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The Content of the Sermon
of Jesus at Nazareth
After reading Isaiah 61:1-2 and
58:6,Jesus "c/osedthe book and gave it
back to the attendant and sat down ...
And He began to say to them, 'TODAY
THIS SCRIPTURE' HAS BEEN
FULFIUED IN YOUR HEARING."'-
Lk.4:20-21. Hispointlsdramaticand
astonishing: the jubilant kingdom of
God has broken into human life to
bring comprehensive salvation to the
world in the person
and work of Jesus
Christ.
The Dawning
of the Jubila,nt
Kingdom of God
The Time of
the Dawning of
the Kingdom
of God
Jesus is
explaining to His
audience that at Ute
. verymomentofHis
teaching, and wiUt
His person and
ministry the Jubilant Day of
Restoration promised by isaiah 61 is
breillting into human life, society
and experience. The rich blessings
Isaiah promised, from this point in
Jesus' life onward, will begin to be
bestowed and experienced by God's
people gradually and increasingly
until they are brought to. full
perfection in individual believers at
Uteir deaths, and brought to full
consumation for the entire creation
at Ute second coming of Christ.
The Effects of the Dawning
of the Kingdom of God
The underlying gospel principles
taught in Ute provisions of theJubilee
Laws of Ute Old Testament will be
gradually and progressively
experienced in history by believers DEFINITIVE-PROGRESSIVE-FINAL
in Jesus and will be perfectly and structure... . Salvation was
eternally experienced at the end of DEFINITIVELYaccomplishedinthe
history wiUt Ute physical return of perfect, finishedworkofJesusChrist;
Jesus Christ and the completion of it is PROGRESSIVELY and
His kingdom, I Cor. 15:24f. The INCREASINGLY applied during this
promised Jubilee is already "in age, personally and institutionally;
progress"--"TODAY this Scripture, and it will be FINALLY achieved, in
(Le., Isa. 61:1-2; 58:6), is fulfilled in its highest fulfillment, at Ute end of
YOUR, (Le.,Christ's first century history on the Last Day. We HAVE
hearers), hearing." Those who believe BEEN saved, II Tim. 1:9, we ARE
inJesus Christ as the Divine-human BEING SAVED now, Phil. 2:1213,
Savior, and who rest upon Him alone and we WILL BE saved in the future,
for salvation will experience the IPet. 1:9. Toputitanotherway,we
restoration of justice and God's moral HAVE BEEN remade in' God's image,
order to human society, full
restoration to total welIness, spiritual
renewal ofindividuals and societies,
the cancellation of all their
indebtedness to God for their sins,
deliverance from Ute slavery of sin
and Satan, inheritance of Ute earth,
eternal life and communion with
God individually and SOCially,
gradually and progressively until the
Jubilee comes in total perfection with
Ute second coming of Christ.
The Threefold Pattern to the
Coming of the Kingdom of God
There is A THREEFOLD
PATTERN TO BIBLICAL
PROPHECY AND ITS
Eph. 4:24,
we ARE
BE I N G
progressi.vely '
remade in
His image,
n Cor.
3:18, and
we look
forward to
the day
when we
WILL BE .
perfectly
remade in
. His .image, ..
Phi 1 .
3:20-21."- David Chilton, Paradise
Restored, pg. 24-25, (Tyler, texas;
Reconstruction Press, 1985). Orto
say it in yet two other ways: The
Jubilee HAS BEGUN in Christ. The
Jubilee IS INCREASINGLY being
realized in Christ. The J ubiiee WILL
BE perfectly fulfilled with the return
of Christ. The Kingdorn of God HAS
COME wiUt all its saving power and
blessings in Christ. The Kingdorn of
God IS COMlNG in progressive
triurnph over sin and opposition in
Christ in history. The Kingdorn of
God WILL COME in total
FULFILLMENT: "Scripture presents consurnrnation at the end of history,
salvation in terms of a I Cor. 15:24f.
4 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon r- April, 1995
The Significance of the Word,
"Today" in Lul,e 4:21
"Luke emphasizes that salvation
has become present in Christ with a
frequent use of the adverbs 'now'
and 'today.' He uses 'now' fourteen
times (Matthew 4 times, Mark 3
times) and 'today' eleven times
(Matthew 8 times, Mark once). In
Jesusthetimeofsalvationhascome."-
Leon Monis, The Gospel According to
Luhe, Tyndale Commentaries. See
"now" in 1:48; 2:29; 5:10; 6:21, 25;
11:39; 12:52; 16:25; 19:42; 22:36,
69; and "today' in 2:11; 4:21; 5:26;
12:28; 13:32, 33; 19:5, 9; 22:34;
23:43; 24:21. Luke understands the
imelVention of God into history in
Jesus Christ to bring global and
comprehensive salvation to His
people as the establishment of a new
world orderin which there would be
the complete reversal of the condition
of God's people from oppression to
exaltation and global triumph, Isaiah
2: If. This new world order can be
desclibed as the coming of the
Kingdom of Christ, which is the
manifestation of the sovereign rule
of God in histOlY in power and grace
which establishes a new order
(dvilization) of righteousness and
blessedness in and through Jesus
Christ in fulfillment of God's
covenant promises. The
long-awaited era when God delivers
His people from the misery and
oppression of sin and Satan and
blings them into spiritual, moral,
sodal, political, economic and global
prosperity, as promised time and
again in the Old Testament, has
fina1ly begun with the incarnation,
life, and ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Nazareth two thousand
years ago God began the restoration
of His church and creation in Christ.
And "He who has begun a new work in
you will heep on peJjorming it until the
day of ChristJesus." The New Heavens
and New Earth have already begnn
emblyonically in Ch,ist at His first word of God. What she meant is
advent and will be consummated in unmistakable. Spiritualize it and
Him at His second advent. you must spiritualize theincamation
The Wonderful Nature
of theJubilee We Have in Christ
or What is Life in the
Kingdom of Christ
The importance of this subject
should be obvious. TI,e salvation
Ch,istcame to bringisnotexclusively
personal, subjective, "spilitual," and
heavenly as the Pietists believe; nor
is it exclUSively sodal, political and
economic as the Liberation
Theologians believe. As we have
seen in our study of Mary's
MAGNIFICAT in lllke 1:39-56 and
in Zacharias' BENEDICIlJS in Luke
1:57 -80 this salvation is PERSONAL,
GLOBAL and COMPREHENSNE.
Salvation "relates to every part of
man's life, both now and in thefuture;
it touches all of creation and even the
destructiveness of Satan. --- Christ
is at this very moment a
comprehensive Savior who came to
make His bleSSings flow far as sin's
curse is found!" - Greg Bahnsen,
Penpoint,July, 1992, Vol. 3, No.4.
Just as in the prophetic use of the
provisions of the Jubilee legislation,
so Mary, the mother ofjesus, in her
MAGNIFICAT speaks of a global
reversal of men's fortunes. As we
have seen in our study of her moving
and brilliant hymn, there is nothing
sentimental, nostalgic or
other,worldlyaboutit. It is explosive.
It speaks of the total Christian
Reconstruction of men and nations
on earth in histOlY. The point of her
third stanza, lk. 1:51-53, is that
Jesus Ch,ist is bringing a great
reversal in human sodety on earth,
and it has already begnn. The power
that is accomplishing this global
reversal was introduced into histOlY
in the incarnation and ministry of
Jesus. To spiritualize Mary's words,
confining them to the spilitual or
heavenly realms, is to tlifle with the
about which she speaks; and then
we would have no gospel. This
reversal will be as literalandas radical
as Mary said it would be. Those who
are in power---politically,
economically,socially--willsomeday
not be in power. And those Ch,istians
who are not in power will someday
be in power. Those reprobate who
are now millionaires will someday
be paupers; and those Christians
who are in selious need because of
the wicked cultures in which they
live, will someday be millionaires.
Those who are proud and full of
self-love will be humiliated; and those
who are full of God-love and humility
will be exalted. The meek will inherit
the earth!
Or to put it in the words of the
Jubilee legislation: this divine
restoration of human life and sodety
will include the day when men and
women in Christ the world over will
not only be renewed individually
and spiritually in their faith and
devotion to God in Christ, but when
they will be renewed in their
faithfulness to God, to the creation,
and to each other as defined by
Biblical Law.
The Gospel of Luke: as
a Booh of Ecstatic Joy
No other N. T. gospel writer deals
so often with the idea of joy as Luke.
His record is dominated by
ECSTATICJOY that the kingdom of
God has come, is coming and will
come. The gospel begins with the
song of the angels, 2: 14, the
Magnificat, the Benedictus and the
Nunc Dimittis, 1:46[; 1:68f; 2:29f.
Thoughout the gospel, those who
receive blessings praise God, 2:20;
5:25f; 7:16; 13:13; 17:15; 18:43.
The words 'rejoice' and 1oy' occur
several times, 1:14,44,47; lO:21;
199:6; 15:6, 9f. There is laughter
April, 1995 l' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon l' 5
and merry-making in this gospel,
15:23,32. And the gospel ends as it
began, with the praise ofGod,24:52;
1:14, What is the cause of this joy
and praise in Luke? Luke "sees God
at work bringing men salvation and
itis his pleasure to bring out a variety
of aspects of this great saving work. "-
Leon Morris. The Gospel of Luke is
full of ecstatic joy because of his
"conviction that salvation, (Le., the
Jubilee), is a reality in
the present and will be
such even more in the
future." - Bo Reicke, The
GospelofLuke. " ... (T)he
events of the gospel do
not simply belong to
the PAST, but also have
to do with a continually
PRESENT reality
which fills the heart
with a thrillingjoy and
constrains all followers
of] esus to do their part
forthekingdom of God
in the assurance that the FUTURE
consummation is at hand. --- Past,
present, and future belong together
in Luke precisely because of this
FULFILLMENT. (1). The drama of
redemptiOn., (2): the. lirnvefsality of
mission, (3). the eschatological joy
and hope, constitute an organic
UNITY." - Bo Reicke. The jubilee we
have in Christ IS and WILL BE an
ecstatically joyful time!
The Lord's Messiah is
the Bringer of the Jubilant
Kingdom of God, and
That Messiah is Jesus
According to Jesus the fulfillment
of Isaiah 61 was taking place that
very moment in His own person and
preaching. He is the Messiah
anointed by the Lord to establish
God's great kingdom in the hearts
and societies of men and to bring to
actual fulfillment the provisions and
blessings of the Jubilee. Jesus is the
One Who will, in His preaching, Le.,
by His powerful Word, actually bring
the good news of salvation to the
"poor," i.e., those crushed and
shattered by sin. In proclaiming
"release" to "prisoners," He will
actually bring liberation from the
slavery of sin and healing of sight to
those who are blind. He binds up
the broken-hearted and comforts all
those who mourn in Zion, Isa. 61:2.
He, through His restored Church,
will "rebuild the ancient ruins," and
"raiseup theformerdevastations," 61:4.
He will cause His people to "be called
the priests of the Lord," to "eat the
wealth of nations," and in exchange
for their humiliation "they will shout
for joy over their portion ... everlasting
joywillbetheirs,"61:6-7. Thebenefits
and effects of His work and reign will
be global. All the world will recognize
His people as "the offspring whom the
Lord has blessed," 61:9. God's people
will "rejoice greatly in the Lord, .... for
He (Christ) has clothed (them) with
garments of salvation," and "wrapped
them with a robe of righteousness as a
bridegroom decks himself with a
garland, and as a bride adorns herself
with her jewels," 61:10. All these
blessings the Church will enjoy
because of the New Order of
righteousness, theJubilee-Kingdom
of God, which the LordJesus Christ
has brought to us--- "For as the earth
brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden
causes the things sown in it to spring up,
6 THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon April, 1995
so the Lord Godwill cause righteousness
and praise to spring up before all the
nations," 61:10-11.
The Messiah as King and
the Jubilee Prophecy
The predominant conception
underlying Messianic expectation
among the Jews of the first century
was KINGLY, 1:27,32,33,69; 2:4,
11; 3:23-31. The belief, based on
the promise of the Old
Testament, was that
when the Messiah
arrived He would
announce the
establishment of the
Reign of Jehovah on
earth, II Samuel 7;
Genesis 49: 10. In his
birth narratives Luke
made explidtly clear
that Jesus is the Son
of the Most High God
and the promised king
of the house of David,
fulfilling the Davidic Covenant of II
Samuel 7 . John the Baptist impressed
us with Jesus' unparalleled
supremacy and superiority, whenhe
identified Jesus as being "mightier"
than' he, in fact sO'superior that'he,
Oohn), was not worthy to untie His
shoes. Luke's genealogy of Jesus
traced His lineage back to King David,
(and beyond), Luke 3:23[ The
Divine Voice from Heaven atjesus'
baptism included a phrase taken from
Psalm 2 which prophesies Jesus'
kingship--- "ThisisMy belovedSon. ... "
Moreover, the rite of anointing in the
O.T. was particularly related to the
inauguration of lsrael's kings; and
Jesusis "The Anointed One" ofIsaiah
61, anointed with water by J olin the
Baptist, and with the Spirit by the
Father. In the light of Luke's
framework thus farJesus in Nazareth
could be depicted as "standing up
among His own people to deliver
HIS INAUGURAL KINGLY
ADDRESS, His Kingly Accession
Speech, as He read from Isaiah 61,
explained it and applied it to Himself.
Isaiah 61 bears some striking
resemblances to the kingly speech
of Psalm 72 in which: (1). The
Messiah's reign is given Divine
sanction; (2). the kingly Messiah's
subjects and all the earth rejoice at
His enthronement; (3). All of creation
rej oices and produces abundantly;
(4). the poor and oppressed of God's
people have special cause for joy,
because amnesty is declared, prisons
are opened, their causes will be
heard, justice will be established,
and creation's abundance will
provide for all their needs--all of
which will together result in their
personal and social re-enfranchise-
ment. The above represent perhaps
the most frequently mentioned
blessings that were associated with
the accession of the king in the
ancient Near East. In Isaiah 61 we
see: 0). the Messiah's Divine
sanction; vs. 1; (2). the rejOiCing of
the poor and the oppressed, vs. 1,2;
(3). amnesty for prisoners, vs. 1; (4).
abundance of creation and material
prosperity, vs. 5,6,7; and (5). the
establishment of justice in the eatth,
vs. 8-11. So, therefore, it is obvious
that Isaiah 61 represents the Messiah
as a great King Who will establish a
great Kingdom.
The O. T. associates the theocratic
king with thejubileelegislation. For
example some of the kings of Israel
instituted jubilee and Sabbath-year
laws in the fOlm of royal decrees of
social reform declared at regular
intervals, jer. 34:8-22. "It is not
surprising therefore to note that in
those statements in Isaiah which
declare the birth andlor coming of a
great (messianic) king, Isa. 9:6-7;
11:1-5; 42:1-4, one clear aspect of
the expectations expressed in each
instance is the hope for a sovereign
who will not cease to labor until he
has 'established justice in the earth:
Isa. 42:4."- Sloan. Isaiah 61: 1 itself
reflects and presupposes this kingly
figure of Isaiah 9:6-7, etc.
In the synagogue in Nazareth
Jesus identifies Himself as the
Divinely Anointed King, Who in
establishing His Kingdom in the
eanh, will bring in the Jubilee Era!
The Messiah as Prophet
and the Jubilee Prophecy
In the synagogue in Nazareth
Jesus also identifies Himself as a
PROPHET OF JEHOVAH, as were
Elijah and Elisha---" ... no prophet is
welcome in his hometown," - Lk.
4:24-27. Jesus was widely recognized
as a prophet in His lifetime, Lk.
7:16;7:39; 13:33; 22:64; 24:19.
However, it is not merely as "a
prophet" that Luke presents Him;
but it is as THE FINAL PROPHETIC
FIGURE OF END-TIME
EXPECTATION AND HOPE. Jesus
is THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES
promised in Deuteronomy 18: 15
(Acts 3:22f ;7:37). What was it in
the life of Jesus that provided for
Luke the historical foundation for
his belief that J esus is that Prophet?
The claim to be anointed by the
Spirit of the Lord not only had
profound MesSianic implications in
the kingly sense, but also reflected
therein is His claim to be a prophet
of far greater significance than Moses,
Elijah and Elisha.
The promise of a messianic
prophet like Moses, Deut. 18, and
the Jubilee legislation, Lev. 25, are
connected simply by virtue of the
fact that they are given to us by the
Spirit-inspired Moses. The claim of
Jesus to be Spirit-anointed of the
Lord, to be the Bringer of theJubilee,
and the prophet, greater than Elijah
and Elisha lies all these strands of
O.T. truth together.
In Acts 3: 18-26 Peter clearly links
the prophethood of] esus andJubilee
Promises. In that text he identifies
Jesus as the Prophet like Moses of
Deuteronomy 18:15 and then
explains that the coming ofJesus as
this Prophet was intimately bound
up with the "restoration oj all things"
promised in the Jubilee legislation.
Peter's words are these: "Repent
therefore and return, that your sins
may be wiped away, in order that
TIMES OF REFRESHING may come
from the presence of the Lord; and that
He may se:ndJesus, the Christappointed
for you, Whom heave:n must receive
until THE PERIOD OF
RESTORATION OF ALL TffiNGS,
about which God spoke Iry the mouth of
His holy prophets from ancient time.
Moses said, 'The Lord God shall raise
up for you a Prophet lihe me from your
brethren; to Him you shall give heed in
everything He says to you. And it shall
be that every soul that does not heed
that prophet shall be utterly destroyed
from among the people.' And likewise,
all the prophets who have spoke:n,from
Samuel and his successors onward, also
announced these days. Itis you who are
the sons of the prophets, and of the
covenant which God made with your
fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in
your seed all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.' For you first, God
raised up His Se",ant, and sent Him to
bless you by turning every one oj you
from your wielled ways."
Therefore, "there can be little
doubt that Luke has understood,
and so presented, the scene at
Nazareth to represent, among other
things, the functional claim by Jesus
to be THE eschatolOgical Prophet of
the end times, the Prophet like Moses
who is inaugurating the
eschatological year ofjubilee." - Sloan
To SUl1unarize:
"Luke would have his first centulY
readers believe that Jesus entered
April, 1995 l' TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 7
Nazareth, the city of his upbringing,
and read in the synagogue from !sa.
61, a well-known Messianic text of
SCripture which spoke both of the
eschatological year of Jubilee and
the charismatic, (Le.,
Spirit-endowed), activity of its
kingly/prophetic agent.
Furthermore, Luke declares that
Jesus so interpreted that text as to
proclaim Himself as its present
fulfillment, the very
bne whose activity
was therein spoken
of, and thereby
claimed to fulfill
Simultaneously the
roles ascribed both to
the MessiahKingand
the Prophet like
Moses of the end
times: - Sloan. What
a stanlingimpact this
had on his readers,
and on Christ's
hearers!!
The Universality of
the wrd's Messiah and
His Jubilant Kingdom
The Implicit Teaching of
Jesus in His Answers
._ .. wBisAudiencein - .
the Synagogue in Nazareth
Regarding the Universality
of Salvation
Not only has the Jubilee broken
into history, and not onlyisJesus the
agent by which that Jubilee comes;
but that Jubilee is for the whole
human race, Jew and Gentile alike,
and Christ's Kingdom is comprised
of all who believe in Him, regardless
of ethnic origin, Galatians 3:29. We
learn this from the Elijah and Elisha
stories to which Jesus refers in
defending His statement that a
prophet is without honor in his own
country,Lk. 4:24-27 .Jesus uses these
stories to instruct His hearers, as
Luke uses the record 0 f ] esus'
referring to them to instruct his
readers, about "the universal
application of the gospel of the
kingdom and the universal
character ofJesus' Messiahship. -
Jesus is not just the 10ng-1lwaited
Messiah oftheJews, for Luke Heis
also the Messiah of the Gentiles.
From this perspective Luke's
understanding of the jubilee year
seems to extend beyond the
boundaries of Mosaic Law, which
tended to preserve the blessings
ofthatyearfotJewsalone."-Sloan.
Therefore, here we see once again
emphasized Luke's distinctive theme:
Jesus Christ is the bivine-human
Savior of the whole world!
The Point Made
." bJ1tSUs'RefeftiiCt
to Elijah and Elisha
In Luke 4:20-27 we see a verbal
exchange between Jesus and His
audience in the synagogue in
Nazareth. Jesus explains that Isaiah
61 is fulfilled in Him and in His
ministry, vs. 21. His shocked
audience, in unbelief, asks: But how
can that be since you are only the son
of Joseph the carpenter?- vs. 22.
Jesus answered them, anticipating
what they were about to say because
He knew the hearts of men, John
2:25, "No doubt you will quote this
proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself;
whatever we heard was done at
Capernaum, do here in your harnetown
as well.' And He said, Truly I say to
you, no prophet is welcome in his
8 TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f April, 1995
hometown. But I say to you in truth,
there were many widows in Israel in the
days of Elijah, when the sky was shutup
for three years and six months, when a
great famine came over all the land;
and yet Elijah was sent to none of them,
but only to Zarephath, in the land of
Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
And there were many lepers in Israel in
the time of Elisha the prophet; and none
of them was cleansed, butonly Naaman
the Syrian." - Th. 4:20-27.
The Meaning of
Proverbs in Luke
4:23-24
Only Luke, the
beloved physician,
preserved this saying
of christ. Jesus read
the minds of His
hearers andso quotes
a well-known
proverb they were
about to use \vith
Him: "PhYSician, heal
yourself!" His hearers were wanting
to say to Him: "We have heard of
your miracles in CapernauID. and
elsewhere, so we of you that
you do here in your own hometown
what you have done elsewhere,

friends and relatives, your own flesh
and blood, have more claim on you
than strangers. Prove to us that you
are what you say you are--more than
a mere son of] oseph the carpenter."
He responds with a rebuke by
quoting another familiar proverb:
"r ruly I say to you, no prophet is
welcome in his hometown." Or, to put
it in modern lingo: "Familiatity
breeds contempt."
In other words, Jesus "refuses to
comply with. their demand to prove
lhe genuineness of His claims
through displays of power and
sensational miracles. They were not
desirous of salvation in theirrequest
for a revelation of His power, but did
so with motives which were anything
but holy, and which resulted in His
refusal." - Geldenhuys
The Illustrations From
the Lives of Elijah and Elisha
Lenski cannot be beaten in his
explanation of Jesus' use of these
illustrations in Luke 4:25-27. He
writes: "The argument involved in
these illustrations is overwhelming.
The people of Nazareth were
comparing two Galilean cities: their
own town where Jesus had actually
been a native and Capemaum where
He had removed over a year ago.
The examples top this with a
reference to all the widows and lepers
in the whole ofIsrael and one widow
and one leper of pagan lands. What
is then the force of the argument?
The gifts of God's grace, in particular
the works of His power, are not
bestowed because of nationality or
outward connection of any kind,
(including blood-relations).
Nazareth has no claims over against
Capernaum nor, for that matter,
Capemaum over against any other
city. All the widows and all the
lepers in all Israel had no claims that
God recognized over against the
widow of Sarepta and Naaman of
Syria. THERE ARE NO CLAIMS
THAT COERCE GOD; HE
BESTOWS THE GIFTS OF HIS
GRACE AND MERCY FREELY,
WITHOUT HUMAN MERIT OR
WORTHINESS, yet not arbitrarily
but according to His gracious plans
and designs, in which he considers
man's need and emptiness and the
hearts that make no claims at
aU---these He delights to bless.
'Jesus did not come to Nazareth
because it was His native city and
thus had special claims on him; he
had not gone to Capemaum for any
such reason. He brought the gospel
to Nazareth as He brought it to any
number of places in Galilee. Instead
of receiving Him gladly Nazareth
thought of its special claims, met
Jesus with this presumption, and
ended by driving Him out."
Jesus is teaching his hearers
regarding the universality of the
gospel, that "there's a wideness in
God's mercy, like the wideness of
the sea."- F.W. Faber. He selects his
two O.T. examples, ElijahandElisha,
"to show that God's grace overleaps
artificial, man-made barricades, not
only those of village, city and
province, but even those of people
and country. -- This statement of
Jesus was indeed very significant. It
was a lesson needed by Christ's
immediate audience here in Nazareth
on this unforgettable Sabbath. But it
also served a wider purpose. It was
a clear indication of the dawn of a
new era in the history of
redemption, an era both predicted
and foreshadowed in the old
dispensation, butnot fully realized
until the new; a long, long period,
during which, beginning from
Jerusalem, the door of salvation
would be opened more and more
widely to all true 'comers'
regardless of race or nationality."-
Hendriksen
This truth is the basis for world
evangelization and the universal and
free offer of the gospel.
l"this Scripture" "The whole of
the O.T. was to Him a prophecy
respecting His life and work. And
this applies not only to prophetic
utterances, but also to rites and
institutions, as well as to historical
events which were so ordered as to
be a forecast of the salvation and
judgment which He was to bring."-
Plummer. 'Jesus acknowledged the
Old Testament in its full extent and
its perfect sacredness. The Scripture
cannot be broken, Hesays,Jn.1O:35,
and forthwith draws His argument
from the wording ofit."- Weiss in
Plummer.
2"A factor of crucial importance
here, for a proper understanding of
not onlyJesus' behavior in Nazareth,
but also for understanding the
broader complex of data in the Gospel
with respect to Jesus' Messianic
self-consciousness, is that Christ did
not avoid any reference to, or acting
out of, his OWN accepted
FUNCTIONS of the MesSiah, but
rather He avoided the public and
open use of (and hence the public's
understanding of) the TITLE. He
apparently did so not only because
of, as is commonly and correctly
recognized, the rather stark
nationalistic hopes to which the title
itself was wedded, but also because
of the deeply set cultural pattern of
Jewish thinking, and the established
mode of Messianic expectation. It
was in fact this particular cultural
mode of Messianic self-expression
that provided the vehicle for Jesus'
re-interpretation of the title, Messiah.
It is not until after His suffering,
indeed, BECAUSE of His suffering,
that He is shown speaking more
openly of Himself as the Messiah,
Lk. 24:26, 46. By dealing in His
words and deeds with the functions
of Messiahship, as opposed to the
title "Messiah," Jesus was able to
affirm certain individual aspects of
contemporary Messianic expectation
(e.g. preaching good news to the
poor, beareroftheSpirit, announcing
the jubilary/restorative work of the
prophet like Moses) without at the
same time supporting those elements
of Messianic expectation (e.g.
militaristic conquest) with which the
title itselfwas so closelyassociated."-
Sloan, pg. 80, The Favorable Year of
the Lord: A Study ofJubilary Theology
in the Gospel of Luke. To be continued.
April, 1995 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 9