The Jubilee came only once every fifty years. Many people heard it only once in their lives. One Sabbath in Nazareth, Jesus stood up and announced a greater Jubilee.
The trumpet. In Leviticus, the Jubilee began when the trumpet sounded “on the Day of Atonement… throughout all your land” (Leviticus 25:9).
The message. God said, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants” (Leviticus 25:10). Debts were released and families went home.
A prophet's hope. Hundreds of years later Isaiah wrote about someone God would send “to proclaim liberty to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1). It sounded like a great Jubilee was coming.
In Nazareth. Jesus “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16). He was handed the book of Isaiah.
He found the place. He read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18).
Freedom. He was sent “to proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).
The year. He came “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:19). Acceptable means favorable, a time of God's kindness.
Every eye. He sat down, “and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him” (Luke 4:20).
Today. Jesus said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). The Jubilee everyone had waited for had arrived in Him.
What He did. Jesus preached good news to the poor, healed the blind and set people free from sin and sickness. He did what He said.
Free indeed. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
What we learn. Jesus is the true Jubilee. In Him, people stuck in sin can be set free and brought home to God.
What to do. This week, tell someone the good news that Jesus sets people free.
In Leviticus 25, a poor person could lose his family's land. But God made a way for it to be bought back. The person who did that was called a redeemer.
God's land. God said, “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine” (Leviticus 25:23). The land was a gift that stayed in the family.
Bought back. “In all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land” (Leviticus 25:24). To redeem means to buy back.
A close relative. “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” (Leviticus 25:25).
A real story. In the book of Ruth, Boaz was a redeeming relative. He said, “I have bought all that was Elimelech's” (Ruth 4:9). He bought back the family land and married Ruth.
A bigger problem. We have something worse than lost land: sin. Jesus said, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34).
Our relative. To redeem us, Jesus became one of us. “He Himself likewise shared in the same” flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14). Many Christians see Him as our kinsman-redeemer, the close relative who buys us back.
Sent to redeem. “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Galatians 4:4-5).
The price. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold… but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Forgiveness. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
From darkness. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13).
Stand free. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free” (Galatians 5:1).
All things new. One day God will say, “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). That will be the final Jubilee.
What to do. This week, thank Jesus each night for buying you back. Name one way He has set you free.
Complete all sections to finish!
Read each section and answer the questions correctly.