The future Jerusalem is being described.
Isaiah 61:1-3, Messiah's proclamation
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.
Isaiah prophesies of a time when the captives will be set free and people released from darkness. Comfort, royalty, joy, praise will replace mourning, grief, sadness, despair. The righteous people will be like strong tall oak trees.
Jesus, in Nazareth, picks up the scroll of Isaiah and reads this passage (see Luke 4:16-21) and identifies Himself as this Servant.
At the end of verse 1 here, the Masoretic Text is translated "release from darkness for the prisoners" while the Septuagint might be translated "recovery of sight for the blind." Jesus apparently uses a scroll closer to the Septuagint in Luke 4.
Motyer, after identifying four Servant Songs in Isaiah, calls this passage (verses 1-3) a "poem about the Anointed One", the second poem of three. (The third poem is 61:10-62:7. The first poem, according to Motyer, may be 59:20-21.) Grogan suggests that this passage echoes the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25.)
Isaiah 61:4-6, Restoration
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
When Jerusalem is restored the citizens of Jerusalem will be priests and ministers, feeding the nations.
Isaiah 61:7, Double portion
Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.
Shame will be replaced by an inheritance, doubled in size.
Isaiah 61:8-9,
“For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”
The people of Israel will be especially blessed, representatives of God's goodness to the nations.
Isaiah 61:10-11, Clothed with salvation
I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.
The first person singular here is no longer God, but either God's Servant (Motyer) or Zion personified (Grogan.) The speaker ends this passage with a praise psalm, rejoicing in God's ministry of righteousness and in their role in salvation. In this future Day, righteousness will sprout up like weeds among the nations.
Some Random Thoughts
Oh that righteousness would spread like weeds among the nations. This is clearly futuristic, beyond our human history.
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