Jubilee comes from the Hebrew yobel, the ram's horn trumpet that announced it. Every fiftieth year in Israel was the year of jubilee: debts were cancelled, slaves set free, and land returned to its original families. It was a great national reset, a proclamation of liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof — a built-in mercy that kept anyone from being permanently crushed by debt or loss.
The jubilee was a picture of the gospel to come. When Jesus began his ministry, he read from Isaiah about proclaiming liberty to the captives and the acceptable year of the Lord — the language of jubilee — and said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. In Christ the true jubilee has arrived: release for the enslaved, forgiveness for the indebted, and a homecoming for the lost.
Jubilee in Scripture
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.