1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:1-3).
16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18The 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……28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong(Luke 4:16-21, 28-29).
This prophecy from Isaiah was directly fulfilled in Christ’s own words as recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Christ made this statement in His own hometown. It was not well received. In fact the people of Nazareth tried to kill Christ after He spoke these words. The people would have immediately known that Christ was saying that He was the Messiah and they did not wish to accept this testimony. The people were expecting a different kind of Messiah, certainly not one from a common family. The words of Christ provoked people to anger. But lets examine these words: “preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, restore the sight of the blind”. These are real ‘fighting’ words, aren’t they? Well, the real cause of anger is that the people wanted their own ‘brand’ of Messiah. They wanted a Messiah that fit their mold, their agenda and their terms. This may sound familiar? We sometimes want our own ‘brand’ of Jesus don’t we? We want the Jesus that loves us, but doesn’t really ask us to follow Him. Jesus couldn’t possibly mean deny ourselves, pick up our Cross and follow Him? But, we sometimes just want things our way, don’t we? While this may seem harsh, the point is that some of us may have responded just like the people of Nazareth. Only by humbling ourselves before the Cross can we hope to become the people Christ wants us to become, rather than trying to make Christ the god we want Him to become. The promises of the prophecy of Isaiah as fulfilled in Christ remain true today: Christ came to heal, comfort, and set us free. We should respond by following Him.
16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18The 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……28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong(Luke 4:16-21, 28-29).
This prophecy from Isaiah was directly fulfilled in Christ’s own words as recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Christ made this statement in His own hometown. It was not well received. In fact the people of Nazareth tried to kill Christ after He spoke these words. The people would have immediately known that Christ was saying that He was the Messiah and they did not wish to accept this testimony. The people were expecting a different kind of Messiah, certainly not one from a common family. The words of Christ provoked people to anger. But lets examine these words: “preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captives, restore the sight of the blind”. These are real ‘fighting’ words, aren’t they? Well, the real cause of anger is that the people wanted their own ‘brand’ of Messiah. They wanted a Messiah that fit their mold, their agenda and their terms. This may sound familiar? We sometimes want our own ‘brand’ of Jesus don’t we? We want the Jesus that loves us, but doesn’t really ask us to follow Him. Jesus couldn’t possibly mean deny ourselves, pick up our Cross and follow Him? But, we sometimes just want things our way, don’t we? While this may seem harsh, the point is that some of us may have responded just like the people of Nazareth. Only by humbling ourselves before the Cross can we hope to become the people Christ wants us to become, rather than trying to make Christ the god we want Him to become. The promises of the prophecy of Isaiah as fulfilled in Christ remain true today: Christ came to heal, comfort, and set us free. We should respond by following Him.
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