The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Luke 4:18-19,
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
This is the passage Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1-2, when he announced his ministry to Israel in the synagogue in Nazareth. This passage in Isaiah depicts a day when the Lord will rescue and bless his people, blessings clearly prophetic of life in the resurrection. In a few verses earlier, Isaiah 60:16 the Lord says, "Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Here is the message Jesus wanted to proclaim to Israel and the rest of the world on that Sabbath day in Nazareth so many years ago: the Lord our Savior, our Redeemer has arrived!
In his proclamation Jesus points to his presence on earth as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah. In a gripping, dramatic fashion, after having read the scripture, Jesus looked at them and said, "Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." It is an account that moves me every time I read it. Here, the Son of God has manifested himself as Jesus Christ, our Lord, our God, our Savior, our Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob!
Embedded within the passage Jesus read is something that I find quite startling about God as I think it over. It is that, although we as people have gone our own way, turned our backs on God in our rebellion and resistance to him that started in Eden, God reaches out to us. Having enslaved ourselves, shackled ourselves with this horrible sinful nature that prompts us to think, do and say all kinds of things we ourselves find repulsive, God provides freedom. Having developed a spiritual blindness from the darkness we have place ourselves in, he brings recovery of sight!
Why would he do such things for us? What have we done to deserve this wonderful favor from him, given our sin and rebellion against him? We don't deserve it - it is God's kindness! Our God is a kind and merciful God. We read in Jeremiah 9:24, "'Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."
Here is something about God that I know I will spend the remainder of my life struggling to understand: God's love, mercy and kindness. I know of it, I embrace it, I struggle to understand it. The breadth and depth of God's love for us is simply difficult for me to wrap my mind around. Paul's prayer for believers is just that, "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19. Here Paul tells us that our ability to grasp the full dimension of God's love is life altering, "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
The love of God, his kindness, compassion, mercy and forgiveness - mulling it over takes my breath away!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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