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The First Sunday in Epiphany
January 11, 2009
Our Lord Reveals Himself in Scripture

TEXT:  NKJ Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 "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; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
 
We review what the Scriptures tell us about where Jesus lived until He began His ministry
 
NKJ Luke 2:39 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.
 
Jesus remained in Nazareth until He began His ministry at age 30
 
NKJ Luke 3:23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
 
After Jesus was baptized—after His 40 days of temptation in the wilderness—Jesus moved to Capernaum—as prophesied
 
NKJ Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 15 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned."
 
Apparently Joseph was no longer alive when Jesus started His ministry—and Jesus moved His mother and brothers and sisters to Capernaum to be closer to Him while He did the work of the Father
 
NKJ John 2:12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.
 
They didn’t stay there many days because it was time to travel to Jerusalem for the Passover—the move to Capernaum was a fulfillment of the prophecy given to Isaiah
 
NKJ Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.
 
We’ve discussed previously how God spoke from heaven when Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan—and yet now in our text we see Jesus reveal Himself to those attending the synagogue—He revealed Himself to those people just as He reveals Himself to people today—in the Holy Word of God—we begin to discuss our lesson—let’s take a look at a parallel passage
 
NKJ Matthew 13:54 And when He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?" 57 So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
 
Look at what we know—use the information as a background to better understand what God wants us to learn from today’s lesson—first we know that Jesus was taken to Nazareth after His offering at the Temple and His circumcision—He was raised—educated—made friends—and had family and relatives in Nazareth
 
Now we can get a mental image of the people attending synagogue one day—and they see Jesus—who left there not too long ago—standing before the teachers and scribes with all authority and knowledge—those that attended may have heard of His miracle at the wedding in Cana—no wonder the people were amazed—where did He learn all these things?—how could He turn water into wine?—He was the son of a carpenter—He was not a well-educated man in the eyes of the world
 
He lived the life of a carpenter—certain things were expected of Him—and those things did not include an in-depth knowledge of the Scriptures—and they certainly did not include standing before the priests, Pharisees, and scribes with an assumed authority—perhaps it is no wonder that those who were closest to the Savior—relatives—friends—people who knew Him well rejected Him in unbelief—this was to be expected—as we read earlier
 
NKJ Matthew 13:57 So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
 
TEXT:  NKJ Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
 
As you read the Gospels—you see repeated examples of Jesus using the synagogues as a place to teach and preach His message—hence Luke writes—“as His custom was”—it is likely that an increasingly famous preacher attending the synagogue in Nazareth would have attracted a maximum capacity crowd—it was the worship custom of the time to have one of the attending men stand and read a passage from one of the Books of Moses—then hand the scroll back to the scribe—a second man would stand and read the second reading of the day—and it would be from one of the prophets—then the man would hand the scroll back to the scribe—sit down—and at his option, that man could offer a short comment on his reading
 
Jesus chose to volunteer for the second reading—and offer a comment—most of the commentators I’ve read indicate that due to His popularity—Jesus was more than likely expected to read one of the readings—this would have been the first time in His ministry that Jesus spoke in Nazareth—and as far as we know—it was the last
 
Notice Jesus did not ask for the scroll containing the writings of the prophet Isaiah—it was handed to Him—but it does seem to indicate that He sought to read the verse He chose—and it was so appropriate for this occasion—the verses He selected were
 
NKJ Isaiah 61:1 "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; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
 
This is early in Jesus’ ministry—His baptism is fresh in the minds of those in the synagogue that day—the physical image of the Holy Spirit descending upon Him like a dove is fresh in their minds—they may not have seen it—but they have certainly heard the story of the event
 
 
 
 
If we look at the original language—we once again find that there is a weakness in the translation—To preach the Gospel to the poor—the word translated as “POOR” really means one who is bent over in humility—such as a poor beggar—one who has nothing—one who has no reason to walk tall—this passage refers to one who is poor in spirit—who humbles himself—who cannot look up toward the face of God—one who trembles at the mere Word “God”—more than a state or condition—this is a condition of the soul—an attitude toward God
 
“To proclaim liberty to the captives”—As we read these words we conjure up an image of prisoners of war—those held by the devil—bound in our sins—hopelessly held until set free or liberated by a power greater than the power of the captor—Satan—to proclaim liberty to these prisoners of war in the battle against Satan—Jesus merely proclaims God’s Word as recorded by Isaiah—what an awesome message—what awesome power—Jesus came to redeem our sins—Jesus came to give us victory over death—Jesus came to give us power to defeat Satan
 
The people of Nazareth had just listened to Jesus—the Christ—the Word—read to them from God’s Word—had they only known what they were experiencing—but like the people of this world—those of Nazareth rejected the Messiah—not rudely—not boisterously—but quietly went on with their worldly lives—much like most people reject Christ today—quietly—and to their damnation
 
These people of Nazareth who attended the synagogue that day—were standing in the presence of salvation—and they rejected it—because they thought they knew Jesus—they had their own worldly opinion of the Messiah—and they had their own opinion of who Jesus was
 
Our job as Christians is to present the Gospel message—and help people see Jesus clearly—but we will not always see an increase in those who have salvation—and we will not always see an increase in our number within these walls—take heart—the people of Nazareth listened to the reading of the Scripture by the Savior Himself—and they rejected Him—If they rejected Him—why would we not expect them to reject us—it is the message that they reject—not the messenger—Satan offers them the temptations of the pleasures of this world—and many refuse to let those go to grasp on to a life of obedience to God—the Apostle Paul understood well when he wrote for us
 
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
 
Our Lord Jesus revealed Himself in the Scriptures that day in the synagogue of Nazareth—and the increase of believers did not come—spend what little time we have on this earth revealing our Lord in those same Scriptures—so that God may give the increase
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!