Celebrate the Jubilee
Freedom is something we treasure. In the Old Testament, there was a kind of freedom called the Jubilee (Lev 25).
The Jews were to observe the Year of Jubilee every fiftieth year.
On that year, debts were cancelled. Properties were restored to their original owners. Those imprisoned for not paying their debts were set free. It was a year of rest. There was to be no sowing or reaping.
God promised that He would grant them sufficient food during the year preceding, the year itself, and the following year (Lev 25:20-22).
It required the Jews to exercise faith in God that He would provide food for them as He provided the manna for their fathers during their wanderings in the wilderness.
The Lord Jesus began His ministry by reading from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue and proclaiming the Jubilee (Luke 4:16-20).
Essentially, He was telling the listeners that He is the promised Messiah for Isaiah prophesied that when the Messiah comes, He will declare freedom to the captives and heal many.
Jesus is our Jubilee. He has come to give us freedom from enslavement to sin. He offers to cancel our debt of sin. He came to restore what the devil has taken away from us.
The spirit of Jubilee is to acknowledge Jesus as our Saviour-King, seek His forgiveness of our sins, recognise that He owns everything in our lives, have faith in God, and find our rest in Him.
It is to forgive others and seek their forgiveness, respect others’ property rights, and proclaim Christ as the Jubilee to our families and friends.
(MT)