photo credit: Phil Grondin
2 Chronicles 7:14 (CEB) If my people who belong to me will humbly pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Notice that the above passage is from a pre-gospel text; and yet.. it carries the gospel message:
- Seek the Lord
- repent
- forgiveness
- restoration
This “secret message” of the Jesus gospel is all through the bible, not just in the New Testament. This is why Jesus came with the message that he did, because it wasn’t new! It should have been recognized and heard as familiar. The people should have been so immersed in these passages that when Jesus started to preach for the first time his teachings felt like coming home.
Originally this text was for the Hebrews, but since the cross, the message of forgiveness and restoration is for all people; we are all “his people.”
Jesus read from the book of Isaiah to “announce” his ministry on Earth… He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me . He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The year of the Lord’s favor was the “year of Jubilee.” This was a celebration year, perhaps celebrated every 50 years that cancelled all debts and set all indentured servants free. As it stands, we don’t have any records that ever show this special year was observed, even though it was am ordinance from God established in Leviticus 25.
But for Jesus his ministry was more than just a single year of celebration, in fact Jesus had a three year ministry of jubilee. Jesus set people free from all of the various chains that bound them; disease, blindness and even death to name a few.
Jesus also set people free from religious bondage. He came with a message that he promised was burden free and “light.” A dramatically alternative message than the one being preached by the establishment.
Jesus infamous quote to Nicodemus carries the same gospel message as the 2 Chronicles passage above…
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.”
Jesus wants to restore your land, he wants to heal your life and he wants to give you a reason to dance and sing.
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