Are you free?
We love the idea of freedom. But what exactly is freedom?
What exactly do you want to be free from?
What will this freedom allow you to do?
I suppose we need to understand freedom before we can truly answer these questions.
This word only shows up a few times in all of the Bible:
Leviticus 25:8 “‘You are to count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years. 9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land; 10 and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be a yovel for you; in that year you are not to sow, harvest what grows by itself or gather the grapes of untended vines; 12 because it is a yovel. It will be holy for you; whatever the fields produce will be food for all of you. 13 In this year of yovel, every one of you is to return to the land he owns.
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of YHVH ELOHIM is upon me,
because YHVH has anointed me
to announce good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted;
to proclaim freedom to the captives,
to let out into light those bound in the dark;
Jeremiah 34:8 This word came to Yirmeyahu from YHVH after King Tzidkiyahu had made a covenant with all the people in Yerushalayim to emancipate them.
…
15 Now you repented, you did what is right from my viewpoint when each of you proclaimed freedom to his fellow; and you made a covenant before me in the house bearing my name. 16 But then you changed your minds. You profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free to live as they wished, and brought them back into subjection as your slaves.’ 17 Therefore here is what YHVH says: ‘You did not heed me and proclaim freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor;”
Ezekiel 46:16 “YHVH Elohim says this: ‘If the prince turns over part of his hereditary property to one of his sons, it is his inheritance; it will belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he gives part of his hereditary property to one of his slaves, it will be his until the year of freedom, at which time it will revert to the prince, so that the prince’s heritage will go to his sons. 18 The prince is not to take over any of the people’s inheritance, thereby evicting them wrongfully from their property; he is to give his sons an inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people will be driven off their property.’”
Freedom is circling back to a former state.
Freedom is a reset to how it should be -- but not necessarily how you want it to be.
The opposite of freedom, right?
All work and service is not bondage.
Isaiah 14:1 For YHVH will have compassion on Ya‘akov — he will once again choose Isra’el and resettle them in their own land, where foreigners will join them, attaching themselves to the house of Ya‘akov. 2 Peoples will take and escort them to their homeland, and the house of Isra’el will possess them in the land of YHVH as male and female slaves. They will take their captors captive and rule over their oppressors. 3 Then, when YHVH gives you rest from your suffering and trouble and from the hard service imposed on you,
Have you ever walked barefoot on a cut field or lawn where the base stalks stood up firm and brought pain to your feet?
Unforgiveness is exactly this.
You have cut people out of your life and the stubble that remains continually digs into your feet every step you take.
You may callous up over time and this will allow you to pretend to walk pain free.
But the pain is still there. You have just become so accustomed to it that you no longer discern it.
Everyone around you can see the grimacing and tiptoeing you do. You aren’t free. You think you are but you most certainly are not there.
Only you truly know the pain of this bondage. You’ve done such a great job suppressing its effects there is an illusion of freedom.
And yet we still claim to be eagerly anticipating that day we are finally set free.
We are all claiming to seek the freedom of the Jubilee. But once we know what happens on that day, we realize there is far too much pain for us to get genuinely excited.
Forgiveness in full happens on that great and dreadful day.
In full.
The pain of forgiving greatly exceeds the pain from living on the stubble. We’ve learned to treat the puncture wounds that occasionally appear by blaming or self-medicating.
We had rather walk amongst the sticks and thorns than set the captives free.
Jeremiah 34:8 This word came to Yirmeyahu from YHVH after King Tzidkiyahu (Zedekiah) had made a covenant with all the people in Yerushalayim to emancipate them. 9 Everyone who had a male or female slave who was Hebrew was to let him go free; none was to keep as his slave a fellow Jew. 10 All the leaders and all the people listened who had entered into the covenant, wherein everyone was to free his male and female slaves and not keep them in bondage any longer. They listened, and they let them go. 11 But afterwards, they changed their minds; they made the male and female slaves, whom they had freed, return; and they brought them back into subjection as slaves. 12 Therefore this word of YHVH came to Yirmeyahu from YHVH: 13 “Here is what YHVH the God of Isra’el says: ‘When I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, where they lived as slaves, I made this covenant with them: 14 “At the end of seven years every one of you is to set free his brother Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You are to let him go free from you.” But your ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention. 15 Now you repented, you did what is right from my viewpoint when each of you proclaimed freedom to his fellow; and you made a covenant before me in the house bearing my name. 16 But then you changed your minds. You profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free to live as they wished, and brought them back into subjection as your slaves.’
17 Therefore here is what YHVH says: ‘You did not heed me and proclaim freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor; so now I proclaim for you a freedom,’ says YHVH, ‘for sword, plague and famine. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 18 As for the men who violated my covenant by not living up to the conditions of the covenant which they made in my presence when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts — 19 the leaders of Y’hudah, the leaders of Yerushalayim, the officials, the cohanim and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; 20 I will hand them over to their enemies, hand them over to those who seek their lives; and their corpses will become food for birds in the air and wild animals. 21 Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah and his officials I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives and to the army of the king of Bavel, which has withdrawn. 22 I will give the order,’ says YHVH, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will attack it, capture it and burn it to the ground; and I will make the cities of Y’hudah desolate and uninhabited.’”
We see here that if you are in covenant with Abba and you set people free then pull them back into bondage, you are guilty. You will then be the one in bondage.
If you can’t set others free, then there is no freedom for you.
Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.
This is foundational and we still choose to ignore it. Because we tolerate walking on the stubble.
Freedom is setting other people free.
Every 7 years we must release our brothers. And every 50 there is a complete reset.
The Jubilee is not just what we get out of the deal. It’s all about what we give others.
Setting free those that owe you a debt.
Setting free those that hurt you.
Setting free those that don’t deserve it.
Restoring to EVERYONE what was their original inheritance. Not holding onto a debt slip for what they have done to you. Not seeking restitution for your loss. But giving back to them what Abba has had for them all along.
All of it. All of it is restored. They are finally complete. Not because they deserve it. But because you understand the Ways of God.
You’re playing a different game than others in the earth. And the rules of the game you’re playing always has everyone else set as the beneficiary. Everyone else wins.
That’s how you know you’ve won. That’s how you know you’re free.
And you also can be free today if you’d only forgive.
But for most of us that stubble is so much more comfortable.
Not likely. We’re way too selfish.
But if the Spirit is within you, then you most certainly can:
John 20:21 “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated. “Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you.” 22 Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Ruach HaKodesh! 23 If you forgive someone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you hold them, they are held.”
So now we have created a bit of trouble. If you claim to have His Spirit within you, why haven’t you forgiven? Is it because you want to hold them?
If you choose to hold them, however, be prepared for what will come:
Matthew 18:21 Then Kefa came up and said to him, “Rabbi, how often can my brother sin against me and I have to forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” answered Yeshua, “but seventy times seven! 23 Because of this, the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared with a king who decided to settle accounts with his deputies. 24 Right away they brought forward a man who owed him many millions; 25 and since he couldn’t pay, his master ordered that he, his wife, his children and all his possessions be sold to pay the debt. 26 But the servant fell down before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 So out of pity for him, the master let him go and forgave the debt.
28 “But as that servant was leaving, he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him some tiny sum. He grabbed him and began to choke him, crying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ 29 His fellow servant fell before him and begged, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he refused; instead, he had him thrown in jail until he should repay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were extremely distressed; and they went and told their master everything that had taken place. 32 Then the master summoned his servant and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt just because you begged me to do it. 33 Shouldn’t you have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And in anger his master turned him over to the jailers for punishment until he paid back everything he owed. 35 This is how my heavenly Father will treat you, unless you each forgive your brother from your hearts.”
You deserve to be bound and thrown into prison. You deserve to be put in bondage. You deserve to die.
But even though you deserve it, Yeshua treated you differently.
Isaiah 53:1 Who believes our report?
To whom is the arm of YHVH revealed?
2 For before him he grew up like a young plant,
like a root out of dry ground.
He was not well-formed or especially handsome;
we saw him, but his appearance did not attract us.
3 People despised and avoided him,
a man of pains, well acquainted with illness.
Like someone from whom people turn their faces,
he was despised; we did not value him.
4 In fact, it was our diseases he bore,
our pains from which he suffered;
yet we regarded him as punished,
stricken and afflicted by God.
5 But he was wounded because of our crimes,
crushed because of our sins;
the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him,
and by his bruises* we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, went astray;
we turned, each one, to his own way;
yet YHVH laid on him
the guilt of all of us.
7 Though mistreated, he was submissive —
he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to be slaughtered,
like a sheep silent before its shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 After forcible arrest and sentencing,
he was taken away;
and none of his generation protested
his being cut off from the land of the living
for the crimes of my people,
who deserved the punishment themselves.
9 He was given a grave among the wicked;
in his death he was with a rich man.
Although he had done no violence
and had said nothing deceptive,
10 yet it pleased YHVH to crush him with illness,
to see if he would present himself as a guilt offering.
If he does, he will see his offspring;
and he will prolong his days;
and at his hand YHVH’s desire
will be accomplished.
11 After this ordeal, he will see satisfaction.
“By his knowing [pain and sacrifice],
my righteous servant makes many righteous;
it is for their sins that he suffers.
12 Therefore I will assign him a share with the great,
he will divide the spoil with the mighty,
for having exposed himself to death
and being counted among the sinners,
while actually bearing the sin of many
and interceding for the offenders.”