THE GOSPELS: The Ministry of Yeshua the Messiah begins – Luke 4:17b-21 He was sent to proclaim FREEDOM for the CAPTIVES (those bound in the darkness)

20 June 2025

We are studying Luke 4:14-32, Mathew 4:12, Mark 1:14-15 about the beginning of the MINISTRY of YESHUA THE MESSIAH. And we are focusing today on Luke 4:17b-21

We are mainly reading from the Complete Jewish Study Bible – insight for Jews and Christians. And use the Hebrew name of God, YHVH (Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh) where the word LORD in English is indicated in capital letters in the Scriptures, also referring to Him as Abba Father and use the Hebrew Name Yeshua the Messiah instead of the English Name Jesus Christ translated from the Greek.

Last week we ended with Yeshua the Messiah going to the synagogue on the Sabbath and standing up to read and He was given the scroll of the PROPHET ISAIAH. And we further read in:

In Luke 4:17b-21: “Unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written, ‘The SPIRIT of YHVH IS ON ME; because He has ANNOINTED ME to ANNOUNCE GOOD NEWS to the POOR; HE has SEND ME to PROCLAIM (declare, pronounce) FREEDOM for the IMPRISONED and RENEWED SIGHT for the BLIND, to RELEASE THOSE who have been CRUSHED, to PROCLAIM a YEAR of the FAVOR of YHVH. After closing the scroll and returning it to the attendant, He sat down; and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. He started to speak and say to them: TODAY, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh (the Old Testament) was fulfilled (accomplished)!”

The passage Yeshua read comes from Isaiah 61:1-2 and 58:6 so in order to understand what Yeshua said in terms of its fulfillment, we first have to study the prophesy.

So let’s start with Isaiah 58 which is all about the difference between TRUE and FALSE RELIGION.

We read in Isaiah 58:1 “Shout out loud! Don’t hold back! Raise your voice like a shofar (a Hebrew word for a trumpet, usually made from a ram’s horn)! Proclaim to MY PEOPLE what rebels they are, to the HOUSE of JACOB (thus referring to Israel, the North Kingdom, the Ten Tribes under Ephraim).

The Jewish Study Bible explains: Isaiah chapters 58 and 59 provide a fuller description of ISRAEL’s SINFUL CONDITION (the North Kingdom started worshipping idols using the two golden calves, as well as erecting sun worship pillars and Asherah poles, carved images for the pagan goddess Astarte, indicating they were involved in the BAAL fertility cult worship – Baal was the chief male god of the Phoenicians and Canaanites. The word Baal means “lord” and “master”), they also appointed their own priests in accordance to how the nations did it and not in accordance to the Levites doing service at the Tabernacle and later the Temple as YHVH instructed in Exodus and following their own feast calendar separate from what YHVH instructed in Leviticus 23. Jeroboam commenced with these idolatrous practices as the FIRST king of ISRAEL, the Northern Kingdom and ALL the kings succeeding him followed in his footsteps until YHVH gave them over into the hands of the Assyrians and they integrated into the nations to such an extent that they basically got LOST.

Please note however: although ISRAEL worshipped God through the FALSE IMAGES of IDOLS they still INTENDED and THOUGHT they are worshipping the GOD of ABRAHAM, ISAAC and JACOB, later called ISRAEL. They just worshipped Him in their own way and not in HIS WAY as He instructed. We therefore see a lot of king Saul in them. Just as he, they did not submit themselves to the LAWS, GUIDELINES, TEACHINGS, STATUTES and RULINGS of YHVH but worshipped Him in accordance to what they thought is best with DETRIMENTAL CONSEQUENCES for them, just as the Israelites in the wilderness using a golden calf to worship YHVH and 3000 of them dying, king Saul followed his own ways and will and was rejected by God and he died a shameful death and ALL the kings of ISRAEL (the Northern Kingdom) followed in the way of Jeroboam with DESTRUCTIVE CONSEQUENCES for both them and the people ISRAEL.

But we know God, who is a RIGHTEOUSS and also a MERCIFUL GOD, did not forgot about them. Yeshua the Messiah referred to them in Matthew 10:6 saying He was sent to the LOST SHEEP of ISRAEL. We also know that He promised to GATHER them again during the END TIME. We read in Jeremiah 31:8-10 “For here is what YHVH says: ‘Sing with joy for JACOB/ ISRAEL! Shout for the CHIEF of NATIONS! Proclaim your praise, and say: YHVH! YOU HAVE SAVED YOUR PEOPLE, THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL!’ Look! I am bringing them from the land in the north, gathering them from the FAR ENDS OF THE EARTH; among them are the BLIND and LAME, women with children, women in labor, ALL THOGETHER, a VAST (massive) THRONG (multitude) RETURNING here. They will come WEEPING and PRAYING as I BRING THEM BACK. I will lead them by streams of water on smooth paths, so they won’t stumble. FOR I AM A FATHER TO ISRAEL, AND EFRAIM IS MY FIRSTBORN SON.” And thereafter in Jeremiah 31:31-34 we read about the NEW COVENANT saying: “…the DAYS are coming, says YHVH, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL (the Northern Kingdom including those from the nations grafting in on the tree of ISRAEL) and the HOUSE OF JUDAH (the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Benjamin known as the JEWS). It will not be like the COVENANT I made with their fathers on THE DAY I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated MY COVENANT even though I, for My part, was a HUSBAND to them, says YHVH. For this is the COVENNT I will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL (this is the Northern Kingdom with those of the nations grafting in to ISRAEL according to Romans 11) after those days, says YHVH: I will put MY TORAH (Genesis to Deuteronomy summed up in the TEN COMMANDEMENTS) within them and WRITE it on THEIR HEARTS; I will be their GOD, and they will be MY PEOPLE.” The writer of the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament refers to this NEW COVENANT in Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16.

And in Matthew 24 Yeshua the Messiah explains to His disciples what will happen at the end of time and in verses 29 to 31 He said: “…immediately following the TROUBLE (other Bible versions say: the TRIBULATION) of those times, the sun will grow dark, the moon will stop shining, the stars will fall from the sky. And the powers in heaven will be shaken. THEN the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, ALL THE TRIBES of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory. He will send out His angels with a GREAT SHOFAR (trumpet), and they will GATHER together HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE from the FOUR WINDS, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Also read Deuteronomy 30:3-4, Nehemiah 1:9, Isaiah 11:12, 43:5, 54:7 and 56:8, Jeremiah 29:12-19, 31:8-10 and 32:37, Ezekiel 11:11-17 and 20:34-41 and chapters 34-39, Micah 2:12, Zechariah 10:10, Psalm 107:2-3 and Romans 11).

We further read in Isaiah 58:2-5 “Oh, yes, they SEEK ME, DAY after DAY and (claim to) delight (enjoy, take pleasure) in MY WAYS. As IF they were an UPRIGHT NATION that had not abandoned the RULINGS (decisions, declarations, decrees, verdicts, judgements) of their GOD, they ask Me for JUST RULINGS and (claim) to take pleasure in CLOSENESS (intimacy/ relationship, nearness, lovingness) to GOD (asking) ‘Why should we fast, if You don’t see? Why mortify (humble) ourselves, if You don’t notice?’ Here is My answer: when you fast, you go about doing whatever you like, while keeping your laborers hard at work. Your fast lead to quarreling and fighting, to lashing out with violent blows. On a day like today, fasting like yours will not make your voice heard on high (He will not listen to them, they are wasting their time fasting in this way, doing as they wish and not as He instructed, being harsh and unfair to their workers, quarreling and fighting with other people violently with harsh words). Is this the sort of fast that I want, a day when a person mortifies (humbles) himself? Is the object to hang your head like a reed and spread sackcloth and ashes under yourself? Is this what you call a fast, a DAY that PLEASES YHVH?”

And then God tells them what He wants in Isaiah 58:6 “Here is the sort of FAST I want – RELEASING THOSE UNJUSTLY (unfairly, deceitfully) BOUND, UNTYING THE THONGS (strings, bands) of the YOKE (burden, bondage, slavery), LETTING THE OPPRESSED (burdened, worried, troubled, overloaded, tormented/ distressed/ anxious) GO FREE, BREAKING EVERY YOKE,

And it is this verse that corresponds to a part of what Yeshua the Messiah was ANNOINTED and SEND to come and do as He declared in Luke 4:19: To PROCLAIM (announce, declare) FREEDOM for the IMPRISONED (confined, restraint, trapped, ensnared, entangled) and RENEWED (changed, transformed ) SIGHT (vision, eyesight, ability to see) for the BLIND.

We read in Isaiah 61:1b the prophecy Yeshua read from, saying the SPIRIT of YHVH is upon Me, because YHVH has anointed me to: “…PROCLAIM FREEDOM to the CAPTIVES (prisoners, hostages, detainees), to let out (set free) into THE LIGHT those BOUND in the DARK (those who are slaves to sin);”

And this is indeed what God the Father sent Yeshua the Messiah to do because ALL of us were once captives (prisoners, slaves to sin) bound by the DARKNESS of SIN (read Ephesians 2:1-5). Paul explains in verse 12-13 that in this sinful condition, being slaves to sin and therefore bound in darkness we were as GENTILES (non-Jewish people, people not from the Tribe of Judah nor Benjamin) without the Messiah, estranged from the national life of ISRAEL, foreigners (strangers, outsiders) to the COVENANTS embodying God’s promise. We were in the world without hope and without God. But now, we who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. And the GOOD NEWS of SHALOM (of peace) is that through the Messiah, we have access in one Holy Spirit to the FATHER (verse 17-18).

And we read in 1 Peter 2:9 He (YHVH) called us out of darkness into HIS WONDERFUL (delightful, brilliant, magnificent) LIGHT. And Yeshua said in John 8:12 “I am the LIGHT of the world; whoever follows Me will NEVER walk in darkness but will have the LIGHT which GIVES LIFE.” Paul was assigned by Yeshua to: “open the eyes (of the Gentiles); so that they will TURN from darkness to LIGHT, from the power of the Adversary (the ancient serpent, the dragon, also called Satan and the devil according to Revelation 12:9) to GOD, and thus receive FORGIVENSS of sins and a place among those who have been separated for HOLINESS (being set apart) by putting their TRUST in YESHUA the MESSIAH (Acts 26:18). And in line with his mission Paul said to the believers in Ephesians 5:8 “For you used to be darkness, but now, UNITED with YESHUA the MESSIAH, you are LIGHT. LIVE like children of LIGHT, for the FRUIT of the LIGHT is in every kind of GOODNESS, RIGHTNESS and TRUTH – try to determine what pleases YHVH. Have nothing to do with the deeds produced by darkness, but instead expose them,…”

We therefore also have a role to play, we have to come out of the DARKNESS (take a decision to turn from the darkness) and walk in the LIGHT (live in accordance to the laws, statutes, rulings and guidelines of YHVH our God) as Paul says and as we also learn from Isaiah 58 and 59 and therefore we are going to explore it further.

And then God further said in Isaiah 58:7 “…sharing your FOOD with the HUNGRY (this food possibly also include spiritual food, meaning sharing the WORD of God, the BREAD of LIFE with other people), taking the HOMELESS POOR into your house, CLOTHING the NAKED when you see them (this may possibly also involve covering people’s shame by avoiding gossip and rather helping the person to finding a way to overcome the shame/ covering the shame with 1 Corinthians 13 love, please note this does not means covering-up someone’s shame and thereby making them comfortable with their sin, but rather protecting them against slander and assisting them to overcome their difficulties), fulfilling your duty to your kinsmen! (your relatives/ family – so here we see we are expected to start showing our love towards people within our own primary families and thereafter our extended families, helping them FIRST before moving to helping others).”

And He tells them in Isaiah 58:8-14 the BENEFITS of this “type of fast”, the behavior as described in verses 6 and 7 He is expecting from them, will lead to the following benefits: “Then your LIGHT will burst forth like the morning (you will form part of His light, His Holy Spirit will be visible in you), your NEW SKIN will quickly grow over your wound (you will recover quickly from physical and possibly also psychological illnesses/ distress); your RIGHTEOUSNESS (virtue, morality, justice, honesty) will precede (go before) you (people will know that you act righteously/ honorably/ uprightly) and YHVH’s glory will follow you (you will enjoy His favor and blessings). Then you will CALL, and YHVH will answer; you will cry, and He will say, “Here I am.” IF you will REMOVE the YOKE (burden, bondage, oppression) from among you, STOP FALSE (untrue, incorrect) ACCUSATION (blaming, complaining, pointing the finger) and SLANDER (insult, defamation, denouncement, denigration/ vilification, belittling, condemnation, criticism, attack), GENEROUSLY OFFER FOOD to the HUNGRY and MEET the NEEDS of the PERSON in TROUBLE (worry, distress, anxiety, suffering) THEN your LIGHT will RISE in the DARKNESS (if we walk in the LIGHT by following Yeshua our Messiah, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, we will bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control according to Galatians 5:22-23 and therefore become part of the VISIBLE light of the people of God as Yeshua the Messiah said in Matthew 5:14-16.) and your GLOOM (pessimism, despair, sadness, unhappiness) becomes like noon (midday when the sun is shining at its brightest, therefore when we bring the light of God into other people’s lives by being kind to them and treating them as we would like to be treated, our own lives will lighten up and we will be happier ourselves).

YHVH will ALWAYS (continuously, constantly, permanently) GUIDE (lead, direct) you; HE WILL SATISFY (fulfil) your NEEDS in the DESERT (the dry places we have to journey through during life), HE WILL RENEW the STREGTH in your LIMBS so that you will be like a WATERED GARDEN, like a SPRING whose WATER NEVER FAILS (meaning even in the desert times of our lives He will strengthen us and provide for us more than enough and therefore we will still be able to live fruitful lives amidst the challenges and difficulties life brings, also read Psalm 1). You will REBUILT the ANCIENT RUINS, RAISE FOUNDATIONS (fundamentals, principles, details) from AGES PAST, and be CALLED REPAIRER (rebuilder) of BROKEN (fragmented, damaged) WALLS, RESTORER of STREETS (paths, ways) to LIVE in (we also read about this in Isaiah 61:4 and in Isaiah 49:8-13).

And then we further read in Isaiah 58:13-14 “IF you hold back your foot on SHABBAT (the Sabbath, the 7^th day rest of YHVH) from pursuing (following, chasing after) your OWN INTERESTS on MY HOLY (consecrated, sanctified, set-apart, sacred, blessed) DAY; if you call SHABBAT (the Sabbath) A DELIGHT (enjoyment, pleasure), YHVH’s HOLY DAY, worth HONORING (reverencing, respecting); then honor it by not doing your usual things or pursuing your interests or speaking about them. If you do, you will find DELIGHT (enjoyment, pleasure, happiness) in YHVH – I will make you ride on the heights of the land (He will provide enough for you and give you the best of the land) and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor JACOB/ ISRAEL (you will be an heir with God’s people ISRAEL), for the MOUTH of YHVH has SPOKEN.”

One of the IMPORTANT steps to get out of the darkness is REPENTANCE. We read in Isaiah 59 that there is no SALVATION without REPENTANCE, (TESHUVA in Hebrew, meaning having regret, sorrow, remorse about our sin and literally changing our minds leading to a change in the direction of our lives, taking a decision to turn away from our sins/ away from the DARKNESS, toward God, and walk in His LIGHT).

The Jewish Study Bible explains when ISRAEL asked God WHY He had not responded to their FASTING in Isaiah 57:3, He explains that their EVIL DEEDS demonstrate their HYPOCISY of their RELIGIOUS PRACTICE (Isaiah 58:4 and 59:2-15), but he would respond IF they SERVED HIM from THE HEART (Isaiah 58:5-14 and 59:1). Chapter 58 reveals the FUTILITY (uselessness, pointlessness) of PRAYER and FASTING without AUTHENTIC (genuine, honest) REPENTANCE.

John explains this to believers in 1st John 1:1-10 saying: “The Word, which gives life! He existed from the beginning. We have heard Him, we have seen Him with our own eyes, we have contemplated Him, we have touched Him with our hands! The LIFE appeared, and we have seen it. We are testifying to it and announcing it to you – ETERNAL LIFE! He was with the FATHER, and He appeared to us. What we have seen and heard, we are proclaiming to you; so that you too may have FELLOWSHIP with us. Our fellowship is with the FATHER and with HIS SON, YESHUA the MESSIAH. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. And this is the message which we have heard from Him and proclaim to you: GOD IS LIGHT, and there is NO DARKNESS IN HIM – NONE! If we claim to have FELLOWSHIP with HIM while we are WALKING in the DARKNESS, we are LYING and NOT LIVING OUT THE TRUTH. But if we are WALKING IN THE LIGHT, as HE IS IN THE LIGHT, then we have FELLOWSHIP with each other, and the BLOOD of HIS SON YESHUA PURIFIES US FROM ALL SIN. If we claim not to have sin, we are DECEIVING ourselves, and the TRUTH is not in us. If we acknowledge (admit and confess) our sins, then, since He is TRUSTWORTHY (dependable, reliable) and JUST (fair, reasonable, objective, impartial), He will FORGIVE them and PURIFY us from ALL WRONGDOING. If we claim we have not been sinning, we are making Him out to be a liar, and HIS WORD is not IN us.”

The Jewish Study Bible explains: John is writing about the RELATIONSHIP of a BELIEVER to both sinful acts and the sinful nature as a whole, and he provides a threefold message: 1) There is an absolute call to PUT AWAY SIN; 2) All people sin 3) We have to battle against sin and overcome it through repentance. Acknowledging (admitting and confessing) sin is not merely a verbal transaction but involves realizing (understanding, comprehending) the destruction caused by our sins; having regret and sorrow over it, and CHOOSING to turn AWAY from it and RESISTING it with the power and assistance of the Holy SPIRIT using the WORD of GOD as our SWORD (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Since Yeshua the Messiah paid the FULL price for us, buying us back, NO ONE has to be a slave to sin, we can LIVE in FREEDOM, but ONLY if we each DAY CHOOSE to WAR against the darkness and to keep WALKING in the LIGHT, knowing we are never alone, our COMMANDER and KING YESHUA is walking ahead of us and His Holy SPIRIT is IN us and His army of angels are walking around us.