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Announcing the gospel to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and sending away in release those who are oppressed are the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee (Luke 4:18-19):
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The word jubilee in Leviticus 25:10 means "a time of shouting," or "a time of the trumpeting of the ram's horn"; the trumpeting of the ram's horn signifies the preaching of the gospel as the proclaiming of liberty in the New Testament jubilee to all the sinners sold under sin that they may return to God and God's family, the household of God, and may rejoice with shouting in the New Testament enjoyment of God's salvation (Luke 4:16-22; Acts 26:16-19).
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Our preaching of the gospel is our blowing of the trumpet of redemption to proclaim to the world, "Behold, now is the well-acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation," the year of jubilee (2 Cor. 6:2; Isa. 61:1-3):
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When God created man, He intended to give Himself in Christ to man as man's possession, man's inheritance (Gen. 2:9; 13:12-15; Psa. 16:5; 90:1); however, man became fallen, and in the fall man lost God as his possession (Gen. 3:24; 4:16; Eph. 2:12) and sold himself into slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (John 8:34; Rom. 7:14b; Gal. 4:8; Titus 3:3; 1 John 5:19b).
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God's New Testament salvation, accomplished by God's grace based on His redemption in Christ (Rom. 3:24; 5:1-2; Eph. 2:8), brings fallen man back to God as his divine possession (Acts 26:18; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-24), releases man from slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (John 8:32; Rom. 6:6, 14; 8:2; Heb. 2:14-15; John 12:31), and restores man to his divine family, the household of God (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19), that he may enjoy fellowship in God's grace (2 Cor. 13:14).
Morning Nourishment
Lev. 25:10 ...You shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and...to his family.Luke 4:18-19 "...He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,...those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee."
[The word for jubilee is] perhaps related to the word ram; meaning "a time of shouting," or "a time of the trumpeting of the ram's horn." The trumpeting of the ram's horn signifies the preaching of the gospel as the proclaiming of liberty in the New Testament jubilee to all the sinners sold under sin (Luke 4:18-19; Acts 26:17b-18) that they may return to God and God's family and may rejoice with shouting in the enjoyment of God's salvation. (Lev. 25:10, footnote 3)
As Paul says in Ephesians 2:12, we were apart from Christ, having no hope and without God in the world. Today, however, we are no longer apart from Christ. Rather, we are in Christ. We have God, and we "turn on the switch" to enjoy God as our possession. The jubilee is altogether related to our possession, and our possession is God. When we have God, we have the jubilee; when we have God, everything is to our satisfaction. Our preaching of the gospel is our blowing of the trumpet of redemption to proclaim to the world, "Behold, now is the well-acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation," the year of jubilee (2 Cor. 6:2). Though man has fallen far from God, God is waiting for him, longing for his return. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 4, "The Jubilee," p. 20)
Today's Reading
[We enjoy] God as the possession of the jubilee and [obtain] the freedom of the jubilee....We saw the possession of the jubilee, and [now] we will see the freedom of the jubilee. Possession and freedom are both positive, but there is a difference between them. Some may say that they would rather have freedom than a possession, but this concept is not correct. Our possession is God. We cannot renounce God, saying that we want freedom instead of God, because without God there is no freedom. Our possession is God, and our freedom comes from our enjoyment of God. When we have our possession and enjoy our possession, the result is that we have freedom. Freedom is to be without oppression or deficiency....How we thank God that today He is our possession, and when we enjoy Him, we have freedom!The Old Testament describes the year of jubilee very well. Leviticus 25 is a long chapter, but it has only two main points. The first point is that in the year of jubilee all those who had lost their possession were returned to it. The possession was not returned to its original owner; it was the owner who was returned to his possession. On the one hand, man left and lost his possession, but on the other hand, his possession lost him. Did we lose God, or did God lose us? Both are true; we lost God, and God lost us. As we have seen, the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is an illustration of the year of jubilee. We are all the real prodigal sons. Today even kings, presidents, prime ministers, and cabinet officials are prodigal sons. In this parable, did the son lose his father, or did the father lose his son? This parable mainly does not speak of the son's losing the father. In verse 24 the father said, "This son of mine was dead and lives again; he was lost and has been found." From this verse we can see that the father's losing the son is emphasized more than the son's losing the father. Therefore, in the year of jubilee we mainly do not have our possession restored to us; rather, we are returned to our possession. Primarily, God is not restored to us; we are returned to God. The greatest blessing in the year of jubilee is that we are returned to God as our possession. This is the first main point in Leviticus 25. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 4, "The Jubilee," pp. 23-24)
Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msgs. 56-58