Dear friends:

In his June 2001 newsletter, Hebrew archeologist and researcher Vendyl Jones writes:

"This is the Jewish year 5761 or CE 2000-2001. On Rosh Hashanah, September 27-28, the present Amalek crisis began. That very date is the beginning of the Shmittah (Sabbatical) year. This is the seventh Shmittah (Sabbatical) year since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948." (By Amalek crisis, he means Intifada, or uprising of the sons of Amalek.)

His words that the present year 2001 is the "seventh Sabbatical year" since Israel was born caught my eye. I called Jones and asked him how he came up with that. He said, "I didn’t. The rabbis did." He explained that they do not count from 1948 but that they continuously count from the time of Joshua and the first Sabbatical year (Leviticus 25:1-7). He said that according to the rabbis, 1952 was the first Sabbatical year after 1948, and 2001 is the seventh.

My thought immediately raced to the understanding of Sir Isaac Newton. As I have previously written, Newton, who lived 300 years ago (1642-1727), was one of the greatest geniuses in all history -- perhaps the greatest. He is called the father of modern science and the industrial revolution. He discovered many scientific laws. God chose Isaac Newton to impart many of His deepest secrets.

Newton is also said to be a devout believer in Christ and Bible scholar, fluent in ancient languages, and who translated directly from the Hebrew. He was unusually drawn to the prophet Daniel, which he began studying at age 12 and continued until he died at age 85. In fact, The Columbia History of the World, a secular history book, remarks, "At the end of his days he spent more time studying and writing about the prophecies in the Book of Daniel than he did in charting the heavens." Did God Himself put in Newton's heart this burning desire to study Daniel, then give him the key to the timing of Christ's return? Could this be the final profound secret the Lord revealed to this godly genius near the end of his life -- a secret "accidentally" discovered in the Library of Congress and republished just in the last decade -- a secret so simple that most have missed it?

I am referring to Newton’s understanding of Daniel 9:25: "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be SEVEN weeks, and THREESCORE AND TWO weeks."

Newton believed the above verse contains the timing (but not necessarily "the day or hour") of BOTH the first and second coming of the Lord. Most conservative scholars acknowledge that the verse pinpointed the year of the Lord's first coming, by adding the seven weeks (49 years) and 62 weeks (434 years) to get 483 years, which they count to His passion week.

But Newton believed that the 62 weeks (434 years) separately applied to His first coming (His birth, and using different dating for the decree) and the seven weeks (or 49 years) to His second coming, both being counted, as it says, "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem."

Using this idea, some thought the modern 49-year count began when the U.N. made a resolution to give the Holy Land back to the Jews on November 29, 1947, ending in 1996; others when Israel was established on May 14, 1948, ending in 1997; or others when Israel declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel on January 23, 1950, ending in 1999; or by one count, the end of Jewish year 5760 on September 30, 2000

However, a recheck of Newton’s book on the prophecies of Daniel reveals that he was speaking specifically of SEVEN SABBATICAL YEARS, not just 7 X 7 = 49 years, from "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem."

If Vendyl Jones and the rabbis are correct, whether starting the count in 1947, 1948 or 1950, IN ALL CASES the first Sabbatical year following would be 1952 and the SEVENTH full Sabbatical period would end in 2001!

And if true, Sir Isaac Newton would say that THIS IS THE YEAR TO WHICH DANIEL 9:25 POINTED! Of course, even if true, we do not know whether it will be during or after the seventh Sabbatical year. In either case, it is a small window, indeed.

This comes in the same year that Israeli rabbis reportedly declared this "the time of Jacob’s trouble," and the Middle East on the precipice of war which will affect the whole world.

These are truly amazing times. Let us rejoice at the soon-coming King, the Prince of Peace, who only can bring peace, and let us be ready to meet Him.