The Oracle

by Jonathan Cahn

  “When I saw the Oracle again, he would take me even deeper into the realm of appointed times and the mystery that lay behind the events of modern times.”

  “And how was it revealed to you?”

  “Through the waters of the magi.”

  Chapter 50

  THE SEVENTY-YEAR MYSTERY

  I RETURNED TO the ruins of the ancient house to find the Oracle in the same place as in the beginning, sitting on its front steps in between two of its pillars. I sat down beside him.”

  “The men in white robes and hats and the pool of lights . . . who were they, and what did it mean?”

  “As to where you were,” he replied, “in the context of the mystery, it would have been the palace of a Babylonian or Persian king.”

  “And the men in white robes?”

  “They would have been the wise men of the royal court, the magi.”

  “The magi, as in the wise men of the Christmas story?”

  “Something like that. The magi were a priestly caste in ancient Mesopotamia believed to be endowed with divine wisdom. Their worship involved the elements of nature, fire and water.”

  “And the man with the rod?”

  “Their leader, a Middle Eastern man but of an appearance different from the rest—that would be the prophet Daniel.”

  “What would the prophet Daniel be doing with the magi?”

  “Daniel lived in the Babylonian exile, in the royal court of Babylon, and then of Persia. The Bible records that Daniel was made chief of the wise men of Babylon.”

  “And the images of the lions?”

  “The city represented by the lion is Jerusalem.”

  “But there were two of them.”

  “Signifying two Jerusalems,” said the Oracle, “one that was lost to Israel and the other that was restored.”

  “And the two crowns that represented two kings . . . what two kings?”

  “One was ancient and the other was not.”

  “And the eyes?”

  “The pool of water was a well. In Hebrew the word for well is ayin. Ayin is also the Hebrew word for eye. The letter ayin has a numerical value of seventy. It stood for the appointed times.”

  “Seventy,” I said, “as in the seventy years. But what does it have to do with Daniel?”

  “Daniel lived at the time of the exile of seventy years. And he was shown a mystery linked to the number seventy and having to do with years . . . seventy sevens of years . . . a countdown to the coming of the Messiah.”

  “And what was this telling me?”

  “That concerning the seventy years in the revelation you were shown, the mystery goes deeper, there’s more to be uncovered.”

  “So let’s go deeper,” I said.

  “At the end of seventy years in Babylon, Cyrus came to world power, the proclamation went forth to restore Jerusalem and the land to the Jewish people, and the exiles began to return. So in the modern case what happened at the end of the seventy years?”

  “At the end of seventy years,” I replied, “a man in the pattern of Cyrus came to world power, and a proclamation went forth concerning Jerusalem and its restoration to the Jewish people.”

  “In the ancient case Israel was restored to Jerusalem under Cyrus seventy years after its exile from Jerusalem began under Nebuchadnezzar. So the end of the seventy years saw the restoration of what was lost at the beginning of the seventy years—the nation’s separation from Jerusalem.”

  “In other words, the seventy-year period specifically had to do with the nation’s separation from Jerusalem . . . and then the end of that separation.”

  “Yes.”

  “So is there any parallel in the modern case?”

  “The separation of the Jewish people from Jerusalem goes back two thousand years. And yet there is a modern equivalent. When the United Nations passed the Partition Plan, dividing up the land, it was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it would bring about the rebirth of Israel. On the other hand, it would cut off the newborn nation from its Holy City. It would declare Jerusalem a “corpus separatum,” a city separated, under the sovereignty and control of the United Nations—and thus separated from the Jewish nation. 1 There now was to be a nation of Israel in the world—but an Israel cut off from its ancient capital. So the same resolution that brought Israel into the world also began a period of separation, the nation from its Holy City.

  “That separation would last until the Jubilee of 1967, when Jerusalem was restored to Israel. But with regard to the world and the realm of nations, authorities, powers, sovereignties, resolutions, and laws, the separation would continue until the Jubilee of 2017. It was only then that the world’s unanimously upheld severance of Israel and Jerusalem was broken.

  “So the period began when the United Nations decreed that Israel was legally separated from Jerusalem and ended when the United States nullified that decree by declaring that Jerusalem was legally joined to Israel—from 1947 to 2017. How many years?”

  “Seventy years.”

  “But your vision was telling us to go deeper. The seventy years began when the United Nations voted on the Partition Plan, on Saturday, November 19, 1947. But on the biblical calendar it was a different date—the sixteenth day of Kislev. And on the biblical calendar the new day begins at sundown. The vote was taken after sundown—the beginning of the next day. The resolution was passed on the seventeenth day of Kislev.

  “We have our first marker. The seventeenth day of Kislev constitutes the beginning of the seventy years. And when do the Scriptures say that Cyrus issued his decree?”

  “After seventy years.”

  “If we take those words literally, on what day would the after seventy years begin? What day would constitute the definitive beginning of the after seventy years? The day after. Seventy years later on the day after the seventeenth day of Kislev—the eighteenth day of Kislev.”

  The Oracle paused for a moment, gazing into the distance, then spoke.

  “The president issued the Jerusalem Declaration on December 6, 2017. Do you know what that was?”

  “What?”

  “The eighteenth day of Kislev.”

  “The day after the seventy years!”

  “The exact day after the seventy years. In 2017 the eighteenth of Kislev fell on December 6, the day the Jerusalem Declaration went forth—on the exact day that constituted the after seventy years.”

  “And nobody planned it that way?”

  “I would doubt,” said the Oracle, “that the president, when he planned his announcement, was studying the original Hebrew. It all just came together. The six-month legal waiver concerning Jerusalem happened to expire the first week of December. It was in that week that the eighteenth day of Kislev fell. Had the president made his announcement at night, after sunset, instead of in the daytime as he did, the declaration would not have gone forth on the eighteenth day of Kislev. But as with everything else, it just happened to fall into its exact appointed place at the exact appointed time . . . from one declaration to the other . . . seventy biblical Hebrew years—to the day.”

  “There would be one more revelation concerning the mysteries of the fifth door before the sixth door could be opened.”

  “And it would involve . . . ”

  “A cylinder.”

  “The cylinder covered with wedge-shaped letters?”

  “Yes.”

  “You saw it in the earlier visions.”

  “Yes, but never like this.”

  “What did it reveal?”

  “The house of the return.”

  Chapter 51

  THE HOUSE OF RETURN

  WHEN I RETURNED to the mountain, I found the Oracle standing by a pillar at one of the building’s four corners. There, at its base, we sat down.”

  “Isaiah was a prophet of Israel,” I said, “and he spoke of Cyrus as an instrument of God. The one who came to the White House and told Truman that he was an instrument of God, as was Cyrus, came from Israel to tell him that. He
was the chief rabbi of Israel. Did anything like that happen with regard to Trump . . . I mean with someone coming from Israel . . . or representing Israel?”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, “something did. After the president recognized Jerusalem, a visitor came to Washington, DC. As with the rabbi, he came from Israel and came with a word for the president, a word to be given in the White House. It was Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He said this:

  I want to tell you that the Jewish people have a long memory. So we remember the proclamation of the great King Cyrus the Great—Persian King. Twenty-five hundred years ago, he proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon can come back and rebuild our temple in Jerusalem.” 1

  “So the modern leader of Israel identified the modern Cyrus.”

  “Yes,” said the Oracle, who then paused before continuing. “So now you’ve come to learn the meaning of your last vision.”

  “The vision of the colossal clay cylinder that rolled across the earth . . . ”

  “As in your other visions,” he said, “it represented the proclamation.”

  “The proclamation of Cyrus or of Trump?”

  “Both,” he said. “The proclamation of Cyrus declared the right of the Jewish exiles to return to the land. Beyond that it gave sanction for the rebirth of the Jewish nation. Both of these things, that right and that sanction, were fulfilled in the modern world by the first American Cyrus, President Truman. Truman was central in the release of the post-Holocaust Jewish exiles in Europe and their return to Israel, and after that in America’s recognition of the resurrected Jewish nation.

  “But Cyrus’ proclamation had another dimension and focus as well—the city of Jerusalem. Specifically it identified Jerusalem as belonging to the Jewish people, recognized the city as the nation’s capital, and affirmed the right of the Jewish people to return there. Those three things were never fulfilled by Truman. They would wait for another Cyrus to fulfill them.”

  “That would be President Trump and the Jerusalem Declaration.”

  “Yes, but there was yet another component to the ancient declaration. It said this:

  All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 2

  “The proclamation was linked to a house. It specifically directed the construction of a house; it decreed a building to be built in Jerusalem. So if the American president is following the template of the ancient king, could his declaration follow that of the ancient proclamation? Could it likewise decree that a house be established, a building be built, in Jerusalem? Listen to what the Jerusalem Declaration decreed:

  That is why, consistent with the Jerusalem Embassy Act, I am also directing the State Department to begin preparation to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 3

  “As in the proclamation of the ancient king, the president’s declaration ultimately focused on a house. An embassy is not a temple, but it is nevertheless a house, a building. And likewise the president specifically directed that the house would stand in Jerusalem. The house that Cyrus decreed was specifically linked to the return of the Jewish people to the city—so too would be the house that the president decreed. The house that Cyrus decreed would manifest the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of a resurrected Israel by the world’s foremost power of the time—so too would the house decreed by the president. The ancient king’s declaration would specify the means needed to accomplish the building of the house:

  Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house . . . which is in Jerusalem. . . . Let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem. 4

  “The president’s declaration to the world would likewise specify the means needed to accomplish the building of the house:

  This will immediately begin the process of hiring architects, engineers, and planners, so that a new embassy, when completed, will be a magnificent tribute to peace. 5

  “The Jerusalem Declaration would constitute the first declaration of any major power since the days of Cyrus to specifically affirm Jerusalem as belonging to the Jewish people, Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the right of the return of the Jewish people to their Holy City, and the establishment of a house in Jerusalem to seal and embody all these things.

  “But there was more to the template. Just as important as was the declaration was what happened in its wake. The building of an embassy would typically take years. But the president decided to dramatically speed up the timetable by taking an already existing building and converting it to become America’s first embassy in Jerusalem. So instead of taking years, it took months. That president’s decision would cause everything to converge on one particular day.”

  “On what particular day?”

  “On May 14.”

  “The day Israel came into existence.”

  “The day its rebirth was proclaimed to the world. And at the stroke of midnight of that day, the moment it returned to the world.”

  “Which was when the other Cyrus, Truman, recognized its return. So the two American Cyruses are joined by the same date—May 14.”

  “Yes. And in America, where Truman issued his recognition, it was before the stroke of midnight. It was May 14. So the recognition of each Cyrus was manifested on the same day. The first American Cyrus recognized Israel as a nation; the second recognized Jerusalem as its capital. And on the day when that which was set forth in the Jerusalem Declaration was fulfilled, the president spoke to those gathered for the inauguration of the new embassy. And the very first words that came from his mouth contained the name of his forerunner in the ancient mystery:

  The United States, under President Harry Truman, became the first nation to recognize the state of Israel. Today we officially open the United States embassy in Jerusalem.” 6

  “So the president himself was connecting the two events . . . and the two Cyruses . . . and the two dates.”

  “And more than by the same date,” said the Oracle. “The president’s words went forth, and the new house was inaugurated on May 14, 2018. The words of his predecessor went forth, and the new nation of Israel was inaugurated on May 14, 1948. How long between the two events?”

  “Seventy years .”

  “It happened again at the end of seventy years . . . and again on the exact same date. And at that very moment, the seventy-year mystery was manifested before the world as Israel’s prime minister, Netanyahu, said this:

  Exactly 70 years ago today, President Truman became the first world leader to recognize the newborn Jewish state. Last December, President Trump became the first world leader to recognize Jerusalem as our capital. And today, the United States of America is opening its embassy right here in Jerusalem. 7

  “‘After seventy years’ comes first the decree and then the restoration. Cyrus first issued his decree. After that came the restoration. The decree that brought Israel back into the world was issued at the end of 1947. The restoration, and the realization of that resolution, came five months later with Israel’s rebirth. Seventy years later the decree recognizing Jerusalem and the authorization of the house came with the president’s Jerusalem Declaration at the end of 2017. The restoration, and the realization of that declaration, would come with the inauguration of the Jerusalem embassy—likewise . . . five months later.”

  “So in each case,” I said, “you have a decree and a restoration. And between the decree of 1947 and the decree of 2017 are seventy years. And between the restoration of 1948 and the restoration of 2018 are seventy years, each ending on the exact same date, May 14.”

  “And what happened on May 14, 2018, the inauguration of the American embassy, the house in Jerusalem, was the fulfillment of the Jubilee—the fulfillment of the president’s Jubilean declaration that had gone forth in the year of Jubilee. It was the manifestation of the legal authority and recognition given to Isra
el’s return to Jerusalem, the original owner to his ancestral possession—the Jubilee. Two days before that inauguration and the completion of the seventy years of separation was the Sabbath.”

  “And what was the appointed Scripture?”

  “The portion of Scripture appointed to be recited in America, the nation that had decreed these events, and around the world, was called Behar-Bechukotai. It was the portion that contained these words:

  You shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. . . . And each of you shall return to his possession . . . ” 8

  “The Jubilean ordinance!” I said. “So everything came full circle. The trump of Jubilee had sounded throughout the land, and the possession was returned to its original owner.”

  “And all on the day that ended the seventy years.”

  “A question,” I said. “Since in the ancient decree the house was the Temple, could what happened in 2018, the establishment of the house in Jerusalem, be a foreshadowing of a future rebuilding of the other house, the Temple?”

  “It could,” he said. “Remember, each Jubilean event is only the beginning and sets in motion the course for the next Jubilean cycle. So the Jubilee of 2017 had set in motion a course of events. A world ruler had issued a decree concerning the restoration of Israel, as the ancient world ruler had done in the days of the first return.”

  “And as did the world ruler, Truman,” I said, “at the moment of Israel’s birth, in the second return.”

  “Yes,” he replied. “God has always used world rulers. He uses them to grant recognition, to bestow authority, and to confirm and inaugurate His purposes.” He paused after that as if pondering whether to tell me something. And then he did.

  “We’ve spoken of the name Trump but never of his first name, Donald. And yet the name Donald also carries significance.”

  “What does the name Donald mean?”