Book of Jubilees Pattern for Jubilee 98 Wineskin Search

The Book of Jubilees saw the kingdom already "fermenting" well before the time of Christ. Rubel Shelly and Randy Harris see the kingdom ferment as not finished when Jesus came. And apparently, it is STILL like fermenting wine and we have to provide a new wineskin to keep the church from bursting. This denies the meaning of the new wine in new (uncontaminated) wineskins to prevent fermentation. Jubilee 98 is sold as the place to add sparkle to all aspects of church renewal.

R.H. Charles, in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, wrote of the Book of Jubilees:

"Writing in the palmiest days of the Maccabean dominion,in the high-priesthood of John Hyrcanus, looked for the immediate advent of the Messianic kingdom. This kingdom was to be ruled over by a Messiah sprung, not from Levi - that is, from the Maccabean family, as some of his contemporaries expected - but from Judah.

This kingdom would be gradually realized on earth, and the transformation of physical nature would go hand in hand with the ethical transformation of man till there was a new heaven and a new earth.

Thus, finally, all sin and pain would disappear and men would live to the age of 1,000 years in happiness and peace, and after death enjoy a blessed immortality in the spirit world.

"The writer of Jubilees, we can hardly doubt, thought that the era of the Messianic kingdom had already set in. Such an expectation was often cherished in the prosperous days of the Maccabees. Thus it was entertained by the writer of I Enoch lxxxiii-xc in the days of Judas before 161 B.C. (Charles, R.H., The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, short account of the book of Jubilees).

"According to our author (i. 29, xxiii. 30) this kingdom was to be brought about gradually by the progressive spiritual development of man and a corresponding transformation of nature. Its members were to attain to the full limit of 1,000 years in happiness and peace. During its continuance the powers of evil were to be restrained (xxiii. 29). The last judgment was apparently to take place at its close (xxiii. 30). This view was possibly derived from Mazdeism.

It is significant that ancient fire and devil worship was almost identical to the unbiased record of what happened at Caneridge. There, they looked for something like mental breakdown to prove that they had the Calvinist sign of unique choice to be saved.

Others always looked for something like a separated Holy Spirit to do what Christ did not finish:

"Whether Jonathan was looked upon as the divine agent for introducing the kingdom we cannot say,

but as to Simon being regarded in this light there is no doubt.

Indeed, his contemporaries came to regard him as the Messiah himself, as we see from Psalm cx, or Hyrcanus in the noble Messianic hymn in Test. Levi 18.

The tame effusion in 1 Macc. xiv. 8-15 is a relic of such literature, which was emasculated by its Sadducean editor. Simon was succeeded by John Hyrcanus in 135 B.C. and this great prince seemed to his countrymen to realize the expectations of the past; for according to a contemporary writer (Test. Levi 8) he embraced in his own person the triple office of prophet, priest, and civil ruler (xxxi.i5), while according to the Test. Reuben 6 he was to 'die on behalf of Israel in wars seen and unseen'. In both these passages he seems to be accorded the Messianic office, but not so in our author, as we have seen above. Hyrcanus is only to introduce the Messianic kingdom, over which the Messiah sprung from Judah is to rule.

It is significant that Psalm 41 prophesied that Judas would not TRIUMPH OVER Messiah where triumph over means to "play instruments and make a joyful noise before the Lord." In the Dead Sea Scroll translation, Messiah is seen as Beliar or the enemy and the Jewish clergy musicians "under the king and military commanders" would lead the national army to mock and crush Him. In fact, this is what happened.

Our author concludes that the inventor of the Jubilee theory was "unquestionably a Pharisee of the strictest sect."

It should be noted that John Hyrcanus stopped the popular practice of singing the awakening or arousal hymns of the Psalms because it smacked too much of paganism. These involved praise (Halal) which was most often self boasting, making a fool of self or making self vile as a way to attract and arouse the dead or lost god.

Rubel Shelly and Randy Harris contend that the "fermenting" kingdom did not end with the coming of Christ and apparently did not end after He had completed His Work. It is still fermenting and needs to be taken out of a pretend "denomination" and put into another, world-wide church of God which breaks down the walls and lets the leven into the new wineskin. Jubilee 98 might just be the place.

Click here to see how external means are used to begin the gospel ferment again.

Introduction to the Book of Jubilees.

For the Book of Jubilees

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