We thank and praise the Lord for the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee, which include announcing the gospel to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and sending away in release those who are oppressed.
The matter of the jubilee is so full, so rich, and so extensive. We all need to be heralds of the jubilee to all those around us, proclaiming the jubilee to all men (1 Tim. 2:7); we need to be official reporters of the jubilee.
The gospel is not just for the unbelievers but also for us, the believers, for the jubilee is to be enjoyed by all men.
If we read the book of Romans we see that Paul wrote it as his gospel to the saints which are in Rome, and this gospel speaks of justification, sanctification, the reality of the Body, and the local churches and the blending life of the Body – this is the full gospel, and we all need this gospel.
The New Testament jubilee is an age of ecstasy for our salvation. Ecstasy is an intense joy and delight. We should have an intense joy with the Lord, an intense delight in Him, enjoying Him to the uttermost.
We need to have our enjoyment of Christ increased until we enjoy Him to the uttermost and are in ecstasy, filled with the Lord’s enjoyment.
And if we feel we do not enjoy the Lord but are like a flat tire, we should pray like David did, Lord, restore to me the gladness of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. When we enjoy the Lord and are full of joy in Him, we have a willing spirit for the things of the Lord and the things of the church.
Where Jesus is, our joy is there, and where we are and the Lord is, no matter the environment, our joy is there. Hallelujah, the Lord not only brought us into the jubilee but He also commissions us to speak the jubilee to those around us.
Just like the apostle Paul, we are commissioned to speak the jubilee to others that the Lord may open their eyes, turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in the Lord.
We are those who have been shown mercy by the Lord and have received the jubilee, and now we need to cooperate with the Lord to bring others into the jubilee to enjoy God as their possession and be returned to their divine family, the household of God, the church.
First it is us who need to have our eyes opened and be turned from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God by praying over God’s word and allowing the Lord to open our eyes, release us from any captivity and bring us into the full enjoyment of Himself as our jubilee.
Then, as we enjoy the jubilee, live in the jubilee, and experience the jubilee, we need to be the fulfillment of the Lord’s word in Luke 4, Today in your hearing the jubilee is being fulfilled, for the Lord Jesus has come! Hallelujah!
Enjoying the Freedoms and Blessings of the Jubilee and Proclaiming the Jubilee
The word jubilee in Lev. 25:10 means “a time of shouting” or “a time of the trumpeting of the ram’s horn”.
The trumpeting of the ram’s horn signifies the preaching of the gospel as the proclaiming of liberty in the New Testament jubilee to all the sinners sold under sin, so that they may return to God and God’s family and rejoice with shouting in God’s salvation.
Hallelujah for the preaching of the gospel, which is the proclaiming of the jubilee to all those who are sold in sin so that they may return to God and to the household of God, and rejoice with shouting in the New Testament enjoyment of God’s salvation!
First, because we lost God as our possession and inheritance, we have returned to God by believing into the Lord Jesus through the gospel.
Now we love God and enjoy God. Also, we have returned to God’s family, the household of God, and here we enjoy all the riches of God in Christ as the Spirit.
And as we enjoy the riches of Christ in the household of God, we enjoy the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee, and we want many who have drifted away from the Lord and from the church life to come back to God’s household.
When we return to God’s house and to God Himself as our inheritance, there’s much joy and rejoicing, and there is a ringing shout! We were like Paul said in Eph. 2:12, apart from Christ, alienated from the life of God, having no hope and without God in the world.
But when we received the Lord Jesus as the real jubilee, we entered into the jubilee, and we enjoy the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee! Now we are learning to “turn on the switch” to enjoy God as our possession day by day, even moment by moment.
In the jubilee God is our possession; this is not like “owning God” as if God is something to be owned by someone, but it is like enjoying God and partaking of God as our inheritance, for we have been returned to God.
When we have God, we have the jubilee, and when we have God, we have freedoms, blessings, and satisfaction.
When we enjoy God as our jubilee, everything is to our satisfaction, and we will be so filled with God in our enjoyment of God that we will cooperate with Him to blow the trumpet of redemption and proclaim the jubilee!
We realize that, even though we have been returned to God as our inheritance and we enjoy God together with the saints as the household of God, there are still many others who are far away from God, and God the Father is waiting for many of His prodigal sons to return to Him.
Therefore, as we enjoy the jubilee Jesus and partake of the riches of God in Christ as the Spirit through the exercise of our spirit in the church life as the household of God, we need to proclaim the jubilee to others also, so that they may be returned to God as their possession and may return to their family in the church!
Thank You Lord Jesus for bringing us into the jubilee! We are full of gratefulness for returning us to God as our inheritance and to the church as our family. Thank You for bringing us into the full enjoyment of God in Christ as the Spirit as our real, God-appointed, divine inheritance. Lord, we love to be here in Your household enjoying You with all the saints, our fellow brothers and sisters. We praise You, Lord! We want to cooperate with You to proclaim the jubilee by preaching the gospel so that many others would return to God as their inheritance and to the church as their family!
Blowing the Trumpet of Redemption and Proclaiming the Well-Acceptable Time, the Year of Jubilee!
Our preaching of the gospel is our blowing the trumpet of redemption to proclaim to the whole world that, behold, now is the well-acceptable time, now is the day of salvation, the year of jubilee (2 Cor. 6:2; Isa. 61:1-3).
Hallelujah, now is the day of salvation, the day to be reconciled to God, the day to return to God!
So we need to cooperate with God to proclaim the jubilee so that many would return to God and enjoy the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee. When God created man, He intended to give Himself in Christ to man as man’s possession, man’s inheritance (see Gen. 2:9; 13:12-15; Psa. 16:5; 90:1).
However, man became fallen, and in the fall man lost God as his possession (see Gen. 3:24; 4:16; Eph. 2:12) and he sold himself into slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (see John 8:34; Rom. 7:14b; Gal. 4:8; Titus 3:3; 1 John 5:19b).
God presented Himself to man as the tree of life in the middle of the garden so that man would eat, partake, digest, and assimilate Him, so that man would be His expression on earth.
Today it is the same: God presents Himself to us as the tree of life for us to partake of, and we as believers in Christ need to eat the Lord day by day through faith.
Later, in Gen. 13:12-15 God told Abraham to look from the place where he is to the north, south, east, and west, and all the land he saw God will give him.
As we are enjoying the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee, we need to have our eyes open and see Christ, for the Christ we see is the Christ we get; the more we see Christ, the more we enjoy Him and partake of Him.
May we not be like Cain, who went forth from the presence of Jehovah and dwelt in a place away from God (Gen. 4:16); without having the Lord’s presence we are wandering with no compass, no goal, no center, no aim, and no guidance.
This is the situation of the people in the world, who are not only lost but also enslaved under sin, fleshly (John 8:34), doing the desires of the evil one. This is why we need to proclaim the jubilee by blowing the trumpet of redemption and proclaiming the well-acceptable time, the year of jubilee!
We need to tell everyone that God’s New Testament salvation brings fallen man back to God as his divine possession, releases man from slavery under sin and Satan, and restores man to his divine family so that he may enjoy fellowship in God’s grace!
In His New Testament salvation – which was accomplished by God’s grace based on His redemption in Christ (see Rom. 3:24; 5:1-2; Eph. 2:8), the fallen man is brought back to God as his divine possession (see Acts 26:18; Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:14; Col. 1:12; Luke 15:12-24), he is released from slavery under sin, Satan, and the world (John 8:32; Rom. 6:6, 14; 8:2; Heb. 2:14-15; John 12:31), and he is restored to his divine family, the household of God (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19), that he may enjoy fellowship in God’s grace (2 Cor. 13:14). Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we want to blow the trumpet of redemption and proclaim the well-acceptable time of the Lord, the year of jubilee! We want to cooperate with You, Lord, to proclaim the jubilee so that fallen man may be returned to God as his divine possession, be released from slavery, and be restored to his divine family so that he may enjoy fellowship in God’s grace. Amen, Lord, we treasure being in Your house enjoying all the freedoms and blessings of the jubilee, and we want many others to enter into the jubilee!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 4, “The Jubilee,” pp. 20-24, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 11, The Jubilee (2).
- Hymns on this topic:
# What matters where on earth we dwell? / On mountain top, or in the dell, / In cottage, or a mansion fair, / Where Jesus is, my joy is there. (Hymns #348)
# For Jesus shed His precious blood / Rich blessings to bestow; / Plunge now into the crimson flood / That washeth white as snow. (Hymns #1031)
# Freedom from fear with all of its torments, / Freedom from care with all of its pain; / Freedom in Christ my blessed Redeemer, / He who has rent my fetters in twain. (Hymns #310)
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