Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Really good people keep asking the same question the Pharisees asked long ago, "What shall we DO, that we might work the works of God?" (John 6:28). Israel were obsessed with that idea for they promised God, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will DO" (Ex. 19:8). That promise at Mount Sinai was the "old covenant," and it bound Israel to legalism through most of their history until finally they crucified their Messiah.
But God has always had a better way--the "new covenant," which is not the promise of the people but the one-sided promise of God, not a contract, or a "bargain" He makes with us. He promises to write His law in our hearts, and our part is to believe His promise. But the old covenant/new covenant tension still exists today, and the inherent legalism in the immensely popular old covenant discourages and perplexes multitudes, both in and out of the church.
Instead of our concentrating on what we must DO, God asks us to look and see what He has done and is doing. He taught this lesson to the people in the wilderness--"when he [the one bitten by a serpent] beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Num. 21:9). Jesus said that "serpent" represented Himself (exactly backward, we would think!), and our continual "perishing" will come to an end if we "behold" Him as a "serpent lifted up" (John 3:14, 15)--a Savior "made to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21).
"Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," He says (Isa. 45:22). John the Baptist agrees, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Jesus says, "If I be lifted up [for all people to see Me] ... I will draw all unto Me" (12:32). Paul saw his mission, to turn people's ears into eyes and "to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery" (Eph. 3:9). John says, "Behold what manner of agape" (1 John 3:1--that's a refreshing sight to see!). Even Pontius Pilate preaches one unforgettable sermon: "Behold the man!" (John 19:5).
Here's Good News: "a great reformatory movement" is coming, for God "will pour upon [His people and leaders] ... the spirit of grace and supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10). Behold that sight and you can never be the same lukewarm person!
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Daily Bread - Readings about life and the Word of God.
