To be forgiven and restored.

 

When Jesus was asked to preach in his hometown, Nazareth, he claimed that the following words form the Book of Isaiah refer to him: (Luke 4: 19) "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour". It refers to what in the Old Testament was known as the Jubilee year.

 

A Jubilee year is a year to celebrate Israel's entry into the promised land, flowing with milk and honey. It is a year to celebrate Israel's liberation from slavery in Egypt, and above all, to celebrate God's goodness towards his people, Israel.

 

In a Jubilee year the land remains uncultivated. Both the land and the people rest and are restored. And it is in this year that debts are cleared: a time when mortgaged land is returned to its owners and Hebrew slaves are freed; it is a time of restitution and fulfilled hope. A Jubilee year had a theme of forgiveness and restoration.

 

These celebrative events continue to declare the will of God for his people. God's will is to forgive and restore us, no matter what we have done or who we were before we became a child of God.

 

Jesus came to proclaim that the time of God's favour has come for you and me.
It means -
In Christ, God restores what is impossible for us to do.
In Christ, God has cancelled our debt to him.
In Christ, God has forgiven us our sins.
In Christ, God has set us free to live as his children.
In Christ, God has set us free to enter the eternal promised land of his glory.
In Christ, God gives us a new life through his presence with us.