For a while, the Lord has been impressing me with the first three verses of chapter 61:
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD
is upon me;
because the LORD hath anointed me
to preach good tidings
unto the meek;
He hath sent me to bind up
the broken hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD
and the day of vengeance
of our God;
to comfort all that mourn;
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness;
that they might be called
trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD
that he might be glorified.”
Without having researched the original language, these are my thoughts:
The context is set in chapter 59, about verse twenty and on through chapter 60, in which God seems to describe the Church Age, or Age of Grace. It is the time in which the gentile nations are allowed to approach and even commune with the God of Jacob. 59:20 is where the Redeemer is introduced. From there He describes the opening of gates of salvation to the known nations, naming some of them by name. Then in 60:22, He says,”I the LORD will hasten it in his time.”
Why this mid-sentence change from 1st person to 3rd? I believe God is referring to the person of Jesus. It seems that God takes us, in just a few verses, from the birth of the Redeemer into the Millennial reign. I think this reference to the Redeemer, though, is to the human being we know as Jesus of Nazareth, rather than to the eternal being we call Christ.
**Although they are one and the same, the man named Jesus did not exist before the eternal Christ became a cluster of cells in Mary’s womb.**
In 59:22, the Redeemer is revealed “unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob”.
60:1 brings the command of God to Him: “Arise, shine; for they light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” From there and through the chapter, God seems to be instructing the Redeemer, telling Him what great things He is about to do. Then in 61:1, the Redeemer answers:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me…”
This made me think of Samson at Lehi in Judah (Judges 15:9-19). V14 says,”…the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him”. You remember the rest of the story. Samson found the new jawbone of an ass and slew 1,000 soldiers with it. God’s victory that day was overwhelming, but the victory of Jesus at Golgotha was beyond description.
Is the spirit of the LORD upon us today? If so, what are we supposed to be doing?
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