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Scripture Reading: Luke 4:14-21, 31-44; 5:1-11
In the foregoing message we pointed out that the Lord Jesus began His ministry by proclaiming the jubilee of grace. In the word of 4:19, He proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord. This is the New Testament age typified by the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17). The year of jubilee was the fiftieth year, the conclusion of a half century. Thus, according to the book of Leviticus, at the end of every half century there was to be a year called the year of jubilee and also called the acceptable year. The acceptable year signifies the year for the Lord to accept people. In chapter sixty-one of Isaiah there is a prophecy concerning the fulfillment of this jubilee.
It is not likely that before Luke 4 the Jews understood Isaiah’s word concerning the acceptable year of the Lord. One day the Lord Jesus entered into the synagogue and read from Isa. 61 regarding the acceptable year of the Lord. The acceptable year is the jubilee of Jehovah.
A half century signifies the length of the fallen human life. Fifty years is the length of the entire life of a fallen person. In Psa. 90:10 Moses said that the days of our years are threescore years and ten, and by reason of strength they may be fourscore years. According to Moses, the length of human life is seventy years. If someone is strong, he may live to the age of eighty. According to the Bible, in one sense a person’s life may be regarded as beginning at the age of thirty, the age at which a priest began to function. Even the Lord Jesus was thirty years old when He began to minister (Luke 3:23). Thirty plus fifty equals eighty. Hence, a half century, fifty years, signifies the length of a person’s life in the fallen nature. As the fiftieth year, the year of jubilee is the conclusion of our entire fallen life.
What happened to us in our fallen life? We lost our birthright, sold ourselves into captivity, and became slaves. We lost everything, including our birthright and our status.
A person who has not lost anything would not look forward to the year of jubilee. In fact, to such a one, the jubilee might be a suffering. But the one who has lost everything, including his land and himself, would surely look forward to the year of jubilee. When the year of jubilee came, he would rejoice at being released and recovering the right to his portion of the land.
Every Israelite was allotted a portion of the good land. The good land typifies Christ. Therefore, to lose one’s right to the good land is to lose the right to enjoy Christ. Every fallen human being has lost the right to enjoy God as the tree of life and the right to enjoy Christ as the good land. Furthermore, every fallen one has sold himself to sin, the world, and Satan. In Romans 7:14 Paul said of himself, “I am fleshly, sold under sin.” Even Paul had become a slave to sin.
All fallen people have lost their right to enjoy Christ and have sold themselves to negative things. But the year of jubilee indicates that we can be released from bondage and recover the right to enjoy Christ as our portion.
After the Lord Jesus, the Man-Savior, had been tested, He began to minister. At the start of His ministry He declared the jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord. This indicates that the entire New Testament age is actually a single year, the year of jubilee, the year for Jehovah to accept fallen human beings.
The proclamation of the jubilee is the real gospel, the rich and whole gospel. A partial gospel tells people that they are sinners destined for hell, but Jesus loved them and died on the cross for them, and that if they believe in Him they will have eternal life. This is only a part of the jubilee. The jubilee is a proclamation of release from slavery and of the recovery of our spiritual birthright. This jubilee is the acceptable year of the Lord.
According to chapter four of the Gospel of Luke, the Lord Jesus proclaimed the jubilee on a particular Sabbath day in Galilee. But during the centuries that have followed, the jubilee has been neglected. Therefore, we need a recovery of the New Testament jubilee.
We have been recovered to the enjoyment of the Triune God as the tree of life and of Christ as our land, our portion. The good land is actually more mysterious than the tree of life, for the good land is the fulfillment of the tree of life. Adam did not eat of the fruit of the tree of life, but the children of Israel partook of the riches of the good land. Today we are enjoying the Triune God as the tree of life, and, even the more, we are enjoying Christ as the good land. Praise the Lord that we have an allotment of this good land! According to Colossians 1:12, this allotment is the portion of the saints. This proves that our birthright, which had been lost, has been recovered in the New Testament jubilee.
In the jubilee we also have been released from bondage. Once we were captives, but we have been released from slavery and brought back to the freedom of the glory of the children of God. This is a further indication that we are in the New Testament jubilee.
According to Leviticus 25, in the year of jubilee everyone was restored to his original condition. Since the New Testament age is the real year of jubilee, this means that God will restore us to our original condition. In Adam we became lost, and we sold ourselves to sin as slaves. But now Jesus, the Man-Savior, has come, and He has brought in the acceptable year of the Lord. This acceptable year of the Lord is, in the New Testament, the fulfillment of the Old Testament jubilee. In this year we are released, and our lost birthright is recovered, redeemed, and restored.
We have emphasized the fact that the Gospel of Luke presents the Man-Savior in the highest standard of morality. The cases recorded in Luke show different aspects of the highest standard of morality. The narration of the instances in 4:38-41, 5:12-14, and 7:1-10 is according to the order of morality. For this reason the narration is different in Luke from that in Matthew 8:2-16 and Mark 1:29—2:1. The order of Mark’s record, showing that Jesus is the Servant of God, is according to history. The order of Matthew’s record, proving that Christ is the King of the kingdom of the heavens, is according to doctrine, with certain instances put together to present a doctrine. The order of Luke’s record, revealing that Jesus is the proper man to be our Savior, is according to morality.
In Luke 4:31-44 the Man-Savior carries out His fourfold commission: teaching, casting out demons, healing, and preaching. Verse 31 says that He came down to Capernaum and was teaching on the Sabbaths. As we have pointed out, His teaching released the word of light to enlighten those in the darkness of death (Matt. 4:12-16) so that they might receive the light of life (John 1:4).
Luke 4:32 says that the people “were astounded at His teaching, because His word was with authority.” As the One authorized by God, the Lord Jesus taught realities whereas the scribes taught vain knowledge without authority or power. The Man-Savior had not only spiritual power to subdue people, but divine authority to subject them to the divine ruling.
In 4:33-36 we have an account of the Lord’s casting out of a demon. In verse 33 we are told that a man in the synagogue had a spirit of an unclean demon. This kind of spirit is different from a fallen angel. A demon is one of the spirits of the living creatures who lived in the preadamic age and were judged by God when they joined Satan’s rebellion (see Life-study of Genesis Message 2). The fallen angels work with Satan in the air (Eph. 2:2; 6:11-12), and these demons, the unclean spirits, move with him on the earth. Both act evilly upon man for the kingdom of Satan. A demon’s possession of a person signifies Satan’s usurpation of man, whom God created for His purpose. In His ministry the Man-Savior cast out demons from possessed people so that they might be delivered from Satan’s bondage (Luke 13:16), out of Satan’s authority of darkness (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13), into God’s kingdom.
In 4:34 the demon said, “Ah! What do we have to do with You, Jesus, Nazarene? Did You come to destroy us? I know You, who You are, the Holy One of God!” “Ah!” is an interjection of anger or dismay. The Greek word may be translated, “Let us alone.” The Greek words rendered, “What do we have to do with You?” literally mean, “What to us and to You?” This is a Hebrew idiom.
Verse 35 says, “And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet and come out from him! And throwing him down in the midst, the demon came out from him without harming him at all.” Literally, the Greek word rendered “quiet” means muzzled.
After the Lord cast out the demon, “amazement came upon all, and they spoke to one another, saying, What is this word? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out” (v. 36). Here we see that the Man-Savior has both authority and power to cast out demons. For His ministry He had divine authority not only to teach people but also to cast out demons.
In 4:38 and 39 we have the record of the Lord’s healing of Simon’s mother-in-law, who had been seized with a high fever. This fever may signify a person’s unbridled temper, abnormal and intemperate.
Luke 4:40 says, “And when the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases, brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He healed them.” Sickness is an issue of sin and a sign of man’s abnormal condition before God because of sin. Therefore, in His ministry the Man-Savior healed the sick condition of people both physically and spiritually in order to restore them to normal so that they might serve Him.
In addition to teaching, casting out demons, and healing the sick, the Lord was also “preaching in the synagogues of Judea” (4:44). The Man-Savior’s preaching was to announce God’s glad tidings to miserable people in bondage (v. 43). His teaching enlightened the ignorant ones in darkness with the divine light of the truth. His preaching implied teaching, and His teaching implied preaching.
In the remainder of this message we shall consider 5:1-11, a case of the Man-Savior’s attracting the occupied ones.
Luke 5:1 says, “Now it came about as the crowd pressed upon Him and listened to the word of God, that He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.” “Gennesaret” was a common name for the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:18; Mark 1:16).
The calling of the first four disciples was a calling that attracted the occupied ones. Human beings do not realize how much they are fallen not only in sin but also in their occupation. Our occupation is our business or means of employment, that is, our means of making a living. Today fallen human beings are occupied by their way of making their living. We may say that fallen human beings are occupied by their occupation.
Of course, it is necessary for us to work. Paul charged the believers to work for a living (2 Thes. 3:10-12). We should not rely on others to provide a living for us. This means that we should not have the kind of faith that requires others to exercise their love and take care of us. We need to have a means of employment. However, the problem is that our occupation occupies us and keeps us from God.
Human beings were created by God for Himself, but they are occupied and kept from Him by the matter of making a living. Nothing takes people away from God as much as their occupation. Consider today’s world. Who is not occupied by his job or by the education in preparation for work? Although most people are busy, hardly anyone is busy with God. Instead, virtually everyone is occupied by something in place of God. The first disciples were called and attracted by the Lord not from their sinful life, but from their occupation. In particular, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were occupied with fishing.
Those who are occupied with making a living usually give excuses when invited to hear the gospel or to attend a meeting. If you invite such a one to hear the gospel, he may say that he does not have the time. If you invite an occupied person to attend the meeting of the church, he may say that he is too busy. This was the reason that, immediately after beginning to carry out His fourfold commission, the Man-Savior in 5:1-11 did something to attract certain occupied ones.
Satan’s desire is to keep people occupied with making a living. This is illustrated by what Pharaoh did to the children of Israel. When Moses told Pharaoh to let God’s people go, Pharaoh did his best to keep them occupied with their labors. In a similar way, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were busy and occupied. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus came to them, attracted them, and called them.
In 5:2-10a we have a record of the Man-Savior’s attracting some who were occupied with earning a living. This record is not found either in Matthew 4:18-22 or in Mark 1:16-20. As we read Matthew and Mark, we may wonder why Peter and the others followed the Lord when He told them to come and follow Him. Here in Luke 5 we have an additional record indicating that when the Lord Jesus called Peter, He performed a miracle related to fishing. The Lord performed a similar miracle in John 21, after His resurrection. In Luke 5 the miracle was part of the Lord’s attracting the occupied ones. This miracle attracted Peter to the Man-Savior.
A few years later, after the Lord’s resurrection, it seemed that Peter had nothing to do, and he announced that he was going fishing (John 21:3). Several others followed him. Because they returned to their former occupation, the Lord Jesus returned, in resurrection, to perform a second miracle related to fishing in order to attract Peter to Himself again. Therefore, twice for Peter’s sake the Lord did a miracle related to fishing.
The calling of Peter in Luke 5:1-11 is related to the highest standard of morality. Verse 2 says, “He saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing the nets.” The Lord then got into Simon’s boat and asked him to put out a little from the land (v. 3). He taught the crowds from the boat, and when He had ceased speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” (v. 4). Simon answered, “Master, through the whole night we toiled and took nothing; but at Your word I will let down the nets” (v. 5). Before this Simon had been brought to the Lord by his brother Andrew (John 1:40-42).
In verse 5 Simon addressed the Lord as Master. The Greek word, a different one from that translated Master in 2:29, denotes one who exercises any kind of oversight.
Peter was a professional fisherman, the lake had an abundance of fish, and night was the proper time for fishing. Nevertheless, they did not catch anything. It must have been that the Lord exercised His sovereignty to keep the fish away. This was an exercise not of His human virtues, but of His divine attributes.
The reason the Lord exercised His sovereignty in this way was that His intention was to attract Simon and his brother. Therefore, at the proper time, the Lord commanded the fish to come near. As a result, “they enclosed a great number of fish; and their nets were tearing apart” (v. 6). Both boats were filled to the point of sinking (v. 7). “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord!” (v. 8). We are told that “amazement had taken possession of him and all who were with him at the catch of the fish which they took” (v. 9).
The point here is that in this miracle we can see both the Lord’s human virtues and His divine attributes. The human virtues express the divine attributes. This means that the Man-Savior was living a life full of the human virtues, and these virtues expressed the divine attributes. Because the Man-Savior lived in this way, Peter and the others were attracted to the Lord and followed Him.
In 5:10 the Lord Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching men alive.” This was the Lord’s calling of Peter by a miracle in fishing. The Greek word for “catch” is zogreo, compounded of zoos, living and agreuo, to catch; hence, to catch alive, to take captive alive in war, instead of killing. The common fishermen catch fish unto death. But Peter was called by the Lord to be a fisher of men (Matt. 4:19) to catch men unto life (Acts 2:38; 11:18).
Luke 5:11 says, “And when they had brought the boats to the land, they left all and followed Him.” They were attracted by what the Lord did in His human virtues with His divine attributes.
Luke’s intention in 5:1-11 is to show how the Man-Savior acted in His ministry in His human virtues with His divine attributes. This attracts people and gains them. This is the way the Man-Savior carries out His ministry.
