The Promised Messiah
Text: Isaiah 61:1-3
Core Idea: Jesus Christ is the Promised Servant-Messiah who has come to proclaim good news to the poor – and through Him, we will be transformed into an oak that can endure storms of life and live for His glory in all circumstances. Then, this Christmas, root yourself in Christ, for if you remain in Him, you will bear much fruit.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, Lighthouse. It is delightful to see you. If you’re visiting us for the first time, thank you for choosing to spend your time with us. I pray that you’ll come to see how beautiful and wonderful our God is – and that you’ll experience this incredible love that He has for you today. Well, Christmas is a season of joy and celebration, but if we’re honest, it can also be a season of hustle, busyness, and distractions. Between the shopping, the parties, and trying to find the perfect gift, it’s easy to lose sight of the miracle we’re here to celebrate – the birth of our Savior. We get so caught up in the noise of Christmas that we forget the stillness of that night in Bethlehem. Then, as we turn to the Word, let’s set aside all the distractions of life and slow down to remember that the greatest gift of all is already ours in Jesus Christ – let Him be the reason for your joy today. So, to help us do that, we’ll look at Isaiah 61:1-3. Our church has been going through the Book of Isaiah this Advent season – and so far, we’ve learned that Christmas is about a Light dawning in the land of deep darkness, a King coming to reverse the effects of the fall, and a Mighty Shepherd coming to comfort us by freeing us from the power of sin. Today, we’ll learn that Christmas is about the Promised Messiah coming to proclaim good news to the poor. Just a side note: if you’re not familiar with the word “Messiah,” it’s a Hebrew word that means “the anointed one” – and it describes the King of kings who will come to deliver God’s people. Keep that in mind because we’ll be referring to this word quite often in this sermon. Then, with that in mind, I’ll read this for us.
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on Me because the LORD has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor. Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me point out three things from this passage:
· THE IDENTITY OF THE MESSIAH
· THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH
· THE TRANSFORMATION OF HIS PEOPLE
1) THE IDENTITY OF THE MESSIAH
Let’s read verse 1 again, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on Me because the LORD has anointed Me.” Now, in order to understand this passage well, we need to first figure out who is speaking here. Who is “Me” in this passage? Answering this could take a little more work than you think because Isaiah’s voice changes quite often in this book in that sometimes, he speaks for himself (narrating his own experiences), but other times, he speaks for God as His mouthpiece (prophesying about the events that will unfold in the future) – “Thus saith the Lord.” But our text is one of those few places where Isaiah seems to be speaking for someone else – not for himself, not for God, but for another character. In the first half of the book, in Chapters 1-39, He’s described as the Messianic King, a triumphant Ruler, a strong Warrior who will one day come to put down all evil, cast away the darkness, and make the whole world right again. He will raise the banner – and the nations will come to bow before Him. He’s glorious, beautiful, and victorious. But in the second half of the book, in Chapters 40-66, He’s described as the Suffering Servant who will one day come to lay down His life to be crushed for His people. Listen to the way He’s described in Isaiah 53:2-3, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a Man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.” He’s not glorious. He’s not strong. He’s utterly weak and humble. He’s not attractive. Nobody wants Him – in fact, everybody looks down on Him. And if that’s not bad enough, He’s also likened to a Sacrificial Lamb that was about to be slaughtered for us. Now, because of the clear contrast, it’s easy for the readers to think of them as two different individuals. But Isaiah wants his readers to see that these descriptions actually point to one person, for they both have one thing in common – being anointed by the Spirit of God. In describing the Messiah King, Isaiah 11:2 writes, “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD.” And in describing the Suffering Servant, Isaiah 42:1 writes, “Here is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.” In other words, these are one and the same person. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, at times, He’ll come in power, but at other times, He’ll come in weakness. Then, when we read, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on Me,” the person who is speaking here is basically saying, “I’m the One you’ve been waiting for. I’m that Servant-Messiah, that Humble King Isaiah has been talking about this whole time. I’m the One who will come to deliver you from your exile and bring you back home. So, listen to Me.”
Now, before we pay attention to what He has to say, one thing I want to point out is that this Servant-Messiah has been sent by God. That’s what He says in verse 1 – “He has sent Me.” At first glance, this could seem like a minor detail – but this is incredibly surprising if we understand the context of the story. Judah had sinned against God by turning to Assyria for help in times of trouble. Even though God had promised that He would protect them, they opted to depend on human power, which obviously displeased God. So, Isaiah prophesied that God’s judgment was coming against them – and to do that, God was going to use Assyria, the very nation they turned to for help. But God wasn’t going to give up on Judah, for they were His people. This wasn’t to destroy them but to discipline them, to humble them so that He could restore them. And that’s exactly what happened in Chapter 36. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, attacked and destroyed many cities in Judah. But because Hezekiah, the King of Judah, trusted in the Lord, God fought for them and brought great victory to His people. Now, it would’ve been great if Hezekiah had remained faithful to the Lord, but the comfort of life began to cause him to drift away from God – making him proud and conceited in his heart. So, in Chapter 39, we see him showing off his treasures to other nations as if he were responsible for these riches – which again did not please God. So, Isaiah prophesied that Judah would be exiled to Babylon, for they failed to give glory where it was due. All that to say, Judah was in exile because of their own sins. They really had no one to blame but themselves for their misery. Then, it would’ve been completely understandable if God had left them in exile to live in fear and regret forever. But He didn’t. He was going to send this Servant-King to comfort and liberate them. And we can’t help but ask, “Why? Why didn’t God just let them suffer for their sin? Why did He make a way to save them?” Isaiah tells us that it’s because of His love for them. There are a lot of passages that describe God’s love for them but let me just share two. Isaiah 49:15, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” Isaiah 54:10, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor My covenant of peace be removed.” Most of us love things that are worthy of our love. Just think about the people you love. I love my children because they’re incredibly lovable (at least to me). It actually doesn’t matter what they do (eating, sleeping, playing, and even crying) – I just can’t stop loving them. And that’s generally true of how we love others – we love them because, in one sense, they’re worthy of our love. In contrast, it’s really difficult to love those who we think are unworthy of our love – those who have hurt us, those who we’re not really fond of for whatever reason. But this is not how God loves. The Bible says that He loves those who are unworthy, undeserving of His love. And it’s because of this love that God sends this Servant-King to deliver His people.
Now, you might be thinking, “What does this have anything to do with me?” But this is a lot more relevant than you think because the truth is that we’re no different from Judah in that we are all sinners before God. When God created us, He intended that we would live under His righteous rule in perfect joy – worshiping Him, obeying Him, and therefore living in this unbroken fellowship with Him. He created us in His own image – meaning we were to be in a relationship with Him. But all of us didn’t just disobey God – we also rejected Him as our King. We traded our favor with God for the pursuit of our own pleasure and glory. Simply put, we wanted to be king – we wanted to sit on the throne of our lives. The Bible calls this sin, which literally means “to miss the mark.” Now, many of us have this image of ourselves trying really hard to aim for the target (to keep God’s commands) but just missing the bull’s eye by a few degrees – which is why we’ll often hear people say, “I’m not that bad; I’m relatively a good person. Sure, I do bad things here and there – but who doesn’t? At least, I’m not like him or her.” But the Bible tells us that we weren’t just a little off from the target – we were literally shooting in the opposite direction. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Think of it this way. We’re not good people who occasionally do bad things – we’re bad people who occasionally do good things. This is so important to understand because sin is much more devastating than we think. Imagine that you have a cup of clean water. But what if someone added just a drop of deadly poison into it? Would you be able to drink it because it’s only a drop? Of course not. It’s been contaminated, defiled – if you drink it, you will surely die. And that’s what God sees in us. Regardless of how small our sin may be, sin is like deadly poison – it will surely kill us. We hated God – and, therefore, were deserving of death. And yet Isaiah reminds us that God never stopped loving us. Friends, Christmas reminds us that God hasn’t given up on us. If He did, He wouldn’t have sent this Servant-King to deliver us – He would’ve left us in darkness. Then, feel His love for you this Christmas. You don’t need to make yourself worthy of this love – you are loved simply because He’s a loving God. Our sins are many, but His mercy is more.
2) THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH
Verse 1, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on Me because the LORD has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor.” There’s a lot more that He says but let me just focus on this today partially because I don’t want to keep you here all day but also ultimately because everything else really falls under this idea of good news to the poor. Now, who are the poor here? A biblical scholar, John Oswalt, answers it this way, “Those who are so broken by life that they have no more heart to try; those who are so bound up in their various addictions that liberty and release are a cruel mirage; those who think that they will never again experience the favor of the Lord; those who think that their lives hold nothing more than ashes, sackcloth, and the fainting heaviness of despair. These are they to whom the Servant-Messiah shouts ‘Good news!’” In other words, the poor mentioned here are not just those who are suffering from economic poverty (though that’s certainly part of it) but from all kinds of poverty. Then, this Servant-King was speaking to the Israelites in exile, for they were physically poor in that everything they had was taken away (they were literally taken away from their homes), emotionally poor in that they were scared, anxious, and hopeless since they were now forced to live in a foreign land (surrounded by those who were hostile against them), and spiritually poor in that they felt forsaken by God (believing that He had given up on them). But this Servant-King wasn’t just speaking to them – He’s also speaking to us as well because there are many of us here who are in poverty because of their sins. Some of us may be suffering from physical poverty in that sins like gluttony or substance abuse have caused addiction or illness in our bodies. Others may be suffering from emotional poverty in that their sin has brought great guilt and shame to their hearts. Others may be suffering from relational poverty in that sins like lies, betrayal, or selfishness have broken their relationships – causing them to be alone and isolated. And others may be suffering from spiritual poverty in that they sense this unbridgeable gap between God and them – they feel like they can never reach Him. Friends, does this describe you today? If so, this message is for you. This King has been sent for you.
Now, a few of you may be wondering, “Why is Woohyun talking about sin on a day like this – making people uncomfortable? This is when we get the most non-Christian visitors. For their sake, why can’t he just talk about something on joy, hope, or peace?” Well, it’s because I firmly believe that there’s no true joy, hope, and peace apart from dealing with the problem of sin. The good news that I’m about to share is no good news if we don’t face the reality of sin. But again, this is not to depress and discourage you – rather, it’s to give you life and life to the full. Let me explain it this way. When life is good, you may have a lot of things that you want to do – you may want to travel, get into this kind of career, marry this kind of person, and so on. But what if you’re really sick? What would be the only thing that you’ll desire? Being healthy. In the same way, I bring up sin because I want you to recognize your hopelessness and long for one thing – the One who can bring healing.
Then, what is the good news that this Servant-Messiah will proclaim? It’s that He will come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance. Let me explain what this means. The year of the Lord’s favor, which is also known as the Year of Jubilee, is first recorded in Leviticus 25. Here, we read that God didn’t just institute the Sabbath day for people to rest (every seventh day), but He also instituted a Sabbath year in that every seventh year, the people of God were called to forgive debts and send their servants free. In fact, the land was to lie fallow, which meant that they were not to work the field in order to allow the land to recover and build up its nutrients. So, everybody rested – even the land rested. But on top of that, God also instituted Jubilee – something that they were called to observe every seventh Sabbath year (so, every fiftieth year). Now, in Jubilee, not only were your debts forgiven, not only did the servants go free, but if you had to sell your family land to make ends meet, your land was given back to you. In other words, you’re not just forgiven but also blessed. It’s the idea that I shared last week – double pardon. You’re not just freed from slavery – you’re now welcomed as a child of the master. It’s an unbelievable picture of grace. Now, historically, the scholars point out that Jubilee was most likely never observed by the Israelites. We’re not exactly sure why – it could just be that those with land and servants were not ready to practice this, knowing that there was so much to lose. And yet this Servant-King says, “I will come to proclaim the Year of Jubilee for God’s people.” What does this mean? It means that He won’t just bring God’s forgiveness but also God’s blessing – double pardon. We won’t be just forgiven of our sins but also made righteous before God so that we’ll be adopted and welcomed into His family. But the good news doesn’t end here – He says that He’ll also bring the day of vengeance of our God. Now, that sounds incredibly terrifying – but it’s actually comforting to those who have been victims of injustice. Think about it. What if you were treated unfairly or oppressed unjustly by others? What if you were wrongly accused of the things that you did not do? What if you were deeply wounded by the pain of betrayal? What if you were sinned against by the very people that you love and trusted the most? To know that God will bring justice and vengeance against our offenders, against His enemies should bring great comfort to our hearts.
Now, if Jesus comes to bring forgiveness and blessing upon us, how will He accomplish this? Verse 3, “To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” There’s a word that’s repeated three times in this short verse – it’s the word “instead.” Here, the Servant-Messiah is not simply saying, “Oh, you’ve got some ashes on you. Let me put a crown of beauty on you so that it covers your ashes. Oh, you’re mourning. Let me pour some oil on your head so that you can hide your sorrow.” No, that’s not what He’s saying. Rather, He’s basically saying, “Let Me take what you have so that you can have what I have instead.” This is incredibly powerful if you think about the imagery that’s used here. In Isaiah’s days, when a tragedy hit people’s lives, they would put ashes on themselves. Now, they didn’t just sprinkle a little on themselves – no, they dumped a whole lot of ashes on them from head to toe. Imagine that – you were covered in ashes. You were totally dirty. And here’s what you were saying by doing this, “Life is like this right now.” That’s a powerful image. But this passage tells us that this Servant-Messiah will come to take off the ashes, wash you, give you His garments, and pour your ashes on Himself. This is so important because it explains why this Servant-Messiah had no beauty. It’s because we received His beauty, and He received our ashes; because we received His joy, and He received our grief; because we received His spirit of praise, and He received our spirit of despair.
But here’s the main point: He is going to do it all. He doesn’t need their help. And He certainly is not asking for their contribution. He will heal, He will liberate, He will console, and He will restore the people of God. He will accomplish everything all by Himself. You don’t have to do a thing because it’s already been done for you. And this is why it’s called good news, not good advice. Advice urges us to make something happen – but news urges us to recognize something that has already happened. Advice says it’s all up to us to act – news says someone else has acted. For example, let’s say that there’s an enemy army coming toward our city. What we need is military advisers. We need advice. Someone needs to come up with ways to defend, ways to position our soldiers, ways to bring resources in, ways to attack, and so on. And we’ll probably be called up to fight with them. But what if a great king comes and defeats this invading army? Then, we don’t need military advisers. We need messengers – messengers who will announce to the city, “Stop fleeing the city. Stop trying to save yourselves. You don’t need to be in fear – the King has saved us.” Friends, we will never be able to break out of our poverty on our own. We need someone else to rescue us from our misery. If Isaiah shows us that this Servant-King is the One that we need to wait for, Christmas tells us that our wait is over.
Listen to what Luke 4:16-21 says, “[Jesus] went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on Me because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’” When Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah, He looked for this very specific passage to read and proclaim that this was fulfilled in Him that day. This was no coincidence – it was exactly what He wanted to do. He wanted the world to know that He was the One they had been waiting for. He was basically saying, “I will bring you out of spiritual poverty. I will set you free from the power of sin and death. I will comfort you. And I will establish God’s Kingdom where there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. My arrival will be the start of the Year of Jubilee, for through Me, people will be forgiven and adopted into the family of God.” Now, notice what He didn’t say. He stopped at “the year of the Lord’s favor” – He didn’t bring up “the day of vengeance.” Why? Is it because God wasn’t going to punish the wicked? No. It’s because Jesus wanted them to know that His first coming was all about grace. He came to make salvation possible for God’s people. But the Bible tells us that God’s vengeance did come. The only thing is that it didn’t come to us even though we deserved it, for we sinned against God – it was poured out on Jesus. On the cross, Jesus received the fullness of God’s wrath so that we would go free. He was punished instead of us. He is our great and perfect Substitute.
What does this mean for us? If you’re not a Christian, again, thank you for joining us today. You didn’t have to come, but you came. And for that, I’m so grateful. But at the same time, I firmly believe that you’re here not by chance but because God wanted you to hear this message, because He knew that you were suffering from all kinds of poverty, and because He wanted you to be freed from them. In other words, this message was prepared for you. Then, I invite you to repent of your sins and believe in Jesus today – not tomorrow, not in a month, not when you think you’re worthy, but today. Recognize your spiritual bankruptcy, acknowledge your complete inability to save yourself, and simply come to Jesus as your only hope of ever being forgiven. Becoming a Christian is not difficult. There’s no merit you need to earn, for Jesus has already earned everything you need on your behalf. All you need to do is trust Him as your Lord and Savior. Then, friends, would you do that today? The year of Jubilee is here. Give your life to Him, for He will set you free.
Now, if you’re a Christian, you can respond to this passage by proclaiming God’s love for you this Christmas. Think about it. We hold in our hands the only true message of salvation the world will ever hear. There will never be another gospel, which means that there will be no other way for people to be saved from their sins. This is why Jesus commissioned us to go into the world so we can preach this to the nations. There are many good things we can do as Christians – alleviating all kinds of poverty, whether it’s physical, emotional, relational, or financial. But our hearts must be broken, especially for those who are experiencing spiritual poverty. Then, I pray that as a church, we would continue to shine the light of Christ wherever we are – to proclaim this good news to the poor as Jesus did for us.
3) THE TRANSFORMATION OF HIS PEOPLE
Verse 3, “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.” Let’s be honest – this is one of those images that’s really easy to blow past in your daily reading of the Bible. “Oaks of righteousness – sounds good to me.” And you just keep on moving. You have a lot of chapters to get through this morning. You have stuff to do. Coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. But there’s a lot more to this imagery than we might first recognize. This is not the first time an oak tree has been referenced in this book. In fact, let me read those verses to you. Isaiah 1:30, “You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water.” Here, they’re like an oak without leaves because God’s judgment had come upon them. Isaiah 6:13, “As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.” Here, God says they will be cut down – and what’s left will be its stump. Lastly, Isaiah 61:3, the verse that we just read, “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.” Now, to help you visualize this, I brought a picture of an oak tree. It’s a big tree. It’s a beautiful tree. And Isaiah tells us that that’s what we will be like when this King comes to us – a glorious oak.
Brothers and sisters, the truth is that we were once like an oak without leaves – bearing no fruit. We were just a stump – being lifeless in all that we did. But because of the shoot that came out of Jesse’s stump, because of Christ who humbly came in a manger for us, we were transformed into this glorious oak. He revived us, He restored us, and He rewrote our stories for us. He gives us strength to stand the storms of life and enables us to display God’s glory in all circumstances. Then, let me ask you, “What kind of oak are you right now? What kind of oak do you want to be? Do you want to bear fruit? Do you want to flourish in life?” If so, plant yourself in Christ today, for only in Him will you bear much fruit. Apart from Him, you can do nothing.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Jesus Christ is the Promised Servant-Messiah who has come to proclaim good news to the poor. He is the One we’ve been waiting for. Then, let’s rejoice in Him and give Him the worship that He truly deserves.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Who is speaking in Isaiah 61:1, and how can we discern this? How does Isaiah’s depiction of the Messiah as both a Triumphant King and a Suffering Servant help us understand the unique role of Jesus as our Savior?
2) What does “proclaiming good news to the poor” mean in the context of Isaiah 61:1? Who are “the poor” being addressed? In what ways can you identify with the Israelites’ experiences of physical, emotional, or spiritual poverty?
3) Why is the distinction between “good news” and “good advice” critical in understanding the gospel? How can this message of the Messiah’s identity and mission bring hope and transformation in your own life today?