THE JUBILEE OF JUBILEES

Matthew 24:31                                                                                  
And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

We are still in the season of the counting of the Omer, between Pesach and Shavuot, between Passover and Pentecost. The command to count seven Sabbaths of weeks plus one day (50 days) is incumbent upon every Israelite, as in the text of Leviticus 23 it is expressed in the second person of the plural (Leviticus 23:15–16). The commandment to count the days of the Omer to Shavuot/Pentecost sounds very similar to the commandments of counting the years to the jubilee. The high priest (this command is given to Moses in the second person singular form) is to count seven weeks of years or forty-nine years, then to declare the fiftieth year jubilee (Leviticus 25:8–10). This declaration is made in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. The counting of the jubilee has been all but lost. Many people are trying to piece it together and we have now some ideas of where we’re at, but even so, the command is not practicable at this time.

It is the duty of the high priest to count off the jubilee. At this point in time we do not have a physical high priest simply because we do not have a physical temple. The commandment also requires that on the jubilee all lands be returned to their previous owners, all debts be forgiven and slaves liberated. Today’s slavery has to do with being owned by someone to whom we ought money (Proverbs 22:7). I don’t think that the financial systems of today are very well geared to these practices. Can you imagine all debts being forgiven, lands returned, etc …? Israel already had a hard time with it when it was under Rome; it would impossible today!

Another issue with jubilees is that the Torah forbids for land in Israel to be sold in perpetuity (Leviticus 25:23). One element of the laws of jubilee is for and is to be returned to its original tribal owners. It could be used as collateral for awhile, but it eventually it needed to be returned. It is not our land to do as we please with; it is his (Leviticus 25:23)! Because of this, the sages declared that all Israel needed to be present for the great jubilee to be practiced. Today because of the long exile, we no longer follow from which tribe people are descended from. Learning about D.N.A. has started the process, but we are far from finding all Israel. Messiah is the one supposed to gather all the tribes (Acts 1:6), so it was ruled that the great jubilee will happen at the coming of Messiah. We know that before he returns (Revelations 19:11–16), 144 thousand believers from all the tribes will have been sealed in his name (Revelations 7; 14:1–5). They are the firstfruits from all the elligible tribes; therefore they are the redeemed representatives for the redemption of all the tribes of Israel. They render the jubilee of the Land possible.

Yeshua will surely return to gather his people and return the Land to its rightful owners: Israel. He is the kinsman redeemer. As Boaz redeemed Ruth and thereby returned the land to Naomi, Yeshua also redeems us (The Book of Ruth). On that Day there will also be a wedding and the Land will be returned to Israel (Revelations 19:9). It will truly be the jubilee of all jubilees.

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

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