The Making of the New Testament Minister

Ministers' Conference

Speaker 2: Rev. Kayode Oyegoke

Topic: The Making of the New Testament Minister

Text: Isaiah. 61:1-6

 

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn...” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

It is possible for a believer or minister of the gospel to see the above portion of the scriptures only in the light of ministering to the sick, or to those who are physically oppressed. However, the scriptures carry a deeper understanding than that. It defines Jesus’ job description as a minister whose ultimate aim is to raise men as trees of righteousness, or as a planting of the Lord (Isa. 61:3).

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus’ rendition of Isaiah 61:1-2 stopped at the proclamation of the acceptable year of the Lord. He didn’t move into the operation of God’s day of vengeance. This is because Jesus had not been sealed with the anointing that can operate the activities of God’s day.

The New Testament anointing or authority is in two folds: there is that of the Spirit of the Lord and that of the Spirit of the Lord God. While Jesus was on earth, He only claimed one portion of the anointing which is that of the Spirit of the Lord. Even though Jesus knew more than the anointing upon Him, He did not claim more than what God had wrought in Him.

Our Lord Jesus was anointed or sealed with the Spirit of the “Lord God” after resurrection and God required Him to raise others like Himself. Those are the ones Paul referred to as “His fellows”, who will also sit on the throne like Him (Heb. 1:9). Without the anointing of the Lord God, a man cannot carry out the things in Isaiah 61:4.

Those who will sit on the throne of God must be anointed with the oil of God (or of gladness). However, Jesus would be anointed above them all. So, ministry actually began from the throne of God; and it trickled down to earth. Jesus was set on the throne of God to begin a ministry (Heb. 8:1-2).

When we think of Jesus, we should imagine Him as God who is also a minister. Our breakthrough as the body of Christ is to truly see Jesus Christ, the way He ministers, and what He ministers. Isaiah 61 mainly talks about the making of the New Testament ministers.

The revelation of the Lord is calibrated in “years”, while the revelation of God is calibrated in ‘day’ (Isa. 61:2). A man will not be able to respond to the revelations of God’s day if he has not been raised by the Lord. It takes time to raise a person in the Lord; just like it took thirty (30) years to raise Jesus as “Lord”. God’s operation in a day is faster than the Lord’s operation in years. This is why a thousand years is as a day with God (2 Pet. 3:8).

For the first thirty (30) years, Jesus could not preach the message of the Lord. He had to first become the message before He was granted the authority to declare it. The Spirit that rested on Jesus at Jordan was the first portion of the two-fold anointing – which is the Spirit of the Lord.

The Spirit of the “Lord” had been around Jesus for years, but it was only raising Him to become the Lord. Although the raising of the stature of God had begun in Jesus at that time but it was not yet conclusive. Therefore, the Spirit of the “Lord God” only rested on Jesus after resurrection – when He had been raised into the full stature of God.

“And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.” (Heb. 1:7). These are the two major categories of angels in heaven: spirits and flames of fire. Jesus (after resurrection) could not be compared with those angels, because He has been made higher than them. Our Lord Jesus is higher than this present heavens in all its strata (Heb. 7:26). This is why He is able to undo the works of the fallen angel (Satan) in our souls.

Those who Jesus referred to as “poor”, to whom the gospel will be preached, are not those who lack the physical goods of this world but those whose hearts are empty; and are ready to be filled by the Lord. However, it is not easy to make a man empty or meek. There is no unbeliever who is meek and God is not expecting meekness from an unbeliever. There is no man who is empty before the New Birth experience.

The gospel in Isaiah 61:1 is not the gospel that will get a man born again or quicken his spirit; it is a gospel that should be preached to a believer, whose soul is yet to be set free from flesh. All that an unbeliever needs to hear is an introduction to the gospel. However, this introduction is not sufficient to make him into a tree of righteousness. It takes time for a believer to come to the point of poverty (in the spirit) or meekness that is required to begin to hear the preaching of the gospel. So this gospel is such that will raise ministers of the gospel.

The “broken-hearted” speaks of a man that can be easily instructed or one who is not strong-willed. A man’s will must be positioned in such a way that he will agree to God’s standards when revealed. The “captives” speak of those that the Lord has captured in order to teach them His ways. God will have to deal with those who should hear the gospel in such a way that they won’t have their ways most of the time. If a man is not held down by the Lord, he won’t ever be ready to hear the gospel or the good tidings of the Lord. This is because the gospel is contradictory to the worldly messages we have been raised and accustomed to.

Jesus interpreted the operation of the “opening of the prison” as the “opening of sight” (Luke 4:18). The recovery of a believer’s sight does not occur in a day; it takes time. We sold our sight to the devil through the fall of Adam. The opening of eyes that occurred to Adam and Eve when they ate of the tree of good and evil was actually a blindness (Gen. 3:7). It was a high-powered blindness that will engage the sight of a man in a wrong activity.

The last of the operations of the years of the Lord is the preaching of the acceptable year of the Lord. The acceptable year is the year of the preaching of the acceptable will of God. There are three (3) wills contained in the gospel: the good will, the acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). The first two wills are the Lord’s will but the last will is God’s will. While Jesus was on earth, He began with the preaching of the good will or good tidings and ended it in the acceptable will of God. He then had to die and wait for the anointing of God to declare the perfect will of God.

When we stop getting hungry for God, then we start dying. We begin the dispensation of the years of the Lord with His good will; but until a man gets to the point of the acceptable will, he won’t be accepted by the Father. An acceptable son is one that the Father can accept. It is not every son that the Father can accept. David prayed in Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”

“To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:2-3). It is not easy for a believer to mourn; this is because of the love or satisfaction of this world. This world hinders men from being satisfied in and with God. Mourning does not speak of emotional feeling of being sad or sorrowful. Mourners speak of men whom the Lord has raised to see or understand heavenly things. Nothing on earth matters to those who are mourners; their affections have been raised above the earth and it has been set to seek things at the right hand of God, where Jesus is (Col. 3:1).

The occurrences in Isaiah 60 will not take place without the fulfilment of the things in Isaiah. 61. This task is not the responsibility of one minister but all. We are better able to engage darkness and defeat it when we have a greater volume of God’s ability.

“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5). The Churches that Peter was writing to were not stones initially, but they grew into it. They were built up into a spiritual house, so that they can offer up sacrifices that are acceptable to God. God responds to something that is raised, more than something that is big. Many will profess to have done mighty works in the name of our Lord Jesus but He would say that He never knew them (Matt. 7:22-23).

A minister must be concerned about being built up spiritually and building other men up in the same way. “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). This declaration of God was not because of miracles because the Lord had not performed any miracles yet. Rather, it was because of the works that Jesus had done that men cannot see -- cooperating with God to be built up spiritually. This is God’s primary interest: He is more interested in our stature in the Spirit than in the things we do for Him.

God wants to raise New Testament ministers to make them artificers in the Spirit, capable of repairing desolations of many generations in souls (Isa. 61:4). Waste cities also refer to men. Ministers of God are capable of raising an acceptable son; such is a priest with the covenant of Life and Peace (Mal.  2:7). 

Iniquity is not just a common sin or obvious offences like fornication; it was something that Jesus had to hate to be able to sit on the throne of God (Heb. 1:9). The ministry of our Lord Jesus from the throne is to raise men into trees of righteousness or plantings of the LORD (Isa. 61:3). It is expedient that trees are planted because they are meant to stop the agents of Satan. One of such agents is the wind of doctrine that toss believers away from the truth (Eph. 414); trees are windbreakers.