(4)
Scripture Reading: Lev. 25:9-13, 39-41, 54; Psa. 16:5; 90:1; Eph. 2:12; Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-23; Rom. 7:14b; John 8:34, 36; Rom. 6:6-7; 8:2; Gal. 5:1
In this message we shall continue to consider the blessings of the jubilee. We pointed out in the foregoing message that the first of the two main blessings of the jubilee is that those who have lost their inheritance may be returned to their possession (Lev. 25:9-13). God intended to be man’s possession (Psa. 16:5; 90:1), but man lost God because of man’s fall (Eph. 2:12). However, God’s jubilee brings man back to God as his inheritance (Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-23). Let us now go on to see the second main blessing of the jubilee.
The second blessing of the jubilee is that those who have sold themselves as slaves are freed from their slavery (Lev. 25:39-41, 54). According to the type in Leviticus 25, an Israelite may become so poor that he must sell his possession. Then he may go deeper into poverty and even sell himself. Having lost himself, he becomes a slave.
The one who had sold himself into slavery could try to redeem himself. However, if he could not redeem himself before the year of jubilee, he was to be released in that year. “If he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him” (Lev. 25:54). This means that in the fiftieth year, in the year of jubilee, the one who had sold himself as a slave was freed from his slavery.
The picture in Lev. 25 is very meaningful. This picture indicates that from the time of the fall man has sold himself as a slave, in particular as a slave of sin. Although man tried to redeem himself, he was not able to do so. In the dispensations of conscience, human government, promise, and law, man was not able to redeem himself. But then the dispensation of grace came, a dispensation typified by the fiftieth year. In this dispensation fallen man can be released from bondage.
The New Testament reveals that fallen man has been sold to sin as its slave. In Romans 7:14 Paul declares, “I am fleshly, sold under sin.” In John 8:34 the Lord Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” God’s jubilee frees fallen man from sin. For this reason, the Lord says, “If then the Son shall set you free, you shall be really free.” Furthermore, in Romans 6:6 and 7 Paul tells us, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him that the body of sin might be made of none effect, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves; for he who has died is justified from sin.” Then in Romans 8:2 Paul goes on to say, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Furthermore, according to Gal. 5:1, God’s jubilee also frees us from the bondage of law.
Let us consider once again the significance of the year of jubilee being the fiftieth year. Leviticus 25:8 says, “And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.” According to verse 10, the people were to “hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” We may say that the seven sabbaths of years in verse 8, the seven times seven years, are also seven “weeks” of years (see Dan. 9:24-26). In the Bible a week, a period of seven days, signifies a complete course. For example, in a course of seven days God created the universe and everything in it and then rested. Therefore, the seven days of a week indicate a complete course.
In the sense that a week signifies a complete course, our Christian life may also be regarded as a week. The week of our Christian life is signified by the feast of unleavened bread. In Exodus 12 we see that the feast of unleavened bread lasted seven days. In the Life-study of Exodus we pointed out that the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread signify the entire course of our Christian life from the time we are saved until the time our body is redeemed.
The jubilee did not come at the end of a single week of years, but after a course of seven weeks of seven years. The year after seven weeks of seven years was, of course, the fiftieth year, the first year of the eighth week of seven years.
In the Bible the number eight signifies resurrection. The Lord Jesus was resurrected on the eighth day, on the first day of the week. In keeping with this principle, the first year of each new week, or period, of seven years was an eighth year, and this eighth year may be considered a year of resurrection. The year of jubilee was the seventh “eighth year.” This means that this eighth year, which is the fiftieth year, indicates seven times resurrection.
The principle of the jubilee being on the fiftieth year is the same as that of the day of Pentecost being on the fiftieth day. The day of Pentecost was on the seventh eighth day, just as the year of jubilee was on the seventh eighth year. After seven courses of days came the day of Pentecost, and after seven courses of years came the year of jubilee.
Let us now apply this to our experience of salvation. Just as the year of jubilee came after seven complete courses of years, so many of us experienced salvation only after we had passed through several “courses” in our human life. On the one hand, it is very good to be saved early in life, in our youth. But on the other hand, there is also a good point to being saved after passing through a number of lengthy courses in human life. For example, suppose a man is saved in his fifties. He has passed through a number of courses: youth, college, marriage, and advancement in his profession. Having passed through all these courses, he experiences a real jubilee when he is saved. For years, as indicated by the seven weeks of years before the year of jubilee, he may have tried to redeem himself, but without success. Then one day he hears the trumpeting of the jubilee through the preaching of the gospel, and he is saved. He had come to hate, to despise, all the courses in his life. Now he enjoys the release of the jubilee.
A person who is saved early in life, perhaps at the age of twelve, may not have much realization of the significance of the jubilee. To him, it may make little difference whether or not there is a jubilee, because he has not passed through many courses in life. But one who has passed through many courses will surely appreciate the jubilee.
In one sense, the earlier a person is saved, the better. We certainly should not delay the preaching of the gospel to others. My point here is that when a person is saved later in life, he has a greater enjoyment of the jubilee than one who is saved as a child. Suppose a boy is saved at the age of six. Since he has not passed through even one or two courses in human life, he cannot have much appreciation of the jubilee. But one who has gone through many courses will have much appreciation of what it is to be saved.
Do not misunderstand me and think that I would encourage someone to wait to be saved. Those who are saved at an early age have the opportunity to learn more of the Bible and to experience and enjoy more of the Lord. From this point of view, it is better for a person to be saved at an early age. Nevertheless, those who are saved later in life have the opportunity to have a greater enjoyment of the jubilee.
Suppose a certain person has never sold his possession or sold himself into slavery. When such a person hears the sounding of the jubilee, he will not have any joy, because the jubilee does not mean anything to him. However, a person who has lost his possession and himself will rejoice in the year of jubilee. The more a person has lost, the more he will enjoy the sounding of the jubilee.
Years ago, I met a brother whose experience illustrates the point we are making concerning the enjoyment of the jubilee. This brother had been an opium smoker for over forty years before he was saved. One day he was saved and was released from smoking opium. That was a real jubilee to him.
This brother always carried two pictures of himself: a picture of himself as an opium smoker and a picture of himself as a Christian. The opium smoker was sickly and undernourished; the Christian was healthy and strong. In testifying he would display these two pictures and ask people which they liked better. Of course, they always preferred the picture of the Christian. Then this brother would explain the meaning of these two pictures, that the one was a picture of him before he was saved and that the other was a picture of him after he had become a Christian. He was happy in giving a real testimony of the jubilee.
Someone who is saved as a very young child cannot testify of the jubilee as did the brother who was once an opium smoker. Because a young child has not passed through complete courses in life during which he has tried to redeem himself, he does not have much to say about the joy of the jubilee. Therefore, being saved later in life does have a good point, and this point is the enjoyment of the jubilee.
The year of jubilee, the fiftieth year, can only come after seven weeks of years. It can only come after the completion of the courses of human life. This means that the jubilee has a blessing which no one can reach by his own effort. Someone may try in course after course to return to his possession and to redeem himself from slavery. But of himself he cannot return or be redeemed. The jubilee comes only from God. God returns us to our possession, and God releases us from bondage.
I was saved at the age of nineteen. Before I received the Lord Jesus, I tried to be good. I was raised in Christianity, and I had been taught the Bible. I knew I should be good, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not be good. I even tried to turn to God but I was not able to turn to Him. But one day I experienced the jubilee. God came in and brought me into the enjoyment of the jubilee. On that day I had a rich enjoyment of the jubilee. I was returned by God to Him as my possession, and I was freed from my slavery.
We have seen that the two main blessings of the jubilee are being returned to our possession and being released from slavery. In the New Testament these are two great blessings of the gospel. The gospel declares that God has returned us to Himself as our possession and that He has set us free from bondage, from slavery, especially from the slavery of sin. The bondage of sin is the worst kind of bondage. Those who live in sin are bound in many ways. But when a person is set free from sin, he is also set free from many things. When we were set free from sin, we were also set free from the slavery of the law.
By the Lord’s mercy I can testify that I enjoy God as my possession, as my food, house, clothing, and transportation. I can also testify that I have been released from bondage. I am free from the slavery of sin and from the bondage of law and religion. Praise the Lord for the blessings of the jubilee!
We need to apply this understanding in our reading of the Gospel of Luke. If we read Luke with such an understanding, this Gospel will become a new book to us. In the parables and cases recorded in the Gospel of Luke we shall see the blessings of the jubilee. We shall realize that the jubilee proclaimed by the Man-Savior in chapter four of Luke is a principle that governs all the following chapters.
We all need to learn how to enjoy the jubilee. When we enjoy the jubilee, we shall be able to go out to proclaim the jubilee. We shall sound the trumpet of the gospel and tell others that now is the time for God to accept them, that now is the time for them to be returned to God as their possession and to be freed from every kind of slavery, bondage, and entanglement. Those who have been returned to God and who have been released from bondage are free to enjoy God. To proclaim this is to sound the trumpet of the jubilee, to announce the jubilee of God’s New Testament economy. May we all enjoy the blessings of the jubilee and then sound forth the jubilee as the gospel.
