"The Spirit of the LORD [is]
upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to [the]
poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty
to [the] captives And recovery of sight to [the] blind, To set at
liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of
the LORD."
Luke 4:18-19 NKJV
We talked briefly last week, and often
in the past, about the suffering and persecution we often feel comes
our way as believers in Jesus Christ. I'm sure no one would argue
about how uncomfortable and troubling it is to suffer for our faith,
and I'm equally sure most of us at one time or another have asked the
question “why doesn't God do something about it”? Well if it
helps, I want to make it clear today that God intends to “do
something” and if the events occurring in the world today are any
indication, that time is almost upon us.
The passage from Luke reveals to us the
occasion where Jesus reads from the book of Isaiah, in the synagogue at Nazareth where He was from. If we look at the passage Jesus read from Isaiah, we see that He did something very
interesting. Compare for yourself the two passages; what Isaiah
wrote and what Jesus read.
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD
[is] upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings
to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim
liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to [those who
are] bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day
of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
Isaiah 61:1-2 NKJV
I want to share with you a short commentary by Ray Stedman about
these passages and what it meant when Jesus chose not to finish
reading the complete passage from Isaiah.
Note carefully where he stopped reading. He did not go on to read, "and the day of vengeance of our God," because when he first came he introduced "the day of God's favor," the day when God withholds his judgment.
This is the answer to the question people are asking, "Why doesn't God do something?" The answer is, because he is giving people everywhere a chance! When he starts judging, he will judge the whole world -- everybody in it, without exception. Only those who have already bowed to his will will escape the penalty of that judgment. Then he will begin "the day of vengeance of our God," the phrase Jesus did not read that day in the synagogue. This comma has been called "the longest comma in history." "The year of the Lord's favor" now covers almost two thousand years of time, but it will be followed by "the day of vengeance of our God."
Notice the contrast between "the year of his grace," and "the day of vengeance." God does not like vengeance. He does not delight in judgment. Isaiah calls it "his strange work." But it must be done eventually, though it will be kept as brief as possible. This is what prophecy records as "the time of the end."
So in answer to the question about why
God doesn't do something about our suffering, it seems perfectly
clear that we are told that He will, but at a time of His choosing.
The Hebrew word for “year” used here is shaneh
which refers not to a calendar year but rather describing a period of
time. So the only way we will know when the “year of the Lord”
is over will be when the “day of vengeance” begins. If
you are curious about God's day of vengeance you can read all about
this period of time in Joel chapter two and chapters six through
nineteen of the book of Revelation. Yet when I read this passage in
Isaiah I can't help but be curious about the “acceptable year”
and wonder if there is more to this than meets the eye?
When I step back and look at the
passage in it's entirety, I am struck by the thought that Jesus says
He was sent by God to proclaim both the “acceptable year” and
“the day of vengeance”. Naturally then, I can't help but wonder
just how, since the day of the Lord has not yet arrived, will Jesus
“proclaim” the coming “day of vengeance”?
In the Hebrew, the word for proclaim is
qara' which translated
means “to call, cry, utter a loud sound”.
That being the case, are any of you beginning to think what I'm
thinking? Is there any event on the horizon that you know of where
we might hear Jesus “qara' “? There certainly is, and Paul
describes it for us in his letter to the church at Thessalonica.
For the Lord Himself will descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with
the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 NKJV
This is why I love studying the Bible so much. It so often seems
like a puzzle where we strive to find out just where the different
pieces fit in order to see what the complete picture shows us. It
certainly appears to me that not only did Jesus use the occasion in
Nazareth to reveal Himself as the Messiah, and the fulfillment of the
Isaiah prophecy, but also to tell us that we will hear from Him again
when it is time for the Church to depart, and He can “comfort
all who mourn”. Is the acceptable year about to end? Consider
the words of the prophet Joel;
Blow the trumpet in Zion, And
sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the
land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand:
Joel 2:1 NKJV
If you are hurting or suffering today take heart. I truly believe we are about to be comforted in ways we could never imagine.
Keep watching.
