The Sabbath year was a rest for God, for man, and for the land. Both the Sabbath day and the Sabbath year refer to Christ. The Sabbath year denotes Christ in His fullness as our rest. The Sabbath day being for man, one day out of every week, and the Sabbath year being for the land, one whole year out of every seven years, signify that Christ is the realm of the full rest that we may enjoy Him as our rest to the fullest. See note Heb. 4:9¹.

Not sowing, pruning, reaping, or gathering (vv. 4-5) signifies that rest is purely and wholly of grace and that all human labor should cease absolutely (Matt. 11:28-30).

In the seventh year the produce of the land became common to all. The Sabbath produce of the land being food for every kind of person and even for the cattle and the animals (vv. 6-7) signifies that it is all a matter of grace toward anyone, regardless of his status.

The fifty years that consummated in the jubilee comprised eight Sabbath years (the year of jubilee was also a Sabbath year — vv. 11-12), being Sabbath upon Sabbath to be an eightfold Sabbath, signifying the superabundance of the fullness of God’s rest with satisfaction to us. Moreover, the first and last years of this fifty-year period were eighth years, and in between there were six eighth years, making a total of eight eighth years. Since the number eight signifies resurrection (John 20:1), this indicates that the jubilee is something that is altogether from resurrection, to resurrection, in resurrection, and with resurrection.

The sounding of the ram’s horn in the forty-ninth year on the Day of Expiation signifies that the jubilee is based on the expiation for sin (see ch. 16), that the full liberty might be proclaimed to all the people (v. 10). This type was fulfilled by the full redemption of Christ as the basis for the proclamation of the full freedom to all the human race (cf. Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47).

That the jubilee was in the fiftieth year (vv. 10-11) signifies that the full responsibility (typified by the number fifty) to meet all the requirements of God has been fulfilled so that man does not need to bear any responsibility. Fifty years also signifies the entire course of fallen human life. Thus, the year of jubilee, the fiftieth year, signifies the conclusion of our fallen human life.

The year of jubilee is the acceptable year of the Lord prophesied in Isa. 61:1-2 and fulfilled by the Lord’s coming in Luke 4:16-22. In the Old Testament type the jubilee lasted for one year, but in the fulfillment it refers to the entire New Testament age, the age of grace, as the time when God accepts the returned captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; Luke 15:17-24; 2 Cor. 6:2) and when those oppressed under the bondage of sin enjoy the release of God’s salvation (Rom. 7:14-25; 8:1-2). The believers’ enjoyment of the jubilee in the age of grace, i.e., their enjoyment of Christ as God’s grace to them, will issue in the full enjoyment of the jubilee in the millennium and in the fullest enjoyment in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.

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).

Perhaps related to the word ram; meaning a time of shouting, or a time of the trumpeting of the ram’s horn. The trumpeting of the ram’s horn signifies the preaching of the gospel as the proclaiming of liberty in the New Testament jubilee to all the sinners sold under sin (Luke 4:18-19; Acts 26:17-18) that they may return to God and God’s family and may rejoice with shouting in the enjoyment of God’s salvation.

Not sowing, reaping, or gathering in the year of jubilee (vv. 11-12) signifies that in God’s jubilee no human work is needed. It is altogether a rest to man, and God bears all the responsibility.

This signifies that the sufficient grace of God surpasses our need threefold. In the Sabbath year the produce of the land, but not the possession of the land, was common for the purpose of enjoyment (vv. 6-7). For this purpose God blessed the land to produce food threefold. This practice of keeping the Sabbath year ushers God’s people into the jubilee (vv. 8-17).

If we become weak or backslidden after we are saved, we will temporarily lose the enjoyment of Christ as our divine possession and may again become enslaved to sin, Satan, and the world. That the land belonged to God and could not be sold in perpetuity signifies that our divine possession belongs to God, and we cannot lose it forever. It is safeguarded by God’s grace (cf. Rom. 11). We may become defeated and may even be disciplined during the millennium, but our spiritual ownership of the divine possession cannot be lost permanently (cf. 1 Cor. 3:15). After the millennium, the disciplined believers will be restored to the ownership of their divine possession, especially in the new heaven and the new earth, to enjoy the blessing of the New Jerusalem. It is of the grace of God that we will be restored to our divine possession for eternity.

Verses Lev. 25:24-28 speak of the redemption of the land that has been sold. The redeeming of the land by the nearest relative (v. 25) signifies that in Adam we became poor and sold our possession, and the Lord Jesus, our nearest relative, has come as our Redeemer to redeem for us what we sold (cf. Ruth 3, Ruth 4). The redeeming of the land by the person who sold it, he not having anyone to redeem it for him (vv. 26-27), signifies that the children of Israel, not recognizing the Lord Jesus as their nearest relative (John 1:11), have put themselves in the position of having to bear the responsibility for their redemption until they become able to redeem themselves. However, to this day they are still unable to do it, and actually they will never be able to do it. When the Lord Jesus comes back, they will recognize Him as their relative (Zech. 12:10), and then they will be redeemed by Him. Not having sufficient means to redeem the possession and waiting for the year of jubilee, when the one who sold the land would return to his possession (v. 28), signifies that we were unable to redeem what we had lost until the coming of the New Testament jubilee, in which all that we had lost is released to us to be our possession. See note Lev. 25:10².

The houses built on the land and within the walled cities typify the church built on Christ and expressed as local churches in many cities (Matt. 16:18; Rev. 1:11). The limiting of the time of the redemption of such houses to one year after the sale (vv. 29-30) signifies that if a believer has lost the enjoyment of the church life, it can be restored only within a short limit of God’s grace, as indicated by the one year. If the lost enjoyment of the church life is not restored in the church age, the age of grace, it will still be lost in the millennium, the age of the kingdom. This is according to the principle of taking away from him who has not (Matt. 25:29). Ultimately, in the New Jerusalem the enjoyment of the Body life of Christ will be restored to the defeated believers after they have been disciplined during the millennium. See note Lev. 25:23¹.

Losing the enjoyment of the church life is more serious than losing the enjoyment of Christ. Because the Lord is gracious, it is easy for us to recover our enjoyment of Him. However, it is more difficult and requires a longer time to recover the lost church life. We should be warned by this not to “sell” the church life.

This signifies that in a place in which there are some believers who cannot be considered a church, the lost enjoyment of Christ can be restored.

The Levites (serving ones) having the permanent right of redemption over their houses (vv. 32-33) signifies that if any loss of the enjoyment of the church life occurs to the believers who are adequately engaged in the service of God in a church, it can be restored to them without any limitation of time.

The fields of the suburbs of the Levites being their permanent possession and not being sold signifies that the believers who are adequately engaged in the service of God in a church will not lose the enjoyment of Christ permanently. Cf. note Lev. 25:23¹.

The regulations related to the jubilee in vv. 35-55 can be applied to the relationships among the saints, the brothers, in the church life. To live together in the church life for the building up of the Body of Christ, we need to have the proper care for all the saints.

Lit., his hand fails. A brother of the Israelites becoming poor and unable to support himself signifies a believing brother becoming spiritually poor and unable to take care of himself. According to the type in vv. 35-37, we should help the brother who becomes weak in spirit, without taking any advantage of him. We should care for him in love so that he may live before the Lord as we do (cf. Gal. 6:1; James 5:19-20).

The regulation in vv. 39-43 signifies that if a brother becomes poor spiritually and is in debt to us, we should not treat him harshly and should consider him not as our slave but as our helper until he is revived by the grace of God (the jubilee comes), at which time he will be released from us. In rendering spiritual care to others, our motive, our spirit, and our attitude must be proper (cf. Matt. 20:28; 2 Cor. 4:5; Gal. 6:1).

According to vv. 44-46, God’s people could purchase male and female slaves from the nations and from the sojourners and consider them as their possessions, but they were not to take slaves from among the Israelites. This signifies that we should not treat the believers, who are our spiritual relatives, our brothers, like the outsiders.

In vv. 47-49, an Israelite brother who sold himself to a stranger or a sojourner being redeemed by his brother, by his uncle, or by any of his blood relatives, or by himself if he could afford it, signifies that we should help a brother who (through some offense) is spiritually in debt to outsiders so that he may be released from his indebtedness or so that he may become able to release himself by his own means. The selling price and the amount of the refund for redemption being calculated according to the number of years relative to the jubilee (vv. 50-53) signifies that our release from slavery is related to and based on God’s grace. The sold one who was not redeemed by these means being released in the year of jubilee (v. 54) signifies that we can be released from our slavery wholly by the grace of God. We do not need any other means.