Jesus
is the antidote for every part of us that has been left in ruins. Matthew Henry
said of Isaiah 61, “As Isaiah was directed to proclaim liberty to the Jews in
Babylon, so was Christ, God’s messenger, to publish a more joyful jubilee to a
lost world.”
There
are many people who wind up with broken lives - some even shattered into pieces.
As a matter of fact, we all start out with broken lives because we are born
with a sin nature. Jesus does not want any life thrown away. He wants to renew,
rebuild, and restore every damaged or ruined life. Jesus not only can restore broken lives to usefulness,
but He is also willing to do it. Most
of us need restoration in at least one area of our lives. Yet nobody is
worthless. Nobody is useless. We just
need the touch of the Master’s hand. Jesus came to rebuild and restore us! God
has a plan. He is a builder and a rebuilder. God is a creator and a recreator.
He is a restorer of broken lives. If something needs to be restored, it was
obviously once in its prime, in healthy working condition. And it has somehow
fallen from that condition.
Let’s
look at the first part of Isaiah 61. Jesus read, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me. Anointed means to
rub with oil. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. That is what we need above
all, to have the Holy Spirit in us, leading us and empowering us.
Jesus
said one of the things He was anointed to do was to preach good tidings to the
meek. Good tidings are glad news. We are the meek. We are the poor and
afflicted, needy in circumstances. But the good news is that we can be raised
up and anointed. Then we can be the bearers of the good news! We can be on both
sides of this – We receive, then we give. We need to look at ourselves as both
receivers, and givers.
This
passage of scripture goes on to say, “he has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. Our heart is our mind, our will and emotions. Our heart is the
very center of who we are. That’s why we are told in Proverbs 4:23 to “Keep
your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues
of life.” What is in our hearts will spill out in everything we do. And we
don’t have to be broken. To be broken is to be hurt, crushed or broken in pieces.
Jesus can bind us up when we are broken. Just like a broken bone is set and
wrapped to cause it to merge together again, we can be wrapped tightly with
Jesus and grow as one with Him. We are the brokenhearted, yet we are the
binders of the brokenhearted by the anointing! Our restoration is the catalyst
by which we can offer others restoration through Jesus.
Jesus
also came to proclaim liberty to the captives and “and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound.” This tells us we can be free from our sins.
Chains and yokes can be cut off. Isaiah 10:27 says “And it shall
come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy
shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed
because of the anointing. The sin nature can be broken, and we can be free to
be joined to Jesus. But there is more. He said He would bring recovering
of sight to the blind. We all know Jesus restored blinded physical eyes, but He
will also restore our spiritual insight and enlighten us to the kingdom of God.
No more thinking from a darkened mind but having insight into spiritual things
by the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes I think we are not fully
aware of how blessed we are to be able to see spiritually and be free
spiritually. We are blessed to be able to understand spiritual things.
Jesus also came to “proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord”. Every 50th year in Israel was the
Year of Jubilee, the year of release. Servants were set at liberty. Debtors
had their debts wiped out, those who had mortgaged their lands, had them
returned to them again. And in our spiritual jubilee we have our sins washed
away, our sin debt paid and the blessings of the Lord restored to us! GOD IS A
RESTORER!
Next,
He speaks of “the day of vengeance of our God.” Vengeance is revenge. Satan had
taken possession of God’s creation, but Jesus took it back. Jesus
overcame. He conquered. If we are in Christ, we too are overcomers!
He
also came to comfort all that mourn, to give unto them beauty for ashes. What
kind of ashes do we have in our lives? Ashes are the charred remains of what
used to be alive and useful. You can’t recognize what it used to be from
looking at the ashes left behind. What places in us used to be thriving, but
are now a pile of ashes? He will give us beauty for those ashes. And He will
give us “the oil of joy for mourning”. Not just any joy, but joy unspeakable!
It comes from God, not the world. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. His
joy will raise us up in power. Have we lost it? Have we lost the joy of the
Lord? It can be found in His presence, in being connected to Him. Our joy can
be full by the Holy Spirit within us.
He
gives us “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Heaviness is a burdened,
failing spirit. But Jesus will replace it with a spirit of praise if we let
Him.
Jesus
fulfilled all this so that we might be called trees of righteousness, the
planting of the Lord so that that He
might be glorified. That God’s glory would be openly seen through us as others
see His righteousness in us.
This
is what God desires for us. We don’t have to beg Him to do it. It is already
done. We just need to receive it.
What
has been damaged in your life? What is
no longer working in you? What lies in
ruins and ashes? What has you so
burdened that your shoulders are drooping, and your legs are shaking under the
weight? You can be stored!
Hebrews
12:12-13 says, “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and
the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is
lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”
This
prophecy that Jesus fulfilled goes on to say, “And they shall build the old
wastes,
“ancient ruins”. Those are the
places in our lives that have been ruined and destroyed. They crumbled slowly,
a little at a time, so we accepted it as part of our lives a little bit at a
time. Jesus came so those places can be restored, rebuilt and repaired. Are we
willing to live with things as they are, or do we want to rebuild? Are we okay
with being frail and unable to move forward, or have we decided to rise up?
I
love the wording here. It says, “they shall raise up the former desolations”
They aren’t just seeing the unfruitful deserts that used to be lush and green
and remembering when it was full of life and bearing much fruit. They aren’t
just wishing for the glory days when all was good. They decide to do something
about it. Where we have been unfruitful, are we willing to accept it, or do we
want to raise it back up by the anointing of the Holy Spirit?
“And
they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.” It
may have been in that sad condition for a long time, but today can be the day
to change it all. We don’t have to accept things in the broken condition they
are in, no matter how long they have been that way. Instead of saying, “Well, that’s
how it’s always been.”, we can bring back the glory of God to it and shine in
righteousness. It can be repaired, new, put back in good condition, renewed,
restored. Iniquitous traits are passed from generation to generation when
people say, “Well, that’s how it has always been.” But they can stop the cycle
when someone finally says, “Jesus restores. We can put a stop to it because of
what Jesus has done for us.” Are we willing to break free from how it’s always
been when “how it’s always been” is less than what God has for us? We have a
part in it. God will help us, but we
have to take the first step. Remember, before healing people or having them
join Him, Jesus often said things like, “Stretch forth your hand”, “Go wash in
the pool of Siloam”, “Follow Me” “Come unto Me”. We have a part to play. We
have a choice to make. Are we willing to live with things broken down and in
ruins, or do we want to be restored, rebuilt, renewed and made useful again?
“Therefore strengthen
the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be
healed.”
