What Christians should know about the Jubilee year

Jubilee means ram's horn in Hebrew and is defined in Leviticus 25: 9 as the sabbatical year after the seven seven-year cycles, for a total of forty-nine years. The fiftieth year was to be a time of celebration and rejoicing for the Israelites. The ram's horn therefore had to be sounded on the tenth day of the seventh month to begin the fiftieth year of redemption.

The jubilee year was to be a year of rest for the Israelites and the land. The Israelites would have a year off from their work and the land would rest to produce a bountiful harvest after its rest.

Jubilee: a time to rest
The Jubilee Year featured debt release (Leviticus 25: 23-38) and all kinds of bondage (Leviticus 25: 39-55). All prisoners and prisoners were to be released this year, debts forgiven and all assets returned to the original owners. All work had to stop for a year. The point of the jubilee year was that the Israelites would give a year of rest to the Lord, recognizing that He had provided for their needs.

There were advantages because not only did it give people a break, but the vegetation did not grow if people worked too hard on the land. Thanks to the Lord's institution of a year of rest, the earth had time to recover and produce a more substantial harvest in future years.

One of the main reasons the Israelites went into captivity was that they did not observe these years of rest as commanded by the Lord (Leviticus 26). Failing to rest in the jubilee year, the Israelites revealed that they did not trust the Lord to provide for them, so they reaped the consequences of their disobedience.

The Jubilee year foreshadows the accomplished and sufficient work of the Lord Jesus. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, He relieves sinners from their spiritual debts and the bondage of sin. Today sinners can be freed from both to have both union and fellowship with God the Father and enjoy fellowship with God's people.

Why a debt release?
Even though the Jubilee year involved the release of a debt, we must be careful not to read our Western understanding of debt release in this particular situation. If a member of the Israelite family was in debt, he could ask the person who cultivated his land for a lump sum payment based on the number of years before the jubilee year. The price would then be determined by the expected number of crops to be produced before the Jubilee.

For example, if you had a debt of two hundred and fifty thousand, and there are five years left before the Jubilee, and each harvest is worth fifty thousand, the buyer would give you two hundred and fifty thousand for the rights to cultivate the land. By the time of the Jubilee, you would have received your land back because the debt was paid off. The buyer, therefore, to be clear, does not own the land but rents it. The debt is repaid by the crops the land produces.

It is not possible to know how the exact price for each harvest year was determined, but it is plausible to suggest that the price took into account some years that would have been more profitable than others. At the time of the Jubilee, the Israelites could rejoice in the extinguished debt and the land was fully used again. Even so, you wouldn't thank the tenant for forgiving your debt. The Jubilee was the equivalent of our "mortgage burning party" today. You would celebrate with friends that this significant debt had been paid.

The debt is forgiven or canceled because it has been paid in full.

But why the Jubilee Year every 50 years?

The fiftieth year was a time when freedom would be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of Israel. The Law was intended to benefit all masters and servants. The Israelites owed their lives to God's sovereign will. Only through loyalty to Him were they free and could they hope to be free and independent from all other teachers.

Can Christians celebrate it today?
The jubilee year applied only to the Israelites. Even so, it is important because it reminds God's people to rest from their labors. While the jubilee year is not binding on Christians today, it also provides a beautiful picture of the New Testament teaching on forgiveness and redemption.

Christ the Redeemer came to free slaves and prisoners of sin (Romans 8: 2; Galatians 3:22; 5:11). The sin debt that sinners owe to the Lord God was paid on the cross in our place when Jesus died for us (Colossians 2: 13-14), forgiving their debt forever in the ocean of His blood. God's people are no longer slaves, no longer slaves to sin, having been freed by Christ, so now Christians can enter into the rest that the Lord provides. We can now stop working to make ourselves acceptable to God with our works because Christ has forgiven and forgiven God's people (Hebrews 4: 9-19).

That said, what the jubilee year and the requirements for rest show Christians is that rest must be taken seriously. The workaholic is a growing problem all over the world. The Lord does not want God's people to make work an idol, thinking that if they work hard enough at their job or whatever they do, they will be able to provide for their own needs.

The Lord, for the same reason, wants people to get away from their devices. Sometimes it may seem like it takes twenty-four hours away from social media or even your computer or other devices to focus on worshiping the Lord. It may seem further to focus on the Lord instead of focusing on our salary.

Be that as it may, for you the Jubilee Year emphasizes the need to trust in the Lord at every moment of every day, month and year of our life. Christians should dedicate our whole life to the Lord, who is the greatest goal of the Jubilee year. Each person can find time to rest, forgive others for how they have wronged us, and trust in the Lord.

The importance of rest
One of the most critical elements of the Sabbath is rest. On the seventh day in Genesis, we see the Lord resting because He had finished His work (Genesis 2: 1-3; Exodus 31:17). Mankind should rest on the seventh day because it is holy and separate from other working days (Genesis 2: 3; Exodus 16: 22-30; 20: 8-11; 23:12). The sabbatical and jubilee year regulations include rest for the land (Exodus 23: 10-11; Leviticus 25: 2-5; 11; 26: 34-35). For six years, the earth serves humanity, but the earth can rest in the seventh year.

The importance of allowing the rest of the land lies in the fact that the men and women who work the land must understand that they have no sovereign rights over the land. Instead, they serve the sovereign Lord, who is the owner of the land (Exodus 15:17; Lev. 25:23; Deuteronomy 8: 7-18). Psalm 24: 1 clearly tells us that the earth is the Lord's and all that it contains.

Rest is an essential biblical theme in the life of Israel. Rest meant that their wandering in the wilderness had come to an end and Israel could enjoy safety despite being surrounded by its enemies. At Psalm 95: 7-11, this theme is related to a warning to the Israelites not to harden their hearts as their ancestors did in the wilderness. As a result, they failed to fit in the promised change for them.

Hebrews 3: 7-11 takes up this theme and offers him a perspective of the end times. The writer encourages Christians to enter the resting place the Lord had given them. To understand this idea, we must go to Matthew 11: 28-29, which says: “Come to me, all who are toiling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls ”.

Perfect rest can be found in Christ
Rest can be experienced today by Christians who find rest in Christ despite the uncertainty of their life. Jesus' invitation in Matthew 11: 28-30 must be understood in the entire Bible. Such understanding is incomplete unless it is mentioned that the city and land that faithful Old Testament witnesses longed for (Hebrews 11:16) is our heavenly resting place.

The rest of the end times can only become a reality when that meek and humble Lamb of God becomes "Lord of lords and King of kings" (Revelation 17:14), and those who 'die in the Lord' can 'rest from their work. 'forever ”(Revelation 14:13). Indeed, this will be rest. While God's people await that time, they now have rest in Jesus amid the affairs of life as we await the final fulfillment of our rest in Christ, in the New Jerusalem.