In Leviticus we learn the point of the Jubilee. It’s purpose is so the people and land of Israel remain the Lord’s.

Every seven years the land is to have a Sabbath. This is the land of Israel only. No other land gets this attention from God.

The Israelites at this point aren’t even in the Promised Land. They are being told that when they are in the land, they are to give it a rest.

This isn’t just a good agricultural practice; it’s a time of remembering the land belongs to the Lord.

If one of them becomes poor and hires himself out as a servant, they are to be released on the Jubilee because they are servants of the Lord.

Jubilee is a release and restoration, but it’s also a set time of turning back to the Lord, of remembering whose we are and where we belong.

Our gathering together with other believers should have the same impact. Every worship service can be a jubilee service.

It should be a time of remembering whose we are and where we belong.

We are citizens of heaven and members of the body of Christ. We are just sojourners on this earth. We are just passing through.

As grafted in Israelites, we are inheritors of the land of Israel. We should care what happens to it. It’s our homeland. It’s God’s land, the land He blessed to provide for His people.

When the Israelites ignore this Sabbath command of resting the land, they are removed from the land. The Lord forced the rest on the land. He was going to fulfill the command and give the land its Sabbath rest.

Tribulation in the Christian’s life is a forced Sabbath, you could say. The Lord wants us to know Him as our salvation, our provider, our protector, our help in time of need.

When we are forgetting Him and relying on our own strength, He can lovingly come to our aid and allow tribulation to force that Sabbath rest on us, where we have to rely on Him to save us.

Tribulation is God’s loving push to encourage His people to live in that place of Sabbath rest, where we know He is our only source of life.