Immanuel's Mission.
Luke chapter four states, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 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.’” (Luke 4:14-19).
In this New Testament passage, Jesus is quoting a portion of Isaiah 61, the first few verses. It’s slightly intriguing to note that Jesus ends this reading of Isaiah 61 with these few words: “to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor”. He does not continue with “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2).
Why? Is Jesus doing what some modern day theologians practice? Is Jesus cutting and pasting the Words of God to fit what people want to hear? 2 Timothy 4:3 states, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” Has Jesus succumbed to our 21st century approach to standing over the Word of God and making determinations about what is fun to hear and what it not?
Be reassured, Jesus, in His earthly ministry, presents all of the Word of God to the people. But this pause in his message is deliberate. He wants the people of His own hometown to hear what Immanuel’s mission is - at least part one of that mission: He came to help.
Immanuel’s mission has two parts:
One, Jesus, the True Son of God from heaven, comes as Immanuel, God in the flesh, in order to help humanity out of their rueful predicament. He came to save. He came to “To proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).
There is a part two to Immanuel’s mission: He came to declare “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2). In our message this weekend we will speak about both parts. They are both necessary in order to help us see that there is an impending day of wrath; there is a day that Immanuel will return “to Judge the living and the dead” (The Apostle’s Creed). How will we or anyone else be safe from that day of judgment? Only if we listen and absorb the first part of His mission - He came to save.
Let us in diligence aspire to know deeply what our depravity is. Let us recognize all the ways we seek to fit into our culture instead of fitting into God’s culture, let us strive to understand that life is from God and not determined by individual choice. We are not the masters of our destiny; and we are headed for an impending doom unless we see that Jesus steps in to help, to seek and to save. Don’t miss this message. Like all of God’s Word, it is true! It is timely - because the devil is, more and more, putting out false preachers who are telling the world that they are OK the way they are. The world wants to think that what is inside of us is more godlike and determinative of truth, of direction, of lifestyle. NO! We can’t be the source of what is right when we are broken.
This is why Immanuel came to seek and to save THAT which is LOST; that’s all of us. Let’s listen to Him. God be praised! Amen!