6TH SEPTEMBER, 2015
PASTOR’S CORNER
UNDERSTANDING THE MYSTERIES OF ADOPTION IN CHRIST:
ADOPTION DEMANDS SACRIFICE (pt 2)
REFERENCES: ISAIAH 50: 1, LEVITICUS 25: 8-10, 47, ISAIAH 61: 1-2
In the first part of this teaching, we saw how Moses’ mother sold him out to Pharaoh’s daughter for a fee, and how it took an encounter with God, after 80 years, to reverse the consequences of that transaction.
Before we proceed today, I would like you to consider this: imagine that your car was stolen and resold to someone else. Would the fact that the new buyer paid someone for the car nullify the fact that you, as the rightful owner, were not paid? Or would it deter you from claiming what is rightfully yours?
Consider this as well: to whom did Christ pay the great price for our salvation? Well, when mothers shed water and blood in the delivery room, do they shed it to anyone in particular? So, just as water and blood are the price mothers pay to bring forth new life, Christ also shed His water and blood to redeem us. And just as the water and blood women shed at delivery are not given to anyone, Christ did not pay anyone; He simply fulfilled His divine responsibility necessary to bringing us back to God.
Isa 50: 1
Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Whenever you experience strange relations, with a strange man or woman in your dreams and are powerless to reject the advances of the latter, it is a sign that you have been sold to that strange personality; it does not matter whether you are aware of the transaction or not.
Now, like the stolen car that was re-sold, this stranger did not conduct the transaction of sales with the original owner of your life; because God is the producer/owner of your life. Therefore neither the seller nor the buyer of your life had the legal right to sell or acquire your life.
So, God is asking here: is there any personality- idol, power, or kingdom- can claim that he paid Him for your life? Can any demand that God return the money he paid for you? If none can make such a claim, then God’s claim of ownership over your life is still undisputed.
Lev 25: 8-10, 47
And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
The year of jubilee confers liberty on everyone, and on that day, two things must happen: every man must return to his possession and his family. This implies that the man had been taken away from his household and sold to another family.
So, if you had been sold to any strange power or kingdom, as you hear the sound of the trumpet heralding the day of jubilee, get ready: it is time for you to return to your destiny.
And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family: after that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.
Powerlessness is at the root of this matter. Parents and ancestors sell their children and household respectively to strange powers because they lack power. It is powerlessness that makes a man or woman sell out his or her children to the devil, a decision borne out of the need to protect their loved ones...unfortunately, by that same act, they subvert the destiny they were trying to protect.
But in the day of jubilee, everyone must return to his possession and his home. This is the decree made by God, the owner of the buyer, the seller and the sold, to all parties involved: It doesn’t matter how long you have been in the ownership of the stranger or what the agreement of purchase was; once the sound of the trumpet heralding jubilee is heard, you must be let go.
That idol you were sold to is the stranger that has waxed rich and taken over territories in your environment. That is why your fathers sold the entire household to him. But the good news is: you may be redeemed. Even if you have no one to help you, once you are able, you can redeem yourself.
And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him. For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom i brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Now, what happens when the person in captivity has no one to redeem him, and he is unable to redeem himself as well? Well, there is hope even for such. For in the year of jubilee, liberty is sure for him and his children...
Why? Because all the parties involved- the seller, the buyer and the sold- are servants of God, and His decree overrules all outstanding agreements.
Isa 61: 1-2
The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to... preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn
Remember that Christ has paid the great price of water and blood to bring us back to God, just as He was likewise born by water and blood.
The above scripture testifies to the divine assignment of Christ; to proclaim the acceptable year (of liberty) of the LORD, and execute God’s vengeance on the thieving parties claiming ownership of His possession.
In Luke 4: 18-20, Christ confirmed His assignment. However, He did not mention the day of vengeance of our God, before He closed the book. He did not read that portion because the dispensation of the Holy Spirit had not begun, and no one can execute vengeance when the Holy Spirit has not been given.
In order to fulfil the whole part of that scripture, Christ paid the price to declare the acceptable year of the LORD and in doing so paved the way for us to have access to the Father. He has also charged us to execute vengeance on every power that fails to yield to the divine judgment of God concerning our liberty.
It is therefore our responsibility, since we are in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, to declare the day of vengeance of our God.
Now, consider this: the year of jubilee for Israel, according to God’s revelation to Abraham, was after 400 years. Yet 430 years after, the devil was still claiming ownership of Moses’ life. It is therefore possible that one remain in captivity long after your year of jubilee has come!
Do you hear the trump of jubilee? Make haste therefore and execute the vengeance of God upon every power to whom your life was sold.
PRAYER POINTS
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My soul, receive the fire to execute the vengeance of the LORD
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My Father, anything in me that has been wasting my time and my life, I surrender them to You. Have mercy, wash me with the Blood of Jesus and receive me again
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Any wicked power that my life was sold to; this is God’s judgment: you are a thief. I bring the vengeance of God upon you today. I damage and destroy your power by fire.
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Any wicked hand, dragging my life backward; I cut off by fire.