Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
People don't mind, in fact they're quite willing, for Jesus to do the things that the angel Gabriel told Daniel He would do: (1) "finish the transgression," (2) "make an end of sins," (3) "make reconciliation for iniquity," and (4) "bring in everlasting righteousness" (all in Dan. 9:24).
What it seems people don't like is that Daniel was saying that God will have a people on earth who do those things! "Let Jesus do it," they say; "but we can't, and it's wrong to think we can. Sinning is so deeply ingrained in us that we must keep on until either (a) we die, or (b) we see Jesus come in the clouds of heaven. Then He will zap us and cleanse us from it. Meanwhile, you have be human, which means you keep on sinning. Nobody's perfect!" To think that the Savior can "make an end of sins" in you, can reconcile you fully from sin, can "finish your slavery to transgression," can demonstrate "righteousness" in you--don't be a fanatic!
But that's just what the angel said Jesus will accomplish! The Book of Hebrews in the New Testament tells the same Good News: Jesus is "able to save them to the uttermost [perfectly] that come unto God by Him" (7:25), "is able to succor them that are tempted" (2:18). No, it does not mean that anybody will accomplish it on his own (that would be fanaticism!), nor does it mean that these people will be motivated by a self-centered egoism (that too would be fanaticism).
What it means is as simple as a ray of sunlight: God will be honored by a group of people in the end who respond to temptation as Joseph did in Egypt when one lonely day a beautiful young woman tried to entice him into sin with her. Joseph was indeed susceptible for we read that when she grabbed his clothes in her hand he left them and ran for dear life (you don't do that unless you are tempted!). The Bible says he had caught the same vision that the angel Gabriel gave to Daniel: "How ... can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9). What was in Joseph's mind was not what his family might say, or would he catch AIDS, but how could he "crucify to [himself] the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame"? (Heb. 6:6). He was aware of Reality; self was no longer his main concern. Christ is the Head, but He has a corporate "body," and as a "body" a sizable, visible people on earth will demonstrate that what Christ accomplished will be appreciated by humanity.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 13, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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