The Good News of Deliverance

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines; but you shall be called priests of the Lord, you shall be named ministers of our God; you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory. Because their shame was double, and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot, therefore they shall possess a double portion; everlasting joy shall be theirs. For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult 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 a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:1-11, NRSV)

Good news to the oppressed!

Proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners!

To give all beauty out of ashes!

Gladness instead of mourning!

A mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit!

God is doing a mighty thing, and He wants you to be the bearer of the good news.

Tell all of the world that all will be set free from the prisons that hold them. They will have joy instead of mourning and a spirit of praise instead of brokenness.

God will cause all of this to happen.

Do you believe it?

Will the coming savior bring it?

God will do a mighty thing here. We can trust in Him!

Injustice and Oppression to be Punished

Blood hands

See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness. No one brings suit justly, no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity. They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and the crushed egg hatches out a viper. Their webs cannot serve as clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths. Their roads they have made crooked; no one who walks in them knows peace. (Isaiah 59:1-8, NRSV)

What is it that separates us from God?

Is it because God’s arms are too short?

Is it because God can’t hear us?

Is it because God doesn’t care?

No! God cares, we see that in Jesus.

God can hear us. We know this because of Jesus.

And God’s arms are not too short, they helped hold Jesus to the cross for all of us.

What keeps us from God is us. We chose to live in sin and to follow after what brings us instant gratification and joy and not trust in God to deliver us and free us and give us a life beyond our own comprehension.

As Isaiah says above, “For our hands are defiled with blood and our finger with iniquity; our lips have spoken lies, our tongue wickedness.” We have all fallen short.

But you can choose to follow the path that is peace. Turn to God and He will bring you home.

Do not look to your self, but look to the manger and the one who died for you.

Live not for yourself but live for Him!

A Promise of Help and Healing

It shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not continually accuse, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirits would grow faint before me, even the souls that I have made. Because of their wicked covetousness I was angry; I struck them, I hid and was angry; but they kept turning back to their own ways. I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will lead them and repay them with comfort, creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord; and I will heal them. But the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still; its waters toss up mire and mud. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. (Isaiah 57:14-21, NRSV)

There is no peace for the wicked… I did an internet search on the last sentence in the above reading and this quote came up, “My mother always used to say, ‘there is no path to peace. Peace is the path.'”

Wow. isn’t that really what the passage from Isaiah is saying?

If you are contrite and humble you will seek after God and God will open your heart and answer your prayers. God will show you love and give you love for others.

But if you are covetous and wicked and self-focused, God will hide His face from you.

If you are seeking after God, God will heal you and fill you. If you are seeking after your own desires there will be no peace.

Because there is no path to peace. Peace is the path.

Follow after God and walk the path of peace!

The Suffering Servant

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:2-12, NRSV)

The Suffering Servant, a passage that points us to Jesus.

He allowed those who controlled the organized religion to eliminate Him as a threat to them.

Honestly, it wasn’t about the Jews not liking Jesus, it was about those in power not wanting to lose that power. It is exactly what we are seeing in our country now. People will bend the truths of God to fit into the boxes we have made to hold God. So that God can’t make us do what we don’t want to and so everyone else conforms to our understanding of how God works in the world.

But here is the thing, God was not contained to a box then. The grave could not hold Him. Even after they killed Him, He came back to finish what was started.

God will not be contained by us. He will have His will done, through or in spite of us.

He was silent then so prophecy could come true, but now He will not be silenced.

Will we follow Him or try to force Him into our box?

God’s People are Comforted

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. (Isaiah 40:1-11, NRSV)

A voice says, “Cry Out!”

What am I to cry?

God is always with us. Everything around you will fade away, but the promises of God will stand forever. Everything will be made level and all will be at peace in His kingdom.

So cry out the love of the Lord!

This will comfort His people and all people. Even in the valleys, in the dark places, God’s love will be with us. And those of us who know this and see His peace around us need to share it with others.

So cry out the love of the Lord!