“It is about release and restoration...This gracious provision of God took place once every 50 years. Most Israelites would, therefore, experience it only once in their entire lives. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Have you heard about this before? The Bible tells us about it. It is God’s idea and you can read about it in Leviticus 25.
Let me give you some background: The word “Jubilee” comes from the Hebrew word, “yobel.” It means “a trumpet blast of a ram’s horn.” Why? The year of Jubilee is inaugurated at the beginning of a Jewish holiday known as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and this holiday begins with the blowing of a shofar, or ram’s horn.
So what specifically is this year of Jubilee about? It is about release and restoration. It is to take place every fifty years and is to provide a time of release of all debtors from their debts and restoration of all land previously offered to satisfy debts.
This is what God told Moses to tell the Israelites about this most unusual and surprisingly gracious opportunity:
You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. (Leviticus 25:10)
Some Israelites may have had to, in effect, sell themselves to other Israelites as slaves to satisfy their indebtedness. Others, falling on hard economic times, may have had to sell their land. But every fifty years, God provided release from all such debts and mandated the restoration of all property to its original owners.
During this time of Jubilee, this time of release and restoration, God is essentially declaring that all land in the Promised Land belonged to Him. He said, in Leviticus 25:23: “The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.”
God’s provision during the year of Jubilee was His way of declaring His ownership of the Land and also His gracious way to prevent any family from becoming permanently landless. Even the poorest family received its land back.
Jubilee provided a new beginning for all people, no matter how impoverished or destitute, and no matter the extent of their indebtedness.
Can you imagine what a cause of rejoicing this was? At the year of Jubilee all Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery were set free, and all land that had been sold reverted to its original owners. This meant that no Israelite would ever be in permanent slavery; nor would any Israelite permanently lose his inheritance.
Again, this gracious provision of God took place once every fifty years. Most Israelites would, therefore, experience it only once in their entire lives. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
A gracious and loving God did not want anybody in ancient Israel to miss out on this opportunity for forgiveness of debt and a new start in life. Therefore, the year of Jubilee was loudly heralded by trumpets which were sounded throughout the Land gloriously announcing freedom, release, forgiveness and restoration to all who owed debts they could not pay.
And so God graciously declared, in Leviticus 25:10, “You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants.”
Interestingly, this very phrase, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” is inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
Liberty indeed! Liberty of the fullest and freest kind. Liberty for all who accepted God’s provision for the debt each had incurred. This was the Year of Jubilee. Oh to have such an opportunity today! Can you imagine a gracious decree, offered by almighty God, the highest Authority, that declares each of us, as debtors, to be absolutely free?
Each of us owes holy God a debt we cannot pay. We have sinned against His holiness and His justice demands payment for our sin. But we cannot pay it. We do not have enough righteousness in our spiritual bank accounts to satisfy the debt we owe God. But this unapproachable God, in His unfathomable grace, has offered us release, restoration, and a new beginning through faith in Christ Jesus who, in suffering and dying for our sin, paid our debt for us.
Don’t you see? The Year of Jubilee is a foreshadowing of the ultimate forgiveness of debt obtained for us and offered to us by the Lord Jesus Himself. He is our Jubilee! The Lord Jesus is our Jubilee! And, if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.
Folks, the main purpose of Jubilee was to prevent the utter ruin of debtors. Sound the shofar! The main purpose of the Lord Jesus offering His life in our place is to prevent our utter ruin as debtors to God.
Sound the trumpet! My fellow believers, it is our time of Jubilee! Because of the Lord Jesus, our debts have been forgiven! We have been released and restored to right relationship with holy God. We have been granted a new start, not as debtors, but as sons and daughters of our most gracious heavenly Father.
Let us Proclaim liberty throughout the Land! Jesus is our Jubilee!