The Year of Jubilee
Over the last two years, many of us, myself included, have found it difficult to rejoice continually. There have been a lot of difficulties brought on by the pandemic, messed-up economy, political division, protests, lock-downs, masks and other government regulations, business closures, supply chain disruption, inflation, Americans left behind following our withdrawal from Afghanistan, southern border chaos, smash and grab thefts in our cities, school shootings, etc. Maybe you lost a job or loved one, or maybe you just have felt unmoored from the past stability of your life. Whatever the case, I think we’re all ready to turn the page on a new chapter and a New Year!
It is time to start reviving the joy of the coming New Year! Just like in the Old Testament of the Bible, let’s commit to making 2022 our own Year of Jubilee. The Year of Jubilee in the Old Testament was about rebirth, a new beginning, restored relationships, and rest. In a Year of Jubilee in the Old Testament, debt was canceled, land was given back, slaves were set free, and everyone took a year to rest and rejoice in the Lord with their family.
Leviticus 25:10 says, “…It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan.”
The Jubilee of the Old Testament provides us with a beautiful picture of the New Testament Gospel of redemption and forgiveness. Jesus Christ came to set us all free from our sin and the debt that we owe as a result of our sin. Jesus redeemed us as Christians and died on the cross to pay the debt on our behalf so that we could be forgiven of our sin and debt and be set free forever. Since we as Christians have been set free by Jesus Christ, we can now enter the peace and rest that only God can give us. We no longer have to labor and strive to live our lives in a way to try and earn our salvation from God (like all religions other than Christianity demand, and which is impossible).
Jesus has paid a debt we could not pay. We can never be good enough or holy enough to place God into a position that He owes us our salvation. It is only through His gracious gift of the Lord Jesus Christ to pay our debt for us that we are set free through our faith in Him. If we truly believe in our hearts that Jesus is the Son of God and our Lord and Savior and that He rose again on the 3rd day after his terrible death on the Cross, we are promised eternal life with Him (Romans 10:9-10).
The New Year can bring tremendous amounts of joy if we just change our mindset and allow it to happen. I am focusing my thoughts on ways I can live in jubilee this coming New Year by continuing to grow in my personal relationship with God, including spending time in God’s Word and with my family, seeking joy every day, and taking time for reflective rest and prayer. And most of all, being at peace and having joy and gratitude because of what Jesus has done for me. Now that is peace and joy that all the craziness of our culture and world will never be able to take away from me!
In Psalm 20:7, the Bible says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
God is the One who we can trust to turn 2022 into the year of jubilee for us. With only a few days left until the New Year, go to God in prayer and ask Him how you can consecrate this coming New Year to Him so it can be a year of tremendous peace, joy, and gratitude for you, no matter what else is going on in our crazy messed-up world. Ask Him how you can be His light to others in the darkness that surrounds us in 2022.