Study Scripture: Luke 4:14-22

Background Scripture: Leviticus 25: 8 – 55

Isaiah 61: 1 – 2; Luke 4: 14 – 21

Lesson 5     January 2, 2020

Key Verse

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted.

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.

Luke 4:18-19

 

INTRODUCTION

‘You can always go home’ is an old adage that all who wander from home usually keep in the back of their minds; the assumption being, one can always expect some kind of acceptance at home, if not outright welcome.  Jesus’ return to His hometown of Nazareth suddenly turned sour when he did not meet the expectations of His fellow town folks and dared to be more than the local carpenter’s son.

We are really looking in our Study at the question, Why did Jesus Christ come? There are many views, and there were many reactions to His coming. It is therefore very interesting to list some of the many views of the coming of Jesus Christ. Many of these themes are quite false.

We face several important issues.

First, what is your identity? You know where you were born and you know your parents and your family. But the question is, Who exactly are you?

One writer asks,

If you could choose the words that might encapsulated who you are, the only words that would communicate the essence of yourself, your life, your commitments what would they be? What would the words be that would sum you up?

How much are you willing to reveal about yourself, to the world, to others, even to yourself?

Second, and related to the first, what makes you tick? In other words, What is your mission? Is it possible that you have no mission in life and are living aimlessly being dragged by the popular creations of the moment from one materialistic purpose to another?

Third, Do you think the same way as others living and behave in unison with other people, positioning  yourself in a kind of herd mentality? Can you think for yourself?

Fourth, Have you ever thought that the Gospel, the good news, means one thing to some people, and at the same time it means bad news for others? What is Good News for the rich? Is it the same for the poor? How does this affect your life and you’re witnessing about Jesus?

Fifth, When you read about or hear what God is saying to you do you first feel joy and awe and then make a quick transition to rage?

What does the truth about the present mean to you?

Sixth, Does the Holy Spirit lead, fill, and empower you to any great extent?

Seventh, What do you think about your home? Is that where your heart is? Do you feel a responsibility to acquaint your home with the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ?

What do you think about Jesus? This is most important.

Some believe that Jesus came as a Messianic plotter and that He therefore planned His life in such a way that He miraculously fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies and promises.

Some political types think that Jesus came to be a social rebel, a revolutionist.

Others think that He came to teach people that given the social situation and economic inequality they should like Him engage in social welfare for the benefit of man. The concentration therefore should be on feeding the hungry, healing the sick and assisting someone in distress.

Yet others believe that Jesus Christ came to bring a message of love, to show us that God the Father loved us. That was His main mission. This of course has some truth in it but like many others it is an incomplete view.

Another view says that Jesus came to be our example for the Apostle Peter said that Jesus came and has given us an example so that we should follow in His steps. It is of course undeniable that Jesus Christ is an example for those who are Christians. His way of life showed the way we should live. But it definitely is not true that following Jesus’ example is the thing that makes a person a Christian. There is more to becoming a Christian than that. In fact, we need Jesus Christ as a Redeemer and Savior before we need Him as an example.

Among other useful but incomplete views is the one that says Jesus came to reveal the Father and this is based on the fact that the Apostle John said that no man had seen God at any time and it was the Begotten Son who came from the bosom of the Father that declared or revealed Him. It is certainly true that if Jesus Christ had not come we would not have really known the Father but we cannot really leave it at that. There is more involved in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Some will stress that Jesus came to die on the cross at Calvary for He was the good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. This fact is certainly important for we know that Jesus thought many times about the Cross. It was decided that He would suffer.

We know from Scripture that in addition to these facts Jesus Christ came so that by His life and work persons who believed on Him might become the man or woman that God intended that person to be.

The book of Hebrews tells us that man was intended to be supreme and sovereign over the creation God had made but instead of ruling he became enslaved, weak, rebellious against God, and instead of being the glory of God he as one writer puts it “became the shame of the universe”.

Separated from God and condemned by God man displayed certain bad characteristics when meeting their Maker.

The Bible tells us that men are terrible characters, that men are bloody men because they are men with blood on their hands, that they are violent with little or no control over themselves.

We certainly therefore must include in any view of  Jesus’ mission on earth the fact that it came to restore that glory man had lost in the Garden of Eden.

As we therefore look at Jesus’ mission we see that there are many elements to it. He came to be an example, He came to reveal the Father, He came to bring a message of love, He came to bring hope to lost men and women, to restore the glory of God to those that believed on Him, but preeminently He came to do the work involved in the various phases of redemption and to die.

He came to restore what man had lost in the Garden of Eden for God had declared that He was a God who had entered into Covenant relationship with man, and therefore Jesus would have to come with a mission to be a Covenant making and Covenant keeping mediator between God and man and be the captain of their salvation, delivering them from the bondage of Satan.

Man was in a terrible situation. Because of the kind of Father and Creator man has, there had to be stunning and unbelievably gracious mission.

Jesus therefore came as the Suffering Servant of Jehovah and His mission is to proclaim, that is, to reveal information about God. This is something that is very important for us and we should pay attention to this because it means life or death. Because of this mission on earth one writer reminds us:

“We have a song, it’s a wonderful solo. It is a song that’s entitled, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is what the Angels Sing”. And this is the chorus, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is what the Angels sing. And I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring. But when I sing redemption’s story they will fold their wings, for angels never felt the joys that our salvation brings”.

We therefore must understand that even though there is no sweeter sound than the blessed name of Jesus, and remember that the name Jesus is a Greek term equivalent to the Old Testament name for Joshua, which in the older parts of the Old Testament was the name Yehoshua later shortened to Yeshua..

Another writer points out to us that this name is a combination word which combines the name Yahweh with the Hebrew verb “yasha” which means to save. The name Jesus therefore means that He is the “salvation of Yahweh” or “Yahweh saves”.

Unfortunately though we will see in our Study Scripture that as it has always been, not everyone understands or intends to understand what Yahweh wants, and what He has planned and done.

False or incomplete views of Jesus the Messiah will take us off track and might even make us deny Him.

A look at the early ministry of Jesus will illustrate this.

Following His baptism and temptation in the wilderness, Jesus began His public ministry and except for a visit to a wedding in Cana and a brief stay in Capernaum, He ministered in Judea for nearly a year before starting His Galilean ministry. Luke picks up Jesus’ public ministry in our Study Text and it continues to Luke 9:51. During Jesus’ time of ministry in Judea, He was first identified by God and  introduced as Messiah by John (John 1:19-34) and called some (if not all) of His disciples (John 1:35-51). Later among other things He cleansed the temple in Jerusalem (John 2:13-22), talked with Nicodemus, a prominent Jewish teacher (John 3:1-21), and proclaimed the gospel in Samaria

(John 4:4-42). When He returned to Galilee (John 4:43-45), He healed a nobleman’s son from a distance, (John 4:46-54).   

Luke characterized Jesus’ ministry in Galilee as being in the power of the Holy Spirit, a ministry of proclamation, popular acceptance by the people and happening in the synagogues of Galilee. It is against this backdrop that Jesus returned to Nazareth and entered the synagogue. His fame certainly preceded Him to Nazareth and there must have been eager anticipation and excitement to see and hear the local boy turned famous Rabbi and healer. It is uncertain if messianic expectations were being attached to Jesus at this time.

Matthew 13:53-58 and Mark 6:1-6 record a similar incident to this one recorded by Luke in our Study Text. There are many similarities between Luke’s account and that of the other two writers; however there are also significant differences. Many believe they are different incidents that happened at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (Luke) and later on in His ministry (Matthew, Mark).

Jesus used the occasion of His Sabbath visit to the synagogue in Nazareth to outline His mission in the world. Dramatically He used a messianic prophecy from Isaiah as His mission statement and while the content of His address would have been preposterous were He to be an imposter, He was in fact the person in Isaiah’s prophecy. The people Jesus addressed should have seen the marks of Messiah and react positively in a continued way.

Strikingly the reaction of His hearers was initially positive but quickly turned violent as Jesus continued His address.

Isaiah prophesied to a number of Judean kings as the nation slid toward Babylonian conquest and exile. The prophet warned of the coming disaster and also prophesied that God would bring about a  restoration to the land and re-establish the nation. But beyond the physical return, the prophet also saw a glorious future for Israel that not only involved material and political ascendancy but a spiritual restoration where even ‘sin’ would be removed from Jacob; the nation would be redeemed in the greatest sense. All this would come through the work of One -the prophet called the ‘Servant of Jehovah’. Interestingly, this ‘Servant of Jehovah’ would not only be a great blessing to Jacob but would be a blessing even to the Gentiles.

Jesus’ outline of His mission as detailed by Isaiah and His assertion about fulfillment of prophecy were astounding statements, the full import of which escaped His hearers.  They however took great offence when He addressed their incorrect expectations of Him.

It is noteworthy that Jesus was here opposed by religious people and this set a trend that continued for the remainder of His ministry. Apparently the synagogue attendees were offended by the notion that they were spiritually poor, bankrupt, enslaved, in need of a Savior and they opposed the idea that the sovereign Lord could and would bless whomever according to His own will.

Today many of the religious are offended by the thought that they are less than worthy of God’s grace. We do not want to accept our sinful, desperate condition and while we accept Jesus as our Savior, we deny His lordship over our lives. For our benefit we must look all that was involved in Jesus’ mission to earth, and all that that mission means for our salvation and our new life.

 

Jesus announced the arrival of acceptable year of the Lord in Nazareth and that year continues to this day and beyond. Let us study our Text and respond in an acceptable way to Jesus’ announcement of the arrival of the acceptable year of the Lord by spreading Jesus’ proclamation of that Good News.

 

THE TEXT

Verse 14.  …and Jesus returned… Jesus did not appear at the synagogue in Nazareth immediately after His baptism and temptation, as one might suppose from reading only the gospel of Luke. As noted earlier, several months had passed since John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the Messiah,

(John 1:19-51) and He was then involved in a number of significant public events in Judea. One writer notes:

“By this time His Messiah credentials are established, whether by genealogy, or His conflict with Satan, whether it’s the attestation of the Father from heaven, whether it’s the descent of the Holy Spirit, whether it’s the word of Gabriel the angel, whether it’s the testimony of Zacharias, Elizabeth, John, or Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, all of that that’s gone before is to attest that this is indeed the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the promised Messiah.”

Verses 14 and 15 are a very concise summary of Jesus’ Galilean ministry which lasted for about a year and a half. This verse informs us Jesus ministered in the power of the Spirit. We know that the Spirit was on Him at all times without measure, that is without limitation. Jesus set aside the exercise of His own divine power and entrusted Himself fully to the Holy Spirit while He was on earth. Thus, all His activities were directed and empowered by the Spirit! This was no accidental visit to Nazareth.

We remind you that Galilee is the northernmost programs and it was in fact a very insignificant place. The angel had spoken to Mary about her pregnancy and Joseph and Mary had left from Nazareth of Galilee to be enrolled in the census. They had returned to Galilee after the birth of Jesus and Jesus grew up in Galilee which frankly as far as the elite were concerned a nowhere place. Luke relate to tell us in chapter 23 that it was women from Galilee that had stayed around to observe Jesus’ crucifixion and burial.

The impact of His teaching was that His fame spread all over Galilee. This suggests that He had also performed some miracles (vs.23), though these are not emphasized. His fame was also due in part to news from Galileans who returned from Passover in Judea with news of His activities in Jerusalem, (John 4:44-45). The people of Nazareth heard the reports of His preaching and power, and were eager to see what He would do in their town (vs.23).

Verse 15.  …taught in their synagogues… prominent in Jesus’ ministry was His attendance in the synagogues; the places of public worship where the people met to pray, praise God, show their devotion to Him, read the Word of God and listen to its exposition. Jesus was a preacher and teacher, that was His primary responsibility, He came to reveal the Father. He therefore preached and taught the Word of God, in the synagogues of Galilee and elsewhere, (Luke 4:31; 5:3, 17; 6:6; 4:31-32; 11:1; Matt. 5-7…). For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes, (Matt.7:29).

Synagogues were ready-made venues for Jesus to teach. Just about every town and village would have at least one, since all it took to have a synagogue was ten Jewish men. If they had the required number in a town or a village, that was enough to constitute a synagogue and they would build a permanent structure. In most cases, the synagogues were made out of stone and typically they faced Jerusalem.

Synagogues were called ‘houses of instruction’ and they were built for the teaching of God’s Word, the Torah, the Prophets and the Holy Writings, all of the Old Testament. Synagogues likely originated during the Babylonian captivity, after the Temple was destroyed. They served as a local center for worship and instruction each week, even after the Temple was rebuilt. A typical synagogue service consisted of the reciting of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9), “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one….”), prayers, a reading from the Law, another reading from the Prophets, instruction on the passages, and a benediction.

Jesus’ preaching was insightful and inspiring and all admired Him. He developed a great reputation with the people and was held in high esteem. This was the period of His popularity and acclaim. 

Verse 16.  Jesus came to Nazareth, the city in which He grew up and finally all the anticipation and excitement was about to be met, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath day, Saturday, was the proper time set apart by God in Genesis two for rest from work and secular activity, for special congregation and worship.   

We note as one famous writer puts it: “It is good to keep Sabbaths in solemn assemblies”. It was Jesus’ custom to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath, a custom His followers should imitate today (Heb. 10:24-25). When it came to the day of worship, the day which God had prescribed for worship, He was there, always faithful to the synagogue services. (See Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

One writer describes order of worship in the synagogue as follows:

A synagogue service would begin with singing and generally they would sing psalms because psalms glorify God. Very often they would sing the Hallel, Psalm 145 to 150, “Praise God, Praise God, Praise God.” And then from the singing they would go to the Shema. The Shema is Deuteronomy 6:4 and following, “The Lord our God is one, the Lord is one.” This celebrates God as the one true living God as against all the many gods of the nations. The Singing and reciting of the Shema was followed by supplication. There was a series of prayers and after the prayers there were punctuated “Amens” from the people. And then after that prayer would come the Shimenah Ezra. Shimenah Ezra were eighteen traditional benedictions or blessings that people would recite sometimes called The Tefala.

Then came the main point. All of that was leading up to the Scripture. Always the Torah was read, the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers, the Law written by Moses. They read through the whole Torah in three years. So they had one hundred and fifty-four sections of the Torah that would cover the fifty two weeks for three years.

Then they would read the prophets, the Haftorah, as it is called. They would read both the Torah and generally the prophets at each service. Then would come the sermon. So, you go from the singing, the Shema, to the supplications, to the Sheminah Ezra benedictions, to the Scripture and finally the sermon. And that is when the appointed preacher gave an exposition of Scripture. After that there was a final benediction drawn usually out of Numbers 6: 24-26, the benediction of Aaron, the first high priest.

They called on the ‘famous hometown preacher’ to read from the Scriptures and for the first recorded time Jesus stood up to read.  You can be sure that many in Nazareth turned out for this occasion and had high expectations. As was the practice, the reader stood to read the Scriptures. We note that Jesus is worthy to read the Scriptures and to give us the understanding.

Verse 17.  Note that this is the oldest detail of synagogue worship that we have. The worship would have used the Aramaic language of ordinary people during this time. The scroll of Isaiah was handed to Him and He took the scroll and unrolled it until He came to Isaiah 61. He would read the Text for the sermon He was about to preach. He was obviously approved by the ruler of the synagogue or else He would not have been given that opportunity.  It could have been that that passage was the appointed reading for that day. If that were the case we would see a display of the providence of God, for everyone would be hearing directly the voice of the prophet who was pointing to Jesus as Messiah.  They would have no excuse not to recognize that the passage referred to Jesus and they would then have no excuse not to receive Him as such.

Verse 18.  Jesus’ Text as recorded by Luke is a quotation of Isaiah 61:1-2, along with a phrase appears today from Isaiah 35:5 and 42:7 and from Isaiah 58:6 which latter Text refers specifically “to deliver those that are crushed”.  More might have been included in the Scripture reading and Luke gives us only a sentence summary of Jesus’ sermon. Luke states that Jesus began to speak (4:21), and the people mentioned “the gracious words which were falling from His lips” (4:22), implying that He said much more. These verses however contain the “heart” of the text which was read. The essence of these words, along with the statement of our Lord, is that the Messiah is here! It is however noted that the latter section of Isaiah 61:2 was not quoted by Jesus.

Four groups are identified in this verse, the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed and Messiah came to change their tragic conditions. His actions towards them spoke to His work of salvation. In other words it was an announcement that the long awaited age of salvation had arrived. Salvation was no longer future, it was present and present in Him!

Jesus in fact physically brought good news to the poor and gave sight to the blind. However, these four metaphors described the unredeemed, the unsaved, the lost, the unconverted, the un-forgiven, they describe sinners without God.

They paint a picture of a sinner in his desperate condition and Psalm 107 provides vivid illustrations of desperate sinners who realizing their condition call out to God.

The people knew that Isaiah’s prophecy was largely prophecy about the Messiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me.” (Isaiah 61:1).  This statement identified Him as the Messiah. They knew that Messiah would be anointed by the Holy Spirit. Anointed means set apart for special service, empowered for special service.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him. That Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord,” the seven-fold full Holy Spirit will rest on the Messiah, (Isa.11).

“Behold My Servant, Messiah, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom My soul delights, I have put My Spirit upon Him” (Isa. 42: 1). (See Isa.48:16). Undoubtedly they know they were hearing messianic prophecy.  

The verse summarizes Messiah’s mission in four concise components:

– to bring good news to the poor …  spiritually impoverished, destitute, beggars;

The good news is the Gospel for those that are poor in spirit, (Isa. 2:2-5; 29:17-24; 52:7; Matt. 24:14; Luke 24:47; Rev.14:6).

It is clear that Jesus was drawing attention to outsiders and low status persons who were vulnerable to the bad state of the society with problems that likely stemmed from poverty or other causes such as ill health. Jesus’ mission therefore would obviously be relating not only to spiritual poverty but to economic poverty. The list in Isaiah certainly encompassed a wide range of persons who were suffering.

– to announce release to the captives … interestingly, sinners consider themselves free and see Christianity as some kind of bondage, when in fact they are prisoners to sin. Sin has indebted them to God. Satan wields, according to Hebrews 2:14–15, the power of death and holds them in bondage all their lifelong by the fear of death. They are the children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1–2). They are under the power and authority of Satan, so there is a sense in which they are captive to sin, captive to Satan and to the dominion of Satan; (Psalm 79:11; Lk.1:77-79)

Specifically Jesus had illustrated what He meant by cleansing a man possessed by a demon as recorded in verses 31 to 37. We therefore should be careful not to rule out the existence of demonic possession or influence.

– to give sight to the blind … spiritual blindness is common to the natural man,   (1Cor.2:14). “They do not know nor do they understand. They walk about in darkness (Psalm 82:5). Hear this now, O foolish people without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not…”

(Jer. 5:21).This is the state of the unconverted.

It is to be noted however that Jesus restored the sight of many blind people. See 7:21-22; 18: 35-43 among other passages on about seasons Jesus exhorted people to invite the blind and lame and maimed as well as the poor to their banquets. They should not be shunned.

Then there is judicial blindness, where God blinds the sinner! “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn and be healed,” (John 12:40). “The Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes.” (Isaiah 29:10).

The sinner is further blinded by Satan. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them, (2Cor.4:3-4). He’s blinded naturally.  He’s blinded judicially by God. He’s blinded satanically. Messiah gives sight to the blind, (Isaiah 42:7; Isa.9:2; John 8:12; 2Cor. 4:6; Col.1:13).

Jesus clearly is not only interested in spiritual blindness but physical blindness. He proclaims that He deals with both.

– and to liberate the oppressed…  someone overwhelmed by the troubles life, the distressed, a person who has lost all joy. This is a person to whom Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, I’m gentle and humble in heart and you’ll find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My load is light.”

 (Matt.11:28). The oppression is from sin in all its manifestations in the fallen world in which we live.

It is important to note that there is nothing that can equal being free. In fact, only those that have experienced oppression can really fully appreciate what it means to be free. We therefore should pay attention to what is going on in our country and in different parts of the world where people are not free even to get something as important as education or medical attention.

Verse 19.  This verse is a summation. ‘The favorable year of the Lord’ is the year the Lord brings favor; it is the year of Messiah’s arrival. It is the time of God’s favor mentioned in Isaiah 49:8, also called the day of salvation. It is equal to what Isaiah 63:4 calls the year of My Redeemed.

It is the year when the Lord shows His favor by providing the Messiah, the Savior, the sacrifice for sin. It is favorable because it brings good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind and liberation to the oppressed.

It has overtones of another great event in Israel’s history called the Jubilee Year. Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15 instructed the Jews that every fifty years there was a Jubilee Year. It was a year in which servants were set at liberty, actions to recover money from debtors were dropped, mortgages on mortgaged lands were cancelled and the debt discharged and people were able to return to their possessions.  This was a joyous time, an acceptable time, a time of grace, a day of salvation and freedom and good will toward all men. There is obviously therefore a physical as well as a spiritual dimension to the proclamation of his mission.

The Good News proclaimed therefore does not only applies to the poor, the blind and to the oppressed even though they will probably listen to the Gospel more readily than others since they have much to gain and little to lose.

But the rich and powerful who might think they see clearly and are well looked after might not be very receptive to the Gospel. Those in Israel at the time who felt that way would be the ones that would kill Jesus. Jesus spoke often about rich people and it was generally negative except for Hs references to Zacchaeus in Chapter 19. But let us never forget that the rich and powerful also need salvation.

Interestingly Jesus stopped His reading in the middle of Isaiah 61:2 because the rest of verse two says “…And the day of vengeance of our God.” Jesus left out the talk about vengeance because it was not time to talk about the Judgment, it was time to talk salvation. This was the day of salvation only, for spiritual healing, redemption, salvation, forgiveness of sins, the time to bring peace to the troubled and the guilty, who lived under the dread of God’s wrath.

One writer comments on verses 18 and 19:

“To those who are spiritually bankrupt, to those who are in the dungeon of their own sinfulness awaiting final execution and hell, to those who are blind to truth and reality, to those who are oppressed by the heavy, heavy burden of sin and all the issues of life that come with it, the Messiah comes. He comes to poor prisoners blind and oppressed by sin and He comes to make them spiritually rich, to bring the forgiveness that sets them free from death and hell, to give them sight and to deliver them from all the issues of life that oppress them and give them rest. This is why this is the favorable year of the Lord.”

Verse 20-22.  He sat down because being seated was the traditional posture for teaching. “And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.”

It was time for the exposition, what would He say?  The people waited expectantly, giving Jesus full attention for they still admired Him to this point. But then Jesus made a most startling statement.  The Messiah is present today! He Himself was the long-awaited Messiah of Israel, the God Anointed, Spirit Filled Messiah.

The time had come. It was Today. Jesus had grown up among them and though they had heard much about Him and His amazing work they could not make a transition in their thinking to understand that Jesus was the Son of God, not the son of Joseph and that He had come to fulfill the purpose of God.

… ‘Today the Scripture… nobody ever said that; the usual comments were, ‘some day’, ‘one of these days’ or ‘sometime in the future.  Today, right here, right now, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” The verb tense indicates an existing state of fulfillment. They were seeing the fulfillment of the passage before their eyes, you are hearing it with your ears. The prophecy of God through Isaiah is no more in the future. It is now. The Messiah is here. Salvation has come. The messianic age has begun. He was saying, “I am the Messiah.”

CONCLUSION

We are now obviously looking at Jesus the only one with real life .we are encouraged to stop advancing and to understand that your life can be altered .our desire to have a “normal” life where things are predictable and constant, should not be more important than the need for correction and change. So be careful where your dashed hopes, suspicions, and fears will lead you for sometimes these will push you over the precipice where you will not find the security and safety that you crave, and certainly no salvation will be there.

Your future is only secure in God.

The source of the words spoken by Jesus is the only source that matters.

So keep your ears and your mind open.

Love, agape love, is graciously given and you are encouraged to take it.

So are you vulnerable? Are you brokenhearted? Are you oppressed and not free? Are you marginalized? What does liberation look like to you?

The Holy Spirit is right there beside you to lead you into the only direction in which you will find life.

Remember therefore that there’s an open door.

Make sure that there is not a closed heart.

Jesus openly revealed and declared Himself Messiah to the people in Nazareth that day. It was an astounding revelation, the long awaited Messiah was ‘in the house’. His credentials were underlined by the prophet Isaiah and all the other prophets of Israel.

As the narrative continued we see that sadly the reaction of the hearers in the synagogue that Sabbath, was the exact opposite of what it should have been and this was a religious crowd. They had a very incomplete view of Jesus the Messiah for they had imposed their favoured idea on the true picture that the Scriptures had stated. They violently rejected Jesus.

Let all be warned, the religious and the irreligious, ‘…the day of vengeance of our God…’ is coming.

Jesus is here and He has come to ‘…to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised…’

Clearly a choice was placed before the people that day. Since they should have known the truth about Jesus especially in view of the news about Him they had previously received, clearly Jesus was telling the truth, and they should have fallen down on their knees, repented of their sins, worshipped Him and then asked Him how they could serve Him in that Day of Salvation and henceforth. But one writer reminds us:

“But our Lord is a Saviour and the name is one that perfectly describes Him. He is a human savior, a historical Jesus. He is also the divine Savior, Yahweh, who saves souls, and He never fails when we come to Him.

And then he pleads:

“Have you come to Him? Do you know Him as savior? If you know Him as a great teacher, a great philosopher, lovely ethical reasoner, you don’t know Jesus. You don’t really know Him until you’ve been saved”.

He is the divine solution and He has restored what man lost in the Garden of Eden. He came to be the perfect author of salvation, to be the Deliverer from the Devil Satan. He did this by being the perfect sacrifice, suffering and dying for our sins.

He lives evermore to make intercession as our Advocate with the Father. He has the right to do that for He can call us brethren.

The words of the famous song “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” spells out much of this and calls on us to react. It reads:

Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;

Fix in us Thy humble dwelling, All Thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, Thou art all compassion, Pure, unbounded love Thou art;

Visit us with Thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit Into every troubled breast!

Let us all in Thee inherit, Let us find the promised rest.

Take away the love of sinning, Alpha and Omega be;

End of faith, as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty.

Come Almighty to deliver, Let us all Thy life receive;

Suddenly return, and never, Nevermore Thy Temple leave:

Thee we would be always blessing, Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,

Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing, Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish then Thy new creation, Pure and spotless let us be;

Let us see Thy great salvation  Perfectly restored in thee:

Changed from glory into glory, Till in heav’n we take our place,

Till we cast our crowns before thee, Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

It is still the day of salvation, what is your choice?