The Jubilee Has Come

If you’ve ever read the book of Leviticus then you know that it is super easy to understand, has a lot of cute, quotable verses for the insta captions, and is pretty good for some light reading on a Tuesday afternoon… JUST KIDDING.

In most people’s experience, Leviticus is initially really confusing and strange and a lot of people don’t even really know why it’s in the Bible. I used to have a theory that it’s there as a weed-out book to see who is going to make it through reading the Bible cover to cover. Genesis and Exodus are usually pretty smooth sailing, but if you’re not determined to finish, things get rocky at Leviticus.

Thankfully, my theory is FALSE and the Lord doesn’t put weed-out books in the Bible. Leviticus actually has a lot of awesome spiritual significance.

The Old Testament Picture

This past year, Christian Students on Campus did a study on the book of Leviticus, and the Lord showed me so many incredible things through this often overlooked book. There is so much to be unpacked in the Old Testament that is more closely related to the New Testament than can be seen at face value. Actually, a lot of things in the Old Testament are meant to be a picture of a reality in the New Testament.

For example, one of the things that we studied that was most impactful to me is the Jubilee. In Leviticus 25, the year of Jubilee as a law is introduced; it happened every 50 years. So in the Old Testament law, every seventh year was a sabbath year. Just like the Sabbath day is a day of rest, the sabbath year is a year of rest. People weren’t supposed to work the land and such. After every seven sabbath years, so every 49 years, the 50th year was like an EPIC sabbath year. It was called the year of Jubilee.

Then you shall sound aloud the ram’s horn in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month; on the Day of Expiation you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. (Leviticus 25:9-10)

So for historical context, here is what was going on pre-Jubilee. After God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, they journeyed to the land of Canaan. When the Israelites entered Canaan (a.k.a the Promised land or the good land) they were each allotted a portion of the land. Some people were lazy and decided not to work their land, so they become poor and had to sell their portion. If that wasn’t bad enough, they still didn’t get it together and find some other kind of job to support themselves, so now their only option is to sell themselves as slaves to work the land that they lost.

Now imagine you are in this situation. You messed up BIG TIME. You lost your land, and your freedom, and you’re doomed to be a slave for the rest of your life. Maybe a few years have gone by and you’re still slaving away in the field. It’s hot, you’re tired, and you’ve lost track of how long it’s been since you’ve last seen your family. Then, you hear a faint sound in the distance. As it gets louder you begin to realize that it’s the sound of the ram’s horn. You hear the sound of trumpets and people shouting for joy. It’s that time—the Jubilee has come! The captives are released! It happens so fast that you barely have time to process. You’ve been freed! Not only does this mean you’re no longer a slave, but you also regain the land that you lost and you will be returned to your family.

Just like that, the captives went from having no freedom, no possessions, and no family, to being released, regaining their portion of the land, and being reunited with their family. It’s almost too good to be true. Now at this point you may be thinking, “Wow, that’s really fabulous for the Israelites thousands of years ago, and I’m really happy for them, but like… why is this relevant now?” Even if you weren’t wondering, I’m going to explain.

The New Testament Reality

The Jubilee shows up again in the Bible in Isaiah 61. This time, it is mentioned as a prophecy and not as a law like in Leviticus 25. Jesus quotes this prophecy in Luke 4 while teaching in a synagogue.

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. (Luke 4: 18-22)

Hello, what?! I would be marveling too if I was in that synagogue. Jesus’s coming fulfilled the prophecy. He IS the Jubilee. The law in Leviticus 25 and the prophecy in Isaiah 61 are talking about Christ!

Because Jesus came, the picture of the Jubilee that is painted for us in the Old Testament, is our reality today. We all were captives of Satan and slaves to sin once in our life. But Christ came as the Jubilee, and this changed everything.

What the Jubilee Involves

There are three main elements in the Jubilee that are significant to our experience:

The captives are released
They are returned to their possessions
They are returned to their families

This matches our experience.

Before believing the gospel, we were all captives of Satan and slaves to sin.

“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)

When we accepted Christ as our Lord and savior, we were released from our bondage and set free.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

Just as the Israelites were returned to their inherited possession, their portion of the good land, we also were returned to our God-given possession. The good land represents God as our rich enjoyment. When we accept Christ, we inherent God Himself to be our enjoyment. This is grace: God Himself in Christ given to us as the Spirit to be enjoyed.

“Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Colossians 1:12)

Just as the Israelites were returned to their families, we are returned to our family—the Church. All believers have the same Father, we are in the same family. Colossians 1:12 says that we are qualified to share in our inheritance (God as our exceeding enjoyment) of the saints (the other believers). The Church is no small thing—Christ’s life in us connects us to every other believer in the world!

Because Christ lives in us, we don’t just get to experience the Jubilee one time, on the day that we are saved, but we get to live in the reality of it. We are actually in the age of Jubilee. God wants us to be overflowing in our enjoyment of Him everyday. Too often, we continue living as though we are still captives. Satan doesn’t want us to enjoy God, so he continues to oppress us and remind us of our sins so that we forget that we have been freed.

Let’s not allow the enemies lies to steal our enjoyment of the reality of our freedom. The gospel is not just news of some secured happiness in the after-life, but the gospel is that we obtain Christ today. By living in the reality of our freedom in Christ, our living will become a proclamation of the Jubilee—a proclamation of Christ! In this way we live out the gospel. Jesus came to proclaim the good news and He sends us out to do the same thing today.

By: Karen Joseph