Ⅳ
The living of the jubilee is a living in the enjoyment of Christ, a living of enjoying God as our inheritance and real freedom (Acts 26:18; John 8:36):
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To be in the jubilee is to eat the Lord Jesus as the real produce of the good land, take Him as our dwelling place for our rest, and be freed from the slavery of sin and from the bondage of law and religion (6:57; Deut. 8:7-10; Col. 1:12; John 15:5; Psa. 16:5; 90:1; Rom. 6:6-7; Gal. 5:1).
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The only way to be released from the three kinds of labor in human life—the labor to be a good person, the labor of anxiety, and the labor of suffering—is to take Christ as our enjoyment, satisfaction, and rest (Rom. 7:24—8:2; Phil. 4:5-7; 2 Cor. 12:9).
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The Christian life should be a life full of enjoying the Lord, a life full of joy and praises; when we enjoy the Lord fully, He becomes our jubilee:
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The tone of an overcoming living is the tone of rejoicing, thanking, and praising God continually (1 Thes. 5:16-18; Psa. 50:14, 23).
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The overcoming life can survive only in an environment of thanksgiving and praise (1 Thes. 5:18; Col. 3:17; Psa. 106:12; 2 Chron. 20:20-22).
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The living of the jubilee is a life in which we take God Himself, Christ Himself, in every situation; then He becomes the primary factor and center in us to lead us and overrule all the troubles of human life (John 6:16-21; Col. 1:17b, 18b).
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Paul learned the secret of living in the jubilee, the secret of gaining Christ in any kind of environment (Phil. 4:5-7, 11-13).
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Because everything is under His sovereignty, we should pray,"Lord, fill me, gain me, and possess me; no matter what my outward situation is, I just want to enjoy You."
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We need to be today's ministers and witnesses by living and proclaiming the gospel—Christ as the jubilee of grace—for the accomplishing of God's eternal economy (Acts 26:16-19).
Morning Nourishment
Phil. 4:6-7 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
First, to be in the jubilee is to eat the Lord Jesus....A proclamation concerning the jubilee may be made, but if your stomach is empty, you will not care for that proclamation.
Furthermore, in order to be in the jubilee, we need to have Christ as our lodging, as our dwelling place. When Christ is our home, we have true rest.
We have seen that the two main blessings of the jubilee are being returned to our possession and being...[set] free from the slavery of sin and from the bondage of law and religion. Praise the Lord for the blessings of the jubilee! (Life-study of Luke, pp. 566-567, 576)
Today's Reading
There are three kinds of labor in human life, not including working at a job to earn a living. The first kind of labor is the labor to be a good person, to have good behavior, and to improve one's character....[But] no one can be saved by the works of trying to improve one's behavior and character, to keep the law, and to be good, patient, kind, and honest [cf. Eph. 2:8-9].The second kind of labor is to worry, to be anxious. What a hard job it is to labor under anxiety! If you could do your job day by day without having any anxiety, you would be a healthy person....The only way to escape anxiety is to enjoy the Lord. Whenever I am not enjoying Christ, I have anxiety.
The third kind of labor revealed in the Bible is suffering. Suffering is a very hard labor. When we enjoy God in the jubilee, there should not be any suffering. Paul, for example, suffered from a "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7). Concerning this thorn, he entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him (v. 8). However, instead of removing the thorn, the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you." The Lord seemed to be telling Paul, "No, I shall not remove the thorn, for My grace is sufficient. If you enjoy Me, you will not have any suffering."...In Acts 16...although [Paul and Silas] were in prison, they had enjoyment, satisfaction, and rest. (Life-study of Luke, pp. 589-590)
The Lord has won the victory, and we are shouting in victory. This is the tone of an overcoming living. Every one of us should have this kind of overcoming tone in our daily life....Being more than conquerors is being victorious continuously and having a tone of victory all the time.
The overcoming life can only survive in an environment of thanksgiving and praise. If it is placed in an atmosphere of sorrow, it will die. Whenever our heart is stripped of thanksgiving and praises, it loses its victory. Philippians 4:4 says that we have to rejoice always. Rejoicing in the New Testament is unceasing rather than occasional. There should never be a time out for our rejoicing. Whenever we lose our joy, we lose our victory. Hence, we must rejoice in the Lord all the time. First Peter 4:13 says that believers should rejoice under all kinds of circumstances and be filled with thanksgivings and praises. (CWWN, vol. 41, pp. 174, 176)
The Christian life should be a life of fully enjoying the Lord. When we enjoy the Lord fully, He becomes our jubilee; that is, He becomes our inheritance and liberty. Not only so, the Lord also becomes our living. In such a living, we love Him to the uttermost and let Him be the Lord. Then He becomes the primary factor and center in us to lead us and govern us. In this way, when we pass through things, we will not be tormented, enslaved, or dominated by them. Instead, we will be free.
Everything is under His sovereignty. Therefore, we should empty ourselves of everything and tell the Lord, "Fill me, gain me, and possess me. Lord, no matter what the outward situation is, I just want to enjoy You." (CWWL, 1984, vol. 4, "The Jubilee," pp. 43, 45)
Further Reading: Life-study of Luke, msgs. 64-69; CWWN, vol. 41, ch. 23