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Scripture Reading: Lev. 25:10-12; Psa. 90:9-10; 73:14-17, 25; Eccl. 1:2-3; Rom. 8:19-21; Matt. 11:28; Phil. 4:6-7, 9; 1 Cor. 5:8; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19; 2 Cor. 12:9; 13:14
In the first chapter we saw that the Lord has come to bring in the New Testament age as the age of the jubilee. In the second chapter we saw that the possession of the jubilee is God Himself. God has become our inheritance, the portion of our cup, and our eternal dwelling place in all generations. Since God is our inheritance, our enjoyment should be God. In the third chapter we saw the freedom of the jubilee. Freedom means release, to be freed from all bondage, all heavy burden, all oppression, and all enslavement. Paul says that all things were lawful to him, but he would not be brought under the power of anything to be its slave (1 Cor. 6:12). Everything in our life can be a bondage to us, and we can be slaves under any matter. To pursue education is to be enslaved, and to not pursue education is also to be enslaved. The poor are ruled by poverty, and the rich are ruled by money; the Chinese expression for miser refers to one who is a slave of money. The jubilee is a matter of possession and also of freedom. The jubilee is to return those who are poor and who have lost God back to God as their possession, and it is also to proclaim release.
In the holy year, the year of jubilee, freedom is proclaimed to all the people. Today in the age of democracy, people greatly promote freedom, but the result is that they have very little freedom. Based on nearly sixty years of observation, I have found that people are much more free when they do not pursue outward freedom. We may illustrate this with political freedom. Sixty years ago, there was a certain amount of political freedom in China. No one would interfere with others, taxation was simple, and people could freely travel without permits. Today, however, after much pursuit of freedom, traveling is very troublesome, and there are many restrictions. People continually talk about liberty and seek for freedom, but eventually they are bound and restricted in every way. Wherever we go on the earth, there are bondage and restrictions. People often use doves to symbolize liberty. “Liberty doves” are released during celebrations, but after the doves are released, they never return. In the same manner, once freedom is “released,” it “flies away.” If we do not pursue freedom, we may enjoy some amount of freedom, but the more we talk about freedom, the more we lose it. Many people consider that America is free, but the freedom in America is an unrestrained freedom. There is little real freedom here. American society is full of entertainment, crime, dancing, gambling, and other matters. All these are very strong bondage. Americans fall into bondage because they are too free. As a result of this kind of freedom, they fall into indulgence and are enslaved. The Lord’s salvation causes us to have real freedom. The Lord Jesus said, “If therefore the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). We can only enjoy real freedom when we have Christ, the Son of God.
Now we will consider the living of the jubilee. The jubilee is not a mere doctrine or simply a declaration; the jubilee is a kind of living. When the year of jubilee came and the trumpet sounded, release was proclaimed throughout the land. This ushered in a practical living, on the one hand, of enjoying the life of rich possession and, on the other hand, of enjoying freedom. The jubilee is a type in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament it is fulfilled in all those who believe in the Lord. However, if we do not know the real condition of human life, we do not know how much we need the jubilee. Every person is like a glass filled with the wrong content. For the glass to contain the right drink, it must be emptied; to know our real condition is to be emptied. For this reason we will present a clear picture from the Bible of the real condition of human life. If we see this picture, we will not be deceived about human life.
Hymns, #1080, which was written based on Ecclesiastes, depicts the actual condition of human life. The real condition of life is neither good fortune nor misfortune. Actually, both good fortune and misfortune are useless. The true condition of human life can be summed up in one word, vanity. The wise King Solomon said that a man has no advantage in all his work which he does under the sun, and a generation goes and another generation comes, yet there is no remembrance of those who were before; hence, all is vanity of vanities (1:2-11). All things of the human life are vanity, like pursuing after shadows and chasing after wind; they are fleeting and short-lived.
Psalm 90:1 says, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” This declaration is the proclamation of the jubilee, but verse 9 says, “All our days have passed away in Your overflowing wrath; / We bring our years to an end like a sigh.” These words thoroughly portray the real condition of human life. There is nothing much worth singing about in the entire life of a man. When Moses wrote this psalm, he was over eighty years old, perhaps almost one hundred twenty years old. Having had the experience of human life, he said that we bring all the years of our life to an end as with a sigh. Little children do not know about human life, so they do not sigh. However, old men are always sighing; they sigh from morning until evening. They sigh when they think about themselves, they sigh when they think about their children and grandchildren, and they sigh when they think about their relatives and friends. There is nothing that does not make them sigh. Even when they sing, they cannot sing for too long, because eventually their song becomes a dirge or a lamentation. The days of man’s entire life are nothing but a sigh. Verse 10 goes on to say, “The days of our years are seventy years, / Or, if because of strength, eighty years; / But their pride is labor and sorrow, / For it is soon gone, and we fly away.” This is a word of experience spoken by Moses as an old man. His description of human life is thorough. A person may live to the age of eighty years due to his strength, but all that he can boast of is nothing but labor and sorrow, for his life is soon gone, and he flies away. Even though I am also eighty years old, I hope to live for forty more years, because I enjoy the Lord and I have hope. If one lives to the age of eighty without the Lord, then the phrase labor and sorrow...it is soon gone, and we fly away is a description and a true portrait of the real condition of his human life. The Bible is the only book that speaks the truth; every philosophy and “ism” is deceiving. The Bible says that the real condition of human life is only “labor and sorrow...it is soon gone, and we fly away.” Ecclesiastes 1:2 says, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” In Hebrew, vanity of vanities means “emptiness of emptinesses.” Solomon’s words fully agree with the words of Moses. Moses said, “It is soon gone, and we fly away,” whereas Solomon said, “All is vanity and a chasing after wind” (v. 14).
Psalm 73 was written by a seeker of God. In verse 14 the seeker said, “I have been plagued all day long / And chastened every morning.” Before they are enlightened by the Lord, many believers are like this psalmist. It seems to them that even though they are seeking the Lord and loving Him, they end up receiving plagues and chastisements. Even though the psalmist loved the Lord out of a pure heart, everything was an affliction to him. Consequently, he could only say that he had been plagued all day long and chastened every morning. Then he went on to say, “When I considered this in order to understand it, / It was a troublesome task in my sight, / Until I went into the sanctuary of God; / Then I perceived their end” (vv. 16-17). Once he went into the sanctuary, received the enlightenment, and carefully considered this matter, he understood. Having understood, he went on to say, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth” (v. 25). In this way he was led from vanity into reality, which is just God Himself. Because he passed through vanity, the psalmist, who was rich in experience, realized the real situation. It is as if he was saying, “Since all things under the sun are vanity, why should I pursue them? To do so makes me a fool. Now that I have woken up to reality, I do not want any of these things. What I want is the God who fills heaven and earth. Having Him, I do not pursue anyone else in heaven, and having Him, I do not desire anyone else on earth.”
It is not easy for many Christians to turn in this way. This is because when man thinks of God, the fear of God is aroused in him, and when he begins to fear God, he comes under the philosophy that God will be kind to him and that the more he fears God, the more prosperous he will become, the healthier he will be, the more children and grandchildren he will have, and the more he will have good fortune and not misfortune. When I was small, I often heard my mother say, “Giving birth to a son lasts a moment, but fearing for a son lasts a lifetime.” I have experienced the truth of this word. Once a son is born, his parents are afraid that he may not survive. They are afraid that he may not eat or drink well or that he may catch a cold and become sick. After this, they are afraid that he may not get into a good elementary school, junior high school, or high school, and once he gets into a good school, they are afraid that he may not pass the entrance examination to get into a good university. After he is admitted to a good university, the parents are afraid that he may not pass the English language examination to be able to go to America, and after he passes the examination, they are afraid that he may not be able to get into a good graduate school. Furthermore, they are afraid that he may misbehave himself with young friends or marry the wrong wife. Such fears are endless. Therefore, human life is nothing but labor and sorrow and will be soon gone. There is no genuine good fortune.
Job is a long book of forty-two chapters. Some readers do not grasp the significance of this book, and they lose interest when they read it. The characters in Job seem to argue the whole time. At first, Job’s three friends argue with Job; later, Elihu joins in, and finally, even God Himself joins in. In recent years, however, I have begun to have more appreciation of the book of Job. Although this book is of considerable length with forty-two chapters, it deals with only one issue. Job was originally a man blessed with possessions and children, but suddenly calamities came one after another — his livestock were stolen, his possessions were burnt, and his children were killed in an unnatural way. Natural disasters and man-made calamities came one after the other, causing Job to end up with nothing. Not only so, but Job’s wife troubled him. She could not comfort Job even a little; on the contrary, she provoked him, saying in effect, “See, you fear God, yet what do you end up with?” God took everything away from Job and left him with only a mocker. When a person is smitten repeatedly to the extent that everything he has is gone, he truly needs sympathy from others, but all those who could comfort Job had died. Of all the sufferings of Job, the most severe was the mocking from his wife. This caused Job to suffer exceedingly. It seemed that God had been extremely cruel. Nonetheless, after passing through these trials, Job gained God. He was able to say, “Jehovah gives and Jehovah takes away; / Blessed be the name of Jehovah” (1:21). Had Job not encountered this stripping and suffering, his experience and enjoyment of God could not have been as great.
The book of James in the New Testament says that we need to consider the experience of Job and remember how he endured (5:11). Both James and Peter acknowledge that our Christian life is altogether a life of trials (1:2; 1 Pet. 4:12). God did not promise that we Christians will have everything to our satisfaction on earth. Perhaps after some hear this word, they will say, “Are you not contradicting yourself? Didn’t you tell us that the jubilee means that all things are to our satisfaction?” Yes, everything is to our satisfaction but not the things themselves; rather, our satisfaction is in God. If we do not have God, nothing is to our satisfaction. If we have God, everything is to our satisfaction. Whether or not something is to our satisfaction does not depend on the environment; it depends on whether or not God is there. Without God, even if all things go smoothly, they are not to our satisfaction. But once we have God, even if things do not go smoothly, they are still to our satisfaction.
What Job encountered in his life was very difficult, but he was still satisfied, and he could still worship and praise. It seems that he was saying, “Being given something and having something taken away are the same. There is no difference between many possessions being given to me and my possessions being taken away from me. It does not matter whether Jehovah gives or Jehovah takes away; to me, they are the same.” This is not easy to experience. Paul said, “I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound” (Phil. 4:12). It did not matter to Paul whether he was poor or rich or whether he was lacking or abounding. Therefore, he could say, “In nothing be anxious” (v. 6). If we only read verse 6, we may think that Paul was in a good situation. In reality though, it was not so, because at that time he was in prison. Moreover, according to the context, he did not receive a rich supply during his imprisonment. The churches had received his nurturing, but they did not supply him adequately. Only the church in Philippi took care of him. This is why he said, “I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound...I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (vv. 12-13). He was very qualified to tell us to be anxious in nothing. Even though he was in a poor circumstance in his imprisonment and did not receive a rich supply at that time, he was able to exhort the saints to be anxious in nothing. He could be anxious in nothing because he made known all his requests to God; thus, the peace of God, which surpasses every man’s understanding, guarded his heart and his thoughts in Christ Jesus (v. 7). In this way he enjoyed the presence of the God of peace. Therefore, only when we have God, do we have real peace. Even if there is no peace in our environment, if we have God, we have peace.
Man was created for God, and God is man’s blessing. However, because man sinned and became fallen, he lost God and thus his blessing. Hence, man’s whole life became empty. Man not only lost God in his fall, but he also fell into bondage. We may say that human history of six thousand years is a history of losing God and being in bondage. Because man does not have God, he struggles to obtain enjoyment. The result of man’s struggle and strife is that he falls into all kinds of bondage. Everything in human life is a bondage. Even our relatives become a bondage to us: our parents, children, spouse, and siblings are all a bondage. This is why the Lord Jesus said that if we do not love Him above our father or mother, sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, and husband or wife, we are not worthy to be His disciples (Matt. 10:37-38). This means that if our inward being is occupied by any person or thing, the Lord has no ground in us. Since man was created by God, he should be fully occupied by God within. However, this does not mean that we should not take care of our children and parents or that we should not care for our brothers or sisters and wife or husband. What this means is that all the room in our being must be given to the Lord. When the Lord has gained the ground in us, we will be secure. When I was a small child, I saw big sailboats and wondered why their masts were so tall. I thought that the tall mast was only for hanging the sail in order to catch the wind. Later, some sailors told me that the mast is not only for hanging the sail but also for stabilizing the boat. A sailboat with a tall mast cannot be easily capsized. After I was saved, I realized how this is altogether true in our experience. Without the Lord, we are like a sailboat without a mast, having no stability, so that we drift aimlessly. If we do not have the Lord as our “mast,” the “boat” of our human life is unstable and can be easily overturned. Our human life can be capsized if it is empty within. If a glass is filled to the brim, impure things cannot get in. In the same way, if we are filled with the Lord, things that are not of the Lord cannot come in.
Christians in general have a wrong concept, and some preachers even lead them into this wrong concept. They think that although there are sufferings in their human life, when they believe in Jesus, they will have peace in their environment. They consider that although life is full of sufferings and adversities, Jesus, who is full of compassion, will outwardly rescue them from their sufferings when they believe in Him. This is not the biblical concept. Actually, what the gospel says is that we as fallen ones have all kinds of suffering because we have lost God and do not have Him within. Even the outward blessings enjoyed by fallen man are a suffering. After man’s fall, there is no blessing; rather, everything is a suffering. Moreover, not only does fallen man not have the Lord, but he also sins against Him. Therefore, he needs to repent, confess his sins, turn to the Lord, and let Him come into him to be his life and blessing. This is the message of the gospel.
Of course, after receiving the Lord, some have experienced a turning point in their broken marriage, others have been cured of a critical illness, and still others have experienced an improvement in their difficult situations. I have seen many such cases, but it is not always so. After receiving the Lord, some who were gravely ill prayed continually to the Lord for healing, yet the Lord never healed them. Healing does not depend on us; it depends on Him. What the gospel stresses is not that our sickness will be healed but that we need to receive the Lord and allow Him to come into us to be our life and our blessing. Sometimes we may call upon the Lord concerning our circumstances, but He may or may not answer our call. Whether or not He answers depends wholly on Him. The Bible does not say that all those who believe in Jesus will have their sickness healed. Timothy, who was Paul’s dearest young co-worker and whom Paul called his genuine child, had a stomach ailment. Nevertheless, even though Paul had performed many signs and wonders and had healed many diseases (Acts 19:11-12), he told his spiritual son, his beloved Timothy, to “no longer drink water only, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Tim. 5:23). Even Paul himself had a thorn in his flesh (2 Cor. 12:7). Many Bible interpreters say that this thorn was a sickness in his body, most likely a problem with his eyes. This thorn remained with Paul all the time, causing him to suffer. He said, “Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me” (v. 8). However, the Lord seemed to say, “Paul, do not ask this anymore. I will not answer your prayer. I will not remove the thorn from you. Rather, it will constantly remain with you. Nevertheless, My grace is sufficient for you.” A number of people had been healed of their diseases simply by means of handkerchiefs or aprons carried away from Paul’s body. Yet, when he had a thorn in his flesh that caused him to suffer, he had no way to remove it. Furthermore, he was imprisoned late in life. In his first imprisonment he appealed to Caesar and was released through Caesar’s arbitration, but he was imprisoned a second time during Caesar’s persecution of the Christians and was killed soon afterward. This was Paul’s experience before the Lord.
As fallen ones, we may have the fallen natural concept that if we fear God, serve Him, love Him, and follow Him, we will prosper in everything; the unhealthy will become healthy, and the foolish will become wise. However, God has not promised this. Hymns, #720 was written by an experienced Christian. Stanza 1 and the chorus say,
Many times, God has placed those who love Him into trials and sufferings so that they may experience more of Him. When everything is calm and peaceful, we seldom think of enjoying God and know very little about experiencing the Lord. Only when we fall into sufferings can we be humbled to trust the Lord wholeheartedly, call on Him, and enjoy Him.
This is why man often needs to be put into a situation by God to be stripped by Him. God may strip him of his health, take away his children, or remove the thing he loves most. This is a time of “weaning.” A small child is comfortable, warm, and satisfied in his mother’s bosom, but sooner or later he has to be weaned. A child suffers great sorrow during the weaning period. Very often, God “weans” us by taking away our outward blessings. Our health may leave us, we may lose our house, or our better children may die while the naughty ones remain. I have seen this happen. God may not take anything at first, but once He does, He only takes the best. He does not take the foolish children — He leaves them with us to make trouble — but He may take those who are clever, capable, and comforting. God wants to see whether we care for Him or for our children. Only God is not a suffering to us. Everything else, whatever we love, is a suffering to us. If we buy a car and love it, that car burdens us and damages us. When we buy a good house, that house puts us under bondage and brings pain to us. Even when we buy good clothes, they become a limitation to us. Whatever man loves is what damages him, but if we love God, God will not damage us. Apparently, it seems that God hurts us by taking away what we love and what, apparently, should not be taken away. Actually, He takes away what we love because we love that thing more than God. Abraham was tested by God. One day God told Abraham to offer his son up to Him. Yet, when Abraham began to offer up his son, God said in effect, “This is good enough; you can keep him.” God no longer wanted him to offer his son. God does the same to us. If we can give all we have to God, He can also give it back to us. Therefore, we have to change our concept.
What is the living of the jubilee? The living of the jubilee is a life in which we take God instead of other things as our enjoyment and enjoy only God Himself in every situation. This is not to say that we should not study. On the contrary, we should study diligently. Neither does it mean that we should not work; we should work dutifully. Likewise, it does not mean that we should not be proper parents raising our children; rather, we should properly fulfill our responsibilities as parents. However, all these are just our living, our outward human life, which is not crucial. What is crucial is that the inward, primary factor of our human life is right. If our inward, primary factor is not right, our outward living will not be right. This primary factor is nothing other than God Himself. We must let God Himself be the primary factor within us. Only then will we know how to deal with our children, how to honor our parents, how to study, and how to work. If this primary factor directs us within, everything will simply be a duty to us, not a burden or hardship. However, if we are not directed by this primary factor, everything will become a weight and a suffering. In the end, we will become captives and even sell ourselves as slaves.
For us to live on earth today, we need to have a car for transportation and a house for lodging. We need clothing, food, and marriage. All these are necessities. Children should study diligently, be educated, finish college, and work hard. However, all these are just the duties of our human life; they should not become an encumbrance or a bondage to enslave us. However, if we do not have God as our primary factor within, we cannot avoid being under the bondage of these persons, things, and matters. We should be encouraged to get married, but we must not turn marriage into an encumbrance. When choosing a partner for marriage, our attention should not be focused on marriage, as an encumbering burden, but on God. We should also be encouraged to study, but studying should be an obligation and not a burden to us. As we are fulfilling our duty, we must have the Lord within. Often people ask me how they should choose a partner for marriage. Fifty years ago, I used to answer in many ways, but today I do not like to give suggestions. If one does not have the Lord, whomever he chooses is wrong. Even if everything seems to be right at the time of his choosing, once he is married, he may feel that he chose the wrong person.
The Christian life should be a life of fully enjoying the Lord. When we enjoy the Lord fully, He becomes our jubilee; that is, He becomes our inheritance and liberty. Not only so, the Lord also becomes our living. In such a living, we love Him to the uttermost and let Him be the Lord. Then He becomes the primary factor and center in us to lead us and govern us. In this way, when we pass through things, we will not be tormented, enslaved, or dominated by them. Instead, we will be free. I hope that we can understand this word. By the Lord’s mercy today I have reached the age of eighty. I have passed through all the sweetness and bitterness of life, and I have thirty to forty children and grandchildren. Therefore, I have many troubles and many cares. Without the Lord as my primary factor and center within, I would suffer considerably. However, because the Lord is in me, I do not have any burden or hardship. Moreover, I do not put any hope in my children, my grandchildren, or my great grandchildren, because I know that with hope there is disappointment. One who does not hope will not be disappointed, but the more one hopes, the more he is disappointed. Perhaps some will say, “Since this is the case, is there any meaning to human life? Let us give up.” Those who study history see the extent of the confusion among people in the world and often say that human life is hopeless. However, we may give up, but God will never give up. We can feel meaningless, but God does not. Although He has been dealing with mankind for six thousand years, He is not through. God will not give up; He is still waiting, and with Him a thousand years are like one day. God is waiting to gain us as those who have been chosen by Him, and He will work to the extent that His chosen ones on earth do not desire anything other than Him and are for nothing besides Him.
For our existence we cannot avoid having a family and a married life. We are also obligated to obtain an education and work at a job. However, all these are not our burdens; on the contrary, they are working for us that we may be perfected to enjoy the Lord even more. This is the living of the jubilee. A Christian’s life of jubilee should be a life of fully enjoying the Lord, a life that is full of joy and praises. If we cannot rejoice and praise, it proves that we are not living a normal life of the jubilee. This is why 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks.” This is to give thanks not only in things that are successful but in all things.
The Lord came that He might save us and dispense Himself into us. If our heart is set on anything other than the Lord, that thing, whether good or bad, becomes a suffering to us. If our heart is set on our children, husband, or wife, the result is a suffering. If our heart is set on our education, business, house, or land, the outcome is misery. If our heart is set on any person, thing, or matter other than the Lord, the end is wretchedness. The unbelievers do not have the Lord; they have not received the Lord as their salvation. Hence, they can only set their heart on persons, things, and matters. However, since we have been saved and have the Lord as our center, we should set our heart on Him. When the Lord comes, He is our salvation to deliver us from sufferings. All sufferings come from the persons, things, and matters outside of the Lord. To those who are without the Lord, everything is a suffering. Whether bad things or good things, whether poverty or riches, whether being educated or uneducated, all are sufferings. However, when we have the Lord, He saves us from all these sufferings. If we take the Lord as our center, we can enjoy Him as our life of jubilee.
The living of the jubilee is a living in the enjoyment of Christ. The Lord is sovereign in everything. Everything we have is in the Lord’s sovereign hand, and whatever He arranges for us cannot be wrong. In my life of following the Lord for sixty years, I can truly testify that where we go or where we stay is entirely not in our hands but in His hands. We may think that we are what we are today because of our endeavoring and struggling, but we must realize that without the Lord’s sovereign arrangement, no matter how much we struggled and endeavored, we could not be what we are. Everything is under His sovereignty. Therefore, we should empty ourselves of everything and tell the Lord, “Fill me, gain me, and possess me. Lord, no matter what the outward situation is, I just want to enjoy You. If I am healthy, I thank You. If I am not healthy, I also thank You. If I have children, I thank You, and if I am childless, I also thank You.” In this way poverty or wealth and peace or danger are all the same to us. That is why Paul said that “as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death” (Phil. 1:20b). To us, to live is Christ, and whether we live or die, He is magnified in us all the time. In this way we enjoy God and live the life of the jubilee. May the Lord have mercy upon us that we all may see this and learn to enjoy the Lord to such an extent.
