1And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2“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. 3Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4but 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. 5What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, 7for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
Continuing with the last post about the four blood moons, I want to give more detail to the fourth point called “The new dispensation of the operation of God's great grace.” What this is about is an ordinance of the Kingdom of God that is a mandate to the church and that follows the pattern of Israel. This ordinance is called the Sabbath year (in Hebrew it is called Schemitah which means “release”) in which every seven years we are required to rest from our labors in a special way to devote more time to seeking the presence of the Lord. Keeping with the commands given by God to Moses that, translated in the New Testament form one new command—to Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31), the fourth commandment given to the Israelites requires that they rest on the Sabbath day and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8-11). This ordinance called the Sabbath year or Schemitah is a foundational component of the covenant God made with the land of Israel that has also been extended to the Church.
It is foundational to the covenant because in Exodus 19:5 God said to the Israelites through Moses, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” NKJV
Psalm 24:1 adds, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it.” AMP
Also, in 2 Samuel 7:19, King David could not build the temple, and instead his son Solomon was appointed to build it which showed a pattern and template for the manifestation of the glory of God that would later come to the early church. To this pattern King David said, “... And this is the law for man, O Lord God!” AMP
We are called to rest every week on the Sabbath day and dedicate it to the Lord for Him to prepare us for the following week and to be refreshed and strengthened spiritually. During this time we also seek Him to show us the next steps of our journey to our promised land. Similarly, every seven years we must “release” our land so it can rest. In other words, this is a year for us to pursue spiritual growth and have the eyes of our understanding be enlightened to see the hope of our callings with a new outlook for these end-times. We are also to learn to put our trust and tested faith in the Creator as He takes us to higher levels of our walk with Him in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. So this Shemitah or Sabbatical year 5775 will start from the feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles around October 8th, 2014 to the feast of Sukkot around September 28th, 2015.
During this Sabbatical 2014-2015 season of rest and release we are called to rest our lands as explained above. Furthermore, Exodus 23:10-11 admonish us, “10 Six years you shall sow your land and reap its yield. 11 But the seventh year you shall release it and let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat [what the land voluntarily yields], and what they leave the wild beasts shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and olive grove.” AMP
Because every seven years there is a Sabbath of Sabbaths, you may be asking how to apply this ordinance in your life. If you are a farmer, the first passage says to neither sow nor prune your land, nor harvest the crops that grow on their own, neither gather the fruit of unpruned trees or plants for it is a year of rest for the land, and you shall not gather in the increase of the land for yourself only, but it is to be shared with others. But if you are not a farmer, the early Church gave us the example of how to obey this law.
Some ways to do this are explained first in Luke 3:11 which says that we must share of our possessions with the poor. This is done first in the Church. John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” NLT
Another way is shown in Romans 15:25-27 where they collected money to give it to the poor among them, 25But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there. 26For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. 27They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially. NLT
There are those in the house of God who have been laboring on behalf of the saints and the advancement of the Kingdom through the Church and have many times been oppressed of the enemy. They need to be helped and this way be enabled to continue strong in the works of the Lord and in their labor on behalf of the saints and the advancement of the Church in these end-times without growing weary because of their needs.
So to be more specific, in order to remove poverty from among us, we must ask the Lord who is or who are the poor assigned for us to help and how should we help them. We must not assume we have the answer and do whatever we feel because it may not be what God`s will is for us or the person (s) we intend to help. As we must always do, it is best to apply Proverbs 3:5-6 which says to lean on the Lord our God with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Instead we need to acknowledge Him and He will direct our path to obey this ordinance.
Another example of this sharing is demonstrated in Acts 2:42-47, 42All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 43A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. NLT
Yet Acts 4:32-34 adds, 32All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. NLT
These last two examples show what happens when we gather together to seek the Lord's glorious presence in prayer, praise, and fellowship and also make sure no one among us in the Church has any need so we can all dedicate to seeking God in this special year of rest and release (Sabbath). Just like in the times of the early Church which obeyed the Schemitah ordinance, the lost will be reached with much ease causing the house of God to have exponential growth and more influence in the land. Poverty and lack were also removed from the early Church, and they all participated in this great move of the Holy Spirit. This practice is contrary to the ways of the world that are about seeking after self and after greed.
Another aspect of this ordinance is the release of debt among believers just like the Israelites do at sunset on the 29th day of the biblical month of Elul which falls at the end of every seventh year. Nehemiah 10:31 observes, “We also promise that if the people of the land should bring any merchandise or grain to be sold on the Sabbath or on any other holy day, we will refuse to buy it. Every seventh year we will let our land rest, and we will cancel all debts owed to us.” NLT
Deuteronomy 15:1-11 broadens the explanation by sharing, 1“At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money. 2This is how it must be done. Everyone must cancel the loans they have made to their fellow Israelites. They must not demand payment from their neighbors or relatives, for the Lord’s time of release has arrived. 3This release from debt, however, applies only to your fellow Israelites—not to the foreigners living among you.
4“There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. 5 You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. 6 The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7“But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. 9 Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. 11 There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.” NLT
Moreover, Romans 13:8 directs us, “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” NLT. This last passage is explaining that debt during this time of rest and release means to show our love to one another by making sure there is none poor among us believers, in the house of God first.
Many will ask themselves, “how are we going to support ourselves if we do all this giving so there will not be poverty in the church and spend more time seeking the Lord?” To this question Leviticus 25:20-22 answers, “20 But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ 21 Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. 22 When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.” NLT
We are at the end of a sixth year period and God is calling us to seek Him in order for us to know how to be blessed during the time that we observe the seventh year Sabbatical. Unfortunately, this ordinance of the seventh year Sabbath has been greatly neglected and if we recall what happened to this nation and the rest of the world in the past seven years and every seven years before, it has come to my understanding that failure to allow the land to rest in the way prescribed by the Lord to each one individually, as a family, and corporately will result in a forceful surrender of the land to allow it to rest. So what was supposed to be for one year of rest of our lands became a six year judgment for failure to observe what the law of the Kingdom about the seventh year Sabbath requires. We saw the results of the lack of our understanding of this ordinance in the past seven years with the recession and all the devastating blows to our economy. God is now calling the Church to act different this time and be set apart so that when those in the world see the difference in the Church that is protected by the Lord as Goshen was protected in Egypt from the plagues that the rest of them experienced, they will flock in fear and awe of the Lord to be saved and serve Him wholeheartedly.
This is a clarion call to the Church and seeking Him this time individually and corporately in preparation for this coming Shemitah year is a must. This is a call to fulfill the requirement and a warning from the Lord to the Church at large, and especially to those that have eyes to see and ears to hear. By dedicating more time to the Lord so we can know Him in new ways, we will see Him take the Church through doors that were once closed to her for the salvation of many souls and greater influence in the land He has promised us.
To Him alone be all the glory. °
Image by Google Images
Image by Google Images
