What Do We Have But Land?
When you really think about it, all we have is land. Our homes come from the trees that the land produces. Our precious metals are hidden in the land. Our vitamins and healing agents come from mixtures of the components in the land. The Bible opens by telling us that we come from the dust of the land. The land is our life. We eat its produces, we enjoy it's shade, we marvel at it's natural undisturbed beauty.
The land is truly God's gift to us.
And yet the land reminds us constantly that it is NOT ours. It is unruly and hard to manage. It requires extraordinary patience and incredible amounts of work to get it to produce for us. It is also subject to the curse of sin and awaits its own redemption at the appearing of the Son of God.
We need the land, use the land and we must appreciate the land.
Leviticus 25-26 is about the Land that God is going to give to His people.
Leviticus 25:2 (ESV) “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.
Thirty-nine times the term "the land" shows up in these two chapters. But the are to practice habits that remind them this land is ON LOAN. Ultimately, the land belongs to God.
Leviticus 25:23 (ESV) “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
If Israel was to enjoy the land to it's fullest potential, they had to operate the land according to the manufacturers specifications.
Leviticus 25:3-4 (ESV) For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
Every 7th year the land was to rest. Every 50th year, all debts incurred through the management of the land were to be cancelled and all families were to have a fresh start. In this way, the economy of Israel would be sustainable throughout generations. Other nations would have seen God's blessing upon Israel and marveled at the benefits of Godly insight and accountability to God's possession - the land.
Leviticus 25:18 (ESV) “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely.
The land is truly God's gift to us.
And yet the land reminds us constantly that it is NOT ours. It is unruly and hard to manage. It requires extraordinary patience and incredible amounts of work to get it to produce for us. It is also subject to the curse of sin and awaits its own redemption at the appearing of the Son of God.
We need the land, use the land and we must appreciate the land.
Leviticus 25-26 is about the Land that God is going to give to His people.
Leviticus 25:2 (ESV) “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.
Thirty-nine times the term "the land" shows up in these two chapters. But the are to practice habits that remind them this land is ON LOAN. Ultimately, the land belongs to God.
Leviticus 25:23 (ESV) “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
If Israel was to enjoy the land to it's fullest potential, they had to operate the land according to the manufacturers specifications.
Leviticus 25:3-4 (ESV) For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
Leviticus 25:10 (ESV) 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.
Leviticus 25:18 (ESV) “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely.
Leviticus 25 outlines the plan for the land from God. Consider the benefits listed:
1. Equality.
2. Justice and fairness.
3. Economic growth.
4. National Security.
These sound like the campaign talking points in any presidential year in almost any country with free elections. Where there are no free elections, dictators and autocrats arise promising these same things and forcefully advance their agenda on the peoples they rule. Yet in both cases, we see the failure of a man to do concerning these aims that God promises to His people IF THEY WILL LISTEN and OBEY His plan for the land.
What do we first learn from Leviticus 25? God is the King who genuinely loves and serves the interest of His people. He has the right program and plan in place for prosperity and security. When we do not trust Him, as Israel did, WE suffer.
Israel never obeyed these laws concerning the land. Consequently, foreign nations were able to starve them out and occupy them, ultimately overthrowing them. The land would eventually rest as they suffered in exile for 70 years. Only then did God bring them back to experience a modicum of prosperity. We learn from Israel that most important lesson. This land is God's land.
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