Messiah’s Self-Identity

APRIL 6, 2023  

 “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 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 closed the book, and he gave it to the minister, and sat down…”(Luke 4:17-20)

What a striking account our Lord gave of His own office and ministry to the folks at Nazareth where He grew up! But first, we should observe in these verses what honor He gave to the public means of grace.“He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” We can hardly suppose that the Jewish synagogue, with the Scribes and Pharisees teaching, that much of the Spirit’s presence and blessing were enjoyed. Yet, even so, our Lord was in attendance in the place where His Father’s Day and Word were publicly acknowledged. There is a practical lesson for us in this part of our Lord’s conduct and discipline. He would have us know that we are not to lightly forsake the assemblies where the Word of God is preached.

As Jesus would here identify Himself in the true character of Messiah, He chose a passage from the book of Isaiah in which the prophet foretold the nature of the work Messiah was to do when He came into the world. He would “preach the gospel to the poor.” Or, in the words of Isaiah 61:1, He would“preach good tidings unto the meek.” He was coming to “heal (bind up) the brokenhearted.” He would be sent to “preach deliverance to the captives, sight to the blind, and liberty to the bruised.” He would “preach the acceptable year of the Lord,” i.e. “The year of Jubilee” to all the world. Once our Lord had read this passage, He then told those who were gathered around Him, that Isaiah’s prophecy was presently seeing its fulfillment in their midst, meaning that He Himself was the Anointed One of whom the prophet had spoken, and the marvelous figures of the passage would find their fulfillment in Him and His Gospel.

We may well know that there was a deep meaning in the selection of this special Scripture from Isaiah. He desired to impress on His Jewish hearers the true character of the Messiah, Whom they were expecting. They were looking for a mere temporal king, who would deliver them from Roman domination and make them once more first among the nations. Messiah’s Kingdom was to be a spiritual kingdom over hearts. His redemption was not from the power of Rome, but from the power of sin, death, and hell.

Let us take care that we know for ourselves in what light we ought chiefly to regard Christ. It is right and good to reverence Him as very God. It is well to know Him as Head over all things. But we must not rest there if we hope to be saved. We must know Jesus as the Friend of the poor in spirit, the Physician of the diseased heart, the Healer of the broken heart, and the Deliverer of the soul in bondage. These are the principal offices He came on earth to fulfill. It is in this capacity that we must come to know Him, and that, by inward experience, as well as by the hearing of the ear. Without such knowledge, we shall die in our sins.

Our Lord said, “Be careful how you hear.” We have here an instructive example of the careless manner in which many hear the Gospel, for while they “bare Him witness, and marveled at His gracious words,” their hearts remained unmoved, as the passage goes on to show. Even so, there are thousands who listen to Gospel preaching with admiration, and with consent to the truth of it, but their religion never goes beyond that point. Let us not be as these Nazareth hearers, who admired the Preacher and His message, but beyond temporary feelings, there was no positive effect. In fact, they were soon filled with envy and enmity against Christ. Oh, what a tragedy for folks to hear such a glorious Gospel, and remain in their unbelief!