Isaiah 61
HALLIsaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek: he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, the Messiah and Mediator; and hath endued me with power and virtue from above: and authorised and sent me, to preach the glad tidings of salvation to the humble and contrite soul; to proclaim liberty to those, which are now in miserable captivity under Satan; to release those which are bound with the chains of their sins.
Isaiah 61:2
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To proclaim the acceptable time of redemption, now fully come to the world, and of just vengeance of our God, against the malicious enemies of his Church, to their confusion, and the comfort of those whom they have unjustly afflicted;
Isaiah 61:3
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
To set a day of deliverance to them, which mourn in God’s Church, whether for their sins, or under their afflictions; to put off all the sackcloth and ashes and sad ceremonies of their dejection, and, instead thereof, to give them cheerfulness and joy and thankful acknowledgements of mercy; that those, which before were as fruitless and sapless stocks, may now be called, and so approved, the fruitful and flourishing trees of righteousness, such as God hath, by his Spirit, planted in his Church, for the glory of his own mercy.
Isaiah 61:4
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, &c.
In a just type of which restoration, my people the Jews, shall build again those ruinous walls, that had lain seventy years waste, &c.
Isaiah 61:5
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine dressers.
And those, which are strangers to you, both in nation and religion, shall be ready to be helpful unto you upon all occasions, of your outward and secular employments.
Isaiah 61:6
But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God; ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
While ye shall be a royal priesthood, consecrated unto the D D 2 Lord, and to his holy service; participating of all those comforts, which God hath laid up in store for them which now are called Gentiles, whose future glory and happiness shall be an accession unto yours.
Isaiah 61:7
For your shame ye shall have double: and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.
For that shame and grief which ye have endured, you shall have an abundant recompence of joy and comfort; and instead of your former confusion, ye shall now be rewarded with contentment and cheerfulness, in the fruition of your manifold blessings; the happiness of their return to their own land shall make double amends for their captivity; and they shall find cause of everlasting joy.
Isaiah 61:8
For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, &c.
I, the Lord, love sincerity and true dealing in the carriages of men: I cannot abide, that men should pretend a sacrifice to be offered unto me, when they mean nothing but fraud and violence; that they should hope to please me with a stolen oblation: I will direct and enable them to serve me faithfully, &c.
Isaiah 61:9
And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people.
Their seed, which shall be appointed to carry the word of God unto the Gentiles, shall be highly honoured of them, and their offspring among that people with whom they shall be united.