Jesus was anointed with the Spirit to enrich spiritual paupers, release spiritual captives, give sight to spiritual blindness, and free from spiritual oppression. When He came, He ushered in the Year of Jubilee. However, to neglect, ignore, or reject Him is to face Him on the Day of God’s vengeance.
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The Year of Jubilee Has Come!
Luke 4:14-21
Last week, we saw the battle between Satan and Jesus, the Son of God. The outcome of that battle was monumentally important. If Satan was able to successfully tempt Jesus Christ to sin, he would have brought about the doom and everlasting destruction of every person who has ever lived. He came against Jesus when He was most vulnerable – when his body was very weak and beginning to starve to death. When God’s son, Adam, was tempted in a beautiful paradise with a full stomach and a strong body, he fell the very first time. When God’s son, Israel was tempted in the wilderness over 40 years, she fell. But when God’s Son, Jesus Christ, was assaulted with everything Satan could level against Him, He stood firm and triumphed over the wicked one binding the Strong Man. As a result, verse 13 says, “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.”
4:14-15: Now, between verse 13 and 14, there is a gap of about a year as Jesus ministered down in Judea. This is when the events in John chapters 2 through 5 took place. Jesus turned water into wine, cleansed the temple, talked to Nicodemus of the new birth, witnessed to the woman at the well, healed the nobleman’s son, and healed the man who had been lame for 38 years. After this year of teaching and working miracles around Jerusalem, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and a report about Him spread through all the surrounding district. Now, Galilee is a region which includes many cities, kind of like a county that has many cities included in it. Nazarath, Cana, and Capernaum were cities within the region of Galilee. So, because of Jesus’ miracles and healings, news about Him was spreading like wildfire. When verse 13 says He returned in the power of the Spirit, it is a reference to His miracle working power. When Jesus returned to Galilee from Judea, His fame preceded Him. He began to teach in the synagogues, and everyone was praising Him.
4:16: Eventually Jesus made it back to His home town. Remember, after His birth in Bethlehem, and His short time in Egypt, His family moved back to Nazareth, and that’s where Jesus grew up. He worked with His father, learning the trade of a carpenter. He would have been well known by many people here, friends, relatives, neighbors, and customers. Verse 16 says, “as was His custom He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath.” I find that quite fascinating. If there was anyone who didn’t need to be in church every week, it was Jesus Christ. He already knew whatever the rabbis were teaching. However, He had made it His custom to attend the synagogue every Sabbath day. That should speak volumes to us! We have far more need of the spiritual strength we receive from being in church than Jesus, yet how easy it is for us to justify staying away. We can come up with all kinds of excuses. It was Jesus’ custom to attend the synagogue. Whether He felt like it or not, He had made a conscious commitment that this was where He would be on the Sabbath day. I think He has given us a precious example here. Do you go to church just when you feel like it? Or, have you made a commitment based on a conviction that on Sundays you will gather with the church of Jesus Christ?
A synagogue service in the first century had a standard order of service. They would begin with the singing of Psalms, then the reciting of the Shema (Deut.6:4-5); then prayers, then a reading from the Law, then a reading from the Prophets, then a sermon or instruction on the pa ssages read, and then a benediction. The worship in a synagogue service was very open, meaning any adult male could stand up to read the Scripture and expound on it. Now, remember that Jesus had already created quite a stir by His teaching in the synagogues of Galilee, before He came to Nazareth (4:15). So, when He came back to town, you can bet that the whole city turned out to hear Him teach. Probably most of them were very proud of their hometown boy who had made good. All of Jesus’ relatives would be there. All of his childhood friends would be there. They elderly man down the street from Jesus that He had made a table and chairs for would be there. They are all sitting there, expectantly waiting to hear what Jesus would say.
4:16-17,20: And He doesn’t disappoint them. He stood up to read the holy Scriptures. The person reading the holy Scriptures would stand up to read them, but then sit down when teaching them. Since any adult male could read and expound the Scriptures, Jesus volunteered to do so at his home town synagogue service. The attendant handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. In each synagogue was a closet in which the sacred scrolls were kept. Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah, and then found Is. 61:1-2. Notice, that He was looking for something very specific. He then read Is. 61:1-2, rolled the scroll back up, gave it to the attendant and sat down. At that moment you could hear a pin drop. Every eye was on Him. Everyone was waiting to hear what He would say about that passage. The Jews had been waiting for centuries for God to fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah. The passage Jesus read was about the Messiah. The word “Messiah” means “Anointed One.” The prophecy says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me…” So, what would this home town boy become famous say about this ancient Scripture.
4:21: Jesus told them, today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. What He was saying was almost beyond belief. Jesus was declaring that the Messiah, the Anointed One, was here! He had arrived! In fact, it was Himself! Now, you might be thinking, “that was one awfully short sermon – it was only one sentence long!” No, Luke is just summing up in one sentence Jesus’ exposition of this passage. We know that because verse 21 says, “And He began to say to them…” Also, verse 22 says, “And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips.” So, it is very apparent that Jesus spoke many more words to them than what are recorded here.
Are the Poor, Captives, Blind and Oppressed to be understood physically or spiritually? When I first began to study this passage, I thought it was talking about physical poverty, blindness, and captivity, and that Jesus came to preach, heal, and deliver people. Based on that, I thought I had a great sermon about how we as His church should be doing the same thing He was doing – preaching, healing, and delivering people. However, the more I looked at it, the less confident I became with that interpretation.
1) I noticed the emphasis on “proclaim”. These words are repeated three times, and “proclaim” is implied at the beginning of “recovery of sight to the blind.” The emphasis not on Jesus delivering captives and restoring sight to the blind. Rather it is on Jesus proclaiming deliverance and healing.
2) I also noticed that some of these things could not be taken literally. We have no record in all of the gospels of Jesus releasing a physical captive, or a physical prisoner or a physical slave. The only prisoner we read about in the gospels was John the Baptist, and Jesus didn’t release him. Therefore, I believe this prophecy is primarily about what the Messiah will do for people who are spiritually poor, captive, blind, and oppressed.
There are four pictures given in this prophecy, and I believe all four are describing the same person – the lost person, the unsaved man. I believe this prophecy is saying that the Messiah is going to be anointed by the Holy Spirit to enrich spiritually bankrupt people, release spiritually enslaved people, heal spiritually blind people, and free spiritually oppressed people. The problem is the same in every instance – SIN! Sin impoverishes, enslaves, blinds, and oppresses. The answer to man’s problem is salvation from sin. Let’s look at each of these areas of need the sinner has.
1. The Beggar Man
“To proclaim good news to the poor.” The word Jesus used for “poor” comes from a verb which means “to cringe, to shrink back, or to cower.” It was used in classical Greek to refer to someone begging cringing in the shadows. It is not the general term for the poor, which means “possessing very little.” It is the word for the poor which means “possessing nothing”! It is the word that was used for the person who was absolutely destitute, and had been reduced to begging on the streets to just survive. In Luke 16, this word is used of Lazarus who was begging for crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.
Folks this is the true spiritual picture of every lost person. He is morally bankrupt. He has nothing to commend him to God. Only the person who realizes that this is his true condition, and goes to God as a beggar in need of grace can be saved. Otherwise, he will always be trying to bring something to God to obtain his salvation, as if he could purchase it by his good works, or religious performance, or respectable life. No, he must come as a destitute beggar. He has no pride. He must come empty-handed, or he can’t come at all. Of course, man’s biggest problem is that he doesn’t realize his spiritual poverty. He is like the church in Laodicea that said, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Rev.3:17).
This prophecy says that the Messiah has been anointed to preach to this poverty-stricken individual. The message he is to preach is “good news”. It is the gospel. Jesus brings a message of good news, because he tells this spiritually destitute person that He can make him spiritually rich. Though he has absolutely no righteous, and all his own righteousness is really filthy rages, Jesus can give Him a perfect righteousness which will last forever! Though his sin has left him penniless, Jesus Christ is a multi-trillionnaire and would love to fill up your bank account with His riches. In the words of Augustus Toplady, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling. Naked come to Thee for dress. Helpless look to Thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me Savior or I die!”
During the Gold Rush here in California, thieves would creep in and pour out the gold dust from the miner’s bags and replace it with sand. When the miner picked up his bag, he was assured his gold was still there, but when he took it down to sell it and opened the bag he would discover it was worthless. That’s exactly what sin does. It takes away our true treasures, and gives to us what seems good, until the final day of reckoning and we discover that we have given up that which is priceless for that which is worthless!
2. The Bound Man
“To proclaim liberty to the captives.” The second picture is that of a prisoner, either of an enemy taken prisoner in war, or a criminal arrested and put behind bars. He is bound. He has lost his freedom. In short, he is enslaved. Jesus said in John 8:34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” Paul says in Romans 6:17, “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” He says in Titus 3:3, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”
Folks, we can talk all we want about the sinner’s free will, but the truth of God’s word is that the sinner is bound! He’s a prisoner! He’s a captive! He’s a slave! 2 Tim. 2:26 says that “we were held captive by the devil to do his will.” People are held captive to all kinds of things – drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, energy drinks, prescription pills, and porn to name just a few.
Friends, the good news is that Jesus can set you free from all those things that bind you. He can set you free from all those sins that enslave you. Whether it is being enslaved by the approval of others, or your own pride, or jealousy, or bitterness, or unforgiveness, Jesus can set you free! The word “release”, is the Greek word usually translated as “forgiveness.” Jesus came to forgive those captive to sin! And forgiveness sets the captive free! We are free from guilt, free from condemnation, and free from the dominating power of sin!
3. The Blind Man
“And recovering of sight to the blind.” Not only is the sinner, spiritually destitute and enslaved to sin and Satan, but he is also spiritually blind. Jesus did heal some physically blind people, but the emphasis is on the spiritual blindness of the lost man. When Zacharias prophesied of the Messiah in Luke 1:78-79, he said, “the Sunrise from on high shall visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Mt. 4:16 puts it this way, “the people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.” For those people who came to follow Jesus Christ, it was like going from a pitch black closet, to standing outside in the full light of the sun at mid day. These prophecies teach us that Jesus will give sinners light so that they can see; so much so, that it is like going from living in darkness to living in light.
A lost man is blinded in three different ways. 1 Cor. 2:14 says, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” You see, there is the cause of the lost person’s spiritual blindness. Because he is unable to value spiritual things, he doesn’t see them in their true light, so he is blind to them. He is unable to appraise their value.
Not only is he blinded by nature, but he’s also blinded by Satan. Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:4 that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Unbelievers can see Christ. They just can’t see His glory! And Satan has a whole lot to do with that.
Not only is it true that lost men are blinded by nature, and by Satan, but it’s also true they are blinded by God. Notice John 12:40, “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.
” Because lost people hate the light, and will not come to the light, God judicially blinds him.
And what does Jesus do to the person who is spiritually blind? He gives recovery of sight to them. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” 2 Cor. 4:6 says, “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Paul says in Ephesians 5:8, “you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord.”
When God saves a man, the lights come on. He flips the switch. You were sitting in spiritual darkness, and God flips the switch. All of a sudden, you see and understand the value of Jesus Christ. You see His glory. And you are irresistibly drawn to Him, like steel filings to a magnet.
4. The Broken Man
“To set at liberty those who are oppressed.” The word “oppressed” here has to do with someone who is “downtrodden”, or “crushed” or “broken down by calamity.” Just like the captive, this person is given his liberty. But the idea is a little different. Instead of releasing the prisoner, this picture is that of releasing a person from the overwhelming pain of life. This is the person who is afflicted and overwhelmed by trouble. Jesus referred to this person when He said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden” (Mt. 11:28).
Now, why are people heavy-laden, and overwhelmed in life? It’s because of sin. Sin brings trouble and pain! Sin brings with it a heavy burden. A burden of guilt, and shame, and regret, and totally messed up relationships.
So, what does Jesus do to that man who is oppressed, burdened, and crushed because of sin? He sets him at liberty! He frees him! You see, our efforts to be righteous in God’s sight only make us weary and heavy-laden. They are a great burden that crushes all the life out of us. Jesus gets down and lifts that burden off of us and puts it on Himself. You see, He already fulfilled the Law. He already bore our sin, and guilt and shame. He has borne it away. So, He says, “Come to Me, all you are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest!”
Life Application
Those Outside of Christ. Now, I want to speak to two different groups this morning. First, I want to speak to those of you who are not saved. You are not Christians. You may think you are a Christian, but you’ve never been born again. You’ve never received a new heart, a new nature, and new delight in Jesus Christ. What does this text have to say to you?
The answer is in verse 19, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” In Israel, there was a particular year that was special. It was a year of the Lord’s favor. Can anyone think of what that year was called? Yes, it was the Year of Jubilee. Every 50 years, there was a Year of Jubilee. In that year, all slaves were freed, all debts were cancelled, and all lost property was restored. Jesus is saying that when the Messiah comes, He’s going to usher in the Year of Jubilee. However, this Jubilee is going to go on for much longer than one year. The Old Testament Year of Jubilee just foreshadowed that period of time in which Messiah would be enriching those made destitute by sin. He would be freeing those who were enslaved to sin. He would be giving sight to those who were spiritually blind. He would be releasing those who are weighed down and crushed under the burden of sin. He would be cancelling the debt of sin. He would be restoring the Paradise that Adam lost.
Now, my friend is that you? Are you poor, captive, blind and oppressed? If this is not you, I’ve got nothing to share with you. I’ve got no good news for you. I’ve got nothing to proclaim to you. The sad situation is that this world is full of people who are poor, captive, blind and oppressed, but they don’t know it! Are you willing to see your poverty of spirit, your captivity to sin, your blindness to the glory of Christ, and your oppression under the burden of sin? Will you come clean today and admit who you are – a poverty-stricken, blind, oppressed captive? My friend, the gospel is only good news to people who understand the bad news that sin has ravaged their lives and who long for deliverance! Are there any sinners here who long for deliverance?! If so, I’ve got good news. Jesus is the Mighty Deliverer! Jesus is infinitely rich and would love to share His spiritual riches with you. Jesus is able to release you from your captivity. Jesus can give you spiritual sight. And Jesus can release you from the crushing load of spiritual oppression. Come to Him! “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest!” You’ve seen your problem. He is your solution! Go to Him. Bow before Him. Trust Him. Love Him. Follow Him!
And what about if you don’t come to Him and follow Him? Interestingly, Jesus stopped reading after He had quoted, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”. However, in Isaiah there isn’t even a comma or a period there. Instead, the sentence goes on to say, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” Now, did you notice that it is the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God. A year is a much longer period of time than the day. We are living in the year of the Lord’s favor. The entire period of time from Christ’s first coming to His second coming is the year of the Lord’s favor. But there is coming a day of Judgment at which all who have not come to Christ in faith will receive His vengeance. Jesus stopped after “the year of the Lord’s favor” and didn’t go on to quote “and the day of vengeance of our God” because His first coming ushered in the Age of Grace. Jesus came to save the world, not to judge it. However, when He returns the second time, He will come in judgment and vengeance to all who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please, don’t be one of them!
Those In Christ. Now, let me speak for a few minutes to those of you who are Christians. You have been born of God’s Spirit and given new life. What does this text teach you?
Not only is this ministry we have read about for Jesus. It’s also for all who belong to Jesus. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (Jn. 20:21). In other words, our mission as the church, is similar to the mission the Father gave Him. He was sent into the world to save sinners. We are sent into the world to bring His salvation to sinners.
And notice how Jesus was able to accomplish this mission. Luke 4:18 tells us, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to…” The way Jesus was able to do this, was by being anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit. Folks, Christ has called us to make disciples of all the nations. There is no way we will ever be able to do that unless we are also anointed with the power of the Spirit. Even Jesus’ own apostles weren’t able to do it without the power of the Spirit. Jesus told them, “but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses.” Ours is a work of proclamation. We are to proclaim that Christ will give spiritual riches, spiritual freedom, spiritual sight, and spiritual rest. But unless we are empowered by God’s Spirit our words will fall to the ground in vain. Oh, let’s cry out for the power of that Spirit! Before we go out to witness at the Lightrail station, or go door to door, let’s cry for the power of the Spirit! Before you seek to bring Jesus to that neighbor, or co-worker, or fellow student, get down on your face, and seek the power of the Spirit. It’s the only way we will be able to accomplish the Great Commission.
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