Author:
Hillbilly
[ Edit | View ]
|
Date Posted: 15:03:25 10/25/09 Sun
To answer the question let's look at the two places it found in the Bible.
Luke 4:17-21 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Isaiah 61:1-4 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
The quotation from Luke is from Isaiah and we should look at the whole prophecy in Isaiah to get an understanding of what is in view. First notice that Jesus stops His reading at verse 1 of Isaiah 61. He then says " This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Notice since the rest of Isaiah 51 is not included in the reading the latter verses are not fulfilled. Taking the entire passage in Isaiah in it's context it is pointing to the "day of the Lord" or the 2nd Advent which includes the judgment of the nations and then the Kingdom. In Isaiah 49:8 we have a similar prophecy: "Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; "
As previously stated since Jesus did not quote further than vs. 1 of Isaiah 61 and it included the acceptable year of the Lord we need to look at the ministry of Jesus to round out our understanding. First in John we notice something: John 1:29-32 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
The Spirit of the Lord resting and abiding on Jesus starts His ministry. Notice the Spirit of the Lord (God) is upon me in both Luke and Isaiah. John testifies that he saw the exact moment this took place. Notice secondly that Jesus was to be manifest to Israel. Israel only and not the Gentiles. Matthew 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 10:5-7 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The acceptable year of the Lord then pertains to the promise to Israel. It begins at Jesus ministry to Israel. The only part that is fulfilled in Jesus at the time was the ministry of Jesus. As Israel rejected the preaching of Jesus as to the Kingdom the rest of Isaiah 61 remains to be fulfilled. It will be completed at the conversion of Israel, the judgment of the naitons and finally the millennial kingdom on earth.
This is fairly easy to grasp as long as the Church in not confused with the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus ministry was solely to the Jews and was an offer of the Kingdom conditioned on the acceptance of the Messiah. Even the Apostles were looking for the Kingdom up to the ascension of Jesus to the Father. Acts 1:6-9 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
The offer of the Kingdom was good probably until the stoning of Stephen and the final rejection of Israel to the preaching of the Apostles. If you read in Acts you will notice that until Stephen was stoned all emphasis was on Israel. Immediately after the stoning our attention is drawn more and more to the Gentiles and most especially with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus who was the Apostle to the Gentiles.
The Acceptable Year of the Lord then is when the Messiah offered the Kingdom to Israel conditioned on her repentance and acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. While the period of time is greater than a year I think the word year marks the time of the beginning of the promise and not just the duration.
|
Feedback: 