Are You The One?

Dec 1, 2021

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.

- Isaiah 61:1

In Isaiah 61, the prophet Isaiah foretells of the coming Messiah, that He will proclaim the good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives and release the prisoners from darkness.

Each one of those descriptions applies directly to us. We are the poor in spirit, who are dead in our sin and separated from a perfect and Holy God. We are the brokenhearted who recognize we have no hope outside of Jesus and what He has done for us. We are the captives, enslaved to our sin, in need of a Savior to set us free, and we are the prisoners of our sin, now released from darkness because the Messiah has come.

But, even as Jesus walked this earth, there were still questions. Is this Jesus from Nazareth the One we are waiting for? Is He the Messiah?

In his Gospel account, Matthew records:

1 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples

3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:

5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

- Matthew 11:1-5

In Luke 4, we read that, one Sabbath, Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth, the scroll of Isaiah 61 was handed to Him and He read the passage I read earlier - the one that foretold of the coming Messiah. When Jesus finished, Luke records that He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, then said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What a bold statement! But, YES, Jesus IS the Messiah! The blind see, the lame walk, the sick are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

All of us, who were once captive by the sin and sufferings of this world, have been set free and are released from darkness.

Oh what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God (I John 3:1). And because Jesus is indeed the Messiah, that is exactly what we are – Children of God. All praise to God the Father and Christ Jesus, His Son!

This advent season, may we hold on to the hope of knowing that Jesus is the Messiah, that He was sent into the world to save the world, and will one day come back again to make all things new.