Day 51: Leviticus 24-25

Wednesday, February 24th

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2024-25&version=NIV

Do you need a vacation?
The Year of Jubilee

Do you remember the days when you were in school, and you were looking forward to your summer vacation? As I entered the month of May and the weather started to turn summer-like, I just got more and more impatient for the summer vacation. No more school, days and days of swimming in the pool, visiting my grandmother’s farm in Arkansas and just staying up late. A lot of us really look forward to our vacations. Why is this? It is a time of refreshing. It is a time to relax and not think about the daily hustles of going to work and paying bills. This is my time to enjoy and do whatever I desire to do.

In Lev. 25, the Word talks about the year of rest and the year of Jubilee. The Jewish people were commanded to rest ever 7th year. They had to let the land rest every 7th year. Talking about vacation time! If they would obey, God would bless the harvest in the 6th year to last them for three years. Then every 50th year, God said to celebrate the Year of Jubilee. The Year of Jubilee would start with the blowing of the trumpet on the Day of Atonement. This would be a year of liberty

Lev 25:9-10
'Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.

In the Year of Jubilee:
-If someone was in debt, it was canceled
-If someone had to sell themselves as slave, they were freed
-If someone had to sell their land to pay off a debt, the land was returned to them

Lev 25:28
'But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

Lev 25:39-41
'And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. 'As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. 'And then he shall depart from you-- he and his children with him-- and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers.

This was a once in a lifetime event! Forgiveness of debt reigned throughout the land. It was quite a year! Don't you wish we had a Year of Jubilee?

Good news, we do have one! Jesus stood up in the synagogue at the start of his ministry and read:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:18-21

In essence, Jesus is proclaiming the Year of Jubilee. The time has come for all debts to be forgiven. The time has come for forgiveness to reign throughout the land. The time has come for the captives to be set free. Yes, the time has arrived for liberty and freedom from debt and sin. The beauty of God’s plan is our Year of Jubilee never ends like it did in the Old Covenant. Their Year of Jubilee lasted only one year, ours is still ongoing today and will last throughout eternity.

Are you burdened by sins and debts? Are your oppressed? Is something bringing you into bondage? The Year of Jubilee is upon us, God is waiting on us.

And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Rev 22:17

PS We Americans are probably the hardest working and productive people on the planet. It comes from the Puritan work ethic. We need to be careful we don't lose balance. Where we just work and go and go and go until one day we wake up and our life is gone and we think, "What was I doing all those years?" This is one reason God commanded them to rest every 7th year. It kept them in balance.