Jesus strolled into his hometown synagogue with His building prominence. He had been making quite a name for Himself throughout the region with His teaching. He was asked to speak out of courtesy or perhaps curiosity. After all, He was the son of a carpenter turned rabbi. He asked for the scrolls from Isaiah and began to read from chapter 61, "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD." Then He told the crowd listening, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Jesus' proclamation about this Himself and this passage tells us that this chapter is prophecy about promise of God's Messiah. Not only did Jesus make this assertion, the religious leaders and others in the synagogue believed this passage was about God's Deliverer as well. They were so incensed by Jesus' claim to be the Messiah that they wanted to throw Him off a cliff.
If everyone in Jesus' day understood this passage to be about God's promise to deliver His people, then it only makes sense for us to interpret these verses in light of God's promise. Look again at the words Isaiah uses; bring good news to the afflicted, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. They are promises regarding the victory Jesus brings to our spiritual state.
The message of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection is good news to us who are struggling in our own humanity. He brings hope for those who have no hope. He releases us from the burden and captivity of our sinful nature. The favorable year of the Lord is a reference to the Year of Jubilee when all debts were forgiven and things restored to the original owners. The favorable year of the Lord is symbolic of God's forgiveness of all our debts, sins, or as the KJV Bible says, trespasses.
If this passage is about the deliverance God brings through Jesus, then the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness referred to in verse 10 is a direct parallel to Galatians 3:27 which says, "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." When I accept Christ and are baptized into Him, God puts on us the garment of salvation or the robe of His righteousness. That means that when God looks at us, He no longer sees our guilty, sinful lives; He sees Jesus. No wonder God remembers our sin no more.
God, thanks for doing for me what I can't do for myself. I'm trapped in my own sinful, corrupt, human nature. There's no way out except for you. Thanks for healing my spirit. Thanks for opening the locks to the fetters that hold me down, that enslave me. Thanks for your wonderful forgiveness. Thanks for the renewal and restoration.
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