Isaiah 61

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD…” (Isaiah 61:1–2, NKJV)

When Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, He went into the synagogue and opened the scroll of Isaiah. Then He read this portion and stopped. He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and said:

“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21, NKJV)

How strange this must have sounded to the people who watched Jesus grow up before them. “Who does He think He is?” they thought. And most of them did not accept Him. In fact, they tried to throw Him off a cliff!

But truly, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, liberate prisoners of sin, and proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. He stopped reading in the middle of verse 2, but Isaiah’s prophecy continues:

“And the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:2–3, NKJV)

These words will not be fulfilled in Israel until Jesus comes again. He will execute the vengeance of God against the unbelieving and rebellious, and He will comfort and console the Jews who mourn in Zion. According to Zechariah, they will look upon the Lord whom they pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son (Zechariah 12:10). Israel will be saved and exalted to serve God during the kingdom age when Christ reigns in Jerusalem for a thousand years.

What most excites me about this passage is that the same Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus wants to anoint us to do the things that Jesus did. He empowers us to preach the Gospel to the poor in spirit. He helps us to lead others to Christ so that He may forgive them of their sins and heal their brokenness. He anoints us to proclaim freedom from sin and death through faith in Jesus Christ and to announce the acceptable year of the Lord.

Christ wants to continue His work through us. Are we relying upon the power of the Holy Spirit to do it? If not, then all we have to do is to ask (Luke 11:13).