Scripture Reading: Luke 1:78a; 15:20; 11:1-13; 18:1-8; 24:50-53; 1:46-47
Ⅰ
The source of the jubilee is "the merciful compassions of our God"—the mercy, compassion, and kindness of God the Father—Luke 1:78a; 15:20:
A
"The tender mercy of our God / Caused Thee on us to dawn, / To those in darkness giving light / That shades of death be gone"—Hymns, #200, stanza 2.
B
Compassion refers to the inward feeling that originates in the heart of the affectionate party—Rom. 9:15:
１
Compassion is the feeling in the heart of the one who looks upon wretchedness— Luke 15:20.
２
Compassion is the deepest of words showing the inward affection of God for man in his pitiful condition; it is the expression of the Father's affectionate love—1:78a.
C
The kindness of our Savior God has appeared, and the kindness of God leads us to repentance—Titus 3:4-5; Rom. 2:4; Eph. 2:7.
D
Mercy is the most far-reaching of God's attributes, reaching farther than grace and love—v. 4; Rom. 9:15-16:
１
If we know God's mercy, we will not put any trust in our effort—v. 16.
２
There must be a time when our eyes are opened to see that everything depends on God's mercy—v. 15.
３
We need to praise the Father for His sovereign mercy and worship Him for His mercy—Hymns, #26.
Ⅱ
Prayer in the Gospel of Luke is prayer in the jubilee—3:21; 5:16; 6:12, 28; 9:18, 29; 11:1-2; 18:1-13; 19:46; 21:36; 22:40, 44-46:
A
The Lord Jesus was a man of prayer—3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:29.
B
We need to know and experience genuine prayer—11:2:
１
Genuine prayers are prayers in which we are mingled with God in spirit— Eph. 6:18; 1 Cor. 6:17.
２
The real significance of prayer is to contact God in our spirit and to absorb God Himself—Luke 6:12; Jude 20.
３
Prayer is the mutual contact between man and God—1 John 5:14-15.
４
Prayer is man breathing God, obtaining God, and being obtained by God; real prayer is an exhaling and inhaling before God, causing us and God to contact each other and to gain each other—1 Thes. 5:17.
５
The more we pray, the more we are filled with the Triune God—Eph. 3:14-19.
６
Prayer is man allowing God to express Himself through man and thus accomplish His purpose—James 5:17.
７
A praying person cooperates with God, works together with God, and allows God to express Himself and His desire from within him and through him— Rom. 8:26-27; James 5:17; Eph. 1:16-23; 3:14-21.
８
The kind of prayer we have depends on the kind of person we are; our prayers reveal who we are, what we are, and where we are—Luke 9:54-55; 1 Tim. 2:8.
C
The governing principle of our prayer should be that prayer brings us into God—Luke 11:1-13:
１
The issue of genuine prayer is that we find ourselves in God—vv. 2-4.
２
We need to pray ourselves into God, and then, as those who are in God, we receive the life supply from the Father for ourselves and others—vv. 11-13.
３
We need to pray persistently to the sovereign God—vv. 5-10; 18:1.
D
The prayer described in 18:1-8 is related to the jubilee in a particular way:
１
In this parable the righteous God is likened to an unrighteous judge, and the believers in Christ are likened to a widow—vv. 2-3, 6.
２
We have an opponent, Satan the devil, concerning whom we need God's avenging; we ought to pray persistently for this avenging and should not lose heart—vv. 1, 3; cf. Rev. 6:9-10.
３
Although God does not seem to do anything on behalf of His persecuted people, we must learn to be a bothering widow, one who prays to God persistently— Luke 18:3-5; Isa. 62:6.
４
We need to know God as He is revealed in Luke 18:1-8.
５
God's avenging us of our enemy will take place at the Savior's coming back; the persistent and subjective faith for persistent prayer, like the faith of the widow, is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return and to enjoy the jubilee in the kingdom—v. 8; 12:37.
Ⅲ
We may enjoy the blessings of the jubilee—1:42, 45, 48, 68; 2:28, 34; 6:20-22, 28; 7:23; 9:16; 10:23; 11:28; 12:37-38, 43; 13:35; 14:14-15; 19:38; 24:30, 50-51:
A
The Lord's blessing nourishes us, gives us life, and satisfies us—9:16.
B
First, we ourselves enjoy the Lord's blessing, and then the Lord will cause us to become a source of blessing to others—24:50-51; Rom. 15:29, 13.
C
The eternal blessing is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment—Num. 6:23-27; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 1:4-14.
D
The day must come when we realize that in our work, in our Christian life, and in the church life everything depends on the Lord's blessing—v. 3.
E
The normal Christian life and the normal church life—a life in the jubilee personally and corporately—is a life of blessing—Luke 24:50-51; Gal. 3:14; 2 Cor. 9:6; Rom. 15:29.
Ⅳ
We need to have a spirit of jubilee—a released spirit of praise, rejoicing, blessing, and thankfulness—Luke 1:14, 28, 42, 44, 46-48, 58; 2:10, 13; 6:23; 10:17, 20-21; 15:5-7, 9-10, 23-24, 32; 17:11-19; 19:6; 24:52-53.