Page 124 - Isaiah Student Worktext

Chapter 61 Main Idea: The Messiah announces the good news of His
mission to bring salvation to the poor, brokenhearted captives of the
earth.

It still sneaks up me and surprises me how very much Jesus is spoken of in the
Book of Isaiah. In this passage, we are reminded of the very dramatic fashion in which Jesus stood up in
the synagogue of His hometown, Nazareth, and read from this scripture. Then He announced that this
scripture had been fulfilled, that day, in their hearing.

Can you imagine the reaction? This carpenter’s Son, the one that most there had known and watched
grow up, is now claiming to be fulfillment of prophecy.

As we read through Chapter 61, it is obvious to us as believers in Jesus Christ, to recognize that this is
Jesus Christ speaking. I have often wondered how Old Testament readers would have interpreted it.

It’s hard to imagine just how dramatic that was. Jesus had been raised in Nazareth, the people had
known Him and seen Him grow up. Now, as He returned to His hometown, the people there had heard
things about Him, about the miraculous things He had done. But in their eyes, He was still just Jesus, the
carpenter’s Son.

Seven hundred years before Jesus unrolled the scroll, Isaiah was led by the Spirit to write these words.

V. 1-3 This passage lays out 7 purposes, or missions, of the Messiah.

1. To preach good news to the poor. This doesn’t necessarily mean those who
are disadvantaged economically. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’, and those who are
poor in spirit need good news, the Gospel, worse than anything else.
2. To heal the brokenhearted.
3. To proclaim liberty to the captives. Those who are captive to sin. Freedom
to the prisoners, who are bound in sin. This liberty and freedom comes from the good news.
4. To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of God’s vengeance. The year of the Lord’s
favor refers to the day of salvation, the actual appearing of the One from Whom comes
salvation, which is why Jesus said this has been fulfilled. It also points to the day of God’s
vengeance, for those who reject.
5. To comfort all who mourn…blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
(Matthew 5: 4)
6. To give them beauty for ashes. This is such a beautiful promise, that those things in our lives
that are burned to ashes will be exchanged for beauty, for incredible blessings.
7. Splendid new garments in the place of ‘heaviness’ or grief.

Jesus’ life clearly fulfilled the prophecies contained in this passage. He preached good news to the poor
(both financial and spiritual); healed the brokenhearted, proclaimed liberty to those captive to sin, to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the day of God’s vengeance, to comfort those who mourn in Zion,
to give them a crown, oil and splendid clothes in the place of their ashes.

All this, in V. 3, is so that the Lord will be glorified, as truly all things are intended to be.

123