“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, 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.” Isaiah 61:1-3 NKJV
Lord God,
We know the beginning of this chapter of Isaiah because it appears in the New Testament. We see Jesus in the Temple. He was handed the sacred scroll to read and it is Isaiah 61:1-2. He then sits. Unusual because everyone stood in the Temple. The chair, we believe, was for the Messiah if he should come! No wonder the priests were offended by Him. But we rejoice.
It was all planned and prepared for Him to come to us as Messiah, before the first spark of light appeared in creation. Isaiah felt called to speak it and he believed You, God would make these things happen. Perhaps some saw it partially fulfilled, to some extent, when Judah returned to Jerusalem from captivity? But not all.
We then read that Jesus did all those things that Isaiah spoke about. He fulfilled the promise. He brought good news, He healed, He mended hearts and released those bound by evil. Today we have Your comfort, the beauty of the resurrection, praising You lifts our spirits, Your Spirit both strengthens us us and helps us grow in Your righteousness.. But we too wait for the final day of vengeance when all sorrow and sickness will end, and we thank You God that You are with us every step of the way until that day..
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Sunday 4th October 2026
One day You’ll make everything new, Jesus
One day You will bind every wound
The former things shall all pass away
No more tears
One day You’ll make sense of it all, Jesus
One day every question resolved
Every anxious thought left behind
No more fear
When we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be
When we all see Jesus
We’ll sing and shout the victory
One day we will see face to face, Jesus
Is there a greater vision of grace
And in a moment, we shall be changed
On that day
And one day we’ll be free, free indeed, Jesus
One day all this struggle will cease
And we will see Your glory revealed
On that day
Chorus
One day we will see face to face, Jesus
Is there a greater vision of grace
And in a moment, we shall be changed
And in a moment, we shall be changed
On that day
Chorus
Lyrics: Matt Redman
Chorus from a hymn: Eliza Edmunds Hewitt