What does the Sabbath mean to you and I? In Leviticus 35:1-55 we see God laying out the rules for the Sabbath and the year of Jubilee. These special times called for special behavior: God's people were to stop their usual labor, change their normal routines, and alter their routines. Let's consider how we as leaders can learn from these Sabbaths:
1. The people had a time of rest. Lev. 25:5 'Your harvest's aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year.' These special times God set aside for the land to rest and the people's lives.
2. This gave people a chance for redemption. Lev. 25:10 "Set apart the fiftieth year as holy, and proclaim liberty to everyone living in the land. This is your jubilee year. Every slave will be freed in order to return to his property and to his family." Every Israelite could return to their ancestors lands and redeem them just as God did with them.
3. There was time given to reflect. Lev. 25:12 "The jubilee year will be holy to you. You will eat what the field itself produces." It was a gift from God, meant to be holy.
4. It gave time for repair and reward. Lev. 25:18-19 "Obey my laws, and carefully follow my rules. Then you will live securely in the land. The land will give you its products, and you will eat all you want and live there securely." As a reward for following in God's will God would supply them with food and time to sharpen their ax.
5. There became time for relationships. Lev. 25:35-46 Everyone was to put people first over any material gains.
6. There would be time to refocus. Lev. 25:55 "The Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God." God reminds us that we are His and that He is our Lord.
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