Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah ] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed and broken down by calamity], 19 To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound) (see also Isaiah 61:1.2). 20 Then He rolled up the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing (attentively) at Him. 21 And He began to speak to them: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing.  

These are words of Jesus teaching in the temple in Nazareth on the Sabbath to the priests and to His people.

Jesus proceeded to explain to the crowd that a prophet is not accepted in his own town or welcomed in his own town (country) and then provided examples: vs 4:26 Elijah the prophet overlooked the widows of  Israel during a 3 year period of famine and was sent to Zarephath in Sidon, and vs 4:27 Elisha the prophet did not heal the many lepers in his native Israel but chose instead to heal someone in Syria.

vs 28 And when they heard these things; all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. 

In fact they became OFFENDED. Jesus was merely the son of Joseph and He was saying that He had come to deliver them as captives. “Is not this Joseph’s Son”?  Luke 4:22 The word Offense is Skandalon and in the Greek is defined as follows by Strong’s: 

(skándalon) is the native rock rising up through the earth, which trips up the traveler, hence, of Jesus the Messiah, to the Jews who refused him” (Souter); “properly, the bait-stick of a trap, a snare, stumbling-block” (Abbott-Smith); “the stick in the trap that springs and closes the trap when the animal touches it” (WP, 1, 46).]

Did you know that when people become offended at the works of Jesus; ie healing, deliverance, supernatural signs – this disconnects the flow of the anointing within the one who carries the anointing? It is a focus on and faith in what He has done that provides the conduit and pathway from one person to another. This is why the devil’s favorite play is to orchestrate offenses.

So even if you are a Christian and embrace the works stated in scripture of what Jesus did and what you as well have the power to release – if you reject the vessel that is carrying the message – you disconnect the vessel from the anointing  and the divine ability they have to pour into you.

Mark 6:3-6 Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses and Judas and Simon ? And are not His sisters here among us?  And they took offense at Him and were hurt (that is they disapproved of Him, and it hindered them from acknowledging His authority and they were caused to stumble and fall. But Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor (deference, reverence) except in his own country and among [his] relatives and in his (own) house. 5 And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people and cure them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in Him). And He went about among the surrounding villages and continued teaching.

We have all heard of the spirit of Anti Christ. No one refers to this as the spirit of “Anti – Jesus”. Why? People in Jesus’ time were not against Jesus as a Man, but they became offended at Jesus in His position as The Christ – they were offended by the abilities that He displayed through the power of His anointing. This offense and absence of faith prevented Jesus from doing much to release them, leaving Him to teach and heal, not to His own countrymen, but across the surrounding areas. Christ Jesus, is a title, ‘The Anointed One Jesus’ which He was awarded following His death and His resurrection; the single act that ratified the new covenant. Christ Jesus now holds office in the triune Godhead.

Following His baptism by John and a 40 day wilderness journey where the devil showed up at the end to try to tempt Him in all number of ways (and failed), Jesus returned first to His own people, only to be rejected by the religious. The people of Israel had taken the bait of Satan, becoming hooked into unbelief through the bait of offense. Jesus threw in the towel to act on behalf of His own because the people refused to see who He was or acknowledge that He had been sent with an anointing to heal, deliver and restore. This act of disrespect was a tragic miscalculation.

A religious spirit is a counterfeit to the work of the Holy Spirit – the “religious” cannot duplicate the supernatural, nor can they understand it, so they seek to either discredit or even destroy a person that moves in this and that is Spirit-led. The religious are either puffed up or self righteous, believing that their own lengthy prayers, which are never spirit led, are working.  It was this same spirit of religion that was responsible for putting Jesus on the Cross, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” screamed the religious rabbi’s of the day. They of course could not kill Jesus, no one could kill Jesus. He allowed Himself to be (for 3 days) and even then He dismissed His own spirit to return to His Father when His work was complete.

I am teaching on this subject so my readers will understand the power and consequences of remaining in a state of offense. Not only a prospective receiver of a gift through an anointing can deflect the gift through offense but a person carrying the anointing can have it blocked from release if they remain offended.

Moral of the Story: Remain Unoffendable.

Blessings!

Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
2019  All Rights Reserved

Twitter: Tracy L Gatewood
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Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus

Did you learn something?  If so I would love to hear from you!  Please tell me what you learned and also what topics on which you would like for me to focus.