Chapter 1: The Year of Jubilee - by Bill Britton

Trumpets were blowing, slaves were saying goodbye to their masters, prison doors were opening and the prisoners were singing and shouting as they left the prisons. What was going on? It was the Day of Atonement in the Year of Jubilee. Old men had waited 50 years for this to happen, and young people had never seen a day like it before.

The law of the Jubilee is given in Leviticus 25:8-10,

⁸ And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. ⁹ THEN shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. ¹⁰ And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and PROCLAIM LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubilee unto you; AND YE SHALL RETURN EVERY MAN UNTO HIS POSSESSION, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

The rest of the chapter goes into detail on the law of Jubilee, but to be brief, let me say that every fifty years a great change took place in Israel. Everything was to be restored just as it was when the tribes originally inherited the land. If a man waxed poor and sold his land and became a slave or servant to others, this continued only until the Year of Jubilee. At that time all slaves were set free, and every man returned to his original inheritance.

Freedom From Bondage

I hope you can see what this means to the human race. There was a good, practical reason for this law being given by God to preserve natural Israel in the land. Without it there was a good possibility of one tribe eventually losing all its inheritance--and its identity. This would finally mean the deterioration and breakdown of the twelve tribes.* But there is a far deeper reason for this law. It has a spiritual meaning, and held out a hope to humanity that God had set a Day when all bondage would cease, and everything that God had given to mankind in the beginning would be restored.

Let me give you an illustration of what this law meant to Israel. In 2 Kings, chapter four we read of a case where a widow is faced with a large debt left by her husband, and the creditors are coming to take her two sons into slavery to pay off the debt. In this case, Elisha provided a miracle to pay off the debt. But in many cases like this, there was no Elisha around with a miracle, and the sons were taken away from their home and their mother to work for a stranger as a slave. But only until the Year of Jubilee. Let me give you an example . . .

Little Joseph had been taken from his mother and his sisters when he was only twelve years old. His slave-master was a hard taskmaster and compelled him to work long hours. Their own home and farm had been taken over by strangers, and his mother and sisters had moved in with relatives. He missed his family, and often thought of his carefree childhood when the children had played together and had such fun. No time for fun now. There was a big debt to pay off. He had been working now for six years, and hardly made a dent in the huge debt. What a miserable way to live, he often thought, yet as long as he was alive, there was hope.

One day, soon after his eighteenth birthday, he was cutting brush in the field when he heard a lot of commotion. People were running and shouting and laughing. He heard a trumpet blowing in the distance. Finally he was able to stop someone and asked what was going on. "Why son, haven't you heard? This is the year of Jubilee. Just started today. Can't you hear the trumpet? Oh, I guess you're so young you've never seen a Jubilee before. It's the time when all debts are paid, and all slaves are freed, and all homes restored to their rightful owners. Throw down your tools, son, you're free as of right now. As soon as you hear the Jubilee Trumpet. Go home to your family, and sit under your own fig tree. What rightfully belongs to you is really yours now."

You can imagine his joy as he throws down the tools of slavery, bids his master goodbye, and heads for his home and family. It was nothing he had done; he never did get his debt paid off; he had not earned his freedom. It was just the sovereign law of God that set him free. All he had to do was believe it and head for home.

Return to His Possessions

Yes, Joseph went back to his father's farm and told the strangers to move out. He started living in his own house again and eating the fruit of his own land. No more working as an hireling, he was working for himself, as his own inheritance.

In the beginning, God set Man over all the works of His hands. He made Man the supreme ruler of the earth, the owner of the whole world. All the animals obeyed him and were in subjection to him. The earth brought forth abundantly for him. When sin came, all that changed, and man became a slave, earning his living by the sweat of his face. He came into bondage to sin and Satan, and believe me, Satan is a hard taskmaster. Man lost his relationship to God, and life became at times almost unbearable.

But God gave a promise of restoration, of victory over Satan. "Her seed shall bruise thy head," God told the serpent. And in Romans 16:20, Paul repeats the promise: "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Man will surely return to his possession. All that was lost in the fall shall be restored. And Acts 3:21 says that Jesus shall remain in heaven until the times of this restoration. No second coming of Christ until the time of restoration of all that was lost. Praise God!

The Opening of the Prison

Jesus said (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:1, 8) that the Father had sent Him to open the prison doors and set the captives free. He was, of course, referring to the Year of Jubilee, for Christ IS the Jubilee. In Him is freedom, and life, and restoration. Psalm 102:19, 20,

¹⁹ For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; ²⁰ To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.

He has seen the condition of humanity, and though we made our own debts and got ourselves into the condition we're in, yet He has determined to come and set us free and pay our debts. This was the purpose of His coming, and this is the power of His resurrection.

This is the ministry of reconciliation that He has given to His body. In Isaiah 58:6 we read,

⁶ Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

And notice the glorious promise in verse 12:

¹² And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.

Praise God, His plan is much larger than most of us realize. This work of this ministry is not just to build a larger Sunday School, start a new denomination, or make an old one richer. But it is to bring all of creation back into right relationship with God, their Creator, and to restore man back to his former glory and power.

Yes, it is to blow the Trumpet of Jubilee, and to set all men free. For this Trumpet of Jubilee is to be blown by the redeemed Body of Christ. This is the work of the ministry for the saints of God, and the reason for their perfection now (Ephesians 4:11-13). No angelic beings shall blow this trumpet or sound the release of humanity from the bondage of corruption. This honor has been given to the saints (Psalm 149:9). And all creation is waiting for and groaning for the manifestation of this company of sons who shall sound the trumpet and give them release.

On the Day of Atonement

Notice that the law states that the Trumpet of Jubilee first sounds on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month. This is the day when the High Priest goes beyond the Veil into the Holy of Holies. And hear me today, friends, and hear me good . . . there shall be no release from corruption and death, for humanity and for creation, until a Body of saints follows Jesus into the Holy of Holies, into the very presence of God. We have eaten of the Passover Lamb, our sins have been forgiven, the blood is on the door post of our heart. Wonderful. That is good and necessary. And we have partaken of the Feast of Pentecost, been filled with the Spirit and entered into the supernatural realm of the Spirit. Praise God for that! But death still operates in the earth, and pain and sorrow and sickness and affliction still torment the human race. Even the Christian people, including Spirit-filled Pentecostal people, still help fill up the hospitals and doctors' offices.

But now we have come to the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, and we have already heard the blowing of the trumpets for this feast. The sounding of trumpets simply means the giving of a warning or a message. The message for Tabernacles has been and is being sounded. This started on the first day of the seventh month. But it is on the tenth day that the Day of Atonement comes, we go beyond the Veil into the fullness of God, and we start sounding the Trumpet of Jubilee for the liberation of all mankind. "Make the trumpet sound throughout all your land." Everyone shall hear the trumpet; everyone shall benefit from it. But only a few shall blow it. To this few shall be given a message that shall have such divine authority that wherever evil is heard, devils will flee and everlasting life shall be established.

I want you to know, friends, that this world is about to enter into a revival such as has never been seen since the fall of man. Doubt it, if you will, but I assure you that you will feel the impact of it before it is over. All hell shall be shaken; the earth and heavens shall shake also. Everything that cannot be shaken will remain, and that which remains shall be of His Kingdom and under His dominion. Because a trumpet is being put into the hands of a ministry that has died to self and gone through the veil into the realm of Life.

The Last Trump

When the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15:52 concerning "the last trump," nothing had yet been written about the seven trumpets of Revelation. So he was not speaking of the "last" of these seven trumps, as we have been taught. Paul was speaking of a change coming to humanity, of mortal putting on immortality, of corruption putting on incorruption. And he was speaking of it from the promise given in the law concerning the blowing of the trumpet of Jubilee.

But what did he mean by "the last trump?" Notice that at the dedication of Israel's first Temple in 2 Chronicles 5:12, there were 120 priests blowing on trumpets. All the Temple was finished, all the holy things put in their place, and as the 120 trumpets were blown, then the glory and presence of God entered and filled the Temple. Notice now in Acts 1:15 that at the time of the dedication of the early Church, God's living Temple, there were 120 "priests" of a new order sounding their trumpets in 14 different languages (Acts 2:8). God's glory so filled this "Temple" that 3,000 souls came to Christ in that one day. This was the second witness of the 120 trumpets. But two is not the number of completeness. It takes a third time.

From the fall of Adam to Abraham was 2,000 years, or 40 times 50 years. Forty Jubilee periods passed over humanity, forty trumpets were blown in the heavens by way of promise. But forty was not the end. With Abraham, God re-established His promise. "In you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Another 40 Jubilees passed, and in 2,000 more years came Jesus Christ. But 80 was not the finish. With Jesus, God paid the debt of humanity, and purchased their redemption. But in Ephesians 1:14 Paul says that the redemption of that purchased possession is still ahead of us. Peter says in 1 Peter 1:4-5 that it will be revealed in the last time. And now, since the coming of Christ it has been either 1967** years or 1998 years (approximately) depending on whether you judge the length of a year by the Gregorian calendar or Bible figures. Either way, there has been 39 Jubilee periods passed over Humanity since Christ. This makes a total of 119 Jubilee trumpets that have sounded since the fall of Adam. Now let me say that we have come to the time for the 120^th trump. There will come a change, in reality. The last and permanent "Temple" of God will be dedicated, and out of that Holy of Holies shall come a ministry of Life and restoration. Praise God!

The Revival

Why anyone would not want to see a revival in the earth, and humanity loosed from the bondage of death, is more than I can understand. But strange as it seems, there are those who seem to get very angry at any talk about a total victory on the battlefield. Seems that their only interest is in getting out of the battle and going to heaven in a rapture. But let me tell you that God is not preparing His Army for an "escape." He is getting His "mighty ones" ready to bind all the powers of hell and set up the Kingdom of God on earth.

This is not some fairy tale or fantasy. It shall actually be done, by very real people, in very real places, through the very real power of God.

This thing shall not be done in a corner. The nations shall hear the Trumpet of Jubilee. They shall hear it loud and clear. It is what all creation has been groaning for, as it is part of the operation of God in the Manifestation of His Sons. This is the everlasting Gospel, sounded from a heavenly realm in the Spirit where the Sons dwell. And when they hear, they shall live. All creation shall enjoy a full restoration. No restoration shall come to the human race through the efforts of Adamic man. Thus saith the Lord! The political efforts to build a "Great Society," the efforts to end poverty, the youth programs, the civil rights legislation . . . . the religious ecumenical movements, and all other efforts of natural man to bring us into a Utopia shall utterly fail! Wars, crime, hate, riots, poverty, and suffering shall continue to increase until the Sons of God appear on the scene and the Trumpet of Jubilee is heard. Then shall come deliverance for humanity . . . out of Zion!

Hid With Christ in God

The activity of the Sons of God is not visible or known to the world in general or the religious world in particular. This company of Overcomers who have been called into the High Calling of God is hidden away in the secret place of the Most High. The world is not aware of what God is going to do with them and through them. They are now in the crucible of the Great Refiner. The world is not sitting up to take notice of their great exploits.

A false religion can produce a crowd of thousands, fill the largest auditoriums, and get front-page billing in the newspapers, though they have none of the Life of Jesus Christ to offer the people. I have often marveled at how great multitudes will loyally flock to some dead religious gathering, faithfully supporting a false cult that offers no Truth, no Life, not hope of deliverance for mankind. They can do this because this is their hour, the day when Satan rules the minds of most men. But his time is short. The day is at hand for the last trump to start blowing. That trump shall blow first in Zion. The day of the Lord is at hand! There shall be a Revival.

Cling, if you will, to a theology that gives the multitudes of lost mankind over to Satan, the Antichrist, and a devil's hell. Hang on to that doctrine, if you must, that offers only a "flight to the sky" as an escape for God's great Army. But let me warn you, friends, that such false theology and theory of men shall fail you in that great and notable Day of the Lord. There shall be a Revival. And it shall come with a great sound of a Trumpet--the Trumpet of Jubilee.

From Behind the Veil

Notice, again, that the Jubilee Trumpet starts blowing on the Day of Atonement, just preceding the Year of Jubilee. It is blown on the day that the High Priest goes past the Veil into the Holiest of Holies, into the Presence of the Ark of God. The Revival that all creation cries out for is waiting for a High Priest company, a royal order of Kings and Priests, to enter behind that Veil and meet Jesus in the "air." For He has already entered into this place as a forerunner for us.

There shall be no Jubilee until this "passing through the Veil" has been accomplished by the Body of the Son, the High Priest. And then, glory be to God, out of that realm of Life and Glory shall come forth a ministry that shall make all other forms of religion obsolete. A people shall walk this earth, though dwelling in the heavens and sitting on His throne, and they shall meet every human need and cast down every Satanic stronghold. There shall be no failures with them. There shall be no mistakes, for they have the mind of Christ, and they speak with His authority.

What I am saying to you is not some theory I have dreamed up, nor is it my interpretation of a few isolated scriptures. It is the word of the Lord to you! "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." Just because I do not believe that the purpose of His coming is to "rapture" us away as an "escape" from the antichrist, I am sometimes accused of not looking for His coming. Nothing could be further from the truth. He must appear. First to His sons who are looking for Him to come and bring us to full salvation (Hebrews 9:28, Amplified).

Perhaps you feel my language in this message is too mysterious or spiritualized for you to fully understand what I am saying. I try to be as plain and simple in my words as possible, but it is very difficult to explain the glory we are seeing in the Spirit, or to break these tremendous eternal truths down into mere human language.

But I have said, and will say it once more,
That our God has spoken, His voice did roar.
He will send forth a people, who are humble and plain;
He will cause them to descend as a great latter rain.

Anointed of God, to the nations they'll go;
From the mountain of God like a River they'll flow.
They are sealed by His Spirit, marked as His own;
They speak with authority, for they sit in His throne.

They have not sought for escape, nor a flight to the sky,
But in the realms of the Spirit, they've ascended so high.
They have no reason to fear, nor a cause for dread.
There is hope for all, for even the dead.

For those in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son,
Shall arrive, and know that He is the One.
There is one Overcomer, one Son, and one King.
When this truth breaks upon you, it'll cause you to sing.

You are the bone of His bones, and you are one with the Head;
His image you'll bear, and Adam you'll shed.
Well, glory to God, don't you see what I mean?
The filth's all gone, and now you are clean.

Holy and pure, as the Father above;
His commandment fulfilled, because of His love.
You see, I speak as a prophet of the Jubilee Year.
It's not afar off, but I declare it is near.

Be ready, be ready, oh dear friend of mine;
His glory is rising, upon you to shine.
The night is far spent, a new Day is now breaking;
The darkness is fleeing, hell's gates are now shaking.

The demonic hordes are trembling in fear,
God's Army is rising, His coming is near.
Rejoice, I say, rejoice every one,
For the sound that you hear is the voice of the Son.

He marches to battle, He knows no defeat;
His Army is great, and the victory is sweet.
Every enemy of God shall go down in the fray,
Every pain, every sorrow shall vanish that Day.

He'll prove Himself a wise God to be,
And He'll do it on earth that creation might see.
Out of sin He hath called me, His word to declare;
Those who believe His glory will share.

Hallelujah!

The Sounds of Life

Much has been said about the "Life Message." Much of it has been dead theology or boastful claims that could not be backed up, and the preaching of such has brought only death and disappointment. Some of those making big claims that they had already "entered in" and could not die, have already died. . . leaving a firm testimony of the falseness of their claims. The true Sons of God do not have to make claims or "take it by faith." They receive Life as an inheritance, and when they manifest it and minister it to others in reality, they will not have to wear a badge or a sign around their neck proclaiming themselves to be something. Those who minister out of the realm of the Holy of Holies will touch the needs of people. And those people will know that they have come in contact with the Son of God.

This thing I am talking about is above and beyond anything ever manifested in any man born of Adam. We have most certainly born the image of Adam. We shall just as surely bear the image of the Christ. There is no way to fully explain the glory of it. Earthly illustrations and human language are far too weak. Descriptions of the thing ahead fall short of the reality.

The task of delivering all humanity is far too great for anyone. In fact, it is an impossible task. That is why only a Sovereign God can do it, through a people He has chosen. Praise His wonderful Name! Prepare yourself . . . the Year of Jubilee is at hand!

"Let every man return to his family" in the Year of Jubilee, says the Bible (Leviticus 25:10). There is a habitation prepared for each one. Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Now let me show you a glorious mystery: "In My Father's house . . ." The Bible teaches us in many places that the Church, God's people, is the House of God. You are His house, in which He lives. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them" (Revelation 21:3).

"In My Father's house are MANY MANSIONS." This is the only place in the Bible the word "mansion" is used. It is translated from the Greek word, mone, which is used twice in the Bible. The other place is in John 14:23, where it is translated "abode." Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM." God will come to that man and live in him, make that man His abode, mansion, or dwelling place. In the Father's house (the Church) there are many dwelling places, abodes for the Father to dwell.

There are different realms of existence or life for His people. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you . . ." He said He would come to receive us to Himself, that where He is, we might be also. Where is He? Dwelling in the highest form of life possible. "God hath highly exalted Him, giving Him a name above every name" (Philippians 2:9). Did you know that you, as an Overcomer, will have that name written upon you? (Revelation 3:12) Paul saw that the highest, most glorious place prepared for us in eternity was in Christ, the place prepared for the Overcomer. He desired this place, and said that he "pressed toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus."

When the Jubilee Trumpet begins to blow, mankind will start returning from its fallen state in sin, back to that perfect state of fellowship with God. But each one will "return to his family." Each has his own mansion, house, dwelling place in God. Will yours be on a lower plane of the Spirit, or will you press into that High Calling? Will you settle for no less than God's best? Praise our wonderful Savior. He has prepared for us a place. It is time to move in! The Year of Jubilee is upon us!

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* Unfortunately, the Year of Jubilee—though mandated in the divine law—was never actually practiced in Israel's history. There is no record that they ever declared the Jubilee, and the Jews themselves tell us that it was never declared. The fulfillment of this feast, then, remains for us at this end of the age.

** 1967 or 1998 years. I am uncertain as to what year Bill Britton preached this message. In my view, September 11, 1999 (the Feast of Trumpets) marked Jesus' 2000^th birthday. This is fully proven in my booklet, When REALLY Was Jesus Born? This historical and biblical study shows Jesus' birth to have been at the Feast of Trumpets in 2 B.C.