Confrontation in Nazareth (9)

 

 

“And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:17 – 19).

 

Could the attendant have given Jesus any Old Testament book? I suppose in one sense he could have, but in the cycle of synagogue readings, for this time and this place it must be Isaiah. In the Divine appointments of our Father, it could only have been Isaiah.

 

John the Baptist has already been preaching Isaiah. In fact, John has been quoting Isaiah 40:3 – 5 and declaring himself the fulfillment of that Word of God (Luke 3:1 – 6).

 

Why is it that John can quote Isaiah and declare himself its fulfillment without apparent persecution, yet when Jesus quotes Isaiah and proclaims that He is the fulfillment of the passage that the people of His hometown synagogue try to murder Him?

 

Jesus “opened the book,” or we might better say, “He opened the scroll.”

 

Jesus begins His public ministry in Nazareth by opening the book. This is the ministry of Jesus Christ, the ministry of opening the Book, the Book of God’s Word, the Book of Creation (both heaven and earth) the Book of God’s holistic and total and complete Revelation. God’s Book is an integrated whole (see Psalm 19), a whole that includes not only what is outside us, but also inside us (see Psalm 139; John 4:29; Heb. 4:12 – 13).

 

In Jesus Christ, the Son, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:14, 18).

 

In opening the book, Jesus is revealing God, He is expressing God, Jesus is unveiling God. When we open the Book, we ought to be doing the same, for even as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

When the Book is “open” to us, we will see Jesus, when the book is closed to us, no matter how much information and data we may have about the Book, we will not see Jesus (John 5:39 – 40; 2 Cor. 3:4 – 18). It is possible to have a “high view” of Scripture, and yet not see Jesus; the scribes and Pharisees certainly had such a view; let us not be so foolish as to think that we cannot fall into that same trap.

 

For the Book to be open to us, we must be open to the Book. Jesus and the Holy Spirit must open us to the Book and open the Book to us (Luke 24:45; 1 Cor. Chapter 2).

 

For many, God’s Word always was or always will be, it is always in the future or in the past, but it is never today.  Yet Jesus, the Word, is the I AM. “I AM the Bread of Life. I AM the Resurrection. I AM the Light of the Word.”

 

In Christ Jesus, the Word of God is for us today.

 

“For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us – by me and Silvanus and Timothy – was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us” (2 Cor. 1:19 – 20).

 

Do we have the courage to read the Book out loud and proclaim, “This is for us now, this is for today”?

 

If it is for us today, then we must live in its reality, we must submit to the Book and allow the Book to transform us. We cannot hide in the past, we cannot hide in the future; for sure we can be grounded in ages past and our hope can be anchored in ages that are unfolding – for we most assuredly live in the “already – not yet.” Living in the I AM means that all is in Him, that all is now, that eternity is now, that we live in the “communion of saints” (Heb. 12:2; 22 – 24).

 

But most of us live and speak in either the past tense or the future tense. God and His Word either “was” or “will be.”

 

If we attend a gathering of Christians during the coming week, and a book of the Bible is given to us to read aloud, will we find “a place where it is written,” read it, and say, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”?

 

Are we one with the Word of God, and is the Word of God one with us?