As believers in Christ, we need to see that the living of the jubilee is the living in the enjoyment of Christ, a living of enjoying God as our inheritance and our real freedom in our daily living, for we learn to take God as the primary factor and center of our living. Amen!
This week we have been enjoying the matter of Christ being the reality of the New Testament jubilee, and how we can enjoy Christ as such a One today.
In Lev. 25 God ordained that His people would have a jubilee year every fifty years, a year in which freedom is proclaimed and everyone is returned to their possession and to their household.
The year of jubilee brought in two main blessings: the return of every man to his lost possession and the liberation from slavery. The jubilee lasted for one year in the Old Testament.
When the Lord Jesus came, He came to bring in the jubilee, for He Himself is the jubilee.
The whole age of grace is the age of jubilee, for today we can receive and enjoy Christ as our real jubilee and we can be freed from the bondage of sin and be returned to our possession, God Himself, to enjoy Him in our divine family, the church.
May we realize that the age of grace is the year of jubilee, and may we daily come to the Lord to enjoy Him in His word.
The age we live in is the age of jubilee, even an age of ecstasy for our salvation.
Christ came not to judge us, condemn us, or expose our sins and failures; He came to save us, and He speaks His words of grace into us to bring us into the enjoyment of Himself as the jubilee.
We were born in sin and we commit sins habitually, having no hope in the world and being unable to stop sinning.
But the Lord Jesus came to save us from our sins and from our former manner of life, and when we receive Him, we are freed from the slavery of sin.
When we receive the Lord Jesus by repenting and believing into Him, we enter into the jubilee.
In the jubilee, everything is satisfying to us, for we are content to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ with His riches.
No matter what things come our way, no matter what situation we are in, and no matter how others treat us, we are content and satisfied for we are in the jubilee, and to us, Christ with His riches is enough.
The Gospel of Luke in particular is governed by the proclamation of the jubilee, and the Lord gave the parable of the prodigal son and the parable of the good samaritan to show us that He Himself is the jubilee, and He has come to be our jubilee.
No matter how low we are, no matter how much we have fallen, and no matter how far away we are from God, the Lord’s love still reaches us.
May we today enjoy Christ as the reality of the freedoms and blessings of the New Testament jubilee and may we live in the jubilee in our daily life.
Take God Himself as the Primary Factor and Center of our Life to Enjoy Christ in All Things to have the Living of the Jubilee
As believers in Christ, we have entered into the jubilee; however, we need to daily live in the jubilee.
What is the living in the jubilee? What is the living of the jubilee look like in our daily life?
The living of the jubilee is a living in the enjoyment of Christ.
The living of the jubilee is a living of enjoying God as our inheritance and real freedom (Acts 26:18; John 8:36).
The living of the jubilee is a life in which we take God Himself as the primary factor and center in us to overrule all the troubles of our human life (John 6:16-21; Col . 1:17b, 18b; Phil. 4:6-7, 11-12).
It is one thing to be saved and it is something completely different to have the living of the jubilee.
The living of the jubilee is the living in the enjoyment of Christ; day by day we need to enjoy only God Himself in every situation.
This doesn’t mean that we now have to drop our studies, quit our job, and not get married or have children, for all we do is enjoy God.
Rather, we should study and do our best in our studies, but at the same time the primary factor and center of our life is God Himself, for even in our studies we want to enjoy God.
We need to have a job, and we need to do our job dutifully and diligently before God, not only before man; however, as we do our job, we inwardly enjoy Christ.
We need to get married and we also need to have children, but as we live the family life and the married life, the primary factor and center in us is God Himself.
As we fulfil our responsibilities as parents, workers, students, and people in the human society, we want to have the living of the jubilee by enjoying Christ in all things.
We need to learn to have God Himself as the primary factor within us.
When He is our primary factor, when we focus on enjoying the Lord in all things, we will know how to study, we will be supplied in our family life, and we will properly honour our parents and do our job at work.
Christ must be the primary factor within us and we must focus on enjoying Christ in all things.
If we do not focus on Christ, everything will be a hardship and a burden to us; our job will wear us out, our family life will be difficult for us, and our relationship with our parents and with those around us will not be proper.
May we focus only on enjoying Christ so that we may have the living of the jubilee today.
When we have a living of enjoying God as our inheritance and real freedom, we will have the living of the jubilee.
Our Christian life needs to be a living of the jubilee, a life of fully enjoying the Lord.
This means that we daily need to unceasingly pray, always rejoice, and in everything give thanks (1 Thes. 5:16-18).
How can we be thankful in all things? How can we rejoice always and pray unceasingly? It is only by enjoying the Lord in all things.
Whether we are successful in what we do or we suffer loss, whether we fail or are victorious, in all things we need to enjoy the Lord.
Our heart needs to be set on Him, our focus should be the Lord Himself, and in all things we need to seek to magnify Him.
In our married life, our spouse is not our focus; rather, Christ is our focus, and we enjoy Him in all things, so we can have a proper married life.
When we do our work dutifully and diligently, doing our job is not our focus – Christ is our focus, and we learn to enjoy Him inwardly to take Him as the primary factor and the centre within.
As we enjoy Christ and partake of His riches by calling on His name and praying over His word, we enjoy real freedom, and our living will be the living of the jubilee.
But if our heart is set on other things, persons, or matters, we will only have disappointment and suffering.
When we set our heart on a person, a matter, or a thing that is not the Lord, the end is suffering and wretchedness. Oh, Lord!
The people in the world, the unbelievers, have a life of suffering and wretchedness, for they set their heart on things, matters, and persons, and they do not have the Lord.
But we as believers in Christ have Christ as our primary factor within, and He overrules all the troubles of the human life. May we learn to take Christ as our center in all things.
May we set our mind on our spirit (Rom. 8:6) and set our heart with all our being on Him so that we may have the living of the jubilee today.
When we focus on the Lord, He perfects us in all things to enjoy Him.
All things are sovereignly arranged by the Lord for us to enjoy the Lord and live in the jubilee.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we focus our entire being on You. We want to have the living of the jubilee today by living in the enjoyment of Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to have a living of enjoying God as our inheritance and real freedom! We set our heart on You. We refuse to focus on things, persons or matters other than You. We take God in every situation as the primary factor and center within us. Amen, Lord, we want to live our daily life in the enjoyment of Christ! May You in us overrule all the troubles of human life. May You supply us to live one spirit with You and do our duty as human beings, wherever You have placed us. Amen, Lord, You save us from all the sufferings of human life. Perfect us, dear Lord, to daily live in the enjoyment of Christ. May we realize that all things work together for good for us to enjoy the Lord, partake of His riches, and enjoy real freedom by being in our spirit! We love You, Lord Jesus, and we focus our entire being on You!
Live in the Jubilee by Inviting the Lord in our Boat, and Proclaim Christ as the Jubilee
Human life is full of suffering, trials, and matters that are not that pleasant. We may be enjoying the Lord today, but tomorrow something may happen and we may not live in the jubilee.
Today we may be happy and everything may be going well, but the next day a storm may come. Oh, Lord Jesus!
In John 6:16-21 we see how the Lord sent His disciples across the sea while He sent the crowds away, and as they were rowing, a storm came.
After feeding the five thousand people, the Lord did not remain in the success of His ministry but rather, sent the crowds away and sent His disciples to cross the sea.
And then He Himself crossed the sea, appearing to His disciples while walking on the water.
First, He went up to the mountain to pray, a type of the Lord ascending and then appearing to His people as they were on the journey in the church age.
Today we are on a journey across the sea, and the winds are blowing, the sea is churning and the waves are splashing against the boat.
There are evil spirits in the air and demons in the sea to stir up all kinds of storms to trouble us as we journey across the sea to reach the other side.
But the Lord appeared to His disciples, walking on the sea and coming near to the boat; they became frightened, but He said to them, It is I, do not be afraid.
Then, they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
Many times we are just like the disciples; as we go through storms and experience problems, sufferings, and troubles in our Christian life, we see the Lord walking on the water and approaching us, but we are frightened and are not willing to take Him into our boat.
We may be frightened to open up our situation to the Lord and invite Him in, and we may be scared to open our situation up to fellowship with the saints.
Not just the young people but all the saints may have the thought that, if we open to the Lord about this particular thing we want to do or that place we want to go to, the Lord may say No to us.
We may feel that, if we open our situation up in fellowship to the more mature saints, we know what they will say: just enjoy the Lord!
Or even worse, the Lord may take what we love away, for He may not agree for us to go to a particular place, purchase something, or do something.
So many times we do not invite the Lord into our boat; we are in a storm, and we experience problems and difficulties, but we still do not invite Him into our boat. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May we learn to open to the Lord and invite Him in. He might surprise us.
He may go along with us as we do this or that, or He may allow you to do certain things; what matters is His presence with us. May we include the Lord in everything.
May we live in the jubilee by living in the enjoyment of Christ day by day, and may we invite Him in.
Everything in our life is under the Lord’s sovereignty; therefore, we can simply open to Him and ask Him to come in and fill us, possess us, and help us enjoy Him in all things.
As we live in the jubilee, having the living of the jubilee, we will be able to also proclaim the jubilee to others, and they will be drawn not only to the Christ we preach but even more by our living in the jubilee.
It is not possible to proclaim the jubilee if we ourselves do not first live in the jubilee, having the living of the jubilee.
When we invite the Lord into our boat and are perfected to enjoy Christ in all things, no matter the circumstance and situation, we will be today’s ministers and witnesses who live in the jubilee and proclaim the jubilee (Acts 26:16-19).
We will magnify Christ, for to us to live is Christ (Phil. 1:19-21), and we will proclaim the gospel – Christ as the jubilee of grace – for the accomplishing of God’s eternal economy.
May we all enjoy Christ as the reality of the jubilee by spending time with the Lord to partake of His riches in His word.
May we take time to behold Him, listen to Him, and quiet our being so that we may be infused with Him as we fellowship with Him.
And in all situations, all day long, may we invite the Lord in and give Him the first place so that we may have the living of the jubilee.
Lord Jesus, we open to You. We want to spend time with You and behold You. Infuse us with all that You are. We open our whole being to You. Oh Lord, we want to invite You into our boat. Come into our situation. May we not be afraid to invite You into our boat in every situation and in all things. Amen, Lord Jesus, fill us! Gain us! Possess us! No matter what our outward situation is, we just want to enjoy You! Keep us enjoying You in all things today. We trust in You that You sovereignly arrange all things for us to be perfected to just enjoy the Lord and to have the living of the jubilee. Oh Lord Jesus, we trust that You are not wrong in what You arrange in our life and who You arrange to be with us. You are the Lord. We stop our struggling and our endeavouring and just focus on enjoying You! May our living today be in the enjoyment of Christ in all things so that Christ may be magnified through us! Amen, Lord, make us today’s ministers and witnesses by living and proclaiming the gospel to accomplish God’s eternal economy! May we have the living of the jubilee and may we proclaim the jubilee today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 4, “The Jubilee,” pp. 42-45, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 5, Enjoying Christ as the Reality of the New Testament Jubilee.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The Jubilee Has Come! New song via, Hymnal.net.
– Proclaim the Year of Jubilee! More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord, a portion from, Life-Study of Luke, Chapter 12.
– Liberty Throughout the Land, via, Living to Him.
– What is the Jubilee? More via, Hearing of Faith.
– New Jerusalem Proclaims the Excellencies of God, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Carrying out the divine commission to announce the New Testament jubilee, article by David Yoon in, Affirmation and Critique.
– Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the World, via, Bibles for America blog.
– The jubilee has come, article via CSOC.
– Jubilee (6), a portion from, Life-Study of Luke, Chapter 66. - Hymns on this topic:
– All-sufficient grace He giveth; / With His pow’r He covers me, / Makes me glory in my weakness / And in weakness strengthens me. / Christ has made me more than conqu’ror / By His mighty victory; / Now His resurrection power / From my spirit strengthens me! (Hymns #540 stanza 6 and chorus)
– All the troubles in my life / Make me feel like I’m surrounded, / Countless problems, pain, and strife, / Come to rob my soul of peace. / I’m worn and weary fighting off the grief. / Is there no one who my suffering can relieve? / The Lord says, / “It is I. / It is I. Don’t be afraid. / Let Me in— / To your boat, I’ll calm the waves. / I can be in you / A harbor, warm and safe. / Just open up your heart. / I am the way.” (Song on, It Is I, stanza 2 and chorus)
– I wandered far and found no home; / If not my feet, my heart did roam. / But I have found my family— / Christ and the church—a place for me! / Let us proclaim the jubilee, / Announce good news, set captives free! / Trumpet salvation to all men— / God is our portion once again! (Song on, Christ Has Proclaimed the Jubilee, stanzas 3-4)
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 4, “The Jubilee,” pp. 42-43
The living of the jubilee is a living in the enjoyment of Christ.
May the Lord have a way to perfect us and remind us that the central factor of our living is God Himself, and may we enjoy Christ in every situation.
Praise the Lord for His mercy to enjoy our jubilee, JESUS not only as our possession but also as our freedom from the law of the sin of death so that we can live under the law of the Spirit of life.
This is to give thanks not only in things that are successful but in all things.
Praise Him in all situations.
Praise You, Lord Jesus!
There is an addiction to sin in man which is Satan the Lord of the flies.
We are misled and follow like flies and then regret every time.
The Spirit of life frees us from this. We just need to enjoy the Lord as our possession to be free.
We just need to enjoy Christ in every situation as the primary factor and we will be free of sin, struggles and stress.
Amen dear Lord, we praise you for the jubilee!
Praise the Lord!🙌🙋🏼
https://youtu.be/vv6KaZl-bwY?si=q-cj7xKJ1nh11IgH
We have been liberated in order to take God and only God as our enjoyment in every situation.
We must let God Himself be the primary factor within us, giving thanks in all things whether good or bad.
For us, to live is Christ and, whether we live/die, He should be magnified in us.
In this way, we enjoy God and live the life of the jubilee.
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Lev. 25:10, footnote 2 on, “liberty,” Recovery Version Bible