What does it mean to preach the gospel to the poor in Luke 4:18?

“He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor”

Preaching glad tidings to the poor was part of the mission for which the Lord was anointed, and how perfectly was this carried out. It was not yet His time to “reprove with equity for the meek of the earth,” or to judge the poor with righteousness, as He will in the coming day; but He preached to them God’s disposition of grace, and a great salvation, not from the Roman yoke, but from the power of sin and Satan. His words to Simon the Pharisee about the creditor and the two debtors, manifest the character of His message, as do also His words to the poor woman who came uninvited to Simon’s house, “Thy sins are forgiven,” and “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace.”

God’s care for the poor, or for the meek, is told out in the mission of Christ. If the poor have been denied the best that this world affords, His Son was preaching to them things that were infinitely better, and they were available for all who had faith in God and in His Son. The rich man may be suddenly deprived of all his goods, like the man in Luke 12; or after having enjoyed them, be cast into hell, like the rich man in Luke 16; but the poor, who accept the glad tidings preached by Jesus, although as poor as Lazarus, and as miserable in relation to his circumstances, can look forward to a heavenly home, where all is bliss.

We learn, first, that the classes represented by these four words (the poor, maimed, lame, and blind) are the special objects of God's heart in the seeking activities of His grace in the gospel. Who, then, are these? By the poor is meant, not exactly those who are so denominated in this world, but rather the poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3), those who are conscious of poverty before God — whatever their position or earthly circumstances. The largest numbers of these, it is quite true, will be found amongst the class known by us as the poor (see Luke 4:18; 1 Cor. 1:26-29); but thanks be to God, whose grace is sovereign in its operation, there are such in every rank and station of life. The true meaning of the term is found in the contrast made by our Lord Himself: "Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God. … But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation." (Luke 6:20-24.) It is seen again in Abraham's address to the rich man in torment. He says, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things." (Luke 16:25.) These are the poor who have nothing for their possession, satisfaction, or enjoyment in the things of the world — those who have been made to feel that they have nothing for, and can bring nothing to, God. It should not, at the same time, be forgotten, that the really poor have ever been, are, and will be, the special objects of God's care and love. (See, for example, Lev. 19:9-10, Lev. 23:22; Psalm 72:12-14; James 2:5, etc.)

We learn, first, that the classes represented by these four words (the poor, maimed, lame, and blind) are the special objects of God's heart in the seeking activities of His grace in the gospel. Who, then, are these? By the poor is meant, not exactly those who are so denominated in this world, but rather the poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3), those who are conscious of poverty before God — whatever their position or earthly circumstances. The largest numbers of these, it is quite true, will be found amongst the class known by us as the poor (see Luke 4:18; 1 Cor. 1:26-29); but thanks be to God, whose grace is sovereign in its operation, there are such in every rank and station of life. The true meaning of the term is found in the contrast made by our Lord Himself: "Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God. … But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation." (Luke 6:20-24.) It is seen again in Abraham's address to the rich man in torment. He says, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things." (Luke 16:25.) These are the poor who have nothing for their possession, satisfaction, or enjoyment in the things of the world — those who have been made to feel that they have nothing for, and can bring nothing to, God. It should not, at the same time, be forgotten, that the really poor have ever been, are, and will be, the special objects of God's care and love. (See, for example, Lev. 19:9-10, Lev. 23:22; Psalm 72:12-14; James 2:5, etc.)

We learn, first, that the classes represented by these four words (the poor, maimed, lame and blind) are the special objects of God’s heart in the seeking activities of His grace in the gospel. Who, then, are these? By the poor is meant not exactly those who are so denominated in this world but rather the poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3), those who are conscious of poverty before God — whatever their position or earthly circumstances. The largest numbers of these, it is quite true, will be found amongst the class known by us as the poor (see Luke 4:18; 1 Cor. 1:26–29); but thanks be to God, whose grace is sovereign in its operation, there are such in every rank and station of life. The true meaning of the term is found in the contrast made by our Lord Himself: ‘Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. … But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation’ (Luke 6:20–24). It is seen again in Abraham’s address to the rich man in torment. He says, ‘Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things’ (Luke 16:25). These are the poor who have nothing for their possession, satisfaction or enjoyment in the things of the world — those who have been made to feel that they have nothing for, and can bring nothing to, God. It should not, at the same time, be forgotten, that the really poor have ever been, are and will be the special objects of God’s care and love (see e.g. Lev. 19:9, 10; 23:22; Ps. 72:12–14; Jas. 2:5).

The poor also are invited to “come,” for the invitation is, “he that has no money: come ye, buy, and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Like the prodigal of Luke 15, the remnant of Judah in Isaiah’s day were in a impoverished condition, and God offers His blessings to them “without money and without price.” This is not only true of that remnant, it is true of all men, for none have the means to buy the wonderful blessings of God. When the Son of God was on earth the poor had a special place in His ministry, for He came “to preach the Gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18). It is not until a man realises that he is poor that he is in a fit state to receive what God offers in His wondrous grace.

(1) This part begins with a foreshadow at Nazareth of what is soon to be fulfilled in Israel's history. The Lord is seen in the place where He was brought, up and according to His custom He enters the synagogue on the sabbath day. There He stands up to read, and the book of Isaiah being given Him, He opens at the sixty-first chapter, and applies the words of the Man anointed with the Spirit of Jehovah to Himself. It is clear how accordant with the character of Luke the quotation is. It is the "Mediator between God and man; the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5), whose voice is heard here; and it is as come up out of Jordan; where He has pledged Himself to a baptism to death far different, that the Spirit has come upon Him for His work. He declares here in the first words of His ministry, as Luke gives it to us, the purport of that anointing. The preaching of glad tidings to the poor comes first, and gives character to all the rest. When man is in the place of need he can receive the gospel. When he is consciously a sinner, captive to the sin which he cannot, when he will, renounce, the gospel brings him release. The blind receive their sight. Those bruised in fetters liberty. It is in fact "the acceptable year of the Lord"; the jubilee of God; fuller and more blessed than the law ever proclaimed in Israel.

Verse 18. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor," etc. It was the characteristic of grace to come to such. The great business of Christ was to preach, that is to present God. The Holy Ghost gives the right word at the right time, and in the right way. "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears," v. 21. The Lord does not reason; He says, Here it is. The way of God is to present what we want. You want salvation, there it is; you want mercy, and there it is. God alone can thus come, by grace, into the place of a sinner. They wonder, for His were precious words, but soon they ask, Is not this Joseph's son? Was He ashamed of being the carpenter? Grace goes down to the lowest need. But man will take occasion to despise grace, because it is clothed in humiliation: he cannot but see God, but he steps aside to look at the humiliation, and so shew out the hatred of his heart. God's grace is despised and His sovereignty is hated. God did not despise Nazareth, but man despises Jesus because He came out of Nazareth. Even the guileless Nathaniel asks, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" How little appreciation of the way of grace there is even in the godly! Christ comes into man's misery, and finds him where he is. Could an angel? No: he stays in his proper position, doing the Lord's commandments, and hearkening to the voice of His word. An angel ought not to come down to me in my sins: God only can in His grace. And man despised the lowliness to which grace brought Him - wretched man!

God has approached us in Christ. How near He has come! I could not speak to an angel, but I could to a man; and it is in a Man that God has drawn near to me. They wondered at the words of grace that proceeded out of His mouth. He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). This is very different from the old covenant. This is glad tidings to the poor. It is the Creditor coming out to the debtor in a very different disposition than at Sinai. It is the grace of God preached by Him who was full of grace and truth. Christ has come to tell man that God was favourable to Him, to tell him of forgiveness, to tell him that if he has no righteousness for God, God has righteousness for him; to tell him that God has got bread for the hungry, and clothing for the naked. Who could not listen to this?

In the presence of that display of Divine majesty and terror that accompanied the demand of God, Moses exceedingly feared and quaked; but to hear the words that fell from the lips of Jesus, even the publicans and sinners could draw near without the least evidence of perturbation. The Word spoken by angels was condemnation, that spoken by Jesus was salvation. He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). The Creditor was there with forgiveness for the debtor, not to enforce the payment of the debt. Instead of demanding love from the people, God was there seeking to occupy their hearts with His love to them. Jehovah was there as Saviour instead of Lawgiver. Hence He was attractive to every heart that felt its need of the grace of God.

But when we come to the new covenant, we are face to face with a very different order of things. The word spoken by the Lord was very different from that spoken by angels. In the synagogue at Nazareth He opens the book of the prophet Esaias, and finding the passage in which was recorded beforehand the grace in which He came, He reads: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19.) How different all this was to that uttered from the midst of blackness and darkness at Sinai! This was glad tidings to the poor. It was not the Creditor demanding payment from the debtor, but forgiveness was breathed in every utterance of His lips. He had come to tell men of the grace and compassions and love of God. His presence there in their midst was the witness of all this to them. God had drawn near to them as a Saviour. There was bread for the hungry, clothing for the naked, deliverance for the captive and light for those who had long sat in darkness. It was the acceptable year of the Lord, and it was being preached as glad tidings. And the people wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of His mouth. It was all so different to what their ears had been accustomed to hear.