Before Jesus began His ministry, He decided to reveal His identity in the synagogue.

When He was given the book of Isaiah to read He carefully selected a particular passage.

Jesus did not read Isaiah 6:14-15, which foretold of His birth by a virgin.

Neither did He read from the scripture in Isaiah 9:6 which exalts His name: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!

Jesus did not read from Isaiah 53 which described the pain and suffering that He would endure and His victorious resurrection.

Instead, Jesus stood up and searched deep inside the book until He reached the passage in Isaiah 61:1-7 and read loud and clear.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19 NKJV)

Why did Jesus choose this passage?

Jesus wanted to emphasize to His people that God sent Him to deliver them from spiritual oppression and to fulfill all righteousness.

The people were expecting that the Messiah would deliver them from their Roman oppressor and restore the Jewish kingdom. But the plan of God for the people was much bigger than that.

But their spiritual eyes were blind in spite of the evidence during Jesus’ baptism.

Many people witnessed Christ’s anointing when John the Baptist baptized Him (Matthew 3:16).

As He stepped from the water praying, the heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the bodily form of a dove, and a voice from the sky announced,

“You are My beloved Son; in You, I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22 NKJV)

Let us compare this significant event with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit descended on the believers as cloven tongues of fire and not as a dove.

Why the difference?

It has to do with the person!

Jesus was the sinless Son of God who came to earth as a man.

Jesus had no sin, and since He is God, the Holy Spirit was returning to Him.

The dove represents peace, purity, innocent, tenderness, and a new beginning.

Noah sent out a dove from the Ark after the flood had receded from the earth and it returned with an olive branch indicating that the plants were springing forth upon the face of the earth – a new beginning (Genesis 8:1-12)

The doves were clean birds that were offered as a sacrifice to God.

Cloven tongues of fire came directly from the coals on the altar of God in heaven and its purpose is to cleanse and purge sin in the hearts and minds of the believers.

This same fire was used to purify the mouth of Isaiah when he was called by God (Isaiah 6:1-7 ).

This fire of the Holy Spirit will also cleanse us from our sins.

I pray that we will receive the cleansing fire of the Holy Spirit who will reign in our hearts like a dove and give us peace.

Published by Beverley

Beverley has been serving the Lord since she was a child. At an early age, she recognized that God had a special plan for her life, but it was not until in her adulthood that she surrendered her total life to God and accepted the mandate that God placed on her life. The Lord called her into His Kingdom to be an encourager, intercessor, teacher, scribe, priest, and to proclaim the Word of God. Since then, Beverly has established a blog to teach us to become the oil and wine. The oil and wine are purified and mature products, which is the advanced level that the Lord expected of us. In 2017, Beverley published her first book, Harm Not The Oil And Wine. In it, she described her trials and how God helped her to overcome them, and to live more victoriously. The book also exposed the enemy of our souls with detailed information about his past defeats and future extinction. Wright spents most of her time studying the Bible to know the truth of God’s Word. She believes that only God’s truth can expose the deception of the enemy, and uproot and tear down spiritual strongholds. You can learn more about Beverley’s life and testimony on her website becomingtheoilandwine.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Google+ under the name of her blog, and on Twitter as @Theoilandwine. View all posts by Beverley