Scripture Reading: Luke 4:18-19; 9:20, 22; 24:26
Ⅰ
The year of jubilee indicates that we can be released from bondage and recover the right to enjoy Christ as our portion; the proclamation of the jubilee is a proclamation of release from slavery and of the recovery of the enjoyment of our spiritual birthright—Lev. 25:8-17:
A
The acceptable year of the Lord is the New Testament age typified by the year of jubilee, the time when God would accept the returned captives of sin and when the oppressed under the bondage of sin would enjoy the release of God's salvation—Luke 4:19; Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2.
B
The proclamation of the jubilee was on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Expiation; this indicates that the jubilee is based on God's full salvation in Christ—Lev. 25:9.
Ⅱ
Luke wrote his Gospel from the viewpoint of the jubilee—4:18-19:
A
The concept of the jubilee announced in chapter 4 governs all the following chapters in Luke.
B
We should regard what is recorded in Luke 5 through 24 as part of the jubilee declared in Luke 4.
Ⅲ
In order for the jubilee to be carried out, there is the need of the Christ— 9:20; 24:26; Matt. 16:16; John 20:31; 1 John 2:22; 5:1:
A
The Christ is God's Anointed, the One appointed by God to accomplish God's purpose, His eternal plan—Matt. 16:16; Dan. 9:26:
１
The Christ is the title of the Lord according to His office, His mission; the Son of God is His title according to His person—John 20:31.
２
The title the Christ refers to the Lord's commission to accomplish God's eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and coming again—Luke 9:20.
B
There can be no jubilee without Christ, without the One appointed and anointed by God—4:18-19; 9:20:
１
Apart from God's anointed One the real jubilee cannot come—24:26.
２
When this One came, He brought the jubilee with Him; actually, His coming in itself is the jubilee—1:69; 2:11, 30; 19:9.
C
The jubilee is Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God for our enjoyment— Col. 2:9; 1:12-13.
Ⅳ
The highest standard of morality—the mingling of the divine nature with its attributes and the human nature with its virtues—is for the jubilee— Luke 1:32-33, 35; 4:18-19:
A
The Lord Jesus lived a life in the highest standard of morality—10:30-37.
B
Such a life is for the jubilee, because it is a life that frees us from all bondage and that brings us into the enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ—19:1-10.
C
The Man-Savior's highest standard of morality constitutes His qualification and the basic factor for His dynamic salvation—1:31-33, 35; 2:20, 40; 3:6; 19:9.
Ⅴ
The ministry of the Lord Jesus was a ministry of jubilee—4:18-19:
A
The Lord Jesus began His ministry by proclaiming the jubilee of grace—v. 19.
B
The Man-Savior saves us from bondage into the jubilee; He saves us into the liberty, enjoyment, satisfaction, and rest of the jubilee—13:10-17.
Ⅵ
For the sake of the jubilee, it was necessary for the Christ to die to accomplish an all-inclusive redemption and then enter into resurrection—9:20, 22; 23:26-43; 24:6-7, 26:
A
We need to see that it was necessary for the Christ to die to set us free from bondage—22:53; 23:44-46; 24:26:
１
Through His all-inclusive redemption the Christ fulfilled the requirements for us to be released from every kind of bondage—Heb. 9:12; Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14.
２
Colossians 2:14-15 portrays the fighting that took place at the time of Christ's crucifixion:
ａ
Activities involving God, Christ, and the evil angelic rulers and authorities were brought to a focus on the cross; thus, at that time the cross was the center of the universe—vv. 14-15.
ｂ
By His crucifixion Christ labored to accomplish redemption, and God the Father was working to judge sin and nail the law to the cross—v. 14.
ｃ
At the same time, the evil rulers and authorities were busy in their attempt to frustrate the work of God and Christ, pressing in close to God and Christ; thus, warfare was raging at the cross.
ｄ
God openly made a display of the evil angelic rulers and authorities on the cross and triumphed over them in it, putting them to shame—v. 15.
３
Through His death on the cross Christ destroyed the devil, who has the might of death—Heb. 2:14.
４
By the death of the Christ on the cross, the base of Satan's rebellion was shaken, the strongholds of Satan's earthly kingdom were broken, and the power of death and Hades was conquered and subdued—Matt. 27:51-52.
B
It was necessary for the Christ to be resurrected to bring us into the enjoyment of the divine inheritance—the Triune God processed and consummated to become the all-inclusive Spirit for our enjoyment—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17.
C
Christ's death accomplished full redemption to set us free from all negative things, and His resurrection has brought us positively into the enjoyment of the Triune God—this is the jubilee—Luke 24:26; Col. 2:14-15; 1:12-13.