Year 7, Day 114: Leviticus 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

While reading through Leviticus 25, it becomes quite apparent that the concept of redemption is important.  Life happens.  We don’t live perfectly.  Sometimes we get into scrapes that we can’t get out of.  In those moments, we need redemption.

I’d like to talk about the two kinds of redemption that we see in this chapter.  First, there is the redemption that comes at a price.  Suppose a person is poor and they cannot support their family.  They choose to sell themselves into slavery – indentured servitude, more likely.  The person to whom they sell themselves then carries the burden for providing in exchange for the person’s loyal and faithful work as a slave.  But should that person get together enough money to buy their freedom – or should a relative come along who wants to buy their freedom – the person can absolutely fid redemption into freedom.

However, if there is no possibility that the slave can buy their freedom, God sets up a routine called Jubilee.  Every 50 years, that is the year after 7 cycles (or 7 Sabbbaths), everything resets.  Bought land goes back to its original owner.  Slaves are released into freedom.  This happens automatically.  Every fifty years there is a time of guaranteed redemption.

I find that there are some really significant parallels in this chapter to our life.  We are the same the way when it comes to sin.  Let’s explore this idea below.

Sometimes life goes poorly for ourselves and we find ourselves in bondage to sin.  Sometimes it is by choice, sometimes it is honestly by circumstance.  In either case, it is never the way God original desired for us to exist.  Many times we can realize our circumstance and we can work our way out of bondage to the sin.  Mind you, we can never work our way free of the guilt we bear for our sin, that’s why we need Christ.  But we can work on our life and with God’s help we can work free of the bondage.  Sometimes we need a spiritual brother or sister to come along and help us, but the process is essentially the same.  This is akin to the first kind of redemption talked about in this chapter.

However, there is also a fixed point of redemption that God has set.  At some point, God hits the reset button and puts us back into the condition that He intended for us.  That point is Christ.  Christ died for our sins as a guarantee of the coming redemption, or Jubilee.  One day, God will permanently free us from our bondage and we will be remade a new creation to dwell with God eternally.  That is our Jubilee.  That is when all of the gathered sin throughout our years of existence will disappear forever because God has reset and redeemed our life.

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