HOW ABOUT A
JUBILEE CHURCH?
By Jim
Jordal
Then you
shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day
of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. You
shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to
all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you.
Leviticus 25:9-10a WEB
Jubilee is
much more than a name signifying a period of human joy and rejoicing. In the
biblical sense, it’s a one year period to be observed every 50 years in which
slaves were freed, lands lost to indebtedness returned to original owners, and
fields untended as a respite for man, land, and beast. In its entirety it’s
nothing less than God’s plan for a rejuvenated earth and a restored and
delivered humanity during the millennial Kingdom of God on Earth. This message
of deliverance amid justice is reiterated numerous times in Scripture, and was
the subject of Christ’s first sermon reported in Luke 4. Elements of Jubilee have crept into Western
law over the centuries, but not yet has it been implanted in its fullness for
life on earth. Should this be fully completed it would institute a realm of
peace and prosperity such as the world has not yet known.
A Jubilee church would operate according to
the principles of biblical Jubilee as found in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15.
It would comprehend the meaning of these principles and would apply them to the
lives of their parishioners and the life of their community. They would attempt
as much as possible to “live” the gospel of Jesus, using his Spirit-anointed
life and ministry as their example.
The time is
here! As the secular world order breaks down into chaos and dispute, it’s time
for Christians and especially their religious institutions to realize that
“business as usual” will not accomplish what the people want and desperately
need. People need reality rather than illusion; truth rather than falsehood; love
rather than pretentiousness; and justice rather than meaningless rules.
The
principles of Jubilee are nothing less than the operating structure for
Christ’s rule in the millennial kingdom of God on Earth. Applied with a
combination of love and firmness they would conquer or greatly reduce poverty,
homelessness, financial oppression, pollution and destruction of the earth, and
the present destructive corporate power structure that elevates itself over the
needs of the people.
Does this
sound utopian? Perhaps that’s because it is! But God has big plans for his
people and his earth, even if we see it only darkly. The freedoms and benefits
of Christ’s rule can be seen throughout Scripture, but they must be experienced
to be fully believed.
Isaiah put
it this way: “When your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the
earth will learn righteousness,” (Isa. 26:9b). God’s judgments are his laws
applied to the human situation by wise rulers, administrators, and courts. This
new-found freedom and wide-spread justice would greatly facilitate the public in
learning the ways of God. No, it doesn’t happen overnight; rather it’s a time
period that might cover many years for all the benefits of God’s law to be fully
achieved. The point is that God’s will would happen on “earth as it is in
heaven,” as we pray every Sunday.
The result
of Jubilee applied to human governance would be everlasting joy and almost
inexpressible peace and well-being. As Isaiah says again, “For you shall go out
with joy, and be led forth with peace: The mountains and the hills shall break
forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their
hands.” (Isa. 55:12, NKJV). The mountains and the hills breaking forth into
singing and the trees of the fields clapping their hands are scriptural
metaphors for nations and peoples rising up into attitudes of endless praise
and heartfelt joy at what is finally understood to be the dawning of the
millennial kingdom of God on Earth.
And we could
have a down payment of these blessings right now in our places of worship
should we choose to incorporate some principles of Jubilee into our worship
services and church strategies.
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