7.
The Day of Atonement was also the introduction of the year of Jubilee. The trumpet was to be sounded throughout the land. It introduced a year of restoration, of liberty and freedom. To keep the requirements of this time of jubilation would require a spirit and attitude of all participants of a God like nature. There are three major requirements which would be difficult for men to make. All property was to be returned to the original owner. Lev. 25:13 What would be the feelings of an individual who had accumulated the land of his neighbors? To follow this commandment they would have to be a person totally dedicated to the Lord. The poor, who had surrendered themselves to be a servant were to be released. Lev. 25:10
There is no record in the scriptures of this act of fulfillment and restitution having been done. It would appear that they considered the price to be too dear. Contrariwise, there is evidence that Israel went into captivity in Babylon for seventy years in order for the land to receive its Sabbaths.
2 Chron. 36:21 What a price to pay for disobeying the Word of the Lord. Had they been obedient they would have prospered in every way and would not have gone into captivity. To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken better than the fat of rams. 1 Sam. 15:22 To follow the pattern established by the Lord assures one of blessing and success. Incidentally, the Lord exhibited patience toward them waiting for three hundred and fifty years to pass before He judged Israel. Fifty times seventy is three hundred and fifty years.
In exchange for doing the statutes and keeping the judgments of the Lord, they were assured of food and safety. Their crops would not fail nor could any enemy over come them. Simple obedience to the Word of the Lord has great reward. Lev. 25:18-19 As in the weekly Sabbath, the sixth day they did not work. So in the yearly Sabbath the sixth year they were to make it a Sabbath. In the order of the year of jubilee they were to commemorate a double Sabbath, the 49th and the 50th years were to be years of rest. This is a type of the double portion which foreshadows revival in the last days. The 48th year the crops were to be so huge that there would be sufficient to last until the 51st year. Just prior to the gathering of the Bride and the marriage of Christ and His church the world will know a spiritual revival such as has never been known.