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The Republic of Israel--Part 3

So far we have covered two important time cycles, 390 and 490 years, each ending in 2010 with the establishment of The Republic. There is a third important time cycle to consider as well. It is the 210-year cycle, having to do with "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7). In other words, it is a "tribulation" number, and when we come to the end of that cycle, it indicates the end of divine judgment.

The 210-year factor unifies the 390 and the 490 cycles. As we saw, the 7 cycles of 390 years began with the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. and ended first with the Plymouth colony and finally in 2010 with the Republic.

The 6 cycles of 490 years began with the revolt of Israel against the house of Judah in 931 B.C. It ended in 2010 as well.

It can be noticed first that from 931 to 721 B.C. is 210 years. But if you continue counting by 210's, you will find that 13 more cycles brings you to 2010. And the final 210-year cycle extends from 1800 to 2010.

Hence, it links to the revolt of Israel in 931 B.C. as well as to the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. And the year 1800 is the year that Washington D.C. was built and inhabited by the original Republic. We have now completed the final 210-year cycle in 2010 when the political offices of the Republic were re-inhabited.

21 is the Number of Trouble or Distress

The number 210 is just a more long-term cycle of 21. The basic pattern establishing the meaning of this number is brought out by Jeremiah, who points out that Jacob had two times of trouble or distress in his life. Each cycle was 21 years long.

The first cycle was the Bondage cycle, wherein he worked for Laban 20 years and then left in the Sabbath year (which is like getting vacation time but is part of the full cycle). He was in distress for 21 years while off the land.

The second cycle began a few years later when his Birthright inheritor (Joseph) was sold as a slave to Egypt. His son was "separated from his brethren" (Gen. 49:26) for 21 years. He was 17 when he had his dreams that infuriated his brothers (Gen. 37:2), and we learn from the book of Jasher that he turned 18 the day he crossed the border into Egypt.

He became Prime Minister of Egypt at the age of 30 (Gen. 41:46). Then seven years of plenty passed, ending when Joseph was 37. In the second year of the ensuing famine, Joseph revealed to his brothers that he was alive. He was then 39. This was 21 years after he had been "lost."

From Jacob's perspective, this was a time of distress. In Gen. 37:35 Jacob says, "Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son."

These two cycles of 21 years in Jacob's personal life were repeated on a national scale in two 210-year cycles. First, the Israelites went to Egypt at Joseph's invitation and remained there for 210 years until the Exodus from Egypt under Moses. They were not in Egypt for 400 years, as many think. It was 400 years from the birth of Isaac until the Exodus from Egypt.

It says in Gen. 15:13 that the 400-year cycle would begin with Abraham's "seed" being in a land that was not theirs. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Gen. 21:12). Because Abraham was a stranger and a pilgrim in Canaan (Gen. 23:4), the cycle began the moment Isaac was born in a land not his.

When 60 years passed, Jacob was born (Gen. 25:26). When Jacob was 130, he took the family to Egypt. This was 190 years into the 400-year cycle, leaving just 210 more years in Egypt. It was the first "Bondage" cycle of 210 years, which ran parallel to the first time of Jacob's trouble.

The second cycle of 210 years was the time that Israel--including the tribes of Joseph--were separated from their brethren in 931 B.C. This began with the great revolt against the house of David, and the cycle ended 210 years later with the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C.

Yet God had a longer time in mind, because the law of tribulation factored into the situation as well. This law of tribulation called for "seven times" of punishment for their sins (7 x 360 = 2,520 years). This long tribulation cycle actually began with the fall of Samaria, their capital city, and ended in 1800 with the re-establishment of Israel's capital, Washington D.C., in the newly-formed Republic.

This 2,520-year cycle was not only 7 x 360 years, but was also 12 x 210 years. It was a "time of distress" for each of the twelve tribes of Israel running consecutively. Furthermore, since there were actually 13 tribes of Israel (including Levi), God added another 210 years to account for that 13th tribe, bringing us to the year 2010 when the Republic was re-constituted.

It is also no coincidence that America was formed with 13 original colonies, and that the early Christian leaders called it "The New Israel."

America, the New Israel
"We shall be as a City upon a Hill, they eyes of all people are upon us...," the Puritan John Winthrop wrote. The Puritans who disembarked in Massachusetts in 1620 believed they were establishing the New Israel. Indeed, the whole colonial enterprise was believed to have been guided by God. "God has opened this passage unto us," Alexander Whitaker preached from Virginia in 1613, "and led us by the hand unto this work."

Promised Land imagery figured prominently in shaping English colonial thought. The Pilgrims identified themselves with the ancient Hebrews. They viewed the New World and the New Canaan. They were God's chosen people headed for the Promised Land. Other colonists believed they, too, had been divinely called. The settlers in Virginia were, John Rolf said, "a peculiar people, marked and chosen by the finger of God."

This self-image of being God's Chosen People called to establish the New Israel became an integral theme in America's self-interpretation. During the revolutionary period, it emerged with new force....

http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/joshua/may7180.stm

It is unfortunate, of course, that the God-given rights of the Republic took so long to be applied equally to all men. This was, in fact, a major reason for the collapse of the Republic in 1860. God then raised up a neo-Babylonian government to put His "New Israel" into captivity for their sins and to teach them the impartiality of the divine law. (See my weblogs on this topic posted last week.)

This captivity finally began to come to an end in a series of endpoints beginning in 1993, as I have explained in the past. The year 1997 saw the Promise Keepers' proclamation of Jesus Christ as King in Washington D.C. precisely 390 years after Jamestown; and then 2010 saw the Christian Republic re-established by law 390 years after Plymouth.

At the same time, our "time of distress" was completed, based upon the pattern of Jacob-Israel and in Israel's biblical history. America is tied by strong biblical time cycles to the house of Israel and is indeed "The New Israel," even as our forefathers conceived. We are under divine covenant, and God holds us to the responsibilities of that covenant. When we refused to fulfill the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant to be a blessing to all families of the earth, God held us accountable and allowed the Republic to become dormant until we learned the mind of Christ in this matter.

The only question now is what we will do with the Republic that God has reinstated in our midst. Will we indeed fulfill the calling of the Abrahamic covenant, or not? I believe so.