The Promised Land was given to the chosen people by God. Each family had their land. The surveys and land grants make up the latter part of the book of Joshua. These grants are forward looking. In the bible of Jesus (our Old Testament), the ultimate promise of God’s work is prophesied in Micah 4:3-4:
“God shall judge between many
peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but
they shall all sit under their own vines and under their of fig trees, and no
one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of armies has spoken.”
In the Law of Moses, in Leviticus 25, this promise was
remembered every fifty years. Every
fifty years was a year of Jubilee, a reset of God’s gift to God’s people. Every fifty years, every family of God’s
people returned to the land given them when God led the division of the
Promised Land. The law is even written
that when someone ‘buys’ someone else’s place (agricultural land-cities had
different rules), it is a proportional sale, for up to fifty years. Because, in the Jubilee, faith trumps
economics.
The gift of God to the people of God, the Land, was
more important than the wealth a person might seek to accumulate in real
estate.
In other words, in the year of Jubilee, everything is
restored. It is a human version of God’s
ultimate restoration of peace and perfection to God’s creation. The case has been made (and I like it) that Jesus began His ministry in a year of Jubilee.
Fast forward to here and now. The Year of Jubilee is the year, for FPC
Merchantville, of calling people home, back to their Lord and their family in
Christ Jesus and their church. It is a
Year of Jubilee. We are kicking off that Year with a Big Day.
Sunday, November 16, 2025, leading into Christ the King Sunday and the Season of Advent, is the day we invite every member of this
church family, every generation, to come breakfast and worship, to reacquaint and fellowship. To begin a year of celebration and renewal.
Come and worship.
Come and see. Join us for our Year of Jubilee.
Peace,
Pastor Pete
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