Isaiah · chapter 61 of 66
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Isaiah 61 presents someone anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives and the year of the Lord's favor. It promises to exchange mourning for joy and ashes for beauty, to rebuild the ruins and to make Israel a people of priests with an everlasting covenant. Jesus read verses 1 and 2 in the synagogue at Nazareth.
Isaiah 61 continues the description of Zion's future glory that began in chapter 60. Here a figure anointed by the Spirit speaks, whose mission is to bring comfort and restoration. The passage is especially well known because Jesus read it in the synagogue at Nazareth and said it was being fulfilled at that moment (Luke 4:16-21).
Someone speaks and says: the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. To those who mourn in Zion he will give a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
Verses 4 through 9 announce the rebuilding: they will build up the ancient ruins, raise up the former devastations and repair the ruined cities. Foreigners will shepherd your flocks and work your fields, but you will be called the priests of the Lord and the ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations and in their glory you will boast. Instead of your shame there will be a double portion, and you will rejoice in your inheritance. For I the Lord love justice and hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their offspring will be known among the nations, and all who see them will acknowledge that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
The chapter ends with a song: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon the speaker, anointed to bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim liberty to the captives. Jesus read these words in Nazareth and declared that they were being fulfilled in him (Luke 4:18-21).
The messenger proclaims the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, and comforts all who mourn. In Nazareth Jesus stopped before the mention of vengeance, which many understand as a sign that his first coming was one of grace.
The Lord exchanges ashes for a beautiful headdress, mourning for the oil of gladness and a faint spirit for a garment of praise. God does not only comfort the one who weeps: he turns them into an oak of righteousness for his glory.
The speaker rejoices in the Lord, who clothed him with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom and a bride who adorn themselves. Salvation is a gift received, like someone putting on a new garment.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That the Spirit is upon him and the Lord has anointed him to bring good news to the poor. — Isaiah 61:1
Answer: To the captives and prisoners, as well as the brokenhearted. — Isaiah 61:1
Answer: A beautiful headdress, the oil of gladness and a garment of praise. — Isaiah 61:3
Answer: Priests of the Lord and ministers of our God. — Isaiah 61:6
Answer: He loves justice and hates robbery and wrong. — Isaiah 61:8
Answer: With garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness. — Isaiah 61:10
Isaiah 61 describes what God does with sadness: he changes it. In a class you can talk about moments when God turned mourning into joy, and how to accompany those who are still weeping. It is not a shallow message: the text acknowledges mourning before promising comfort.
The chapter also shows the mission of the church: to bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim liberty. A practical question for the small group: to whom in our neighborhood can we bring that good news in deeds and words? And in reading that the people will be called priests, we remember that every believer has access to God and a calling to serve.
Isaiah 61 presents the anointed one who brings good news and a people clothed in salvation. Chapter 62 continues with the promise that the Lord will not keep silent until Zion is vindicated and receives a new name.
In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus read the passage, closed the scroll and said that today it was fulfilled in the hearing of those present (Luke 4:16-21). His reading includes liberty for the captives and sight for the blind, and it stops before the phrase about the day of vengeance, which many understand as an indication that his first coming was to offer grace.
The text gives no name. In Isaiah's context it could be the Servant of the Lord, a prophet or the people anointed to serve, and the kinship with the Servant songs is evident. The New Testament sees in Jesus the full fulfillment of these words, as he himself stated in Nazareth.