All right, we're in Leviticus chapter 25. So we actually only have a few more chapters to go. And I know our Bible study is not, at least this session is not ending in three weeks. We have about six weeks left. So the last three weeks after we finished the book of Leviticus, we're going to be covering something else until we get into our break in the winter.

So even though we only have three more weeks of Bible study in Leviticus, and then we have a review, we will continue our Bible study until the end of the session. Just to kind of give you a heads up. Next week is Reformation night. And so Wednesday, we don't have our typical Bible study.

We do have praise and prayer on Tuesday, right? Oh, Friday. Did I say Tuesday? All right. So Friday, we have praise and prayer. It is next week, right? Yeah, so next week. So next Friday, instead of Wednesday Bible study, we have Friday praise and prayer, just to kind of keep your mind on that.

All right. Today, the Bible study is on the sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee, which is a very important concept in the Old Testament. And you will find, I'm not going to mention all of it, but you'll find quite a bit of the language and the principles that are taught in the New Testament, what is going on here in chapter 25.

So let me pray for us and then we'll jump right in. Heavenly Father, I want to pray for my brothers and sisters as they are coming from a long day at work, from school. And though they may be physically tired, we pray, Father, that your word would renew us, help us to understand not only the words, but your very heart, that we may draw closer to you.

We know, Father God, that what you teach us in this chapter is really who you are. And so help us, Lord God, to know you better and that we would respond in a manner that is reasonable. And so we thank you and just ask, Lord God, that you would soften our hearts and open our ears.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So let me just give you a broad overview. In chapter 25, 26, and 27 is conclusion of what's happening in the book of Leviticus. And then we talked about how in the chiastic system we started out by how to behave or what to bring to God in order to connect with him, right?

And that's the first five chapters talks about the five major sacrifices and how they are necessary in order to draw near to God. We conclude the book of Leviticus in the last three chapters in how to behave in the land that God is going to present to them, right?

So the first section of the chiastic system in the book of Leviticus is how to draw near to God. The end part of it, chapter 25, 26, 27, is that God is going to now lead them into the promised land and when they get there, how they are to behave.

So God is giving instructions, warnings, encouragements that this is how, these are the principles and these are the laws that they are to live by when they get into the land. So chapter 25 is talking about the year of Jubilee and the Sabbath that is necessary. Chapter 26 is talking about the blessings and curses that you ought to follow in order to live a long and prosperous life in the land.

And then the very last chapter, chapter 27, it goes into, again, we'll get more into it, but about valuation. How do you, when you make vows, how do you determine what the vows cost? And so all of these things may be tedious, but these are all instructions that God gave Israel on how they ought to behave in the promised land.

So the first part of it, maybe you can take that pin out and then put it back in. You took it out and put it back in. Nope. Not working. There you go. All right. Okay. So chapter 25 through 27, our instruction is given to Israel on how they must live when they finally occupy the promised land, which I already mentioned to you.

Occupy the promised land. So remember that because I'm going to move. Okay. Did you do that or you did that? Right. Okay. All right. So chapter 25 deals with keeping the Sabbath, right? Verses one through seven talking about the Sabbath year, so every seventh year. And then it talks about starting from chapter, verse eight through 55, super Sabbath, right?

Which happens every 50th year, which we call the year of Jubilee. And it was primarily to keep the covenant relationship with God, covenant symbol between God and them. So everything that God has taught the nation of Israel in the book of Leviticus sets them apart from every other nation.

But this particular law of the Sabbath year was unlike any other nation, right? And we're going to get into that. It really distinguished them from every other country, every other nation, even to this day, right? And we'll get deep into that. The laws of the year of Jubilee provided clearance or cancellation of debt.

So if you read chapter 25, you would have already known that verse eight through 55 basically talks about basically a clean state, clean slate, and financially to start over every 50th year, okay? And that's what the year of Jubilee was. And then, are you doing this? Oh, you're doing it, okay.

The year of Jubilee meant that about once a generation, all Israelites had the opportunity of a fresh start on their own land, right? And this happened every 50th year. And again, we're going to get into details of that. This was intended to prevent the creation of feudal system in which increasing numbers of poor served the small minority of rich land owners.

So no matter how bad your crops were, no matter how badly the situation got, every 50th year, basically God gave an opportunity for the Israelites to start over. It doesn't mean that you could never become rich. It just meant that whatever, that the minimum property that you had, God allowed that to all go back and start over.

And there's a good reason for that, right? So it doesn't mean that the rich people couldn't get rich, that this was communism and they owned nothing. It was to make sure that there wasn't this generational debt that got piled on upon one family to another, and then by the time it got to about fifth, sixth generation, there was just no way to get out of it.

So every generation, God allowed a reset, at least to have their property back, okay? All right. So the laws of the Sabbath year, verses one through seven. After taking possession of the promised land, they were to rest the land on the Sabbath year every seventh year. So sixth year they're supposed to work, and then on seventh year they're supposed to let it be.

B, they're able to pick and eat whatever grew in the seventh year, but could not do any sowing or pruning or complete harvesting that year. So every year they weren't to work. It doesn't say what they were supposed to do with their time when they're not harvesting, but every seventh year they were to leave the land alone.

None of us are farmers here. Maybe some of you grew up on a farm, but I've read, again in before studies, that whether you're a Christian or a Jew or not, that it is understood that whenever you farm a land, you're supposed to give it rest every few years in order for the land to recuperate.

And I remember when I was younger, in my twenties, there was this multi-level scheme thing that I was checking out, and basically they were selling minerals. And I heard, I don't know how many hours of tapes about why the land isn't producing sweet fruits, and because we've over farmed the land.

And so most where the people are very heavily populated, you can still grow, you know, like all the other trees and different things, but the minerals are deficient. And as a result of that, it doesn't have the same kind of nutrients that it would have had long time ago.

And that's part of the reason why people don't live long lives today. That's true or not, but that was part of the presentation that they gave to sell these minerals, right? But one of the interesting things about that was how it's a known fact among the farmers that you had to give it rest.

And so it doesn't explain here that this is why the minerals need to be recuperated, or it doesn't say anything like that. But God says, remember we talked about how when Adam and Eve fell, what fell with Adam and Eve? Huh? Creation, right? In the book of Romans, it says that the creation longs for the appearing of the sons of God.

And so the fall didn't just happen to human being, it also happened to creation. That's why thorns and thistles, you're going to work all your life and what it's going to produce is thorns and thistle, right? So redemption, ultimately he's talking about redemption of mankind, but he also connects mankind with the redemption of the earth.

And so remember at the very end, we talked about the new heavens and new earth. He's talking about the restoration of earth and this is heaven is going to be reestablished at Jerusalem as a center. Okay, I'm not going to get into that now. We studied that when we were studying through the book of Revelation.

Okay? C, this Sabbath year also provided rest for the workers and the animals. Not only for the owners, but it gave the workers time to rest. In Proverbs chapter 12, verse 10, I don't have that up for you, but it basically says the righteous man is righteous even among, even toward his animals and servants.

Right? So he says the farmer is to give rest for his animals. D, it also served to remind Israel of the covenant relationship with the Lord. If you notice as you're reading, it says over and over again, the reason why they ought to do this is because it is a Sabbath to the Lord.

Right? It says that in verse two, it says that in verse four, and then it doesn't say it in that exact language, but it says over and over again, this is to be done for the Lord. Right? It was, it was beneficial for them, but ultimately it was a covenant symbol of a relationship with their covenant God.

Right? So again, before we go on, remember, remember the concept of Sabbath? God creates the earth in six days. On the seventh day, he did what? He rested. Right? He went into Sabbath. When Adam and Eve sinned, what happens? That rest is broken. Sabbath is broken. They are no longer with the Lord because the Lord is in the Sabbath.

And so mankind is outside the Sabbath. So the idea of Sabbath isn't just making sure that you keep it holy, that you don't farm your land. And, and then remember when Jesus shows up and then the Pharisees come, how come you guys are doing this and that on the Sabbath?

And then Jesus turns around and rebukes them. What does he say? That Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath. It wasn't meant for you to do, do more work. Right? And he said, and then ultimately who's the Lord of the Sabbath? Right? God. God is the Lord of the Sabbath.

In other words, their whole idea of Sabbath was worked. The whole point of the Sabbath was to bring them back into a restored relationship with, with God. So the restoration of Sabbath here, every seventh year, it was to be not only for them to rest, but it was, it was meant to be a dedication to them.

Right? To take time to rest instead of working. And then to, to, you know, what would you do if you had a whole year of not working? Right? Traveling, surfing, internet. We don't know. They didn't have any of that stuff. Right? It wasn't meant for you to, okay, don't work.

And so co-travel and, and then go down the bucket list and things that you haven't done, just go and get that done. Right? The Sabbath was meant to be a time of resting to, again, to remember the covenant relationship with, with the Father. Right? That, that's the whole concept of the Sabbath.

E, not planting or harvesting on the seventh year would have been a huge financial burden on the Israelites. So remember, even though you, you know, God commanded you not to work, but imagine if every seventh year you had no income. Right? The whole year there was no income. What would that do to you financially?

Right? Humanly speaking, well, it's going to ruin us. So part of the Sabbath year, seventh year rest was to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, Lordship of God in their land. So they had to trust God. Right? That God was going to be the one who provides. But ultimately, the harvest doesn't, doesn't depend on them, but it depends on God.

So later on, we're going to look at verse 21, how God's going to make up for that. Right? So, you know, superficially, we may look at that, oh great, seventh year, we get to rest. But if you're an actual farmer taking care of children, and people are dependent upon you, it's like, not work on the seventh?

Right? What does that mean? How can we possibly provide for our family? So again, this teaching of the Sabbath was a covenant symbol in relationship with God, but it is also to remind them that He's Lord over their life. Okay? And we're going to get to that later on.

Verse 8 through 17, number four, the laws of the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee is to be observed every 50th year. So 7 times 7, 49 years, and on the 50th year, the whole year was to be dedicated as a year of Jubilee. B, the year of Jubilee started on the Day of Atonement.

Do you know what day the Day of Atonement, what month the Day of Atonement happened? Seventh month. Okay? So the number seven is extremely important. So on the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement, the year of Jubilee would begin. Now what's the significance of starting on the Day of Atonement?

Day of Atonement signified complete cleansing of Israel's sins. Right? Remember we talked about that, the Day of Atonement? I think it was chapter 16. Right? The Day of Atonement symbolized that even though they were giving sacrifices on a daily basis, that their sins would pile up. Right? It's kind of like spring cleaning.

So God would allow that day to basically wipe out the sins of Israel and to start over. So spiritually, on the Day of Atonement, they would have a clean slate because of the sacrifices. So the year of Jubilee causes them to start fresh financially. Right? And also for the family.

So basically, the year of Jubilee was a complete restoration, spiritually and physically. C. The year of Jubilee gave liberty to people, not only to land, but to people who were in debt that forced them to sell either their property or even themselves to pay it off. It restored them back to their property and to their closest relatives.

Okay? We're going to go into a little bit more details about the significance of this law, but why do you think that this would have been? So if you were somebody who were in debt, you would look at the year of Jubilee and say, "Great!" Right? "Every 50th year, I get a clean slate." No matter how bad your debt is, every 50th year, you get to start over.

Right? Do you think everybody would have been happy with this? No. Yeah, only the poor people in debt would be happy with this. The creditors would have been extremely angry with this. Like, "Every 50th, how are we going to do business? How am I going to ever give any loans?

How am I going to ever lease my land if I lease it out and then three years later it gets wiped out?" Right? What is the significance of this? I mean, it doesn't tell us in detail how it worked out, but you can imagine what kind of problems that would have caused.

I mean, it sounds nice, right? Kind of like all the politicians saying all the free healthcare and, you know, get into politics a little bit. Free healthcare and talking about free college and it's going to be 100% paid for and all the college students are saying, "Yes!" Well, where's that going to come from?

Who's going to pay for that? I don't care about the details. I just want free. Right? But you have to care about the details because it's going to come out of somebody's pocket. So superficially it looks great, but in actual practice it may have caused a lot of problems.

But there's a good reason for all of this. D, all leases were to end in the year of Jubilee. All leases were to end in the year of Jubilee. So their prices were calculated according to the number of years left for harvesting crops until the next Jubilee. So in other words, if let's say you're on the 48th year, you would only lease it for a year.

Right? If you're on the 30th year, you would calculate how many years are left and based upon that you would price the lease. Because on the 50th year, whatever was not would be wiped out. Right? And they would start over. Okay? It sounds great, but humanly speaking it was probably very impractical.

But again, the point of all of this is God was ensuring, one, that the people who had inheritance when they went into the Promised Land, so whatever piece of land that you had, that God made sure that your inheritance stayed in your family. Right? Every 50th year. Now whatever happened, and maybe you became an indentured servant and you began to serve another family, but every 50th year you would be freed and be wiped out and you get to start over.

Okay? So it ensured that the inheritance that God promised the nation of Israel stayed within that tribe, within that family. Okay? So, secondly, it made sure that they understood that none of this was theirs to begin with. Does that make any sense? How many of you play Monopoly? A lot of you play Monopoly.

Right? How many of you at the end of playing Monopoly, like, just lose it and can't sleep because you lost your property? Right? They came and, you know, one guy just had a Monopoly and then like every other block you had to pay money and then you got bankrupt and then you got out of the game and you were huffing and puffing for weeks and weeks.

Right? Because it was play money. You might be competitive, but when it's done, it's done. There was no consequence because it was never yours to begin with. It was only yours while you were playing that game. Right? So, the year of Jubilee was a constant reminder to the nation of Israel that their inheritance ultimately is God's.

It wasn't theirs. Right? So imagine what that would do. Even though you owned the land and you were working, you were working hard, every 50th year, if God said, "You know what? Start over." Right? You were constantly, like, you would have held onto your property pretty loosely. Right? It would have prevented you from being overly greedy.

You could be a lot more gracious when you know it's not your money. Right? I remember about six, seven years ago, I gave a sermon about that, about being generous and being good stewards and some of you guys were here when I did that. I gave somebody a $100 bill before the service, you know, and I pretended like I wanted it from him and I took it, you know, and then I decided to hold onto it and then people were like, "Oh, man, you know, like, how could he take his money?" And then later on I told them that was my money to begin with.

Right? And then people were like, "Oh, okay, then it's okay." Right? Well, in the same way, the year of Jubilee was basically taught the nation of Israel like the creation is His, the money is His, the cattle is His, and that's what the tithing was meant to do. Tithing was our voluntary act of showing God that this is not mine but yours.

But the year of Jubilee made sure that that message got across. Right? And so if you knew that everything that you owned would eventually be distributed back to the people who had it, I think people would be a lot more generous. Right? Either you give it voluntarily or God's going to make you give it anyway.

Right? So, again, ultimately all of this points to something bigger than the nation of Israel. And as you guys know, everything in Leviticus points to something bigger. Right? But in the nation of Israel, this is what God was trying to teach them. Five, exhortation to obedience, verses 18 to 22.

The success of their harvest is dependent upon God, not just the land. Verses 18 and 19. You shall thus observe my statutes and keep my judgments so as to carry them out that you may live securely on the land. And the land will yield its produce so that you can eat your fill and live securely.

In other words, if you do this, God's going to take care of you. Right? You're going to work hard. Some of you are going to be more successful than others. But if you learn to be generous and to be gracious, God is going to multiply what you need. B, God promises enough harvest for three years on the sixth year of the Jubilee year if the Jubilee years obeyed.

So verse 22, if you say, what are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops? Then I will so order my blessing for you in the sixth year that would bring forth the crop for the three years. But it will bring enough for the sixth year, seventh year, and the eighth year.

Right? If you trust me. So if you are gracious and you practice this command and you give the land back and you free the people who are in captive, right, because of that, he said the Lord is going to multiply threefold what you do. So this would have forced them, right?

It would have forced them to every 50th year to trust God. Do you trust me to take care of you or are you going to hold on to it, right, because it's in your hands? It's in my hands, it's for sure, but if you give it to God, God will give you abundantly more.

Right? So either your faith is going to increase or your finances are going to increase, but your faith is going to decrease. Right? Next, the laws concerning redemption to those who become poor during the year of Jubilee. The law addresses four different levels of poverty. First one, if a crop failed and an Israelite had no savings, he would have to borrow money in order to buy seed to plant the following year.

Right? So this is how they would begin to get into debt. Because they were primarily farmers, if they farmed, there wasn't enough rain, they didn't do a good job. Right? So whatever the reason, then they would have to borrow money. So in order to do that, they would borrow money to do that.

Two, if the crop failed, he might have to sell some of his land to cover his debts as well as borrow more money for the seed. Right? So the first one is just, you just need to borrow money. Second one is that you're in such debt that you begin to have to sell some of your property to get this back or to keep it going.

Thirdly, if the crop failed, he might have to sell his remaining land to cover the debt. In other words, you're foreclosing on your home, your land, your cattle. So you're basically losing everything that you own. That's the third level. So it's getting worse. And then the fourth, final one, if significant debt remained as a result of these failures, he would be forced to sell himself to cover the debt.

So he would become an indentured servant. Right? So he says, when these things happen, this is the way that they are to be redeemed. Right? And he gets into that in the next section. So as you know, each of the 12 different tribes were given their portion of land once they entered the promised land.

The land was not to be seen as their own, but the Lord's for them to be stewards of. Verse 23. So the Jubilee year prevented one tribe from prospering and taking over the lands of the other tribes, creating a permanent economic disparity. Right? So this isn't necessarily communism. So this is probably how a father or mother would be with their children, if they could.

Right? So it's not to say that everybody owns everything equally. He wanted to make sure that one doesn't end up suppressing the other. Right? So let's see. We're going through this pretty fast. The final part of it is, so how do you resolve it? And that's basically what the year of Jubilee is.

If an Israelite who becomes poor needs to sell his land, he had three options. Now, first one, it's going to sound very familiar to you if you know the book of Ruth. Right? First, the nearest relative would be given the rights first to buy it from him. Okay? What is the technical term that is used in the Bible?

Where does that come from? The book of Ruth. Right? The kinsman, who's the kinsman redeemer in the book of Ruth? Boaz. Right? Yeah, I'm not going to go over the story. Okay? So I'm just assuming you guys know the story of the book of Ruth. Right? So the book of Ruth, a Moabite woman follows her mother-in-law, Naomi, because the father and her husband dies, comes in, and then the nearest kin, who happens to be Boaz, basically takes them in, and basically their misfortune turns into a great fortune because of the kinsman redeemer.

So that is stated in the law. This is part of the law that God gave to the nation of Israel. Right? And the reason why he did that was he wanted to make sure that the wealth and the land and inheritance stayed within the family. Right? So he made it a law that if you had a relative, that they were the first ones responsible for the well-being of the members of their family.

Do we see that in the New Testament? Yes. Paul tells the church, right, that we're first and foremost responsible for our own family, to take care of them. He says if he does not take care of his own family, he is worse than an unbeliever. So he says before you take a widow and put them on the list of people to take care of, he says first make sure that the family is involved in taking care of them.

Right? So that same principle is what's being taught. So the first line of defense against poverty is their own family. Right? Kinsman redeemer. Two, if first option was not possible, the person can redeem it themselves. God gave them a period of a year for them to work different things.

Even though they're in debt, they had a year to pay it all off and redeem whatever it was that they sold. Thirdly, if both was not possible, the first line of defense is the kinsman redeemer coming and helping your family members. Second line is to buy some time, maybe sell other properties, maybe try to work hard in the harvest and then gain the money and to gain your property back.

But third, if both options above is not possible, the Lord will become the redeemer and redeem the land back for him at the year of Jubilee, which is basically when you absolutely have no other way to redeem it on the year of Jubilee, God would revert it back. Right?

By command. So some of the guidelines that he gives in doing that, number one, Israelites were not to treat another Israelite who sells themselves as a permanent servant, but as a hired resident until the year of Jubilee. In other words, if a Jewish brother got into such poverty that he had to sell himself or have to become a servant for a period, that he was never to be treated like a slave, but a hired servant for a short period of time.

And then when the year of Jubilee came, he was to be freed. Two, during the period of servitude, the master was not to treat the servant ruthlessly. The reason why he puts that in there is because the slave had absolutely no rights. They could have done anything they wanted to a slave, but God made sure that another Israelites would not be treated harshly because of this financial situation.

But this was specifically prohibited against other Israelites. Number three, this law only applied to fellow countrymen, not to aliens who lived among them. So if a foreigner came in and ended up becoming a slave, they would be a slave. Not that they could possibly buy their freedom back, but the year of Jubilee did not apply to the aliens.

Okay? This was only to the Jews. And again, all for the purpose of making sure that God's inheritance toward the nation of Israel was kept within that tribe, within that family. So before you go on and say, "Hey, that doesn't sound fair. How come only the Israelites are protected and not the aliens?" Remember, all of this is ultimately to point and to prepare the world for something greater.

Right? So all the sacrifices, all the tabernacle, all the rituals of cleansing, all of this ultimately is fulfilled in Christ. Right? So this is the part that I want you to make sure that you understand. Number seven, Jesus fulfills the year of Jubilee. And it's pretty clear because in Luke chapter 8, 14 to 21, if you can put that up there.

Remember where this takes place? Jesus goes back and this is happening in the beginning of Jesus' ministry. He goes back to Nazareth and he enters into the synagogue and he opens up Isaiah and he reads this statement, which basically is the statement of the year of Jubilee. And he says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has set me to proclaim the release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." And then he follows up in the next verse and he says, "To this day, this prophecy is fulfilled." Right?

Jesus says, "I'm going to fulfill this." And that's how he begins his public ministry. In other words, the year of Jubilee is going to be fulfilled in Christ. So everything that Jesus was doing on the cross, releasing of our sins, restoration of what was lost, right? And ultimately, salvation is restoration, right?

Sin, fall, redemption. That's the whole history of salvation, right? And so Sabbath was what was lost. And so this concept of the Jubilee is to restore what was lost back to what God intended, right? So Jesus begins his ministry and says, "What was lost, he will restore." So if you go to the next passage, I want you to...

Okay. Remember when Jesus, when Peter came to Jesus and said, "How many times do you want me to forgive my brother?" He said, "Seven times seventy." Right? Not just seven times, because seven times is the number of perfection. So Peter says seven times, right? In other words, like, "You want me to be gracious and forgive him seven times?" And Jesus, "Not seven times, but seven times seventy." But the number seven times seventy is a very significant number, right?

And the reason why, if you can go to the next one. Okay. Okay. Israel enters into the Promised Land, and they're in the Promised Land for about 800 years before they are taken into captivity by the Babylonians. When they are taken into captivity into Babylon, how many years were they there?

Seventy years, right? But this is what it says in 2 Chronicles 36. "Those who had escaped from the sword, he carried away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its Sabbath.

All the days of its desolation, he kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete." In other words, he's saying they're going to be cast out seventy years as a punishment for not obeying the Sabbath law, right? For seventy times that they didn't obey the Sabbath law, God's taking them into captivity.

So until those seventy years are fulfilled, they don't come back, right? That's why they're there for seventy years. Now, they didn't obey, so that means out of the 800 years, for 490 years, they didn't observe the Sabbath, right? Seventy years, every seventh year, seven times seventy, 490 years. You understand what I'm saying?

They didn't observe, so every seventh year that they were supposed to rest on the Sabbath, they didn't observe it for seventy times, right? And so as a result of that, the seventy times that they didn't observe it, God's going to send them out into captivity for seventy years, which means the 490 years of the time that they were in the promised land, they didn't keep the Sabbath, right?

So when Peter says, "How many times do I forgive them?" Seven times. When Jesus says seven times seventy, it was not a random number. Those were the years that God was patient with the nation of Israel. It was 490 years God put up with their rebellion. It was 490 years God was patient, sending the prophets, prophesying, asking them to return and even after he sends them into captivity, he ultimately forgives them and restores them back.

So the seven times seventy wasn't a random number. Those were the years that God put up with the nation of Israel and the only reason why they exist even at the time of Christ was because he forgave them over and over and over again. So when Jesus says he had come to fulfill the year of Jubilee, right, this is what he's referring to, his patience, and ultimately applying an overflowing to us, spiritually.

Every single Christian has experienced the year of Jubilee, right? So sometimes you may not feel like that because it's financial and different pressures that we have, but if our ultimate debt is the debt of sin, right, relational issues, problems, families, hopes, whatever scars that you have had from the past, right, whatever wrongs that you have experienced, right, the only answer is the blood of Christ.

So when he was crucified and resurrected from the dead, the year of Jubilee happened for all of us, right? All our sins were wiped clean. The day of atonement happened and God allowed us to give, what, a new life, right? And that's what every Jew experienced every fiftieth year and every Christian experiences when he accepts Christ as Lord and Savior, right?

I'm going to give you more time for discussion. What is the purpose of the Sabbath in the new covenant? It was central to the nation of Israel, right? How is it important in the new covenant? Are we just done with it? Why is it important and what consequences are there if we do not adhere to the Sabbath teaching?

We normally separate the law with grace, but the laws of the year of Jubilee is ultimately about the practice of grace. So they were commanded to be gracious. How should the teaching of Jubilee be applied practically today in our lives, right? Number three, how we view and use money is an indicator of where our heart is, right?

Matthew 6, 21. How does the use of your money reflect on your relationship with God and with others? Are you generous and gracious with your finances or is it primarily used for yourself and your family? How can you be more deliberate about the use of finances for God's kingdom?

Okay, so let me pray for us and I'll give you time to discuss in your group. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Father, for just being gracious to us, wiping out our sins, our debt that we could not possibly pay, that even in an obscure teaching, Lord God, like this, there's so much depth and meaning behind it.

We thank you for opening our eyes to know more and more each week what it is that you have done for us and that more that we understand, the more we would respond in a manner that is worthy of the gospel. I pray for your blessing over our time of discussion.

May it be fruitful. May it stir our hearts, Lord God, to love you more. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.