Israel was not quickly transported to heaven after believing God and being “baptized” in the Red sea. She was thrust rather to walking the great distance from that point on to the wilderness. This experience is really a means of God to get their hearts truly aligned to His mind for the calling that He has called them. This journey could have not lasted very long, it could have been simply an 11 days journey and  then to the Promised Land, but because of their constant complaints and bickering, the old generation perished and God waited for 40 years as He prepared a totally new generation who will be willing to take the Promised Land at His Word.

And from the time she was in the wilderness for 40 years, God taught her what it means to totally depend on Him and not keep looking back for the provisions of Egypt. The old generation whose mindset was tied to Egypt perished in the wilderness as a testimony of their unbelief on the ability of the Lord to bring them to the Promised Land. Likewise, it was the Americans who primarily gave us our form of governance, justice, education, commerce and trade including the free flow of information which is essential to establish business in the islands and to connect our fragmented cultures and regions. Thus roughly combined, the time of the occupation and colonization is 381 that puts it to almost 400 years as the biblical Israel was placed in Egypt. Then afterwards, Pres. Roxas steered the country during the postwar and until the time of Pres. Macapagal, the country enjoyed unequalled surplus and a high standard of living compared to other Asian countries.

Later, after Mr. Marcos decided to walk into the path of destruction by quickly amassing wealth and consolidating power, the country begun the death spiral economically and socio-politically, which contrasted that of the path of other Asian countries on the rise. So for about 40 years since that time, we have been in the wilderness, today, if you count from the time that Magellan rediscovered the Philippines in March 16, 1521 until this day it is 489 years. But in the Jewish method of dating, one year is added from the onset of our birth. Thus when the child is born from her mother, she is already 1 year old in the Jewish calendar. Since we have 489 years of existence from the date that Magellan came to our shores, we add one more year to that and we get 490 years. Now, 490 years is 70×7 or 49×10. In the Scriptures, the number 7 does not only speak about perfection or completion, 7 also denotes the year of Jubilee. And in fact, this is the 70^th time that we are to enter the every 7 year Jubilee. What is this every 7 year Jubilee?

The 7 year cycle, a year of blessing and release

If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. Ex 21:2-3

And you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor in order that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves. Ex 23:10-12

As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. Neh 10:31

In the Scriptures, it is important to follow God’s instituted commands of freedom and cancellation of debts every 7 years. If we try to add or subtract from the Word of God by disobeying His commands, we run the gamut of fleeing from the very One who made us. Who can dare say no before the Creator God? Are you wiser than Him? In Leviticus 25:4 it says, “but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.” It is a year of release, a proclamation of freedom to those oppressed and there is restoration upon the land, properties and upon all the slaves. Rest is also given to the land. Though there are abuses in this even among the Jews, it allowed those who were under oppression, slavery or servitude to arise anew, to start again once they obtain freedom from their masters. What a more opportune time this is, to understand that this is the 70^th of the 7 years of Jubilee in this island since 1521 or the 10^th times it has gotten a 49 years! In Leviticus 25:8-9 it tells us that by the 49^th year, we are to count off a period of seven Sabbaths of years, or seven times seven years so that there are forty-nine years. Then we are called to “sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement.” Sounding the ram’s horn speaks of proclaiming the message of the Atonement on the seventh month. This message of the Atonement is no other than Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross as typified by all the sacrifices done. He was the perfect sacrifice, met for the remission of our sins because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” and Christ Himself was manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb 9:26).

As all the Israelites were rejoicing at the time of the 49^th year, they too were gathered in a celebration to look to Him who is the Redeemer of everyone. What this 490^th year truly means is the proclamation year of not just freedom to the captives and debt cancellation upon our country, but also the year in which we should proclaim the praises of Him who transferred us from the Kingdom of darkness into His Son’s Kingdom of light! We are to proclaim Him who atoned for our sins, who redeemed us from the worthless and who has restored to us our fortune. We are to take hold of this word and walk into it instead of merely praying release, release to the captives, we have to walk as freemen, and we have to walk as His tenants, His stewards over all His resources hidden in this country. Because Israel forget the Lord and did not follow this instruction, the Prophet said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, “At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you; but your forefathers did not obey Me, or incline their ear to Me. “Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. “Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants.”‘

“Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother, and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ‘And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts —  the officials of Judah, and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf —  and I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth”(Jer 34:12-20).

The release of the captives

Because Daniel kept in his heart the prophecy of Jeremiah, he was privilege to understand not just about the importance of the year of release but was also given understanding of the last days concerning the 490 years before the Messiah would be born. He asked the Lord and he reminded Him to bring them back to the Promised Land as He had promised. What more did Daniel receive with his prayers? He was reassured that His people will be restored to the Promised Land, that there will be a restoration of the people after the 70 year period expires. God has also illuminated his understanding about the period of seventy weeks. With each of these weeks standing for 7 years so that there are approximately, 490 years since the building of the Temple of Solomon till the time Nehemiah rebuilt it and another 490 years from this time to the appearance and death of the Savior. How can God pack such accurate and precise method of dating in the Scriptures? It only is because it is His Word, and the significance of 490 years is always related to forgiveness and redemption. Take for instance the time that Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother and He told him, not 7 times but 70 times 7.

“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.” Dan 9:24

“Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Matt 18:21-23

Now let us understand that we are on the very verge of freedom, this is a year of release, and 2011 will be a year of new beginning, the 8^th day or the 8^th year is always a new beginning. 2010 then is very decisive and it is not a coincidence that we got the presidential elections coming this May 2010. Now, we have to decide who will lead us into the new beginning phase that God is giving to our nation. It is in 2010, that we must break free from every stronghold imaginable that is causing is to not walk with God perfectly. We are to leave, forsake, and break free from every form of encumbrance that is keeping us from all that God is giving us. What are these bondages we are talking about? And what are their natural parallels? Our country today is labeled as one of the most corrupt of all nations since the time that we went down in the late 60s. There are five goliaths that need to be stoned by the Davidic generation that God is raising up these days. We must, like David, pick up the five smooth stones and bring down all these five who are currently mocking and frustrating the army of God in our country. These are,

1. Idolatry
2. Greed or corruption
3. Injustice
4. Poverty
5. And rebellion

If you count all these five and look at how they have derailed our progress, you can truly see that the past 40 years have completely made us subservient to these taskmasters, making our government look like a sickman. Though we want to soar, to leapfrog into a first world status or at least become a truly industrialized country, almost every president who aspired for that seems to be punching the air! Now we have come to a juncture in time when heaven has finally allowed us  to witness the unfolding of history, 2010 will go down as the most decisive year yet for this nation. We are not just deciding who will be our president, but who will shepherd and lead us into the next phase of 490 years.

This is the time to proclaim and break every bonds of wickedness, to heal the sick, to open the eyes of the blind, to mend the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. In short my Brethren, this 2010 is also a year of favor  for every Christians! It is the year of freedom from captivity, from broken hearts, from blindness, from oppression and from debts. Jesus is again walking with us, He is coming to us this year, in an unprecedented manner and to quote, thus He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).

A year of favor

Let not this year pass you by, without the Lord coming upon you, without the Lord passing you by and let it be that the Lord come to you, in health, healing, prosperity and provision. This is the favorable year of the Lord to you and me. Let not this pass you by and let us all pray and cry out to   Him, “God grant us the grace to overcome, to be the generation who will possess and bring your people into its destiny in the world, to be the light of Asia, its bread basket,  the launching pad of missionaries and the ever loyal and faithful city that you have called us to be. Lord set us free from the shackles and depths of sin, from idolatry, greed, injustice, poverty and rebellion. Lord grant us to stop pointing the fingers to our brethren, that we may walk in the light, that we may walk in increasing freedom. Forgive us Lord for we have sinned and followed the path of oppression, set us free for no one can restore us except your hand. Send us your restorers to fill the breaches, and repair the land. Send us righteous leaders who will shepherd your people. Give us Davids in the government and in the church, raise us up to be the generation that will possess the gates of our enemies! In Jesus name. Amen!

But why did we fall into the wilderness?

Just as Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert, God has also allowed this wandering in the desert for us to be humbled, to purify us and to make a people ready and chosen to deliver the goods of heaven for the advance of the Kingdom. There are many nations in the world who could have exchanged their destiny for us, and in fact, our commission could be given to any country right now such as South Korea if we will not take our destiny and calling seriously.

Every time God calls a man, He does not expect that person to be adequate by himself. When Jesus called his disciples to feed the hungry people, He said, feed them! Though He knew that they do not have anything to give, but it was for them to be stirred to seek God and Andrew took a boy with five loaves and two fishes then gave it to Jesus. Because he was faithful in giving that very small lump of loaf and fish, God multiplied them! There is really no shortage and recession in the economy of heaven, if we will repent of our ways and align ourselves to God’s Kingdom, we will find that even the very things that we think could be our provisions will be in fact inadequate for the task He has called us to do. It is for this very reason that anyone wishing to do work in the vineyard of God, He does not expect them to be educated, learned or even adequate by themselves.

The tasks of God cannot be done by mere flesh and power, it is by His Spirit that we can invade this world with His wisdom and transform it into a Kingdom of His Son. Even if the anti-Christ will reign right now, his reign will be incomplete because there will be nations who are called to be sheep nations, those who have given their lives and their destinies to be steered by the Captain of the Hosts. These nations will be found resisting the imposed control of the arch enemy of freedom. It is for this reason also that the globalization agenda is not good in the long run if it merely seeks to bring one world-governance, controlled by a totalitarian despot.

God came in this world and He scattered the nations abroad so that they can develop distinctly for their callings and talents. He is not seeking a one person commander to rule the nations because He alone rules the affairs of every nation and every individual that is why we call Him Savior and Lord. The anti-Christ spirit seeks to destroy and derail this balance of power and thereby bring about the very prophetic parallel of the government of Nimrod (see Genesis 11:1-4; also see my discussion in Unmasking evolution, “The flood and the scattering” chapter 8). We say no to these globalization agenda because of its insidious nature and to overcome, we have to now call on the Lord in truth. Read again the following verses,

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;

And you who have no money come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without cost.

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,

And your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

And delight yourself in abundance.

“Incline your ear and come to Me.

Listen, that you may live;

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

According to the faithful mercies shown to David.

“Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

A leader and commander for the peoples.

“Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,

And a nation which knows you not will run to you,

Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel;

For He has glorified you.” Isa 55:1-5

As impossible as this may seem right now, the Philippines is in the best position to send missionaries abroad and plant churches where Christ’s name is not found. Our affliction of poverty, our idolatry, our bondage, our greed and rebellion have all been dealt with by the cross of Christ. That is, if you have given Him your all. Today, do not ignore His voice and try to call God tomorrow when it is too late, when the lights do not shine anymore and the cords of life had already snapped. Today if you will hear His voice, it is the acceptable time to come to the Lord for He will wash you with hyssop and make you clean.

Seek the Lord while He may be found;

Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way,

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

And let him return to the Lord,

And He will have compassion on him;

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon. Isa 55:6-7

For more articles or to contact Bro. Edison Macusi

www.takethelandministries.org

www.emacusi.wordpress.com