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“For I, the Lord, love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
    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.”

This is the part of chapter 61 where God speaks.

Note:

• there are things God ‘loves’ and things He ‘hates’;
• when the Lord ‘rewards’ His people, it is primarily about His ”faithfulness”, not theirs;
• how these words have been fulfilled in the people of Israel, as they have been dispersed across the globe. It is evident that ”they are a people the LORD has blessed” , even in the violent opposition that has been stirred up against them. It is largely irrational, and makes no sense, apart from seeing it as demonic hatred against a people so deeply and historically related to God;
• how these words are ultimately fulfilled in the church: ‘God will entail a blessing upon their posterity after them (v. 9): Their seed (the children of those persons themselves that are now the blessed of the Lord, or their successors in profession, the church’s seed) shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation, Ps 22 30. 1. They shall signalize themselves and make their neighbours to take notice of them: They shall be known among the Gentiles, shall distinguish themselves by the gravity, seriousness, humility, and cheerfulness of their conversation, especially by that brotherly love by which all men shall know them to be Christ’s disciples. And, they thus distinguishing themselves, God shall dignify them, by making them the blessings of their age and instruments of his glory, and by giving them remarkable tokens of his favour, which shall make them eminent and gain them respect from all about them. Let the children of godly parents love in such a manner that they may be known to be such, that all who observe them may see in them the fruits of a good education, and an answer to the prayers that were put up for them; and then they may expect that God will make them known, by the fulfilling of that promise to them, that the generation of the upright shall be blessed. 2. God shall have the glory of this, for every one shall attribute it to the blessing of God; all that see them shall see so much of the grace of God in them, and his favour towards them, that they shall acknowledge them to be the seed which the Lord has blessed and doth bless, for it includes both. See what it is to be blessed of God. Whatever good appears in any it must be taken notice of as the fruit of God’s blessing and he must be glorified in it.’ Matthew Henry.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins,
    repairing cities destroyed long ago.
They will revive them,
    though they have been deserted for many generations.
⁵ Foreigners will be your servants.
    They will feed your flocks
and plow your fields
    and tend your vineyards.
⁶ You will be called priests of the Lord,
    ministers of our God.
You will feed on the treasures of the nations
    and boast in their riches.
⁷ Instead of shame and dishonor,
    you will enjoy a double share of honor.
You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land,
    and everlasting joy will be yours. (New Living Translation).

What a turnaround!

‘The land of Judah was in ruins after the Babylonian captivity, but God would help the people repair and rebuild. The whole nation would become priests of the Lord (1 Pet.2:5,9) and servants of God.’ Warren Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.490.

Barry Webb comments: ‘This is grace at work, and the grace of God is a most powerful agent of change…The double portion of blessing in this passage answers to the double portion of hard service in 40:2, and it is the ministry of the Servant which is the bridge between the two. Grace rests on atonement as its foundation. It is free, but not cheap.’ Isaiah,p.236.

Thank God for His amazing grace by which the church is built, Gentiles are admitted with full rights of citizenship alongside Jews (Eph. 2:11-22), and we are all the recipients of abundant blessing, as we live under the reign of the Servant-Messiah.

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour
    and the day of vengeance of our God,

The gospel, it has been said, is ‘bad news before it is good news.’

In his commentary on Isaiah, Barry Webb points out that the full treatment of ”the day of vengeance” is held over until chapter 63:1-6. Chapter 61 concentrates on the time of ”favour”, and most of all on the Person who brings it in. It is also worthy of note that when Jesus quoted from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth, He concluded His words with ”to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” This was not because He didn’t believe in judgment. He spoke about it frequently in other parts of the gospels. But I believe it was because He knew that ”the day” of judgment lay in the future.

However, a balanced communication of the gospel will include both the good news of grace, and the bad news of judgment. If we try to remove the subject of God’s wrath from Scripture, we will disembowel it. I read one author who suggested that maybe our loss of confidence in the good news is linked to a lack of conviction about the bad news. But the Bible shows that there is a heaven to gain and a Hell to shun. Human distaste for the idea does not render it false.

I was in a church recently where the preacher emphasised that nothing can separate a believer from God’s love. ‘But’, he added, ‘to be separated from God is another matter altogether, and it is a terrible thing.’

They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendour.

Notice in this wonderful text:

• Planting: No-one makes themselves into a Christian. Conversion – with all that it entails – is a work of God (and for the glory of God, as we will see). It can never be a ground of boasting (Eph.2:8-10);
• Standing: ‘Righteous’ people (those made right with God, and therefore endeavouring to live right by His power) become strong, sturdy, immoveable by the grace of God. They are ”strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Eph.6:10). They are called, and enabled, to ”stand” (Eph.6:11,13,14);
• Exhibiting: Believers are ”…God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph.2:10). They display His ”splendour” – not their own. As people respond in repentance and faith to the ”good news”, they become these saved, healed, delivered, freed, sighted, comforted, beautiful, joyful, praising people (look back through the preceding verses): God’s own work for God’s own glory. Beautiful ”oaks” pointing upward to their great Creator.

PRAYER: In my life, Lord, be glorified

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim 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 joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.

We saw yesterday that there is good news in the gospel for the broken-hearted.

Primarily, this is for those whose hearts break over their sin: the genuinely repentant.

But I don’t think it can be limited to this. Once we are right with God, we find in Jesus a balm for all our sadness. What He does for us is summed up in the thrice repeated: ”instead of”. He replaces the negative with something positive; gives the better instead of the lesser.

When I was a small boy I had a highly prized colouring book. One day, when my dad had to go away for a short time with his job, he asked me to give it to him, so he could let my sister have it. There was no way this was going to happen! After a short period of trying to persuade and cajole, he gave up, and produced from behind his back a bigger and better colouring book, and gave it to my little sibling!! I could have had the superior ‘instead of’ my inferior possession, had I known better. But, alas, I had made my choice.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim 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

The gospel is good news for the hurting. There is provision for those in pain. This is one of the ‘tangible results’ of Spirit-empowered gospel preaching. Hearts can be healed. God’s own comfort and peace are very real gifts, freely imparted to all who trust in Christ. Of course, the cause of the heartache isn’t necessarily removed. It may well remain. But God can so work in the human heart that life is seen and felt differently.

I think it is not known for certain who said: ‘Be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle’ (or words to that effect), but I’m sure it is true. As we see hurting people in our communities, let’s not distance ourselves from them, but move toward them with the ”good news” entrusted to us, believing that God will ”provide for those who grieve in Zion”.

It needs to affirmed however, that our greatest cause of pain is our sin, and the greatest comfort is to find forgiveness in Jesus.

”Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matt.5:4).

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim 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…

The last line above can read: ”and release from darkness for the blind”.

Whichever way we may take it, it all points to this truth: the preaching of the the gospel, the ”good news” about Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, has tangible results. It is not only the proclamation of Word, but also ”a demonstration of the Spirit’s power…” (1 Cor.2:4).

”For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.” (1 Thess.1:4,5a).

As I was prayerfully reflecting on this, I noticed a biography of Spurgeon by Arnold Dallimore, sitting on a bookshelf. It’s years since I read it, but I felt impelled to pick it up. Opening it at random, this is what I saw. It concerns days of revival in London when the church grew significantly:

‘The new members were very largely people who did not come from other churches. The vast majority were men and women who had never been in the habit of attending church, but they came, especially to the Music Hall, heard the gospel, and were converted. Many of these represented marvellous transformations – drunkards, harlots and thieves with lives changed and homes made new – men and women who once did not know God, but now were happily living for the Lord and serving Him.’ (pp.86,87).

That causes my heart to burn and cry out, ‘Lord, do it again.’

The preaching of the gospel, in the power of the Spirit, brings tangible results.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.

As we saw on Friday, this passage is primarily about the Messiah, Jesus.

‘He is someone of quite extraordinary importance. We have met him before, of course. The Spirit…is on me recalls 42:1 (‘I will put my Spirit on him’), but also 11:1 (‘The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him’). He is both the Servant of chapters 40-55 and the Messiah of chapters 1-35, for – this is what we must notice – these are one and the same person.’ Barry Webb: ‘Isaiah’, pp.233/234.

Webb goes on to point out that the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s ruins after the exile was a major work, only made possible by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit (Haggai 2:5; Zech.4:6). Yet it is far surpassed by the building of the church through the Spirit-enabled preaching of the gospel.

So although this is first and foremost about Christ, we are reminded that if He needed the Holy Spirit to carry out His ministry on earth, how much more do we? We can be grateful, then, for every promise in the Bible that points to the Spirit’s equipping of believers for ministry. Notably today, I think of Acts 1:8:

”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…”

George Verwer, the founder of ‘Operation Mobilisation’, use to say: ‘The Holy Ghost gives you a Holy go!’

PRAYER: Lord, we want to be as filled with your Spirit as it is possible to be, so that we overflow with empowered words and deeds of witness

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.

As we begin to look at this chapter, perhaps the most important thing to bear in mind is the link with Luke 4:16-20:

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

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. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus saw Himself as the fulfilment of these wonderful words.

‘We begin this chapter, then, with a speech by the Servant-Messiah (1-6). This is followed by a confirmatory speech by the LORD himself (7-9), and finally by a song of praise by someone who is full of wonder and gratitude for what God has done for him personally (10-11). The references to the Sovereign LORD in verses 1 and 11 frame the whole chapter; the salvation which the whole chapter celebrates is his gift.’ Barry Webb: ‘Isaiah’, p.234.

”But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ” (Jonah 2:9).