Scroll library in the Heavenly City: the story of Jesus

Scroll library

Read it in the Bible: Luke 4:16–22

A small marble library of scrolls. In his hometown, Jesus unrolled the scroll of Isaiah and said that the prophet's words had come true.

Read it

Luke 4:14–22

Where

The synagogue in Nazareth

Key words

"Today this Scripture is fulfilled"

Real world

The Great Isaiah Scroll, more than 2,000 years old

Part 12 of 35 Good news for the poor

Jesus came back to Nazareth, where he had grown up. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue, the meeting place for prayer, and stood up to read. He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. "Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor'" (Luke 4:17–19).

He rolled up the scroll and sat down, and everyone stared at him. Then he said: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). Jesus was saying that he was the one Isaiah had written about.

Part of the Great Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls: the column with the words of Isaiah 53. Photo: Photography by Ardon Bar Hama (see [2], author of original document is unknown., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Imagined The library

In this library every story, song and prayer is kept safe, and anyone may unroll a scroll and read.

Real world The Great Isaiah Scroll

In 1947, young shepherds exploring caves near the Dead Sea found clay jars holding ancient scrolls. Among them was a complete copy of the book of Isaiah, more than 7 meters long, copied over a hundred years before Jesus was born. It is kept at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and can be read online.

Art In this artwork

The illustration shows a small marble library with shelves of scrolls and a gold roof.

Look closer

Find the shelves of scrolls.
What color is the roof?

Think about it

What good news did Isaiah say the promised one would bring?
Why do you think everyone stared at Jesus?
Why would people copy books by hand so carefully?

Key words

Scroll: A long roll of writing material.
Synagogue: A Jewish meeting place for prayer and reading the Scriptures.
Sabbath: The weekly day of rest.

Sources

Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is in the public domain. The other facts on this page come from these sources:

The Bible, Gospel of Luke
The Bible, Isaiah
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Dead Sea Scrolls"
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, the Shrine of the Book and the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project