Isaiah 61
OGCEXAMINATION Chapter S SIXTY THROUGH SIXTY-SIX
DEFINITION
(Define the following words or phrases as they were discussed in the comments.)
wealth of the nations
covenant
Spirit upon me
married
meek
ensign
liberty
Edom
year of Lord’s favor
Zion
strangers
swine’s flesh
priests
new heavens and earth
MEMORIZATION
The _____ of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath _____ me to preach good tidings unto the _____; he hath sent me to _____ up the broken-hearted, to proclaim _____ to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are _____; to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s _____, and the day of vengeance of our God; to _____ all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in _____, to given unto them a _____ for ashes, the oil of _____ for mourning, the garment of _____for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called _____ of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah that he may be _____. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
EXPLANATION
Explain how Zion would be built by foreigners.
Explain what the One anointed by the Lord was to declare.
Explain the new name Zion was to receive.
Explain the Holy Spirit’s relationship to believers in the O.T.
Explain why God said former things would not be remembered.
Explain how God created a land in one day (brought forth at once a nation).
Explain how people of Zion look upon dead bodies.
APPLICATION
(In its context every scripture has one meaningthe author’s intended meaning. How may the following be applied in the believer’s life?)
Does Isaiah’s prediction of the year of the Lord’s favor at the coming of the Messiah apply to our understanding of biblical eschatology?
Does Isaiah’s symbolic use of Edom in chapter 63 contribute anything to present day understanding of the relation of Zion to the world?
Does the impatient prayer of Zion in Chapter s 64-65 have any application to New Zion?
How can we apply the statement, … bless himself in the God truth. to our concept of God today?
Does the symbolic use of new heaven and new earth in chapter 66 apply to our eschatological understanding of the O.T.?
What is the main application concerning the nature of God from the book of Isaiah?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
TEXTS
Biblia Hebraica, Rudolf Kittel, American Bible Society
Koren, Koren Publishers Jerusalem Ltd.
LEXICONS
Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, Benjamin Davidson Bagster
Langenscheidt Pocket Hebrew Dictionary, Karl Feyerabend, McGraw-Hill
The English and Hebrew Bible Student’s Concordance, Pick, Kregel Publishers
Hebrew and English Lexicon, Gesenius, Eerdmans
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the O.T., Brown, Driver, Briggs, Oxford
Synonyms of the Old Testament, Girdlestone, Eerdmans
TRANSLATIONS
King James Version
American Standard Version, 1901
Revised Standard Version, 1946-1952
The Berkeley Version
The New American Standard Version, 1960-1971
Living Psalms and Proverbs with The Major Prophets, Paraphrased
Four Prophets, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, by J. B. Phillips
Today’s English Version, Good News Bible, 1976, pub. American Bible Society
COMMENTARIES
The Book of Isaiah, Three Volumes, Edward J, Young, Eerdmans
Exposition of Isaiah, Two Volumes, Herbert Carl Leupold, Baker
Isaiah, John Peter Lange, Zondervan
Isaiah, Two Volumes, Keil and Delitzsch, Eerdmans
Class Notes on Isaiah, V. K. Allison
Class Notes on Isaiah, Chester Williamson
Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, Joseph A. Alexander, Zondervan Classic Commentary Series
I and II Kings, James E. Smith, pub, College Press
Old Testament History, Smith and Wilbur Fields, pub. College Press
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Eerdmans
Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Zondervan
Handbook to The Bible, Eerdmans
The International Jewish Encyclopedia, Isaacson and Wigoder, pub. Prentice-Hall
OTHER WORKS
The Doctrine of The Prophets, Kirkpatrick, Zondervan
Prophecy and The Church, Allis, Presbyterian and Reformed
The Grammar of Prophecy, Girdlestone, Kragel
New Testament Interpretations of Old Testament Prophecies, Bales, Harding
Prophecy Interpreted, Milton, Augsburg
The Divided Kingdom, Pfeiffer, Baker
Exile and Return, Pfeiffer, Baker
Israel and The Nations, Bruce, Eerdmans
The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, D. S. Russell, pub. The Westminster Press
History of The Jews, Heindrich Graetz, pub. The Jewish Pub. Soc. of America
The Eternal Spirit, C. C. Crawford, pub. College Press
LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE
INTRODUCTION
Bob Iverson tells of the man who went to one of the new style worship services in which a rock and roll record was being played at ear-shattering levels (Rolling Stones now hold Guinness record of decibels 120. SST Concorde Isaiah 130 decibels at take off). When he asked the young man in charge why such noise, the youth replied that this was an expression of doing one’s own thing. The older man, then, did his own thing by getting out his pocket knife and destroying the amplifier. This illustrates the human problem of knowing and practicing freedom or liberty.
I.
NO SUCH THING AS ABSOLUTE FREEDOM FOR MAN
II.
TRUE FREEDOM
A.
Is when human beings recognize their limitation and obligations
B.
Is always relative and relational. It is relative to the will of the Absolute Creator and in relation to knowing and abiding in His will and fellowship with other human beings.
C.
True freedom is:
Legacy
Not license
Liability
DISCUSSION
I.
LIBERTY IS OUR LEGACY
A.
Christ came to free mankind.
Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house forever; the son continues forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36
If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. John 8:31
The most important freedom Christ gives is freedom from falsehood. He reveals the real, abiding, saving, edifying TRUTH about who God is, who man is and how life is to be lived. You SEE, THE DEVIL LIED TO EVE AND ADAM ABOUT THAT AND HAS DECEIVED MOST OF MANKIND SINCE.. MAN ACTS ACCORDING TO WHAT HE BELIEVES. WHEN THE DEVIL DECEIVED MAN INTO BELIEVING AND DOING A LIE, HE ENSLAVED MAN WITH GUILT, FEAR AND SELFISHNESS.
B.
The real hindrance to true freedom is not God’s Law (His Will) BUT GUILT, FEAR AND SELFISHNESS.
These are the elements Satan uses to keep men in bondage (Hebrews 2:5-18) etc.
Freedom comes only by faith in Christ’s atonement, His priesthood, and His Lordship.
C.
Christ frees us from sin.
Sin is lawlessness.
The devil’s subtle lie is that freedom is found in rebellion. that we cannot really be free if we are going to let God tell us what is right or wrong.
What most people do not realize is that if we don-’t let God tell us then we let the devil tell us! And he lies. You see, man, limited to this world cannot determine right or wrong, reality or unreality, for that has its basis in what is beyond our finite existenceonly supernatural sources know ultimate truth.
Christ frees us from the slavery of lawlessness.
If you want an example of the slavery of lawlessness read Romans 1:18-32.
He also frees us from the guilt and penalty of sin.
D.
Christ frees us from fear.
It is through guilt and the fear of death and the judgment the devil keeps men enslaved to him.
Christ paid our penalty, died and rose again and we who are in covenant relationship with Him do not fear death.
We are not driven by a motive of fear of failure to keep God’s law. that is a never-ending, never attaining bondage.
We are forgiven, freed, adopted sons and now serve willingly from love.
By faith the law of love is transformed into the love of law and almost in proportion as the law is loved, it ceases to be felt as law at all, but privilege and blessing!
THE LOVE OF GOD MASTERS THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE MASTERY OF LOVE IS FOUND TO BE PERFECT LIBERTY.
E.
Christ frees us from inordinate love of self.
L. H. Marshall in his, The Challenge of N.T. Ethics, says, Jesus attributes all moral evil to the self-will that knows not the rule of God, page 31.
Selfishness enslaves us. We become incapable of growth; we become unteachable, impenetrable, unloving.
Selfishness destroys creativeness, the ability to appreciate and enjoy.
The selfish person imprisons himself, fetters himself, hinders himself more than any man who has ever been imprisoned in any concentration camp.
II.
LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE.
A.
God has objectively, judicially and propositionally freed me.
God has emotionally, willingly loved me when I was unlovely. and He did it in such a way that it breaks my rebellious heart. and I love Him.
Loving Him is not something I can produce without an adequate cause. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Jesus commanded His disciples to love others as He loved them. Perfect love has its origin and reproduction in the divine Lover.
Our love is a rebounda reactiona response.
Love is both a motive and a force operating on the human will.
Love moves a person to want to do something.
B.
The love of Christ constrains me, but constrains me from what or to do what?
Love is not self-defining.
Even in the Garden of Edenin innocence, man’s liberty and freedom could only be enjoyed and expressed within divine guidelines.
Before man had ever been deceived by falsehood, God told man what to do to love his Creator.
The creaturely nature of man forbids absolute license.
God must be allowed to tell us how to love and what to love.
C.
Liberty is not self-defining.
C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, page 39:
What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could -be like gods-‘could set up on their own as if they had created themselvesbe their own mastersinvent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God. The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about His will.
Anything God forbids He does so to free us from anything which is not His nature.
Anything God commands He does so to create in us the divine nature.
D.
Liberty is found in order. God is order. Our lives must operate within order and discipline.
An ancient writer of Athens illustrated the consequences of license and disorder this way:
A farmer, not wishing to take the time and effort to sort his harvest, threw into his granary barley and wheat and peas together. But then, when he wanted barley bread or wheat bread or pea soup, he had to pick them grain by grain, instead of having them separately stored and easily accessible.
In 1776 George Mason wrote this statement into the Virginia Declaration of Rights: … the blessings of liberty can (not) be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
Edmund Burke, British statesman 1727-1797, said: (Liberty) cannot exist unless a controlling power on the will and appetite is placed somewhere; and the less there is within, the more there must be of it without.
Discipline is not antagonistic to liberty. License is not proof of freedom. The test of the greatness of liberty is the extent to which we can obey self-imposed law.
As Christians we are free to move responsibly within an orbit as wide as the revealed will of an all-knowing, all-loving, all-true, all-holy God.
A study in 1968, entitled Studies in Self-Esteem, of young men from homes where parents demanded high standards of behavior and performance and where firm discipline was a fact. findings. suggest. the development of independence and self-reliance is fostered by a well-structured, demanding environment rather than by largely unlimited permissiveness and freedom to explore in an unfocused way. (See Education In America, by G. Charles Roche, III, pub. Fee, p. 142.)
III.
LIBERTY IS LIABILITY.
A.
Booker T. Washington, in his book, Up From Slavery, describes the scenes among the blacks on the night of the proclamation of their freedom. There was no sleep that night.. All was excitement.. Early in the morning we were all sent for. The proclamation was read and we were told that we were free and could go when and where we pleased.. There was great rejoicing, followed by wild scenes of ecstasy. But the wild ecstasy did not last long.. The great responsibility of being free seemed to take possession of them.. Now that they were liberated, they found possession of freedom to be much more serious business than they had anticipated.
B.
Freedom is never free! There is always a price that those who would possess it must pay. The price of freedom is responsibility. Those who demand freedom but are not willing to pay this price, seek, not freedom, but license.
C.
One man illustrates it as like the fundamental law of economics: There is no such thing as a free lunch. there are no moral bargains in freedom. Liberty has a priceit is responsibility.
A generation of young adults fed existentialism in education, art, and modern rock music, pursues the self-defeating course of aspiring to freedom while seeking to evade responsibility.
D.
Liberty demands self-mastery.
During a Fritz Kreisler concert, a young violinist sat enthralled. -Ohhh,-’ she sighed, -what I would give to have such finger dexterity, such mastery, such freedom!-’ Later she told the incomparable Kreisler that she would give her life to play as he did. The violinist looked at her compassionately, then said, -But, my dear, I did.-’
E.
The man who has not accepted the liability and paid the price to discipline himself has narrowed his freedom. A man who cannot deny himself, cannot choose.
More advance in rank in USN, more libertybut more responsibility.
More Christian maturity, more libertybut more responsibility.
F.
Liberty is a capacity, a potentiality.
We are freed by Christ to make possible the reaching of that capacity, that potentiality for which we were made. that beautifully free, purposeful, harmonious person, Christ demonstrated in the flesh it was possible to be!
Liberty is in being. not in things or circumstances!
The difference between a baby making random movements in his crib and the beautiful balance and coordination of a Willie Mays or Jack Nicklaus is the discipline and self-mastery and growth it takes to reach the potential.
The difference between a show-off, infantile, immature church of Christ in Corinth, and one that truly serves and-’ ministers and reflects the gospel of Christ, is the discipline and self-mastery those Christians would exercise in the liberties Paul declared they had as Christians.
Liberty is not license.
Paul wrote: All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but I will not be enslaved by anything. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. True liberty is having self-mastery to do what is right and good when we don-’t feel like it! Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself. How DID CHRIST, THE FREEST, MOST LIBERATED PERSON EVER TO LIVE UPON THIS EARTH, KNOW SUCH LIBERTY? He found it surrendering self to the will of the Father as revealed in God’s Word.
Liberty cannot survive in a vacuum. Jesus illustrated this with His parable of the unclean spirit who returns to his house to find it swept and put in order, but empty, and goes and gets seven other spirits more evil than himself and re-occupies the liberated, but empty, dwelling place! CHRIST HAS LIBERATED US for SERVICE. HE HAS LIBERATED us TO LIBERATE OTHERS. LIBERTY IS NOT JUST TO ENJOY. IT IS TO USE! AND TO USE FOR HIS GLORY! LIBERTY IS NOT SELF-INDULGENCE, BUT SERVICE.
A famous poet once said, I have on my table a violin string. It is free, I twist one end of it and it responds. It is free. But it is not free to do what a violin string is supposed to doto produce beautiful music. So I take it, fix it in my violin and tighten it until it is taut. Only then is it free to be a violin string.
Each of us is free, if we choose, to be an untightened, unhampered piece of violin string and flop around or lie around and produce nothing. Or we are free, if we choose, to be tightened, constrained and tuned by the will of the Master and only then are we free to be what He can make us and produce what we were made to produce.
SPECIAL STUDY THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES
by Ron Fisher Great Lakes Bible College
INTRODUCTION:
There is a wealth of teaching in the Bible with respect to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. He is said to do what only persons can do. He can speak, teach, search, reveal, lead, and forbid (1 Timothy 4:1; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:10; Acts 16:6-7). He has the faculties of a person-mind, knowledge, affection, and will (Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:11; Romans 15:30; 1 Corinthians 12:11). He is shown to have the attributes of God. He is eternal (Hebrews 9:14). He knows what God knows (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). He exerts God’s power (Luke 1:35). He is everywhere present as God is (Psalms 139:7-10). He is the Spirit of holiness (Romans 1:4). We have every right to conclude, therefore, that a Bible study of the Holy Spirit is most valuable and essential.
A.
THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKED THE WORKS OF GOD IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES.
He was present and active in the creation of the universe (Genesis 1:2).
He shared in creating man in the Godhead’s image (Genesis 1:26; Job 33:4).
He exerted power as from God (Judges 14:6; Micah 3:8).
He convicted men of sin and tried to turn them back to God (Genesis 6:3).
He cooperated in confounding arrogant men at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:7).
B.
THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERED AND GUIDED GOD’S LEADERS.
During the very unsettled times covered by the book of Judges, God gave assistance to several judges with the presence of His Spirit.
a.
God sent His Spirit upon Gideon, encouraging him to rally the tribes of Israel against the Midianites and the Amalekites (Judges 6:33-35).
b.
God’s Spirit enabled Jephthah to defeat the sons of Ammon (Judges 11:29-33).
c.
God’s Spirit empowered Samson to slay a lion and to slay thirty men (Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19).
d.
God’s spirit was strong in Samson to prepare him to slay 1,000 Philistines (Judges 15:14).
Though Jehovah did not want Israel to have a king, when granting them their wish, He assisted Saul and David by bestowing His Spirit upon them.
a.
When Saul was anointed by Samuel as Israel’s first king, the Spirit came upon him to lead him in prophesying (1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 10:10).
b.
Once Saul was rejected by Jehovah, David was selected as Saul’s successor. As the Spirit came upon David, He deserted Saul (1 Samuel 16:12-14).
The Holy Spirit’s most extensive work of all in Old Testament times is found with respect to God’s prophets.
a.
Moses expressed the selfless, open-hearted wish that all of God’s people could be prophets under the guidance of His Spirit (Numbers 11:29).
b.
When one understands the Old Testament’s concept that the prophet must speak for and represent God to man exactly (Exodus 7:1-2), he can see the necessity of man’s being guided by the Spirit to be qualified as a prophet.
c.
In Nehemiah’s day, the Israelites stood a fourth of a day confessing their sins. Then they were admonished by Levites to recall the bountiful blessings God had showered upon their ancestors. Among these was the Spirit’s instruction of them through the prophets (Nehemiah 9:20; Nehemiah 9:30). Sadly, most of the nation would not give heed to the prophetic words spoken.
d.
Zeehariah observes how the people had hardened their hearts against the former prophets, even though the Spirit revealed Jehovah’s law and words through them (Zechariah 7:12). Jehovah promised not to listen to them just as they had not listened to Him.
e.
The most effective summary of Old Testament prophecy is found in the New Testament: 2 Peter 1:20-21. There it is declared that no prophecy of Scripture originates from human will. Rather prophets spoke as they were guided by the Spirit of God.
Though there are over 300 references to priests in the Old Testament, there is not one example of the Holy Spirit’s presence to guide them. This is probably best explained by the fact that their duties, mode of dress, and style of life were set down by divine revelation. Their obligation was to obey what God had already told them to do.
C.
THE HOLY SPIRIT ASSISTED SECONDARY LEADERS.
The leaders previously mentioned furnish illustrations of the major human leadership God provided and equipped for Israel.
There was also a back-up or assisting leadership which God prepared with Holy Spirit guidance.
During Moses-’ career of directing people of Israel over a period of 40 years of wandering, God commanded him to select 70 elders from among the population to act as his religious and civil assistants. This would lighten his burden of trying to deal fairly and adequately with almost three million people. God placed His Spirit upon these men, once they were chosen (Numbers 11:16-17; Numbers 11:25).
Joshua took Moses-’ place and led out to conquer Palestine for Israel and to settle the tribes in their new-found home. God had placed His Spirit within Joshua and asked Moses to ordain him to his task by the laying on of hands (Numbers 28:17).
God endued Bezalel and Oholiab with His Spirit so as to make them skilled tradesmen, fitted to prepare all the artistic designs and accompanying furniture of the Tabernacle. They exhibited superior skills which were worthy of God’s house of worship (Exodus 31:1-11).
D.
THE HOLY SPIRIT STRESSED THAT DEPENDENCE UPON HIM IS THE ONE WAY TO GOD’S VICTORY.
Through Isaiah Jehovah chastised the nation of Judah for making its own plans, not accepting His; for making alliances with Egypt and not with His Spirit (Isaiah 30:1-2). See also Isaiah 31:1-3. They were adding sin to sin. Their foul attitude is dramatized by the fact that they were refusing to listen to God’s instruction. They even bullied God’s prophets (seers), telling them not to prophesy what was right. They wanted to hear pleasant words and deceits (Isaiah 30:9-10).
Because Israel rejected God’s Spirit in the wildernesss wanderings, He turned against them as His enemies (Isaiah 63:7-14).
Under the figure of a lampstand holding seven lamps and supplied with lighting fuel by two olive trees, Zechariah conveyed a valuable lesson to Zerubbabel from God: accomplishment of God’s work is achieved by God’s Spirit, not by human might or power (Zechariah 4:1-6).
CONCLUSION:
The presence of God’s Spirit has played a fundamental role in His direction of men throughout both the Patriarchal and Mosaic Dispensations. Special men were selected for the Spirit’s indwelling so that they might lead God’s people correctly. These principles can minister to a better understanding of the Spirit’s work in New Testament times.
Isaiah 61:1-4
B. REJOICING OF ZION, CHAPTER 61
- FREEDOM
TEXT: Isaiah 61:1-4
1
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah 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;
2
to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.
4
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
QUERIES
a.
Who is me in verse one?
b.
What is the year of Jehovah’s favor?
c.
How shall the desolations of many generations be rebuilt?
PARAPHRASE
The Servant says, The Sovereign God will send Me in all the fulness of His Sovereign Spirit because His mission for Me is to deliver the message of the good news of redemption. The Spirit of God upon Me will be the sign that I come with His authority. My mission is to heal men who have been broken in heart and spirit by sin, to declare liberation for all those who have been made prisoners of sin and to announce that the time Jehovah has set in His schedule to be gracious and conciliatory toward sinful man has arrived. Yes, I am to be sent to comfort and strengthen all who are mourning in Zion for spiritual help. I am going to give them a crown of beauty in exchange for the ashes of affliction they have had to suffer, anointing of My Spirit for joy in exchange for their mourning; I am going to wrap them in divine praise and take away their heaviness of heart. I am going to do this so that My New Zion may be established and stabilized like firmly rooted trees. After I have done this no winds or storms of affliction shall uproot them. The ancient house of Israel which for hundreds and hundreds of years has been in ruin and disarray will be rebuilt by these people whom I will liberate from the prison-house of sin.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 61:1-2 MESSAGE: The me of verse one can be none other than the Servant of Jehovah, the Messiah. We have divine sanction for that verified by the Servant Himself in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:21). Jesus read these verses from the scroll of Isaiah and applied them directly to His own incarnate ministry by saying, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your ears. The Greek peplerotai is perfect tense for has been fulfilled and would read more literally, has been and is continuing to be fulfilled. From the moment Jesus was born until the Christian dispensation shall close and the gospel cease to be preached, what Isaiah wrote in these verses is being fulfilled. And the Servant is the source of it all. The Hebrew reads, ruach adonay yehoih, or literally, spirit of Lord Jehovah. Adonay is the Hebrew word which suggests Judge or Master. It is like kurios in Greek. Yehoih is translated Jehovah and suggests Covenant-Revealer. This combination of divine character was the ruach (Spirit) which was upon Jesus. God gave His Spirit to Jesus without measure (John 3:34). The reason Jesus needed this full anointing of the Godhead was His mission to a world of rebel prisoners enslaved by a supernatural devil. God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38) so that in Jesus dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9). To anoint (the Hebrew word mashah is anoint and is the word from which we get Messiah) meant to crown as kingto give authority. Jesus-’ authority to proclaim good tidings from heaven was demonstrated by the miracles and signs confirming His deity. He demonstrated He had authority on earth to forgive sins by making the lame to walk and giving sight to the blind and raising the dead.
The Hebrew word for meek is -anah and means afflicted, oppressed, ravished, miserable, poor. This is an excellent word to describe those who know they are in need of help. It indicates the kind of person who would be glad to hear good news from God. Jesus pronounced a blessing upon those who were poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3-12). Brokenhearted is from the Hebrew shavar meaning fractured, distressed, sorrowing. This is why the Servant is sent to those who are mourningsin has fractured their livesthey are disintegrating. Jesus was sent to bring them wholeness and to bind them up.
The Servant came to announce liberty to the captives and release to those who were bound. The Hebrew word for liberty is deror and was used in connection with the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:10; Ezekiel 46:17, etc.) when bond-slaves were set free and land taken in payment for debts was returned to its original owners. The Mosaic Year of Jubilee was evidently intended to typify the messianic time. Christ came to bind our jailor (the devil) and free us (Matthew 12:25-30; Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8-9; Revelation 20:1-6). We have allowed Satan, by choosing sin, to imprison us in falsehood, lawlessness, fear and selfishness. The Servant of God sets us free from that prison (see Special Study on Liberty Is Not License). The Hebrew word for Jubilee is yovil, from yaval, which means, protracted sound of the trumpet, signifying that a very important, once-in-a-lifetime announcement is about to be made.
Of course, most of the Jews expected Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30) to interpret this physically. That was the traditional interpretation of the rabbis (see comments on Isaiah 53). When Jesus talked of food they wanted bread and fish; when He talked of wholeness they wanted limbs restored; when He talked of freedom they wanted foreign rulers driven from their land. But circumstances are not what constitute the Kingdom of Godit is character, (Romans 14:17).
Hebrew qara means proclaim, call out, shout, cry, summon. The Servant became The Prophet, The Apostle. He was sent not only to live a godly life and to do miraculous things; He was sent to preach and teach the will of God for every other individual in the world. That was really His fundamental missionaccomplishing atonement and preaching the gospel. His miracles were simply means to that end. The Hebrew word ratzah is translated favor (or acceptable) and means delightful, pleasurable, gracious. The Servant came to announce the precise time God chose in His divine schedule of redemption to accomplish His grace toward man. In the fulness of time God sent forth His Son. (Galatians 4:4). The Servant of the Lord was anointed to summon all men to the year (or appointed time) of the Lord’s pleasure or conciliation. And the day of vengeance was part of the Servant’s announcement. All through the O.T. prophets, in highly figurative language, God promises (in the last days of the O.T. dispensation) He is going to defeat His foes in one great battle (Joe 2:30 to Joe 3:21; Ezekiel 38:1 to Ezekiel 39:29; Zechariah 9:9 to Zechariah 10:12; Zechariah 12:1-14; Zechariah 14:1-21; etc.), and give His people victory. That great battle was at Calvary and the great victory over Satan was there and at the empty tomb. The principalities and powers were triumphed over publicly and shamed at the cross (Colossians 2:15).; when He ascended on high He led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8). Of course, the final and consummate vengeance of God will come at the end of this year of grace (end of the Christian dispensation, which are the last days, or end of all ages, 1 Corinthians 10:11). But this year is the only year God has sent His Servant to announce. Now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation! (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2). The defeat of God’s enemies and His victory is the source of comfort for Zion. The Hebrew word nakham (translated comfort) is very appropriate here for it means consoled, eased, freed.
Isaiah 61:3-4 MISSION: The Hebrew word phe-’er, translated garland. means more precisely, an ornamental headdress, or adorning tiara. The Servant-Messiah accomplishes more than conquestHe brings coronation to His people (cf. Romans 8:31-39). He makes it possible for believers to sit with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). His followers are crowned and reign with Him over death and all other circumstances. (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Corinthians 3:21-22; Revelation 5:10). The Servant anoints His followers with the oil of gladness by the anointing of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:26-27) which is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit and the down payment on the believer’s future inheritance (cf. Ephesians 1:14), The ma-’eteh is from the root -ataph meaning to cover for protection, or, cloak, veil. A man may, so to speak, wrap himself in his human moods as a defense mechanism. Human moods and emotions are no protection; they are capricious, vulnerable to circumstances and temporal. Instead of human moods which are so manipulative and conducive to despair, the Servant will wrap His followers in a protective cloak of praise. If our lives are wrapped in praise to Jehovah we are protected from the manipulative capriciousness of human emotions which are so subject to circumstances. The object of our heart’s desires and hopes is The Almighty, Never Varying, Always Faithful God and so we do not ever need to despair (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11). The Servant will dress His people up richly like the father dressed the prodigal son when he returned home (cf. Luke 15:22-24). All the despair and heaviness will be forgotten when the Messiah brings God’s sons home! The Messiah will give His followers beauty (righteousness) and stability (trees, planting of Jehovah) (cf. Psalms 1:1-3). The messianic people are going to be established as God’s people and nothing can snatch them out of the Shepherd’s hand (cf. John 10:27-28). No human, no spiritual power, no circumstance can take away their beauty. All this, of course, brings glory to the one so clothed, but ultimately to the One doing the dressing. The real glory went to the father of the prodigal because he exhibited such mercy, love and forgiveness.
The Servant’s followers will build up the ancient ruins. The house (tabernacle, dynasty, family) of David was in ruins. David’s house was the house of messianic destiny. David’s throne was the throne reserved for the Messiah. But those who were sitting on David’s throne in the days of the prophets scorned and usurped its messianic destiny. They violently rebelled against God’s purposes for this throne of David and had brought it to shame and ruin. Amos predicted that the house of David (tabernacle of David) would be rebuilt (Amos 9:11-12). Amos-’ prophecy was fulfilled when the Gentiles were brought into the messianic kingdom (the church) (cf. Acts 15:12-21). We have already commented on this rebuilding (cf. Isaiah 59:10, etc.). The church is built as a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22); Christians are living stones built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4-8).
QUIZ
What proof do we have that this is a messianic prophecy?
What character is suggested in the Spirit by which the Servant is anointed?
Who are the meek?
What kind of liberty will the Messiah bring?
What is the garment of praise?
How will the Messiah’s followers rebuild the ruins of generations?
Isaiah 61:5-7
- FORTUNE
TEXT: Isaiah 61:5-7
5
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowman and your vinedressers.
6
But ye shall be named the priests of Jehovah; men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
7
Instead of your shame ye shall have double; and instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.
QUERIES
a.
Why emphasize so much the subjugation of foreigners?
b.
Why promise that New Zion’s citizens would be priests?
PARAPHRASE
Amazing but true, many of those who are now your enemies, alienated against you, will, in the days of the messianic Jubilee, become subjects of the. New Kingdom of Zion and join with you in service to Jehovah. All of you together will be anointed as priests and ministers of Jehovah. Those former enemies who become members of New Zion will be the most precious thing their nations have and they will aid in the ongoing of Zion and their coming will bring fame and honor and blessing to you. The fact that Jehovah will conquer and make citizens of Zion of those who once opposed and mocked Him will replace whatever shame you once knew with twice as much glory and honor and blessing. And Zion will be glad and happy forever because of this.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 61:5-6 JOINING: The Hebrew word zarim is translated strangers and means, loathed-ones, barbarians, enemies, excluded-ones. Ben-nekar is Hebrew for sons of the alien or sons of the foreigner. When the Messiah-Servant came crying aloud the time of the messianic Jubilee (the time of the Lord’s pleasure), those who had been excluded, alienated from covenant relationship to Jehovah were to be given an invitation to join the chosen people in serving and ministering to Him. Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth apparently closed the scroll of Isaiah before He read beyond verses one and two of this chapter. He did not read the verses now under consideration, but He implied them in His reference to the mercy shown by Jehovah to two Gentiles (Luke 4:23-27) in the remainder of His sermon!
Paul’s statement to the Gentiles in Ephesians 2:11-22 is certainly the fulfillment of this. Isaiah is replete with predictions that the nations (goiym) will be included in the messianic age as God’s people (Isaiah 2:1-4; Isaiah 19:23-25; Isaiah 25:6-12; Isaiah 56:6-8; Isaiah 60:10-14, etc.).
The Jewish Apocrypha (non-canonical writings) however, reflect the humanistic, materialistic interpretations of such prophecies as those of Isaiah here concerning God’s purposes for the Gentiles in the messianic age. These apocryphal writings show a liberal attitude of the Jewish mind toward the Gentiles during a time of relative freedom and peace for the Jews in the days of the Maccabeans, but an intensifying bitterness and hatred for the Gentiles as the oppression of Rome increased until the days of Jesus and the hotheaded Zealots and Sicarii eventually stirred up the rebellion and insurrection that brought about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation in 70 A.D.
According to I Enoch Isaiah 10:21, (written about 164 B.C.), all the Gentiles will become righteous and offer to God their adoration and worship. In the Sibylline Oracles III (written about 150 B.C.), the Gentiles will make their way in procession to God’s Temple there to ponder his law and supplicate the Eternal King (716ff; 725ff); from every land the Gentiles will bring frankincense and gifts to the house of the great God and in the coming messianic kingdom they will have a share in the blessings that it brings. However, in II Baruch (written after 90 A.D.), it is written: My Messiah. will both summon all the nations, and some of them he will spare and some of them he will slay. These things therefore will come upon the nations which are to be spared by him. Every nation which knows not Israel, and has not trodden down the seed of Jacob, shall indeed be spared. And this because some out of every nation will be subject to thy people. But all those who have ruled over you, or have known you, shall be given up to the sword (II Baruch 72:2-6).
But the bitterness of the Jews toward the Gentiles finds its fullest expression in Similitudes of Enoch and II Esdras (both written in the first century A.D.). They teach that all Gentiles who dwell upon the earth, at the time of the messianic age, will bring to the Elect One gifts and presents and tokens of homage; but these will be of no avail; they will be destroyed and banished from the face of the earth and will perish forever and ever. D. S. Russell says in The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, pub. Westminster, pg. 303, The bitterness. expressed by the writer of II Esdras against the Gentiles is to be understood against the background of persecution which the Jewish nation as a whole had to suffer, first in the time of the Seleucids and then in the time of the Romans. It reflects the troubled years following the capture of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and is in keeping with the trend in Judaism generally. From this time forward, and especially from the close of the first century A.D., the harsher view prevailed and the universalism of the earlier years was gradually replaced by that spirit which could be satisfied only with the annihilation of all the other nations of the earth.
In the light of these apocryphal views, which were undoubtedly the views of the majority of the Jews in Jesus-’ day, we may well understand the extreme animosity generated toward Jesus when He interpreted chapter 61 of Isaiah to mean the Gentiles were to be accepted and blessed in the messianic kingdom! The traditional interpretation the people of the synagogue in Nazareth expected to hear was that the Gentiles would at least become literally the conquered slaves of the Jews. That Saturday crowd expected to hear Isaiah 61 interpreted to mean God’s people would someday kill most of the Gentiles and those not killed would become slave laborers (like the ancestors of the Jews had been in Egypt) and put to work building a rich, prosperous Jerusalem and Palestine which would become the capital city of the world.
What God meant in Isaiah 61 was, of course, just the opposite of the common Jewish concept. Many of the Jews learned this with great difficulty but rejoiced once it became apparent that it was the will of Jehovah (cf. Acts 9:1-16; Acts 10:34-43; Acts 11:18; Acts 13:44-52; Acts 15:12-21; Galatians 2:11 ff, etc.).
The Hebrew word for priests, is kohenyim from the root word kahan, meaning, to stand, to prepare, make ready, adjustthus to officiate as one who readies or adjusts something. The word translated ministers, is sharethey and means, to wait upon, to serve, to attend; it is applied only to the Levites in the O.T. Law. The concept that all Jews, (let alone a kingdom of Jews and Gentiles) would become priests and ministers to Jehovah was revolutionary! It is essentially a prediction that the Law of Moses will be abrogated in the messianic age! Only those of Levi could be priests and ministers according to the Mosaic covenant. It took the major portion of the book of Hebrews in the N.T. to convince Jewish Christians of the first century that Jesus (from the tribe of Judah) could be a priest (after the order of Melchezidek). All of Messiah’s people are priestseven Gentiles (cf. 1 Peter 2:4-5; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20:6). Access, intercession, offering will be the vocation of all members of the New Zion (Hebrews 10:19-25; Hebrews 13:15-16; Romans 12:1-2).
The Hebrew heyl goiym could be translated host or army of the Gentiles. The wealth or riches of any nation is not its gold or diamonds, but its people. It is the character of the people that make any kindgom what it is. God predicts through His prophets that the future Israel (N.T. church, Galatians 6:16) will feed on the best of all nations (cf. Obadiah 1:17; Obadiah 1:21; Micah 7:11-17; Zechariah 14:16-21; Isaiah 19:16-25; Isaiah 60:10-18; Isaiah 66:12-21). Many of those who came into the N.T. church were not what most nations would consider their best (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), but they were people who could repent and be made into the image of Christ and were really the jewels of creation (cf. Philippians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).
Isaiah 61:7 JOY: The Hebrew word bashettekem is from the root bash which means, disappointment, confusion, ingnominy, disgrace. When the Jews were sinning the prophets called on the pagan nations to look at them and see if there had ever been a nation on earth so disgraceful (cf. Jeremiah 2:10-12; Jeremiah 18:13; Jeremiah 23:14, etc.). The nations of the Gentiles could not hold a candle to the Jews of the days of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel! The Gentiles mocked, derided and held in contempt everything Jewish. When they were taken into captivity the Assyrians and Babylonians hissed at them for they had claimed to be invincible because Jehovah was with them. The Jews suffered much indignity and reproach living in unclean heathen lands as prisoners. But Isaiah predicts a time (when the Messiah comes) when all these indignities shall be turned into exaltation and joy. The Messiah will take away all uncleanness and disgracefulness. Of course, it would not be relief from national, cultural shame, but spiritual disgrace and spiritual uncleanness would be taken away. One is reminded of the glorious predictions of the messianic relief made by the father of John the Baptist (by the direction of the Holy Spirit) when he (Zechariah) spoke of the mission of his own son, the waypreparer (Luke 1:67-79). Everlasting joy is a promise to be fulfilled only in the Messiah’s kingdom (cf. Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 51:11; John 15:11; John 16:22; John 16:24; John 17:13; Romans 14:17; Romans 15:13; Galatians 5:22; 1 John 1:4, etc.).
QUIZ
What would have been the common interpretation of Isa 61:1-7 in Jesus-’ day?
Why is calling citizens of New Zion priests so revolutionary?
What will the everlasting joy of Zion have as its object of gladness?
Isaiah 61:8-11
- FAME
TEXT: Isaiah 61:8-11
8
For I, Jehovah, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9
And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Jehovah hath blessed.
10
I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
11
For as the earth bringeth forth its bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
QUERIES
a.
What is the truth in which Jehovah will recompense?
b.
Whose seed shall be known among the nations?
c.
Why use the illustration of a bridegroom and bride?
PARAPHRASE
I am Absolute, I am Faithful-Yaweh, and so justice is My very nature. I despise injustice and wickedness and so I will faithfully reward My people by delivering them from their wicked oppressors and My pledge of this shall be in an everlasting covenant which I will establish with them. The citizens of New Zion shall be uniquely recognizable and even famous wherever they are all over the world. It will be so simple to identify the godly that everyone who sees them will recognize and acknowledge that Almighty God has blessed them. Zion will be filled with joy and she shall continually offer happy praise to God for His goodness. God has wrapped Zion in the grace of His righteousness and salvation and made her as beautiful and admirable as a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride wearing her precious jewelry. Just as surely as the earth produces fruit when seeds are sown in it, so the fruits of righteousness and praise will sprout from the seed of. New Zion sown by Jehovah among the nations.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 61:8-9 RENOWN: Zion will one day rejoice because she shall be made famous. The reason she shall be made famous, however, will not be due to her own merit but because God is who He is He is by nature absolutely just and faithful. God will deliver Zion from her enemies because He loves justice and hates iniquity and therefore must vindicate His absolute sovereignty by destroying iniquity and rewarding loyalty. The loyalty Jehovah will reward will be that of the sinless Servant; but the Servant will impute His perfect meritorious obedience (Hebrews 10:5-10) to all who by faith and covenant-keeping become citizens of the New Zion. The Lord’s primary goal is the vindication of His Name (cf. Ezekiel 29:9, 14, 22, 44; Ezekiel 36:21-23; Ezekiel 36:32; Ezekiel 38:16; Ezekiel 38:23; Ezekiel 39:7-8, Ezekiel 39:25-29). It is imperative that Jehovah’s absolute sovereignty and absolute faithfulness be proven and vindicated. Man’s salvation depends on God’s faithfulness, not his own (see comments, Isaiah 48:9-11).
The word -emeth is translated truth and is from the Hebrew root -aman (same as Greek and English amen). The word means firmness, faithfulness, stability, fidelity, verity. The idea in verse eight is that God is going to prove His fidelity by keeping His promise to destroy Zion’s enemies because they are wicked. This demonstration of Jehovah’s absolute faithfulness will, in turn, move men of all nations to happily come into covenant relationship with Jehovah. All this will be accomplished when Jehovah makes an everlasting covenant with man. Thus once again we conclude these scriptures are prophetic of the New Zion, the church. It was at the cross and the empty tomb that God destroyed the power of all the enemies of man (cf. Luke 1:67-79; Luke 2:29-35; John 12:27-33; John 16:11; Romans 8:31-39; Colossians 2:14-15; Hebrews 2:14-15, etc.).
The Hebrew word berith is the word for covenant. It is from the Hebrew root word barah which means literally to cut, or to choose, to select. Its fundamental idea is chosen separated or that which distinguishes a selected people. God’s salvation and blessings are available always within a covenant. A covenant, by its very nature, demands choice, or selection, and that requires conditions and terms. The everlasting covenant (or new covenant Jeremiah 31:31 ff) has conditions and terms men must choose if they wish its blessings. Christ is the new covenant (cf. Matthew 26:26-29; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 12:24; Hebrews 13:20). He is the resurrection and the life, whoever lives and believes in Him shall never die (John 11:26). Paul, the apostle, spoke of the new covenant relationship as being in Christ (cf. Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 2 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Corinthians 3:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 3:6; etc.). The everlasting covenant is predicted in many places in the O.T. (cf. Isaiah 55:3; Jeremiah 32:40; Ezekiel 16:60-63; Ezekiel 37:26, etc.).
The seed and offspring of New Zion will be renowned among the Gentiles. The people of the Messiah (Christians) were known throughout the Roman world of the first century (and ever after) for their faith, obedience and love (cf. Acts 2:47; Acts 4:13; Acts 4:33; Romans 16:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10; Philemon 1:4-7; 1 Peter 4:4). Pliny the younger wrote the believers met regularly early in the morning to worship Christ as a divinity. They insisted on a strict code of ethics; to abstain from fraud, theft, and adultery, never to lie, nor to default on an obligation. At the end of the assembly they ate a common meal and then adjourned. John Noble (prisoner of the Russians for 12 years) received the admiration and respect of the Russian prison guards for his Christian life. Isaiah means to stress how different the people of the Messiah will be from the heathenish behavior of the Israel of his day or the paganism of the world in general (cf. John 13:35). The goodness and blessedness and joy of the lives of the citizens of Zion will be acknowledged (perhaps even grudgingly respected) by the whole world. The Messiah’s people are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).
In verse ten, New Zion is rejoicing in the Lord because the Lord has clothed her in salvation and righteousness. The church is all dressed up like someone waiting for a wedding! (cf. Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:6-10). The people of the Messiah partake of the glory of the Messiah by being made partakers of His nature (2 Peter 1:3-4) which is done by abiding in His Will (John 15:1-11). New Zion partakes of her King’s nature gradually, progressively, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). New Zion must never forget that her beauty is relative to and dependent upon partaking of her Lord’s righteousness and salvation. New Zion has no beauty of her own. She is clothed by Someone else! So all her boasting or rejoicing is directed to the Source of her glory (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:29-31; Galatians 6:14-16).
As surely as the earth produces when seeds are sown in it, so the Lord will produce righteousness and praise to spring forth all over the world. Isaiah affirms the faithfulness of Jehovah to keep His word. God’s word always producesit always comes to pass! (Isaiah 55:10-11). The existence of God and His faithfulness has been demonstrated in thousands of supernatural, historically-eyewitnessed events. Many of these events were predicted hundreds of years before they occurred. But most finally and ultimately God has proved His absolute veracity and trustworthiness in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Death, the ultimate enigma, the ultimate obstacle, has been defeated. It has been swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8). He kept His word! In spite of dungeon, fire and sword, God saved a remnant of Judah and brought the Messiah into the world. Babylon could not stop His word from being fulfilled; Persia, Greece, Romethey could not stop it! Not even the death of the Messiah upon a Roman cross could stop His word.
Now the Lord works slowly, estimated by our finite, limited experience. But He works certainly! Some, in fact a majority of men, may scoff (2 Peter 3:1-10), but one day this victorious, living Messiah is coming back for His dressed-up bride. What righteousness and praise that will call forth from New Zion (the bride) whose citizens are from every tribe and tongue and people on the face of the earth. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!
QUIZ
What does the nature of God have to do with our salvation?
What is a covenant?
What is man’s relationship to God’s covenant?
Has verse nine been fulfilled?
What is the source of Zion’s beauty?
How do we know God’s word is sure?