The Fiftieth Year Sabbath With the mass media constantly bringing the world into the living room, it takes great restraint not to get caught up in the passions of the moment. When the world suffers an anxiety attack, when hearts fail for fear (Luke 21:26), it can be highly infectious. Fear is one of the most contagious diseases known to humanity. The only antidote is God's word. The Truth! It is the Truth that "shall make you free" (John 8:32). Hence, it is important to keep the inoculations of Truth current--fresh, and at full strength. The Type The Jubilee Over 3600 years ago, on Mount Sinai, God gave the nation of Israel instructions that provide important insight into the passions that are now infecting the peoples of the Earth. "And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years. Then shalt thou send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you."--Leviticus 25:8-11 ASV God through Moses instructed Israel to set aside every fiftieth year as a sabbath--a Jubilee. A proclamation was to be made throughout the land unto all the inhabitants! They were to return every man unto his possession. It was to be a universal year of liberty! This Jubilee, this year of liberty, was the greatest of the sabbaths, the culmination of the system of sabbaths God gave Israel. A system beginning with every seventh day and climaxing with every fiftieth year. The Purpose of Jubilee The purpose of Jubilee was stated simply and emphatically by Moses.
"And ye shall not Jubilee was given by God as a means to preclude oppression. Oppression is a root cause of much of the evil that afflicts the human race since Cain killed Abel. When God placed humans in the Garden he gave them dominion over all the earthly creation except for themselves (Genesis 1:26-28). It was not God's will for human to have dominion over human. This will of God was typically demonstrated when he established Israel in the land. "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."--Judges 21:25 ASV In Israel, during the time of the Judges, Israelite did not rule over Israelite. Each and every inhabitant in the land was responsible to God for his or her actions. No human stood between! This was God's design and desire for Israel; however, it was not Israel's desire. After God raised up Gideon to take care of a problem with the Midianites, the Israelites asked Gideon to rule over them. Considering his fallen condition Gideon's reply is remarkable. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: Jehovah shall rule over you."--Judges 8:23 ASV Nevertheless, the Israelites were not to be denied and after much insistence God allowed his arrangement to be changed. Israel was given a king. Subsequent history revealed the error of such a course. For, as Solomon wisely observed, dominion is as injurious to the ruler as it to the ruled. "All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt."--Ecclesiastes 8:9 ASV This principle applies to the angelic host, as well. No doubt, the desire to have dominion, to rule, was a root cause of Lucifer's fall (Isaiah 14:13). The purpose of the fiftieth year sabbath, then, was to provide a periodic leveling in Israel which would prevent any long term establishment of ruling and serving classes, thereby forestalling oppression. Jubilee was given to promote and insure a classless society. God knew, should classes develop, oppression would naturally follow and bring great harm to the nation. Israel's Failure Israel did not appreciate the wisdom of God's arrangement and did all it could to circumvent his law. They failed to observe Jubilee. God's lament over Israel's shortcomings was faithfully recorded by the prophets. "In thee have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the sojourner; in thee have they wronged the fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths."--Ezekiel 22:7,8 ASV The word "sabbaths" is plural. God was referring to all his sabbath arrangements, the seventh day to the fiftieth year. The plural was used again in verse 26. "Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them."--Ezekiel 22:26 ASV And, finally, verse 29 leaves no doubt Israel's failure to observe Jubilee was very much a part of God's lament. "The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yea, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully."--Ezekiel 22:29 ASV Oppression was pervasive. Israel did not honor God's Jubilee. The Antitype A Year of Liberty Does Israel's failure indicate God's work was in vain, or was there some greater purpose? Was the fiftieth year sabbath applicable only to an age long past or does it have meaning for today? Is there an antitypical significance to God's Jubilee? The prophet Ezekiel, though he did not mention Jubilee, did have something to say about liberty. In his temple vision (a prophecy concerning the Kingdom), he declared: "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he give of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons."--Ezekiel 46:16,17 ASV Liberty was also a consideration of the apostle Paul. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God."--Romans 8:18-21 ASV The language of verse 21 is the language of Jubilee. To describe the glory that is to be revealed, Paul invoked the spirit of the fiftieth year sabbath. So, to the prophet and to the apostle there was an antitypical meaning to the instructions given Moses; and, they applied the spirit of those instructions to the Kingdom that was to come. There is to be a Jubilee for the fallen human race. They are to enjoy "the liberty of the glory of the children of God". Fulfilling the Law Another text that demonstrates there is to be an antitypical fiftieth year sabbath is found in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount. "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished."--Matthew 5:17, 18 ASV The word "fulfil" in this text does not mean "keep". The point Jesus made was not that the Law must be kept (obeyed). Though this is true for all who are under the Law, it was not the intent of Jesus' words. The keeping of a type is not the fulfilling of it. The fulfilling is accomplished when the type is displaced by the reality, the antitype. For example, Jesus fulfilled the Passover type by dying as the paschal lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Only the fulfilling of the Law required such a death, the keeping of the Law prohibited it (Exodus 23:7). The writer of Hebrews used yet another figure of speech. "For the law having a shadow of the good things to come"--Hebrews 10:1 ASV Jubilee was a part of the Law. If the Law was a shadow, so too was Jubilee. Thus, there must be a greater sabbath, a grander reality beyond the shadow. Paul was very specific on this point in his letter to the Colossians.
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or
a new moon or It is unfortunate the translators felt it necessary to add the word "day" in this text. It is not to be found in the Greek; also, the word is in the plural. Paul had more than the seventh day in mind. He was thinking of the whole system of sabbaths, from the seventh day to the fiftieth year. And, as he declared, these sabbaths are a "shadow of the things to come". Jesus, when talking to the multitudes about John the Baptist, asserted: "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John."--Matthew 11:13 ASV Jesus declared the Law prophesied! By this he indicated the Law and its provisions foretold of a greater reality just as the prophets had done. So, as with prophecy, the Law will be fulfilled when the greater reality is realized. Only when the fallen human race experiences the prophesied "liberty," only when all that is lost is restored, will that which was pictured by God be fulfilled. There is to be an antitypical fiftieth year sabbath, an antitypical Jubilee! The Signs of the Times Today, the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3) are so evident, so graphic, there can be no doubt. Antitypical fiftieth year sabbath is the only reasonable explanation for that which has transpired, and is transpiring. These signs make manifest we are living in the time of fulfillment. Can the cry for liberty being heard throughout the world be the result of anything other than Jubilee? From Tiananmen Square to the Berlin Wall, from Johannesburg to Quebec, from the Baltic to Tibet, from Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Southeast Asia, the cry for liberty has gone up. It is heard and echoed "throughout the land" and by "all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10). The economic have-nots, the political have-nots, throughout the world are demanding their rights. It is universal. No corner of the earth is exempt; and, just as in Israel in the days of old, the haves are not cooperating. They are resisting in every way possible--legal and illegal, moral and immoral, nonviolent and violent. Jubilee is a process, not an event. In the type it lasted a full year. In the fulfillment it will take 1000 years (Revelation 20:4-6; 2 Peter 3:7,8). A process that began very quietly over a century ago. It has gradually grown, and is becoming more and more intense just as "travail upon a woman with child" (1 Thessalonians 5:3). Deliverance of humanity, the returning "every man unto his possession" will not be accomplished overnight. It will be a lengthy, difficult process, bitterly opposed by those who exercise worldly power. Some question that all the terrible things happening today, all the evils in the world, are associated with such a glorious arrangement as Jubilee. The problem is not with God's plan. Just as in ancient Israel, the problem is the result of humankind's fallen condition and their unwillingness to live in accordance with God's law. In this context, there is an interesting aspect to the curse in the Garden of Eden. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children."--Genesis 3:16 ASV In a world under the curse of God pain accompanies the birth process. There is travail. So, the birth of liberty is not to be without struggle, not to be without anguish. Just as the typical Jubilee brought strife and bitterness in Israel, so in the world the antitypical Jubilee brings a time of great trouble (Daniel 12:1); and, for the same reasons. The haves are not eager to participate in the redistribution of their wealth and its resultant privileges. The have-nots have little patience with their foot dragging. The psalmist described this day. "Why do the nations rage, And the peoples meditate a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds asunder, And cast away their cords from us."--Psalms 2:1-3 ASV The "kings of the earth" have set themselves against God and his sabbath. They are doing all that is in their power to hold back the tide of Jubilee. From the aristocracy at the beginning of the century (the Kings and Czars), to the rulers of today (government, business, and even religious leaders), they all have resisted God and his Anointed. They use every means available to them to preserve the present order, the present establishment, the status quo. And, because of this resistance there has been and will continue to be animosity and distress in the world. As Paul foretold: "When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape."--1 Thessalonians 5:3 ASV As the painful process that is the birth of liberty progresses, followers of Jesus, the Church, must not allow themselves to be caught up in the ebb and flow of the great Sea (Isaiah 17:12,13). They must not take sides. Always remembering the returned Lord is in control, the bigger picture must be kept in view. The spirit of the fiftieth year sabbath has brought forth great economic, political, and social movements--communism, socialism, civil rights, women's rights, human rights, animal rights, environmental protection. Though not all have accomplished good, all have resulted in a leveling of society. Oppression is no longer accepted as the natural right of a ruler, an employer, or a husband. Though it is not eliminated, the world's society repudiates all who practice it. Amnesty International, for example, is a product of this century. It could not have existed in earlier times. Have-nots have learned to make their cry for liberty and equality more effective by joining together. In the U.S.A., for instance, there is AFofL and CIO (labor), NAACP (race), and more recently, NOW (women). The successes they have had, however, do not solve the problem. The most common result has been to create additional groupings of haves and have-nots; and, thereby, increase the level of anger and indignation. The communist revolution in Russia is an illustration. The rise of the oil-rich Arab world is another. A third is the ANC's demand for one man/one vote in South Africa. So, the signs are there to be seen and appreciated. The great changes that have taken place in this century leave no doubt. The sound of the ram's horn is echoing throughout the land, to every corner of the earth. The spirit of Jubilee, the spirit of liberty, infects "all the inhabitants thereof". Truly, the fulfillment of this marvelous type is being realized. Advice for the Church This understanding of the antitypical significance of the fiftieth year sabbath strengthens the Church's resolve not only to watch, but also to be sober. "For ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober."--1 Thessalonians 5:5,6 ASV) Followers of Jesus are not to become embroiled in the struggles that result from the spirit of Jubilee. As this spirit envelopes the world, watchful and sober followers do not allow themselves to become aligned with one side or the other. There is usually right and wrong on both sides. The abiding solution is the full establishment of the Kingdom on earth. David had some advice that is especially appropriate. "Commit thy way unto Jehovah; Trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass. And he will make thy righteousness to go forth as the light, And thy justice as the noonday. Rest in Jehovah, and wait patiently for him: Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil-doing. For evil-doers shall be cut off; But those that wait for Jehovah, they shall inherit the land."--Psalms 37:5-9 ASV Fret not thyself! That is the guiding principle for the Church. All who have the hope of blessing all of the human race do not fret themselves. As they watch the have-nots rebel and riot against the establishment, when they see the haves do all in their power to stay the Jubilee process from returning "every man unto his possession" (Leviticus 25:10), they fret not themselves. They watch and remain sober, trusting in the Lord, for he will bring it to pass (Psalms 37:5). Instead of fretting, every member of the Church does all he or she can to insure the words Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees are never spoken to them. "Ye know how to discern the face of the heaven; but ye cannot discern the signs of the times."--Matthew 16:3 ASV Watching, and discerning the signs, they fret not and are not distracted from their goal. As Paul directed the Thessalonians: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation [for all of God's creation]."--1 Thessalonians 5:4,8 ASV |