Return, return, ye captives!
Return unto your home!
The silver trumpet soundeth,
The jubilee has come!
THE silver trumpet that ushered in the year of jubilee was to be sounded throughout Israel, even to the farthest borders of the land. It heralded the exile’s return, the release of the captives, the canceling of debts and the setting free of the debtors. The slave passed out of his bondage into glorious liberty, the manslayer left the city of refuge and returned to his home; and he who sold himself returned to his loved family again. Possessions once lost were returned to their original owners, poverty and misery disappeared, while joy and gladness filled the land.
The Lord Himself was the author of this mighty wave of blessing, for the land is His, and Israel are His people.
And who were those in Israel who would rejoice most to hear the sound of the trumpet proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord? Without doubt it was the poor, the wretched, the bankrupt debtors, those who from distress had been obliged to sell themselves to their brethren, whose slaves they were, or who had been obliged to part with their houses and their possessions — those who groaned, overwhelmed with toils and sorrow. Yet what happiness, what rejoicing would these joyful sounds cause in their hearts, telling them their deliverance was come and the end of their toils!
And it is the very same thing with the gospel; it is to the poor the gospel is preached. It is wretched sinners, lost and by nature children of wrath that the Lord Jesus came to seek and to save. Believers are a company gathered around Christ like those who gathered around David in the cave of Adullam: “And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them.” 1 Sam. 22:22And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. (1 Samuel 22:2).
O what joy, what happiness for these poor debtors was the sound of this trumpet of joy! In the morning they were debtors with nothing to pay; in the evening they owed nothing; their debt was canceled, paid by God Himself. But what was this joy and happiness in comparison with the joy and blessedness which overflows the heart of a poor sinner when by faith he listens to the sweet and gentle sound of grace, to the voice of Jesus, saying to him, “Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace.”
The gospel is for us the good news, the joyful proclamation of liberty, now that Christ has died. The Son having made us free, we are free indeed (John 7). We are the children of the free woman, and we are told to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Gal. 4:31; 5:131So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. (Galatians 4:31)
1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1). “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Rom. 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14). Well might we exclaim, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” 1 Cor. 15:5757But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57).
ML-11/12/1972