When are the Sabbatical and Jubilee years?
Question: How do we count the Sabbatical and Jubilee years and can we know when they will occur?
Answer: The law of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years is given in Leviticus 25. The children of Israel were commanded that when they would come into the land, they were to observe a Sabbath of the land to YHVH. Six years the land is to be tilled and gather in its fruit, but in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest. No field work is allowed in the Sabbatical year. (Lev 25:2-4)
Sabbatical year of the Land
When seven Sabbatical years are counted, the 50th year is a Jubilee year to YHVH. Like in the Sabbatical year, the land is to have a complete rest in the Jubilee, too. Then, the counting of the next Jubilee circle begins with year 1 of the first Sabbatical cycle and so forth.
We should note that Lev 25 does not say that the law pertains to any land or all land, but to the land YHVH gave to Israel. Nor does it say that the counting of the Sabbatical years begins with the first year of the entering the land, but that when they entered the land, they were to start observing the law of the land. This does not exclude that the counting might have begun earlier, as early as the creation of the world.
Indeed, the Creator might have begun the reckoning of time as early as Year 1 of the creation, as there are solid arguments to assume so.
The counting of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, and giving the due rest of the land is very important for the Creator. It is so important that because the children of Israel did not observe the law of the Sabbaths and Jubilees, He exiled them in Babylon for 70 years to let the land observe its rest: 70 years for 70 Sabbatical and Jubilee years the land had not rested since the division of it.
We should also note that no reason is given in the Torah as to why the Sabbatical and Jubilee years are to be observed, but simply we are told to observe them.
So, can we know when the next Sabbatical year falls? Unfortunately, the reckoning of time has been lost to us while we were in exile and we can only speculate. But when the Messiah comes, He will explain everything: the Sabbatical and Jubilee years included.
To the best ability and knowledge of the present author, this year of COVID-19 the Coronavirus (2020 in the Roman calendar) is year 5985 from the Creation, and it is Sabbatical. But whether it is so, the Creator has the last word.
The Time of Reckoning Ministry (TORM) has dedicated the book Reckoning of Time to restoring the reckoning of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. For more information, please, refer to it!