Christ in all the scriptures The year of Jubilee RELEASE

 Christ in all the scriptures

The year of Jubilee--RELEASE...Leviticus 25v39-41

"Ye shall...proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family"-Leviticus 25v10.

This was God's order for the nation when they occupied the promised land.  The rest of the chapter unfolds the details of how this would work in practise, and the fundamental principle was freedom from debt, from servitude, and restoration of property on a 50 year cycle.  This way, no one became too poor, or too rich, maintaining the balance of a Divinely ordered society.  The emphasis on family revealed the desired structure, as a nation thrives when the family unit is preserved.

Those who had fallen on bad times were obliged to hire themselves as servants to their debtors, but this all ended at the Jubilee.  The servant with all his family were set free from all obligations, and they could choose to remain in hired service, or make their own way anew.  What a wonderful provision this was!  It is symbolic of an even greater freedom in Christ from the thraldom of sin, which was the lot of every one of us.   

The debt of sin was an offence against God, but it was also an inward power controlling our lifestyle.  We were not free, we were "the servants of sin", as the bible teaches.  Jesus said to the Jews of His day, "Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin"-John 8v34.  Sin incurs a penalty against us, but it is also a power that controls us.  In his teaching on the reality of sin which separated us from God, Paul describes sin as a monarch, controlling everything we do.  He describes it like this, "The good that I would I do not; but the evil that I would not that I do"-Romans 7v19.  When we are in debt, we are not our own; we are in servitude to another, in this case the monster sin which wields control over us.

In the year of Jubilee, all in servitude were set free: "And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: but as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee UNTO THE YEAR OF JUBILEE: and then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return". 

 Born in sin and shapen in iniquity, as the bible reveals, w are subject to the power of sin within.  Only in Christ are we free, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed!"-John 8v36.  Christ announced, as He opened the modern equivalent of the Jubilee to the world, "deliverance to the captives" and "liberty to the bruised".  Paul expands on this in Romans 6, and the freedom from the power of sin in the present time.

Romans 6v6 "...that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin".

Romans 6v7 "For he that is dead is freed from sin".

Romans 6v11 "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord".

Romans 6v12-13 "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God".

Romans 6v14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law but under grace".

Romans 6v17 "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you".

Romans 6v22 "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life".

The bondage in which sin held us with all its dread consequences, both now and in the future, has been broken in Christ, and God has declared the year of Jubilee.

"AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE" John 8v32. 

 

Christ in all the scriptures REMISSION

 Christ in all the scriptures

Year of Jubilee-- Remission...all debts cancelled  Leviticus 25

Imagine you are in debt, and have been unable to pay it back, then the year of Jubilee is sounded by the blowing of trumpets.  All is well, for by Divine decree all debts are cancelled, you can make a fresh start!  Wouldn't that be something special in the present economic climate?  For example they say that a debt of £3.7 billion is owed to the electric providers in the wake of Covid-19, and the surge in price of electricity.  Were this to be the case in the Jubilee, this debt would be cancelled! (as well as every other debt!).  Debt is a reality of modern life; it may come through mismanagement of finances; or through circumstances beyond our control; or through the greed of the service providers with their interest charges and increase in prices.  What a blessing to know that every debt is cancelled every 50 years! This is what God decreed for Israel.

"Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family"- Leviticus 25v10.

A cursory reading of the chapter will reveal that this was a proclamation of liberty from all debt, from slavery, and the restitution of all property and possessions lost in the previous 50 years.  This was God resetting the economy and giving everyone a fresh start.  In the enactment of this there was to be no arguments, simply to obey the edict from above.  In this matter the Lord states, "ye shall not oppress one another"-25v14, v17.  Again, what was said, to curtail natural tendencies, "If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him..."-25v35.  Again, "...ye shall not rule one over another with rigour"-25v46, v53.  God initiated a time of rich generosity of spirit, on the basis that the land was HIS (25v23), and everything in it was HIS as a consequence.  This was His wonderful way of redressing imbalance in Jewish society.  What a difference it would be if the present world was run according to the Divine thoughts!

Yet, in a spiritual sense it is so!!  Jesus declared in His home town of Nazareth the suspension of Divine judgment on the world and the introduction of the "ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD" (the Spiritual year of Jubilee)-Luke 4v19/20.  Paul described this dispensation of God as the "dispensation of the grace of God (Ephesians 3v2), and "the day of salvation" (2nd Corinthians 6v2).  He said, "Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation".  Twice over the word BEHOLD...look intently, grasp the meaning of this, stop everything else you are doing and understand this"!  The day of vengeance of God on the world has been suspended and God has opened the day of grace.  This day has now run its course for nigh on 2000 years!  It will end sometime, and His wrath will begin, but right now the mercy of God is proclaimed.  In this first aspect we look at the DEBTS THAT ARE BEING CANCELLED from above right now.  Just as monetary debts in Israel were cancelled in the year of Jubilee, so in the present the moral debts of every believing soul are being cancelled.

To understand this we must understand that every sin we commit is a debt we owe to God, and that debt we can never repay.  There are three words used in the bible, sin, iniquity, and transgression, all of which occur multiple times, and all of which have afflicted all human beings.  Taking the first of these, SINS, they are shortcomings, failures, debts, we have before our Maker-refer Romans 3v23, "For all have sinned, and COME SHORT of the glory of God".  These are debts we owe to God, debts we cannot pay...we were created to worship Him, in the language of the first and great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind-Matthew 22v37.  This debt has been cancelled, as it has been paid in full by our Redeemer, and all we have to do is BELIEVE!  Another has paid our debt to God, and He has proclaimed the time of Jubilee across the whole world for 2000 years, and it is still in force.  Believe, before it closes, and the day of vengeance begins.  Be careful, this is not a mental assent to a doctrine, this is a heart belief in the word of the living God.  It is not about attending a church, or about doing good things to make up for the bad.  It is about believing God to the exclusion of all else and allowing Him into your life.  This happened to me in October1966 and I have never looked back, and have been blessed as a result.  This is a world wide proclamation, just as the Jubilee was for all the land and for all the inhabitants thereof.  Here is the word of the living God available to all right now if they will believe: it is my greatest joy to be able to share this with you.

BEHOLD

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross"  Colossians 2v14

"In whom we have redemption through His (Christ's) blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace"  Ephesians 1v7

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses"  Acts 13v28-29

"For this is my blood of the New Testament (Covenant) which is shed for many for the remission of sins"  Matthew 26v28

"To give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins"  Luke 1v77

"And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem"  Luke 24v47

"And to Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins"  Acts 10v43

Remission is the cancellation of all your sins in the records of heaven.  God forgives and pardons all sins, past, present and future.  He removes the guilt and the penalty due to your sins.  The offender is treated as though the sins had never been committed, as they were answered in Christ.  This is what God is doing today; it takes only a few seconds to deal with the greatest need of your soul.

GOD'S COVENANT

"Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more"  Hebrews 10v17 (quotation from Jeremiah 31v34).

We are living in the biblical year of Jubilee!  Let us rejoice together.