Just before we examine Leviticus chapter 26 in more detail, I want to show you how the Holy Spirit “wraps” this Portion of Scripture (all 46 verses) in an “envelope” of Material (chapter 25 and chapter 27) concerning Redemption!

The layout looks like this …

Leviticus 25 … Redemption!

Leviticus 26 … Obedience resulting in Blessings!

Leviticus 27 … Redemption!

This writing technique is called “inclusio.” The Bible Theme of “Redemption” here “sandwiches” the responsibility of the redeemed of God … specifically to OBEY HIM in every area of life!

If He has “saved” you … then “obey” him!

So today we are going to study the “blessings” outlined in Leviticus 26:1-12. They are orderly arranged.

First, blessings concerning crops … “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; THEN I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full …”

Wow, this is clearly “cause and effect!” If you OBEY … THEN I will BLESS, thus says the Lord! Abundance in the field!

Next God promises “peace” from war, conflict! “And (thou shalt) dwell in your land safely. And I will give PEACE in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your ENEMIES, and they shall fall before you by the SWORD. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

Remember Proverbs 16:7 … “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Here it is illustrated to the full!

Then next … God (to an obedient nation) pledges “to honor” Israel! “For I will have RESPECTRESENCE (literally in Hebrew, ‘turn My face’ in your direction, ‘smile’ upon you) unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.” This is Grace, the Favor of God resting upon a people!

And lastly, God’s very PRESENCE is promised! As back in the Garden of Eden, prior to the fall of man! “And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I WILL WALK AMONG YOU, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” Sounds like God is pleased when we obey Him, ultra pleased!

Yet, even with all this divine “incentive,” Israel often (far too often) disobeyed and reaped God’s chastening Hand … rather than His positive Blessings!

Much like us today, I’d say.

One more thought this morning. In the Old Testament God generally shared physical, material blessings. But … important for us all these days … in the New Testament He most often promises spiritual blessings!

As in Ephesians 2 where God has “quickened us together with Christ; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Dr. Harry Ironside years ago called this “living in the heavenlies!” As I said, spiritual blessings!

Actually Ephesians 1:3 says it more clearly: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in heavenly places in Christ.”

Amen!

Not that God has not blessed us in many, many ways. But primarily and most supremely in this Age of Grace … spiritual blessings indeed!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

None of those Old Testament saints enjoyed the Holy Spirit to the degree and in the same permanent way we do today, a good example! We ae living after Pentecost, folks!

SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS INDEED!

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Another classic Old Testament chapter … Leviticus 26.

It presents to Israel God’s Plan of spiritual development for the whole population!

And everything is based on OBEDIENCE, acquiescing to God’s Precepts, as outlined in Scripture, the Torah.

And if that obedience is violated, spurned, ignored … there will re repercussions!

This is sort of an “Obey Me or else” Portion of God’s Word.

Through the years I recall one Bible teacher who spotted in these 46 verses several “cycles of discipline” that God would bring upon His people. That is … if they erred in following His Ways, His Instructions. With each “cycle” (seems to me) becoming more severe than the previous one!

Tomorrow, the Lord willing,, we will begin a short journey through this enlightening Unit of the Bible.

By the way, even though we are studying Old Testament Law and the Jews … the same principle still applies to us Believers in this Age of Grace!

If we disobey the Lord, He still will “chasten us,” for our own good, our benefit and for His Glory!

Part of Revelation 3:19 … “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore.” With the Lord Jesus Himself speaking!

Wow!

Leviticus 26, sounds important!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

More tomorrow, the Lord willing.

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God loves the whole world. So says the first Bible Verse most of us ever learned, John 3:16.

And God’s love does not exclude anyone, particularly the people no one else seems to appreciate. Especially the “poor.”

While Matthew’s account of Jesus’ first beatitude says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” … Luke’s rendering of that beautiful Line is as follows: “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, BLESSED ARE YE POOR: for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 5:5 and Luke 6:20)

Wow, in Luke it is just “blessed are the POOR!”

And our Lord’s Ministry always considered the poor. (Actually at times He was rather rough on the wealthy! As in Matthew 19:23 … “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus’ half-brother James was that way too. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” True, these wealthy people were hoarding their riches and mistreating the poor … but still James was scathing! (James 5:1-3)

So unsurprisingly, Leviticus chapter 25 does not overlook this class of people, the “poor.”

Here we learn the Law, the Provision, of what’s come to be called the “Kinsman Redeemer.”

Basically it means that a loving (and financially able) relative could “buy back” for a displaced poor person (a cousin, say) any property he had lost. Or, being financially secure, he (the kind “redeemer”) could “pay” to set that loved one “free,” had Uncle Lazarus (just an illustration) become a “servant” (essentially a slave) to some lender. This Lazarus fervently (sometimes nearly hopelessly) working for that man/owner, to repay his obligation, indebtedness.

Wow!

To be a little more specific …

In Leviticus 25, verses 25-28 … the poor man’s LAND could be re-purchased for him. By the Kinsman Redeemer, if he had one.

In verses 29-34 his HOUSE could be so repurchased. (What joy! To have someone who loves you so much that he willingly buys back your home, lost due to some kind of financial duress.)

Then in verses 35-55 (to chapter’s end) the poor man HIMSELF could be set free from bondage (at a price, often hefty) from his master. (Proverbs 22:7 warns … “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”)

Probably the best Bible example of this Kinsman Redeemer Concept is found in the Book of Ruth. Where a man named Boaz was just that, a Redeemer to a little foreign Moabitess named Ruth. Who through her husband’s death had lost “everything.” She indeed was destitute! But Boaz (1. Related to her, 2. Very wealthy, and 3. Willing, even eager to help, in fact in love with her!) stepped in and redeemed everything that Naomi’s and Ruth’s family had lost. What a beautiful story!

But let me even say more. Hallelujah! Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer … to those of us who have been saved!

We who had lost everything! Being spiritually bankrupt! Facing dire penalties! But SOMEONE (John 3:16 again) loved us, became our Relative (via the Virgin Birth, God made flesh), and paid all our indebtedness (via His precious Blood at Calvary), and has restored all we lost (Salvation full and free) … all we lost, then a whole lot more!

Yes, Jesus was fully qualified to be the “REDEEMER!”

Psalm 19:14, a brief prayer, acknowledges this glorious fact. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my REDEEMER.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Every fiftieth year in Israel’s chronology (her long-term calendar) … God’s people were to observe a special time of “Jubilee.” (Yes, really twelve full months!)

The land must rest!

And any “leased” land must revert to its original owner!

When this idea (Law of God) is instituted, the rich can’t get richer and the poor become poorer! Not for long, anyway. The financial playing field is leveled every fifty years! (God is quite the Economist!)

I am sure by now someone is wondering … “What’s all this got to do with JESUS?” As the Lesson Title suggests.

It centers on His first Sermon, recorded in Luke chapter 4. We know His Text for that Occasion, too! He may have personally selected it, or it may have been the ” Scripture Reading” for that particular Sabbath Day.

Here’s Luke’s Account … “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.” Luke 4:16, notice that Jesus “customarily” went to the synagogue! Like we should “customarily” go to God’s House as well.

He was asked by the ruler of the synagogue (a blended Greek term literally meaning “to come together”) … to read God’s Word and then (usually) time was given to offer comments on that Portion of God’s Word.

That Old Testament Selection … Isaiah 61:1-2, a part of verse 2 at least. Our Saviour stopped mid-verse there, for a reason. The Passage implies (no it declares) that when Messiah comes … the “Year of Jubilee” will be fulfilled! And Jesus is that Messiah!

Out of our Lord’s Mouth followed these Words, given to Isaiah given hundred years earlier … “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Beautiful, sublime!

The Year of Jubilee was designed by God especially to minister to the “meek,” to the “brokenhearted,” to the “captives,” and to the “bound!” Liberation!

Luke has it: “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 sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19, essentially the same as Isaiah, but watch the slight vocabulary variations! Still “Year of Jubilee” language, though.

Jesus, while on earth, lived His Life (and died His vicarious Death) … as a Living Manifestation of the “Year of Jubilee!”

That’s why we sing about His “setting the captives free!”

But how do we KNOW Jesus was thinking this way, His being very “Jubilee?” He said so, during that Sermon!

“And he (Jesus) closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister (ruler of the synagogue), and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, THIS DAY IS THIS SCRIPTURE FULFILLED IN YOUR EARS.”Wow, Luke 4:20-21.

Jesus … Jubilee!

Another song now, “He set me free!”

Then a Hebrew word, “HALLELUJAH!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

When Jesus comes again to this earth, to reign a thousand years, He will institute the Year of Jubilee officially, personally. But this one will last a millennium, not just a few months! (No fighting over Land, then!)

“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20

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The LAND that each Israelite would be given (once they had conquered Canaan) was to remain in his possession perpetually. It was a tribal (family) inheritance. Yes, that held true for every Tribe but the Levites, who belonged to God and needed no land. (As the priestly tribe and the tribe who cared for the tabernacle and its accessories.)

Of course there were times when a Jewish man (due to what we’d call “bankruptcy” or some similar term) “lost” his land, or under duress “sold” his inheritance due to poverty!. (As did Elimelech in the Book of Ruth. Well, he actually moved away from his land, due to temporary famine. Allowing someone else to “claim” it. A sad situation indeed!

But even then … every fifty years … no matter who then lived on that land … it reverted to its original owner!

Bible Proof: “That (LAND) which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it UNTIL THE YEAR OF JUBILE: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he (the original ‘owner’) SHALL RETURN UNTO HIS POSSESSION.” Leviticus 25:28

God legislating the real estate market!

And what gives God the “Authority” to do that?

Well, He is Almighty God. None is over Him! He is absolutely supreme! Plus this too …

Leviticus 25:23 … “The land shall not be sold (only temporarily forfeited, lost due to poverty) for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.” God just said THE LAND IS MINE!

No wonder we call it “the Holy Land!”

And the precious Jews living there even today … are merely “leasees” of their property. Merely “strangers and sojourners” with the Lord being the true Proprietor!

The True land-LORD! (Smile, please.)

They argue (and fight) politically and regionally to this day … over whose land that is. A little Plot which on the map is marked “Israel.”

Answer: it is God’s property!

“FOR THE LAND IS MINE,” He thunders!

If the political bodies of the world would only read Leviticus 25! And believe it. And obey it, act on it.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

One could also make the case that God owns the whole earth! After all, He is the Creator! “The EARTH is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Psalm 24:1

We are just “guests!”

Peter may have had this Leviticus 25 idea in mind when he penned … “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as STRANGERS and PILGRIMS, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” 1 Peter 2:11

Wow!

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