Luke 4,7 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
This account is written in the book of Luke chapter 4. The passage that Jesus read from was Isaiah 61. He told all those listening in the synagogue that the words referred to Him. ‘How could this man, the son of a carpenter be so arrogant as to ascribe these words to Himself’, thought the people.
Isaiah prophesied during the Assyrian conquest and went on to prophesy about the Babylonian empire which would come after. Isaiah shows us that YHVH, though long-suffering, will only put up with so much. When wickedness overtakes a nation, there really is nothing they can do to impress God or appease Him. Divine judgment will come. Isaiah opens immediately with a vision, declaring the rebellion of the people and their detestable practices. YHVH tells them that all their offerings and sacrifices are meaningless and that their prayers will not be listened to.
Isaiah 2 tells us something that the book of Zechariah 14 speaks of. The nations will come to the mount of the Lord; there they will be judged by the Lord and He will teach them His ways. Doom is pending over Israel and the nations, but the message of restoration and forgiveness follows a time of violence upon the earth. The day of the Lord is a time of destruction and fear.
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