For he says: ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.’ Look! Now is the especially acceptable time. Look! Now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:1, 2)

13. What is the substance of Isaiah 49:8, and how was it first fulfilled?

¹³ Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8, which reads: “This is what Jehovah has said: ‘In a time of goodwill I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; and I kept safeguarding you that I might give you as a covenant for the people, to rehabilitate the land, to bring about the repossessing of the desolated hereditary possessions.’” This prophecy was first fulfilled when the people of Israel were freed from captivity in Babylon and later returned to their desolate homeland.—Isaiah 49:3, 9.

14. How was Isaiah 49:8 fulfilled in the case of Jesus?

¹⁴ In further fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, Jehovah gave his “servant” Jesus as “a light of the nations, that [God’s] salvation may come to be to the extremity of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6, 8; compare Isaiah 42:1-4, 6, 7; Matthew 12:18-21.) The “time of goodwill,” or “acceptable time,” evidently applied to Jesus while he was on earth. He prayed, and God “answered” him. That proved to be “a day of salvation” for Jesus because he maintained perfect integrity and thus “became responsible for everlasting salvation to all those obeying him.”—Hebrews 5:7, 9; John 12:27, 28.

15. Since when have spiritual Israelites endeavored to prove worthy of God’s undeserved kindness, and with what objective?

¹⁵ Paul applies Isaiah 49:8 to anointed Christians, entreating them ‘not to miss the purpose of God’s undeserved kindness’ by failing to seek his goodwill during the “acceptable time” and the “day of salvation” that he provides. Paul adds: “Look! Now is the especially acceptable time. Look! Now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) Since Pentecost 33 C.E., spiritual Israelites have endeavored to prove worthy of God’s undeserved kindness so that the “acceptable time” would be “a day of salvation” for them.

Trust in Salvation by Jehovah

20. (a) What was Paul’s earnest desire, and why was there no time to waste? (b) What marks the day of salvation in which we are now living?

²⁰ When Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians in about 55 C.E., only some 15 years remained for the Jewish system of things. The apostle earnestly wanted Jews and Gentiles to become reconciled to God through Christ. That was a day of salvation, and there was no time to waste. Well, we have been in a corresponding conclusion of a system of things since 1914. The global work of Kingdom preaching now under way marks this as the day of salvation.

21. (a) What yeartext has been chosen for 1999? (b) What should we be doing in this day of salvation?

²¹ People of all nations need to hear about God’s provision for salvation through Jesus Christ. There is no time for delay. Paul wrote: “Look! Now is the day of salvation.” Those words of 2 Corinthians 6:2 will be the 1999 yeartext of Jehovah’s Witnesses. How fitting, for we face something far worse than the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple! Just ahead is the end of this entire system of things, involving everyone on earth. Now—not tomorrow—is the time to act. If we believe that salvation belongs to Jehovah, if we love him, and if we value eternal life, we will not miss the purpose of God’s undeserved kindness. With a heartfelt desire to honor Jehovah, we will prove by word and deed that we really mean it when we exclaim: “Look! Now is the day of salvation.”