Read Luke Chapter 4
So, in Chapter 4 we come to the beginning of Jesus’ life-work. Notice that before his ministry could begin He had to suffer trials and be tested. This is a salutary reminder that all who seek to serve will do likewise to some degree. Granted, no one else will be ever be offered all the kingdom’s of earth, since the temptation must match the one being tempted in order to be realistically tempting; Satan is the master at this. He is also the father of lies and will deceive you any way he can. He knows the Bible way better than any of us and can and will use it to deceive. He attempts this with Jesus when Jesus was at His lowest ebb and yet Jesus trumps him, since He knows the Scripture well too (notice that knowing God through the Scripture can easily head off a direct assault); He knows that the kingdoms of earth will one day be His. Knowing what the Bible teaches can also prevent us from abusing Scripture to our own ends and from being duped by false teachers.
In this chapter we find Jesus demonstrating His authority. He quotes from Isaiah 61 and claims to be the one spoken of in the text He has read.
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
The Jews present were offended by His claim to be their Messiah, so he does something quite interesting. Jesus talks about Elijah and Elisha reiterating how they were sent only to bring God’s help to specific individuals, but in those cases not to Jews. They knew Jesus meant this to be directed at them; Jesus is basically saying that even though I am your ‘Jewish’ Messiah, God has not sent me for you. Harsh perhaps, but these religious Jews will go on to cause Jesus a lot of grief, eventually, even to the point of crucifixion. They were angry and tried to force him off a cliff, but Jesus gave them the slip: Jesus decides when Jesus dies; in this too he has authority (John 10)
Luke 4:31 “And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; 32 and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority.”
Jesus goes on to practically demonstrate His claim and in another synagogue this time in Capernaum, Jesus proclaims the good news there with authority. He sets captives free by overpowering demons and showed that He had authority over the Spiritual world too. The Religious Jews may not have recognised Jesus for who He was, but the demons certainly did. All evening He healed many sick people of their diseases and delivered others from demons – all that were brought to Him, without exception were made well – that’s true authority.
Jesus had authority over the physical and the spiritual world as demonstrated above, and gave authority to His message and teaching, by speaking it authoritatively.
The chapter ends with a hint from Jesus that getting away and resting alone for a while is necessary. But that the good news must be preached in other places too, so Jesus continues the calling placed upon Him.
Luke 4:43 “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
Walking With the Word : Paul Curd 