Peter Barnes | Leviticus 25:1-34
SERMON NOTES
THE YEAR OF JUBILEE
Leviticus 25:1-34
– The Year of Jubilee is not a feast listed in Leviticus 23, but it began on the evening of the Day of Atonement (Lev.25:7-8). Every 7th year and every 50th year there was a cancellation of debts and release of slaves. Some exceptions re. a house in a walled city (25:29-30), houses of Levites (25:32-34), and Gentile slaves (25:44-46).
1. We are to care for the environment and the oppressed.
– 25:1-7 – fallow land every seven years, and every Jubilee (25:20-22). This reduces the sodium level in the soil.
– those in debt received their property back (25:10-17), and slaves were redeemed (25:39-42).
2. We are to trust in God’s care.
– He speaks (v.1); He is to be feared (vv.17, 36, 43); He provides what Israel needs (v.21); He owns everything (v.23); He rules (v.55); He redeems (v.55); and He is Israel’s God (vv.17, 55).
– we can only be good because of trust in God. Israel failed to keep the sabbatical and Jubilee years (2 Chron.36:20-21).
3. Christ ushers in the true Year of Jubilee.
– Luke 4:18-19, 21; see 2 Cor.8:5, 9 for it affects us.