“Messiah – the Grace of God”

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-7

Advent is a time to prepare and celebrate the coming of the Son of God. This is, of course, the beginning of Christmas, and must always include proclaiming the joy we receive when we welcome the Christ Child into our hearts and lives. God is in the business of preparing us for all that he brings to us, and the gift of his Son is the beginning of all preparation.

He had been preparing Israel for centuries before Christ even entered this world thorough the womb of a virgin, but the truth is that the people had their own ideas of what Messiah would be and do. And some people, even today, have their own ideas of who Jesus is for them and what they should be for him. So during Advent, we will be considering what scripture has to say about the Messiah who would be coming, as opposed to the one that Israel was expecting.

Read Isaiah 61:1-3

All in all, the proclamation intended to tell the people who Messiah will be for each of them in a far greater way than what he will be for their enemies. Let’s consider each of the promises individually, in relationship to Jesus’ ministry:

First, the good news that will be offered will be, primarily, for the poor. Not that the wealthy and powerful will be excluded, but rather that they, for the most part, will ignore this good news. It will contradict the thought that the authorities of earth are the ones who this Anointed One of God will approach, and the poor and insignificant people will generally be left on the outside to pick up the crumbs.
In Jesus’ case, it was nearly always the poor and simple who hear and come to his way, while the powerful did everything they could to disrupt his ministry! Sound familiar? Some things never change!

Next, he will be coming to heal the brokenhearted. In Israel’s case, it was those who had already received the prestige and honor of earth who would be blessed by Messiah’s presence – after all, Messiah would have great authority from God, and was expected to more readily identify with the authorities of the world. Wrong again, and the misconceptions would continue.

He would “proclaim freedom for the captives”. Messiah would be a conqueror who would defeat the worldly oppressors of Israel, or at least that was the tradition! But the truth is that the freedom that would be gained would be release from the bondage of sin, not imprisonment from the world’s conquest.

“Release from darkness” meant that the truth would again reign supreme. Unfortunately, this truth was only in the things that Jesus taught, and not in the “wisdom” that the wise men of earth taught!

Messiah would reveal just who would be blessed and loved by the Lord, as well as just who would suffer from his retribution. Israel believed that those who had followed the dictates of the law closely would be the blessed, while the sinners who had failed miserably in obedience would know his punishment.
Unfortunately, condemnation was not what Jesus was bringing – John 3:14-21 tells us that the Lord wasn’t coming to condemn the sinner – he was bringing salvation for all who would believe and commit to him and his ways! Condemnation is already on everyone because of the lives we live. Those who refuse to believe in Jesus as the Son of God will continue to miss the point that in their life, condemnation, not salvation, reigns.

“Comfort” would come to those who mourn – this didn’t make sense to Israel either, for mourning was heaped upon people because of sin, and comfort was upon all who did what the law required. Jesus, however, brings a message that completely reverses this thought.

… And “provide for those who grieve” – it was believed that those who were righteous in the Law would be blessed with even more. And the “gospel of prosperity” still lives on today! And it’s a false hope, to say the least!

And the remainder of verse three is also true, but these blessings – “a crown of beauty”, “oil of gladness”, and “a garment of praise” – were thought to be gifts that would be given to those who had earned them, not for those who lived a life that Messiah had exhibited and proclaimed!

Jesus would overturn nearly everything that Messiah had stood for in the minds and hearts of the Jewish people. Their hopes were misplaced, their vision was worldly instead of heavenly, and they had been led away from God’s grace and blessing instead of closer to it, and the false teachers would never give up on their misguided expectations. And we still have many of them in positions of responsibility and authority today.

Read Isaiah 61:4-6

And the dichotomy continues. The "ancient ruins and devastated places" weren’t places on the map - they were the lives that were being ruined by sin, and which were being led further and further away from the grace and healing of God instead of toward it. The ruined cities are the cultures and societies that continue to fight against the “way, and the truth, and the life” of Jesus Christ (John 14:5-7). Jesus told parables about vineyards and harvests that would no longer be to Israel’s benefit (Matthew 21:28-32; 33-41), but the learned of Israel discounted them all, and declared them to be lies.

The declaration of priests and ministers was strange, indeed, as these were positions that had already been determined by lineage, and not by appointment, and as for prophets, at the time of Jesus, there hadn’t been one of them for over 400 years. And yet, the priesthood of believers that we read of in 1 Peter 2:9-10 would become a core appointment of Christianity. Priesthood was being taken out of the hands of those who defiled the charge that God had placed on them.
Jesus was teaching against all that the nation had ever believed, and the authorities of Israel and Rome would work together in an attempt to shut down this heresy. And the powers of earth would fail.

Read Isaiah 61:7

And again, the Lord’s choice of words would be misunderstood. His people would be those who would believe in Jesus and his words, not in some preset collection of people, chosen by human blood lines. Shame and disgrace would be turned away from the faithful in Christ, and their inheritance would be the joy that comes from a heavenly life in eternity.

The prophesy that comes from this chapter of Isaiah’s ministry is correct in every sense, but as with all that comes from God, it can never be understood in the mind of earth. Instead, we must seek out the heart and Spirit of God if we truly want to know its truth. Listen to these words from Isaiah 55:4-9:
“See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”
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 him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Our God is One of grace and unity, not one of retribution and division. Our God is One of hope and truth, not one of despair and opinion. Our God is One of salvation and life, not one of punishment and destruction. Our God is One who we desperately need, not one who we desire within our own imagination.

May we all live within the word of God, and not in the mistaken ways of Earth.