Today marks the third Sunday of Advent. During this season of the Christian year, we are preparing our hearts and minds for the coming of the King of Kings. We remember the birth of the Savior and look forward to the return of Christ – a time when all of creation will be redeemed. We listen to the words of John the Baptist, who is the voice crying out in the wilderness. We are preparing the way for the Lord to enter into our hearts and redeem us from the spiritual exile in which we have lived. We eagerly live in expectation of the coming Messiah, who first came as an infant with no earthly fanfare or fame. Today we turn our attention to what it is that the Messiah did and how we should live in response.
Isaiah 61 begins by saying, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me.” First off, remember that the Hebrew word Messiah means “Anointed One.” The main speaker in view here is the one who has been anointed by the Lord, the one upon whom the Spirit rests. In Isaiah, this looks back to the messianic servant, who is discussed in some key passages throughout the second half of Isaiah. And it is no coincidence that at Jesus’ baptism it is said that the heavens opened up and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove. It cannot be lost on us that though Jesus is the Son, it is only through the empowerment of the Spirit that he was able to fulfill his role as the anointed one. Now, if Jesus had to constantly rely on the Spirit to fulfill his ministry, how much more must we rely on the Spirit in trying to be obedient to our call?
Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus escaping for some quiet time. He is frequently getting away so that he can spend some time in prayer. We see it in Mark 1:35 after Jesus begins his ministry; in Mark 6:46, after he feeds the 5,000; and also in Mark 14:32ff when Jesus is praying in the garden at Gethsemane. In order to stay in the Spirit, we must be intentional about it. Relationships don’t happen on accident. They happen because people invest time into these relationships. We are meant to exist in relationship with an ever-present, eternal God, which means we don’t have to wait on His schedule in order to spend time with Him. We merely have to make the time in our schedule. And I realize, more than you may think, it’s not always easy to spend time with God on a daily basis.
And, just between us, I don’t care when you do it, as long as it is getting done. Someone once told me that they try to have their quiet time in the morning because that is what John Wesley did. He got up at 4a.m. every day to spend time in the Word. I quickly reminded him that England is about 6 hours ahead of us, that is more like 10p.m. our time. The point is – it doesn’t matter when you do it; it matters that it is getting done.
I have found that it is helpful to have a journal handy when I’m reading Scripture, but it has taken me a long time to realize that I don’t have to have some kind of profound insight every single day. My journal is just that – my journal. Nobody is going to read it in 50 years and be amazed at how spiritually in tune I was at the age of 27. There are days when I’ll write a page in my journal, and there will be days when I just write down the segment that I’ve been reading. The point is that we have to make the effort to listen. And when we make the time to listen to the Lord and be in His presence, we can begin to understand the calling that has been placed in our lives and rely on Him to help us accomplish it. That is what it means to rely on the Spirit. We realize that we can’t do it on our own, and we listen for the Lord’s guiding.
Now Isaiah 61 is not an all-encompassing job description for the Messiah, but it does give us an idea of what the Messiah would do. It gives us a glimpse into five key tasks of the Messiah. In Luke 4 Jesus points to this passage when he went before the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. What I find interesting about that passage is that Luke tells us that Jesus unrolled the scroll and found the place where Isaiah writes these words in order to share them with the congregation on that day. Why is this so interesting? Well, I’m glad you asked because I’m going to tell you.
The Jewish synagogues read through Scripture in an orderly way. They would read from a scroll, and pick up where they left off for the next time. And remember, the Old Testament didn’t exist in the same form that we have before us now. We can easily flip between any of the 39 Old Testament books to find a particular passage with the chapter and verse number. However, in Jesus’ day, they had scrolls. Each book would be hand-written on a scroll. In some cases, the books took more than one scroll, which is why we have 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Chronicles and 1 & 2 Kings. Isaiah was contained on one scroll, and Jesus takes this scroll and looks for this particular passage, without it being marked by chapter and number. He reads this passage and says that it has been fulfilled on that day. So, what was it that the Messiah was to do?
The first task of the Messiah is to bring good news to the poor. In Isaiah 29, it is said that the poor will exult the Holy One of Israel. And as we look back on Christian history, it is not hard to see why it primarily spread through the poor. The gospel is essentially a message of hope. It is something that we can cling to when all other things around us are falling apart. What we see all too much in this world is that people are running out of hope. For those who are living in broken neighborhoods, it sometimes seems as though they are trapped. They are told that they won’t amount to much. Eventually, they believe it, but the simple fact of the matter is that it is not true.
We live in a broken world, but it is not a world where people are supposed to be trapped in a cycle of poverty because they end up believing a lie that they aren’t worth anything. We need to be offering hope to this broken world. So many people build walls around themselves to keep out the hurt of the world, but these same walls end up shutting out all that is good in the world. We need to offer the kind of hope that will shatter these walls and give people an opportunity to truly live life, maybe for the first time. That is the hope of the gospel. The gospel doesn’t care if you live in a bad neighborhood or a great one; had attentive or negligent parents; are poor or rich. The gospel provides hope to all, but especially to those who have no hope whatsoever.
The second task of the Messiah is to bind up the brokenhearted. In the same way that there are many people who are materially bankrupt in this world, there are those who are emotionally devastated as well. They face the day in utter turmoil, uncertain of what to do or, in some cases, why they are even here. Their hearts are broken and they are in need of a Savior to wrap them in His love. Who do you know that has a broken heart right now? Is it a co-worker, friend, family member, yourself? Let them know about the one who has come to mend our broken hearts. This isn’t to say, “Believe in Jesus and your troubles will go away.” I don’t believe that, and I don’t think that is true to Scripture. But I do believe that those who have broken hearts can be healed, in time, through the power of the Messiah.
The third task is to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prisons to those who are bound. We read in several places in the New Testament where Jesus drives out demons. We live in a world where people are locked up because of sin. When we read through the liturgy for communion, we recognize that we have been delivered from slavery to sin and death. The Messiah brings freedom from captivity. Everyone thought that the new thing that God was going to do would be culminated in their return from exile in Babylon; however, we read in Nehemiah 9 that the people recognize that they are still in a state of slavery, even after returning to their homeland. When John the Baptist appeared, baptizing people in the Jordan River, not only was he preparing their hearts for the coming of the Lord, he was signifying that the time of exile was over. No longer would they be slaves, but their master wasn’t some foreign government, it was the power of sin in their lives that kept them in bondage. With the coming of the Messiah, the people were set free.
The fourth task is to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance. Now, this sounds like two different things, doesn’t it? It seems like favor and vengeance are polar opposites; however, that reality is that they are more like different sides of the same coin. God’s judgment will eventually come upon all people. The only question is, “Which side will you be on?”
I find it very interesting that people will say that the Bible gives us two different pictures of God. The Old Testament God is one of wrath and judgment, while the New Testament God is one of love. But I have to tell you, I don’t see it. Yes, there is a good amount of judgment in the Old Testament, but it is not because God is cranky. It is because he loves Israel. When I read through the Old Testament, I see a picture of a God who judges, but who will quickly relent if Israel would just turn its hearts to Him. That’s what I see here in the fourth task of the Messiah. God’s judgment will be favorable if we only turn our hearts to the Lord, but if we continue to live in our sin, then it will be a day of vengeance. Throughout the Old Testament Israel and the nations are being judged in vengeance by God, but that is because they kept turning away from Him and turning towards other gods of the ancient world. The Babylonian exile changed all of that. Once the people returned to the land following the exile to Babylon, they never fell into idolatry again. Now, there were other issues that came up; issues that Jesus had to deal with regarding empty religion, but idolatry was never an issue following the return from exile. God’s judgment ultimately proved to be the reason why the people of Israel turned to him fully.
The day of judgment is not something to be feared for those who love the Lord with all of the their heart, soul, mind and strength. It will be a day when the righteous are vindicated. But it will also be a day when the wicked are punished. So, favor or vengeance? It’s really up to us to decide. If we live our lives in such a way that God is glorified, then it will be a day of favor. If we fail to do so, it’s not going to be a fun day.
The fifth and final task of the Messiah that is listed in Isaiah 61 is to comfort those who mourn. That is pretty much was verses 3-4 are about. Those who mourn will be transformed by the Messiah. No longer will they adorn their head with ashes, but they will be given beautiful headdresses; gladness instead of mourning; praise instead of a faint spirit. That which was destroyed will be rebuilt. This also is the power of the hope that is found in the gospel. It has the power to transform even the darkest of circumstances. In Revelation 21, we are given the promise that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes in the new Jerusalem. No longer will there be sorrow, but life will have a new outlook for those who trust in the Lord.
The Messiah will be the one who brings good news, who heals the brokenhearted, who frees the captives, who brings forth judgment and who changes our mourning into joy. During this time of the year, we recognize that the Messiah has already come, and we live our lives in response to His first coming while we await His second. In the first coming, the Messiah came as an infant who showed us how to live. In the second coming, the Messiah will be here as one who judges the lives that we lived in response to His example. In living a mortal life, Jesus showed us that it is possible to live a fully obedient life by relying on the power of God. Humanity has been redeemed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is up to us now to follow His example. It is up to us to live our lives in such a way that God is glorified, but we have to remember that we cannot do this on our own. It is only when we rely on the power of God that we can live out a redeemed life.
0 comments:
Post a Comment