Jubilee: What He Added
Jubilee: What He Added
I love food. I love to cook. The sounds, the ingredients, the spices. Art, chemistry, physics, and skill all converge to engage all of your 5 senses. You hear the sizzle of the pan seared crusted chicken, the aroma of sauteed garlic and onions fill the room, the heat is inviting while demanding respect as it transforms food inside the pan. You see the varying vibrant colors of the vegetables as the pasta drops into a nearby pot of water brought to a rolling boil.
But what really brings a pasta dish together is the sauce. When I cooked at a hotel, I was a saucier which meant I specialized in sauces, soups, and seasonings. The key to great food is selecting the right seasonings, tasting as you go, and creating a symphony of flavors that compliment one another.
Selecting the right spice will make it taste good. Garnishing it makes it beautiful. It’s all in what you add that can turn an ordinary meal into a masterpiece.
We have been looking at Luke 4 where Jesus reads from Isaiah. As we compare what Jesus said with the original text, we find that He added something, changed something, and removed something.
Today, we are going to look at what He added that turned this well-known passage into a prophetic declaration that changed everything.
Please stand for the reading of God’s word as I read the account in Luke 4 and the passage Jesus quoted in Isaiah 61.
Luke 4:17-19 He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Isaiah 61:1-2 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; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God…
You may be seated.
PRAY
In Jesus’ reading, He added a line, changed a line, and removed a line.
The Word was teaching the word. He was paraphrasing, explaining, and fulfilling it all at the same time.
Luke 4:18 …He has anointed Me… to proclaim… recovery of sight to the blind
Was He going to heal physical eyes? Yes – He healed two blind men by touching their eyes. Another by straight up spitting on their eyes. And Blind Bartimaeus which speculate that he may have been born without eyeballs so Jesus spit on the ground, made mud, shoved the mud balls into the sockets then told him to find some water and wash it out. -Here’s mud in your eye.
This isn’t the first time we see God make body parts out of dirt.
Genesis 2:7 The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground
So, yes, Jesus did heal blind eyes, but that’s not what He’s talking about. Jesus is anointed by the Spirit of God to heal us from spiritual blindness and enable us to recover our spiritual sight.
Genesis 1:1, 3 In the beginning God created… God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
John 1:1, 4-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Greek word here for comprehend has little to do with understanding, and much more to do with perception. Light shines in the darkness, but those that were in darkness could not perceive what God was doing.
John 3:20-21 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
Jesus opened the spiritual eyes of those that would come to the truth. Your eyes let in light so you can see, your spiritual eyes allow for revelation which brings transformation and life.
1 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
You become what you behold. What are you looking at, giving your attention to? Social media? The news? Entertainment? Other people? No wonder this generation has more anxiety and attention disorders than any other period in history.
You want to become more like Jesus? Look at Him. Straight in His face. In the word, in prayer, and in worship. The more time you spend beholding the Anointed One, the more anointing you will have, the more Jubilee and the Kingdom you will see and experience.
Matthew 6:22-23 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Jesus is talking about our souls. The eye or the amount of revelation that we can perceive is the window to the soul. The shutter that determines how much light gets in and how clear the picture becomes.
Our sinful nature is bent toward sin, evil, darkness, and rebellion. If we let in the light, it will displace the darkness in our souls. If we feed an already dark nature with evil, darkness, flesh, and the world, it will only magnify and amplify the darkness and depravity of our souls.
If I’m looking at horror flicks, violent movies, pornography, or worthless media, it will only cause my flesh, worldliness, and rebellion to grow stronger, choking out the life and light of God in my heart.
There were many in Jesus’ day who would not allow Him to open the eyes of their heart. Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:9-10.
Matthew 13:14-15 (Isaiah 6:9-10) Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.
How do we see so we can be healed?
Revelation 3:17-18 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Laodicea was an affluent city, busy with industry and trade. The exported black fine wool and other commodities. It was also known for its medical school which treated eye problems with a special eye salve called Phrygian ointment which was a combination of oil, spice nard, crushed Phrygian stone.
Jesus used eye salve, something that made them rich and that they were famous for, to illustrate the fact that they were spiritually blind.
The Laodiceans were counseled to buy eye salve from Jesus. That same counsel applies to us as well. We must buy it. That means that it will cost us something. Time, money, our pet sins, ungodly relationships, our rights, etc.
Matthew 10:39 Those who seek their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for My sake will find it.
This means spending time in God’s word. Growing in prayer. Disciplining yourself in fasting. Sacrificing to help others. Serving in the church. Etc.
Just as you would apply eye salve to your eyes so they can be healed and your sight return to normal, we are to apply the anointing oil that comes from spending time with Jesus to our spiritual eyes so that we can see.
We need to be healed. We are blind and we need to recover our spiritual sight. We need revelation and transformation.
Hebrews 12:1-2 let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith
As we repent of our sin, get into God’s word, and buy eye salve from Jesus, He will heal our spiritual blindness so that we can see what God is doing in us, through us, and around us in our world.
Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
This is the prophetic fulfilment of
2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Ashbury Revival. Started by 1 person repenting of their sin. A spirit of repentance and the fear of the Lord fell in that place.
If you need healing, it starts with confessing your sins to God and asking for forgiveness.
Then get into God’s word and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal His word to you -Let there be light.
Spend time with Jesus, the Anointed One, and He will reveal Himself to you.