If you read the comments at the bottom of the last posting, you would have seen those of GW, a frequent (and encouraging) contributor to this blog. She offered some very eloquent scriptures from Isaiah and Revelation that tell of future events when God would destroy those who destroy the earth leaving very few men left on it. While these scriptures spoke to the Israelites of the consequences of their disobedience to God's law, these same scriptures also speak to us of a future nuclear war.
It just so happens that my husband and I just last evening watched a movie at home titled "On the Beach" in which nuclear warfare has destroyed all of America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, in fact, everywhere except Australia. Seems someone put a nervous and hasty trigger finger on their nuclear bomb which caused all the countries to react in kind. But, in the movie, the radiation cloud is fast approaching Australia and everyone knows it. Soon, within 4 or 5 months at most, there will be no one left on earth. There is no escape. What was done cannot be undone, and there is no safe place left on earth. All will die.
Not exactly scriptural, but the movie certainly causes you to think about some things, especially as everyone was taking a little pill to end it all rather than deal with death by radiation. But then that subject would be another posting altogether; for example, about whether or not man has the right to choose which way he dies. We could take Masada as a very real example. (If you aren't aware of the events that happened at Masada in Israel, just Google "Masada" and you'll get the full story.)
But the other issue that the movie would cause us to ponder is that man is certainly capable of destroying not only himself, but the even the earth as well. In the movie, one man asks who would ever inhabit the earth again once they were all gone…and jokingly answered his own question, "Maybe men from Mars." The scientist sitting nearby gloomily responded, "I wouldn't advise it for a very, very long time."
I do believe that the nations of this world will do battle and cause the earth to be enveloped in a cloud of nuclear radiation, both the earth and its atmosphere corrupted beyond repair; which is why (possibly) God will destroy both the heavens and the earth and begin again with a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). But that really isn't what this posting is about. So let me move on.
As well as the prophecies of Isaiah and Revelation, GW also offered other scriptures (Leviticus 25:23-24) that spoke of "redemption of the land" and that caused me to dig a little deeper to understand what that phrase actually meant. So I went to the 25th chapter of Leviticus, and read it all. And what was just before the scripture about "redemption of the land" was of vital importance in understanding the use of the terminology. So let's look at that for a moment. (I will add that even these scriptures are prophetic in nature, as you will soon see.)
Leviticus 25 tells us about both the Law of the Sabbath Year and the Law of the Year of Jubile.
The Law of the Sabbath Year:
"And the Lord spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit therefore; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you…." (Leviticus 25:1-6)
Obedience to God in this treatment of the earth that He provided to Israel would result in "meat" for the Israelites; but how exactly were they to eat if they couldn't harvest anything? To which the Lord responds:
"And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years." (Lev. 25:20-21)
In other words, be obedient to God's Word, and God Himself will take care of the rest. There is nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. Just be obedient and God will provide. Thus God, who owns the land, instruct us who are "stewards" of it, how to care for it. This scripture does, indeed, speak of "creation care". But it is not the same as "redemption of the land."
The Law of the Year of Jubile:
"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. A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which growth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field…." (Lev. 25:8-12)
"the land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession. But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession." (Lev. 25:23-28)
Redemption of the land, therefore, did not mean preserving mineral resources or "sabbath rest"; it meant returning the land to its rightful owner, even through another member of the family (a kinsman redeemer). Redemption was not cheap; it cost! A price had to be paid in order for the land to be redeemed. The Lord will see to it that "redemption" is paid for the land that man "sold." This is prophetic in nature as well, pointing to Jesus Christ, our own kinsman redeemer (See The Book of Ruth) who paid the price for our very lives. For not only does the land belong to the Lord, but the rightful inhabitants of the land belong to Him as well…and sovereign God that He is, He will redeem them both.
But I believe there is another prophecy within the scriptures about the law of the year of Jubile. We will look at it tomorrow.
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