A great awakening occurred in the early part of the 19th century in both America and Europe. It concerned the Bible books of Daniel and Revelation. Simultaneously in many lands, there came a spontaneous conviction expressed in print that these two books were no longer "sealed." They COULD be understood!
Joseph Wolff, a Jewish boy with an inquiring mind, heard his elders lamenting that "Israel" had been punished for her sins. He asked, "What sins?" "Our fathers killed the prophets!"
Then a Christian neighbor of the Wolffs told the lad, "Son, the reason the Jews are oppressed is that your forefathers rejected and murdered their true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth! If you will simply read Isaiah 53, you will see the truth!"
The boy went home, read it, and saw it. Then he simply asked his father what it meant, and the father sternly rebuked him--he "must never again ask that question!" That exchange led him to become a Christian, and he grew up to become a missionary to many parts of the Middle East. What he discovered in the Bible was that we are living in "the time of the end," and Jesus wants to come soon. Daniel and Revelation made sense!
Foremost in all of these widely separated yet phenomenal awakenings was the question, "What is the truth? What does the Bible really teach?"
The work of these pioneers as well as of Luther and Calvin and the Wesleys, must go on to full development in preparing a people for the return of Jesus. And again today, the important question is: what does the Bible really say? Confusion again reigns in Christendom as it did long ago. If your church is like the average, very likely there is confusion and dissent there, too. But no prayer is more pleasing to the Lord to hear than your cry for understanding of the truth, based on your willingness to study and learn. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," said Jesus (John 8:32).
It's a sin in a time of crisis not to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness, which is truth (cf. Matt. 5:6). We must each inquire and study for himself, even if we discover that truth is unpopular!
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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