Isaiah, Chapter Sixty-one

When the Lord Jesus began His ministry, He read aloud a prophecy concerning Himself found in the sixty-first chapter of the Book of Isaiah. Jesus said He is the One whom God has anointed to carry out the plan of God. God has filled Him with His Holy Spirit in order that Christ might build up the members of the royal priesthood. Then they, in turn, can restore what has been destroyed in the earth and also bring God's Presence to the nations.

(7/30/2006) Isaiah, Chapter Sixty-one tells how God has anointed the Lord Jesus with the fullness of the Holy Spirit so He might build up the elect until they are oaks of righteousness.

Here is a concept that needs to be brought to the attention of all Christian believers. It appears that, to a great extent, the Gospel has been that God is ready to forgive those who turn to Christ. This is a fact. But forgiveness is only a beginning part of the charge given to the Lord Jesus.

The Lord is to work until He has bound up the brokenhearted among God's people; has delivered each member of the elect priesthood until that individual has been set completely free from moral and physical bondages; and has brought spiritual and physical sight to those living in darkness.

Jesus is to proclaim the Good News that it is time for God to view us with favor. The Day of Vengeance shall operate until God has exercised judgment against every unclean spirit that would keep the elect in bondage. The anointed Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ, has been empowered to comfort those who are mourning; to crown with beauty in place of ashes those who are grieving in Zion.

The end product of these several ministrations will be a number of oaks of righteousness.

Can you see what is written here? God's plan not only is to forgive people but to bless and strengthen them until they are rooted and grounded in righteous behavior.

It may be true that no other word in the English language suffers as much ambiguity as does "righteousness." "Righteousness" to the Christian of today means God's sees us through Christ. We are totally righteous because we are identified with God's Son, Jesus Christ.

But when Isaiah speaks of "oaks of righteousness" he is not referring to the legal righteousness given to us upon receiving Christ as our Savior. The members of Zion are not delivered so they can be oaks of righteousness by identification. They are delivered from darkness so they can behave righteously.

Does it make sense to you that Christ, the anointed Servant of the Lord, will minister deliverance and joy to His disciples so they will be righteous by ascribed righteousness? This is nonsense.

It may be true that in time past, God was content that His people knew only the righteousness that is ascribed to the person who is behaving unrighteously. But such ignorance is not to be the case any longer. The Lord Jesus is ready now to minister deliverance and sight to every believer who will respond to Him.

Any thoughtful believer can see the difference between ascribed righteousness and actual righteousness of behavior. Today when someone preaches that redemption deals primarily with actual righteousness of behavior, and that imputed righteousness is not the final righteousness of the Kingdom of God but is a means of getting us started in the way of righteousness, that teacher is accused of maintaining we have to live righteously in order to earn salvation.

This appears to me to be willful ignorance. I wonder how long such blindness will persist. We are not saying that we earn salvation by living righteously. Rather we are teaching that salvation includes deliverance from sin so we can grow into oaks of righteous behavior. I trust the reader can see the simplicity of this, and then realize that today's Christian churches are deceived concerning the actual plan of salvation; concerning what Christ has been charged to accomplish.

Christ through the Spirit offered His body as an atonement for our sins. Now Christ through the Spirit is ready to redeem the purchased possession to Himself by removing the graveclothes of sin from us. You can prove this to yourself by asking Jesus to come to you and begin the work of making you an oak of righteousness.

But what is the purpose of creating righteous behavior in God's elect? It is so they may return with Jesus and bring the ways of God into the earth.

The Lord's royal priests will rebuild that which has been destroyed. They also will serve as rulers and priests for the people of the nations.

One concept that needs to be presented to God's people is that of the multitudes of individuals who have not been destroyed during Armageddon but are living on the earth. Like most people in the world today, they have a limited understanding of God. It is not God's intention to throw all these people into the Lake of Fire but to send them rulers and priests who will teach them the righteous ways of the Lord.

This is what these people will say:

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3)

They will refer to the members of Zion as "priests of the Lord, the ministers of our God." They will bring their wealth up to Jerusalem and give it to the Lord's servants there.

Such is the grand plan. First, build up the members of the priesthood. Second, the royal priests will return with Christ and bring healing and guidance to the peoples of the earth.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)

God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoso believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. To accomplish this for the inhabitants of the world, God has called out from the ranks of mankind a body of believers. God works with these chosen ones night and day that they may become oaks of righteousness.

When they come to maturity, they will return to earth with the Lord Jesus Christ. They themselves will be trees of life who will bring healing to mankind. Out from their inmost being will flow the Holy Spirit until the Life of God is available to all who will come up to Jerusalem and partake.

It is a simple, direct plan. However, the resistance of Satan and his demons, and the sinful nature of the elect, requires that numerous operations of redemption be employed. But God shall have His way. Jesus Christ, the anointed Servant of God, will persevere until He and His saints, His holy one, have brought restoration to every person on earth who is willing to accept His lordship.

Those who rebel against the rulership of Christ and His saints will never again experience love, joy, or peace.

This is what is going to take place when God has produced His purified Church:

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. Isaiah 61:11)