The holy spirit proclaims the year of the lord's favor

THE HOLY SPIRIT PROCLAIMS THE YEAR OF THE LORD'S FAVOR
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
NOTE. Jesus was anointed to do this, and the Holy Spirit continues to work through the
body of Christ to continue this ministry to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor . Jesus is
our ultimate example of what the Holy Spirit wills for us to do. We have studied some of
these examples of Jesus, but in this study we are going to forcus on to proclaim the year of
the LORD's favor
Isaiah61:1-3 1The Spirit of the SovereignLORD is on
me, because the LORD has anointedme to proclaim
good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaimfreedom for the captives
and releasefrom darkness for the prisoners, 2to
proclaimthe year of the LORD's favor and the day of
vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3and
providefor those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on
them a crown of beauty insteadof ashes, the oil of joy
insteadof mourning, and a garment of praiseinstead
of a spiritof despair. They will be calledoaks of
righteousness, a plantingof the LORD for the display
of his splendor.

Isaiah61:2 to proclaimthe year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all
who mourn,
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Year Of Acceptance And The Day Of Vengeance
Isaiah61:2
R. Tuck
Very striking is the frequency with which this, and other prophets, set
togetherthe two sides of Messiah'swork. Deliveranceofthose who trust him
goes togetherwith judgment on those who rejecthim. In a most impressive
way the Old Testamentcanoncloses with this dual aspectof Divine dealings,
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud,
yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble But unto you that fear my Name
shall the Sun of Righteousnessarise withhealing in his wings" (Malachi4:1,
2). And the New Testamentopens with the prophetic exclamationof Simeon,
as he held the infant Saviourin his arms, "This Child is setfor the fall and
rising again of many in Israel." Some make a distinction betweenthe long
year of acceptanceand the short day of vengeance. No doubt the first
reference of the text is to the Divine indignation againstthose faithless or
selfishJews who would not respond to the Lord's call to return to their
ancient land. So it may stand for the Divine indignation againstthose who are
"condemnedalready, because they have not believed in the Name of the only
begottenSon of God." This subject is so frequently and variously treated, that
we here confine ourselves to two points.

I. ACCEPTANCEFOLLOWS FORGIVENESS. Messiahproclaims
acceptancebecausehe brings forgiveness.It is of the utmost importance that
there should be no uncertain sound as to the necessityfor "forgiveness."
Vague sentiments prevail concerning the Divine acceptance;and there is a
notion that all we can need is a sort of educating into goodness. Man, every
man, needs to be forgiven. No man canbe accepteduntil he is forgiven. This
may lead to a full considerationofthat work of Messiahwhichbears on the
ensuring of forgiveness. It is a mediatorial work, which has relations of
propitiation towards God and relations of conviction towards man. The
acceptancetime is proclaimed to guilty rebels who lay down their arms and
ask for mercy.
II. REJECTION FOLLOWS THE HARDNESS THAT WILL NOT SEEK
FORGIVENESS. Thatis the "day of vengeance ofour God." If put into a
word, that word may be this - they are left to their fate. If put into a figure, it
may be this - they are outside the lighted halls, in the "outerdarkness." If
fashionedin human images, the offended king must put to death those who
rebelliously refuse to touch his offered golden sceptre. There is a mystery of
profound and awful meaning in the expression, "the wrath of the Lamb." -
R.T.
To proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord.
Isaiah61:2
The year of Jubilee
W. M. Punshon.
It may be profitable to trace out the analogies betweenthe year of jubilee
which rejoicedthe hearts of Israel, and that more comprehensive era of which
it was broadly typical, and which was to bring gladness to all peoples unto the
end of the dispensation, when the loving ministry of God is finished.

1. The Jewishjubilee commencedat the close ofthe day of atonement. Is not
this a very true type of the way in which spiritual blessings are exclusively
introduced to mankind? There can be no jubilee for us, a race of lostand
guilty rebels takenin arms, traitors convictedof treason, unless an all-
prevalent atonement had previously purchasedour pardon.
2. There was rest from exhausting labour. By a providential arrangement
similar to that which secureda double supply of manna on the sixth day, the
land had unusual fertility in the sixth year, so that in the seventh, which was
the ordinary, and in the fiftieth, which was the specialsabbaticalyear, there
was a suspensionof the common duties of husbandry. Both the land and
labourers had rest, and yet the supply did not fail, for there was plenty in
every barn, and there was gladness in every heart. And, in a spiritual sense, is
not restfor the weary just what our spirits so fervently require — just what
the Gospelhas been itself inspired to provide
3. The next blessing pertaining to the year of jubilee was the restorationof
alienatedproperty. When a man, through misfortune or extravagance, had
contractedliabilities that were beyond his means, and had sold his possessions
to discharge them, if he were not himself able to redeem them, and if none of
his kindred were at once wealthy and willing, these possessions remainedas
the property of the creditor until the year of jubilee, and then it was provided
by the law that they should return to him who had parted from them for a
season. We, the whole race of us, had a bright inheritance once — God's
favour, God's fellowship, God's image, all were ours by birth — but, alas!we
alienatedit by sin. We are not ourselves able to redeem it. But, through
infinite compassion, this our inheritance has not been suffered to pass out of
the family. Christ our kinsman, our elder brother, has paid down the price,
and has rescuedthis our heritage from the fangs of the harpies who would
fain have usurped it for their own. We had sold our birthright as a common
thing, but it has been redeemed, and it is offered to us without a price by a
love that is surely without parallel. The acceptable yeardid dawn upon the
world indeed when it witnessedthe birth of the Messiah, and that sun, like
that of Gideon, stoodstill at His bidding, and hastednot to go down until now.

4. Another blessing which is mentioned in the history is the restorationof
freedom. It seems to have been a custom among the Hebrews, as among other
Easternnations, for a debtor who had become hopelesslyinvolved to sell
himself to his creditors, in order that by his personalservice he might
discharge the debt that he was otherwise unable to pay. Of course, it was
provided that for the amelioration of his condition, and for its termination in
the yearof jubilee, the man was not to be a slave, but a hired servant and a
soldier, and he was to remain until the year of jubilee, and then he and his
children should all go out and return unto their possession. All sinners are in
bondage, bound with the chain of their sins, led captive by the devil at his will.
How I delight to proclaim it in your hearing, "The year of jubilee is come." If
the Sonmake you free, ye shall be free indeed.
(W. M. Punshon.)
No light without a shadow
Southern Pulpit.
There is a tremendous alternative before men — acceptationorvengeance.
When we speak ofvengeance in this connection, and as a Divine act, it must be
understood not in a malignant and revengeful sense, but in a judicial. It must
be regarded as an act of eternal justice. We propose to interrogate Nature and
ask her what she has to tell us of this alternative. We would greatly prefer to
present Christ as the light of the world, but we know of no light without a
shadow. Observe, however, the terms in which the light and the shadow are
expressedin the prophet's language. It is the "year" of acceptation, and only
the "day" of vengeance. This is a very natural description. The light always
attracts us most: we scarcelythink of the shadow. The idea of hell is in
accordancewith the laws of nature, and cannotbe eliminated from thought.
I. ANTITHESES BELONG TO THE FUNDAMENTALNATURE OF
THINGS; HENCE, ARE TO BE FOUND EVEN IN FINALITIES. All
positive things involve a corresponding negative;and are comprehensible only
by contrastwith their negative. If you paint a picture all white, you have

nothing but a white. washedcanvas and no picture; it is only by contrast
betweenlights and shadows that you cangive it expressionand form. What is
there in the world that has not its corresponding negative? If there is light
there is also darkness;if there is height there is also depth; if there is joy there
is also sorrow;if there is perfection there is also deformity; if there is beauty
there is also ugliness;if there is upward there is also downward; if there is
heat there is also cold; if there is goodtilers is also bad; if there is reward
there is also punishment; if there is heaventhere is also hell.
II. ALTERNATIVES ARE NECESSARYTO MORAL BEINGS. A moral
being is one who has powerof choice;and there can be no choice exceptas
betweenalternatives. Our whole life is a choosing betweenalternatives. It
would then, indeed, be singular if this choice was only possible in matters of
secondaryimportance, but eliminated from matters of the highest importance.
If there is no alternative overagainstheaven, then heavenis not a matter of
choice;if not matter of choice, then it must be arbitrarily conferred, and,
there being no alternative, it must of necessitybe conferred arbitrarily upon
goodand bad alike.
III. THE LAW OF CONSEQUENCES REVEALS A HELL. Who can
compute the consequences ofan act? It may be but momentary, yet
consequencesofthe most momentous characterare entailed upon the world.
IV. THE LAW OF GROWTHREVEALS A HELL. Growth is of two kinds:
by assimilation of things without, and by development from within: the first,
scientific people callby involution; the second, by evolution. Sin grows, and
grows by this double process. It assimilates with itself the elements of evil
around it. This is the law of its existence, which forecloses anyprospectof
remedy from within. Moreover, sin grows by evolution. Sin propagates, andit
propagates nothing but itself. Hence it cannotbecome extinct. It must
propagate itself in the soul for ever unless some external power shall eliminate
it. It cannot outgrow itself. The soul, therefore, which is identified with sin,
must partake of this eternal process.Thatthere is an external remedy we will
confess:but we can readily perceive that the growing processes ofsin must
more and more repel this remedy. The history of a sinning soul, then, unfolds
an ever-diminishing hope of reclamation.

V. THE EVIDENT TENDENCYOF CHARACTER TO ASSUME
STABILITY IS INDICATIVE OF A HELL. This final stability is what we call
secondnature — the outcome and ultimate form of the plastic powers of the
soul. Hence the welfare of the creature demands a limited probation. Man's
happiness demands that he should be able to work towards an assuredfuture:
but the laws which facilitate stability in goodness mustalso facilitate stability
in evil. Hence it will be seenwhy it is that the ambassadorsofGod are for ever
proclaiming: "Now is the day of salvation," and warning you to "seekthe
Lord while He may be found." Hence it is we are telling you that the fittest
time for giving yourselves to God is in your youth.
VI. CONCLUSION. Nature has told us there is a hell. Thus nature is a school-
master to bring us to Christ.
(Southern Pulpit.)
Proclamationof acceptanceandvengeance
Notice wellthe expression, "to proclaim, because a proclamationis the
messageofa king, and where the word of a king is there is power. The Lord
Jesus Christ came into the world to announce the will of the King of kings.
Nor let it be forgottenthat a proclamationmust be treatedwith profound
respect, not merely by receiving attention to its contents, but by gaining
obedience to its demands. There are three points in the proclamation worthy
of our best attention.
I. JESUS PROCLAIMS THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD. There
can be very little question that this relates to the jubilee year. The reasonfor
all the jubilee blessings was found in the Lord.
II. THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD.
1. Wheneverthere is a day of mercy to those who believe, it is always a day of
responsibility to those who reject it, and if they continue in that state it is a
day of increasedwrath to unbelievers.

2. Another meaning of the text comes out in the fact that there is appointed a
day of vengeance forall the enemies of Christ, and this will happen in that
bright future day for which we are looking.
3. However, I considerthat the chief meaning of the text lies in this — that
"the day of vengeance ofour God" was that day when He made all the
trangressions ofHis people to meet upon the head of our greatSurety. Look at
the instructive type by which this truth was taught to Israel of old. The year of
jubilee beganwith the day of atonement.
4. The day of vengeance, then, is intimately connectedwith the year of
acceptance;and mark, they must be so connectedexperimentally in the heart
of all God's people by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, for wheneverChrist
comes to make us live, the law comes first to kill us.
III. THE COMFORT FOR MOURNERSDERIVABLE FROM BOTH
THESE THINGS. "To comfort all that mourn." Oh, ye mourners, what joy is
here, joy because this is the year of acceptance,and in the year of acceptance,
or jubilee, men were setfree and their lands were restoredwithout money. No
man ever paid a penny of redemption money on the jubilee morning: every
man was free simply because jubilee was proclaimed:no merit was
demanded, no demur was offered, no delay allowed, no dispute permitted.
Jubilee came, and the bondman was free. And now, to-day, whosoever
believeth in Jesus is saved, pardoned, freed, without money, without merit,
without preparation, simply because believeth. An equal joy-note rings out
from the other sentence concerning the day of vengeance. I f the day of
vengeance took place whenour Lord died, then it is over.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
Preaching God's judgment on sin
Gee. Barber, in Dr. Dale's Life.
A member of the congregation, atthe close ofa sermon that lastedfor an
hour, and had been preached amid a stillness most painful, nothing heard but

the tones of the preacher, and during the pauses the ticking of the clock — a
sermon on the sadand awful issues of a sinful life, and the glory and the joy of
a life lived in Christ — and, if Dr. Dale intends to preach like that I shall not
come and hear him, for I cannotstand it; it goes through me." I spoke to Dr.
Dale afterwards about the stillness and said it was simply awful. "Ah! yes, he
said; "but it was more awful to me; it is hard to preachlike that, but it must
be done."
(Gee. Barber, in Dr. Dale's Life.)
PRECEPTAUSTIN
THE YEAR OF FAVOR
To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD ("to announce the year of the
Lord's favor") - This passagewas readby Jesus in the Synagogue in Lu 4:19-
note. HoweverJesus stoppedHis reading in the middle of the verse!His first
advent was to die as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29), which would bring in a day of
grace, whichwe are in today. His SecondAdvent will bring the day of
vengeance.
Vine on year - The year stands not for a particular date but for a season. That
seasonlastedduring the days of the Lord’s testimony and subsequently in the
proclamation of the Gospelto Israel; it applies in a wider sense to the whole
period of Gospelgrace. Godin mercy will shortenthe period of the exercise of
His wrath (Ed: Vine is alluding to the SevenYear period known as Daniel's
Seventieth Week). The Lord, in quoting this passage inthe synagogue (in
Luke 4:16-21), finished His quotation at the preceding clause. He had not
come to earth to usher in the day of vengeance.LaterHe foretold that the
days of vengeance would come upon the nation, and that Jerusalemwould be
“trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”
(Luke 21:22-24).

Herman Austel has an interesting comment on year stating that some uses are
"not date formulas, yet highly descriptive and sometimes with prophetic
significance are such year names as shenat rāṣôn"yearof favor" (Isaiah
61:2). This speaks ofthe salvationprovided by the Messiahanduses imagery
derived from the shenat derôr "year of release"(Leviticus 25:10-11;Ezekiel
46:17), also calledthe shenatyôbēl "yearof Jubilee" (Leviticus 25:13)in
which all who had sold themselves into slavery are released. Similar is the
shenat shemiṭṭâ "yearof remission" (of debts, every sevenyears, Dt. 15:1;
31:10). The shenat̠ ge’ûlîm "year of vengeance," is a time of deliverance for
God's people as God deals with their former oppressors (Isaiah63:4-note).
(TheologicalWordbook ofthe Old Testament)
Favorable (07522)(ratson/rasonfrom ratsah) is a masculine noun meaning
pleasure, delight, desire, will, favor, acceptance.
Vine adds that ratsonrepresents a concrete reactionofthe superior to an
inferior. When used of God, ratsonmay represent that which is shownin His
blessings (Dt. 33:16). Thus Isaiahspeaks ofthe day, year, or time of divine
“favor”-in other words, the day of the Lord when all the blessings of the
covenantshall be heapedupon God’s people (Isa 49:8; 58:5; 61:2). (Complete
Expository Dictionary of Old and New TestamentWords)
PART 2:
THE DAY OF VENGEANCE
And the day of vengeance ofour God (2 Th 1:7-10 Isa 34:8 35:4): This portion
of the verse was not fulfilled in Jesus'first coming but awaits His Second
Coming His His return when He will "judge the living and the dead, and by
His appearing and His kingdom" (2 Ti 4:1)
Day of vengeance - See notes below on this phrase.
Vengeance (05359)(naqamfrom the verb naqam = to avenge or take
vengeance)is the actof taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for
something harmful they have done). It refers to punishment inflicted or
retribution exactedfor an injury or wrong and canrefer to punishment
beyond what is physical.

Vengeance is translatedwith the Greek noun antapodosis (from antí = in turn
+ apodídomi = render. Verb form = antapodidomi = give back in return for
something received)which describes the action of recompensing, repaying or
rewarding and stresses the actionof giving back an equivalent and can be a
positive or negative recompense. In the present contextit is used in a negative
sense (contrastpositive sense in Col3:24).
The Hebrew noun naqam is used also in Isaiah63:4 (Isaiah 63:1-4 describing
the time of the Great Tribulation) which helps understand the next phrase "to
comfort all who mourn."
Isaiah63:4-commentary "Forthe day of vengeance was in My heart, And My
year of redemption has come.
Comment: In Isaiah 63 Messiahis explaining why He had trodden "the wine
trough" and "the peoples." It is not because He is some "heavenly tyrant gone
berserk!" (Oswalt). For some His SecondComing will accomplishdivine
vengeance. Forothers it will accomplishdivine deliverance (redemption), with
the primary application being to the persecutednation of Israelin the last
days as the Antichrist unleashes his satanic inspired fury on God's Chosen
People (cf Rev 12:13-17-note where the "woman" is not a literal woman but in
context is the nation of Israel - see explanation of "woman" in Revelation12).
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah61:2To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of
vengeance ofour God; To comfort all who mourn,
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
To proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord - (see the notes at Isaiah 49:8).
There is probably an allusion here to the year of Jubilee, when the trumpet
was blown, and liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land (so Leviticus

25:9-10). In like manner the Messiahwould come to proclaim universal
liberty - liberty to all the world from the degrading servitude of sin. The time
of his coming would be a time when Yahweh would be pleasedto proclaim
through him universal emancipation from this ignoble bondage, and to restore
to all the privilege of being the freedmen of the Lord.
And the day of vengeance ofour God - (See the notes at Isaiah34:8). This is
language adaptedto the deliverance from Babylon. The rescue ofhis people
would be attended with vengeance ontheir enemies. This was not quoted by
the Saviourin his discourse at Nazareth, or if quoted, the fact is not recorded
by Luke (see Luke 4:19). The text which the Saviour took then as the
foundation of his discourse Luke 4:21, seems to have ended with the clause
before this, It is not to be inferred, however, that he did not considerthe
subsequent expressions as referring to himself, but it was not necessaryto his
purpose to quote them. Regardedas applicable to the Redeemerand his
preaching, this doubtless refers to the fact that his coming would be attended
with vengeance onhis foes. It is a greattruth, manifest everywhere, that
God‘s coming forth at any time to deliver his people is attended with
vengeance onhis enemies. So it was in the destruction of Idumea - regardedas
the generalrepresentative ofall the foes of God (see the notes at Isaiah35:1-
10); so it was in the deliverance from Egypt - involving the destruction of
Pharaohand his host; so in the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of
the captives there. So in like manner it was in the destruction of Jerusalem;
and so it will be at the end of the world 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10.
To comfort all that mourn - The expression, ‹all that mourn,‘ may refer either
to those who mourn over the loss of earthly friends and possessions,orto
those who mourn over sin. In either case the gospelhas afforded abundant
sources ofconsolation(see the notes at Isaiah25:8).
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.

Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon Isaiah61:2". "Barnes'Notes onthe New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/isaiah-
61.html. 1870.
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The Biblical Illustrator
Isaiah61:2
To proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord
The year of Jubilee
It may be profitable to trace out the analogies betweenthe year of jubilee
which rejoicedthe hearts of Israel, and that more comprehensive era of which
it was broadly typical, and which was to bring gladness to all peoples unto the
end of the dispensation, when the loving ministry of God is finished.
1. The Jewishjubilee commencedat the close ofthe day of atonement. Is not
this a very true type of the way in which spiritual blessings are exclusively
introduced to mankind? There can be no jubilee for us, a race of lostand
guilty rebels takenin arms, traitors convictedof treason, unless an all-
prevalent atonement had previously purchasedour pardon.
2. There was rest from exhausting labour. By a providential arrangement
similar to that which secureda double supply of manna on the sixth day, the
land had unusual fertility in the sixth year, so that in the seventh, which was
the ordinary, and in the fiftieth, which was the specialsabbaticalyear, there
was a suspensionof the common duties of husbandry. Both the land and
labourers had rest, and yet the supply did not fail, for there was plenty in
every barn, and there was gladness in every heart. And, in a spiritual sense, is
not restfor the weary just what our spirits so fervently require--just what the
Gospelhas been itself inspired to provide
3. The next blessing pertaining to the year of jubilee was the restorationof
alienatedproperty. When a man, through misfortune or extravagance, had

contractedliabilities that were beyond his means, and had sold his possessions
to discharge them, if he were not himself able to redeem them, and if none of
his kindred were at once wealthy and willing, these possessions remainedas
the property of the creditor until the year of jubilee, and then it was provided
by the law that they should return to him who had parted from them for a
season. We, the whole race of us, had a bright inheritance once--God’s favour,
God’s fellowship, God’s image, all were ours by birth--but, alas!we alienated
it by sin. We are not ourselves able to redeem it. But, through infinite
compassion, this our inheritance has not been suffered to pass out of the
family. Christ our kinsman, our elder brother, has paid down the price, and
has rescuedthis our heritage from the fangs of the harpies who would fain
have usurped it for their own. We had sold our birthright as a common thing,
but it has been redeemed, and it is offeredto us without a price by a love that
is surely without parallel. The acceptable yeardid dawn upon the world
indeed when it witnessedthe birth of the Messiah, andthat sun, like that of
Gideon, stood still at His bidding, and hastednot to go down until now.
4. Another blessing which is mentioned in the history is the restorationof
freedom. It seems to have been a custom among the Hebrews, as among other
Easternnations, for a debtor who had become hopelesslyinvolved to sell
himself to his creditors, in order that by his personalservice he might
discharge the debt that he was otherwise unable to pay. Of course, it was
provided that for the amelioration of his condition, and for its termination in
the yearof jubilee, the man was not to be a slave, but a hired servant and a
soldier, and he was to remain until the year of jubilee, and then he and his
children should all go out and return unto their possession. All sinners are in
bondage, bound with the chain of their sins, led captive by the devil at his will.
How I delight to proclaim it in your hearing, “The year of jubilee is come.” If
the Sonmake you free, ye shall be free indeed. (W. M. Punshon.)
No light without a shadow
There is a tremendous alternative before men--acceptationor vengeance.
When we speak ofvengeance in this connection, and as a Divine act, it must be
understood not in a malignant and revengeful sense, but in a judicial. It must
be regarded as an act of eternal justice. We propose to interrogate Nature and

ask her what she has to tell us of this alternative. We would greatly prefer to
present Christ as the light of the world, but we know of no light without a
shadow. Observe, however, the terms in which the light and the shadow are
expressedin the prophet’s language. It is the “year” ofacceptation, and only
the “day” of vengeance. This is a very natural description. The light always
attracts us most: we scarcelythink of the shadow. The idea of hell is in
accordancewith the laws of nature, and cannotbe eliminated from thought.
I. ANTITHESES BELONG TO THE FUNDAMENTALNATURE OF
THINGS HENCE, ARE TO BE FOUND EVEN IN FINALITIES. All positive
things involve a corresponding negative;and are comprehensible only by
contrastwith their negative. If you paint a picture all white, you have nothing
but a white washedcanvas and no picture; it is only by contrastbetweenlights
and shadows that you can give it expressionand form. What is there in the
world that has not its corresponding negative? If there is light there is also
darkness;if there is height there is also depth; if there is joy there is also
sorrow;if there is perfection there is also deformity; if there is beauty there is
also ugliness;if there is upward there is also downward;if there is heat there
is also cold; if there is goodtilers is also bad; if there is reward there is also
punishment; if there is heaventhere is also hell.
II. ALTERNATIVES ARE NECESSARYTO MORAL BEINGS. A moral
being is one who has powerof choice;and there can be no choice exceptas
betweenalternatives. Our whole life is a choosing betweenalternatives. It
would then, indeed, be singular if this choice was only possible in matters of
secondaryimportance, but eliminated from matters of the highest importance.
If there is no alternative overagainstheaven, then heavenis not a matter of
choice;if not matter of choice, then it must be arbitrarily conferred, and,
there being no alternative, it must of necessitybe conferred arbitrarily upon
goodand bad alike.

III. THE LAW OF CONSEQUENCES REVEALS A HELL. Who can
compute the consequences ofan act? It may be but momentary, yet
consequencesofthe most momentous characterare entailed upon the world.
IV. THE LAW OF GROWTHREVEALS A HELL. Growth is of two kinds:
by assimilation of things without, and by development from within: the first,
scientific people call by involution; the second, by evolution. Sin grows, and
grows by this double process. It assimilates with itself the elements of evil
around it. This is the law of its existence, which forecloses anyprospectof
remedy from within. Moreover, sin grows by evolution. Sin propagates, andit
propagates nothing but itself. Hence it cannotbecome extinct. It must
propagate itself in the soul for ever unless some external power shall eliminate
it. It cannot outgrow itself. The soul, therefore, which is identified with sin,
must partake of this eternal process.Thatthere is an external remedy we will
confess:but we can readily perceive that the growing processes ofsin must
more and more repel this remedy. The history of a sinning soul, then, unfolds
an ever-diminishing hope of reclamation.
V. THE EVIDENT TENDENCYOF CHARACTER TO ASSUME
STABILITY IS INDICATIVE OF A HELL. This final stability is what we call
secondnature--the outcome and ultimate form of the plastic powers of the
soul. Hence the welfare of the creature demands a limited probation. Man’s
happiness demands that he should be able to work towards an assuredfuture:
but the laws which facilitate stability in goodness mustalso facilitate stability
in evil. Hence it will be seenwhy it is that the ambassadorsofGod are for ever
proclaiming: “Now is the day of salvation,” and warning you to “seek the
Lord while He may be found.” Hence it is we are telling you that the fittest
time for giving yourselves to God is in your youth.
VI. CONCLUSION. Nature has told us there is a hell. Thus nature is a school-
master to bring us to Christ. (Southern Pulpit.)

Proclamationof acceptanceandvengeance
Notice wellthe expression, “to proclaim, because a proclamationis the
messageofa king, and where the word of a king is there is power. The Lord
Jesus Christ came into the world to announce the will of the King of kings.
Nor let it be forgottenthat a proclamationmust be treatedwith profound
respect, not merely by receiving attention to its contents, but by gaining
obedience to its demands. There are three points in the proclamation worthy
of our best attention.
I. JESUS PROCLAIMS THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD. There
can be very little question that this relates to the jubilee year. The reasonfor
all the jubilee blessings was found in the Lord.
II. THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD.
1. Wheneverthere is a day of mercy to those who believe, it is always a day of
responsibility to those who rejectit, and if they continue in that state it is a
day of increasedwrath to unbelievers.
2. Another meaning of the text comes out in the fact that there is appointed a
day of vengeance forall the enemies of Christ, and this will happen in that
bright future day for which we are looking.
3. However, I considerthat the chief meaning of the text lies in this--that “the
day of vengeance ofour God” was that day when He made all the
trangressions ofHis people to meet upon the head of our greatSurety.
Look at the instructive type by which this truth was taught to Israelof old.
The year of jubilee beganwith the day of atonement.
4. The day of vengeance, then, is intimately connectedwith the year of
acceptance;and mark, they must be so connectedexperimentally in the heart
of all God’s people by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, for wheneverChrist
comes to make us live, the law comes first to kill us.

III. THE COMFORT FOR MOURNERSDERIVABLE FROM BOTH
THESE THINGS. “To comfort all that mourn.” Oh, ye mourners, what joy is
here, joy because this is the year of acceptance,and in the year of acceptance,
or jubilee, men were setfree and their lands were restoredwithout money. No
man ever paid a penny of redemption money on the jubilee morning: every
man was free simply because jubilee was proclaimed:no merit was
demanded, no demur was offered, no delay allowed, no dispute permitted.
Jubilee came, and the bondman was free. And now, to-day, whosoever
believeth in Jesus is saved, pardoned, freed, without money, without merit,
without preparation, simply because believeth. An equal joy-note rings out
from the other sentence concerning the day of vengeance. I f the day of
vengeance took place whenour Lord died, then it is over. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Preaching God’s judgment on sin
A member of the congregation, atthe close ofa sermon that lastedfor an
hour, and had been preached amid a stillness most painful, nothing heard but
the tones of the preacher, and during the pauses the ticking of the clock--a
sermon on the sadand awful issues of a sinful life, and the glory and the joy of
a life lived in Christ--and, if Dr. Dale intends to preachlike that I shall not
come and hear him, for I cannotstand it; it goes through me.” I spoke to Dr.
Dale afterwards about the stillness and said it was simply awful. “Ah! yes, he
said; “but it was more awful to me; it is hard to preachlike that, but it must
be done.” (Gee. Barber, in Dr. Dale’s Life.)
To comfort all that mourn
Tears dried
Some seek to comfort by telling us that sorrow is wrong. They say that we
should be brave and not allow our feelings to become so deep. It is true there
may be excessive grief, and so grief may become sinful. But to saythat we
must not sorrow is to try to induce us to outrage our nature and to deprive us
of one of the most effectualmeans whereby God educates and purifies. Christ

is not come to deliver us from suffering, but to enable us to derive good from
the suffering. How does Christ “comfortall that mourn”?
I. BY HIMSELF BECOMING THE SUFFERERFOR US, TO TAKE AWAY
SIN. Christ bore the curse of it for us, and in doing this He removed the root
of our mourning.
II. BY HIS SYMPATHY. He feels with us and for us, and by oneness with us
in sorrow gives us comfort. Sympathy means suffering along with another.
Job spoke ofit when he said, “Did I not weepfor him that was in trouble? was
not my soul grieved for the poor?”
III. By showing us THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF SUFFERING.
Nowhere exceptin God’s revelation in Christ do we learn how and why
affliction and sorrow come upon us. Our Lord Jesus Christ explains all. And
His explanation goes downto the very rootof the matter. Suffering is
necessaryin order that we enter into the fulness of God’s love in the gift of His
Son. He who has received Christ as his Saviour is instructed, sanctified, made
more meet for the Master’s use, becomes more heavenly minded, by means of
all the affliction through which his Heavenly Father causes him to pass. To
suffer in Christ is to live more deeply. “Love and sorrow are the two
conditions of a profound life.”
IV. BY ASSURING THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT THEY SHALL BE
EVERLASTINGLY WITH HIM TO BEHOLD HIS GLORY. We learn--
1. That the comfort Christ imparts is effectual. It is not limited or partial. See
how fully this is setforth in the passagewith which the text is connected.
What variety of imagery is used to picture to us the fulness and perfectionof
the remedy Christ brings for human guilt and misery. The healing He effects

is for our whole nature, for heart, mind and conscience. He completely
redeems and blesses.
2. The comfort Christ gives is enduring. It is no momentary or temporary
assuaging ofgrief. It will never fail, it will increase in its influence and power.
3. The comfort Christ bestows is offered to all and is adapted to all. “To
comfort all that mourn.” “All ye that labour,” etc. Whateverburden,
whateversorrow, there is in Him comfort for all. (G. W.Humphreys, B. A.)
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Exell, JosephS. "Commentary on "Isaiah61:2". The Biblical Illustrator.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/isaiah-61.html. 1905-1909.
New York.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
To proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord,.... Not an exactyear, but time in
general;for such are wrong, who from hence conclude that Christ's public
ministry lastedbut a year, since it is certain, by the passovers he kept, that it
must be at leastthree or four years;the whole time of Christ on earth was an
acceptable anddesirable time, what many greatpersonagesdesiredto see, and
did not: this time may take in the whole Gospeldispensation, which was
ushered in by Christ: the allusion, as before observed, is to the year of jubilee,
when there was a proclamation of liberty; of release ofdebts; of restorationof
inheritances, and of cessation from work; all which must make it an

acceptable year:and this proclamation was made on the day of atonement;
and Jarchiinterprets the phrase here of a "yearof reconciliation";or "the
year of atonement to the Lord", as it maybe renderedF19;this was made by
the sacrifice ofChrist, and is proclaimed in the Gospel, and makes a most
considerable part of it. It may be rendered, "the year of the goodwill of the
Lord"F20;and such was the time of Christ's coming on earth, to save men,
and make peace and reconciliationfor them, Luke 2:14 and was an
"acceptabletime" indeed; acceptable to the Lord himself; as were the
incarnation of Christ, his obedience and righteousness, his sufferings and
death, his sacrifice and satisfaction;since hereby the perfections of God were
glorified, his purposes fulfilled, his covenantconfirmed, and his people saved:
acceptable to men; as were the birth of Christ; the things done by him; peace
made, pardon procured, righteousness broughtin, and salvationwrought out;
all which must be acceptable to such who are lost, and know it, and are
sensible that nothing of their own can save them; see 1 Timothy 1:15.
the day of vengeanceofour God; when vengeance was takenonsin, in the
person of Christ; when he destroyed the works of the devil, the devil himself,
and spoiledprincipalities and powers;when he abolished death, and was the
plague and destruction of that and the grave;when he brought wrath to the
uttermost on the Jews for the rejectionof him, who would not have him to
reign over them; and who will take vengeance onantichrist at his spiritual
coming, and upon all the wickedat the day of judgment. Kimchi understands
this of the day when God shall take vengeance onGog and Magog.
To comfort all that mourn: that are under afflictions, and mourn for them;
and under a sense of sin, and mourn for that; who mourn for their own sins,
indwelling sin, and their many actualtransgressions;and for the sins of
others, of profane persons, and especiallyprofessors ofreligion; these Christ
comforts by his Spirit, by his word and ministers, by his promises, by his
ordinances, and by the discoveries, ofpardoning grace and mercy,
Copyright Statement

The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Isaiah 61:2". "The New John Gill Exposition of
the Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/isaiah-
61.html. 1999.
Geneva Study Bible
To proclaim the d acceptable yearof the LORD, and the day of e vengeance of
our God; to comfort all that mourn;
(d) The time when it pleasedGodto show his goodfavour to man, which Paul
calls the fulness of time, (Galatians 4:4).
(e) For when God delivers his Church, he punishes his enemies.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Beza, Theodore. "Commentaryon Isaiah 61:2". "The 1599 Geneva Study
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/isaiah-61.html.
1599-1645.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
acceptable year— the yearof jubilee on which “liberty was proclaimed to the
captives” (Isaiah61:1; 2 Corinthians 6:2).
day of vengeance — The “acceptable time of grace” is a “year”;the time of
“vengeance” but “a day” (so Isaiah34:8; Isaiah 63:4; Malachi4:1). Jesus
(Luke 4:20, Luke 4:21) “closedthe book” before this clause;for the interval
from His first to His secondcoming is “the acceptable year”;the day of
vengeance”will not be till He comes again(2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
our God — The saints call Him “our God”;for He cometh to “avenge” them
(Revelation6:10; Revelation19:2).
all that mourn — The “all” seems to include the spiritual Israelite mourners,
as well as the literal, who are in Isaiah61:3 called“them that mourn in Zion,”
and to whom Isaiah 57:18 refers.
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on
Isaiah61:2". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/isaiah-61.html. 1871-8.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes

To proclaim the acceptable yearof the LORD, and the day of vengeance of
Vengeance — It being necessary, thatwhere God will deliver his people, he
should take vengeanceon their enemies;principally on the enemies of his
church, and the spiritual ones chiefly, Satan, sin, and death.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on Isaiah 61:2". "JohnWesley's Explanatory
Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/isaiah-61.html. 1765.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
2.To proclaim the year of the good-pleasure ofJehovah. Here he expressly
mentions the time of bestowing such distinguished grace, in order to remove
the doubts which might arise. We know by daily experience how numerous
and diversified are the anxious cares whichdistract the heart,. He affirms that
he is the herald of future grace, the time of which he fixes from the
“goodpleasure” ofGod; for, as he was to be the Redeemerof the Church by
free grace, so it was in his power, and justly, to selectthe time.
Perhaps he alludes to the Jubilee, (Leviticus 25:10)but undoubtedly he
affirms that we must wait calmly and gently till it please God to stretch out his
hand. Paul calls this year “the time of fullness.” (Galatians 4:4) We have
likewise seenthat the Prophet says, “Behold, now is the acceptedtime; behold,
now is the day of salvation.” (Isaiah49:8) Paul applies this to his own
preaching; for, while the Lord addresses us by the Gospel, the door of heaven

is thrown open to us, that we may now, as it were, enter into the possessionof
God’s benefits. (2 Corinthians 6:2) We must not delay, therefore, but must
eagerlyavail ourselves ofthe time and the occasionwhen such distinguished
blessings are offered to us.
And the day of vengeance to our God. But those expressions appearto be
inconsistentwith eachother, namely, “The day of goodpleasure,”and “The
day of vengeance.”Why did Isaiah join togetherthings so opposite? Because
God cannot deliver his Church without showing that he is a just judge, and
without taking vengeance onthe wicked. He therefore employs the term
“goodpleasure,”with reference to the elect, and the term “day of vengeance,”
with reference to the wicked, who cease notto persecute the Church, and
consequentlymust be punished when the Church is delivered. In like manner
Paul also says, that “It is righteous with God to grant relief to the afflicted, (2
Thessalonians 1:6) and to rewardthe enemies of believers who unjustly afflict
them;” and the Jews couldnot expecta termination of their distresses till their
enemies had been destroyed.
Yet we ought to observe the cause of our deliverance;for to his mercy alone,
and not to our merits, or excellence,orindustry, must it be ascribed, he
appears, indeed, as I briefly remarkeda little before, to allude to the Jubilee;
but above all things we should attend to this, that our salvationlies entirely in
the gracious willof God.
To comfort all that mourn. We ought to keepin remembrance what we
formerly remarked, that the end of the Gospelis, that we may be rescued
from all evils, and that, having been restoredto our former freedom, and all
tears having been wiped from our eyes, we may partake of spiritual joy. And
if we are not partakers ofso greata benefit, it must be ascribedto our
unbelief and ingratitude, by which we refuse and drive awayGod, who freely
offers himself to us.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on Isaiah 61:2". "Calvin's Commentary on the
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/isaiah-61.html.
1840-57.
Scofield's ReferenceNotes
acceptable yearof the Lord
Observe that Jesus suspendedthe reading of this passagein the synagogue at
NazarethLuke 4:16-21 at the comma in the middle of Isaiah61:2. The first
advent, therefore, opened the day of grace, "the acceptable yearof Jehovah,"
but does not fulfil the day of vengeance.Thatwill be taken up when Messiah
returns 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 Cf.;Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah35:4-10. The lastverse,
takenwith the 4th, gives the historic connection:the vengeance precedesthe
regathering of Israel, and synchronizes with the day of the Lord.; Isaiah 2:10-
22; Revelation19:11-21;Isaiah63:1-6.
Copyright Statement
These files are consideredpublic domain and are a derivative of an electronic
edition that is available in the Online Bible Software Library.
Bibliography
Scofield, C. I. "ScofieldReferenceNoteson Isaiah61:2". "ScofieldReference
Notes (1917 Edition)".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/srn/isaiah-61.html. 1917.

John Trapp Complete Commentary
Isaiah61:2 To proclaim the acceptable yearofthe LORD, and the day of
vengeance ofour God; to comfort all that mourn;
Ver. 2. To proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord.] The new and true
jubilee, or year of releasement, calledhere in the Hebrew the year of good
will, like as the electare called the men of God’s goodwill. [Luke 2:14] This
year is now, [2 Corinthians 6:2] and the present now must be embraced and
improved, since God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace;
which opportunities are headlong, and, once past, irrecoverable.
And the day of vengeance ofour God.] Tribulation to them that trouble his
people. [2 Thessalonians 1:6-7]Gog and Magog shalldown in that day; all
humans be hanged up at that royal feast, at the last day especially. [Luke
19:27]
To comfort all that mourn.] This Christ did both by word and deed, and this
must all his ministers do: "Comfortthe feebleminded"; [1 Thessalonians5:14]
not burdening men’s conscienceswith human traditions and merit of works.
Popery is a doctrine of desperation.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Isaiah 61:2". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/isaiah-
61.html. 1865-1868.

Ironside's Notes onSelectedBooks
Chapter III, The Acceptable Year Of The Lord
When once the break in the prophetic plan is seenas setforth in Daniel9, one
recognizes the fact that provision is made for this in prophetic interpretation
throughout the entire Word of God. Prophecyhas to do first with events
connectedwith the nations in contactwith Israelbefore and up to the coming
of and rejectionof the Messiah. Thenthere is a long interval during which, we
learn from the New Testament, Godis doing a work never mentioned in Old
Testamenttimes. Following this we have prophecies relating to the coming
judgments at the time of the end and the SecondAdvent in power and glory of
our Lord as He takes possessionof the kingdom so long predicted.
A very striking instance is that of Isaiah 61;of which a portion was readand
commented on by our Saviour at His first return visit to Nazareth, where he
had been reared, after His baptism by John and the temptation in the
wilderness. We are told by Luke that when He went into the synagogue onthe
Sabbath Day, and stood up to read, there was delivered unto Him the book of
the Prophet Esaias, and when He had opened the book, He found the place
where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospelto the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable yearof the Lord”
(Luke 4:16-19).
In the opening words of the next verse we read: “And he closedthe book, and
he gave it again to the minister, and satdown.” There is something here that is
very significant. By turning back to Isaiah61, we find that He finished
reading at a comma, for there in verse 2 we read:
“To proclaim the acceptable yearofthe Lord, and the day of vengeance ofour
God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness;that they might be calledtrees of

righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah
61:2-3).
The remainder of the chapter speaks ofthe wonderful blessing which will
come to the land of Palestine and the people of Israel in the last days.
Now when our Lord ceasedreading in the middle of verse 2, He evidently had
a very definite reasonfor it, and that reasonis closelylinked with what we
have already been considering in our study of the greatprophecy of the
seventy weeks.One might suppose, if he had never consideredthe matter
before, that the entire prophecy of Isaiah 61 would be continuous. There is
nothing in this Old Testamentpassage to indicate otherwise;but by closing
the book when He did, our Lord distinguished very definitely betweenHis
ministry connectedwith His First Coming and that which is to take place
when He comes the secondtime. He ceasedread-ing as He uttered the words,
“To proclaim the acceptable yearofthe Lord.” This introduced the Gospel
Era. He did not read further because the day of vengeance ofour God was not
due to begin at that time, and, in fact, it has not yet begun.
In other words, our Lord put the entire dispensationof the grace of Godin
which we live into a comma. That comma represents a period of nearly two
thousand years, at least. How much more, we cannotsay. Notone other part
of the prophecy has been fulfilled since the Lord closedthe book. When
Daniel’s last seventiethweek begins, then the fulfillment of the restof the
prophecy will start, and soonevery promise to the people of Israel will be
confirmed.
The Lord Jesus came in lowly grace, preaching goodtidings unto the meek.
He came binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to captives and
the opening of prison to those who were bound. He preached the acceptable
year of the Lord, but IsraelrejectedHim. They did not recognize in the lowly
Nazarene the King whom they were expecting, and so they fulfilled other
Scriptures in rejecting Him.
This left Godfree, if I may put it that way, to open up secrets thathad been in
His heart from before the foundation of the world, and so we have the glorious
age of grace in which we live, the calling out of the Church from Jew and

Gentile to be the body and bride of Christ, and to share His throne with Him
in the coming age. During all this time Israelnationally is rejected. It is folly
to maintain, as some do, that the British nation and kindred peoples are really
Israeland that a distinction is now to be made betweenIsrael and the Jews.
Before the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, God made this distinction,
but since that time we find the terms “Jew”and “Israelite” used
interchangeably. This will be seenclearly when we come to considerthe great
parentheticalportion of the Epistle to the Romans, chapters 9 to 11. During
all this time Israelnationally is setto one side. They are “lost,” as it were,
among the Gentiles. Individual Israelites may be savedby grace in the same
way as individual Gentiles, but God is not dealing with the chosennation as
such.
When this age comes to an end and the Church of God has been caughtaway
to be with the Lord, then will follow the awful period of judgment so
frequently referred to in the prophetic Scriptures, “the day of vengeance of
our God.” It will be the day when God will deal in judgment with apostate
Christendom and apostate Judaism, when the vials of his wrath will be poured
out upon the guilty nations who have rejectedHis Word, rejectedHis Son,
and blasphemed His Holy Spirit. That day of vengeance is referredto again
and againin the Scriptures under various names. It is called “the great and
dreadful day of the Lord,” “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” “the great
tribulation,” “the coming hour of temptation,” and various other terms are
also applied to it. It has nothing to do with the trials and tribulations through
which the Church of God is now passing. Forthe Church, the entire period of
her testimony here on earth is one of tribulation, even as our Lord said: “In
the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace.”And the
Apostle Paul tells us: “Ye must through much tribulation enter the kingdom
of God.” But this is to be distinguished from what is emphatically calledthe
GreatTribulation, which takes place after the Rapture of the Church and is
the time when God will deal in wrath with the guilty nations of the world.
However, following this day of vengeance comesthe time when the Lord will
comfort all that mourn. He will return in power to Israel, and the remainder
of this sixty-first chapter of Isaiah will have its glorious fulfillment. Note what
is predicted in verses 3 to 7. In that day Zion’s mourning will be turned to joy;

for the ashes of her blighted hopes will be given the beauty of acceptancewith
God. She will exchange the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise, and
restoredIsraelwill be called “trees ofrighteousness, the planting of the
Lord”; and all this that He might be glorified.
Then will come the blessing of the land, when God’s promise to Abraham that
the land should be his and in possessionofhis seedforever, will be literally
fulfilled. “And they shall build the old wastes, theyshall raise up the former
desolations, theyshall repair the waste cities, andthe desolations ofmany
generations shallcome to an end.”
Israelwill no longer be despisedand hated by the nations. The Jew will not be
lookedupon with contempt and disapproval. Strangers from among the
Gentiles, sons of the alien, will delight to serve God’s ancient people who
themselves will be named the priests of the Lord, and will be recognizedas the
ministers of our God. Becauseofall the anguish and wretchedness theyhave
endured throughout the centuries, they will receive in return of the riches of
the Gentiles, and will grow in the favor God shall put upon them. Verse 7 is
very significant. God will make up to them in a marvelous way for all that
they have endured throughout the years of their wanderings, and this in their
own land, where everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
It will be at that time that the promise given through Jeremiahwill be
fulfilled. In the thirty-first chapter of his prophecy, we have a corroborative
passagethat is linked definitely with this passage in Isaiah.
“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I
will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt againbe
adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make
merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria:the
planters shall plant, and shall eatthem as common things. For there shall be a
day, that the watchmenupon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let
us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord; Sing with
gladness for Jacob, andshout among the chief of the nations: publish ye,
praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I

will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coastsof
the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the womanwith child and
her that travaileth with child together:a greatcompany shall return thither.
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will
cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they
shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off.
and say, He that scatteredIsraelwill gatherhim, and keephim, as a shepherd
doth his flock. Forthe Lord hath redeemedJacob, and ransomedhim from
the hand of him that was strongerthan he. Therefore they shall come and sing
in the height of Zion, and shall flow togetherto the goodnessofthe Lord, for
wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the
herd: and their soul shall be as a wateredgarden;and they shall not sorrow
any more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men
and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort
them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soulof
the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfiedwith my goodness,
saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:3-14).
Then the new covenantwill be confirmed with the house of Israeland with the
house of Judah according to the promise of verses 31 through 34:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenantwith
the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the
covenantthat I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenantthey brake;
although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the
covenantthat I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;and
will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for they shall all know me, from the leastof them unto the greatestofthem,
saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more” (Jeremiah31:31-34).

This is the covenantreferred to in the eighth verse of Isaiah61, where God
says:“I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting
covenantwith them.” The closing verses ofthe chapter setforth the delight
that God will have in His people in that day:
“And their seedshall be knownamong the Gentiles, and their offspring
among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the
seedwhich the Lord hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothedme with the garments of
salvation, he hath coveredme with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
deckethhimself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herselfwith her
jewels. Foras the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeththe
things that are sownin it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause
righteousness andpraise to spring forth before all the nations” (Isaiah 61:9-
11).
Let us suppose that we were living in Old Testamenttimes before the First
Coming of our Lord Jesus to the earth, and that we were earneststudents of
the prophetic Word. Imagine, for instance, that we were puzzling over this
wonderful portion of Isaiah’s prophecy. Could we, by any possibility, realize
through reading it that there was a greatparenthesis betweenthe two clauses,
“the acceptable yearof our Lord,” and “the day of vengeance ofour God”?
Daniel 9 is the key that unlocks the truth here as elsewhere, but this was not
known at the time that Isaiah wrote. Therefore, we are told in the First Epistle
of Peter, chapter 1, that the Old Testamentprophets wrote of the coming of
Christ, but were utterly unable to understand the times and the seasons
connectedwith this glorious truth. Peterwrites:
“Of which salvationthe prophets have inquired and searcheddiligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did
minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have
preachedthe gospelunto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven;
which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter1:10-12).

In other words, these Old Testamentprophets wrote as they were borne along
by the Spirit of God, and then, after putting pen to papyrus, they satdown
and studied their ownwritings, pondering them thoughtfully, wondering just
what all these marvelous promises could mean, and when they would be
fulfilled. They wrote, as Peteragaintells us, of the sufferings of Christ and the
glories that should follow, but of the interval betweenthe two they knew
nothing.
The strange thing is that many Christians ignore it today, and by failing to
recognize the importance of this GreatParenthesis, they are in continual
perplexity as to the time when prophecy is to be fulfilled.
Chapter III, The Acceptable Year Of The Lord
When once the break in the prophetic plan is seenas setforth in Daniel9, one
recognizes the fact that provision is made for this in prophetic interpretation
throughout the entire Word of God. Prophecyhas to do first with events
connectedwith the nations in contactwith Israelbefore and up to the coming
of and rejectionof the Messiah. Thenthere is a long interval during which, we
learn from the New Testament, Godis doing a work never mentioned in Old
Testamenttimes. Following this we have prophecies relating to the coming
judgments at the time of the end and the SecondAdvent in power and glory of
our Lord as He takes possessionof the kingdom so long predicted.
A very striking instance is that of Isaiah 61;of which a portion was readand
commented on by our Saviour at His first return visit to Nazareth, where he
had been reared, after His baptism by John and the temptation in the
wilderness. We are told by Luke that when He went into the synagogue onthe
Sabbath Day, and stood up to read, there was delivered unto Him the book of
the Prophet Esaias, and when He had opened the book, He found the place
where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospelto the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable yearof the Lord”
(Luke 4:16-19).

In the opening words of the next verse we read: “And he closedthe book, and
he gave it again to the minister, and satdown.” There is something here that is
very significant. By turning back to Isaiah61, we find that He finished
reading at a comma, for there in verse 2 we read:
“To proclaim the acceptable yearofthe Lord, and the day of vengeance ofour
God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness;that they might be calledtrees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah
61:2-3).
The remainder of the chapter speaks ofthe wonderful blessing which will
come to the land of Palestine and the people of Israel in the lastdays.
Now when our Lord ceasedreading in the middle of verse 2, He evidently had
a very definite reasonfor it, and that reasonis closelylinked with what we
have already been considering in our study of the greatprophecy of the
seventy weeks.One might suppose, if he had never consideredthe matter
before, that the entire prophecy of Isaiah 61 would be continuous. There is
nothing in this Old Testamentpassage to indicate otherwise;but by closing
the book when He did, our Lord distinguished very definitely betweenHis
ministry connectedwith His First Coming and that which is to take place
when He comes the secondtime. He ceasedread-ing as He uttered the words,
“To proclaim the acceptable yearofthe Lord.” This introduced the Gospel
Era. He did not read further because the day of vengeance ofour God was not
due to begin at that time, and, in fact, it has not yet begun.
In other words, our Lord put the entire dispensationof the grace of Godin
which we live into a comma. That comma represents a period of nearly two
thousand years, at least. How much more, we cannotsay. Notone other part
of the prophecy has been fulfilled since the Lord closedthe book. When
Daniel’s last seventiethweek begins, then the fulfillment of the restof the
prophecy will start, and soonevery promise to the people of Israel will be
confirmed.

The Lord Jesus came in lowly grace, preaching goodtidings unto the meek.
He came binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to captives and
the opening of prison to those who were bound. He preached the acceptable
year of the Lord, but IsraelrejectedHim. They did not recognize in the lowly
Nazarene the King whom they were expecting, and so they fulfilled other
Scriptures in rejecting Him.
This left Godfree, if I may put it that way, to open up secrets thathad been in
His heart from before the foundation of the world, and so we have the glorious
age of grace in which we live, the calling out of the Church from Jew and
Gentile to be the body and bride of Christ, and to share His throne with Him
in the coming age. During all this time Israelnationally is rejected. It is folly
to maintain, as some do, that the British nation and kindred peoples are really
Israeland that a distinction is now to be made betweenIsrael and the Jews.
Before the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, God made this distinction,
but since that time we find the terms “Jew”and “Israelite” used
interchangeably. This will be seenclearly when we come to considerthe great
parentheticalportion of the Epistle to the Romans, chapters 9 to 11. During
all this time Israelnationally is setto one side. They are “lost,” as it were,
among the Gentiles. Individual Israelites may be savedby grace in the same
way as individual Gentiles, but God is not dealing with the chosennation as
such.
When this age comes to an end and the Church of God has been caughtaway
to be with the Lord, then will follow the awful period of judgment so
frequently referred to in the prophetic Scriptures, “the day of vengeance of
our God.” It will be the day when God will deal in judgment with apostate
Christendom and apostate Judaism, when the vials of his wrath will be poured
out upon the guilty nations who have rejectedHis Word, rejectedHis Son,
and blasphemed His Holy Spirit. That day of vengeance is referredto again
and againin the Scriptures under various names. It is called “the great and
dreadful day of the Lord,” “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” “the great
tribulation,” “the coming hour of temptation,” and various other terms are
also applied to it. It has nothing to do with the trials and tribulations through
which the Church of God is now passing. Forthe Church, the entire period of
her testimony here on earth is one of tribulation, even as our Lord said: “In

the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace.”And the
Apostle Paul tells us: “Ye must through much tribulation enter the kingdom
of God.” But this is to be distinguished from what is emphatically calledthe
GreatTribulation, which takes place after the Rapture of the Church and is
the time when God will deal in wrath with the guilty nations of the world.
However, following this day of vengeance comesthe time when the Lord will
comfort all that mourn. He will return in power to Israel, and the remainder
of this sixty-first chapter of Isaiah will have its glorious fulfillment. Note what
is predicted in verses 3 to 7. In that day Zion’s mourning will be turned to joy;
for the ashes of her blighted hopes will be given the beauty of acceptancewith
God. She will exchange the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise, and
restoredIsraelwill be called “trees ofrighteousness, the planting of the
Lord”; and all this that He might be glorified.
Then will come the blessing of the land, when God’s promise to Abraham that
the land should be his and in possessionofhis seedforever, will be literally
fulfilled. “And they shall build the old wastes, theyshall raise up the former
desolations, theyshall repair the waste cities, andthe desolations ofmany
generations shallcome to an end.”
Israelwill no longer be despisedand hated by the nations. The Jew will not be
lookedupon with contempt and disapproval. Strangers from among the
Gentiles, sons of the alien, will delight to serve God’s ancient people who
themselves will be named the priests of the Lord, and will be recognizedas the
ministers of our God. Becauseofall the anguish and wretchedness theyhave
endured throughout the centuries, they will receive in return of the riches of
the Gentiles, and will grow in the favor God shall put upon them. Verse 7 is
very significant. God will make up to them in a marvelous way for all that
they have endured throughout the years of their wanderings, and this in their
own land, where everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
It will be at that time that the promise given through Jeremiahwill be
fulfilled. In the thirty-first chapter of his prophecy, we have a corroborative
passagethat is linked definitely with this passage in Isaiah.

“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I
will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt againbe
adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make
merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria:the
planters shall plant, and shall eatthem as common things. For there shall be a
day, that the watchmenupon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let
us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord; Sing with
gladness for Jacob, andshout among the chief of the nations: publish ye,
praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I
will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coastsof
the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the womanwith child and
her that travaileth with child together:a greatcompany shall return thither.
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will
cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they
shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off.
and say, He that scatteredIsraelwill gatherhim, and keephim, as a shepherd
doth his flock. Forthe Lord hath redeemedJacob, and ransomedhim from
the hand of him that was strongerthan he. Therefore they shall come and sing
in the height of Zion, and shall flow togetherto the goodnessofthe Lord, for
wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the
herd: and their soul shall be as a wateredgarden;and they shall not sorrow
any more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men
and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort
them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soulof
the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfiedwith my goodness,
saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:3-14).
Then the new covenantwill be confirmed with the house of Israeland with the
house of Judah according to the promise of verses 31 through 34:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenantwith
the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the
covenantthat I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenantthey brake;

although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the
covenantthat I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;and
will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for they shall all know me, from the leastof them unto the greatestofthem,
saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more” (Jeremiah31:31-34).
This is the covenantreferred to in the eighth verse of Isaiah61, where God
says:“I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting
covenantwith them.” The closing verses ofthe chapter setforth the delight
that God will have in His people in that day:
“And their seedshall be knownamong the Gentiles, and their offspring
among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the
seedwhich the Lord hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothedme with the garments of
salvation, he hath coveredme with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
deckethhimself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herselfwith her
jewels. Foras the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeththe
things that are sownin it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause
righteousness andpraise to spring forth before all the nations” (Isaiah 61:9-
11).
Let us suppose that we were living in Old Testamenttimes before the First
Coming of our Lord Jesus to the earth, and that we were earneststudents of
the prophetic Word. Imagine, for instance, that we were puzzling over this
wonderful portion of Isaiah’s prophecy. Could we, by any possibility, realize
through reading it that there was a greatparenthesis betweenthe two clauses,
“the acceptable yearof our Lord,” and “the day of vengeance ofour God”?
Daniel 9 is the key that unlocks the truth here as elsewhere, but this was not
known at the time that Isaiah wrote. Therefore, we are told in the First Epistle
of Peter, chapter 1, that the Old Testamentprophets wrote of the coming of
Christ, but were utterly unable to understand the times and the seasons
connectedwith this glorious truth. Peterwrites:

“Of which salvationthe prophets have inquired and searcheddiligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did
minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have
preachedthe gospelunto you with the Holy Ghostsent down from heaven;
which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter1:10-12).
In other words, these Old Testamentprophets wrote as they were borne along
by the Spirit of God, and then, after putting pen to papyrus, they satdown
and studied their ownwritings, pondering them thoughtfully, wondering just
what all these marvelous promises could mean, and when they would be
fulfilled. They wrote, as Peteragaintells us, of the sufferings of Christ and the
glories that should follow, but of the interval betweenthe two they knew
nothing.
The strange thing is that many Christians ignore it today, and by failing to
recognize the importance of this GreatParenthesis, they are in continual
perplexity as to the time when prophecy is to be fulfilled.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Ironside, H. A. "Commentary on Isaiah61:2". Ironside's Notes onSelected
Books.https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/isn/isaiah-61.html.
1914.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
To proclaim; to declare, as it respects the Jews, that their liberty is at hand.
The acceptable year, viz. the happy age of God’s grace, eitherwhich will be
grateful and welcome news to them, or acceptable to God, a time wherein it
pleasethhim to favour them; but this must be understood of a further extent
than to Babylon, and rather unto mankind in Jesus Christ, Galatians 4:4
Titus 3:4, called a time of God’s good-will in that angelicalsong, Luke 2:14, on
the accountof those goodtidings which the angelbrought, Isaiah 61:10,11;
calledso possibly from the arbitrariness and good pleasure of God, having no
respectto any satisfactionfrom man.
Year; not precisely, as if Christ preachedbut one year, the mistake of some
ancients, mentioned and refuted by Irenaeus, lib. 2. ch. 38; but for time
indefinitely, and may include the whole time of preaching the gospel;see
Romans 10:15; which I take to be the meaning of that now, 2 Corinthians 6:2,
and probably hath a pertinent allusion to the year of jubilee, which was a
generalrelease proclaimedby sound of trumpet, which relates also here to the
word proclaiming, Leviticus 25:10.
The day of vengeance,viz. on Babylon, it being necessary, that where God will
deliver his people, he should take vengeance ontheir enemies;but mystically
and principally on the enemies of his church, and the spiritual ones chiefly,
viz. Satan, sin, and death.
That mourn; either by reasonoftheir sufferings, or of their sins, Matthew
11:28;or the miseries of Zion. See Poole "Isaiah57:18".
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon Isaiah61:2". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/isaiah-61.html. 1685.
Expository Notes ofDr. Thomas Constable
Third, proclaiming goodnews means He would bring, for God, a year of favor
and a day of vengeance.God"s favorwould last much longer than His
vengeance. Aprolonged time of blessing is in view, followedby a short time of
punishment for oppressors.
When Jesus Christ read this passagein the Nazarethsynagogue andclaimed
that He fulfilled it, He stopped reading after "the favorable year of Yahweh"
and did not read "and the day of vengeance ofour God" ( Luke 4:18-19). He
meant that He was the Anointed One of whom Isaiahspoke, and that He had
come to bring salvation. The day of salvation had begun (cf. Isaiah49:8; 2
Corinthians 6:2). However, the day of vengeance wouldnot begin until much
later, specificallyat the end of the Tribulation when He will return (cf. Isaiah
34:8; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah63:4; Daniel 7:21; Daniel7:24-27; Micah5:15; 1
Peter1:11; Revelation12:13-17;Revelation19:15-20). [Note:See GaryYates,
"The Use of Isaiah 61:1 (and58:6) in Luke 4:18-19 ," Exegesisand
Exposition2:1 (Summer1987):13-27.]
Fourth, announcing good news means the Anointed One would comfort those
who mourn because theybelieve their sins have doomed them (cf. ch12;Isaiah

40:1-2; Isaiah49:13; Matthew 5:3-4). God would acceptthem in spite of their
sin because ofthe Servant"s work.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentaryon Isaiah 61:2". "ExpositoryNotes of
Dr. Thomas Constable".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/isaiah-61.html. 2012.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Year of Jubilee, (Jeremias xxv. 11.) when the Jews shouldbe delivered, as a
figure of Christ's redemption. --- Vengeance,whenthe Chaldeans, &c., should
perish, (Calmet) and all obstinate sinners, at the day of judgment. (Haydock)
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Haydock, George Leo. "Commentaryon Isaiah 61:2". "GeorgeHaydock's
Catholic Bible Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hcc/isaiah-61.html. 1859.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
the acceptable year= the year of acceptance, orjubilee year(Leviticus 25:9,
Leviticus 25:10). We may render: - A year of good-pleasure forJehovah, [But]
A day of vengeance forour God.
and the day of vengeance. Compare Isaiah59:17;Isaiah63:4. This is a notable
example of how to rightly divide "the Word of truth", when we observe that
the Messiah, in quoting this prophecy concerning Himself in Luke 4:18, Luke
4:19, "closedthe book", and did not go on to quote further in Isaiah 61:20,
because the former part of the prophecy referred to the then present time,
and not to the future Dispensationofjudgment. The Heb, accentseparates
these two clauses, indicatedby "[But]", above. Note that the vengeance is
assignedto a "day", in contrastwith "year".
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
mourn. See note on Isaiah 3:26, and compare Matthew 5:4.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on Isaiah 61:2". "E.W.
Bullinger's Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/isaiah-61.html. 1909-1922.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
To proclaim the acceptable yearof the LORD, and the day of vengeance of

To proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord - the year of jubilee on which
'liberty was proclaimedto the captives'(Isaiah 61:1; 2 Corinthians 6:2).
And the day of vengeance ofour God. The 'acceptable time of grace'is a
"year;" the time of "vengeance"but a 'day' (so Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah63:4;
Malachi4:1). Jesus (Luke 4:20-21)"closedthe book" before this clause;for
the interval from His first to His secondcoming is "the acceptable year:" "the
day of vengeance"will not be until He comes again(2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
Our God. The saints callHim "our God:" for He cometh to "avenge"them
(Revelation6:10; Revelation19:2). Primarily Israelspeaks. The Lord comes
againas their God, to avenge them on their enemies (cf. Isaiah61:3).
To comfort all that mourn. The "all" seems to include the spiritual Israelite
mourners, as well as the literal, who are in Isaiah61:3 called "them that
mourn in Zion," and to whom Isaiah 57:18 refers.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on
Isaiah61:2". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -
Unabridged". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfu/isaiah-
61.html. 1871-8.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(2) To proclaim the acceptable year. . .—The Year of Jubilee is still, perhaps,
in the prophet’s thoughts; but the chief point of the promise is the contrast
betweenthe “year” offavour and the single “day” of vengeance, reminding us
of the like contrastin Exodus 20:5-6.

SERMON NOTES& STUDY GUIDE • 2/10/2019
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
Maybe the Jesus wayisn’t the evil, narrow way you have heard it is. Maybe
the Jesus wayis the fulfilling life, the promise with no hooks and true
freedom. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim goodnews to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recoveryof sight for the blind, to setthe oppressedfree, to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).
We are halfway through our series, Light and Life, eachweek bouncing back
and forth betweenlight and life in the opening chapters of Luke. We saw that
Jesus is the light for the whole world, including Egypt and our friend Pastor
Youssef. John the Baptist showedus a new way of life through repentance—
turning around. Vision Sunday was our collective challenge to be Light and
Life for the City in the name of Jesus. Lastweek we heard the Word of God is
a light. Satanoffers shortcuts to satisfy what we want, but what the devil
offers is a shabby substitute. Where do we find light to beat back the
darkness? Jesusleanedon the written Word. Now we bounce back to life.
Jesus invites us today to start living the fulfilling life.
The Bible was kept on scrolls, and Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah, then
rolled to Isaiah61. Jesus receivedthe Word. Jesus who is the Word of God
receivedthe Word of God as it was given to Him. Just noodle on that for a
minute. The Word of God is something to receive, and as with other things,
Jesus always demonstrates faithfulness to us. It’s right to receive the Word of
God. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim” (Luke 4:18). I’m telling you every phrase of what Jesus reads is
rich with meaning. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.” There is always a
connectionbetweenWord and Spirit. Last week, in the passage justabove this
one the Word has the powerto beatback darkness. Jesus wonthe victory, the

Super Bowl againstSatan, with the Word. Now we are met with the Spirit of
God. “The Spirit of God,” who is God, “is on me.” That me is Jesus, who also
is God, “becausehe has anointed me to proclaim,” to preach and to reveal
God and the things of God. A couple of notes for the margins of your Bible.
“Anointed” is a Messianic word. The Hebrew word Messiahor mashiach
means “anointedone.” In Greek that word is translatedchristos. To christen
is to anoint. In reading this passage,Jesus is making an open declaration
(particularly when He says what He says later about it being fulfilled) that He
is the Messiah, the Christ.
“The Spirit is on me, because he anointed me to proclaim.” Secondnote,
before we getback to the main theme today. God is consistent. This is a Holy
Trinity
We are all on the hunt for the fulfilling life. We all want to know our lives
mean something, that we are rich in blessings, full of goodthings. We want
our story to have meaning, to make sense, to be fulfilling. You’ve heard of the
midlife crisis. It’s what keeps Corvettes in business, and Mustang
convertibles. But I heard last week ofa few more crises I hadn’t heard about
before. There’s now the quarter-life crisis, around twenty, when young adults
are trying to find a meaningful vocation. There’s the three-quarters life crisis
as retirement approaches. And there’s still a healthy midlife crisis. Maybe
there are more, I’m not sure. Every day I wake up feels like a small crisis!But
every crisis is an opportunity. They used to say the midlife crisis was the
opportunity to find meaning. Bob Buford’s book Halftime said it is when we
move from successto significance. After the searchfor success comesa search
for a significant, fulfilling life. But now people don’t want to wait for midlife
to find fulfillment and significance. We wantto start today. We are searching
for the fulfilling life.
The problem is we are in a hard environment. We are surrounded by
promises that don’t deliver, like shiny, colorful fishing lures we can’t help but
chomp down on. But every lure has a hook. (I’ve been planning a fishing trip
this week that I’m pretty excitedabout. All these lures out there! Gotcha
plugs. Bucktailjigs. Hopkins spoons…)There’s lots of stuff out there that
looks goodbut hooks you in the end. Promises that reverse on you. We have

food to eat that leaves us unnourished. We have drinks that leave us
dehydrated, even after gulping thirty-two ounces. I was so incensed when I
learned about a popular lip balm that actually dries your lips out. Use it once
and you’re stuck using it forever! We have drugs, even legalized, that promise
fun and relaxation and deliver paranoia, anxiety, depressionand self-
destructive addiction. What is promised as liberty—here’s a fun wayto be
free—actuallybecomes a chain around your neck, a bondage. You can think
of some things like that, can’t you? Foodthat doesn’t feed us. Drinks that
leave us thirsty. Entertainment that eats at us. Consumer products that
consume us. These are promises with hooks in a world that flips goodand evil
upside down. Isaiahsaid: “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good
and goodis evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweetand
sweetis bitter.” (Isaiah5:20 NLT)
How do we find what’s good? How do we find the fulfilling life? Maybe you
are here this morning fundamentally believing that the world’s promises hold
more than Jesus’promises. Maybe when you are honestyou know you are
right now pursuing some of these other promises. They reverse on you. The
hook is coming. Jesus said“The thief comes only to stealand kill and destroy;
LIGHT AND LIFE • Luke 4:16–22 • Tim McConnell• February 10, 2019
a barren land, on soilthat has been abused and polluted and spoiled, this is
the yearthe land itself rests and returns to fruitfulness. If you’ve been captive
to your own wandering that pulled you far from home—this is the year you
get to come home again. It is the year of freedom. It is the year slaves are set
free, prodigals come home. If you’ve been captive to cynicism and doubt, if
you’ve forgottenGod’s love—this is the year, and God’s favor rests on you.
It’s the year the hook finally comes out of the lip. Jesus says on the back of all
this, a sermon summed up in one sentence:“Then he rolled up the scroll, gave
it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue
were fastenedon him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is
fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:20–21). Today. Whendoes the year come?
Today. Don’t slip back into yesterday thinking. Don’t getall wrapped up in
tomorrow’s worries and concerns. Today. Todayis the year. Today is the
freedom moment. Today, in Jesus, is the fulfilling life. Today.

I’m saying Jesus is inviting you to know this fulfilling life. But I’m also saying
Jesus is inviting you to be part of this fulfilling life. Here’s the interesting
thing. Everybody knew that passageandknew it was a messianic passage, but
they thought the Messiahwould come at the last day, at the finish, and set
everything right. Here’s the thing: Jesus clearlyannounced His presence as
the Messiah, but then He opened a window. The passage doesn’tend where
Jesus stoppedreading. Isaiah61:2 reads, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor and the day of vengeance ofour God.” Now that’s messianic, see? The
judgment day is on the way. But Jesus stopped, mid-sentence, and sat down.
The promises of the Messiahbegintoday, the year of the Lord’s favor, the
new age of redemption, it all starts right now. But, in a sense, Jesus says the
closing ceremonies, the Judgment Day, that all comes later. So a window is
opened up. An opportunity betweenthe opening up of the ministry of Jesus
and the closing chapter of the whole story. In that time, you and I are invited
to participate. You and I get to be a part of the fulfillment of the promises of
God. You and I get to open blind eyes, release captives,press against
oppression, and bring goodnews to the leastexpecting. And don’t
immediately over-spiritualize it. Jesus wants you participating in removing
actualblindness, not just existentialblindness. Actual hunger, not just
spiritual hunger. Jesus wants to invite you to be part of bringing freedom to
actualcaptives. There are actualpeople, children even, in wrongful captivity
and slaverywho need to be set free by justice. Jesus is inviting you into all that
work. I don’t just want to believe Kingdom stuff or talk Kingdom stuff, I want
to do some Kingdom stuff too! Right? And that’s the fulfilling life Jesus
invites you to know and participate in today.
moment. The Spirit anoints the Son to proclaim the Father and the Father’s
intent. The Spirit doesn’t empowerJesus to saysome new thing inconsistent
with the pastrevelation of God in Scripture. Jesus’ministry is empowered,
anointed, by the Spirit of God because whatJesus reveals and proclaims is not
some new idea, new aspect, new facetof Godand holiness and righteousness,
but because whatJesus proclaims is fully and wholly consistentwith the very
characterof God. There is no “old God” and “new God” in this moment.
What Jesus preaches as goodnews is the very characterand heart of God, the
one true Godwho is the same yesterday, today and forever. Which all makes

perfect sense, because Jesus is God, the Spirit is God, and the Father is God—
One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And what is that characterof God? We start to geta goodlook. “Goodnews
to the poor.” God sees the poor, the powerless, the disenfranchised. “I thought
powerful gods blessedthe rich and powerful.” No. The one true God, the Lord
MostHigh, sees everysoul. This is a little revolutionary. Goodnews doesn’t
often get to the house of the poor. Good news passesby the poor man’s house
most days. Huh. “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.”
Liberty to the captives. Do you have a hook in your lip? Did you bite down on
the wrong promise? When you are in captivity, you grow accustomedto it.
The limitations and bars and prison walls are your known and accepted
limits. Jesus says there may be more freedom yet for you. “And recoveryof
sight for the blind.” What can’t you see from where you are? You don’t know
what you can’t see. You don’t know what possibilities for fulfilling life Jesus
can see that you can’t see. By the way, when Jesus healedphysical blindness it
was as a testimony to authenticate His powerto open all eyes to His Kingdom.
You are blind. I am blind. Jesus brings sight. “To setthe oppressedfree.” God
hates how we fall into captivity, and Goddespises how we contrive to trap one
another. Habakkuk starts with God surveying the world of humanity appalled
with how we use our nets and hooks and traps to connive againstone another
and oppress one another, building our houses on foundations of injustice. No
good. Jesus has a better way.
Finally, verse 19, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed
me” to proclaim all this and finally: “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor” (Luke 4:19). What’s the year of the Lord’s favor? Well, let me tell you
about the Jubilee year. You can read about it in Leviticus 25 on your own.
Maybe you didn’t know a year like this existed. The Jubilee year. If you’ve
been captive to debt, this is the year your debts are forgiven. If you’ve been
captive to mistakes that left you hopeless and un-landed—this is the year your
land comes back to you. If you’ve been captive to hunger, thirst, lack, in
Rich Stearns was here for our national conference we hostedtwo weeks ago.
Rich Stearns servedfor twenty years as president of World Vision, a global
Christian relief and aid organizationworking since 1950 to help people in

need all around the world. Rich said they were interviewing a man for a
director of communications position lastyear, someone who had done
marketing and communications for Fortune 500s and been through some
tough communications challenges,and this guy said, “Oh yeah. I’d love telling
your story. I mean, it’s easy. You guys have the Jesus everybody loves.” They
askedwhathe meant. “Well, you guys have the Jesus who cares for the poor,
rescues the orphan, brings justice and peace, helps the
downtrodden…everybody loves that Jesus.” Richsaidit made him think a
little. Is there another Jesus? How did we getto hiding or obscuring this Jesus
everybody loves? Did we somehow shade the heart of God? His love for His
children? Where’s the Jesus everybody loves?
Folks, He’s right here. See this life Jesus is inviting you into? Here’s the Jesus
everybody loves. He is life. He is light. He is the year of the Lord’s favor. He is
the Jubilee. This is Jesus. You getto know Him. You get to follow him. You
get to do a little of what He’s doing in the world right now! Jesus could fix all
this stuff without us. Do you know that? But He says to you and me, “Come
and follow.” “Go and do likewise.” He wants you included. Becauseit’s
beautiful, meaningful and fulfilling. How do you find the fulfilling life in a
world bent all around in confusionand lies? You find it in Jesus. Where do
you find the promise without hooks? You find it in Jesus. He took the barbs
and hooks on Himself so you could have the life and the freedom. Do you
think Jesus doesn’tknow what it means to be pinned, hooked, stuck? Look at
Him pinned there on the cross foryou. He took the pain and shame and
helplessnessand carried it all to the cross so you could be free. Find it in
Jesus. Notonly to be healed; not only so that you can walk right now into the
year of the Lord’s favor, into His healing and redeeming grace;but so that
you canhear Jesus calling you to follow Him in this work helping the world to
know the goodnews proclaimed of grace met in Jesus Christ. Giving your life
to His glory—it’s the most fulfilling life there is."

The holy spirit proclaims the year of the lord's favor

The holy spirit proclaims the year of the lord's favor

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