The Anointed One

THE ANOINTED ONE

Read Isaiah 61:1-3

Read Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. Isaiah 61:1

The last of the Songs of the Servant is the greatest of all, in my opinion. I say this because it is the only one quoted by the lips of Jesus Himself. When Christ launched into His public ministry, He first preached in His home synagogue in Nazareth. The text He chose, the text for the synagogue reading of the day, was Isaiah 61:1-3. You can read about this in Luke 4:14-30.

This final song of the set of five presents Jesus as both the “anointed” (i.e., the Messiah; Christ) and as a preacher of the Gospel. Puritan Thomas Goodwin once commented: “God had only one Son, and He made Him to be a preacher.” Our anticlerical attitudes may buck at this truth, but it is hard to argue with Christ’s own assessment of His ministry, mission and message in life. Immediately after the sermon in the synagogue, Jesus clarified His calling for us:

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:42-43)

In this passage, Christ sets forth the three facets of Gospel ministry. We see them in the three sets of couplets, each containing two infinitive verbs (i.e., two statements each beginning with the word “to”). These are the three obligations of Gospel preaching.

First, we are to preach the forgiveness of sins (61:1), in particular “to bring good news to the poor” and also “to bind up the brokenhearted.” The parallelism of the Hebrew poetry here explains what Christ means. Those poor––both in spirit and in society––are the brokenhearted of the earth. These are the people spoken about in Christ’s Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11). These folks always respond more eagerly to the Gospel than do the healthy, the wealthy and the socially upscale. Perhaps we evangelicals are going after the wrong crowd––the affluent and comfortable suburbanite. Jesus trafficked among the poor: prostitutes, lepers, tax gatherers, Roman officials and mercenaries—the uncouth, unclean and uncool.

Second, we must preach the freedom from sorrow (61:2)––“to proclaim liberty to the captives” and “to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Jesus has in mind here the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-12). This was a 50^th year (a Pentecost) in which all debts were cancelled, all slaves were set free and all land was given a rest. It was a time of favor. Paul alludes to this when he speaks about Gospel mission: Please read 2 Cor. 6:1-2.

This favorable time of the Gospel dispensation offers us freedom from sin: its penalty, power, pollution, patterns, and finally, its presence (Galatians 5:1, 13). There is a joy that should mark Gospel proclamation––a spiritual jubilee!

Third, we are duty bound to preach the “foundation of social order” (61:2b-3). How? By preaching “to comfort all who mourn” and “to grant to those who mourn…the oil of gladness.” The Gospel does have social implications because God’s redemptive work forms the foundation for a new social order—a Gospel society. We can see this in the way the Gospel changed the West while the rest slept in misery’s darkness. We see it now as the Third World is being transformed by the Gospel, and as the New World (The City of God) appears on the horizon.

The Gospel is glorious and the Gospeller—Jesus Christ—is the Hero of it all! Slowly, but surely, He is completing His mission. Through the Spirit in the Church, He is “preach(ing) the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns” of the earth. Praise God the Father and Author of the Gospel, God the Son and Preacher of the Gospel, God the Spirit and Enabler of the Gospel for the new world order they are bringing about through their Good News—a new forgiveness, a new freedom and a new foundation for a better world!

PRAYING FOR THE PCA

CEP: Given the difficult financial challenges, pray for wisdom in CEP in making decisions regarding training and resources.

CC: Pray for the leaders of the Enrollment Management division: Rodney Miller, Dean of Records; Brad Voyles, Dean of Students; Brenda Rapier, Financial Aid Director; Roy Heintz, Athletic Director; Tom Schreiner, Director of Auxiliary Services.

MNA: Pray that God will encourage first generation Korean churches to engage in more second generation multiethnic church planting. Pray also for Korean Ministries Coordinator Henry Koh, as he works in leadership development with the second generation leaders.

PCAF: Pray that God will provide for the PCA Foundation’s own operational financial needs for 2009.

RH: Pray that the Lord will pour out His Spirit with such a blessing upon Ridge Haven and the PCA that there will not be room enough to contain it. This includes revival, conversions and new levels of commitment, faithfulness and service that are worthy of the price that has secured our justification, sanctification and glorification.