You have no doubt heard the claim that there is a "great controversy" between God and satan. That Christ and the devil are in a running battle for men's souls. If this doctrine were true, then satan indeed is winning! More souls are "unsaved" today than ever before in human history. Satan, according to this view, is made out to be actually stronger than Jesus! But satan is not stronger than Jesus Christ! Jesus is returning to rule this earth with a rod of iron—to depose satan and set up the Kingdom of God. When Christ returns He will not leave this world in the hands of the devil.
For nearly 6,000 years satan has invisibly swayed the nations. He has misguided human governments, influenced man's civilization, possessed mighty leaders and inspired World Wars. Satan has had his part in causing the misery, hate, suffering, and violent deaths that have plagued mankind since creation. Satan has occupied the position of this world’s ruler ever since God gave him that office when he was Lucifer. But his days in that office are numbered! God is not in competition with satan—there is no "great controversy"! The question of who will rule this earth has already been decided! Jesus Christ has already overcome the devil and qualified to replace him. Jesus Christ is coming as King of kings and Lord of lords to take over the governments of this world and unseat satan the devil! Only when Christ reigns supreme will this world have peace beginning for one thousand years. But what will happen to satan? The Day of Atonement reveals the answer.
There is an often overlooked or forgotten statute of God that is associated with the Day of Atonement. Turn to Leviticus 25:8-10. Every 50 years a proclamation was to be made throughout the land. Its purpose was to bring jubilation to human hearts, a chance to have a fresh start in life. Notice what we read—and what the nations of this world seem to know nothing about: “And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.” But how many have ever heard of this law—let alone understood its meaning for us today? It helps to reveal satan's fate in God's Master Plan. By studying the Jubilee you will find astounding answers associated with the Day of Atonement and many other questions.
The Day of Atonement is a day of fasting (humbling) and repentance held each year on the tenth day of the seventh month—nine days after the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23:27). The Day of Atonement is unique in that we fast from food and drink, but as we will see it is a day of setting people (debtors) free. As a basic law, after every 49 years the Day of Atonement was to be associated with the blowing of the shofar of Jubilee, which signaled a permanent release of all unpaid debt—all held captive could reclaim their inheritance. Jesus, in fact, announced that the law of the Jubilee would be a cornerstone in re-establishing the government of God on earth (Luke 4:16-19). When He returns He will reinstitute the Jubilee—the “acceptable year of the Lord.” This is quoted from Isaiah 61:2. Many commentators have correctly understood the reference in Isaiah to be to the Jubilee!
The word Jubilee means an acclamation of joy or a battle-cry; loud noise and rejoicing. The year of Jubilee was no doubt a time of great jubilation, which God commanded the Israelites through Moses. For many people the Jubilee celebration occurred only once in their lifetime and for some not even that, as it occurred only once every 50 years. At this year of Jubilee all Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery were set free, and all land that had been sold reverted to its original owners. This meant that no Israelite could ever be in permanent slavery; nor could any Israelite permanently lose his inheritance.
What nation today follows these principles? Is it any wonder that about every 45 to 56 years the industrial world has suffered a major economic collapse? God set the Jubilee in motion to correct just such problems. There need not have been the economic crisis of the 1780s, for example, that ultimately led to the rise of Napoleon—nor the crises of the 1830s, the 1880s, nor the Great Depression on the 1930s that led to the rise of Hitler. Not only could the economic troubles of these near 50-year periods have been averted, but so could the horrific wars that often ensued. An economic roller coaster is right now in motion. We are on the very brink of another Great Depression and the “rocky shoals” of massive inflation. Forgotten altogether is God’s cure—every 50 years a period of rejoicing in place of economic collapse or recession. What could have been more wonderful in this material world?
How would it have worked? After seven cycles of sabbatical years (49 years), the fiftieth year was proclaimed a Jubilee. Again the land was to rest from cultivation (verse 11) and all families that had become poor and had mortgaged their land could return to their possession (verse 13). These were major economic laws given by God. They were meant to prevent undue wealth gotten through acquisition of farm land from accumulating in the hands of the rich while the poor become further impoverished. God emphasizes over and over that people are not to oppress one another (Lev. 25:13-17). Deuteronomy 15 states emphatically that following these economic laws would bring God's blessing (verses 4, 6, and 10). God wants people to learn to be generous and compassionate—to have the "give" attitude rather than the "get" attitude. Today's world, however, is characterized by materialism and greed. Farmers driven by economics try to “milk” the last bit of production from their tired soil and livestock. Economies collapse in wrenching depressions—or major recessions—and great hardship seemingly affects the world's economy approximately every fifty years. People practice selfishness and oppression of others. God's land Sabbath and Jubilee were intended to prevent this hard-hearted attitude and the economic curses that naturally result. Man was to willingly forego his crop in the sabbatical year and the Jubilee by letting the land rest. He was to acknowledge God as the true owner of the land and be thankful for God's generosity. And he was to share the good things of the earth with others. The rest from tilling the land provided opportunities for education, travel, community service, and spiritual reflection. God promised to perform a miracle in granting abundant crops in the sixth year of the cycle so that the bounty would suffice until a new crop came in two or three years later. Leviticus 25:18-22 shows this would be a continuing witness of God's power as Provider, just as the manna in the wilderness had been. If anyone became impoverished through some kind of mismanagement or poor judgment (like get-rich-quick schemes), he could sell some of his land. But his relatives had the right to redeem—buy back—the land from the new leaseholder (Lev. 25:25). Relatives were expected to care for each other. Or if the person who had become temporarily poor accumulated money enough, he could buy back the land at any time and return to his possession (vv 26-27). But if no one of his extended family could help him and he continued to be poor, then he always had the hope of a new start in the Jubilee. The creditor who leased his land had to relinquish use of it at the next Jubilee (v28). Agricultural land and residential lots in small farming towns—the un-walled villages of antiquity (v31)—were never sold in perpetuity.
What a break for the small farmer! What a difference this would make in the quality of agriculture. Huge agribusinesses that have developed since the Great Depression would, if the Jubilee were practiced today, vanish with one blow on the ram’s horn on the Day of Atonement every 50 years (Lev. 25:9)). And families living in small farming towns would never permanently lose title to their homes through poverty. They and their children could receive them back free and clear every Jubilee—if they could not redeem them earlier. And another of the plagues of the modern world—the flight of millions of poor from the land to major cities in search of elusive prosperity—would not exist. Wealth would not be concentrated in the hands of the very few. God, of course, wisely foresaw that invested capital in major cities—the walled towns of antiquity (vv 29-30)—should be treated differently. A former owner had a right of redemption for only a year on a piece of property he may have sold. If neither he nor his relatives could afford to buy back such city property, the new owner became the titleholder in perpetuity. This law had the effect of encouraging urban development. Urban blight would have been discouraged.
Today, the nations have forgotten God and His law. Their governments have assumed to themselves the right to determine matters of inheritance, property title and transfer—and contrary to the laws of God. God, of course, has allowed it—to the end that nations learn the bitter fruits of going their own ways. Jesus, in His ministry, refused to involve Himself in matters of inheritance in this world (Luke 12:13-14). Since title to property is a secular matter regulated by the state, God’s Church cannot announce a Jubilee. Now is not the time God is thwarting satan, restoring His government and His law to the world. He is only having an announcement made that He will restore it. Then, when Jesus Christ returns, every nation, tribe and tongue will be brought under the government of God and assigned their inheritance for a thousand years. The Jubilee will be enforced. Satan removed! No more will greed reign. God is concerned with how we use the resources He allows us to manage. He is judging each of us by how we deal with and treat our fellowman (I Pet. 4). Thus, His laws and instructions are not archaic or quaint customs! They are living laws to be observed by God's people!
The question naturally arises, then, how can a Christian apply these laws of God now? Obviously, an individual cannot observe all the details of these laws, since that would require national legislation. An individual cannot release his own debts, and there is no divinely appointed inheritance for each family today. But these laws are all for man's good, so we ought to observe them to the extent that this can be done in the present system. Even where a law cannot be practiced in the letter, it should be kept in the spirit. We must not oppress anyone in our dealings, and we must strive to be generous, kind-hearted, patient, and forgiving.
The Jubilee teaches forgiveness. The law itself speaks of the cancellation and forgiveness of debts on this day, but in the Bible, all sin is reckoned as a debt. If a man stole a thousand dollars, the thief normally owed his victim double (Exodus 22:4). His sin was reckoned as a debt, according to biblical justice. The New Testament also speaks of debts as the equivalent of sin. In Matthew 6:12 we read, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." In Luke 11:4, it reads, "And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." The Jubilee is not only about forgiveness of monetary debts, but also of sins. Those who sin against their neighbors are considered debtors to their victims in the eyes of God and His law. All victims of injustice are creditors and have certain rights before the law of God. If they cry unto God for justice, God will hear. Exodus 22:22-23 says of widows and orphans: “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry.” In God's law, only the victims have the right to forgive sin. The judge has no such right. If a thief is convicted of stealing a thousand dollars from you, the judge has no right to forgive it. He must impose precisely what the law specifies. Only you—the victim—have the right to forgive the sin, if you so desire. We are all victims of injustice in some manner. Many become angry and often quite bitter over these injustices. But those who know the heart of God and the character of Jesus Christ may learn how to deal with these injustices in a somewhat different manner. They understand that God is sovereign, and that nothing happens to them, except that God has the knowledge and the power to work it out for their good (Rom. 8:28). Those who truly believe this are the ones who do not become angry when they are personally subjected to injustice. They have learned to forgive those who wrong them and to rejoice when they are persecuted.
These are the overcomers, people who have been called into a higher realm of knowledge, understanding and wisdom of God. Some have mistakenly thought that when bad things happen to them, it is because God is angry with them or is judging them for something they did wrong. God does bring discipline upon us, of course, but often these things happen in order that we might become the creditors of the world and heirs of “all things.” The world has persecuted the overcomers in order that they might become the prime inheritors of “all things.” Beyond that, the overcomers are people who have experienced the Jubilee. That is, they have learned to release men from bondage and the prison house of sin (debt). They have learned not to hold grudges against their persecutors, but to rejoice that God has found them worthy to undergo these trials of faith. These are overcomers. The primary qualification of an overcomer—one who aspires to attain to the Feast of Tabernacles—is to be a forgiver. One cannot come to Tabernacles without first going through the Jubilee. That is the order of the Feast days, and this process cannot be circumvented. The overcomers are individuals that God intends to put into positions of rulership in His Kingdom. They are able to rule without bias and with equality of justice to all, because they have basically the same heart of forgiveness and love as Jesus did. More than that, the overcomers have a heart to declare the Jubilee on the earth, which will set the nations free in Tomorrow’s World. As creditors, they and they alone retain the lawful right to forgive the debt owed to them and actually have the heart to do so. They have come to understand that the injustices they have experienced give them the right to declare the Jubilee—and this resonates in their hearts.
The power of forgiveness will always transcend the power of the grudge. The power of love will always transcend the power of sin. Good and evil are not of equal power. God and satan are not two equal gods in the universe. There is no balance of power in the heavens, no eternal coexistence of sin and righteousness. The end of the Bible portrays the end of history in this way in Revelation 5:13-14, “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen...” This is the Jubilee, and these are the Jubilee people. They are forgivers.
In the Old Testament, the Sabbath year is counted from about one Feast of Tabernacles to the next, beginning and ending in the autumn of the year. In ancient Israel the sabbatical years included the Jubilee every 50th year. The Jubilee is reckoned only when there is a God-given permanent inheritance. After the Jews returned from captivity under Ezra and Nehemiah they were not given any permanent inheritance. Therefore God did not require them to keep a Jubilee, but only the sabbatical years every seventh year. After the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity they reckoned sabbatical years, without Jubilees, from the time they reoccupied the land. We are in a similar situation today. We have no permanent inheritance. It is apparent that God intends us to use a personal, and not a national, system. The Day of Atonement was chosen as the beginning of a time of release (Lev. 25:9-10). Doesn't this make it obvious that the purpose of this Day is to symbolize release from bondage? The Jubilee was given the Israelites that their poor might be released from debts they were unable to pay. Every fiftieth year those who had sold themselves into slavery for food to eat and clothes to wear were released. Inherited land lost through poverty was restored to the family rightly owning it. This is typical of man's future Atonement release from the bondage of the demon world—the temptations and delusions of satan and his demons—and of the restoration to each nation of its own land (Acts 3:21).
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