The Shmittah Year Prophecy
In 2000 CE, what is called “The Shmittah Year Prophecy” became the talk in Israel, especially within Orthodox Jewish circles. Before long, Messianic believers were also studying it. The Orthodox religious say that a Scriptural cycle was found 400 years ago in their Scriptures by their sages. This cycle is calculated from the time that Joshua and the Hebrews entered the Land. In calculating the seven year cycle, set in motion by Yahuweh Himself, the sages said that the Rosh ha Shanah—head of the year—(Yom Teruah—Feast of Trumpets) of September 11, 1999 CE, would be the “year that everything changes and the beginning of the judgment of the nations”. The “head of the year” is calculated from creation. Day one of the Hebrew month of Tishre thus began the year 2000 on September 11, 1999 (Roman calendar). The Jews call it the year 5760, from an uncorrected calendar rendering after the “Babylonian captivity”.
According to the prophecy, the following Rosh ha Shanah would begin a “Shmittah Year”. On this day, which was September 29, 2000 CE (Roman calendar) they said that a war cycle would start that would not end until Messiah ben David (Messiah, the Son of David) came to deliver them. They considered it the beginning of “Jacob’s troubles”.
The “Shmittah Year” is the seventh year of each seven-year cycle, set by Yahuweh, our Father, in which He commands the Land to rest—from Leviticus 25:1-7, Deuteronomy 15:1-4. The word “shmittah” (sh-meet-ah) comes from the Hebrew root “shamot”, which means “to abandon, to leave, to let lie fallow”, and refers to the land being left alone for a year, in order to revitalize it for better harvests. But, it also symbolizes the weekly Shabbat—day of rest--in which humans and animals and all life forms can rest--and the seven-thousandth year of Messiah’s Kingdom, which brings us into eternal rest.
Obeying His instructions for the smittah year is so important that Yahuweh sent the house of Judah into captivity in Babylon for seventy years for punishment for not keeping the smittah year for 490 years. (II Chronicles 36:20-21)
The “Shmittah Year” will again occur on Rosh ha Shanah, Yom Teruah, of 2007 CE (sunset September 12th-sunset September 13th)--Roman calendar--beginning the seventh year of the seven-year cycle we are in now.
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This date on the creation calendar begins the year 2008. The new seven-year cycle will begin on Rosh ha Shanah of 2008 CE (Roman calendar) or 2009, Tishre 1, Hebrew calendar.
In the meantime, Jews are still looking for Messiah ben Yoseph (the suffering servant). To their great joy, both will come as the same Person, to catch them up on what they’ve been missing for the last 1,970 years, and to bring them a Kingdom on earth, in which the Torah will be the rule of the Law of Heaven over the earth. Messiah ben Yoseph/Messiah ben David (same Person) will open the fountain of cleansing for the House of David, and forgive their sins, and restore them to right-standing with Yahuweh, put His Word in their hearts, join them with the House of Israel, and together they will be one stick in His hand
forever—HalleluYAH! (Zechariah 12-14 and Ezekiel 36 and 37)
We join in spirit with the Orthodox Jews in their great expectation for the coming of Messiah. We pray for the remnant of the children of Jacob (all the tribes) who will receive Him with joy, as “they look upon Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him”. Their mourning will turn to joy as they receive their Savior, Redeemer, Messiah, High Priest and King. Oh the joys of fulfilled prophecy!
We remember that Rosh ha Shanah, September 29, 2000 was the day after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came up on the Temple Mount with some friends, and a major Intafada (Arab uprising) began. He went up on the Temple Mount and read Ezekiel 37—the chapter that so powerfully tells of the restoration of the whole house of Jacob—all the twelve tribes. On the day Sharon went onto the Temple Mount, the stored rocks were already there for the purpose of the Arabs to throw at Sharon and his friends, for the Intafada to begin, leading to Jihad (Holy War) had been planned to start that day. It was NO coincidence! This “war cycle” did indeed begin that day, and it has not stopped, nor will it stop, until Messiah ben David--son of David--comes.
Father’s plans move in various set cycles. Some cycles are seven years, forty years, fifty years, three and one half years, 390 years, 483 years, or 490 years. Leviticus 25 gives us the cycles of Jubilee, with its seven seven-year cycles, ending in the 50th year of Jubilee.
Billye Brim is a Christian Bible teacher who has spent much time in Israel. In
her teaching on the “Judgment on the Nations”, she tells of hearing this
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“Shmittah Year Prophecy” in May of 2001, while eating a falafel in Mea Shearim
in the Ultra-Orthodox area of Jersualem. She was in Israel, and had been hearing about this prophecy from many people. A Rabbi came up to her table and began talking to her, even though she told him she was one of those that believed that Yeshua was the Messiah. He confirmed what she had heard about this prophecy. He said that September 11, 1999 was called “the day that everything changes” and that on the next Rosh ha Shanah—September 29,
2000, a war cycle would begin that would continue until Messiah ben David came.
Billye went to check this out with her friend, Chaim Richmond, who heads the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. He confirmed what the Rabbi told her, adding regarding September 11, 1999: “It is the day that the final judgment on the nations begins”.
September 13, 2007, is the day of the final release of the house of Ephraim (the ten northern tribes), whose final scattering was in 722 BCE. The smittah year is the year of “Yahuweh’s release”. Ezekiel 4:4-5 tells us they would be punished 390 years for their sin, yet Leviticus 26:14-25 tells us that this punishment would be multiplied by seven. Thus, their punishment, being banished into all nations AMONG the gentiles and losing their identity as to their Hebrew roots, would be 2,730 years. That puts the end of their punishment in its finality at sunset September 12, 2007.
This is very fascinating, but there is more to confirm that this was not just
some wild prediction of religious Rabbinical Jews. I’ve been collecting
information for years from world government leaders, from true Word-based prophets who have had dreams and visions and rhemas, and from the details of the Word, history and current events, that show that the years 2007-2008 will be years of great world upheaval that will lead to the rise of a world ruler. March 26, 2004, Prince Hasan of Jordan said: “I’m afraid the making of World War III is actually taking place in front of our eyes”.
Truly, as I’ve stated in my article, “The Creation of Chaos”, the making of World War III has been planned since 1871, as was World War I and World War II, in order to create enough chaos, so that the world ruler would come to the Temple Mount, thus ushering in the last three and one half years before
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Messiah comes to rescue us all. Messiah said Himself, that unless He shortened those days, “no flesh will be saved”. (Matthew 24:
The sages who discovered this “prophecy”, actually were correctly calculating the cycles of Yahuweh, beginning their calculations from the time of Joshua, when they first began setting aside the Land-rest years.
In 2000, the Father spoke to me to go to the island of Patmos no later than September 29, 2000. He told me that on that date I was to be in the cave where John received the Revelation, and to prophesy/declare the opening
of the seven seals of Revelation 6. I was to declare Revelation 5:1-chapter 6:1 into the earth—also representing the Bride of Messiah to call for the Bridegroom’s coming. I didn’t know why September 29, 2000 was so important—He didn’t tell me that.
I knew it was the end of the Oslo Accord, and the beginning of the seven thousandth year since creation, and 2001 on the Hebrew calendar. But, instead of putting that as my priority, which I should have because He has sent me on many strategic assignments to declare His will into the earth, I went on to Africa for the summer to minister, as I had for the previous seven years. I
came back to Jordan with malaria--again. I was weak and sick, and unable to go to Patmos when He told me to go. I have since learned, that when He gives me an assignment to “stand in the gap” and to proclaim and declare His will into the earth—that it is my primary assignment and I must guard it with my life and not to let other things get in my way of fulfilling His will. Anyway, I didn’t go—with great regret. I repented, but heard no soothing: “That’s OK”, from
Him. It was not OK.
Powerful declaration and proclamation of His Word must be done on site—not from a comfortable easy chair of one’s choosing. Prayer can be done anywhere, and prayerful intercession, but He sends some on assignments to go to the site where He wants His Word called into the earth.
I remember hearing of a man who was in America, who was told by Father to go to Berlin, Germany, back before the Berlin Wall came down, and lay his hand on the Berlin Wall and command it to come down. He obeyed. Then he asked Father what else he was supposed to do, and Father told him, “Now go home to America”. Our job is to obey.
I returned from America in late April of 2001. He had told me to buy a travel
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guide for the Greek Isles. The Lonely Planet travel series had just put one out.
I bought it, though I was not happy about spending approximately $18.00 on
something I thought I’d never use. Father never told me why I had to buy the book, just that I had to buy it. I’m obedient, most of the time. When I got back to Aqaba, I was preparing to teach the Torah reading for the week on May 3rd. As I prepared, He showed me some revelation on why I still had to go to
Patmos. It was shocking Revelation that once He sends forth His Word into the earth, it does not return to Him void. Then He clearly said to me—
unmistakablely His voice—“I want you to be on Patmos on May 11th”. (My 50th spiritual birthday of being born again was on May 14, 2001). The only way I could be on Patmos on such short notice was to go by the information in the Lonely Planet travel book.
I was on Patmos on May 11th. On May 12th and 14th, I went into the cave where John received the Revelation. On May 12th, He gave me the most astounding
revelation from Revelation 5:1-6:1—about why John wept. John represented the Bridal remnant. Unless the seals were opened and the tribulum was released, the Bride would forever be waiting at the altar. The “tribulum” from where we get “tribulation”, is a farm instrument which separates wheat
from chaff. This 3 ½ year time-frame is the time of the pressure that our loving Father will put on all mankind to separate out the true set-apart ones--the wheat--from the chaff--the wicked. He gives mankind one last chance to submit to Him, before the final wrath must be poured out at the end of the time of tribulation. I sat in that cave and journaled for two hours about what He showed me regarding why John wept. On May 14th, I was there to represent
the Bride and to call for the Bridegroom to come. The anointing in that cave
was overwhelming, as His presence filled it.
Though I fulfilled Part II of my assignment on Patmos, I look at regret that I did not guard His will for me, so was not on Patmos for the proclamation of the opening of the seals. But, I know for sure that on that Tishre 1--September 29, 2000 on the Roman calendar--that the seals of the Revelation scroll were opened, and the horseman began to ride. The seals have to be broken in order for the rest of the scroll to unfold. And since September 29, 2000, the scroll has definitely been unsealed and rolled out. In Revelation 6:8, we see information that is rarely reported: The four “horsemen of the
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Apocalypse” only ride over one-fourth of the earth. It is now happening in the Middle East and parts of Africa.
From ancient Jewish writings, Rabbis have said that the first seven years of the
seven thousandth year since creation is the time in which the earth is purged of the wicked during much tribulation, and the set-apart ones are preserved. Men from before Messiah’s first coming and for over 1,000 years after He came, have said that Messiah would come in the early part of the seven thousandth year from creation.
The end of the last Shmittah year (Rosh ha Shanah of 2001 CE) marked the beginning of the 7,000th year from creation, and the beginning of the “third
day”--Hosea 6:1-3-- from the coming of Messiah Yahushua the first time. In the third day—as per Exodus 19--the Spirit of Yahuweh descended onto Mt. Sinai, and revealed the terms of His marriage covenant with His people. The people at Sinai were commanded to prepare for the third day by cleansing themselves. The word now is: “REPENT (MAKE T’SHUVAH) FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS NEAR”.
This is why, from ancient times rabbis before Messiah’s first coming, as well as Messianic believers since His first coming, have known that the cycles and prophecies (Genesis 6:3, II Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4) referred to the end of the age as we know it to come at the beginning of the seven thousandth millennium from creation. Messianic prophetic books, found at Qumran, also tell of Messiah’s coming in the seven-thousandth millennium. The Essenes of Qumran believed that there would be one Messiah who was Elohim, who would come first as a suffering servant, and second as the conquoring King. They based their beliefs on Scripture alone, like Isaiah 53. In cannoizing the Tenach, Rabbi Akiva, the founder of Rabbinical Judaism, left those writings out of the cannon purposely, for they would have proved Messiah Yahushua to be the One.