The Spirit of Jubilee

Jubilee in the Old Testament

In ancient Israel, every seventh year the people celebrated the land rest. They did not sow, nor reap a harvest from the land. God provided three years worth of harvest in the sixth year;¹ so the people ate the harvest of the sixth year; in the sixth, seventh, and eighth years (Lev. 25:20-22). 

The Jubilee was celebrated in the fiftieth year, starting on the seventh day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement (Lev.  25:8-12). It was the year of release. Debts were released and everyone returned to his inheritance. God made a promise to Abraham - I will make you many nations and your descendants will be like the stars of heaven, and like the sand on the seashore (Gen. 17:4-6; Gen. 22:17). Abraham's descendants were to inherit all the land of Canaan (Gen. 17:8). The land brought stability for the people, and kept families together (Lev. 25:10). Every one of the twelve tribes had an inheritance of land. Jubilee was a reminder of who Israel was - God's chosen people.  

In Jubilee, in the fiftieth year, the people that had sold themselves or their land, returned to their eternal inheritance. Israel was God's possession. They were not to be hired hands. The land given to them by God provided their freedom, sustenance, livelihood, and relationships. The land is God's and if someone had sold his land, and neither he nor his relatives were able to redeem it, then in the Jubilee he who sold his land returned to it (Lev. 25:25-28). No one could take away the inheritance that God had given them.

The spirit of Jubilee has come to us in atonement (at-one-ment).

In the spirit of Jubilee, our debts, all of our burdens have been taken off our shoulders. Jesus tells us, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle, and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls " (Mat. 11:28-30 NASB). Whereas Jubilee in the Old Testament was once every fifty years; the spirit of Jubilee, is a life of eternal rest given to us as a free gift by God (Rom. 6:23). In the New Testament our inheritance is Jesus himself. We are being called to an awakening - a call to return to our inheritance - our authentic life in Christ.  

New Testament Parallels 

Whereas in the Old Testament God worked exclusively through the nation of Israel. In the New Testament God works exclusively through the true Israelite, Jesus. The greater promise of inheritance is for everyone, and it is fulfilled in Christ Jesus (Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1:3-4; 1 John 2:2). Our at-one-ment, our oneness, our union, in Jesus is based on who Jesus is, and what he has done for humanity. We are forever one with God in Christ. 

Jesus is our life. He is our inheritance. Jesus is the basis of all relationships. This is what the good news is all about. It is the promise of sharing in the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jubilee is a proclamation of liberty. Because of the Spirit of Jubilee, we are free to participate in Jesus' ecstatic relationship with the Father (John 14:20). Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always enjoyed a loving relationship. This relationship is called perichoresis.² God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are united in love, but distinct. In the Spirit of Jubilee, we share in Jesus' relationship with the Father through the Spirit. But we also share in Jesus' relationship with our neighbor - other divine children of God. In the Spirit of Jubilee, I share in Jesus' relationship with you, and you share in Jesus' relationship with me.  We don't have a relationship with one another apart from Jesus' relationship (John 14:20; Eph. 4:6; Col. 3:11). The Spirit of Jubilee also means that we share in Jesus' unique relationship with creation. As the last Adam, Jesus is the keeper of the garden of life. He tends, keeps, and beautifies the entire cosmos. He has recreated all things in himself (2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 1:16; Rev. 21:5).   

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1. The increase is an additional two years worth of harvest for the seventh and eighth years. See Leviticus 25:12 (KJV).

2. See Dr. C Baxter Kruger's website, https://perichoresis.org/.