FBC Morning Light – July 1, 2022

Well, a good Friday to you, and welcome to the month of July, the Independence Month and all the rest of that. This is Friday, last day of the work week for most people, and looking forward to the Lord's Day.

This coming Lord's Day, we are continuing our study in the adult Sunday school class on this book we've been reading this summer entitled Gentle and Lowly. I find it to be an interesting connection with our Bible reading passage for today in Isaiah chapter 60 and following.

Christ’s Gentle and Lowly Heart in Isaiah 61

That book is built on Christ's statement of himself where he reveals his heart to people when he said, when Jesus said, I am meek, I am gentle and lowly in spirit, is what those words mean. I am gentle and lowly in spirit.

This is Jesus' self-declaration, and he's speaking to people who are in spiritual bondage, who are weighed down by spiritual burdens. He says, you come to me and I will lift those burdens. I will give you an easy yoke.

I will give you a yoke that's easy to bear. This is really a fulfillment of the prophetic scripture in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 61, the first couple of verses, actually verses 1 through the first part of verse 2, Jesus read a quote from the scroll in the synagogue, and he rolled the scroll back up and he said, today this passage is fulfilled in your sight.

He's referring to himself, that he has come and fulfilled this passage. So what does this say? Isaiah 61, verse 1, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me, the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness.

So Isaiah prophesied that this is the way the Messiah's earthly ministry would be conducted, that he would be gentle and lowly. What would he do? He would preach good tidings to the poor. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the poor in spirit, and this is talking about spiritual poverty, and he will preach good news to those who are spiritually impoverished.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. And I think about that again in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus proclaimed to give comfort to those who mourn, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

And then the next thing he says, I'll proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to those who are bound. And here I don't think it's referring to a literal prison, but to that spiritual bondage.

You know, Christ in his crucifixion and resurrection, he led captivity captive, the Scriptures say, and it's exactly what he has accomplished, expressing his gentle and lowly heart toward repentant sinners, toward his people, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Christ’s Salvation and Judgment in Isaiah 61

So on the one hand, Jesus proclaimed life and joy to those who would receive him, but the passage goes on to say that he would proclaim the day of vengeance of our God, and to those who rejected him, you know, Jesus talked about, you know, it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for some of these who have rejected him.

And where they go, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. So Christ proclaimed both days of comfort and consoling, the acceptable year of the Lord of salvation and of his judgment. And he came to comfort all who mourn, those who mourn over their sin and come to him in repentance with brokenheartedness, he comforts them.

Why? Because Messiah, Jesus Messiah, his heart is one that is gentle and lowly. Aren't you glad? Aren't you grateful for that? You think about some of the pagan religions and their view of their gods, their gods are perpetually angry and they don't like us, and we have to do everything that we can possibly do to kind of placate them and to keep them from lashing out at us.

This is not our God. This is not our God. The heart of our God is revealed in the God-man, Christ Jesus, who came to this earth and he told us, I am gentle and lowly. Come to me, come to me. And he that comes to him, Christ will in no wise cast out.

Prayer of Thanksgiving for Christ’s Ministry

Let's go to him. So our Father and our God, we are thankful for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for the heart of our Savior, the heart of God. We thank you that you comfort those who mourn.

We're thankful that you heal the brokenhearted, that you deliver the captives. We thank you for that gospel message of salvation in the acceptable year of the Lord. Thank you, Father, for these wonderful, precious truths to your people, and we pray it in Jesus'.

Name. Amen.

All right, well, I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I hope Sunday you call the Sabbath a delight and you will seek to learn much of your God. You'll gather together with God's people in the Sunday school hour, learning more about Christ's heart in the morning service as we gather together and wrap up the book of 1 Peter.

And Sunday night, we have our fellowship groups, young married single adult groups are meeting, and other folks meeting in their homes. So I hope to see you Sunday. In the meantime, have a good rest of your day, and may God bless you.