Luke 4

And the day of vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:2)

POST OVERVIEW. The second part (see #646, 5/2/2023) of a study of Isaiah 61:1-2 as quoted by Jesus in Luke 4 when He was in Nazareth. This one on “The day of vengeance of our God” (61:2).

In our last post (#646, 5/2/2023), we had begun to discuss Isaiah 61:1-2 and to consider why Jesus had quoted part of these verses when He was in His hometown of Nazareth in Luke 4. In that scene in the gospel of Luke, Jesus announced that He was the promised Messiah and that His appearance was ushering in “the favorable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:19). Now for a long time God’s mercy will welcome believing sinners into His kingdom as sons and daughters. With the first advent of the Messiah, today is “the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

But we see from Isaiah 61:2 that the favorable year of the LORD will not last forever. The favorable year will end and then there will come “the day of vengeance of our God.” It is understanding this day of vengeance that will be our focus in this post.

THE WORK OF JESUS’ FIRST ADVENT

But before we explore the day of vengeance which will occur at Jesus’ second advent, I want to consider the nature of His first advent. Why did Jesus’ earthly ministry during His first appearance have the character that it did?

The main point to be grasped is that, for there to be a “favorable year of the LORD,” Jesus had to perfectly accomplish the work He had been given to do in His Incarnation. Jesus was not merely born in Bethlehem, but much more than that, He was sent by the Father to fulfill His mission. The Son of God was sent from heaven to accomplish the work of atonement that He had been given to do (John 17:4). In His life, He was to fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17) by perfectly obeying it so that He could be a sinless sacrifice for the sins of His people (Hebrews 10:10, 12, 14). When He had perfectly obeyed the Father in His suffering and had humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross (Phil. 2:8), He was able to shout the victory cry, “It is finished!” (John 19:30)

Τετέλεσται!

So, Jesus did not come in His Incarnation to judge the world (John 3:17) but came to be a ransom for many (Mark 10:45) so that many would be saved through Him.

THE GOOD NEWS

The good news is that Jesus has accomplished His work of atonement and has made it possible for sinners to be reconciled to a holy God. Now through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ anyone who believes will be saved from the wrath of God.

With His death on the cross, Jesus finished His work of atonement.

Now, during “the favorable year of the LORD,” the church has been given the work of making disciples and of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth.

But on the last day, Jesus Christ will appear in His awesome Second Coming to execute His work of judgment. This will be the terrifying “day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2), and it is to this subject we now turn.

THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD

Jesus did not mention this day of vengeance in the synagogue in Nazareth, but all the Scriptures make clear that there will certainly be a day of judgment at the end of the age and the Scriptures will certainly be fulfilled. There will be an end to the favorable year of the LORD and a beginning to the day of vengeance. The time of mercy and grace and compassion will pass away and the day of wrath and fury and recompense for all wrongs will come upon the world like a flood and like thief in the night, and there will be no escape.

The Bible has much to say in Old Testament and New about this day of vengeance, this “day of the LORD.” These awesome scenes of powerful destruction are given to the unrighteous as warnings to drive them to repentance (Romans 2:4-9). The wicked should fear the judgment of the Lord and flee from the wrath to come (Luke 3:7).

And Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords is the One who will execute the judgments of that day. Jesus is the One who will tread the great wine press of the wrath of God (Rev. 14:19). Jesus is the One who will carry out the wrath of the Lamb on the great day (Rev. 6:16-17). Jesus is the Rider on the white horse who is called Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11). On that day He will strike down the nations with His sharp sword and will rule them with a rod of iron, and He will tread the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty (Rev. 19:15).

The day of vengeance of our God is the same thing as the day of the LORD in the Old Testament prophets. The prophet Joel tells of a day of darkness and gloom, of clouds and thick darkness. This is a day that comes as destruction from the Almighty. Blood and fire and columns of smoke. In Micah, the Lord declares, “in that day I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed” (Micah 5:15). Nahum declares, “The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies” (1:2). “The hills dissolve. Indeed, the earth is upheaved by His presence (1:5). Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire” (1:6). Zephaniah cries out, “Near is the great day of the LORD, near and coming very quickly (1:14). A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom (1:15). Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung” (1:17). And time would fail me if I listed all these passages in the prophets.

This “day of vengeance” is the same thing as “that day” in many passages in Isaiah. In Psalm 110, the Lord (“Adonai” in the Hebrew; this is Jesus) “shatters kings in the day of His wrath. He judges among the nations. He fills them (the nations) with corpses. He will shatter the chief men across a broad country” (110:5-6). In 2 Thess. 1:7 during the day of vengeance, “The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God.” When describing Jesus on the day of judgment, the author of Hebrews says, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (10:31), and later he says, “Our God is a consuming fire” (12:29).

SUMMARY. The message is clear. Jesus has died and Jesus has risen and He has given sinners a season of mercy when they can repent and a reason for hope if they will believe in Him. Yes, Jesus has died and Jesus has risen, but Jesus is coming again. Now is the day of salvation, for when He comes again, He will come in terrifying vengeance.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 5/3/2023                     #647

The favorable year and the day of vengeance (Isaiah 61-1-2)

POST OVERVIEW. A study of Isaiah 61:1-2 in the context of Jesus’ quoting of this passage in Nazareth in Luke 4. This article sets the context of Jesus’ quote and considers the meaning of “the favorable year of the LORD.” The first of a two-part series.

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God. – Isaiah 61:1-2

After His baptism, as the Lord Jesus was beginning His earthly ministry, He went to His hometown of Nazareth and, in the synagogue on the Sabbath, the Lord read a short passage from Isaiah 61 (bolded and italicized above) and sat down. Most in the synagogue would have been familiar with Isaiah and many would have known this specific passage, but no one in the synagogue would have ever suspected what happened next. Jesus then said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:16-21).

ANNOUNCING THREE TRUTHS

It is hard to overstate the significance of what Jesus has just announced. By quoting this prophecy from Isaiah, Jesus establishes three enormous truths. First, since this prophecy from Isaiah is certainly Messianic, Jesus is unambiguously declaring Himself to be the promised Messiah, the Anointed One predicted by the Old Testament Scriptures. But second, Jesus is announcing that He is inaugurating a period of “good news to the afflicted” and of “binding up the brokenhearted.” Jesus proclaims that there will be a time of “liberty to captives,” of “freedom to prisoners,” even “the favorable year of the LORD.” The long-awaited Messiah has come and He is ushering in a long time of the Lord’s favor, a time when sinners can be reconciled to their holy God. We now know that, with the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the gospel age has begun, the time when the nations will be gathered in, when the church will go out and make disciples, and when the name of Jesus will be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

But there is a third truth that Jesus has announced, even though He intentionally avoids mentioning it. When a Jewish rabbi was reading a well-known passage of Scripture, he would often stop his reading before the end of the passage that he wanted to teach. The rabbi did this because he expected his hearers to complete the passage in their own mind. Here, Rabbi Jesus stops His reading with “the favorable year of the LORD,” but He expects His hearers to complete the reading in their mind. Thus, there is “the favorable year of the LORD,” but there is also “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2b). The third truth that Jesus announces here in Nazareth is that, as surely as there will be a “favorable year of the LORD,” there will also be “a day of vengeance of our God.” It is on the second and the third truths that I want to comment.

THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE GOSPEL AGE

By announcing “the favorable year of the LORD” and “the day of vengeance,” Jesus has moved the conversation into the realm of end times and of eschatology. And eschatology is the subject of this post. As stated above, “the favorable year” refers to the long time of the gospel age when the church goes into the world and among the nations proclaiming the good news of salvation to people of every tribe and tongue and nation so that the elect can be gathered in. The crucified and risen Lord Jesus has commissioned His church (Matt. 28:19-20) to ride out with the gospel, “conquering and to conquer” (Rev. 6:2), as His witnesses (Acts 1:8) to the ends of the earth till the end of the age. And because this is an immense task, the commissioned church will have a long time to accomplish its mission. The unity of Scripture is displayed in the fact that “the favorable year” of Isaiah 61:2 corresponds to “the thousand years” of Revelation 20. During this long time of relative peace, the fury of God’s wrath against sin is held back and the offer of salvation to sinners is extended. During this figurative “year of favor,” “the vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.” Wretches with sins red like crimson are, by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, made white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). Those who “were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, and revilers are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11). The church proclaims that “the blood of Jesus God’s Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Jesus has come, Jesus has died, Jesus has risen, and now for a long time God’s mercy welcomes believing sinners into His kingdom as sons and daughters. Yes, now is “the acceptable time, the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

But the favorable year of the LORD will not last forever. The favorable year will end and there will come “the day of vengeance of our God.” This day of vengeance will be the topic of the next post in this series.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 5/2/2023                     #646