Jubilee

“You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.” Leviticus 25:10 CSB

Jubilee - (in Jewish history) a year of emancipation and restoration, celebrated every fifty years.

Jubilee. A time of complete restoration for the Israelites. A radical reset that would occur once every fifty years, directed by Yahweh, to serve as a reminder that the land belongs to Him. During Jubilee land is to be released and slaves are to be freed. It serves as a reset to the people.

The Lord gives instruction to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Instruction for the Israelites on what they are to do once they enter the promised land. He tells them that every seventh year they are to have a sabbath rest. That during the seventh year they are supposed to give the land a rest and not work the fields. The seventh year is supposed to be a Sabbath for the Lord. The Lord says, ““You are not to reap what grows by itself from your crop, or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. It is to be a year of complete rest for the land.” (Leviticus 25:5 CSB)

He goes on to instruct that they are supposed to go through this seven year cycle seven times for a total of 49 years. “Then you are to sound a ram’s horn loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.” (Leviticus 25:9-10 CSB)

Instruction is given that during this 50th year, during Jubilee, all land is supposed to be returned to the Israelite it was originally appointed to, and that all slaves should be freed. The Jubilee is to serve as a time of reset. A holy time for the Lord.

I think about this time of Jubilee and just what it would mean to any Israelites that are going through a hard time. If they have fallen on hard times and have had to sell their land, they will get to return to it during Jubilee. If they are struggling to get by and sell themselves as a servant to another, they will be released during Jubilee. Jubilee exists as a time of reset for all. It allows an opportunity for those who are struggling to get another chance. There is reset for all during Jubilee.

I then go on to think about Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 is a prophetic writing. Meaning it was written about something that was going to take place in the future. Written about something that had not yet come to pass.

Isaiah 61 is written about the Messiah’s jubilee. I would encourage you to read it in its entirety, but the overall message of Isaiah 61 is an upcoming Jubilee that will be proclaimed by the Messiah. There is a time coming when there will be a reset. The captives will be freed, the brokenhearted will be healed, and righteousness (right relationship with the Lord) will return. Even though the people are currently struggling, there is a greater Jubilee coming. A Jubilee that is more than a reset for the land and releasing the people from each other. This greater Jubilee, the Messiah’s Jubilee is about releasing people from the slavery of sin and restoring them to their original relationship with the Father. 

At the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, he returns to Nazareth (his hometown) and reads in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He reads:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19 CSB

It wouldn’t have been abnormal for there to be a reading from Isaiah, but what comes next is truly remarkable.

“He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”” Luke 4:20-21 CSB

“Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” Words from Jesus that change everything. The time is here. The time that has been waited for. The time that has been hoped and prayed for. It is here. Jesus has announced that Jubilee is here and not just any Jubilee, the Messiah’s Jubilee. The year of the Lord’s favor is here.

As Jesus continues his ministry as he walks the Earth, we see the fulfillment of this promise time and time again. We see this as He heals and forgives sin. The paralyzed walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised. 

Although Jesus doesn’t walk the Earth in His physical body anymore, we are still in the year of the Lord’s favor. Jubilee is here. He is still healing today, still restoring today, still saving today. There is hope. He is calling all of us to come back home. To come back to the relationship with Him how it was originally intended. A relationship that is pure. We don’t have to wait any longer, Jubilee is here.

”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28 CSB