February 11, 2025

Yeshua [the coming Messiah, in Isaiah’s time] would initialize the “everlasting covenant.”   When Yeshua had rebuked the devil’s temptations in the wilderness, He returned and began His ministry, with this event:

“ 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.” luk 4:16-20 nkjv

His reading of Isaiah 61 nkjv, is essentially word for word, except this line:

“To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;"

As note of interest, could those “bound,” be bound in spiritual blindness, which I think surely does exist broadly among people… perhaps He was using this to more explicitly tell the “locals” of their own failure to recognize Him for who He really was, as the continuing text speaks of. Actually, does it not likewise give us pause to ask “where are we spiritually blind?”

Considering this prophecy of Isaiah some 700 years before Yeshua stood an read these words, I think the implications of who Yeshua was [is], is yet today taken for granted, and much of who He was/is, and what He has done [is doing, and will do] to “make [perform] the everlasting covenant,” in our title scripture, is much less appreciated than it should be. In light of this, I have taken the following footnote from the Nelson Publication, “New Open Bible” study edition… regarding Isaiah 61:10 nkjv.

“Christ’s Righteousness… One of the most awesome requirements of God made upon men and women is that they be righteous, that is, conform to His ethical and moral standards. Since God is holy, He cannot allow sinners into His presence. Since all persons are sinners, they could not be saved apart from the supernatural intervention of God. The righteous demands of God coupled with the inability of man might present an insoluble dilemma. God Himself, however, has graciously solved the problem. He sent Christ, who never sinned, to die for our sins and thus satisfy His own wrath towards us. Simply put, it means that God, at the cross, treated Christ as though He had committed our sins even though He was righteous. On the other hand, when we believe in Christ, He treats us as though we were righteous as Christ. The Bible calls this type of righteousness “imputed righteousness.” That simply means that God puts to our spiritual account the very worth of Christ, much as though He were a banker, adding an inexhaustible deposit to our bank account. There are, sadly, many people who still refuse to believe that such an abundant blessing can be theirs as a free gift. Nevertheless, the Bible clearly urges all men to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and thus be reckoned as righteous by God.”

This seems to me to be the meaning of John 3:16-17…  Aren’t you thankful! I think it is a refreshing reminder that brings us peace, hope, and rest for our souls in a very troubling world.

Shalom, john