THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to Luke
Message Three—The Jubilee
Scripture Reading: Lev. 25:8-17; Isa. 61:1-3; Luke 4:16-22; Acts 26:16-19,
I. The year of jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-17 is recorded as a prophecy in Isaiah 61:1-3 and is fulfilled in reality in Luke 4:16-22: (2008 ST, msg. 7)
A. In the year of jubilee there were two main blessings: the returning of every man to his lost possession and the liberation from slavery—Lev. 25:8-17: (2008 ST, msg. 7)
1. 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, and everyone who had sold himself into slavery regained his freedom and returned to his family—vv. 10, 13, 28, 39-41. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
2. Returning to one’s possession and 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. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
B. In the Old Testament type the jubilee lasted for one year, but in the fulfillment it refers to the entire New Testament age, the age of grace, as the time when God accepts the returned captives of sin and when those oppressed under the bondage of sin enjoy the release of God’s salvation—Isa. 49:8; Luke 15:17-24; 2 Cor. 6:2; Rom. 7:14—8:2. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
C. The believers’ enjoyment of the jubilee in the age of grace (their enjoyment of Christ as God’s grace to them) will issue in the full enjoyment of the jubilee in the millennium and in the fullest enjoyment in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth—John 1:16-17; Rom. 5:17; Phil. 3:14; Rev. 22:1-2a. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
II. The year of jubilee is the age of Christ as grace dispensed into us for our enjoyment by His words of grace; the New Testament jubilee is an age of ecstasy for our salvation—Luke 4:22; Psa. 45:2; John 1:14-17; 2 Cor. 6:2: (2008 ST, msg. 7)
A. The New Testament age is an age of ecstasy, and a Christian is a person in ecstasy; if we have never been in ecstasy before God, this shows that we do not have a sufficient enjoyment of God—5:13; Acts 11:5; 22:17; Psa. 43:4a; 51:12; 1 Pet. 1:8; Isa. 12:3-6. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
B. Jubilee means having no worry or anxiety, no concern or care, no lack or shortage, no sickness or calamity, and no problems whatsoever, but rather having all benefits; hence, all things are pleasant and satisfying to our heart, and we are free from anxiety, at ease, excited, and exultant. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
C. We must receive the Lord Jesus as the real jubilee in us; if we have Him, we have God as our possession and can be delivered from the bondage of sin and Satan to have real freedom and rest—Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:13-14; Col. 1:12; Matt. 11:28; John 8:32, 36. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
D. Everything can be satisfying to us only after we have gained the all-inclusive Christ as our enjoyment; it is not outward persons, matters, or things but Christ within us who enables us to be calm and free of worries as we face all kinds of situations—Phil. 3:8-9; 4:5-8, 11-13. (2008 ST, msg. 7)
III. 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: (2008 ST, msg. 8)
A. 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. (2008 ST, msg. 8)
B. When God created man, He intended to give Himself in Christ to man as man’s possession, man’s inheritance; however, man became fallen, and in the fall man lost God as his possession and sold himself into slavery under sin, Satan, and the world—Gen. 3:24; 4:16; Eph. 2:12; Gen. 2:9; 13:12-15; Psa. 16:5; 90:1; John 8:34; Rom. 7:14b; Gal. 4:8; Titus 3:3; 1 John 5:19b. (2008 ST, msg. 8)
C. God’s New Testament salvation, accomplished by God’s grace based on His redemption in Christ, brings fallen man back to God as His divine possession, releases man from slavery under sin, Satan, and the world, and restores man to his divine family, the household of God, that he may enjoy fellowship in God’s grace—Rom. 3:24; 5:1-2; Eph. 2:8; Acts 26:18; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-24; 2 Cor. 13:14; Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19; John 8:32; Rom. 6:6, 14; 8:2; Heb. 2:14-15; John 12:31. (2008 ST, msg. 8)
IV. 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: (2008 ST, msg. 8)
A. 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. (2008 ST, msg. 8)
B. 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: (2008 ST, msg. 8)
1. The tone of an overcoming living is the tone of rejoicing, thanking, and praising God continually—1 Thes. 5:16-18. (2008 ST, msg. 8)
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. (2008 ST, msg. 8)
C. 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. (2008 ST, msg. 8)
D. 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. (2008 ST, msg. 8)