Isaiah 61: The Jubilee Calling: Chapter 4: The Bride’s Garments

In Isaiah 61:10 the prophet responds to the promise of God, saying,

¹⁰ I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation [yesha], He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

As I have already explained, the “garment” theme traces back to Adam, who first lost the glorified body, the “garments of yesha.” His sin was reckoned as a debt which could not be paid. God took his garment as a pledge until the debt was paid.

The law placed restrictions on the use of pledges in order to protect debtors. God forbade creditors from taking “an upper millstone in pledge” (Deut. 24:6), because this would prevent the debtor and his family from eating daily bread.

A widow’s garment was not to be taken in pledge (Deut. 24:17).

Recall that God had married Israel with Old Covenant vows at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:5-8. When Christ died on the cross (Isaiah 53), Israel became a widow (Isaiah 54:4). Her debt was incurred before she became a widow, obviously, but even so it was unlawful to take her garment as a pledge.

After her sin-debt was paid by Christ’s death on the cross, her pledge was supposed to be returned to her—especially because she had suddenly became a widow. Because Christ paid the debt, the pledge was to be returned “when the sun goes down” (Deut. 24:13).

Hence, when Jesus died to pay the world’s debt, God was obligated to return the garment that He had taken when Adam sinned. Yet we know that He did not do so, for Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:1, 2 that our “house,” described as clothing in verse 2, was still being retained “in the heavens.”

Nonetheless, God chose not to do this, thereby making Himself our debtor. He owes us our garments! As a Debtor, He then gave us the Holy Spirit as a pledge (2 Cor. 5:5) and as a promise to return the garments of yesha. We have seen and experienced the Holy Spirit for nearly 2,000 years now during the Day (Age) of Pentecost, and as of 1993 (the 40^th Jubilee of the Pentecostal Age) the sun has set. The time is drawing near for the great Debtor to return the pledged garment that He owes us.

The pledge of the Holy Spirit is not a downpayment (“earnest” money) on something purchased, for no one expects a downpayment to be returned. It is, in fact, a partial payment on the debt. A pledge is the opposite of a downpayment, for it was to be returned when the debt is paid.

In 2 Cor. 5:5 Paul uses the word arrabon, which is a Hebrew word used in his Greek letter to the Corinthians. This Hebrew word had been used to describe the pledge that Judah gave to Tamar (Gen. 38:17, 18, 20). Judah had no money with him to pay for her services, so he gave her his seal, cord [tassel?], and staff as a pledge on his debt. Later, he sent his friend the Adullamite to redeem his pledge and pay his debt with a young goat, but she could not be found. Obviously, Judah’s pledge was not partial payment on his debt. It was only a pledge to guarantee future payment on the debt.

So when the Apostle Paul used the Hebrew word arrabon to describe the Holy Spirit, he was talking about a pledge in the same manner that the word had been used in Genesis 38.

Debts and Jubilees

Without understanding the law of pledges, it is hardly possible to comprehend the great truth that the apostle was teaching us about the Holy Spirit. When Christ died on the cross, He paid the debt for the sin of the world, and suddenly God was required to return the garments of yesha that He had been holding as a pledge since the time of Adam. When He did not immediately return those garments, He became our Debtor and so He gave us the Holy Spirit as a pledge on His debt to us.

Isaiah rejoiced at the promise of God, because he saw by the Spirit that “He has clothed me with garments of yesha.” This is the ultimate solution to the original problem that began with Adam. The garments represent our New Covenant inheritance. The purpose of the Jubilee was to limit debt to a maximum of 50 years. Regardless of how much is yet owed, there is no debt so great that the law of Jubilee cannot forgive.

The Jubilee cannot be overwhelmed and buried by a sea of debt. In the Creation Jubilee, God will not say, “What? You still owe a trillion dollars? I’m sorry, but the law of Jubilee cannot cancel your debt. It is too great.”

No, the amount of the debt is irrelevant in the Year of Jubilee. Lev. 25:10 says,

¹⁰ You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

A Jubilee is a time of jubilation, or rejoicing, because of the cancellation of all debt. All sin is reckoned as a debt in the law of God. Hence, the greater the sin, the greater the debt owed to the victims. If a man cannot repay, his estate is to be sold, and if more debt is owed, he and his family are to be sold into bondage (Matt. 18:25). He must work off his debt as a slave to sin either until the debt is paid or until the Year of Jubilee sets him free.

As with all the laws, the Law of Jubilee can be applied either through the Old Covenant or the New. Under the Old Covenant, men were commanded to keep the fiftieth year as a Jubilee—which they failed to do. Under the New Covenant, God swore by His own name to declare a Jubilee—which He cannot fail to do. Hence, the word reads, “each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.”

That is the promise of God. It will happen. It does not say, “I will give you an opportunity to keep the Law of Jubilee.” No, the fulfillment of this law does not depend on the will of man but only on the will of God (John 1:13). To give men a mere opportunity is characteristic of the Old Covenant, not the New.

Therefore, we conclude that the “garments of yesha” are guaranteed by the pledge of the Holy Spirit. Those garments have been withheld from us during the Pentecostal Age, making God our Debtor until the sun sets on that “day.”

The firstborn sons of God will be the first to receive their garments when Christ returns to fulfill the feast of Tabernacles. Others will have to wait for the end of another day. But in the end, everyone “shall return to his own property” in the restoration of all things.

This was why Isaiah rejoiced greatly in the Lord (Isaiah 61:10). When we understand the law of pledges, debts, and the Jubilee, we too may rejoice with the prophet, having a fuller understanding of the mind of God and His marvelous plan to save the whole world.

The Earth Bears Fruit

Isaiah 61:11 concludes,

¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

By inspiration of the Spirit, the prophet saw that the “garments of yesha” were given not only to him personally, but to all. The result is that “the earth brings forth its sprouts.” This goes back to the Fruitfulness Mandate in Gen. 1:28,

²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it…”

As I have shown in The Laws of the Second Coming, there were two original mandates given to Adam: the Dominion Mandate, and the Fruitfulness Mandate. Together, they formed the original Birthright that was passed down from generation to generation until it rested upon Jesus Christ. But Jacob divided it among his sons, giving the Dominion Mandate to Judah (Gen. 49:10) and the Fruitfulness Mandate to Joseph (Gen. 49:22). Thereafter, the “Birthright” was the portion which had been given to Joseph (1 Chron. 5:1, 2).

The ultimate “fruit” that God has always required is the spiritual fruit of the womb, that is, the sons of God. Our Birthright is to become the sons of God, and Scripture shows how this is to be accomplished (John 1:12, 13). The fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23) is the nature of the sons of God (Psalm 127:3). To be an Israelite (as opposed to a carnal Jacobite) is to be a son of God. He is like a tree that yields appropriate fruit in its season (Psalm 1:3).

Isaiah 27:6 says,

⁶ In the days to come, Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and they will fill the whole world with fruit.

The prophet was not speaking of agriculture but of spiritual principles. Prov. 8:19 says,

¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield better than choicest silver.

What begins with “Jacob” is completed with “Israel.” To bear fruit, one must grow out of the carnality of Jacobite thinking and move to the higher realm of an Israelite, even as Jacob himself did. The remnant of grace will “take root downward and bear fruit upward” (Isaiah 37:31).

When Christ is recognized as the rightful Heir and King of the Earth, Psalm 67:6 says, “The earth has yielded its produce.” In other words, the Fruitfulness Mandate cannot be fulfilled apart from the earth’s rightful Ruler.

Christ’s first coming was concerned primarily with the Dominion Mandate that had been given to Judah; Christ’s second coming is concerned primarily with the Fruitfulness Mandate that was given to Joseph. The sons of God were begotten through the Dominion Mandate, but they are brought to full birth and manifestation through the Fruitfulness Mandate.

Isaiah believed the promise of God and rejoiced over the “garments of yesha.” He understood that this was how the earth would bring forth the fruit that was promised obscurely in Gen. 1:28. The earth was to become “as a garden,” once again—a reference to the Garden of Eden. The earth was to fulfill the purpose for which it was created.