Jesus in the Jubilee

Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

There are many things God introduced in the Law, emphasized through the Prophets, and fulfilled in the New Covenant. A significant majority of these divine principles are encoded within the various forms of the Sabbath: the weekly Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and the Jubilee. While ample resource material exists for almost every other feast, the Jubilee is often overlooked. Addressing that gap is precisely what we are doing here.

Before the Year of Jubilee began, the anointed High Priest was required to sound the trumpet and make the official announcement on the Day of Atonement. When Jesus commenced His earthly ministry — which centered on the work of atonement and reconciliation to the Father — He stood in the synagogue on a Sabbath day (by no coincidence) and read aloud from Isaiah’s prophecy of the Jubilee:

Luke 4:18–21: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

This proclamation effectively kicked off the Jubilee. Just as in ancient Israel, where the announcement signaled hope before the official year began, joy began to bubble up. Those in chains could begin counting down the days until their shackles fell off, and those who were homeless could start planning how to rebuild their long-lost ancestral inheritance.

So what Jesus did in essence was make the divine proclamation, bringing all of creation into alignment with God’s original design. He taught thoroughly about the Kingdom of God. If there were no restored inheritance to possess, conversations about Kingdom stewardship would be redundant. Jesus taught us so that when our spiritual inheritance is handed back to us, we do not squander it or fall into faithlessness like the generations before us.

Jesus is our Jubilee — our ultimate and complete consolation. He is the One who atones for us and ensures the debt of sin is paid in full. He is the true Joshua who redraws the boundary lines of our spiritual inheritance, ensuring that “our lines are fallen in pleasant places and we have a goodly heritage.” Jesus ensures that whatever was lost is fully restored and whatever lost its value gains its full worth once again. The outcast and downtrodden are brought home, fully restored, and crowned with grace.

Matthew 6:31–34: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Leviticus 25:20–21: “You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?’ I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.”

Everything begins to fit together seamlessly. In the Jubilee, even though there was no planting or tilling, God promised to supernaturally take care of the nation. In the exact same way, when Jesus tells us not to worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear, He is walking us through the reality of the Jubilee — giving us full assurance for our needs so that our primary focus can remain fixed on God’s Kingdom.

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More in the Rest Series

1. What Does It Mean to Find Rest?
2. Rest From Labour
3. Result-Related Rest
4. Rest in Hope
5. Rest: The Flip Side
6. The Rest of Sacrifice
7. Sabbath: A Remembrance
8. The Seven Sabbaths
9. The First Sabbath
10. The Weekly Sabbath
11. The Missing Sabbath
12. The Sabbath of Weeks
13. The Sabbath Month
14. The Sabbath Year
15. The Impossible Sabbath
16. The Enforced Sabbath
17. The Year of Jubilee
18. Inside the Jubilee
19. Jesus in the Jubilee [You are Here]