The Great Physician (Luke 4. 16-20)
In the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 we read of the Lord Jesus Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth in Galilee. Please read vv16 – 23. There He read the Book of Isaiah chapter 61:1,2. F. C. Jennings in his book Studies In Isaiah, P.703, says,”This chapter should surely be of supreme interest to us, for 2000 years ago, a carpenter, about thirty years of age, might have been seen standing up amid a Jewish congregation in a simple place of worship, in a village of a despised district in a despised country, as though He were desirous of addressing those present. We are told nothing of His personal appearance, but evidently He was not of any exalted social standing. His clothing must have been that of an ordinary artisan, for He was but a carpenter, and the son of a carpenter, or at least so thought to be, and the villagers among whom He had grown up assumed that they were thoroughly aquainted with Him and all His relatives.” (VV 16, 17).
VERSE 18 AND 19: Here we have the fulfilment of Isaiah 61:1,2 – the Messiah’s Manifesto:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me”: Three times in the Book of Isaiah we are told that the Spirit of God came upon the Messiah: in chapters 11, 42 and 61. This happened at the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 3: 21, 22 says, “Now when all the people were baptised, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptised, and praying, the Heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a Voice came from Heaven, which said, ” Thou art My Beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.” In the Book of the Acts chapter 10: 38 we read, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil; for God was with Him”.
“To preach the Gospel to the poor”: “Gospel ” means “Good News”. We hear so much bad news
these days which depresses us even at the beginning of the New Millennium. However, the Good News of the Gospel is one of hope:”Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15: 3,4).
“The poor”: that is, those who are destitute and in want. This is our condition before God. In other words, we cannot meet His standards of perfection because, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3: 23). As the hymnist has expressed it:
“Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling.”
Or as Isaiah has put it: ” But we are all as an unclear thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away”.(Isaiah 64:6).
In Isaiah 61:1 the word “meek” is used rather than “poor”. It is indicative of those who are contrite, who feel sorry for their sins. This is the attitude that God requires of people who desire to be forgiven of their sins:”For thus says the High and Lofty One that inhabits Eternity, Whose Name is Holy; I dwell in the High and Holy Place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones”. (Isaiah 57: 15).”The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; and a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise”.(Psalm 51:17).
“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted”. The Lord Jesus was the Sent One of God. This truth is characteristic of the Writings of John. For example, in 1 John 4:9, 10 we read:”In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son do be the Propiation for our sins”.
“Brokenhearted” has the thought of being crushed. Perhaps you feel as if the world has caved in on you. Your life is one of turmoil. Then look to the Saviour for help. William V. Fullerton composed the hymn “I cannot tell why He, Whom angels worship”. The second verse says,
“I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
As with His peace He graced this place of tears,
Or how His heart upon the Cross was broken,
The crown of pain to three-and-thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the brokenhearted
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Saviour.Saviour of the world, is here”.
“To preach deliverance to captives”:This is an allusion to the captives released at the time of the Jubilee.
“And recovering of sight to the blind”.(v 18).
“And the opening of the prison to them that are bound”.(Isaiah 61:1).
Probably the first quotion is the correct one, though both ideas of blindness and imprisonment are combined in Isaiah 42:7, 16, 18:”To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house… And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not:I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them…Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see”.
Paul tells the Corinthians,”But if our Gospel be hid,it is hid to them that are lost:in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, Who is the Image of God, should shine unto them”(2 Corinthians 4:4).
“To set at liberty them that are bruised.” The theologians say that these words are not really in the Greek text and so I shall not comment on them.
“To preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord.” (v19). This phrase is dealt with comprehensively in the article Jubilee 2000.
Unlike the politians with their manifestos, the Messiah kept His pledges. We have proof of this in the incident regarding the followers of John the Baptist in Luke 7:21,22:”And in that same hour He cured many of their infimities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind He gave sight.Then Jesus answering said unto them,Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the Gospel is preached”.
And He closed the book.” It is very significant that the Lord omitted the phrase,”And the day of vengeance ;of our God”. The reason is that He was inaugarating a new period in the world’s history when God was going to show His favour to humanity. Previously His servant Moses had introduced the period when the people of Israel had to keep the Law which God had given him on Mount Sinai. As the Apostle John put it: “The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”.(John 1:17).
Let us consider the statements “The acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God”. The former refers to the period of time in which now live.It began with first Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and will close when comes for them again as predicted in 1Thessalonians 4:13-18.The latter refers the future, the seven year period known in the Bible as “The Tribulation” when God will indeed pour out His vengeance on this world that has rejected Him.
At present we live in “the acceptable year of the Lord” and not in “the day of vengeance of our God”. “Year” implies the vastness of God’s favour towards humankind and has exceeded 2000 years. “The day of vengeance” will last seven years according to Daniel 9.24-27.