We are told in Luke 4:17 that, when Jesus was in the synagogue, the roll of the Book of Isaiah, was delivered to Him, which He took, and from which He read.

According to the custom of the Jews today, which dates back into the past (though no one knows how far) a certain section of the law is read and is followed by one from the prophets. It is altogether possible that Jesus read the latter section, namely, the passage from the prophets, and then gave the message.

So far as we know, Jesus never participated in the public services prior to this time. Yet on this point no one can be positive.

When the roll of Isaiah was given to Jesus, He turned to Isaiah 61:1-3. It seems that He did this normally, naturally, and easily. In our thinking of His familiarity with the Scriptures, we may believe that Jesus from childhood studied the Scriptures and learned them. We are told in Luke 2:40 and 2:62 that He grew and waxed strong, and that He advanced in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. It was a normal thing, therefore, for Him to study the Scriptures, to learn them, and to become familiar with them and their position in the rolls.

The Scripture to which He turned was Isaiah 61:1-3. When a person reads this passage as it appears in Luke 4:18,19, and then reads Isaiah 61:1-3, he sees that there is a difference in the wording. (I am assuming that the student is reading from the American Standard Version.) By looking at the original Hebrew text of Isaiah and the Greek text of Luke, chapter 4, one sees that this quotation in Luke is a free rendition of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament). This fact accounts for the difference in words. The thought, however, is just the same.

Whenever a person comes to a passage in the New Testament, quoted from the Old Testament, the proper thing to do is first to study the passage in its original context in the Old Testament. Having done this thoroughly, he is then prepared to study the passage as it appears in the New Testament, and the way it is applied there.

The prophets had two methods of delivering their messages. The usual one was to appear before the people as the representative of God and to introduce their message by saying, "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts. ..." A second method, which was frequently used, although not so extensively as the one just mentioned, was that of impersonation. Whenever the prophet adopted this second method, he simply stepped before his audience and spoke as if he were Jehovah himself and sometimes enacted a dramatic scene. He thus enlivened and illustrated his message, impressing it upon his auditors more forcibly. In Isaiah 61:1-3 the prophet adopted this second method, that of impersonation. He therefore spoke of himself in the first person, as if he were the Lord himself, and as if he were going to do the things which he recounted--things which only the Lord can do. It is clear that no man can do the things which Isaiah mentioned in the prediction. The prophet is, therefore, playing the role of, or impersonating, the Messiah.

According to this prophecy the Messiah is anointed to do seven things: (1) to preach the gospel to the meek; (2) to bind up the brokenhearted, to regenerate penitent souls; (3) to set at liberty captives, (or the restoration of sight to the blind); (4) to proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor; (5) to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God; (6) to comfort all who mourn--because of their sins; and (7) to appoint unto official positions the penitent remnant of Israel. The Messiah is anointed in order that He might be qualified to do these seven things.

The language is such that it is easily recognized as that of the proclamation during the year of jubilee. Captives were released and land that had passed into the hands of strangers was returned to the rightful, original owners. This year of jubilee--every fiftieth year--was a time of great rejoicing. It was hailed with great delight and joy whenever it was properly observed according to the Mosaic ritual. Thus the language of the proclamation of this year of jubilee is quite fitting to express the great liberation and restoration of the soul as being brought into harmony with God. Couching his thoughts, therefore, in the language pertaining to the year of jubilee, the year of release, Isaiah pictured very graphically to his auditors the great release, or emancipation, that the Messiah will announce when He makes His appearance upon earth.

Let us now look at each of the seven things which Messiah is to do, for which He is equipped by the anointing given Him:

(1) To preach the gospel to the meek. This is to be understood literally, exactly as it is written.
(2) To bind up the brokenhearted. The prophet speaks of the work of regeneration which the Messiah does for those who accept Him in terms of the dressing of a wound, or the mending of broken pottery.
(3) To set at liberty them that are captive; or, as it is given in the Septuagint Version, to restore sight to the blind.

The Hebrew admits the rendering, "The opening of the prison to them that are bound." Here the picture is that of captives who are incarcerated in prison. Messiah is endowed with the proper power and authority to open these prison-houses and to release the prisoners, giving them their liberty. If we accept this rendering, this is a prophecy concerning Christ being put to death in the flesh, but in the spirit going and making a proclamation to the spirits in prison, in Sheol, or Hades. Then He seizes the keys of death and Hades and opens up that apartment where the saved have been incarcerated. He liberates them and brings them forth out of the prison-house of Hades and takes them on to glory, when He returns to heaven. This is indeed a possible and a likely interpretation of the passage. If we interpret it figuratively, the thought would be that those who are unsaved are bound in the prison-houses of habit and of lustful desires. Messiah liberates them and gives them freedom from the bondage of sin. Or, in the third place, it can mean that He opens their blind eyes. When all of these facts are taken into consideration, it is quite likely that there is truth in all of these interpretations.

(4) To proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor. What is meant by the year of Jehovah's favor? In order to see this, we shall have to look at the next statement (5) which is, that the Messiah is anointed to "proclaim the day of vengeance of our God." The day of vengeance is clearly a reference to the Tribulation Period, seven years, during which God is pouring out His wrath upon the world. About this interpretation there can be no doubt. This period of seven years is represented as a day, whereas the other is a longer period, which is thought of as a year. Thus the period of Jehovah's favor is thought of as a year, whereas that of His vengeance is spoken of in terms of a day. We have, therefore, the right to believe that an approximation, at least, of the ratio which exists between a year on the one hand and a day on the other, exists between the two periods of time designated as the year of Jehovah's favor and the day of vengeance. Since the day of vengeance is the Tribulation Period, which closes this age, and is seven years in duration, this present Christian Dispensation is the year of Jehovah's favor. Thus the Messiah at His first coming is prepared, not only to engage in His personal ministry, but is to make an announcement ahead of time concerning this long Christian Dispensation, this year of Jehovah's favor, which is to be followed by the day of vengeance, the Tribulation.

(6) To comfort all that mourn. During the Tribulation there will be such suffering as the world has never seen before and men will be in need of comfort and of peace. Messiah is the one who is able to comfort them and to give them peace.

(7) To appoint unto official positions those who mourn in Zion, that is, the faithful remnant of Israel mourning over their sins and turning to Him and accepting Him. Israel is now the tail of the nations; but, when he accepts Him, he will become the head of the nations.

Messiah thus is going to work out the entire program of His redemptive career which culminates with His second coming to appoint Israel to official positions in order that "they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified." God has been glorified in a measure--a very limited measure--through the church. But, when Israel is brought back to Him, the Lord will for the first time be glorified in the world in the sense which is here contemplated.

Having in this cursory manner looked at the original prophecy, we must now turn to the quotation in Luke and see how far our Lord read. A glance at Luke 4:18,19 reveals this very clearly. He read through the infinitive phrase, "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." He then gave the book back to the attendant. Jesus therefore stopped with the phrase foretelling that He would proclaim the Christian Dispensation. He had come in fulfillment of the passage and hence read this much of the prophecy and closed the book, stopping with the prophecy concerning the acceptable year of the Lord and saying nothing about the day of vengeance. This day of Jehovah's favor had dawned by His coming. It has been running on ever since, for nineteen hundred years. It will be brought to a close by the day of vengeance of our God, the Tribulation Period. But immediately before the Tribulation begins, Christ will descend from heaven to the air to raise the dead in Christ and to catch up the living saints in order to take them out of the world. When He does that, the day of vengeance of our God begins. Thus it is clear from Isaiah, chapter 61, and a number of others that the Christian Dispensation was clearly revealed in the Old Testament. So this much of the prophecy was fulfilled, and Jesus was very specific in making this clear.*

By the judgments of the Tribulation Israel will be brought to dire extremity and will, when his power is broken in pieces, call upon the Lord to return and to deliver him. When he does this, He will come, take matters into His own hands, and will establish His reign of righteousness and peace upon the earth. Israel, now the tail of the nations, will become the head of it, and all saved Israel will be appointed to official positions in Messiah's government. Thus the latter part of this prophecy has never been fulfilled yet. Since no word from God is without power, and since this is the word of God, it is backed up by all the power and authority of God Almighty and will be fulfilled in His own good time and in the dimensions as set forth in the original prophecy.

The message which Jesus delivered on this occasion is found in Luke 4:20-27. When Jesus had finished reading, He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Then the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened upon Him. We may be sure that He read as never man read before, even as He spoke as man never spoke before. Such reading doubtless gripped the attention of the people, for they were in expectation and focused their eyes upon Him. Today hath this Scripture been fulfilled in your ears (vs. 21). That part of the Scripture which He read was fulfilled in Jesus Himself and in His beginning His public ministry. Thus He launched a preaching ministry which is foretold in Isaiah 42:1-4, and which has been running through the Christian centuries and will continue till He comes for His own. As stated above, He will take the church out of the world by the rapture, before the day of vengeance begins. There was an air of expectation on the part of everyone because of the words of grace which He spoke. The people could hardly realize that Jesus, the supposed son of Joseph who had been reared among them, could thus speak.

They doubtless had heard of the miracles which He wrought in Jerusalem and were eager for Him to perform some of them in their presence. God would not satisfy idle curiosity. He was familiar with the proverb, "Physician, heal thyself," and also the axiom, "No prophet is acceptable in his own country." Knowing human nature, Jesus would not perform any miracles there because of their unbelief, as we are told in another place. The people just could not take in the thought that one of their own could perform the miracles concerning which they had heard. Moreover, they were not open to conviction.

Jesus justified His refusal to do any miraculous thing by the example of Elijah. Elijah prayed that it rain not for three years and six months. His prayer was answered. There were many widows in the days of Elijah, but he went to only one, a heathen, who lived at Zarephath, in the land of Sidon. In the days of Elisha the prophet there were many lepers in Israel, but only one was cleansed, Naaman the Syrian. These people had faith and they received a blessing. People in Israel who should have believed did not. They therefore did not obtain special ministries from God.

When Jesus called their attention to these facts, the people took that as an insult, because they were not willing to receive the truth. And they rose up en masse and took him to the brow of the hill upon which the city stood and attempted to destroy Him. "But he passing through the midst of them went his way" (vs. 30).

Jesus would not cast His pearls before swine, or give that which is holy to the dogs.

Sad to state, Nazareth missed her chance.


Footnotes:

*Some have called attention to the fact that there is a comma in the original passage after the expression, "the year of Jehovah's favor." Then the point is made that the comma comes in between the year of Jehovah's favor and the day of vengeance of our God. By those taking this position it is asserted that the comma covers the entire Christian Dispensation. This is a fallacy. There was no punctuation in the original text. As stated above, the year of Jehovah's favor is the entire Christian Dispensation, whereas the day of vengeance refers to the Tribulation, which follows this. Thus the force of the argument based upon the presence of the comma is rendered null and void.