Clue 11: Jeremiah 25

Though it is true that the book of Jeremiah was a warning to the people of Judah, God put it in the Bible to serve as a warning to the churches today. There is plenty of evidence in the book of Jeremiah to support this (see Study on Book Of Jeremiah).

Jeremiah chapter 25 talks about the destruction that God is bringing upon the church for its apostasy. The chapter is dealing with the Great Tribulation in which God brings judgment upon the church by allowing Satan to rule within them (see Study on Jeremiah 25).

The 13th and 23rd Year

We find a time clue in the opening verses to the chapter:
“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.” (Jeremiah 25:3-4)

Two time clues stand out in this passage: God references the 13th year as the beginning of a significant period of warning and references the 23rd year as the end of that significant period of warning. Later we read that total destruction follows this period. When we think about this relating to the end times we immediately think of the Great Tribulation. That is the period in which we are warned to get out of the church. That is the period in which most of those who call themselves God’s people are not hearkening.

We have determined from other clues that 1988 was probably the year the Great Tribulation began. That year was exactly the 13,000th year of the world’s existence.

We have also determined from other clues that 2011 is probably the year the Great Tribulation will end, a timeframe of 23 years.

Notice the language: “From the thirteenth year, even unto the three and twentieth year…” Is it just coincidence that this fits so perfectly with our other clues? The phrase itself is curious enough, but to find it in a chapter we already know is speaking directly to the Great Tribulation makes us think that certainly this cannot be coincidence.

1 Year = 1,000 Years

We can even find Biblical justification for understanding the 13th year as 13,000 years. Remember, Christ said He came to preach the “acceptable year”:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

The acceptable year, the period of sending forth the Gospel into all the world, was the Early Rain. We also know that the “1,000-year” reign is the Early Rain period (see Study on The 1,000-Year Reign). This gives us Biblical justification for understanding a year as 1,000 years and tying the 13th year mentioned in Jeremiah 25:3 to 13,000 years.

A Two-Part 23

Another interesting detail is that God breaks up the number 23 by using the language, “three and twentieth year.” God does this a lot in the Bible so perhaps this isn’t significant here, but isn’t it interesting that the 23-year period in view is the Great Tribulation which is also broken up into two parts. Even more interesting is the fact that the number 3 very often is used symbolically when God speaks of the Latter Rain (see Study on Plenty And Famine).

Summary

This time clue references the beginning of the Great Tribulation as being the 13th year, or as we can understand it, the 13,000th year which was 1988. It also refers to the end of the Great Tribulation as being in the 23rd year. The year 2011 is 23 years after 1988. We had already arrived at 1988 as the beginning of the Great Tribulation and 2011 as the end of it completely independent of this time clue.