Man has lost God and is without God because of the fall. Therefore, when the Bible speaks of the year of jubilee, the first thing it teaches is that man must be returned to God. Then when we have God and enjoy Him, we have the real freedom. According to the Old Testament type, when the year of jubilee came, a person who had sold himself into slavery was returned to his own possession and to his own family to be reunited with his relatives, and at the same time he was also released from the yoke of slavery and was no longer a slave. In the New Testament age, in Luke 4, the Lord spoke of the condition of three kinds of people. Verse 18 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because 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.” The three categories of people in this verse are the poor, the captives, and the oppressed. On the one hand, these are three kinds of people, but on the other hand, they are three human conditions. When we lost God, we became poor, and the result of poverty was that we were captured. Then after being captured, we were oppressed. When the year of jubilee comes, however, we obtain freedom and are delivered from poverty, captivity, and oppression.
When I was young, I did not know whether the poor denotes those who are poor materially or poor spiritually. Some may say that poor denotes being poor in material things, and material poverty symbolizes spiritual poverty. This way of explaining this verse is wrong. The really poor people are not those who have no money. The really poor ones are those who do not have God. We may consider today’s millionaires; even though they have much wealth, if the emptiness in the depths of their being cannot be satisfied, are they not poor? To be without God is to be really poor. Material riches mean nothing. Paul said that material matters were like refuse to him. He said, “On account of whom [Christ] I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). He counted all things as refuse for Christ’s sake. The meaning of the word refuse is dog food, that is, dregs and rubbish that are thrown to the dogs. What Paul means by this is that if a man on earth does not have God, then whatever he enjoys apart from God is like dog food. Only God is man’s real food. The Lord Jesus said that He is the bread of life. Apart from Him, everything is dog food or worse than dog food. When the prodigal son in Luke 15 left his father, he left his inheritance. As a result, he had to eat hog food, which may be worse than dog food. There was an abundance of food in his father’s house, but he himself was so poor that he had to eat hog food. Please remember that it is not those who do not have money who are poor; rather, it is the people who do not have God who are poor.
Hence, the phrase announce the gospel to the poor in Luke 4 actually means to preach the gospel to those who are without God. This corresponds to Ephesians 2:12, which says that formerly we lived in the world, having no hope and being without God. Why did we not have hope? It was because we did not have God. People who live in the world without God do not have hope. Whether kings, queens, or presidents, all are poor because they live in the world without God. We must not misunderstand the Bible. Announcing the gospel to the poor does not refer to preaching the gospel to those who are poor in material things. Otherwise, millionaires, bankers, and presidents would not need the gospel, since they are not poor in material things. The accurate meaning here is that all men, whether rich or poor, honored or despised, need the gospel, and they need to gain God.
Moreover, Luke 4:18 says, “To proclaim release to the captives.” America today is the freest country; no one can wrongly capture anyone here. In reality, however, nearly everyone is a captive. The leaders have been captured, and the people have also been captured. Who captured them? According to Acts 26:18, the Lord told Saul of Tarsus that He would send him to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God.” Strictly speaking, we have all been captured by Satan. All human beings, regardless of their occupation, gender, or age, are captives of Satan and are under his authority. Apparently, human beings are free, but actually in the whole world no one is free because all are captives under the authority of Satan. First John 5:19 says, “The whole world lies in the evil one.” All the people of the world remain passively in the sphere of the evil one’s influence, under the evil one’s usurpation and manipulation.
The Bible never says that fallen people are the slaves of Satan; rather, it says that fallen people are the slaves of sin and the captives of Satan. Satan has captured us, and sin has enslaved us. Being a captive is much like being a slave, but there are some basic differences. In Romans 7:14 Paul says, “I am fleshy, sold under sin.” To be sold under sin means that we have sold ourselves as slaves to sin. However, we are not the captives of sin; we are the captives of Satan and the slaves of sin.
Now we must go further to see what sin is. The common definition is that rape, robbery, sorcery, and fornication are sin. Likewise, extravagant eating, drunkenness, sexual indulgence, and gambling are also sin. Similarly, murder and arson are sin; not honoring one’s father and mother is sin; stealing and looting are sin; lying and cheating are sin; and cursing and hating are sin. However, in the intrinsic sense, these are not the real sin. Sin is something intrinsic in man’s being; murder and arson are merely the outward, sinful acts that are carried out and manifested. They may be regarded as the results of sin, but they are not sin itself. What, then, is sin? The Chinese followers of Confucius studied this matter carefully. The result of their studies produced the two great and opposing theories of human nature in Confucianism: the theory that human nature is good and the theory that human nature is evil. Advocates of the former asserted that man is born good, while proponents of the latter maintained that man is born evil. However, they did not carry out their research to the extent of knowing the real meaning of sin. In actuality, sin is just Satan. Romans 7 says that sin can dwell in us (v. 20). Normally we say that a table is placed in a house; no one would say that a table dwells in a house. Only living persons can dwell in a house. The fact that sin dwells in us proves that sin is in us as a living person. Romans 7 also says that the sin which dwells in us has killed us (v. 11). A table cannot kill, but sin kills. Before sin kills a person, it oppresses him, forcing him to do what he does not want to do. Sin is a “gangster” who coerces people to do what they do not desire to do. Paul said that he did not want to covet, but the sin that dwelt in him made him unable to control himself. He said that to will to do good was present with him, but to work out the good was not, because someone who was stronger than him dwelt in him. This one not only overcame him but also killed him. In this way, the Bible reveals that sin is Satan.
Before Satan entered into man, sin was not embodied; after Satan came into man, sin was embodied in man. There is no school of sin to teach people to sin. No parents would teach their children how to sin, but it is remarkable that as children grow, they spontaneously commit sins without anyone teaching them. This is because the sin that dwells in them drives them to commit sins. As a person’s will develops, he may feel that sinning is not good, and he therefore no longer wants to commit sin. However, the sin within him does not let him go, and it forces him to do that which he does not want to do. We can see this particularly in those who smoke opium, drink, and gamble. When some people do these things, even their visage appears demonic. They are very clear that if they keep gambling, they will lose all their money and become poor, but the addiction within them drives and pressures them to gamble. An addiction is a lust. Addiction to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs comes from Satan. Once a person has become addicted to gambling, he cannot stop himself from gambling, and once someone has become addicted to alcohol, he cannot stop himself from drinking. When his addiction to alcohol makes its demand, he must have a drink, and when the addiction to gambling rises up, he must gamble. There are no exceptions to this pattern. After the addiction abates and a person comes to his senses, he regrets what he has done. He regrets that he has shamed his parents, wife, and children. Then he may call upon heaven and earth to witness his oath that he will never do it again. However, only a few hours later when the addiction returns, he is powerless against it.
Thus, there is a sinning factor, an addiction to sinning within man. This factor, this addiction, is Satan himself, and man is his captive. He has captured man and dwells in him as the inciting sin. 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. In the Bible, Satan is also called Beelzebul. According to the original language of the Bible, Beelzebul means the lord of the dunghill, from the name meaning the lord of flies. The top of a dunghill is covered with flies. As the lord of the dunghill, Satan specializes in leading flies to feed on dung; hence, he is also the lord of flies. Since he is the lord of flies, all sinners are like flies that follow Satan to “feed on dung.” They go wherever there is a stench, following Beelzebul to feast on dung. Even upper-class people are like flies. Beelzebul can disguise himself with a high-class appearance so that all the “flies” following him appear to be of a high class. Such persons hold dancing parties in upper-class places, but such places are merely cultured “dunghills.” These people dress nicely and are very cultured, and when they dance they seem elegant. In actuality, however, they are “eating dung.”
All the descendants of Adam are the captives of Satan; everyone has been captured by him. After he captured us, he entered into us as Beelzebul, the lord of flies, and began leading us about to commit sins. Deep in his heart, no one wants to sin, but when a person becomes addicted and is stirred up by Beelzebul, he has to follow, allowing himself to be led around “by the nose.” Afterward he regrets it and may say, “I am so stupid; what was I doing? Why did I have to do that?” 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. This is why the Lord Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34).
One who becomes angry at someone and then can immediately get over his anger may be considered to be a sage and a virtuous man. Logically, as saved ones, the saints, we should surpass the sages and virtuous ones, but can we quickly get over our anger? It is not easy to come back to the Lord after we get angry. Perhaps a person may be one who has learned the lessons well and is able to come back to the Lord and calm his anger. However, after such a one leaves the Lord’s presence, his anger may return again when he sees the offending person. Wood and stones do not become angry, but no human being can avoid getting angry; only dead people do not get angry. All these problems are due to the fact that man is under bondage and has no freedom. The sin within us is a real controlling power. In Romans 7:24 Paul said, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” How we thank God for Romans 8:2, which says that in Christ the law of the Spirit of life frees us from the law of sin and of death! We thank the Lord for His mercy. Many can testify that when they get angry, they can get over it very quickly, and the anger does not come back. This is because the law of the Spirit of life frees us from the bondage of sin!
In Luke 4:18-19 the Lord Jesus quoted the words of the prophet Isaiah, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because 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, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee.” As we have seen, to announce the gospel to the poor is to preach the gospel to those who have lost God, and those who are oppressed refers to those in slavery. We should not think that the year of jubilee came to free us only on the day we were saved. Actually, the entire age of the New Testament is the age of the jubilee. We have our entire Christian life in the jubilee, living a life of liberty, release, and freedom from bondage.
Announcing the gospel to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, and sending away in release those who are oppressed are the freedoms of the jubilee. These are the blessings of the jubilee, the blessings of the gospel. The blessings of the gospel are the return to God and the gaining of God as our possession. Once we enjoy God as our possession, we are free. Only those who enjoy God do not commit sin and are really free. John 8:36 says, “If therefore the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.” If we want to be free, if we do not want to commit sin, then we must obtain the Son of God and enjoy Him. The Son of God today is the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of life, who is in us as the law of the Spirit of life. Therefore, the law of the Spirit of life is just the Lord Himself, who passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of life. Every life has a law, so the Spirit of life also has a law. The law of the Spirit of life releases us from the law of sin. We enjoy the freedom of the jubilee not only at the moment we believe in the Lord, but beginning from that day we should enjoy this freedom all our life and for eternity. This freedom comes from our enjoyment of God. He has become our possession for our enjoyment, and when we enjoy Him, we obtain freedom. This is how we have the real freedom and are no longer in bondage. However, if we do not enjoy God sufficiently, we will still be in bondage in many things.
In conclusion, the year of jubilee is for us to be returned to God as our possession and as our enjoyment so that we may become free and be released from all oppression. Thus, we are returned to God from the authority of Satan and are freed from the slavery of sin. Hence, it is useless to struggle and strive. The only effective way for us is to believe the gospel and enjoy God. Some may say, “I will go home and make up my mind not to be angry or lose my temper again,” but whereas one can make up his mind to do good, he does not have the power to perform the good. Making up our mind will not work; we must enjoy the Lord. We must learn to contact this true and living Lord to enjoy Him. In this way, He becomes our release within us and our freedom. As a result, we have not only our possession but also our freedom.