Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Isaiah chapter 61 and we'll
read for our text the first three verses. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek, He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn,
to appoint unto them that morn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joyful mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be
glorified. Isaiah 61 and the first three
verses. I want to, by way of introduction,
bring before you four thoughts on this word. And the first is
this, that the passage we read in Luke, it clearly sets forth
the Lord Jesus Christ reading this passage and claiming, setting
forth before us, that this indeed was himself. We read there in
Luke chapter 4, and how our Lord spoke, and it's spoken of here
as the prophet Isaiah, that is Isaiah, and he opened the place
and he found this place, and when he had read it, he began
to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears? And we're not left then in any
doubt, When it is said, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, it
is upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This prophecy was written some
730 years before our Lord read it and spoke those words in the
synagogue. We bless the Lord for prophecy,
fulfilled prophecy, scriptures fulfilled, and those that very
clearly point to the Lord Jesus Christ, this is who is spoken
of here. It is quite remarkable, you may
have thought as we read the portion there, that as he began to speak
to them, that all bear him witness and wondered at the greatest
words which proceeded out of his mouth. And then they stumbled because
they said, is not this Joseph's son? They couldn't look past
what they viewed as a natural generation. They couldn't see
that this was the eternal son of God. And then when our Lord
spoke further to them, and spoke about what had happened with
Elijah, how Elijah was sent not to Israel, but to a widow in
Zarephath that was not of Israel. And then in Elisha's day, Elisha,
as is there in Luke, that it was Naaman the Syrian. And this
was offensive to the Jews to have a Lord pointing out the
sovereignty of God in going from the Jews to the Gentiles, and
yet this was part of their own history, this was part of the
Scriptures that they knew, the same Scriptures, though different
books, as to what the prophecy here in Isaiah was. And then
they go from bearing him witness of the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth, to wanting to carry him to the top of a
hill and to cast him down headlong. What a difference. You know that is human nature,
isn't it? Likes to hear what it wants to
hear. But when the word is a cutting
word, a faithful word, it rises up against it. May we each be
wary of that spirit when we hear a preacher, or when we hear the
truth set before us, that we don't one moment say, what gracious,
wonderful words, and the next moment say, this isn't hard saying,
who can hear it, or rise up against the messenger. So the first thing
then is fulfilled scripture, But then there is the anointing. The anointing. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach. King David
was anointed to be king over Israel some seven years before
he actually was, and many trials came in between and pursued. relentlessly by King Saul. And we would think here with
the anointing of our Lord, his people are chosen in him from
the foundation of the world. From the very beginning in the
Garden of Eden, it was foretold that the seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head. And here, 730 years before our Lord begins
his ministry, he is anointed, as it were, appointed to it. And he comes to the time that
he begins that ministry. David, it was God that chose
him to be king, the Lord Jesus Christ. was chosen of God, appointed
of God, and anointed of God, right through the Scriptures,
that He should be what is set before us in these three verses. We know no minister will ever
be of use if he is not anointed by God. If he is not chosen by
God and sent into the ministry, And God speaks through him and
speaks the word through him. It is vital to be owned by our
God. They said to our Lord Jesus Christ
at one time, who gave thee this authority? By what authority
doest thou these things? Our Lord's authority came from
heaven. His Father bear witness. His
word was blessed, his works were blessed. The Lord was with him. And so we see the anointing,
the authority from heaven, the good pleasure of God upon our
Lord in all that's set forth in these three verses as setting
forth the ministry of our Lord and the ministry of his servants
that follow after him." We never have low views of the gospel,
of the plan of the gospel. We never think, well, it is just
a man that is speaking. Remember with our Lord, they
said, is not this Joseph's son? In spite of the gracious, wonderful
words, they stumbled because they knew his birth, his parentage,
and, or at least they thought they did, and then they were
offended. But we are to look, look beyond
the man, we are to look to the authority of heaven, and to see
the God of heaven bless the word that is spoken, the same as the
words of our Lord were blessed, because we are messengers to
preach the word, his word. So the second thing then is the
vital need of anointing and the fact that Jesus of Nazareth has
been anointed to preach the gospel, he is the savior, he is the redeemer,
he is the one qualified and with the authority of heaven to proclaim
the things that are in these verses. The third thing is, it is very
evident from these three verses, that the message is always to
characters. Always. Right the way through
this, we will notice as we look a bit closer at it, that we have
those that are described as meek, broken-hearted, captives, those
that are bound, Those that are mourning, those that are in ashes,
those that have the spirit of heaviness, all the time it is
these characters. What would the words here mean
to those that were not these characters? It would pass them
completely by. This is why we testify as churches,
as a gospel standard denomination, that the invitations of the gospel,
they are to characters, they are not as it were spread out
for any and for sundry, they are proclaimed, they are spoken
before all men the same as our Lord did, but as sent by God. It is exactly as in these verses
and as our Lord says in at another time, it is the sick that need
the physician, not they that are whole. And of course we know
in a literal sense, our hospitals, our doctors, our specialists,
if you turned up and you had nothing wrong, they'd say, why
are you here? There's nothing I can do for
you. And so it is with the Gospel as well. And so may we notice
that in the third place as an opening remark here, the characters
that are set forth in this portion. But the fourth is this, that
those things in these three verses that are to be set before these
characters, we have an aim that is in view. And the aim is at
the end of verse 3, that they, that these characters, that these
ones that are spoken to in these verses, that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. And so the aim is that God be
glorified, the Lord be glorified, Jehovah be glorified, and he
is glorified in his people. And the analogy is the planting
of a garden, a garden with trees, and the Lord plants his people
there. He placed Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden, He places his people in the church of God.
They are called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. God's people are what the Lord
has made them. And we might say, what a contrast
in how the people are described throughout these first three
verses and how they are described here And here they are trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. And they've come
through this passage, as it were, of being a people that are in
great need, and a people that have had that need satisfied
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has made them to be what
He has made them to be through meeting, their need in all their
poverty, in all the state and condition that they are found
in here. Truly the glory of salvation
and the glory of the gospel is God's glory and He is glorified
in His people, in what He has made them to be. The Apostle
Paul, he says, by the grace of God I am what I am, and that
applies to every one of the people of God. So I want then now to look at
this word in more detail, what the Lord Jesus Christ has been
anointed by the Father to do. And there's four things that
are set before us in these verses that He is anointed to do. I'll name them first and then
we'll go back through them. The first is to preach, the second
is to proclaim, the third is to comfort, and the fourth is
to appoint. Preach, proclaim, comfort and
appoint. Our text reads, the Spirit of
the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach. Now there's two things that are
really bound up here in the preaching. What is preaching? Really the
authoritative declaration of the Word of God. The charge to
the servants of the Lord are to preach the Word. That is,
they are to open the Word up. Our Lord was doing that beginning
at this very passage. We are not given those gracious
words that proceeded out of His lips. But the texts, as it were,
are given here. And only as enabled by God can
we rightly preach or speak from these verses. So we would bring
God's Word, we would bring it and open it up and open up the
meaning to the people of God. It hath pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The Lord sent
forth his servants to go ye into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. The commission
is to preach, and our Lord himself began to preach, and he preached
the gospel, the good news of salvation, and that is exactly
what is set forth here. Anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek, the meek. Meekness is the opposite from
pride. Man, through the pride of his
heart, will not seek after God. The characters that are set before
us here, and that which is joined to them, is all of the Lord. The Lord says, to take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart,
ye shall find rest unto your souls. Makeness is not weakness. Moses was said to be a man that
was meek above every man, but he was a leader of Israel. He
was a clear, authoritative leader, but he was meek. He was not a
proud man, not an obnoxious man, but one with meekness. One way the Lord set as a reproof
to the disciples when they were walking in pride was to set a
child before them and say that they were to receive, or if any,
was to receive the kingdom of God, it was to be as a little
child. How often we have our own things. The Jews, when the Lord preached
to them, Instead of just meekly receiving the word, they had
objections to this, objections to that, reasoning and going
against it. What a picture of the character
that the good tidings are to be preached to unto the meek. And we might say, well, in our
congregations and Before many preachers is a mixed multitude,
and that word is preached to them, but, you know, those that
are proud, they will not receive the word. Only just later on
with our Lord, we read, as soon as He spoke hard things, they
would not receive it. And so, really, the good tidings
wouldn't be unto them, but it is unto the meek. It is by the grace of God, the
Lord by His Spirit will make a man to be receptive to the
Word of God, be receptive to the good tidings of the Gospel. Now this then is opened up a
little more in the next character. He has sent me to bind up the
broken-hearted, to bind up the broken-hearted. So the preaching,
the preaching of the Gospel, it is a preaching of good tidings,
and it is binding up broken-hearted sinners. Oil and wine to heal and cherish,
as the hymn writer Jesus still to Israel gives. Why should a people be broken-hearted? By nature we're not. We're hard-heart,
we're proud-heart. But when by the Spirit's teaching,
man is brought under the law, and the law It was given that
all the world might be brought in guilty before God. There is a preparation to the
gospel. The Apostle Paul says the law
is a schoolmaster under Christ. We have a picture in Exodus of
the law being given and the trumpet sounding long and the whole mountain
quaking and smoking and the great voice speaking, words of the
law of God. The people could not endure that
sight. They begged Moses to speak unto
God in their place and not them. We are all under the law. We
are all by nature under condemnation. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But these good tidings and this
binding up are to those that have been broken by the law's
thunder, who have been brought in guilty, that are broken-hearted
sinners, that feel how far off from God
they are, how wicked they are in their thoughts and their words
and their deeds, and their very heart bent to turning away from
the law. In the very sight of what they
see within, it makes them to be of a broken heart and a contrite
spirit. Have a picture and read at your
leisure in Psalm 51, when David was brought in guilty before
God of committing murder and adultery. Against thee the only
have I sinned and done this evil In my sight, he said, the sacrifices
of God are a broken and a contrite heart he will not despise. And so the gospel, the good news,
is designed for this to be a binding up broken hearted. It is picturing
one like a broken leg or one that is wounded. Like the Lord
pictured of the Samaritan going down to the man that had fallen
amongst thieves going to Jericho. And he bound up his wounds, pouring
in oil and wine. He put him on his own ass. He
brought him to the inn. He looked after him. And the
picture was that the priest and the Levite that passed by, representing
the law, could do nothing to help that man. And the holy law
of God, good, righteous, holy that it is, can do nothing to
help a poor sinner. All it can do is to condemn. But the gospel is designed to
deliver from condemnation. What the Lord Jesus Christ was
to do at Calvary was to bring in this gospel because he was
made under the law. He was made of a woman. He was
in the position of a near kinsman. He was one that was to be a surety
for his people that when they couldn't pay, he would pay. He would pay their sentence.
He would endure the wrath of God. He would deal with Satan. He would take their sins and
bear them in his own body on the tree. And it is what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done that we proclaim in the ministry. These are the good tidings. And
this is the message to those broken by the law's loud thunder,
that Christ has died. He has risen again. He sits at
the right hand of the throne of God on high. And the reason
why he died, the reason why he suffered, was to bear the sin
of many. And he made intercession for
the transgressors. It is through what the Lord Jesus
Christ did that this good news is to be proclaimed. that the
law is satisfied, a way of escape is made, that there is mercy
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed at Calvary. And so under the Gospel there
is to be a binding up. Yes, part of the work of a minister
is to set forth the law of God, the holiness of God, the demands
of the law. It is also to set forth how the
people of God that are redeemed should live holy, godly, and
upright lives, but to set before them that where we sin, and there's
no man that doeth good and sinneth not, there is in the Lord Jesus
Christ a remedy for sin that never wears out, that is always
a factual John says in 1 John 1, if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. So the preaching, he is anointed
to preach good tidings to the meek and to bind up the broken
hearted. But then secondly, he is to proclaim
is anointed to proclaim. The Jews had a law in the Old
Testament that where one had to sell their lands to their
brethren, or where they were in bondage, that at the year
of jubilee there was a proclamation made. And those that were servants
and slaves, they could be released and the lands were to be returned. When there is a proclamation, there is, as it were, a loud
authoritative setting forth of what actually has happened or
done. Most solemnly, at this time,
there's been, you might say, a proclamation or declaration
of war in the Ukraine. But here, the Lord has something
to proclaim. I think when we have the royal
family, if there's a royal birth or something like that, usually
a town crier or one that proclaims that comes out and states those
tidings. And so here there is a proclamation
that is to be made. And it is to proclaim liberty.
It is pointing back to servants, it's pointing back to the Levitical
law, but it has its fulfilment in the Gospel, to proclaim liberty
to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound. We have some quite vivid illustrations
of the power of God in this way. We think of Joseph in prison,
Pharaoh imprisoned him, or where Pharaoh's prisoners were bound,
Potiphar bringing him there, false accusation. But there he
was, the butler had forgotten him, to speak a good word for
him. But the appointed time comes,
Pharaoh has a dream, the butler remembers him, and immediately
Joseph is brought out of that prison. We think of with Peter,
Peter was bound, was to be taken by Herod and slain the next day. And that night, the angel of
the Lord comes, he wakes Peter, takes off his shackles, opens
the doors, The keepers become as dead men and Peter is loosed
and set free. We have our Lord standing at
the grave of Lazarus and he calls Lazarus out of his tomb. He comes forth bound hand and
foot with grave clothes and the Lord says, loose him and let
him go. And the proclamation here, liberty
to the captives. I'm going to have a picture.
I think there was an account told, possibly one of Mr. Ransbottom's
books, of a man that saw a cage of birds being sold, and he asked
how much they were. And he then went and paid the
full price for them, then opened the door and let them all go.
Well, having paid the full price, If that was a people that was
in bondage there, he would proclaim their liberty and in fact he
did in that made the way that they could escape and he could
proclaim it. A liberty that has been purchased,
a liberty that has the authority of heaven upon it, but who to? to the captives. What are God's
captives? What are people that are captives?
What are they captive to? Captive to Satan, captive to
their own sins, captive to their lusts, captive and slaves to
the fear of men, captive under the law, under the sentence of
a condemning law, held under the law, Scripture speaks in
this way, of those that are held and cannot get free. The Lord says, if the Son shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. The Lord Jesus Christ,
through the Gospel, proclaims this liberty, that those for
whom he has died and shed his blood, are now free from the
claims of the law. They are not servants of men,
they are servants of the true and living God. The apostle says,
you are not your own even, you are bought with a price, wherefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are his.
They're not liberty, and we are not at liberty to sin, but we
are at liberty to serve the Lord, Thinking of the account in the
book of Esther, there was a sentence of death that was proclaimed
first through wicked Haman, that upon a certain day, all the Jews
would be slain. But then when Esther made intercession
for her people, and then another decree was made, then there was
another proclamation. They couldn't disannul that day. That day still had to come. Their
enemies were still going to rise up, but now they had the authority
to fight and to resist, and that made all the difference. When
the people of God are set free from the condemnation of a broken
law and from Satan, they are now free with the authority of
heaven to resist the devil and the promises, and he will flee
from you. They are now have the authority
of heaven, though they are weak in themselves, yet they may resist
the evil one and walk in the ways of righteousness. They may
seek to, with the mind, serve the law of God, and though they
feel like the apostle did, the good that I would, I do not,
the evil that I would not, that I do, a wretched man that I am,
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And he says,
I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord, so then with the mind
I serve the Lord, but with the flesh I serve sin. So the proclamation
here is liberty to the captives. If you and I know what it is
to be captive, captive to sin, to lust, be held and bound and
cannot get free. The children of Israel were like
this in Egypt. Nine great signs before the shedding
of the Passover lamb's blood and they could not be set free. Egypt was just about destroyed
and Pharaoh would not let them go. If ever there was a typical
people, it was so evident that by Great, mighty signs and wonders
could never be set free. It is the children of Israel.
But as soon as the Passover blood was shed, immediately they were
to be set free. Christ is the great anti-type. He is the true Passover. It is
his blood that is shed and the gospel that is proclaimed. The
people of God can be free. They must be freed. and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. Everyone that is in such
a position, this proclamation is to be proclaimed. And then
there's a second part to it. Verse two, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. Here is a set time, we know there
is a set time to favour Zion. And that time with our Lord Jesus
Christ, that which was done there at Calvary, every one of the
sins of his people were laid upon him at that one time. But in their experience, and
under the preaching of the Gospel, There is a set time, a time that
they are born into this world, a time that they are born again
of the Spirit, a time that they are brought into conviction for
sin, a time that they are brought under the bondage and felt bondage
of the law and under condemnation of time. That the acceptable,
the right year, the appointed time comes rolls on apace, not
to propose but call by grace, as the hymn writer says in our
hymn 76. The day of vengeance of our God,
the Lord comes and delivers his people, sets them free, deals
with Satan, bruises his head, casts the accuser of the brethren
down. And this is to be proclaimed. Really, in the proper Proclamation
part of it. It is declaring what has been
done. What is done is the authority
from heaven. And that proclamation is heard. That is what is implied here.
It doesn't fall on deaf ears. Though we have been first, he
is anointed to preach. Second, to proclaim. And third,
to comfort. To comfort all that mourn. You know, it's a blessed thing
to be a mourner. In our Lord's ministry, in the
Sermon on the Mount, blessed are they that mourn. And here, It is to comfort all
that mourn, those that are mourning over their sin, those that are
mourning at how they pierced the Lord. It was again foretold
in prophecy, they shall look upon him whom they have pierced
and they shall mourn for him and be in bitterness for him
as a man is for his firstborn. When the Gospel is first proclaimed
and set forth in the Lord Jesus Christ, those good tidings, in
a way, are tinged with sadness because we realise what our sins
did in piercing the Lord. Going back to another Old Testament
illustration, Joseph's brothers had sold him into Egypt, they
dealt very hardly with him. Joseph had gone before to preserve
their lives by a great deliverance. There came a time, he's going
to tell them that. But before that time, they were
remembering all what they'd done to him. But you know, when Joseph
made himself known to them, one of the great things that he did
for them was to comfort them. They couldn't forgive themselves.
They thought that Joseph would be very hard against them. But
Joseph had to assure them, he says, ye meant it for evil, but
God meant it for good, to save your lives by great deliverance.
And the same thing in the day of Pentecost. Peter is preaching
to those that had literally taken and by wicked hands crucified
and slain the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel on that occasion
was to comfort them and to set before them that Christ died
for their sin. Those that gladly received the
word were baptized. It is a blessed thing, a great
evidence of the Spirit's work upon a sinner's heart. that he
mourns over his sins, and the work of the ministry and the
work of our Lord Jesus Christ is to send comfort to such a
sinner, not some that mourn, all that mourn, mourning over
their sins and after Christ. Well then we have fourthly, an
appointing. He is anointed to appoint, and
this is Unto them that mourn in Zion. Now if something is
appointed, we think of some of the kings that were taken captive
and was appointed their daily meat. You think of Daniel was
appointed what their allocation should be. And when something
is appointed, then it comes as authority that this shall happen
or this benefit shall go to that person and it is in this way
that the gospel through our Lord Jesus Christ is that he is to
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion. So these are the blessings
here that the Lord has to three of them to those that mourn. And again, I'd really emphasize
that it is only to those that are the characters here that
this has any meaning to at all. You cannot take out the characters
and make them anything to be than what they are described
here and have this passage be of any beauty or attraction at
all. to those that are not in that
description. And so we have here what is appointed
to those that mourn in Zion, mourn in the church of God. They
have ashes. When the scripture speaks of
those that are in sackcloth and ashes, they're repenting. It
is to give them beauty for ashes. A taking away That mourning,
you know, that is really what happened with Mordicai. Esther tried to do it without
the sentence of death being taken away. And Mordicai refused the
clothes that were sent to him. He would stay in mourning because
the sentence of death was still there. But here, the sentence
of death is taken away. And so there can be the beauty
for ashes. And then we have the oil of joy
for mourning. Instead of mourning when one
doesn't anoint one with oil, there is the mourning and sighing
and crying and mourning over one's sin. Then there's joy. The oil of joy. What a contrast. Mourning and joy. Sadness. and gladness, ashes
and beauty, and then appointing the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness. There are those times when we
feel the weight of our sin and all the evil within, and it makes
one very, very heavy, very low. but then to have that burden
lifted and to then be able to sing, sing the praises of God,
to be glad in the Lord. It is only the Lord that can
change the captive states of the people of God. This is not
men, women, and children imagining these things. It is not applying
to them these blessings. This is the power of God that
accompanies the Word, that comes through the beautiful blessings
of the Gospel that are proclaimed through our Lord Jesus Christ
and what He's accomplished at Calvary that brings such a change,
such a contrast to the people of God. If you want to know what
a real blessing is, You see it in the contrast described here. A real change, a real difference. Do we have, as it were, ashes?
Are we mourning? Do we have heavy hearts? May the Lord come through His
Word. Come through the Word tonight.
It will be one of His appointed times. to change that, to give
beauty and joy and praise. Why is this so? We said right
at the beginning, that they, the people of the Lord, might
be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he might be glorified. In all the gospel, it is the
Lord that has the praise and honour and glory not man. John Baptist said he must increase,
I must decrease. And we can truly know the real
effect of the gospel that's set before us here in that way. The Lord is glorified in the
salvation of his people and in heaven the crown shall be put
upon his head and the praises shall forever be to him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in his own heart's blood. To him be glory now and evermore. May the Lord bless this word
to us and we truly know that the Lord is anointed to do these
things for us and has done them for us. And if we are in the
characters here, may we truly look and continue looking to
this gospel and hearing this gospel and looking to this God
to set us free and to work these blessings in our soul. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.