“Section 18 of Handel’s Messiah opens with a command to ‘rejoice!’ This joy springs forth from the coming of the King, a savior. The term messiah means ‘anointed one’ and is tied to promises of David’s offspring who will sit on his father’s kingly throne forever” - Christ Over All
A sermon preached at Calvary Baptist Church in Simpsonville, SC in 2016.
Imagine with me that on Christmas morning, one of the gifts you receive is a small box. You hold it in your hands, and it isn’t very heavy. You shake it and it rattles a little. You know that good gifts come in small packages, so you tear off the paper with anticipation. Inside you find a key. Would you be excited?
“when you don’t grind or dig out a stump, sometimes there’s still life left in it, and these little shoots grow up, and they look like branches with leaves. That’s Isaiah’s image when he speaks of “a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots.” - Theology in 3D
“Scripture nowhere references the use of trees to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Nevertheless, on several occasions the OT prophetic books anticipate certain aspects of the Messiah’s ministry with a metaphor that’s related to a tree.” - BJU Seminary
“The fact that these well-known physiological effects of execution by crucifixion were predicted long before crucifixion was invented or employed makes the predictions all the more remarkable.” - Hugh Ross
Read the series.
(Luke 4:16-30 with Isaiah 61:1-2)
Jesus applied Isaiah 61:1-2a (below) to Himself. At first, this garnered praise from the synagogue crowd, but their praise quickly turned to scoffing. The Isaiah passage reads:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Read the series.
Yeshua was in His small hometown, Nazareth. He had probably read the Scriptures aloud in the local synagogue many times before, and would have been known to all. Yet this was the first time He read thusly after His ministry had been launched and His fame widespread.
Many locals wondered if He might be the Messiah—or perhaps the expected Moses-like prophet.1 The nature of the text He read demanded comment, but Yeshua’s bold but brief commentary enraged and antagonized his listeners.
“even in the midst of a blessed occasion for his family, Zechariah’s first words are about the Rescuer who has come as a horn of salvation for us (Luke 1:69); a Redeemer who is a Dayspring from on high that shatters the darkness (vs. 78-79). The whole Benedictus is vivid and moving.” - Brent Leatherwood
“I want to argue from the accounts of Mary in the Gospels that she knew all the points the song reveals, and probably quite a bit more.” - Word by Word
“’We have found him of whom Moses … and also the prophets wrote’ (John 1:45). He didn’t say, ‘Surprise! God sent a Savior.’” - TGC
