WHY did Yeshua NOT COMPLETE reading Isaiah 61:1-2?

Text: ISAIAH 61:1-2; LUKE 4:17-21

The spirit of My Lord Yahweh is on Me Because Yahweh anoints Me to bear tidings to the humble; He sends Me to bind up the broken of heart, To herald to captives, liberty, And to the sightless, unclosed eyes, And to the bound, emancipation,

2 To herald an acceptable year for Yahweh, And a day of vengeance for our Elohim; To comfort all mourners,…(Isaiah 61:1-2)

17 And handed to Him was a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and, opening the scroll, He found the place where it was written,

18 "The spirit of the Lord is on Me, On account of which He anoints Me to bring the evangel to the poor. He has commissioned Me to heal the crushed heart, To herald to captives a pardon, And to the blind the receiving of sight; To dispatch the oppressed with a pardon.

19 To herald an acceptable year of the Lord..."

20 And furling the scroll, giving it back to the deputy, He is seated. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were looking intently at Him.

21 Now He begins to be saying to them that "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:17-21).

Dear blog reader, I hope this week’s blog blesses you.

You may be wondering why I pasted two scriptures that discussed the same thing but if you look at both passages more carefully, one of them was not complete. You can find that in Luke 4:19. For you to understand this week’s blog pretty well, please, go back and read both passages over and over.

The book of Isaiah gave us the summary of all that Yeshua (Christ, Jesus) has to do when he comes to this earth. During his time on earth, he performed miracles which included but not limited to providing new wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2); healed the sick (Matthew 9:22 and Matthew 14:14); he showed compassion on people and healed them (Matthew 20:34); helped the leprosy man (Mark 1:41); spoke healing words to the helpless woman (John 4: 4-29); raised dead people to give hope and joy to their families (Luke 7:11-17; 8:40-56; and John 11); fed thousands of people (John 6;1-13; Matthew 14:13-21) among others. He finally got crucified (Matthew 27:45-54), died and resurrected on the third day (Matthew 28:5-7). One may think he has completed his mission. This is not true. 

There is one more thing he is yet to do. This is the heralding of the acceptable year of the Lord. This last mission involves a lot of activities in it. You would see the three dots (…) on Luke 4:19 above. I did not find it like this in KJV, NIV, NKJV, NLT or even ESV. All these bible version ended with a quotation mark and a full stop. This is an incorrect interpretation of this verse. Every word and punctuation can change the subject of each bible verse. Well, my bible version paid attention on this truth and lay more emphasis on the mission of Yeshua. Luke 4:19 apparently implies that the verse/statement was not completed. It was not yet the time for him to execute this particular mission but to come as a Lambkin of the world (John 1:29). You would also see in Luke 20-21 that he closed the scroll and shut it up while the congregation was ready to hear from him. So, he informed them that these words of prophecy were fulfilled. It means, he has begun to execute these prophecies but has not come to completed it all. This is why I encourage you to read these scriptures and this week’s blog over and over for proper understanding. 

So, what does heralding an acceptable year of the Lord means? 

1. First of all, it does not means preaching the “gospel” to the uttermost part of the world as you may have been told according to Matthew 28: 19-20. Do not get it mixed-up. When John the Baptist said that the kingdom of Yahweh is at hand (Matthew 3:2) and Yeshua said the kingdom is already here (Luke 17:21), it does not mean that Yeshua has started to reign. This one thing is yet to be executed.

2. The truth about the salvation Yeshua brought to humanity is only revealed to a few people. When I say this, it does not mean that many people are not aware of it but not everyone knows the truth about it. Otherwise, John 19:30 should be well grounded in people’s mind. Unfortunately, most people find it hard to believe. They prefer to be part of this work of salvation. 1 Timothy 4:10 is another thing that most religious people find very difficult to understand. So, it takes faith of Yahweh for people to understand this. 

3. Faith is given by Yahweh (Galatians 5:22-23) to whoever he wants. Please, do not get me wrong, Yahweh gives faith to people in different measures (Romans 12:3). You may have faith on any issue and hope for God’s intervention but this is not about salvation of humanity. The true believers believe that by grace through faith they have been saved. They truly understand that salvation is not by their works or trying to demonstrate self-righteousness (Ephesians 2:8-9). The faith to believe the true Yeshua’s work of salvation is given by Yahweh to whoever he wills. It is not what you can earn by any means. 

4. The acceptable year of the Lord is when it is time in the eyes and mind of Yahweh for Yeshua to begin his kingdom. Prior this, Yeshua will snatch the members of his body away to himself first. These are the ambassadors of Christ. This will be followed with the opening of all 7 seals according to the book of Revelation and the rest 14 plagues. As a matter of fact, the first seal appears to be ready to be opened but Christ’s Ambassadors need to be taken away first. I like to discuss this more in my future blog.

5. Yeshua will conquer the Vicar of Christ (Anti-Christ), Satan and the false Prophet to gain the world’s kingdom. It would be the time of vengeance of the Lord. This is when his kingdom starts. Yahweh will empower his son to overcome all his enemies and he will reign for 1,000 years (1 Corinthians 15:24-28 and Revelation 19). In this period, all nations would have been subdued under Yeshua. There will be peaceful period. Satan will not be able to deceive the whole world throughout this period.

So, you can see why Yeshua closed the scroll in the presence of multitudes in the synagogue? He knew there is time for everything but the last part of Isaiah 61:1-2 was not read to the congregation. It was not yet the time. Now, the time is getting closer for him to execute it. However, all other events have to occur before he concludes his mission. That is why he has to come back not as a Lambkin but as a Lion! He is coming back to reign as the King of Kings. Amen. 

I hope you have now understood why Yeshua acted the way he did in Luke 4:17-21? His mission is already written in the scroll.  He knew what he was doing. He was acting according to his father’s directives. There is time for everything. All prophetic words in the scriptures are lined up to be fulfilled according to the timeline of Yahweh. 

Thanks for taking time to read this week’s blog.

Grace and Peace.

Sources:

https://www.concordant.org/version/read-concordant-old-testament-online/the-book-of-isaiah/

https://www.concordant.org/version/read-concordant-new-testament-online/03-luke/