The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Isaiah 61:1-2a,
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor..."
Jesus read this passage from a scroll of Isaiah some seven hundred years later, at the synagogue in Nazareth and applied it to himself:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Lule 4:18-19.
In Luke's gospel, this takes place just after his baptism by John and his forty day fast in the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil. The reaction of the people in the synagogue was anger and hostility after he pointed out to them that prophets are not accepted in their hometowns. They were so angry they drove him out of town and took him to a cliff where they intended to throw him off. We are simply told he walked right through the crowd and "went on his way."
That "good news" he was sent to proclaim to the poor was in conjunction with the atonement he made of himself when he died on that cross. Since his death, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven, his good news, the gospel, has been at work among all mankind. As the passage in Isaiah says, he was sent by God, with the Holy Spirit upon him. He has set himself to make a people for himself.
The good news includes encouragement for the brokenhearted, freedom for us all, as we are all captives of sin. He removes the veil of the "thick darkness" that obscures the vision of all of us sinners and he releases us from God's judgment of eternal death to bring us eternal life. All he asks of us is to embrace him in faith!
Surely this is the day of the Lord's favor!
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor..."
Jesus read this passage from a scroll of Isaiah some seven hundred years later, at the synagogue in Nazareth and applied it to himself:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Lule 4:18-19.
In Luke's gospel, this takes place just after his baptism by John and his forty day fast in the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil. The reaction of the people in the synagogue was anger and hostility after he pointed out to them that prophets are not accepted in their hometowns. They were so angry they drove him out of town and took him to a cliff where they intended to throw him off. We are simply told he walked right through the crowd and "went on his way."
That "good news" he was sent to proclaim to the poor was in conjunction with the atonement he made of himself when he died on that cross. Since his death, burial, resurrection and ascension into heaven, his good news, the gospel, has been at work among all mankind. As the passage in Isaiah says, he was sent by God, with the Holy Spirit upon him. He has set himself to make a people for himself.
The good news includes encouragement for the brokenhearted, freedom for us all, as we are all captives of sin. He removes the veil of the "thick darkness" that obscures the vision of all of us sinners and he releases us from God's judgment of eternal death to bring us eternal life. All he asks of us is to embrace him in faith!
Surely this is the day of the Lord's favor!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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