Guidance from God: A Prophetic Person
Guidance from God • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Today, I want to preach on the topic of [Guide us God], the subject of my message is, [A Prophetic Person].
Describing someone is not always an easy task. Who has ever tried to explain someone to a friend? We might say something like, you know, they have brown curly hair and glasses?
To which they often reply, I know a lot of people with brown curly hair and glasses.
I watched a video of children trying to describe their parents to an artist, who then tried to draw a picture based on their description. Here was some of what they said:
Boy:
Start with my dad, he is the weirdest of the family
He is tall like 42’
Straight smile
Checking on Instagram to see how many followers he has
Girl.:
My mom is short, any shorter and she would need a car seat
Medium smile
Dad:
Draw a bear, he is like a big sleeping bear because he sits around all day and sleeps
Girl:
My mom is a lawyer, she tries to help bad guys in jail
The video did not show the parents, I wondered how close the descriptions matched the parents?
It is often difficult to describe someone we know, but imagine describing someone we have never met. That was the challenge for the Prophet Isaiah.
He had an important task. For the first thirty-nine chapters, he proclaims the judgment that is coming upon the people. But the book changes in Isaiah 40.
He moves from judgment to the hope God has prepared for Israel. It is interesting that in addition to Isaiah being the second longest book of the Bible, it is also set up just like the Bible:
§ There are 39 books in the Old Testament
o There are 27 books in the New Testament
§ The Old Testament focuses on the Law of God and how the people forgot God’s law
o The New Testament centers on the grace of God and how the people experience God
§ The Old Testament has positive aspects, but the majority shows us how quickly the people forgot God
o The New Testament has the most positive story in history, as Jesus came to change the world.
§ The first 39 chapters of Isaiah mirror the Old Testament, focusing on the sin and rebellion of the people, with some promises and hope sprinkled through there.
o The last 27 chapters of Isaiah mirror the New Testament focusing on the promises of God and the hope that will come through the Savior.
Whenever we read or study the Old Testament, we do so in light of the New Testament. As it was once said:
the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed
and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed
I explain all that say, whenever I read the prophecies of Isaiah, I realize more often that not, he describing what took place in the New Testament. But Isaiah did not know that. His original audience did not know that either.
What he did know, however, is that he was moved on by the Holy Spirit to speak the prophetic words, like a light that shines in the darkness.
That is what the prophetic does. With that in mind, we are going to read a prophecy by Isaiah that describes a Person who would come and help humanity.
This person would be the fulfillment of God’s promises, bringing hope and help to whoever would turn to this man.
Let’s turn to Isaiah 61 and we will read the description of this prophetic person. Let’s describe Him in three ways. [The Anointing of this Person], [The Announcement of this Person], and [The Actions of this Person].
Let’s begin
1. The Anointing of this Person
1. The Anointing of this Person
1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
As Isaiah prophecies, the Spirit begins to speak through him, describe what this Person will do. But before he does that, he explains what this person has.
He speaks in first person— the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed me...
This is not Isaiah speaking about himself. Instead, he is speaking for God about the person he is describing. The first thing we know about this person is that he is anointed.
The word anointed in the original language actually describes the process of wetting, rubbing or smearing something with oil.
In the Old Testament a person or a thing was anointed to signify that they were separated for God’s use. Anointing something or somebody goes all the way back to Jacob.
After he had a vision of God at Bethel, the next morning, he poured oil on a pillar and anointed it to signify that something supernatural happened there.
When God gave Moses instructions for the Tabernacle, he told him how to make the anointing oil and what he was to anoint. Everything that was anointed was consecrated or set apart.
Kings of the Old Testament were anointed. When God selected David to be king, the prophet Samuel took oil and poured it on his head signifying that the Spirit was upon him.
Those alive under the Old Covenant understood what it meant when Isaiah said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me.
The person Isaiah described was anointed. He was set apart for a holy purpose. He was not anointed so the Spirit could come, he was anointed because the Spirit was in Him and on His life.
Kings, prophets, and priests were anointed to SHOW that they were set a part for a specific role.
Isaiah had long told them that judgment would come because of their sinful lifestyle. But NOW, he prophesies— God has a person prepared to come and help us.
They might have asked, who is this person, describe Him?
Since Isaiah had not met him, he could not describe his physical features, but he could tell them that the Spirit of God was on Him and He was anointed.
Since He was anointed, what was he set a part to do?
2. The Announcement of this Person
2. The Announcement of this Person
1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
Since this person is set apart by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, what will He do? He will make a big announcement.
This person will announce the good news or good tidings to the poor. He had already prophesied once about this person:
27 The first time I said to Zion, ‘Look, there they are!’ And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.
By this point in the history of Jerusalem, they needed good news. Their relatives to the north, the nation of Israel, had already fallen into captivity.
For many they wondered, not IF they would become captives, but WHEN their enemies would take them captive. But Isaiah had hope for them.
God has good news that will include preaching to:
the poor
the brokenhearted
He will also announce or proclaim that the captive will be released. This helped them because as I mentioned, they knew captivity was coming close. Within a generation or two, they would end up losing their freedom.
Notice, Isaiah was not promising that they could avoid captivity because of their sins, only that God had a Person all ready who is anointed, set apart to make an exciting and life-changing announcement— YOU DO NOT HAVE TO STAY IN CAPTIVITY, I HAVE FREEDOM FOR YOU!
This person is anointed to announce freedom to the poor, brokenhearted, captives, but he has one more great announcement.
This person will bring what is called the year of God’s favor, or the acceptable year of the Lord.
That is a foreign concept to us, but it made a lot of sense to them. They realized, that this person would come an announce a year of Jubilee.
Leviticus 25 describes what Isaiah mentioned. When God gave the Law to Moses, He instructed him to explain:
every seven days you are to rest from al work
Every seventh year is a sabbath year and you will let the lan drest.
After forty-nine years, the fiftieth year will be a YEAR OF JUBILEE.
During these years, they would:
set the slaves free
cancel everyone’s debt
return any land or property to its original owners
The Jubilee year was significant and special. And this Person will announce the year of Jubilee!
How could this person announce with authority to the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, and those who mourn? Because He was anointed!
3. The Actions of this Person
3. The Actions of this Person
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
When people are set apart by the Holy Spirit to make such a great announcement, their words will not fall flat.
It was not as though this person would speak with authority and then not have the proof behind his words. Instead, this person who is to come will have supernatural actions to back up his anointed announcement.
What will He do?
He will console those who mourn. To console means to comfort someone who has sorrow or regret.
When I read that word regret, something registered with me. The problems that faced the people of God were THEIR OWN FAULT. They consistently ignored the words of the prophets and traveled down a path of self-destruction.
But God promised, the one who is to come will bring comfort regardless of the regret they possess.
He will also give them:
A crown of beauty for their ashes. It was customary when people were in deep distress or grief they would put ashes on their head to signify their sorry.
But the coming person will be able to give them comfort and take the ashes and give the a beautiful future.
The oil of joy for mourning. Joy and mourning almost seem incompatible. But not with this person, He will have the ability to help those who feel engulfed with sadness and sorrow, and give them joy.
Garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He will give people a reason to praise God regardless of what they face or what they endure!
He will call them trees of righteousness. Remember what the Psalmist promised:
3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
This person will establish the people and help them grow and flourish in God!
In other words, when this person arrives, He will give people a turn around, take their situations which seems difficult and CHANGE EVERYTHING!
Close:
Isaiah described the picture of a prophetic person. Someone who is anointed, set apart, to make a grand announcement of good news that He will confirm with supernatural actions.
The prophet declared this would happen, and for the longest time, it seemed that the prophet might have been off a bit.
Actually, the longer time went on, the worse life seemed to get for God’s people. They did go into captivity. Though they were released, life was never quite the same for them.
Over time, many people stopped trusting in the promises of God and they become very religious, but lacked any depth or desire for a relationship with the God they claimed to serve.
800 years after Isaiah prophesied, Jewish people would meet in synagogues where they would:
pray
read Scripture
hear teaching/preaching
give alms to the poor
hear instruction
fellowship
For MOST of the people, that was it and it would never get much better. But there was a Remnant. A small group of Judaism who still believed the words of the prophets about the coming Messiah.
Imagine their surprise when one Sabbath, they sat in their synagogue and there was a visitor. Some knew him, he was the carpenters son from Nazareth.
Knowing this man was respected and came from a good Jewish family, they asked him to read the Scripture that day. It just “happened” that the passage he read was from Isaiah 61.
Luke describes the scene:
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Notice what He said— THE SCRIPTURE YOU JUST HEARD HAS BEEN FULFILLED THIS VERY DAY!
In other words, HE WAS THE PERSON Isaiah described eight centuries before. What was the response?
22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ”
24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
They chose not to believe. To them, He was the carpenter’s son, how could He be the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah?
Did their unbelief limit Jesus’s power?
No, he explained, I what God has done through us already, you have rejected. He then left and went to Capernaum where He continued to show:
He is the Anointed One. He is set apart to do great things for God!
He issued His life-changing announcement— The Kingdom of Heaven is here. This is the year of God’s favor!
Everywhere He went, His actions confirmed His anointed announcement
He healed the broken hearted
He freed those in spiritual captivity
He opened the blind eyes
He set people free
Truly, He brought God’s favor down to us!
But here is what I want to emphasize this morning. Yes Jesus was THE Prophetic Person, but God is still looking for prophetic people!
He still wants those who will walk with Him.
He still wants those who will depend on the Spirit.
He still wants those who will be His mouth piece to this world!
He still wants those who will do His will and extend His Kingdom!
Who would like to be that person?
Who has had the enemy lie and say, God can use SOME people like that, but you are not one of them?
I want us to see that BECAUSE OF JESUS, He has opened a door where we can live like Him!
He was anointed. We are anointed.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
The same Spirit that set Jesus apart, is the same Spirit that wants to set us apart!
Why are we set apart?
If Jesus had announcement to share. We have an announcement.
7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Why is this announcement important?
All around us we see the effects of the kingdom of darkness. I do not need to list the ways Satan is at work in these last days, but who can see that we are living in a time of deep darkness?
Now is the time to declare through our words and our lifestyle, there is a better way!
But the announcement means very little if we do not remember, Jesus’s anointed announcement was confirmed with supernatural actions.
Jesus healed the sick
Jesus raised the dead
Jesus opened blind eyes
Jesus fed the hungry
Jesus healed deaf ears
Jesus cast out demons
Jesus extended the Kingdom
We might think, that is great, but I am not Jesus! Can I really see such actions follow my anointed announcements?
Jesus knew that question would come up and He had a solution:
12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
WE WILL DO GREAT WORKS. Not greater in power, but greater in number! If we will depend on the Spirit, God will make us a prophetic person, just like Jesus.
Who wants to be like Jesus?
Let’s come and seek Him and ask for His Spirit to flow in and through us!