“The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good
tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to the blind and to the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them who
are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all
that morn; to appoint unto them that morn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, the planting of the Lord that he
might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:1-3).
These amazing promises are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah
has foreseen the coming anointed ministry of Jesus far in advance of its
realization. The first two of the above cited verses are duplicated at Luke
4:18-19 as Jesus opens the book of Isaiah and quotes them at a gathering in the
synagogue at Nazareth. This is the beginning of the ministry of Jesus which is
to continue for a period of three and one-half years to the house of Israel
leading up to his crucifixion. The
anointing refereed to is found at his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan
River when the Spirit of the Lord descended upon him accompanied by the voice of
God from heaven proclaiming him to be the Son of God in whom the Father was
well pleased. (See Matt. 3:16-17). This necessary anointing is confirmed by the
prophet Daniel a at Daniel 9:24: “Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to make an end to
sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, and to seal up the vision of prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” The anointed ministry of Jesus
was extended first to the house of Israel prior to his death on the cross, but
it was ordained to reach far beyond that to all nations at the end of the
prophesied ‘seventy weeks’.
“And strangers (Gentiles) shall feed your
flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowman and your vine dressers.
But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers
of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall ye
boast yourselves.” (Isaiah 61:5-6). The demise of a people who are unbelieving
is revealed following this promise of the salvation to be extended to the alien
Gentiles. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who
believes and commits themselves to him. He fulfilled the law and it was nailed to
his cross abrogating completely the old covenant.“For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I
will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with
them. And heir seed shall be sown among
the Gentiles, and their offering among the people: all that see them shall
acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed. “(Isaiah
61:8-9).
Israel’s
demise was sealed by their rejection of their Messiah although a remnant from among thembelieved and became the heirs of ‘the new and everlasting covenant’ which the Lord had
already promised definitively through the prophets and is detailed by the prophet Jeremiah. We will visit that text at a later time.
The
balance of Isaiah 61 is focused on the blessings promised for those who wholly
embrace that new and everlasting covenant.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth
her bud, and as the garden causeth the things to spring forth; so the Lord God
will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:11-12).
David Lance
Dean website and blogs
:authordavidlancedean.com
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