"The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach
good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim
liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our
God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them
beauty 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 the LORD, that He may be glorified." – Isaiah 61.1-3
If
I could pick out one passage that encapsulates the ministry of Christ in one
place it would be here. I say that because this is the passage that Jesus used
to explain His ministry when we preached it in Luke 4.
Look
why Jesus came:
To
preach good tidings to the poor
To
heal the broken-hearted
To
proclaim liberty
To
open the prison to the bound
To
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
To
proclaim God’s judgement
To
comfort and console the mourners
To
exchange
Beauty for ashes
Joy for mourning
The garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness
To
proclaim them as ‘trees of righteousness’
To
plant the Lord that He may be glorified
To
be honest each one of those things probable deserves individual attention. What
blesses me seeing the list as whole is how often Jesus says that He came to do
something loving for and to us. He brings goodness, He heals, He frees, He
comforts, He exchanges His good for our bad, and He declares us righteous.
Too
many people won’t be saved because all they see is the burden that ‘religion’
would place on them. They think that be saved will take away all their fun. I
think part of that is that we Christians don’t show the real impact of what
Christ has done. We aren’t perfect, but our lives should reflect the goodness
He has provided. We ought to see beauty out of ashes. Joy should overcome
mourning. Praise ought to replace heaviness.
I
am grateful for all that Christ has done – do I show people what He has done?
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