The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future!

by Jonathan Cahn

  We have seen an ancient ordinance of Scripture concerning a seventh year of rest and a Day of Remission transform into a mystery. We have observed the mystery growing larger in scope and dimensions to the point of involving the destruction of an ancient city and the exile of its people to a foreign land. We have moved forward in time to find the same mystery spanning thousands of years and operating in the modern world. We have witnessed its dynamics at work in the financial and economic realms, determining the rising and crashing of world markets, the economies of modern nations, and the greatest collapses in financial history. We have seen it coalesce with a mystery of towers, again joined to the dynamics of rising and falling. And we have watched it move on the stage of world history, determining the rise and fall of nations, the ascendancy of world powers and the collapse of empires.

  The Quickening

  What about the future? And why might the mystery of the Shemitah be especially relevant to our day and the days to come?

  In the last two of the Shemitah’s cycles, those ending in 2001 and 2008, we have noticed a number of significant developments. First, the timing has become amazingly precise. Both of the last two greatest stock market point crashes in history have occurred on the exact same Hebrew day and the Shemitah’s exact same climactic Day of Remission and Nullification. The phenomenon appears, in its last manifestations, to have grown increasingly precise and dramatic.

  Second, the phenomenon of the last two cycles was begun and triggered by one of the most dramatic events of modern times: 9/11. If it were not for 9/11, the ancient mystery would not have manifested. If it were not for the exact timing of 9/11, the timing of the stock market crash of 2001 would not have happened when it did at the time and in the exact hours of the Shemitah’s climactic conclusion.

  Third, the amazing precision of the Shemitah’s last two occurrences are connected to the manifestation of harbingers, prophetic signs concerning the judgment of a nation—namely, America. Combine this with the fact that the Shemitah, in Scripture, manifests as a sign of national judgment—and we have a convergence of alarms.

  Since we are dealing with the issue of judgment, our first question must be this: What has happened to America in the time of these last two cycles in which the phenomenon has intensified?

  The Deepening

  Though in the wake of 9/11 Americans gathered in houses of worship across the land and it appeared as if there would be a national return to God—it never came. In place of the revival was a spiritual and moral apostasy that was unprecedented in its scope and accelerating pace. There was now increasing talk concerning the end of “Christian America.” Polls noticed a growing departure from biblical ethics and values. The turn was most pronounced among the younger generation, portending a future of even greater moral and spiritual departure.

  In the fall of ancient Israel the nation decided it could rewrite morality and change what was good and evil, sin and righteousness—so too in America. What had once been recognized as right was now attacked as evil, and what had once been recognized as sin was now celebrated as a virtue. Morals, standards, and values that had undergirded not only the nation’s foundation, but also the foundation of Western civilization and civilization itself, were increasingly overturned, overruled, and discarded. And those who would not go along with the change—who merely continued to uphold that which had once been universally upheld—were now increasingly marginalized, vilified, condemned by the culture and the state, and persecuted.

  And not only did the blood of unborn children continue to flow, as it did in ancient Israel, but the number of those killed was now well over fifty million, a population of many Israels. The nation’s moral descent had now reached the point where the government was seeking to force those who held to God’s Word to go against that Word, punishing resistance with fines, damages, and condemnation. Any deviation from the new ethics of apostasy was swiftly punished. At the same time, the name of God increasingly became the object of attack, mockery, and blasphemy.

  The Dark City on the Hill

  It seemed as if every day a new threshold of apostasy and moral descent had been crossed. America was in moral and spiritual collapse and rapidly transforming into the dark opposite of the “city on a hill,” the “holy commonwealth” it had been founded to be. It had now entered the territory of ancient Israel’s apostasy—a nation to which the prophets cried out:

  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.

  —ISAIAH 5:20

  And that was the point. America, having been formed after the pattern of ancient Israel, was now following in the course of Israel’s apostasy. Thus it could be no accident that the same harbingers that appeared in the last days of ancient Israel were now reappearing in America. And each of those harbingers was warning of a coming judgment. Worse than that, America was responding to those warnings with the same defiance as had ancient Israel before judgment fell.

  The Tipping Point

  If one begins to tip over an object, a clear point is reached when one no longer needs to expend more energy or effort. The object is on the edge, and the slightest push will send it over. The edge of its falling is the tipping point. Once the tipping point is reached, the object will fall by itself with accelerating force. When a tipping point is reached, the dynamics change. Things accelerate. So it is with a nation.

  It was at a critical tipping point in America’s descent from biblical morality that The Harbinger was released. Before God brings judgment, He warns. Since that time, the nation’s apostasy from the ways of God has not lessened but has dramatically accelerated.

  The Harbingers Unstopped

  The Harbinger reveals the replaying of an ancient mystery of national judgment in twenty-first-century America. The mystery involves specific signs of warning given to ancient Israel in its last days now manifesting in America. That would be enough. But the mystery has not stopped. Since the release of the book, the mystery has continued. The harbingers have continued to manifest. And that which was written or foreshadowed in the book has been coming true. What does it mean?

  The continuation of the harbingers signifies that the nation’s defiance of God has likewise continued. In other words, the progression of the harbingers reflects the progression of the apostasy—and thus the nation’s advance to judgment.

  To Whom Much Is Given

  The mystery presented in The Harbinger leads to an unavoidable question:

  If America has followed in the same apostasy of ancient Israel, witnessed the manifesting of the same harbingers of judgment that appeared in ancient Israel, and responded to the warnings given with the same defiance with which ancient Israel responded, how then can it escape suffering the same judgment suffered by ancient Israel?

  Some would object that other nations have exceeded America in all of these sins. But so it was in the ancient world. There was no shortage of examples of other nations that had exceeded Israel in all of the sins for which its judgment would come. But there was a major difference. God had revealed Himself to Israel. He had sent to the nation His Word, given them His law, revealed to them His ways. And He had blessed them with peace, prosperity, and protection.

  It is written, “To whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). Israel was given much. And much was required. The standards were higher and the judgment, when it came, more severe. So too has America been given much. The Word of God has filled its culture, and the blessings of God have filled its land. No nation in the modern world has been given so much blessing. But to whom much is given, much is required. If America has been given much, then much will be required. And its sins must be severely judged.

  The Judgment Pattern

  Going by the template of the ancient judgment revealed in The Harbinger, a clear pattern emerges. First come warnings through voices, the voice of God in the voices of the righteous, or the faithful, or the prophets. But with these first warnings going unheeded, the
re now comes warning in less gentle manifestations. God allows the nation to be shaken. It is still the calling of God, but to a people who have now grown so hardened and deafened to His voice that it is only in this way that they can hear—if they will hear. It is a wake-up call and a warning that if the nation does not return to God, judgment will come.

  If, after the first calamity or shaking, the nation still does not hear or respond, there comes a second shaking. And if the nation still does not hear, or still ignores, or still rejects the warning in the second shaking, there comes another, and another, until the nation either turns back to God and is restored, or continues down its course to the full force of the judgment. And there is no guarantee as to how many warnings or shakings are given before that judgment falls.

  When Judgment Comes

  And as for that judgment, how does it come? A nation’s judgment can come through another nation or nations. It can come through natural disaster. It can come through unnatural or man-made disaster. It can come through a second strike on the land, or a second manifestation of terrorism. It can come through economic and financial collapse. It can come through famine. It can come through the breakdown of infrastructure. It can come through military defeat. It can come through decline, disorder, division, and disintegration. There is no formula for it, but there are patterns and templates of its progression.

  The Harbinger Prophecies

  The nine harbingers of ancient Israel were not merely events or objects, but prophetic signs. And as prophetic signs, they each carried prophetic messages concerning not only the nation’s present condition—but also that which lay ahead in its future, prophecies in the form of signs revealing what would happen if the nation didn’t turn back to God.

  Since the same nine harbingers have now manifested in America, is it possible that the prophetic messages they carried concerning ancient Israel’s future could also reveal what could lie ahead in America’s future? In the space we have here, we will just briefly touch on two of the prophetic warnings contained in the nine harbingers.

  The Oracle of the Breach

  The breaking of Israel’s hedge of national security in 732 BC was not just a calamity but a prophetic warning of things to come. The warning was this:

  If the nation did not return to God and continued to war against His ways, a strike of a much greater scale and fury would come upon the land—and the nation would be destroyed.

  And that is exactly what would happen on Israel’s last day as a nation. The breach was a harbinger of things to come. It had been carried out by Assyrian soldiers. So too, years later, the nations’ final destruction would be carried about by the Assyrians. The first strike was a foreshadowing of the last.

  What about America? The breach of America’s security manifested in 9/11. But if 9/11 was not just a calamity but a prophetic foreshadower, what is its warning? According to the ancient pattern, the warning would be this:

  Without God, there is no true security or safety for America. Without His hand of protection, no matter how many systems of defense the nation employs, they will fail just as they did on 9/11. America cannot defy the God of its keeping and expect that protection to continue. “Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1). America, without God, is not safe. America, in defiance of God, is even less safe. If it continues down the present course, another calamity may come on the land as on 9/11, and yet on an even greater scale.

  The Oracle of the Ruins

  After the strike on ancient Israel in 732 BC, all that was left of the buildings that had stood in the path of the enemy’s onslaught were the ruin heaps of fallen bricks—the third harbinger. The bricks were not just the remnants of destruction, but also foreshadowings of what was yet to come. They were prophecies in ruin heaps. Their warning was twofold. The first was this:

  • If the nation continued in its course, a greater destruction would befall it, and the ruin heaps of fallen bricks that appeared in limited number and scale, the result of a limited strike, would become nearly universal. The ruins would appear throughout the land. The nation itself would be left in ruins.

  The second warning of the fallen bricks was larger:

  • The fallen bricks spoke of collapse, implosion, a crumbling, the wiping away of structure, disintegration, and destruction. The second warning was this: if the people didn’t heed the warning, the kingdom itself would crumble, collapse, implode, be destroyed. And that is exactly what would take place in the years that followed. The kingdom of Israel would be wiped away from the land.

  The third harbinger manifested in America in the fall of the towers and the massive ruin heaps that appeared at Ground Zero in their place. According to the pattern of Israel’s judgment, the warning would be this:

  • America cannot war against the God of its foundation and expect its blessings to remain. If America does not turn from its course, it will become vulnerable to a future event of even greater destruction.

  And beyond this is a larger warning. The bricks, the ruin heaps, and 9/11 itself speak of collapse, implosion, disintegration, and destruction. The larger warning would be this:

  • In His blessings God allowed America to be built up, as a high tower among the nations. But a tower cannot separate itself from the very foundation on which it rests and still stand. So too with America—without God America will not hold but will collapse.

  What adds to the message is that the towers that fell on 9/11 carried specific symbolic meaning. They represented America’s financial and economic power and preeminence. In their collapse the warning of the bricks would speak of economic and financial implosion. We have already seen manifestations of this in the two great collapses of Wall Street in the Shemitahs of 2001 and 2008.

  Lastly, the towers represented a global financial and economic order and age in which America was the center. Even the name World Trade Center conveys this. What of their fall? It would warn of coming days when America is no longer the center of the world’s financial and economic order—and when that order itself has collapsed.

  Isaiah 9:11 and Beyond

  Beyond the prophetic keys contained in the other seven harbingers concerning America are the keys contained in the prophecy itself. If one continues reading on from Isaiah 9:10, one finds an account of national judgment—the specific judgments that came upon ancient Israel in the years after the harbingers appeared. The description is chilling in its unrelenting execution.

  Though we would not expect the unique circumstances surrounding Israel’s destruction to constitute a formula for the present, there are some striking things to note. The scenario concerns:

  • Ungodly leaders

  • A government passing immoral laws

  • Division

  • Violence

  • A desolation that comes from far away

  • An enemy attack

  • Fire on the land

  • Destruction

  The Shemitah and the Mystery of the Future

  What about the harbinger of the Shemitah? Could its mystery reveal that which lies ahead?

  As I wrote at the beginning of this book, we must be careful with regard to date-setting as to when certain events must come about. The issue is not of dates but of the call to repentance and return. My concern with the focusing on dates is that it can take away from the central matter of repentance. I have warned of a coming judgment, but I have also cautioned against putting the workings of God in a box with regard to the timing of that judgment. God doesn’t have to act in the same way or according to the same timing as He has in the past. Prophetic signs do not generally happen routinely or according to a schedule. There are Shemitah years that dramatically manifest the mystery and others that do not. Nothing has to happen in the next Shemitah.

  Having said that, I must also give a second caution: God can work as He has in the past and can bring judgment at the time of the Shemitah. In view of both cautions, it is wise that one should be aware of the Shemita
h and its days.

  The Opening and Closing Pattern

  While nothing of significance has to take place in any given Shemitah year, if something of significance were to happen, how might it manifest? The Shemitah’s opening can mark the beginning of change and the shifting of momentum. At the same time, if a change or shifting should take place at this point, more often than not it tends to constitute a firstfruit, a foreshadow of what lies ahead, a subtle trace in comparison to what comes at the end. If there is a change at this point, its coming may or may not be noticeable at first.

  The general pattern is this: As the Shemitah progresses, and, particularly, as it nears its end, its intensity increases. As the Shemitah approaches the time of its climactic day and wake, it is then that the dramatic events associated with its coming either manifest, intensify, or approach their climax.

  In the case of September 2000, the Shemitah’s beginning paralleled a downturn in national production, one of the signs of recession. But one could easily have missed it. Halfway through the Shemitah, the downturn coalesced into a full recession. And yet the Shemitah’s most dramatic moment manifested in its last week. It was the week that the attack of 9/11 and the subsequent collapse of Wall Street took place. The overall pattern is that the Shemitah’s most dramatic or intense time is that which leads up to Elul 29 or that which proceeds from Elul 29, the Day of Nullification.

  The Shemitah to Come

  So when is the next Shemitah? The Shemitah begins in September of 2014. Its first day, Tishri 1, commences at sunset on Wednesday night, September 24, and ends at sunset on September 25. But again, it is at the Shemitah’s end and its wake that the most dramatic repercussions are felt. In each of the last two Shemitahs the end date of Elul 29 saw the greatest collapses in stock market history. The coming Shemitah will end September 2015. Its final climactic day, Elul 29, the Day of Remission, will fall on Sunday, September 13. Since the stock markets are closed, this would preclude the beginning of a market collapse that day, inasmuch as America is concerned.