Isaiah 61: 1 - 3 The Year of Jubilee

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted, and to bind up the broken hearted. The Spirit sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisioners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengence of our God. He sent me to comfort those who mourn in Zion, giving them garland instead of ashes, and the oil of gladness instead of mourning.

This same message appears in the New Testament in Luke 4:17, where Jesus is the visiting rabbi in Nazarath which was originally his own home town. Jesus asked the attendant for the Scriptures and he turned to Isaiah 61 and read these passages aloud, after which time he stated that their promises are fufilled in his reading of the text. The crowd understood that he was proclaiming himself to be the long-anticipated Christ. They were expecting a heavenly savior to deliver them from the grip of Rome. Since these people knew Jesus' parents, they reacted in an uproar against Jesus and drove him out of town. If they would have accepted him for who he was, he could have brought in the Kingdom of Heaven at that time, but instead they made prisoners of themselves and rejected their Messiah King.

Daily Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are indeed King of King and Lord of Lords. Sometimes it seems easier to belive in my day than in thiers, because I know that you are who you present yourself to be and that because of that, you can forgive me of my sins and set aside my iniquities. There will be a day when Israel repents and receives you as their True King, but until that day I will continue to live in faith that all you intend to do will come to pass. In your name I pray Amen.