Oaks of Righteousness

by prophetic artist, Rachel Dube

Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV) The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

In Luke 4, Jesus said this scripture applied to Himself. He comes, to those who are humbled before God, as a healer to bind their hearts, broken over their sin; as a deliverer to free them from their enchainment to sin and its devastating effects; as a judge and defender to bring to justice and rescue from their enemies; and as a comforter to raise them up out of their mourning and the mess of it and make them beautiful and full of joy.

He comes to be all this for His people, because ultimately He came to be a planter - to plant the seed of the gospel in the soil of their hearts, through their healing, their deliverance and their comfort, and to cultivate and care for that seed under the sunshine of His love and the water of His Word. He came to bring them up until they are no longer hidden seeds, but towering, flourishing oaks of righteousness, “that they may be,” as Matthew Henry commentated, “ornaments to God’s vineyard and may be ‘fruitful in the fruits of righteousness, as the branches of God’s planting.’” (Is. 60:21 KJV) All this our Savior does so that He may be glorified as we display His splendor to the world and even to ourselves.