Part of The Great Isaiah Scroll © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Jesus' Mission - Isaiah 61:1-2a
One Sabbath when he attended the synagogue in his home town Nazareth, Jesus now aged thirty and eligible to be a rabbi and elder was handed the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah in The Tanakh, which was open at Chapter 61. He proceeded to read verses 1-2:
" The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour...." and he stopped short of reading about the day of God's vengeance.
Then rolling up the scroll he gave it to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were on him as he added:
"Today this prophecy is fulfilled in your hearing."
It caused an uproar - some people were saying: "Isn't this Joseph's son?" And when Jesus added that a prophet is never accepted in his own town, they were outraged and wanted to throw him over the cliff at the edge of town.
Jesus' Ministry
Jesus was stating his life's mission from God was twofold -
A. Proclamation of Good News
The Good News was announcing what Isaiah had prophesied some six hundred years earlier in Isaiah 52:7 "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
The Good News is that God's in control, not Satan, in spite of appearances to the contrary.
B. Demonstration of Salvation, Healing & Setting the Captives Free
The proof of the claim was to be seen in the saving of the lost, the healing of the sick and the setting free of those who were captive to Satan in bondages of every kind.
God's Method of Salvation: A Suffering Servant Isaiah 52:13-53:12
What was even more amazing was that Isaiah prophesied God would accomplish all this through A Suffering Servant, who would be rejected by his own people and die as punishment by God for their sins, not his own, and rise to eternal life to see the fruit of his suffering.