The Fulfillment
Luke 4:14-21
December 25, 2017
Well this morning I can promise you that
I’m going to be uncharacteristically brief.
Really my only objective this morning is to sort of
Give you a concept to ponder and process throughout the day.
Of course in a couple of weeks we’ll be in this passage that we’ve read this morning and will certainly cover it in more detail then,
But all I really want to do is make you aware of 1 main point.
And that point is FULFILLMENT
WE READ IN LUKE’S GOSPEL
• After Jesus is tempted He sort of embarks on a preaching mission throughout the synagogues of Galilee.
• And eventually He comes back to His own hometown of Nazareth and also enters the synagogue there “and stood up to read”
• And when He did, “the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.”
(Now I don’t know if He had any say in the matter regarding what book was handed to Him, but I do know even that wouldn’t have mattered because regardless of the book, He could have read a passage that talked about Him.)
Either way, on this day, Isaiah was given to Him.
“And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”
Jesus is here reading Isaiah 61:1-2a and one line from Isaiah 58:6
It was a passage by Isaiah given in the middle of
A very harsh section revealing the horrific condition of Israel.
(Those in our Sunday School class have been covering it – Isaiah is speaking of the separation between God and Israel and why it has occurred)
Some of this horrific condition can be seen in:
Isaiah 59:9-14 “Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope along the wall like blind men, We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men. All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know our iniquities: Transgressing and denying the LORD, And turning away from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And uprightness cannot enter.”
You can see there that the current state is harsh and drastic
And the main reason is because of the unrighteousness of God’s people.
And as a ray of hope to a people in such drastic and pathetic condition, Isaiah says:
Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
It was a promise that the current state of affliction
Would not be the permanent state.
Isaiah himself preached of a coming redemption; a coming deliverance.
It was a very positive and hopeful passage.
AND THAT IS THE ONE JESUS READ.
• Now, after reading the passage we read (20) “And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.”
Simply put, they were waiting for the sermon.
• After reading the text, it would have been customary for Him as a visiting Rabbi to now preach on that text.
• And so the people simply waited for Jesus to do what they had often heard done; they waited for Him to give them an encouraging word of insight regarding the coming Messiah.
• And certainly in Nazareth, a city that felt the sting of Roman oppression perhaps even more than other parts of Israel was eager to hear this uplifting sermon of how God promised to one day deliver those who were in bondage.
The shocking part is that the total exposition of this passage
Is done by Jesus IN JUST 9 WORDS.
“Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
That is to say, Jesus just told them that He is the One that is referred to.
And we realize that Jesus was not quoting Isaiah here,
Rather Jesus just revealed that Isaiah had been quoting Him.
“Those verses aren’t about Isaiah’s ministry,
Those verses are about My ministry.”
• I’m the One who is anointed with God’s Spirit to “preach the gospel to the poor.”
• I’m the One whom God has sent “to proclaim release to captives.”
• I’m the One whom God has sent to proclaim “recovery of sight to the blind”
• I’m the One whom God has sent to “set free those who are oppressed”
• I’m the One whom God has sent “to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
Jesus said, “When you are looking at Me, you are looking at God’s faithfulness to that promise.”
BUT IT IS EVEN MORE THAN YOU MAY IMMEDIATELY REALIZE
Someone could very easily read that passage in Isaiah
And clearly see that it is all about
The proclamation of good news, release, recovery, freedom and favor.
And when Jesus says this passage is fulfilled,
He is NOT just saying “I am that preacher”,
What He IS saying is that “I am that deliverance”
Jesus is saying, “My arrival is God keeping that promise”
“I am how God is doing that”
What I am saying is this.
• Jesus is NOT here saying “I have come to fulfill that promise”
• What Jesus is saying is “I am the fulfillment of that promise”
• More than just a preacher of the gospel
• JESUS IS THE GOSPEL
• More than just a preacher of sight and freedom
• JESUS IS SIGHT AND FREEDOM
• More than just a preacher of God’s favor
• JESUS IS GOD’S FAVOR
I’ve really PONDERED THIS REALITY A LOT RECENTLY
As I have been studying through the Psalms.
Repeatedly throughout the Psalms
You have these very black and white and even dividing statements
Regarding the righteous and the wicked.
I mean, it starts right in Psalms 1
Psalms 1 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”
And that is really a theme carried throughout.
You continually read about how the righteous will be blessed
And the wicked will be judged.
Psalms 5:4-6 “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.”
Or
Psalms 7:9 “O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.”
Or
Psalms 9:7-8 “But the LORD abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment, And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.”
And as I read that there is a continual problem that arises.
MAN IS NOT RIGHTEOUS.
In fact, you get to Psalm 14 and you read:
Psalms 14:1-3 “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.”
And of course the temptation is to say, “Well certainly that isn’t me”
I’m one of the righteous who will receive God’s favor. (We all like to think that way)
The problem of course is that in Romans 3
Paul takes Psalms 14 and applies it to all of humanity.
While we could read numerous more Psalms, I think you get my point.
Throughout Scripture there is this continual contrast
Between the righteous and the wicked.
And the righteous are said to be those who will receive God’s favor and the wicked are those who will receive God’s wrath.
The problem is that “there is none righteous, not even one”
And that leaves us in a very poor predicament.
In fact, it was the predicament that Isaiah spelled out
In the passage Jesus quotes in Luke 4.
DID YOU CATCH HOW HUMANITY WAS DESCRIBED?
“poor…captives…blind…oppressed”
“poor” there is an interesting word.
It is PTOCHOS which comes from a root word that means “to cringe”
It speaks of a beggar cowering in the shadows.
It speaks of a people who are in such danger and such oppression
That they are afraid to even peak their head out.
And trust me, if we truly understood
The righteousness of God and our wretched state,
We would all be cowering in the shadows.
All of those words speak of a people
Who have been UNSUCCESSFUL in their attempts
To claim God’s favor and blessing in their lives.
Despite their efforts
• They are spiritual beggars, they are poor.
• They are still held captive to their sin
• They are still blind to spiritual things
• They are still oppressed by their lack of righteousness
All they can do is sit back and wait for God to come and do what He said,
• Which is to give those poor people good news
• To release those captives from their sin
• To give spiritual eyes to those blind men
• To set free those who are oppressed, so that they might enjoy a year of God’s favor.
They are a people in pitiful condition just waiting for God
To do what Isaiah said He would do and free those people.
And here we have Jesus, reading that very passage,
And more than just saying “I am preaching those same things” JESUS IS ACTUALLY SAYING,
“I’m the One who came to set you free.
He sent Me to release captives
He sent Me to recover sight for the blind
He sent Me to set free the oppressed
AND HOW IS THAT?
BECAUSE HE IS THE FULFILLMENT.
When you read those Psalms
And you read about the blessings on the righteous,
Those blessings are all for Christ and Christ alone.
He alone is righteous.
He is the only one who had earned them.
Every other honest human must consent to the fact that
When the Psalms separate between the righteous and the wicked;
I am the wicked, and Christ is the righteous.
But Jesus came to fulfill this promise by being our righteousness.
When we are “in Him” then all of those realities become our realities.
• We are the righteousness of God in Him.
• We are the delivered poor in Him.
• We are released captives in Him
• We are recovered blind men in Him
• We are freed from oppression in Him
This Jesus who is standing in this synagogue
Is announcing to the world that He is the fulfillment.
He has come to live a sinless life
He has come to die an atoning death
He has come to rise in victorious perfection
And through that He offers us that
In Him we can have freedom and deliverance.
This morning my one goal is ask you to ponder today
What it means that Jesus came to fulfill.
He came to be our righteousness
He came to be our deliverance
He came to be our sight
He came to be our freedom
Today is bigger than just a celebration of a birthday.
It is a celebration of the reality that
WE CAN NOW BE ALL THAT GOD INTENDED FOR US TO BE
And that we can now be transferred into God’s kingdom and be counted among the righteous and be recipients of the blessings of God.
Colossians 1:13-14 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Today, and every day,
Learn to appreciate what it means that Jesus is the fulfillment.
