"Then have the trumpets sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land."
Leviticus 25:9 (NIV)
We call the 50th wedding anniversary the Golden Jubilee, and it really is quite a milestone for a couple to celebrate. For us humans, who get 70 years plus a bit for our life span, 50 years together is a long time to be together.
Do we realize that the name Jubilee comes from the celebration laid out in the Law for Israel found in Leviticus 25? Scholars believe that this particular Jubilee celebration was never celebrated by ancient Israel. This part of the Law was never observed, never obeyed. The Law of the Jubilee has three components to it: FREEDOM for all the Hebrews slaves; the RETURN of all parcels of land to the original families that God granted it to, and the CESSATION of sowing and pruning.
Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a society that observes the Jubilee? A person who has worked hard, saved their money and accumulated land would give all of their land acquisitions back to the family who originally lived on that parcel. In our minds that is going backwards! But this is God’s plan for possessing the land. A person who was so poor that they sold themselves as a slave, gets freedom (and possibly their property back). The land that has been worked and tamed, sits still and grows whatever it wants to.
This celebration is tied to the Day of Atonement, and begins with trumpets sounding throughout the land and voices “proclaiming liberty”. Jubilee is about freedom; freedom from sin, freedom from captivity, freedom from the curse of toiling the soil, freedom from the trap of possessions, and freedom from the rat race. Those of us who have trouble taking time off, wonder what the 51st year would look like. We complain now about catching up after taking a week off (no wonder they never celebrated it). Friend, there will be a Day when the last trumpet sounds and liberty will be proclaimed by God and not by men. It will be the beginning of freedom from sin, captivity, toil, possessions and all forms of our human rat race. It will be the beginning of that glorious eternal earthly Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It will be the beginning of God’s Will and Plan being done on earth forever! Oh friend, are you ready to hear that trumpet? Are you looking forward to that Day when the trumpet sounds?
Come Lord Jesus. Come.
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