The Jews for Jesus Jubilee!

A plaque on the cornerstone of our headquarters in San Francisco reads, “Jews for Jesus: established 32 A.D., give or take a year.” That bit of humor aside, our modern-day Jews for Jesus ministry was officially incorporated on September 17, 1973. Which means we are getting ready to observe our “Jubilee,” that is, our 50th year of ministry! It’s time to celebrate what God has done and to anticipate all He has yet to do, and we plan to do just that.

What Does Jubilee Mean?

The word “jubilee” comes from yovel, the biblical Hebrew word meaning ram’s horn or trumpet: “You shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you” (Leviticus 25:10).

God’s proclamation of liberty was to be celebrated throughout Israel. Slaves were to be freed, debts forgiven, property returned, and the land and the people were to rest, rejoice, and remember that we and all our possessions belong to God (v. 55).

Sadly, never once does the Bible mention the people actually observing the jubilee.

According to the rabbis, “from the time that the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh were exiled the Jubilees were discontinued.”* Imagine that. A command of God first ignored and then discontinued. The Jubilee was more than a command; it was a gift that apparently was not received.

How Was the Jubilee Prophetic?

The jubilee was also a foretaste of something that all people hunger for; a liberty we strive for, and a freedom we long for but never quite achieve in this lifetime. The prophet Isaiah spoke of it, declaring,

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives. (Isaiah 61:1)

Isaiah echoed words from the past, and yet he was prophesying about the future reign of Messiah and the coming of God’s kingdom. He was anticipating “the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Yeshua (Jesus) chose His hometown synagogue to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor by reciting this very passage from Isaiah 61:1. “And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:20–21).

What a momentous announcement Jesus made that day! True liberty, true freedom, and true justice begins with God’s provision of atonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Through Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection, atonement for sin was made; God’s love for Israel and the nations was realized in Messiah. The year of the Lord’s favor was inaugurated.

Jesus didn’t quote the full passage from the scroll of Isaiah because it goes on to speak of God’s judgment and future blessing in a world free from war and suffering. That ultimate Jubilee has yet to be realized.

What Does a Jews for Jesus Jubilee Look Like?

As we celebrate our Jews for Jesus Jubilee, we know we aren’t literally fulfilling the biblical injunction in Leviticus 25. But we are celebrating our Jubilee with a series of all-out efforts to proclaim liberty in Messiah. Isn’t that what you have come to expect from Jews for Jesus?

For now, I’ll just tell you that this all-out effort includes 20 outreaches throughout the year. These will be tailored specifically to invite Jewish people from 20 walks of life to receive the liberty that only Jesus can provide.

I will be sharing much more about our Jubilee outreaches in the coming months. Meanwhile, I am asking you to pray that the Lord will grant His favor, and that the planning and implementing of these outreaches will bring glory to God and salvation to many Jewish people around the world.

I am so grateful to God for all that He has done through you and all who have partnered with Jews for Jesus over these past 50 years. But I believe the best is yet to come, and so should you. We affirm this when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” But till then, we are seeing daily evidence of His kingdom, as Jesus delivers people one by one out of this present darkness and into His light.

Our work will not be done until Messiah returns. What an amazing Jubilee that will be! At last, the whole world will experience true and everlasting liberty in Jesus, as the year of the Lord’s favor goes on and on forever!

*Sifra, Be-Har 2:3, cited in Encyclopedia Judaica 14:580 (in article “Sabbatical Year and Jubilee”).