Scripture Reading: Lev. 25:8-17, 28, 39-41; Eph. 1:13-14; 2:12; Phil. 3:8; 4:5-7; John 8:32, 34, 36; Psa. 90:1; 16:5; Acts 26:17-18; Luke 4:18; Col. 1:13; 1 John 5:19; Rom. 6:6; 7:11, 20, 23-24; 8:1-2; Gal. 5:17; 4:29; Matt. 10:25; 2 Cor. 12:9
Ⅰ
The basic thought concerning the jubilee is that it is the sounding out of God's redemption—Lev. 25:9:
A
The blasting of the silver trumpet was a proclamation based on God's redemption and also a sounding out of this redemption.
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.
Ⅱ
In the year of jubilee there were two main blessings: the returning of every man to his lost possession and the liberation from slavery—vv. 8-17:
A
In the year of jubilee everyone who had sold his possession, his allotted portion of the good land, was returned to it without paying anything to redeem it (vv. 10, 13, 28), and everyone who had sold himself into slavery regained his freedom and returned to his family (vv. 39-41).
B
Returning to one's possession, being freed, and returning to one's family signify that in the New Testament jubilee the believers have returned to God as their lost divine possession, have been released from all bondage, and have returned to the church as their divine family—Eph. 1:13-14; John 8:32, 36; cf. Psa. 68:5-6.
Ⅲ
God's jubilee brings man back to God as man's inheritance:
A
According to Psalms 90:1 and 16:5, God intends to be man's possession, to be man's land and lodging.
B
God called Paul to open the eyes of the Gentiles, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ—Acts 26:17-18.
C
In Leviticus 25 we are told not that the land was returned to its original owner but that the person returned to the land:
１
God is not returned to us; we are returned to God.
２
The parable of the prodigal son does not speak mainly of the son's losing the father but of the father's losing the son—Luke 15:11-32.
D
Actually, God returns us to Himself as our possession; our coming back to God is God's doing to return us to Himself.
Ⅳ
God's salvation causes us to have real freedom; our possession is God, and our freedom comes from our enjoyment of God:
A
If man does not enjoy God and does not return to God as his possession, he cannot have real freedom.
B
"He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed"—4:18:
１
Freedom means delivery from poverty:
ａ
The really poor ones are those who have "no hope" and are "without God in the world"—Eph. 2:12.
ｂ
Apart from Christ, everything we have is dog food—Phil. 3:8.
２
Freedom means liberation from blindness:
ａ
To be in darkness is to be under Satan's authority—Col. 1:13.
ｂ
The recovery of sight equals the liberation from the authority of darkness— Acts 26:18.
３
Freedom means to be saved from captivity:
ａ
Fallen men are the slaves of sin and the captives of Satan—Rom. 7:14.
ｂ
All human beings, regardless of their occupation, gender, or age, are under Satan's usurpation and manipulation—1 John 5:19.
ｃ
Sin is something intrinsic in man's being; in actuality, sin is Satan himself—Rom. 7:11, 20.
ｄ
Addiction is Satan himself, and man is his captive—John 8:34.
ｅ
Satan, as Beelzebul, is the lord of the dunghill and the lord of the flies—Matt. 10:25.
４
Freedom lifts men from all kinds of oppression:
ａ
We are released by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death—Rom. 8:2.
ｂ
The law in our members wars against the law of our mind, making us a captive by the law of sin which is in our members—7:23.
ｃ
The body of sin (6:6) is strong in sinning against God, and the body of death (7:24) is weak in doing things to please God.
ｄ
In addition, the flesh lusts against the Spirit and persecutes those born according to the Spirit—Gal. 5:17; 4:29.
ｅ
There is now no subjective condemnation in the conscience to those who are in Christ Jesus—Rom. 8:1.
Ⅴ
The living of the jubilee is a living in the rest and enjoyment of Christ, a living of enjoying God as our inheritance and real freedom:
A
The entire age of the New Testament is the age of the jubilee, for us to live a life of liberty, release, and freedom—Lev. 25:11; John 8:36.
B
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.