The Messiah Announces Good News (Isaiah Sermon 73)

So this morning as I was thinking about this text, I was closing my eyes and just trying to picture in redemptive history, when Jesus came to his hometown of Nazareth after having, it seems, already done some miracles, already done some healings, and the report had gotten back to his hometown, and he went to the synagogue there. And the town was abuzz with the reports, I’m sure, and they were wondering what was going on about Jesus. And the Sabbath day had come and everyone assembled in the synagogue and the time for the reading of the Scripture came in that worship service. And Jesus rose and went forward and the scroll of Isaiah was given to him. And he unrolled into the very place we’re studying this morning, this very text of Scripture, Isaiah 61. And he read the ancient words powerfully and with spirit-endowed passion. And I think you probably could have heard a pin drop. Perhaps the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was a powerful moment as he read these words to the enthralled assembly there in the synagogue. “The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for prisoners, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And after he finished reading most of verses 1 and 2, he rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the attendant and then he sat down, and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he opened his mouth and spoke these words. “Today in your hearing this Scripture is fulfilled.”

Fulfilled. I think if I had been an average neighbor of Jesus, I would have been stunned at that word. Fulfilled. That word “fulfilled” must have hit everyone there like a thunderbolt. After all, the passage that Jesus had read had been around for centuries, 700 years. And now this man, who they’d watched grow up from a little boy in their community, was saying that as they listened to him read that Scripture, the Scripture had been fulfilled, this prophecy. This was a Messianic prophecy. And he was claiming to be the fulfillment of that ancient prophecy. Now our faith, our Christian faith, is a supernatural faith. It’s unlike any other religion in the world. It’s different. And what sets it apart from every other religion in the world is just this, fulfilled prophecy, specifically fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. That’s what makes Christianity different. No other religion has this. Through the prophets, God told the human race ahead of time what he would do. And then in Christ, he did it. He fulfilled those words. No other religion in the world has this element of fulfilled prophecy, just as no other religion in the world has Jesus. Isaiah has talked about this again and again, how God alone can do this, God alone has the power to do this.

Isaiah 46:9 and 10. “I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is yet to come. And I say, my purpose will stand and I will do all that I desire.” That’s the God of the Bible. Or again, this, Isaiah 42:9. “Behold, the former things have taken place and new things I declare. Before they spring into being, I announce them to you.” No prophecies in Scripture are as significant as those centered around the person and work of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, the Anointed One, the Messiah. These prophecies set Jesus apart from every other religious leader. Mark that well. Use that to share the Gospel with people who think Christianity is like every other religion. It’s not. They set Jesus apart from every king that’s ever lived, every prophet or priest that’s ever lived. They set him apart as the unique savior of the world sent from God on high to a world that desperately needs him, a world drowning in sin. Now, this morning, we get to look carefully at this prophecy, go word by word through it, verse by verse. This prophecy, written by Isaiah seven centuries before Jesus, 27 centuries before us. And we get to thrill at every word in this ancient scroll.

We get to find light and life and health and peace and vigor and hope from considering the mission that Jesus has now accomplished, I want to say fulfilled, and that he is still fulfilling by the power of the Spirit of God. So let’s look at it together. We’re going to just unfold this line by line.

I. The Messiah and His Mission (vs. 1-3)

Look at the beginning at verse 1. “The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” So here, the Messiah, the Anointed One, is anointed with the Spirit. Now, for me as I was writing my commentary on Isaiah, I was thinking about, I had to deal with issues of interpretation all the time. It’s possible that Isaiah himself is saying these words. He’s talking about his own ministry. But I think, as a believer in all 66 books of the Bible, all of them equally inspired, Jesus has settled forever what this passage is about, amen. It’s not about Isaiah. It’s about Jesus. And so that settles it, and so Jesus is speaking to us, he’s talking to us. And so the coming Savior, this text says, he said, was anointed by the Sovereign Lord. The title “Sovereign Lord” in some of the translations is literally “Adonai Yahweh,” so it’s a doubled-up expression. Adonai is “my Lord.” Yahweh is the covenant name for God, the creator of the ends of the earth, the creator of the nation of Israel. So this, this God of the universe who is also my Lord, the personal King of all the redeemed the creator of the ends of the earth.

This one is addressed in this text or spoken of in this text, the Spirit of this God, says the text, “is upon me.” As I said, the text is written in the first person. Jesus, I believe, is speaking directly through the prophet Isaiah about His mission. And the Holy Spirit of God made plain this mission centuries before Jesus was born. This is the essence of predictive prophecy that I’m saying is completely unique in Christianity, there’s no other religion like. It says in 1 Peter 1:10-11, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ, in them, was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. So that’s the essence of prophecy. A prophet has the Spirit of Christ in Him and He makes predictions about Christ, the predictions of the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow.

And again in 2 Peter 1:21, Peter writes this, “No prophecy ever had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” That’s the essence of predictive prophecy. The Holy Spirit comes upon a prophet, and he writes down words about the future. Revelation 19:10, says the, “Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” In other words, the point of it all, is to give a testimony about Jesus. So it was the glorious work of the Holy Spirit of God to put into the mind of Isaiah the prophet, the words that Jesus wanted to speak to the human race. To speak on behalf of our Savior, Jesus Christ. These words therefore are really Jesus’s words spoken by the Holy Spirit seven centuries earlier.

Now the prediction here is that the same Spirit of God that came upon the prophets, and wrote, that same Spirit has anointed Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for the Lord has anointed me. So there’s a link between the word anointing and the work of the Spirit. They go together. So what then is this anointing? Well, the verb anoint has to do with the pouring out of oil on a key individual in Jewish society, to set them apart for their office and it’s a representation of the Spirit of God descending from heaven, to earth onto that individual. Equipping them supernaturally for the task they would fulfill. Prophets were anointed with oil, priests were anointed with oil, kings especially anointed with oil. So we have the story for example, of Saul who was anointed with the oil and the Holy Spirit came on him and made him a different man.

Recently at the advice of a church member, I was watching a historical depiction of the monarchy of Britain, and the anointing ceremonies, the key of the coronation, the key holiest moment, when the Monarch is anointed with holy oil and the Archbishop of Canterbury, puts the oil on the head and on the chest representing the heart and on the hands of the monarch. It seems like a fervent prayer that the Holy Spirit would descend and enable the monarch, to think after the manner of the Holy Spirit and to love after the manner of the Holy Spirit and to act also after the manner and by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

Sadly, the monarchy of Britain has hardly ever lived up to that. I asked a friend of mine, “Do you think any of the kings or queens have been born again?” And he didn’t know, he’s an expert in monarchy and also a believer. Well, for them individually for all eternity, it will matter but the symbolism is powerful. Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit of God. Now, this is absolutely mind-boggling. You came here this morning to have your mind boggled, whatever that means, nobody hardly ever use that word boggles, except mind-boggling. But this stretches our minds and our imaginations to the breaking point, how do we understand the infinite mysteries of Christianity? It’s a mysterious religion, we believe in the doctrine of the trinity, that one God has eternally existed in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of the persons of the Trinity are co-equal, co-eternal, but each person of the Trinity has different offices to carry out in the plan of redemption. For example, God the Father came up with the plan of redemption, it was His plan, the Father makes the plan. The Son mysteriously takes on a human body, does mighty miracle speaks perfect words, lives a sinless life, dies an atoning death and rises from the dead.

The redemption was planned by the Father, accomplished by the Son and then applied by the Spirit of God. So the Holy Spirit applies it but the Spirit we’re finding here is intrinsic to Jesus’s mission. The Holy Spirit enables Jesus to do all those things that he did. It is by the Spirit that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. It is by the Spirit that he was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil. It’s by the Spirit that He conquered all of the temptations of the devil. It was by the Spirit that He did great signs and wonders and miracles, it was by the Spirit that He taught perfect teachings. It was by the Spirit that He was strengthened in the Garden of Gethsemane, against that final temptation to turn away from the cross, so therefore by the Spirit he went to the cross, and certainly by the Spirit he was raised from the dead.

Peter says this in preaching to Cornelius the Roman Centurion. In Acts 10:38, these are just amazing words, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” So therefore Jesus did nothing apart from the Spirit’s power. Just as he did nothing apart from the Father’s plan. He says in John 5:19, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself, He can only do what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” Now, what I’m saying is concerning this anointing with the spirit, the same is true of the spirit that Jesus could do nothing apart from the Spirit of God. Now that’s where your mind gets boggled. I understand why we need the Spirit to come on us for us to do great things for God, but Jesus is God. And so go ahead, just let your mind be boggled I don’t have an answer to this. But it seems that we are instructed here that only by the Spirit of Jesus do all of these great signs and wonders in this great preaching. It’s by the Spirit that Jesus fulfilled his office to be the Savior of the world. And after Jesus rose from the dead, it is now by the Spirit of Christ that the gospel is spreading to the ends of the earth, only by the Spirit that this redemption is applied to people as Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth.”

Now, specifically in verse 1, the Spirit anointed Jesus with power to preach, power for preaching power to preach the gospel, to preach the good news. That’s the focus here to preach good news to the poor. Jesus was the greatest preacher of all time. And only by the power of the Spirit could he do it now, how great a preacher was Jesus? Do you remember the time when the rulers of the Jews, the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest Jesus remember that? And some time later, the temple guards came back empty-handed, they said, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” And they said “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” They were just totally captivated by Jesus the preacher or at the end of the Sermon of the Mount, arguably the greatest sermon that’s ever been preached.

It says when Jesus had finished saying all these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law, Where did that sense of power that encounter with the living God, come from, but by the Spirit as Jesus spoke? And it says The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. Meaning those who are destitute, they’re beggars: They have nothing to offer. And so, that great sermon, I just mentioned a moment ago, the Sermon on the Mount, begins with these words. Blessed, happy rich eternally rich blessed are the poor in spirit or a good translation, the spiritual beggars for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. You have nothing in your hands, you have nothing to offer nothing to give. And Jesus says You’re blessed if you realize it and you bring that emptiness to God and He will give you a Kingdom. So that’s who he’s going to preach to the good news.

Now, look at the mission. By the way, before I go on to the mission do you not see therefore the eternal importance of preaching? I’m not in any way saying anything about myself, just the office and the function of preaching it is eternally significant. This is exactly what the spirit anointed Jesus to do is preach. And frankly, without the preaching none of the other things would have been effective later the Apostle Paul said, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”

And faith, the faith to call on the name of the Lord comes from hearing the message even the message of Christ. And so it’s by the preaching of the message that souls are saved all over the world, is the most significant thing that happens at, on any given day is the preaching of the Gospel, it’s more significant than all of the movements of the nations. And so, the significant of the preach now look at his mission, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, 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 to provide for those who grieve in Zion. To be stolen them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” This is the fullness of Jesus’s mission. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit first and foremost, to preach to proclaim the word of God, the word of the good news, the gospel to all people, Gospel of salvation a message in words.

So it’s a message of joy for the broken-hearted, it’s a message to freedom for the captives. It’s a message of release from those sitting in dungeons of darkness, a message of the recovery of sight to those who are blind, a message of the gracious forgiveness of Almighty God, to those who deserve vengeance. This is the essence of the gospel, freedom from slavery to sin, from the chains, the dungeons of sin. Jesus said in John 8 “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” But then Jesus’s Jewish enemies said, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been slaves of anyone How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin”. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family. But a son belongs to it, forever. So if the son sets you free, you’ll be free, indeed truly free.” This is the freedom that Jesus preached. Satan has enslaved the entire human race in invisible chains that we are powerless to break. We’re held in chains of sin, bad habits that flow from corrupted hearts, evil actions that consummate, previous lusts, wicked lusts. This is the nature of Satan’s dark realm, his evil kingdom. We all sat in the gloomy dungeons of sin, and we could not break out, couldn’t break free.

So, Jesus was sent to proclaim liberty, freedom for the captives, to lead us up and out of Satan’s dark dungeons. Now that’s incredible good news. That’s what we Christians celebrate. Not just Christmas, but year-round, that we’ve been set free. We don’t ever need to sin again, ever. We’re set free. And we’re free from the penalty and the vengeance that we deserve, God’s vengeance against our breaking of his most holy laws; we are set free from all that by Jesus. Set free. Jesus said in John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life.” Isn’t that a great verse? I think it deserves to be memorized along with John 3:16. Go ahead and memorize John 3:16. But John 5:24, “Crossed over from death to life.”

Beyond that, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to perform mighty works of healing. “He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted. This binding up is literally related to shattering. So picture a piece of pottery that’s been thrown to the ground and shattered on the rocks, just shards everywhere. That’s what sin does to people. So, it does it to their bodies, their bodies are racked with disease and pain and suffering and ultimately, death. Does it to our souls, we are shattered by sin. Jesus comes to bind up, to put the pottery back together so you can’t even see that it was ever cracked. It’s a miracle of binding up of the broken-hearted. And he did literal, physical miracles. The recovery of sight to the blind, to show that he could do the far greater work of the healing of our souls and the reconciliation of our status with God, our heavenly judge and our Heavenly Father. That’s the greatest work.

And so, he did miracles in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralyzed man, “Rise and walk.” Or the same thing with the man born blind. No one ever heard in the history of the healing of a man born blind. Jesus did that. The recovery of sight to the blind, as a physical, real, actual display of power. He actually did it in space and time. Yes, I believe in the miracles. They really happen. But there are also symbols of a far greater spiritual healing that Jesus alone can do. Now, this message of healing and grace and power for sinful captives changes everything. We were mourning and we were powerless and now we are forgiven and rejoicing and we have been embraced and adopted.

Verse 2-3, “To comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion.” As Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” We get eternal comfort now. This message is as relevant today as it was in Jesus’ day. Sin leaves people’s lives shattered, our heart’s breaking. Think about the incredible comfort that Jesus has brought to people trapped by chemical addictions, enslaved by pornography, struggling with emptiness and desperation, darkly allured towards suicide, and Jesus steps in with light and changes everything and brings joy where there was such grieving and sorrow and brokenness. Jesus alone can do that. And he can step in, even to a funeral and bring a ray of eternal glorious sunshine. Even at a Christian funeral. So, we don’t grieve like those who have no hope. We actually ultimately walk out mocking death saying, “Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So we don’t grieve like those who have no hope, even at the face of the grave. So we can say goodbye to Christian spouses and Christian friends and all that, even at the grave and know we’ll see them again in Christ. He provides for those who grieve and mourn in Zion. So Isaiah 61 predicts the comfort that Jesus will bring to a mourning world, a world ripped apart and ruined by sin and death.

Now, pretty dramatically and some have noted this, some have talked to me about it even this week. In Nazareth Jesus stopped the reading right in the middle. Just stopped. Didn’t read the whole thing. What do I mean? Well, this is what he said, this is Luke 4:18-20, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” and he stopped there. Rolled up the scroll and gave it to the attendant, sat down and began to speak. Today, this Scripture is fulfilled. Okay, so he ended at the proclamation of something called the year of the Lord’s favor. I can’t hear that except that I think about the year of jubilee, like in the Book of Leviticus, where you get pretty much once in your lifetime a year unlike any other year. I mean, somebody’s like, no working. Alright? Slaves set free. All of them go back. It’s like this huge massive Sabbath rest for the fields and vineyards. And people are released from slavery and bondage then they go back to their ancestral properties and it’s the year of jubilee. Once in your lifetime. What an incredible picture. A whole year of that.

So it’s the year of the Lord’s favor. The word favor would be like grace. The year of grace, an extended period of grace for all us sinners. A once in a lifetime opportunity because of its infinite value. But it goes on for a full year, so it’s a very vast window of opportunity, but it is finite. It doesn’t go on forever, this year of the Lord’s grace. That time is now to quote an earlier passage from Isaiah, Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God and he will freely pardon.” That’s the year of the Lord’s favor. And He is near now or as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “In the time of my favor, I heard you in the day of salvation, I helped you. I tell you now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation. This is the time.

I can’t help but stop and just wonder, and I prayed this morning that God would bring people here who needed to hear this message who are presently sitting in dark dungeons of sin and chains, and I’m just telling you that the door is thrown open if you just run through it through faith in Christ. And this is the time, now, you don’t know that you’ll ever hear this gospel message again. This might be the last time you hear the gospel, you don’t know. But this is the year of the Lord’s favor, this is the opportunity for amnesty for all sinners who hear this message to run into forgiveness and reconciliation with God and eternal life. I would grab it if I were you, I already did grab it back in 1982. I’m saying this is the gospel, Jesus died on the cross for sinners like you and me, but why did he die? Well, because of the next part that Jesus didn’t read; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God. Vengeance. God has a day of vengeance for those who will not receive the grace of this gospel.

He has a day of vengeance for people all over the world who do not fulfill his holy law as written in their hearts and evidence in creation. He has a day of vengeance coming for sinners all over the world. That day is real and it is coming. Romans 2:5-8 says this, “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you’re storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath. When his righteous judgment will be revealed, God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But, for those who are self-seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil, there’ll be wrath and anger.” That’s The day of God’s vengeance. It’s spoken of in many places in Scripture. Honestly, without understanding The day of God’s vengeance, you won’t understand what you’re being saved from. Salvation won’t mean anything. You have every right to ask, “Saved from what?” Well, saved from the day of God’s vengeance, saved from being punished for your law violation, punished for your sins. All of us, we’re under that death sentence.

Jesus regularly warned about the coming day of God’s vengeance. He said, “I tell you that men will have to give an account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” Matthew 13, “The Son of Man will send out his angels and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all those who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25, the sheep and the goats. “Then he will say to those on his left [the goats], ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.'” So, why did Jesus stop the reading at that point? Clearly, at other times he did preach and warn about the day of God’s vengeance. Well, I think it has to do with the word “fulfilled,” it has to do with what he was there in his first coming to do. He was there to fulfill salvation. He didn’t need to come to earth to pour out vengeance. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed from heaven down, there didn’t need to be an incarnation to do that. But for salvation, he came from heaven to earth. The first coming was to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and salvation. But there will be a second coming.

Now in John 3:17, Jesus said, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world will be saved through him.” So he didn’t come for vengeance in the first coming. But there will be a second coming. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says, “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels, he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.” That’s what the second coming will be like. That’s why I think he stopped the reading.

II. The Transformation of the Messiah’s People (vs. 3-9)

Now, in verses 3-9, we see the transformation of Messiah’s people, not only does Jesus proclaim and heal but he also transforms the people he saves. We become different, essentially changed, transformed.

Look at verse 3, “To bestow on them… “ And I love the NIV’s translation here, so I’m going to stick with it. “To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, for the display of his splendor.” Now, this is really cool. It wasn’t till I practiced this sermon this morning that I noticed this. So here, these three words are highlighted in my outline: Crown, oil, garment. What does that speak to you of, but a coronation? It’s amazing. These are emblems of royalty. These are emblems of royalty, as though Jesus came to take wretched dungeon dwellers like us and make us into royalty, and put a crown on our heads, and anoint us with the oil of his spirit, and cover us with righteous robes to make us royalty, kings and queens under his ultimate kingship. He will be King of kings, and he will be Lord of lords, and we will reign with him forever. And so Peter calls us a royal priesthood. It’s just amazing.

And so the transformation is of our heads, so that we think differently through repentance and through the teaching of the Word of God, and our hearts, so that we love differently by the transforming work of the Spirit, and then our lives, so we live different kinds of lives, and look how he describes it, “A crown of beauty instead of ashes.” We were ugly in God’s sight, but through the imputed righteousness of Christ, we’re now radiantly attractive to him, he actually likes looking at us in Christ. And then the oil of gladness, instead of mourning, Christ is everything. These exact words were spoken of Jesus’s affections. In Hebrews 1:9, it says of Jesus, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God your God has exalted you or set you above your companions,” listen, “by anointing you with the oil of joy.” It’s the exact same thing it says here. We are then in him transformed, loving righteousness, hating wickedness, anointed with the oil of joy instead of mourning.

So Jesus changes our hearts and then a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair, apart from Christ, life was hopeless, it was bleak and empty and purposeless. We had nothing to look forward to except the just wrath of God in death. But now, in Christ, we have a joyful life in which we can do service to God that’s worth doing. We can actually do good works, not to pay for sins, but to build up his kingdom and it says, “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” Isn’t that marvelous? Oh, I want to be an oak of righteousness, wouldn’t that be marvelous? We were bruised reeds, weren’t we? Swaying back and forth with public opinion, every temptation swayed by it, powerless to resist. Now, in Christ, we can become mighty oaks of righteousness, no longer double-minded but able to withstand all of Satan’s attacks.

After I graduated from college, I took a trip, a cross-country, with a friend of mine, probably one of most fun trips I ever made. We were two free guys. He was driving to a job in LA, I had one waiting for me back in Massachusetts, he paid for all of my expenses, which I thought was pretty cool, cause his company paid for his. And it was just, it was pretty amazing. We went to Yellowstone, we went to Grand Teton National Park, but one of the most memorable places was Pacific Coast 1, this highway that went along Northern California. Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. But in Northern California, it’s the Redwood Forest and these massive redwood trees, I’ll never forget them. These trees can live as long as 18 centuries, we’re told. 1800 years old. Their trunks can be as wide as 30 feet. You could drive a car through one of those tree trunks. They can reach 379 feet high, almost a 40-storey building. Massive. Wonder what the root system is like.

And this road that you drive through is called the Avenue of the Giants, and you can just drive through it. To me, that’s what church history is like. We can just drive for 20 centuries, through the Avenue of the Giants and think about brothers and sisters in Christ that led gigantic lives. They were oaks of righteousness, rooted in Christ, rooted in the truth of the Bible, not easily swayed by lust and temptations, and by the opinions of their age, they were rooted in Christ and in the Word of God, the unchanging Word of God, and they just grew up and bore fruit for God. It’s a massive display of life and power and stature. Like in Ephesians 3, Paul prays that they would be rooted and established in love, and would have power together with all the saints to grasp that infinite dimensions of Christ’s love. Rooted in Christ, or again in Colossians, “So then just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him.”

So what’s your root system like? Are you rooted in Christ? Are you rooted in the Bible? Rooted in the Word of God? Rooted in the work of grace in your life? Are you stable in Jesus? Stable? I love studying about this royal priesthood that is church history, these are brothers and sisters in Christ. Think about the Roman martyrs, the ones that had their blood shed in the sands of the Colosseum. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Nero made some of them torches for his garden parties, and they would not shrink back. Think about the missionaries that went courageously in the centuries that followed to win the pagans of Germania or the Scottish forebears known as the pits or think about those that evangelized the Vikings. How would you like to evangelize Vikings and lead some of them to Christ before they killed you? I mean, think of the courage of these brothers and sisters that did these great things or think about the reformers like Luther that he took his life in his hand for doctrine justification by faith alone, he was willing to literally die at the stake, burn at the stake for that. They didn’t get him, but they wanted to. Took his life in his hand, these oaks of righteousness.

And think about the missionary movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, those that have taken the gospel to the inland regions of China and Africa, and to the jungles of the Amazon rainforest and Irian Jaya, they’ve gone as far as you can go to take the gospel. Work’s not done yet, but they have done… Don’t you want to be an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, for the display of His splendor? Don’t you want to live that kind of a life? I do. And the point of all of this is the display of His glory. Not for us, not to us, but to Your name be the glory. For the display of God’s splendor, that they can see how great God is by looking at our lives. Verse 4, “They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore places long devastated. They’ll renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” Obviously, the immediate context here is the rebuilding of the City of Jerusalem, but the words go far greater than that. Small city in Palestine rebuilt after the exile, it’s bigger than that.

The people of God in every generation have been involved in rebuilding ancient ruins. I think about Luther and Calvin, how they rebuilt the ruins of godly New Testament theology on the wreckage of centuries of false teaching by the Medieval Roman Catholic church. They rebuilt doctrinal buildings on wreckage. Or I think about even missionaries who elevated Paul’s passion for the unreached, for those who have never heard in regions beyond. It’s always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ wasn’t named. So I wouldn’t be building on someone else’s foundation, rather as it is written, those who have not heard will hear and those who have not seen will be told of Christ to the ends of the earth and missionaries in 19th and 20th century, they rebuilt the ancient ruins. The commitment to missions.

Now Satan’s a destroyer, and he ruins works that one sowed for the glory of God. Churches that were once really radiant and on fire for Christ become cold and lifeless and ruined. Colleges and seminaries established openly and clearly for the glory of God get taken over somewhere in there and become ruined by Satan’s deceptions. Wreckage, those institutions lay in ruins. God calls on every generation to look at this wreckage, these ruins and say, “What can we rebuild by the power of God, to the glory of God? What can we rebuild?” Now obviously we Christians, we should go where there’s literal physical destruction. We can go in the path of hurricanes with the Baptist men and go help rebuild houses, but you just must know that this is bigger than all that. The biggest, most glorious building projects say every week is the building of the church of Jesus Christ. This spiritual structure rising to become a temple in which God lives by his Spirit. That’s the building project, and it’s out of the ruins that Satan has left in the world.

Verse 4, now very quickly, we’re not going to go as carefully through all these verses, we’ll just read them and look at them with me. “Aliens will shepherd your flocks and foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards and you will be called priests of the Lord.” That’s awesome. You’ll be named ministers of our God. You’ll feed on the wealth of nations and in their riches you will boast. Here’s that royal priesthood, that holy nation, that people belonging to God called out of darkness into light so that we can declare his marvelous praises. We’re priests for the Lord and we’re going to feed on the wealth of the nations, not like that prosperity gospel stuff. We don’t believe in that. The wealth of the nations here is definitely spiritual, people converted. People who are treasures and they are converted. You’ll feed on that and they will become shepherds in the Lord’s house. And look at the transformation, verses 7-9, “Instead of their shame, my people receive a double portion and instead of disgrace, they will rejoice in their inheritance and so they will inherit a double portion in their land. Everlasting joy will be theirs.”

You as a Christian can read those words and say, these are true of me. I’m not ashamed anymore. My shame has been covered by the blood of Christ. I’ve received a double portion for that. I’m not disgraced anymore. I’m now honored in Christ and I’m going to rejoice in my inheritance, God himself, and then the new heaven, the new earth. We’re going to inherit the earth and that’s my inheritance and I’m going to rejoice in that. Verse 8, “For I the Lord love justice. I hate robbery and inequity and in my faithfulness I will reward them and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, the new covenant. And their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”

Oh, that’s powerful. Oh, I want to put that on display. I want everybody to see how God has blessed us, how richly we are forgiven and loved and secured and filled with hope and looking forward to eternity. We’re a people the Lord has blessed.

III. The Messiah’s Garments of Joy, Righteousness and Salvation (vs. 10-11)

Finishes in verses 10 and 11, “I delight greatly in the Lord. My soul rejoices in my God for he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Who is speaking here? Is it Jesus? Is it Isaiah on behalf of all the redeemed? How about yes and yes, why not? We step up into the radiant beauty of garments of righteousness and we get covered with Christ’s righteousness that he won first for us and then gives to us. Verse 11, “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”

IV. Application

Applications, first, just stand in awe of the amazing moment when Jesus stood up and said this has been fulfilled. Stand in awe of that. Just stand in awe of God’s ability to predict the future. Just worship him, worship him. Just say, “Thank you God for being such a God to figure all this out before the foundation of the world, predicted centuries before it happened.” And then Jesus steps into time and says, “Today in your hearing, this Scripture is fulfilled.” Praise him.

Secondly, meditate on the amazing grace that leads him to elevate degraded sinners like you and me from the dungeons, the satanic dungeons of darkness to be under him, kings and queens of glory, princes and princesses in his kingdom. That’s incredible. Never get tired of thanking him for saving you from the day of vengeance. You deserved it. So did I. We were covered with stinking clothes, and instead we have this rich garment of praise now on us.

Thirdly, we should yearn to become what the text says we will be, mighty oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his glory. Grow up in Christ. Don’t be blown back and forth anymore by false teaching or by lusts and temptations. Don’t be weak. Be an oak of righteousness to display God’s splendor. Resolve in 2017 to be holier than you’ve ever been before by the power of the Spirit. Say, “I want to be an oak. I want to be a planting. I don’t want to be weak anymore in this weak area. Give me strength to fight.”

Fourth, be energetic in the mission that this, like just about all of these last chapters Isaiah talks about, worldwide missions, nations coming to the light of the glory of Zion. Let’s be energetic in it. Let’s care about it.nI loved hearing Amanda’s story. I was so excited, she was willing to share that story. You should ask her for details. The lives that were changed by her and her team. It’s a great story. We’re going to hear it in heaven, but it’s great to hear it now. Let’s love these stories. Let’s send out more and more missionaries. Let’s raise more money. Let’s more than meet our goal. $150,000 to send out missionaries like that. Let’s care about it. Let’s pray for missions and be passionate and then let’s make missions happen right here at home. We can do that with unreached people groups here in our area with the Gujarati, but we can also evangelize people who are just like us, same as us, same culture, same language but they need Christ, let’s talk to them.

And then finally, if you are struggling with depression and discouragement, Isaiah 61 is for you. God is able to comfort those who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion. He’s able to bestow on you a crown of beauty instead of ashes and the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Don’t weep anymore. Rejoice in Christ, talk to other people. Get together. Don’t be alone in your sorrow. Get together with other people and talk about Jesus. It’s a great topic. Close with me in prayer.

I close my eyes and picture one of the most dramatic moments in redemptive history (Luke 4:16-30). The Lord Jesus Christ had returned to his hometown of Nazareth. Reports about the amazing things he had already done in Capernaum had reached his neighbors, and the town was abuzz with the news. The Sabbath day came, and everyone assembled in the synagogue. Jesus rose and went forward, and the scroll of Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled it to the very place we are considering this morning—Isaiah 61, and read the ancient words powerfully and with Spirit-endued passion. You could have heard a pin drop. He read these words to the enthralled assembly in the synagogue:

Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach 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, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor

After he finished reading verses 1-2, he rolled up the scroll and handed it to the attendant. He sat down and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He opened his mouth and spoke, and the world has never been the same since: “Today… in your hearing… this scripture is fulfilled!”

The word fulfilled must have hit everyone there like a thunderbolt.

The passage had been written by the prophet Isaiah over seven centuries before that electric moment. Now, a man they had watched grow up from a little boy in that tiny locale was claiming to have fulfilled this prophecy!

Our faith is a SUPERNATURAL faith… what sets it apart from every other religion in the world is FULFILLED PROPEHCY… Through the prophets, God told the human race ahead of time what he would do… and then, in Christ, he did it. No other religion in the world has this element of fulfilled prophecy.

Isaiah 46:9-10 I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”

No prophecies in scripture are as significant as those centered around the coming Savior of the world, the anointed one, the Christ, the Messiah… Jesus

These prophecies set Jesus apart from every religious leader and conquering king in human history. They set him apart as the unique Savior of the world, sent from God on high to save a world drowning in sin.

This morning, we get to look carefully at this prophecy… written by Isaiah seven centuries before Jesus was born. We get to thrill to every word in this ancient scroll. We will find light and life and health and peace and hope from considering the mission Almighty God sent His Son to accomplish.

I.   The Messiah and His Mission (vs. 1-3)

A.   The Messiah Anointed with the Spirit (vs.1)

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

1.   Interpretive key: these words could be Isaiah the prophet himself, but they aren’t

2.   Jesus himself settled who these words were speaking about when he said they were fulfilled in HIM

3.   The coming Savior was ANOINTED by the Sovereign Lord… literally “Adonai Yahweh”… a doubled expression of exalted power and greatness

4.   This, the God of the universe, is also MY LORD, the personal King of all the redeemed… the Spirit of THIS GOD was upon “ME” says the text

a.   The text is written in the FIRST PERSON… Jesus is speaking directly through the prophet Isaiah about his mission

b.   The Spirit made plain the mission of Christ seven centuries beforehand through Isaiah’s writing… this is the essence of predictive prophecy

1 Peter 1:10-11 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

2 Peter 1:21 prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Revelation 19:10 the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

It was the glorious work of the Holy Spirit to put into the mind of Isaiah the prophet these words that speak on behalf of the future Savior, Jesus Christ

The words are really Jesus’ words, spoken by the Holy Spirit seven hundred years early

5.   The prediction here is that the same Spirit of the Sovereign Lord who inspired Isaiah to speak for Jesus would also ANOINT JESUS Himself as well… come upon him with power for his mission

Anointing… in the Old Testament, key people were anointed with OIL: prophets, priests, kings… the oil would pour down on their heads

a.   The Holy Spirit really is God’s active agent of power on earth

b.   This is mind-boggling to ponder, for the Trinity and the Incarnation are infinitely mysterious doctrines

c.   We Christians believe in one God who has eternally existed in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

d.   Each of the persons of the Trinity has all the attributes of God, and are co-equal with each other

e.   BUT each person of the Trinity has a different role to play in God’s redemptive plan

i)   The Father MAKES the plan

ii)   The Son takes on a human body, does mighty miracles, speaks perfect words, lives a sinless life, dies an atoning death, and rises from the dead

iii)  The Spirit ENABLES Jesus to do all those things…it is BY THE SPIRIT that Jesus was born of the Virgin, BY THE SPIRIT that he was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil, BY THE SPIRIT that he successfully defeated all the devil’s temptations, BY THE SPIRIT that he did great signs and wonders, BY THE SPIRIT that he taught perfect teachings, BY THE SPIRIT that he was strengthened in the garden of Gethsemane to die on the cross, BY THE SPIRIT he was raised to life on the third day….

Acts 10:38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

iv)  Jesus did NOTHING apart from the Spirit’s power! That is an infinite mystery

John 5:19 “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

This is true of Jesus and the Father… it is also true of Jesus and the Holy Spirit

v)   And after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, it was by the power of the outpoured Holy Spirit that the name of Jesus spread to the ends of the earth

Acts 1:8 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

6.   Specifically in Isaiah 61:1… the Spirit anointed Jesus with power to PREACH GOOD NEWS to the poor:

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

a.   Jesus was the greatest PREACHER of all time… and only by the power of the Spirit

John 7:45-46   the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

Matthew 7:28-29 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law

b.   The good news is preached to the POOR… meaning those who have nothing to offer… that is ALL OF US… spiritual BEGGARS

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

B.   The Messiah’s Mission to Poor Prisoners (vs. 1-3)

Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach 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, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

1.   This is the fullness of Jesus’ mission… Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit first and foremost to PREACH… to PROCLAIM the word of Good News for all people, the gospel of salvation… a message in words

a.   It was a message of joy for the brokenhearted

b.   A message of freedom for the captives

c.   A message of release from darkness for prisoners

d.   A message of the gracious forgiveness of Almighty God to those who deserved his vengeance

e.   This is the essence of the gospel: freedom from the slavery and punishment due to SIN

John 8:32-36 you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 ¶ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Satan has enslaved the entire human race in invisible chains that we are powerless to break; we are held in chains of sin, bad habits that flow from corrupted hearts, evil actions that consummate wicked lusts… this is the nature of Satan’s dark realm, his evil kingdom… we all of us sat in the gloomy dungeons of sin and no one could break free

Jesus was sent to proclaim LIBERTY, freedom for the captives… to lead us up and out of Satan’s dark prison of sin

What incredible good news! Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to make this joyful proclamation to the whole world… if you trust in me and believe my words you will have eternal life:

John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

2.   Beyond that, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to perform mighty works of HEALING

Verse 1: He sent me to BIND UP THE BROKENHEARTED

a.   This “binding up” is literally related to shattering, as in pottery… but it is often used of crippled and lame people… people whose bodies have been shattered by injury, or disease

b.   The phrase implies Jesus has power to put shattered pieces of pottery back together as though they were brand new

c.   The broken bodies and broken hearts of sinners Jesus was equally skilled as a physician to heal

d.   But it was his physical healings that made it obvious to our five senses that he also had the spiritual power to forgive the sins that had caused the brokenness to begin with

e.   This message of healing and grace and power for sinful captives changes everything… we were mourning and powerless, now we are forgiven and embraced

Isaiah 61:2-3 to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim a message of salvation so radiant that it changes everything that causes mourning on earth to a joyful celebration of the saving power of God

This message is as relevant today as it was in his day! Sin leaves people’s lives totally shattered, our hearts breaking. Think about the incredible comfort Jesus has brought to people trapped by chemical addictions, or enslaved by pornography, or struggling with emptiness and desperation and enticed by thoughts of suicide… again and again, Jesus has been there to comfort those who mourn over their own sin. Not only that, the triumph of Jesus over death and hell has changed our terror of death forever… we do not GRIEVE LIKE THOSE WHO HAVE NO HOPE!

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, Isaiah 61 predicts the comfort Jesus will bring to a mourning world… a world ripped apart and ruined by sin and death

C.   Where Jesus Stopped in the Reading… but the Word is Still Given

1.   Jesus dramatically stopped reading in the middle of the verse…

Luke 4:18-20   “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him

2.   He ended at the proclamation of the YEAR OF THE LORD’S FAVOR… or grace

a.   Jesus came to proclaim that God was issuing a universal amnesty for all sins committed by any who would repent and trust in him

b.   The floodgates of heavenly grace were wide open… the “year” of the Lord’s favor must call to mind the “Year of Jubilee” which the Lord ordained to occur essentially once in a Jew’s lifetime… in which all debts are cancelled and the slaves are all set free; and the Jews can return to their ancestral allotted inheritance of land… a beautiful picture of salvation

c.   It implies a once in a lifetime opportunity, but one that lasts for a year… it’s not just a brief glimmer…

d.   It is a time of extended favor from the Lord… but it is FINITE in duration

e.   That time is NOW:

Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

2 Corinthians 6:2 “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

3.   BUT the text of Isaiah goes BEYOND that

Isaiah 61:2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God

a.   God has a DAY OF VENGEANCE still for those who do not receive this grace of the Lord

b.   That day is REAL and it is COMING!

Romans 2:5-8 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

c.   Jesus regularly warned about the day of God’s vengeance in his preaching ministry

Matthew 12:36 I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

Matthew 13:41-42 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 25:41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

d.   So… why did Jesus STOP THE READING at that point? Well, the reason Jesus came into the world, the reason he was incarnate by the Spirit and anointed by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit was to work SALVATION for sinners, not condemnation

John 3:17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

e.   Jesus stopped dramatically at that point because his whole FIRST COMING was about working salvation for the elect…

f.   But the focus of the SECOND COMING will be wrath for the rebellious

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power

STOP: we are NOW in the “YEAR of the Lord’s favor!” Now is the day of salvation… trust in Christ and rejoice and know the freedom that he alone can give

II.   The Transformation of the Messiah’s People (vs. 3-9)

Not only does Jesus PROCLAIM and HEAL, but he also TRANSFORMS God’s chosen people… they are made entirely different by the work of Christ in their lives

A.   From Weak Captives to Mighty Trees of Righteousness (vs. 3)

Isaiah 61:3 to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness 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.

1.   These people Christ found languishing in Satan’s dark and stinking dungeon of sin

2.   They were evil in their hearts and minds, and it showed in their sinful lives

3.   They were slaves to sin… completely corrupted in God’s sight

4.   BUT with the Spirit-anointed proclamation of the gospel by Jesus Christ, everything changes for them

5.   They put on radiant garments of righteousness instead of stinking clothes of sin

a.   “a crown of beauty instead of ashes”: we were ugly in God’s sight; through the imputed righteousness of Christ, we are now radiantly beautiful to God

b.   “the oil of gladness instead of mourning”: Christ is everything… these exact words are spoken of Christ because of his HEART AFFECTIONS:

Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

c.   In like manner, those Christ saves he makes truly beautiful in our HEARTS as well… we are transformed to love righteousness and hate wickedness… therefore God pours out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit because he LOVES how beautiful our hearts are now… and our sorrow is changed forever into eternal joy

d.   “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair”: apart from Christ, life was HOPELESS—bleak and empty, purposeless, and we had nothing to look forward to except the just wrath of God in death; now in Christ, we have a joyful life of service to God in this world, followed by eternity celebrating God in praise and worship

6.   They will be called OAKS of RIGHTEOUSNESS, a PLANTING of the Lord:

a.   We were “bruised reeds”… weak, pathetic, easily blown and tossed by the winds of temptation… we were POWERLESS to withstand Satan’s temptations and false doctrines

b.   Now in Christ, we have become MIGHTY… oaks with deep root-systems; not blown and tossed by the waves of false doctrine… no longer DOUBLE-MINDED, now withstanding all Satan’s attacks

c.   At least, that is what we CAN BE by the power of the Spirit

d.   And that is what we WILL BE in heaven… living, immovable

Illus.: Summer of 1984, drove down Pacific Coast Rte. 1 and saw the mighty redwoods… the tallest trees in the world, mighty, awesome, living things… some of them you could drive a car through, their trunks were so wide in diameter…

These amazing trees live as long as eighteen centuries and grow as tall as 379 feet, with a maximum diameter of almost 30 feet

The drive through those massive awesome trees is called “The Avenue of the Giants”

Massive displays of LIFE, of POWER and STATURE… that’s what the Lord can do in the life of a believer… deeply rooted in the infinite grace of God, drinking in the water of life and the nutrients of biblical truth, growing and growing in STABILITY in Christ

Ephesians 3:17-18 I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ

Colossians 2:6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

The love of Christ is our vastly deep ROOT SYSTEM… from that system, we draw living water and grow stronger and stronger in holiness and righteousness

Church history is a study of men and women whose growth in Christ made them like the Redwoods… OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, a planting of the Lord for the display of his glory: the martyrs of the Roman era, the missionaries that risked their lives to lead the pagan tribes of Germany and Scotland and the terrifying Vikings to faith in Christ; the Reformers who braved the persecution of a false church and the threat of being burned at the stake to establish the true gospel; the Puritans who were attacked and criticized and imprisoned, but who kept preaching and living the truth in Christ; missionaries who took the gospel to the Amazonian jungle and through the Iron Curtain…

The Avenue of the Giants!!! Men and women of God, whose roots in Christ went deep and whose works for Christ spread upward with eternal glory!

Don’t you want to live a life like that??!!

7.   The point of all of it: the DISPLAY OF HIS GLORY!!!

Isaiah 61:3 They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

Ephesians 1:4-6 In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– 6 to the praise of his glorious grace

B.   Rebuilding Ancient Ruins (vs. 4)

Isaiah 61:4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

1.   The immediate context obviously is the rebuilding of the ruins of Jerusalem and the Promised Land… destroyed by the Babylonians, prowled by wild animals… amazingly rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemiah after the exile

2.   But that is just a picture of the ongoing work the people of God do in every generation… people who work in the Church of Jesus Christ to recover and live out the gospel

a.   Obviously Martin Luther and John Calvin, who rescued the gospel of Justification by faith in Christ alone from centuries of ruin under the medieval Roman Catholic error… they were rebuilders of ancient ruins DOCTRINALLY… recovering the gospel that had long lain fallow, devastated for generations

b.   The same concerning the modern missions movement… recovering the zeal of the Apostle Paul to take the gospel to people who had not yet heard it

c.   Satan is a DESTROYER, and he ruins works that once soared for the glory of God… churches become cold and lifeless; colleges and seminaries turn away from the pure doctrine and power of their founders to false doctrines… those institutions lay in ruins

d.   God through his Spirit can move the people of God to a FRESH VISION and an IRRESISTABLE POWER

3.   The central “building work” of God is the RISING CHURCH of Jesus Christ… as we’ve seen again and again:

To build the New Jerusalem living stone by living stone, quarried from Satan’s dark kingdom. Certainly the church has done literal rebuilding of physical ruins: after earthquakes, after wars, after flood… the church is there to help rebuild. But the real rebuilding of ruins is done within a single human heart who genuinely repents of sin and turns to God through Christ. From that moment on, the marriage improves, the parenting improves, the neighboring improves, the citizenship improves. The rubble of sin is cleared away and a “tree of righteousness” grows up for all to see.

C.   Enriched, Not Enslaved, by the Nations (vs. 5-9)

Isaiah 61:5-6 Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. 6 And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.

1.   Here Isaiah predicts the enriching of the Jewish nation after the exile… but only as a TYPE and SHADOW of the riches of the growing church of Jesus Christ

2.   The spread of the gospel leads aliens and former enemies to become SHEPHERDS of God’s flock, working the fields and vineyards of the Kingdom of God

3.   These converted Gentiles will be called “priests of the Lord”

1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

4.   They will FEED ON THE WEALTH OF THE NATIONS and in their RICHES Zion will boast

a.   As we saw in the last chapter, the flowing of riches from the nations into the gates of the New Jerusalem has to do with hearts and lives given in total consecration to Jesus… the PEOPLE are the riches

b.   Nowadays, the “health and wealth” prosperity gospel has spread theological destruction all over the world… people are constantly looking to verses like this one to say that God wants you to have YOUR BEST LIFE NOW… including

Joel Osteen: “God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny he has laid out for us.”

Kenneth Copeland in his book The Laws of Prosperity, “Since God’s covenant has been established and prosperity is a provision of this covenant, you need to realize that prosperity belongs to you now!”

5.   The RICHES of the NATIONS are spiritual… genuine worship from powerfully converted people from all over the world

6.   Look at the transformation!!

Isaiah 61:7-9 Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. 8 “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”

7.   This is the change that God works through Christ… shame and disgrace were Israel’s lot for their sin… the rebuilding of Jerusalem was a kind of vindication from the Lord… but again, merely a TYPE and SHADOW… the reality is in Christ

8.   All over the world, shame-filled sinners are given a DOUBLE PORTION of grace to cover all their sins, and we will find our inheritance in Christ: eternal life in heaven

9.   God will cause the people to turn away from wickedness and live out the NEW COVENANT of a transformed life by the power of the Holy Spirit

10. Their descendants will be richly blessed as well, not merely the physical children, but their sons and daughters IN THE FAITH… as Paul called Timothy “my true son in the faith”

11. The worldwide church of Jesus Christ will be acknowledged as a people the Lord has blessed!!

III.   The Messiah’s Garments of Joy, Righteousness and Salvation (vs. 10- 11)

A.   The Messiah’s Garments (vs. 10)

Isaiah 61:10-11 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

1.   The chapter began with Jesus speaking to us through the words of the Prophet Isaiah

2.   So I am interpreting these last two verses in the same light

3.   However, it could also be a statement ANY BELIEVER IN CHRIST could make as well… clothed IN CHRIST with garments of salvation, a robe of righteousness

4.   Honestly this is really true at every level… our righteousness is an IMPUTED righteousness, given to us IN CHRIST… his GARMENT of salvation is given to us as a GIFT, his righteousness CLOTHES US and makes us radiantly beautiful IN HIM

Philippians 3:8-9 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ– the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

B.   The Messiah’s Harvest of Righteousness (vs. 11)

Isaiah 61:11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

1.   This is Christ’s worldwide harvest!!

2.   Righteousness and salvation will spring up among ALL NATIONS

IV.   Application

First, stand in AWE of the amazing moment when Jesus rolled open that scroll and read those amazing words about his ANOINTING as the Messiah.

As we read this chapter, we must begin where the chapter ends up: worship. If we have been redeemed by the mission of the Messiah, the clearest evidence will be the desire we have to give him praise and worship. So, we should worship Jesus for the perfection of his character and the power of his mission on earth.

Secondly, we are led to meditate on the amazing grace of God to such degraded sinners as we were. This chapter, couched in language of overwhelming joy and victory, should lead us to meditate on what kind of grace God the Father has shown us in Christ, for we were enslaved through our own willful rebellion. The ashes of disgrace on us were well-earned. We were not merely victims of sin and Satan’s oppression, but we were oppressors ourselves. But God, in the richness of his mercy and love toward us, has given us a crown, oil, and rich garments instead of our chains, rags, and stench.

So, COME TO CHRIST… if you are an outsider!!

Third, we should desire to become more and more MIGHTY OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS as we grow in Christ… like the stable and powerful heroes of old… let’s live pure lives, and grow more and more like Christ

Fourth, we should be energetic in the mission Christ has entrusted to us: to proclaim liberty to the captives all over the earth. He has appointed us as priest for the Lord and minister of our God, messengers of his gospel. By proclaiming and living out the truth of his word, we will rebuild ancient cities and clear away piles of rubble. This points to the need to build healthy local churches that are obedient to the full commands of the Bible by the power of the Holy Spirit. Healthy local churches are colonies of heaven, havens of peaceful order in the midst of a war zone of sin’s destruction. So let us build wisely on the foundation that has already been laid, who is Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:10-11) Healthy local churches are the clearest fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61:4.

Fifth, if you are struggling with depression, the words of this chapter have power to lift you up so you can see you future:

Isaiah 61:2-3 to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.