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Lesson 8 Video
Isaiah Part 2
Lesson 8 Video David Arthur (51:04)
4/30/2009
Comfort My People
How Is Jesus the Fulfillment of the Old Testament?
What Jesus Fulfills:
1.The favorable year of the Lord.
2.The recovery of sight.
3.The freedom of those in bondage.
4.The Day of Vengeance—the Wrath of God.
5.Salvation.
[See chart on last page.]
Our text today is Isaiah 61 through 63 and it’s going to start off with this very famous quote that we eventually hear from the mouth of Jesus, in Luke chapter 4. And it’s really going tobe a part for us the rest of the story. It’s going to show us the fulfillment that Christ brings to His Word.
So, let’s start by looking at Isaiah 61, the first couple of verses in our text. Here we have Isaiah speaking, obviously it’s the Lord speaking through Isaiah. And it says this in verse 1:
Isa 61:1-3[reads]
1 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;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
3 To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. NASB
This text we use is a very famous text. It flows right with what we’ve been reading in Isaiah. It is part of the answer of this comfort that we’ve been looking at in Isaiah Part 2 that was promised in chapter 40, when he says: “Comfort, comfort O my people.”
Isa 40:1
1 "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. NASB
And he talks about the highway being built for the restoration of the people of Israel. Well, here we hear this same message coming through Isaiah to the people of God. But just like a lot of prophecy there are multiple fulfillments. Here’s what I mean by that. Sometimes the Bible will give something that will find its fulfillment right there and then to who he’s speaking. So, we could say that in Isaiah 61, this is Isaiah speaking the Word of God to the people of God which will somewhat be realized when the exile is over.WhenBabylon comes and takes them and takes them away to exile and they do their time in exile in Babylon and then God brings them back out, the decree of Cyrus. And they go back and rebuild Jerusalem. That’s a fulfillment of this. But what we understand, when we think about Scripture, Scripture is a progressive book. In other words, it’s a story that has a beginning and an end. At the beginning, starts at Genesis chapter 1, and we find out there’s going to be a battle between two seeds. This is actually in chapter 3. The good seed and the bad seed, we could say.
Gen 3:15
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." NASB
It was in the curse, you know, and God says to the snake, “The seed of the woman will crush your head and you will bruise His heel.” And so we follow that storyline all the way through Scripture and we see it and sometimes it feels like the bad seed is going to win. You know, Jacob and Esau, the two twins coming out, one against the other. Which one will make it? We see all the way through.
It even started with Cain and Abel, you know? One seed kills the other and then Seth is born. Seth’s name is “the appointed one.” So you see this story.
But when you to the very end of Revelation, it’s not that it’s just a single line that goes like this [He draws a straight line from one end of the white board to the other.] But it actually gets bigger [He goes back to the beginning of the line and draws a line at a steep angle up the board.] and brighter and more detailed [From the beginning of the line he draws another line at a steep angle down on the board.] as we go along. So the scope of the story enlarges. So, if we were to say, Isaiah 61, is right here, and we get to where it’s used in Luke 4, what we find out is yes, this is prophesy fulfilled. But when we get to Luke 4 it’s even greater prophecy fulfilled. There’s more promises to it. There’s more color to it, more richness to it.
So what I want to do is let’s go to Luke chapter 4 and let’s examine the fulfillment here in Luke 4.
Now, we know that the gospels . . . There’s four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And they are all different and yet they don’t contradict each other. If you think about the gospels, right? You’ve got, you’ve got Matthew and Matthew is all about fulfillment and kingdom, right? He’s always talking about the kingdom. He’s always saying, “And this was to fulfill what was said . . . And this was to fulfill what was said . . .” And he has this kind of Hebrew, Jewish, national kind of feel to him. All about the kingdom. And he gives all those kingdom parables that Jesus taught.
We get to Luke and Luke is telling us that I want to give an orderly account and it’s not that the others are disorganized but there seems to be a logical flow, somewhat chronological but more so, organized in thought and teaching and exploding out this message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mark. Mark is really fast. He’s a short writer. He always uses the word “immediately”. [He’s speaking very fast here!] Everything is fast. Fast. Here he goes and he, he, he, in three chapters he jumps over seven years of Jesus’ life. [blllllll] Just fast!
[Now he slows down his speech a lot] And then of course, there’s John. Right? And John starts off poetically. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
John 1:1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. NASB
They all have different approaches. But, let’s look at Luke chapter 4. Now, what Luke is doing for us is he’s organizing this ministry. He’s actually going to play with the chronology a little bit. If that makes you nervous, don’t be nervous. This was okay; this is fine to do in this kind of text, this kind of writing. It’s not changing it, it’s just laying it out in a way that would be logical, in a way that would actually convey what Luke is trying to show to his readers.
We get to Luke chapter 4 and we find out that Jesus has been sent by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.
Luke 4:1-13
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness
2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days; and when they had ended, He became hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'"
5 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
7 "Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours."
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'"
9 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;
10 for it is written, 'He will give His angels charge concerning You to guard You,'
11 and, 'On their hands they will bear You up, Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.' "
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
13 And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. NASB
And he finishes that story having successfully beat satan in His temptations using the Word of God. And it says, interesting, it says in verse 14:
Luke 4:14[reads]
14 And Jesus returned to Galileehow? in the power of who? the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. NASB
Now look at verse 1 of chapter 4. How does Jesus go into the wilderness?
Luke 4:1[reads]
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness NASB
So, you see these bookends here in this story. Now, he’s just told us in the chapters preceding that Jesus was baptized for the first time and the Holy Spirit like a dove came upon Him and God opens our ears to hear a dialog. He says, “This is My Son.”
Luke 3:21-22
21 Now it came about when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,
22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased." NASB
It’s a divine blessing. It’s a divine saying: “This is the One. This is the One in Whom I have brought and the One I have sent to you. He is My Son in whom I am well-pleased.”
So, being baptized by the Holy Spirit there in the first couple of chapters, we now see the fruit of that. He goes into the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit. Also, He was lead by the Spirit into the wilderness. He goes in there. Deals with satan. Beats satan in his attempts, this whole bad seed good seed thing. He’s trying to convince Jesus: “You shouldn’t do this. It’s not for You.” And Jesus, using the Word of God, defeats him. And He returns to Galilee, verse 14, in the power of the Spirit.
Now, look how Luke tells us what’s going on. Verse 14:
Luke 4:14-15[reads]
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. district of Galilee. Verse 15 tells us what He was about. What was He doing? What was His agenda?
15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. NASB
Okay. So, this is a summary statement. Luke does this a lot in his gospel. He’ll make summary statements. But here he says, “Jesus’ mission, His ministry, was to go and to teach.” Well, what did He teach? What was His message? Was He a prophet like John the Baptist? Was He a prophet like Isaiah or was He dialoging in the law? What was His message? Well, look at the end of this chapter, in verses 42, 43, and 44. It closes out this scene. It says:
Luke 4:42[reads]
42 And when day came, He departed and went to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them. NASB
Now, Jesus, at this point, He has now left and He’s in Capernaum and He is doing this incredible healing and casting out demons and the people said: “Please don’t go. Won’t You,in a sense, set up Your headquarters here in Capernaum? We like this healing. We like this mobile miracle unit we’ve got here named Jesus. Don’t leave.” Jesus tells them, this is very important. Jesus tells them what He’s about. Look at His message:
Luke 4:43[reads]
43 But He said to them, "I must preach what? the kingdom of God to the other cities also, why? for I was sent for this purpose." NASB
Okay. Now, wrapped up in that little verse is the mission of Jesus Christ. We know He came to save this world. We know He came to seek the lost and to save the lost. We know He came to defeat our enemies. And He does that, we see that. But wrapped up here in Luke chapter 4, we’re going to see the teaching ministry of Jesus. And it is about His Kingdom. And that flows with what the Old Testament tells us. The Old Testament tells us from our studies in Daniel and other places, that it is about the Kingdom. The Kingdom that will reign over the other kingdoms. The Kingdom that will be everlasting. We saw this a couple of weeks ago. We looked at 2 Samuel 7 and the Davidic Covenant.
2 Sam 7:8-16
8 "Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts," I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over My people Israel.
9 And I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth.
10 I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly,
11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you.
12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men,
15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
16 And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."' " NASB
There was a Kingdom promised there that would have no end. That sin could not affect it or remove it, or age or eternity would have no affect on it. That it wouldn’t have an expiration date, that enemies could not conquer it. This was an everlasting Kingdom. This is the Kingdom that Jesus Himself is preaching.
So, let’s back up. Where does He go, where does Luke tell us that He goes to kind of start this Kingdom ministry? Well, Luke decides through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to start us here in His hometown. Interesting. Look at verse 16. Here’s the first place Luke tells us of Jesus’ preaching.
Luke 4:16-19[reads]
16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are downtrodden,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." NASB
Now, verse 20 tells us, it fills us in on what the process was. He first came: He opened up the scroll, He went to the place He wanted to go to. He found the place in Isaiah. He read it and then He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant, this is verse 20. And He sat down.
Luke 4:20
20 And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. NASB
And we understand that this is the town that He began to preach. I kind of like this where the congregation stands up and the pastor sits down. We should try that. That’s pretty good. Actually, I’m sitting now. But anyway, we see here that He closes the book; He sits down, gives it to the attendant and it says, “That the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.”
Now, this is not some stranger that has walked in. This not some roaming rabbi that’s showed up and says, “Hey, can I have some pulpit time today in the synagogue?” We know this because Luke tells us, he introduced this story by saying that Jesus was about His mission. He was going throughout the Galilee and He was teaching. We find out in verse 43, He was teaching on the Kingdom of God. And the response was, do you remember?
Luke 4:22
22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's son?" NASB