Leviticus 25: Jesus in the year of Jubilee

Leviticus 25 tells us about the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee occured every 50 years. There were 49 years and then the 50th year would be the Jubilee year. (Leviticus 25:8). The Jubilee was known as the Sabbath of Sabbaths. It was ultimate thing, just as the inner santuary of the Tabernacle was known as the Holy of Holies, or Jesus is the King of Kings.

The sabbath was the seventh day of the week. In Leviticus 25:1-7 God instructs the Israelites not only to keep the sabbath on the seventh day of the week, but also to keep the seventh year as a sabbath year of rest for the land.

Leviticus 25:1-7:

And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. ³ Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; ⁴ but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵ What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. ⁶ And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, ⁷ for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.

After 7, 7 year periods (7x7=49) there would be the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee would begin after the 49th year by the blowing of a trumpet on the day of atonement (Lev. 25:9). (To learn about the day of atonement read Leviticus 16).

It is interesting to note, in Hebrew the year of Jubilee literally means the year of the trumpet. ('yobel')

 

Leviticus 25:8-12

⁸ ‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. ⁹ Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. ¹⁰ 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 shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹ That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. ¹² For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.

During the year of Jubilee all debts were forgiven. Land was returned to its original owners and slaves were set free.

Leviticus 25:13-17

¹³ ‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. ¹⁴ And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. ¹⁵ According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. ¹⁶ According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. ¹⁷ Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Why did this happen?

The relevance of this process is both historical and prophetical.

Historically, the Jubilee dates back to the days when Isreal had left Egypt and first entered their land. Joshua divided the land between the 12 tribes of Israel so that they would always have a possession and inheritance in the land. By doing this Joshua was making sure that the Israelites would always have a stake in Israel, therefore no matter what an owner of the land would do, after 50 years it would automatically revert back to the children of Israel.

If you want to understand it this way, it is like when you buy a property which is leasehold. When you buy a property that is leasehold, you own the property, however there is always another owner of the freehold of the land. Now the lease may be for a period of 999 years, so it will not affect your ownership, however, when that term eventually runs out, the property will automatically revert back to the original freehold owner.

The prophetical relevance of the year of Jubilee is that it shows God's plan for our redemption and what was to come through Jesus Christ; for the ultimate Jubilee has been brought in through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Did you know that Jesus was actually crucified on the 80th Jubilee? - An amazing fact which is evidence of how inspired the Word of God truly is.

The inspired plan of God:

Now is the time of Jubilee for us. Now God's redemptive plan is available, until the second coming of Christ.
Christ has brought in a time of Jubilee for us all.

During the year of Jubilee, all debts were repayed and slaves were set free.

How that applies to us:

From reading other posts in this blog, or if you are familiar with the gospel, you will know that we are all indebted to God for the wrongs we have committed against Him and we are all slaves to sin. We are all to be held accountable according to the standard of the 10 commandments. We have all broken these and therefore there is a debt that we must pay; the debt being punishment under the law. This is an inescapable fact for each and every one of us.

Through the death and resurrection of Christ on the 80th Jubilee year, Jesus took the punishment that you deserve upon Himself, so that if you put your trust in Him, you can have your debts repaid and be free to go.

Just as the Jubilee is known as the Sabbath of Sabbaths, Jesus the King of Kings has brought in the ultimate Jubilee of Jubilees!

Now, between now and the second coming of Christ (or you own personal death - whichever may come first!), there is a period of Jubilee where God can forgive you for the wrongs you have committed by putting your trust in Christ.

Let us no waste this time that we have and put our trust in Christ.

Isaiah 61:1-2 / Luke 4:18-19:

"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 broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

Now is the time. Now redemption is available to us all if we want it. Now is the time to awake from our slumber and accept the gift that God is offering and once we have done that to tell others about the Jubilee that Christ has brought in; to sound the trumpet as they did in Leviticus 25:9.

Romans 13:11 "And do this knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."

-BACChristian