Sermon series: The Isaiah Oracles
Introduction
We are celebrating something very, very old, yet vibrantly alive as we prepare ourselves for Christmas, 2009. On the one hand, the arrival of God's Messiah, the Redeemer, who is the Son of God, has been prophetically described since the days of Eden, when Adam and Eve fell into sin. On the other hand, the implications of His arrival arrest our attention. Even the coldest pagan will hear songs of this One who was born 2 millennia ago.
He exerts such influence on our times after so many years because He came with a mission. Both the prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New emphatically declare that this Messiah, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world for a reason. Work was assigned to Him, even before the world was formed. And we are never left in the dark about His goals.
Christ came here to ...
1. Do the will of God and become our substitute
Heb. 10:5-7, 10 says, Therefore, as He was coming into the world, He said: "You did not want sacrifice and offering, but You prepared a body for Me. You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings." Then I said, "See- it is written about Me in the volume of the scroll- I have come to do Your will, God!" Verse 10 of this same chapter tells us that because Jesus perfectly did God's will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
2. Save His people from their sins
As the angel of the Lord explained to Joseph what had happened in Mary's pregnancy, this statement of purpose was given: She will give birth to a son, and you will name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matt. 1:21).
3. Gather all that God has appointed to believe
Among the many remarkable statements our Savior made was the one in John 10:16, where He boldly declared, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. It is a stunning statement that reminds us that God's salvation is 100-percent accomplished by Him. He knows His sheep in this world has not yet believed; none of them will be lost.
Christ came to do these things. He not only came to do them, He has done them! As Isaiah has already shown us, when it comes to the Son of God, failure is impossible! He who is called the Mighty God (Isa. 9:6) cannot be thwarted.
Isa. 42:4 echoes His fervent determination and power when Isaiah says of Christ, He will not grow weak or be discouraged until He has established justice on earth. In His upper room prayer on the night of His betrayal, Jesus was able to say to God the Father, I glorified you on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do (John 17:4). And Jesus Himself, after He was poured out as a sacrifice for our sins, declared from the cross, It is finished! (John 19:30).
What strikes me as so wonderful about Jesus Christ is the manner in which He accomplished all these things. Often motion pictures depict Jesus as a stoic, unemotional man with an English accent. He delivers His lines with sober detachment, concerned, but not too much.
Isaiah paints a different picture. He sees a smiling, winsome face with joy that bubbles over and splashes on those around Him. Isaiah 61 describes the good news of Messiah Jesus, a mission that uses words we can feel!
Verse 1-3 put the Messiah's words into the mouth of the prophet Isaiah. It is as if Isaiah overhears and records the very words that would be spoken by God's Messiah. And you know what? They were. Look at Luke 4:16-22. He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written (and that place is Isaiah 61): The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
When Jesus said that, it must have sent shock waves through the gathered crowd. In fact, Luke tells us that before this encounter was over, the synagogue crowd turned into a lynch mob, and tried to kill Him.
Jesus was reading a passage that everyone in the house knew referred to the much-longed for, prophesied Messiah, who would deliver Israel from their oppressors and bring justice to the world. And then He said, "That Messiah that Isaiah spoke of? You're looking at Him." Jesus own self-understanding was that He was the fulfillment of the prophecies about the Heaven-sent Deliverer. This is one of the most explicit statements in Scripture that the ancient prophecies find their focal point in the coming of Christ.
But let me show you something about the mission of our Savior this morning in His very first sermon. Only let's go back to His text, Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me (what a marvelous Trinitarian phrase), because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. That is His overarching purpose. It gathers up everything else.
He has good news for those who are poor (literally) humble, lowly, the needy, the afflicted. Christ looks for those who have been passed over, the outcasts, who realize that they need Someone to come for them. He comes for those who know they are sick, not for those who think they are well. Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus would say. He has good news for those who realize just how desperately they need a Savior. Notice how Isaiah says the Anointed One of God would do this:
1. He binds the brokenhearted
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted. Isaiah is speaking to some people who are about to see their nation topple. The Temple will be demolished. Everything they knew would be gone. Would God be their Helper in that day? "Does He care about what I'm going through?" The message of Isaiah is, "He will be there to bind up the wounds of your heart." He cares. He knows what you're going through. He will be there for you.
But on a deeper, spiritual level, this speaks of those who are broken over their sin, grieved over what they have done to God and against God. Can God forgive me? Will He take me in when He knows what I've been doing, been saying, been thinking? Yes.
2. He will set captives free
He has sent Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners. For the people of Judah, deportation meant living as slaves to a foreign, pagan power. You have no will, no say, no vote. You are under the mastery of another. Can anyone rescue me, break the chains of my slavery?
And spiritually, this speaks of the captivity of sin. We are slaves to our father the Devil, says God's Word. But not any more!
3. He will restore what has been taken away
Verse 2: He has sent me . . . to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. The year of the Lord's favor is a reference to the "Year of Jubilee." The provision of the Law was that every 50th year, all the slaves were to be set free, all debts cancelled, and all land sold or taken for debt returned. It would be like having all your credit cards paid off, your mortgage canceled, and your debts settled.
This "Year of Jubilee" was meant to be an Old Testament picture of salvation through Christ! When a Christian is saved he is set free from his sins (his sin debt is cancelled), from the devil (to whom he had been enslaved), and from his sinful nature, and now the Lord begins to restore to him the years that he had squandered when he was away from the Lord.
Antwone Fisher is the true story of a young man abandoned at birth by an incarcerated woman, who was raised in abusive orphanages, foster homes, and reform schools. After his 18th birthday, he joins the navy where his pent up anger at life brims to the surface. After several fights, he is ordered to undergo counseling. Psychologist Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) encourages Antwone to find his roots to begin healing.
After several phone calls he reaches one aunt and uncle in Cleveland, who escort him to a dilapidated apartment complex where his estranged mother lives. A suspicious and aloof woman answers the door. Upon realizing that Antwone is the child she gave up at birth, she retreats to another room and sits down on a dirty, worn out couch, crying silently.
Antwone asks for some explanation as to why she never came to rescue him or why she never sought him out. She cannot answer. She simply stares ahead, not daring to look at him, tears rolling down her expressionless face.
He gently kisses her on the cheek as if to say, "I forgive you," and walks out of the apartment with his questions unanswered and rides back to his aunt's house with his uncle. As he exits the car, his slow gait betrays the loneliness of a man with no hope of a meaningful connection to anyone. Years had been robbed from him. Is there anything that can help make sense of who he is?
As Antwone enters the front door, however, his world changes. He is met with a chorus of cheers from 50 plus relatives, all waiting to meet Antwone for the first time. There are children, cousins, uncles, and family friends, all smothering him with hugs, slaps on the back, and beaming smiles. One cousin tells him his name is Edward and says, "I'm named after your dad," and an older aunt squeezes his cheeks. Antwone takes it all in, overwhelmed.
The hallway stairs are filled with kids holding up signs with his name scribbled next to crayon-sketched smiley faces and rainbows. He is then led into the next room where a grand feast is spread across a long table. The table is overflowing with chicken, mashed potatoes, pancakes, fruit salad, and every other dish you can imagine. The room is prepared for a party. And for the first time in his life, Antwone is loved. For the first time, he belongs.
As the clamor quiets, an elderly woman, the matriarch of the family who is sitting at the head of table, knocks on the tabletop to get Antwone's attention and then waves for him to come over next to her. With slow, deliberate moves, she raises her arms, grabbing his hands and then touching his face. A slow tear runs down her cheek, and with a raspy voice that seemed as if it was mustering all the strength it possessed, she whispered the redemptive invitation: "Welcome." [Antwone Fisher (A Mundy Lane/Todd Black Production, 2002), rated PG-13, written by Antwone Fisher, directed by Denzel Washington; cited on PreachingToday.com.]
I don't know what life has been like for you. Perhaps, like Antwone Fisher, it has been so hard that you've wondered what the point of it all was. It could be the recent tragedies or trials feel so heavy that it's hard to imagine any good thing coming your way, and you can barely hear His voice, calling so tenderly, Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28) He stands ready to restore what has been taken away, to set you free from self-imposed addictions and the slavery of sin. He longs to heal your brokenness. Come!