THE JUBILEE OF JUBILEES

Matthew 24:31                                                                                  
And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

We are still in the season of the counting of the Omer, between Pesach and Shavuot, between Passover and Pentecost. The command to count seven Sabbaths of weeks plus one day (50 days) is incumbent upon every Israelite, as in the text of Leviticus 23 it is expressed in the second person of the plural (Leviticus 23:15–16). The commandment to count the days of the Omer to Shavuot/Pentecost sounds very similar to the commandments of counting the years to the jubilee. The high priest (this command is given to Moses in the second person singular form) is to count seven weeks of years or forty-nine years, then to declare the fiftieth year jubilee (Leviticus 25:8–10). This declaration is made in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. The counting of the jubilee has been all but lost. Many people are trying to piece it together and we have now some ideas of where we’re at, but even so, the command is not practicable at this time.

It is the duty of the high priest to count off the jubilee. At this point in time we do not have a physical high priest simply because we do not have a physical temple. The commandment also requires that on the jubilee all lands be returned to their previous owners, all debts be forgiven and slaves liberated. Today’s slavery has to do with being owned by someone to whom we ought money (Proverbs 22:7). I don’t think that the financial systems of today are very well geared to these practices. Can you imagine all debts being forgiven, lands returned, etc …? Israel already had a hard time with it when it was under Rome; it would impossible today!

Another issue with jubilees is that the Torah forbids for land in Israel to be sold in perpetuity (Leviticus 25:23). One element of the laws of jubilee is for and is to be returned to its original tribal owners. It could be used as collateral for awhile, but it eventually it needed to be returned. It is not our land to do as we please with; it is his (Leviticus 25:23)! Because of this, the sages declared that all Israel needed to be present for the great jubilee to be practiced. Today because of the long exile, we no longer follow from which tribe people are descended from. Learning about D.N.A. has started the process, but we are far from finding all Israel. Messiah is the one supposed to gather all the tribes (Acts 1:6), so it was ruled that the great jubilee will happen at the coming of Messiah. We know that before he returns (Revelations 19:11–16), 144 thousand believers from all the tribes will have been sealed in his name (Revelations 7; 14:1–5). They are the firstfruits from all the elligible tribes; therefore they are the redeemed representatives for the redemption of all the tribes of Israel. They render the jubilee of the Land possible.

Yeshua will surely return to gather his people and return the Land to its rightful owners: Israel. He is the kinsman redeemer. As Boaz redeemed Ruth and thereby returned the land to Naomi, Yeshua also redeems us (The Book of Ruth). On that Day there will also be a wedding and the Land will be returned to Israel (Revelations 19:9). It will truly be the jubilee of all jubilees.

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here

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THE FIRST AND THE LAST TRUMPET

1 Corinthians 15:52

… At the last trumpet.

Paul, Yeshua’s emissary speaks to us about the ‘last blow of the shofar’ (1 Corinthians 15:52).  If there is a last blow there must also be a first. Through the passage of time, the last blow of the shofar is an echo of the first shofar blown at Horeb.

The first shofar is blown to herald the grand entrance of the King in the lives of men. The King entered the created dimension and His feet touched the mountain (Exodus 19:11). Later, He whom they saw as Hashem and who did not lay His hand on them also enjoyed a meal with the elders of Israel sitting at His feet (Exodus 24:9-11; Exodus 33:20). In the same manner, the last shofar will herald the arrival of Hashem's King whose feet will touch the mountain. He will also recline for a meal with His true followers, with those who cared not to lose their lives for Him (Zechariah 14:4; Revelations 19:7-9).

At the Exodus, while Egypt drowned and licked its wounds from the results of a series of plagues, our fathers were placed under the legislation of God’s eternal Instruction.  By these, they were to be a light to the rest nations of the world. At the last shofar, while the worlds also licks its wounds from the plagues of God’s judgments, through Instruction flowing from Jerusalem, those of the nations who remain will also be placed under the legislation of the Light of Torah, the constitution of the Word to Come (Micah 4:2).

When a man blows the shofar, he starts out strong then grows weaker as he runs out breath. It is not so with the God whose breath (in Hebrew: ruach meaning: spirit or /breath) is infinite. The mighty El-Shaddai doesn’t run out of breath as the text in Exodus tells us, As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder …(Exodus 19:19).

Looking at our sad world today, it can easily be concluded that all of its problems are the result of breaking the fundamental instruction taught at Mt Horeb. One of the sages of Israel defined that just by keeping the last of Horeb’s Ten Statements we keep all the rest of them. Indeed if we (10) do not covet the things that we do not have or even need, (1) we worship our One God and (2) are not tempted the dainties offered us by idol-worshipping; (3) we do not need to lie so we do not need to take His Name in vain by swearing falsely (Matthew 5:33-37); (4) we do not find it binding to take a day off from lucrative activities to spend it with Hashem and those created in His image such as family and friends, and (5) we have no qualms about morally and financially supporting our aged parents. The absence of covetousness also negates the need for (6) murder, (7) adultery), (8) stealing, and (9) lying. 

Thus is the legislation of the Messianic Era now and in the World to Come.

May it come soon Adon Yeshua, even in our days!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

For a Kindle edition of my devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE, click HERE.