TEXT: Isaiah 61:1-2

SUBJECT: Christ in the Old Testament #28: The Preacher

Today, with the Lord’s blessing, we’ll continue our study of Christ in the Old Testament.

The text is one of the best known and most loved in all the Bible. Millions of sermons have been preached on it, first by Rabbis in Israel, and then by Pastors and Teachers in the Church. Most of them are good; some are great, but one in particular is nothing short of riveting.

It was preached a long time ago in a small, shabby church. The pastor had no formal training and worked with His hands for a living. He’d been out of town for a while and come back looking terrible—too thin and badly sunburned. He walked up to the pulpit, took the Bible, found Isaiah 61, read the first two verses, and preached the following sermon, which I will read in full,

The hearers were stunned. For 700 years they and their fathers had prayed that God would bring it to pass. And now, He has.

The little church was in Capernaum, a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee. The poor, skinny, untutored preacher was Jesus Christ.

Isaiah saw Him coming in great glory and splendor. And He did—but it was the glory and splendor of humility.

The Lord has made His debut. But what’s He come to do? Isaiah makes it quite clear: He’s come to save His People. Most of them have been carried off by the Assyrians; in a few years, the Babylonians will finish the job. The past has been bleak for God’s People, the near future will be even worse.

But the Lord is coming to reverse all that! He’s going to stand history on its head! The proud will be broken, the humble will be saved. An Age of Beauty, Peace, and Freedom will be ushered in by the God Himself. Through His Anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ.

How’s He going to do it? Chapter 53 makes His death the centerpiece of His Saving Work. Is that right? It is—

That’s true, of course, but it’s not the theme here. Here, Isaiah stresses the Saving Power of Christ’s Word!

Everything He does here is by His Word. That didn’t surprise the devout Jews. They knew the power of God’s Word. It made the world; it sustained the world; it overthrew Pharaoh and his armies; it created the nation of Israel. The Psalmist spoke for the whole people of God,

In the life of our Lord we see the Word in Action. In healing, for example. A man comes to Him full of leprosy. He says, "Lord, if You want to, You can make me clean". "I want to, be clean". And just like that, the curse of disease is reversed. The power of Satan is overthrown by the Same Word. A man comes to the synagogue in Capernaum; he’s possessed by an unclean spirit. When he sees the Lord, he shouts at Him, but he’s answered, "Be quiet and come out of him". Instantly, the devil is routed. Even death is subject to that Word. At the tomb of His friend, He shouts, "Lazarus, come forth". And the dead man is made alive.

Someone asked why He said, "Lazarus come forth". He was told "If He hadn’t been specific, all the dead would have come out of their graves".

There’s a lot of truth in that. For at the end of the world, our Lord will come "With a shout" and all the dead will rise to meet Him.

Christ will save His people by His Word.

If that’s true, we must have confidence in that Word. Nowadays, most churches are not Word-centered. They say they believe in an Infallible and Almighty Word, but their practice puts the lie to their words. It’s programs or partnering or Body Life or Singles Ministry or Recovery or Small Groups they emphasize. These things are not wrong in themselves, but they cannot take the place of God’s Word!

Only the Word is

What Word did our Lord come to announce?

If you know the history of Israel, you’d think it was the Word of Judgment. No one ever deserved the punishment of God more than the Israelites. Read the Old Testament for proof.

Yet, it’s not a Word of Judgment He brings. No,

It is Good News the Lord brings us! What is it? It’s not what He wants me to do. That’s not good news at all—because I can’t do what He wants me to do—no matter how many carrots and sticks He uses on me.

It is not what He wants me to do for Him that is Good News. It’s what He has done for me. The Gospel is not repent or believe; it’s not Keep the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule; it’s not read the Bible or pray; it’s not be baptized or join the church.

The Gospel is what Christ has done. I Corinthians 15:3-4 is the outline. What has the Lord done for me? He has died; He was buried; He has risen from the dead. I don’t add anything to it. I simply take with the Empty Hands of Faith.

What does the Gospel do?

It does three things:

• It "heals the brokenhearted".

• It "proclaims liberty to the captives".

• It "proclaims the acceptable year of the LORD".

Every heart is broken by sin and its consequences. Think of the guilt people carry around with them; the pain, the remorse, the fear; think of the terrors of death. People try to wish these things away by not thinking about them. Or wash them away with drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, and non-stop TV.

These things are like codeine or vicadin. They mask the pain, but they cannot remove it. Nothing can but the Word of Christ. A man was brought to Him one day paralyzed in a bed. But one Word made Him well,

What the Word of Christ did for his body, it will do for your heart. It will bind it up and make it sing.

It also frees the captives. Men are born slaves and every day choose slavery over freedom. Why would they do that? Well, it’s familiar, for one thing, but more than that, they believe their master is good. He hasn’t proven it yet, of course, but he keeps on making promises, and they keep on believing them.

The master is Sin. We serve him with a devotion no boot-licking flunkey ever gave his lord. But Sin is a lying master. It promises pleasure, but it doesn’t come through. Even when it seems to, the pleasure leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

We all know people who are addicted to drugs or booze or gambling. There are a lot of them, of course, but most people aren’t. Yet these people are as hooked on their thing as the wino is on his. What things? Pride, success, money, comfort. In a word, Self.

A man can get away from crack or the casinos, but how do you get away from your Master if your Master is…yourself? We’re both the pusher and the buyer. How do you get out of that one?

Only one way,

There is freedom in Christ. And in no one else. People who’ve quit drinking through AA have traded one Bad Master for another. People who’ve cleaned up their lives by converting to Islam have done the same thing. But not the Christian. He trades a Bad Master for a Good One.

Why don’t you do that? Right now! What, is slavery that great? Why not trade it in for Freedom in Christ? You can have it. Through faith alone in Christ alone.

The third thing is "The Acceptable Year of the Lord". This stands for The Year of Jubilee. You can read about it in Leviticus 25. In short, here’s what it means:

God loved His people and wanted them to keep the inheritance He had given to their fathers. The problem is, some people couldn’t keep it. They got into debt; they sold their property; they became slaves to their creditors.

There was no way they could work their way out of it. Making minimum wage, how long would it take you to save up to buy a farm and house? You’d never do it; in fact, you’d only get deeper into debt.

They were stuck. Their misfortune or sin—or that of an ancestor’s put them in a hole they could never climb out of.

So God did it for them! Every fifty years, silver trumpets were blown in Israel, and debts were cancelled, slaves were freed, and the farms reverted to their original owners.

Could you imagine being born into a wealthy family, only to throw away your money gambling, let’s say. For years, you work for another man, but keep getting farther behind. You watch your kids grow up in the same poverty—and their kids too. But one day—you’re an old man now—the trumpets sound. And the inheritance you lost is gotten back. By Grace Alone!

The believer has something like that in Christ—only better. For our debts are more than financial; our slavery is more than human; our loss is more than a farm. What Adam and Eve lost in Paradise, we get back in Christ. Only more. In Christ, we get,

How should we respond to Christ?

With praise and thanksgiving. With love and service. With a new confidence in His Word.

Now go do it. For Christ’s sake. Amen.