September 25, 2016 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON Because God Loves Justice and Hates Wrongdoing MINISTRY INVOCATION O God: We give thanks to You for the manifold blessings to us. You did not have to bless us but You did. We shall remain eternally grateful. Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND Messiah announces His twofold commission to bring gospel mercy at His first coming, and judgments on unbelievers and comfort to Zion at His second coming (Is 61:1 9); the language can be applied to Isaiah, comforting by his prophecies the exiles in Babylon, only in a subordinate sense. THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost for all believers and that the Holy Ghost verifies and validates the Believer as part of the Body of Christ. TEXT: Background Scripture Key Verse Lesson Scripture Isaiah 61:1-4 & 8-11 (NKJV) The Good News of Salvation 61 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because 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; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 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, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. 4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, 1
And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. 8 9 10 11 For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Commentary: Verses 1 3. THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD. The words of our Lord in Luke 4:21, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears, preclude the application of this passage to any other than the Lord himself. Verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; literally, the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah (Adonai Jehovah) is upon me. In the original announcement of the Servant it was stated that God had put his Spirit upon him. The sanctification of our Lord s human nature by the Holy Spirit is very explicitly taught in the Gospels. The Lord hath anointed me. The anointing of Jesus was that sanctification of his human nature by the Holy Spirit, which commenced in the womb of the blessed Virgin, which continued as he grew to manhood, which was openly manifested at his baptism, and never ceased until he took his body and soul with him into heaven. Of this spiritual anointing, all material unction, whether under the Law or under the gospel was symbolical or typical. To preach good tidings. Unto the meek. To bind up the broken-hearted where this is declared to be the office of Jehovah himself. Binding up is an ordinary expression in Isaiah s writings for healing. To proclaim liberty to the captives. This was one of the special offices of the Servant. The captivity intended is doubtless that of sin. And the opening of the prison to them that are bound. 2
Verse 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. An acceptable year, or year of acceptance, is a space of time during which God would be pleased to accept such as repented and turned to him. It is, of course, not intended to limit the space to a year. The space is rather the term of our sojourn here below. The day of vengeance. The day of vengeance is contrasted with the year of acceptance, to indicate God s long-suffering and patience towards sinners. To comfort all that mourn; i.e. all who sorrow after a godly sort all who mourn their transgressions and shortcomings, their sins, negligences and ignorances, with a hearty desire to be rid of them, and to serve God truly in the future. Verse 3. To appoint to give. Messiah is sent to give to the godly mourners (1) beauty for ashes; or a crown for ashes, i.e. a crown of glory in lieu of the ashes of repentance which it was customary to sprinkle upon the head; (2) the oil of joy for mourning; or the anointing of the Spirit in lieu of that plenteousness of tears which naturally belonged to mourners; and (3) the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, or a glad heart inclined to praise God, in lieu of a heavy one inclined to despair. Christian experience witnesses to the abundant accomplishment of all these purposes. That they might be called trees of righteousness; literally, oaks of righteousness, or strong and enduring plants in the garden of God, planted by him, in order that through them he might be glorified. Nothing gives so much glory to God as the proved righteousness of his saints. The planting of the Lord; i.e. which he has planted and caused to grow, and rendered righteous. The righteousness, though it is their own, an indwelling quality, has nevertheless come from him. Verses 4 9. GOD S PURPOSE OF DEALING GRACIOUSLY WITH ISRAEL. Having proclaimed the objects of his own mission, the Servant proceeds to declare God s gracious purposes towards Israel. Taking the Captivity period for his standpoint, he promises, first, the restoration of the cities of Judah, and then a flourishing time in which Jews and Gentiles shall dwell together in one community peacefully and gloriously, Israel having a certain pre-eminence (verses 5 9. Verse 4. They shall build the old wastes. The first step in the recovery of Israel from the misery of the Captivity would be a return to Palestine, and a general restoration of the ruined towns. It was a ruin of many generations, having commenced, probably, with the invasion of Pharaoh-Necho in B.C. 608, and being continued until the edict of Cyrus. Verse 5. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks The Gentiles who join themselves with the Jews, and form with them one community, are constantly represented in the writings of Isaiah as occupying a subordinate position. In the New Testament, Jew and Gentile are put upon a par. Is the explanation that Isaiah assumes that the Jews generally will accept the gospel, and therefore, to 3
some extent, retain their privileges in the new community, whereas, in fact, they rejected the gospel, and so lost their natural position? Or does Isaiah look onward to a later date? Is there to be a restoration of Israel according to the flesh upon their conversion, and a reinstatement of them in a position of privilege? The sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and your vinedressers. Not so much compelled, like the Gibeonites (Josh. 9:21 27), to perform menial offices, as undertaking them voluntarily out of good will. Verse 6. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord. By the covenant made at Sinai, Israel was to be a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. Had they risen to the height of their calling when our Lord and his disciples offered them salvation before offering it to the Gentiles, they might have been in the midst of the heathen who had entered into the congregation of Jehovah and become the people of God, what the Aaronites formerly were in the midst of Israel itself. Will they ever now obtain this position? Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles. The Gentiles, when they came in, would freely offer to the Church of their substance. Verse 7. For your shame ye shall have double. Instead of the shame and confusion of face which were the portion of Israel during the Captivity; they should after their restoration to Palestine have double their former glory and double their former territory. An increase of territory had been already prophesied, an increase which, however, was not so much an extension of the bounds of Palestine as a spread of the Church over the whole earth. For confusion; rather, as for disgrace. So far from feeling disgraced, they will rejoice, or exult, in their portion; i.e. in the territory assigned them. It will be ample; and their life in it will be one of everlasting joy. The speaker passes on in his thought to the time of the new heavens and the new earth, which he regards as continuous with that of Israel s return. Verse 8. For I the Lord love judgment. Either the Servant here identifies himself with Jehovah, or he cites a declaration of Jehovah which he has authority to announce. Jehovah will restore the Israelites to their land because he loves judgment (equivalent to justice ) and hates injustice. The Babylonian conquest, though a judgment sent by him, is, so far as the Babylonians are concerned, a wrong and a robbery. I hate robbery for burnt offering; rather, I hate robbery with wickedness. The transplantation of nations was a gross abuse of the rights of conquest. I will direct their work in truth; rather, I will give them their recompense faithfully. As they have been wronged, they shall be righted; they shall be faithfully and exactly compensated for what they have suffered. Nay, more over and above this, God will give them the blessing of an everlasting covenant. 4
Verse 9. Their seed shall be known; or, shall be illustrious (Lowth), renowned. A halo of renown still, in the eyes of many, attaches to Jewish descent. Among the people; rather, among the peoples. The seed which the Lord hath blessed; rather, a seed. The blessing has passed in the main to the Israel of God. Verses. 10, 11. JERUSALEM ACCEPTS THE PROMISES, AND GLORIES IN JEHOVAH. Verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. The promises made were such as naturally to call forth on the part of Israel the most heartfelt joy and rejoicing including, as they did, restoration, rule over the Gentiles, a universal priesthood, a wide territory, everlasting joy, a high renown, and an everlasting covenant. He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. The result is to make Israel as a bridegroom who decketh himself with a priestly crown, and as a bride who adorneth herself with her jewels. That bridegrooms ordinarily wore crowns. Verse 11. As the garden; rather, as a garden. The Hebrew is without the article. Righteousness and praise. The essential result of righteousness is salvation; its accidental result is praise or renown. Men cannot but recognize the benefits which flow to themselves from goodness in others; and a perfectly righteous nation would attract to itself universal praise, I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord ). RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS CLOSING PRAYER My God: I am grateful to have found You and kept You in the forefront of my being. Bless us continually with Your grace and mercy. They represent bountiful blessings for all of us. Amen. 5