2. Isaiah 61 — the Model of our New Life.
What is the Kingdom? It is being transformed into the very image of Jesus. How to do that? Isaiah 61.
Jesus explained this verse to me in detail and it changed my life, my understanding of why we minister, HOW we minister, what our goals, our tools and our results should be. It basically changed what Christian ministry means to me. In a nutshell he said this:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me” means Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit. “Because he has anointed me” means the Father empowered Jesus. “To preach” or to “proclaim” which Jesus did by demonstrating miracles—it was not always just with words that Jesus proclaimed this message. “Good News to the poor” meaning the gospel of the kingdom to the people John the Baptist had prepared by preaching repentance and water baptism to. The term “poor” means the “poor in spirit” which is an idiom which means the repentant, the baptized, the saved. So in a way of thinking, Jesus only preached the kingdom to the saved. Wow!
Now it gets gnarly! Jesus was sent by the father then to DO WHAT? “To bind up the brokenhearted,” this means to perform deep inner healing to restore the wounded hearts to wholeness again. It is a restorative work of transformation we call the ministry of inner healing. Broken hearts harbor sin, are anchors to the works of darkness, and cause spiritual blindness. Second, Jesus was sent also to “release the captives” which he just told me plainly means to break off ANYTHING that binds any person: curses, addictions, habits, chains, generational curses or otherwise. He said to me we are to BREAK IT ALL! Third, he came to “give sight to the blind” and I said, Oh like to give them spiritual gifts to have visions and prophecies? And he said no. It’s not just having visions or just any old revelations … its giving people THE Revelation … of Who God Is. It is to reveal God’s true character and identity to them personally. BOOM! This is the real purpose of ministry and if we can lead people into these three transformative experiences: inner healing, deliverance, and ‘communion’ or deep soaking prayer time, they will begin to be transformed into Christ-like children of God. Watch out!
What this causes is a cascading explosion of ever increasing breakthroughs and victories. Favor, Revenge, Comfort and Provision, which I will explain in detail what Jesus told me in the longer article. In my counting it’s about seven categories of transformative blessings.
And what would they become?
So what would happen if Jesus was able to minister to someone like this? What would happen if Jesus was allowed to restore a person into the condition they would have been in had there been no fall of man? THIS … “THEY SHALL become … ” What they become is an Oak Tree of Righteousness that Displays God’s Splendor … they then go and restore the cities ruined and devastated for generations … they shall be called priests, ministers …. oh, it’s a long list of blessings and exploits!
And finally everyone who sees them will “know and acknowledge” that these are the people, these are the offspring who are the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of Christ, the Seed whom God has blessed!!
When he explained it to me I was stunned, speechless! I sat back in my chair in shock and said, “Jesus!!! This is the model of your ministry!!” and he said, “No. THIS is the Model of YOUR NEW LIFE.”
This profound explanation links together every other idea he had taught me about prophecy, deliverance, curse breaking, inner healing, hearing God’s voice (communion/fellowship in the Holy Spirit), grace (power), servant leadership, equipping the saints, etc., which basically is the road map to this total teaching I now call the Foundations of the Kingdom. This conversation about the meaning of Isaiah 61 tied all these seemingly separate ideas into one interconnected, interrelated picture. And today THIS verse is being fulfilled in YOUR hearing. It will literally change all you do and call Christian Ministry, the purpose of your service to God, and even the way you understand your new life in Christ from here on out.
That’s the second key. It’s enormously profound. But don’t worry, my explanation gets faster. These first two ideas are linked because they explain the overall scope of the Ministry, the Gospel and global objectives. Many other areas of content are likewise linked in groups, but before I get to that, just take step back, and ask yourself, WHY do we we minster? What are we trying to achieve. What exactly are we trying to BUILDING anyway?
What are we building? A temple! One made of Living Stones.
I saw a vision of Jesus hanging in the air above a RUINED Jerusalem. It was a DESTROYED city, and he cried with such pain in his heart, “Look at what has happened to my people!” He was not lamenting the lost houses, but the PEOPLE these buildings represented. ‘What can I do Lord?’ I asked feebly. And he picked up one brick—a broken, damaged, dusty brick and he held like it was precious to him, like he was holding a baby, and held it out towards me and said, “You can restore my people one brick at a time.”
What are you building exactly as a Christian and more as a minister of God? What does God want you to build that can pass into Eternity? Can your Sunday school program or your publishing house, your overseas school or your weekly video series pass into Eternity? What can you BUILD then with your efforts on earth that has an eternal worth?
It’s the PEOPLE!
Well, the ‘thing’ we are building … is people. The Kingdom is WITHIN us. It’s within THEM. The Grace of God is like our food that we eat, and it becomes a part of our being transforming–we are what we eat. So the crowds, numbers, tithing, CD’s, musical events with T-shirt series for sale in the lobby are deceptive idols that confuse people as to what God really wants us to make. It’s PEOPLE he treasures. They are his Jewels. Not in large crowds attending a concert, but a person transformed by the intimate touch of his Spirit.
I don’t think Jesus has a collection of ministry outreach T-shirts in his home in heaven hanging on the wall behind glass cases. He may, but not for the same reason you might. It is to RESTORE these broken people that God has ordained a ministry on Earth. It is to repair, comfort, protect, empower, strengthen, enlighten and transform broken bricks into the true Living Stones that can carry the weight of his presence within them. To take these broken, dusty, cracked, skewed, crumbling bricks and transform into the very likeness of Christ is the task given to us as his servants! Alone they will be called the true Children of God, known as the very the Seed of Abraham that God has blessed—corporately they will be the Body and in fact the Bride of Christ, and are in fact together the Temple of God within which the great glory of God will dwell, even on Earth as is it in Heaven. THIS is what we as Christian ministers are commissioned and anointed to build–it’s the PEOPLE, he told me. And all else is vanity? Yeh, pretty much.
Link to main teaching on Key 2: Isaiah 61 posted on this site.
External Links
All 12 topic briefs and full main teachings on these topics can be found HERE at the Foundations of the Kingdom website.
Link to main teaching on Key 2: Isaiah 61. (which is the same or mostly similar to the post on this site)