An Inconvenient Truth About Humans

Isaiah 61:1 (ESV) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Ultimately God's prophets are people of HOPE. They are people of good news. But we avoid their message because their message first must address the bad news about us! We do not want to hear that we are sinful and wrong. Modern society has jettisoned those ancient ideas of "original sin" and "condemnation." Modern society believes man is basically born good and needs a better society to improve.

God's best men beg to differ with those concepts. Humanity must be confronted over the evil inside so that it might enjoy the hope of God's goodness in the end. 

Now Isaiah 61 is the verse that Jesus will read and pronounce fulfilled in Nazareth. After doing so, the people are fixed on him. 

Luke 4:20 (ESV) And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

Notice two verses later:

Luke 4:22 (ESV) And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

Were they mad? No! They were excited. God has sent His anointed to them. Surely they were chosen and good people whom God had a special designation for. But they missed the message. Isaiah pronounced this hope only after the woes and judgments of the previous chapters. So too, in the time of Jesus, the people of Israel had grown complacent with empty religion and embedded spiritual rot. Jesus had come to set people free from SIN, not the Romans. The problem was within them, not outside them. 

So Jesus goes on to make allusions to God's dealing with Israel in the past. 

Luke 4:25–27 (ESV) But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

They wanted the glory of God and miracles but Jesus came to bring the true miracle of life change. They were oblivious to God's Word for they wanted earthly blessing and not inward change. So Jesus tells them the message will move beyond them. It will go to those considered "unclean." Ultimately many people outside of the covenantal promises will receive the eternal blessings of Jesus. 

Reading on in Isaiah 61 we see one of the lines is not like the others. 

Isaiah 61:2–4 (ESV) to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

Isaiah hints at the ultimate judgment to come. But only after the "year of the Lord's favor." This day we experience is grace. Salvation is ours if we respond and receive the One who came to save us from ourselves! When we do, we are given beauty for ashes and joy instead of mourning. How? Don't miss the key in verse 3, "to those who mourn". When we mourn our sinful conditions we are welcomed into everlasting blessings. 

Amen.