Isaiah 61 The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;[a]
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;[b]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.[c]
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;[a]
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;[b]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.[c]
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and tend your
flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
8 For I the Lord love
justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;[d]
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
I hate robbery and wrong;[d]
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in
the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has 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.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has 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.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today is from the reading just read, especially these words, “I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my
soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of
salvation; he has covered me with the
robe of righteousness.” Thus far our
text.
Dear friends in
Christ. Christ is coming. He will be here soon. Come Lord Jesus. He comes to bring good news to the poor, to
bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to those who are captive, and
the opening of prisons. He comes to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s Favor and the day of vengeance. Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly.
You see, this
means he comes for us. He comes to save
us. To rescue us. We are the poor one, poor miserable
sinners. Guilty at every turn, guilty
for our sin, which we have committed by our fault, our own fault, our own most
grievous fault. And so he comes to bring
us good news of great joy – that born unto us in the city of David is a savior.
He comes for
us. To bind our broken hearts – hearts
broken by the pains of this world.
Broken by hurt. Broken by the
cares and worries of this life. Broken
by cancer, by loved ones lost in the last year.
Broken by stress. Our hearts ache
every day and every hour, so Christ comes.
He comes to save
us, to proclaim our liberty. For we have
been slaves to sin. We do the things we
know we ought not, and the things we should do we fail to do. We cannot help but sin, it infects us to our
very black rotten core. We are, as St.
Paul writes, slaves to sin, and Christ comes to set us free, to save us from
that sin, by his own death to our sin on the cross.
He comes to open
the prisons. No, not earthly prisons,
but the eternal prison of Hell. We who
for so long deserved hell because of our guilt now know that we are free,
pardoned by Christ. He purchased and won
us, not with silver and gold, but with his innocent suffering and death. That we might be his own, and live under him
in his kingdom.
Dear friend,
that’s what this season of Advent is about.
Christ is coming. TO make us his
own. To take us from this world of
sin. To make us poor, sinners - ugly
with sin, deserving of punishment – a beautiful bride for Christ. He comes, decked out in his finest, to bring
his bride the church into its eternal home.
As our text says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has
clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has 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.”
He has clothed us
in salvation and in his righteousness.
He has done this as we are washed of our sin. We belong to Christ, for we were marked as
his in baptism. We belong to him, for he
has made us well.
He’s coming. The sick to heal, the weak to be made strong,
the brokenhearted to be healed. He’s
coming. And you belong to him. Amen.
