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Scripture Reading: Lev. 25:8-13, 23-24, 28, 39-41
In the foregoing message we began to consider the definition of the jubilee. We saw that the word “jubilee” is an anglicized form of the Hebrew word yobel. This Hebrew word signifies the blast of a horn, specifically the signal of a silver trumpet; hence, it came to signify the instrument itself and the festival thus introduced. In this message we shall consider further the definition of the jubilee.
In understanding the jubilee, we need to carefully read Lev. 25:8-10. The blast of the trumpet proclaimed the jubilee. But in what year and on what day of the year was the trumpet of the jubilee sounded? Some may answer this question by saying, “Since the jubilee was the fiftieth year, the trumpet of the jubilee must have been sounded on the first day of the fiftieth year.” This answer may be reasonable, but it is according to the natural concept. We should not bring our natural thought into our reading of the Bible.
If we read the book of Leviticus carefully, we shall see that every seventh year was to be a sabbatical year. In a sabbatical year there was to be no sowing, reaping, or harvesting. The people were not allowed to work, and neither was the land allowed to work. Both the people and the land were to enjoy rest. This rest, this sabbath, was to be every seven years. Concerning the sabbaths Leviticus 25:8 says, “And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.” Leviticus 25:9 says, “Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee 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.” Notice that this verse begins with the word “then.” It is difficult to explain the time indicated by this “then.” When was “then”? Was it in the forty-ninth year or in the fiftieth year?
According to Lev. 25:9, the jubilee was sounded on the day of atonement, which was on the tenth day of the seventh month. It was necessary for the trumpet of the jubilee to be sounded on the day of atonement because the jubilee is based on redemption. Without redemption there cannot be the jubilee. Therefore, the proclamation of the jubilee must be from the time of redemption. In typology, the day, or time, of redemption was signified by the day of atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month. The seventh month was the first month of the second half of the year. Concerning the sounding of the trumpet of jubilee, we need to ask if this was the seventh month of the forty-ninth year or of the fiftieth year.
Leviticus 25:10 tells us, “And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” To hallow the fiftieth year is to sanctify that year, and to proclaim liberty throughout the land is to proclaim release. Here we see that this liberty, this release, involves the returning of every man to his possession and of every man to his family. This verse does not speak of the return of a man’s possession, but of the return of a man to his possession.
Now that we have read these important verses, let us study the relationship between the sounding of the trumpet of the jubilee on the tenth day of the seventh month and the sanctifying of the fiftieth year as the year of jubilee. Leviticus 25:9 indicates that the forty-ninth year is divided into two sections of six months each. In the middle of the forty-ninth year the trumpet of the jubilee was sounded on the day of atonement. The fiftieth year began six months later. If the trumpet of the jubilee was sounded in the fiftieth year and not in the forty-ninth year, then the jubilee would have begun six months after the start of the fiftieth year. That, however, was not the situation. Contrary to our natural concept, the trumpet of the jubilee was not sounded on the first day of the first month of the fiftieth year. Rather, it was sounded on the tenth day of the seventh month of the forty-ninth year. Verse 8 speaks of the forty-nine years; verse 9, of the sounding of the trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; and verse 10, of the hallowing of the fiftieth year. From this we see that the sounding was in the forty-ninth year, and the sanctifying, the hallowing, was not from the seventh month of the forty-ninth year, but from the beginning of the fiftieth year. This means that the sounding of the trumpet was a preparation, a preliminary step, for the jubilee.
We have pointed out that the day of atonement typifies the time of redemption. The fact that the trumpet of the jubilee was sounded on the day of atonement and that the fiftieth year was sanctified and liberty was proclaimed throughout the land indicates that it was necessary first for Christ to die and then for there to be the proclamation of the release of the people. In other words, first Christ died, and then there was the genuine preaching of the gospel. The gospel could not be preached unless Christ had already died. Therefore, the proclamation, the preaching, of the gospel is based on the death of Christ. The sounding out of the gospel depends on Christ’s redemption. Without the redemption of Christ, there would be no basis for the proclamation of the jubilee.
According to Leviticus 25, the sounding of the trumpet of the jubilee took place six months before the actual beginning of the year of jubilee. The jubilee began from the first month of the fiftieth year, but the sounding of the trumpet of the jubilee was in the middle of the forty-ninth year, six months earlier. When applied to our spiritual experience, this indicates that the preaching of the gospel comes first and the jubilee follows. Many of us can testify that in our experience of salvation we heard the preaching of the gospel long before we were saved. The preaching of the gospel came to us a considerable time before we entered into the jubilee.
If we read carefully Leviticus 25:8-10, we shall see that the sounding of the trumpet always took place before the year of jubilee. This means that the sounding of the jubilee took place in the seventh month of the forty-ninth year as a preparation for the jubilee, which began at the start of the next year. Beginning with the first month of the year, the fiftieth year was hallowed, sanctified, as the year of jubilee.
I can testify that in my case the sounding of the gospel came to me at least eight years before I entered into the jubilee. When I was a child, I heard the preaching of the gospel. But I did not experience the jubilee until I was nineteen.
Many of us passed through a period of preparation for salvation before we actually received salvation. Did you go through such a period of preparation before you entered into the enjoyment of salvation, that is, before you entered into the jubilee? Some cases, however, are extraordinary. These are cases of saints who entered into the jubilee at the time they first heard the gospel and learned of the Lord Jesus. But there are not many cases like this. Most Christians had a time of preparation first and experienced the jubilee sometime after they first heard the gospel.
Most of us first heard the gospel sounding of the jubilee. Then some time later we received God’s salvation at a time that was hallowed, sanctified, and we entered into the jubilee. When we entered into the jubilee, we returned to our possession and to our family; we returned to God as our possession and to the family, the house, of God.
If we would understand the definition of the jubilee, we need to see that the jubilee means the proclaiming of release and freedom. First, the jubilee was the proclamation of the release of sold land to its owner. Concerning this, Leviticus 25:13 says, “In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.” In this verse we see that actually the release is not that of the land to its owner, but of the owner to his land. According to the Lord’s ordination, land was not to be sold forever but could be redeemed: “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land” (Lev. 25:23-24). Concerning the release of sold land, Leviticus 25:28 goes on to say, “But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.”
The year of jubilee was a proclamation not only of the release of sold land, but also of the freedom of one who had sold himself into slavery. Leviticus 25:39-41 speaks about this: “And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: but as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee: and then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.”
The jubilee was, of course, on the fiftieth year. “A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you” (Lev. 25:11a). The fiftieth year was after seven sabbaths of years, that is, after seven times seven years. In typology the sabbath refers to rest. Hence, seven sabbaths of years signify seven times seven rests.
The year of jubilee was to be on the first of a new period of seven years, or on an eighth year. Just as the day of Pentecost was on the fiftieth day, the first day after seven weeks, so the jubilee was on the fiftieth year, the first year after seven weeks, or sabbaths, of years. In the Scriptures the eighth day signifies resurrection. The Lord Jesus was resurrected on the eighth day, which was the first day of the week. The fact that the jubilee took place on the fiftieth year indicates rest upon rest ending in resurrection. Now in the New Testament jubilee we have entered into rest upon rest ending in resurrection.
Some may claim to be in the jubilee, but they do not have much rest, and they are not in resurrection. Instead of being in resurrection, they are in the natural life. As long as we still live in the natural life, we are not in the jubilee. The jubilee comes after seven sabbaths of years and in the fiftieth year. This means that the jubilee comes after rest and is in resurrection.
If we would enjoy the jubilee, we need to be in the fiftieth year. This requires that all the things of our human life, for example, our education, need to be regarded as items of the past seven sabbaths of years. Then when we are in the fiftieth year, we shall be in the jubilee.
In the forty-nine years before the jubilee, certain Israelites sold their land and sold themselves. In a similar way, in our experience during the past seven sabbaths of years, we sold our possessions and even ourselves. But when the fiftieth year comes, there is no longer any such selling; rather, everything is in resurrection. The old things are past, and everything is new. In Paul’s words “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
We have seen that, according to Leviticus 25:9, the proclamation of the jubilee was on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day of atonement. This indicates that the jubilee is based on God’s full redemption in Christ.
Concerning the year of jubilee, Leviticus 25:11b-12 says, “Ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.” Here we have the rather unusual requirement that in the year of jubilee the people were not to sow, reap, or gather, but eat the increase of the land. This does not mean that we should enjoy the riches of Christ without working at a job. Such an understanding is according to the natural thought. Here the word about not sowing, reaping, or gathering signifies that we should not labor on Christ in a natural way or by our natural strength.
In any religion people are encouraged to exercise their effort to behave themselves, to improve, and to do good. This is to “sow,” to “reap,” and to “gather.” But according to God’s ordination, in the New Testament jubilee we are to cease from our labor and not trust in it with respect to the enjoyment of Christ. Instead of laboring in a natural way by our own sowing, reaping, and gathering, we should simply enjoy the riches of Christ.
Leviticus 25:10 speaks of hallowing the fiftieth year. Here we see that the jubilee was a holy year, a year hallowed to God and also to us. Elsewhere, the year of jubilee is called the acceptable year of the Lord. According to Luke 4:18 and 19, the Lord Jesus in the synagogue read from Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” The acceptable year was the year in which the Lord accepted His people who were lost and who came back to Him. Therefore, on the Lord’s side the year of jubilee was the year of acceptance.
The year of jubilee was a holy year and also an acceptable year. It was a year of proclaiming freedom to all people, and it was a time of freedom, rest, enjoyment, and satisfaction.
We have pointed out in other messages in this Life-study that the proclamation of the jubilee by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4 governs the whole Gospel of Luke. Actually the entire New Testament age is the jubilee. The New Testament age is a time of proclaiming release to all those who have lost their possessions and who have sold themselves into slavery. Today the proclaiming of the gospel is to bring these people back to their possession and to their family — back to God and to the family, the house, of God.
In this message and in the foregoing message we have given a definition of the jubilee. The definition is based on the description given in Leviticus 25. In forthcoming messages we shall see the application of this jubilee in the New Testament.
