In Israel the jubilee came every fiftieth year, at which time every slave was set free and all the property returned to its original owner. When this was approaching, all the property went down in value, and the slaves rejoiced at the thought of freedom.
Undoubtedly we are living in a similar time of the Church’s history. Everything around us points to the nearness of our blessed Lord’s return, and we are made to realize that we will soon be called home. At the jubilee in Israel the silver trumpet sounded throughout the land, and we too are listening for a trumpet sound—the trump of God. What a day of rejoicing that will be for those of us who are waiting to see the face of our blessed Saviour, and who long for the time when “the kingdoms of this world ... . become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ.” Rev. 11:1515And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15).
As we think of this momentous event, how our hearts are stirred, but it should also have a purifying effect upon us. We know that everything here is soon to pass away. If we set our hearts upon the things of time, and live for them, our lives will all be loss at the judgment seat of Christ. Thank God our title to glory is not by anything we have done or can do, but by the precious blood of Christ; but God wants us to have an “abundant entrance.” (2 Peter 1:1111For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11).)
“Brethren, the time is short.” 1 Cor. 7:2929But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; (1 Corinthians 7:29). What does this mean to you and me? Have we laid these words to heart? Have we made our calculations in life as though we really believed this, or does life stretch out as a long span to us as young people, filling our young hearts with ambitions for success. Dear Young people, God says “The time is short.” There never was a greater need in the Church of God, nor in the world about us, for the precious gospel message. The enemy knows that the time is short, even if we are forgetting it. He is urging you, especially if you have ability, to go in for some career in this world. He is putting all kinds of bait, before you to keep you busy, for if he can only keep all the Christian young men and women busy in the pursuit of things here, he knows that he can make the Christian testimony weaker and weaker. Oh, let us look above things here and consider the true value of things in the light of eternity. Let us think of how our lives will appear at the judgment seat of Christ. Let us sit quietly in the presence of our blessed Saviour and think of what He gave up for us, and of the claims of His love upon us, until we are led to “present (our) bodies a living sacrifice” to Him. (Romans 12:11I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1).)
The Lord told His disciples to look on the fields which were then white for the harvest, (John 4:3535Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (John 4:35)), and He told them on another occasion to “pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest.” Matt. 9:3838Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. (Matthew 9:38). Perhaps if we were to get down on our knees before Him with this prayer upon our lips, and with a willingness to do His blessed will in our hearts, He would give us a place in His blessed harvest fields. It might be in the little assembly where we live, or it might he in some gospel work; visiting, tract distributing, preaching, or something else, but let us remember again that “the time is short.” Surely His smile of approval will repay any sacrifice we could ever make for Him in the little while that remains to us here.
ML 02/25/1951