"He has anointed me … to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18-19
Then there must a be a year or a time which is not the "acceptable year." We know that this "acceptable year" closed for the Jewish nation when they nailed their Messiah on the cross. They were doomed from that hour.
For a number of years, things went on as before. There was a measure of prosperity. Their city stood in its splendor, and the people dwelt in their homes in some degree of peace. But the day of their merciful visitation ended forever, when they finally rejected Christ. When Jesus stood on Olivet and looked down upon the city and wept over it, and said, "If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace; but now they are hid from your eyes" — when He spoke these words amid the rush of tears — the "acceptable year" closed. After that, the doom hung over the beautiful city, which in a few years burst upon it in all its woe and terribleness!
This is history — but there is another way to look at this matter. There is an "acceptable year" for each soul. It begins when Christ first comes to us and offers salvation. It continues while He still stands at our door and knocks. It closes when we drive Him away from our door by utter and final rejection — or when death comes and hurries us away forever from the world of mercy.
This "acceptable year" to each one, is now.
Has the reader of these words closed with the mercy and love of Christ? If he has, he knows the preciousness of the "acceptable year of the Lord." If he has not, let him remember that the "accepted time" will soon close.
In another place it is called a day, "the day of salvation." A day is short, and when the time of its setting draws on — no power in the universe can prolong it one moment. It would be a fearful thing were the accepted time to end and leave us unsaved.
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.