You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. Leviticus 25:10.
The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD. Luke 4:18-19.
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
When Jesus opened the great Isaiah scroll in the synagogue at Nazareth and announced the fulfillment of the Scripture before their eyes, He announced the good news that He was declaring a time of Jubilee—the year of favor from Me. When Satan attacks you need to know that you are in the age of Jubilee and not be pulled back into slavery a second time.
So today’s Life Lesson on what to do when Satan attacks is “Remember it’s Jubilee.”
Before you know what you have in Christ as your Jubilee, we must go back to what I commanded when I gave Moses the divine timetable for Israel for weeks and years. Because I was bringing them to the land I had promised by Covenant to Abraham for his descendants, they would no longer be slaves but landowners and in charge of the planting, cultivation, and harvest of their own fields and vineyards, so I gave them the Shabbat, the Shabbat of weeks (Shmita), and the Jubilee, for times of release, restoration, provision, reflection, and rest in Me. All was designed to make them a fruitful, free, joyous people living days of Heaven on the earth.
“You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; so that you may prolong your days on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.” Deuteronomy 11:8-12.
And this was the timetable, all set up on sevens, which is the number of completion and rest (Shabbat), for I made the world and all that is in it and surrounds it in six days and on the seventh day I rested and sanctified that day as a sign. “You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” Exodus 31:13. The Shabbat was to join you with Me, it was a day set apart to spend in My rest.
I instructed Moses at Mt. Sinai that when they came into the land I was giving them, they were to give the land a sabbath (rest) to Me, the LORD. Six years they were to sow their fields, and six years they were to prune their vineyards and gather in the crops, but during the seventh year the land was to have a sabbath rest unto Me; wherein they did not sow their fields nor prune their vineyards and the land had a sabbatical year. But there was more. They also were to count off seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. Then they were to sound a ram’s horn abroad all through the land on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of Atonement. They were thus to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It was the jubilee for the people, where each was restored and returned his own property, with debts forgiven, and slaves set free. And in the fiftieth year as a jubilee; they were not to sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. It was a holy year consecrated to Me. And I provided for them during that year and the Shabbat of weeks, the shmita, year preceding it.
Restoration. That happened in the Jubilee year—all lands restored to their first owners, those you had lost their inheritance got it back in full, and all debts were forgiven and cancelled as if they had never been, and those who had been taken into slavery because they had fallen into debt and could not pay were set free—redeemed! Jubilee was My idea and I made it a command. Why? It was showing what I would do in My Son. He is the substance that cast the shadow of the Jubilee. Jubilee is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is your Jubilee, in Him I undo all the devil has done, I pay all your debts to divine justice by the blood of My Son, and restore your families, your property, your damaged bodies and souls!
The word translated as “Jubilee” in the language in first it was first given to Moses, that is, in Hebrew, is “yobel (יוֹבֵל),” which means a ram’s horn, a trumpet. And if you pay attention to the Hebrew letters that form the word “yobel” you can learn much. The first letter is the yod (י) which means “hand” and it pictograph is a hand, and the next letter is a vav (ו), and the vav has a pictograph of a large nail or peg, so you see it is the nailed hand of Jesus that is releasing you from sin and slavery. The next letter is the bet (ב), which means “house” and it pictograph is a house, so you see the nailed hand is opening My house to you. And the last letter is the lamed (ל), which has the pictograph of a Shepherd’s staff, so you see Psalm 23 fulfilled here, that is, your good Shepherd is bringing you to dwell in the delights and abundance of My house all the days of your life and forever. Jubilee.
And the year of jubilee began with the blowing of the shofar (the ram’s horn trumpet) Leviticus 25:8-11. A joyous call ringing throughout the land that coming forth from the day the blood of the sacrificial offering of the Atonement had been made, was the restoration of the Jubilee year.
Yes, when the Israelites blew the shofar to announce the beginning of the Jubilee year, they consecrated the fiftieth year and proclaimed a release (liberty) through the land to all its inhabitants. Leviticus 25:10. This is significant because when the priests blew the shofar at the walls of Jericho and raised the joyful shout, the walls went down. And Jubilee took the dividing wall formed by your sins and offenses down before Me.
And in your life Jubilee is important. Jesus announced in the synagogue in Nazareth that He came to announce the year of favor—the year of Jubilee—that in Him it is Jubilee. My anointing was on Him to preach good news to the poor (the Jubilee was very good news to the poor who had lost their riches—they got them back and their debts cancelled!), to set the captives free (slaves released to freedom) and heal the broken hearted (restore the lost years). He fulfilled that passage in the hearing of all in that synagogue and it is for you too. And He is with you always till the end of this age, and this is the age of grace, the church age, a time when all your debts owed to Me by your sins are forgiven and gone, wiped out by the Blood of My Son, and all is restored to you that you lost while taken captive by the devil to do his will. The “god” of this world, that Adam authorized as the lord of his life, has stolen from you—stolen your true identity, killed and destroyed your bodies, lives and destinies, and has enslaved you, but that is over for those who receive My Son and are diligent to enter into and live the Jubilee. My Son came to undo the works of the devil, release you from the slavery of the law of sin and death, and give you back your inheritance. Do not return to slavery a second time. Live the Jubilee. It is yours.
And your restored inheritance is better than it was before. Adam was heir of the world and all in it, but you are heir of Heaven and earth. It has pleased Me to give you not only the kingdoms of the earth, but to give you My Kingdom as well when you belong to the little flock of My Son. I have made you joint heirs with Christ and I have given Him everything.
Now during the year of Jubilee, the Israelites were to let the land rest and plant no crops. I told the Israelites, “you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.” Leviticus 25:11-12. No toilsome labor in the Jubilee year, and indeed, this command to rest the land and refrain from toilsome labor was not just in the Jubilee year, but every seventh year the land was to have a shabbat (rest) where no crops were sown or harvested. Leviticus 25:1-7. And the Jubilee year came after seven sets of Shabbats, or in the year after the forty-ninth year, which would be a Shabbat year already. Leviticus 25:8-12. So the land rested two years every forty-nine years, the Shabbat year and the Jubilee year.
The Israelites had a problem with following this for they wondered how they would have provisions if they did not sow or gather crops. But I assured them that I would order My BLESSING on the year before the Shabbat year so that it brought forth the crop for three years. Thus when they could sow the year after the Shabbat year, they would still eat the things from the bumper crop they had the year before it started, until the new crops were harvested. So My BLESSING provided for the sixth year, but not just the sixth year as a usual crop would, but also for the seventh year and the eighth year (the year they usually sowed again when it was only a shmita year with no Jubilee following), so it supplied a double over itself. Now in the Jubilee year, however, there was an extra year of Shabbat, so then I blessed them with the double double. Enough for the sixth year, the seventh year, the Jubilee year, and the year after the Jubilee year. They had enough from the bumper crop that preceded the Shabbat year for the Shabbat year and also for the Jubilee year and it would feed them abundantly through the year after Jubilee when they again planted crops.
To enter the Shabbat, the rest, you need the double portion. To enter the Jubilee you need another portion on top of that. Remember, I gave the Israelites double the Manna on the day before the Shabbat so that they did not need to do any labor on the Shabbat. They were fed with no labor on their part.
Why do you worry about what you are to drink, eat, and wear? Do you recall when Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the good news of the Kingdom, He told them not to worry or take a lot of supplies along. He told them to travel free and light and all they needed would be supplied when they needed it. At the Last Supper he asked them if they had ever lacked anything on their preaching travels. And they said they had lacked nothing.
The Israelites never kept the Jubilee. This was a real problem for them, primarily they did not want to release their slaves or give back property. They did not want to forgive debt. And so they finally went into captivity at the time of Jeremiah, My prophet, for he warned them about the Jubilee, and they started to keep it and let their slaves go, but then they changed their minds and took them all back into slavery. So their enemies came in and found the devil already had a stronghold in the land, and took My people captive for the seventy years that they had never given a Shabbat to the land. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 (“Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him (King Nebuchadnezzar) and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.”)
I take the rest seriously and so should you. I created you on the evening of the sixth day so that you would immediately enter the Shabbat (rest) with Me and in Me. And by “the rest” I mean the place where you have no anxiety about anything but in everything, cast your cares on Me through prayers and petitions with thanksgiving, and live in perfect peace knowing I am taking care of everything in your life that you entrust to Me. And the rest is a place where you exercise your dominion authority over the works of My hands, and you are having the things of the earth work for you, instead of you spending your life chasing things. You will never catch enough on your own, like Peter fishing without Jesus in his boat, but when you are in Jesus and He is in you things come to you—seek first My Kingdom and My righteousness and all these things will be added onto you. Take My Word and your words seriously. And enter the rest, where work is declaration of My Word with accompanying actions as I direct.
Shabbat, Jubilee, Jesus—they are all My perfect plan to restore to you the Eden Blessing and make it like sin never happened.
I gave you Jesus—so you could live in perfect Shabbat and Jubilee every day, all day, and forever. And how do you enter? By thanksgiving and praise and worship. Those are the evidence of faith. Faith rejoices at the good things I have already provided for you in Jesus. And faith takes them. Grace makes them and faith takes them, and faith works by love. Thank Me for the double double and see it manifest in your life.
So when Satan attacks to take you captive to do his will, simply answer his temptation by telling him you are in the time of Jubilee and he cannot make any false claims against you. They have all been paid and released, your property is coming back to you, and you are no longer slaves but sons and the Son has set you free. And the one He sets free is free indeed.
1. All your debts to divine justice are paid in full and cannot be charged again:
“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, the Father made you alive together with Jesus, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Jesus.” Colossians 2:13-15.
2. You have been released from slavery to sin and death:
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2.
“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:15-17.
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” Hebrews 2:14-15.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7.
3. Property recovered.
“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13.
“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:29.
“The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.
Jesus is your Jubilee. He has set you free from all your debts by paying in full all that you owed Me, He has set you free from the slavery to sin and death by bearing all your sins, sickness, and pain in His own body, and He has restored all the devil stole from you. He has restored what He did not steal. Psalm 69:4. He has set you free. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. He came and set the captives free. He released the oppressed. He restored your righteousness. He came to undo the works of the devil and give you a time of favor from Me. And that is Jubilee.
And one more note I would like to add. Even if the devil tries to tell you it is not Jubilee, that does not matter because I gave a way for My people to be released from slavery, have their lands returned, and their debts paid when it was not Jubilee year if they had a kinsman redeemer. And in Jesus you do.
“If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold.” Leviticus 25:25.
“Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him.” Leviticus 25:47-49.
To redeem you from slavery, your kinsman redeemer had to be a brother or a very close relative. Leviticus 25:47-49. “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same,” Hebrews 2:14-15, and My Word took flesh and dwelt among you and from His fullness you have all received. He redeemed you from slavery to sin and death into the glorious freedom of My children. And He tore down the wall that divided you, and by His blood bought people from every tribe, language, race and nation to be a kingdom of priests ministering spiritual sacrifice unto Me, the Father. You are no longer “no people”, you are now “My people.” 1 Peter 2:9-10. You have been redeemed by the first born of many brethren, Jesus, your Brother, your friend, your teacher, your savior, and your Lord. He is your perfect kinsman redeemer with all the riches of Heaven at His disposal.
“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17. And when you reign, the devil is beneath your feet where I have put him. It is time you trampled him underfoot. It is Jubilee.
I love you. Jesus is your Jubilee and your kinsman redeemer. In Him you have everything. For by My doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to you wisdom from Me, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30-31. Be expecting your double double for Jubilee living and if the devil tries to make you think it is not yours, just tell him that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous and since it is Jubilee he has to return to you all your inheritance and ancestral property that he has stolen from you and your ancestors and hold him to that. Send My host to collect, they know where he has hidden it.