Psalm 8:1; add 31:1-4
My Shepherd met me grazing in Isaiah 61, and contemplating the relationship between the first and second coming of Christ.
Isaiah 61:1 ¶ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
After Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil (Mathew 4:1). He defeated Satan’s efforts to seduce Him into sin, and began His public ministry. He began in Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, “being glorified of all” (Luke 4:14-15).
He entered into His hometown, Nazareth, and attended the synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). Jesus entered and passed the Torah scrolls in an ark (an ornate cabinet in which the Torah scrolls are displayed at the entrance of the synagogue—a representation of the O.T. Ark of the Covenant). A “minister” — called the Chazzan ha-Knesset, the attendant, or minister of the knesset, that is, the assembly. (Today, he is called the cantor and leads the worship service.) The Birkhot haShachar, the morning blessing, was sung by the congregants. Then the service leader would pronounce the Barachu, the call to worship. The “minister” leads the congregation to recite the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is One Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This would have been followed by silent prayer, concluded with a prayer by the minister, or, if available, the rabbi. This is followed by a reading from the Torah (Books of Moses), and then from the Haftarah (the Prophets).
Jesus stood at this point in the service, indicating that He would offer the reading of the Haftorah. The “minister” brought the Isaiah scroll to Jesus, and He deliberately opened it to Isaiah 61, read verses 1-2a, then stopped mid-sentence. He returned the scroll to the minister and sat quietly while every eye was fixed on Him. He declared to the congregation: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:18-21). Having their attention, He preached a message that stirred deep resentment against Him. The message declared His prophecy that the Jews would despise Him, and showed from the Scriptures that God loved the Gentiles: “And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong” (Luke 4:28-29). They tried to kill Him.
He read up to the phrase, “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” He stopped short of the phrase, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” He had not come to judge the world; He came to save (Luke 9:56; John 3:17).
Along the still waters, I pondered the fact that Isaiah’s prophecy of Israel’s restoration and glory followed “the day of vengeance” (See Isaiah 61:2b-11). Jesus stopped reading before that part of the prophecy. He had not come to fulfill Isaiah 61:3b-11.
The “day of vengeance” follows the period Jesus said would be characterized by “distress in the land, and wrath upon this people” (Luke 21:23). Still, in the last days, the prophecies of Isaiah 2, Micah 4, and Genesis 49:1, 13 will be fulfilled. These prophecies reveal a time of unparalleled prosperity in the Middle East, with Jerusalem being an International City of “Peace,” the Jewish Temple rebuilt, and religious tolerance the prevailing political policy (Isaiah 2:1-8; Micah 4:1-5). However, Jerusalem will be overrun with idols, and Israel will be economically connected to the “east” (Iran, and/or Iraq) (Isaiah 2:6-8). Remember, at the time the man of sin rises to power, Jerusalem will be spiritually called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” “where also our Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8). Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 describe Jerusalem in the period leading up to the rise of the man of sin.
Many believe the man of sin will be identified by making peace in the Middle East. We know Daniel warns us that the man of sin will destroy many with שַׁלְוָ֖ה (Shal-Vah, peace), in Daniel 8:25. However, this is not שָׁלֹ֔ם (Shalom, peace). The distinction is important. Daniel 8:25 uses a word that suggests a peace that encourages complacency, rooted in tranquility, quiet, and ease. It is a kind of “peace” that arises from prosperity, and is often corrosive of manners and character—hence the destructive nature of the peace advanced by “Little horn” (Daniel 7:8; 8:9—Daniel’s symbolic representation of the Man of Sin, or Antichrist). But the Shalom peace is comprehensive and whole, arising from harmony, first with GOD.
The man of sin will be revealed when he fulfills the prophecy that marks the beginning of his career as “little horn.” That is found in Daniel 7, where we are told that the Little Horn attacks the fourth beast and subdues three of its ten kings (Daniel 7:20-24). As for what marks the beginning of the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24-27), it is an event called the confirmation of the covenant (Daniel 9:27). It is not the rebuilding of the Temple, or the covenant between God and Abraham, which is already confirmed by God (Galatians 3:15-17; see also 1 Chronicles 16:17, with Psalm 105:10). What covenant, then, is Daneil speaking of in 9:27? See Isaiah 28:14-16. It’s the covenant between the scornful rulers of Jerusalem and “Death,” and their “agreement” with “Hell” (See Revelation 6:8). Selah!
We avoid being blown off the course of truth by every “wind of doctrine” by knowing the Scriptures (Ephesians 4:14). Therefore, we must “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Jesus’ calling was to “proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” He said to us, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). We will be removed, as He was, before “the day of vengeance of our God” (Acts 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-7; Philippians 3:20-21, with 4:5).
In the valley, Jesus calls His disciples to “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). For we are called to “present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1-2). Therefore, we say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20a). And this is all summarized in our Lord’s call: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed as we entered the harvest together.
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
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