Scripture Reading: Rev. 4:11; Luke 5:1-11; 6:38; 16:9, 13; 17:31; 9:1-17; 10:17-24; Eph. 1:4-5
Ⅰ
Satan usurps human beings so that they care only for their existence, not for God's purpose in their existence—Rev. 4:11; Eph. 2:1-3, 12; 3:11:
A
The people of the world have no purpose, only existence; they make existence itself the purpose of their existence—Matt. 6:31-32.
B
We exist for God's purpose, and our living depends on the provision from the heavenly source, not on the supply from the world—v. 33; Phil 4:19; Rev. 4:11.
Ⅱ
We need to be delivered from the bondage of our occupation, from being occupied with our means of making a living—Luke 5:1-11:
A
Satan's desire is to keep people occupied with making a living; this is illustrated by what Pharaoh did to the children of Israel:
１
Because of the need to maintain their livelihood, the children of Israel fell into Egyptian tyranny and were enslaved to that aspect of the world that gave them their livelihood—Exo. 1:10-11.
２
The world, typified by Egypt, usurps the people whom God created and chose for His purpose—5:6-9.
B
Human beings were created by God for Himself, but they are occupied and kept from Him by the matter of making a living—Rev. 4:11; Luke 14:16-20:
１
Nothing takes people away from God as much as their occupation.
２
We need to have a means of employment, but our occupation should not occupy us and keep us from God—Acts 18:1-3; 20:34-35; 1 Thes. 2:9.
３
The calling of the first disciples was a calling that attracted the occupied ones and enabled them to follow the Lord—Matt. 4:18-22; 9:9; Luke 5:1-11.
Ⅲ
We need to be delivered from the usurpation of mammon and material possessions—6:38; 12:15; 16:9, 13; 17:31:
A
Although the material things were created by God and belong to Him, they have been corrupted by man's fall and usurped by Satan, the evil one—1 Chron. 29:14, 16; 1 John 5:19; Luke 16:9:
１
Man fell into the darkness of acknowledging only material riches and not God, of trusting only in material riches and not in God, and even of serving material riches, taking them as God and allowing them to replace God— 1 Tim. 6:17.
２
To us who believe in the Lord Jesus, the earthly things which are necessary for human existence may simply be earthly things, or they may become the world, a system of Satan—1 John 2:15.
B
Mammon stands in opposition to God, indicating that wealth, or riches, is the opponent of God, robbing God's people of their service to Him—Matt. 6:24.
C
To serve the Lord requires us to love Him, giving our heart to Him, and requires us to cleave to Him, giving our entire being to Him; in this way we are released from being occupied and usurped by mammon, that we may serve the Lord wholly and fully—Luke 16:13.
D
To make friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness is to use money to do things to help others according to God's leading—v. 9.
E
If we are willing to give, God will give to us a good measure; the best way to be blessed by God in material riches is to give, not to receive—6:38; Acts 20:35.
F
By the life and power of the Lord's resurrection, we can overcome money and material possessions—1 Cor. 16:1-3; Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35.
Ⅳ
We need to be delivered from the bondage of our occupation and from the usurpation of mammon and material possessions for the spreading of the jubilee, the satisfaction in the jubilee, and the reality of the jubilee— Luke 9:1-17; 10:17-24:
A
In 9:1-6 the Lord Jesus sent forth the apostles to spread the jubilee:
１
He gave them power and authority over demons and to heal diseases; this is the negative aspect of the jubilee—the release of the captives—v. 1.
２
Proclaiming the kingdom of God is the positive aspect of the jubilee—the recovery of the right to enjoy God in Christ—v. 2.
３
In the jubilee things are common under God's ordination; when the jubilee comes, there is no selfishness—vv. 3-4.
B
In 9:12-17 Luke records the feeding of the crowd from the viewpoint of the jubilee; here we see the satisfaction in the jubilee:
１
As a result of the Lord's feeding the crowd, there was a real application of the jubilee; everyone was filled and satisfied, and there was an abundance of food left over—v. 17.
２
In the jubilee no one is in want, and there is no poverty.
C
In Luke 10:17-24 we have the reality of the jubilee:
１
In verse 20 the Lord Jesus said, "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in the heavens."
２
"These things," "all things," and "the things" (vv. 21-24) are related to the things involved in the recording of our names in heaven—the "things which God has prepared for those who love Him"—1 Cor. 2:9:
ａ
These involve the things in God's New Testament economy as revealed in the Epistles of Paul—1 Tim. 1:4.
ｂ
The reality of the jubilee is in all these things; the reality of the jubilee is that we are brought into what was ordained for us by God before the foundation of the world—Eph. 1:4-5.