The Favorable Year of the Lord: Christ, Our True Jubilee

¹⁰ And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.
— Leviticus 25:10

Every 50 years the Israelites would blow a ram's horn, throughout all of the land, and proclaim the year of Jubilee. On the year of Jubilee all of the slaves were to be set free, and everyone who had sold their land was to have it returned to them. The year of Jubilee was a Sabbath year, during which the Israelites were not to work, but instead rest in the provision of God towards them.

The year of Jubilee is something very consequential and meaningful in the heart of God. The observance of the Jubilee year wasn't a suggestion from God—it was a command. In fact, it was one of the last commandments He gave to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. He was commanding His people that they would observe this year of release and restoration. In this commandment we see the heart of our Father. He is One who desires to bring His people into liberty. He desires to set His people free from oppression and captivity.

Christ is our True Jubilee

In Isaiah chapter 61 we find a passage that relates directly to the year of Jubilee.

¹ “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ² To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, ³ To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
— Isaiah 61:1-3

This passage speaks of One anointed by God to bring good news to the poor, healing to the brokenhearted, and liberty to the captives—One who came to proclaim "the favorable year of the Lord," the year of Jubilee. The Lord Jesus Himself is proclaiming liberty to us! "He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near" (Ephesians 2:17). The year of Jubilee in the Old Testament foreshadows something to come, the reality of which is Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). The Lord Jesus Himself is the true Jubilee—the One who came to set the captives free and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord!

As recounted in the gospel of Luke, the Lord Jesus entered the Synagogue and opened the scroll of Isaiah.

¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; ¹⁹ to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.” ²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
— Luke 4:16-21

He read Isaiah 61:1-2 out loud, and after reading it, He said, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing". He was declaring plainly that He is the One of whom this was spoken. He is the Anointed One of God, who has come to proclaim to us the true favorable year of the Lord. This favorable year of the Lord is the year of Christ, the age of Christ, when all may enter into Him and receive Him as their true liberty.

The Lord Jesus said, "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). He then went on to say, "I am the... truth" (John 14:6). We find our freedom, our healing, and our restoration in knowing the Lord Jesus. "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

See the liberty that is found in the Lord Jesus! Unlike the Israelites we don't need to wait up to 49 years to enter into the year of Jubilee. We may enter in now, today! Determine in your heart to come before Him, and to enter in! He extends such a warm invitation, saying "come to Me all who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The Lord Jesus is bringing us into the favorable year of the Lord. "For He says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2 ESV).

May we know Christ as our Jubilee, as He daily brings about an even greater liberty in our lives.

The Jubilee is for the Lord

When we speak of Jubilee and liberty in Christ we are quick to think about the benefit that we receive. We may think of the areas of brokenness, captivity, and bondage in our life, and look to the Lord Jesus to bring freedom and healing there. This is certainly okay; there is a great benefit for us when we enter into Christ as our Jubilee. But we must see that, above what we gain, the Jubilee is ultimately for the Lord. We must look beyond the personal gain and see that there is something in the heart of the Lord that He longs to fulfill and accomplish.

The heart of the Lord is not pleased with having a people that are in captivity. When the Israelites were held in captivity in Egypt, the Lord God spoke through Moses, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve Me" (Exodus 8:1). God could not be served and worshiped acceptably by His people while they were in bondage.

We see this principle again after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the Israelites were taken out of their land into captivity in Babylon. In Psalm 137:3-4 it says, "For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song... How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?" They had continually disobeyed the Lord, and as a result they were taken out of the land that He had prepared for them, and brought into captivity. But the Lord could not be praised acceptably while they were in that captivity.

The Lord desires to bring His people out of every bondage. He proclaims good tidings to the poor, liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to those who are bound—the favorable year of the Lord. And He does all of this that we might be free to worship Him acceptably! This is where His heart is. This is what He longs for.

Brothers and sisters, this is the year of Jubilee. He longs to bring us forth from the bondage of sin, from the encumbrance of every weight, from the enslavement to entertainment, and into the "glorious liberty of the children of God". He is breaking down every high place and every idol in the hearts of His people (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). He is working together every circumstance for our good, to bring us in conformity with His own beloved Son (Romans 8:28-29). And He is doing all of this because He longs to have a people, a bride, for Himself, that is without "spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).

Hear the word of the Lord Jesus to you—"He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives... to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord"!

The purpose of the Jubilee is first and foremost for the Lord God Himself! Let us heed His commandment. Let us open our hearts to Him, and enter into the fullness of what He has for us!

The Jubilee Begins on the Day of Atonement

When the Lord was instructing Moses concerning the Jubilee He commanded that the Jubilee would begin with the sounding of the ram's horn, throughout all of the land, on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9).

The Day of Atonement in the Old Testament represents the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. On the Day of Atonement, described in Leviticus 16, the high priest would perform ceremonial acts on behalf of all of the Israelites. The high priest acted as a mediator between God and the people, serving as a picture of the true Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 2:5 tells us that "there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all".

The high priest would take two goats. One of the goats would be killed as a sin offering on behalf of the people. This picture represents the satisfaction of the righteous judgement of God on sin, where the judgement of God fell on another—the animal being killed. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the One true offering for sin, the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

The high priest would then take the other goat and confess over it all of the sins of the people. In this picture the sin of all of the Israelites was removed from them and placed upon the goat. The goat would then be sent out of the camp, into the wilderness, representing how our sin is separated from us. This act represents how our sin ultimately fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

It is crucially important for us to see that the year of Jubilee began on the Day of Atonement. Our basis for entering into Jubilee—into liberty—is the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to see what He has accomplished for us in His death on the cross and resurrection. And we need to stand upon that.

The Lord Jesus is inviting us to lay aside our own attempts to justify or save ourselves, and to enter into His rest. He says, "he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:10). Cease from your works and enter into His rest! The Day of Atonement is here! See Christ ushering us into the year of Jubilee!

The finished work of the Lord Jesus is the basis for our initial salvation. It is also the basis upon which we may move forward in the Christian life. As we read in Romans 6:4, Romans 6:6-8, and Galatians 2:20, the Apostle Paul is speaking of things which have already happened for us, in Christ. "I have been crucified with Christ", "our old man was crucified with Him", "he who has died has been freed from sin". Just as the Lord secured our initial salvation, He also secured the path for our daily growth and victory. And just as we receive salvation through yielding to the Lord and believing in Him, so also we secure victory by yielding to the Lord and by faith entering into what He has already accomplished for us. In both cases we realize that indeed we cannot do it ourselves, and that we need another. We need the Lord Jesus as our salvation, and we need the Lord Jesus as our victory.

If we're not resting on the foundation of the finished and complete work of the Lord Jesus then we will yet think that there are more works that we need to do of ourself. This is problematic though, because as we look away from Christ, and to ourselves, we quickly leave the liberty of the Lord and enter into bondage. In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul speaks of a Christian trying to move forward in their own strength. He is in despair, saying "the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." He longs to do what is good, but finds no power to do it—"for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find." He ends by declaring, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Brothers and sisters, we need to see that attempting to progress in the Christian life according to our flesh will only bring us into bondage. When the Apostle Paul cried out "who will deliver me...!", we need to see the Lord Jesus standing in that place—the One who came to fully deliver us out of all bondage, and bring us into the "glorious liberty of the children of God". We are indeed so weak and so incapable. But Christ is so capable. Let our hearts rise, like the Apostle Paul, in saying "I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

In Galatians 2:20 the Apostle Paul says "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me". The judgement of God on our flesh was that it's only good to be crucified. This is God's estimation of the worth of our flesh. It's only good to be crucified. Don't try and justify yourself in the presence of God through your own works. Instead, accept God's estimation of its worth, abandon all trust in yourself, and by faith receive the gift of God. As we begin to, by faith, stand upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus, we receive an indescribable empowerment. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." The room that we have now vacated, Christ comes in to fill. He becomes our life. He lives in us. Where we could only fall short before, we start to see victory, as the Victorious One lives out His life within us.

In his book The Life That Wins Watchman Nee wrote:

Have there been sufficient proofs of your inability? He wants you to see your inability so that you may at least confess, "O God, I am not able." For a person to be saved, he needs first to confess that he is not able to save himself. Likewise, for one to overcome, he must also first acknowledge his inability. And as soon as one comes to this point, God will immediately commence working.

God gave the law to men for two thousand years. What was the purpose of God's giving the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel? He gave them these not for them to keep but for them to break. How is it so? Because God knew men could not keep these commandments; He knew they were all sinners. But men would not accept God's verdict until they had failed in their own eyes; only then would they confess that they were sinners.

The book of Romans tells us that God gave the law not for men to keep but for them to violate. After they failed to keep the law, they had to accept God's verdict and capitulate. God used two thousand years of human history to cause men to know their inability before He could give Christ to men for them to accept Him and be saved.

Do not fancy that you are able to change yourself to be a little better. Even after fifty years you will still be the same. Victory is Christ living in and for you. You may therefore say, Thank God, I cannot, but Christ can.

When the Lord Jesus was dying on the cross He cried out "it is finished!" He went through this to lay a foundation—a glorious foundation—upon which all may find liberty and freedom. Is your life built upon this foundation?

See the heart of the Lord. He paid such a price on the cross, and performed such a great work, to give you liberty. Would you receive it? Would it be the most precious thing to you? The love of the Lord beckons you to receive Him into your life, and to make Him your foundation.

Not I, but Christ be honored, loved, exalted,
Not I, but Christ be seen, be known, and heard;
Not I, but Christ in every look and action,
Not I, but Christ in every thought and word.

Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord,
Oh, to be lost in Thee,
Oh, that it may be no more I,
But Christ that lives in me.

— A.B. Simpson

That He May Show Forth His Beautiful Glory

The passage in Isaiah chapter 61, which the Lord Jesus Himself quoted, goes on to say "so they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that He may show forth His beautiful glory." (Isaiah 61:3 LSB). Some other Bible translations end the verse by saying "that He may be glorified". The Hebrew word expresses both meanings, to beautify and to glorify.

The verse so wonderfully shows us the purpose of God in performing this great work of Jubilee among mankind. God shows forth His beauty by reproducing His own beauty in the lives of His people!

Consider this, that the Lord of glory would take on human flesh and humble Himself to the point of death, to redeem a sinful people for Himself. He would then give Himself to His people, daily living out His life within them, bringing them into an even greater experience of liberty. And He would then assure them of a perfect liberty, in a time to come when they shall be forever with Him.

There can be nothing so great. We have a beautiful God, expressing His beauty among mankind. Let our hearts rise with praise and thanksgiving to Him. And let us commit ourselves yet even more to Him, that He may fulfill His great purpose among mankind.