Perry Stone - The Seal And The Sign
Summary:
Perry Stone shares a fascinating Hebraic perspective on end-time signs, drawing from rabbinical interpretations of Scripture rather than typical Western views. Using Leviticus 25:10 and the concept of Gematria, he explains how a deliberate «misspelling» in the Hebrew text of «you shall return» prophetically points to the year 1948, the restoration of Israel as a nation. He connects this to other signs like Israel’s emblem of the menorah with olive branches from Zechariah and ancient rabbinical prophecies, concluding that these hidden clues confirm we have entered the era of fulfilled biblical end-time prophecies.
Introduction to Hebraic Prophecy Insights
If you have your Bible, turn with me to Leviticus 25:10. For the next few moments, I want to minister on a subject called «The Seal and the Sign: Rabbinical Insight into the Last Days» or «Rabbinical Insight into the Unusual End-Time Signs.» What is a rabbi? A rabbi is a Jewish teacher who teaches the five books of Moses, called the Torah, and also teaches from the prophets. He is trained in both the Torah teaching and what the Jews call the oral tradition.
What we’re going to do for the next few moments is something a little different. What else is new with Perry Stone’s ministry? We’re going to look at prophecy, not from what we call the Western perspective or from Christian preachers, but from the perspective that rabbis have noted, giving some Hebraic interpretations and different understandings. I promise you that part of this will be the most different thing you have heard in quite some time.
The Hebrew Roots of Scripture
The Old Testament, as you know, was written in the Hebrew language, with the exception of portions of Daniel and Ezra, which were written in Aramaic. Now, in America, if you go to a school of theology or a Bible college, they will teach what’s called hermeneutics: the proper way of interpreting Scripture or the laws of biblical interpretation.
I will not go through those laws that we have in the West, but I will tell you that Jewish rabbis have established 32 rules for interpreting Scripture. These include allegory, metaphors, parallels, the division of words, comparing words, combinations of words, etc. Rule number 29 is perhaps the most controversial, but I think it’s the most unique.
Understanding Gematria
Rule 29 of the 32 rules of interpreting Scripture from a rabbinical side of understanding is simply called the rule of Gematria. The term Gematria comes from a word related to mathematics or biblical numbers. According to rabbis, Gematria is where the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are all given a numerical equivalent: Aleph is one, Bet is two, Gimel is three, Dalet is four, and Yud is ten.
It goes all the way to Tav, which is the last letter, and has a value of 400. This systematic use of letters being exchanged for numbers is really not new; it existed after the Babylonian captivity. The Jews used to code their messages in numbers, and the recipient would know to interpret them in Hebrew. Revelation 13:18 is the best example I can find of what we call Gematria.
Gematria in the New Testament
This was done in the Greek language because the New Testament was written in Greek. Revelation 13:18 says, «Count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.» I showed you the other night, without going back into detail, that 666 is actually three individual Greek letters, and those are the numerical values of those particular letters.
That’s where we get the idea of the beast’s number being 666. You count the number of the beast and then you interchange it for the values of the Greek alphabet. There’s this mysterious clue somehow connected to that. So, that’s an example from the Bible of what they would call Gematria from the Greek perspective.
The Jubilee and Shemitah Years
What I’d like to do, however, is begin in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 25:10. I’m going to read you a verse that is extremely interesting, and we’re going to talk about one simple verse. The sign of Israel’s restoration can be discovered in a verse in Leviticus 25:10. Now, you all know about the Shemitah; I’m sure Jonathan Cahn is going to make that book as popular as he did The Harbinger.
In Leviticus chapter 25, here’s what we’re dealing with: we’re dealing with what we call the sabbatical years. Now, the Bible tells us there is a Year of Jubilee. The Year of Jubilee is to count seven years, seven different times, or seven times seven—49 years. Then, on the Day of Atonement, you blow a silver trumpet and declare Jubilee throughout all the land.
Blessings of the Jubilee
When the Jubilee occurred in Old Testament times, if you were a Hebrew slave, you were permitted to return to your family that year. If you had lost your family property, you could redeem that property back if you had a proper will and buy it back from the person who purchased it many years ago. There were many wonderful things connected to the Jubilee year, including debts being canceled. Certain types of debts could be canceled in a Jubilee year.
Now, that’s every 50 years—don’t forget that. That’s a Jubilee year. The Shemitah year is every seventh year. In other words, the law of God says you will work for six years, but on the seventh year, you will allow the land to rest. In fact, God says the land lays fallow; a plow cannot touch it.
God’s Provision in Rest Years
You cannot prune a vineyard; you cannot harvest any kind of food. Someone says, «Well, how do you survive on the seventh year?» Well, how did you survive on a Jubilee year, on year 49 and 50? You weren’t supposed to do anything as far as planting or reaping or sowing.
The answer is this: God said, «Honor me on the sixth year, and I’ll give you a double portion for the seventh year.» God said, «Honor me on years 48 and 49, and watch what I’ll do: I will provide for you.» How many know if we honor the word of God, it is God’s responsibility to honor us through His covenant? Very simple.
The Hidden Prophecy in Leviticus 25:10
Now, having said that, Leviticus 25:10 is interesting. Here’s what it says: «You will hallow the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants of Israel. It shall be a Jubilee unto you. You shall return every man to his possession.» Notice the three English words «you shall return.»
If you read this in the Hebrew language, it’s the Hebrew word «t’shuvu.» Not «tasavu, ” but „t’shuvu.“ Now, why is it important for you to understand „you shall return“ in this text? In the original Torah scroll, the Hebrew word „t’shuvu“ is spelled incorrectly.
Deliberate „Errors“ in the Torah
What is interesting is that there are several times—in fact, many different times—in the Hebrew scroll where a word is not spelled correctly, and a Hebrew letter is missing. Now, some people would say that it’s an error by the copyist, that the scribe who was copying somehow omitted that. That’s almost impossible because there are ten laws that Jewish scribes follow when they copy a Torah scroll, and these laws go way, way back.
It is virtually impossible for them to make a mistake. Any mistake that is made has to be scratched off, and the ink has to be replaced. If a mistake is made in spelling the name of God, you can’t touch it; you have to bury that section. There are so many laws!
The Missing Vav and Its Meaning
So, you say, „How did they misspell this?“ Let me say it this way: in the phrase „you shall return, ” which in Hebrew is the word „t’shuvu, ” there is a second „vav“ (V-A-V), one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, that is missing. As a matter of fact, there are supposed to be two „vavs“ in the Hebrew spelling of „you shall return, ” but in the scroll, there is only one of those „vavs.“ Why is the second „vav“ missing?
This is where rabbis come in, and they sit down in rooms to say, „Why is the second ‘vav’ missing from that word? Why was it copied this way for centuries?“ Their teaching is this: every misspelled word was there on purpose by the divine plan of God for a mystery to be concealed that would later be revealed.
Gematria Reveals 1948
All right: without the second „vav, ” the rabbis say this verse of Leviticus 25:10 becomes a clear prophecy. You ready for this? It declares that the Jews are going to return to their land once and for all. Now, how do we know that? They say you understand it by taking the word „t’shuvu“ and doing what we call Gematria on it.
There are four Hebrew letters that make up the word „t’shuvu.“ The letters are: Tav, Shin, Vet, and the letter Vav. Now I’m going to show you what these Hebrew letters value: the letter Tav is the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet; its value is 400. The letter Shin is the 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet; its numerical value is 300.
The Numerical Prophecy
The Vet (or Bet) value is 2. The Vav is the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, meaning its value is 6. The total of that word that I just said to you, „you shall return“ in Hebrew, misspelled without the second „vav, ” is 708.
Now, the reason that 708 is quite significant is because when you are doing Gematria—where you take a word and translate it to a number—you seldom pay attention to what we call the millennial. For example, if you’re looking at this and you’re talking about the Jewish year 478, you don’t worry about the 4,000; you worry about the 78.
Linking to Israel’s Restoration
The year 5,708 on the Jewish calendar happens to be our calendar year 1948. So, they teach this: „You shall return“ with a missing „vav“ totals 708, which in our calendar would be the Jewish year 5708, meaning that it was a direct prediction that the Jews were going to return back to their land and stay forever.
Now, to authenticate that this is the meaning, they point out: why is the second „vav“ missing? It is not in the return because the „vav’s“ numerical value is 6. In the Holocaust, 6 million people were killed who did not return, so to them, it’s a clue that that missing letter would be a signal of something prophetic in the future.
Other Astonishing Examples
Now, I’m telling you, I wish I could do this. I could give you five of the most astonishing examples. You can take the Book of Esther in the Hebrew text and read the ten sons of Haman that were hung. I was at Qumran, and a man who was a teacher of Hebrew stood there and showed me this, and I later got it confirmed through a head rabbi.
Check this out: in the original scroll, among the ten sons, there are three names where the Hebrew letter is half the size it should be when written out with a quill and ink. Nobody has ever known why three sons of Haman have letters half the size. How many know there were ten sons that got hung in that text?
Prophecy in Esther
Go to their names; three Hebrew letters are half the size. They took those letters and added up the numerical value. Guess what they found out? It totaled to the Jewish year that, in our calendar, was the same year—those three missing letters total the value of the year when ten Nazis were hung for their crimes against the Jews.
It’s like God put something there from the beginning, and the Bible talks about it being the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the kings have to search it out; the wise men have to search it out. These are some of those things that I find extremely interesting.
Jubilee Predictions Fulfilled
In 1896, the Zionist movement made a prediction: they said, „Give us one Jubilee or 50 years, and Israel will be restored as a nation.“ It was in 1948. In 1917 was the Balfour Declaration. People began to say, „In 50 years from today, something is going to happen connecting the Jewish people back to their land.“ Fifty years later, in 1967, the Six-Day War took place, and Israel actually regained Jerusalem as the capital of Israel once again.
These things are mysteries to us in the West. I’ve taken New Testament survey, Old Testament survey, and all the classes you can take when it comes to Western theology, but you have to sit down with men who understand Hebrew.
The Sign of the Menorah
They understand the concepts of hermeneutics before any of this makes sense because people in the West just don’t teach the scripture this way. Is everybody still here? Shout „yes!“ That one might have been a little complicated for you, but the rest are not going to be. Somebody say, „Thank God for that.“
Now, notice this verse that I’m about to read. This is considered a sign of the prophet—a sign of the prophet. It’s Zechariah 4:2-6. Here’s what the Word of God says: „So I said, ‘I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold and a bowl on top of it, and on the lampstand, seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’
Zechariah’s Vision Explained
So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, ‘What are these, my Lord? ’ The angel who talked with me said, ‘Do you not know what these are? ’ I said, ‘No, my Lord.’ He answered and said unto me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.’“
Rabbi Menachem Cohen interprets the last part of this verse as follows: it is not because of the number of soldiers or degree of military strength, but it’s because of my Divine Providence, says the Lord. In the context, God is going to give Israel victory over her enemies.
Not by Might, but by God’s Spirit
So, God is saying to Israel, „It is not going to be by the might of your armies; it’s not going to be the strength of man’s wisdom. You will survive and live because of the Divine hand and power of God that will be upon you.“ In the historical setting of this verse in Zechariah, Zechariah was wondering about the future of Jerusalem.
He understood from Jeremiah’s prophecies that the Jews would be in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. Now, the Jews are going to come out of their captivity, and God is going to bring them back to the land.
The Menorah as End-Time Sign
Don’t miss this: the real key, according to rabbis, in this verse is the sign given to the prophet. The sign of the time of the end would be a menorah. There has to be the sign of the menorah. He says now, this menorah would have two trees or two branches on either side of it. Oh yes, yes, yes!
Now, in the Book of Revelation, we discover in chapter 11 that there are two witnesses, and they’re described as the two olive trees standing before the presence of God, pouring forth this anointing into the earth. Most scholars who preach prophecy—not all—believe that one is Elijah and that the other is probably Enoch, the two men who never died.
Israel’s Official Emblem
That imagery in Revelation 11 of the two witnesses is taken from the book of Zechariah. But let’s take it a little further, because in my ministry of 38 years, I never would have seen what I’m about to tell you. I would have always said Zechariah is simply talking about the two witnesses, and John adds on to the story of Zechariah by describing these two witnesses.
I wouldn’t even think about the menorah, but the Jewish rabbis say the key to the verse of understanding what the prophet is saying is the menorah. So here’s a rabbinical interpretation from several hundred years ago: when you see the sign of the menorah and the two branches, it is the sign of the time of the end.
The Era of Fulfilled Prophecy
When you see it, the era of biblical prophecies will begin to unfold after a big sign occurs. Ladies and gentlemen, the sign was the reestablishment of Israel in 1948. But this emblem of Israel is not the Star of David; most of you think that is the emblem.
I’m going to show you the emblem of Israel—it’s on every government paper; it’s on every tourist paper—this, ladies and gentlemen, is not the Star of David. The blue star which is on the white flag is their flag emblem, but this is the official emblem. It was Zechariah who said, „I saw a menorah, and it had its branches, and I saw an olive branch on one side and an olive branch on the other side, ” and the golden oil was pouring through both of them.
Rabbinical Predictions of Wars
So, ladies and gentlemen, we would not put this together, but they had been looking for this emblem for hundreds of years, and when Israel became a nation in ’48, they chose the menorah and the olive branches based on the prophecy of the book of Zechariah to say, „Now guess what it means?“
According to the rabbinical interpretation, it means we have entered the time of the end, and we have entered the era where biblical prophecies are going to be fulfilled. And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that’s exactly what has been going on! Ain’t that something?
Now, for a few moments, we’re going to skip over that and go to something else. Let’s go into another dimension: Israel’s war victories. Oh, hey guys, what I’m about to share with you here, if you’ve never heard this, is one of the most fascinating things that I’ve come across in years.
Rabbi Judah ben Samuel’s Prophecy
Because, my God, Gideon, years ago, he showed me—we’re talking about in the 80s—he showed me a yellow book, and he said, „This is the book of a rabbi that lived hundreds of years ago, and he has made some astonishing predictions that were so precise, it’s the big talk in Israel now.“
I said, „Well, can you get me a copy?“ He said, „Well, it’s all in Hebrew.“ He said, „One day, somebody will translate this book.“ Now, he never gave me the name of the book to check it out in English, but I later found out what it was. Israel’s war victories: 1948, 1967, 1973, 1981. They fought these wars in which God stood with them.
However, there was a rabbi by the name of Rabbi Judah ben Samuel—a Regensburg, German Haggadah rabbi who lived in… was born in 1140 or something—wait, the text says 127, but anyway. He made predictions concerning the city of Jerusalem and the coming Messiah.
A Prophet Visited by Elijah
This is what’s interesting: Christian clerics, Christian preachers, sought this man out to get his advice and hear his prophetic predictions, and back in his day, he was so accurate that when the Christian clerics said, „Where are you getting your information?“ this is what he said: „I’m just the reporter.“
He said, „The prophet Elijah appeared to me from heaven and gave me insight for the end time, and that’s where I got this from.“ Now, when you hear it, you’re going to know he got insight from God somehow—whether it was the Holy Spirit, God Himself, or someone saying, „I just don’t think Elijah would appear.“ Well, he’s going to again, so wake up! I don’t understand everything; I’m just a messenger. I’m just preaching it.