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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Perhaps you’ve been to a concert or special event and said “wow, that was anointed, or inspired“? Some say Handel’s Messiah was “anointed or inspired” by God. Several of the most famous speeches ever given have been called ‘anointed or inspired’, such as the Gettysburg address, or Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech. But what would it be like if a person was ‘anointed’ by God?
This week we’re going to look very closely at one of the most powerful statements written in human history. You’ll find it in the Old Testament, Isaiah 61:1-3. Today just the first phrase or two… “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor…”
As you know Isaiah was the name of a remarkable man who lived in Israel and spoke the words he received from God, for the people of Israel. He spoke God’s words for both the northern kingdom Israel and the southern kingdom Judah, during the closing years of the northern kingdom, before it was invaded and conquered by the Assyrian Empire, but also during the time of 4 kings in Jerusalem…, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. (Isaiah 1:1)
Isaiah likely spoke and wrote from about 750bc to about 690bc or so. This was a unique, tumultuous, eventful, memorable time, in the story of God’s chosen people, the people of Israel. One chapter captures the final demise of the northern kingdom Israel… 2 Kings 16. It’s graphic and you may need a handkerchief to wipe your eyes as you consider what is described.
My friends, did your parents try to warn you of life dangers when you were a child? Dangers like railroad tracks, or automobile roadways, or forests, or ocean rip tides, or even hot stove tops or bonfires? And what did you do with those warnings my friends? And what about warnings of friendships with people of bad character or people caught up in addictions? What did you do with those warnings?
Sadly for God, His warnings, generation after generation, have largely been ignored, by His people, and the world in general, both now and 2600 years ago in the days of Isaiah. As you look around your part of the world and compare it to a generation or two ago, you probably see dramatic decline has been happening in morality and social stability.
Are you fascinated by history my friends? How well do you know the story of where you live…your city, your region, your nation, your continent, going back several hundred years?
Israel has one of the most fascinating histories of any people in the world, and the Bible chronicles it well, in great detail. The historical period of the prophet Isaiah, at least for Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah, is found in 2 Chronicles 26-32.
By the time we arrive in Isaiah 60, 61, 62, Isaiah is an old man, and the devastation of the northern kingdom has already occurred, and God has now turned His warning attention on Jerusalem, but they too seem to have their ears closed to God’s voice. Disaster will come to Jerusalem but after Isaiah’s life is over. But God wanted His people to know He was looking much further down the future timeline of human history… to a time of renewal and restoration for Jerusalem. Yes Jerusalem would be totally destroyed in 586bc by king Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, and again in 70ad by the Roman army. But, there would be times of bounty and blessing in God’s future for Jerusalem.
In truth this too has already happened, several times in Israel. It happened around 520bc when exiled Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and the great Temple. It happened spiritually in the first century when God came and lived among us in the person of Jesus. It happened in 1948 as Jews were given some of their ancient homeland and given permission to name it Israel once again! And it is happening in our day, as Israel is again being restored miraculously by God.
As we saw yesterday, Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1 when He read the Isaiah scroll in the Nazareth Synagogue as Luke records in Luke 4. We know Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit of the Sovereign LORD and as God incarnate, He did do all those things mentioned in Isaiah 61:1-3 during His ministry years.
But today I’d like to ask you this very important question… is it possible God is fulfilling Isaiah 61:1 TODAY, in Israel, but also where you live, wherever you live in our world, in September 2020? Now think about this my friends. Think about the implications of this profound, prophetic statement of Isaiah made 2700 years ago: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” This statement was true of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and all the prophets. It was true of Jesus and all the Apostles. But what about anyone else, then or now?
Let me ask you. . .what is the relationship between this Isaiah 61:1 prophecy and what Jesus said to His disciples in the upper room, the night before He was crucified? The disciple John records that Jesus said: “If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be IN you…The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send to you in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:15-17,26,27).
Now, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit Jesus was speaking of is exactly the same “Spirit of the Sovereign LORD” which Isaiah was speaking of. They are one in the same. Do you get that my friends? And the people of Israel knew that God had repeatedly sent His Holy Spirit upon His people at special times, for a special anointing of wisdom or power. Gideon was anointed miraculously by the Holy Spirit (Judges 6:34) at a time of great national crisis, remember?
As Samuel anointed King Saul to be Israel’s first human king, “the Spirit of God came upon him in power…” (1 Samuel 10:6,10).
As Samuel anointed David to be Israel’s second king, “…from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.” (1 Samuel 16:13)
Sometimes the Spirit of the LORD came upon little known people, like a man named Azariah, the son of Mr. Oded, as we see in 2 Chronicles 15:1. When anointed by God’s Spirit this man Azariah walked right up to King Asa, and gave him a strong message he had received from God.
So friends, let’s understand that the people who heard Isaiah say the words of Isaiah 61:1 would have understood that on rare occasions God did in fact send His Spirit upon a person for a specific task in a specific situation. And when Jesus said it to His disciples, these good Jewish men were, I’m sure quite awed, to think it might happen to them some day. But do you remember Jesus said it again to His disciples in Acts 1:8, just before ascending to heaven: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be My witnesses here in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
And then… it happened, 10 days later, as they were all together, 120 of these followers of Jesus, as the Holy Spirit of the Sovereign LORD came upon them. Acts 2:1-12 describes this remarkable, life transforming, church launching event! It sounded like a violent wind blowing into the house where they were gathered, and “They saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit of God and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit empowered them…”
Do you remember what Acts 2 tells us happened next? I invite you read that entire chapter and be ‘amazed and perplexed’ as they were! Simple folks, spoke the wonderful story of Jesus Christ in languages they had never learned, and people who had come to Jerusalem from places across the Roman Empire, where those languages were spoken, heard the Gospel of Jesus in their own mother tongue, spoken by people who didn’t know the language they were speaking! That is the power of God unleashed through the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD which had come upon normal, Jesus loving, Jesus following people! That is Isaiah 61:1 happening in the lives of normal, everyday folks, transformed by their relationship with Jesus!
And as you may know friends, it happened again in Acts 10:44-48, as Gentiles gathered in the home of the Roman soldier Cornelius, heard and trusted the Gospel as told to them by Peter the Apostle who had been with Jesus, and the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD came upon them in the same way! Now friends are you ready for this? And it has happened day after day, in hundreds of millions of people who have trusted in Jesus Christ for their salvation and are authentically born again all around the world.
When this miracle of regeneration (born again) takes place, then the miracle of Isaiah 61:1 takes place, as the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD comes upon new believers and He takes up residence within them! Now think about the implications, the magnitude, the miracle of that!! Has it happened in your life? Now tomorrow, we’ll continue to look at this Isaiah 61 and understand what should happen next. For today, just thank Him… Thank Jesus that what He promised is real, and powerful and true…and it’s for you and me and every Jesus follower in the world…TODAY!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapter: Isaiah 61:1-3; Acts 2. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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