In this message we shall continue to consider the blessings of the jubilee. We pointed out in the foregoing message that the first of the two main blessings of the jubilee is that those who have lost their inheritance may be returned to their possession (Lev. 25:9-13). God intended to be man’s possession (Psa. 16:5; 90:1), but man lost God because of man’s fall (Eph. 2:12). However, God’s jubilee brings man back to God as his inheritance (Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-23). Let us now go on to see the second main blessing of the jubilee.
The second blessing of the jubilee is that those who have sold themselves as slaves are freed from their slavery (Lev. 25:39-41, 54). According to the type in Leviticus 25, an Israelite may become so poor that he must sell his possession. Then he may go deeper into poverty and even sell himself. Having lost himself, he becomes a slave.
The one who had sold himself into slavery could try to redeem himself. However, if he could not redeem himself before the year of jubilee, he was to be released in that year. “If he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him” (Lev. 25:54). This means that in the fiftieth year, in the year of jubilee, the one who had sold himself as a slave was freed from his slavery.
The picture in Leviticus 25 is very meaningful. This picture indicates that from the time of the fall man has sold himself as a slave, in particular as a slave of sin. Although man tried to redeem himself, he was not able to do so. In the dispensations of conscience, human government, promise, and law, man was not able to redeem himself. But then the dispensation of grace came, a dispensation typified by the fiftieth year. In this dispensation fallen man can be released from bondage.
The New Testament reveals that fallen man has been sold to sin as its slave. In Romans 7:14 Paul declares, “I am fleshly, sold under sin.” In John 8:34 the Lord Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” God’s jubilee frees fallen man from sin. For this reason, the Lord says, “If then the Son shall set you free, you shall be really free.” Furthermore, in Romans 6:6 and 7 Paul tells us, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him that the body of sin might be made of none effect, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves; for he who has died is justified from sin.” Then in Romans 8:2 Paul goes on to say, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Furthermore, according to Galatians 5:1, God’s jubilee also frees us from the bondage of law.
Let us consider once again the significance of the year of jubilee being the fiftieth year. Leviticus 25:8 says, “And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.” According to verse 10, the people were to “hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” We may say that the seven sabbaths of years in verse 8, the seven times seven years, are also seven “weeks” of years (see Dan. 9:24-26). In the Bible a week, a period of seven days, signifies a complete course. For example, in a course of seven days God created the universe and everything in it and then rested. Therefore, the seven days of a week indicate a complete course.
In the sense that a week signifies a complete course, our Christian life may also be regarded as a week. The week of our Christian life is signified by the feast of unleavened bread. In Exodus 12 we see that the feast of unleavened bread lasted seven days. In the Life-study of Exodus we pointed out that the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread signify the entire course of our Christian life from the time we are saved until the time our body is redeemed.
The jubilee did not come at the end of a single week of years, but after a course of seven weeks of seven years. The year after seven weeks of seven years was, of course, the fiftieth year, the first year of the eighth week of seven years.
In the Bible the number eight signifies resurrection. The Lord Jesus was resurrected on the eighth day, on the first day of the week. In keeping with this principle, the first year of each new week, or period, of seven years was an eighth year, and this eighth year may be considered a year of resurrection. The year of jubilee was the seventh “eighth year.” This means that this eighth year, which is the fiftieth year, indicates seven times resurrection.
The principle of the jubilee being on the fiftieth year is the same as that of the day of Pentecost being on the fiftieth day. The day of Pentecost was on the seventh eighth day, just as the year of jubilee was on the seventh eighth year. After seven courses of days came the day of Pentecost, and after seven courses of years came the year of jubilee.