“The Acceptable Year of the Lord”
Preaching the gospel is the same as preaching the acceptable year of the Lord. Coming to understand this will help us know how we are to henceforth live our lives and what to expect as we finish the race set before us. When Christ comes speaking the gospel to us, the acceptable year of the Lord has begun within us.
Luk 4:17 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,
Luk 4:18 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,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20 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.
Luk 4:21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
The acceptable year of the Lord is the year of the Lord’s favor upon men and is the greatest blessing any man receives. That favor towards man, of course, is the true grace of God which is what transforms us and remakes us into His image by the chastening and scourging of our old man and beastly way of life. The grace of God is not a substitution of his death for ours, nor is it forgiveness where no suffering or consequences are experienced. True grace is the fire, the wrath of God poured out against our flesh and old man’s way of life. It is what is teaching us righteousness (Tit 2:12).
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth (accepts).
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
We see the acceptable year of the Lord is also known as the day of vengeance that brings about our new man (the man of His righteousness) that is established by faith.
Isa 61:1 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;
Isa 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable [H7522] year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
The acceptable year of the Lord could also be called the year of favor if we look at the uses of the Hebrew word for favor and acceptable.
H7522, râtsôn
Total KJV Occurrences: 60
favour, 16
Deu_33:23, Psa_5:12, Psa_30:5, Psa_30:7, Psa_44:3, Psa_89:17, Psa_106:4, Pro_8:35, Pro_11:27, Pro_12:2, Pro_14:9, Pro_14:35, Pro_16:15, Pro_18:22, Pro_19:12, Isa_60:10
will, 12
Lev_1:3, Lev_19:5, Lev_22:19, Lev_22:29, Deu_33:16, Psa_40:8, Psa_143:10, Dan_8:4, Dan_11:3, Dan_11:16, Dan_11:36, Mal_2:13
acceptable, 9
Lev_22:20, Deu_33:24, Psa_19:14, Psa_69:13, Pro_10:32, Isa_49:8, Isa_58:5, Isa_61:2, Jer_6:20
delight, 5
Pro_11:1, Pro_11:20, Pro_12:22, Pro_15:8, Pro_16:13
pleasure, 5
Ezr_10:11, Neh_9:37, Est_1:8, Psa_51:18, Psa_103:21
accepted, 4
Exo_28:38, Lev_22:21, Lev_23:11, Isa_56:7
desire, 3
2Ch_15:15, Psa_145:16, Psa_145:19
good, 2
Deu_33:16, Mal_2:13
acceptance, 1
Isa_60:7
God’s favor towards us is His righteous judgments. Knowing we are in the lake of fire that is killing death within us (the carnal mind) is the one sign we have been received of our heavenly Father and are in the process of being accepted as we are being transformed into the image of Christ.
Psa 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour [H7522 – acceptance, receiving us] is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
The restoration of Israel (God’s Elect now and all men in the end) is accomplished in this “acceptable” year and time the Lord has ordained when He comes to rule in our lives (establishing the earth).
Isa 49:8 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;
Isa 49:9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
It is in this acceptable year of the Lord that we are made to give an account and we are judged and our spiritual progression is advanced from the initial down payment onward towards a mature man of God who is “doing righteousness”.
Act 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
The acceptable year of the Lord is no more a literal year than any other word of Scripture, none of which are literal and all of which are Spirit (Joh 6:63) and spoken in similitudes and parables (Hos 12:10, Mar 4:11). Outwardly the acceptable year defines the three harvests of the Lord by which all men are being saved (1Co 15:22-24) in the order ordained. Yet this acceptable year of the Lord is also a living event that all men beginning with the Elect will live out inwardly. This year of the Lord is what is converting us and making us acceptable to the Lord. It the blessing of the new man coming forth a progressive process that mature us.
Deu 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
Deu 16:17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.
The acceptable year of the Lord is the same as the three days during which He is rebuilding the Temple of God we have destroyed and profaned.
Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
The working of the Lord within us for these three days is the one sign given that the Lord is with us and we are now being conformed into His image and righteousness.
Mat 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
Mat 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Mat 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Our change of heart via the spiritual circumcision done without hands (Col 2:11) is the same acceptance process (our consecration) by which the Lord that brings forth the new man.
Eze 43:27 And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord GOD.
It is there in the body of Christ, in His Holy Mountain where we will be accepted and where all of this righteous work will be performed in us. The Lord’s people are separated by the gospel and to the Lord, the savor of death to death (our carnal mind) is sweet and is what makes us acceptable in His sight.
Eze 20:41 I will accept you with your sweet savour [of death], when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
Dying to death on the cross is how we are being conformed into the image of the Son and is what makes us acceptable to the Lord. It is His desires and is what He is getting in working all things according to the counsel of His will and commanding us to “follow Him” to death. This is why our death (death to death, the second death) is so very precious to the Lord.
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Ecc 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
A new testament witness explaining the Lord’s view of our death is this.
Col 1:20 And, having made peace [with you and me] through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Those being accepted by the Lord are those bringing judgment to the Gentiles within themselves meaning the rest of the dead. Those the Lord accepts are one and the same those in whom He delights when this judgment is brought.
Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth [H7521 – Accepts]; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Pro 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth [H7521 – Accepts]
The Lord “taking pleasure” is also one and the same as the Lord “accepting us” as Psalm 149 confirms.
Psa 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure [H7521 – accepts] in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
Psa 149:5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Psa 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand;
Psa 149:7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, [within first] and punishments upon the people;
Psa 149:8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron [rule and reign over the inward nations];
Psa 149:9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Being accepted by God means we have been chosen and received as His son. The very fact we are enduring fiery trials in our lake of fire and dying to death having our carnal mind destroyed is very good news. It is the Gospel! Embracing the gospel is embracing the work of God’s chastening grace that is scourging our man of sin and burning up our entire old way of life in making all things new.
2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
2Ti 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
Right now is the acceptable year of the Lord! We are admonished not to squander it or receive the grace of God in vain.
2Co 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I helped [succored] thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
The trials in the church are only just beginning and we must remain on guard and watchful lest we are led astray and not learn the lessons we have witnessed with our own eyes of late. The victory is certain, the baptism of fire, the cross, the lake of fire being the only way wherein righteousness will be established on a new heaven and a new earth within us. I admonish myself and everyone to take hold of these precious promises we have been given and diligently pursue peace and holiness in the Lord.
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2Pe 3:14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
Our carnal mind will cause us to be complacent and let our guard down and our enemies are always right there to tempt us to fall from walking the narrow road carrying our cross.
2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
We should have every expectation of fiery trials daily as we need to go through the lake of fire now to die to death which is the second death.
2Co 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
2Co 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
2Co 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love (Agape – our obedience) unfeigned,
The Lord is seated now in our heavens and we are to be putting on the new man and no longer live in the life we once had when abiding in darkness. Today is the acceptable year of the Lord. Lord willing let’s bring forth fruit confirming the Word working in us to bring salvation.
Mar 16:19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Mar 16:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Eph 5:9 For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;
Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
I hope we all can grow to fully embrace the suffering and afflictions to which we have been appointed for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Phi 1:29). Our flesh will grow tired but the power of the Spirit working mightily in us will keep us going with the help of the Lord’s ministering angels in this Body. Believe this gospel and know we have been already accepted by the Lord and our redemption draws nigh. Now is the time! Today is the day!
Luk 21:28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Heb 3:13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “TODAY,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
2Ti 2:11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
Questions and comments always welcome. You can also email me directly at peterjwilson56@gmail.com