entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath
day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the
book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the
place where it was written,

The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor:
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat
down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been
fulfilled in your ears" (Luke iv. 16-21).

This sublime passage is a quotation of Isaiah lxi. 1-3. It contains
several words indicating a character in which the Messiah was to
appear, strikingly appreciated by the Jews at the time of the prophecy.
Especially from the time of the Babylonish captivity did the Jews make
prominent the idea of a deliverer in the person of their promised
Messiah. "_Release_ to the _captives_" and "_liberty_ to the
_bruised_"--ill-treated by their captors--was to them a precious
proclamation, looked forward to with great anxiety, when deliverance
should be proclaimed and Israel should again be the free and favored
people of God.

Since this characteristic was so long appreciated as a matter of
prophecy, and Jesus announced its fulfillment in Himself, it is a
befitting occasion on which to briefly notice the relation of Christ to
prophecy. The understanding of this relationship is important at any
time, because it furnishes a valuable class of evidence as to the
Messiahship and divinity of Jesus. It is especially so at this time,
since infidels are making a special effort to destroy the value of
prophecy in this respect; and some from whom we should expect better
things seem to be assisting in the work.

A great deal of importance was given to Messianic prophecies during the
days of the Saviour and the apostolic age of the church. Indeed, this
was the main source of evidence to the Jewish mind that Jesus was the
Christ. And the use made of it by Christ and the apostles shows that it
was abundant.

When Jesus talked with two of the disciples on their way to Emmaus, on
the day of the resurrection, He said to them: "O foolish men, and slo