Good News for the Afflicted

KEY VERSE: “The LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.” —Isaiah 61:1

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 61:1-7

JESUS, at his first advent, quoted a portion of our Selected Scripture text, and indicated that the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom was to be the theme of his ministry. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. … And he began to say to them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:18-21) When Jesus read this prophecy, he read only that portion which was his responsibility to declare to the nation of Israel during the three-and-one-half years of his ministry. This was the day of visitation for Israel. (Luke 19:42-44) The special opportunity was given to the Jewish nation not because they were faithful to God’s arrangements, but because God loved them and would keep the oath that he had sworn unto their fathers. (Deut. 7:7,8) The time element of this special witness was fixed by the prophecy of the seventy weeks.—Dan. 9:25-27; Acts 13:46

When we examine the part of the prophecy that Jesus read in the synagogue, we can understand why it was especially addressed to the Jews for the time of their visitation. Because of the prophecies, they were in expectation of the Messiah (Luke 3:15), who, according to the Scriptures, would deliver them from bondage and establish his kingdom which would bring blessings to them and eventually to all the families of the earth. (Luke 1:68-75) This, according to their understanding, was to be the literal earthly kingdom. The Apostle Paul tells us that because they were blinded, Israel as a nation was not permitted to understand that this was the end of a dispensation, and that their deliverance and the kingdom were to come about in an entirely different manner than they had expected. (Rom. 11:25-32) The first work to be accomplished in the new dispensation is the selection and development of those who will be associated with Jesus as co-mediators of the New Covenant under which the kingdom will function in the subsequent age. It was this phase of the development of the Lord’s plan that Jesus invited individual Jews to embrace.

The Lord’s message was addressed to the meek of the nation, that is to those who realized their own undone condition, and who had become aware that they could not attain to righteousness under the Law. They needed help and they were willing to accept by faith the Lord’s arrangement through the Messiah. (Rom. 3:19-24; Gal. 3:19-29) The Scriptures tell us that a remnant from the nation of Israel responded to the Lord’s invitation. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” (Rom. 11:5-7) Jesus’ message was an encouragement to the brokenhearted and discouraged of Israel, as his message revived their hopes. The message of the Gospel, when accepted, gave them the opportunity to be released from the bondage of the Law (Rom. 8:14-17; Gal. 3:10-13), “because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:21) The hope of the Gospel also included the prospect of release from Adamic condemnation, and everlasting life with the Lord in the heavenly phase of the kingdom. And finally, this was the day of salvation, the exclusive day of visitation for the Jews.

After the time of special favor to the Jews, the complete prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-3 became the Gospel message the footstep followers of Jesus are to proclaim unto all the world as a witness down through the Gospel Age. The Apostle Paul relates this good news of God’s arrangements for the establishment of a kingdom to the Lord’s promise to Abraham, saying, “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”—Gal. 3:8

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