The Year of Jubilee - The Year of Redemption!
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Have you ever had anything cancelled? Have you ever been released from a debt? Have you ever been forgiven and/or been extended forgiveness? Have you ever released someone from a debt they owed you? Has anyone ever covered the tab for you?
This act of grace, or favor, is not common, so when it does happen to us, our person tends to be taken back with surprise, we lose our words, and humility takes over; we may even stubbornly try to refuse the act of love.
This act of love and charity, that for most of us, makes us feel uncomfortable, maybe even embarrased, is not to be an uncommon characteristic of the Community of Jesus followers. It is actually to be one of the identifying markers of a spirit-filled Christ follower.
Galatians 6:2 says,
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The Apostle Paul continues on by saying, Galatians 6:8-9
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
We also see in the early church how the community of faith carried out the instruction to love God and love one another well in Acts 2.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Jesus shares with us a parable in which a man was in debt to the account of 200000 years of wages (Mt. 18:24). Since he could not repay the debt, the owner ordered him, his wife, children, and all he had to be sold to make payment (Mt. 18:25). I do not know about you, but I do not have 200000 years of wages stashed away and saved, as most of us would not. What would you do? Most of us do not have a rich uncle or aunt, a grampa and grama moneybags to whom we could go to help us out.
So what is a person to do? What would you do? Jesus’ lesson is two fold: to the debt owner, forgive the debt. To the debtor, as you have been shown mercy, be merciful likewise. Mt. 18:27
And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
Are we stingingly claiming our rights to a days wage owed, when we, ourselves, owe to Christ, a debt we never could/can pay?
Ultimately, Jesus is teaching about loving and forgiving a brother from your heart. Do not hold onto a debt. It is far more Christ-like and loving to forgive a debt, than to fight for that which is of vast insignificance to God and His economy.
A God and Kingdom of Redemption
God the Father is about redemption. Jesus Christ, the Son, is the vessel and mode of redemption. The Holy Spirit is our confirmation, reminder, and proclaimer of redemption - our assurance of redemption.
What is redemption? Redemption is about being bought back. It is about being released from a debt we cannot pay. It is about restoring one back to it’s original perfect state. Redemption is about someone previously paying the price for you to cash in on.
The dictionary defines redemption as: 1. the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. 2. the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.
Redemption is the action of being saved or saving. Saving is what Jesus is all about. His purpose in coming to earth, as a man, was to save man from himself and Satan because we fell to the temptation that we are god, and can be god (Gen 3:5). Humanity fell to sin and death, needing to therefore be redeemed to life, but having no means and no currency to make payment. We owe a debt that we cannot pay.
But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him.
Have you received payment for the debt you cannot pay? Have you believed upon and trusted in Jesus O subject of the King? For Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no debt can be repaid without the life blood of Jesus applied.
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
The Year of Redemption - Sh’mittah
As we observe the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, we are reminded that everything about the Feasts of the Lord point to Jesus. The Feast of Tabernacles, as I remind you is about the return of Jesus. We wait for Jesus to return and reclaim the world that is His, His followers, and judge, and sentence, those that are not.
But we also celebrate one other important aspect on God’s calender and that is the Year of Jubilee. In Leviticus 25 we read about the Year of Jubilee and learn that it is a year of sabbath and redemption. Land and vineyards were to lay fallow, untilled, and unworked. Food was to be consumed from the field directly, but not stored, and not gathered.
More importantly though, all debt was to be forgiven and property was to be redeemed and restored to it’s original owners, who had to sell out of economic need. The Year of Jubilee was a year of sabbath, redemption, and restoration.
The word ‘debt’ or ‘release’ is the Hebrew word ‘sh’mettah’ which means, in this context, “year of release” or “a remission of debts”. According to God’s command and statutes, every 7 years of 7 sabbath years is be the Year of Jubilee in the “50th” year…the Year of Release or Cancelled Debts.
You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.
The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines.
“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord’s release of debts has been proclaimed.
Actually, at the end of every seven years all debts are to be cancelled. Why, because the LORD commands so,
Deuteronomy 15:2 (HCSB)
because the Lord’s release of debts has been proclaimed.
Why would God do this? Because there was to be no poor among Israel. If Israel actually obeyed the LORD in this, He would provide Israel with His promised blessings of prosperity in the land.
But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—
if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.
For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
Ultimately, Israel was to put into practice debt forgiveness because they were slaves once in the land of Egypt and were redeemed by the LORD their God.
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
Secondly, to whom did the land belong? God reminds Israel that the land He promised to them, and was going to led them into, and they reside in, belongs to Him.
“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
To whom do we belong? To whom do all things belong? To whom do we owe everything that we have received and will receive? God. Why? Because He owns everything, created everything, and redeems everything.
God says to us, as He said to the Israelites, “remember” - remember whose you are, where you came from, and what condition you were in. Remember how God shed His grace on thee. Remember your redemption!
We obey because He redeemed. We redeem because we obey. Obedience to God’s commands, leads to the God’s promised blessings. As poverty was not to exist in Israel, poverty is not to exist amongest God’s people. Why? Because we have been redeemed and restored by a gracious, merciful, and loving God, who commands us to be the same as Him. He says, “Come follow me” (Mt 4:19).
Give him a generous farewell gift from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Share with him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you.
To remember to be generous to another, is to be mindful of God’s blessings toward you. To refuse is to be hostile toward God and cast aside His blessings to you.
God Promises to Provide
To practice redemption, restoration, and forgiveness toward a brother or sister, is to assure the security of God in our lives. Just as God promised security and prosperity to Israel as they took care of one another and the poor, He promises the same toward us.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God would bless Israel with a double crop in the 6th year, to take care of them in the sabbath year of the seventh, Jesus promises to us the same when we follow His and His ways because He is our Kinsman-Redeemer, the One who redeems us from the debts we owe and sustains us in the lives we live.
Am I following Christ so that He can order His blessing upon me and my family?
A kinsman, a brother, helps restore you and your fortunes. He helps restore to you your future. He helps to sustain you. In the economy of God, an Israelite was under obligation to do so to a fellow countryman- it was expected. Lev 25:25
If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold.
“If your brother becomes destitute and cannot sustain himself among you, you are to support him as a foreigner or temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you.
What is God’s declaration toward us?
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
…because Jesus Christ, being God, is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Jesus sustains us, and invites us to live with Him even though we are, and have been, estranged to Him. We are God’s children, redeemed by Him, through Jesus, our Kinsman-Redeemer!
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs —heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
For the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers,
Therefore, He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested.
Thus, the question needs to be asked - Are we living like we are redeemed? Are we looking forward to our final redemption?
As children, heirs, and co-heirs with Christ Jesus, we have the right to redemption because...
God’s property cannot be illegally held!
Jesus identifies with us fully as our brother, our Kinsman-Redeemer.
Jesus paid our debt fully on the cross.
Jesus is the same today, tomorrow, as He is yesterday.
Redemption is our promised future with Jesus, the Father, the Spirit, and the Kingdom.
People will faint from fear and expectation of the things that are coming on the world, because the celestial powers will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near!”
The Year of Jubilee points to our ultimate redemption and restoration, through Jesus, because of Jesus, to the Father, and His promised land. Amen. Come Lord Jesus!