Luke 4:18-19 -“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” NKJV
For me, it’ really been an interesting time looking at the ministry of Jesus through Luke 4, which is really an echo, or fulfillment, of Isaiah 61. Isaiah’s list is longer than the one Jesus read, so since Jesus stopped here, for now, so will I!
Tonight’s blog is on the acceptable year of the Lord!
The word acceptable, in the Greek, is “dektos”. According to the Vines, “dektos” “denote that most blessed time when salvation and free favors of God profusely abound”. This expression would have meant nothing to a Gentile in that day, but it held great significance for the Jews.
Leviticus 25:10-12 -“And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.” NKJV
The year of Jubilee was significant in that it provided three major benefits: personal liberty, restoration of property, and blessings.
In the year of Jubilee, if you were a slave you would be set free. No matter how many years were left to your bondage, you would be free! If you had to sale your property, for whatever reason, it was restored to you in the year of Jubilee. And the harvesting of the land was halted, that everyone could enjoy the fruit of the land, representing blessings or favor to all.
The only drawback to the year of Jubilee was that it came every 50 years. So if you were in year 45 or closer to the Jubilee, I am sure that you could look forward to it and the blessings it brought. If you were at year 2 to 5, after the year of Jubilee, you might have pleasant memories. But if you went into slavery, or lost your property 10 years after Jubilee, or the year after Jubilee, the road ahead would not be filled with hope! Jesus came and announced that in Him was the fulfillment of the year of Jubilee. No more waiting for Jubilee, because Jubilee had arrived and was looking at them! It’s celebration time! But in truth, they didn’t see it that way!
First, and foremost, He came to liberate us from the bondage of sin.
Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24
His death, burial, and resurrection provided us with liberty from that bondage. He who knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
This reconciliation of man to God, restored us to our rightful place in God, giving us an inheritance with Jesus.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 – NKJV
Once we were made righteous, we had access to all that was Jesus’, thus all that the Father had! Every promise, every blessing, and immeasurable favor, was opened up to us! This was the best news of all! Jubilee personified! For us! Let’s celebrate!
Two things that stood out to me in this study: Jesus is our Great Physician. Physical healing, emotional healing, mental healing, social healing…if it has a name, Jesus heals us of it! And He is our Redeemer! Salvation, deliverance, protection, reconciliation is all wrapped up in Him. The entirety of the gospel message is really encapsulated in these two truths. It’s a theme repeated over and again throughout scriptures. However we find ourselves in life, we will need Him as our Physician or our Redeemer. And we will always find Him available.
I’ve written some pretty long posts during this study, so I’ll be brief tonight. Schambach had a saying, while he was ministering on the earth: “You don’t have any trouble! All you need is faith in God!” For some reason this saying just came to me tonight. I will say it like this: When you have trouble, of any kind, reach out with your faith to God! Jesus has paved the way with the cross and has come to give us all of Him and all of the Father!
Let us not be like the Pharisees! Let’s recognize the truth of Jesus’ words spoken so long ago and recorded for us to have! He has fulfilled the scripture that says He is our all in all! Let’s receive Him for the truth that He is and begin to celebrate Him like never before! And then, let’s just celebrate! Celebration time, come on! Wonderful Jesus!
