Freedom in Christ (Leviticus 25:8–12)

You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.
– Leviticus 25:8–12

Okay, here’s my effort to summarize what we just read in two minutes. So the year of Jubilee happened every fiftieth year, which is pretty fascinating to think about. I mean, I’m not yet fifty years old, so I would’ve in my entire lifetime never experienced this. So for many, this is something they’ve just heard about. And in the fiftieth year, everybody’s land would be returned to its owner.

So during that time, all kinds of things could have happened. People could have died, drought could have come, and some people might’ve mismanaged the allotment of land God had given to them. So all sorts of things could have happened and people could have been forced to sell their land in order to have money. But in the year of Jubilee, everybody got their land back and everybody’s freedom was restored. So if you had faced financial trouble in those fifty years, one option was to sell your land or really to lease your land until the year of Jubilee to a relative.

If that wasn’t an option, you could lease your land to a non-relative or work out a loan. And then beyond that, if you were still in financial trouble, you could sell yourself to another Israelite or even a Non-Israelite if things got really bad. And that’s what is talked about later in Leviticus 25, God had set up a system of servanthood where an impoverished person could sell himself into slavery in order to escape poverty.

Leviticus 25:8–12 teaches us about God’s provision and restoration.

But if you read there, you’ll notice that that person would be treated not like a slave, but more like a hired servant, basically as a worker and a contractual kind of agreement with their employer to work in a household until they could establish themselves as a free and full citizen amongst the people of God. So when you hear slave here, don’t picture pre-Civil War slavery in the United States.

This is a very different picture. But in the fiftieth year, you would be set free. And this was such good news for the poor to know that this time was coming after all these years, or maybe for whatever reason your family has struggled or you have struggled, you get a new start. And this was also sobering news for the wealthy.

You may have had a great forty, thirty, twenty, whatever plus years, but you know that the fiftieth year is coming when everything’s going to be set back to what it was fifty years prior. So what was the purpose of all this? We could spend a lot of time on an answer to that question, but it was a reminder, one of God’s holiness of the fact that the land belonged to God, not to any one person, that he was the owner of it all.

And it was designed to support healthy families, strengthen the family unit, and enable families to come back together on their land with their freedom. And in the process, it was designed to prevent hopeless poverty like there was another chance to restart instead of just going down and down and down when it comes to economic and other needs. So how does all of that apply to your life, my life today?

Leviticus 25:8–12 challenges us to live generously and justly.

Well, we could talk a long time about that, but first and foremost, when you turn over to Luke 4, and Jesus comes on the scene and he says, the Father has sent me to proclaim the year of his favor, which is a reference to the year of Jubilee. In other words, Jesus is saying, I am Jubilee. Jesus is sounding the trumpet saying, I’ve come to provide atonement, to cancel debts, to free slaves, to restore men and women to God and one another.

Jesus says, I am good news for the poor and the blind and the captives and the oppressed I’ve come to restore and to redeem. So the biggest takeaway is trust in Jesus. And then obviously this picture in Leviticus 25:8–12 is not applied in the same way in the New Testament. At the same time, the principles behind it are absolutely communicated all across the New Testament. God is the owner of all things. So we think we own houses or cars or lands. No, God is the owner of all things.

We are stewards of these things. We are stewards responsible for using the things we have for his glory and for others’ good… Particularly the good of others in need. And God is calling us all throughout his Word. Both in the Old Testament and New Testament… To work on behalf of the poor. To give those in need a chance to succeed… And to work on their behalf as we share the good news of Jesus, the one who ultimately sets us free with those in need.

This verse teaches us to trust God as the true owner of all things.

So we pray… God, we praise you for Leviticus 25. You showed your holiness and your care for all your people. And we confess today, you are the owner of all things. God, help us to view any possessions we have with proper perspective. Help us see you as the owner and us as stewards.

We pray that you would help us to be faithful stewards of the possessions you’ve entrusted to us. Specifically, oh God, we pray that you would help us to use whatever possessions we have. Be it money, or other resources. Help us to work for people in need in our families… Just as we see in the New Testament. Help us to work for our church families as we also see in the New Testament. And help us work on behalf of those in need without the gospel.

Prayer for the Ahar People

God, we pray specifically today for people who’ve never heard about the Jubilee that’s found in Jesus.

We pray for the Ahar People of India… 1.7 million of them who’ve never heard of the freedom from sin that’s found in you. God, help us to use our resources to get the gospel to those who’ve never heard it. Also, help us use them to care for people in need right around us. Oh God, please help us to reflect your character… What we see in Leviticus 25… In order that others might know your care for them, particularly those who are in most need around us. We pray all this according to your Word in Leviticus 25, which we love in Jesus’ name, amen.