Reveal Day 4 Heartache’s Hope: Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
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The Questions
1) Who has been anointed and sent in these verses?
2) What needs rebuilding, restored and renewed in verse 4?
3) Who is Isaiah addressing in these verses?
Isaiah 61:1-4
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
Original Intent
1) Who has been anointed and sent in these verses?
There is speculation on who the speaker of these verses could be, but what is clear is their connection to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Isaiah 6:1-8 paints the remarkable picture of Isaiah’s calling. He was willing to go and speak as the Lord’s mouthpiece to His people, Israel. God had anointed Isaiah to go and do the work of the Lord because Isaiah was willing. In the first half of Isaiah the prophet foretells the judgment to come against Israel, but this section of Isaiah provides flourishing hope. The prophecy proclaims a time yet to come when Israel would be taken captive by Babylon, but then delivered from their captivity. However, Isaiah’s good news does not end there; He is also telling of a time when Jesus would walk on earth and forever release God’s people as captives through His sacrifice on the cross as He would take the penalty of our sin on Himself. Centuries later, Jesus quoted Isaiah’s words in Luke 4:18-19 proclaiming that the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words had finally transpired. Regardless of whether the speaker is actually Isaiah, the hope-filled message declaring a coming Rescuer is certain. There is a promise of a future blessing for God’s people, and Jesus adds a new layer of promise to these verses when He comes in fullness as God and man.
2) What needs rebuilding, restored and renewed in verse 4?
Isaiah prophesied of the coming destruction of both the Northern and Southern Kingdom of Israel. The Assyrians would take Israel, the Northern Kingdom, captive in 722 BC and Babylon would conquer Judah, the Southern Kingdom, in 586 BC. Jerusalem would be destroyed, and God’s people would be dispersed. However, captivity and destruction were not the final destiny of God’s people. God had no intention of abandoning His promise to Abraham generations before, but instead uses the destruction and captivity to usher in a time of spiritual renew for His people. Isaiah tells of a time when Israel would be restored to glory both as a city and as His people. They would no longer be a place of ruin and destruction but a thriving people chosen for His purpose. Nehemiah tells the story of a portion of this rebuilding as he leads the re-building of Israel’s wall and the city begins to be reestablished. Later, the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) tell of the ultimate restoration when Jesus is born through the promised bloodline of Judah and King David.
3) Who is Isaiah addressing in these verses?
Isaiah was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom. He prophesied the punishment coming to Judah because of their sinful rebellion against God. The entire book, not just this section, is a call for Judah to return to God as His people while also telling of the coming Messiah through His people just as He had long ago promised to Abraham. These verses continue to be aimed at this audience who, yet again, strayed from their True Love, Yahweh, and would face destruction so God could lovingly regain their attention. God would use their redemption to continue moving history towards His ultimate purpose of redeeming all of Creation.
Everyday Application
1) Who has been anointed and sent in these verses?
Isaiah’s calling and anointing in Isaiah 6 has always been amazing to me. God gave him a vision and Isaiah was immediately willing to go and proclaim God’s words. God uses Isaiah to proclaim judgment Israel would soon face, but the promise of redemption was also included. Isaiah’s glimpse into the coming salvation of all people through the person of Jesus, the anointing of our Savior is astounding! We have the blessing of living on the side of history after both of these events, Israel’s captivity and Jesus’ coming to earth. Jesus fulfilled God’s promise through Isaiah to “set the captives free”, and it is now our calling to proclaim the same good news Isaiah so willingly declared. While the redemption work of Jesus was completed on the cross, there is still work to be done until He returns. Will we echo Isaiah’s words with a willing heart, “Here am I. Send me!”? (Isaiah 6:8)
2) What needs rebuilding, restored and renewed in verse 4?
Jerusalem is in ruins from Babylon captivity and is no longer a place of prominence. The city, and the hearts of the people, are desperately in need of restoration to the One to Whom they belong. While Jesus was the fulfillment of the restoration for Israel, God’s plan did not end there. Jesus came to redeem and restore every human heart’s broken relationship with the God of the Universe because of our sinful choices. When our faith is in Jesus, and we accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, we are restored, and made righteous, in His sight. However, even this is not the end! There is still a coming renewal promised in the return of Jesus. He will come again in all His glory to rebuild, restore, and renew humanity. He will establish His Kingdom in the perfection it was intended to be from the beginning. Isaiah’s prophecy is a multi-layered-prophecy. Just as it has been fulfilled in part, we can trust the ultimate fulfillment is indeed coming. The destruction we see in our current world is not forever. There is the promise of a day when “every tear will be wiped away and death will be no more… and everything will be new” (Revelation 21:4-5); what a glorious day that will be!
3) Who is Isaiah addressing in these verses?
While Isaiah’s prophecy was originally addressed to the people of Judah, his message is just as important and relevant for us today. We are a people who, time and again, choose to live for ourselves instead of for Him. No matter how long I walk with Jesus, my heart is prone to stray. I am never immune to thinking I can do it on my own, and I need redemption just as much as ancient Israel did. Thankfully, God doesn’t leave me, or any of us, on our own or stuck forever in our sin without providing a way out. He offers each of us eternal redemption and forgiveness through Jesus and gifted us His Holy Spirit to empower us to walk this journey of life as beacons of Jesus’ hope for others. There will be consequences when we go astray, but Jesus always offers redemption and grace when we choose to trust Him.
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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