Where Jesus Stopped: The Nature of His Two Comings
(Isaiah 61)
1. Some people can be too patient. One blogger complained. She writes: “Today, my new roommate took a shower. This would be a good thing, except for the fact that it's apparently taken her two months just to take this one. I have to live with her for another year.”
2. Many of us struggle with being too hurried.
A woman and her husband interrupted their vacation to go to the dentist. "I want a tooth pulled, and I don't want Novacaine because I'm in a big hurry," the woman said. "Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we'll be on our way." The dentist was quite impressed. "You're certainly a courageous woman," he said. "Which tooth is it?" The woman turned to her husband and said, "Show him your tooth, dear."
Main Idea: We often need hurry because our time is so limited, but God is in no hurry. That means we have to adjust to God’s ways and imitate His ways.
I. After Thousands of Years of History, the Promised Messiah Finally Came to Accomplish REDEMPTION and Our Salvation (1)
A. Jesus did what He did in the power of the SPIRIT
• He set aside use of his own power…
• We are not called to be Messiahs; we are adopted into God’s family…
• The Holy Spirit also wants to empower we, Jesus’ disciples
• John 7:38-39, “ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
B. Messiah means the ANOINTED ONE — anointed by the Lord Himself
C. His BAPTISM was his official anointing (Matthew 3)
• His coming was thousands of years after the promise in Eden, and 2,000 years after His promise to Abraham
• He died about 600 years after Isaiah prophesied His atoning death
• Centuries and millennia are a long time to we mortals
D. To minister to the DOWNTRODDEN and free those bound
1. By sin
2. By Satan
F. Why Jesus stopped reading where He DID (Luke 4:16-22)
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?”
G. Now Jesus is SEATED and defending us before the throne
• He did all he was supposed to do
John 17;4, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
H. Most did not receive Him or His work; have YOU?
II. After More Than 2,000 Years, Jesus Will Finally Fulfill His Prophesied REIGN on Earth (2-11)
A. Jesus shall reign and bring in a 1,000 year JUBILEE
B. The LAND of Israel will be refurbished and beautified
C. The PEOPLE of Israel will be honored by the rest of the world
D. Life will be UTOPIA-like in every way
E. Righteousness and PRAISE will prevail
1. What are “oaks of righteousness?” [solid, long-lived, used on deeds] (3)
2. God takes we nobodies and makes us into oaks of R. as he will Israel
3. NT doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is implied here (6) Ex19:6
4. Israel will be a nation of priest (6); we are a preview –Rev. 1:6, K of P
5. Elaborate on priests: know God, lead others; fluent in scripture; identity
F. From other texts, we will help the Lord REIGN (Revelation 20:4b-5a)
“… They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.”
III. Being PATIENT and FUTURE-MINDED Is Part of Being A Godly Disciple of Jesus
A. God is patient and long term, but He does not PROCRASTINATE
When you dilly-dally, run late, and put things off, there are consequences:
One gal relates, “Today, I went to a movie with this guy. He was late so the only seats available were the ones in the very front which he refused to sit in. As we were looking for two seats, he spotted one near the back and sat down, leaving me to sit by myself in the front.”
1. Procrastinators often do not want to make decisions
2. Procrastinators think an ideal time is coming
3. Procrastinators are idealistic about how long things take; allow no buffer
4. Procrastinators do what they want to do first and don’t get to the unpleasant
B. God has a TIME TABLE, and He sticks to it ; but He doesn’t reveal it
C. Doing NOTHING for a time can be a wise choice
1. It takes time to recover from the death of one near to you
2. It takes time for anger to settle or for bitterness to subside
3. It takes time to recover from a conflict or major disappointment
4. Sometimes we want to feel like we are in control, so we must do something, and that something often makes the problem worse
5. They asked a 100 year old man if he had an enemies, and he said know. They asked him the secret, and he said, “I outlived them.”
D. If we have a long-term vision, it helps us accept WAITING
E. When God is ready to act, He completes and FOLLOWS THROUGH
We often need hurry because our time is so limited, but God is in no hurry. That means we have to adjust to God’s ways and imitate His ways.
