Scripture Reading: Isa. 61:1-2a; Luke 4:16-22; Acts 26:18
Ⅰ
The year of jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-17 is recorded as a prophecy in Isaiah 61:1-2a and is fulfilled in reality in Luke 4:16-22:
A
In the year of jubilee there were two main blessings: the returning of every man to his lost possession and the liberation from slavery—Lev. 25:8-17.
B
The Hebrew word for jubilee means a joyful noise, a shouting with the blasting of a trumpet, and a proclamation; it is a proclamation not of sorrow or lamentation but of the gospel, the good news of great joy—Luke 2:10-11.
C
The year of jubilee is the age of grace, the age of Christ as grace dispensed into us for our enjoyment by His words of grace—4:22; Psa. 45:2; John 1:14-17.
D
The New Testament jubilee is an age of ecstasy for our salvation—cf. 2 Cor. 5:13-15; 6:2.
Ⅱ
The proclamation of the jubilee in Luke 4 governs the central thought of the whole Gospel of Luke, and the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is an excellent illustration of the jubilee—vv. 11-32:
A
The prodigal son left his father's house, selling his possession and himself— vv. 13-16:
１
Human life is nothing but labor and sorrow and will be soon gone; the true condition of human life is vanity of vanities, emptiness of emptiness—a chasing after wind—Psa. 90:10; 73:14, 16-17, 25; Eccl. 1:2-11, 14.
２
Today fallen people have no real dwelling place; they are drifting about and wandering without a home because God is man's real dwelling place— Psa. 90:1; Gen. 28:17-19; John 15:4; Matt. 11:28.
３
The fall of man is a fall from God; the people of the world have lost God as their possession and enjoyment—Psa. 16:5; Rom. 9:21-23; Eph. 2:12.
４
Also, fallen people have sold their members to sin to become slaves of sin— Rom. 7:14; 6:19.
B
One day the prodigal son returned to his possession and his father's house; that was a jubilee, a liberation, and everything became pleasant and satisfying—Luke 15:20, 24; cf. Lev. 25:11:
１
To be saved is to return to our inheritance, to return to God, to come back to God and enjoy Him anew as our possession—Eph. 1:13-14.
２
When we have God, we have everything; without God, we have nothing— Hymns #1080.
３
We must receive the Lord Jesus as the real jubilee in us; if we have Him, we have God as our possession and can be delivered from the bondage of sin and Satan to have real freedom and rest—Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Matt. 11:28.
４
Even though genuine Christians have God, many are like lights that do not shine, because they do not "turn on the switch" by taking God as their portion—Eph. 4:18; cf. Phil. 2:12-16.
Ⅲ
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:
A
In the jubilee all things are pleasant and satisfying to our heart, and we are free from anxiety, at ease, and exultant; hence, everything is to our satisfaction.
B
The secret of a Christian's enjoyment of rest is his gaining God as his enjoyment; if we have God, everything is to our satisfaction:
１
Paul learned the secret of living in the jubilee, the secret of gaining Christ in any environment—Phil. 4:5-7, 11-13.
２
Everything can be satisfying to us only after we have gained the all-inclusive Christ as our enjoyment; it is not outward persons, matters, or things, but Christ within who enables us to be calm and free of worries as we face all kinds of situations—John 16:33.
３
When we receive Christ as our Savior and life, He comes into us to be our jubilee, but unless we allow Him to live in us and unless we live by Him, we are not practically living in the jubilee—8:11-12.
４
If our heart is set on any person, thing, or matter other than the Lord, this is idolatry, and the end is wretchedness—1 John 5:21; cf. Ezek. 14:3, 5; 6:9.
C
The living of the jubilee is a life in which we take God instead of other things as our enjoyment and enjoy only God 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.
D
Our possession is God, and our freedom comes from our enjoyment of God; freedom means release, to be freed from all bondage, all heavy burden, all oppression, and all enslavement—cf. 1 Cor. 6:12:
１
Christ as the jubilee frees us from our poverty, captivity, blindness, and oppression—Eccl. 3:11; Phil. 3:8; 2 Pet. 2:22; Luke 12:21; Rev. 3:17.
２
We can be released and have real freedom only by enjoying Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life—Rom. 7:24; 8:2:
ａ
Only those who enjoy God do not practice sin and are really free—John 8:11-12, 24, 28, 31-36.
ｂ
If we do not enjoy God sufficiently, we will still be in bondage to many things; making up our mind will not work; we must learn to contact our living Lord to enjoy Him—cf. 4:24; 1 Cor. 1:9.
Ⅳ
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.