His Dual Mission

November 20

Jesus’ words inspired those who heard Him speak and saw Him perform the wonders that only God could do. Most people who sat under His ministry were transformed in the inner man, they were enlightened in the depth of their soul. However, some were not touched by the joy of the presence of Deity; they were inflamed with wrath at Jesus’ assertions of oneness with God.

And, His assertions were clear. One very pronounced claim to Messiahship came in Luke 4:18, 19 when Jesus said, “The Lord has put His Spirit upon Me because He has appointed Me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they can see. He has sent Me to preach the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This is almost word-for-word what Isaiah prophecies in Chapter 61, verses one and two; however, Jesus stops short of completing Isaiah’s prophecy. He does not say He will, “…proclaim the day of the vengeance of the Lord.” What He did say was enough to provoke His detractors to wrath, but He did not complete the prophecy because the day of vengeance will not be until His Second Coming.

The Lord gave us in this passage a very clear indication of the duality of His mission. At His first coming, He brought salvation, He tore down walls that separate men and nations from their God. He gave everyone—Jew and Gentile alike—an equal opportunity to receive the message of forgiveness of sins. At His second coming, He will take believers home and leave the lost to the devices of evil men.