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be expected. Seen in this light, the conditional nature of the petition on forgiveness must
be understood of the time then present, which time will again draw near during the future
Great Tribulation.
(2) The Jubilee was proclaimed on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25: 9), a day on
which the people of Israel were to afflict (humble) their souls (Lev. 23: 27, 32); the
one day in which the high priest entered the holiest of all, the day when the sins and
iniquities of the people were especially remembered (see Lev. 16:, especially verse 21).
(3) The Jubilee was a time of return and restoration:
"Ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his
family" (Lev. 25: 10).
Surely this return of the people will find its fulfillment when the Lord completes what
He began at His first coming, and the times of restoration associated with His presence
(prosopon, `face'), will come. These times during the Acts Period were conditional upon
repentance, but they will yet come in association with the sending back of Christ Jesus
(Acts 3: 19-21).
"For thus saith the Lord God; Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek
them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that
are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where
they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will . . . . . bring them to their
own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel . . . . . I will seek that which was
lost . . . . ." (Ezek. 34: 11-16).
The One who came `to seek and to save that which was lost' (Luke 19: 10), will yet
complete that work, a time pictured by the O.T. Jubilee, and in the light of which
`forgiveness of debts' is expected of these who would have a place in that gathering.
The reader might also consider in the context of all this, the action of the saints at
Jerusalem, when they sold their possessions and laid the money at the apostle's feet. Was
this done in the light of the return of the Lord and their entering into their true
possessions in the land? It is especially interesting to note that there is no record of this
practice anywhere else, and even in Jerusalem, as it became apparent that the people as a
whole were not repenting, the action was not repeated. Could this sale of possessions
explain "the poor saints at Jerusalem" of Rom. 15: 26?
It is evident that the forgiveness of debts and sins harmonizes with a particular
`season' of God's dealings with His ancient people. Seen in that context there is nothing
incongruous in a conditional forgiveness. To bring such a petition into the present
dispensation, however, is to fail to appreciate the grace of God, and to introduce a
contradiction into the Word of God. The great key which has unlocked many a mystery
and thrown light on many a passage of Scripture, the key of `right division', when
applied here does not fail us but places the petition, "forgive us . . . . . as we", in the
setting into which the whole prayer has been cast for us, by every part of it which has so