Tuesday, March 26,
2013, 7:07 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Sing Praises” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read Jeremiah 31, and
then the Lord Jesus, I believe, led me back to read Isaiah 61. I see many parallels between these two passages: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2031&version=NIV
Isaiah
If I had to summarize the book of Isaiah I would say that a
good portion of the book is given over to prophecies concerning the Messiah
Jesus Christ, to his life, ministry, death, resurrection, the gospel of
salvation, the messianic age, the life of the church, the church in rebellion
in the last days, God’s judgments on the idolatrous and adulterous church of
the final days on this earth, and to promises of restoration, renewal and
revival of God’s penitent people - his church - and, as a direct result, the
gospel of Jesus Christ going forth from the revived church to all the nations
of the world, and people from all nations streaming to faith in Jesus Christ,
to the gospel of salvation by grace through faith, to the kingdom of heaven,
and to Christ’s body, the church (see Is. 2, in particular). So, with that
understanding of the book of Isaiah I read chapter
61:1-3 (NIV):
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
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who
mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a
crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of
praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called
oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
Good News
Jesus Christ quoted vv. 1-2a about himself. Jesus Christ is
God the Son, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God the Father anointed his Son to proclaim “good news” to the poor. “Good news”
has to do with freedom from captivity, which in the case of Jesus Christ meant
freedom from captivity (slavery) to sin. Jesus not only proclaimed it, but he
made the way possible for us to be delivered from sin. He died on the cross,
taking upon himself the sins of the entire world, so that we could go free from
slavery to sin. Our sins died with him on that cross, they were buried with him
in the grave, but they remained in the grave when he rose again, conquering
death, hell, Satan and sin.
Yet, that does not automatically mean that everyone in the
world is saved from sin. We have to each individually accept God’s invitation
to receive his Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, and to accept
his plan of salvation (deliverance from sin) for our lives personally. Jesus
said we have to repent and believe the “good news.” To repent means not only to
completely turn away from our lives of sin and living for self, but it means a
complete turnabout - a complete and radical transformation of mind and heart
(like the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly) – away from sin and
toward a walk of faith and obedience to Jesus Christ and to his will for our
lives (see Eph. 2:1-10; 4:17-24; Luke 9:23-25; Rom. 6; 1 John; Gal. 2:20, et
al). This is the only way in which we can truly be delivered from slavery to
(and the penalty of) sin, so this is the “good news.”
The Poor
The meaning of the word “poor” is “deprived; unfortunate;
humble; needy” etc. We can be poor in material possessions and wealth, or we
can be poor in abilities and aptitudes, or poor in strength, power and endurances,
or poor in health, in education, wisdom, knowledge, or understanding, or we can
be spiritually impoverished due to sin in our lives. Since Jesus Christ was
anointed to preach the “Good News” to the “poor,” and since the “Good News” has
to do with being delivered from slavery to sin, then I would suggest that the “poor”
are those who are impoverished spiritually due to sin so the good news is that
Jesus Christ came to provide a way out from underneath that weight of sin, and
that through faith in Jesus Christ (as described in the above paragraph), by
God’s grace in attaining salvation for us, we who are impoverished spiritually
can be delivered from our poverty and we can be made rich in Jesus Christ in
all his spiritual riches and blessings he will lavish upon us.
The Brokenhearted
Those who are brokenhearted are those who are despairing,
crushed, desolate, disappointed, sad, sorrowful, etc. If we have cancer, and
someone puts a Band-Aid over our wounds, the cancer will continue to grow and
to destroy the healthy tissues in our bodies. The only way to truly “bind up”
the brokenhearted (those with cancer of the heart, soul or emotion) is to get
to the cancer, to dig it out, and then to dress the wound. The Bible speaks
much against false prophets who dress the serious sin wounds of the people as
though they are not serious, saying “peace, peace,” when there is no peace. The
only way to true peace with God is through repentance (digging out the cancer),
being transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God (digging out the
cancer of sin and replacing it with the truth of God’s holy word, and walking
in that truth), and putting on our new lives in Christ (dressing of the wound with
the truth of God’s word, his salvation, and his blessings).
Freedom for the
Captives
Many today are “short-sheeting” the gospel, i.e. they are
only telling half the truth, but not the whole truth, and so they are not truly
proclaiming freedom for the captives. Jesus came to set us free, not only from
eternity in hell, but he set us free from slavery to sin day-to-day so that we
could walk in freedom to live for God in his righteousness. They are telling
the people the truth about what Jesus Christ did for us in dying for our sins,
but they are not telling them the truth about what we must each individually do
in order to appropriate what Christ did for us on the cross to our individual
lives, so they are lying to the people.
Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny
(disallow; disavow) himself (his life of living for self and sin), take up his
cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey; surrender to) him.
If we think we can receive his salvation without us dying to sin and self and
without a commitment to walk faithfully in obedience to him, then think again,
because that is not what scripture teaches. The only way we will be free from
slavery to sin is if we daily choose to leave our lives of sin behind us, to
reject the temptations to sin and to live for self, and if daily we choose to
live for righteousness, holiness, godliness and to obey our Lord and Savior in
his power and strength. This, brothers and sisters, is true freedom! I know!! I
have been in slavery, and I know what it means to be free, so don’t let anyone
sell you short on what it means to be set free. Freedom comes by God’s grace
through faith (repentance and obedience). Anything short of that is no freedom
at all.
Favor & Vengeance
The year of the Lord’s favor is the day of our salvation;
our redemption. To proclaim this favor is to proclaim his grace, love, mercy,
compassion and forgiveness, his death on the cross, his resurrection, and his
plan of salvation for how we can be set free from slavery to sin so that we can
live with God for eternity and so we can live for him daily while we still live
on the face of this earth in freedom, righteousness and holiness.
The day of vengeance is two-fold, I believe. God will visit
the people of this earth in vengeance during the time known as the Tribulation
when he will judge the earth and its inhabitants. This will be followed by a
thousand year reign of Christ on the earth, during which time Satan will be
bound, which will then be followed by the “great white throne” judgment. Anyone
whose name is not found written in the Lamb’s “book of life” will be thrown
into the lake of fire where he or she will be tormented forever and ever. So,
God will pour out his vengeance on the earth and on its inhabitants during the
time known as the Tribulation, but then he will also judge us on the basis of
what we did with Jesus Christ, and that will determine whether we spend
eternity in hell or in glory with God.
Mourn and Grieve
We can mourn and grieve over the loss of a loved one, loss
of health, job, etc. And, certainly we are in need of comforting during those
times. Yet, what is the picture here in context of the book of Isaiah as a
whole, and in context of these first two verses in chapter 61? The context is
that of sin and salvation, bondage and freedom, favor and vengeance, etc. I
believe, in the sequence of this passage in Isaiah 61, and this mourning and
grieving thus following after “the day of vengeance”, that there is strong
evidence here to point to what the rest of Isaiah and much of Jeremiah is
speaking to and that is a people of God who were in bondage (slavery) to sin
having just experienced God’s divine judgment due to rebelliousness, idolatry,
adultery, refusal to listen to God and unrepentant hearts, now having come to
repentance and in great need of God’s comfort, renewal, restoration and
revival. Where they had to go through a time of divine discipline, now he will
bestow upon them crowns of beauty (of holiness and righteousness), the oil of
joy of forgiveness and restoration, and praise instead of despair, because now
they have hope and healing.
Yet, this is also a picture of our salvation (the day of
favor), because when we are in slavery to sin and are living to please ourselves,
we do not have hope, a future, healing, etc. We are lost in this endless
pursuit for happiness but never to find it because we are looking in all the
wrong places. The only way to peace and rest is through repentance (mourning
and grieving over our sin to the point of turning from it), faith and obedience
– the true expression of our love for God and for others, too. So, when we
finally come to the end of our ropes and cry out in desperation to God for his
saving grace, and we turn from our sins and we choose to walk daily in
obedience to him and to surrender to his will, then he delivers us from that
bondage to and the control of sin over our lives and he sets us free to walk in
victory. Amen! This is true freedom! This is the “Good News!”
Sing Praises / An
Original Work / November 30, 2012
Based off Psalms 6-9
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Tell of His wondrous
works.
Afflicted, they cry
out;
The Lord will not
forget;
The needy, not desert.
The Lord’s our refuge
now;
A stronghold when we fear.
The Lord will ne’er
forsake
The ones, who Him
pursue!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
With all my heart I
sing.
I will rejoice in Him;
Sing praises to His
name;
Tell of His wondrous
works.
My shield is God Most
High.
He saves those who
believe
In Jesus Christ, God’s
Son.
His grace has pardoned
you!
The Lord accepts my
prayer!
The Lord has heard my
cries.
He is so merciful.
He heals my anguished
soul.
The Lord has made me
whole.
Give thanks unto the
Lord.
Give praise unto His
name.
Our Lord is righteousness.
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment