Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & verse"  Day 358

December 24;      Luke 4:18;      48/260;      ‘The Holy Spirit Upon Jesus’

Luke 4:18 "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; 

The Lord Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth, where He had been brought up and was given the book of Isaiah.  Jesus knew exactly where He wanted to read from the Book of Isaiah.  Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me……” Jesus then closed the book and declared that the scriptures in Isaiah were fulfilled in Himself.  He was telling everyone in the synagogue that He was the Messiah.  Think about this.  If Jesus was not the Messiah, He was totally deceived or a liar.  He began His earthly ministry at about thirty years of age, after He was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.  The power of the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and He was anointed to preach, teach and heal.  All of the Old Testament prophecies point to Jesus.  Everything in the Bible is about Jesus.  Those in the synagogue that day were offended.  It made no difference, Jesus is the Messiah. As Christians, our faith is strengthened and we are blessed as we see the Lord Jesus boldly stating the truth about who He is.  What Jesus said and did proved He spoke the truth.  The Lord Jesus commanded us to continue His ministry after He returned to heaven.  Now, when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit is upon us to continue doing exactly what the Lord Jesus did.  What an honor.  Others may be offended at us as well, but they will see the Holy Spirit working through us verifying the truth.