What is the Jubilee?
The Biblical Jubilee year happens once every 49 years. It starts on a Day of Atonement–the holiest day on God’s calendar–when the High Priest entered God’s presence to obtain forgiveness for the sins of the whole nation.
Under the Old Covenant, Jubilee was the year when all debts were completely erased and all properties in Israel were restored to their original owners. For New Covenant disciples, I believe Jubilee is the time when we’ll receive fantastic spiritual blessings, including complete deliverance from our sinful nature and our eternal, heavenly inheritance in glory!
Just as Jesus literally fulfilled Passover, Firstfruits, and Pentecost on the exact days when the Jews were celebrating these symbolic feasts, God will fulfill the Day of Atonement (starting the Jubilee year) exactly on its annual anniversary, one day in the near future.
When is the next Jubilee year?
If you do a Google search, you’ll see there’s a lot of ignorance, disagreement, and confusion about this question. It’s a mystery, and I want to share some interesting possibilities I just discovered. I’ll be watching them closely.
It started when I recently discovered a BibleArchaeology.org article which convincingly concluded that Joshua led Israel to enter the Promised Land in 1406BC. According to Leviticus 25:8, this event started the 49-year Biblical Jubilee cycle.
2024
Based on this 1406BC start date and a 49-year Jubilee cycle, the next Jubilee will be in the year 2024, and it will be the 70th Jubilee.
Here’s my math: 2024AD + 1406BC = 3430 years. 3430/49=70.
2017 and a 50-Year Jubilee Cycle?
Some people have speculated that big events for Israel occurred in 1917 and 1967, so they assume 2017 is the next year in a 50-year Jubilee cycle. They base the 50-year cycle on Leviticus 25:11, which says, “You shall have the fiftieth year as a Jubilee.”
So, let’s see how a 50-year cycle fits. If the cycle is 50 years, with a start point of 1406BC, the next Jubilee would be in the year 2044, and it would be the 69th Jubilee.
Here’s my math: 2044AD + 1406BC = 3450 years. 3450/50 = 69.
The 49-year Jubilee Cycle
I’m convinced the 49-year cycle is the correct view, with each 50th year overlapping the 1st year of the next 49-year cycle. There’s a detailed explanation for this rationale in Gavin Finley’s Jubilee Cycles video. I’m adding a link to this video in the chart below if you want to study this in detail.
So, does the year 2017 have any significance? It might…If Jubilee starts on Yom Kippur in October 2024, that’ll be exactly 7 (lunar) years from Yom Kippur on September 30, 2017. If so, Daniel’s 70th week will have started on 9/30/2017.
Daniel’s 70th Week
Daniel 9:27 famously states, “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week”. Most people believe “he” refers to the Antichrist, who will make a ‘covenant with many’ for 7 years. We may (or may not) know whether this 7-year covenant has occurred until 3 and 1/2 years later, when “he” will break the covenant and commit “the abomination of desolation.”
If my calculations are correct and the 70th Jubilee is in 2024, and if the 70th Jubilee is the fulfillment of the prophetic Jubilee, Daniel’s 70th week (the final 7 years of this age) started on Yom Kippur, September 30th, 2017.
Finally, while it’s extremely interesting to study these things, my advice is to be watchful and strive to make yourself ready for the Lord’s imminent appearing.