LOVING SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 61 Commentary

The Spirit Of The LORD Is Upon Me…

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KEY THOUGHT: To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; [Isaiah 61:1c NKJV]

Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!

Isaiah 61 NKJV

The Good News of Salvation

61 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to ^[a]heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
²To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
³To ^[b]console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

⁴And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
⁵Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
And the sons of the foreigner
Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
⁶But you shall be named the priests of the Lord,
They shall call you the servants of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,
And in their glory you shall boast.
⁷Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.

⁸“For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery ^[c]for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
⁹Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles,
And their offspring among the people.
All who see them shall acknowledge them,
That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.”

¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Footnotes

a. Isaiah 61:1 Lit. bind up
b. Isaiah 61:3 Lit. appoint
c. Isaiah 61:8 Or in

New King James Version (NKJV)

Isaiah 61 Commentary

Back in the days of the Judges, the Spirit of the LORD would come upon an individual, and they would rise up and save Israel. Samson is one individual who would single-handedly save Israel under the power of the Spirit of the LORD. Is Isaiah following the same script in his statement in Verse 1?

But who exactly is speaking? The prophet? Probably not. Probably no mortal is good enough to fit the job description. The Servant, Immanuel, or the Son born to us? Yes.

Yes, the Servant-cum-King. Immanuel, the Branch. He is especially empowered to proclaim God’s good news to the poor.

How does the proclamation of the good news relate to the time of Israel’s redemption? In Chapter 61 we heard, “In its time, I will do this swiftly.” Could it be that the proclamation of the good news coincides with the mending of broken hearts and the release of prisoners?

Again, the answer is yes.

Isaiah isn’t complex to read if you stop and look at everything. The prophet defines Israel’s problem. It’s sin for which Israel needs cleansing for a “white as snow” finish! Isaiah 1:18.

Then the book takes us places with deep descriptions of the human condition.

At each turn is God’s solution presented in various forms. These aren’t just different images explaining the same entity. Each image of the Savior reveals a unique quality. So, the Servant is variously described in several chapters leading to Chapter 61. Then the Servant speaks!

The prophet quotes the words of Jesus. This keeps the thought that the prophet has repeatedly highlighted. It’s only the Creator God, the God of Abraham, who foretells the future. He is all-knowing!

Verse 6 is a direct reference to Peter’s claim that believers are a royal priesthood – royal because of the son/daughter relationship with King Jesus, who doubles as the High Priest.

There is the mention of the double portion. Then we have the example of the bridegroom and the bride. Isaiah is winding down his long work beautifully. Isaiah’s future was always full of God’s promises of a restored relationship with the Creator God – hinged on righteousness.

The Servant would provide the means. The LORD Jesus Christ is always ‘big time’ for the nations. What a blessing it is to experience these times when our knees can bow, and our tongues can confess this name.

Loving Scripture….

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25 thoughts on “Home”

It has been exciting learning how God can make things happen to his choosen one, God workout something wonderful and fulfils the promises he made to the father of Joseph.

God’s words remains true so are his promises and indeed it has been God working out the salvation of man Kind by Grace through Faith alone.

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Quite thought provoking. Thank you for the passage of scripture.