The Seven Times Punishment

Today we're going to look at God's law of chastisement, prophetically, as it pertains to the USA. If we ask the question: what happened to the northern house of Israel, who were rooted up from Samaria and deported into Assyrian captivity, we find some answers in the expression 'seven times'.

We not only find the fulfillment of prophecy, but an explanation as to what happened to the tribes of Israel after their Assyrian bondage. God removed from His sight and divorced Israel because they broke the covenant. This was the beginning of Israel being lost, with the birthright blessings being withheld for a period of time known as 'seven times punishment'.

Before we look at the prophecy, we have to understand something about God. First, He is not mocked. Second, He is not just a God of love. Today's church world doesn't want to think of God as a punisher, a God of wrath and judgment, a jealous God. And that's why Israel got into trouble: because she went whoring after strange gods. Would a husband love his wife just as much, if she was committing adultery? Of course not, and neither does God tolerate such a transgression.

From Amos 3:1-3 we read, "Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Here we have a clear warning that God indeed does punish. God gets angry with disobedience; it's like a father with his children. It's an exclusive relationship. A parent doesn't redirect his discipline to other kids down the street. Our Father in heaven does not change between Old and New Covenants. Romans 11:29 says, "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance", and the context is verse 26, "All Israel shall be saved as it is written ... and shall turn away from ungodliness." Just as a child is reprimanded over time, he will learn to do good. Proverbs 13:24 says, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loves him chastens him."

I've talked about divine synchronization in the past and about how things can mesh together perfectly; an order of chronology that only a Creator of the universe can perform. This 'seven times punishment' prophecy is such an example of supernatural proof, that all we have to do is identify the elements before us and behold the awesome works of an Almighty God. So, what is this 'seven times' business? Before I tell you or let the Bible show you, let us note the significance of the number 7. It signifies spiritual perfection.

God created everything in a seven day week. Do you know that no other religion in history can claim the concept of a seven day week? It's the exclusive property of Christianity. What did God do on the seventh day? He rested. There are three levels of biblical rest: the seventh day, the seventh year, and the jubilee (seven times seven years). True Christianity does not teach that God is a sadistic torturer, punishing us forever without any hope of a final redemption. Every seven days we are to rest from our labors as God did with His Creation. It's a time for recharging our spiritual batteries and congregating as an assembly. The seventh year was a land rest (no crop farming), and servants/debtors would get a vacation. The jubilee year cancel all debts and servitude. The principle we are dealing with here is forgiveness; not only individually, but nationally as well.

When an ancient Israelite sinned, he went to the temple to offer an animal, sacrificed to atone for his sin; the blood would be sprinkled upon the altar seven times. Throughout the year the temple became defiled by all the blood, so once a year the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the sacrifice upon the mercy seat of the Ark, obtaining forgiveness for the nation. God forgave them 49 times every jubilee cycle.

The dynamic of the number seven is interwoven throughout the Bible. Jacob served Laban seven years for Leah and another seven for Rachel. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream of seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. The feasts were composed of seven day observances. Lepers spent seven days outside the camp. Israel was commanded to destroy the seven heathen nations of Canaan. In Joshua 6:4 we read about the fall of Jericho, "and the seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns; and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets". In Psalms 12:6 the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace purified seven times. God's Word declares in Proverbs 6:16-19 that God hates seven things: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies and he that sows discord among the brethren. Jesus fed the multitudes with seven loaves of bread, and there were seven baskets of fish left after they were filled. Peter asked how many times to forgive his brother and was told seventy times seven (there's your jubilee cycle of 490). And in Revelation ... oh boy ... we've got seven churches, seven spirits, seven golden candlesticks, seven stars, seven seals, seven vials, seven horns, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven crowns, seven heads, seven plagues and seven kings. Not all of these things reckon time, but they do have something to do with spiritual perfection, synchronized with His glory, His story ... history.

So back to the question what is 'seven times'? Please observe the following:

If the disciples had the key to understanding prophetic calculation, of determining the length of 'seven times punishment' (as mentioned in Leviticus 26: 18, 21, 24 and 28), then they wouldn't have asked Jesus in Acts 1:6, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom of Israel?" The key is found in Revelation. Most judeo-Christian students of the Bible are unaware of the 2,520 year cycle and its importance in Bible prophecy. However, most know about the 1,260 day cycle mentioned in Revelation 11:3 and 12:6 and verse 14, where it's called a time, and times and half a time. 1,260 is half of 2,520. A prophetic year is 360 days, because it's halfway between a solar year (365 days) and a lunar year (354 days). 3 1/2 prophetic years is thus 1,260 days and a full seven year cycle is 2,520 days. In long term prophecy, the days are years. We get the confirmation of this conversion in Numbers 14:34, "after the number of the days in which ye searched the land ... each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities" and in Ezekiel 4:6, "and thou shalt bear the iniquity ... I have appointed thee each day for a year."

Daniel 12:7 repeats the expression 'a time, times and an half'. Although he does not mention 1,260 specifically, it is generally accepted that a 'time' refers to 360 days or years. Therefore, 'times' would be a doubling, or 720, and 'half a time' would be 180. Add them up: 360+720+180 and you get 1,260. This calculation verifies that a 'time' is indeed 360 years. So, 'seven times' is seven multiplied by 360, which equals 2,520. 'Seven times' is mentioned seven times as such in the Bible, and remarkably the '3 1/2 times' is also referred to seven times. Additional proof that these periods of time are synonymous is found in Revelation 3:2 and 13:5, where it is 42 months (i.e. 1,260).

Somebody may say, "So what?? What does all this prove? What do these numbers have to do with America?"

Well, I would ask the question, "What is the greatest Christian nation that has ever existed?" And if you're honest, you'd have to admit that it's the USA. And then I would ask, "Do you really think that God would not mention such a nation in the Bible, not by name, but by description; by its fruits; like a fingerprint that would identify only one person?" We are talking about God's people Israel. In Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24 and 28, God promised to punish these Israelites 'seven times', or as we now know, prophetically speaking, a long period of time for correction being 2,520 years. God consistently deals with His people during times of judgment, with the idea of restoration and cleansing at the end of that time.

Divine predestination, which dovetails with prophetic synchronization, relocates Israel after her fall, captivity and dispersion; never to return to Palestine. Confirmed in II Samuel 7:10, we read: "Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore, as beforetime." Because of their national sins, God would drive them out and into a new land. If you look at some good biblical maps, you'll get an idea of the migratory routes that our ancestors took when they left Assyria (modern Syria and Turkey) and traveled north and west. John 7:35 refers to them as 'the dispersed', and Jesus knew where the lost sheep of Israel were and commanded His disciples to go to them. What followed was the Christianization of Europe. Israel would occupy Isles or islands, and coastlines, wilderness and uncultivated land their fathers never knew. God was to scatter and sift them among nations, and then would regather the twelve tribes and again, give them a land to possess in the Kingdom Age. It would not be in the old Jerusalem; thus it would be a prophetic new Jerusalem.

The name Hebrew means colonizer, and we can see through history who has colonized the world. Jews cannot fulfill this fingerprint of Israel, as they only moved into countries once they were developed, and usually fleeing from countries they've been expelled from, which had fallen into decadence under their influence. The jew has never had their own nation until 1948, and that merely being a welfare state subsidized by Christian countries like the US, Britain and Germany. Much false prophecy has been churned out because of the mischief of so-called rabbinical scholars. Well, the 'seven times punishment' is an irrefutable prophecy that will knock your socks off (or, in their case, their little beanie caps) of which they cannot argue its undeniable simplicity.

Let's get to the punch line! The conquest of the ten-tribed northern house of Israel took about 25 years to complete. The logistics were monumental, as some two million people were transported hundreds of miles away from their homeland. As near as can be determined through archaeology, the historical record and the Bible itself, the first campaign against Israel began in 745 BC on the east side of the Jordan River. Precisely 2,520 years from 745 BC is the final date where the 'seven times punishment' expires upon the nation of Israel. On this date, a nation was born in a day, just as Isaiah 66:7-9 had prophesied, which I think also corresponds to Revelation 12, when it speaks of a woman travailing in birth, in pain to deliver, bringing forth a man child. This was speaking of Israel becoming a new nation. Verse 8 in the Ferrar Fenton says, "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen it like that? For the earth to produce in a day! In a moment a nation be born?" And if I can paraphrase God in verse 9, He is saying "should I restrain this birth which I have produced?" This glorious moment in history; the conclusion of the chastisement upon God's Israel people and the restoration of their birthright blessings was none other than July 4, 1776.

Can you think of any nation that declared their independence from the rod of correction and tyranny, and then proclaimed liberty throughout all the land unto the inhabitants thereof? This is the inscription on the Liberty Bell as well as the words found in Leviticus 25:10, which hallows the jubilee; the 50th year following (7X7=49). This was a time in history of spiritual perfection, when our founding fathers prayed to the Lord to "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

Christianity is a cleansing process; we are given a fresh start, even if it takes thousand of years. Though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, wealth and power, peace and prosperity blossomed as never before anywhere in the history of mankind. Our people possessed more than two-thirds of all the cultivated resources in the world. And now, we are losing it faster than we got it. This is what happens when we still rebel; when we contaminate hallowed ground with abominations. But God said in between the 'seven times' warnings in Leviticus 26:19, "I will break the pride of your power" and Malachi 1:4, "They shall build, but I will throw down." Psalms 127:1 also says, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."

We, the nation of Israel, can seek the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, or we can go through another thousand years of punishment. Let us choose the perfect will of God and redeem our lives over to the birthright blessings. God has all the time in the world.

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