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Show THE YEAR OF JUBILEE )" ht Q.</v w #'6- Leviticus 25: 10 (1-17) This sermon is designed to assure us :>')( / > '/ r:: that God makes a way for us to get out of our sins without having a lifetime of guilt. The term Jubilee was every 50 \ years at which times all the slaves set were free, all the land would be returned, and all debt would be settled. It was a time of great rejoicing and festivity. In 1852, the well known orator and Douglass was invited to give a fourth of July speech. While the audience no doubt expected a -Pi W61VI"'r; hv..1speech of jublation, his speech was a challenging shock to many. F or instead abolitionist Frederick . . of pointfo the celebrations and fireworks, he raised the question of the 1 meaning of the fourth of July celebration by asking, "What is Your Fourth of July 159 years later about to celebrate that same holiday and To Me?" Here we are questions lingers just as real. Our government is struggling to make ends meet. Wars is going on. Politicians are in conflict. Ball players are locked out. Peopleare losing their houses. Jobs are hard to come by. We are shackled with debt. balloon payments, college loans, the .. and consumer credit cards. It kind of of that song recorded in 1946 and popularized by Tennessee Williams reminds me Diddley: "You load 16 tons, what do you get; Another day older and deeper in debt. St Peter don't you call cause I and Bo go.' lowe my soul to the company's store." We are standing can't 2 in need of a year of jubilee. The children of Israel had sold their souls to the company. They were gripped and ravished by poverty. Their growing and bearing as they ought. Strangers and newcomers were taking over the land. The people of crops were not shackled with debt year after year. But thank God for a way out, not bankruptcy or walking away in the God were middle of night. God commanded that after "seven Sabbaths of years times seven" there would be a day of Jubilee, day when the trumpet would give a certain sound and "ye shall return every mean unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." In other words, after 49 years passed, the people's burdens would be lifted and 3 a they would be jubilant. "A jubilee shall that fifieth year be unto you F or it is the jubilee: it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field." ... (11-12) What a year of Jubilee Notice, the Biblical text says, the people would be set free from their personal debt. There would be legalized restoration of what had been obligated. The slaves would be set free. The animals would be returned to their rightful to the The land would go back to whom it belonged. Those owners. one bought would be fair in their dealings. Nobody would take anything that was not theirs. There would be no schemes and connivings. Everybody would go to sleep at night instead of staying up to cheat others or who sold and those who 4 worrying you. about who God who sees might be cheating and knows, who is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and all-powerful would raise up a nation that will obey. He will grant us a Year of Jubilee. That's what Jesus settled . once we owe. He came to do. He and for all the debts of sin paid the price in full and gave us a clear title to life eternal. We ate children of the King without any worry about death for our sin. We are free from the world's standards. Praise God for a Year of Jubilee. 5 |
