Golden Jubilee and You [9th August 2015]

Golden Jubilee and You

Today is indeed a special day, not just because it is the Lord's Day as well as Sabbath Day when God's people come together to give God His Worth in Worship, it is also the day that our Nation, our beloved Singapore, celebrates her Golden Jubilee, her 50^th birthday. I trust that you are aware that the concept of Golden Jubilee comes straight from the Scriptures and it is therefore incumbent upon us to reflect on what the Scriptures have to say to each of us personally on the figure of fifty this very day and to find it beneficial to our soul.

The figure fifty (50) cuts many significance in the Scriptures. On a micro level, it conveys “a sense of full measures of years” for individuals in the Scriptures. It is not the end of life but rather it demarcates when a person takes a rest from labor. We see two instances of such demarcation in those who are to serve in Israel's tent of meeting (Nu 4:3,23,30) as well as the age of retirement from active service for the levitical priesthood (Nu 8:25,26). Such thoughts perhaps surfaced when our Lord Jesus was challenged in John 8:57 when Jesus asserted his absolute existence; “Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”. On a macro level, the figure fifty also contains a key significant idea that all belongs to God, whether it is land or people, when God instituted the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 23. The year of Jubilee was a special sabbath year where the Israelites were to rest from their labor. They were not to cultivate during this year but be sustained by what they had cultivated in the previous years. The year of Jubilee came after seven cycles of sabbath year had passed. Each cycle of sabbath year consisted of six years, where agricultural activities were allowed, followed by the Sabbath year of rest when the land was fallowed. The year of Jubilee was also a special sabbath year as well as a year of liberty and emancipation in that whether it was land that was sold or Israelites who were sold as servants, they were to return to the owners and obtain their liberty, respectively (Lev 25:28,40).

I would like to propose to you three trains of thoughts for your reflection on this day. The first is that we ought to rejoice in our Nation's Golden Jubilee. We can honestly say it is Golden because Singapore today is blessed in many ways. The key achievement is economic progress in that the livelihood of many people was raised within one generation and this has come about through sound economic policies of market capitalism and care for the needy with emphasis on individual responsibility, a good educational system and the Rule of the Law and, above all, through men who are willing to serve and put themselves in harm’s way and to be held accountable. In many ways, it underscores the truism of the Biblical principle that “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Pro 14:34). It therefore behooves each of us to deliberate, do our part and support what is right and proper according to the Scriptures as we are Christians in Singapore and not to be swayed in one way or another; each of us has a stake in this nation to ensure that God's will be done here as well so that His name is hallowed.

The second train of thought has to do with each of us personally, on an individual level. You see, in the Old Testament context, ideally each Israelite would celebrate the Golden Jubilee once in his or her life time. It would be a joyous occasion of special Sabbath rest and liberty when the trumpet would be sounded. For those who had sold their land and could not redeem it, it would be returned to them. For those who had sold themselves as servants, they would be set free. For many, it would be a special Sabbath rest. For many, they would have rested on a Sabbath year before the Jubilee year and therefore would have learned what it meant to rest satisfied and reliant on God for sustenance as they would have to depend on what they had cultivated earlier and in so doing proclaimed their faith in God who provides. I don't know the exact demography of FERC, but I reckon many would be marching towards the golden fifty number and many would have crossed it! Whether that is so or not, the key thought here is that since everything belongs to God, are our reliance on and satisfaction with God growing by the year as we march toward the golden number, just like the Godly Israelite would as he or she experienced the Sabbath year and the Jubilee? Also individually, does our moving towards our individual golden Jubilee of having “a sense of full measures of years” applies not to worldly wisdom but Godly wisdom (Prov 16:31), not to a fat bank account (Luke 12:21) but giving of ourselves to others (2 Cor 8:5) and the cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matt 6:33)?

Finally, for those who are beginning their journey to individual Golden Jubilee, those who turns 26 years old this year or so, you may ask what is the way forward in order to achieve “a sense of full measure of years” when ones Golden Jubilee finally arrives? Sure we need to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but what does that involve? What are the first things first? There are two injunctions that one has to contend with, namely, abandonment for the the Gospel as we have in Matthew 16:24 and secondly the striving to enter the strait gate found in Luke 13:24. To abandon oneself as opposed to living for self (Matt 16:25) and to strive as opposed to seek strikes a rather radical cord. This radical actions as demanded by Christ are only possible if the person is truly convinced and convicted of the truth of the good news of the bible that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and to reconcile us to God the father through his atoning work at the cross. If Jesus is our Saviour then he is also our only Lord and Master. This brings us back to the situation as in the Garden of Eden before the entrance of sin where like Adam and Eve, we are to do the bidding of the King only, albeit in the fallen world today. Having the foundation in Christ, we are to build our life based on precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12), on the truths of God's words that will exact an all consuming demands in our life for the service of the Saviour. If this is so, our life would not be found wanting when our Golden Jubilee finally arrives but on the contrary would set us in the path of greater usefulness beyond our Golden Jubilee while this life shall last. No other agenda will do. Otherwise, it will be consumed by fire at the judgement seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3:13).

For some of us reading this article, we are unlikely to experience two personal Golden Jubilees, individually. I submit to you therefore that the key to a joyous celebration of our individual Jubilee, is to be found in resting satisfied in God and that, in one way of another, we spend and be spent for God's kingdom. As someone has said, “God is most glorified, when we are most satisfied in him”. Are you? There is no ‘but’ and ‘if’! Lets take heed to the hymn by Robert Murray Mcheyne and spend this Lord's Day in quite contemplation of the import of Golden Jubilee.

“Chosen not for good in me, Wakened up from wrath to flee

Hidden in the Saviour's side, by the Spirit Sanctified,

Teach me Lord, on earth to show, By my love, how much I owe”