God Keeps His Promises

Isaiah 61: 1-9

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to prisoners; 

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord ...

Jesus read these verses from the scroll of Isaiah that was handed to him in the synagogue at Nazareth, where He grew up. 

He stopped at the first part of verse 2 without completing it, because only this much was being fulfilled by Him at that time. 

The rest of the passage reads:

... And the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former devastations; and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, and foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.

But you will be called the priests of the Lord; you will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of Nations, and in their riches you will boast. 

Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs. 

For I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; and I will faithfully give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Then their offspring will be known among the Nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them because they are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed. 

So Jesus fulfilled the "favorable year of the Lord" in His bringing good news to the afflicted, binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives and freedom to prisoners.

But He stopped in the middle of the verse.

He will fulfill the rest of the passage when He returns again to this Earth. 

When He calls out (Raptures) His church and the Wedding Feast of the Lord takes place (Revelation 19:7-9), then He bursts through the clouds on His white horse with all Heaven's hosts with Him, and He wages the Battle of Armageddon (verses 11-19). 

This is when Jesus will set up His rule over the World as King. And the rest of these verses will be fulfilled. His people Israel will be given all the benefits of His rule, and each tribe will be given a double portion of land from the original apportionment. The ancient ruined cities will be rebuilt and restored, and they will live as His specially chosen ones, serving Him, while people of the other Nations will do all the menial work of shepherding and farming. 

And their children and grandchildren will be recognized by the rest of the World as the specially blessed of the Lord. 

This Thousand Years will be Earth's Golden Age, when King Jesus will be reigning and His wife, the church, are in our Resurrected Bodies, like Jesus' Resurrected Body, and we will rule with Him on His throne. We will perform as His governmental workers enforcing His rule all over the World. 

And all His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) will be fulfilled. 

All loose ends will be tied up and all affairs will be put in order during this time, to be ready for the Grand Finale at the end of that Millennium (Revelation 20:7-9), when the Earth will explode and the Universe will implode (see Rev. 20:11 and II Peter 3:10), and all the knowledge of this existence will be obsolete (I Corinthians 13:8-10 tells us that "knowledge will be done away") when God's perfect Creation, the New Heaven and New Earth will come to be. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!