Category: Jesus

To bind up the broken-hearted

“He was to be a healer. He was sent to bind up the broken-hearted, as pained limbs are rolled to give them ease, as broken bones and bleeding wounds are bound up, that they may knit and close again. Those whose hearts are broken for sin, who are truly humbled under the sense of guilt and dread of wrath, are furnished in the gospel of Christ with that which will make them easy and silence their fears. Those only who have experienced the pains of a penitential contrition may expect the pleasure of divine cordials and consolations.”
—Matthew Henry on Isaiah 61.1

“The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to those who are bound…”
—Isaiah 61:1

“He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to the captives, Recovering of sight to the blind, To deliver those who are crushed, And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
—Luke 4:16-21

What there is in those strong lines

“Austin says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses of St. John’s gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold. The learned Francis Junius, in the account he gives of his own life, tells how he was in his youth infected with loose notions in religion, and by the grace of God was wonderfully recovered by reading accidentally these verses in a bible which his father had designedly laid in his way. He says that he observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he did; and thence he dates the beginning of his being religious. Let us enquire what there is in those strong lines. The evangelist here lays down the great truth he is to prove, that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father.”

— Matthew Henry on John 1

Yeshua (Jesus)

John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; 5 and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. 6 There was a man sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came for a witness, that he might witness concerning the Light, that all might believe through Him. 8 He was not that Light, but that he might witness concerning the Light. 9 He was the true Light; He enlightens every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, yet the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to the ones believing into His name, 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and of truth. 15 John witnesses concerning Him, and has cried out, saying, This One was He of whom I said, He coming after me has been before me, for He was preceding me. 16 And out of His fullness we all received, and grace on top of grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, that One declares Him.

Christ Our Passover

Jesus Himself is the culmination and fulfillment of the Scripture, the Law, the prophets and the feasts. When the Scripture says that Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, it means that the Passover has culminated in Him. He IS our Passover.

“Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
—1 Corinthians 5.7,8

Jesus Himself, in His Own Body, subsumes that event. He Himself takes the wrath of God for our sins, bringing forgiveness for sin through His Own death, and brings us to God. He Himself is our joy and delight and rejoicing. He Himself is God to be worshiped and praised and blessed to the ages as God. He Himself is the culmination of all things. He Himself is Life. Everything points to Him. If we feast, it is in direct reaction to Him. If we are followers of Jesus, this is Who He must be to us.

“You search the Scriptures, for you think in them you have everlasting life. And they are the ones witnessing concerning Me. And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
— John 5.39,40

Come to Jesus for Life.

Anything else is merely a shadow. Don’t settle for a shadow now that the Real Thing has become manifest.

“Let no man therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s. Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth. If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances, “Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch” (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
—Colossians 2:16-23

We would NEVER dare to say such things if we were talking about a man. What man could fulfill the law or embody the Passover or have within himself all the fulness of the Godhead bodily? No man could qualify! We are not “merely” or “haphazardly” setting aside centuries of law or tradition based on the word of some man who has passed in and out of history like a vapor. No, we are accepting that GOD HIMSELF has come and PERSONIFIED and CULMINATED all things in HIMSELF.

God has done this. He Himself has made a “new and living way.” God has superseded His own things and brought all things near to Himself through the PERSONHOOD of His Son Jesus/Yeshua, His Anointed One.

Now — at this point — we have no option to turn back to THINGS that are not HE HIMSELF. Every turning aside to things is an increase in distance AWAY from Father God Himself. This must not be. Father God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father! That Spirit longs to be closer to Father God! Father God has “brought us near” by the blood of His Son. He has tangibly revealed Himself and caused His living Spirit to remain with us. Father God, by His Son, abides with us and we abide with Him. That abiding, that closeness, that tender love, is the eternal design of Almighty and Most High God for eternity — to love and be one with His Family. Enter in to Him!!! Accept nothing less and nothing “like” it. Anything that is LIKE Him is not HE HIMSELF, but rather shadows of the reality.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you! Come to Father God through Jesus.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man of the two, making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.”
—Ephesians 2:13-16

“Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which HE dedicated for us, a NEW and LIVING way, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope unyieldingly. For he who promised is faithful.”
—Hebrews 10:19-23

“A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has TRODDEN UNDER FOOT the SON OF GOD, and has counted the BLOOD OF THE COVENANT with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has INSULTED THE SPIRIT OF GRACE? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance belongs to Me,” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.”
—Hebrews 10:28-31