The entire New Testament age is an age of ecstasy, and we as Christians are persons in ecstasy, for when we have a sufficient enjoyment of God and love Him we are in ecstasy before God. Wow!
Today we may not have physical outward slavery in which people sell themselves and all their belongings and then serve someone else, being separated from their family, but in the old days this used to be the case.
Some of the people of Israel, even though they received a portion of the good land for their enjoyment and labour, they became poor and had to sell their land and even themselves.
But there was a provision made by God – the year of jubilee, which was sounded out on the tenth day of the seventh month of the seventh Sabbath year, and everyone would return to their possession and to their family, without having to pay anything to redeem themselves.
What a jubilee this was, and how much joy, rejoicing, and ecstasy there was among God’s people!
We can only imagine what it means to be separated from your land and house, and from your family, and to serve as slave, having no rights and nothing… But then one day the ram’s horn was sounded, and you are free, free to return to your inheritance and to your family!
This is what happened to us also when we believed into the Lord. When we heard the gospel and responded to it, we heard the sounding of the ram’s horn, and we entered into the jubilee. Hallelujah!
We were born in slavery under sin, and we were away from our real family and our designated divine inheritance, but when we heard the gospel, we were returned to God as our possession and we were liberated from slavery. Hallelujah!
The truth is that we didn’t even know that we were slaves to sin and to Satan. People today think they are free as long as they do whatever they want with whomever they want and whenever they want.
But actually in our flesh, in our very members, there’s another person who dwells there, and this person causes us to sin constantly. So by default we are slaves to sin, doing the passions of Satan who lives in our flesh, and we are alienated from the life of God.
We were created not for the worldly entertainment, pleasures, knowledge, success, or riches, but for God. We are satisfied only when we enjoy God and partake of Him as our inheritance, liberated from the slavery of sin.
So now as believers in Christ we are no longer alienated from the life of God but we have His life, we have this life in our spirit spreading into all the inward parts of our being, and we learn to live by this life and enjoy God as the divine life flowing in us. Hallelujah!
The Year of Jubilee is the Age of Christ as Grace Dispensed into us for our Enjoyment and Ecstasy
The year of jubilee for us today is the age of Christ as grace dispensed into us for our enjoyment by His words of grace.
When we heard the gospel, we received and enjoyed Christ as grace, for the words of grace conveyed Christ to us. When we were born again we entered into the age of grace, the age of the jubilee, which is an age of joy, rejoicing, and of ecstasy. Hallelujah!
The Lord Jesus came as the embodiment of God, and of His fulness we have all received grace upon grace (John 1:14-17). His coming was the sounding of the trumpet for the age of the jubilee to begin.
We were like the children of Israel, in slavery in Egypt (in the world and under sin) for our whole life, but Christ came and released us from slavery and took us through the open Red Sea (our baptism) to bring us into the full enjoyment of Himself.
When the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and saw their enemies drowned in the water, they realised they have been saved from Pharaoh and his armies, and they were jubilant. Miriam led the singing and there was much rejoicing, dancing, ringing shouts, and singing.
This is what our salvation was in the beginning when we were saved, and this is what our salvation and experience needs to be daily.
When we were saved and realised that, on the one hand, we are cleansed and saved from sin, and on the other, we have God as our portion for our enjoyment, we were in another realm – we were singing, even dancing, and the joy of our salvation was fresh.
But then as time went by, as we experienced this and that, as we forgot to spend time with the Lord every day, and as we did not rekindle our love for Him, the joy of our salvation was lost.
This is why David’s prayer should also be our prayer, Lord, restore to us the gladness of Your salvation, and sustain us with a willing spirit (Psa. 51:12).
We need to realise the our entire Christian life is an age of jubilee, and Christ as grace is dispensing Himself into us for our enjoyment through His words of grace.
So we need to spend time with the Lord daily, seeking not only to read His word and know the Bible but to touch the Lord in a deeper way every day, and to experience Him as our joy, rejoicing, and gladness of our salvation.
We need to realise that today is the acceptable time when the Lord listens to us, and today is the day of salvation when He is ready and eager to help us.
Hallelujah, now is the well acceptable time of the Lord, and today is the day of salvation, so we can come to the Lord, and He as the fairer than the sons of men has grace poured upon His lips, and He will restore the gladness of our salvation!
Lord Jesus, restore to us the gladness of our salvation, and sustain us with a willing spirit to enjoy You and daily eat Your words of grace. Dispense Yourself into us as grace until we are full of joy, rejoicing, and even ecstasy! Amen, Lord Jesus, You are our joy! You have delivered us from sin and its power, and You brought us back to the enjoyment of God as our inheritance! Keep delivering us from sin and its power every day, and keep us enjoying the divine dispensing of grace so that we may enter into the full enjoyment of our divine inheritance!
Being in Ecstasy before God by having a Sufficient Enjoyment of Christ as the Jubilee
The New Testament age is an age of ecstasy and our Christian life should be filled with joy and rejoicing; a normal Christian is a person in ecstasy. If we have never been in ecstasy before God, this shows that we do not have a sufficient enjoyment of God.
This whole age, the age of grace, the age of the church, the age of jubilee, is an age of ecstasy, an age of great happiness, an age of rapturous joy, an age of divine transport. We as believers need to have more such experiences of ecstasy by having a sufficient enjoyment of God.
As we walk the dog or do our chores around the house, we can contact the Lord inwardly; we can pray, touch the Lord in a deep way about this and that, and we will be transported and brought into a trance to touch the Lord.
When we are in ecstasy before the Lord by having a sufficient enjoyment of God we will have the Lord’s personal, direct, particular, and timely speaking, and He will inwardly answer some of our pleadings and cries on certain matters.
This should not be something uncommon; this should be our portion.
We must learn to just spend time with the Lord and deeply call on Him, sigh in His presence, and even groan to deeply touch Him. We need to touch the Lord not in a general way but go deeper, opening to Him and calling on His name.
We may like to say, Lord Jesus, I love You, but we may say it only once or twice….and we may not touch the Lord. We need to tell the Lord that we love Him and call on His name until we kiss Him and He kisses us.
He doesn’t want us to just say, Love You, Lord! and then go about our day or even read a verse or two. The Lord wants us to tell Him repeatedly,
Lord Jesus, I love you! I Love You, Lord! I really love You Lord with all my heart! Lord I love with all my mind and strength! Oh Lord, I just love You! Lord Jesus!
When we declare this again and again, turning our heart to the Lord, we will touch Him in a deeper way. Our problem is that many times we touch the Lord only half-way – we have a little touch and then we back off.
We need to have many experiences of being in ecstasy with the Lord, not in a reckless or strange way but by contacting Him and having a sufficient enjoyment of God. If we have never reached the point of being beside ourselves with joy before the Lord, we are not a Christian up to standard.
Before the Lord we need to be in ecstasy and rejoicing, but before man we need to be sober-minded. On one hand we rejoice and make a joyful noise, and on the other, we are sober-minded and exercise restraint.
If we have a sufficient enjoyment of God, we will leap for joy! We may be elderly or not so mobile, but when we touch God, we will be beside ourselves before Him and we will leap for joy!
Outwardly we may do this or that, doing the daily things we need to do, but inwardly we are beside ourselves with joy, being in ecstasy before the Lord!
If we don’t enjoy God, there’s no reason to be beside ourselves before Him, but if we have a sufficient enjoyment of God, if we realize that He freshly saves us right now, He breaks every fetters, He forgives our sins, then we will sing HALLELUJAH!
Lord Jesus, we love You! We really really love You! We love You with all our heart and our mind and our strength! We praise You Lord for what You are to us and for what You have done for us! We are full of joy and rejoicing, and we are filled with ecstasy before you! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you saints! Serve the Lord with gladness, and come before Him with thanksgiving! We praise You, Lord, for being so good, so sweet, so wonderful, and so full of love and compassion! Hallelujah for our Lord Jesus Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 4, “The Jubilee,” pp. 14-15, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 10, The Jubilee (1).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Therefore with joy shall ye draw water / Out of the wells of salvation. / And in that day shall ye say, / Praise the Lord. / Call upon His name, / Declare His doings among the people, / Make mention that His name is exalted. / Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: / For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. (Hymns #1340)
# O how great His salvation! / Jesus saves me now! / … Jesus breaks every fetter! / All my fetters are riven! / I enjoy peace of heaven! / Jesus saves me now! (Hymns #1065)
# I cannot gaze enough on Thee, / Thou Fairest of the Fair; / My heart is filled with ecstasy, / As in Thy face of radiancy / I see such beauty there. (Hymns #172)
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