Sing of God's Deliverance-- Sing with His Servant

Text: Isaiah 61

In tonight’s canticle, there are several things that are unique. Together, they paint an amazing picture of what God has done for you.

The first unique part of this is the identity of the ‘singer’. Three weeks ago I pointed out that the singer was not a group of people, nor was it an important figure, historically. The singer was an ordinary woman. The speaker in this case could not be more different. The speaker is not named by Isaiah, but we do know, for certain, who it is. We know because this passage is mentioned in Luke 4. In Luke 4, Jesus is visiting the synagogue in Nazareth— His hometown— and He is asked to preach. Luke tells us that the reading, that day, was this passage from the book of Isaiah. After reading, “The Spirit of the Lord 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 prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” He sermon is to the point, to say the least. “Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). This chapter in Isaiah is about Him. These are His words. He is the one singing of God’s deliverance.

That also points to another difference: time. The other songs we’ve looked at during these Wednesday nights are all about the deliverance God had already brought. Moses sang of all that God had done in his life— God’s great faithfulness. Hannah sang of the child God had given. The three young men sang for their deliverance from the fiery furnace. Even the song of Zion was about God’s restoration in the past as well as the restoration promised for the future. But this chapter of Isaiah is simply about the future.

“They shall build up...” he writes; “They shall raise up...”; “They shall repair...” (v. 4). “Strangers shall be...”; “foreigners shall be...”; “they shall speak of you...” (v. 6). Every aspect of God’s deliverance is in the future tense. Until that day in Nazareth, when Jesus finally is able to declare that it all is being fulfilled.

Being able to see the fulfillment in that way brings an added “wrinkle.” Who are “the poor” He declares the good news to? Who are the “brokenhearted”? Who are the “captives”? …the “prisoners”? … “those who mourn”? Who has He come to bring good news to? …to heal? …to set free? the very people hearing Him that day in Nazareth. Those who could not get past the fact that He had grown up among them; thosw who were too hard-hearted to receive any miracles those who were about to try to kill Him by throwing Him off a cliff.

“Today [Isaiah’s] words are fulfilled,” He told them. Not one of Isaiah’s warnings about the coming wrath of God— that’s not the passage being fulfilled in their hearing. A song of God’s deliverance. That is what was now fulfilled. The Lord’s servant was rejoicing at being able to declare to them the Lord’s favor; being able to proclaim healing; being able to proclaim liberty. The Lord’s Servant, the anointed one, was now there in front of them to bring them good news.

It’s a good thing you and I weren’t given that job, isn’t it? You and I might patiently endure them as you pursued the task you were there to do; you might put up with them as long as it was necessary; you might humor them. Jesus, however, rejoiced to be able to redeem them.

That’s just one of the signs that you and I are among those captive to sin; that, regardless of how much money you have, you are penniless before God; that you have broken the hearts of others by your sins even as they have broken yours, as well.

You and I might be willing to help them avoid receiving the full punishment they deserve, but He rejoiced to earn for them far more than they had hoped to claim for themselves. “2 ...For the joy that was set before him[, He] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Repent and believe that Good News.

The hate and lust that left you captive to sin; the greed and covetousness that left you penniless before God; the obedience you did not show to your parents and other authorities, the cruel words that sprang from your lips in a moment, the caring words you failed to say that left you imprisoned to sin and death— the same of all of it did not mater to Him one bit. He rejoiced to become the one and only liar, the one and only murderer, the one and only rebellious child and selfish parent, the thief, the coveter, the adulterer… and to suffer the just wages of your sin in your place, to break open the prison of the grave for you, and to reclaim the keys to hell and set the captives free (Rev. 1:18).

By exchanging your sins for His perfect life and death, He has made you oaks of righteousness (v.3), the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. By the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, He has called you the priests of the Lord, ministers of God. Because the Son gave everything— including His very life— He has given you the first portion of the inheritance rather than shame and dishonor.

All of that began to be fulfilled in the hearing of the small group in a synagogue in Nazareth on one unusual Saturday. It was completed as He declared from the cross, before all the nations, “It is finished.”

Ever since, He has caused that Good News to go out to all nations. Pastor after pastor has been privileged to say to one group of sinners after another: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”— not because a new messiah has come, but because He has come to you in this sanctuary. Here, He has clothed you with the garments of salvation; He has covered you in the robe of His righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels; He causes righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. In other words, He invites you to join in singing of God’s deliverance.

And the joy that fills that song is about more than just what He has given you. There is a line in an old hymn which says, “The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom’s face” (Cousins, Ann, based on Rutherford, Samuel. “The Sandsof Time are Sinking.” stz. 6.). “The gladness is not merely that something has been done, but over who has done it (Oswalt, John M. “The Book of Isaiah Chapters 40-66.” Wm B Eerdman’s Publishing, 1998. p. 574). As you join in this song of God’s deliverance, it’s not merely about what has been done for you, it’s also about the One who did it: the One who rejoiced to redeem you.

For all of those reasons— and more— you are invited to join in this song of God’s deliverance. You sing with your Savior.