Daily Bread: February 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Most Powerful Force in the Universe

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

I was the only boy in my government high school that believed in keeping the Bible Sabbath--the seventh day. My convictions had come through my own Bible study; no adult had pressured me. But I stood alone in high school, and many were the "battles" I had to fight and the pressures I had to meet. "You ought to read Galatians," my friends, even teachers, would say. "That will straighten you up. Obedience to the Ten Commandment's Sabbath is old covenant legalism."

So I read Galatians, but I could not understand it, and no pastor in my church could explain it to me. On the surface, it did seem that Galatians taught that Sabbath-keeping is old covenant and creates "bondage" (4:24). But a decade later I "accidentally" discovered The Glad Tidings, a verse-by-verse study of Galatians by a to-me-unknown author, E. J. Waggoner. Here was a new idea: the Ten Commandments are ten promises! They are NEW covenant! If I will believe that the Lord is my God, that He has brought me "out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," He promises I shall never steal, bear false witness, commit adultery, etc., etc. Righteousness is by faith, the kind of "faith WHICH WORKS" (Gal. 5:6).

There is power in the gospel itself, if it is not mixed with the legalism that produces the Laodicean apathy of lukewarmness. I saw in that book that the new covenant is God's promise to Abraham and his descendants (that's where I fit in, as a child of Abraham by faith!), a promise to write His holy law in the heart that appreciates the sacrifice of the Son of God. The new covenant gives the glorious liberty of the sons of God, a joyous obedience not motivated by fear or hope of reward, but motivated by the most powerful force in the universe--the love of Christ that constraineth (2 Cor. 5:14).

It IS possible to share Paul's experience where he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ" (Gal. 6:14). Good News? What do you think??

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 14, 1998.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Ultimate "Look"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Decades ago a magazine was launched that was entitled merely "LOOK." It consisted almost entirely of pictures. We humans love to "look" at almost anything of interest, always seeking some new knowledge or excitement hitherto unknown.

The ultimate "look" eventually before us all is the sight of the face of God. Every one WILL most assuredly see Him--not just "the pure in heart," but also those who are impure in heart.

The tragedy is that those who are impure in heart will be forced to look against their will. They are described as crying to the mountains and rocks, "Hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne" (Rev. 6:16). That Face is the one sight they most dread to see. John says, "I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away" (20:11), a Face that is brighter than the sun. Why? Because that Face registers all the love, the agape, that led the Son of God to go to the deepest depths of hell in order to save the sinner; and the sinner has resisted and rejected that love, time and time again, and crucified the Son of God afresh by choosing to remain in alienation and rebellion. And now, at last he must come face to face with the One who has so loved him and blessed him, all this unacknowledged and unappreciated. Now he would give anything just to live his mortal life over again. Jesus expressly says that He will not condemn the lost sinner in that day; but the condemnation will come simply by looking in the face of the One who was his Savior.

Could anything be more important for today than preparing for that moment when we look at that Face? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," says Jesus, obviously meaning that they will "look and live," and not be afraid, for "perfect agape casteth out fear" (1 John 4:18). It does so, beginning even today. On your knees--you can talk with Him long before you have to see Him.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 19, 1998.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Revelation--Christ Alone Makes Sense of It

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We'd like to remind you of the seminar this coming Saturday, February 27, at Cave Springs Home in Pegram, Tennessee (near Nashville). The topic: "Appreciating the Book of Romans Through the 1888 Message Perspective." Speaker and Bible study leader will be Chaplain Craig Barnes. For more information you may contact him at: (615) 646-6962, or e-mail cjmb@comcast.net. "Dial Daily Bread" will also be happy to provide more details.

-----------------------------------------

Is it possible to understand the gospel for today and at the same time ignore the books of Daniel and Revelation? Some say these books have created confusion in the world. There are many similar symbols in them both. So, why not forget them and just concentrate on "the gospel"? Why not by-pass the confusion and everybody sings "Jesus loves me, This I know / For the Bible tells me so"? What more do we need?

Well, that same Jesus who "loves you so" urges you to study Daniel (Matt. 24:15). It's the only book He singled out thus. And Revelation strongly urges us to "read" what it says, and even if we can't read, to "hear" its superlatively important message which came directly from God (1:1-3). And in the very heart of the chapters about the "great controversy between Christ and Antichrist" we find a special proclamation of "the everlasting gospel" for these last days (14:6). This is an understanding of the gospel related specifically to "those that dwell upon the earth" in our last-days context. And chapters 12-15 make clear that no one can prepare for the final events of world history ("the mark of the beast," for example) unless he receives and believes that "everlasting gospel." God never sends us unnecessary messages! He gave us the Book of Revelation because He loves us. It's an eye-opener. And its great themes of prophecy are easy to understand if we simply let the Bible explain the symbols.

Its prophecies were not fulfilled back in the days of the pagan Roman Empire (preterism), nor are its fulfillments all in the future (futurism); they meet their fulfillment throughout history (historicism). History itself is the "revelation" of Christ within itself; He alone makes sense of it. If you ask Him for a piece of bread, He will not give you a stone. Do what the first three verses tell you: "read," "hear," and "keep" every bit of truth you find therein. Jesus promised that if you simply be fair with Him, He will go on teaching you daily all through your lifetime (see His promise in John 7:17).

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 10, 1999.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: A Marriage Without a Bride?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Yes, there is indeed a "great controversy between Christ and Satan." And those who believe in Christ believe that He will win, in the end. This is called "the blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).

Can human beings help Him win that great controversy?

Many will say, "No, God is sovereign; He is almighty; He is the Captain on this ship; we are only passengers." And in one sense that is true.

But there is another truth that is begging for recognition: the long delay in finishing the great controversy is not God's fault, but the fault of His people who have delayed His will. When one compares Christ's message to "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans" in Revelation 3:14-21 with chapter 19:1-8, it becomes readily apparent that the Bride of the Lamb should have "made herself ready" long ago.

The great controversy cannot be finally concluded until she does make herself ready, because you can't have a marriage without a bride having made herself ready!

Yes, Christ needs the cooperation of His people, because "the Head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you" (compare 1 Cor. 12:21). One's feet are very lowly in comparison with one's head; but no one wants to lose them.

The time must come when not only is Satan defeated at Christ's cross, but Christ's people must also defeat him. "Our brethren ... overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:10, 11). Only then can the final chorus of rejoicing break out in heaven (vs. 12).

You are important; all Heaven is watching you on their TV cameras. And the Savior's "much more abounding grace" is GIVEN to you, not merely offered. Rejoice and thank God for the privilege of having an important part in the final battle of the great controversy.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 23, 2002.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: What Happened in Exodus 19?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

A parent who believes "the everlasting gospel," doesn't want to be misled into "the mark of the beast," sincerely wants to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth," longs to receive the "seal of God," is burdened for her near-teen daughter who loves to read. They've been reading the Bible. Yes, also books about the Bible, but they've been reading the Book itself, and that includes the Old Testament.

The child is curious, doesn't want anything held back from her. They're perplexed: sometimes the true God comes through as kind and merciful, forgiving, loving; but there are also places where He seems hard, severe, threatening most severe punishment on His people who seem bent on rebelling against Him. Much in the books of the Old Testament prophets seems frankly difficult reading for a sensitive child. We've sensed the problem in our own "family worship time" when we've read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and even Hosea--yes, "balanced" with New Testament reading.

But how can one understand the way God so often threatens His people of old? Why that seemingly endless conflict? Why the almost constant unpleasant tension between Him and His people? Actually, you don't see it until you come to Exodus 19. In Genesis there's a pleasant relationship between God and His people, for example, God making those fantastic promises of "blessings" galore to Abraham and his descendants, and His tender dealings with Isaac and Jacob. He writes His holy law on their hearts.

Then suddenly, a change: He must write it on tables of stone amid thunder, lightning, trumpet blowing, earthquakes, and a fearful death boundary around Mount Sinai. And almost from then on, rebellious, backsliding people slipping back into pagan worldliness right up into Malachi, until finally we get to Matthew where they crucify their Lord of glory.

What happened in Exodus 19? The people themselves formed the old covenant (vss. 4-8), whereas Abraham had believed the new covenant. The new one is the one-sided promise of God; the old is the "faulty" promise of the people. That's why a major portion of the Bible is the "Old Testament" (or covenant), leading us back to where Abraham was to be "justified by faith" under the new covenant (Gal 3:24). Let's make the new covenant clear to our children!

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 1, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Storm Is on the Way

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Every rainy winter we in California see the same heart-breaking pictures: luxurious homes built on shifting foundations sliding down, even into the Pacific Ocean. (But yes, while they lasted, the owners had glorious views.)

This must have been a common sight in Jesus' day for He draws a lesson from it. He likens those who build a house of religious belief on falsehood to those who build a mansion on a sand dune with an ocean view. They are "foolish," He says (Matt. 7:24-27). Note, He doesn't call them "wicked."

This introduces us to one of the most pathetic and tragic aspects of church life: sincere, devoted people who can't tell the difference between Bible truth and fanaticism. They are not wicked people, they don't rob banks or commit adultery, but they spin wild theories out of Bible texts wrested from common sense contexts. Almost every church, no matter how small, seems to have one (or more) of these fanatics who keep beating their drum. They hit their pay dirt mostly in misconstruing Daniel and Revelation. There is a solid-rock, common-sense understanding of those prophecies, and it developed in the Great Second Advent Movement of over a century ago. The rain and the storms of opposition have "beat upon that house" and it has "fallen not."

But every departure from that clear-cut prophetic truth has resulted in a "house built upon the sand," and as "the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; ... it fell." It has left the fanatics looking "foolish." But fanaticism is a psychosis that doesn't mind the acute embarrassment of appearing naked and foolish before the world and before heaven!

To change the metaphor, Revelation 16:15 says, hang on to your clothes; all those nightmares you've ever had about appearing naked in public will be fulfilled unless you study Daniel and Revelation and know for sure what is that bed-rock foundation of truth. Heaven's Weather Service says the storm is on the way.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 9, 1998.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Fruitage of Christ's Work as Great High Priest

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How is justification by faith more fully grasped in these last days, than it was by Luther and Calvin in the 16th century? Didn't they proclaim it clearly?

Yes, they did--for their day. But they lived BEFORE "the time of the end" when "knowledge shall be increased" (Dan. 12:4). Their work, which the Lord gave them, was to prepare a people to die and come up in the first resurrection--a wonderful work indeed (see Luke 20:35; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17). And they were faithful to the light they saw.

But now in this "time of the end," we are living in the great cosmic, antitypical "Day of Atonement." God is preparing a people to be "accounted worthy ... to STAND before the Son of man," to be translated at His second coming (Luke 21:36). And there is no power in heaven or earth that can accomplish that objective except "the gospel of Jesus Christ." It alone "is the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16). It's what Peter says is "the present truth" (2 Peter 1:12). That clearer understanding of "the everlasting gospel" (Rev. 14:6) will teach God's people to "sing a NEW song" that "no man" can "learn but the 144,000, which [are] redeemed from the earth," in whose "mouth [is] found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God" (vss. 3-5). There is not a progression of truth involved, but there is a progression in the comprehension of truth. "Knowledge shall be increased."

That will be the fruitage of Christ's work as the world's great High Priest in His closing work in the Most Holy Apartment of His heavenly sanctuary (see Heb. 4:14-16; 7:25; 9:23-28; 10:18-25; 11:39, 40; 13:20, 21).

"But what change in character is involved?" someone may ask.

The legally imputed righteousness of Christ becomes His practically imparted righteousness, when the Bride of Christ "has made herself ready" for the long-delayed "marriage of the Lamb." For the first time in the long ages of the great controversy, she is "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the [imparted] righteousness of saints" (19:7, 8; Greek). Now the Bride is more concerned for His honor and glory than even for her own salvation; that's biblical justification by faith. She "overcomes even as [He] overcame" (3:21), self at last crucified with Him.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 13, 2004.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: How Do You Make the Chef Happy?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Could it ever be that something good that God Himself gives can turn into something bad?

The answer is yes, and an example is the manna that God gave the people of Israel in their 40 years of wilderness wandering. From its description that we read in Numbers 11, it was an appetizing and nourishing food. Scholars variously describe the language as cakes "fried in good oil," "as food newly baked," or like "wafers made with honey." Perhaps it was like delicious freshly baked bread; evidently it could be prepared in a variety of ways as a well balanced diet, and for a healthy appetite it was always appetizing. The Psalmist describes it as "angel's food" (78:25). Since God gave it to them, it was undeniably "good."

But the people had to eat it on the very day that it "fell" on the dew each morning. Moses told them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. ... Let no one leave any of it till morning. ... But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank" (Ex. 16:15, 19, 20). Something very good became very bad! It had to be eaten when God gave it. The reason: it was very nutritious, but like whole-grain flour that attracts bugs.

The manna is a symbol of the spiritual nourishment the Holy Spirit gives us day by day if we are willing to "eat" it. It's Bible truth, "fresh" each morning (Isa. 50:4, 5). The hungry soul finds things "new and old" in God's word that constantly invigorate him (Matt. 13:52). We are told to "bless the Lord"--in other words, make Him happy (Psalm 103:1, for example). How do you make a chef happy? You tell him his meal was super-delicious.

Now, ask the Lord for a second helping; tell Him you're hungry. That will make Him happy! There's nothing He loves more than to feed hungry people and watch them enjoy His cuisine. Eat His "manna" today. Learn to love it. Don't lay it aside until tomorrow!

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 4, 2005.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: A Lesson From the Fig Tree

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jesus said in Luke 21:26 that just before His second coming "the powers of heaven shall be shaken." That, together with "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." It's only the superficial, non-thinking people who are not fearful of what is coming.

What has always been thought to be solid biblical teaching is being "shaken." Once Sabbath-keeping pastors now powerfully advocate Sunday-keeping; and there is a shaking of the very idea that the second coming of Christ is near at hand. Prominent Adventist voices are saying that there has been no delay in the time of Christ's second coming, so more than 150 years of waiting since the pioneers believed His coming was "even at the doors" only seems like a delay when it is not.

"Soon" doesn't mean what human language and concept understand it to mean. Young people reared in the church say they have no idea that Christ will return during their lifetime. The "signs of the times" that have long been understood to indicate that we are living in a clearly demarcated "time of the end" were pseudo-exegetical exercises in immaturity strewn like wreckage on the sands of time. Now we are told that there is an "immanence/distance tension of the Advent" that soft-pedals any time prophecies of Scripture and affirms that in Matthew 24 "Christ offers no sign by which the 'when' [of the second coming] can be calculated. ... What Christ explains is not the 'when' but the 'what' that will characterize the waiting time." The implication is clear: the second coming was as "imminent" in the time of the apostles as it is today.

Well, take a little time to read (on your knees) Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you grace to believe what He is saying to us. Yes, and also read the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, just the naked Bible. What do they actually say? See for yourself. I count 13 "whens and "thens" and time indicators in Matthew 24; 7 in Mark 13; and 7 similar time indicators in Luke 21. Yet we are told that Christ does not explain any "whens."

Doubtless many will be "shaken" by this erudite philosophy. Hang on tight to what Jesus says: "Let the fig tree teach you a lesson. When ... it starts putting out leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, you will know that the time is near," "even at the doors" (GNB, KJV).

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 18, 1999.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: A Troublesome Text About the Second Coming

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's a troublesome text, and if it hasn't troubled you it's because you haven't thought about it. For many serious-minded people, it threatens the belief that the second coming of Jesus is imminent. In Matthew 24:33, 34, Jesus says to those who live in the last days, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

The problem is that for more than 150 years Adventists have believed that the coming of Jesus is so near that it is "even at the doors," and the stalwarts who pioneered what is known as the Great Second Advent Movement steadfastly believed that the "thousand years" of Revelation 20 would for certain be the next millennium. God's people who are ready for Jesus' coming would spend it in heaven. But now the world seems set on spending it here on earth.

The problem with the disturbing words of Jesus is this: What are those "all these things" that "this generation" sees? The answer is clear: the "signs" in the heavens, the end of "the tribulation of those days" when "the sun shall be darkened," "the stars shall fall from heaven," and "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ... men's hearts failing them for fear" (Matt. 24:29; Luke 21:25, 26). The last of "the signs in the heavens" was the falling of the stars of 1833, and the generation that saw that has for over a century been sleeping in their graves.

There has to be an answer, or for thoughtful young people, the idea of imminence will crumble away. The answer is: the unbelief of God's people has delayed the Lord's coming, even as that of Israel delayed their entrance into the Promised Land. But there is Good News, for the solution is repentance; and repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit that CAN be accepted!

Jesus also told us to pray, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Let's stop hindering the fulfillment of that "will."

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 14, 1999.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Jesus' Last Prayer (Part 3)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When one reads Jesus' last prayer with His disciples in John 17, it flows easily and serenely, as if He were utterly calm and unperturbed as He faced His horrible death. Reading it with the unimpassioned spirit of reading a scientific lecture deprives us of the true meaning of this prayer. It cannot be truly understood except in the light of Hebrews 5:6-8. In fact, if we say John 17 is the "High Priestly Prayer," then it becomes obvious that this passage in Hebrews describes this particular prayer! "A high priest forever ... who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him [the Father] who was able to save Him from death …"

The John 17 prayer was prayed with "strong crying and tears"! The thought of dying under the curse of God (Gal. 3:13) filled the soul of Jesus with dread, infinitely more so than any criminal who faces death by injection on Death Row. The latter kind of death is only a sleep with the sense of God's forgiveness; the death Jesus faced was the sum total of all hopeless deaths under that "curse of God." He was in the process of being "made to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). In a few minutes He would be pleading, agonizingly, with the Father, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" (Matt. 26:39). In other words, Oh Father, please find some other way for Me to save the world short of dying on a cross! And then, another convulsion of tears.

Perhaps this might help us make sense of His repeated request about being "glorified" in John 17:1, 4, 5, 10, 22, 24. He isn't begging to be a "show-off"! When He pleads with the Father to "glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee," He means, "Please enable Me to demonstrate agape throughout the terrible trial that faces Me! Hold Thou My hand! Don't let Me stumble and fall! Save Me from letting self mar My witness! Teach Me to be patient when they beat Me, pull out My beard, spit in My face, revile Me, lie about Me, mock Me, strip Me, exhibit Me, and nail Me to a tree!"

We read that the grace of God was upon Him throughout His life on earth (Luke 2:52); never did He need it and beg for it more than now. If He can endure, that will be "glory"! And this brings us to the same "glory" that He "has given" those who believe in Him (John 17:22). They need unity! Is there any other way that they can learn to "be one, even as [He and the Father] are one"?

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 18, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them tosubscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread: Jesus' Last Prayer (Part 2)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When Jesus the night before His death prayed His last prayer to His heavenly Father in John 17 in the presence of His few disciples, He clearly distinguished between two classes of people: (1) The "all people" which are the same as the "all flesh" mentioned in 17:2. He says that the Father sent Him into the world so that He might "give to them everlasting life." (2) The second group is the people whom the Father gave Him who are "OUT OF THE WORLD" (vs. 6). To them He says He "has manifested Your name, and they have observed [or received]" the blessing which the Father has given to the world "in Christ."

The fact that many "in the world" don't want to receive the gift God has given them does not mean that the gift was not given to them. If a person refuses to believe in Christ, that does not mean that Christ did not die for him. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" long before you or I chose to believe or disbelieve!

Our unbelief cannot annul the faith of God, says Paul in Romans 3:3. In the final judgment before the Great White Throne at the end of the biblical millennium (Rev. 20:11-15) the lost will realize that their life-long unbelief was a rejection of the "everlasting life" which the Father had GIVEN them "in Christ." They will see themselves as Esau who "despised" and "sold" the birthright that God had given (not merely offered) him (Gen. 25:34; Heb. 12:16). Oh, may the realization of the gift GIVEN move our hearts out of our collective lukewarmness today!

Jesus has a burden on His heart that last night: the disunity that has plagued His followers through the ages. Could it be that the root of that tragically persistent disunity is the unconscious refusal of "Christian" hearts to appreciate that the gift was GIVEN to the world? Could it be that in our "lukewarm" hearts we want to circumscribe or limit the love of Christ and reduce salvation to a mere offer? Do we want to glory in our own initiative to receive? When we enter the New Jerusalem do we want to say, "I'm here because I believed! I grabbed the offer! I took the initiative in my salvation!"

It seems very likely that those who enter will beat upon their breasts and say, "I'm unworthy! I'm here only because of the grace of God, not because of my taking the initiative to believe. To Him alone be all the glory! I thank Him for all the troubles He allowed me to have so that unbelieving I might learn to believe!"

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 17, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Seminar Invitation From "Dial Daily Bread"

—Invitation—

A Spiritual Day of Study

Appreciating the
BOOK OF ROMANS
Through the 1888 Message Perspective (Part 6)

February 27, 2010
Sabbath, 2:15 p.m. — Saturday Night

An 1888 message oriented sermon will be delivered during the regular
Worship Service at 11:00 a.m.

Cave Springs Home, Pegram, Tennessee
(Off Interstate 40 westbound from Nashville, exit 192–turn right, left on HWY 70,
1-1/2 miles to Cave Springs Road, two rights and follow the signs.)

Speaker & Bible Study Leader
Chaplain Craig Barnes

Children's Programs
• Special Sabbath School Class for Children
• Separate Children's Program During the Afternoon Meetings

Sabbath Dinner and Light Supper
Plant-based meals will be served at Cave Springs Home
on a donation basis.
Please E-mail or call to reserve a meal ticket.

BOOK SALE (After Sunset)

LODGING
• Lodging Is Available on Site
• Commercial lodging available in the nearby town of Belleview

Phone: (615) 646-6962 (if no answer, please leave a message)
E-mail: cjmb@comcast.net

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Br ead" again tomorrow.

Dial Daily Bread: Jesus' Last Prayer (Part 1)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jesus prayed His last prayer with His disciples (John 17). He offered it the night before He was to die the most horrible death known, rejected, despised, hated, and worst of all, left fearfully alone to feel forsaken by His heavenly Father. Yes, the Father permitted a great wall to come between Himself and His Son, so that Jesus was abandoned to suffer on a cross the agony of hell--the death that Moses told everybody meant that God curses you forever (Deut. 21:22, 23; Gal. 3:13). It was the ultimate horror--"made to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21).

But the prayer Jesus offered was one of triumphant conquest, claiming the grandest victory possible in God's great universe: "I have finished the work You gave Me to do" (John 17:4). And what was that "work"? "I came not to judge the world but to save it" (12:47). Chapter 3:17 explains more fully: "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

But did Jesus actually "save the world"? Today it looks quite sinful, doesn't it? Like it's still lost! Was He mistaken? Should He have prayed, "Father, I am about to die; I wish I could have saved the world, but, look, they've rejected Me! It's not My fault! I tried to do what You sent Me to do, but Satan wouldn't let me save the world! I've succeeded in saving only a tiny minority! And even they will forsake Me!"

No, His claim to have "finished the work" the Father gave Him to do is true. He DID save the world!

(1) He became the second Adam, a true human being, took into Himself in a legal sense the entire human race, restored what Adam lost, took upon Himself as our Representative all our sins and died our death which is "the wages of sin" (Rom. 6:23), and thus "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9), and forever "condemned sin" in the fallen, sinful flesh of mankind (Rom. 8:3).

(2) That "death" was not the "sleep" that we all experience: it was the real thing, "the second death" (Rev. 2:11; 20:14). The only reason you or I can take another breath is because He has redeemed us from that second death. That's why God can treat "every man" as though he were innocent (which of course we aren't!). Only because Christ "finished the work" He was given to do can God "send His rain on the just and on the unjust" alike (Matt. 5:45).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Explaining the Gospel to the Muslims

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There are about a billion Muslims who are turned off by what many of them regard as two obstacles against their becoming Christians: (1) the Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries demonstrate openly for all time that "Christianity" is a cruel and unjust religion (they say); and (2) the doctrine that one man's righteousness can substitute morally for another man's unrighteousness. In fact, their theologians connect the Crusades to that doctrine of vicarious moral substitution. It's unjust, and unfair, they say.

We know first: the Crusades were not true, biblical Christianity. Second, could the doctrine of a vicarious substitution be explained to Muslims more clearly? Does the Bible also teach the truth of a shared substitution?

In His first lesson on the cross Jesus told us, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him ... take up his cross, and follow Me. ... Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matt. 16:24, 25). Paul understood this idea of shared substitution: "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). "As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death. ... We were buried with Him through baptism into death. ... We have been united together in the likeness of His death. ... Our old man [the love of self] was crucified with Him. ... If we died with Christ we believe we shall also live with Him" (Rom. 6:3-8--but not otherwise!). If "our" Crusaders had understood this, world history would have been different! Praying for the Muslims is good, but not good enough: we must tell them the gospel clearly, truthfully.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Are We Asking the Wrong Question?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's a question millions of Christians have been pondering: Why has the second coming of Christ been so long delayed? He told us clearly that there would be "signs" that when we "should see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." For a long time now, "we" have seen the "signs." And then Jesus adds, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Matt. 24:33, 34). The question is, What does "near" mean? What "generation" did He mean?

According to Daniel 11:35 in the context of his prophecies, "we" have been living in "the time of the end" ever since the close of the Dark Ages of persecution (the "wearing out of the saints," 7:25; 11:33, 34). It's this age of "increase of knowledge" and worldwide missionary activity. The Books of Daniel and Hebrews are complementary and make clear that we are living in the cosmic Day of Atonement, the antitypical time when the great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary is performing His final work of preparing a people for the long-awaited second coming.

So, when we ask the question, How soon is "near"? we are really asking, How long will the Day of Atonement last? And when we ask that question, we are really asking a deeper one, "How long will it take the High Priest to cleanse the sanctuary from the sins of His people" (see Dan. 8:14)? And the answer has to be, Not long, if His people will let Him do it. He cannot force them to be reconciled to Him. The cleansing of human hearts must precede the cleansing of the sanctuary, according to Leviticus 16:29, 30. That is as true in this antitypical Day of Atonement as it was in the Levitical typical day of atonement "on the tenth day of the seventh month."

And so our ultimate question must be, How "near" is the time when God's people will permit their great High Priest to do His work in their hearts that He longs to do? According to Hebrews 7:25, "He is able" to do His part "perfectly." So, in the final analysis, we started off asking the wrong question. It's not for us to ask God "how long," but He is asking us, "How long?"

Friday, February 05, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Bible Formula for a Changed Heart and Life

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The inspired Bible formula has to be true: Listening to God's New Covenant promises + believing them = a changed heart and life (John 3:16, etc.). It's like a simple recipe in cooking: when God's promises are "mixed with faith." What comes out of the oven is genuine conversion (Heb. 4:2). That was the miracle of "the hearing of faith" that the Galatians experienced when Paul preached Christ's sacrifice so clearly that they saw Him "crucified before them" (3:1-5). And it was the miracle of sour, bitter Sarai's melting of heart and repentance (Abraham's wife) by hearing God's Good News that made it possible for her at last "by faith" to receive the miracle from God, to get pregnant with Isaac (Gen. 16:2; 17:15, 16; 18:9, 10; Heb. 11:11).

But there are counterfeits! How can we tell the difference? Why are so many preaching "love, love, love," yet the listeners sense no need to overcome sin itself? What's wrong? There's nothing wrong with love itself if they just knew the right idea of it when the Bible says that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). They assume our natural egocentric human idea. The New Testament word is agape, and it's a totally different kind of love than we humans know naturally. It's impossible for an honest heart to hear, to understand, to contemplate, to "survey" that agape displayed in the "wondrous cross," and then go on in captivity to sin.

There are many contrasts between the two loves, but the greatest is this: that agape-love of Christ led Him to choose to go to hell, to die the equivalent of the hopeless second death, because of His love for us. "He poured out His soul unto death," He "was made to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (Isa. 53:12; 2 Cor. 5:21). You can never understand the cross of Christ (it's something far greater than a gold or silver symbol!) unless you understand Galatians 3:13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." He voluntarily took that "curse" upon Himself, gave up all thought of life eternal, "poured out His soul" completely. Contemplating that love plants it in our hearts; and lives are changed. Just be sure the Good News is not distorted by an intrusion of false doctrine, such as the non-biblical natural immortality of the soul.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: God's Challenge to His Remnant Church

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There’s a fascinating link between the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John that intrigues many people. The former tells of God’s final “Voice from heaven” that will sound in the heart of a vast number around the world to “come out of Babylon, My people.” They will respond in that last hour, symbolized as “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” who hear the Voice because in some way they already “follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes” (18:4; 7:9; 14:4). They are already responsive in their confusion to each nuance of divine leading they can sense. They love truth.

The link with John’s Gospel is in 10:1-16 where Jesus lets us in on His secret: He has people everywhere who are His hidden “sheep” who “know His voice” and respond whenever He can find a human agent to proclaim the truth so clearly that honest people recognize that “Voice.” To borrow Luther’s rude phrase, these who proclaim the gospel don’t “taste of the dish” (would you serve your guests from a dish that still has the remnants of its former cooking sticking to it?). When our preaching is marred by “self,” we repulse rather than attract these “sheep.”

The presence of self-love seen in the agent constitutes the “messenger” “a thief and a robber” “climbing up some other way” into Christ’s “sheepfold.” His true sheep run as fast as they can the other way (they “flee from a stranger”). And possibly the church wonders why they are not winning more souls, and why their efforts to “lighten the earth with glory” seem so stymied.

The picture in the Bible is clear: God has faithful people buried in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, yes, maybe all the “isms” of the world, including (it must be!) atheism who are not heart-satisfied where they are; they hunger for something they haven’t yet found. When truth and that truth-seeker meet, nothing in earth or heaven will keep them apart forever after.

The challenge to God’s “remnant church” of these last days is: clear away the self-confusion that muffles the sound of that “Voice from heaven.” What’s on God’s agenda for His church is thrilling.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The GIFT of "Righteousness by Faith"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It seems like a fantastic idea but it's like a golden thread throughout both Old and New Testaments of the Bible: proud, sinful, selfish, lustful, wicked human hearts (ours!) are changed by simply believing what the apostle Peter says are "exceedingly great and precious promises"!

And they're not man's "promises." They are the Lord's. Can it really be true that there is power in something as simple as believing God's promises (that appear to be so wild and extravagant)? God virtually promised Abraham the sky. And the old man is "the father of us all."

For instance, in the Old Testament we read that He picked up this only monotheist He could find in the ancient world, called him into exile to "a land that [He] would show him," promised it to him "for an everlasting possession." Paul got the idea: it was almost infinitely more than that tiny little strip of land known as Canaan; it meant the whole earth! (Rom 4:13). And no way could the "possession" be "everlasting" for Abraham unless this "exceedingly great and precious promise" included the gift of eternal life, which Abraham couldn't enjoy as a genetic inheritance for he was born a sinner under condemnation like all of us. And further, no way could he be "the heir of the world" unless it became the "new earth." And again, no way could he be "the heir" of such a new earth unless he was given the gift of "righteousness," for Peter insists that only "righteousness dwelleth" there (2 Peter 3:13).

So, it all ends up full circle: God's "exceeding great and precious promises" mean the out and out GIFT of "righteousness by faith." And that was the meaning of those seven promises the Lord made to Abraham in Genesis 12:2, 3, and then later swore to in chapter 15--staking His very existence and His eternal throne on His keeping them.

Now, we return to our question: does it make sense that we, sinful selfish people by nature can be changed, converted, purified, transformed, even "sanctified," by believing those "promises"? Believe it or not, that is Peter's idea: "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, ... exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:3, 4).

"Escape" is what we desperately need, for we face the second death without it. The "corruption" of lust surrounds us and would permeate us. Our modern "culture" is steeped in it.

I tremble to write it, but it's true: our "escape" is only in believing those "promises." Join me in my own heart-felt prayer: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:23, 24). We are told we can never perish if we pray that prayer.

Dial Daily Bread: "More Abundant Life"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

To endure poverty that is thrust upon you unwanted is one thing; you grumble at your lot and wish you had more money. But to be content with poverty, actually to enjoy its discipline and privation, is another. And that immediately makes us think of Jesus--a hard-working peasant who in later life said He had not where to lay His head. And He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit …" meaning, they are the truly happy people.

Wealthy people are seldom happy. It's not poetic fancy but hard truth that "godliness with contentment is great gain." I could take you to many homes in East Africa where I know people who have very little of this world's goods; they barely have the "food and raiment" wherewith to be "content," but they have the sunshine of happiness in their homes.

There's a beautiful hymn by Anna Waring that was in the old Hymnal, but it's been left out of the new one, probably because its sentiment goes too much against the grain of modern American philosophy. She says: "I have a heritage of joy / That yet I must not see; / The hand that bled to make it mine / Is keeping it for me. / There is a certainty of love / That sets my heart at rest; / A calm assurance for today, / That to be poor is best."

Wow! Of course! Such an idea must never be promoted in the richest nation on earth! But it's Bible teaching. No, not that abject, grinding, painful poverty is good--of course not; let's be reasonable. "Food and raiment" are necessary; and the One who had not where to lay His head doesn't want you be like that--He wants you to have a roof over your head, yes, that doesn't leak, and a bed to sleep in. And He wants you to have the necessities of life, which today probably mean a car and a refrigerator.

My friends in Africa probably don't have those things. But the principle is the thing: "a person's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he/she possesseth" (Luke 12:15). "More abundant LIFE": the Good News is not that Jesus merely offers it to you; He GIVES it to you. Receive it! Don't resent it!