Isaiah 61 - Bible Study in 5 Minutes

Isaiah 61 Short Summary:

God’s Spirit foretold the “year of the Lord’s favor” when God would restore Judah’s national trajectory through the work of their Messiah (Jesus). Judah’s shame would be taken away, and they would be raised from ruins. Like a gardener, God would cause righteousness to sprout in the land.

Isaiah 61 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• The prophetic ministry of Isaiah spanned the reigns of King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

• Isaiah’s ministry is thought to span from 739-681 BC.

KEY CHARACTERS:

• Isaiah – The son of Amoz (1:1). God commissioned Isaiah as His prophet to Judah.

• The People of Judah – God foretells the restoration of Judah through the work of His Messiah.

DEFINITIONS:

• Ashes (61:3) - In ancient days, the people of Judah would put ashes on their heads when they were sad or publicly mourning. This was often accompanied by wearing sackcloth. The phrase “sackcloth and ashes” appears many time in the Old Testament text.

OUTLINE:

• THE YEAR OF THE LORD’S FAVOR (61:1-11):

  • Isaiah said that God’s Spirit had anointed him to bring good news to the poor, help the brokenhearted, announce liberty to captives, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of His vengeance.

  • This was true in a sense of Isaiah, but the greatest fulfillment of these words came in Jesus. Jesus applied these words to Himself and His work in Luke 4:17-21.

  • Judah would be given a beautiful headdress instead of the ashes of mourning.

  • The people would be “oaks of righteousness” planted by the Lord.

  • The ruins of Judah would be built again, and foreigners would contribute to the wealth of Jerusalem.

  • The people of God would be the “priests of the Lord” (61:6).

  • Their children would be known among the nations and have a reputation of being blessed by the Lord.

  • God would make an everlasting covenant His people, and they would rejoice in the Lord.

  • God’s people would be adorned in robes of righteousness and garments of salvation, like a groom dressed for his wedding and a bride bedecked with jewels for her nuptials.

  • “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations” (61:11).  

APPLICATION:

• I think the picture of God as a gardener is a cool image.

• This is similar to God as a farmer, a picture we get in the New Testament.  

• The earth is His garden, and He does with it what He pleases.

• He plants His will and causes it to sprout.

• He permits weeds to grow, as a gardener might as to not uproot good plants, but ultimately, He will tear them up and destroy them (Mat 13:24-30).

• He will accomplish the harvest He intends with His power over life, death, nature and humankind.