Year 2, Week 9, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 9, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Isaiah 60-62.

Today’s reading continues Isaiah’s prophecy to Judah. The remaining chapters of Isaiah have some dimensions of a near fulfillment, such as when Israel would be released from Babylonian captivity, but much finds an ultimate fulfillment in ways that are still future. Isaiah 60 describes the glory of God shining from Jerusalem as the nations are blessed as they gather: “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory…Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified” (Isaiah 60:19-21). The realities mentioned earlier in Isaiah are revisited as they would be coming to fruition: “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD” (Isaiah 2-3a). Isaiah 61 is the servant of the LORD, who has been spoken of since Isaiah 42, empowered by the Spirit, as He proclaims the liberty that His saving work provides: “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; to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor, and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:1-2a). Isaiah 62 underscores the promise of the servant of the LORD to restore His people: “Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken” (Isaiah 62:11-12).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is Jesus’ usage of Isaiah 61 as He started His public ministry: “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:16-19). And then having read from Isaiah, Jesus made an important announcement: “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. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:20-21).

Both Isaiah and then Jesus speak of the servant’s announcement concerning the proclamation of, “the year of the LORD’S favor.” This language is reminiscent of the Year of Jubilee: “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan” (Leviticus 25:10). The Year of Jubilee was to occur every fifty years as it provided an opportunity for restoration and liberation. The Year of Jubilee cancelled debts, which truly was good news for the poor and brokenhearted. The Year of Jubilee gave new hope to the oppressed and downtrodden. Isaiah picks up on the notion of a Year of Jubilee and points to it unfolding on an even grander scale that the Law described. Jesus not only read from Isaiah concerning the Year of Jubilee, He declared He was fulfilling it.

Jesus would provide a Jubilee that set people free not from a mere economic challenge; Jesus would set people from the bondage that their souls were in. Jesus would release people not simply from material poverty and physical oppression; Jesus would release people from their spiritual poverty as well as their spiritual oppression. Of course the offensive implication of Jesus’ Words was that the people to whom He was speaking of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, were in need of such a spiritual Jubilee. Jesus would press into the consciences of His hearers that they were spiritually improvised and spiritually held captive. That implication was not well received, for by the time Jesus finished speaking in the Synagogue that day, the congregation was ready to kill him: “When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff” (Luke 4:28-29). But to all who would consider Jesus’ Words, the poverty and bondage from the guilty and power of sin would be conquered for as Isaiah has already explained, the servant of the LORD would substitute Himself for the guilt of our sin (Isaiah 52:13-53:!2); and He would be the warrior to destroy the power of our sin (Isaiah 59:15-21). A deeper and greater Jubilee is found in Jesus.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe