In this lesson we continue some of the interesting information found in Brother Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Mystery of the Shemitah. Brother Cahn believes that the number four pertains to the kingdoms of this world. He also believes that four Sabbath cycles tells the story of nations. Numbers are interesting. For example, three is the number of the spiritual world. Four is the number of the physical world. Together, they total seven, which is the number of completion.

Brother Cahn begins in 1917, a Sabbath Year. In this year, four nations began their descent; Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Three of these nations were directly affected by the entry of the United States into World War One in 1917. By the end of the war, the U.S. was on the way to becoming the world power that we grew up with.

World War Two really began in 1938, a Sabbath Year. In this year Hitler began his takeover of countries neighboring Germany. This was also the year of Kristallnacht (crystal night), when the windows of Jewish businesses were shattered and hundreds of synagogues were burned in one night.

Four Sabbath cycles, or twenty-eight years following 1917, World War Two ended in 1945 and the U.S. was then unquestionably the world power. Following 1945 were the glory days of the United States. As a reminder, planning for the World Trade Center was begun in 1945, which was completed in 1973.

Four Sabbath cycles later, in 1973, it appears the glory days were past. The United States Supreme Court, after several anti-Biblical rulings, made abortion on demand the law of the land. The Bretton Woods Agreement, which just before the end of World War Two had made the U.S. Dollar the standard of the world, was abandoned in 1973. In 1973 the U.S. ended direct involvement in the Vietnam War, considered the first war the United States ever lost.

Twenty-eight years, four Sabbath cycles later, brings us to 2001. The World Trade Center, symbolizing the prominence of the United States and dating from 1945 and 1973, was destroyed. The World Trade Center stood on the very same piece of land as St. Paul’s Chapel stood in 1789. This is where George Washington went after his inauguration to pray for the United States.

St. Paul’s Chapel was spared from the collapse of the World Trade Center by a sycamore tree. This tree was replaced with a tree from the cedar family. It was called the “Tree of Hope.” This land could be considered foundational land for the United States, and the foundation was struck in 2001. I believe this was a warning from God.

After September 11th, our leaders then quoted Isaiah 9:10 several times, “The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.” Sadly, this mirrors the arrogance of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom after they received a warning from the Lord, but chose not to repent. The Tree of Hope, the evergreen that replaced the sycamore, died in 2014.

My thanks to Brother Jonathan Cahn for showing the many parallels between the natural cycle of the Sabbath Year and the building up and tearing down of nations.

May the Lord have mercy on His children in pagan America. Pray for the lost of this world! Come, Lord Jesus!