Isaiah 61
Chuck Smith on Isaiah 61
Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verse 1
But Jesus, because He understood the two aspects of His coming, when He in the synagogue of Nazareth, turned to the prophecy of Isaiah and read this particular passage, stopped in what is right the middle of verse Isaiah 61:2 in our Bible. And at that point, He closed the scroll and said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your eyes" ( Luke 4:21 ). He didn't go on, because if you go on you are then dealing with the aspects of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now that wasn't fulfilled that day. That won't be fulfilled until He comes again. So understanding and discerning His ministry in His first coming, He stopped right in what is the middle of the prophecy here in Isaiah for us and said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your eyes." So what was fulfilled and what is yet to be fulfilled? This is what was fulfilled:
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ( Isaiah 61:1 );
Now in a restricted sense, this prophecy is of Jesus Christ and His ministry, who was anointed by the Spirit and went about preaching the good tidings to the meek. You remember when John the Baptist was in prison and John did not understand the prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. John was expecting Him to establish the kingdom momentarily. And when John was sitting there in prison for a while, he started getting impatient and he sent his disciples to Jesus and he said, "Are you the One that we're to look for? Or shall we start looking for someone else?" In other words, "When You going to get the show on the road? Tired of this prison life." And he was... He knew that Jesus was the One because he testified of Jesus that the Lord had told him whoever he saw the Spirit descending upon and remaining, that that was the One. And John testified of the Spirit of God descending upon Christ and resting upon Him there at His baptism. So he knew He was the One, and yet because Jesus wasn't moving right into the kingdom and setting up the kingdom and throwing out the Romans and all of this, he said, "Are you the One or shall we look for another?" And Jesus did not directly answer John's inquisition. But instead in that same hour, He healed many of the sick and He opened up the blind eyes and caused the lame to walk and so forth. And then He said to his disciples, "Just go tell John what you have seen-how that the blind have had their eyes opened, the deaf hear, the lame are walking, and to the poor the gospel is being preached. I'm fulfilling the prophecies, John. You know the Word. You know the scriptures. I'm doing the things that the scriptures said. You don't need a direct answer; yes, I am the Messiah. Just go back and tell John the things that you see. John knows the scriptures well enough. He'll know that I am the One. You don't need to look for anybody else."
"But the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me. For the Lord has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the meek." As Jesus said, "He did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance. For they that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick" ( Mark 2:17 ). "The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" ( Luke 19:10 ).
I am interested in observing the ministry of Jesus Christ, His attitude towards those who were acknowledged, confessed sinners, and His attitude towards those self-righteous individuals. To the woman that was brought to Him caught in the very act of adultery, He shows great tenderness, understanding and grace. "Woman, where are your accusers?" "Sir, I guess I don't have any." "Well, neither do I condemn thee, go thy way, sin no more" ( John 8:11 ). Oh, how tender He deals with her.
To the woman of Samaria there at the well. Now she wasn't the most moral woman around. She had been married to five different men. And then finally decided marriage wasn't for her and so she was just living with a man. Some of those who think they are so modern today, that stuff has been going on for a long time. People have been immoral from the beginning. And yet Jesus in His dealing with her was so gracious, revealing to her His identity. For she said, "I know that when the Messiah comes, He's going to teach us all things." And He said, "Woman, I that speak to thee am He" ( John 4:25-26 ). Oh, the attitude of Christ towards the sinner was always beautiful. He had good news for sinning man and those that confessed and were aware of their sinful state.
To those who were righteous in themselves, He had nothing but words of vilification. He was harsh with them. "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!" Boy, did He denounce them. If you think, "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon this little child," you better think again and read Matthew's gospel twenty-two. And you'll see His attitude towards the self-righteous, self-sufficient. But, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; He's anointed Me to preach the good tidings to the meek."
he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ( Isaiah 61:1 );