On this Labor Day weekend, as we look at the account of the “Year of Jubilee,” we will observe a period of rest and restoration extended to the children of Israel. The Bible tells us that the Jubilee occurred every forty-nine years (v. 8). It was a time when all the land experienced a sabbath, or a rest period, for an entire year. People weren’t supposed to grow their crops, and the land was allowed to rest and stay fallow (v. 11). The Jubilee was announced with the joyous bugle of the shofar (v. 9), which reminds us of the return of Jesus Christ when “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect” (Mt 24:31).
According to Ronald E. Clements, the Jubilee was a “sabbath of sabbaths, and in it all property had to be restored to its original condition and owner,”(1) and all debts were to be forgiven. The contemporary Christian singer Michael Card wrote a song about the Year of Jubilee; and in this song he presented some insight into its deeper spiritual meaning. He said, “The Lord provided for a time for the slaves to be set free, for the debts to all be cancelled so His chosen ones could see. His deep desire was for forgiveness, He longed to see their liberty, and His yearning was embodied in the Year of Jubilee. Jubilee, Jubilee, Jesus is our Jubilee! Debts forgiven, slaves set free! Jesus is our Jubilee!”(2)
How many of you hard-working Americans would like to have a year’s vacation and have all your debts cancelled? Our world is in such a fallen state today that such a notion is simply fantasy. However, we can find rest and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, for Michael Card said that Jesus is “our” Jubilee. The Jubilee represented salvation and redemption, which was later manifested and completed in the ministry of Jesus, the Messiah. This morning we will take a closer look at some of the spiritual insight found in the account of the Year of Jubilee, and see how it relates to the work of God in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Sojourners in Life (v. 23)
23 The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
The Lord said here that the land “shall not be sold permanently,” and the reason why is because His people were sojourners with Him. Ronald E. Clements said, “The intention of restoring property to its original ownership after forty-nine years is . . . a practical confession that the land rightly belongs to God and that the Israelites were only ‘passing guests’ upon it who were allowed to make use of it by God’s grace.”(3) He continued to state that originally, “property belonged communally to the whole clan or tribe . . . [and] thus this law seeks to alleviate some of the dangers inherent in the right of private ownership of land by recalling the basic principle that all the land was God’s gift.”(4)
What if some of God’s people had chosen to settle down and claim ownership of some real estate before the conquest of Canaan? This is what happened to the tribes of Reuben and Gad when they observed the lands of Jazer and Gilead. They approached Moses and Eleazar and said, “Let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan” (Numbers 32:5). If they had settled down, they would have run the risk of being alienated from the face of God whose presence dwelt among His people in the tabernacle; which was the continually-moving center of worship for the Israelites. Moses replied, “If you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave [you] in the wilderness” (Numbers 32:15).
Now keep in mind, that this application is pre-conquest, before the Israelites actually inherited the Promised Land. Israel conquered the land of Canaan and settled down, and the people were allowed to stay in one place and work the land; nevertheless, they were still considered sojourners. They were passing guests in this world and in this life. The Lord would one day redeem His people from the face of the earth; but for anyone attached to possessions and property, they risked forfeiting their relationship and place with God. Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mt 19:24).
There is a spiritual application here for believers. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” In the Israelite’s case, Jesus might have said to them, “For where your [land] is, there your heart will be also.”
The Kinsman Redeemer (vv. 24-25)
24 And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. 25 If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.
We see here that if a brother had gotten into a tight spot and sold his property for some unforeseen circumstance that he would have been allowed to redeem it because it represented his livelihood. The land is life to those who work it and farm it. For the person who became poor and sold his property and forfeited his livelihood, he was allowed to have a kinsman redeem the land on his behalf.
A good place to look in understanding the work of a kinsman is in the book of Ruth. In Ruth chapter four, Ruth’s kinsman was Boaz’s brother, who was expected to redeem the land of her dead father-in-law Elimelech. Boaz asked his brother to perform his right as kinsman and buy back the land, but he refused. He declined when he found out that he was supposed to take Ruth as his wife as part of the levirate law. He didn’t want to taint his family name and reputation by taking a Moabite as his wife; for he felt that a Moabite was unworthy to enter his family bloodline.
I want you to consider the lives of people today. What if someone had sold his life into sin, and then wanted to redeem himself and enter the presence of God? Before Christ came and died for our sins, God would have looked at that individual and said, “You can’t enter My kingdom because your sins have made you unworthy to stand in My holy presence.” Who then would be that individual’s kinsman?
In the story of Ruth, the Hebrew word for kinsman (ga’al) means “redeemer.”(5) When Boaz’s brother refused to marry Ruth and serve as the kinsman, Boaz became her kinsman. When Ruth was deemed as unworthy, by grace Boaz saw her as worthy, and became her saving “redeemer.” In becoming Ruth’s redeemer, Boaz typified the work of Christ. He also became one of the forefathers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).
Works Cannot Redeem (vv. 26-28)
26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, 27 then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. 28 But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
Redemption can’t be obtained by hard work. I want you to notice that there wasn’t always a redeemer present for those who had forfeited their land (v. 26); however, a person was allowed to redeem the land all by himself (v. 27). He could have worked really hard and tried to save enough money to buy the land; but how could a poor person ever buy back anything, especially something as expensive as land – and how can people today who are poor in spirit ever purchase their inheritance in the kingdom of heaven? It can’t be done! Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
It is highly unlikely that a poor person would have ever been able to reclaim their inheritance without a kinsman redeemer. God cared enough for His people, though, that He established a way for those who were poor to regain their inheritance; and that was with the Year of Jubilee. We read how in the Year of Jubilee, all land obtained from the poor would revert back to them (v. 28); and all that was lost would be found. The Jubilee also typified the work of Christ; and Matthew Henry said, “Some compute that the very year in which Christ died was a Year of Jubilee, and the last that ever was kept.”(6)
Inheritance to the City (vv. 29-31)
29 If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. 30 But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. 31 However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.
These verses speak of inheritance to the city. Here is the exception to redemption in the Year of Jubilee. Verse twenty-nine says that if a man had sold a dwelling place located within the city that it could have been redeemed within the space of a full year; however, verse thirty says that if he didn’t redeem his house within the time frame of a year that he couldn’t redeem it ever again, and it wouldn’t return to him in the Jubilee either; it would be forever lost.
This is symbolic of inheritance within the city of God. If a person has been convicted in their heart to receive Jesus Christ, and then refuses their inheritance, choosing a life of sin instead; by God’s grace they “will” have a chance to repent, because there is a grace period. However, if they continue to refuse, then the Lord will hand them over to suffer for their sins. In the final Jubilee, which just happens to be the Day of Judgment as well, one’s inheritance in the city of God cannot be regained. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (Jn 14:2); meaning that people have a chance at a mansion in the kingdom; nevertheless, there are so many who refuse it.
Verse thirty-one says that anyone living outside the city wall who sold their home could still redeem it. Today, those who have not yet secured their eternal inheritance in the city of God, and who have made their home in the world outside the city walls, still have a chance at redemption as long as they have life and breath. Spiritually speaking, life is our one-year grace period. We as believers need to reach those outside the city walls with the gospel message; and serve as kinsman redeemer to the lost, bringing them the grace-filled message of salvation through Christ.
Inheritance of the Priesthood (vv. 32-34)
32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33 And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.
These verses speak of the inheritance of the priesthood. 1 Peter 2:9-10 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Those who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and who have accepted their mansion in the kingdom, are considered God’s priests. Christ-followers are said to be “the priesthood of believers.”
Leviticus 25:32 reveals that the Levites, who were God’s chosen priests, could redeem their inheritance at any given time. This meant that their inheritance was forever secure; and likewise, those who have been called by God today have a secure inheritance in Christ. We also see here that the priest’s inheritance shall return in the Year of Jubilee (v. 33). If we know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, then our inheritance is secure when Christ returns in that final Jubilee.
Time of Reflection
All people are sojourners, or wanderers, in this life. Throughout the course of life all of us will mess up and commit sin, for Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Each of us has sold our inheritance to the Lord’s kingdom for the temporary pleasures of sin, but Jesus will offer to be our Kinsman Redeemer, and buy back our inheritance in the kingdom, if we will just choose to accept His generous offer.
Are some of us going to be as those who have heard God’s Word, and been offered a mansion in heaven, and then refuse it? The ones who refuse the Lord’s offer will not have their place in heaven secure in the final Jubilee. Are Christ-followers going to be faithful to take the gospel to the lost; the ones who have never heard it before, and have never been offered a mansion in heaven? These people still have a chance to repent before the final Jubilee if the gospel is shared with them.
For those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are secured a home in heaven. Christians are considered to be the priesthood of believers, and the Lord will not take away our place with Him. God’s priests are highly regarded; and they are set apart as a peculiar people to show forth the Lord’s praises, and to become a light to the world.
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and if He is not your Redeemer, then you will not receive a home in heaven in the final Jubilee. You do have a chance, however, if you will accept Christ and the price that He paid for you on the cross. Just believe in Him and confess before others that He is truly your Savior, and Jesus Christ will be your Kinsman Redeemer. You will then be received and welcomed into the city of God.
NOTES
(1) Ronald E. Clements, “Leviticus,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 2 (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1970), p. 65.
(2) Michael Card, Joy in the Journey (Brentwood, TN: Sparrow Corp., 1989), p. 84.
(3) Clements, p. 66.
(5) Ibid., p. 66.
(6) Strong’s Concordance, p. 25 in the Hebrew dictionary.
(7) Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Peabody: Massachusetts, 1991), p. 182.
