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Read Sessions and Testimonies
Sessions By Mike Cleveland
Conference Notes Year of Jubilee Part 1
Conference Notes Year of Jubilee Part 2
The Year of Jubilee-Session One
Read Leviticus 25:1-38
My name is Mike Cleveland, and I am one of the team members here at Setting Captives Free; I’d like to extend my welcome to the Setting Captives Free annual conference. Prayer
By way of introduction, let me share with you four characteristics of someone involved in life-dominating sin. I’m talking about what the world calls "addiction" or that which consumes our life. All four of these were true of my life just nine years ago:
There is no rest. It is a very weary life. I’m always looking for something different, something more, something better. There is no rest, peace or tranquility, there is much inner turmoil as we are always looking for that next pornographic image to view, or constantly thinking about our next meal, or our next cigarette, bottle or other fix.
"Men are in a restless pursuit after satisfaction in earthly things. They will exhaust themselves in the deceitful delights of sin, and, finding them all to be emptiness, they will become very perplexed and disappointed. But they will continue their fruitless search. Though wearied, they stagger forward under the influence of spiritual madness, and though there is no result to be reached except that of everlasting disappointment, yet they press forward."
This life of unrest is best summarized by Isaiah when he said...
...they "are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud." Isaiah 57:20
- Life becomes slavery
I become enslaved to my own evil desires. I become a slave to thoughts of food, gratifying our appetites. Or I become a slave to alcohol or drugs, to pornography or adulterous affairs, to a life of homosexuality, or cigarettes. Jesus says, "Whoever sins is a slave of sin" (John 8:34). A slave has a master and he must do his Master’s bidding.
So, if the thought comes to go smoke a cigarette, or go to a strip club, or drown my troubles in a bottle, I have to obey. It is my master; I am a slave. Oh, I can try to resist for a time; grit my teeth and white knuckle it, but that can only last so long -maybe a day or two or a week, or a month or two at the longest.
False teachers promise others freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 2 Peter 2:19
- Life becomes captivity
I’m no longer just a slave; my mind and my heart are now captivated by the allurement of sin, by the false promise of satisfaction. I am captive of viewing that next image online, I become a prisoner of the bottle, or become trapped in the bottomless pit of homosexuality. FREE WILL
The Bible says that every person ever born is originally God’s property through creation, but the devil besieged the city of mansoul and takes us captive to do his will.
This life is summarized by Paul’s instruction to Timothy to pray for argumentative people
...and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:26
- Life of poverty
The devil comes to kill, steal and destroy, and the longer we are in bondage to sin the more we lose. Until eventually we become totally bankrupt. Oh we’re not necessarily speaking of physical poverty, though that might happen, but we are talking about poverty of character; we lose our reputation, our integrity, our relationships begin to disintegrate, we might even lose our ministries, families, jobs, eventually.
He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored. Proverbs 13:18
An undisciplined life becomes an impoverished life.
So where does this leave us? What do we do now? Is there any hope? Well those questions are what the Year of Jubilee is all about. Did you know that the Year of Jubilee deals specifically with each of those four issues? Yes, this ancient Jewish custom, given to a bunch of Israelis outlines, highlights, points forward to the Solution to these four issues.
Let’s turn to Leviticus 25.
Redeemed from Egypt
Given the Law, Wandered in the Wilderness
Joshua, Promised Land, Inheritance
But hardships would come, famines would come, and various families would have to mortgage their inheritance away just to be able to eat, and if the hardships and famines continued they might even have to sell their very selves into slavery in order to be able to stay alive. Jesus told a parable in Matthew 18 about a servant who owed a huge debt so he was ordered to sell himself, his wife and his children in order to repay the debt. Jesus told this parable to the nation of Israel and they would have understood.
So here they were; having mortgaged their property, sold themselves as slaves, they were captives, completely impoverished.
Notice how the year of Jubilee deals with these problems:
Sabbath rest (verses 4-5). 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Leviticus 25:4-5
For us, distant from the Old Testament’s agricultural setting, we don’t understand why this was needed. Just as people were to rest one day in seven, so the land was to rest for one year every seven years. The land was to rest; the laborers were to rest. To the weary laborer, the tired worker, Jubilee is about rest.
Release for the slaves (verse 10). Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. Leviticus 25:10
This is the releasing of slaves. This is the emancipation proclamation. This is the blowing of trumpets and the proclaiming of freedom. Imagine the joy of those who had been slaves for 20-30-40 years; a lifetime of slavery - hearing the trumpet sound, receiving his freedom, walking out into a new start, a new life, a life of freedom.
Email from Ron: "I have been captive to pornography for 40 years of my life, truly enslaved to my own pride and rebellion against a God I didn’t even believe in. Through the continual pointing me to the cross I finally see the truth, have been given such sorrow in my heart over my sins, have repented of my unbelief and rebellion and have submitted to Jesus Christ as Lord. I honestly feel like a slave set free."
Jubilee is about freedom.
Return of property, (verse 25). If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. Leviticus 25:25
Property was to be redeemed and returned to its original owner. 1--This helped to preserve each family and tribe as distinct until the coming of the Messiah. 2--It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large. 3--It would give a new beginning to those who had leased away their properties, it would give them a fresh start. Jubilee meant liberty and freedom, release and return; a new start, as a time of great celebration.
Relief for the poor (verses 35). If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Leviticus 25:35
God commanded the Israelites to help the poor, to relieve their burdens, to loan to them without interest.
To summarize, the Year of Jubilee was a Sabbath year, slaves were released, property was returned to its original owner, land and houses were returned, and the poor were relieved.
Now we all might be thinking, "Yea for them, but what about us? What does some ancient Jewish custom given to a bunch of Israelis have to do with us?" Luke chapter 4 is Jesus’ first recorded sermon:
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:16-21
Jesus used Jubilee language here. Begins on a Sabbath. The "Year of God’s Favor" is "the Year of Jubilee." He said He came to release prisoners, to set captives free, preach good news to the poor. This is all Jubilee language. The reality is that Jesus is our Jubilee.
Think of what this means to us:
For those who are weary in their sins, restlessly pursuing satisfaction, Jesus says "Come to Me you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." To those who are enslaved to sin, Jesus says "He who the Son sets free will be free indeed." Those who are captive to sin Jesus says "I’ve come to proclaim liberty to the captive, release for the prisoner, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." To those impoverished by sin, Jesus Christ though He was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." And those four characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ are all what the Year of Jubilee pointed forward to.
At the cross, Jesus worked on our behalf that we might rest in Him. At the cross His hands and His feet were nailed to a tree that we might be forgiven and set free. Then He died, was buried, and three days later He rose from the dead for our justification. And the Bible says He ascended into heaven, leading captives in His train. And now He gives gifts to the poor - gifts that help His body.
Close with three thoughts:
Repent and receive the benefits of the gospel. Throw up the white flag of surrender, throw down our arms of rebellion against the King, bow the knee to the Lordship of Jesus. We don’t make Him Lord, God already beat us to that, our response is to yield and bow to Him. Repent. Turn from our wicked ways, humble ourselves, confess our sins, call upon the Name of the Lord. Revel in the magnificence of the gospel. Learn how to revel in it. Do you see how Jesus Christ came to give rest to the weary, release for the slaves, return of property and relief for the poor? We don’t need to go to the world for their diets, with all their man-made rules and regulations. We don’t need to go to the world to get their 12-step groups and try to make them biblical. We don’t need to go to the world to get their psychologists to help with depression. We have the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, every spiritual need we have is met in Jesus. Revel in the beauty of it. Repeat to others the Majesty of King Jesus Who died for our sins, who rose for our justification, who intercedes for us even now and who is soon returning. Repeat what He has done for you. Declare the magnificence of the gospel, declare the majesty of Jesus.
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The Year of Jubilee-Session Two
The Year of Jubilee began on the Day of Atonement. God planned it so that the atonement brought in the year of Jubilee. The Atonement was the basis for all the blessings that happened at Jubilee.
On the cross, Jesus made atonement for our sins and, as He did so, He ushered in a spiritual Jubilee.
The Atonement brings a Sabbath rest to all who believe (Hebrews 4:3). We do not "work" for our salvation, but rather we rest in Jesus’ finished work. Our Sabbath rest is no longer in a day but rather in a Person, as we respond to the call of Jesus to come to Him and find rest (Matthew 11:28-30). The Sabbath of the Old Testament was a foreshadow of our rest in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:13-17). Christians now live in a state of perpetual Jubilee, a perpetual Sabbath rest, believing in Jesus and resting in His finished work on the cross. In the year of Jubilee property was returned to its owner and slaves were set free. Through Adam and Eve’s sin, mankind was taken captive to Satan. This captivity or bondage in Adam is the condition every human being is born into (Romans 5:15-17). Illustration: Luke 11:21-22; compare Isaiah 53:12). The "strong man" of a devil guarded his property closely, keeping us captive in his prison. But then the stronger Man, Jesus, came and on the cross he attacked the devil, overpowered him and now He recovers his captives and delights in the "spoil." The Year of Jubilee announced the return of property to its original owner; we are currently living in a perpetual year of Jubilee where, through the death of Jesus, we are set free and returned to God, our rightful Owner. Jubilee was a year of redemption. Those who had sold themselves into slavery could be redeemed by another; that is, during Jubilee they could be purchased out of slavery. 1 Peter 1:18; Revelation 5:9 And finally, we who were impoverished because of sin have been made rich in Jesus Christ. "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." And now, let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich, because of what the Lord has done. Because of the cross we went from bankrupt to billionaire, we went from owing it all to owning it all.
Summary:
The year of Jubilee was a law of hope: The year of Jubilee was coming. It might be a short time or a long time, but the Israelite knew that the year of Jubilee was indeed coming. One day he would rest from his labors. One day he would be free! One day he would be redeemed! One day his poverty would end, his property would be returned, his inheritance restored, and he would enjoy the bounty of the Lord. That hope burned bright with those under the Law; one day, Jubilee was coming.
Our Jubilee has come! He came 2,000 years ago. He came to give us rest, to set us free, to return us to God, to give us our inheritance, to redeem us and make us rich in grace.
The Year of Jubilee was a law of freedom. No one can stop the captive from being set free; it was the law. Today, you cannot blame your upbringing, your past, your parents or your pain. The Year of Jubilee was the law, and it was the law of freedom, and Jesus has come as the fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee. Through Jesus’ death He destroyed the power of sin, regardless of how we were raised. Jesus broke the power of cancelled sin and set the captives free. Jubilee is a law of freedom! The Year of Jubilee was a law of joy. It was a time of celebration, of rejoicing in freedom and redemption and rest and riches. Jubilee is where we get our word "jubilation" which means the expression of joy, or exultation. Today, for those who experience the atonement, for those who know Jesus as their Jubilee, they have joy, joy, joy, joy down in their heart.
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