Isaiah 61:6, commentary and pictures

God names His people as His priests and ministers in the work of rebuilding ruined places and long-desolate cities, where outsiders assist with everyday labor while His people are sustained by the wealth and honor of the nations. That name belongs to all who believe His word and claim to be His children, especially those who serve as His helping hand and whose lives are marked by goodness, love, and compassion. The ministry it calls for is pioneer gospel work in the form of medical missionary labor that heals the sick and relieves suffering, restores society through the training of the young, shares the special truths for the time, and frees those who are bound. The chapter describes the work Christ came to do in rescuing people from Satan's power, yet He Himself held no earthly riches or priestly splendor but ministered to the suffering and needy by His Father's power. It was misread as a promise of an exclusive earthly kingdom that would break Rome, exalt the Jewish nation as priests and kings, and lay the nations and their riches at their feet, a deception of Satan born of ambition over who should be greatest that left minds unprepared for Christ's altogether different yet truly prophetic mission, while the chapter is rightly understood as hearts turn from evil and souls are convicted and converted.

Identity and Setting

God's people are given the name and calling of Priests of the Lord and Ministers of God. That title belongs to those who believe the Word of God and claim to be His children. It belongs especially to those who serve as His helping hand, and to those whose goodness, love, and compassion mark their lives so that this description can truly be said of them.

Its setting is the work of restoration, building the old wastes, raising up the former desolations, and repairing the waste cities and what has long been desolate. In that setting strangers and foreigners help, with strangers feeding the flocks and aliens serving as plowmen and vinedressers. While they so serve, God's people eat the riches of the Gentiles and share in their glory, riches, and honor, with the nations' resources and honor associated with them in that work.

The promises around it are double for shame, possession of their land, everlasting joy, direction by God in truth under His everlasting covenant, and descendants recognized among the nations as the seed the Lord has blessed. They are also clothing with the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness, and causing righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations, with God's people known among the Gentiles. The verse is a word of encouragement for those called to take part in God's work on earth, appointed to serve Him as priests and ministers.

Christ and Counterfeit Kingdom

Isaiah 61 testifies to the work Christ was to do, defining that work as saving people under Satan's power and setting God's work in its right light. That prophecy is to be read alongside the facts of His life and ministry, rather than distorted to support expectations of earthly glory. Though the verse speaks of having the riches of the Gentiles, Christ did not possess those riches or wear the High Priest's gorgeous robes. He came instead to minister to the suffering and needy, using the power given by His Father to help and uplift people.

The verse was misread to promise Judah honor as the place of power and glory in an exclusive earthly kingdom for the Jews alone. In that reading the Roman yoke would be broken, the Jewish people would be lifted up and set with princes as priests and kings unto God, all nations would be summoned to surrender or be consumed, and the kingdoms of the world with the riches of the Gentiles would be laid at Jewish feet. That earthly expectation was ambition and Satan's masterly working to counter Christ as foretold by unerring prophecy. It read prophecy in the light of false and delusive hopes about who should be greatest, distorting it to support expectations of earthly glory in an imaginary kingdom.

Prophets continually arose claiming special messages to that effect, controlling minds and keeping them in constant excitement about who should be greatest. Those who did not believe these great things for the Jewish nation were pronounced infidels, and those whose prayers did not abound in these glowing expectations were treated as worse than useless. Infatuation with that falsehood left deluded minds wholly unprepared for the real Christ. His simple mission and character of work were altogether different from what was anticipated, yet in perfect harmony with unerring prophecy. The chapter will be understood as its words are heeded and complaining and evil work are turned from, with its message fulfilled as God manifests power in the conviction and conversion of souls.

Ministry in Practice

The ministry after the Lord's order meant by being named Priests of the Lord and Ministers of God is medical missionary work, the pioneer work of the gospel that practices the gospel, reveals Christ's compassion, brings release from suffering, heals the sick, and blesses poor suffering humanity as new fields are entered where its importance is understood. That ministry stands in the restoration promised in Isaiah 61:4-11, where the old wastes are built, former desolations are raised up, and waste cities are repaired, with strangers feeding flocks and aliens serving as plowmen and vinedressers. In the same setting God's people are given double for shame, given everlasting joy, directed in truth under an everlasting covenant, known among the Gentiles as the seed the Lord has blessed, clothed with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, and made to cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations, while the riches and glory of the nations are associated with them.

That rebuilding work includes restoring society through an education that shapes the young into missionary training, for the calling as ministers of God is joined to rebuilding ruined places. The verse applies to the church's responsibility to share the special truths for the time and labor for the conversion of those who do not know them, bringing glory to God's name. Those who serve as God's helping hand receive the riches and honor of the Gentiles, and the work of rebuilding ruined places and restoring what has long been desolate is their work, carried on with help from foreigners and with the use of the Gentiles' resources and honor.

Its service includes helping those who are bound and opening prison doors, which belongs to the work of those named the Lord's priests and ministers as God's helping hands in Christ's work. Goodness, love, and compassion are to mark the lives of God's helping hands so that this description as priests and ministers can truly be said of them.