A Time of Rest
God commanded Israel to observe certain periods known as Sabbatical years (Exodus 23:10 - 11, Deuteronomy 31:10, Leviticus 25:1 - 7, 19 - 23). Evidence suggest these years began on Tishri 1 (Feast of Trumpets) every seventh year. Israel, during these special times, was required to let their land lie fallow among other requirements.
September 22, 4 B.C.
to September 10, 3 B.C.
Hebrew Civil Year (HCY) 3758
Herod the Great dies the week of February 11 to 17 in 4 B.C. Shortly after this event an angel is sent to Egypt to inform Mary and Joseph they can return to Israel with baby Jesus (Matthew 2:19 - 20). Their initial plan is to live in Bethlehem (verse 22).
Herod Archelaus, the new ruler of Judea, conducts a bloody suppression of "seditious" Jews (Antiquities of the Jews, 17.9.3) during Passover (April 11 to 18, 4 B.C.). The news of this murder of 3,000 men highly likely caused Joseph, Jesus' stepfather, to fear entering Judea (Matthew 2:21 - 22). It took another angelic vision for Joseph to decide to take his family to Nazareth (verses 22 - 23).
The Sabbatical year of 4 to 3 B.C. was the first civil year Jesus experienced in Nazareth. It would become the city he would live in until moving to Capernaum after his ministry began (see Matthew 4:13 - 16).
September 13, 25 A.D.
to September 2, 26 A.D.
HCY 3786
This Sabbatical year represents the last period of Jesus' life before his ministry begins on September 11 in 26 A.D. The day he starts his ministry is the day that is the start of a Biblical Jubilee year which will run until September 29 in 27 A.D.!
September 25, 32 A.D.
to September 14, 33 A.D.
HCY 3793
In early 33 A.D., during a Sabbatical year, Saul (later Paul) continues his zealous persecution of Jewish Christians. After receiving permission from Jerusalem's High Priest, he travels to Damascus to find and jail any believer in Jesus found in its synagogues (Acts 9).
Jesus, in the spring of 33, confronts Saul in a vision as he travels to Damascus. Saul is then blinded and brought to repentance, after which he converts to Christianity. This momentous New Testament event, during this special year, kicks off the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
September 7, 39 A.D.
to September 26, 40 A.D.
HCY 3800
The book of James, the second earliest New Testament writing, is dated between 40 and 41 A.D. James, the half-brother of Jesus, may have written all or part of his epistle during this Sabbatical year.
The Apostle Paul, whose presence in Jerusalem leads to threats against his life, is sent back home to Tarsus in the summer of 36 A.D. (Acts 9:26 - 30). He stays in his hometown until the summer of 40 A.D. when, during a Sabbatical year, Barnabas seeks his help for the fledgling church in Antioch (11:20 - 26).
September 19, 46 A.D.
to September 9, 47 A.D.
HCY 3807
Starting in the fall of 46 A.D., when another Sabbatical year will begin, the Apostles Paul and Barnabas reside in Syrian Antioch. They will stay in the city, serving its church, until late summer of 49 (Acts 14:26 - 28).
September 3, 53 A.D.
to September 21, 54 A.D.
HCY 3814
Paul's third missionary begins in the summer of 53 A.D. just before another Sabbatical year begins. He first revisits the churches in Cilicia and Galatia he started (Tarsus, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch) before traveling to Asia and Macedonia.
September 15, 60 A.D.
to September 3, 61 A.D.
HCY 3821
Paul, in the fall of 60 A.D. as another Sabbatical year is set to begin, is a Roman prisoner in Caesarea. His appeal to Caesar (Acts 26) regarding his case earns him a boat trip to Rome escorted by a centurion (27:1 - 3). He will spend the Day of Atonement, September 24, as a prisoner on a ship sailing the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean (Acts 27:7 - 9).
It will take Paul several months, during which he endures a shipwreck (Acts 29:41 - 44) and being bitten by a poisonous snake (28:3 - 6), before he is finally in Rome in the early spring of 61 A.D.
September 28, 67 A.D.
to September 15, 68 A.D.
HCY 3828
Paul, in late 67 A.D., writes his last book as he awaits his inevitable fate.
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith (2Timothy 4:6 - 7).
Paul closes his last writing by urging Timothy to come to him before the dangerous sailing conditions of winter (2Timothy 4:21).
In May or early June of 68 A.D., while still within a Sabbatical year, the Apostle Paul is martyred in Rome at the age of about 66. He is beheaded as is his right as a Roman citizen. Emperor Nero, who consigned the apostle to die as a martyr, kills himself on June 9.
Fleeing the Wrath of Rome
Another momentous Sabbatical year event took place between 67 and 68 A.D. According to church historian Eusebius (c. 260 - 265 to 339 A.D.), the Christians in Jerusalem are warned by God of the city's impending destruction by the Romans. They are told, by revelation, to flee to Pella.
"On the other hand, the people of the church in Jerusalem were commanded by an oracle given by revelation before the war to those in the city who were worthy of it to depart and dwell in one of the cities of Perea which they called Pella.
"To it those who believed on Christ migrated from Jerusalem, that when holy men had altogether deserted the royal capital of the Jews and the whole land of Judaea, the judgement of God might at last overtake them . . ." (Eusebius, Church History 3, 5, 3).
It is believed that the Apostle John was one of the many people to flee Jerusalem for Pella (Holy Bible, a Faithful Version, Chronology Part VI). Pella is located about 17 miles (27 kilometers) south of the Sea of Galilee on the eastern side of the Jordan River.
September 22, 81 A.D.
to September 12, 82 A.D.
HCY 3842
On September 14, 81 A.D., just 8 days before the beginning of a Sabbatical year, Titus Flavius Domitianus (or simply Domitian) becomes Roman Emperor. He will end up playing a brutal role in Christian history by initiating a persecution against believers near the end of his reign.
September 19, 95 A.D.
to September 6, 96 A.D.
HCY 3856
Roman Emperor Domitian, starting in 94 A.D., initiates a violent persecution of Christians. In 95 the Apostle John, the last living original apostle, is exiled to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, "because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9, HBFV). Tradition states he was first immersed in boiling oil before being sent to Patmos.
"From Ephesus he (Apostle John) was ordered to be sent to Rome, where it is affirmed he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. He escaped by miracle, without injury. Domitian afterwards banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation." (Foxe's Book of Martyrs, section 1).
John will spend the entire Sabbatical year spanning 95 and 96 A.D. on Patmos. It is during this time that he receives visions of prophetic events that, when written down on the island, will become the book of Revelation.
Emperor Domitian is assassinated by court officials on September 18, 96 A.D., just twelve days after the Sabbatical year ends. His successor, Emperor Nerva, soon releases John from Patmos where he makes his way back to Ephesus.