Preschool
Behold the Lamb of God. John 1:29
The Acceptable Year
Memory Verses
Primary
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29
Junior
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29
Background Scripture: Leviticus 25
Lesson Scripture: Leviticus 25:1-4, 8-15; Luke 4:16-21
Introduction
This lesson is a call to salvation, a call to bring every need, great or small, to the Great Physician. Though it may seem that the forces of evil are pressing in on every hand, let us not despair and think that there is no hope. Today is the acceptable day to find freedom. Good tidings are being preached, the arm of the Lord is not shortened, Jesus still saves to the uttermost and sets captives free. May this lesson inspire, uplift, and provide courage to the way worn traveler.
Key Verse
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Cor. 6:2).
Lesson Scripture
Leviticus 25:1 And the Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
11 A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which growth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another:
15 According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Studying the Lesson
The Year of Jubilee was a practice instituted by God to foreshadow the great deliverance He designed in the eternal rest we have in Christ. It is doubtful that the children of Israel could comprehend the full significance of this practice. The plan of salvation was already prefigured in the Sabbath that God instituted at creation, and now the Jubilee prefigures the spiritual rest found in Christ both in this life and in eternity.
It would appear by carefully reading the background scripture that in the seventh year they could neither gather nor reap that which grew. God promised to bless the sixth year so it would bring forth fruit adequate for sustenance until the harvest of the eighth year (Lev. 25:22).
It must have taken faith to believe in what God instituted for the seventh year. One wonders what the people did in that year. The sixth year must have been a very busy year of harvesting and storing in preparation until the harvest of the eighth year. Most of us in our busy lives can only imagine a sabbatical year with the contrast between the sixth year and the seventh. Did the Lord institute the year of Sabbath only for the land or also for spiritual restoration? The background text does not speak of their livestock, so we assume that they cared for them and that the provision they provided was essential to the welfare of the people.
The Year of Jubilee was the culmination of seven Sabbaths in one great fiftieth year of release. This fiftieth year seems to be slightly different, in that they could eat that which they gathered directly out of the field, but they were not to gather into the storehouses what they had gleaned. Jewish bondservants were released, and all land was returned to its original owners.
The fiftieth year was a year many looked forward to with great anticipation. Those who, because of misfortune, were either in servitude or had lost their property had much to gain. Perhaps we can relate to them when we long for salvation, or seek a release from trials, struggles, and temptations, or we desire to be at home with Christ. A certain sense of bondage to the beggarly elements of earth and its attending stresses keeps us aware of the fact that this world is not our home; we are seeking an eternal rest.
Some commentators feel that the portion of scripture that Jesus read in Isaiah was not of His choosing, but rather it was appointed to be read on that day. If so, it was all in the providence of God. It would have been understood that the acceptable year of the Lord was the year of the Jubilee, the year of release. Jesus told them that “this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
The long, eagerly anticipated event was heralded to none other than His own countrymen. It must have come as a profound shock to them, and they wondered at His gracious words. Faith was needed for those men to accept Jesus and His great plan of deliverance. This is still the great need of our day.
Practical Truths for Today
Jesus came to deliver the captives, heal the brokenhearted, give sight to the blind, and liberate the bruised. Is not this the need of our day? Poor mental health, physical diseases, and a dearth of spirituality are the afflictions of mankind. Among those who are afflicted are those who are offended. Who is more bruised in soul and spirit than those who are offended at God, the church, or their fellowmen? With some people, these offenses are years old and complicated; nevertheless, we live in the acceptable year of the Lord to be set free.
The opportunities to enjoy a sabbatical moment can be missed by attending to the seemingly endless demands for work and social activity. Do we ever find the time to “steal awhile away from every cumbering care”? 1 Is the desire for the things we think we must have infringing on our spiritual relationship with God and making us unfruitful?
God created us with a deep inner need for communion with Him, and He wants to fill that need. Those who have not found rest in Christ have an insatiable desire for the world with its money, pleasure, and entertainment. As Christians, we may also reach for things that we think would make us happy, things that often seem just beyond our grasp. If so, this could indicate a spiritual need. Perhaps we need a Sabbath year more than we realize. Let us turn to God and let Him administer oil and wine to any affliction that hinders our relationship with Him.
This lesson is about hope and restoration, and those who are yearning for more meaning in life can call upon Him—He is near. Power over the flesh, liberty from the entanglements of this world, and freedom to love God and our fellowman is found in the resurrected life of Christ. He will deliver us at the foot of the cross. Jesus showed us the way to the cross by going through Gethsemane. Though He is the Son of God, yet He learned obedience by the things that He suffered.
When we consider the broken body of Christ and the blood that was poured out for us, it inspires us to give ourselves wholeheartedly to Him, and let Him be the King of our lives. In a spiritual sense we are experiencing the Year of Jubilee when we find rest for our souls in Christ.
Questions
- Is there value in a Christian taking a sabbatical from his work?
- Does the rest we have in Christ take the place of the Old Testament Sabbath?
- Is the turmoil in the world an indication that we are in the end times?
- What are the old paths that the children of Israel were admonished to seek? (Jer. 6:16).
- 1 Phoebe H. Brown (1783-1861), “I Love to Steal Awile Away”
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Source: COGICM Daily Bible Readings (Daily Bible Readings, PO Box 124, Glenn, CA 95943).