Today This Scripture is Fulfilled

Luke 4:14–21 NKJV

14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

In verse 1 Luke 4:1

Luke 4:1 NKJV

1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Jesus as the Son of God was continually filled with Spirit of God without measure. For us the goal should be to be filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit in this life. to the point that we could say as Paul did.

Galatians 2:20 NKJV

20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

But note that you cannot have this life of Christ being lived in and through you until you first are crucified with Christ and you no longer live. Death to self is essential to living the life of Christ.

Luke 9:23–25 NKJV

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

Last time we look at the temptations of Christ which when we look at them we can see Satan’s scheme which he is still using today.

“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

or

I will give you all the kingdoms of the world without having to die on the cross”

or

The angels will keep you from suffering any harm even if you cast yourself off the pinnacle this temple.

Every temptation of Satan tried to say you can have everything your flesh desires, you don’t have to suffer, you can have every worldly pleasure and you can still fulfil God’s purpose.

James 4:4–5 NKJV

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

1 John 2:15–17 NKJV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

So a choice has to be made Christian. You cannot be filled with the Spirit if you love the world and the things of the world.

In our passage today it says Luke 4:14

Luke 4:14 NKJV

14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.

But you cannot be in the power of the Spirit unless first you are filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit then and only then will you have the power of the Spirit.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

So returning in the power of the Spirit it tells us that He began His ministry in the region of Galilee which is the northern region of Israel.

So we see that as Jesus began His ministry that he went throughout all the surrounding region and He taught in their synagogues, and that He was glorified by all. So he was well received. No doubt those who heard His teaching were amazed at the wisdom and authority in which He taught. We could only imagine what it would have been like to hear the Word made flesh teach the written Word. To hear the Way the Truth and the Life teach truth. There were many blessed with this privilege in Galilee during this time.

Jesus Goes to Nazareth

Nazareth is a town in the region of Galilee but it was also the region Jesus’ hometown.

And it tells us Luke 4:16

Luke 4:16 NKJV

16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

It says “as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

The Synagogue was a place of public worship. unlike the Temple which was for ceremonial services and sacrifices, the synagogue was a place to read and expound the scriptures to pray, and praise and worship God. This is the gathering together of God’s people. And it was the custom of Jesus to go there on the Sabbath.

There are a lot of people these days who have rejected the idea of the church. They feel that it is spiritual to even boast about how they don’t need church to be close to God. They will say that they are Christians but they don’t need church they are above church. Well to be a Christian is to be a follower of Christ and it was His custom to go to church and participate in pubic and communal worship.

As Jesus began His ministry He began to travel and He would have gone to the local synagogues but this was His local synagogue in Nazareth where He would have attended every Sabbath as he was growing up.

We see that Jesus served here as it tells us that He stood up to read and in vs 17 Luke 4:17

Luke 4:17 NKJV

17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

In the synagogue there would be seven readers every sabbath. First a priest, the second a Levite, and then five other Israelites of that synagogue. So when Jesus visited other synagogues He would teach or preach but never read. But this being His synagogue He was able to read.

The text that Jesus read was from

Isa 61:1-2 which which says Luke 4:18-19

Luke 4:18–19 NKJV

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

This was the scripture selected that day to be read by Jesus by divine providence.

This Scripture was give by the Spirit to reveal Jesus and it does it very well.

First His qualification.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because He has anointed me.

Christ, Messiah, meaning anointed one. Jesus was anointed by the Father being chosen and called and empowered. What ever God calls you to do He anoints you and gives you His Spirit to empower you to do it. When God ash you to do something never say I can’t. You only can’t if He didn’t call you. If you are call by God you can not because of your skills and abilities but because the Spirit empowers you. Jesus is our best example of God’s anointing, calling and empowering by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit was given to Jesus without measure

John 3:33–35 NKJV

33 He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. 34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.

His Work

To preach the gospel. That is to proclaim the good news.

He work is to preach the good new to the poor and brokenhearted.

that is to preach the good news t those who need it. This is not poor in money or material wealth but rather poor in spirit.

Matthew 5:3 NKJV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

His ministry was to preach to those who are brokenhearted over their own wretched sinful state.

Luke 5:31–32 NKJV

31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

He came to proclaim liberty to the captives. This is why the good news is so good. It is liberty for the captives and the oppressed.

Just as God delivered Israel form Egyptian slavery and Babylonian captivity Christ also delivers sinners from the bondage of sin, guilt and shame. All who are poor in spirit and oppressed by sin and find deliverance If they will repent and come to Christ and make Him their Lord and Saviour.

The recovery of sight to the blind.

Not only does He preach the Word of light to those in darkness He opens the eyes of the heart which were made blind by the god of this world so that the light of truth is revealed. He has the eye salve which is able to give us spiritual sight.

He came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

The acceptable year of the Lord alludes to the year of Jubilee the year after 7 weeks of years or 7 sabbatical years which is 49 and the year after is the 50th year. According to the Levitical law on the year of Jubilee slaves would be set free debts would be forgiven and land would return to the original owner.

The year of Jubilee began with the sounding of the trumpet. So Christ came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord or sound the trumpet that the slaves would be set free, and the debt forgiven, That God who they had offended was willing to be reconciled.

Jesus closed the book and handed it back to the minister and then He sat down as was the custom in the synagogue. They would stand for the reading of the scriptures and sit to teach or expound the scriptures.

and He simply said

Luke 4:21 NKJV

21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The day that you have been waiting for is come, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day od reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 NKJV

18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.