Israel and the Sabbath Year

September 2014 begins the sabbath year, and it is another example of how that modern Israel sits in unbelief and disregards God’s law. Moses required that the land rest every seventh year (Leviticus 25:1-7). It was a sabbath “for the Lord” (Lev. 25:4). It was a way for the Lord’s people to honor Him in a seemingly difficult matter. It allowed the land to rest (Lev. 25:5). It was a test of faith (Lev. 25:18-22). If the people obeyed, God promised to bless the increase of the sixth year so that it would provide their needs for that year, for the seventh year of rest, and for the eighth year until the crops from the planting in the eighth year could be gathered. Faith believes and obeys God’s Word (Rom. 10:17). Israel of old didn't trust God for the sabbath year, and that was one of the reasons for the 70 year captivity (2 Ch. 36:21). Today Israel pursues a variety of clever policies rather than simply obeying and trusting God. Some look to the government to help them from a $29 million fund. Some play a Pharisee-type shell game by “selling” their land to a non-Jew for a year. “As the biblical command refers to ‘your land,’ the paper transfer of ownership exempts both the land and the food grown on it, allowing agricultural operations to continue largely unhindered and unchanged” (“Israeli Farmers to Give Fields a Rest,” WorldNetDaily, June 10, 2014). Others place their lands under a public body that hires outsiders to do the work and distribute the harvest to the community. All of these are ways of disobeying God’s Word. Israel is not waiting for Christ; Israel is waiting for Antichrist, who will enable them to build the Third Temple so that he can set himself up therein as God.

(Friday Church News Notes, June 20, 2014,www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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