Let us turn to God's words. I want to direct you again to
those words in Isaiah chapter 61 that we were considering this
morning. The opening verses then, here
in Isaiah chapter 61. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek. He has 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 joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord's, that he might be glorified." Well, as we looked
at these three verses this morning, we sought to say something with
regards to that gospel ministry that is being spoken of and tonight
I want really to center your attention more particularly upon
gospel proclamation as we have it in particular here in the
second verse to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and
the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn. Now Earlier, among other things,
we said that what we have in this passage is a prophetic word. God is speaking, of course, through
his servants, the prophets, and in the first place, speaking
of events. that were to come to pass probably a hundred or
so years after the ministry of the prophets. Isaiah is proclaiming
that liberty that will yet come to Israel. Before that there
would be a terrible judgment, there would be the day of vengeance
of our God, as we have it there in verse 2. when the children
of Israel were sent into exile because of their sins and in
particular because of their idolatrous ways. About a hundred years after
Isaiah, that terrible event came, when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians
overran the kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem fell. The temple was
razed to the ground and the people were taken away into captivity. But then here he is speaking
more particularly of our God after 70 years in the desolations
of Jerusalem, 70 years in exile, there would be a restoration
to proclaim liberty. to the captives, the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. And remember how we remarked
this morning how that even when he receives his commission and
his call back in the sixth chapter Isaiah is there told that this
must be the fruit of his ministry. He asks that question of the
Lord at the end of the sixth chapter where we read of his
remarkable call in the year when King Uzziah died. He's in the
temple and he has his vision of God and the Lord God sends
him and tells him what message he is to proclaim. And he asked
him, verse 11, then said, I, Lord, how long? And he answered,
until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without
man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord hath removed
them far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land. How the land, you see, is left
during those years of exile. but then at verse 13, but yet
in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return. God would preserve
a very little remnant there in Babylon, and in the appointed
time they would return. God would raise up another king,
Cyrus the Persian, and he would issue a decree permitting the
Jews to return and to rebuild the temple of the Lord. And as
I said this morning, in part we have to recognize that the
words that we have at the beginning of chapter 61 do have regards
to that ministry of Isaiah. It's a prophetic word from the
lips of the Prophet. But also here we see him who
is the true Prophet of the Lord. The whole office of the Prophet
was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. even as God told Moses
there in Deuteronomy chapter 18. There at verse 15, Moses says
to them, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet
from the midst of thy brethren like unto me. Unto him ye shall
hearken. Remember how the voice of the
prophet in the Old Testament was ever this to the law and
to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word it is because the Spirit of the Lord is not in them. They
appealed to the Lord of Moses, to the true prophets. They brought
that Lord to the nation of Israel. Moses was the greatest. And here
he says that the Lord God is going to raise up another prophet
from the midst of his brethren and he be like unto Moses. And
then God speaks there in verse 18, I will raise him up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee and I will put my words
in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. Who is this prophet? It's the
Lord Jesus. The law was given by Moses But
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Christ is that One then
who is the very fulfillment of the office of the Prophet. And we read that portion in Luke
chapter 4 concerning Christ beginning His ministry after His baptizing,
after His 40 days of temptations in the wilderness, Returning,
it says, in the power of the Spirit, he comes into Nazareth,
where he had been brought up, and that was his custom. He goes
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he reads there in the
book of the Prophet Isaiah, and he reads these words at the beginning
of the 61st chapter. And what does he say this day?
Is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears? It's fulfilled in
Christ. As we said this morning, it is
the Lord Jesus Christ who is that one who could say that he
had been sent by God, because the Lord hath anointed me, he
says, to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted. He is that one sent by God, to
whom God has not given the Spirit by measure. He is the Anointed
One, the Messiah, the Christ of God. And as Christ comes as
that One who is the Great Prophet and Preacher, so He also is that
One who has authority to send out preachers. And remember those
words that we remarked on that follow in chapter 62. 6 I have
set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never
hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the LORD
keep not silence. 7 O the LORD has his watchmen
upon the walls of Zion, upon the walls of Jerusalem. And they're
not to keep silence, they're to give warning, they're to proclaim
the message that God has given to them. The Lord Jesus is that
one who sends out preachers all power, he says, he's given unto
me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore! and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you all the
way, even unto the end of the world." It is that ministry of
the Gospel then that we were considering this morning. And
what a word it is. It's a word that's prophetic. It's a word that is authoritative.
And we said also, amongst other things, it is a word that's so
suited, so suited to needy sinners. Aren't these gospel words that
we have? To whom is this message sent?
It's to the meek and the broken-hearted, to the captives, to those in
prison. It's to them that mourn in Zion.
Oh, there is a word, you see, for such sinners as these. It's a gospel word that we have
here in these verses at the beginning
of this particular chapter. The wise man tells us a word
fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. All
such suitable words, comfortable words, gospel words. that grace
that falls from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ as he proclaims
the forgiveness of sins and peace with God. Well, so much for what
we were trying to say in the morning hour. Come now, as I
said just now, again to this portion, but I want to center
your attention more particularly upon the second verse and this
Gospel proclamation. To proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that
mourn. First of all, we read here of
the day of vengeance of our God. the day of vengeance of our God. There are various days of vengeance
that we see spoken of here in Holy Scripture. After God had
created man and woman and set them in paradise in the Garden
of Eden, We're familiar with the opening chapters of the book
of Genesis how Adam and Eve sinned, they fell. Sin comes in and despoils
that creation that God had pronounced to be very good and how wickedness
increased in all the earth. And we're told how that every
imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of men was evil continually. And God comes with a terrible
vengeance that we have recorded there in Genesis chapter 6. A universal flood, the destruction. The destruction of all that that
God had made. But God preserves a man, he preserves
Noah. and his wife and his sons and
their wives. But what a terrible visitation
that was from heaven when God came to judge the earth. It was the day of vengeance.
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually and he repented. the Lord that he had made man
on the earth, and he grieved him at his heart. And the Lord
said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the
fowls of the air. For it repenteth me that I have
made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Oh yes, in the midst of all his
wrath God remembers his mercy and he preserves man preserves
the man Noah but he visits a day of vengeance upon a wicked world
the flood but then also a little later in Genesis chapter 19 we
read of how God visits destruction upon those wicked cities of the
plague upon Sodom and Gomorrah, you can read it there in Genesis
19, the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah, it says, brimstone
and fire from the Lord out of heaven. God saw the great evils
that were being committed in those cities. And of course the
very word Sodomite is derived from that city that God destroyed. Those cities stood where the
Dead Sea now lies. That salt sea. It was a terrible judgment. It
was another day of the vengeance of our God. But I say there are
so many that we could speak of when we think of how God dealt
with the Egyptians. when the children of Israel are
there in Egypt. You remember the history how
they came to be there? It was because of the position
that Joseph occupied, the strange providences of God being worked
out in that young man's life. And ultimately his brethren and
his father and all their families, they come into Egypt, but they're
then rises up a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph and the Hebrews
by degrees are sorely persecuted and then God will deliver them.
And how does God deliver them? Well, He visits destruction upon
the Egyptians. There was a day of vengeance
of our God again upon Pharaoh and as we read in Romans chapter
9 And verse 17, Paul writes these words, Even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, speaking of Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Oh God will have his vengeance,
you see, upon those who have been the persecutors of his people.
What a terrible visitation it was, the 10 plagues. God could have delivered His
people immediately, but no, He will visit judgment upon their
persecutors, the 10 plagues. And then when eventually the
Pharaoh lets the children of Israel go, before long he's pursuing
after them. And then they come to the Red
Sea as they're making their journey out of Egypt and it seems there's
no way for them to escape now. The mountains are on each side
of them. The pursuing armies of the Egyptians
are behind them. The Red Sea is before them. And
God makes a way through the Red Sea. And the children of Israel
go through the sea on dry land. But then Pharaoh's armies go
after them. But God then destroys the armies
of the Egyptians in the sea. And so we have that great song
of Moses that's recorded in Exodus chapter 15, a celebration of
what God had done. The day of vengeance. of our
God. And then again when we think
of the context as I said at the outset the ministry of Isaiah
and though he is very mindful of that that was going to come
upon Judah the captivity and that they'd
be taken into exile into Babylon it wasn't that another day of
vengeance? All God, you see, He doesn't
wink at sins. And what were the children of
God doing? They were wanting to be like
the nations round about them. They wanted their idols. It was
a terrible sin. And they turned from the true
God and they were wanting to worship stocks and stones like
all the nations about them. And God must deal with them.
God must deal with them. We read there at the end of 2nd
Chronicles. The wrath of God arose against
the people till there was no remedy. They were so sunk in
their idolatrous ways. Now, we don't worship stocks
and stones, but let us examine ourselves. What idols are we
carrying in our hearts? Do we have idols? if we are honest
before God we must confess that we do have our idols and the
Lord doesn't wink at these things it is the day of vengeance this
is what Isaiah has to proclaim yes liberty to the captives eventually
the opening of the prison to those that abound the acceptable
yearn of the Lord of the Lord but also he speaks of that day
of vengeance that day of vengeance there are these various visitations from God upon the
sins of men that are recorded on the page of Holy Scripture.
We could speak of others but we've mentioned some four and
really I want to come to that that is the greatest of all the
days of vengeance of our God. Do we not witness it when we
come to the New Testament Scriptures. We see it, friends, in the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the day, the day of vengeance
of our God, when He pours out His wrath upon that righteous
man, when He dies there as the substitute bearing in his own
person that that was due to the sins of his people. What a day
of vengeance! It's spoken of time and again
we have it here in Isaiah. We refer oft times to those words
concerning the person of Christ back in chapter 9 verse 6. Look at the context. The previous
verse, verse 5, Every battle of the warrior is with confused
noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with
burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Oh, what a word is this! It speaks there in verse 6 so
clearly, so evidently of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who He is, and there's a connection between verse 6 and verse 5,
and we see that by the opening word, for. In the previous verse, every
battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled
in blood, that this shall be with burning and fuel of fire
for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given in verse 5
we have the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and he is that great
warrior of whom we sang just now he is that one who is the
great warrior oh but what a confidence the work that the Lord Jesus
Christ has to undertake when he comes to make that one
sacrifice for sins forever. Again, in the language of another
of the prophets, the language of the prophet Zechariah, awake,
O sword, against my shepherd and against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Might the shepherd and the sheep
shall be scattered. And see how the Prophet Zechariah
speaks of the Lord. He speaks there as the mouthpiece
of God. And he's speaking clearly concerning
Him who is the shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am the Good Shepherd, says Christ. The Good Shepherd give
us His life for the sheep, but what else do we learn from Zechariah? It is against my shepherd, against
the man that is my fellow. He is God's fellow, he is equal
to the Father. Oh, this is the wonder of it,
he is God. The eternal Son of God, God's
fellow. And now in a state of humiliation,
manifest in the flesh. And he comes for this great purpose,
that he might suffer and bleed and die. And that is the day
of the vengeance of our God. When God takes vengeance upon
the sins of His people. Why? Because He can by no means
clear the guilty, their sin must be punished. If they don't suffer
in their own person, one must suffer in their place. This is
the great doctrine, you see, of substitutionary atonement.
And it is the day of vengeance of our God and all what sufferings
the Lord Jesus has to endure. It's spoken of, I say, time and
again. It's spoken of, as you know,
repeatedly in the book of Psalms. Many of the Psalms are clearly
messianic, though David speaks and speaks out of his own experience,
yet he is speaking of one far greater than himself. The language
there in Psalm 69, Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto
my soul, I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. I
am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am
weary of my crying. My throat is dried. My eyes fail
while I wait for my God. O of whom is the prophet speaking?
He is speaking of Christ. He is speaking as Christ. Here
is Christ in the mighty waters, Christ in the deep mire. Now he is being overwhelmed.
It's a reference here to his soul's agonies as he comes to
make that great sacrifice for the sins of his people. I have
a baptism to be baptized with, he says. And how am I straight
until it be accomplished? Oh, he was immersed in sufferings.
Immersed in sufferings. As Gadsby says, for us Jesus
was baptized in tremendous agonies, mighty vengeance, like a flood
overwhelmed the Lamb of God. This is the day of vengeance.
Ultimately, it is the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. And we need to recognize it.
all that it cost for sinners to be saved, the sufferings of
the Lord Jesus. Oh, how many trifle with sin!
Are we those who trifle with sins? You know, sin didn't trifle
with the Lord Jesus Christ because God's justice could not trifle
with sin and it was there upon the cross that the Lord Jesus
paid the price in order to redeem his people and even as he contemplates
it there in the garden of Gethsemane he's so aware of what is before
him he's praying to the Father concerning all those sufferings
and we're told being in an agony Oh, he was agonizing in his soul,
being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly and his blood
was like great drops, his sweat was like great drops of blood
falling to the ground. Oh, it was here the Lord of life
appeared and sighed and groaned and prayed and feared, but all
incarnate God could bear with strength enough and none to spare. It's to proclaim the day of vengeance
of our God. That's the gospel. What is it? It's we preach Christ and Him
crucified. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
If we're preaching Christ crucified, we must preach the day of vengeance
of our God. We must spell it out. People
like to dwell on the idea that God is nothing more than a God
of love, but it's not the God of love revealed to us in scripture.
So many, when they speak of the love of God, it's some sort of
mushy thing. It's not that real love of God.
The God who loves is also that God who can by no means clear
the guilty, that God who is angry with the wicked every day, that
God who is just and must punish sins. We preach Christ crucified,
we must therefore preach the whole truth of that substitutionary
atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. To proclaim the day of
vengeance of our God, but then also here, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord. to comfort all that mourn. You see, in displaying His wrath,
which is what we have in the center of the second verse, that
day of vengeance, in displaying His wrath, God is also revealing
His mercy. That's the amazing thing. because all that the Lord Jesus
Christ suffers in his death is life for the sinner all that death is full of comfort
for the sinner that poor man, that poor woman grieving, mourning
over their sins all their conscience is so stricken
so acutely aware of what they are, what hope is there for them
All their hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who died
for sinners. All we see it here, do we not?
Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. There's such a wonderful harmonizing
of all God's attributes when we come to consider the Lord
Jesus in his person and in his work. There upon the cross we
see that God is just. And yet at the same time we see
that God is the justifier of him that believeth. Mercy comes together with truth. Righteousness comes together
with peace. Every attribute in God His holiness,
His love, His justice, His mercy. All of these, all of these harmonizing. And all that God is, is now on
the side of the sinner. What do we read then? It's 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, to comfort all that mourn. It is the year of Jubilee
that is being proclaimed. And we read of that year of Jubilee
back in the book of Leviticus, the 50th year. They were to count
seven years seven times. That's 49
years and then they come to the 50th year, the year of jubilance. Look at it there in Leviticus
chapter 25. There in chapter 25 and verses 8 and 10 Thou shalt number seven sabbaths
of years unto thee, seven times seven years, and the space of
the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet
of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month
in the day of atonement, shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout
all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth
year and proclaimed liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof it shall be a jubilee unto you and ye shall return
every man unto his possession and ye shall return every man
unto his family this is what is being proclaimed liberty to
the captives the opening of the prison to them that are bound
the acceptable year of the Lord. Now that is the Old Testament.
That is the law that was given by Moses in the book of Leviticus. But you know that Leviticus is
a book that is really full of gospel. All the ceremonies, all
the sacrifices, all the feasts are gospel types. And so too,
what we just read concerning the year of Jubilee. There is a spiritual Jubilee.
And we see it in the Lord Jesus. It comes with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the one who proclaims liberty
to those who are held captive by sin and by Satan. And isn't this our condition
by nature as we come into this world? It matters not. It matters
not who our parents are. We're born dead in trespasses
and in sins. We have a fallen nature. And
we're among those who are taken captive by Satan at his will. Oh, he is that strong man armed,
but there is one mightier than the strong man armed. There is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is his ministry, he
comes to proclaim liberty. Spiritual liberty to those who
are in the very thraldrum of sin. And the interesting thing is to consider the way in which
the Lord himself brings this liberty, this freedom into the
soul of the sinner. How the sinner comes to experience
this gracious ministry of the Lord Jesus. Look at the order
that we have here in the second verse. It says, "...to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn The comfort comes after the day
of vengeance of our God. When the Lord begins with a man,
what does he do? He makes that man feel something
of God's vengeance in his own soul. He makes that man feel what sin
is in the eyes of a God who is a holy God. And the sinner feels, you see.
This is a God whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity.
This is a God who cannot look upon sin. And this man has got
to be made to feel what he is. And can there be hope for such
a sinner as this man is when he feels anything of this vengeance
of God? But this is the way of God. Joseph Hart says, concerning
the sinner, nor can he expect to be perfectly saved till he
finds himself utterly lost. Oh, we're utterly lost, you see,
when we know the vengeance, the day of vengeance, to feel our
lostness. We're undone. We can do nothing
for ourselves, cannot help ourselves, certainly cannot save ourselves. But there is the comfort when
the Lord Jesus himself tells us that they that are whole have
no need of a physician, but they that are sick. Oh, it's sick men who need a
physician, not whole men. I came not to call the righteous,
says Christ, but sinners to repentance. All sinners are high in His esteem,
and sinners highly value Him. You see, before liberty there
must be that sense of captivity, being held in to what we are. that before faith came we're
kept under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterward
be revealed. Doesn't God make the sinner feel
that? He makes the sinner feel his sin, makes him feel what
he is. He's dead in sin with no spiritual
ability at all. He's altogether utterly undone. Only God can save him. Only God
can give him faith. Only God can work that salvation,
that faith in the man's soul. That's what he has to come to.
He has to be brought to the end of himself. But what does God say? Look at the language of the guide
of the apostle there in 2nd Corinthians 6 and verse 2. He has said, I
have heard thee in unaccepted time, in the day of salvation
have I socketed thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Oh, when this sinner is brought
to the end of himself, this is acceptable year of the Lord.
the day of salvation has come to him. If the Son therefore
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." It is Christ
who comes to proclaim liberty, liberty to the captives. It's that work of the Spirit
of God where the Spirit is. There's freedom, there's freedom
from sin where the Spirit of the Lord is. Just mark here the
greatness of the grace of God. We see that not a truth friends,
but where sin abounded, grace did so much more abound. Where there is the abounding
of sin, he can never outdo grace. Sin abounds, grace super abounds. And so what do we read here?
In the second verse it's the day of vengeance. It's the day
of vengeance. But it's the acceptable year
of the Lord. 365 days to a year. Throughout that acceptable year
of the Lord out does all the day of vengeance. This is ever
the way of God. when He comes to deal with us,
when He convinces us of our sins. It's a sad, solemn day. All but
when God comes in His grace. Oh, that grace of God. So much
more glorious. Look at the language that we
have previously, back in chapter 54. there at verse 7 he says for
a small moment for a small moment not just a moment for a small
moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather
thee in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment
but With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith
the Lord thy Redeemer." Now, there's an historical context
again, of course, when he speaks there of forsaking them. That's
when they're scattered, that's when they're taken away into
exile for a small moment. Have I forsaken thee? It was
70 years, but a small moment. nonetheless, because with great
mercies God says He will gather them. And then He says, with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on them. All that mercy
you see, it is from everlasting to everlasting, it's never ending.
And this is the word of Him who is the Lord, Thine Redeemer. Oh, this is the gospel. This
is the gospel proclamation. Hark! Oh, the gospel trumpet
sows Christ and free grace therein abounds. It abounds. There's an abundance of grace
in the gospel. And what are we to do? We're
to listen to the proclamation. Hark! How the Gospel trumpets sounds, Christ and free grace therein
abounds, free grace to such as sinners be, and if free grace,
why not for me? Why not for you? All this is the Gospel. This
is the ministry of the Gospel, the proclamation of the Gospel,
as we have it set before us here. in God's Word. Might the Lord
be pleasing to grant us tonight that assurance that we have a
part, we have a lot, we have an interest in this great salvation. Oh, the Lord comes to proclaim
liberty to the captives, 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 the more. Oh, the Lord bless His word to
us. Amen.