SS Text and Thoughts for Sunday - Isaiah 61:1-11, Luke 4, Mark 1:15

As we enter the Christmas Season, lets take a look at something we might not consider very often.  What God really values.

What God Values
Scriptures: Isaiah 61:1-11


We cannot overlook the fact that Jesus chose verses from this chapter of Isaiah to read when He appeared at the synagogue of His hometown early in His earthly ministry (read Luke 4). It's also noteworthy that Jesus added words from Isaiah 58 - that He had come to preach recovery of sight to the blind. If you would like to read another passage that adds clarity to the reasons why Jesus came into the world, read Mark 1:15, the first words the Lord utters in that book. When Jesus arrived, the kingdom of God was brought near to the lost. His message was that all should repent of their sins and believe the good news of salvation through His coming atonement.

To value what God values means we appreciate and communicate the incredible sacrifice His Son made for us because of the value the Father saw in us even as sinners. The language of Isaiah 61 is pre-exilic, meaning that it explains events prior to Judah's fall to Babylon. Having this chapter framed correctly, you can see how the prophet's words would have been a great comfort to Judah years later as her people lived oppressed and downtrodden by their captors. God really did redeem His people from captivity and restored them in their land, just as He promised. And these promises also point forward to the coming Redeemer who would loose the bonds of sin and open the eyes of the spiritually blind to the new life He would bring. The Spirit of the Lord is on Christ to set captives free and bring them into eternal joy.

To really understand how much God values justice, consider that injustice was one of the main reasons He punished Israel and Judah with exile. Read through the major prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, and time after time you will see God's accusations of His people's mistreatment of the poor and vulnerable in their midst. Idolatry was another major complaint, but injustice ranks up there beside it.

Finding ourselves as believers, standing before God clothed in Christ's righteousness, we realize how undeserving we are of His mercy. Each one of us is the one who has neglected the poor, chosen our own advancement over the good of others, and overlooked the marginalized. Just as Israel and Judah had done, we are all lawbreakers in God's sight. We are deserving of exile and banishment from His presence. But His Son has made peace between us and the Father. His work on our behalf makes possible our genuine action to help right some of the wrongs we see in the world. But none of our responses will mean anything in eternity if we forget to use them as opportunities to preach Christ and Him crucified.