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, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor...
- Messiah is annointed and empoered by the Holy Spirit
- This was prophetically spoken by Isaiah pointing to the Messiah which means Annointed One
- The word “anoint” means to rub or sprinkle on; apply an unguent, ointment, or oily liquid to. Persons in the Old Testament were often literally anointed with oil. For example, priests were anointed for their special service to the LORD (Exodus 28:41). Literal oil would be applied, but as a sign of the Holy Spirit upon their lives and service. The oil on the head was only the outward representation of the real, spiritual work going on inside them.
Why did Jesus need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit?- God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One. They do not do anything independantly of each other.
- While the human nature of Jesus was inseparably united to the Divine nature of the second Person of the Godhead, Jesus needed to live a perfectly sinless life in the power and by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
- It was not sufficient for Him--as the second Adam and representative of a new humanity--to merely live according to His Divine nature. What we need as fallen men is a human Redeemer who would gain a human holiness for His people and would die a human death in their place.
- The Savior needed the Holy Spirit to sustain and empower Him to obey His Father, even to the point of death on the cross (Phil. 2:10). At every step in the Messianic ministry, Christ relied upon the Third Person of the Godhead.
- He needed the Spirit to enable Him to offer Himself without spot to God as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of His people (Heb. 9:14); and, He needed the Spirit to raise Him from the dead (Rom. 8:11).
Taken from: https://www.reformation21.org/blogs/why-did-jesus-need-the-holy-sp.php
- What was Messiah empowered to do:
- To proclaim good news to the poor. The Messiah announces that He is here to heal the damage that sin brings. Sin has done great damage, so there needs to be a great work of redemption
- Because sin breaks hearts, He will heal the brokenhearted.
- Because sin makes captives, He will proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
- Because sin oppresses, He will proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.
- Jesus quoted this verse in Luke 4:18
- When He sat down, He simply said today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
- He will also proclaim… the day of vengeance of our God. Because sin is a crime that must be avenged,
- Significantly, Jesus stopped reading before this sentence. He stopped in the middle of the prophecy, because to proclaim… the day of vengeance of our God is relevant to His Second Coming, not to His first coming. The comma [or the 'and'] in year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance has stood for almost 2,000 years. This shows us something of the nature of Biblical prophecy: it may “shift gears” and time frames quickly, and without warning.
- Significantly, Jesus stopped reading before this sentence. He stopped in the middle of the prophecy, because to proclaim… the day of vengeance of our God is relevant to His Second Coming, not to His first coming. The comma [or the 'and'] in year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance has stood for almost 2,000 years. This shows us something of the nature of Biblical prophecy: it may “shift gears” and time frames quickly, and without warning.
- Because sin brings grief, He will comfort all who mourn. The extent of the comfort and restoration is beautifully described.
- Instead of the ashes of mourning, He gives His people beauty.
The word beauty has in mind a beautiful crown or head ornament. It is translated exquisite hats in Exodus 39:28 and headdresses in Isaiah 3:20. In mourning, ashes would be cast upon the head (2 Samuel 13:19). Here, the ashes are replaced with a beautiful crown.
- Instead of the mourning itself, He gives His people the oil of joy.
- Instead of the spirit of heaviness, He gives His people the garment of praise.
Why do we sit in the ashes, why do we mourn, why do we indulge the spirit of heaviness when Jesus gave us something so much better?
- Instead of the ashes of mourning, He gives His people beauty.
The restored place of God’s people is glorious. They are as strong, beautiful, and useful as trees – and trees of righteousness at that. Most wonderfully, when people look at the trees, they see they are the planting of the LORD.
As restored people, we will:
Vs 4 Rebuld the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
- God loves to restore ruins. He wants to use His people to restore and rebuild things that are broken down and ruined. Under the empowerment of the Spirit, and the ministry of the Messiah, God’s people will be rebuilders.
- Even if the rubble has stood for many generations, God can still use His people to rebuild.
Vs 6 An you will be called priests of the lord, you will be named ministers of our God.
God’s people, under the anointing of the Spirit and the ministry of the Messiah, have a holy occupation.
Vs 7 Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and insead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.
vs 8-9 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. Their descendants will be known among the nations adn their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.
- NASB For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them.
- The LORD explains how sacrifices such as a burnt offering can really just amount to robbery if the heart isn’t right. Instead, the LORD loves justice. Sacrifices alone, and the sacrificial system in itself, are not enough.
- God has an alternative to the sacrificial system. As God directs the work, and as He makes an everlasting covenant, then His heart will be fulfilled among the people.
vs 10 I delight greatly in the Lord;; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothes me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness.
- We are to take delight and rejoice in the Lord
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! - The granting of salvation and righteousness to God’s people is represented by the picture of clothing them.
vs 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grwo, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
There is a sense in which we can never make something grow. No one can get inside of a seed and “turn on” the genetic component that makes the seed spring forth, and bud. The blessing of life and growth is miraculously within the seed. But we can provide the right environment for the seed to bud, grow, and be fruitful. That’s also how we receive and flourish in God’s blessings. We can’t “make” or “manufacture” them. But we can put our hearts and minds in the right environments of faith, fellowship, and obedience, to see blessing grow and flourish.
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are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns."
__ Isaiah 52:7