Skip to content Leviticus 24-25: God's Call to Participate in His Work Mar 10 · 15 min ...more
Leviticus 24-25: God's Call to Participate in His Work
March 10, 2026 · 15 min
Explore the theme of joining together to keep God's light burning through oil offerings.
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Oil, Bread, and the Holiness of God's Name 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning as our journey takes us to Leviticus chapters 24 and 25. And I'm gonna tell you upfront, this is a remarkable passage of scripture. We could0:22 spend a week on this passage, but, unfortunately, we can't because we we have a schedule to keep on our journey. Verse 23 of chapter 25. The land shall not be sold permanently for the land is mine,0:34 for you are strangers and sojourners with me. Wow. That 1 verse stands, at odds with current world views and events. The land belongs to god. Alright. Chapter 240:45 starts with oil in the lamps and bread on the table. Verse 2. Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light to make the lamps burn continually.0:57 Okay. Let's stop with this and, explain what did the lampstand lampstand in the tabernacle symbolize? Well, it symbolize the god the light of of god's presence and that Israel1:09 was to be god's light to the nations. You know, from that symbolism we have in the the new covenant, Jesus as the light of the world. Now notice the Israelites were responsible for bringing1:21 pure oil, to keep the lights burning in the tabernacle right outside the holy of holies. Now you you would think, well, now was this a burden to the people? I1:33 mean, it it certainly was a responsibility, but it was also an opportunity, an opportunity to be a a part of what god was doing. It was a an invitation to the people to be a part of1:45 keeping the presence of the light of god's presence burning in the tabernacle. Now, certainly, god could have accomplished this a different way. The temple tax could have, the the tabernacle tax could1:57 have, been allocated for the oil. God could have kept the lamp miraculously burning as, the Jewish tradition says, happened during the time of the Maccabees. But2:09 here's the good news. He was inviting the people to be a part of keeping the light of his presence burning. I I think I've shared before, when my parents came2:20 to, to know Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, I was a young boy, and, we began going to church for the first time. It was a small church. It was a bible believing church, only 1 full time staff member. That was the2:31 pastor. He preached the word of God, and, it was led by the pastor in lay leadership. Everything from music to janitorial to youth, was all done by volunteers. And I remember our2:43 family being on the janitorial rotation, list and and how much fun our family, at least I had, how much fun we had cleaning the church. We were connected to that church. In fact, our2:55 lives revolved around that church community. Why? Because we were vested in it. You know, today, too many churches are structured so that the the pews are filled with3:06 spectators, not participants. The kingdom of god was not made for spectators. It was made for participants. And god is giving us a opportunity to be a part of what he's doing, and we see it right3:18 here in bringing the oil to keep the light of god's presence burning. Verse 5, and you shall make fine flour and bake 12 cakes with it. 2 tenths3:30 of an efa of, of shall be in each cake. You shall set them in 2 rows, 6 in a row, in pure gold on the pure gold table before the lord. Now these 12,3:43 loaves represented the 12 tribes that remained in the presence before the presence of the lord. Now verse 10. Drop down to verse 10. Now the son of an Israelite woman whose father was an Egyptian3:55 went out among the children of Israel, and this Israelite woman's son and man of Israel fought each other in the camp. Alright? We got trouble in the camp. And the Israelite woman's husband4:07 son blasphemed the name of the lord and cursed, and so they brought him to Moses. Now verse 13, and the lord spoke to Moses saying, take outside the camp him who4:19 has cursed and let all who hear who all who heard him lay their hands on his head and let all the congregation stone him. Then you shall speak to the children of Israel saying, whoever curses his god shall4:30 bear his sin. And whoever blasphemes the name of the lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The stranger as well as him who is born in the land, when he blasphemes the4:42 name of the lord, he shall be put to death. Now I mentioned previously that, there are only 2 historical, events that are recorded in the book of Leviticus. It's4:54 it's, you know, this is a book about worship, about the tabernacle. But there's the other event we read earlier was the death of, Nadab and Abihu for offering the profane fire, which5:06 was taking things of god lightly and not regarding god as holy. And here in chapter 24, we have the second account, which I believe is recorded for us because it it is another example of failing5:18 to regard god as holy. The son of this Israelite woman and an Egyptian man blasphemes god, and it results in god telling Moses to stone him. Now that sounds harsh,5:30 but that is the penalty of sin. Rejecting god is the ultimate blaspheming of god, and the result is eternal damnation. Now chapter, but but by5:42 god's grace through Jesus Christ, we can accept him and we can have forgiveness and we can have fellowship with him and eternal life, not eternal damnation. Now chapter 25 covers theSabbatical Rest and the Pattern of Seven 5:54 sabbatical year and the year of jubilee. The seventh year, the land was to to, to to to rest. No sowing, no pruning of the fields. And god had promised enough6:06 crop, enough of the crops in the sixth year to provide for 3 years. Now this benefited the land. It benefited them as well, but it was certainly an act of6:18 faith that kept them close to the lord. Look at verse 2, chapter 25. Speak to the children of Israel and say them, when you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the lord. 6 years,6:30 you you shall sow your field. In 6 years, you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit. But in the seventh year, there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land. A Sabbath6:42 to the Lord, you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest, you shall not reap nor gather the grapes of your unintended vine, for it is the6:54 year of rest for the land. And and that was to be used by the poor, the sojourners. They could get what was growing naturally. Alright. I I I wanna stop here for a7:05 moment. Take note of the significance of the number 7. 7 is the number of divine completion. It goes back to the beginning with with the creation week in Genesis7:17 chapters 1 and 2. God created in 6 days, and he rested on the seventh. He he's established a pattern. Now we were just talking about the lampstand, the or the menorah,7:30 7 branches, Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, 7 days. We're gonna get to this soon, the march around Jericho, 7 times, 7 trumpets, 7 days.7:42 In Revelation, 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls. You know, here in the book of Leviticus, the number of 7 is woven throughout. We've seen it before. Now there is a school of thought7:53 among Jewish and Christian scholars that the timeline of human history will follow the same pattern of sevens. 1 view, right, and I emphasize this is 1 view, a8:05 period of 6000 years followed by 1000 year period of Sabbath rest. Could those thousand years be the millennial reign of Christ? It could8:17 be. If that were the case, using the biblical timeline, calculated by James Usher, which many disagree with, not all agree with this, but if8:29 that were to be the case is that we're at about the 6000 year mark. In fact, 6030 years since creation. So to be totally clear, this is man's8:41 interpretation and its speculation. But the Bible because the Bible does not state this at all. However, God is very structured, and the pattern of 7 is very8:52 clear. We we've seen it many, many times, and we're gonna see it many more times. And I would just suggest that with all that is happening in the world right now, it is time to be ready, and it's time9:04 to act. We need to be in a proper relationship with the lord, and we need to spread the gospel as, as much as we possibly can. I do believe that time is short. Okay.Jubilee: Liberty, Restoration, and Economic Wisdom 9:16 Continuing, looking at verse 8, the year of jubilee, which came, every 50 years. Look at this. And you shall count 7 Sabbaths of years for yourself, 7 times 7 years, and the time9:28 of the 7 Sabbaths of the year shall be to you 49 years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the 20 on the tenth day of the seventh month on the day of atonement. You shall make the trumpet to9:39 sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall9:51 return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. By the way, does that sound familiar? It should because that's what's on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Very timely as10:03 we celebrate 250 years, 5 jubilees. Verse 11. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it, you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord10:15 nor gather the grapes of your unintended vine. For it is the jubilee. It shall be holy to you, and you shall eat its produce from the field. In this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.10:27 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress 1 another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the10:38 number of years crops he shall sell to you. Alright. The, the Sabbath here and the year of jubilee were both incredibly important to the nation.10:52 The verse I read at the beginning. The land belonged to the lord. And and so everything was based upon this jubilee, this 50 years. And so the land would go back to the original owner. So you bought the land11:04 based upon the price, the value of it during that 50 years. This was the open fields, something different for walled cities as we read in here. But think about this for a minute.11:17 First, they this was important to them because it was a faith building exercise. Okay? They were an agrarian society. They were told not to plant crops every seventh year and that11:29 for 2 years at the jubilee, they were not to plant with the promise that god would provide enough for them to carry them through. Now that was pretty significant. I mean, that kinda makes the words on our currency11:41 and god we trust seem a bit hollow in comparison. But here is the other aspect of these instructions that went beyond their spiritual allegiance and trust in god. It was an incredible11:52 economic relief valve for their economy. Now I am, I am by no means an economist, but I have basic understanding of economic principles, inflation, government budgeting. I've been involved in all of12:04 that. This kinda reminds me of my, my grandmother's canning of vegetables when I was a kid. You know, after we did all the necessary prep, she would put the jars into the pressure cooker. And12:16 when the pressure reached the max, it would trigger the pressure regulator, and you would hear this whistling throughout the entire house. Well, god provides a means to provide for12:28 an enduring economy by this it's a release. It's a pressure release every 50 years. This prevented the concentration of wealth. It provided economic relief from crushing12:40 debt, and it restored productive participation, in the economy by all. I mean, the the wisdom of god's design is absolutely amazing, and it's12:52 right here in his word. Now we have some laws that have actually followed these principles, our bankruptcy laws, very similar to this, a relief valve. But our founders understood the wisdom of scripture. And the13:04 more you dig into our history and you uncover, you know, kind of the the areas that have been covered up over the years as we've deviated, you see that our our our founders leaned on the wisdom13:16 and the principles of scripture. And by the way, I encourage you, if you've not seen the God in Government course that is available on the Stand Firm app, I teach through that, What the Bible says about government,13:28 what our history is, our Christian history as a nation, and practical application that's at the Stand Firm app, our God in government course. Alright. Let's pray. Father, thank you for,13:40 thank you for your word. It's it's it's amazing, lord, if we would just yield to your word and to the truth and the principles of your scripture. Lord, it's just it's it's amazing, but it takes it takes trust. We13:52 have to trust you. And so, father, I pray that as as on our money and god we trust, I pray that it would not just be, you know, these these hollow words. But,14:04 father, I pray that they would be genuine in our hearts, that we would trust you, that we would obey you. And, lord, I pray that your blessing would continue to be upon this nation. For we pray and ask this in Jesus'14:16 name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and until next time, keep standing on the word.14:25 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:36 can read through the entire bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Oil, Bread, and the Holiness of God's Name5:51 Sabbatical Rest and the Pattern of Seven9:15 Jubilee: Liberty, Restoration, and Economic Wisdom
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