Advent 2 of 5
Introduction:
A Do you remember the turning points as you moved from dating, to engagement, to marriage? The anticipation of graduation? Promotion? Buying a house? The arrival of a baby? Christmas morning?
1 You get so excited, thrilled and then the joy of when what you’ve longed for finally arrives.
a God had promised that He would send salvation, redeemer, Messiah and the day finally did arrive.
b Gal. 4.4, “But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman under the law.”
aa At just the right time God sent the Messiah, the Promised One to our world.
bb When the promise arrived it was of great historical significance also an opportunity to enter into God’s blessing.
2 Jesus, born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth. (A little town between the Mediterranean sea & the Sea of the Galilee.)
a Nazareth is not mentioned in OT, Talmud, or the works of Josephus.
b For nearly 30 years he had been apart of this town.
aa Raised by Mary & Joseph, learned carpentry, childhood friends, dog, went to church every Saturday.
bb Went to the same church for 30 years & everybody would have known Him and vice versa (knew the way people worshiped, prayed, sung, ect.)
cc Can you imagine going to the same church Jesus went to?
c Jesus would stay connected to Nazareth for His whole life. (John 19.19)
B Luke 4.14-30
1 Luke stresses the special activity of the Holy Spirit as Jesus enters a new phase of His public ministry.
a We have seen the Spirits activity in Jesus conception (1.35), Baptism,(3.22), wilderness (4.1), & now as Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee ministry begins.
b He is given a scroll by someone (chazzan) to read, the Scroll of Isaiah.
aa In synagogue service usually a blessing was spoken (Shema), prayer, reading from the Torah, reading from the Prophets, sermon, the closing prayer/blessing.
bb Jesus had been asked to read, stood, opened the scroll, and read Isaiah 61.1-2.
c This passage from Isaiah was a Messianic prophecy that every Jew was waiting with baited breath to come to pass! Coming for the poor, captives, blind, downtrodden.
2 In this passage we see a snapshot into Jesus’ entire ministry.
a He read it and then sit down in what was called the Elijah Chair in the synagogue to preach His sermon.
b “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4.21
C He came to do four things as Messiah (preach to the poor, release the captives, recover sight to the blind, set free those who are downtrodden.)
1 Preach the gospel to the poor. (Not talking about those w/ few resources or little money)
a Poor means “to cringe, shrink back, to cower”
b The word picture is that of a begger who is ashamed he’s a begger, lowely estate (Luke 6.20)
aa Luke 16.20, Lazarus, totally helpless.
bb Poor is when you realize you absolutely nothing that impresses God.
c In Spiritual terms the poor are those who recognize that they have nothing by which to commend themselves to God.
2 Proclaim release to the captives (Some people refuse to be a follow of Christ because they’d have to give up their rights to do as they please. LIE)
a The reality is that sinners are already in bondage (Matt. 10.28), . . . owe God something for sinning (James 2.10).
b Also in bondage to Satan (Eph. 2.1-2) and sin (Rom. 6.6).
c He releases those in bondage by paying the penalty for their violation of breaking God’s law by becoming the sacrificial death (Col. 2.14).
d He breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free. - John Wesley
3 He recovers sight to the blind.
a Each of us are born spiritually blind because it is the natural condition of fallen man. (Don’t know/understand)
aa Natural blindness (Ps. 82.5; Jer. 5.21; John 3.19-20)
bb God blinds the mind of the unrepentive (John 12.10)
cc Satan binds, too! (2 Cor. 4.4)
b Jesus Messiah came to “open blind eyes” (Is. 42.7; Luke 1.78-79)
aa He’s the light of the world!
bb John 8.12; 2 Cor. 4.6; Eph. 5.8; Acts 26.18
4 Set free those who are downtrodden
a Downtrodden (bruised, KJV) crushed, especially those who are weary from bearing sin.
aa Matt. 11.28-30
bb The Jew was crushed trying to keep 613 laws of the Torah!
b 1 John 5.3
D Jesus declares that this is the “favorable year of the Lord.” YEAR OF JUBLIEE (Lev. 25)
1 Every 7th year was supposed to be a “sabattical year” for the land to rest. (Didn’t do it!)
a Every 50th year (7x7=49) was a year of Jubilee that was intended to reset/balance the economy.
aa Slaves were set free, returned to their family.
bb Property reverted back to original owners.
cc Animals and land rested/rejoiced in the Lord.
dd All debts were cancelled
b Jesus came to bring Jubilee (not political/economic) but spiritual/physical jubilee!
2 He brought good news of salvation to bankrupt sinners, healing the broken hearted & those people who had been rejected, blind people, spiritual bondage!
3 Only one problem . . . Nazareth wanted proof. “Physician, heal thyself.” Show us what you got!
a People must be willing to hear the Word of God and receive it before they will see anything as God’s Word. (“Prove yourself to me, God, then I’ll believe.)
b If you’re looking for a sign to believe that Jesus is the One you may not ever believe.
aa Miracles, signs, wonders are powerful testimonies of Jesus, but in the end they don’t convince people of Jesus’ Lordship (Luke 16.31)
bb You’re going to believe because you believe.
E Jesus describes two stories that the Jews would just as soon forget/delete from their national story.
1 Elijah helped a widow from Sidon (v. 25-26); Elisha helped Nathan from Syria (v. 27).
a The widow & Nathan were both gentiles (non-Jews).
aa Jesus point was that God would save a gentile who admitted she was poor, blind, imprisoned, bondage, desperate.
bb But not a jew would not admit his/her need.
b Implication is that if Israel refused to abandon their self-righteousness and admit their desperate spiritual need they could not be saved.
2 You may think you are a pretty good person, moral person and God would let you into heaven because you’re pretty good. (Wrong!)
a The widow got the message, Nathan got the message . . . but hypocrites are the last to realize they’re hypocrites.
b There is something interesting in Jesus quote of Isaiah 61.1-2: He doesn’t finish vs. 2.
The amazing thing is that He did not stop reading at the end of a sentence but stopped before finishing it. In our translation, He stopped reading at the comma, but there was no comma in the text He was reading. He made absolutely no mention of the phrase, "the day of vengeance of our God." He made no mention of any of the text that followed this phrase. Do you know why? He looked at that crowd and said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."
Here is a passage of Scripture that was going to be fulfilled down to a comma, and the rest of the passage would not be fulfilled until He came back the second time. The day of vengeance had not yet come. What is the day of vengeance? It is that time of which God said, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Ps. 2:8). How is the Lord going to get the heathen for His inheritance? "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Ps. 2:9). That is the way the Lord will come to power. That will be the day of vengeance. That is the great Day of the Lord, and it will take place when Christ comes the second time. He came the first time to preach the gospel to the poor that they might be saved. He came anointed by the Holy Spirit to bring the glorious message of salvation. We are still living in that wonderful day, the day of the gospel. When He comes the second time, it will be the day of vengeance.
—J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible
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