THE GOSPELS: The Ministry of Yeshua the Messiah begins – Luke 4:20-30 A WARNING and ENCOURAGEMENT to BELIEVERS

23 January 2026

We are proceeding to study Luke 4:14-30 about the beginning of the MINISTRY of YESHUA THE MESSIAH.

We are mainly reading from the Complete Jewish Study Bible – insight for Jews and Christians. And use the Hebrew letters for the name of God, YHVH (Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh) where the word LORD in English is indicated in capital letters in the Scriptures. The reason being that the Jewish writers removed the vowels in God’s name out of fear of transgressing the third Commandment of taking His Name in vain. And today there is a lot of controversy about the pronunciation of His Name.  We also refer to Him as Abba Father and use the Hebrew Name Yeshua the Messiah instead of the English Name Jesus Christ translated from the Greek.

We have spent time on studying the MINISTRY of  Yeshua our Messiah as prophesied in Isaiah 61:1-2 and read by Him in Luke 4:18-19 in the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue (a building where a Jewish/ people from the Southern Kingdom comprising of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, assembly or congregation meets for religious worship and instruction) and then we read in Luke 4:20-21 “After closing the scroll returning it to the shammash (the servant/ attendant), He sat down; and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. He started to speak to them: ‘Today, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh (the Old Testament, referring to Isaiah 61:1-2a) was fulfilled!’” Thereby CONFIRMING HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY.

If we compare Isaiah 61:1-2 with what Yeshua read from the scroll of Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19, we see He read verse 1 and only the first part of verse 2 namely: “to proclaim the YEAR of the FAVOUR of YHVH” and He left out the second part of verse 2 namely: “and the DAY of VENGEANCE of our GOD;”

The Afrikaans Bible in Practice gives the following explanation for it: Yeshua did not mention the second half of Isaiah 61:2 because the time of God the Father’s GRACE has come with HIS FIRST COMING to earth. The time of PUNISHMENT will come with HIS RETURN. His audience expected exactly the opposite of the Messiah. They thought that He would first destroy their enemies and then bring God the Father’s blessing. He was busy showing them from the Scriptures that He is the fulfilment of all the prophets’ prophecies about the Messiah. As Messiah, Yeshua comes twice, once as the SERVANT who suffers, indicating His earthly ministry that comes to offer salvation to the whole world, and once at the end of time as TRIUMPHANT KING, when all the promises of salvation that are there for God the Father’s children will be fulfilled.

We read the reaction of the people in the synagogue on Yeshua’s words in Luke 4:22 “Everyone was speaking well of Him and marveling that such appealing words were coming from His mouth. They were even asking, ‘Can this be Joseph’s son?’”

And we further read about the conversation between Yeshua and the people in the synagogue in Luke 4:23-27 “Then Yeshua said to them, ‘No doubt you will quote to me the proverb – Doctor, cure yourself!’ We’ve heard about all the things that have been going on over in Capernaum; now do them here in your hometown! Yes! He said, I tell you that no prophet is accepted in his hometown. It’s true, I am telling you – when Elijah was in ISRAEL (referring to the territory of the Northern Kingdom, the Ten Tribes under Ephraim), and the sky was sealed off for three-an-a-half years, so that all the land suffered in a severe famine, there were many widows, but Elijah was sent to none of them, only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon (this was a Phoenician city, northwest of Palestine which is modern day Lebanon and coastal Syria). Also, there were many people with tzara’at (leprosy, skin diseases) in ISRAEL (the Northern Kingdom) during the time of the prophet Elisha; but none of them was healed, only Naaman a Syrian.”

Elijah served as the PROPHET in the NORTHERN KINGDOM of ISRAEL (comprising of the Ten Tribes under Ephraim) during the reign of king Ahab, Ahaziah and Joram. It was a time of Baal worship and subsequent droughts and wars due to their sinfulness and rebellion against God the Father. Yeshua is referring in Luke 4:24-26 to the reign of king Ahab of ISRAEL of which we read in 1^st Kings 16:29-33. He did more evil in the eyes of YHVH than any of the kings of ISRAEL before him, he married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Sidonians and served their small letter god Baal and worshiped him. During this time Elijah announced a severe drought. The reason being that ISRAEL under rulership of king Ahab worshipped Baal as the provider of rain, fertility and live. People tried to push Baal into action through sexual rituals, and they thanked him for their crops. The best way to expose this false religion was to show that he cannot provide rain, only the ONE TRUE GOD can provide rain. And that as the reason for the announcement of a drought until Elijah would say that it is over. This clearly proved that God is in control of nature. And we see during this famine Elijah was only sent to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. This widow was therefore a Sidonian and was not a believer in God, but God provided for Elijah through helping her. And when God answers Elijah’s prayers to resurrect her son, this woman gives honor to YHVH the God of Israel who controls live and death, in strong contrast to king Ahab of Israel, who honors the false god Baal and the consequent dying of many Israelites due to famine.

Elisha followed Elijah up as PROPHET during the time of king Jehu, Jehoahaz and Jehoash. All following in the footsteps of previous kings of the Northern Kingdom worshipping idols. And that was the reason why God did not heal any of them of leprosy but again healed a non-believing Syrian, Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram as we read in 2^nd Kings chapter 5. And in 2 Kings 5:15 Naaman declares: “Well, I’ve learned that there is no God in all the earth except in ISRAEL;” So again, we see here the irony of God’s own people, the Northern Kingdom, rejecting the One and only Faithful God for worthless idols but a Syrian who did not know the God of ISRAEL, being healed and giving Him honor.

And that is what Yeshua is explaining to the people in the synagogue in Luke 4:23-27 that both Elijah and Elisha was not accepted as PROPHETS by the Northern Kingdom of ISRAEL. The people did not LISTEN to the Words of God that they spoke to them but chose to live in great apostasy (unfaithfulness to God, choosing to desert Him and worshipping other small letter gods) and that is the reason why God did not help them.  

Likewise in Luke 4:22-27 Yeshua, being God in the FLESH, has not been accepted as a PROPHET in His hometown. In the time we live in we see the same tendency; people view those they do not know personally and who looks important as experts. So therefore, we should not be surprised or get discouraged if people who knows us well, don’t understand or accept our sharing of God’s Word with them.

And we then see the sad result in Luke 4:28-30 “On hearing this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with fury (anger, rage). They rose up, drove Him out of town and dragged Him to the edge of the cliff on which their town was built, intending to throw Him off. But He walked right through, the middle of the crowd and went away.

So sadly, we see here that a combination of being OFFENDED, PROUD and SELFRIGHTEOUS blinding the people and they were, like their ancestors, especially from the Northern Kingdom of Israel (the Ten Tribes under Ephraim), unwilling to HUMBLE themselves and turn back to God the Father. They rather chose to react in FURY and drive the ONE away who came to give them the GOOD NEWS of SALVATION, proclaiming their FREEDOM from the BONDAGE of SIN, SICKNESS and DEATH, was able to open their SPIRITUALLY BLINDED EYES and RELEASING them from their BROKEN HEARTS.

But we also see the DIVINE PROTECTION Yeshua the Messiah had to FULFIL HIS MISSION despite the opposition He faced. We also see this DIVINE PROTECTION in the lives of His disciples and the apostle Paul who was involved in a shipwreck and got bitten by a poisonous snake on the Island of Malta, but he suffered no harm (Acts 27:27-44 and Acts 28:1-6). Yeshua also promises this PROTECTION to His future disciples (including us) in Mark 16:15-18 and we also read of this PROTECTION for His witnesses in the last days in Revelation chapter 11.

This also serves as a WARNING to us as BELIEVERS today. Sometimes we declare that we are BELIEVERS and we ATTEND CHURCH SERVICES, but we do not WALK in GOD the FATHER’s WAYS and therefore we do not experience HIS BLESSINGS and do not GIVE HONOUR to HIM through our LIVES in our WORDS and DEEDS. It is not enough to be recognized as HIS PEOPLE by proclamation, being involved in religious actions and following religious traditions but walking in the ways of the WORLD. We have to KNOW YHVH our GOD by having a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with HIM, meaning we have to KNOW the TRUTH of THE WORD of GOD and SUMBIT to the GUIDANCE of HIS HOLY SPIRIT, LIVE in accordance to HIS TRUTH and show HIS RIGHTEOUS LOVE in our WORDS and DEEDS to other people who then may decide to TURN to HIM.

It also serves as ENCOURAGEMENT for BELIEVERS to STAND FIRM IN OUR FAITH despite resistance from other people including FELLOW BELIEVERS and even people close to us, to keep on proclaiming the MESSAGE of the WORD that will often challenge the status quo and lead to rejection and opposition and to keep on TRUSTING in God’s PROTECTION and GUIDANCE and WALKING in the AUTHORITY of YESHUA the MESSIAH and FULFILL our PURPOSE.