Hope in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Isaiah 61:1-3
^= Thoughts for me as I am preaching (Memory Joggers)
$= Key points
What is hope to you?
Hope has two definitions the first is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen , or is a feeling of trust.
Ask yourself which one do you aline with?
^ Think of the people Isaiah’s time.
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.
A big part of theology is learning to ask questions but, not just any question.
We need to ask the right question; in-order to produce the right answer we may be looking for.
Something that I saw in this passage made me wounder why that word was used?
It was the word “bind”.
A great word to use in our English language would be the word mend or to make whole again.
The reason why I suggest this wording difference is because it helps give us as English readers a more fuller understanding of the intent behind the passage.
Two different ways to look at this verse, God is going to heal physicallyhis people and make them whole. Or He is going to heal their broken heartedness that they have at this point in time.
What is the point?
God was telling or hinting as to what He was going to do.
There is something else that is interesting about Isaiah 1:3 as well.
Isaiah 61:3 (ESV)
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.
This passage brings a question to my mind; who is this passage talking about?
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There is a comparing and contrasting going on here; there is the state of mourning you are in now vs the hope for the future and the joy that comes with it.
God is telling his people that he is aware of the state that they are in. But in a very real sense telling his people to hold on because there is hope for the future.
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Mourning is were you are vs. Hope is were you are going.
^ think real life things
Maybe money is tight right now! You don't know how you’er going to survive the holidays. But by having hope that God gives you through wisdom you can make it work.
The world seems to be up in arms and on the brink of war but, we have hope that God will work things out for the good.
^
We must try to put ourselves in the shoes of the people of that time.
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Isaiah 59 paints a vivid picture for us of the state of the nation of Israel.
It is a picture of darkness and separation from God because of the actions of Israelites.
Because they themselves have not held to the laws that God had given to them.
God’s people are stuck in a cycle of trying measure up and falling short while trying to hold hope.
What are the people of God looking for and waiting for?
They waiting in hope for a Savior.
What is your hope based in?
Luke 4:18-19 .
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
^ Why is this important?
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Jesus is confirming that He is the promise that was foretold in the book of Isaiah.
He was stating that the wait is over for God’s people.
The struggle is over! There is hope for you now.
The struggle of trying to measure up and falling short can be a thing of the past.
I still struggle with the feeling of not measuring up.
How many of us feel that way sometimes?
The feeling of trying to measure up and falling short day in and day out.
^ Apply to our time now.
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There is GOOD NEWS!
The struggle can be over! There is hope for you now!
The struggle of trying to measure up and falling short can be a thing of the past.
Jesus came to give us Hope.
Hope that is based in him and works that He did our behalf( dying on the cross and rising from the dead).
Hope is NOT in the works of our hands.
The Work is done all we need to do is hold on to Hope, by taking hold of Jesus our hope that is offered to us freely.
