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Brother Pius From Kenya's Lesson On God Will Make You Pay the Sabbaths You Post-Poned

                                                THE YEAR OF JUBILEE

 After every seven cycles of seven years, in the fiftieth year, the Shofar is to be sounded and the Jubilee year is to be celebrated.

“Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.  It shall be a Jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan.”  (Leviticus 25:10)

 Not only is the land to lie fallow, but also all debts are to be cancelled and all indentured servants are to return to their land and family.

 We serve a Yah of kindness and mercy, and His laws are for the good of all even for the land itself.

Although some among the Jewish People might have endured a time of servitude, they were not to permanently remain in that situation.  It is because Yah brought His people out of slavery in Egypt that no Israelite was to become a permanent slave of another.  In the year of Jubilee, all were to be redeemed and released.

“I am the Lord your Yah, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.”  (Leviticus 26:13)

 Under the New Covenant, which was sealed with the giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost 50 days from Passover, Jesus the Messiah became our spiritual Jubilee.  In Him, all debts are cancelled.  He has redeemed us from slavery to any kind of oppression and empowered us to walk in holiness with our heads held high.  Halleluyah!

 In this week's sermon, Yah promises a blessing upon the people if they obey His commandments in the Torah but He warns of punishment, persecutions and even exile for disobeying them.  He says:

“If you walk in My statutes, I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase.”  (Leviticus 26:3–4)

 
We have to keep in mind that Yah does not willingly afflict or grieve us. He only does so when it is absolutely necessary to get our attention so we can see the error of our ways and, through His mercy, put our feet back on the right path.

“For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness.  For He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.”  (Lamentations 3:32–33)

  One of the reasons why the Jewish people were sent to exile and the land lay barren was because they failed to keep the Shabbaticle years.Therefore, Yah forced the people out so the land could finally enjoy its Sabbaths and make up for those it did not have when Israel lived there:

“I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you.  Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.  Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.  All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in it.”  (Leviticus 26:33–35)

We, too, must be diligent to keep the Sabbath of the Lord and to rest on every seventh day, lest our bodies wear out and need an extended time of rest to make up for all the rest it missed by our failing to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Despite there being severe consequences to not keeping Yah's statutes, He promises to have mercy on His people (Jewish People) even in the exile,  to remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and to remember the Land:

“Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking My covenant with them.  I am the Lord their Yah.  But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their Yah.  I am the Lord.’”  (Leviticus 26:44–45)

 Yah brought them out of Egypt despite the hard heart of Pharaoh.  He released the exiles in Babylon through the decree of King Cyrus after a specified time, which were both prophesied (Isaiah 44:28–45:1; Daniel 9:2).

In the 20th century, He brought His people home through the Balfour Declaration and the creation of the State of Israel in one day, which was also prophesied (Isaiah 66:8).

 Halleluyah!!!, Trust in Yah alone for your blessings because Yah alone is the one who grants freedom and blessings according to His covenants,

“Cursed is he who trusts in man, who makes mere flesh his strength, and turns his thoughts from the Lord.  He shall be like a bush in the desert.”  (Jeremiah 17:5–6)

On the other hand, “blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”  (Jeremiah 17:7–8)

There is a sense of accountability in these blessings and curses, we are accountable for our actions, which have consequences.  We are responsible, and this knowledge informs our choices and helps us move forward in our daily walk with Yah of Israel.

  Praise Yah. Yah alone is the hope of Israel, source of life-giving water, healer and Savior.  When we rely on and obey Yah, He will not fail us, and we will walk in the blessings.

“LORD, you are the Hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame.  Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.  Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”  (Jeremiah 17:13–14)

 Brother Pius, Kisi, Kenya, Servant of Yah, Halleluyah Congregation