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Scripture Reading: Lev. 25:10-12, 19-22; Matt. 11:28; Phil. 4:5-7, 9; Luke 15:23; 1 Cor. 5:8; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19; 2 Cor. 12:9; 13:14
In the foregoing messages we have covered the definition of the jubilee and the blessings of the jubilee. Now we shall begin to consider the living of the jubilee. By the living of the jubilee we mean the kind of life that lives in the jubilee. As we shall see, this is a life of resting in the good land (Lev. 25:10-12; Matt. 11:28; Phil. 4:5-7, 9) and of enjoying the riches of the good land (Lev. 25:19-22; Luke 15:23; 1 Cor. 5:8; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 1:19; 2 Cor. 12:9; 13:14).
Before we consider these two aspects of living in the jubilee, I would like to give a further word concerning man’s fall. The Bible reveals clearly that man has become fallen. According to God’s purpose, man was made to contain God and express Him. In order for man to fulfill this purpose, it was necessary for man to take God in as his life and then continue to enjoy God as his life supply. Only by taking God as life and enjoying God as his life supply can man live a life to express God. As we have often pointed out in other messages, this is the clear revelation in the Bible as a whole.
Instead of fulfilling God’s purpose, the man created by God was seduced by God’s enemy and carried away from God’s purpose. Man sinned against God and became fallen.
Unbelievers, of course, do not have a clear understanding of man’s fall and its result. Even many Christians who are clear about man’s fall do not have an adequate understanding of the issue, or the result, of the fall. Therefore, we need to be impressed with the fact that the issue of man’s fall involves two things: first, man’s losing of God; second, man’s falling into bondage, slavery, captivity. Throughout the history of mankind, man has been without God and has been in bondage. For thousands of years man has been in slavery, having lost God as his possession. This is true of every people, race, country, and nation.
Those, especially young people, who are struggling to enjoy life may dream that one day there will be heaven on earth, that a time is coming when there will be a Utopia. I once had this kind of dream, but I woke up from it and realized that human life is filled with all kinds of suffering. Those who are married have problems, but those who are not married may have just as many problems, if not more. As far as problems and sufferings are concerned, it is difficult to say whether it is better to be married or unmarried. Because believers are eager to learn how to have a happy married life, books on marriage are popular in Christian book stores. Surely any married person, knowing the problems of married life, would like to know how to have a happy marriage. The young people, however, do not know how many problems there can be in married life. I mention this to give one example of the sufferings in human life.
Another example is the problem caused by riches. Those who desire to be rich may not realize that riches can cause trouble. I know of a certain brother who has become quite rich in the past twenty years, but his riches have caused him great suffering. Because of the trouble and sufferings brought about by wealth, many rich people do not have a long life. They are exhausted and weakened by their riches.
Recently I read an article in the newspaper about a Chinese man who was once the president of a college in China. This man is now one hundred years of age. When he reached the age of one hundred, many of his former students held a feast in honor of his birthday. During the feast he said that he thanked God that he was not a rich man, because if he had been wealthy, he would never have lived to reach the age of one hundred. According to his understanding, the lack of riches was an important factor in his living to the age of one hundred.
The point we are making is that human life is a life of suffering. Both riches and poverty are causes of suffering. Those who are poor may have anxiety, but those who are rich may have even more anxiety.
Another kind of human suffering is that experienced by those who are the leaders of countries. The president or head of a country must bear a very heavy burden, a burden much greater than that borne by an ordinary person. Anyone who is not in good health should not seek a high political office because the pressure on him will be great. This is another illustration of the fact that human life is a life of suffering.
Do you know what it means to suffer? Do you know the significance of suffering? The real significance of suffering is twofold: to suffer is to have no rest, and to suffer is to have no enjoyment.
God created man with the appetite, the aspiration, for rest and enjoyment. God created man with such an aspiration because God’s intention was that man would continually seek after Him. Therefore, every human being is seeking rest and enjoyment.
Rest requires satisfaction. If a person does not have satisfaction, he cannot have rest. From experience we know that we can rest only when we are satisfied. Furthermore, satisfaction comes from enjoyment. Hence, if we do not have enjoyment, we do not have satisfaction; and if we do not have satisfaction, we do not have rest. Everyone is hungering and thirsting for rest and enjoyment. To be without rest and enjoyment is to suffer.
The reason a brother desires to get married is that he is seeking rest and enjoyment. He thinks that he cannot find rest in anyone other than a wife. He regards marriage as something that will provide rest and enjoyment. Likewise, a sister desires a husband because she thinks that married life will be a “couch” on which she may rest.
Why do we need marriage? We need marriage because we want rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. However, how much real rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment do you experience in your married life? Many can testify that in married life the suffering may be greater than the rest and satisfaction and that the troubles may be greater than the enjoyment. Suffering in married life may be caused even by the issue of whether the bedroom window should be open or closed. A husband and wife may argue over a matter such as this. Although people get married because they need rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment, the real rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment are not found in married life.
We have seen that the rich, as well as the poor, have their sufferings in life. For example, someone with a large savings account may worry about inflation. Even though he has thousands of dollars in the bank, he may still be anxious about money.
In every area of human life the “debit” side may be greater than the “credit” side. This means that whatever choice we make regarding a particular matter, the result may be more debit than credit. Whether we are married or unmarried, rich or poor, the debit may be larger than the credit.
The destiny of every unsaved person whether married or unmarried, rich or poor, is hell. This is why people need God’s salvation; this is why they need the gospel. Without God’s salvation, a person is going downward to hell, no matter what his situation may be. Those who are educated and cultured and those who are uneducated and uncultured are all going downward to hell. Because they are on this downward way, they cannot have any rest. How they need to hear the preaching of the gospel, the sounding out of the jubilee!
Fallen mankind has lost God and is in bondage. Consider the situation of the children of Israel in Egypt. All the Israelites were under bondage. It may seem that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, was superior, but he also was in bondage. Both the Israelites and the Egyptians had lost God and were in bondage. Likewise, today fallen mankind is in bondage. The rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, the married and the unmarried — all are in bondage. Only when we have God are we no longer in bondage, for God is our release, our liberty, even our liberation.
Because fallen man has lost God and is in bondage, he does not have the real rest or enjoyment. This is the result, the issue, of man’s fall.
Certain types in the Old Testament show how God saves man from the issue of the fall. The first of these types is the feast of the Passover.
When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they were in bondage. They had no rest, no satisfaction, and no enjoyment. But God came in to rescue them, to save them from their fallen situation. God saved His people by the Passover.
In the Bible the Passover is called a feast. The feast of the Passover was the first of the seven annual feasts observed by the children of Israel (Lev. 23). The word “feast” implies a holiday, a time of rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. A holiday is a day without labor, a day of enjoyment. In all nations, when a holiday comes, people cease from work and have a time of rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. The feast of Passover was such a time for the children of Israel. It was a time for God’s chosen people to rest from their labor and to enjoy God as their satisfaction.
God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness. During the years in the wilderness, the people did not have any industry or employment. What, then, did they do for forty years? We may say that they had a very long holiday. For forty years, they did not labor; instead, they rested with God. They did not sow or reap but simply gathered the manna. Furthermore, what they gathered was not the result of their labor but was something of God’s gift. Therefore, the children of Israel rested with God and enjoyed His gift. It is unique in history that a people numbering more than two million spent forty years without industry or farming. During these forty years, the children of Israel rested with God day by day.
As we consider the history of the children of Israel in the wilderness, we see that actually they did not know how to rest with God or enjoy His gifts. They still tried to labor, that is, to do something for themselves. This labor was offensive to God. After coming into the wilderness, the children of Israel should have done nothing except praise the Lord, enjoy Him, and rest with Him. However, they still struggled to do something for themselves. Whenever they labored in this way, they caused problems.
After the forty-year holiday in the wilderness, the children of Israel were brought into the good land. God gave a portion of the land to each family, and the people rested on their portion of the land. They lived on that portion, enjoyed it, and received satisfaction from it.
The good land is a type of God as our portion. Concerning God being our portion, Psalm 16:5 says, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup.” Therefore, the real portion of the land on which we rest, which we enjoy, and with which we are satisfied is God Himself. God is the real land flowing with milk and honey. Of course, eventually this God is Jesus Christ and ultimately, the life-giving Spirit. The very God who is Jesus Christ and the life-giving Spirit is our good land flowing with milk and honey. I can testify that my Christ is flowing with milk and honey. Christ is our portion; He is our rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment.
However, many of the children of Israel did not live on the land in the way of rest and enjoyment. On the contrary, they lived in such a way that they became poor. First they sold their land; eventually they sold themselves. Once again they experienced the two results of man’s fall: the loss of enjoyment, and bondage. This made it necessary for God to set up the year of jubilee, according to the type in Leviticus 25.
Actually the jubilee was a repetition of the Passover. By the Passover the children of Israel were delivered from bondage into rest and enjoyment. But some, after entering into the enjoyment of God, became poor again and lost everything. Hence, there was the need for the jubilee as the repetition of the Passover.
In the year of jubilee there was the proclamation of liberty: “And ye shall 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” (Lev. 25:10). This liberty was a release; it denoted freedom, liberation from bondage.
According to Leviticus 25:10, in the year of jubilee a person could be returned to his own possession and to his own family. What does this signify? This signifies a return to rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment, a return to the condition and the state into which the people had been brought by the Passover. The Passover had brought them into a condition and state where they could possess God as their good land for their rest and enjoyment. But they lost this possession and fell into bondage again. Their condition became like that of the children of Israel in Egypt. Therefore, there was the need of the jubilee as the repetition of the Passover to proclaim liberty to all those who had lost their possession and who were in bondage. In the year of jubilee the people could be returned to their possession and to their family in order to have rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment. This is the picture portrayed in the type in Leviticus 25.
As we shall see more fully in the following message, this type is a picture of what the Christian life should be. The Christian life is a life of liberty, freedom, and release, a life full of rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment.
