God has been pleased to spare Her Majesty the Queen (of England, Queen Victoria) to see the Jubilee of her reign. Millions rejoice and have great cause for thankfulness to God for His goodness in sparing her to see the day. And many feel, also, great claims for unceasing prayer for Her Majesty and the Royal Family to be preserved in these days of increasing lawlessness. God has answered the many prayers of His people; and we earnestly entreat every Christian who reads these lines to continue in prayer for the Queen. God knows who are her enemies, and He can preserve her.
During her reign, God has been pleased to restore many long-lost truths. And now, in the latter days of her reign, Satan is putting forth his secret hosts of infidelity and superstition, to make one great coming effort to destroy Christianity. Many whom he is employing for this purpose know it not. Yes, many in high positions in this world may be led by Satan, while they think they are doing God service. We have enjoyed during Her Majesty’s reign unparalleled privileges. And what is England’s return for all these favors? A rapid return to that dark superstition which is paganism or worse.
England is asleep, and God only can awake her to her danger.
But God is love, and in the Book written for our instruction, He, in His tender care over His people, appointed a Jubilee. “In the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you” (Lev. 25:9-109Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Leviticus 25:9‑10)). God did surely care for the poor slave and the prisoner in Israel. Yes, on the day of atonement, the loud sound of the trumpet told how He loved His poor people.
What does all this point to for us — for you and for me? Hear how the prophet speaks of Jesus, the One who came from heaven, to make the atonement for sins: “He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn” (Isa. 41:1-21Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. 2Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. (Isaiah 41:1‑2)). Jesus presented Himself, and read this scripture (Luke 4:18-2118The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 4:18‑21)). He closed the book at “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord,” and said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Broken-hearted captives of Satan and of sin, shut up in that prison of despair out of which you cannot escape -yes, if sold slaves to sin and Satan — hark! the trumpet of your deliverance sounds aloud, in the full righteousness of God. God is love — He sent His Son. God, in righteousness, proclaims pardon and liberty to you; for the atonement for sins has been made. Christ has died for our sins. God has raised Him for our justification. Do you hear the sound of God’s Jubilee. Oh sweet liberty and deliverance to you. It is still the day — the long day — of God’s Jubilee. But, note, Her Majesty’s reign here must one day come to a close, may it be to reign with Christ forever; and the day of God’s Jubilee must one day come to a close. Full, free, ever-lasting forgiveness and deliverance is preached to you now, while the acceptable year still runs on in the patience and longsuffering of God.
But, note, the day of vengeance must also come on a rejecting world. Who can tell how suddenly Her Majesty’s reign may close? We are told as to the sudden close of the year of God’s Jubilee. That “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:2-32For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:2‑3)). Jesus declares it shall be as it was in the days of Noah, and of Lot. For many long years the warning had been given, but the flood came at last. Notwithstanding all the preaching of the gospel, the world is rapidly filling up its measure of iniquity, even as it was in Sodom. How sudden at last was the tempests of fire and judgment. It surely will be so again, God has said it. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so. Amen.” These things will surely come to pass. They are at our very doors. Oh earth, earth! how wilt thou answer for the murder of the Son of God? Oh reader, how will you answer for your long rejection of the love of God? Will you still despise the Jubilee of God? Think what it cost -the atoning death of the cross.
The Jubilee of God and the reign of Her Majesty may both close together. Thousands are looking for Jesus from heaven. And this will close the Jubilee of God — the acceptable year of grace and liberty to the captive. Then shall surely follow the day of vengeance of our God. That time of tribulation such as never was and never shall be again. And, reader, will you reject the present trumpet-sound of forgiveness, and so be left to be in that time of woe on earth? Do you say how will this long year of God’s Jubilee come to a close? And how will it affect all true Christians on earth at the time?
Let the Word of God inform us. Jesus says, “In My Father’s house are many mansions (abodes): if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-32In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2‑3)). What, is He who made the atonement for our sins coming for this purpose to take His own to be with Himself? Oh what love! Yes; “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15-1715For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑17)). And will this wondrous and blessed event, to all Christians, whether asleep or alive in the body, take place suddenly? Yes; “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-5251Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51‑52)). Oh Christians, there is surely a warning to us, in the well-known illustration of the last Roman trump. It is not the trumpet-call to judgment, but to be gone from this scene: It might be at midnight, or in the early morn, or in the midday bustle of life. The first blast of the trumpet sounded. Immediately the Roman camp prepared to march. After a little space, the trumpet sounded again. The cavalry mount, the baggage is all packed ready on each camel, or beast; the remains of the camp are fired; every soldier falls in; then the herald cries thrice, “Are you ready?” “are you ready?” “are you ready?” Then the cheery, ringing reply, “We are ready.” Now the last trump sounds, and in one moment the vast camp moves away; yes, even in the twinkling of an eye.
It will be so with the whole redeemed church of God. In the beginning the trumpet sounded, “Go ye out to meet him.” Again, after long delay in mercy, though the church has slept — again the trumpet (rather cry) has sounded, “Go ye out to meet him” (Matt. 25). Does not that waiting, ready; Roman army rebuke us? There the soldier stood waiting, and in truth could say, “ready.” Oh professed soldier of Christ, are you waiting? are you ready to be gone to be forever with the Lord? He longs to come and take you to Himself. So, He sends to all who know Him, the Holy and the True, a short message, before the last trump sounds. He says, “I come quickly” (Rev. 3:1111Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. (Revelation 3:11)). Oh Lord, let these words awake Thy church, to be ready, and waiting for the trump; yea, waiting for Thee.
Why should our hearts be set on that which must be left behind? And what shall we want of things in this world’s camp when up there with Him and like Him forever? All this must take place first; for when He comes in judgment, all His saints come with Him. He not only comes in judgment in flaming tire, taking vengeance on this ungodly, lawless, grace-rejecting world; but oh, the riches of His boundless grace, beyond His coming to judge the quick, or living nations, His purpose is to set up His glorious kingdom on earth for a thousand years. Oh, then shall this poor world enjoy its Jubilee from all that now makes it groan. But in this short paper, we confine ourselves to the close of this present Jubilee, or acceptable year of grace.
Reader, will you reject the abounding love of God, and be everlastingly lost? Remember, we know not the moment when the present gospel shall cease to be preached; for we know not the moment when the whole church of God shall rise away to meet their loving Lord.
As the Jubilee trumpets sounded on the day of atonement, so the blessed sound of free forgiveness, and everlasting liberty from the slavery of sin, is now proclaimed not for anything we can do, but solely through the atoning death of Christ for sins, and the blessed fact that God has raised Him from the dead for the assured justification of all that believe on Him.
We desire to honor the Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. May, God bless her, far beyond anything He has done during her long reign. And may He be pleased to honor her Jubilee by using this little paper occasioned by it, in the conversion and blessing of many of its readers, her subjects And to Him alone shall be all the. praise. Amen.