This is most probably one of the best illustrations of what the essence of the Gospel Message is.

You can find all 4 Gospels telling you about what happened on that Wednesday, the 9^{th of} April 30 A.D., when Jesus the Christ, God the Son, was crucified for you and me.

Please go and read it yourself!

Matt. 27, Mrk. 15, Luk. 23, Joh. 19.

Here is an illustration of what happened here.

Once upon a time in a far-off country, there was an ancient king who was known to be simultaneously the most loving and just king who had ever existed.

Eventually, it was discovered that somebody was stealing from the King's treasury.

So, the king issued a decree that said that when it was discovered who was stealing from his treasury, a sentence of 10 lashes in front of the entire Kingdom would be visited upon them as the penalty for their disobedience.

The theft continued, and eventually the king issued a final decree: 40 lashes would be visited upon the person who was stealing from the King's treasury.

But 40 lashes was in reality a death sentence! So, this king issued a death sentence on the perpetrator.

As weeks went by, it was eventually discovered that none other than the daughter of the king was the one who was stealing from his treasury.

When that was discovered, a question began to ripple through the Kingdom: How could the most loving king who has ever existed kill his own daughter?

Some people thought that he would pardon such a person, but then, how would he just!

Some people thought that he would punish her, but then, how could he be loving then as well?

Eventually, the king examined it and said: Hey, the law is clear! Sin has taken place, and justice must fall! The sentence must be passed!

So, the King's own daughter was brought in front of the entire Kingdom. She was then laid over an executioner's table and was tied to the table. The executioner then ripped open the back of her shirt and stepped back to execute the punishment.

But then, just as the executioner lifted his whip to issue the first lash, the king stood up from his throne and yelled: Stop!

Everyone watched in dismay.

Silently, the king walked forward, bent over his daughter, wrapped his body around his daughter on the stump, ripped the shirt off his own back, and looked back at the executioner while saying: Now, hit her!

The executioner objected: No, I can't hit her without hitting you!

Now, hit her! the king said.

And so, 40 lashes fell upon the back of the king as he stood over the back of his daughter! And the king died, and the girl went free!

The core of the well-known message of the Gospel about Jesus’ crucifixion is that this is exactly what He has done for you!

Because God is just, punishment for sin had to be paid!

But because God is love, He chose to make that payment Himself!

And here's the good news!

What you must understand is that when Jesus hung on that bloody cross, and He pushed up on the nail-pierced hands, choking to death on His own blood, His final words through His choking breath were the words: Tetelestai! It is finished!

He did not cry out: I am finished. His words were: It is finished!

So, now, if He's not finished, you're not finished!

In the presence of God, we hear: “Peace be with you!” (“Sh-a-l-o-m-e-g-a”, in Hebrew).

Everything we told each other last time about what “jubilee” means is found in the Biblical concept of “peace,” or “shalom” in Hebrew.

Let me take you back to that day, three days after the crucifixion of Jesus, April 30 A.D. (according to our best calculations).

We read this in all four Gospels, as in Matthew 27:45 ff.; Mark 15: 21 ff.; Luke 23:26 ff.; and then also in John 19:17 ff.

Just a little background: The disciples heard from several people that Sunday, can you believe it, Jesus rose from the dead, and He is alive!

Then John tells us the following further there in chapter 20:19 ff., under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

“That Sunday evening, the disciples were together. Although the doors were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, “Peace be with you!”

After he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

“Peace be with you!” he said to them again. “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

After he had said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of men, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Have you heard? The Risen Jesus says to each of us who believes in Him: “Peace be with you!”

“Eirene humin”, in Greek.

The Hebrew word that we have translated as “peace” in Afrikaans is the well-known word “SHALOM”.

You will immediately understand that “eirene” in Greek and “shalom” in Hebrew, in this context, entail much more than what we try to translate as “peace” in Afrikaans. Let me try to briefly summarize what “eirene” and “shalom” entail for me and you in Jesus.

I want you to understand that what I am talking about is not just a head thing. You and I must, as it were, together with the disciples of old, that Sunday evening after His resurrection from the dead, hear how Jesus says to us: Peace to you!

Experience where you find yourself how the Risen Jesus, the King of all kings, even stands before you and says this to you!

Just remember for a moment everything that He has also done for you because He loves you so much!

Taste and experience it in your whole being, in your spirit, soul, and physical-chemical body! Taste all the dimensions of this “peace” with which He wants to serve you anew!

Hear how God the Spirit says to you: “Because you believe that Jesus also died for you on the cross, and bore the full punishment for and on your behalf…

• Is there now “peace” between you and God! Experience how God’s arms of love wrap around you, and He presses you tightly to His heart.

• All your debts have been paid. Your sins have been forgiven, washed clean, removed, and taken away from God’s memory and presence, as far as the East is from the West!

• Your relationship with God has been completely restored. There is nothing between you that needs to cause distance, alienation, guilt, shame, or a feeling of condemnation.

• You are reconciled to God in Jesus! Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Choose to believe it fully again! Come to rest in that knowledge!

• You are God’s child.

• God's Spirit himself lives in you, in your body, to remind you every day that God is your Heavenly Father. He also reminds you of everything that Jesus came to teach us and promised. He also reminds you that you are now in Christ Jesus, heir of all the gifts of grace, privileges, and benefits that Jesus has worked for and on your behalf through His life, His words, His death, and His resurrection.

• In Jesus, because you have accepted Him and believed in Him, you have received 100% share in the Life and that in Abundance that He also came to work for you. Allow Him to flood you with this life in abundance, until it is as tangible a reality for you as you can feel the clothes on your body!

• In Jesus, through the working of God's Spirit in you, you are also part of a new creation that God is busy with here on earth. After all, this is what 2 Cor. 5:17 also says.

• God's grace is therefore sufficient for you every day! Because in Jesus, you have gained access to all of God's grace, which is always, in everything, not only enough for you and your loved ones, but more than enough!

Just go read again what I told you about “jubilee” last time.

Last time we reminded each other that the Lord tells us in His Word that “jubilee”, God’s year of grace, can happen in Jesus in the life of every believing follower!

Today, I want to look you in the eye and tell you: Allow Him to minister this to other believers around you through you now!

What a privilege to serve King Jesus to forgive others, acquit, set free, heal, or be used by the Lord to provide in their lives, restore and bring balance, and unlock prison doors!

Do you remember how Peter, after betraying Jesus three times, went back to being a fisherman because he was unsure whether restoration would ever be possible for him again? He felt he had disqualified himself for ministry! His self-confidence was gone!

Then Jesus steps into his life after His resurrection from the dead and forgives and restores him! Yes, Jesus even promoted him to be the leader of the Twelve other disciples!

Everything, everything, everything, by grace!

This is what “Jubilee” is!

It is all by pure grace and not the result of anything we can do. It is all only God, only Jesus, and based on His grace to us!

Perhaps you feel like Peter for one reason or another! Then hear the prophetic word of the Lord today and about your life and ministry: Jesus wants to be your “Jubilee” today! He stands before you today and offers you all these gifts by grace: Forgiveness, justification, restoration in every sense of the word, and yes, even a new ministry with accompanying anointing for the new season that lies ahead of you!

May I also remind you at this point that God’s grace, His forgiveness, His restoration in your life, does not only mean that God has forgiven you and opened heaven’s doors to you again! No, this grace also means that the Lord wants to give total restoration where sin, the enemy, and this broken world and worldly systems have robbed and belittled you!

The message that Jesus is our “Jubilee” is therefore a message to every believing follower of Jesus who currently feels burned out, without hope, and without a vision for the future.

If you still don’t believe me about this, go read Leviticus 25, Isaiah 61, and John 21 again, and hear what God’s Spirit himself says to you!

Just choose today to believe it again and ask Him to use you to minister it to others, too!

Let me share with you something about the “Shalom” in all its dimensions that the Lord intended for each of us as His children. I want to warn you: It’s going to mess with your head a little!

Do you know that the Lord taught His Old Testament people more than three thousand years ago something that you and I, as modern people, are still desperately searching for today?

Let me put it this way: How to press the reset button in every area of ​​our lives!

Just like we sometimes have to press the reset button on our computer or cell phone to erase all the mess that has built up, so that we can start over!

In Leviticus 25, it is called the Jubilee year, and in Isaiah 61, “the year of grace”.

The Jubilee year of Lev. 25 happened every 50th year. It was in every sense of the word a radical “reboot” or restoration action at God’s command among His people!

All guilt was erased! Jews who had become slaves because of what had happened in the past 50 years were freed! Yes, even land that people had lost because of their own actions and mistakes was returned to the original families and owners! It was truly forgiveness and restoration in capital letters in every sense of the word!

The Jubilee year was like in the famous Monopoly board game, going back to the Beginning, and starting over!

If you want to read more about this in God's Word yourself, read Leviticus 25, Lev. 27, and then also in the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1 and 2, which Jesus then quotes in Luke 4:18 and 19, where Jesus himself says that He has now made “Jubilee” possible for each of our lives!

It is amazing to think that Jesus and what He did can make “Jubilee” happen in every sense of the word for each of His people!

That is why it is so important to just spell out this “new beginning” and restoration that is possible in Jesus, for each other here in the presence of the Lord!

Yes, the “Year of Jubilee” can mean at least the following for you and me:

Total forgiveness!

Being free!

Being liberated!

Restoration in every sense of the word!

Total provision!

Renewal!

Suddenly, there is peace again, and people feel safe again!

In Luke 4:15 to 21, and also in 2 Corinthians 6:2, we hear God promise this total restoration to each of us who believes in Jesus and understands something that He did for me and you through His becoming human, His death, and resurrection!

In “Jubilee,” everything that we have lost and forfeited is restored.

It is like a theme that is repeated over and over again in many ways throughout the Old Testament.

Let me quote a few of these Scriptures:

Job 42:10 – "After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord RESTORED his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before."

Joel 2:25 – "I will RESTORE to you the years the locusts have eaten…"

Psalm 126:4-6 – " RESTORE our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them."

Zechariah 9:12 – "Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will RESTORE twice as much to you."

Based on what Jesus has done for us, our past, and everything we feel so guilty and ashamed about, we no longer need to define and control our lives!

We can move on, because we are freed from it once and for all in Jesus! Praise His Name!