The year of Jubilee

Q: What does the Bible say about the year of Jubilee?

The year of Jubilee, described in Leviticus 25, signifies a time of liberation and restoration for the Israelites. The year of Jubilee, as stated in Leviticus 25, occurs every 50 years and serves as a divinely instituted period during which the Israelites would return to their families and reclaim their ancestral lands. This was significant as it not only represented a physical return of property but also a spiritual restoration of God's people back to their rightful inheritance and relationship with Him. This Jubilee was proclaimed on the Day of Atonement, highlighting its connection to the theme of redemption and restoration through Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus declares the fulfillment of the year of Jubilee in Luke 4, where He reads from Isaiah 61, proclaiming liberty to the captives and healing to the broken-hearted. This shows that the year of Jubilee is not merely an Old Testament institution but a foreshadowing of the broader spiritual liberty that Christ grants to all who believe in Him. Through His sacrificial death and resurrection, Christ ensures that the captives of sin are set free, reflecting the true essence of what Jubilee represents—the restoration of God’s people.

Q: How do we know that the year of Jubilee was important in Christian theology?

The year of Jubilee is crucial in Christian theology as it foreshadows Christ's work of liberating sinners. The year of Jubilee holds significant theological importance as it symbolizes the ultimate liberation that Christ offers. In Leviticus, the proclamation of liberty served as a temporal foreshadowing of the eternal freedom that Christ secured through His death and resurrection. When Jesus reads from Isaiah in Luke 4, He identifies Himself as the fulfillment of that jubilee, emphasizing that He comes to bring spiritual liberty to the captives and restoration to the broken-hearted. This theological vision adds depth to our understanding of God’s plan for redemption. The Jubilee not only highlights God's concern for justice and equity in the physical realm but also points to the spiritual realities of sin, guilt, and reconciliation. In recognizing our spiritual poverty and need for redemption, believers see that the Jubilee is both a historical event and a profound picture of the continual restorative work of Christ in the life of every believer.

Q: Why is the concept of liberty important for Christians?

Liberty is pivotal for Christians as it signifies freedom from sin and restoration to God through Christ. The concept of liberty is fundamental to the Christian faith as it embodies the freedom that believers receive through the work of Jesus Christ. The year of Jubilee, with its proclamation of liberty, serves as an archetype for Christians, illustrating how Christ's atoning sacrifice frees us from the bondage of sin and the consequences that stem from it. As described in Luke 4, Jesus came to announce liberty to the captives, fulfilling the deepest longings of human hearts trapped in sin and despair. For Christians, understanding liberty means recognizing that it is not merely about external circumstances but an internal transformation that reconciles us with God. This liberty allows believers to experience the joy and peace that flow from being restored to a right relationship with God, assured that their inheritance in Christ is secure. As we celebrate this liberty, we proclaim the Gospel that invites others to experience this profound freedom and reconciliation.

Let's read together two portions. The first you'll find in Leviticus chapter 25. Leviticus chapter 25 and then in the New Testament. Here, as the Lord helps me this evening, I'd like to speak to you on another feast, as it were, or another institution that God gave in Leviticus, and that was the year of Jubilee, the 50th year of Jubilee, and how that fitted in, and it was proclaimed on the very day, or the end of the day of the atonement. and how that is a precious picture of that liberty and which Christ ultimately was the fulfilment of. Leviticus chapter 25. And the Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.

Six years shalt thou sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed. For it is a year of rest unto the land.

And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you, for thee, for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee. And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in the land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years. And the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. And thou shalt cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you And ye shall return every man unto his possession. And ye shall return every man unto his family.

And I want to turn to the New Testament, to Luke's Gospel, chapter four. And here we come to the beginning of Christ's ministry. And he begins by reading God's word in the synagogue at Nazareth. That's Luke chapter 4 and verse 16 we begin. And the Lord Jesus reads from Isaiah 61. and this I believe is clearly the fulfillment of this spiritually of what the year of jubilee was naturally to Israel and we want to look at it both naturally and spiritually. Luke chapter 4 verse 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, so this is Luke 4 verse 16, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 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 recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.' And he closed the book and gave it back to the minister 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. And all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

And he said unto them, Ye shall surely say unto me, This proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever ye have heard done in Capernaum, do ye also hear in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you a truth.

Many widows were in Israel in the time of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

But he passing through the midst of them went his way. I'll leave the reading of God's word there. So, as the Lord helps, we have this precious subject of the Jubilee before us this evening, this seven sevens plus one. We had this with Pentecost on the Lord's Day, thinking of those seven Sabbaths and then plus one and that was the Pentecost.

And here, there was this every 50th year. It wasn't a yearly thing, this was every 50th year. So in the life of a normal Israelite, perhaps they would only see one or two of these jubilees in their life. But you see, this jubilee was a proclamation that there would be liberty throughout the land.

And all those that had come into debt, all those that had to sell their land because they'd run out of money, all those that had come into difficulties, those who had to sell themselves into slavery because they didn't have enough food or ability to look after themselves. In that year of Jubilee, when that trumpet sounded, then they were free to return, as we read in this 10th verse, and ye shall hallow the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man to his family. So this was a returning of those who had lost we think of this spiritually how by nature we have lost that inheritance in heaven in Adam in the fall we have lost that relationship with God and yet you see this jubilee year was a restoration. There would be some farmers in in Israel that were very diligent and very good and very prosperous and they would be able to buy up land that came, as it were, occupied because people couldn't afford to look after it, a bit like Elimelech when he left Israel to go to Moab. But you see, in the 50th year, that richer Israelite wouldn't be able to keep all those things for themselves, they'd have to go back to their original inheritance. And so when that jubilee trumpet sounded For some, it was a wonderful sound. It was liberty. It was returning to the inheritance.

For some, I'm sure there were some godly, richer Israelites like Boaz or something like that who would have rejoiced that would have returned. His attitude and his behavior with Ruth that he would build up in the name of Elimelech rather than his own name. He showed that very unselfish spirit. Boaz would have rejoiced in this.

But there would have been some, and we read of it in Jeremiah 34, how that when there was liberty proclaimed at one point, they proclaimed liberty and then they grabbed the servants back. They didn't want to lose them. And so those that were building up their empire here below, they weren't that keen on this year of jubilee because they lost what they had built up, as it were, in excess. And so for them, it was not such a good sound. and so it depending on where you were if you were those that were poor and needy and and come short and then it was uh precious where whereas if you were rich as it were increased with goods and had needed nothing it was not so precious in fact it was a negative and so the preaching of the gospel we read that the poor uh the it's preached unto the poor and they gladly received it they needed it And so here we have a picture of the gospel, the sound of the trumpet on the great day of atonement, the day when reconciliation, the blood was taken into the before the mercy seat that as we looked at on Sunday, that that great day of atonement on the seventh month of the 10th day of the month. every 50 years on that day there would be this sound of the trumpet sounded and there would be liberation proclaimed and that was the natural picture.

But as Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 61, those beautiful words, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and this is taken up by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in that chapter that we read, or part of the chapter of Luke 4. And this was right at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. He just in this same chapter He'd just been, well in the previous chapter, just been baptized and then he was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He'd just come into the beginning of his public ministry. He'd just come and then he says, this, the preach, the acceptable year of the Lord. and the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He reads this in verse 18 of Luke 4. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

Not the rich. Now this is not talking about the value in your bank account. To be poor, spiritually, is not to be able to make ends meet before God. To recognise our poverty. Blessed are the poor in spirit. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. There was that poverty, that realisation that they couldn't get a bit right with God themselves, they needed God's mercy. And you see, they felt their poverty, they felt their far offness, they felt that they'd lost, you see, by their sin, that inheritance.

And the day of Jubilee, you see, as the trumpet sounded on that atonement day, it was that they could return every man to his inheritance. and every man to his family, those that were off, had been taken off into, sold as servants or slaves, they were set at liberty and could return. Yes, this was an earthly picture and it did rely on the integrity and the honesty and the obedience of others to execute this. And if they didn't do it right, then there wouldn't have been liberty. But you see, this was foreshadowing something much greater. The Lord Jesus Christ, who indeed was going to proclaim liberty to the captives spiritually, and he would never be unjust. He would never proclaim liberty and then take them back into slavery. And as God's people, you see, as we come into that time of liberty after appreciating the atonement, and then we know something of that liberty that there is in Christ.

And the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Many years ago, when I'd just been baptised myself, and this was spoken of, it was very precious to me, to see the beauty of the preaching of the Gospel. 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, You see, it was for the broken-hearted, those that felt that they'd lost everything, to be able to know that there was a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. This is the message of the Gospel. And as we realise the atonement has been satisfied, or our sins have been taken in that scapegoat as far as the East is from the West, there is now liberty. There is now liberty with God. to set the deliverance to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Oh this was the beginning and Jesus says to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Well and we read that all bear witness and wonder the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth and yet when he speaks of the sovereignty of God that God blessed actually people that were not part of Israel, the woman of Serepta, and also Naaman the Syrian was blessed and many lepers in Israel were not blessed. The sovereignty of God, that it was not just you, this blessing was not just only for the Jews, this was, this had a wider sphere.

And then suddenly, instead of embracing this one who had preached liberty, they wanted to do away with him. And here we see the one that was preaching liberty that he himself would bring. He himself would bring that liberty and as they took him out to the brow of the hill to kill him, oh it was not yet his time and he passing through the midst went his way. But This was how the liberty actually was going to be accomplished by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

He proclaimed this acceptable year of the Lord. He proclaimed liberty. And yet this was not down to the obedience of some richer farmer to acknowledge that. It was he was going to satisfy himself. he was going to satisfy the requirements himself. He was going to stand in the place of those poor, those needy, those broken hearted. And therefore his proclamation of liberty cannot be overturned.

And so as we see this picture that actually as he announced that this day is it fulfilled and yet really it wasn't received at that time. really they rejected him, they didn't want this man to reign over him, and indeed that rejection was the very means that God used to bring about this liberty. You see the liberty was the death, required the death of Christ, and in this rejection of Christ, this was how the liberty was going to be set, come about. such a strange method and such a beautiful method in a way. Like Joseph, ye meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God was going to use this rejection to actually bring about his purposes of mercy to his church.

And this theme of the jubilee. Think of our chapel coming up to 150 years, three jubilees as it were. That's how long apart the Jubilees were, it's a long time. But this was a time, to start with, as he began preaching, it was rejected. But as we looked out on Sunday, Pentecost, another 50, 50 days, but this was 50 weeks, 50 years, sorry.

But Pentecost, there was ascending forth of the Spirit. And then there was really what was happening here, really fulfilled. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. They were pricked in their heart. Men and brethren, what must we do? They were brokenhearted. Repent and be baptised. And the message was that there was a way back. And this was a fulfilment, and of course Pentecost was but the beginning of it.

But this is the acceptable year of the Lord. We don't read of it actually, although we read of it being instituted in Leviticus 25, we don't read of it actually specifically being kept in the Word of God. But ultimately The jubilee was Christ. Christ was the jubilee. Christ was the one that was going to give the liberty.

And in the gospel trumpet, as we preach the everlasting gospel, it was because of what Christ did that there is a gospel to be preached. It's because of he satisfied the law, made it honorable, and was able to give, you see, this recovery of sight to the blind.

And so there's these beautiful words, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A realisation there that the inheritance could not be lost.

God's people, you see, God has reserved a place for you in heaven, a reservation. all these other farmers could the rich ones could take more and more of the land for themselves if it was left to themselves but no in this year of jubilee it had to go back that because the land is mine God says it's not yours it's mine and I give it and so each of the Lord's people have that possession in Christ that they cannot lose And though they seem to lose the title to it, or the title seems to become difficult as they come into difficulties, yet in that year of Jubilee, there was a return. Way back to God. And Yeshua returned everyone to his family. those that were far off from God, those that are, they then come back, you see, adopted into the family of God, brought back into that family of God, whose father fills the throne. another one of those institutions God gave to Moses, but pointing forward to Christ, his work, the joy, the joy that there was at Pentecost, and the coming of the Spirit, and as we gather now for prayer, that we might pray for that spirit to work in each of our hearts that we might know that jubilee there may be that proclamation of the gospel you see in a sense when that jubilee trumpet sounded every israelite would hear but it would mean something different to the different israelites it was those that were really in poverty those that are really broken-hearted those that really were in slavery and feeling it they were the ones that it really would make their heart leap and you see we by nature are slaves to sin, slaves to lust, and we need to be brought back into that liberty of the Gospel.

Well, may these few thoughts be precious as we think of the Jubilee. We think of that Jubilee year, that precious time, all started on the great day of atonement.

And as Christ pronounced the beginning of it, and yet he had not yet suffered, he had not yet died, he had not yet entered into the holiest, he had not done those things. But when he had done them all, when he had gone up into glory, when he had sent forth his spirit, then there was, as it were, the realization of the application of all that he had done. And so that this fulfillment of it would truly come to pass and did come to pass. But that was the beginning. That was the first fruits. And there is an ongoing harvest to the end of time. to be gathered in to this feast, this celebration, to celebrate what Christ has done for his people. May the Lord add his blessing.

The year of Jubilee

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the year of Jubilee?

How do we know that the year of Jubilee was important in Christian theology?

Why is the concept of liberty important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

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The year of Jubilee

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the year of Jubilee?

How do we know that the year of Jubilee was important in Christian theology?

Why is the concept of liberty important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Hayden

Comments

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