by Bruce Mackay | Download PDF | Purchase Hardcopy

From age twelve to thirty, Jesus worked in Nazareth as a carpenter with Joseph, His father. His public ministry began after His baptism. From there He visited Jerusalem and then returned to Nazareth via Samaria. It was during that journey that He spoke to the woman at the well about living water. It was the custom of Jesus to go to the synagogue every Saturday. On this particular Sabbath in His home town, it was His turn to read from the Scriptures. The Jewish Scriptures are what we call the Old Testament in our Bibles.

He opened the Bible to the book of Isaiah chapter 61 and read, '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 broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD'. Isa 61:1-2.

This passage, written by Isaiah seven hundred years earlier, was referring to Jesus. Jesus finished the Scripture reading by saying, 'Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing'. Luke 4:16-21

Here, Jesus was declaring the clearest, simplest, and most powerful statement of His purpose for coming to earth and what would take place in this season of His ministry. It would only be three and a half years, yet so much would be accomplished. From these few sentences, we hear clearly why God became flesh and dwelt among us; why the only begotten Son came to earth.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me

Only a couple of months earlier, when Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan River, we read that the Spirit descended upon Him. Following this, He was in the wilderness for forty days and tempted of the devil. From there His public ministry began. We know that He is God. But He emptied Himself of His Godhead privileges to live by the life of the Father, with the Spirit of the LORD (Yahweh) upon Him. He is the fullness of the heavenly Father's life in flesh.

Later in His ministry, He declared that the gift of the Holy Spirit would be available to all who would believe in Him. Before He ascended back to heaven, He told His followers to wait until the Holy Spirit came upon them. On that day, Peter, one of the one hundred and twenty who had received the gift of the Holy Spirit, stood and preached. The same Spirit that had come upon Jesus now came upon Peter. He then declared to the crowds that if they believed, repented of their sin, and were baptised into Christ, they also would receive the same Holy Spirit upon them. That day, three thousand people received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter also said, 'For this promise is to you, to your children and to all who are afar off'. Acts 2:39.

We too can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and know the Spirit of the Lord in us and upon us. For the Bible says, 'He gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him, seek Him and ask Him'. Acts 5:32. Luke 11:9, 13.

He has anointed Me

Jesus had a purpose. He was here to do the will of the Father, not His own will. He never glorified Himself, but would always bring glory to the Father. Likewise, the Lord doesn't give us the Holy Spirit for our own glory, but to do the will of God. It is only when we do the will of God that we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. God has a purpose for us. And He will anoint us, or equip us, to fulfil that purpose. Are you fulfilling your God-given purpose? Or is your life still 'all over the place', as you try to serve two masters?

It is important that each individual person comes to a certainty that 'Jesus is my Lord'. We each must settle the issue, that unless Jesus is Lord of all of our life, then He is not our Lord at all. If there is no certainty in our relationship with His lordship, then we will be a person without a clear God-given purpose. The Bible says that such a person will be tossed to and fro like waves at sea driven by the wind. In that condition, we will not receive anything from God. James 1:6-7. Therefore, if we are without certainty and without purpose, we are without authority. Jesus was anointed of the Holy Spirit and had the authority, power and purpose of Yahweh, the Lord of heaven.

To preach the gospel

Jesus was anointed to proclaim the good news of God to man. Through independence, disobedience and rebellion, sin had overtaken the human race. Mankind had fallen from God's purpose, having been created in His image and according to His likeness. The world was now in darkness, lost and separated from God. As He read that day from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus declared this condition as poor, broken-hearted, enslaved, blind, oppressed and downtrodden. Luke 4:18.

Jesus proclaimed God's recovery. He brought God's life to each person as a seed, enabling all who would receive this seed to become sons of God. In this seed was the purpose of God for every man, woman and child to become sons of God. All had been named to be sons by God, but through sin were alienated from God and became sons of darkness.

Jesus was anointed to proclaim the good news of our sonship. He declared that each person could have the Spirit of God. And Jesus, having been anointed by the Holy Spirit, now had the authority to give God's eternal life, our sonship life!

This good news Jesus proclaimed is the power of God unto our salvation. It is the power of God to believe and live a life of faith. It is the power of God to turn from sin and practice righteousness. There is no longer a need to be ashamed. There is enabling from God to live in wisdom. Those who receive Christ, now have the right to be a son of God.

As Jesus read from the Scriptures that day, speaking of Himself, He knew why He had come to earth. He knew the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. He knew that four thousand years of sinful living would be turned around and that, from that moment, many would turn from darkness to light, from sons of Satan to sons of God. Jesus died for man's sin, was buried, and through this offering, the power of sin was broken. After three days, Jesus was raised from the dead because of our new, just and right standing with God. Literally, this is our sonship. Rom 4:25.

To the poor

Jesus said that He was proclaiming this gospel to the poor, to those who lacked, who were helpless and who were disadvantaged. In another place, Jesus said, 'I didn't come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance'. Matt 9:13. Only those who are sick need a doctor. This good news of salvation is to the poor. And those who know they lack are those who know that they have need. Jesus said, 'Blessed are the poor in Spirit'. The Lord said, 'On this one I will look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word'. Isa 66:2.

Will we become poor and contrite? Will we hear the word of God and tremble at it? Will we submit and obey the word of God? Or, will we remain proud and rich in our own goodness, strength and ability, showing disregard for His word? Are we proud in Spirit and strong in our reasoning?

For such a one, the gospel has no power. We cannot have the wisdom of the world and the power and salvation of God. We must become poor in spirit and contrite in our hearts. We must humble ourselves to receive the wisdom of the cross of Christ. 'For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.' 1Cor 1:18.

A rich man who became poor

During one of Jesus' trips with His disciples going from town to town, He came in contact with a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and was very rich. He was also very short and the only way he could actually get a chance to see Jesus among the crowd was to climb a tree.

How confronting was it for Zacchaeus when Jesus stopped right under the tree, looked up, and said, 'Come down, for I want to come to your house today'? Luke 19:5. Being a tax collector, Zacchaeus had become rich by collecting more taxes than were required. People knew that Zacchaeus was dishonest in taking money from them, but they were powerless to do anything about it. If Jesus was to preach the gospel to the poor, why was He going to this rich sinner's house? Jesus was giving Zacchaeus the opportunity to turn from his sin, humble himself, become poor in spirit and confess his spiritual poverty. Jesus confronts us all in this way, but what response do we make?

To the shock of everyone, Zacchaeus scrambled down from the tree and received Jesus joyfully into his home. The next shockwave was what came out of Zacchaeus' mouth. 'Look, Lord, I give half my goods to the poor. The money I have taken falsely from people I will repay back, four times above what I took.' Luke 19:1-10.

Zacchaeus humbled himself on the day that Jesus came to preach to him 'the gospel to the poor'. That day, salvation came to him. Zacchaeus received God's life because he humbled himself, obeyed, received Jesus, and turned from his sin. These were not empty religious words, but he demonstrated their reality through his actions.

A poor lady who was rich

True wealth is not measured by the amount of money that someone has or the accumulation of material belongings and possessions. This is best understood in Jesus' own words as He watched people put money into the temple's treasury. Among those there was a very poor widow who put in two copper coins. Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had'. Luke 21:4.

Conclusion

To receive the good news of God's life we must be willing to give our life fully into Christ's hands. In the two stories used as examples, we have very stark contrasts. Zacchaeus was rich in money and possessions, and the widow had only had two cents to her name. Both, though poor in spirit, gave their whole life to Christ and became rich with God's life. Just as they became sons of the living God, so can we.

Author: Bruce Mackay | Citywide Christian Fellowship - Cairns | CCFC
Published by Vision One at Toowoomba Christian Fellowship | TCF
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