Message Eight

The Jubilee (2)

Scripture Reading: Lev. 25:8-17; Isa. 61:1-3;
Luke 4:16-22; Acts 26:16-19

4. Announcing the gospel to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and sending away in release those who are oppressed are the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee—Luke 4:18-19:
   1. The word jubilee in Leviticus 25:10 means “a time of shouting,” or “a time of the trumpeting of the ram’s horn”; the trumpeting of the ram’s horn signifies the preaching of the gospel as the proclaiming of liberty in the New Testament jubilee to all the sinners sold under sin that they may return to God and God’s family, the household of God, and may rejoice with shouting in the New Testament enjoyment of God’s salvation—Luke 4:16-22; Acts 26:16-19.
   2. Our preaching of the gospel is our blowing of the trumpet of redemption to proclaim to the world, “Behold, now is the well-acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” the year of jubilee—2 Cor. 6:2; Isa. 61:1-3:
      1. When God created man, He intended to give Himself in Christ to man as man’s possession, man’s inheritance (Gen. 2:9; 13:12-15; Psa. 16:5; 90:1); however, man became fallen, and in the fall man lost God as his possession (Gen. 3:24; 4:16; Eph. 2:12) and sold himself into slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (John 8:34; Rom. 7:14b; Gal. 4:8; Titus 3:3; 1 John 5:19b).
      2. God’s New Testament salvation, accomplished by God’s grace based on His redemption in Christ (Rom. 3:24; 5:1-2; Eph. 2:8), brings fallen man back to God as His divine possession (Acts 26:18; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-24), releases man from slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (John 8:32; Rom. 6:6, 14; 8:2; Heb. 2:14-15; John 12:31), and restores man to his divine family, the household of God (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19), that he may enjoy fellowship in God’s grace (2 Cor. 13:14).
5. God’s salvation causes us to have real freedom; our possession is God, and our freedom comes from our enjoyment of God:
   1. If man does not enjoy God, he cannot have real freedom; freedom means release, to be freed from all bondage, all heavy burden, all oppression, and all enslavement—John 8:32, 36; Gal. 5:1; 2 Cor. 3:17.
   2. Everything in our life can be a bondage to us, and we can be slaves under any matter—John 8:34; cf. 1 Cor. 6:12.
   3. First, Satan captured us; then he came to dwell in us as the inciter, the instigator, of our sins; the result is that he has become our illegal master, and we have become his captives to the extent that we are unable to do good and can only commit sins—Rom. 7:14; 1 John 5:19:
      1. If a man does not have God, whatever he tries to enjoy apart from God is dog food, refuse, and dung—Phil. 3:7-9; cf. 2 Pet. 2:22.
      2. Satan is called Beelzebul, which means “the lord of the dunghill,” from Beelzebub, meaning “the lord of flies”; Satan specializes in leading sinners like flies to feed on dung—Matt. 10:25; 12:24, 27; 2 Kings 1:2.
      3. Although deep in his heart no one wants to sin, eventually everyone sins; no one has control over himself, and everyone has become a slave of sin—Rom. 7:18-23; John 8:34.
   4. Paul’s desperate cry in Romans 7:24 is answered in Romans 8:2, which says that the law of the Spirit of life frees us in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.
   5. We can be released and have real freedom only by enjoying Christ as the life-giving Spirit; only those who enjoy God do not commit sin and are really free, living a life of liberty, release, and freedom from bondage—John 8:36:
      1. The law of the Spirit of life releases us from the law of sin and of death; this law is the Lord Himself, who passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit—Rom. 8:2.
      2. If we do not enjoy the Lord sufficiently, we will still be in bondage to many things; making up our mind will not work; we must continually come to the Lord to eat and enjoy Him—1 Cor. 1:9; Rev. 2:7; Isa. 55:1-2.
      3. Only those who enjoy God do not practice sin and are really free—John 8:11-12, 24, 28, 31-36.
      4. Christ as the jubilee frees us from our poverty, captivity, blindness, and oppression—Eccl. 1:2, 14; 3:11; Phil. 3:8; 2 Pet. 2:22; Luke 12:21; Rev. 3:17.
6. 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:
   1. To be in the jubilee is to eat the Lord Jesus as the real produce of the good land, take Him as our dwelling place for our rest, and be freed from the slavery of sin and from the bondage of law and religion—6:57; Deut. 8:7-10; Col. 1:12; John 15:5; Psa. 16:5; 90:1; Rom. 6:6-7; Gal. 5:1.
   2. 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.
   3. The Christian life should be a life full of enjoying the Lord, a life full of joy and praises; when we enjoy the Lord fully, He becomes our jubilee:
      1. The tone of an overcoming living is the tone of rejoicing, thanking, and praising God continually—1 Thes. 5:16-18.
      2. The overcoming life can survive only in an environment of thanksgiving and praise—v. 18; Col. 3:17; Psa. 106:12; 2 Chron. 20:20-22.
   4. The living of the jubilee is a life in which we take God Himself, Christ 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.
   5. Paul learned the secret of living in the jubilee, the secret of gaining Christ in any kind of environment—Phil. 4:5-7, 11-13.
   6. Because everything is under His sovereignty, we should pray, “Lord, fill me, gain me, and possess me. No matter what my outward situation is, I just want to enjoy You.”
   7. 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.