The Jubilee of Release*

This will be a challenging, but rewarding message. A prophetic pattern is established in the feasts of the LORD, as we have seen. It should also be kept in mind that the Israelites had an agricultural society, and the feasts incorporated this fact. Leviticus Chapter 23 describes the feasts of the LORD, including the fall feasts (v. 23-44), which begin in two days. The Feast of Trumpets, the first fall feast appointed by the LORD, begins on the first day of the month. There is to be a blowing of trumpets, or shofars, as well as a Sabbath rest from work on this day. On the tenth day of the same month is the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. This is a somber day, treated as a Sabbath also, with no work to be done, spent in the affliction of the soul. Anyone who does not afflict his soul, nor observes a Sabbath rest on the Day of Atonement, would be cut off from his people. Of this feast, the LORD said, "Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." (v. 31). On the fifteenth day of the same month, the Feast of Tabernacles begins, and lasts for seven days. The first and eighth days of this feast are Sabbaths, doing no work, and booths were to be built from pleasant tree branches. Each family was to dwell in the booth during the seven days of the feast. These booths were to be reminders that the LORD had His people to dwell in booths after He brought them out of Egypt, and during the years in the wilderness. This feast was connected to harvest time. For all of the feasts, special burnt offerings were to be brought to the LORD in addition to the offerings that were usually given. The LORD's feasts are appointed times that the congregation was called to observe. There were other appointed times as well, however. One of these appointed times involved a year-long Jubilee of release that would occur every fiftieth year: "Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile 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 jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." (Lev. 25:9-10). Although the Day of Atonement is a solemn feast, in the fiftieth year, that day becomes a day of rejoicing. It is the Jubilee! As Jesus is our atonement, and the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, we will see later how Jesus incorporated the Jubilee into His teaching also. There was to be a year-long Sabbath rest for the land during this Jubilee year also, neither sowing nor reaping, but eating of the increase of the field. Regarding the land, the LORD said, "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye were strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land for your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land." (v. 23-24). Land given into the hands of another could be redeemed back and restored into the possession of the original owner. If that original owner could not pay the redemption price, then in the year of Jubilee, the land must still be restored to the original owner (v. 24-28). If a man has sold himself into bondservice, there is a redemption price for him as well. If he, or a relative on his behalf, cannot pay the redemption price, he shall be able to go out, released, in the year of Jubilee (v. 48-55). The Jubilee year, and the price of redemption are established because of the deliverance that the LORD performed when He brought His people up out of the land of Egypt. In these verses, the LORD established the principle of redemption from debt and servitude. In addition to the possibility of redemption, the fiftieth year Jubilee would restore all to their possessions and liberty. We know that the Israelites did not observe the seventh year or fiftieth year Sabbath rests. Scripture reveals that because of this and other transgressions from the priests on down, the nation was conquered, the people were taken into captivity, the house of God was destroyed, and the vessels of the temple were carried away (2 Chron. 36:14-19). In this manner, the LORD enforced the Sabbath rest of the land as commanded by God: "And them that had escaped from the sword carried he (Nebuchadnezzar) away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years." (v. 20-21). The alternative to the Sabbath rest of the land, as commanded by God and forwarned by the prophets, was the sword and captivity. Daniel wrote that the same seventy years of Jeremiah referred to above, would not just be fulfilled by the captivity and return of Israel from Babylon, but would also play a part in the appointed times of the Messiah, and end time events. The Law of the seventh year Sabbath, and the fiftieth year Jubilee of release still plays a part in heavenly and world events. As mentioned earlier, we also know that the redemption price, release, and restoration found in the pattern established in these special Sabbath years, are also found embodied in Christ, and His teachings. As Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He included in this prayer, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors..." (Mt. 6:10-12). The fact that we are told to forgive other's debts in order for our debts to be forgiven is the Jubilee concept. Forgiveness of others for their harm to us, for their physical and spiritual unpaid debts to us, is a vitally important but often difficult thing to do, but it is required of us as we want God's forgiveness in our lives. Jesus taught again about the requirement of forgiveness (v. 14-15), and also spoke that our treasures or possessions are to be those that are laid up in heaven, in the kingdom of God, rather than in the earth (v. 19-21, 33). In Jubilee, we are returned to our possessions. If our possessions are in heaven and of the kingdom of God, then we must be returned to heaven in either resurrection, or the catching away of believers alive, the Rapture. As with the seventh Sabbath year, and the fiftieth Sabbath year, or Jubilee, Jesus told His listeners to "...take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?, or, Wherewithall shall we be clothed?...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (v. 31-33). These are also the assurances of God to His people who keep His appointed Sabbath years. He assures His people that they will not lack in the Sabbath years, but will be provided for by Him in abundance. Not only did Jesus fulfill the Atonement, and the Jubilee, but He also fulfilled the redemption price requirement associated with these appointed times. The prophet Zechariah wrote the Word of the LORD concerning a redemption price of thirty pieces of silver, and regarding this price: "cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD." (Zech. 11:12-13). This prophecy of the price of redemption was fulfilled in Judas' betrayal of Christ to the religious rulers for thirty pieces of silver. When he tried to return the silver in regret and repentance, the rulers would not accept the silver because it was "the price of blood", and instead bought "Potter's Field" for the burial of strangers. (Mt. 26:14-16, 27:3-10). As Jesus died on the cross, He made a final statement after receiving the vinegar He was given to drink. He said, "It is finished" (Jn. 19:28-30). The word used here as "finished" is the Greek word teleo, which means "finish, end, complete, pay (of tribute), discharge a debt". Jesus paid the redemption price to release us from what we owed, to discharge our debt. Jesus fulfilled the Jubilee, and continues to fulfill it. Based upon the appointed times of God, Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 9/5/21 message to the church. 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