Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is Isaiah 61:1-3 & 10-11,

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ²to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³to grant to those who mourn in Zion— 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.

¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul 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 like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.

In verses 1 through 3 who do you suppose is speaking? We know Isaiah wrote it and we know Isaiah was indeed a prophet which means he wrote prophecies and this is indeed a prophecy. But who is it that is speaking in this prophecy? Shall we let scripture interpret scripture? Luke 4:16 - 21 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." 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." Notice Jesus is quoting Isaiah and states that He is the fulfillment of that prophecy. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. Isaiah is prophesying the messiah; the anointed one has come into this world. Isaiah prophesies that the Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus. Luke 3:21-22 "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove." The Spirit truly is upon Jesus. Isaiah’s prophesy is truly fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He came to be the anointed one, the messiah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He came not to reestablish the earthly kingdom of David but He came to Bring, to Proclaim, to Comfort, and to Grant. The gospel reading supports the prophesy as well. John 1:8 ⁸He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

John the Baptist is bearing witness to the light, the anointed one. And again in verse 26 & 27 ^26"John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." John proclaims that Jesus is already here among them and they do not even know it. The prophecy is fulfilled.

Jesus has a mission and with Him it is never mission impossible. He promises to bring good news to the poor and bind up the broken hearted. Isaiah prophesied earlier that the messiah came to achieve the deliverance from sin and death when he said "because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isa　53:12　ESV)" Isaiah prophesies what the good news is that the messiah brings but He also came to proclaim it clearly to all who were afflicted. He came to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those

who are bound. Is this the physically or spiritually poor, brokenhearted, captive, bound? "YES! The answer is YES!" God’s goodness in Christ embraces all aspects of our life, both physical and spiritual, both this world and the next. He gives us "our daily bread," and He feeds us "the bread of life." He restores sight to the literally blind, and He endows us with spiritual vision.

He proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God. He is referring to a period or an era that has a definite beginning but extends endlessly into eternity. This is the era in which God accepts us because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The day of vengeance sounds like getting even, venting wrath, and inflicting punishment. That is true but so much more; it includes righting the wrongs and the establishment of justice. You can see it in the rest of verse 2. Comfort all who morn, give a headdress instead of ashes. With God mourning turns to gladness, and a faint spirit is replaced with gladness. God plants us, the people of God, His church in the Messiah’s message and those that believe become the oaks of righteousness, strong in His righteousness not our own works or deeds. God’s love is shown in all these verses, He sent His Son to make His creation right.

We determined that Jesus is speaking in the first three verses, who is speaking in verses 10 & 11? If you look at verse 10, "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation." The speaker is one that received the benefits of the Messiah. He is one of the Oaks of righteousness. These verses describe the Holy Spirit manufactured response to God’s love. The first verse reminds us of the "Song of Mary" And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior", This is part of the magnificat which we have been singing during the Mid-week Advent services. Isaiah records the words of a believer who has received the great blessings of God where great joy fills their heart. We can all rejoice that God has covered our sinful life with the robe of righteousness. Isaiah compares God’s work to the earth and gardens. What is planted grows not of its own but from the soil, water, and light. We are planted in the message of the Messiah and our righteousness sprouts not of our own but of the soil, water, and light of the garden. God created the garden and all good things. It was a garden where God placed Adam, it was that same garden where sin entered through the Satan’s temptation of man and in that same garden God promised our first parents a Savior and banished them from the garden. Years later in a garden Jesus prayed for help from His heavenly Father as He agonized over the price of death and damnation He was to pay on a Roman cross the following day. In that same garden Jesus was arrested. It was in a garden that Jesus was buried and it was in that same garden He rose again. Mary even mistook Him for a gardener. Jesus paid dearly for the garden we are planted in. The garden is rich from Jesus’ Blood and He is why we will sprout up with righteousness. This is how a believer responds to the Messiah’s message through the Holy Spirit.

Today’s epistle further defines our response to God’s love. It urges us to behave appropriately to such a great outpouring of God’s love. We should rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances. Why wouldn’t we rejoice always, after all, our sins are buried in that garden and we are the oaks of righteousness? Praying without ceasing, isn’t that just keeping an ongoing dialog with the one that planted you in the garden? Isn’t that talking to God throughout the day about your concerns and thanksgiving for what He provides? What about giving thanks in all circumstances? Isn’t that knowing that no matter what happens here on this sinful earth with all its pain, heart ache, and death we know the good news that the Messiah proclaimed and you know He loves you so much that He will take away the ashes of this earth and give you a beautiful headdress in eternal life. Paul goes on to say "Do not quench the Spirit, Do not despise prophesies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every evil." This is truly a response of someone that has received the benefits of the Messiah. It even ends with a promise in verse 23 "²³Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it." The Messiah is faithful and He will surely keep you blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, He loved you that much!

Amen