The 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;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to 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.
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.
For I the LORD love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
I 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.
For 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.
Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11
As we read the comforting words of hope delivered by the prophet, let us not forget the context of God’s story, a context which anoints the words with deep blessing. The entire book of Isaiah is a recurring cycle. Betrayal, injustice, and pride are followed by God’s warning and entreatments. These are sometimes suspended with a brief glimmer of repentance, but usually followed by punishment and destruction. That was the pattern for God’s people centuries before Christ, and it is not unfamiliar to God’s people today.
The passage from Isaiah 61 is a vibrant demarcation towards hope, a pronouncement that the cycle will be broken. So where is the hope in these words? It is in the promise that God would deliver his people from Babylonian captivity, the punishment they so invited, and also in the promise that God’s people would be delivered someday from the captivity of their own sin, and its eternal punishment. Where is the comfort? That comes 700 years later at the synagogue in Nazareth, when Jesus ascribes the Messianic prophecy to himself, fully identifying as the nexus of God’s redemptive plan.
We have received the ultimate deliverance in the earthly work of Jesus Christ, starting at the incarnation and ending at the cross and empty tomb. That is why the context makes these words sweet, because 2,700 years later, we are they — God’s people living in the reality of deliverance. Yet, we are also still waiting for the day when the Lord will return and wipe away our tears, and then we will say, “Surely this is our God,” and we will rejoice in his salvation.
Dr. Jonathan Peterson is dean for the Natural and Applied Sciences Division at Hope College.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.