In Luke, chapter 4 verse 17, Jesus read from the book of Esai’as. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was Greek. Was Jesus reading Hebrew or was it a Greek translation?
Although there is some controversy surrounding which Bible the Lord Jesus used, I can only speculate that the Lord read from the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. It was created in the third century, BC by Jewish scribes who were experts in the text. It seems this translation was very popular among the Jews, many whose ancestors had left Israel centuries before and the people slowly lost the ability to read or understand the Hebrew language. It would make sense that the Lord would read from the Greek so all could understand.
Many of the Jews in Jesus’ day used the Septuagint as their Bible, so the early Christians also probably used the Septuagint in their meetings and for personal reading.
We get an indication that most of the Jews were not familiar with the Hebrew language in Matthew 27:46 which says, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” “Eli Eli lama sabachtiani” is Hebrew for “My God, why hast thou forsaken me. The Lord Jesus certainly knew Hebrew and could speak it. However, as He spoke in the Hebrew language from the cross, those who heard Him did not understand what He said. That’s obvious by what we read in Matthew 27:47 – “Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.” It seems that those that heard him did not understand the language He was using and misinterpreted what He said.
Let’s spend a few minutes looking at the portion you referred to you in your question, the fact that the Lord Jesus read from the book of Isaiah, particularly, he read from Isaiah, chapter 61. Let’s read together Luke 4:14-21 – “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
What is so amazing about this portion where the Lord read from Isaiah 61 is where he stopped reading. In His reading, the Lord Jesus read Isaiah 61, verse one, and half of verse two. After having read, “To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” He stopped reading and closed the book. He then announced that “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” He pronounced Himself as the one that came to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, or the time when God would receive sinners to Himself.
If He had continued reading in Isaiah 61:2, this is what He would have read, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” The Lord’s ministry was not to usher in the day of God’s vengeance and wrath upon the world, but to speak of His grace in sending His only son to die for the sins of the world. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” His message was of salvation.
The first advent, or coming to the earth, of the Lord Jesus, ushered in this day of grace in which we live. This is the day when the grace of God is extended to all men and the call goes forth to all to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Jesus died for all because all are sinners in need of salvation.
The second advent of the Lord to the earth will usher in the day of vengeance where the Lord will judge the nations before beginning His thousand year reign on the earth. Matthew 25:31-46 gives us much detail about this event.
Of course, the second advent of the Lord to the earth is not the rapture, because at the rapture, the Lord will not actually come to the earth. Speaking of the rapture of the Church, we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 – “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” We learn here that the Lord will return to the air where believers will meet Him and then forever be with him.
I pray that you all are ready to meet the Lord in the air; that you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and are eagerly awaiting His return to the air to take us home to be with Himself. As we read in Revelation 22:20 – “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”