2023.02.26 - A Good Time For A Jubilee

As I was praying about what we should focus on for this year, the idea of jubilee kept coming to mind. This morning I have three R's that you can remember that may help in understanding the meaning and purpose behind the Jubilee and the Day of Atonement. Then I want to transition to our theme of “A Good Time for a Jubilee” and share with you three R’s of Midway’s Jubilee. As we consider celebrating Jubilee, I want us to see what the Lord has done, is doing, and is going to do for us here at Midway. First, we must consider: I) The Biblical Three R’s of Jubilee 1) Release That is our first R: A release. They would release all the slaves that is to say if you were in bondage to someone for financial reasons you would be set free. Once you and I were slaves to sin, you were slaves until the Jubilee. Jubilee is about forgiveness it is about being set free from bondage to sin. We are released just like those slaves were released from their enslavement. That is something to be jubilant about. 2) Return That is our second R: Return. In Leviticus 25:23-28, God gives them instructions about returning the land back to its ancestral owners in the year of the Jubilee, as well as redeeming the land. They must give back the land in the year of Jubilee as a sign of faith that all the land belongs to the Lord. I think for us - what a great reminder. Who owns us? Well, God owns us, doesn't He? Jesus made a way through His sacrifice on the cross for all of us to return to our rightful owner which is God. 3) Revitalize Now the third R is Revitalize. You see the land was to lay fallow, uncultivated. It was to just sit there. It was resting. Isn't that interesting? How was the land regenerated? It was by resting; by not being worked up; by not having crops. It was replenished; it was restored by rest; it was revitalized. These people were taking a risk when they didn't plant in that 49th year. Well, are we ready to take a risk to show that our faith is a living faith that is dependent on God? Now we must consider: II) T