Like a cheap Christmas toy, it broke the first time it was used. To the horror of those listening for the acknowledgment of the anniversary of Penn’s Charter of Privileges, a clank rather than a chime reverberated throughout Philadelphia in 1753. The bell was removed and sent to two Philly foundry workers, John Pass and John Stow to melt down the bell, add more copper to the mixture and recast it once again. When it rang again the tone was an irritating ping. Once again Pass and Stow melted down the bell and finally raised the one ton fixture in the steeple of the Statehouse. But still it was the laughing stock of the colonies. Over the next few years the bell summoned people together for special announcements and events. It called the Assemblymen to gather for their meetings; it signaled the departure of Franklin to England to lodge grievances the Colonies had with the crown. It rang out the ascension to the throne of King George III in 1761. The people in the vicinity of the bell became annoyed at the horrid sound and in 1772 a petition was sent to the Assembly stating that they were “distressed by the constant ringing of the great Bell in the Steeple.” But the chiming continued. Then a chime rang out that changed the world on July 8, 1776. Col. John Nixon ordered the bell tolled to summon the citizenry to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was then that the bell took on a whole new meaning. After the war it rang on, despite its unpleasant sound. Finally, on Washington’s Birthday in 1846, the bell was tolled for the final time, for it was then that the Liberty Bell, as it came to be known, developed the huge crack which can be seen today. There is perhaps no other single symbol in our country which typifies freedom than the Liberty Bell. The bell’s association with freedom, however, did not begin on that July day in 1776. It’s original casting, and each new casting, bore the insignia which specified the reason for its existence. The Bell was commissioned to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges. Penn's charter, Pennsylvania's original Constitution, speaks of the rights and freedoms valued by people the world over. Particularly forward-thinking were Penn's ideas on religious freedom and his inclusion of citizens in enacting laws. As it was to commemorate the Charter's golden anniversary, the quotation "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," from Leviticus 25:10, was particularly apt, for the line in the Bible immediately preceding "proclaim liberty" is, "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year." What better way to pay homage to Penn and hallow the 50th year than with a bell proclaiming liberty? This passage cast on the Liberty Bell comes from the passage we will consider this morning. It is a passage which speaks of liberty, but a liberty far greater than even that which was won for us in 1776. 1. The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2. "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. 3. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6. Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7. as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. 8. "`Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. 11. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13. "`In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property. 14. "`If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. 15. You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops. 17. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God. 18. "`Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20. You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" 21. I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. 23. "`The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. TRUE FREEDOM IS FOUND IN GOD’S PROVISION (Verses 1-7) God provides rest. For us, distant from the Old Testament’s agrarian culture, we find it hard to understand what took place and the impact it would have on the people. Just as people were to rest one day in seven, so the land was to rest for one year every seven years. Although a person could farm the land for six years and keep what he grew during that time, on the seventh year it was to rest. He was to be content with whatever grew of itself in his fields and vineyards. During that year everyone, from the owner to the animals, was allowed to feed freely. The land was to rest, the laborers were to rest. But this rest every seven years is for the benefit of both the land and the people, for it was in this rest that God provides refreshment. Why? For agricultural purposes, is often the first reason people consider for this sabbatical year. The principle of leaving ground fallow on a periodic cycle is common, but the reasoning here is based on the rest cycle, for not just land and people, but for God. The theological foundation of this in the Mosaic law comes from the 4th Commandment, which is derived from the opening chapter of Genesis where, after creating the heavens and the earth, God rested. This one-in-seven cycle points out the goodness of work. The command given in Genesis 1 to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it, is seen here. The importance of our stewardship of what God has given is seen in this sabbatical. Verse 25:23 reminds us that God is the owner of the land and that the Israelites were just tenants and aliens. But also this provides for a time of reflection as well. Just as for six days the effect of the curse is felt, but on the Lord’s Day we have time to reflect on what God has done for us in Christ, so also for six years work was done, but one year out of seven, a reprieve is offered where the ground will offer up food without toil. It is a return to Eden, if you will. In all this God provides refreshment for the land and the people. But this provision is not as easy as it would seem. To not plant nor harvest would be a frightening thing to do. A very understandable concern is raised in verse 20. God, speaking to Moses, anticipates what we are going to say. Not a bad question: What are we going to eat? Remember that if their last harvest would be in the sixth year, the seven there is nothing planted or harvested and in the eighth year they plant, but still nothing has been harvested. It is almost three years till the next harvest. In all this, God was asking them to trust in His provision for that time. There is the promise in verse 21, but if it were me, I’d say “God I certainly trust you, but I’d like to plant my wheat just in case.” What God is asking for here is a trust in His providence, a reliance on His care for us as a father provides for his children. We all say this is true, but we often live as though it were false. We are all too often living like practical atheists. Our lives are geared at a frantic pace seeking to produce and create and do, filling our days with activity, but so rarely really relying on God to provide. But in this periodic time of rest, one day in seven, one year in seven, the Israelites were being reminded that who they are and what they have is not by the creation of their own hands. Isn’t that a truth we all need to learn as well? Our lives are so often filled with anxiety and pressure, we move at a frenetic pace, feverishly trying to do, forgetting that God is still at work, whether we are or not. TRUE FREEDOM IS FOUND IN GOD’S FORGIVENESS (Verses 8-23) God’s provision of refreshment is best seen in the culmination of the sabbatical years when a special celebration called the year of Jubilee was held. For there we see that God gives us the greatest rest when we understands that we are forgiven. God forgives because of atonement. When seven sabbatical seasons pass, then, on the Day of Atonement, a trumpet blast signals a special celebration. The association of the Jubilee with Yom Kippur is important. It was only on that day that the High Priest went behind the veil in the tabernacle and ventured into the Holy of Holies. There with the blood of a bull for himself and then with the blood of a goat for the people, he went to the Ark of the Covenant and on the slab of gold which covered the top, he sprinkled the blood, thus signifying that the demands of the law kept within the ark were met by the one sacrificed. Then the High Priest left the Holy of Holies and went back out to the courtyard. There he laid his hands on the head of the second goat and confessed the sins of the people. That goat, the scapegoat, was then lead out of the city. This most solemn occasion occurred each year. But twice a century, following the goat's exit from the city, signifying the removal of their sins, a trumpet blast blew throughout the land, signifying that with forgiveness of sins, a time of rest would begin. The connection between these events is crucial. The year of Jubilee was understood in the context of the atonement for sin, that God was propitiated and their sins were removed as far as the east is from the west. In order to drive home the power of God’s forgiveness, not only was the goat removed, but on this 49th year, all debts were removed. The advantages of this year of Jubilee were several: It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large. It would render it impossible for anyone to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his hereditary land. It would preclude those inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man domineer over another. It would afford a fresh opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again their career of industry in the patrimony which they had temporarily forfeited. But these wonderful benefits were just the illustration, the pointers to a greater work that God was doing. The freedom of the slaves, the cancellation of all debts points to God forgiving our debts. The proclaiming of liberty here in Leviticus 25 well illustrates exactly what God does for us. I’m sure each of us here could appreciate what this would mean. With a simple sacrifice and trumpet blast, to have all your debt removed, to recover property lost due to poor investments, to win back one’s freedom having been sold into slavery to provide food during a bad harvest, would be reason to celebrate. On top of that, to then celebrate for the entire year, to take time to reflect on the goodness of God who provides everything that is necessary would cause the people of Israel to worship and serve God with even greater intensity. The idea of being in debt is something with which most of can identify. We may not fall in the extreme of a Utah business man, who, a number of years ago, had a bit of a debt problem. What he owed exceeded what he owned. All he could claim for assets amounted to about $7,310. But what he owed came to $613 billion dollars, an amount which, at that time was about 2/3 of the national debt. In bankruptcy court it was realized that if all the debts were honored, his creditors would receive about one-millionth of a cent on the dollar. According to experts, his dilemma consisted of a very complex series of paper debts tied to international gold and oil certificates. He owed local investors only about a million dollars, but when he had to list all the authorized issues of certificates in his bankruptcy petition he was in the red more than 613 billion dollars. Now that is debt. When it comes to what we owe God, we are in worse shape than even that Utah businessman. It is for that reason in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew we ask for forgiveness of our debts. The word there is a financial term, because that is what we owe to God. Sin is pictured as a debt. And in the Jubilee, all the debts are forgiven. God forgives to set us free. Isaiah refers to the Jubilee in chapter 61: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed." I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. Jesus, at the inauguration of His ministry, reads this passage (Luke 4:14-21) and pronounces that it has been fulfilled even as they heard Him read it. In a short time, Jesus, as the scapegoat for our sins, would be lead outside the city walls, having our sin placed on Him, so that we could go free. The trumpet blast of the Resurrection would proclaim to one and all that we are now living in the year of Jubilee. Out of our redemption, Jesus dying in our place, taking on our sin, we find our greatest liberty; there we find our ultimate and final rest. The inheritance lost by our forefather, Adam, is returned to us, as we are adopted into God’s family. The Sabbath rest spoken of in Hebrews 4 is ours today. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:9-11 We can cease the work we so often fall back on in trying to win God’s approval and our sanity. We no longer have to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love, for God guaranteed His favor would forever be on you when Christ died in your place. If you are in Christ, the battle is over. It is in this rest that we find our greatest freedom. We think freedom means the ability to act and to do, to be free from all constraints. But in the Bible, freedom to act flows from being purchased by God. We are freed from the slavery of our own sin, from the entrapment of the tyrant we call “self.” Because of what Christ has done, we are now free. This is what Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." If you have felt the weight of your own sin, the dissatisfaction of your own failures before God and others, Christ has by the Cross and Resurrection destroyed that guilt, has removed that indebtedness you owe to God. There is not a greater pronouncement I can make to you this morning than to tell you that you are free in Christ. What does God demand of you? To believe that simple truth. All He calls you to do is to admit the debt you owe, the subjugation of yourself to yourself and look to Christ as your only hope. Our liberty has been proclaimed not by a bell in Philadelphia, but by the Resurrection itself. Our captivity to sin has ended. Because of Christ we are no longer slaves to sin but now slaves to righteousness. The indebtedness begun by Adam, increased beyond any hope by our own sinfulness has been removed at the Cross. In its place another has taken on our sin and covers us with His own righteousness. Our enslavement to the tyranny of self is over. We have been freed to serve now, as sons and daughters of the living God. We are now called to live in that freedom, to leave here knowing our position in Christ is secure, to rest in that truth and live in light of it. |
