The selling price and the amount of the refund for redemption was to be calculated according to the number of years relative to the jubilee (vv. 50-53). This signifies that our release from slavery is related to and based on God’s grace.
The jubilee involves the matters of selling and buying. We may sell our property and even ourselves, yet have the intention of redeeming what we have sold, either our property or ourselves. This is altogether related to God’s grace because eventually we realize that we are unable to do anything about our situation. Since we cannot redeem our possession or ourselves, we must leave the matter of redemption to the jubilee. Hence, we all need to learn that we live by grace. We cannot redeem either our possession or ourselves. Redemption depends absolutely on God’s grace.
“And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him” (v. 54). This signifies that we can be released from our slavery wholly by the grace of God. We do not need any other means.
The one who did not have any means to redeem himself was in a helpless situation until the year of jubilee, the time when he was released. This indicates that for our redemption we do not need any means other than the grace of God. However, every human being likes to try to find a means, a way, to be released, but often the circumstances arranged by God do not allow us to do anything for ourselves. Thus, we have to remain in our helpless situation until the jubilee, the grace, comes to us. Then we shall be fully released from our slavery.
In Leviticus 25 the land typifies Christ, and Christ told us that He would build the church upon Himself (Matt. 16:18). The houses built on the land and within the walled cities typify the church built upon Christ.
Now we need to see that the enjoyment of Christ is based on the principle of grace, whereas the enjoyment of the church life is based on the principle of righteousness. In Hebrews 5:13 we have the expression “the word of righteousness.” The book of Hebrews deals with the enjoyment of the church life, and most of what is written in this book is the word of righteousness. This indicates that the enjoyment of the church life is according to the principle of righteousness. Because this enjoyment is of righteousness, there is a statute of limitations. If we keep this statute, we shall have the enjoyment of the church life in this age and also in the coming age. We need to be careful about this matter.
According to Leviticus 25, there were houses in the land that were not in walled cities. We interpret these houses as signifying free groups. In one sense it is not good to be in a free group. In another sense there is an advantage to being in a free group, and the advantage is that in a free group it is not easy to lose our right to enjoy the church life.
In type, Leviticus 25 shows us three kinds of Christians: those who remain in the church life, those who lose the church life, and those who are in the free groups. We should be those who stay in the church life.
In this portion of Leviticus concerning the jubilee we have seen the enjoyment of Christ, the enjoyment of the church life, and the matter of the proper relationship with the saints. According to my experiences, the easiest of these three to have is the enjoyment of Christ. It is not as easy to enjoy the church life as it is to enjoy Christ. The hardest of these is to have the proper relationship with our fellow saints. This is a matter of utmost concern, for it touches our motive, our spirit, our attitude, and our words.
When we are living in the church life, we need others. This is indicated in verse 35 by the words “that he may live with you.” We need the saints to live with us. If we do not have any saints living with us, we do not have the church life.
The church life does not depend only on our loving the Lord or on our loving the church life; the church life depends especially on our care for the other saints. We need to take care of the saints in a good way, and this care involves our motive, our spirit, our attitude, and our words. In contacting the saints, we may be wrong in our motive, attitude, and spirit, and our words may not be altogether according to the leading of the Lord. I can testify that much of my daily confession to the Lord concerns my motive, spirit, attitude, and words in relation to the saints.
If the Body of Christ is to be built up, we need to live with other saints and they need to live with us. If we cannot live together with the saints, there will be no church life, and if there is no church life, there cannot be the building up of the Body of Christ.
Jubilee is not just a matter of shouting, release, recovery, and restoration, for in the last section of Leviticus 25 there are three tests. These three tests are loving the Lord, loving the church life, and caring for our fellow saints. How do you live with the saints, with your “church mates”? How do you help them to live with you? How can we maintain a situation in which we live together as church mates? This depends on our way of keeping our fellowship and our relationship with them, and it depends on our motive, our spirit, our attitude, and our words. We need a pure motive, a pure and perfect spirit, and a right attitude with the right utterance. This will not only help, edify, and build up the saints; it will also spontaneously build up the Body of Christ. When the Body of Christ comes into existence in a practical way, then the jubilee will be among us.
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