Sabbath and the Jubilee

Sabbath and the Jubilee

Leviticus 25

Famed Patriot and bacon enthusiast, Ron Swanson, once captured the pride of the American spirit in confidently declaring, 

History began on July 4th, 1776. Everything before that was a mistake.

Of course, Mr. Swanson is also known for exaggeration. One gets the idea. America’s independence was a monumental moment in the history of the world. On July 4th, 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies gathered at the Pennsylvania State House and signed the Declaration of Independence,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Thomas Jefferson penned those three words which have become the bedrock of American culture for 250 years: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Jefferson could not have fully understood what that sentence would become for a new nation desiring its Independence. The American experiment began and the land of the free and the home of the brave was born. 

Although we remember and celebrate our independence on July 4th, 1776, it was not until September 3rd, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed by King George that officially ended the Revolutionary War and formally recognized the borders of the United States of America. The representatives of the 13 colonies merely declared their desire for Independence stating,

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the [rectitude] integrity of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.

Declaring freedom and being free are two different things. The one under authority does not have the right to declare their independence, but the one in authority. Authority is the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. One can make declarations, but those declarations do not have any weight unless the one who is declaring them has authority to do so. 

Leviticus 25 is a declaration of independence given by the Supreme Judge of the world and the one who has supreme authority over the world and in particular has declarative authority over his people. In Leviticus 25, God continues to establish his authority over his people by declaring laws for the Sabbath year and for the year of Jubilee which declares independence and liberty for those in bondage. God is hard-wiring the exodus from Egypt, God’s deliverance of his people, into permanent remembrance and celebration for the people of Israel by putting it into their national rhythm with the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee.

Independence is not declared by those under authority but by those in authority. And the One in authority has declared liberty for those under his authority. We will work through this chapter under two headings: the Declaration of the Sabbath and the Declaration of Jubilee.

Declaration of Sabbath

Leviticus 23-25 is one unit focusing on how Israel is to view time and space as holy to the Lord. The opening of Leviticus 23 highlights the weekly rhythm of 6 days of work and one day of rest. Our weekly rhythm of work and rest reflects the Lord in his Creation as he worked for six days making the world and rested on the seventh day. Resting on the 7th day was an act and testimony of faith declaring God’s authority in one’s life. Leviticus 25 begins with another declaration of faith.

Leviticus 25:1–7,

The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food. 

The key to the entire passage is wrapped up in verse 2, “When you come into the “land that I give you.” The land does not ultimately belong to Israel, it belongs to the Lord. The Lord makes this explicit again in verse 23, “for the land is mine.” 

Everything in ancient Israel revolved around the land. Israel was an agricultural people. All their food was dependent on the land. They lived and died on the land. In a very real sense, the land was their life. And in another sense, the land was a symbol of God’s blessing.

Israel’s story and their relationship with God is intimately connected to land. In Genesis 1-2, God creates a land for his people in creation. In Genesis 3, God expels the people from his land because of sin. In Genesis 12, God calls Abram to go to the land that he will give them.

In Joshua, God brings Israel into the Promised Land, a land flowing of milk and honey. In the Exile, God again removes them from the land because of sin. And in Revelation, God gives them land in the new heavens and earth in the consummation of the Lord. 

Land is a big deal for God’s people. And they must care for the land as God’s stewards for the land does not belong to them but to the Lord. Everything belongs to God and we are just stewards of it. What God was declaring for Israel was not hard to understand, “Six years you work the land, and on the seven you rest the land.” It was easier to understand the “what” of the command, but hard to comprehend the “how” of it. They need the harvest every year for food. If they don’t work the land, they will not have food to eat. And if they do not have food to eat, they will die. To take the 7th year off would mean they would not be able to sow seed until the 8th year meaning they would not be able to harvest the food and eat it until the 9th year. 

This would be an act of faith that God would provide for their needs supernaturally. And he address this in Leviticus 25:18–22,

“Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives. 

Beloved, God knows what he is doing. He knows what you need and he will provide it for you. The righteous shall live by faith. God’s people have always lived on faith that God will provide for their needs. God has declared his people must Sabbath for the land and in doing so, they would demonstrate their faith in him and dependence on him. 

What does this mean for us today? Let me lay out 5 principles of how we can apply this in our own lives. 

First, everything belongs to the Lord - We cannot live as if all our possessions, our homes, cars, bank accounts, food, belong to us. Everything we have, we have received from his hand. Psalm 24:1–2,

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

for he has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers. 

The Lord was the one who founded and established the Lord, therefore the world and those who dwell in it, you and me, belong to him. Everything belongs to God. Do you live that way? Do you view your possessions and your paychecks as the Lord’s? 

Second, we are stewards of God’s goods - If everything belongs to the Lord, then we are called to be stewards of what he has given us. Foundationally, we are called to be good stewards of the earth. We should exercise dominion over creation for God’s glory and for the human flourishing of our neighbors. As Adam was commanded in the Garden, as God’s first priest-king, to “work and keep” the land, as a kingdom of priests we too are called to “work and keep” the land for God’s glory. 

God has given us possessions to steward for a time. This is the same idea in the New Testament. 

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:1–2,

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

All Christians are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of the gospel that God has revealed to us. We must steward these mysteries well by sharing them. 1 Peter 4:10–11,

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

Likewise, you all have received certain gifts of grace that you are called to steward for his glory. How are you using the gifts God has given you to serve the body of Christ?

Three, share your goods with those in need - to make the last point explicit, God does not give you wealth for yourself, he gives you wealth to steward it for the good of others.

Leviticus 25:6,

The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 

Notice how many people are provided for by the land that the Lord gives to his people. God gives you wealth for the good of others.

1 Timothy 6:17–19,

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. 

When we share our goods, we place our hope in the future, in the world to come. 

Fourth, trust the Lord will provide - In the Sabbath year, Israel had to trust that God would supernaturally supply their needs. Likewise, we must trust the Lord to provide our needs. We must not be filled with anxiety and worry about what is to come for we know that if God cares for the birds of the air, he will care for us. (Matthew 6:25-34). Where and what do you need to trust the Lord to provide? Do not be like those who do not know God who are filled with worry and anxiety about what is to come. Trust God. Trust his provision and his timing. He is perfectly and infinitely wise. He loves you and he knows what is best. 

Fifth, the Sabbath rest foreshadows a future eternal Sabbath rest - God was not merely trying to test Israel and their faithfulness, but he also was trying to foreshadow something far grander. He wanted Israel to communicate to the world that there is a future Sabbath rest for the people of God.

Hebrews 4:9–10,

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 

God was hard-wiring the concept of rest into the lives of his people as a way to look back to the creation of the world and the land of Eden and to look forward to heaven, the land of eternal rest. 

God declares the Sabbath for his people for the good of the land and for the good of the world. There are so many things the people of Israel did not understand in God’s command of the Sabbath, but he was trying to care for them and to teach them and have them teach others about deeper principles that just food and rest. God was teaching them about his eternal redemption coming in Christ. 

Declaration of Jubilee 

The Supreme Authority declares a year of Jubilee where all the land that was purchased or sold was restored to its original owner.

Leviticus 25:8–12

“You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. 

Every 50th year, or after 7 Sabbath years, (7 being the number of perfection), there would be the year of Jubilee. On this 50th year, on the Day of Atonement, a trumpet would blast throughout the land proclaiming liberty to all the inhabitants. Why is it significant for the trumpet blast to begin at the Day of Atonement? 

It was to root the year of Jubilee in God making a provision to deal with sin. God redeemed Israel through the substitutionary sacrifice and sending of the scapegoat into the wilderness. It is only after God forgives his people from their debt of sin that he asks his people to forgive their neighbors of their debt to them. Jesus taught us in the Lord’s prayer,

Matthew 6:12,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

We forgive because we have been forgiven. And when we don’t forgive the debts of others, we have forgotten that our own debts have been forgiven.

Matthew 6:14–15,

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

And Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 

God knew it would be hard for his people to forgive the debts of others and to restore the land so it began on the Day of Atonement when God would forgive their sins. 

The Year of Jubilee had multiple purposes. The first purpose was to provide protection for those in financial and economic trouble. The passage lays out various circumstances that highlight how one could sell their land. It may have been for mismanagement of the land or circumstances beyond one’s control but people were allowed to give up their land and become servants of the land for their own survival. Lord willing, they would be cared for while they worked the land and learn how to better harvest their own land in the future. And after 50 years, the year of Jubilee, the people were allowed a new start as the land was given back to the original tribe. 

The first purpose of the year of Jubilee was to provide a way for people to be protected from financial struggle. It was a way of mercy for people in trouble. The second purpose was to remind the people of their own exodus from Egypt. Two key verses that drive this home,

Leviticus 25:23

“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. 

And Leviticus 25:55,

For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 

Israel is reminded that the land belongs to the Lord and that they are servants, strangers and sojourners with the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt. The year of Jubilee was a 50 year reset and remembrance that the land is the Lord’s and they are mere strangers and sojourners of this world. They were to remember how they were strangers and aliens in Egypt but were rescued by the Lord as his special people. The exodus was their declaration of Independence and their proclamation of liberty. 

And what happened in that 50th year was meant to remind Israel and the world that God was the Redeemer. As Jefferson did not understand the magnitude of his words on July 4th 1776, neither did Israel understand God’s word in Leviticus 25. For sadly, Israel would never follow the year of Jubilee and because they didn’t follow it, they would be taken into exile as a consequence. As John Flavel has said, “Providence like the Hebrew alphabet is best read backwards.” We know now what the Lord was communicating in his declaration of the Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:9–10,

Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 

Notice those the sound of the trumpet and proclaiming liberty. Isaiah would use similar language,

Isaiah 61:1-2a,

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Isaiah was prophesying the coming of the Messiah. And Jesus in Luke 4 after he went into the wilderness and resisted the temptation of Satan, he returns in the power of the Spirit to Nazareth, and we read,

Luke 4:16–21, 

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

Jesus was announcing that he had come to bring the year of Jubilee to the people of God. He had come to proclaim liberty as one who had authority. Jesus came to fulfill the promise of Leviticus 25. He came to cancel everyone’s debt and restore them to God and to the land. 

Friend, if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is good news for you. The Bible says all have sinned meaning all have debts. We have debts we owe for our sin and against God. And because of our debts we are in slavery to that debt. And the debt we owe is death. Now the good news is Jesus Christ came to proclaim liberty to those who were in debt to sin. He came with a message of repentance. If you repent of your sins and trust in Christ, you will be forgiven of your debt and have life and liberty with God.

For Jesus wasn’t one merely declaring your independence from sin, he was the one accomplishing. He lived a perfect life and died a sinner's death on the cross. He was dead and buried, but three days later he rose from the grave. In his death and resurrection, he not only declared you can have liberty but he defeated the enemy to accomplish.

Consider Colossians 2:13–14

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 

He has canceled your debt, as in the year of Jubilee, nailing it to the cross so that you could be free. Freedom is possible for you. If you repent of your sins and trust in Christ, you will have liberty. You will be declared free from sin and united with God. Repent and believe today.

Beloved, the gospel of liberty reminds us that we have liberty from our sin. We are no longer destined for wrath but for salvation. We are free from sin to live for God’s glory. Jesus did not merely save us now, but unto eternity. For there is still a sabbath rest for the people of God.

Jesus promised in Matthew 24:29–31

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

And Paul uses the same language,

1 Corinthians 15:51–57

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

What God declared for Israel in Leviticus 25 was a foreshadowing of what God would do for his people. One day the trumpet will sound and this life will be over. Our perishable bodies will be clothed with mortality. We will no longer see the effects of sin and death, but we will be brought to our eternal Sabbath rest and into the land of promise, the new heavens and earth. 

God has declared his eternal Sabbath rest and everlasting Jubilee. It has been declared to us so that we would live for that trumpet call. It is a promise. It is a certainty. So, beloved, let us not live as if we’re still in bondage. The trumpet has already sounded. The year of Jubilee has come in Christ—and it is coming in full. The cross was our Day of Atonement, and the empty tomb was our proclamation of liberty. Jesus didn’t just declare our freedom; He accomplished it. And now, we live in light of that liberty, as stewards of grace, sojourners in a world not our own, and saints awaiting a better land.

Do you hear the rhythm of heaven in this? Work and rest. Repentance and restoration. Debt and forgiveness. Leviticus 25 was God’s ancient melody of mercy—a melody Jesus fulfilled and one day will bring to crescendo when the trumpet sounds again. On that day, every injustice will be made right, every exile will end, and every weary heart will enter its rest.

Until then, we Sabbath in faith and steward our lives in hope. We forgive because we’ve been forgiven. We rest because Christ finished the work. We share because we have been richly provided for. And we wait—not anxiously, but eagerly—for the trumpet to sound once more.

Even now, the Lord is proclaiming liberty. So live like free people. Trust the One in authority. Steward the land, the life, and the liberty He has given you—for His glory, for your good, and for the joy of a world that still needs to hear that the year of the Lord’s favor has come.

Even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen.