overcomerstonewbeginnings

So we now know it is seventy years of captivity but from which point do we reckon that time. When did it begin for us...for it has begun? What clues has He given us?

At the end of the seventy years this age shall end. When did the seventy years begin? Although He tells us we're not to know the day or hour we are to know the season.......

• Jeremiah 30:3,7-8 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.' " (7-8) Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bounds, and strangers shall no more serve (tremble, fear) themselves of him:

That day ends the seventy years of captivity for all of Jacob/Israel which includes both the house of Israel and the house of Judah...Christians and Jews. When did it begin for us, what was the beginning of the seventy years of captivity? The clues are given in the parable of the fig tree. Mention of the fig trees runs through the Bible...beginning in the garden of Eden when, to cover their nakedness after sinning, Adam and Eve "sewed fig leaves together." How is the fig parable tied to Jeremiah's prophecy of the seventy year generation? It began when Israel became a nation. They were returned and the countdown in captivity began.

• Mark 13:19-20,28-30 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the LORD had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. (28-30) Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.

The "this generation" refers to those living in "those days" of affliction/tribulation. He instructs us to "learn a parable of the fig tree" and it will tell us of this final generation.....

• Jeremiah 24:1-3 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
  
  24:4-7 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.
  
  24:8-10 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

This same basket of evil figs mentioned in [Jeremiah 29:17] where the Lord said He "will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil" are one of the two baskets of figs in the above parable. On May 14, 1948, Pentecost, Israel became a nation. Very good figs were set out with the very evil figs and the time of captivity began. Of the fig tree Jesus tells us...."When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near," and summer is the time of harvest! Also realize He told us...."the Lord shortened those days." Today we see constant turmoil between the two baskets...how much longer? The time will be shortened and what of the "seventy years?" What does the number seventy signify?

• Seventy ~ A combination of two of the perfect numbers, seven and ten. Seven times ten signifies perfect spiritual order carried out with all spiritual power and significance. Both spirit and order are greatly emphasied. ~ Numbers in Scripture, Bullinger

Is the seventy years of captivity to be taken literally or spiritually? Is it the spiritually perfect number of years He decides for us to be in captivity or is it actually seventy years? Or, is the seventy years symbolic of seven thousand years? My belief is that it is a literal mark of time. My reasoning is because historically they were in captivity to the king of Babylon for seventy literal years. If the establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 was the seventy year marker then May 14, 2018 concludes the time in captivity but...the time has been shortened.

He told us we would spend seventy years in captivity but what of the other type we have been given, what of the forty years in the wilderness? Wouldn't both types apply? And if, as I believe, the answer is YES, then they would run concurrently. This age being completed by the last forty years (signifying probation...our time in the wilderness) of the seventy years of (captivity). We're told in Joel what is to happen before the end....

• Joel 2:30-32 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

On May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted. Was that the sign spoken of in Joel that was to happen before the day of the Lord? Did our time in the wilderness, our forty years of probation, begin then? There was a wonder shown in her "pillars of smoke," that happened to be caught by a photographer.....





Forty years from 1980 would put us at 2020 but....the time has been shortened. So much has gone on in the past years, in this generation...the generation of the fig tree. Are we prepared?