Good News for Poor, Brokenhearted Captives
Isaiah 61
Let’s turn to Isaiah 61. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Isaiah 61 is on page 620 in the Bibles we are passing out.
This book, the Bible, tells the true story of the universe, the true story of the earth, and the true story of your life.
The story starts in eternity past, when God decided to create a universe and a world and people so He could share with us the joy of who He is.
So God created Adam and Eve, giving them life, amazing bodies, everything they needed – to show them that God was flawlessly good, overflowing with love, and perfectly wise. And God told them that all this would continue forever if they would simply surrender to Him as Creator and trust His goodness.
But Adam and Eve did the same thing we’ve all done – they refused. Because they wanted to be in charge. They wanted to call the shots. So they turned their backs on their flawlessly good Creator, their overflowing-with-love Creator, their perfectly wise Creator.
And that’s what each of us has done as well.
And God, who is perfectly good and loving, is also perfectly just. And so, because of our sin against Him, He withdrew His presence from our lives and justly condemned us to eternal punishment.
Our lives could have been rich – rich with the joy of knowing and worshiping God. But because of our sin we are poor – no connection with God. Our hearts could have been glad – rejoicing in God’s love and care. But because of our sin our hearts are broken – empty and broken by the results of sin. Our lives could have been free – so satisfied in God that we didn’t want to pursue sin. But because we turned from God we turned to sin and became captives to self-righteousness and racism and lust.
But here’s where the story gets really interesting. God could have left us as poor, heartbroken, captives awaiting final judgment. But in Isaiah 61 we read that God did not do that.
What does God do? In Isaiah 61 we read that God is going to do something astonishing. In Isaiah 61 we hear someone speaking who has been sent by God to the earth to help Israel and all of us. Look at what this person says in v.1 --
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor [the spiritually poor – that’s us]; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted [those whose hearts are empty and broken without God – that’s us], to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound [those who turned from God and have become prisoners to sin – that’s us];
So God does not leave us as poor, heartbroken captives awaiting final judgment. God is going to send someone empowered by the Holy Spirit – who will bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, and free those enslaved by sin.
Keep reading in v.2 --
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion [that’s a reference to the people of Israel who have suffered in their sin – but it applies to all of us] -- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
And the rest of the chapter expands on that, but for the sake of time we will stop here.
So – because we have turned from God – all of us are poor, heartbroken, and enslaved to sin. But God promises to send someone who will bring us good news, bind up our broken hearts, and free us from sin’s prison. He will proclaim God’s favor to those who receive Him – but to those who don’t He will proclaim God’s vengeance.
And those who receive Him will be transformed into oaks of righteousness – experiencing beauty, gladness, and praise – and God will be glorified in them.
So think of the people of Israel reading this at around 700 BC. They would have been wondering – who will this person be – and when will He come? To answer that – turn to Luke 4 (page 859).
Imagine that you were part of the nation of Israel. You have seen your nation – and the whole world – turn from God. You are feeling the spiritual poverty and wondering – when will we hear this good news? You are feeling the heartbrokenness and wondering – when will this one come who will bind up broken hearts? You are seeing the enslavement to sin and wondering – when will this one come who will set people free?
So who is this sent one and when does He come? Look at what we read in Luke 4 starting with v.14 –
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 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.
17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 "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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
You may wonder why there’s no mention of binding up the broken-hearted. There’s lots of theories. But because it is spoken of in Isaiah 61, I’m going to assume that it’s part of Jesus’ intent. So keep reading in v.20 --
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21 And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Jesus couldn’t be clearer. He is the One who was speaking back in Isaiah 61. He was the one anointed by the Spirit and sent by God to help us.
So what this means is that Jesus taught that He was the Messiah. All through Isaiah we read about the coming Messiah – that He will be born of a virgin, that He will be fully God, that He will be punished in our place for our sins. And so when Jesus says that He is the One spoken of in Isaiah 61 – He’s saying that He is this Messiah.
Now don’t miss this. This corrects two misunderstandings about Jesus. Some think that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah – that this was something the early church came up with after Jesus died. Not so. Here we see that Jesus Himself taught that He was the Messiah.
This also corrects the idea that Jesus was a good teacher, but that He never claimed to be the Messiah. Not so. Here the good teacher Jesus is clearly teaching that He is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament.
So who is this sent one? Jesus. And when does He come? 700 years after Isaiah wrote Isaiah 61 – and 2,000 years ago for us.
So did Jesus fulfill this prophecy? Let’s take a look.
Did Jesus preach good news to the poor? The word “poor” both the Hebrew word in Isaiah 61 and the Greek word in Luke 4 can refer either to financially poor or to spiritually poor. And to both the financially poor and the spiritually poor (including the rich) Jesus preaches the good news that their sins can be forgiven and they can be restored to God.
To see one example take look at Mark 2 (page 837). Here’s the famous story of a paralyzed man. He would have been financially poor from being paralyzed. But he would also have been spiritually poor because he – like all of us – had turned from God to sin and so was separated from God by his guilt.
And four guys bring him to Jesus – and Jesus sees his faith. Jesus sees that this paralyzed man is turning from everything else to trust Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Treasure – and look at what Jesus says in v.5 –
And when Jesus saw their faith [the paralyzed man’s faith and the faith of his friends], he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
This is stunning. Here Jesus proclaims that all of this man’s sins – past sins, present sins, and future sins – are forgiven. How can Jesus say that? Two reasons. One is because in a few months He would be punished by God on the Cross for this man’s sins on the Cross. The other is because Jesus Himself is fully God – so on the basis of what He would do He can proclaim this man forgiven.
And then to prove to the skeptics that He is God and has authority to forgive sins – he heals this man’s paralysis. So here we see Jesus preaching good news to the poor.
And Jesus can do the same for you today. All of us desperately need God’s forgiveness. And Jesus was punished on the Cross to pay for sin. And if you are spiritually poor today because you are separated from God by your guilt – Jesus wants to speak good news to you.
And if you will repent of your sin and surrender your life in trust to Jesus, then He will speak forgiveness to you – and you will know you have been forgiven. Here’s how John Wesley experienced this –
I saw Jesus – Jesus the Savior of sinners – Jesus the Savior for me. I saw Him as the gift of the love of God for me. Jesus loved me, and gave Himself for me, and I knew – yes, I knew – that God had forgiven me all my sins; and my soul was filled with gladness and I wept for joy.
Jesus preaches good news to the poor.
Did Jesus bind up the broken-hearted? Turn to Luke 7 (page 863). Look at what happens starting in v.11 –
11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.
12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.
So this woman’s heart has been broken by the effects of sin in the world – the death of her husband, and now the death of her only son. Some of you have had hearts broken by the effects of sin – your own sin, or others’ sin against you. And look at how Jesus responds to this woman in v.13 --
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep."
14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise." 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
So Jesus bound up her broken heart by raising her son from the dead. No matter how your heart has been broken by the effects of sin, Jesus can bind up your heart, comfort your heart, heal your heart. Sometimes He does that by changing your circumstances – as in the case of this woman. But every time He does that by pouring His love into your heart so powerfully that your broken heart is fully mended, healed, restored.
Here’s how George Whitefield experienced this hundreds of years ago –
But oh! With what joy – joy unspeakable – even joy that was full of and big with glory, was my soul filled, when the weight of sin went off, and an abiding sense of the pardoning love of God, and a full assurance of faith broke in upon my disconsolate soul.
Did Jesus set people free? Turn to Luke 19 (page 878). Before Zaccheus met Jesus he was a dishonest, greedy tax collector enslaved to the love of money. But look at Zaccheus after he met Jesus – v.8 –
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."
When you see Jesus for who He is – money loses it’s power; lust slinks away in shame; bitterness disappears – Jesus sets captives free.
Are you captive to some sin? It might be self-righteousness. It might be gossip. It might be pride. Jesus is God. He died on the Cross to pay for the guilt of sin and to break the power of sin. And when you turn to Jesus and trust Him to change You – He will.
Let me tell you about a woman – I’ll call her Carol. She was in a marriage to a man she had grown to hate. She wanted nothing to do with him. She was so discouraged she was on the verge of suicide.
But she read about hope in God’s Word. She knew Jesus was able to give her love for her husband. So she prayed, and met Jesus, and started re-engaging in her marriage. And something amazing happened. Here’s how she described it –
Something absolutely amazing happened. I’m in love with my husband. I enjoy being with him. I depend on him as a friend. He’s my favorite lunch date, and I find myself wanting to give him a hug and a kiss when he’s watching television. (The Peacemaker, p.71).
Jesus can do the same for you. No matter what sin you are oppressed by, captured by – just like He did for this woman, just like He did for Zaccheus – He will do for you. Turn to Him, call upon Him, trust Him. Jesus sets people free.
Communion
Let’s have the band come up and let’s prepare our hearts for celebrating Communion. Communion is a time to remember Jesus’ death on the Cross – which is how Jesus can preach good news of forgiveness to the poor, binds up those broken-hearted because of sin, and set people free from sin.
So what do you need to receive from Jesus this morning? Good news of forgiveness? Binding up of your broken-heart? Freedom from sin?
All these can be yours – as you turn from sin and trust Jesus Christ this morning as Savior, Lord, and Treasure.
If you are trusting Jesus, then at any time during the next three songs come on up and take the bread and the cup, and then you can kneel somewhere, go back to your seat, stand somewhere – and prayerfully and meaningfully eat the bread – symbolizing jesus’ body, and drink the cup, symbolizing Jesus’ blood, and receive from him.