Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11

December 13, 2020

Old Testament                                                       Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11

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. ⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. ⁸ For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. ⁹ Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed. ¹⁰ I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

Title: Good News of Salvation

When we consider the Good News of Jesus, one of the first aspects of that Good News would be the declaration of salvation. In fact, the promise that Jesus the Messiah would bring salvation to God’s people is declared multiple times before, during, and just immediately after the birth of Jesus. When the infant Jesus was brought to the temple, He and his parents were greeted by Simeon, who prophesied in Luke 2:29-32, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise of the prophets, including our passage from Isaiah. So what did God promise to us regarding His salvation?

1. Salvation Brings a Great Reversal

The salvation of the Messiah would result in a great changes. It proclaimed freedom for captives and release from darkness for prisoners. It brought comfort those who mourn and a crown of beauty for those who had been covered in ash. The Salvation of God resulted in joy instead of mourning and returned praise for despair. This passage was used at the start of Jesus’ ministry when He proclaimed this truth in the synagogue in Nazareth. It is also similar  in theme to Beatitudes which declare many of the same reversals when they declare that being blessed is not always the result of something obviously apparent.

And Jesus would demonstrate this reversal throughout His ministry. Sometimes, He did this physically, by healing those who were sick, calming a storm, or raising up those who were dead, often, just through His Word. For there is no more powerful phrase in Scripture than “declares the Lord.” For when God speaks, reality changes.

For it was the Word of God that brought forth the universe, the earth, and all the animals. Of course, to make human beings, God chose to fashion them out of what He had already spoken into existence, but everything that exists was created simply by His Word. When darkness covered the earth, God declared, “Let there be light.” And light burst forth. The Word of God changes reality.

And this is important to remember. For the physical, outward miracles were given as a sign that whatever Jesus declares is truth. For when Jesus declares, “your sins are forgiven,”  to the lame man that was lowered down through the roof by his friends, that was just as certain as when He said to the lame man, walk, and he picked up his mat and went home. His forgiveness is just as real as his healing.

So when Jesus fulfilled these words of Isaiah, yes, He often did so physically, but He also declared many things spiritually. The salvation of God does not always result in a change of physical circumstances, there isn’t always an outward change, but it does bring real change. For there are some sitting in chains in prison who have truly been set free from their sins by Christ, just as those who can appear to be free who are actually still in bondage. For in John 8:34-36, Jesus shows us the only way to be truly set free, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Things aren’t always what they appear. Many who seem to be free are really in bondage, and many who seem to be slaves, are really free. We need to learn to trust the unseen rather than the seen. The Good News is that our salvation is not dependent on our circumstances but on the declaration of God Himself.

1. Salvation Brings Glory to God

The second aspect of Good News, when it comes to our salvation, is that God not only declares salvation to us, but He is the one who carries it out. In verse 3 we are told, “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.”

Notice this planting is the work of the Lord. He is actively involved in the salvation of His people. It also says the reason for bringing His salvation in this manner is for “the display of his splendor.” This shows that God not only is active in the work, but He has a stake in the results.

Verse 8 also declares that our salvation is not based on our character, but on God’s, as He declares, “in my Faithfulness I will reward my people…” Our salvation is based on the character and faithfulness of God, and His decision to save and reward His people. God never chooses to save those who are the most important in the eyes of the world. He chose Abraham and Sarah to be the parents of his people, when they were childless and well past childbearing age. And through the miraculous birth of Isaac, He raised up for Himself and impossible people. He chose the nation of Israel before that first child of promise was even born. He revealed Himself as their God before they even had a land of their own, in fact, while they were slaves in Egypt it was still just a promised land. They were born as a people of faith, who looked forward to the hope and the future God had given them.

In 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 the ways of God are revealed, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him.” God does all this so that our salvation would result not in our self-praise, or that others would praise us, but all the praise and the glory would be His. So how should we respond to so great a salvation? In verse 10 it says we should “delight greatly in the LORD, my soul rejoices in my God.” The Good News is that Our salvation is not based on our works or our decision, but it is based on God’s choice to do that work on our behalf. And for that, He certainly deserves all praise.

III. Salvation Clothes Us

However, even this verse of praise concludes with a statement of God’s hand in our salvation. For the end of verse 10 declares, “For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.”  When God saves us, He also clothes us.

Clothing is often important to this world. At every red carpet event people want to know who the stars are wearing. Meaning, who was the designer of the fashions they are showing off. Now in an earthly sense, the answer to that question is pretty superficial, however, the spiritual application is all-important. For Scripture tells us the only way into heaven is to be clothed in Christ. No other covering will do.

We see the need for this all the way in the beginning–in the Garden of Eden. When Adam & Eve sinned, the first thing they did was hide from God. And they tried to hide their newly experience shame and guilt by sewing together fig leaves. This was probably not very covering, and obviously insufficient in hiding them from the sight of God.

But after God dealt with their sin, what did He do? He made them clothes – from animal skins. This pointed to two things: 1) Only God can cover us from the shame of sin.  2) To do this requires the shedding of blood. And both of these things point us to Jesus. 1) Only by being clothed in Christ can our shame and guilt be taken away 2) Jesus paid the price for our covering with His own blood, shed for us on the cross. To be clothed in Christ is necessary to take away our disgrace, protect us form evil, and prepare us for action. But more than that, being clothed in Christ means that we are covered in His righteousness, and that is the most beautiful garment we could ever be given. The end of verse 10 describes this garment like this, “as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”  The Good News of Salvation is that we are not expected to cover ourselves, but simply to be covered by Christ. And that clothing will be more stunning than any creation to ever grace a fashion runway.

And for all this, God deserves our praise and our gratitude. He deserves all glory. And our passage concludes with this promise God has given to all who would receive it, “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”

How great is the salvation of our God! It is truly Good News for all people. Amen.