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Jubilee is a word we don’t often hear in our modern times. So what is it? A jubilee is a time of celebration! But what significance does that have for us as Christians today?

First, some history. Back in the book of Leviticus (25:8-55 and 27:17-21 specifically), God commanded the people of Israel to observe the Year of Jubilee. This meant that every 50th year, they were not to plant anything in the fields, all slaves were set free, and all debts were canceled. This was done to remember that everything they have belongs to God. The people of Israel also didn’t plant anything every 7th year, called a Sabbatical year, but this happened on a smaller scale than in a Jubilee year.

Jubilee is not just an Old Testament concept. From the years 1300 to 2000, multiple jubilees have been celebrated, generally every 25 or 50 years, with some exceptions. Each jubilee has been instituted by the Roman Catholic pope at the time.

So why is jubilee important for us today? I see two main reasons - because it teaches us to trust, and because it is a model of what Christ did for us.

Jubilee teaches us to trust because we see the Israelites’ example of how they trusted God. Think about this: if you’re an agrarian society and you live off of what you grow in your fields, what happens when you don’t plant anything in your fields for a year? You have to trust God to supply all of your needs, and you have to trust that He will feed you and your family. We, too, need to trust God to supply all our needs. This sounds like absurdity to our modern ears - to not plant your food when logically you know you need it to survive! But by being obedient to God in that way, the people of Israel were constantly reminded of God’s good provision in their lives when they truly relied on Him for their wellbeing.

We need to remember jubilee because it’s a model of what Christ did for us. As I mentioned earlier, in the year of jubilee all slaves were set free and all debts were canceled. Through His death on the cross and resurrection for us, Jesus Christ has set us free! We were enslaved to our sins, and we can only have freedom through Jesus - similar to how slaves could only have freedom through the year of jubilee. Every one of us has a debt to pay for our sin; we all have the debt of death leading to eternal condemnation hanging over our heads. But again because of Jesus, this debt has been canceled! We will still die a physical death on this earth, but we will no longer experience an eternal spiritual death, but rather life.

The best part of this concept of jubilee for us is that we don’t have to wait every 50, 25, or even 7 years - you can join the jubilee anytime you want, and it has no end!