabbath of Jehovah’s rest literally is a sabbath in the creation week, as Genesis 2:2, 3 says.

But if we now apply the Jubilee chronology to the creation week, we find that the 49,000th year is the last year of Jehovah’s day of rest and is the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ. According to the Jubilee chronology, the thousand-year reign of Jesus is a sabbath, and Jesus said he was the lord of the sabbath. Moreover, what will happen during these 1,000 years is the same that happened to Israel during the 49th and 50th years of the Jubilee cycle. Jesus will proclaim liberty for all humans on the earth. The parallels with the Jewish Jubilee really are striking!

Because the 50th year was a sabbath year when nothing should be sown or ripen, we can view the 50th year as a prolongation of the 49th sabbath year when all sides of the sabbath year would be amplified and heightened. Thus, the 50th year, the Jubilee, is the same as the millennium, and it does not start after the millennium.

KNOWING THE APPOINTED TIMES BUT NOT THE EXACT TIME FOR JEHOVAH’S DAY 

During this discussion, some may have wondered whether my claim that we can know the appointed times ending at the great tribulation and at the beginning of the millennium is true, in view of the fact that Jesus said according to Matthew 24:36 that “that day and hour nobody knows.”

In order to grasp this, it is important to understand what the chronology about the creation week shows and what it does not show. I quote Genesis 2:18-24:

¹⁸ Then Jehovah God said: “It is not good for the man to continue to be alone. I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” ¹⁹ Now Jehovah God had been forming from the ground every wild animal of the field and every flying creature of the heavens, and he began bringing them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man would call each living creature, that became its name. ²⁰ So the man named all the domestic animals and the flying creatures of the heavens and every wild animal of the field, but for man there was no helper as a complement of him.

²¹ So Jehovah God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and then closed up the flesh over its place. ²² And Jehovah God built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman, and he brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said: “This is at last bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one will be called Woman, Because from man she was taken.” ²⁴ That is why a man will leave his father and his mother and he will stick to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

This account shows that Eve was created after Adam was created. But how much time elapsed between the creation of the two is not stated. The time for the creation of the animals is uncertain as well. In verse 19, NWT13 has the rendering regarding the mentioned animals, as “had been forming.” However, the verb “to form” is Hebrew imperfect, just as most of the other verbs in the creation account. And these verbs are rendered by simple past. Genesis 1:20-27 shows that the animals were created before man, so, the pre-past rendering “had been forming” has some basis. On the other hand, the verb in the imperfect could also be translated as, “was forming.” And this would suggest that some animals were created after Adam and before Eve was created. The text does not solve this issue.

The last thing Jehovah did on day six, before he started his rest, was to create Eve. Biblical chronology tells us that in the year 1975, 6,000 years have elapsed from the creation of Adam. However, the Jubilee chronology shows that the last 1,000 years of Jehovah’s day of rest start 6,000 years after the creation of Eve and not after the creation of Adam. Because we do not know how long time after Adam’s creation Eve was created, we do not know when the millennium will start.

So, the conclusion of the problem mentioned at the beginning is this: The appointed time of Jehovah is a week of 49,000 years, with his day of rest as the last 7,000 years. He has appointed the last 1,000 years of the 49,000 years, as the antitypical Jubilee for the human family. Because the sign of the presence of Jesus has been visible since 1914, and Jesus said that the day of the end (telos) would come within one generation, and because 6,000 years since Adam ended in 1975, we can conclude that the beginning of the last 1,000 years of Jehovah’s day, the Jubilee, is rather close. But because we do not know the time that elapsed between the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve, we do not know exactly when the Jubilee begins

Thus, there is no discrepancy between our knowledge of God’s appointed times of the creation week of 49.000 years and the Jubilee as the last 1,000 years and the saying of Jesus that we do not know the day and hour for the end of this system of things.

A reader from Brazil sent his observarions regarding this article. What he was pointing out is true, and I quote his comments:

I read the article posted on the website about the Great Jubilee and found the conclusion of the subject at the end of the article interesting. I would like to thank you for the post and make an observation on the subject.

Although we do not know the time that elapsed between the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve, and therefore we do not know exactly when the Jubilee begins, we do know that when Seth, Adam’s third son was born – who Eve saw as a replacement for Abel . (Gen. 4:25), Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3). Then, within the period of 130 years, Adam was created, gave names to all the domestic animals, the flying creatures of the heavens and every wild animal. Also, within this period of 130 years, Eve was created, was expelled from paradise, had Cain and Abel, who grew up and acquired professions. Cain chose farming while Abel became a shepherd. This assumes the passage of a good number of years.

In summary, since Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born – after all the periods already mentioned – and since 48 years have passed since 1975, although we do not know the time that elapsed between the creation of Adam and the creation of Eve, we can to assert based on this data that the beginning of the Jubilee is imminent and even establish a time limit for it?

Your brother,

[1]. Very fine discussions of how to enter God’s rest are found in The Watchtower of July 15, 1998 and July 15, 2011.

CONCLUSION

I have written this article because of my strong belief that the whole Bible is the inspired word of God. This means that all the accounts are included with a particular purpose and meaning, and all the nuances in the original text of the Bible are important. This was the view of the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1961 when I was baptized. However, the present members of the Governing Body no longer believe in the full inspiration of the Bible, as I show in my book, The Atonement Between God and Man (2023).

The New World Translation that was published between 1950 and 1960, and slightly revised in 1984, is in my view the most accurate Bible translation in the English Language. The Revised New World Translation of 2013 is an inaccurate translation because it is an idiomatic translation where the nuances of the original languages to a great extent are ignored. This translation was made under the leadership of the members of the Governing Body, and it illustrates that these brothers do not believe that the nuances in the original text are important.

The way the members of the Governing Body treat the translated text of the Bible shows that neither do they view the details of this text as important. They teach that great parts of the Hebrew Scriptures have no meaning for us today, and they even reject the words of Jesus regarding who will get a resurrection. And in connection with this study, they do not accept the words of Paul that the Jewish sabbaths are types whose antitypes will be fulfilled in connection with Jesus.

The organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses today is very different from what the organization was in the 1960s, before the Governing Body for the first time was created in 1971. Today, I endorse everything that Jehovah’s Witnesses stood for in the 1960s, with two exceptions. Most of the doctrines from the 1960s are still taught, but there has been a downward trend both in connection with all the new laws and rules without a basis in the Bible that have been introduced, and in all the new doctrines that have been made, particularly in the 21st century.

Even the most basic doctrines of the Bible have been diluted by the members of the Governing Body. In my book, The Atonement Between God and Man I show how they have rejected an important part of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They have besmirched the name of Jehovah by teaching that he has annihilated and will annihilate forever billions of people who have not had the chance to learn the truth of God because the ransom sacrifice does not include these people — Jesus did not die for them.

The three first chapters in Revelation shows that among the seven congregations in Asia, there were false doctrines and false practices. And Jesus through John asked the members of these congregations to repent. But still, these congregations were a part of the Christian community that God approved. We have a similar situation among Jehovah’s Witnesses today. Most of the teachings, and most of what happens in the congregations are good and fine and are based on the Bible. And I have no doubt that this is the only true religion that Jehovah approves.

But by their leadership, the members of the Governing Body are working to destroy the organization from the inside, in my view. In the 1960s and for three decades, most Witnesses had a great knowledge of the Bible. Several times when we preached from house to house, and we answered questions by quoting the Bible, the resident said: “You must know the whole Bible.” Today, the Bible knowledge among the Witneses, including elders and pioneers, is extremely low, and very few can answer questions from a tenant by opening his or her Bible and read a scripture.

The reason for this is that the members of the Governing Body are diluting the message of the Bible. After World War II, the stress in the Watchtower literature and at the meetings was personal Bible study and accurate Bible knowledge. Today the stress is on meditation on the Bible to see what the text reminds us of, and on emotions rather than on accurate knowledge. This is also the reason for the articles I have published on my website and for this article. The antitypes of the prophetic types of the sabbaths and the Jubilee are rather dramatic, and they give us hope. Therefore it is important to study the fulfillment of these types.

ADDENDUM

Quotation from The Watchtower of  January 1, 1987, pages 22 and 23: