Power

Luk 4:18 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,

Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Luk 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

The first two scriptures above are first found in Isaiah 61:1. The statement made is profound and powerful. At the time that Jesus made this statement, He had just come out of the wilderness after fasting for forty days and nights and being tempted of Satan. He went into the synagogue, as was His custom to do, and read the scripture from the book of Isaiah. I'm sure many times this scripture had been read by various rabbis or ministers.

One thing Jesus did that no other did before Him was He sat down. You are probably thinking. "Why does sitting down have any significance at all?" In the synagogue, there are three chairs toward what we call the pulpit area in church today. One chair is called,' The seat of Moses.' That chair is for the minister or rabbi to sit in. The second chair is called, ' The seat of Elijah.' It is there for a guest speaker or teacher to sit in. The third chair is reserved for one who is more powerful than the minister or guest speaker. It is reserved for the Messiah.

All eyes were fastened on the one who sat in the seat of the Messiah. I can imagine jaws dropped open and eyes wide as they watched this man who sat in the seat that was reserved for the coming King of Glory.

Luk 4:21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

When Jesus took the seat of the Messiah, He took His rightful place of power and might. Nobody else could sit in the seat of the Messiah. It was for Him and Him alone.

Luk 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

The first thing the people started talking about among themselves was the fact that Jesus is a carpenter's son. They knew Jesus and had known Him all of his life. They had seen Him many times in the community, no doubt helping Joseph in his work. They knew everything about His daily life. They knew how He came to the synagogue on the Sabbath to teach. It was His custom to do it means He did it consistently.

Luk 4:23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

This was a prophesy that Jesus made. It concerned the not so distant future, and shows the fact that He knew what was going to happen to him at Calvary. This came to pass later in the book of Luke; (Luk 23:37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.) This was while He hung on the cross between two thieves. They did indeed prove Jesus statement to be right.

Luk 4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

Another statement made by Jesus is the fact that prophets aren't accepted as prophets in their own country or community. This is also a statement that is true and was proven also later on in this very same chapter. Jesus told them of the unbelief that the citizens of Israel had before God and they were enraged at what He said; (Luk 4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;) . The biggest problem is that Jesus spoke TRUTH.

Luk 4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

The proof is in the pudding is the old saying that I have heard many times. The people got mad and formed a mob to rid themselves of this man Jesus who took the seat of Messiah. They didn't want Him among them and tried to kill Him at that time. (Luk 4:29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. ) It is by the power of God that He escaped this mob. he went through the midst of them and escaped. Kind of profound that he would go straight to Capernaum don't you think?

This is the first part of a series of articles that I will be writing on Power. I believe the children of God have been bound for too long and need to realize the power that we actually have through this man Jesus.

Prayer

Father God, I love you and praise your holy name. I thank you, Father, for the power that has been given to me, not only me, but to every child that you have. I ask, Father, that the needs of your children be met and they realize who they are and what they have in you. I ask also Father that those who read this and are lost, find salvation through this man Jesus Christ. In Jesus mighty and precious name, AMEN!!!