THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD – PART III
From The HeartPublish date: 07/03/2011
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. Isaiah 61:1-3
So He came to Nazareth, [that Nazareth] where He had been brought up, and He entered the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read. 17 And there was handed to Him [the roll of] the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened (unrolled) the book and found the place where it was written, 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 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.] 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. Luke 4:16-21 AMP
Jesus was anointed to preach the Good News that He had come to save, heal and deliver! He was also anointed to DO these things. People, who believed, would be healed in their bodies, delivered from oppression of any kind, and given a brand new heart and life. Every need that they had would be met by the power of God.
1 Corinthians 6:20a AMP says, “You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own].” And 1 Corinthians 7:23 AMP says, “You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for by Christ]; then do not yield yourselves up to become [in your own estimation] slaves to men [but consider yourselves slaves to Christ].” In the Jubilee year, all debts were cancelled. God sent Jesus to pay a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. Jesus is the one who paid all our debts and restored to us all that sin had stolen.
In this passage in Luke, Jesus is in the synagogue reading Isaiah 61 to the people, and He stops in the middle of verse 2 right after, “To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord”, then He rolls up the scroll, sits down and says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled…”. He did not quote the next phrase, “…and the day of vengeance of our God”, because that is for a future date when Jesus returns to the earth. There will be a day when God’s wrath is poured out on those who have rebelliously defied Him, but right now, we are now under a dispensation of God’s grace, favor and salvation! Anyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will receive grace and be saved. Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” TODAY all of God’s favor and blessings are available to you!
How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.
Acts 10:38 AMP
The Spirit of the Lord was on Jesus to do good and to heal and deliver everyone oppressed by the devil. He is still saving, healing and delivering, today, all those who trust in Him! Jesus did not just do this in the past, but He’s doing it today. This IS the acceptable year of the Lord for you and me! We can walk in all His blessings right now!
In Isaiah 61:3, the Lord promised to give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He promised that we would be called trees of righteousness – the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Psalms 1:3 says that the man who delights himself in the Lord and honors God and His Word and who does not listen to or follow after sin will be like, “a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper”! In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much fruit.” Verse 8 says that, “When you produce much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.” Our lives are to show forth much fruit, in every area, proving that He lives in us and His favor is on us! Everything we touch will prosper!
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). 2 Corinthians 3:17 AMP
Wherever people welcome and receive the Spirit of God, they will also receive liberty and freedom from bondage – freedom from the bondage of sin, poverty, sickness, disease and death and freedom from their bondage to the devil and his dominion. They are translated out of darkness into the light and they must walk in the freedom of that fact. The devil has no legal rights in their life any longer. The Kingdom of God has come to earth!
All these wonderful Jubilee promises are not far off – they are not only for 50 years into the future or even 2,000 years in the past – they are ours TODAY!