12 Themes From the Birth of Jesus, Pt. 4

Luke 4 and the Reading of Isaiah 61

Thank you guys, it was a fantastic Maddie that was beautiful today as usual. Thought I left it back there. Oh Good to have all of you with us today. I hope we'll get you home in time to not have to slide home.

We'll see Charlotte told me. Charlotte told me preach a short message today.

So.

You know what happened last time a woman told me that right? I added 10 minutes. So we'll I'll try to keep an eye out. But you know, they they said it wasn't gonna be any water Till this evening, but we had missed on the freezing to the windshield all the way over here from from Mahaya So, I don't know I think some of them kind of come in from the south where the moisture comes in from the south and I think that's what This one's doing we may get more snow than you do.

You'd like that wouldn't you Paul? I mean you'd like it You'd like it and we got more than you do. Yeah, he does not like winter and look where he came from To Texas. We'll be turning to the book of Luke chapter 4 please and If you're on the phone, don't turn to it, but I don't know.

What do you do scroll to it? Yes. Thank you. So we're finishing up our Christmas Message maybe today. I doubt we'll finish it though because I may cut it a little bit short may take one more Sunday, but we went through the Christmas story in the book of Luke starting with chapter 2 and You know, it's we talked about how the Bible is a living book and You can read it your whole life and read a passage.

You've read hundreds of times and see a new way of looking at it a new message from God to you Individually and so when I was studying for Christmas message, which I don't particularly like to do seasonal messages but I'll do it sometimes especially Christmas and Passover, but I Reading through it this year.

I saw 12 major Bible doctrines or my major Bible themes in the Christmas story. I never noticed that before. So that's what we talked about. We've been talking about it and we're on number 9 and actually on number 10 today.

So What's interesting in this passage in Luke chapter 4 we went all the way from through Jesus's birth up through his early Ministry like when he first started his ministries the time span that we're covering here.

So here pick it up in Luke chapter 4 and Verses 13 through 16. It's right after he was tempted by the devil and It says in verse 14 and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee and There went out fame of him through all the region roundabout.

So after he was tempted by Satan and Satan used the Bible to do it. Yeah, I always keep that in mind false teachers always use the Bible.

Well.

You know 90 of what they say will be true and that little 10 is a killer Error that they put into it, but Satan did the same thing, but Jesus refuted it with Scripture. And that's why it's important to study to show yourselves approved unto God, right?

The Bible says we ought to always be able to give an answer for why we believe what we do. You can't do that without studying. So you need to be in the word. It's not enough just on Sunday. But Jesus answered it with Scripture now when he came forth from there after being tempted from Satan.

And it says Satan left him for a season. That's the way it is with us, too. We can have you know, we can have peace for a season, but sometimes but then the enemy still comes back. Doesn't he in this life?

He will come back. So you always have to be ready. Ephesians chapter 6 is a great place to go read about spiritual armor that we should wear all the time because we always got to be Ready, he leaves for a season, but when Jesus walked away from there He had power and it says in the power of the Holy Spirit and in fame went about.

The region about him and verse 15 says and he taught in their synagogues. Being glorified by everyone that listened because they never heard teaching like his teaching but then he comes to Nazareth Where he had been brought up.

And.

As his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read and What's interesting about this passage starting verse 17. It shows what he read and as we discussed last Sunday It was a long passage and I he's actually reading from Isaiah chapter 61 because they handed him the scroll and that's the part he had to read and It's a long passage and he read only maybe a third of money not even a third maybe a fourth.

Maybe not even a fifth of it and then stopped in the middle of a verse. At least the way we see the scripture day where it has verses. He stopped in the middle of a verse and closed the book and sat down.

It's really interesting to see what he talked about that day and what he didn't talk about. And the truth is living in the day that we live some 2 ,000 years later. There's a lot more to be learned by what he didn't talk about that day and why.

So let's look at that. Fascinating to me. So look at starting with verse 17 and There was delivered unto him the book of the Prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written and The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

Now we understand that word poor doesn't mean poor in the Greek and in the Greek Old Testament or in the Hebrew it means meek. He anointed me to preach the gospel to the meek meek and spirit or you could say poor in spirit.

It's not a bad translation. He's poor in spirit. In other words not haughty to preach the gospel to those who are poor in spirit he has 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 and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and Then verse 20 says now right there is not the end of even the it's not even the end of the verse he was in. But he stopped right there and it says at that point in verse 20 he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of all them that were in the Synagogue were fastened on him and verse 21 says and he began to say unto them this day is This scripture fulfilled in your ears.

So it's like he read this first little part and he stopped halfway through the last verse and he said You're looking at the fulfillment of that part of this passage me. You're looking at the Messiah. I am the Messiah.

That's what he's telling him and I bet it got really quiet in that room for a little bit. Don't you imagine? So we learn a lot from this. I mean last Sunday We talked about what he did read the portion that he read so I don't want to go over that again.

But It's interesting when you when you get down to this part about what he didn't read. So and I he's quoting from Isaiah chapter 61 verse 1, so I'm gonna go I'm gonna go to that. You can stay where you are if you want to but I'm gonna go out to Isaiah chapter 61 it might be interesting for you look at it if you want to go ahead and turn there and If we see verse 1 and then verse 2.

After the first Oh six or seven words of verse 2 he closed the book he didn't even finish the verse. So let's look at it. Isaiah 61 1 the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek now.

Remember, this was written over 600 years before Jesus was born in the book of Isaiah. All of the Jews knew this book. Unfortunately, the teachers weren't teaching from the Bible anymore from the Old Testament they were teaching from things called Targum's.

I've got a copy of one in my study at home and It's kind of like a paraphrase. That's why I would advise you not to read paraphrases of the Bible read the Bible. Because when they pair it's like the Jewish teacher said well, here's what we think it means.

So in the Targum's they would tell you what they thought Isaiah 53 meant or Isaiah 61 meant and they change it and so that's why the predominance of the Jewish people missed their own Messiah. Only those few who had access to the actual scriptures and read them.

We're waiting for the Messiah to come in and recognize him like Simeon and Simeon and Anna did but That's why they weren't teaching from the Bible. They were teaching from corrupt Bibles or or even paraphrases of the Bible about about 300 years before Jesus came.

That's what the practice was and they became the ones known as the Pharisees so the same Pharisees who Wanted to crucify Jesus corrupted the Bible 300 years before he got there. Isn't that amazing? So Satan still wants to do that today.

So make sure you're reading the right one. You know the one that comes from the good Greek and the correct Hebrew.

So.

Here he stops. He says to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and he stops right there. Now if you look at the next part of that verse look what it says and so I'll read the whole thing verse 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and The day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn he left that part off.

Now what's interesting when you start with that second half of verse 2 and you keep reading this long passage. Everything else that it talks about is not talking about the first advent of Christ. It's not talking about the part in Isaiah 53 where it says he'll be a suffering Servant where he will come and die for the sins of his people.

He will come and die for the sins of many. It says it's not talking about that part. It's talking about his second coming which the Jew for the most part didn't really see that as two events. They saw it as one.

It's almost like he had two mountain peaks with the valley and they Looked across the top and saw this one and they saw it as one thing the coming of the Messiah. They didn't see it as two different advents with two thousand some odd years in between like it actually is.

But the reason that Jesus stopped in the middle of verse 2 is he was when he said this is fulfilled in your ears today. He meant only this part and He closed the book. He didn't read the rest the rest applies to when he comes the second time.

Which is really fascinating and if you read it carefully, you can see that none of it could have happened already. No, none of it Could have could be something that's already happened. Well, what's interesting about it?

You got basically three types of Beliefs about the end times stuff that's taught in the Bible. You got people called on Millennials who don't believe that the book of Revelation is literal or that any of its literal or what Daniel said or what Isaiah says or Joel or Zechariah.

They don't think any of that's literal that there's not going to be a thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. It's not literal they think and then you have the post millennialists who believe that the church is going to be so Fantastic that it's going to cause the earth to get better and better until it's so good here that Jesus can come back.

How many of you buy that one? I mean if you know anything about history, you know about World War two where they killed almost 8 million Jews. Right. Did you know that after World War two the post millennial position died away?

You didn't see any Theologians teaching that in seminary to speak of if at all other than to teach that it was something people used to believe but there's a resurgence of resurgence of it now. Among young Christians for whatever I think it's because they want to think they're intellectual.

But the thing is it's still as false as it was in World War two. The world is not getting better. How many of you think it's getting better? You know, well if if you're very young you might think it is but if you're my age, you know.

It's not because you remember how it was. I Got to meet George Bush Before one month before he announced I'm talking about the younger Bush. One month before he announced he was going to run for president.

I got to talk to him like this close for 20 minutes one day.

Sorry. Oh, okay.

And he asked me he said David. When do you think our country was the strongest? Well, you don't want to get the answer wrong when you're talking to One of the Bush's whose dad was the bread, you know former president.

So I thought about that a minute I said, well, I think America was the strongest in the 1950s about when Eisenhower was president. He said you're right. You're right, David. I agree. And then he went on to talk about liberals and how they're destroying the country he said but you know It took him 50 years to do it.

So maybe we can put it back like it was and it won't take 50 years and I smiled and shook my head. Yes, I'm thinking it ain't gonna happen. But anyway, I was hoping he would get it, right, right? So tight that as far as the way the world is going philosophically The great Apostle Paul said that before Jesus comes back there will be a great apostasy which means a falling away from the truth and I've seen that in my short lifetime Charlotte and I used to teach young people Teenagers high school kids when we were in our 20s in Sunday school We taught high school kids and I can remember teaching them things from Scripture that were prophetic.

About things that might happen out in the future you wouldn't believe how many of those things I've already seen happen by this time in my life and We were teaching it as things that would happen back then that was in the 80s, right?

So so many things are happening. The world is not getting to be a better place I would say right now and I track I track what's happening because the trade way I have to read the news the world news every day and apply that to the stock market.

To try to figure out what it's going to do to the stocks. I have to read it. I don't like reading it, but I got to read it and so right now the world is in the most dangerous time that it's been and I don't know probably.

Since I.

Don't know since Khrushchev tried to send nuclear missiles to Cuba back would that be in the 60s, right? 63. We're in a more dangerous situation right now than in 63 and we have more wars going on now than ever.

And for the first time of any of our presidents that have ever been president United States we've had three maybe four of our embassies closed because People closed them over in foreign countries. They just shut them down.

Won't let us be there anymore and normally it's Islamic countries that are doing it because they don't like us supporting Israel. But that that's not happened. So we we've got to one war in the Middle East and you know, if you know anything about The end times, you know to be watching Jerusalem, right, you know to be watching the Middle East and it's not this thing is not over and it's it is not a good thing because It's a it's it's a thousands of years old aggression between the Jewish people and the Arabs and You know this this thing is like Tooth for tooth and eye for eye and and it's probably not over yet.

So We have to be really watchful. Now if you look at this part Jesus didn't talk about even even the things we've seen in my lifetime. He stopped short of talking about that. But now let's read a little farther in this passage and see what he's looking at where he starts where Isaiah prophesies Beyond the times of Christ into the end times.

And Jesus was asked a question in Matthew chapter 24 if you remember where they asked him. Okay, when will this happen and he was talking about the destruction of the temple which happened in 70 AD. They asked him when would it happen?

Well, that was only 40 years into the future and he told him what to look for for that and the second question. They asked him would when will the end of the age happen? He asked two questions and a lot of these scholars that want to be on millennial or post millennial for whatever reason they don't they Don't act like there's two questions.

They act like there's just one but there's two the question about when will the end of the age happen? He answered it and those things haven't happened yet at any time in recorded history. So they're still in our future and this passage in Isaiah 61 goes out and begins to talk about that.

And that's why Jesus left it out that day because he said I am here for the first time now as a suffering servant. He didn't read the part about how he's coming the second time because he ain't gonna be a suffering servant.

He's going to come in vengeance and destroy the enemies of God and set up a kingdom for a thousand years in Jerusalem the very city the very place that all of the dark nations of the world and by that I mean Evil nations the world want to destroy right now.

You take Iran Iraq Russia, China. And so many of the Islamic all of the 100 of the Islamic nations want to drive them From the river to the sea that means to push them off into the Mediterranean Ocean and drown them and kill them all.

That's what they want to do and it's been that way since Abraham. Satan has hated God's people since the times of Abraham. It's worse now than it's ever been and That's what they want to do. That's what's going on over there right now is an attempt to do this all through my life.

I've seen several attempts to do this and God has protected Israel in miraculous ways every time that I've seen with my own eyes. So let's look at this now. Let's start verse 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

He stopped right there. Acceptable by the way, if you read that in Hebrew It has the connotation of like God's foreordained plan. That's what acceptable means. It's God's will that's what it means. Jesus said I'm gonna proclaim That it's God's will for the Messiah to come and I'm him that's kind of what he told him when he shut the book there.

But look what happens with the second half of that same verse and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn. So apparently there's going to be something that happens After the first advent in the 2 ,000 years and then as you go out towards the end times in the end times.

There are going to be things that happen That are going to cause people in Israel and all over the world to mourn and He did that's just how it starts that little passage. Now what we're going to talk about here as we go through this next bit of information in Isaiah 61 that Jesus left out that Day is what is coming?

Why do you know what's coming at the second advent and prior to it? Well, the first thing that we see is Jesus did not talk about the second coming. He stopped short of that. He only talked about the first coming of Christ.

He didn't talk about the second coming. He didn't talk about the tribulation period which is a seven-year period of Tribulation greater than the world has ever seen or ever would see and God said in the scripture that if he didn't cut the time Short no life would be left on the earth.

He didn't talk about that. He didn't talk about the comfort that he will have for those who mourn dirt during the terrible tribulation period. He didn't talk about that. He left that out and then in verse 3 there in Isaiah 61 He says to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion.

That's specifically talking about in Israel people that are mourning there to give unto them beauty.

For ashes.

So the powers of the world tried to destroy Israel and burn it down and Did destroy some of it and will out in the future. But God's going to give them joy in place of the ashes. So the ashes haven't happened yet.

It's something in our future where the nation's the world attempt to destroy Israel. See what time it is. Okay. So he's going to give them beauty for ashes oil of joy in the place of mourning. So, can you see the contrasts you've got mourning you've got ashes which Talks, you know pictures destruction and God's going to replace it with beauty and joy.

So what you see is a picture of great tribulation and then Jesus Christ coming the second time and setting up a millennial thousand-year kingdom that where he reigns from Jerusalem physically and Israel will be the strongest nation in the world and all the other nations will come there to worship God and so nation will have Israel will have joy.

Whereas in this Dispensation they've had sadness and mourning and ashes and destruction so you see the contrast between the tribulation of this age and the beauty of Israel in the thousand-year millennial kingdom where Jesus who was born of Jewish parents will reign as king of the world and he will rule with a rod of iron and You're not going to have other Religions openly being practiced at all.

Jesus said I am the way in the life and the truth. No man comes to the father. But by me and anyone who tries to bring someone to heaven through another door is a liar and a murderer. So he left out this part about the second coming so now he goes on and says that God will give them the garment of praise in the place of the spirit of heaviness and sadness.

So Israel will be praised Instead of hated by the entire world like they are right now. I mean I have never in my lifetime never Seen people march in the streets of the United States of America. Who's Israel's greatest ally?

For their enemy Hamas and especially college kids who know nothing about history. I mean listen a college education today is like a seventh grade education when I was in school. They're just a fact you you are not being taught history.

And when they are in many of the East Coast colleges and West Coast colleges, they're changing the history. It's not the same history. You would read the textbooks when I was in school. But even when I was in school, they were starting to destroy it.

I remember I went to Baylor Business School thinking that capitalism was a bad thing. I said, where'd you learn that in front of the whole class because I raised my hand. I said, isn't that a bad thing that it made the professor angry.

He said, where'd you get that? Mr. Mitchell? I said seventh grade social studies book, sir. Well, they're wrong come see me after class. So I went to his office and he said capitalism is what built the economies of the West.

The greatest economies that have ever existed in the history of the world built by capitalism. Which taught in the which is taught in the Bible socialism is nowhere in the Bible except where it speaks against it.

Oh, okay. Well, I had that backwards. Sorry, sir, and I you know, I left the office.

Unscathed gladly.

But.

When you don't understand the history of Israel starting from Abraham To what was promised to him the land that was promised to him is their land and has been For thousands of years and then the modern time in 70 AD when Rome came in and destroyed Israel and they were scattered Throughout the world the Jews were and then after World War two and they killed Hitler killed six to eight million Jews.

I think the higher number is more likely. The world at large felt sorry for the Jews and they let them have their land back. It was their land. They let him have it again and decided they could be a nation.

So the very day of their declaration as a nation or their proclamation as a nation. They were attacked on three sides by Islamic nations and tried to be destroyed on day one as a nation but they won the war miraculously and in several have happened since then so Here you see all of this these things talked about here in Isaiah that they would have ashes and mourning and Heaviness, but this would be replaced by beauty and joy and praise.

Well, we haven't seen that yet. Have we there's still people thousands of people marching in the streets of Washington DC yesterday. Against Israel and for Hamas. Do you know the word Hamas is in the Bible?

It means destroyer or The killer of innocents, which is what they did they went in and killed thousands of. Well a thousand two hundred Israeli families on their farms. I Can't tell you what they did is so bad.

You can read about it in Israel retaliated so that now they're saying Israel's the bad guy. Well, only if you'd be only if you're totally don't understand anything about how things work in the world and have worked for 6 ,000 years of history.

So if it's true that a family has a right to protect itself when someone tries to kill its members. It's also true of nations and when they came in and they did this across the border into Israel. They had a right to retaliate and boy, did they ever in the world now saying they're the bad guy.

Really? Oh, they're killing, you know killing thousands of women and children you don't know that because the only news source is Hamas is news source that reports that and They put the tunnels under the hospitals where the army's under the hospital.

And what do you think's gonna happen with Israel destroys the army's gonna hit the hospital. They're the ones that put it there though. They hide among their civilians because they don't care about them like we do their whole mindset is different than ours.

We value life. We value the life of our of our people of one another we treat each other like we would treat ourselves. That's Christianity. They don't have that. So, yeah, you can't you know. You can't you can't just let them stay there in peace because they're gonna come across that border and kill another 1 ,500 people month after next it's just how they are seen it my whole life.

And yet you've got kids in college today I'm not picking on I'm preaching to the correct to the choir here. But across the nation on the East like Harvard Yale, in fact, the president of Harvard just got fired because of it.

Because she was saying it's great that they killed babies and women Jewish babies and women saying things. You know, she was alluding to that so they fired her and they should have but they only fired her after Christian billionaires started pulling money from Harvard saying you we're not getting any more money as long as she's president.

So they fired her. Which they should have done but it's sad that they had to wait until people were threatened to pull the money, isn't it? So so for the first time in in American history you have Americans rioting in the streets saying that Hamas the destroyer of innocence is good and Israel the people of God is bad and the Bible says there will come a day When they will call good evil and evil good and we're in that day.

And if you think we're not you're just like you're asleep you're sleeping. Jesus said be careful that you not sleep like others and be watchful because he'll come as a thief in the night and We are asleep.

Ladies. Gentlemen, if we don't understand that things have changed. So much in this man's lifetime 69 years old when I was 20 these things had not happened in the in the earth anywhere and We're seeing them happen in the streets today.

Be very careful that you remain watchful of what's going on the news because it's matching the scriptures now. Now look here. So we all of these contrasts are found in verse 3. Jesus did not speak of the fact that during their day of salvation talking about the Jews that during their day of salvation Would be given beauty for ashes oil for of joy for mourning and all these different contrasts.

The planting of the Lord that he might be glorified. He left that part out because it was part of the future and he was telling he was showing them what he was going to Do in the first advent which was his 33 years of life on this earth.

That part wasn't going to happen yet.

So.

He did not speak of how the Jews would glorify God during the Millennial Kingdom after the tribulation. He left all of that interesting part out.

So.

Look at there in verse 3. Let me get you to look at something if you want to flip to Luke chapter 21. Verse 20, it speaks to this a little bit. To a point unto them that mourn in Zion to given to them beauty for ashes.

Regarding with that verse Luke 21 20 says. And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies. Then know that the desolation thereof is nigh now. This was given in where Jesus answered the question when will the end of the age the end of the world take place?

What are the signs we look for at the end of the world? He said well when you see Jerusalem compassed about by armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive and to all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times Gentiles be fulfilled.

What's interesting about it in Luke chapter 21 when you see the answer to that question? G. Luke recorded that Jesus talked about two different aspects. One was he well Matthew records it to what is he answers the question?

When is the temple going to be destroyed? Well that happened in 70 AD. The second one when is the end of the age? This part of Luke chapter 21 is talking about the first question. When is the temple going to be destroyed and he talks about it there?

Israel will be surrounded by nations and The edge of the sword will come they're gonna take Jews captive into all nations and that happened in 70 AD. But when you go ahead and you read the rest of Luke and the rest of Matthew 24 You find that he also about half the material talks about a future event.

Which shows us when the end of the world will come. Matthew 24 16 says then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take a thing out of his house now what's interesting is in the Luke passage where it talks about the Destruction of the temple.

It says that Jerusalem would be destroyed and the passages in Luke and Matthew where it talks about the end times it doesn't say Israel is destroyed because it's not and there is there is where you can see the contrast between the answer to the two questions in the Amillennialist and post-millennialist who believe it's all just already happened.

They'll tell you all of that's already happened in history. It happened, you know. With the Greeks and with the Romans and it's done. So it's not talking about some future event. Well, if you just read it you can see they're wrong because it talks about many many many things that have never happened yet.

In the history of the world if they have not happened yet, and they're prophetic it means they're in our future. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes and woe unto them that are with child Etc.

But pray you that your flight would not be in winter for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time nor even ever shall be in the future and Except those days should be shortened.

There should be no flesh saved. But for the elects sake that's the ones that Jesus knew before the foundation of the world all of the people he's going to save for their sakes. He will cut those days short.

Now Isaiah 61 3 has great significance in the light of these kinds of passages over in the New Testament. But Jesus did not read about this part That day because he only wanted to talk about the first coming well Let me do this.

I'm not gonna try to finish that part today. I also have some information here and we'll save for next time but it talks about persecution of Christians in The world today you think that everything is safe and sound.

But over 360 million Christians live in places right now where they experience high levels of persecution. 360 million and if you if you look at recent figures There have been 62 ,000 Christians killed in Nigerian by Islamic people.