Luke 4: 17-21
"And he was given the book of the prophet Isaiah; and having opened the book, I find the place where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives, and sight to the blind; And to set the oppressed free, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he rolled up the book, gave it to the minister, and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, This scripture has been fulfilled today before you. "
In order for us to understand what we have just read, we need to understand a few truths:
- First we need to understand how a Jewish synagogue works. The Jewish synagogue was not a place of sacrifice, but a place where Jews gathered to read and teach:
a) The Pentateuch, the first five books of the old testament written by Moses
b) The books of the prophets
- There was only one temple and this was in Jerusalem, the capital, but in each city there was a synagogue, and in Nazareth it was no exception.
The difference between a temple and a synagogue, is that in the temple there is a priest to minister the temple, instead in the synagogue they all shared, and so they learned from each other, and under this rule was given to Christ the prophet Isaiah's scroll to read it, notice how the Bible says: he was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah to read it.
It was not that Jesus Christ called himself the Messiah but had already been prophesied of Him some 600 years ago.
It was also part of the custom that when the person finished reading the scroll he would sit down and give an explanation to all those who were gathered about what was read, and Jesus began to share with them what he had read, but all that he he could say was: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled before you.
This message was very clear and also very well directed to the following types of people:
the poor
the brokenhearted
the captives
The blind
the primates
On this first day of the campaign we will be touching the five topics briefly, but our message will be focused on one of them who is the brokenhearted. which means the word "broken in heart" literally means: being bent by calamities
- We see that there are two very important things that we must take into account in verse 18:
1 .- "because he has anointed me"
2 .- "You have sent me"
Because he has anointed me: the Lord was anointed to carry out the work of internal healing, he has the anointing, the Bible says: that the anointing rots all yoke, there is no disease in the heart that he can not heal.
He has sent me: As God is everywhere he knows the brokenhearted, so we say that is the reason he sent Jesus Christ to heal the brokenhearted.
- There are four things we must do in order to be healed of the broken heart:
a.- We must show God our pain, be honest with God it is not a sin to have pain but that pain will turn into bitterness in a wound that never heals, but we give it to God.
b. We must set free those who have caused us pain, we must learn to forgive them and let them go.
c. We must replace the old wounds with the truth of God, sometimes we are infested with bad thoughts of the past. The Bible says in:
Romans 12: 2- Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable will of God.
d. Refocus in the future, forgetting the things of the past, and waiting for the things that are to come, the Bible says: Philippians 3:13
