DAY 56 Read Leviticus 24 and 25.
Today's reading tells of a time in ancient Israel when everything was to be made right, a time for freeing slaves and restoring property--a year of jubilee.
Memory gem: "Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God" (Leviticus 25:17).
Thought for today:
It was for liberty of conscience that God brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, where Pharaoh himself had said, "Who is the Lord?...I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go" (Exodus 5:2).
It was from a godless tyranny that a nation of slaves was delivered "through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm" (Deuteronomy 5:15). No wonder God instructed their leader, Moses that when they reached the Promised Land, they must continually revive the knowledge and the fact of freedom. A least once every fifty years there was to be a national rejoicing because of these great principles, and a rededication to them.
It is significant that the famous Liberty Bell--which rang for the inauguration of American civil and religious liberty, but was cast in Britain years before--has inscribed upon it the command given to Israel over 3000 years ago: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10).
Certainly every Christian should proclaim liberty, religious liberty. So should every ruler of the people all over the earth.
Some people are ready to proclaim liberty for themselves, but not for others. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick reminds us that there was once a famous actress, Charlotte Cushman, who used to greet her friends at her Newport villa by saying: "This is Liberty Hall. Everyone does as I please."
There were some people who came to America when it was a wilderness to seek religious liberty for themselves, but not for others. Someone has facetiously said that when they landed on the shores of Massachusetts, they first fell on their knees and then fell on the aborigines. They found freedom for themselves in the wilderness, but when Quakers, Baptists, and others came to preach and practice the truth as they saw it, they were persecuted. True religious liberty is a religious liberty for all.
Today's reading tells of a time in ancient Israel when everything was to be made right, a time for freeing slaves and restoring property--a year of jubilee.
Memory gem: "Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God" (Leviticus 25:17).
Thought for today:
It was for liberty of conscience that God brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, where Pharaoh himself had said, "Who is the Lord?...I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go" (Exodus 5:2).
It was from a godless tyranny that a nation of slaves was delivered "through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm" (Deuteronomy 5:15). No wonder God instructed their leader, Moses that when they reached the Promised Land, they must continually revive the knowledge and the fact of freedom. A least once every fifty years there was to be a national rejoicing because of these great principles, and a rededication to them.
It is significant that the famous Liberty Bell--which rang for the inauguration of American civil and religious liberty, but was cast in Britain years before--has inscribed upon it the command given to Israel over 3000 years ago: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10).
Certainly every Christian should proclaim liberty, religious liberty. So should every ruler of the people all over the earth.
Some people are ready to proclaim liberty for themselves, but not for others. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick reminds us that there was once a famous actress, Charlotte Cushman, who used to greet her friends at her Newport villa by saying: "This is Liberty Hall. Everyone does as I please."
There were some people who came to America when it was a wilderness to seek religious liberty for themselves, but not for others. Someone has facetiously said that when they landed on the shores of Massachusetts, they first fell on their knees and then fell on the aborigines. They found freedom for themselves in the wilderness, but when Quakers, Baptists, and others came to preach and practice the truth as they saw it, they were persecuted. True religious liberty is a religious liberty for all.
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