“Seven times seven and the prodigals return home”

This is what the Lord put in my spirit two weeks ago during a 7 day fast.

I asked the Lord what He meant.

He said 7 x 7 years = 49, the 50^th year is the Jubilee.

We know that since Christ died about 2000 years ago, each year has been a Jubilee year in the spiritual sense. Captives have been set free every year since then. He paid the debt at Calvary for our sins and “…wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14).

But as well as in the spiritual sense, 2016 is an actual physical Jubilee year.

God had said to the Israelites “Six years you shall sow your field and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruits, but in the seventh year that shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.” Leviticus 25:3,4

The seventh year was a year of rest for the land. And the Jubilee came at the end of 7 x 7 years, in the 50^th year.

“And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for your and each of you shall return to his possession and each of you shall return to this family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you.” Leviticus 25:10-11 (emphasis mine)

The Year of Jubilee was the year when all the captives were set free and each returned to his family. Israelites whom had gone into slavery because of debt, were released. Israelites whom had lost their inherited land through debt received their land again in restoration.

The Year of Jubilee is a year of restoration. A Year when captives are set free, when each person returns to his family. A year of the prodigals returning.

The Holy Spirit then spoke to me clearly and definitely: “Go after them. Go after them”

Twice He said to go after them. Just as David went after his family when the enemy, the Amalekites had stolen them.   Just as he pursued his enemies and overtook them, neither did he turn back again till they were destroyed (see Psalm 18:37), so we must too go after our loved ones. We must too pursue the enemy, bind the strong man of rebellion whom is holding our family captive and in the Name of Jesus, set them free!

It is significant that the Jubilee was proclaimed on the Day of Atonement when the trumpet sounded. The Day of Atonement was a day once a year when the Israelites’ national sin was purged. Although the Day of Atonement is yet to be fulfilled for Israel as a nation, Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Day of Atonement with his atoning death at the cross for every individual who will come to Him in repentance and faith.

Through the atoning death of our Saviour Jesus Christ there is still mercy available. Let us no longer look at our family and friends and think they’ve gone too far now to ever turn back. Let us not play their sins and failures over and again in our minds. Let us instead be as David, and as the Son of David and pursue them in faith.

Jesus came all the way from heaven to earth to seek and save that one lost sheep. (Luke 15) He seeks after that which is lost. Just as that woman kept sweeping her house until she found that one last, lost silver coin, (remember that silver = redemption in God’s Word), so we must too not give up hope for our children, our grandchildren, our parents our friend. So we must in the power of the Holy Spirit, go after our loved ones in prayer, in fasting, in spiritual warfare until we catch that first glimpse of them on the horizon, turning their backs on their sin and filth and returning to their Father’s house.

And one last thing… as our prodigals return home, as we see them coming, let us prepare our hearts to receive them.

Let us not be as the elder brother. Let us not remind them of how they’ve sinned against us and let us down. Let us not keep reminding them of their sin, but instead let us be as the Father, full of love and compassion, full of rejoicing that they’ve returned. Let them repent. Let them come.

This must sound self-evident, but consider for a moment. What if that one person who has hurt you the most, the one who has betrayed you, let you down over and again, what if that one came back to you? How would you respond? God forbid that just as our prodigals take that first tentative step to return we should chase them away with the rod of bitterness or unforgiveness or anger.

So:

• List your prodigals, even the ones you’ve given up on
• Ask God for scriptures to pray for each one
• Go after them in the power of the Spirit
• Prepare your heart to receive them when they return

In the love of Christ,

Belinda