second lesson.  The Haphtorah in Genesis 1-6:8 has 35 verses, the one that

follows has 22, and so on.  On the other hand another statement reads 'If

there be an interpreter, or preaching on the sabbath day, they read out of

the prophets, three, or five, or seven verses, and are not so careful to read

just one-and-twenty'.  The portion which the Saviour read as an 'Interpreter

and Preacher' was Isaiah 61, the whole of what corresponds to verse 1, and

one third of the second verse!  This was a short reading indeed, consequently

Luke 4:20 continues 'And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were

fastened on Him', and the interpretation that followed revealed how

completely the Saviour 'rightly divided the Word of Truth'.  In the first

place, the passage chosen is in strong contrast with the words associated

with the Saviour's opening ministry in Matthew.  Both writers record the

temptation in the wilderness, both give a quotation from Isaiah, both

introduce the Gentile (Matt. 4:15; Luke 4:25-27), but Galilee of the Gentiles

was still the land of Israel, whereas Naaman the leper was a Syrian, and

Sarepta was a city of Sidon.  Moreover, the quoted words of Christ at the

opening of His ministry are of extreme importance providing as they do an

index of what was to follow.  Matthew records these words: 'Repent, for the

kingdom of heaven is at hand' (Matt. 4:17).  Luke records these:

'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 recovery of

sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To Preach

the Acceptable Year of the Lord' (Luke 4:18,19).

A reference back to Isaiah 61 shows that the Lord stopped abruptly at

the end of the first sentence of verse 2, closed the book and sat down.  The

words immediately following were 'And the day of vengeance of our God', but

had He thus read on, it would not have been possible for Him to have said

'This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears', for it is utterly

impossible to interpret the words of Isaiah 61:2, without discriminating

between the 'acceptable year' and 'the day of vengeance of our God'.  No

greater warrant for Dispensational Truth can be wanted by any who honour the

Saviour as Lord; no clearer endorsement of the principle of Right Division is

found in the rest of the New Testament than this initial interpretation of

the Saviour at the opening of His public ministry.

Dektos, the Greek word translated 'acceptable' is part of a large

family of words that descend from dechomai 'to receive'.  Dektos is repeated

in Luke 4:24 'No prophet is accepted in his own country', a word of warning,

lest we expect this gracious proclamation of the 'acceptable year of the

Lord' to be found immediately acceptable to 'His own'.  'The common people'

we read, 'heard Him gladly' (Mark 12:37), and in Luke 8:40, we read 'The

people gladly received (apodechomai) Him'.  The sin of the rejection of

Christ lies mainly at the door of the rulers of the people, although once

again there were blessed exceptions, Nicodemus being one, Joseph of

Arimathaea being another of whom it is written that he himself also 'waited

for' (prosdechomai) the kingdom of God (Luke 23:51).  The Old Testament word

'acceptable', Hebrew ratson, is variously translated acceptable, delight,

favour, good will, etc., and is particularly associated with the acceptance

of a worshipper on the basis of sacrifice offered on his behalf (Exod. 28:38;

Lev. 22:21; 23:11).  The 'acceptable year of the Lord' was such because of

the Offering that the Saviour had come to make.  The alternative was 'the day

of vengeance'.