Day 24 (Thursday): Isaiah 61:1-7
Today’s Passage
Read the passage – Isaiah 61:1-7
We read earlier how Jesus applied the beginning of this passage to his ministry in Luke 4:18. What is amazing about this passage is the magnificent theme of restoration that it speaks of when the kingdom of God is established. These promises were aimed at Israel’s renewal, but how much more are we as God’s people to live in the light of them. When revival comes to a society it will be transformed, and a process of restoration takes place. Indeed, as God transforms us as individuals, he is bringing inner restoration. When this is done with many turning to Christ, how much more will occur?
Questions to Consider
- Look at these verses and consider what kind of impact the gospel can have on our city.
- What will God do with the nations?
Prayer
- May this course inspire lasting faith and discipleship in attendees.
- Ask God to be transforming our local region. Ask for restoration of broken relationships. Ask for God’s blessing on people struggling with the housing crisis to find housing and for our region to be developing well.
Go Deeper
Paul D. Hanson, Isaiah 40–66, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1995), 223–225.
Isaiah 61:1–3 takes a bold turn. By applying the words used to describe the Servant of the Lord in 42:1 to a new time and situation, some person or group here seems to be claiming inheritance of the office of that important figure in Second Isaiah’s prophecy. We noted in commenting on the four Servant Songs the presence of considerable ambiguity regarding the figure of the Servant, both as to identity and whether reference was to an individual or a community. We concluded that the ambiguity was intentional and that the Servant was set forth as a model for both the individual and the community that in faith and obedience accepted the calling to be agents of God’s reign of compassionate righteousness.
This disciple, possibly facing challenges to authority and office, points to the only authority and status possessed by the Servant, that coming from the spirit of the Lord God. Since, however, any person can claim divine appointment, the more significant credential is perhaps contained in the description the Servant gives of the mission entailed, for it summarizes the heart of the Yahwistic vision of redemption.
While false prophets can claim divine authority, their deceit is unmasked by their commitment to self-gain. The prophet is validated as Servant of the Lord by being free from preoccupation with self. Power is not hoarded but is passed on to the community as a whole, enabling all members to join in the rebuilding of what had been destroyed:
They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:4)
Ever since the exodus from Egypt, Israel’s God demonstrated deep concern for all dimensions of human life. A spiritually healthy community would be a community dwelling in a secure and productive land. But always what is built in obedience to God goes beyond bricks and mortar. By placing God’s justice and mercy at the heart of the rebuilding project, the Servant enables the community to reach the highest purpose possible for any human group, “to display [God’s] glory” (v. 3).
After clarifying the transcendent purpose that was the talisman of Israel’s existence, the prophet returns to a description of the restoration of the dignity of the people in their land (vv. 5–7). Those who had been humiliated by being deprived of temple and home and forced to serve foreign masters were to be served by the very ones who had subjugated them. This would enable them to assume the calling that manifested the character of this nation as one called into God’s service: “you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:5–6).
