Question: When Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:17-21, he says “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Your interpretation of the verse is that it indissolubly refers to the Lord’s end-time servant. So why would Jesus use the conclusive term “fulfilled”? It sounds to me he was teaching us that that prophecy has come to an end in him.
Answer: The passage from Isaiah 61:1–2 that Jesus quotes in Luke 4 says, “The Spirit of my Lord Jehovah is upon me, for Jehovah has anointed me to announce good tidings to the lowly; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the eyes to the bound, to herald the year of Jehovah’s favor.”
Since we know from Isaiah’s multi-layered structures and literary devices that his prophecy predicts an end-time scenario, Jesus’ stopping short of reading the next line and the rest of the chapter accommodates that idea. Indeed, the next line and rest of the passage deal with an end-time series of events, implying that also the parts Jesus read form an integral part of those events:
“…and the Day of Vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. To endow those who mourn in Zion, bestowing upon them a priestly headpiece in place of ashes, the festal anointing in place of mourning, a resplendent robe in place of a downcast spirit. They shall be called oaks of righteousness planted by Jehovah for his glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, raise up the old waste places; they will renew the desolate cities demolished generations ago” (Isaiah 61:2–4).
Confusion occurs when it is overlooked that Isaiah’s is an end-time scenario—that even its historical parts act as an allegory of the end-time. Whenever Jesus, Nephi, and Jacob quote Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, therefore, they are speaking of an end-time scenario, one that is not the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry or time of the prophet Joseph Smith. The same idea appears from the way many words and concepts that are original to Isaiah are infused into revelations dealing with end-time events that were received through Joseph Smith in the Doctrine and Covenants.
That those parts of Isaiah 61 Jesus quotes were fulfilled in him, on the other hand, also doesn’t mean that they did so exclusively and could not additionally have an end-time fulfillment. The fact is that Jesus came to fulfill the Law of Moses, and that law, indeed, has an end in him (3 Nephi 15:8). That is not the case, however, regarding prophecy, as “all things Isaiah spake have been and shall be” (3 Nephi 23:3), particularly in the end-time, as Nephi notes (2 Nephi 25:6–8).
A second witness of Isaiah 61:1–2’s referring to God’s end-time servant, for example, appears in word links scattered throughout the Book of Isaiah that explicitly connect Isaiah 61:1–2 to the Lord’s servant. Notably, all such links again appear within a context of the end-time restoration of the house of Israel—of Israel’s natural lineages, the Jews, Lamanites, and Ten Tribes—that occurs at the very onset of God’s Day of Judgment upon the wicked of his people and the world:
“The Spirit of my Lord Jehovah is upon me” (Isaiah 61:1)
At the servant’s calling: “My servant whom I sustain, my chosen one in whom I delight, him I have endowed with my Spirit” (Isaiah 42:1)
“Jehovah has anointed me” (Isaiah 61:1)
In the servant’s Cyrus persona: “Thus says Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom I grasp by the right hand” (Isaiah 45:1).
“To announce good tidings to the lowly” (Isaiah 61:1)
Heralding the coming of Jesus Christ, who personifies salvation: “How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger announcing peace, who brings tidings of good, who heralds salvation, saying to Zion, Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7); “To Zion, he shall be its harbinger; I will appoint him as a herald of good tidings to Jerusalem” (Isaiah 41:27).
“He has sent me” (Isaiah 61:1)
As one having authority: “Now my Lord Jehovah has sent me; his Spirit [is in me]” (Isaiah 48:16).
“To proclaim liberty to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1)
Releasing from captivity those who participate in the end-time exodus out of Babylon: “To say to the captives, Come forth! and to those in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed along the way and find pasture on all barren heights; they shall not hunger or thirst, nor be smitten by the heatwave or the sun: he who has mercy on them will guide them; he will lead them by springs of water” (Isaiah 49:9–10; cf. Doctrine & Covenants 103:15–20).
“The opening of the eyes to the bound” (Isaiah 61:1)
Sent specifically to the end-time Gentiles as one who embodies God’s covenant and light: “I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant for the people, a light to the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind” (Isaiah 42:6–7).
“To herald the year of Jehovah’s favor” (Isaiah 61:2)
After enduring a descent phase of trials, now in his ascent phase: “At a favorable time I have answered you; in the day of salvation I have come to your aid: I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant of the people, to restore the Land and reapportion the desolate estates” (Isaiah 49:8).
“The Day of Vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2)
The next line Jesus stops short of quoting, explicitly defining an end-time event: “It is Jehovah’s Day of Vengeance, the year of retribution on behalf of Zion” (Isaiah 34:8): “For I had resolved on a Day of Vengeance, and the year of my redeemed had come” (Isaiah 63:4).
(On this same subject, see the Apocalyptic Commentary of the Book of Isaiah, pp 391–396.)
