Restoration

Do you need restoration from God? We live in an age that cries out day and night for the restoration work of God. As the priesthood of Christ, we are to know that there is a pathway to restoration, which we will read about in this week's Sabbath reading portion. Again we see a double title for this week. The two titles are B'har, meaning "on the mount" and B'chukkotai, meaning "In My statutes". Both of these titles have the addition of the Hebrew letter Beth placed before the words of the titles. The letter Beth, means house or family. The picture that this creates for me is of God building a house. That house is being built on the highest mountain of God, and it is a house built out of His Word (which is Jesus), which includes His statutes (see also Isa. 2:1-3). Jesus said: "In My Father's house are many mansions (mone/meno - dwellings, Holy Spirit indwelling believers/abide, endure, to continue, not to perish) ...I go to prepare a place (topos - space marked off from surrounding space, inhabited place, a passage in a book) for you." (Jn. 14:1-4). Jesus said that this truth that He was revealing also served as a guarantee that He would "come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am , there you may be also." This house is a dwelling place for the Father, the Son, and His people filled with His Holy Spirit of Truth. This house that the Father is building is further described by Paul: "...you are...members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." (Eph. 2:19-22). So, as we study this Sabbath's reading portion, we can keep in mind that a dwelling in the Spirit is being constructed. Both of these titles include readings from Leviticus, the Book of the priesthood, in chapters 25 and 26. These chapters deal with a very powerful form of restoration called the Jubilee. During the Jubilee year, all losses are cancelled, and all is restored back to the original owner. It is the year of liberty. The foundation for the year of liberty, or the Jubilee, is the Sabbath: "And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven tmes seven years...forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to your possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you." (Lev. 25:8-11). Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel, identified Himself in the Sabbath and the Jubilee. First of all, He told us that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, the building block of Jubilee, as He added: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." (Mk. 2:27). The Sabbath is not a legalistic or religious obligation, but a powerful blessing provided by God for His miraculous ways, as Jesus explained to a people who only knew the religious burden of the Sabbath (Jn. 5:17-18). The Word of the LORD to Isaiah was to reveal the truth of the Sabbath: "...call the Sabbath a delight (oneg/anag - pleasant, exquisite delight/delicate, dainty, soft, to be pampered, luxurious, be glad), the holy day of the LORD honorable...Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father The mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isa. 58:13-14). The Sabbath is to be an exquisite delight - what a concept! That delight multiplies times itself (7 x 7) into liberty and total restoration (Jubilee). Jesus announced Himself as the fulfillment of the Jubilee while reading scripture aloud in the synagogue on a Sabbath (Lk. 4:15-19, Isa. 61:1-2a). The year of Jubilee is announced on the Day of Atonement, as mentioned in the above verses. Again we have the connection to Jesus, who is the fulfillment of our atonement (1 Jn. 2:2, 4:10). The Jubilee is a year of return - return to our possession, and return to our family, according to the above verses. To what possession do we return in Jubilee? God says that we are His possession, His treasured possession (Deut, 7:6-7, Ex. 19:1-8, 1 Pet. 2:9). To what family are we to return? God has told us that we belong to His family, and are named by His name (Jn. 1:12, Eph. 3:14-15, Rom. 8:14-17, Rev. 22:4). In the promise of Jubilee, we are guaranteed to return to our possession and family, which is God, not only after our death, but while we are alive, and also when we are changed and caught up to Him at the sound of the trumpet (1 Thess. 4:15-18, 1 Cor. 15:50-57). This last is the ultimate fulfillment of Jubilee. If God can open up heaven for our sake, caught up to Him in this amazing way, there is nothing that is impossible for Him to restore to us. The law of redemption is also given in Lev. 25, by which a loss of land to debt may be redeemed by a kinsman on behalf of the debtor, again bringing restoration. The LORD will use this concept of restoration provided by the law in the Book of the priests in order to restore a devastating loss to His people. First, here is the law as the LORD gave it to Moses: "The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine...and in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. If one of your brethren becomes poor (muk - poor, low, depressed, sink down, pine away as in poverty), and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold." (Lev. 25:23-25). This is the law of the Kinsman Redeemer. The LORD used this law to establish the line of David as was told in the Book of Ruth, and ultimately the line of the Messiah, the Son of David, Jesus, who would be born centuries later. Jesus is our Redeemer as well, paying the price to buy back what we sold away, which was our souls, to darkness, sin and resulting death (1 Cor. 7:23, Gal. 4:4-5, Eph. 1:7, Titus 2:11-14, Heb. 9:12). In this week's Sabbath portion, the LORD used the law of the kinsman redeemer to make a prophetic promise of mercy to His people. Jeremiah, whose name means "whom Jehovah has appointed", was not only a prophet, but he was also a priest, born into the priestly line of his father, Hilkiah (meaning "my portion is Jehovah"). They came from one of the cities designated as belonging to the priests, which was Anathoth, meaning "answer to prayer" (see Jer. 1:1). Because the sins of God's people had polluted the land, God sent a mighty enemy, King Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria/Babylon, to lay siege to Jerusalem. This foreign king would eventually conquer Jerusalem and take its inhabitants a thousand miles away back to Babylon. He would also loot and destroy the temple of God. Jeremiah had been warning and prophesying that God would not give Judah the victory over this enemy. The people and their king would go into exile in a foreign land, according to the prophetic Word brought by Jeremiah (Jer. 32:1-5, Jer. 17:4). While Jeremiah was imprisoned by his king because of the prophetic Word that he spoke, his cousin, Hanamel (meaning "God is gracious"/mercy, favor), the son of Jeremiah's uncle, Shallum (meaning recompense, restore, repay, peace, covenant of peace), asked him to redeem his aleph-tav field (see Mt. 13:44) in Anathoth: "...for the rght of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself." (v. 6-12). Jeremiah did exercise his right of redemption under the law, and bought the field. He redeemed the field even knowing, by the prophetic Word which the LORD had given him, that Judah and Jerusalem were about to fall to the Babylonian king. After Jeremiah redeemed the field, the LORD told him the prophetic significance of what he had just done: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Take these deeds...and put them in an earthen vessel (see 2 Cor. 4:6-7), that they may last many days.' For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land." (Jer. 32:13-15). The redemption of the priest's field became the prophetic promise of the redemption of the land of Israel. Although the people would be exiled, and the land forced into a Sabbath rest of seventy years, the LORD did not leave His people without a promise of restoration. In another of our Sabbath readings, the prophet Amos spoke of the widespread destruction and death that would come upon Israel. Amos was not a priest like Jeremiah, but, instead, was of humble status. He was a herdsman of sheep (noqed - marked with identifying punctures) from Tekoa (root meaning - drive a nail, strike, smite, thrust a weapon), which was near Bethlehem (see Amos 1:1). Although he was from the southern kingdom of Judah, Amos was called by the LORD to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. A priest went before the king of Israel and accused Amos of being a conspirator because he prophesied that the king would be killed, and the people would be led away into captivity (Amos 7:10-11). One of the reasons that the LORD was bringing this catastrophe upon the land and people was because they resented His Sabbaths, His exquisite delights of restoration. They resented the Sabbaths because the Sabbaths interfered with their buying and selling (Amos 8:5-6). Leviticus 26 from this week's Sabbath reading recorded the blessings that would be received for forsaking idols, and observing and honoring the Sabbath, concluding: "I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright (qommiyut/qum - uprightness, elevation, as a freeman/raise up, arise, establish)." (v. 1-13). The LORD is building a house, and it is a house that inhabits the highest mountain in the Spirit, and is established in His Word (statutes), Jesus. If you would like to know more about what the LORD is building, you can pray with me: "Father in heaven, You are full of grace and mercy to those who love You, and seek You. You call me into Your house, where Jesus, my Kinsman Redeemer, has prepared a place for me. I praise and thank You for Your Sabbaths, made for man, and full of Your restoration glory. Teach me Your Word, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn and understand Your paths (Ps. 25:4-5). They are paths that will lead me to green pastures of Your righteousness in order to restore my soul (Ps. 23:1-3). I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."

Hope

In this week's Sabbath reading portion, which is titled, B'har - B'chukkotai, meaning "On the Mount", and "In My Statutes", there is a guaranteed hope given to God's people. Last week, we read about the 49 + 1 days, or 50 days between the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, and the meaning of those days, especially the 50th day (see previous post "Counting"). This week, there is a promise given regarding 49 years (seven Sabbaths of years) + 1 year, or 50 years total: "And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee (yobal/yabal- ram's horn, the signal of the silver trumpets, joyful sound, loud noise/bring forth, lead forth, carry away, to flow copiously, to bear or to carry gifts) to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty (deror- liberty, freedom, a flowing, a free run, to move rapidly, spontaneity of outflow) throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession (ahuzza- inheritance property that was seized), and each of you shall return to his family...For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field. In this year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his possession." (Lev. 25:8-13). In Israel, this meant that any property or personal service entered into to pay debt, had to be released or given back in the Jubilee year. It is no coincidence that the coming Jubilee year was announced on the Day of Atonement, which we connect directly to Jesus, who is our atonement (Rom. 5:11). As we learned last week, the number 50 in Hebrew, used again for counting to the year of Jubilee, is the Hebrew letter nun. The meaning of the letter nun relates directly to Messiah, Jesus. Nun means: "seed/sprouting seed, fish, son, heir to the throne, faithfulness". We see another interesting connection between Jesus and the Jubilee: As Jesus began His ministry, He read from Isa. 61 in the synagogue (Lk. 4:18-19). He read of the anointing of the Spirit of the LORD that Isaiah prophesied allowed One to "...proclaim liberty to the captives...to proclaim the acceptable (ratsone/ratsaw- delight, favor, goodwill/satisfy a debt, pardon, to pay off) year of the LORD...". It sounds very much like Isaiah was prophesying a spiritual Jubilee (see meaning above), and Jesus announced that He was fulfilling that prophesy that day. Also, Paul described Jesus as having fulfilled Ps. 68:18 writing, "Therefore He says: When He ascended on high, He led captivity (prisoners) captive (bring away, carry away, lead away), and gave gifts to men." (Eph. 4:8). Again, the language used here relates to the Hebrew word for Jubilee (see above). The promise in the Law of Jubilee allowed Jesus to lead the captives of death out of Sheol. In the next portion of this week's Sabbath reading, the LORD gives hope to His people in the form of the kinsman redeemer: "...if...one of your brethren who dwells by (a rich sojourner or stranger) becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner...after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him...And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee - he and his children with him. For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." (Lev. 25:47-55, excerpt). Imagine being in such desperate straits that one not only sold himself into service, but his children with him, to pay debts. However, the hope found in the principle of the kinsman redeemer provided the only hope for many who found themselves in a pressing situation of debt or poverty. In another example from the Book of Ruth, we see an impoverished Naomi, who has lost both her husband and her two sons, return to her homeland, Israel, from Moab. She has nothing except the hope that lays in the Law of Moses. She, and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, will rely on the fact that the Law of Moses commands that the edges of the fields remain unharvested so the poor and the traveler can glean from them in order to eat. In addition, Naomi, knowing the principle of the kinsman redeemer, will regain her land and a husband for Ruth when Boaz becomes their kinsman redeemer. Boaz and Ruth will have a child who will be the grandfather of David, and part of the line of the Messiah (Ruth 4:21-22). Where there was no hope for Naomi in Moab, she found hope and more in her home nation, Israel, and in the provisions of the Law of Moses. In another instance, the LORD will use the principle of the kinsman redeemer to prophetically give hope to His people that they would return from a prophesied captivity. Jeremiah has already prophesied that Judah will be conquered by the Chaldeans, and go into captivity to them. The Lord confirmed His promise to Jeremiah that He would bring Judah back from captivity by using the hope found in the kinsman redeemer. In Jer. 32, from the haftarah portion of this week's Sabbath reading, Jeremiah's cousin comes to Jeremiah while he is in the king's prison to request that Jeremiah redeem the cousin's property: "Please buy my field that is in Anathoth ("answers to prayers"), which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours; buy it for yourself. Then (Jeremiah) knew that this was the word of the LORD." (Jer. 32:6-8). Jeremiah understood that this deeded land that he redeemed confirmed God's promise to return the people to their own land, otherwise there would be no purpose in it if the people were being taken into captivity forever: "Then I charged Baruch before them saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Take these deeds...and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days." 'For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land."' "... I prayed to the LORD, saying,: 'Ah, LORD God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You...' (Jer. 32:13-17). The LORD used the kinsman redeemer of the Law as a sign of His guarantee of the people's return, which seemed to have been an impossibility, but now hope had come. Job, who had lost everything, knew the power of the kinsman redeemer, and he knew Who his personal Redeemer was: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh, I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27). The Kinsman Redeemer was a source of hope to a destroyed Job. Although Jewish tradition holds that Job lived before Moses, the rabbis believe that Moses wrote the Book of Job. We do not know for sure, but from the above verses, we can see that Job knew the principle of the kinsman redeemer by revelation even before the Law was received on Sinai. The world's understanding would give no hope to Naomi, Jeremiah and Job, but the Jubilee and the kinsman redeemer are from eternity, not the world, and give hope and promise where there is no hope. May we understand the deliverance blessing and the Deliverer of God guaranteed in His Jubilee and kinsman redeemer. Our Father's Jubilee promises bring His people hope. If you would like to know our Jubilee and our Kinsman Redeemer, you can pray: "Lord Jesus, I know my Redeemer lives. You have become my Kinsman Redeemer, and my Jubilee deliverance. You died for my sins, and You rose again from the dead. You redeemed my soul from Hell, and ascended into heaven, leading me with You. I was in captivity, but You gave me liberty as a gift. You redeemed the inheritance of God's people before the foundations of the world. Nothing is impossible with You! As the Holy Spirit anointed You, anoint me also, so that I may understand and live in Your miraculous redemption. I believe and receive these things in your holy name. AMEN."