“In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.” Isaiah 6:1
Dear Ones:
In a passage of Scripture that definitely relates to the Lord Jesus, Isaiah writes: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek…” (Is. 61:1) Both at the beginning and nearing the end of the book, we find where the Lord addresses His people, referring to the word “year.” He addresses a span of time that is greater than a day, and certainly longer than a moment. It is an established fact of Scripture that the Lord of history is never in a hurry, with regard to accomplishing His designs and plans. Also, He is never late, although sometimes he “hastens the day,” bringing circumstances about, to bring to fruition the realization of His word, and His promises. So, in the year that Uzziah died, God gave to Isaiah a vision of His glory. In the passage in Isaiah 61, we find the Lord saying that part of His ministry was to proclaim “…the acceptable YEAR of the Lord.” (61:2) In that frame work of a year, there came a day when He worked, and moved in the life, to specifically call, consecrate, and confirm, His will to the heart of Isaiah. Again, Isaiah reveals to us the very word of the Lord to this effect: “Thus saith the Lord, ‘In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a DAY of salvation have I helped thee.” (Is. 49:8) The year of the Lord was to be the context in which He would work very specifically, and powerfully, to bring about His purposes and will in the life. In the “day of salvation” His power is revealed.
We do not know how much time it took the people of Israel to cross the Red Sea on dry land, nor do we know exactly the time frame for Israel to cross Jordan in like manner. What we do know is that a great deal occurred in the year leading up to those events. But there came a day when the word came forth from the Lord, for Israel to cross those opposing barriers to blessing and life, to be free from the failures and sins of the past, in order to engage by faith in the pursuit of God. Christ was before them, and their commitment was full and complete. Their responsibility was to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, in that present day, being led by the word of God, the Spirit of God confirming to them the way by the Ark of the Covenant.
When Joshua and the people had come to the Jordan River, just before they were to pass over into Canaan, Joshua said unto the people: “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” (Joshua 3:5) The “day” had almost come for the Lord to do wonderful works, but only in His time, and in His way. Joshua would add, writing down the Lord’s words to him: “This DAY will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, So I will be with thee.” The extraordinary grace and power of God came to the people of Israel, and to Joshua, on a very specific day…a day in which they would SEE the glory of God. A “day of salvation” had come for Israel, for her to embark on the conquest of Canaan, the “land of promise,” where all the promises of God are realized in response to faith and obedience.
The disciple of Christ is to live one day at a time. In that perspective, forgetting those things which are behind and stretching forth towards those things which are before, all things become possible by the grace and power of God. Every DAY the believer is unceasingly IN Christ, complete in Him, the entire work of Calvary finished for him, with the Spirit of Christ dwelling within him.
Dear Father, Give us in this day, to prove, the sweet omnipotence of Thy love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad