"Thus saith The LORD, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee…" [Isa 49:8]
In Corinthians Paul, quoting our passage for today, urges the Corinthians to lay hold of God’s grace and His salvation. He writes,
“We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in a day of salvation have I ran to your aid: behold, now is an accepted time; behold, now is a day of salvation.)” [2 Cor 6:1-2]
The Holy Spirit also writes through Paul in another place, saying, “[God has] delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us.” [2 Cor 1:10] Just as we have been “saved by grace through faith,” [Eph 2:8] so too we shall continue to be delivered. The deliverance and victory that Christ has gotten us over sin, (for it is written, “He shall save His people from their sins.” [Mt 1:21]), continues to persist through our lives, and will also appear for us in the future, as Paul also writes, speaking of the deliverance we shall experience over these fallen bodies, “we ourselves [also] groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body.” [Rom 8:23] It is not just that we have once in the past received God’s grace and have been saved; no, but even in the present, as The Spirit reveals through Paul, we continue to get victory and deliverance over sin. So then, as we look at Paul’s words to the Corinthian Church in chapter six, “receive not the grace of God in vain;” and, “now is a day of salvation,” we can apply it also more specifically to a tangible, daily victory/deliverance over sin. Today is the day, Paul encourages, to lay hold of God’s grace and experience His deliverance over sin, temptation, or the spiritual enemies we face, etc.
And herein is our short, yet powerful encouragement: the word “day.” What is the day that is being spoken of? That day which shall bequeath to us God’s glorious salvation? What is that day wherein we shall experience in great and tangible way the power and salvation and grace of God? Today! Today is the day; now is the time. And notice that The LORD, in Isaiah, does not write “the day” but “a day.” It is not a specific, marked out day in which we shall experience salvation. No, but it is any day – “a day.” Not the day, but a day. Any day will do.
Therefore, dear Christian, ask yourself this rhetorical question: is today a day? Do you find yourself in the midst of a day? The question is obvious: yes! There has not been a time in your life, nor any man’s life, in which they had not found themselves in the midst of a day. We are always in a day. It may be the beginning, the middle, or the end, but the fact remains: we are in a day. Therefore, this promise and this deliverance is for us: it is for you, dear reader. The LORD has promised, “in a day of salvation have I helped thee;” and, “in an acceptable time have I heard thee.” Do not think to say to yourself that today is not the day, neither is now the time. Today and now are exactly the times: no matter what day and time you find yourself in when you read these words. If you have breath and if you have heard these words, then the day and time you find yourself in is exactly that day and time in which The LORD would have you to experience His deliverance. “Now is an accepted time; behold, now is a day of salvation.”
So then, let us with freedom and access, with liberty, approach God’s throne of grace. For He is not as the unjust judge or the bothered friend; He is not one who would forbear from helping because today or now is too inconvenient. The LORD is ready to help and ready to rescue, He is, as He was to the leper, very willing. As He said to the leper’s statement, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,” so too to us: “I will; be thou clean.” [Mt 8:2-3]
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