The Year of Jubilee-Leviticus 25:10-17

The New Year and the Year of Jubilee

This week we will be celebrating the ending of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. So many around our world will be celebrating in their culture’s way. Mobile drops a Moon Pie every year. New York drops a ball. Many of us will shoot off fireworks, get together, stay up till midnight eating food, counting down the seconds until the year has ended. What will you do this next year? Some set goals or resolutions to help give them a reset for the year. Many will succeed and many will fail.

What is interesting is that in the Law of Moses, God had given a provision for a hard reset for the nation of Israel, and that is called the Year of Jubilee. It was to be held every 50th year and was to mark a time of renewal. People would be freed, restored, and rest the entire year. In a nutshell, this was the Sabbath of years. Unfortunately, through my study, it is never observed that Israel followed this command of God, perhaps for what it calls, but also the Israel was really never faithful long enough to follow this command. This morning I want us to look at our New Year as a year of Jubilee and how we can use the principles God provided in our own day to day lives.

The Principles of the Year of Jubilee

A. Freedom

The year of Jubilee was to take place every 50 years. It was to begin at the Day of Atonement, which takes place ten days into the seventh month. The specific ramifications are found in Leviticus 25:8–10 “8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.”

What we see happening is not just a celebration but a restoration of the people and of the land. It begins with the canceling of debts, which happens in two different ways. Leviticus 25:10 “10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.”

The first way is by returning property that was redeemed. A person fallen on hard times could sell their property, or have it redeemed, and then buy it back when/if they became prosperous. This was a gamble in and of itself because there was no guarantee that they would make the money back to buy back their property. So if they couldn’t, the property would stay in the redeemer’s hand until the year of Jubilee where the property is returned at no cost whatsoever. Leviticus 25:25-28

Leviticus 25:25–28 ESV

25 “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26 If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, 27 let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. 28 But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

The other side of the coin is people. Many times people would sell themselves into servanthood, or slavery. If someone did this, they were guaranteed to work for a minimum of 7 years, so long as the master kept his part of the law. At the end of those seven years, a servant could either leave how he came or stay and be servant forever. In the year of jubilee, none of this mattered because all servants were set free. Leviticus 25:39-41

Leviticus 25:39–41 ESV

39 “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: 40 he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. 41 Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers.

Leviticus 25:50–54 ESV

50 He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be rated as the time of a hired worker. 51 If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price. 52 If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service. 53 He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee.

B. Rest

God knew that mankind was a stubborn group of people when it comes to work. If mankind had its way, we would be working 7 days a week, but God put in a requirement for rest. This we call the Sabbath day. The year of Jubilee was to be a Sabbath year. No work was to be done all year. No reaping, no sowing, nothing. All that could be done is to go out in the field and get as much as you need for that moment. Leviticus 25:11-12

Leviticus 25:11–12 ESV

11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.

The reasoning of this is so that they can learn to trust in God. Leviticus 25:18-22

Leviticus 25:18–22 ESV

18 “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. 19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. 20 And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.

Something Israel struggled with throughout its entire history is trusting in God. Israel gets to the Red Sea and immediately they begin questioning why they were led out into the wilderness. They send 12 spies into Canaan and 10 come out whining that they can’t take the land. The sons of Korrah rebel against Moses. Aaron and Miriam even question why Moses was in charge and not them. The Lord wants Israel to learn to trust Him. To help this, He prepares the people by giving them an overabundance of food so they can survive for a whole year. During this year they are to rest.

How Jesus Calls in Jubilee

There are many things we can gain from reading about the year of Jubilee. So how can we relate these to our lives now? If we look at the qualities of Jubilee and look at Jesus, we can see how Christ ushers in the Year of Jubilee. Luke 4:18-19

Luke 4:18–19 ESV

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

A. Christ Brings Freedom

With Christ comes freedom. Paul gives this as an example through Moses putting a veil over his face. His face glowed because of the glory that was being shared by God, and so when the Law is read, the veil covers, but with Christ that veil is removed. 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

2 Corinthians 3:12–18 ESV

12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

This ultimately comes through obedience to Christ which we see in Romans 6:6-7

Romans 6:6–7 ESV

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.

B. Rest comes through Christ

Something Jesus gives us rest. When we are weary and tired, He gives us comfort. WHen the world tears us down, He provides peace. Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Something we look forward to is the glory of heaven. That is going to be the place of eternal rest. One day we will have an eternal Sabbath, a place of no more work, no more tears, no more death, and that will come at the end of time. Hebrews 4:9-10

Hebrews 4:9–10 ESV

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.