IS 61 The spirit of
the Lord God is upon me. Because he has anointed me to preach
good tidings…
There are many worthy messages we can preach and teach, but the
word Gospel
Means good news and that is what we must preach.
We can talk about the
wonderful truths of Wisdom, we can cover the how’s and why’s of a better
Christian life, BUT unless we preach the Good news of Jesus Christ, we are
ignoring what the world needs the most and that is saving, and this can only
come through Jesus Christ the hope of Glory.
If a drowning man is
drowning, he does not want to be taught how to improve his life, he wants to be
saved he needs rescuing. I agree
teaching and discipleship are essential for a continued Christian life, but
they are secondary in some ways because you cannot teach a drowned man.
So we are anointed to
preach the good news… the news of salvation, of restoration the truths of
redemption and healing, ours is to testify of the awesome work of Jesus on
Calverys cross.
Our text reads.
“To proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord’’
The acceptable year
refers to the tradition called the Jubilee;
The actual word
Jubilee means:
Clamour, that is, acclamation of
joy or a battle cry; especially clangor of trumpets, as an
alarum: - alarm, blow (-ing) (of, the) (trumpets), joy, jubile, loud
noise, rejoicing, shout (-ing), (high, joyful) sound (-ing).
God put the practice
and law of Jubilee in place, with the prime purpose of demonstrating that
freedom, joy and liberty were and are still part of his character.
According to Jubilee,
every 50 years all debts were cancelled, all contracts of bondage and slavery
were annulled and a time of rejoicing flooded the land.
Wesley says this:
Lev 25:10 - The fiftieth year -
The year of jubilee was not the forty and ninth year, as some learned men
think, but precisely the fiftieth. The old weekly sabbath
is called the seventh day, because it truly was so, being next after the six
days of the week and distinct from them all: and the year of release is called
the seventh year, Lev_25:4, as immediately following the six
years, Lev_25:3, and distinct from them all. And in like manner
the jubilee is called the fiftieth year, because it comes next after seven
tines seven or forty - nine years, Lev_25:8, and is distinct from
them all. Unto all the inhabitants - Understand such as were Israelites;
principally to all servants, even to such as would not and did not go out at
the seventh year, and to the poor, who now were acquitted from all their debts,
and restored to their possessions. Jubilee - So called either from the Hebrew
word Jobel which signifies first a ram, and then a ram's horn, by the sound
whereof it was proclaimed; or from Jubal the inventor of musical instruments, Gen_4:21,
because it was celebrated with music and all expressions of joy. Unto his
possession - Which had been sold or otherwise alienated from
him. This law was not at all unjust, because all buyers and sellers had
an eye to this condition in their bargains; but it was expedient in many
regards, as To mind them that God alone was the Lord and proprietor both of
them and of their lands, and they only his tenants; a point which they were
very apt to forget. That hereby inheritances, families, and tribes, might be
kept entire and clear until the coming of the Messiah, who was to be known as
by other things, so by the tribe and family out of which he was to come. And
this accordingly was done by the singular providence of God until the Lord
Jesus did come. Since which time those characters are miserably confounded: which is no small argument that the Messiah is come. To set
bounds both to the insatiable avarice of some, and the foolish prodigality of
others, that the former might not wholly and finally swallow up the
inheritances of their brethren, and the latter might not be able to undo
themselves and their posterity for ever, which was a singular privilege of this
law and people. His family - From whom he was gone, being
sold to some other family either by himself or by his father.
Lev 25:9 Then sound loud blasts on the ram's
horn on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. Sound the ram's horn
all over the land.
Lev 25:10 Sanctify the fiftieth year; make it a holy year. Proclaim
freedom all over the land to everyone who lives in it--a Jubilee for you: Each
person will go back to his family's property and reunite with his extended
family.
Lev 25:11 The fiftieth year is your
Jubilee year: Don't sow; don't reap what volunteers itself in the fields; don't
harvest the untended vines
Luke 4:16 Here we see Jesus has
just come back from the wilderness and he goes to a temple to preach.
Jesus like many Jewish
men would have been attending the temple all his life, and this one was in his
hometown where he grew up, so he probably knew every one by name and was well
aware of their protocol and regular activities, because he had been a part of
those activities.
It was custom for
known men to read from the scriptures and even comment on them afterwards.
Jesus had been away so was given the opportunity to do this.
So he reads IS 61
It is at this point
that the spirit of God begins to hit against the ritualized worship of the
time.
Jesus Picks up the
scripture to read, but it’s has never been read like this before, why because
Jesus is now talking about himself, he is now the anointed one and the people
are beginning to feel something. They are not sure what it is, because this is
not some dry reading formalized by years of tradition and teaching, this is
living word crashing into their world, it is their
wake up call.
Because every one knew
Jesus as he was, when they last saw him he was the carpenters
son, but now he walks back in the synagogue and opens the scripture as the
Fathers son the anointed one of God the Messiah. He is not the same.
Just like you and me
when we are saved, all changes we are not the same person
So you can imagine the
anticipation and uncomfortable silence when he concludes his reading. All eyes are fixed on him to see what comment
he makes.
Then he says
Luke 4:21 today
this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing
So lets
look at the scripture that he is talking about and jump to the end of it.
It says to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord.
Jesus was standing in
front of the congregation and proclaiming that he was that Jubilee trumpet from
heaven that he was the messiah, the one that the prophets had spoken of. He was
the fulfillment of scripture.
Instead of the
external levitical law, God had brought the living
expression of his love to stand and proclaim it in front of the synagogue.
The Jubilee trumpet
had not sounded in
So when Jesus reads
this scripture and says what he say’s. First off the people say is this not the
son of old Joseph the carpenter who fixed my door the other day, we know who
this is.
Jesus knew they would
ask him to prove it by doing some miracles like he did in
But when he refused
the people got angry, they got angry
because of their guilt at not abiding to the Jubilee then at the sight of this
man, he they had known in the flesh but who was now being revealed to them in
the spirit.
So the Jubilee trumpet
had sounded. The call of God had been sounded that would ring for all eternity.
Change had come at
last
The groaning of
creation was about to be fulfilled
The messiah had had
come
To
preach the Gospel of good news to the poor.
To heal those
brokenhearted
To proclaim liberty to
the captives
To open the eyes of
the blind
To
free the oppressed.
To comfort those who
mourn
To give them beauty for ashes
Oil of Joy for
mourning
The garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness
Scripture was
fulfilled in their presence.
All around there are
captives. The Jubilee is here in Jesus, all around there are the broken hearted
the healing power of Jesus has come
There is no parole
from the sentence of death that sin has brought, there only a pardon from the
king that will suffice. There is only freedom from death by the power of Jesus
Christ.
Some people say this
is a post Christian era, well what fools.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and the door that stands
open on heaven can NEVER be shut.
Salvation is the
eternal work, that all men will always need, and it can never be replaced,
exhausted consumed or run dry.
This era like every
other is the acceptable year of the lord.
Houdini, the greatest
escape artist of all time, would be locked a cell and then follow the policemen
out of the door, he would escape from every bondage that was placed on him.
Except
once.
And that was when he
was locked in a cell, but was fooled because the door was left unlocked and he
couldn’t work it out.
The door is unlocked the jail
breaker has come freedom is here the Jubilee trumpet has been sounded.
The Son of God has rent the
prison cells of addiction, bondage and sin open.
The act of Jesus on the cross
is sufficient and will always be thus.