Freedom for the Captives

 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

    and the day of vengeance of our God;

    to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV)

This, in essence, is the message of the gospel of our salvation. And Jesus read the first part of this in the Synagogue in Nazareth, applying it to himself as the anointed of the Lord (Luke 4:17-21). But he was not the only one to bring this good news. All of us who are in Christ, by God-given faith in him, are to be sharing the good news of this gospel to the world around us (1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18).

I am now going to kind of summarize my understanding of how this applies to our lives today. The Good News is not just for people who are physically poor (reference the beatitudes in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5). So I believe these are the poor (humble) in spirit, for they are the ones who are going to listen and respond to the gospel and believe. The same applies to the brokenhearted, which are those who are repentant over their sin.

Regarding the captives and those in prison, this is speaking of those who are in slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin. Jesus came to set the captives free. He died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). So when we believe in Jesus with God-given faith, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him (Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 4:17-24).

Those who mourn are those who are contrite in heart and who grieve over their sin and so they repent (turn away from their sin). God will comfort us when we grieve and we repent of our sin. He will comfort us with his salvation. And to be given a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, is to be delivered out of our lives of addiction to sin so we can now walk in holiness and righteousness. And oh what gladness when we are set free!

Freedom for the Captives

Video Talk

January 28, 2023

https://youtu.be/HoElgkk6ysI

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Praise Be Told!  

An Original Work / December 28, 2013

Based off Various Scriptures 

He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for all our sin.

Our chastisement was upon Him.

By His stripes, we now are healed.

He has witnessed all our trials,

And the sins we choose to wear.

Yet, while we were dead in our sin,

Jesus died, our sins to bear.

He himself bore all of our sins

In His body on a cross,

So that we might die to our sin,

And live for His righteousness.

By faith in the pow’r of Jesus

And His blood shed for our sins,

We can be forgiven our sin,

And have life with God in heav’n.

He will lead us and He’ll guide us

In the way that we should go.

He will comfort and protect us,

Because Jesus, we do know.

Though He disciplines for our good,

He will heal us – Praise be told!

Do not fear, your Lord is with you.

Just have faith in Christ your Lord.

https://vimeo.com/112335646