Jesus Is the Word

The Word for today:
Hebrews 1

mark this: Hebrews 1:1-2
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.

Did you ever notice that (unless you jump into the air) your shadow is always attached to you?

That’s why it is perfectly appropriate that the book of Hebrews follows directly upon the heels of the book of Leviticus in our reading schedule.

We should think of the book of Hebrews as the substance (the real thing) that casts the shadow we know as “Leviticus.” (Or, to say it another way, Hebrews is the substantiation or embodiment of Leviticus.)

This pattern — shadow turning into substance, prophecy turning into performance — is the pattern followed throughout scripture:

• The Passover was a shadow and prophecy of the cross to come.
• Aaron the high priest of Leviticus who enters the Holy Place to offer the blood sacrifice is a shadow and prophecy of Jesus our High Priest.
• King David, representing all of Israel in the battle against Goliath, is but a shadow and prophecy of the great King to come, who will single-handedly defeat sin and death on behalf of all the people.
• Over the past three days, we watched the concept of Jubilee (in Leviticus) turn into a Person (in the book of Luke) who then walked into a Nazareth synagogue and said so.

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Two of Hebrews’ great verses touch on the relationship of a shadow to that which cast it; and of a word to that which it expresses:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  (Hebrews 11:1/NKJV)

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. (Hebrew 1:1-2)

Hebrews teaches us that the covenant promises God made to Abraham and to Israel have turned into the real deal, Jesus.

Hebrews shows us that longing, dreams, hope and desire have a Name.

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The Word for today:
Leviticus 27

mark these!!! — Leviticus 25:8-13 / Isaiah 61:1-4 / Luke 4:16-21
(These three passages should be forever linked in the Bible student’s mind. Carrying, as they do, the idea of Jubilee from seed to flower to fruition, they are so much a part of each other that none of the three makes any biblical sense without the other two.)

God rested on the seventh day, but that was just the beginning.

God then commanded the people to observe a Sabbath rest. Then God decreed that every seventh year the land should rest, as well.

Then God told Israel that following the 49th year (the seventh seven-year period) there would be a year, called Jubilee, when everything was reset to its original condition. The land would be restored to the original owners, servant/slaves would be freed, and debts would be forgiven.

But while the twice-a-century Jubilee hearkened all the way back to God’s original design, it looked forward, prophetically, to the ultimate Jubilee—a day when not just debts and property rights would be forgiven and restored, but sins would be forgiven and sight would be restored and everything would be renewed and reset.

In order to understand the profound and startling spiritual truths which Sabbath and Jubilee are meant to teach us, the Bible student must range from cover to cover in his Bible. So Over the last couple days, we looked at these topics in the beginning–in Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus.

Today, in our concluding article, we’ll need to make a few stops near the middle, at 2 Chronicles and Isaiah, before we arrive at the ultimate Jubilee in the New Testament book of Luke.

***

Sadly, what we have learned from scripture and from history is that while the people of Israel obsessively, compulsively (even anally) observed their Sabbath rest every seven days, there is no record that they ever observed the 7th-year Sabbath rest for the land, or the Jubilee reset which was to follow the seventh seven-year period.

Another great truth that we can learn from scripture and from history is that while we might delay God’s program, we never alter it.

So, despite the people’s failures to fulfill God’s directives, the land would get its rest. When Israel was exiled to Babylon they were there for 70 years. Why 70? Here’s why:

The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, [7] who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there. He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.  (2 Chronicles 36:15-21; see Jeremiah 25:9-12; 29:10)

Scholars think there were 490 years without Sabbath rest for the land, so God took it upon himself to enforce his plan for the land. (If ever we think that God might have forgotten his own Word, God’s delayed enforcement of Sabbath rest for the land should cause us to think again.)

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Prior to the exile, Isaiah had reminded Israel that God had not forgotten the day and idea of Jubilee–when the captive would be released, debts forgiven, and (adding something not predicted in Leviticus) even broken hearts restored:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion– to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:1-4)

Before we turn to the final leg of our journey, let’s pause to remember how far we’ve come. We’ve come from pre-history, where God rested; to the Ten commandments in Exodus, where the people were commanded to rest; to Leviticus, where it was decreed that the land should get it’s rest and communities should be periodically restored to their original design and intent. We’ve been in 2 Chronicles (where we saw that most of these directions were ignored, so God took it upon himself to fulfill his own word!) Then on to Isaiah, who reminded us that God had not forgotten the promise of Jubilee, when everything — even broken emotions! – would be restored and reset.

God put Jubilee into place with his people because he was painting a prophetic picture that ultimately would be realized in Jesus—who took Isaiah’s Jubilee passage as his mission statement when he launched his public ministry. Thirty years old and still relatively unknown, he walked into the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. We’ll let Luke tell the rest:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21)

This scene from the Word of God shows human expression to be incompetent, inadequate, and impotent; our language falls forever short of conveying this scene’s significance. In an out-of-the-way synagogue in the middle of nowhere, Jesus had clearly and unmistakably proclaimed,

I AM the Jubilee.

I am rest for the weary soul.
I am the one who forgives every sin.
I am the one who can re-create the image that has fallen.

I am the restoration, the refreshment, the resurrection, and the reset. Everything starts over again as of now.

Jubilee, ladies and gentleman, is here.

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For further study, a postscript:

Matthew had already proclaimed (in his gospel–written for the Jewish mind, for people of The Book) that Jesus was the Jubilee:

So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations,
and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way… (Matthew 1:17-18)

“3 x 14” would be thought of in the scripturally-literate Jewish mind as “6 sevens.” Which leaves Jesus as the seventh seven…

***

There are other hints of Jesus as Jubilee in Leviticus 25, including the picture of the kinsman redeemer which will be enacted in the book of Ruth and in, of course, the person of Jesus Christ.

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The early church lived out and celebrated the reality of Jesus as our Jubilee, pro-actively resetting their lives and property. (See Acts 2:42-45 and 4:32-35).

***

Jesus is the Sabbath of God: “It is finished!” (Genesis 2:3; John 19:30)
Jesus is the Jubilee: “He is risen!” (Matthew 28:7; Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:8)

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The Word for today:
Leviticus 26

Stand in the Rain is following the Sabbaths all the way from original creation to the restoration of Jubilee. We started yesterday in Genesis and we’ll finish tomorrow in the New Testament. Sabbath and Jubilee illustrate profound and startling spiritual truths, so we hope you’ll come along.

***

In Genesis, God rested on the seventh day.

In Exodus, Israel was commanded to observe their own Sabbath day, when they should cease from their striving to trust and enjoy God for who he is.

Here in Leviticus, Israel is commanded to let the land rest every seventh year:

Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.  (Leviticus 25:2-4)

This series of sevens does not end with the seventh year. The cycle compounds one more time:

Count off seven sabbaths of years–seven times seven years–so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years.
Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.
It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.
The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.  (Leviticus 25:8-13)

The word jubilee means, literally, the sounding of a ram’s horn (which happened on the Day of Atonement in the 50th year.)

But it also carries the idea of a release from bondage.  After seven “sevens” of years, in the fiftieth year, they were to proclaim liberty to all the inhabitants. This liberty was to include everything that goes on in their world:

If someone had lost their land (which had been distributed to their clan) because they’d fallen on hard times and had to sell it away, then in the 50th year, everything resets and the land goes back to the clan who owned it originally.

Some people had to sell themselves into servitude/slavery when they fell on hard times. (Their slavery wasn’t like racial slavery, but it was a type of employment arrangement, whereby you sold yourself into the hire of a family.) But in the Jubilee year, RESET.  The servitude was ended, and that person returned to his own land where he could start over again.

So once every fifty years, the land is restored to the original owners, servant/slaves are freed, and debts are forgiven.

***

Jubilee was representative of a larger narrative that looks all the way back to the original creation and anticipates its future restoration.

Jubilee tells us that hope and justice aren’t too far away. There is always, for everybody, light at the end of the tunnel. No matter a person’s plight, it would not be that way forever. Everything becomes new again in the year of Jubilee.

The Jubilee Year is proclaimed – the ram’s horn is sounded — on the Day of Atonement, signifying that the basis and precedent for the freedom and reset of Jubilee is what happened on that great Day, when the high priest entered the Holiest Place with the blood of the sacrifice.

Hope, opportunity, and second chances are all based upon the High Priest mediating, as God had prescribed, on behalf of the people.

***

Ultimate Jubilee is just ahead, so we hope to see you tomorrow.

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The Word for today:
Leviticus 25

mark this: Leviticus 25:2-4
Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

In Israel, what was the most important day of the week?

Everybody knows that the answer is “the Sabbath day.”

But do you know why the Sabbath was such a big deal?

No, the Sabbath was not a big deal because that’s the day they went to “church” (synagogue). In fact, it’s the other way around: they went to church on the Sabbath because the Sabbath was a big deal in its own right.

Which brings us back to the question: What made the Sabbath such a big deal—such a big deal that one of the Ten Commandments is dedicated to its observance? (1)

If you are not quite sure, know that Stand in the Rain is not in the business of making you feel dumb. We are in the opposite business—of making you scripturally smart, smarter, and smartest.

We have only three days left in Leviticus, so we saved the best for last. Over the next three days, we are going to make you smart–about the Sabbath (the seventh day).

Then we are going to make you smarter—about the sabbatical (seventh) year.

Then we are going to make you smartest—about the greatest of them all, the year of Jubilee, which occurred in the Sabbath year squared (seven times seven).

If you stand in the rain for the next three days, you will be 7 x 7 x 7 times smarter (about the Sabbath and Jubilee, anyway) than you are right now!

***

I wrote all those sevens just to knock them down. So here goes: Sabbath does not mean seventh, it means rest!

It was commemorated on the seventh day, but only because that’s when God rested:

On the seventh day, having finished his task, God rested from all his work.
And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from his work of creation.  (Genesis 2:2-3)

“Seventh day” has been so closely associated with “Sabbath” that people (including Yours Truly) sometimes think that’s what Sabbath means. It does not!

Let’s say it this way: If God had rested on the fourth day, then the Sabbath would have been commemorated on the fourth day.

So we must always equate Sabbath with rest (or cessation from work, however you want to say it.) If we can get that equation embedded into our understanding, then rest assured that the rest of our discussion (which will have everything to do with rest and absolutely nothing to do with when we should go to church) will be beneficial.

Sabbath is a condition of the soul. It is a reflection of our relationship to God. It is not confined to a day or even to time itself.

We’ll see you tomorrow, when we will pick up right here where we left off.  Between now and then, we hope the rest of your day is wonderful and that you get some rest tonight.

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(1) Exodus 20:8-11

The Word for today:
Leviticus 24

Good morning, super sleuths of Scripture. Let’s jump right in where we left off yesterday…

Stand in the Rain has chosen a few “minor” verses from Leviticus chapter 8—verses that even the most avid Bible reader tends to skim over—to show that even the little things have a lot to say about Jesus.

Yesterday, we noted how the oil was poured over the head of the high priest, but only sprinkled over the rest of the priests.

Because oil is Scripture’s most prevalent symbol of the Holy Spirit, we concluded that the pouring was a prophetic picture of the true High Priest, Jesus, who was given the Spirit with out measure (1).

Before we leave that image, we want to point to some identical Old Testament images of Jesus the Anointed:

You love what is right and hate what is wrong. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.  (Psalm 45:7)

Psalm 45 is one of the many great “Messianic” Psalms. (Messiah is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek “Christ,” which means “anointed.”) Here we again see the word poured, which we focused on yesterday.  The one upon whom the Spirit was poured, not just sprinkled, would be the Promised King, Prophet, High Priest, and Deliverer—the Messiah.

Let’s turn to another remarkable image of the oil being lavishly poured out on the head of the high priest:
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!  (Psalm 133:2)

Along with the symbol of oil and the office of high priest, there is another subtle but definite hint of Jesus in that verse.  Can you find it?  (I’ll leave this one for you to track down.  The answer can be found below in footnote #2.)

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Let’s conclude our basic Bible detective training by going back to where we started–with another major Jesus sighting that can be found among the “minor details” of Leviticus 8.   A very careful reading reveals that the anointing oil is poured over Aaron before the blood is applied to his ear, thumb, and toe. This is uniquely typical of Jesus Christ–our High Priest–who needed no sins forgiven before empowerment (anointing) for service.

Every other priest–representative of you and me as priests–has the order reversed: first the atoning blood and then the anointing.  Needing no forgiveness of sins, Jesus stands uniquely apart.

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Do not be discouraged if some of the clues escape you on your first trips through Leviticus or any other “uneventful” portions of scripture.  For example, it took me about twenty readings before I first saw the prophetic pictures of Jesus in Leviticus 8 that we have examined over the last couple days.

On the other hand, don’t ever get to the point where you think you’ve seen it all. Experience tells me that — miraculously — the more pictures we find, the more we’ve yet to discover!

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(1) John 3:34

(2) The clue is the word head  (upon which the oil is copiously poured) because Jesus is the head of the body, the church  (Colossians 1:18).  Note how the oil (Holy Spirit) then falls upon the rest of the body, which is true of the church as well.