13.08 Jubilee!

13 - Jubilee; Section 8

JUBILEE! Our understanding of God’s great plan of Redemption and Jubilee will be greatly helped by a clear idea of how Israel is used as a type in the scriptures. When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and formed them into a nation, He ordained three groups: first, Israel, called the Camp, then the Levites, and finally Aaron and his house, the Priests. While Israel in many instances is used to typify God’s elect, the body of Christ, yet, in its relationship to the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem, Israel represents the whole world of mankind, and, indeed, the whole creation. You will notice that from this perspective the whole of Israel lay outside the Tabernacle, outside the place of sacrifice, outside of the ministry of the Priesthood, outside of the presence and glory of God, separated by the white curtain of Christ’s righteousness from all that lay within. Thus "the Camp" was separated from all holy things by the curtain of white linen, representing to those within a wall of righteousness by faith, but to those without a wall of unbelief which hindered their view of and access to the holy things within. There was only one gateway to enter the "Court"; the type thus testifying that there is but one way of access to God, one "gate" - Jesus. "I am the way ... no man comes unto the Father but by Me." "I am the door, by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved" (John 14:6; John 10:9). The sin-offering, sacrifice, atonement, etc., made typical for them, were typical of the "better sacrifices" made on behalf of the whole world; for thus we read, "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2; Hebrews 9:23). In a word, Israel, as well as the Tabernacle, Priests, Levites and sacrifices, was a type. And what was there done in symbol with and for Israel is, since the coming of Christ, being carried out on a higher plane, and on a larger scale, the latter being the reality, of which that was the type and shadow. As Israel typified the world so the tribe of Levites typified the "household of faith," or all believers in Jesus who know Him in the forgiveness of sins. But the Priesthood, the house of Aaron, taken from among the Levites, one body under one chief or High Priest, was typical of the "little flock," the "overcomers," which, with its "Head" or High Priest, is a Royal Priesthood, the members of which, after this present time of preparation and processing, are KINGS AND PRIESTS unto God, given authority over all nations and over all of mankind (Revelation 5:10; Revelation 2:26-27).

Some who read these lines may not at first grasp the important significance of viewing Israel as a type of the whole world of mankind, but it should become abundantly clear when we point out that in Redemption only those isolated individuals on whose behalf the redemption-price is paid are released from bondage and restored to their inheritance; but in the Year of Jubilee the command goes forth: "Then shall you cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the Day of Atonement shall you make the trumpet sound THROUGHOUT A-L-L YOUR LAND. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty THROUGHOUT A-L-L THE LAND unto A-L-L THE INHABITANTS THEREOF; it shall be a Jubilee unto you; and you shall return EVERY MAN unto his possession, and shall return EVERY MAN unto his family" (Leviticus 25:9-10). The truth should be self-evident - as in Israel EVERY SINGLE SOUL OF MAN WAS RELEASED in the typical Year of Jubilee, so in the antitypical Jubilee there shall be a release of EVERY MAN OF ADAM’S RACE from the tyranny of sin and sorrow and death. Israel was thus the representative nation, God’s model, His prototype, set forth to typically proclaim His redemptive and restorative and reconstructive purposes before the face of all nations. Every man is to return to his possession. EVERY MAN LOST IN THE FALL SHALL BE RESTORED. What a glorious promise! What joy it brings to know that the glory of our full and complete redemption shall be multiplied in the grandest of measures, until the WHOLE EARTH shall enjoy her time of Jubilee, fully loosed from the bondage of change and decay, and restored into the realm of His abundant life. If the shadow brought happiness and joy to the typical people, the substance, the real restitution, will cause boundless joy and will indeed be a grand Jubilee to all people. What a depth of meaning this lends to the biblical law of Jubilee: "And if he be not redeemed in these years, then HE SHALL GO OUT IN THE YEAR OF JUBILEE" (Leviticus 25:54). All who argue that there is no hope, no salvation, no deliverance for those persons not redeemed during this present age should commit that law to memory and repeat it many times daily with bowed head and bended knee until its message sinks deeply into mind and heart.

Now we are coming to see that God not only has a plan and a purpose for each of us individually, and for the redeemed of all ages, BUT HE HAS A PLAN AND PURPOSE FOR THE WHOLE OF HUMANITY COLLECTIVELY. Every man and woman has a part in it. Let us see this point. When Adam sinned, he never consulted any of his descendants as to whether they wanted to be in sin with him. By his will, and God’s plan, he plunged us all into sin, and put the whole creation into a state of uselessness and vanity. He was the father of us all, so we have followed him. Now, IF THE LAST ADAM CANNOT MAKE RIGHT WHAT THE FIRST ADAM MADE WRONG, THEN THE LAST ADAM DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME MEASURE OF POWER THAT THE FIRST ADAM HAD. Jesus said that all power has been given unto Him, both in heaven and in earth. If God purposes to save the whole world THAT IS HIS BUSINESS AND NOT OURS. Oh, God! deliver us from the narrow mentality in which we have unthinkingly walked, and help us to see something of the unbounded love of God in Christ Jesus. Redemption and Jubilee both lead to the same end; and in Israel, if the enslaved and dispossessed people could not or did not take advantage of Redemption, then Jubilee CAME ANYWAY. Make no mistake about that. The words of the apostle shall surely be fulfilled: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order" (1 Corinthians 15:22-23).

Now here is another fact. THE REASON FOR THE LOSS OF THE INHERITANCE DID NOT ENTER INTO THE QUESTION OF ITS RETURN. Even one who had recklessly squandered his inheritance could not forever lose it. The owner might have gambled away his inheritance. Perhaps he was as the prodigal son, who wasted his substance in riotous living. But that would make no difference, since the reason for losing the inheritance did not affect its return. A young man might have lost his entire inheritance through sin, but all that was required of him was that he be there in the Year of Jubilee, waiting for the sounding of the trumpet, and THEN GO BACK INTO HIS INHERITANCE. Mattered not what condition he might be in, NO ONE COULD KEEP HIM OUT OF HIS INHERITANCE. IT WAS HIS, FOR IT HAD BEEN GIVEN TO HIM BY GOD. The law of God said nothing and laid down no law respecting the manner in which it was lost affecting its return. Ah - how much more mercy and goodness and grace was there under the old law than most Churches allow their people today! The man of avarice, who had gone on adding house to house and field to field, gained no permanent advantage over his less fortunate neighbor. The fiftieth year, beyond which no lease could run, was always approaching with silent but sure speed, to relax his tenacious grasp. However alienated, however unworthily or unthriftily sold, however strongly conveyed to the purchaser or the usurper an estate might be, this long-expected day annulled the whole transaction, and placed the debtor in the condition which either he or his ancestor had enjoyed. Therefore, the notion that satan shall eternally possess the souls of men is absurd and ludicrous in the face of such a grand and glorious truth.

Another point. THEIR MANNER OF LIFE IN NO WAY ENTERED INTO THE QUESTION OF THEIR RETURN TO THEIR INHERITANCE. If God’s people of that day were like a lot of God’s people today, we would have a situation something like this. Many would be waiting for the sounding of the great Jubilee trumpet, and among them could be a man who spent his inheritance with harlots. He could have come home with the marks of sin impressed upon his countenance, in a drunken and broken state. BUT HE HAS COME FOR HIS INHERITANCE. We could well overhear some of the others postulating, "I wonder if that drunken old bum thinks he is going to get back into his inheritance? Look at the life he has lived! A whoremonger! God won’t let ME do any of those things! The man has not lived up to our standard at all. I wonder if he is going to have the brass to think that, at the sounding of the trumpet, he is going to get his inheritance back after being the kind of man he is!" But the fact is, dear one, that nothing bad ever done could prevent him from claiming his inheritance!

There is a beautiful story in Luke chapter 15, the parable of the Prodigal Son. While feeding hogs in the "far country," the prodigal came to himself. He had had an inheritance, but he went out and squandered his substance, and wallowed with the pigs for a season. The circumstances had crowded in upon his life which caused him to come to the place where he chose to "arise and go to the father."

He walked along the weary way, no longer with servants attending, no longer in rich robes; but ragged, poor, dirty, with worn out sandals, he came along the road, with the stench of the swineherd and the stains of the fleshpots on him. Creeping along, sick, sore, and weary, he said, "Oh, if I could be but one of my father’s hired servants!" Will the father reject him? Will the father not say, "I gave him his portion and he has spent it all in riotous living; let him stay away forever!" No, no. The father saw him afar off, and he ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him, not heeding his filthiness and his rags. The father interrupted the prayer, after the son told him of his sin, that he might become a slave in the father’s house; for there are no slaves IN OUR FATHER’S HOUSE. They are all sons and daughters of the Most High God. The father told the servants to bring the best robe and the signet ring that made him controller of the father’s estate. He told them to get out the musical instruments and the dancers, and to make merry and be glad. "Spread the feast, for this my son was dead; dead to me; dead to mother; dead to purity; dead to truth; dead to love; dead to God; and he is alive again!" This was, without a doubt, the prodigal’s YEAR OF JUBILEE! Few have understood the sublime message contained in this magnificent story. Most have assumed that somehow the story illustrates the great truth of redemption. But - there is absolutely nothing in this story about redemption, though the preachers love to preach it that way. Neither the father, nor anyone else, paid any price for the son’s return. He just went home. The circumstances of the prodigal son’s restoration beautifully and fittingly illustrate the Jubilee truth. There was no price paid, no redemption took place. The prodigal simply arose and returned to his estate and his family. And when he arrived home he discovered, to his utter amazement and surprised delight, that HE STILL HAD HIS INHERITANCE THOUGH HE HAD LOST IT! He was restored not only to his family, but to his inheritance. And just that constitutes the great truth of Jubilee - ONE CAN LOSE HIS INHERITANCE, THEN RETURN, AND STILL HAVE HIS INHERITANCE! "And you shall return every man to his possession, and shall return every man to his inheritance" (Leviticus 25:10). Glory to God!

Let us get this straight. I am not advocating any loose living in any sense of the word, but it is time for God’s people to get their thinking straight. It is not being good or holy that qualifies one to receive back his inheritance. But getting the inheritance will make you holy. Those who profess to be redeemed of the Lord, receiving of their inheritance here and now, but continue to walk after the flesh and live like the world and the devil, bear no fruit of their professed redemption. Hear it! "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for our Saviour Jesus Christ ... who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:11-14). The inheritance is a share in all that God IS. We are not merely heirs of the things of God, but in wondrous reality we are heirs of GOD HIMSELF. Name any of the divine attributes: His wisdom, glory, power, nature, holiness, love, etc. - and you will find that the Word of God promises the same attributes to ALL who enter into union with Christ. Ah, we shall be like Him, conformed to His image. The idea that a man could again appropriate his inheritance while continuing on in the pathway of carnality, fleshliness, self-will, darkness and death is an insult to the integrity of the righteous God who authored the law of Jubilee. Jubilee is freedom! Jubilee is release! Jubilee is restoration! Jubilee means the regaining of the inheritance that was lost! The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death! The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus IS THE LAW OF JUBILEE! Let me say it again whether you regain your inheritance now via Redemption, or later via Jubilee, your manner of life can neither qualify nor disqualify you for getting the inheritance. But the inheritance, once entered into, WILL TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE. That’s what the inheritance is all about! Vast multitudes of "born again" and "Spirit filled" believers fill the pews of the church systems Sunday after Sunday, all the while waiting for the "rapture" while today they have no victory or power in their lives nor can they get anything from God. Yet some old drunk or a prostitute from off the street comes along and asks God for something, believes in God and gloriously receives his request, and the people who are "righteous" wonder what is wrong! The words of Jesus to the Pharisees are thus fulfilled in them: "Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you" (Matthew 21:31). It was not a question with the Israelites as to whether or not they wanted to receive their inheritance in Jubilee. It was the SOVEREIGN LAW OF GOD that it be so. With us it is the same. It is not our desire, or the desire of humanity, that counts; it is GOD’S WILL that counts and is accomplished. God so ruled that on the fiftieth year ALL should return to their inheritance and occupy it, so that is how it was. What eternal and infinite hope this holds for all men!