Week 17
Part 2
Restoration
Read Isaiah 61:1-4
In week 16 we reviewed verse 1, today we are going to look at verse 2.
To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
Luke 4: 16-21 Jesus is in the synagogue and scroll of Isaiah is handed to Him, He stands and He reads, after reading He hands the scroll back and sits down and says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Cell phones, CNN, You Tube, and Periscope were not available during the life of Jesus much less 400 years earlier when Isaiah was telling the Israelite children that THE MESSIAH was coming to rescue them from their bondage. Isaiah was proclaiming all over the land that the Redeemer would come…
What do you think of when you hear the word PROCLAIM?
How do you think stuff got PROCLAIMED during Isaiah’s time?
How do you think stuff got PROCLAIMED during Jesus’ time?
How can WE proclaim stuff today?
The favorable/acceptable year of the LORD: The Hebrew word is rawtone meaning delight, acceptable, desire, favor, good, pleasure, to be pleased with, to satisfy a debt, approve-enjoy or pardon, to reconcile ones self.
From those definitions is there one that sticks out to you?
I never really understood what, “the favorable/acceptable year of the LORD” meant until I read, and re-read those definitions.
Jesus said in Luke 4:21 “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. After reading what the word favorable/acceptable meant in the Hebrew language, what is Jesus saying?
What debt is being satisfied?
Who is going to be approved of?
Who is going to be pardoned?
Who is being reconciled?
Before this, Good News (verse 1) to reconcile yourself with God what had to be done?
Before this, Good News (verse 1) in order to fulfill your debit to God what had to be done?
They didn’t know it yet BUT Jesus is our GOOD NEWS! Jesus has proclaimed in the synagogue that HE is our acceptable way to find reconciliation with God!
And the day of vengeance of our God;
I do not like to hear sad sappy poor mouthed people say, “It doesn’t matter how you live or what you do, certain people will get away with __________, (whatever is being talked about). “ I do get tired of hearing that some people always get by with stealing, killing, abusing, hurting, etc…I do know it seems that way, BUT LET ME TELL YOU RIGHT NOW…IT WILL NOT ALWAYS BE THAT WAY!! GOD’S WORD SAYS IT RIGHT HERE!!
The Hebrew word for vengeance is nagam naw-kawn meang REVENGE or TO AVENGE.
Praise the LORD, He is going to avenge me….all my life, all my life, I have wanted and waited for my knight in shining armor to protect me and love me. I have dreamed about a man who would love me so much that he would AVENGE me. I don’t know about you, but that makes me excited, not that I am going to make a list and tell God all the bad stuff anyone has ever done to me, but you know, just knowing that the people who have never repented and who have hurt little kids and changed their lives forever, knowing that they will get what is coming to them, makes me proud that I choose to put my faith and trust in HIM. My GOD is GOD. My GOD is GOD. MY GOD IS GOD AND HE WILL GET VENGEANCE. SATAN WILL LOSE AND MY GOD IS VICTORIOUS. This makes me want to break out in a cheer!!!
He-e-e will, He-e-e will
Stomp you, Stomp you.
He-e-e will, He-e-e will
Stomp you, Stomp you.
To comfort all who mourn,
In Strong’s Concordance when you look up this word “comfort” has it the Hebrew word 5162 which is nacham naw-kham, it is a prime root word meaning to sign or to breath strongly, to be sorry, to pity, to console, to avenge (oneself) to comfort, to ease, to repent.
One of the main techniques in yoga is learning the proper breathing.
Close your eyes, take a big deep breath in through your nose and hold it, now slowly release your breath through the back of your throat almost as if you are trying to scratch your throat with your breath. Try it again. This type of breathing, done in a quite setting helps to calm you allowing you to focus on releasing any tension, bad thoughts and negative attitudes you are holding onto in order to increase your flexibility.
Also as mentioned earlier, it does give me comfort knowing that God is in control, really, I HAVE to believe that God HAS THIS, otherwise, I would be one worried mom who was completely a nervous wreck with one son and his family living in Cincinnati and the other son overseas, I HAVE TO KNOW THAT GOD HAS THEM IN HIS SIGHT, IN HIS HANDS AND ON HIS MIND. I take comfort in knowing that…
We have also talked about those people who go through awful everyday life events, which now is cancer, losing family members, parents with Alzheimer’s, abused children, starving children, and even dealing with terrorist, how do people handle dealing with these things daily without the comfort of Jesus Christ make it through the day? How can you make it through one moment without knowing without a shadow of a doubt that GOD has this and HE is going to make it better one way or the other? KNOWING IN THE LONG RUN, GOD WILL BE THE VICTOR!!?? I have no idea…none…
What are some things that you have had to turn over to Christ?
Did you sort of give it to HIM or did you take it back and wonder why you never got relief?
Do you think that by giving your struggles over to God that you are turning a blind eye to the problems and heartaches in front of you?
What is the difference in turning over the anxiety and anxious feelings of not knowing what is going to happen in a situation to God and knowing that God’s will is going to be done and holding on tightly to those anxious feelings?
Will the outcome be the same?
Will YOU be the same After the outcome?
Mourn
Strongs Concordance has the Hebrew word as 57 abel aw-bal which is from the Hebrew word 56 meaning lamenting.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online says lamenting means to mourn ALOUD or to regret STRONGLY.
WOW!
You would really be hurting if you were mourning aloud.
Can you name a time when you would morn aloud?
Has there been a time in your life that you have regretted something in your live STRONGLY???
Knowing that all those years ago God was making a plan to comfort me during those times when I would be mourning aloud touches me in a way that only love can. Plans like that are not made for someone who is just, someone who know, those are plans for someone we have known personally, deeply, intimately…family.
Are you part of that family?
Have you laid on God lately and just mourned aloud or regretted strongly things you have done in the past, knowing, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that when you came to HIM and told Him what was going on in your life that HE would STILL love you and comfort you??? He made plans to do that over 2500 years ago…He knew you would need Him and His comfort.
Allow God to comfort you today. It is a feeling like you have never known before and one that you will never find again.
