Readings: 2 Kings 7, Revelation 19

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

Because the Lord has anointed me

To bring good news to the afflicted;

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to captives,

And freedom to prisoners;

It is interesting to note that in the first part of this verse the Trinity is addressed.  The Holy Spirit, the Lord God, meaning the Soverign Lord, the Father, and Me, referring to Jesus.  The reference to "anointed me" indicates the Messiah which means "the anointed one" in Hebrew.  At that time, it was unclear who the speaker was in verses 1-3, but after Jesus read these verses in Luke 4:18-19, and He said it referred to Him; we now have a good picture of the intention of the verses.  He read these verses right at the start of His public ministry.  Which makes them even more interesting.

Jesus was certainly the bearer of Good news; He brought the news to all who are afflicted, poor, and in captivity that they are free!  We often overlook this part of the Christian life, ignoring the fact that God wants to release people from their bondages, and give them lives of liberty.  Yet often those who are in bondage are so wrapped up in it that they do not want to give it up themselves.  They would rather live in the bondage than surrender their lives to God. 

Let's step back for a second though; Isaiah was the mouthpiece of God, prophesying about the Messiah years ahead of time.  He also was prophesying about the coming restoration of Israel many years before it came to pass.  In that way Isaiah was also the mouthpiece of the Lord, bringing good news to the Jews, since they were broken hearted and afflicted with bondages to false gods.  Isaiah carried the message directly from God of how to be free.  The message is still applicable today.

Isaiah 61:2-3

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord,

And the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn,

3To grant those who mourn in Zion,

Giving them a garland instead of ashes,

The oil of gladness instead of mourning,

The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.

So they will be called oaks of righteousness,

The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

The first part of verse 2 has been partially fulfilled already, yet at the second coming, He will fulfill the entire verse.  At that time, He will comfort all who mourn, taking away all sickness and all despair.  Think about this for a moment, when Jesus was on earth, thousands of people were healed of their sicknesses, many were released from their bondages to the devil, it was a time of healing.  When He returns, it will be better, because at that time He will bring peace to the entire world, and throw Satan into the fiery pit. 

At that time He will also bring judgment upon the world, on unbelievers, and they will be judged according to God's word, He will take His vengeance.

Micah 5:15

"And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath

On the nations which have not obeyed."

Rev. 19:15-20

And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

17And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God; 18in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great."

19And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. 20And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

I won't pretend to understand all the ramifications of the Second Coming of Christ, or the workings of the Millennial Kingdom, I am learning constantly about it as I read the word.  I do understand that it will be far better than we can imagine.  A large amount of the prophecies from Isaiah point directly toward that time.  God will allow His people, the Jews, and the Gentiles to suffer until He returns, then He will "comfort" His people.

Daniel 7:21-25

"I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 22until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

23"Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25'And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

Rev. 12:13-17

And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

One thing I would like to point out especially, God plants the seeds of praise, righteousness, and gladness.  This is the essence of Christian life; it is the sole purpose of being a Christian.  If you read through the words of Jesus, His main emphasis while He was on earth was that He was here to do the will of the Father.  This has not changed, as Christians, we are supposed to be Christ-like, and therefore, we should be focused upon praising and glorifying God in our lives.  We were not saved out of our sin for our benefit, we were saved out of our sin to glorify and praise God.  We often get this backwards.  We are not here to glorify ourselves, we are here to glorify God, Jesus said that those who will be the greatest in the Kingdom will be the servants of all.

On with the rest of the study, I'll move a little quicker now, didn't meant to get bogged down, sorry:

Isaiah 61:4-7

Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,

They will raise up the former devastations,

And they will repair the ruined cities,

The desolations of many generations.

5And strangers will stand and pasture your flocks,

And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.

6But you will be called the priests of the Lord;

You will be spoken of as ministers of our God.

You will eat the wealth of nations,

And in their riches you will boast.

7Instead of your shame you will have a double portion,

And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion.

Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land,

Everlasting joy will be theirs.

In the time of the Persians, the city was rebuilt, the walls repaired and the temple reconstructed.  Strangers and foreigners, in other words, Gentiles over-ran the city.  The same is true today; we covered that quite a bit lately in our studies.  In the end times, God will bless the Jews, the nation will be completely rebuilt, and each believer will be considered a minister of God.  It will be a noble calling, one which will be highly respected.  Look at the blessings, a double portion, joy, everlasting joy, forever. 

Isaiah 61:8

For I, the Lord, love justice,

I hate robbery in the burnt offering;

And I will faithfully give them their recompense,

And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

The Lord enters the scene here, speaking of the current situation among the Jews.  He hates robbery, or people offering the burnt offering that has been tainted with sin.  In other words, they were going through the actions, but failed to apply the truth of God to their individual lives. 

Isaiah 61:10-11

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord,

My soul will exult in my God;

For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,

He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,

As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,

And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,

So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

To spring up before all the nations.

God has not forgotten His people, even though they are spread out among the nations, He will call them back.  In the end times they will be looked up to as they worship the one true God who rules over the world.  Of course, this will not happen until the Millennium, when Christ returns to rule over the world.

In verses 10-11, Artaxerxes speaks of the benefits of following the Lord and going with His wishes.  He speaks of the way that God has promised to prosper his nation for following the Lord, and most importantly of all, he speaks of the Lord as his salvation, recognizing that salvation is only possible through Yahweh, the God of the Jews.

I am going to cut the study short here; Chris moved back home today and I have been working with him getting him set up.  He has had some extremely difficult times lately and needs a lot of prayer.  He has employment problems, and is re-thinking his life in general.  Praise God for His faithfulness.

Father, as we join together in Your word today, I ask that each one of us will be encouraged and built up as we briefly focus on the promises that You have for Your people in the word.  Keep our eyes and our hearts fixed intently upon You and Your will.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Note, All scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible.