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).
The New Testament reveals that fallen man has sold himself as a slave, in particular as a slave of sin. In Romans 7:14 Paul declares, “I am fleshy, sold under sin.” In John 8:34 the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” However, God’s jubilee frees fallen man from the slavery of sin. For this reason, the Lord then said, “If therefore the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed” (v. 36). Furthermore, Paul declares, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves; for he who has died is justified from sin” (Rom. 6:6-7). Then he says, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death” (8:2). According to Galatians 5:1, God’s jubilee frees us also from the bondage of the law.
When God created Adam, He gave man dominion over the whole earth (Gen. 1:26) to recover the earth usurped by Satan so that God’s kingdom could come to this earth and God’s will would be done on this earth (Matt. 6:10). However, because of his fall, Adam lost his God-given authority over the earth. When the jubilee of the millennium comes, the earth will become the kingdom of God (Rev. 11:15), Satan will be cast from the earth to the abyss (20:2-3), and the overcomers will inherit the world (Rom. 4:13), the earth lost by Adam, and reign with Christ on earth.
After the fall of Adam, the whole creation was made subject to vanity and was enslaved under the law of decay and corruption (8:20-21). Although we have the divine Spirit as the firstfruits in our spirit, our body has not yet been saturated with the divine life. Our body is still the flesh, linked to the old creation. Hence, we groan together with the creation (vv. 19, 22). When the jubilee in the millennium comes, we will obtain the full sonship, the redemption and transfiguration of our body, and we will be freed from the slavery of the old creation.
The ultimate fulfillment of the jubilee is in the new heaven and new earth as the jubilee for all the God-redeemed and fully perfected saints throughout the generations.
In eternity the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven to the earth (Rev. 21:1-2). Satan will be cast into the lake of fire (20:10), and all the filthy things will be cleared away. All God’s redeemed will reign as kings on the new earth to fully occupy and possess it (22:5), that is, to inherit it as their eternal inheritance and to rule over it for eternity.
In eternity future all enslavement will be eliminated. There will no longer be a curse, and night will be no more (vv. 3, 5). All the negative things, including death and Hades, will be cast into the lake of fire (20:14). All God’s redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified people will be freed from all slavery. This is the highest peak which God’s work of grace in His new creation will attain fully and completely by ascending step by step, from the New Testament age to the millennium and then from the millennium to the new heaven and new earth. Then all His chosen, redeemed, and transformed people will enjoy for eternity what He as the Divine Trinity is and does, as manifested in His work of the new creation.
After God’s people were cleansed, they could enjoy their rest and keep the holy festivals with God in the full enjoyment of the jubilee foreordained by God for His people. The Sabbath as the weekly feast signifies rest for God’s redeemed people to enjoy with God and with one another, and it is the principal denotation of all the annual feasts.
The feasts, appointed by God as holy convocations, signify the gathering of God’s redeemed people to have a festival with God for His joy and enjoyment that the redeemed may participate in it with Him and with one another. The Feast of the Passover in the first month of the year, signifying that Christ as our redemption causes the judgment of God to pass over us and enables us to enjoy God as our feast, begins our enjoyment of God’s salvation with God. The Feast of Unleavened Bread signifies Christ, who is without sin for our enjoyment, as a feast in a life apart from sin. Our Redeemer, who is without sin, is the feast for our entire life as believers. We should enjoy rest, enjoy God, and enjoy our Redeemer, apart from sin, for our entire life. The Feast of Firstfruits signifies the resurrected Christ for our enjoyment as a feast in His resurrection. The resurrected Christ, the fresh Christ in His resurrection, was enjoyed first by God and then became our enjoyment with God and with one another. The Feast of Pentecost signifies the resurrection of Christ in its sevenfold fullness reaching the realm of complete fullness and bearing the full responsibility for the testimony of resurrection. The two loaves of bread presented in this feast typify the church in two sections, the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers, at the stage of Pentecost. These loaves are the increase, the expansion, of the fine flour that came out of the firstfruits on the day of resurrection, typifying the church as the enlargement of Christ. As such an enlargement of Christ, the church with its two sections is offered to God for His satisfaction. The Feast of the Blowing of Trumpets signifies God’s calling His scattered people together so that they, who have so long been without rest, can come back to the land of their fathers. Then they will have rest with God and will enjoy Christ as the absolute and thorough rest. On the Day of Expiation, the people were to afflict their souls and present an offering by fire to Jehovah, signifying their mourning, repentance, and sorrow for sin, and their offering of Christ as food to God for the satisfaction of both God and man. This is what the children of Israel will do when the Lord Jesus comes back. After the Lord Jesus descends from the air to the earth, the Israelites will repent, mourn, and return to God, receiving Christ as their Savior. This will be a literal fulfillment of the Feast of Expiation. The Feast of Tabernacles signifies the coming millennium as a dispensation, a joyful blessing for God’s redeemed people to enjoy with God for a full period of time in God’s old creation.
The Sabbath year as a year of rest typifies Christ in His fullness as our rest with God in full. It is also a rest for the land, signifying that Christ is the realm of the full rest. In the Sabbath year, all human labor should cease absolutely; this is a matter purely and wholly of grace toward everyone, regardless of his status. Furthermore, the sufficient grace in Christ surpasses our need threefold. This practice of keeping the Sabbath year ushers us into the jubilee.
The jubilee came out of eight consecutive sabbath years, being an eightfold sabbath. It signifies the superabundance of the fullness of God’s rest with satisfaction to us. The jubilee was also the Pentecostal year that came out of eight eighth years, indicating that the jubilee is something altogether from resurrection, to resurrection, in resurrection, and with resurrection. In the year of jubilee, those who lost their possession returned to it, and those who were in slavery were released. This signifies that the God-redeemed believers return to the possession lost in Adam and are set free from the slavery of sin. It also signifies that in the millennium, the overcomers will inherit the land lost through Adam and will be freed from the slavery of the old creation. Its ultimate fulfillment is in the new heaven and new earth, in which all the redeemed and fully perfected saints throughout the centuries will inherit the new earth as their eternal inheritance and be freed from all slavery.