Sunday, April 29,
2012, 7:30 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song, “The Lord’s Anointed,” playing in my
mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 1-2 (quoting selected passages NIV 1984):
“She will give birth
to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his
people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord
had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth
to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
“for this is what the
prophet has written:
“‘But you, Bethlehem,
in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of
Judah;
for out of you will
come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people
Israel.’”
And so was fulfilled
what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Then what was said
through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
“A voice is heard in
Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her
children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no
more.”
So was fulfilled what
was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
My Understanding: Jesus
Christ, God the Son, left heaven, came to the earth, and was born as a baby (in
human flesh). He had a human mother but his birth Father was God. The child
within Mary’s womb was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God. Joseph was not
Jesus’ birth father, yet he became his human father. There was no union between
Joseph and Mary until after Jesus was born. An angel visited Joseph in a dream
and told him about this supernatural conception, and that he was not to fear
taking Mary as his wife. The angel told him that Mary would give birth to a
son, and that Joseph was to give him the name Jesus, because he would save his
people from their sins. This fulfilled what the prophet had said about a virgin
giving birth to a son, and that he was to be called Immanuel, which means, “God
with us.” Jesus Christ, thus, was God in the flesh, and he was/is the Savior of
mankind. He was declared to be God in the very first chapter of our New
Testament. One of the reasons he was killed was because he claimed to be God.
Our God
The first chapter of the Gospel of John goes into this
subject in greater detail. Jesus, the Word, was with God in the beginning and
he was/is God. All things were made through him, i.e. Jesus Christ is the
creator of the universe. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Jesus, the Word, was in the world, but the world did not recognize him for who
he was/is.
I find that still true today, as he is in the world through
us, his followers, and he is revealed in nature, and his word has gone
throughout the world, and yet the world (worldly people) does not recognize him
for who he truly is. Even his own did not receive him. We, the church, the body
of Christ, are his own, and yet many in the church today truly do not know who
Jesus is, and they do not recognize his work among them, even when it stares
them boldly in the face, because the world has so infiltrated the church, and
so the true Jesus is hardly recognizable. I truly believe Jesus Christ, today,
would be rejected and ostracized in most of our churches. In fact, he already
is.
Our Savior
Jesus Christ was the Lamb “who takes away the sin of the
world!” John said about Jesus, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son
of God.” John said that all who receive Christ; all who believe in his name,
God gives them the right to become children of God, born of the Spirit of God.
Jesus Christ, God the Son, came into the world to die for
our sins. He became human flesh so that he could experience what we, as humans,
experience, and so he could feel our pain. Because he suffered as we suffer,
and because he was tempted like we are tempted, yet without sin, he is able to
be our compassionate, merciful and faithful High Priest, because he can
literally sympathize with us in our weaknesses. We have a God who has gone
through the things we have endured, with the exception of sinning, so when we
go to him in prayer we know he truly understands, from personal experience, how
we feel. He even knows the pain of our sin, because he took upon himself the
sins of the entire world. I can’t imagine that. My own sin was bad enough. I
just cannot possibly fathom the pain and suffering he must have endured in
taking upon himself - the sinless one - all our sins.
Yet, he did all of that because he loves us, because he
wanted to set us free from the control and power of sin over our daily lives,
and because he wanted to set us free from the ultimate penalty of sin –
eternity in hell and eternal separation from God Almighty.
Prophecy Fulfilled
The prophets of the Bible prophesied of the coming of the
Messiah, the Son of God; Jesus Christ. In chapters 1-2 of Matthew we learn in
which ways those prophecies were fulfilled. The first one mentioned concerned
his birth (his coming in the flesh) and his deity, i.e. that he is God and he
was God with us in the flesh of man. The second one had to do with him being
the Savior of his people, and John expands that to him being the Savior of the
world. He died on the cross so we could be set free from the penalty and
control of sin.
The next prophecy that was fulfilled about Jesus was that he
was to come out of Bethlehem, and he was to shepherd God’s people. Jesus is our
Good Shepherd, and he lay his life down for the sheep. Another prophecy
concerning Jesus was said as though it was God speaking: “Out of Egypt I called
my son.” Jesus Christ had to move with his family to Egypt early on in his life
because the king wanted to take his life. King Herod, when he realized that the
Magi did not return and give him the location of Jesus, went on a rampage and
had all the boys two years old and under living in Bethlehem killed. That
fulfilled the prophecy about Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be
comforted, because they were no more.
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in
a dream and told him to take the child and Mary and move to Israel. So, Joseph
did what he was told. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in
place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. So, having been warned in
a dream, Joseph then moved his family to Galilee, to a town called Nazareth,
which then fulfilled the prophecy about Jesus that he would be called a
Nazarene.
The Good News
In giving me the song “The
Lord’s Anointed” this morning, the Lord reminded me yet of another prophecy
of scripture concerning Jesus Christ, taken from Isaiah 61. Jesus was anointed
to preach the Good News of the gospel. He was sent to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and to preach release for
prisoners who are walking in darkness. He was to proclaim both grace and
judgment, to comfort those who mourn, and to provide for those who grieve in
Zion – to give crowns of beauty, the oil of gladness, and a garment of praise
to them in place of ashes, mourning and a spirit of despair.
Jesus Christ was anointed of the Holy Spirit of God to
preach the Good News. We are, too. Jesus Christ was sent to bind up the wounds
of (to bring healing to) the brokenhearted. We are, too. He was to proclaim
freedom for those in captivity to sin, i.e. he was to preach to them how they
could be set free from captivity to sin. We are given that commission, too.
~ So I tell you this,
and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,
in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and
separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to
the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given
themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with
a continual lust for more.
You, however, did not come to know Christ
that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the
truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of
life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new
self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ~ Eph.
4:17-24
This is the Good News! This is the truth that sets the
captives free! Yet, many of today’s clergy and church leaders are not teaching
this. They are watering down the gospel message. They are removing repentance
(turning from sin) and obedience to Christ (putting on the new self), and are
telling people they can be saved without repentance or obedience to Christ.
Where is the “good news” in that? That only leaves people in their sins,
without hope, and trusting in a false hope that will not lead them to either a
personal and vital relationship with Jesus Christ or to eternity in heaven. That
leaves the prisoners still captive and still in darkness. They are not set free
at all.
So, there cannot be true healing for the brokenhearted,
either, because true healing comes through understanding and applying the
truths of God’s word to our lives, and through spiritual cleansing from sin.
That is one reason I say Jesus Christ would be rejected and ostracized in many
of our churches today, because the “Good News” he preaches is not the same as
what is being taught in much of the church today. And, many of us will receive
the same treatment when we try to teach the Good News as Jesus taught it, too.
Grace and Judgment
Jesus Christ was anointed to proclaim God’s favor (his
grace) and his day of judgment. When Jesus Christ came to earth the first time,
he came as Savior (God’s grace), yet one day he will return as judge and that
day will be a day of vengeance of our God.
The mourning here could be the mourning over our own sin, and/or
it could be grieving over the judgments of God on us, his people, because we
did not repent of our sins, although he had called us to do so over and over
again (see Rev. 2-3). Whether we mourn and grieve over our own sins or over our
sins plus the punishment of God inflicted upon us because of continued sin and
unrepentance, if we are contrite of heart, God/Jesus is there to comfort us, to
renew us to a right relationship with him, to restore us to sweet fellowship
with him, and to fill us (perhaps, once again) with his joy, peace and
spiritual blessings from above. This is called salvation, or revival for the
Christian returned to his “first love.” When our hearts are truly turned toward
God, and we have left our sins behind us, there is such release, such freedom,
such victory, peace and joy that replaces despair and mourning.
Jesus Christ was commissioned of God the Father to preach
such release and freedom in Christ, and we, as his followers, are to be his
representatives on this earth in doing what he did and to obey his commandments
to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. First of all, we must be in a
right relationship with God. I pray we will all make our hearts right with God
today so that we may experience his blessings, and so that he may use us as his
hands and feet in preaching the good news, in binding up the brokenhearted, and
in preaching release to those still in darkness, and so we can help renew and
restore people back to a right relationship with Jesus Christ who have fallen
back into the pit of sin.
The Lord’s Anointed
/ An Original Work / December 16, 2011
Based off Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sov’reign
Lord on me;
Anointed to preach the
Good News;
Sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted;
Proclaim freedom for
the captives.
He sent me to preach release
for pris’ners
Who are walking in
sin’s darkness;
Proclaim God’s grace
to all men who’ll listen;
And tell them about God’s
judgments;
Comfort all who mourn;
Give crowns of beauty;
Oil of gladness and
thanksgiving.
They will be called
oaks of God’s righteousness,
A planting of our
Savior, God,
For the display of our
Lord’s splendor, and
They will rebuild
God’s holy church.
God will renew them,
and will restore them,
And you’ll be called
priests of the Lord.
You will be ministers
of our God, and
You will rejoice in
salvation.
The Lord loves
justice;
He is faithful to
Reward those who are
seeking Him.
I delight greatly in
the Lord;
My soul rejoices in my
Savior, God.
He has clothed me with
His salvation,
And in a robe of His
righteousness.
He has given me
priestly garments to
Wear, as the bride of
Jesus Christ.
As the garden of our
Lord and Savior,
He causes us to grow
in Him.
He makes
righteousness,
Praise, and
thanksgiving
Spring up before all
the nations.
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