The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”20And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4
In this passage Jesus picks up the scroll from Isaiah 61 and said “This is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It is the fulfillment that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him to do God’s mission on the earth.
Fast forward 30 something years. Jesus is about to go to heaven, and he says this to his disciples:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Acts 1:8
Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit on his believers. Suddenly, an epiphany hits: The same Spirit which anointed Jesus for ministry now anoints us.
There needs to be, metaphorically speaking, a time when the church will pick up the scroll about herself and proclaim: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me! To preach good news to the poor! To bind up the brokenhearted! To set the captives free! And to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor!
The church will recognize the calling that God has called her to and the power that God has equipped her to do the task.
Because the Spirit of God is within us, powerlessness is inexcusable. Powerless naturalistic Christianity is pushed off as abnormal.
Our greatest harvest lie ahead! But our greatest fiends are poor vision and the God-awful American spirit of self-sufficiency.
My prayer is that God would raise up the church in power to walk this calling out!
