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 broken-hearted, 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 a righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified.
– Isaiah 61:1–3
Yes, this is Jesus in Luke 4, when he goes to the synagogue and he opens the scroll. And it just so happens to be Isaiah 61 that he reads and he says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” Everything I just read. And then he says, “This Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Isaiah 61:1–3 teaches us that Jesus has come to serve those in greatest need.
This is Jesus, the Spirit of God upon Jesus. Anointing Jesus to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted. Have you ever been broken-hearted? Jesus came to bind up broken hearts to proclaim liberty to the captives, specifically those who are captive to sin and slavery to sin, and death and the fear of death. Opening of prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year the Lord’s favor. There’s so much Old Testament imagery here and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort those who are mourning, to change their mourning into gladness, their faint spirits into garments of praise to plant them. Oh, Jesus does all of these things. This is who he is.
So I just want to lead us to praise Jesus right now, not even to pray for things in our lives, but to praise Jesus for who he is, just to enjoy praising him.
Isaiah 61:1–3 teaches us Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises.
Jesus, we exalt you as the fulfillment of all God’s promises. They all find their yes in you. You are the center of all Scripture. Everything points to you. You are the supreme Savior and Lord of all. We praise you for the fullness of the Holy Spirit upon you. Even that, oh God, we praise you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three in one. Incomprehensible to us, yet true and clearly revealed to us all over Scripture. We praise you as the triune God, and Jesus as the Son of God, anointed by the Spirit of God to bring good news to the poor.
Jesus, we praise you for the good news we have in you. We have heard in you. The good news we have experienced in you. We praise you for binding up our broken hearts. Our hearts torn apart by sin. We praise you for taking the payment of our sin upon yourself, for dying on the cross for our sin, for rising from the dead, and defeating sin and Satan and the grave, and freeing us from slavery to sin. Freeing us from slavery to Satan, freeing us from slavery to death and the fear of death.
All glory be to your name and for the ways you bind up our broken hearts, day in and day out. When we face hurts and hardships in this world, and you shower new mercy on us by your Spirit, every moment we need it.
This verse reminds us that because of Jesus we can find the favor of God.
Jesus, we praise you for the favor that we have with God because of you, through you. We praise you for your coming justice. We praise you for your comfort. In our mourning, we praise you for turning our ashes into beauty. We praise you for giving us the oil of gladness, instead of mourning. The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.
We praise you for planting us as oaks of righteousness, all because of your righteousness, not our own, so that you, oh God, might be glorified in us. May it be so in our lives, through our lives.
Prayer for the Dhobi People
May your name be praised among the people around us and peoples around the world as the fulfillment of Isaiah 61.
Hallowed be your name in all the earth, in our communities, our cities, our countries, among all the nations. Hallowed be your name among the Dhobi people of India. Among all 12 million of them, may they know the truth about who you are, the grace, the mercy, the freedom, the liberty, the joy, the comfort that is found in you alone.
We pray all this according to your Word in Isaiah 61, to the praise of your glory. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
