Articles

"The Babushka Doll Principle" by Tricia Tillin (4a)

The Sevens and Seventies of Prophecy

The Many Instances of this Principle

Throughout this study I have made references to the seventy years, the seven years and the three-and-a-half years, all of which are repeating aspects of this "babushka-doll" principle of prophecy. Indeed they are aspects of biblical interpretation as a whole.

temple lamp

I have placed here again the image of the menorah or lampstand used throughout Israel and of course in the Temple.

This is because of the important number SEVEN that we see portrayed in the lights.

The first mention of the significance of the seventh is in the first book of the bible, Genesis, where the seventh day of creation is designated a day of REST.

From the time that God spoke to his people, the seventh day of the week (or sabbath) was set aside for rest. This becomes important as we look at the rest of the charts below.

First, Genesis:

Genesis and the Seventh Day
Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four Day Five Day Six Day Seven
Day & Night AtmosphereLand & Sea
Vegetation
Sun Moon
Stars
Creatures Man REST

 

Do you see how it is established that the SEVENTH day is that of REST? Also that the FOURTH day brings LIGHT?

Seven Days of the World (footnote 1)

Following this pattern, we can go to the other end of the scale and look at the world's seven "days" of a thousand years each. Notice also how the days of the world relate to the days of creation:

History in Thousand Year "Days"
Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four Day Five Day Six Day Seven
4000-3000 3000-2000 2000-1000 1000-1 1-1000 1000-2000 2000-3000

Adam-Noah

Separation of
good and evil

Noah to Abraham

Separation of heavenly
and earthly realms

Abraham to Solomon

Entering the Land and becoming Fruitful

Solomon to Christ

Judgement, Rulership and Dominion

Christ to Reformation

Conquest and
Expansion

Reformation to Judgement

Humanity Declines

Judgement to Resurrection

Reign of God in Peace (REST)

 

Do you see here how the Fourth day stands out as the central "light of the menorah" as the height of the Jewish Kingdom and the coming of the Messiah?

Seven Days of Unleavened Bread

One Example of the Divided Seven: Journey Into The Wilderness

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

Day Seven

Rameses-Succoth

Escaping slavery
to the "Booths" of God's presence and guidance

Succoth-Etham

Booths to the Fortress, the Mighty Fortress of our God

Etham-Baal-Zephon

Fortress
to the Lord of the North

Ball-Zephon -RED SEA CROSSING

Deliverance

Red Sea to Migdol

Deliverance to the Tower of Strength

Migdol

Migdol-Marah

Bitterness ended by the TREE of Life who is Jesus

 

The SEVEN days of Unleavened Bread (later celebrated as a major feast of Israel) happened when the Israelites left Egypt in haste without preparing leavened bread. In the law of God, an unclean man had to be cleansed twice, first on the third day, and then on the seventh day, before he could be seen as pure. See above how the chosen people passed through the Red Sea (a type of baptism) at the three-and-a-half point, and then were cleansed on the seventh day by drinking the water of LIFE provided by God, typified in the TREE that Moses used to heal the bitterness of the waters at Marah. (Exod 15:25)

This symbol both illustrates the divided seven and also demonstrates the two-fold salvation process of baptism both in water and the Spirit (who is actually the Spirit of Christ as well as God, the Spirit of Life who saves us from death. See Rom 8:1-3)

NOTE: Please see my comments on the three and alternate seven-day journey of the Israelites here

Feasts of Israel & Comparisons

Now let's overlay this with the SEVEN Feasts commanded by God in the Bible. Just as the historical table above is divided into FOUR Old Testament sections of the History of Israel and THREE New Testament sections of the history of the Gentiles and the Church (although naturally history concerns both of these groups and mankind in general) the feast days divide into three Spring festivals and four Autumn festivals. Looking at both tables together we can see the correlation between them.

Once again, the central light of the figurative menorah lamp gives light: amongst other things, the tongues of fire seen on the heads of those who received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The Seven Feasts of Israel
  One Two Three Four   Five Six Seven
  SPRING
(Nisan 14)
SPRING
(Nisan 15)
SPRING
(Nisan 17)
SPRING
(Sivan 6/7)
  AUTUMN
(Tishrei 1)
AUTUMN
(Tishrei 10)
AUTUMN
(Tishreil 15)

FEAST

 

Meaning

PASSOVER

Judgement on Evil and Rescue of the Righteous

UNLEAVENED BREAD

Cleansing from Sins
and attaining Purity in Watchfulness

FIRSTFRUITS

The first Ingathering of the Former Rain

PENTECOST
(Feast of Weeks)

The Harvest Thanksgiving of the Former Rain

 

TRUMPETS

New Year
Preparation for Judgement & Cleansing

ATONEMENT

National
Cleansing

TABERNACLES

Latter Rain Harvest
God Lives with Man (REST)

ISRAEL's
HISTORY

The Patriarchs Egypt
and the Wilderness
The Land and the Law The Temple and Kingdom   The Prophets Apostasy & Exile Regathered Salvation
JESUS Crucifixion Resurrection Ascension Holy Spirit Given   Breaking the Seals Judgement Second Coming
CHURCH
HISTORY
Early Church Bible/Doctrine
/Persecution
Evangelism Pentecostalism   Apostasy
& Repentance
Rapture Heaven

 

The Jubilee Cycles of 490 years

What do we see when we look at the SEVENTY Jubilee cycles of history (each one is ten cycles of 49 years)

According to my own calculations (which do coincide with given dates from many other studies) the seven 490-year Jubilees counted from the first year in Canaan are as follows:

  1. (1) 1407-917 BC Promised Land to Temple (First Temple)
  2. (2) to 427 BC Temple to Exile and Return (Second Temple)
  3. (3) to 64 AD Restoration to Crucifixion and Destruction (Herod's Temple)
  4. (4) to 554 AD Evangelism and Expansion (Christ's Temple)
  5. (5) to 1044 AD Decline into Monasticism (Body Temple)
  6. (6) to 1534 AD Corruption to Reformation (State Temple)
  7. (7) to 2024 AD Reformation to Endtimes (Man's Temple)

However, I consider the pivot of history to be the crucifixion. While it is possible to calculate the Jubilees historically from the date of Adam's creation (See part five) taking into account the first Jubilee commanded by God when Israel entered Canaan, as far as the prophetic is concerned we are considering here the PEOPLE of God and looking at the great cycles of God's interaction with man from the time of Israel's call out of Egypt and the giving of the Law, to the next pivot of mankind which is the opening of the first seal of Revelation, the herald of the END.

Counting from EGYPT therefore takes us to another set of seven great cycles of 490 years. This does use the "accepted" date of the crucifixion in 33AD, but see my own conclusions on this in part three. The date 457 BC is important as Ezra received his decree from Artaxerxes to return and rebuild the city in that year. The starting date is 10 years after the Exodus.

The Seven Great Jubilee Cycles of 490 years

1437-948 BC

947-458 BC

457 BC-33 AD

34-523 AD

524-1013 AD

1014-1503 AD

1504-1993 AD

From Exodus to
the First Temple
(Tabernacle)

From the Temple
to the Return
from Exile
(1st Temple)

From Restoration to Crucifixion
(2nd Temple)

DANIEL'S SEVENTY WEEKS

From Cross
to Dark Ages
(Body Temple)

From Barbarians to Crusades
(Church Temple)

From Popery to Reformation
(State Temple)

Reformation to Apostasy &
First Seal
(Human Temple)

 

Here are some noteworthy points on the above chart:

  • The time between the Cross (if AD 33) and 1993 is exactly FOUR great cycles of 490 years! (1960 years) (footnote 1)
  • That is 40 times 7 times 7. FORTY is a biblical number signifying trial, and SEVEN relates to spiritual order and perfection.
  • There are exactly 30 Jubilees for Israel and 40 afterwards, making 70 Jubilees for God's dealings with his people.

The Significance of the year 1993

Why is 1993 a turning point in history? Two important events took place, one relating to the Gentile church and one relating to Israel. Firstly, Israel:

In the Old Testament history of Israel, King Balak (Heb. the Destroyer) gathered the princes of his United Nations together on three separate occasions, on three different mountaintops, to survey the nation of Israel. Each time, seven sacrifices were offered on seven altars as the apostate Balaam sought a way to circumvent Israel's destiny to inherit the land.

Beginning on September 11, 1993 a similar event happened. The princes of the world's United Nations gathered in Washington D.C. to inaugurate their seven year peace 'altar' -- the prophetically doomed Oslo Accords. Seven years later, in July of 2000, the princes again assembled at Camp David for another round of sacrifices on their seven year altar -- yet, no peace did it bring. Seven years later, in November of 2007 the princes were assembled for their third mountaintop experience in Annapolis Maryland as they devised yet another way to make Israel bow at their feet.

In the Old Testament we see that Balak's plot was overthrown at that time, because God would not allowed his people to be cursed. But that was not the end of the story, and we can perhaps see history unfolding before us as we read what happened next:

Disappointed in his hopes of wealth and promotion, in disfavor with the king, and conscious that he had incurred the displeasure of God, Balaam returned from his self-chosen mission. After he had reached his home the controlling power of the Spirit of God left him, and his covetousness, which had been merely held in check, prevailed. He was ready to resort to any means to gain the reward promised by Balak. Balaam knew that the prosperity of Israel depended upon their obedience to God, and that there was no way to cause their overthrow but by seducing them into sin. He now decided to secure Balak's favor by advising the Moabites of the course to be pursued to bring a curse upon Israel in order to separate them from God.

He immediately returned to the land of Moab and laid his plans before the king. The Moabites themselves were convinced that so long as Israel remained true to God, He would be their shield. The plan proposed by Balaam was to separate them from God by enticing them into idolatry. If they could be led to engage in the licentious worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, their omnipotent Protector would become their enemy, and they would soon fall a prey to the fierce, warlike nations around them. This plan was readily accepted by the king, and Balaam himself remained to assist in carrying it into effect.

Balaam witnessed the success of his diabolical scheme. He saw the curse of God visited upon His people, and thousands falling under His judgments; but the divine justice that punished sin in Israel did not permit the tempters to escape. In the war of Israel against the Midianites, Balaam was slain, Num. 31:8. He had felt a presentiment that his own end was near when he exclaimed, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" But he had not chosen to live the life of the righteous, and his destiny was fixed with the enemies of God. (from http://www.specialtyinterests.net/balaam.html)

Secondly, there was a watershed moment in the Church when the laughter spirit and other manifestations that had been doing the rounds of charismatic and pentecostal congregations suddenly escalated into a worldwide apostasy the like of which we had never seen. At the end of 1993 and the beginning of 1994, it was announced that the "Spirit had fallen" on a little church in Toronto and what we today call the "Toronto Blessing" was born. Much more about this subject can be seen on my website and on the Internet. Here I mention it as the significant event that launched the End of Days. It was the beginning of the end of genuine biblical Christianity and the start of the Apostasy.

Cycle One 1947 UN 1948 Statehood 1949 1950 1959 1952 1953
Cycle Two 1954 1955 1956 Suez 1957 1958 1959 1960
Cycle Three 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
Cycle Four 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
Cycle Five 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981
Cycle Six 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Cycle Seven 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 Oslo 1994 First Seal 1995
Cycle Eight 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Camp David 2001 2nd Seal 2002
Cycle Nine 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Annapolis 2008 3rd Seal 2009
Cycle Ten 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Peace Treaty? 2015 4th Seal? 2016
  2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

 

For charts on the three and three-and-a-half day cycles, and much more, please see this page.

FOOTNOTES

(1) It has been suggested that world empires have a cycle of 700 years. This page gives details.(The website is not a Christian one.) I was especially struck by the description of the course of any empire from beginning to destruction. It seems that my own nation (British Isles) and indeed the whole world is at the latter end of that process right now!

(2) After I had constructed this small table of the great Jubilee cycles, I chanced to see a large coloured chart of a very similar scheme which you can see here: http://www.wake-up.org/Charts/Jubileev7view.pdf - it is a large chart and takes time to load, or download (5 MB) PLEASE be aware that the website that hosts it is probably Jehovah's Witness or SDA. I include this link for interest only and not because I am in any way associated with the author.

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© 2013 Tricia Tillin-Booth. All rights reserved. Birthpangs Website: http://www.birthpangs.org/  This document is the property of its author and is not to be displayed on other websites, redistributed, sold, reprinted, or reproduced in printed in any other format without permission. Websites may link to this article, if they provide proper title and author information.   One copy may be downloaded, stored and/or printed for personal research. All spelling and phraseology is UK English.