“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” ( Luke 4:18,19).
TEXT — Luke 4:14-21
The entertainment world calls the episodes in movies, seasons. But in the worlds of weather and agriculture, seasons refer to the four cycles of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, or simply rainy and dry seasons in the tropics. However, in the Bible, the season can take the meaning of an appointed time to achieve a set purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:1). All of these definitions aptly apply to the coming of Jesus into the world so He can die as a Substitute for humanity. And indeed, none of the meteorological seasons can compare with God’s appointed time of Jesus appearing in the world to set the captives free.
In today’s text, Jesus returns in the power of the Holy Spirit. Coming to Nazareth, He goes into the synagogue and is given the scroll of Isaiah to read. He opens and reads the portion that predicts the Messiah’s Manifesto, announcing to the congregation that the Scripture they have just heard is fulfilled in their hearing.
In God’s plan for humanity, the first advent of Jesus Christ is a season like no other. Although there have been periods of extraordinary divine interventions in human affairs, the greatest remains the time He compelled Himself in love to send His only begotten Son to save a lost humanity. The purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was to preach the good news to the poor, heal people’s broken hearts, set the captives free, heal the sick, open the eyes of the physically or spiritually blind, and deliver the oppressed.
This season offers uncommon hope and a great opportunity to appreciate God’s love for humanity and for you to accept His offer of a new life and proclaim the news to others.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
