8 May 2026 We are proceeding to study the SERMON of YESHUA on the MOUNT…
THE GOSPELS: The Ministry of Yeshua the Messiah begins – Luke 4:18 the GOOD NEWS as prophesied by Isaiah
1 August 2025
We are studying Luke 4:14-32, Mathew 4:12 and Mark 1:14-15 about the beginning of the MINISTRY of YESHUA THE MESSIAH. And we are still focusing today on Luke 4:18.
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 using the Hebrew Name Yeshua the Messiah instead of the English Name Jesus Christ translated from the Greek.
We are still focusing on Luke 4:18 about Yeshua who was ANNOINTED to announce GOOD NEWS to the POOR, and exploring what the Word tells us this GOOD NEWS is.
We read in Isaiah 40:1-11 “Comfort and keep comforting (uplifting, calming) my people says your God. Tell Jerusalem to take heart; proclaim to her that she has completed her time of service, that her guilt has been paid off, that she has received at the hand of YHVH double for all her sins. A voice cries out: ‘Clear a road through the desert for YHVH! Level a highway in the ‘Aravah’ for our God! (the Aravah is a Hebrew word for the desert plain, south of the Dead Sea). Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill lowered, the bumpy places made level and the crags (cliffs, peaks, mountains) become a plain (a large area of flat land). Then the GLORY of YHVH will be revealed; all humankind together will see it, for the mouth of YHVH has spoken.’
A voice says, ‘Proclaim (announce, declare, degree, pronounce)’! And I answer, ‘What should I proclaim? All humanity is merely grass, all its kindness like wildflowers: the grass dries up, the flower fades, when a wind from YHVH blows on it. Surely the people are grass! The grass dries up, the flower fades; but the WORD of our GOD will stand forever.’
You who brings GOOD NEWS to Tziyon (Zion/ Sion, Mount Zion was originally the City of David, south of the modern Old City of Jerusalem. Later the name Zion became a metaphor referring to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the people of Jerusalem and the people of Israel), get yourself up on a high mountain; you who bring GOOD NEWS to Jerusalem, cry out at the top of your voice! Don’t be afraid to shout out loud! Say to the cities of JUDAH (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the Southern Kingdom, known as the Jews today), Here is your God! Here comes YHVH your God with power, and His arm (a reference to Yeshua the Messiah in the Old Testament) will RULE for Him. Look! His reward is with Him, and His recompense is before Him. He is like a SHEPHERD feeding His flock, gathering His lambs with His arm, carrying them against His chest, gently leading the mother sheep.”
The Jewish Study Bible explains: The Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) compares the bond between YHVH and ISRAEL to that of a marriage between a man and a woman. Thus when the people violated (dishonored, defiled, desecrated) God’s commands, they were considered to be a wayward (disobedient, rebellious) wife and admonished (cautioned, alerted, warned) to return to YHVH their FIRST LOVE.”
Remember we are called to LOVE HIM ABOVE ALL ELSE and our neighbor/ other people as ourselves – Exodus 20:1-14, Deuteronomy 5:6-18, 6:4-5, 10:12, 13:3 & 30:6, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27, and Yeshua later, in Revelation 2:4 reprimands the congregation of Ephesus for losing the LOVE that they had at first and encouraging them to remember where they fell from and to turn from their sin/ lawlessness, and DO what they used to do before (become obedient to Him again because that is how we show our love to Him – read John 14:15). And this is how we return to Him as our FIRST LOVE!
The GOSPEL, also called THE GOOD NEWS is related to the NEW COVENANT of God. This GOOD NEWS is prophesied in Isaiah 40:1-11, bringing comfort to ISRAEL (here mainly expressed for the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) that the GLORY of YHVH is about to be REVEALED. A voice crying in the wilderness will PREPARE THE WAY of YHVH. He will come and like a SHEPHERD tend to His flock.
Isaiah 40 is then followed by the description of the SERVANT of YHVH in Isaiah 42:1-7 we read: “Here is MY SERVANT, whom I SUPPORT, MY CHOSEN ONE, in whom I take pleasure. I have put MY SPIRIT on HIM, HE will bring JUSCTICE to the nations. He will not cry or shout; no one will hear His voice in the streets. He will not snap off a broken reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. He will bring forth JUSTICE according to TRUTH; He will not weaken or be crushed until He has ESTABLISHED JUSTICE on the EARTH, and the coastlands (referring to distant lands or regions situated along the sea) wait for the TORAH (Genesis to Deuteronomy, summed up in the TEN COMMANDMENST, His WORD). Thus says God, YHVH, who CREATED the heavens and spread them out, who stretched out the earth and ALL that grows from it, WHO GIVES BREATH TO THE PEOPLE ON IT: I, YHVH, called you, RIGHTEOUSLY (justly, honorably, morally), I took hold of YOU by the hand, I shaped YOU and made YOU A COVENANT for the people to BE A LIGHT FOR THE NATIONS, so that YOU can open blind eyes, free the prisoners from confinement (imprisonment, captivity), those living in DARKNESS from the dungeon (prison). (Also read Isaiah 61:1-2 and confirmed by Yeshua in Luke 4:17-18).
The Jewish Study Bible explains: This passage is speaking of the ministry and function of God the Father’s Messiah. He will come from out of ISRAEL, specifically the TRIBE of JUDAH, and be a LIGHT for the NATIONS, opening blind eyes, freeing prisoners and loosing those who are living in spiritual darkness. This chapter marks the beginning of Isaiah’s SERVANT SONGS in chapters 49 – 53. The SERVANT SONGS describe the responsibility of the MESSIAH to ESTABLISH JUSTICE and ENLIGHTEN (instruct, educate, make clear to) those in darkness and to RESTORE ISRAEL as a NATION (re-unite the divided Southern and Northern Kingdoms as we also read in Ezekiel 37:15-26 and Ephesians 2:13-16). And BRING SALVATION TO ALL PEOPLE. To be a reminder that He will TRUST in YHVH for vindication (justification) in the face of the humiliation of those who oppose Him, and finally to bring REDEMPTION to THE EARTH and be exalted by God because He has provided atonement for all through His SACRIFICIAL DEATH.
As God’s COVENANT people, ISRAEL (all TWELVE TRIBES as born again believers in the Messiah, Romans 11:25 and Galatians 6:14-16) is also called to be a LIGHT to the nations, not just in words preached but also through the DEMONSTRATION of God’s WAY of LIFE (bearing the FRUIT of the HOLY SPIRIT, Galatians 5:22-23).
In Isaiah chapter 52 Isaiah expresses this hope to ISRAEL (Zion/ Sion) and mentions the GOOD NEWS again by saying in verse 7-8: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who bring GOOD NEWS, PROCLAIMING SHALOM (peace), binging GOOD NEWS of GOOD THINGS , ANNOUNCING SALVATION and saying to Tziyon (Zion/Sion), YOUR GOD IS KING! Listen! Your watchmen are raising their voices, shouting for joy together . For they will see, before their own eyes, YHVH returning to Tziyon (Zion/ Sion).” YHVH will show His SALVATION (redemption, deliverance, rescue) in the sight (view) of the nations and the GOD of ZION will REIGN and RESTORE JERUSALEM.
Paul later refers to Isaiah 52:7 as one of the scriptures from Isaiah in Romans 10:12-21 as part of his explanation of why ISRAEL (with specific reference to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the Southern Kingdom), did not accept Yeshua as their Messiah. Saying that there is no difference between JEW and GENTILE (non-Jews, people not from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) – YHVH is the same for EVERYONE, rich toward everyone (the NIV says, richly blessing everyone) who CALLS on HIM, since EVERYONE who CALLS on the NAME of YHVH will be DELIVERED (this is a quotation from Joel 3:5). But how can they (people) call on someone if they haven’t TRUSTED in him? And how can they TRUST (have faith, belief, hope) in someone if they haven’t HEARD about him? And how can they hear about someone if no one is proclaiming him? And how can people proclaim Him unless God sends them? – as the TANAKH (the Old Testament) puts it, “How beautiful are the feet of those announcing GOOD NEWS about GOOD THINGS! (this is the quotation from Isaiah 52:7).
And Paul proceeds saying from Romans 10:16-21” The PROBLEM is that they haven’t ALL paid ATTENTION to the GOOD NEWS and OBEYED it. For Isaiah says, (this is a quote from Isaiah 53:1) YHVH, who has TRUSTED (believed) what he HEARD from us? So TRUST (having faith, belief, hope) COMES FROM WHAT IS HEARD, and WHAT IS HEARD comes through A WORD PROCLAIMED ABOUT THE MESSIAH. But, I say, isn’t it rather that they didn’t hear? (Paul is specifically referring here to Judah and Benjamin, the Jews because remember by this time the TEN TRIBES under Ephraim were lost among the nations due to their dispersion and integration into the nations which is still the case today). And then Paul says: “No, they did hear – (and he quotes Psalm 19:5) “Their voice has gone out throughout the WHOLE WORLD and their WORDS to the ends of the earth.” But, I say, isn’t it rather that ISRAEL (all twelve tribes but specifically Judah and Benjamin, the Jews) didn’t understand? And then Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:21, the song that Moses had to write about the Israelites (all twelve tribes) that will go astray in the end days with YHVH saying: “I will provoke you to jealousy over a non-nation, over a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.” Moreover (Paul says, quoting Isaiah 65:1), Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who were not looking for Me, I became known to those who did not ask for Me”, but to Israel (all twelve tribes but now with the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, the Jews) He says, “All day long I held out My hands to a people who kept DISOBEYING and CONTRADICTING (denying, challenging, refuting, disproving).”
Isaiah 52 is then followed by a description of the SUFFERING SERVENT of YHVH in Isaiah 53. The GOOD NEWS announced here is that GOD WILL ACCOMPLISH HIS WORD to ISRAEL, REDEEM them and RESTORE them to the LAND of PROMISE. They will live in PEACE and their sins will be FORGIVEN. This is GOOD NEWS indeed, and it requires the COMING of the SERVANT of YHVH who would suffer to REMOVE sin. SALVATION is therefore not about going to heaven, but instead about the FULL RESTORATION of the CREATION of YHVH through the MESSIAH of ISRAEL (from the tribe of JUDAH).
The FOUR GOSPELS (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) base their message on the prophecies of Isaiah. Each begins with the coming of John the Immerser/ Baptizer as “The voice crying in the wilderness”. He is not the Messiah but announces the COMING of the MESSIAH and the RESTORARION of the KINGDOM to ISRAEL. John identifies YESHUA as THE (capital letter) ONE who will give the Ruach HaKodesh (the HOLY SPIRIT). This (capital letter) ONE is the SUFFERING SERVANT – the PROMISED ONE who like Joseph, will be misunderstood by his brothers and through His rejection and suffering become their SALVATION and COMFORT.
The GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS) writers demonstrate that Yeshua is both the SUFFERING ONE (Son of Josef from whose lineage the TRIBE of EPFRAIM, who became the head of the TEN TRIBES forming the NORTHERN KINGDOM of ISRAEL) and the COMING ONE (Son of David, from whose lineage the Messiah was born, the TRIBE of JUDAH, whom with the smaller TRIBE of BENJAMIN, today called the Jews, formed the SOUHERN KINGDOM of ISRAEL), who will REIGN in the RESTORED KINGDOM. His birth is described to the shepherds as GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY, which shall be for ALL THE PEOPLE (first to the JEWS, the tribe of Judah & Benjamin, the Southern Kingdom, Romans 1:16) and then to ALL NATIONS. We read in Luke 2:10-11 “This very day, in the town of David (Bethlehem) there was born for you a DELIVERER (SAVIOR, RESCUER, REDEEMER), who is THE MESSIAH, the Master.
The GOSPEL is THE GOOD NEWS that this SUFFERING ONE has died – once for all – to PUT AWAY the SIN of ISRAEL and the WHOLE WORLD, and because of HIS RESURECTION, death has been conquered. Yeshua ascended into heaven as the GREAT HIGH PRIEST of the order of MALCHIZEDEK, and HE IS NOW SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD (THE FATHER) and WILL RETURN to RESTORE the KINGDOM to ISRAEL (all born again, Holy Spirit filled believers in Yeshua the Messiah who follow Him in obedience to God the Father are the ISRAEL of GOD, read Galatians 6:14-16 and the WHOLE CREATION of GOD as KING of kings and Master of masters). (Read Revelation 17:14 and 19:16). On THAT DAY, YESHUA will be seated on the THRONE of David in Jerusalem forever. (Read Revelation 20 to 21).
Yeshua’s return will include the GATHERING OF ISRAEL (all born again, Holy Spirit filled believers in Yeshua the Messiah who follow Him in obedience to God the Father will be gathered as the ISRAEL of GOD, read Galatians 6:14-16), both the LIVING and the DEAD (Ezekiel 37 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) from the NATIONS of their DIASPORA (dispersion, scattering), and so ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED.
Paul further explains in Romans 11 by quoting Deuteronomy 29:3 and Isaiah 29:3 that God has given the Jews (the tribe of Judah and Benjamin) a spirit of dullness – eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, right down to the present day. And then we further read in Romans 11:17-31: “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you – a wild olive – were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the OLIVE TREE, then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches (the twelve tribes of Israel, especially the tribe of Judah and Benjamin/ the Jews, still recognizable today)! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root (the first fruits offered that are holy, read verse 16), the root is supporting you. So you will say, branches were broken off that I may be grafted in. True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of TRUST (faith, believe, hope). However, you keep your place only because of your TRUST (faith, believe, hope). So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you! So take a good look at God’s kindness and severity (strictness): on the one hand, severity (strictness) toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God’s kindness (compassion) toward you – provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of TRUST (faith, believe, hope), will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in. For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree! For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won’t imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Israel, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness, and that it is in this way that ALL ISRAEL will be SAVED (this again referring to all born again, Holy Spirit filled believers in Yeshua the Messiah who follow Him in obedience to God the Father will be gathered as the ISRAEL of GOD, read Galatians 6:14-15.)
And Paul proceeds in Romans 11:26 tot 31: “As the Tanakh (the Old Testament) says (quoting Isaiah 59:20-21 and 27:9) “Out of Tziyon (Zion, Sion) will come the REDEEMER; He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Israel) and this will be MY COVENANT with them, when I take away their sins.” With respect to the GOOD NEWS they (Judah and Benjamin, the Jews) are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs’ (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s) sake, for God’s FREE GIFT and HIS CALLING are irrevocable. Just as you yourselves were DISOBEDIENT to God before but have received MERCY now because of ISRAEL’s DISOBEDIENCE; so also ISRAEL has been DISOBEDIENT now, so that by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God’s mercy.”
The Jewish Study Bible explains: In this ALL of the COVENANTS will be brought into FULL OPERATION and FULFILLMENT, and the GENTILES (non-Jews, people not from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) will be included through what Paul calls “the mystery of the GOSPELS/ GOOD NEWS.