In the year of jubilee everyone who had sold his possession, his allotted portion of the good land, was returned to it without paying anything to redeem it (vv. 10, 13, 28), and everyone who had sold himself into slavery regained his freedom and returned to his family (vv. 39-41). Returning to one’s possession and being freed and returning to one’s family signify that in the New Testament jubilee the believers have returned to God as their lost divine possession, have been released from all bondage, and have returned to the church as their divine family.
Each family of the Israelites was allotted a portion of the good land. After the children of Israel received their portions of the land, some became poor and sold their allotment (v. 25a), thus losing their possession, their inheritance. Others became so poor that they even sold themselves into slavery (v. 39*a), thus losing their freedom and becoming separated from their families. The good land of Canaan typifies the Triune God embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9) and realized as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 3:14) as the allotted portion of the saints (see note Deut. 8:71). When God created man, He intended to give Himself in Christ to man as man’s possession, man’s inheritance (Gen. 2:9; 13:12-15; Psa. 16:5; 90:1). However, man became fallen, and in the fall man lost God as his possession (Gen. 3:24; 4:16; Eph. 2:12) and sold himself into slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (John 8:34; Rom. 7:14b; Gal. 4:8; Titus 3:3; 1 John 5:19b). God’s New Testament salvation, accomplished by God’s grace based on His redemption in Christ (Rom. 3:24; 5:1-2; Eph. 2:8), brings fallen man back to God as His divine possession (Acts 26:18; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-24), releases man from slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (John 8:32; Rom. 6:6, 14; 8:2; Heb. 2:14-15; John 12:31), and restores man to his divine family, the household of God (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19), that he may enjoy fellowship in God’s grace (2 Cor. 13:14).
In the present age the whole race of Israel has become poor and has lost the land of Canaan. At the Lord’s second coming, the millennium will be a jubilee to them, in which they will regain ownership of their God-allotted portion (Isa. 61:1-2 and notes).