The Messiah Announces Good News

Isaiah 61:3-9

Here we read of the radical transformation of the poor, brokenhearted, mourning, ash-covered captives whom Jesus has come to save. In salvation, Christ has removed from us our disgrace, our ashes, and our chains; instead, he has crowned us with beauty, anointed us with the oil of joy, and clothed us with robes of perfect righteousness.

Moreover, having been given the gift of imputed righteousness by faith in Christ, we also receive the Holy Spirit, as Jesus was anointed, and we are unleashed on a world devastated by sin and Satan. We “rebuild ancient ruins,” even cities that have been devastated for centuries (v. 4). Certainly the returning exiles did this physically in Jerusalem, but these words are more perfectly fulfilled spiritually by the building of the church of Jesus Christ out of the rubble of human history. People’s lives are laid waste by sin, as are whole human societies all over the face of the earth. The trail of wreckage left by sin has only one chief Rebuilder: Jesus Christ. And Christ has chosen to rebuild lives and societies by his transformed people. We are the rebuilders of “ancient ruins.”

So verses 4-9 picture the mission of the church, now unfolding for twenty centuries, to build the new Jerusalem living stone by living stone, quarried from Satan’s dark kingdom. Certainly the church has done literal rebuilding of physical ruins: after earthquakes, after wars, after floods, the church is there to help rebuild. But the real rebuilding of ruins is done within a single human heart who genuinely repents of sin and turns to God through Christ. The rubble of personal sin is cleared away, and a “righteous tree” grows up for all to see.

Messiah’s people are given a role as “the Lord’s priests” (v. 6). To them has been committed the good news that Jesus first announced in Nazareth. These priests of the Lord minister the word of God to every tribe, language, people, and nation on earth. Those who repent and believe from all the Gentile nations will honor the messengers and lavishly enrich them (vv. 5-7). God’s hatred of injustice will find fruition in the mission of his “priests.” Where Messiah’s people had once been disgraced, they will be held in honor, recognized as the Lord’s blessed covenant people (v. 8).

Isaiah 61:10-11

The chapter concludes with the Messiah (Jesus) speaking again of how God the Father has robed and equipped him to be Savior of the world. Verse 10 is written in the first person, as Christ declares his supreme delight in his Father. These verses also embody what his chosen people will experience in their relationship with the Father through Christ’s imputed righteousness: a worldwide harvest of righteousness and praise for God.

As we read this chapter, we must begin where the chapter ends up: worship. If the Messiah’s mission has redeemed us, the clearest evidence will be the desire we have to give him praise and worship.

Second, we are led to meditate on God’s amazing grace to such degraded sinners as we were. We were enslaved through our own willful rebellion. The ashes of disgrace on us were well earned. We were not merely victims of sin and Satan’s oppression; we were oppressors ourselves. But God, in the richness of his mercy and love toward us, has given us a crown, oil, and rich garments instead of our chains, stench, and rags.

Third, we should be energetic in the mission the Messiah has entrusted to us: to proclaim liberty to the captives all over the earth. By proclaiming and living out the truth of his Word, we will rebuild ancient cities and clear away piles of rubble. This points to the need to build healthy local churches that are obedient to the full commands of the Bible by the power of the Holy Spirit. Healthy local churches are colonies of heaven, havens of peaceful order in the midst of a war zone of sin’s destruction.