YOUR YEAR OF JUBILEE
by Avram Yehoshua
(Endnotes are in red numbers and their notes appear at the end of the
text)
It is your time my friend, to be set free from a burden that you can no
longer bear: not knowing the God who created you. I'm talking about an
intimate, personal knowing. Jubilee was a time in ancient Israel where
liberation or freedom was proclaimed to all us Jews, even though none
were slaves. Also, every 50th year the Land would revert back to the
original family designated by Joshua (Lev. 25:10, 13; Joshua 14:2; 15:1;
etc.). They would all be given their ancient heritage.
The Lord was using the 50th year as a picture, for all to remember that
their freedom or deliverance came through the Passover lamb's blood,
covering their first born sons. They didn't obtain it because God owed
it to them, but because of His Love for Israel and the Promise that He
made to Fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deut. 7:8).
Every 50 years they were to especially remember where they came from and
how they got to where they were. The Past exploding into the Present.
But it would also point to the glorious Future. The Spirit of the Lord
used this picture of the Jubilee (Salvation, freedom and inheritance),
when He spoke through Isaiah the Prophet declaring the Reality to come
through the Messiah of Israel:
'The Spirit of the Lord Yahveh is upon Me, because Yahveh has anointed
Me to bring Good News to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted; to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners;
to proclaim the Favorable Year of Yahveh and the Day of Vengeance of our
God; to comfort all who mourn,' (Isaiah 61:1-2).
The Me in this passage refers to the Messiah of Israel, the One whom
Yahveh would send to not only bring the Good News, but also be the Good
News. The liberty and freedom which He would proclaim ties this passage
back to the Year or Season of Jubilee. Just as Yahveh used Moses to free
the Sons of Israel from Egyptian bondage, so Yahveh would use His
Anointed One, Yeshua the Messiah, to proclaim freedom from a bondage
much more devastating than Egyptian slavery, but paralleling it. Our
slavery to sin and our inability to stand before a Holy God on Judgment
Day, whose Presence is described as Fire.1 The Good News is that Yahveh
has sent His Messiah to set you free from the bondage and guilt to sin
and to give you His Spirit that you might come to know the Holy One of
Israel, intimately. This is your inheritance as a child of Abraham.
The God of Israel speaks to Jeremiah the Prophet and asks him what he
sees. Jeremiah replies, 'a branch of an almond tree.' And the Lord says,
'You have seen right, for I am watching over My Word to do it' (in it's
appointed time) (Jeremiah 1:11-12). This makes no sense in English,
Jeremiah seeing the branch of an almond tree and the Lord saying,
'You're right Jeremiah, and I am 'watching over My Word to perform it.'
In Hebrew the almond tree is called shah-kade, 'the watcher' (that's the
name of the tree). For it watches and stay's alert all during the winter
and when it blooms, Israel knows that spring (life), is just around the
corner. The Lord plays on this word when He presents a branch of an
almond tree in a vision to Jeremiah, and then says that He is watching
over, sho-kade, His Word to do it (at its correct time).
The branch of an almond tree was used by God to bear witness against us in the
Wilderness, that God had set up Aaron to be High Priest. The leaders of the rebellion
had asserted that Aaron was made High Priest because Moses was his brother (Num.
16:1-17:26; to 17:13 Eng.). God made Aaron's Rod (the word in Hebrew is rod,
staff or branch), to come alive, thus proving that Aaron was God's anointed man.
'the branch of Aaron of the House of Levi had sprouted; it had brought forth
sprouts, produced blossoms and almonds' (Num. 17:23 Heb; 17:8 Eng.). (That's
how we know it was a branch of an almond tree.)
From this powerful witness of a dead branch coming to life, when we
rebelled against Yahveh and His anointed ones, Moses and Aaron, the Lord
establishes not only Aaron as His anointed High Priest, but also the
term branch as an important symbol of the Anointed One, the Messiah of
Israel. In Scripture after Scripture we read of this Branch being the
Lord's Anointed One and what He will do:
Isaiah 11:1: 'Then a Shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a
Branch from his roots will bear fruit.'
Jeremiah 23:5: 'Behold, the days are coming,' declares Yahveh, 'When I
will raise up for David a righteous Branch. And He will reign as King
and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the Land.'
Zech. 6:12: 'Then say to him, 'Thus says Yahveh Tzitvaot, 'Behold, a Man
whose Name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is, and He
will build the Temple of Yahveh.'
In Jeremiah's time, Jerusalem would be destroyed, and Judah with it. The
northern kingdom of Israel had been taken captive by the Assyrians 135
years earlier, and now the southern kingdom of Judah would fall. The God
of Israel had been warning us for hundreds of years, that if we didn't
change our ways and stop worshiping idols, that He would bring an enemy
in to destroy us. The Lord is faithful to His Word, just as He says to
Jeremiah. For in the very next verses (Jer. 1:13f), we read of God
sending judgment upon us. Judah fell to the king of Babylon.
It was during the period of Babylonian captivity that Yahveh speaks
through the Prophet-Priest Ezekiel and tells him something that must
have seemed very startling to Ezekiel. Yahveh would bring all the
dispersed of Israel back to the Land (of Israel), sprinkle clean water
upon us and cleanse us of our filthiness that defiled us; take out our
stony hearts and replace them with a heart of flesh, and give us His
Spirit (Ezekiel 36:22-32).
This word was shocking to Ezekiel because Israel and Judah were no more.
They had been destroyed. Ezekiel was in Babylon when he received this
word from Yahveh. But Yahveh was faithful to His Word. When the 70 years
of exile were up (Jeremiah 29:10), a remnant begins to return to the
Land and the Temple is built. But this is not the Temple that Zechariah
above (6:12), prophesies about. For the Temple that Yeshua is building
is made up of human beings, both Jew and Gentile, where the God of
Israel can dwell. The Tabernacle of Moses was only a picture or first
step, in God dwelling among His People (Exodus 25:8-9). Yahveh desires
to dwell within us and this is what the New Heavens and the New Earth
are all about. The God of Israel truly dwelling among His Redeemed
People. This is the Work of Messiah Yeshua. And it's your time to get a
first hand taste of this future reality.
This is the 50th year since Israel was declared to be a nation. And now
we are seeing the greater fulfillment of the words of Ezekiel. In Ezra
and Nehemiah's day, only a tiny remnant of Jews came back from Babylon.
But in our day, we have seen Jews from over 100 nations return to the
Land. This has never been seen in history; that a people, dispersed to
the four winds, would return to their land. The Lord is faithful to His
Word. Even now we are seeing many Jews coming to Yeshua our Messiah; in
Israel, here in the U.S. and all over the world. Yahveh is opening our
eyes. The Lord speaks of this when He declares through the Prophet
Zechariah:
'I will pour out on the House of David and on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will
look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one
mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the
bitter weeping over a firstborn.
In that day a Fountain will be opened for the House of David and for the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.' (Zech 12:10; 13:1)
Again, the Me speaks of the Messiah of Israel who was sent to give us
our inheritance in the Lord. And the House of Judah is you. Isaiah the
Prophet said that Messiah would be pierced through for our open
rebellion against Yahveh. That He would die for our sin:
'And He was pierced through for our open rebellion, crushed for our
perverse heart; on Him lies the punishment that brings us Shalom (True
Peace with Papa God), and by His stripes we are healed.' (Isaiah 53:5)
You might ask, 'Can this Jesus of the Gentiles really be the long
awaited Messiah?!' The Lord, speaking through Isaiah says:
'Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My Chosen One in whom My Soul
delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him. He will bring forth justice to
the nations.'
'I, Yahveh, have called You in righteousness. I will also hold You by
the Hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a Covenant to the
People, as a Light to the nations,'
'He says, 'Is it too small a thing that You should be My Servant?, to
raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of
Israel? I will also make You a Light of the nations so that My Salvation
may reach to the ends of the Earth.' (Isaiah 42:1, 6; 49:6)
It was ordained by God that the Gentiles should come to the knowledge of
the Messiah of Israel before the nation of Israel did. This was because
of our pride and stubbornness. When Yahveh sent Yeshua to us 2,000 years
ago, we as a nation rejected Yeshua, just as we rejected Aaron as
Yahveh's anointed one. But when the Good News of Yahveh sending His Son,
to be the Sacrifice that cleanses us from our sin, was manifest
throughout the Gentile world, many Gentiles came to Israel's Messiah
King.
Over the years there has been many atrocities done in the Name of Jesus
to our Jewish people but Jesus did not do them. Just as there were many
unrighteous kings of both the former kingdoms of Israel and Judah, so
too there have been many unrighteous Gentiles who have done wickedness.
But the Kingdom of God advances in spite of them. And Yeshua not only
spoke of the Kingdom of God being at hand, but He Himself is the Kingdom
of God. He is the Stone cut out of the Mountain, not cut of human hands,
that keeps growing and growing, and will overcome every human kingdom
(Daniel 2:26-48).
And now, 50 years after Israel has become a nation again, there have
been more Jewish people who have come to know Yeshua as their personal
Messiah, than in all the previous 1900 years. It is your time to come to
know Yeshua. For He desires to cleanse you of your sin and reveal the
Father to you. It is only in Yeshua that you will ever come to know the
True Shalom of Yahveh. This is your day to be set free from all your sin
and guilt. To claim your ancient heritage. This is your day of
Salvation. It is only through the forgiveness of sins that Salvation
comes.
Yeshua healed many blind men and lepers and Jews who were sick, but
these were only done to get our attention. His Resurrection from the
dead was the sign that His Sacrificial Death was acceptable to Yahveh,
to atone for, or to forgive you of your sins. And that He was the Chosen
One of Yahveh. Just as Yahveh gave life to that dead branch of Aaron's,
to show us that God chose Aaron, so too He gave Life to Yeshua the dead
Branch. For it was commonly known that Yeshua grew up in Nazareth, whose
name means 'branch.' Jesus the Nazarene is translated, Jesus the Branch.
The Resurrection was a sign to the House of Israel that Yeshua really
was the Branch.
Yeshua, the Passover Lamb of God, came to die for you. To take your
place and take upon Himself the just judgment that was due you. For you
have broken the Torah. It is by the Blood of the Lamb of Yahveh, that
you can be set free from your sins, and sealed with the Spirit of the
Holy One. This is the greater fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee that
Isaiah spoke of in the 61st chapter.
You might ask, 'How can anyone die for the sins of another?' But Yahveh
through Isaiah speaks of the Messiah as a lamb come to bear or take away
the sins of Israel:
'He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent
before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and
judgment He was taken away, and as for His generation, who considered
that He was cut off out of the Land of the living for the transgression
of my people, to whom the stroke was due?'
'But Yahveh was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief, if He would
render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will
prolong His days, and the good pleasure of Yahveh will prosper in His
Hand.' (Isaiah 53:7-8, 10)
God especially chose our Fathers. They knew Him by His Spirit (Genesis
12:1-3; 22:11f; 28:13). And it is your time to come to know the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by His Spirit too. He has ordained it for you.
It is your ancient heritage. He is your ancient heritage. Your coming to
Yeshua your Messiah is inevitable; like the destruction of Jerusalem in
Jeremiah's day and the re-establishment of Israel in 1948. Against all
odds Israel came to take its place among the nations. And contrary to
what you may have thought in the past about 'Jesus', you will come to
know and to love Yeshua with all your heart. For He is your Messiah. Shaul wrote to the Goyim:
'For I do not desire brethren, that you should be ignorant of this
mystery,2 lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Goyim has come
in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
The Redeemer will come out of Zion and He will turn away ungodliness
from Jacob.3 For this is My Covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'4
Welcome to the One who is the Jubilee. Yeshua our Messiah. E mail me and
I'll lead you to Messiah Yeshua. Or, if you believe what I've shared to
be True, ask Yeshua to come into your heart; to cleanse you of your sin
and to give you your Shalom with Papa God; your ancient heritage and
what the Year of Jubilee pointed to: Freedom from sin and Eternal Life
in Messiah Yeshua.
Endnotes:
1. Deut. 4:24: 'For Yahveh your God is a consuming Fire, a passionate
God.'
2. Why Israel has rejected its own Messiah and the Goyim trusted in Him
for forgiveness of sin.
3. Septuagint version of Isaiah 59:20
4. Septuagint version of Isaiah 27:9
Email Avram — avramyeh@gmail.com