Daily Bread - Readings about life and the Word of God.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Seminar Reminder:
Seminar Reminder: "Dial Daily Bread" would like to remind you about the seminar Sabbath, April 30, at Cave Springs Home, Pegram Tennessee. Everyone is cordially invited to attend this special study on "Appreciating the Book of Hebrews Through the 1888 Message Perspective. For more information, please contact: cjmb@comcast.net, or phone (615) 646-6962.
Understanding Isaiah 54:17
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever been so angry, so bitterly so, that if you had had a gun in your hand you would have used it? And then afterwards, you just gave a sigh of relief--"Thank God, I didn't have one!"
Can you remember being involved in a sexual temptation so alluring, so powerful, that it almost swept you off your feet? And if it had overpowered you, it would have led you into a terrible tragedy of heartbreak?
If so, you can begin to appreciate Isaiah 54:17 which says: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF ME, saith the Lord."
When your heart got back to beating normally, you realized that it wasn't your own goodness that saved you from disaster; the dear Lord intervened and rescued you from making a fool of yourself. (Perhaps you are reading this in prison; in the first instance, you did have a gun; and now you have to pay. Or perhaps in that alluring sexual temptation, you did give in and you have suffered ever since. But there is still something to thank the Lord for: He has preserved your life and your soul through His forgiveness. The possibility for repentance is an enormous enrichment of grace. For everything you have short of Hades, say thanks.)
We all have the same genetic endowment of a sinful nature inherited from our fallen father Adam. Unless a Savior saves us from indulging it, we are forced to end up kneeling side by side with King Saul whose conscience forced him to confess: "Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly" (1 Sam. 26:21). You can't find words to tell the Lord thanks for saving you from that! This should encourage you to know and believe that you are indeed His child. Thankful, yes, but also humbled.
When you DO understand Isaiah 54:17, you will know that there is no sin in the book beyond your capacity for becoming guilty of it--apart from a divine Savior. Now you can walk on air until He comes in the clouds of heaven.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 6, 2004.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Have you ever been so angry, so bitterly so, that if you had had a gun in your hand you would have used it? And then afterwards, you just gave a sigh of relief--"Thank God, I didn't have one!"
Can you remember being involved in a sexual temptation so alluring, so powerful, that it almost swept you off your feet? And if it had overpowered you, it would have led you into a terrible tragedy of heartbreak?
If so, you can begin to appreciate Isaiah 54:17 which says: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF ME, saith the Lord."
When your heart got back to beating normally, you realized that it wasn't your own goodness that saved you from disaster; the dear Lord intervened and rescued you from making a fool of yourself. (Perhaps you are reading this in prison; in the first instance, you did have a gun; and now you have to pay. Or perhaps in that alluring sexual temptation, you did give in and you have suffered ever since. But there is still something to thank the Lord for: He has preserved your life and your soul through His forgiveness. The possibility for repentance is an enormous enrichment of grace. For everything you have short of Hades, say thanks.)
We all have the same genetic endowment of a sinful nature inherited from our fallen father Adam. Unless a Savior saves us from indulging it, we are forced to end up kneeling side by side with King Saul whose conscience forced him to confess: "Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly" (1 Sam. 26:21). You can't find words to tell the Lord thanks for saving you from that! This should encourage you to know and believe that you are indeed His child. Thankful, yes, but also humbled.
When you DO understand Isaiah 54:17, you will know that there is no sin in the book beyond your capacity for becoming guilty of it--apart from a divine Savior. Now you can walk on air until He comes in the clouds of heaven.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 6, 2004.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Prayers That Will Be Answered
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
If you wish that you knew how to pray a prayer that would be answered by Heaven 100% in the affirmative, here are a few examples:
"Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24). Read the context of the prayer; the man was absolutely desperate; he confessed the truth of his latent unbelief that he knew was deep in his heart. He was on the verge of losing everything, for Jesus had told him plainly that "if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (vs. 23). The man didn't know how to believe! He felt he couldn't because three-fourths of the pastors and evangelists of his day also were helpless to lead him to genuine faith (it's pathetic even today when a sincere soul seeks the Lord but finds the majority of pastoral leadership simply mocks your heart cries). And yet the distraught man chose to believe when he did not feel like believing and saw no evidence that believing would do any good. That is an inspired pattern of genuine "Christian experience"! Linger on it; it's pregnant with good news.
Another prayer that will surely be answered in the affirmative is this: "God, be merciful to me, the sinner" (Luke 18:13, margin). The article is in the original Greek; the man was saying, Lord, of the two of us praying here, I know that this great man here is more worthy than I am; of the two of us, please answer his prayer. But Lord, I am so unworthy in contrast. All I can pray is, please be merciful to me, the one who is most unworthy, THE sinner.
You have a divinely inspired assurance that the man's prayer was answered in the affirmative for eternity (vs. 14). He could become the happiest man in heaven when he arises in the first resurrection!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 3, 2007.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
If you wish that you knew how to pray a prayer that would be answered by Heaven 100% in the affirmative, here are a few examples:
"Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24). Read the context of the prayer; the man was absolutely desperate; he confessed the truth of his latent unbelief that he knew was deep in his heart. He was on the verge of losing everything, for Jesus had told him plainly that "if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (vs. 23). The man didn't know how to believe! He felt he couldn't because three-fourths of the pastors and evangelists of his day also were helpless to lead him to genuine faith (it's pathetic even today when a sincere soul seeks the Lord but finds the majority of pastoral leadership simply mocks your heart cries). And yet the distraught man chose to believe when he did not feel like believing and saw no evidence that believing would do any good. That is an inspired pattern of genuine "Christian experience"! Linger on it; it's pregnant with good news.
Another prayer that will surely be answered in the affirmative is this: "God, be merciful to me, the sinner" (Luke 18:13, margin). The article is in the original Greek; the man was saying, Lord, of the two of us praying here, I know that this great man here is more worthy than I am; of the two of us, please answer his prayer. But Lord, I am so unworthy in contrast. All I can pray is, please be merciful to me, the one who is most unworthy, THE sinner.
You have a divinely inspired assurance that the man's prayer was answered in the affirmative for eternity (vs. 14). He could become the happiest man in heaven when he arises in the first resurrection!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 3, 2007.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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, April 27, 2011
The Bride's Wedding Garmen
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Daniel's prophecies are plain. Jesus urges us to "read" them and "understand" them (Matt. 24:15). As clear as sunlight is the one about the "cleansing of the sanctuary" (8:13, 14): "unto 2300 days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Obviously that's "the true sanctuary [tabernacle, tent] which the Lord pitched, and not man" at His office in heaven (Heb. 8:2). And it's equally obvious that the "cleansing" of the heavenly sanctuary cannot be done until first the hearts of God's people on earth are cleansed.
Therefore it follows as surely as day follows night that the great High Priest is working through the Holy Spirit to minister much more abounding grace to enable them to "overcome even as [Christ] overcame" (Rev. 3:20). Again it's obvious--that is, to overcome sin in the fallen, sinful flesh or nature which they have inherited from the fallen Adam, "even as" the Savior "condemned sin" in that same "likeness of sinful flesh" in which the Father "sent" Him to save the world (Rom. 8:3). And of course verse 4 follows verse 3, so there the Holy Spirit announces to the world the glorious results of the Plan of Redemption finally demonstrated beyond dispute: "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."
The word for "righteousness" there is special--dikaiomata, which means Christ's righteousness finally lived out in the "flesh" of those who believe in Jesus. In other words, in plain and simple language, it's righteousness "imparted," not merely "imputed" in a legal sense. Babylon's "gospel" of justification by faith goes as far as "imputing" legally Christ's righteousness (dikaiosune) to those who believe; but their actually living it out in the flesh isn't possible (says Babylon) until they are glorified at the coming of Jesus, and their sinful nature is finally zapped by replacing it with a sinless nature. In other words, Babylon's gospel is clear: you can't overcome SIN as long as you are still in your fallen, sinful flesh. Only Christ "condemned sin" in that sinful flesh; you can't.
But the biblical gospel of justification by faith proclaims better good news: "the Savior of the world" saves His people FROM sinning while still in this world with the fallen nature of Adam. They too "condemn sin" in that flesh. How? By receiving, opening the heart to, "the faith OF Jesus" (Gal. 2:16; 3:22).
And the last link in the good news story: that same dikaiomata (imparted, not merely legally-imputed righteousness) is seen in the wedding garment worn by the bride of Christ at the long-delayed "marriage of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7, 8). That's happening now, not tomorrow.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 19, 2006.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Daniel's prophecies are plain. Jesus urges us to "read" them and "understand" them (Matt. 24:15). As clear as sunlight is the one about the "cleansing of the sanctuary" (8:13, 14): "unto 2300 days: then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Obviously that's "the true sanctuary [tabernacle, tent] which the Lord pitched, and not man" at His office in heaven (Heb. 8:2). And it's equally obvious that the "cleansing" of the heavenly sanctuary cannot be done until first the hearts of God's people on earth are cleansed.
Therefore it follows as surely as day follows night that the great High Priest is working through the Holy Spirit to minister much more abounding grace to enable them to "overcome even as [Christ] overcame" (Rev. 3:20). Again it's obvious--that is, to overcome sin in the fallen, sinful flesh or nature which they have inherited from the fallen Adam, "even as" the Savior "condemned sin" in that same "likeness of sinful flesh" in which the Father "sent" Him to save the world (Rom. 8:3). And of course verse 4 follows verse 3, so there the Holy Spirit announces to the world the glorious results of the Plan of Redemption finally demonstrated beyond dispute: "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."
The word for "righteousness" there is special--dikaiomata, which means Christ's righteousness finally lived out in the "flesh" of those who believe in Jesus. In other words, in plain and simple language, it's righteousness "imparted," not merely "imputed" in a legal sense. Babylon's "gospel" of justification by faith goes as far as "imputing" legally Christ's righteousness (dikaiosune) to those who believe; but their actually living it out in the flesh isn't possible (says Babylon) until they are glorified at the coming of Jesus, and their sinful nature is finally zapped by replacing it with a sinless nature. In other words, Babylon's gospel is clear: you can't overcome SIN as long as you are still in your fallen, sinful flesh. Only Christ "condemned sin" in that sinful flesh; you can't.
But the biblical gospel of justification by faith proclaims better good news: "the Savior of the world" saves His people FROM sinning while still in this world with the fallen nature of Adam. They too "condemn sin" in that flesh. How? By receiving, opening the heart to, "the faith OF Jesus" (Gal. 2:16; 3:22).
And the last link in the good news story: that same dikaiomata (imparted, not merely legally-imputed righteousness) is seen in the wedding garment worn by the bride of Christ at the long-delayed "marriage of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7, 8). That's happening now, not tomorrow.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 19, 2006.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Elder Wieland Status
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Many of you have inquired about Elder Wieland. His health is good and he lives close to his family in the "Bay area" of northern California. His 95th birthday will be May 1, and if you would like to send him a birthday greeting, please send it to this address (dailybread@1888message.org), or reply to this "Dial Daily Bread." A book of your messages will be given to him on April 30.
Sincerely,
Carol Kawamoto
For "Dial Daily Bread"
Many of you have inquired about Elder Wieland. His health is good and he lives close to his family in the "Bay area" of northern California. His 95th birthday will be May 1, and if you would like to send him a birthday greeting, please send it to this address (dailybread@1888message.org), or reply to this "Dial Daily Bread." A book of your messages will be given to him on April 30.
Sincerely,
Carol Kawamoto
For "Dial Daily Bread"
Longing for His Wedding
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We can never forget that the Lord Jesus is one of us; He is the divine Son of God, with all the attributes of divinity; but at the same time He is the Son of man, one with us for eternity. He "took" on His unfallen, divine nature our fallen, sinful nature. He loves us dearly, as His own.
Now, does the Lord Jesus, being divine, have a sense of time as we humans have? Is one of our days like a thousand years to Him, or vice versa? So, could it be that He doesn't care how much longer time goes on?
Well, He says clearly that there will be an "end of the world"! When His disciples asked Him, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Matt. 24:3), He answered their question directly, thereby making the statement that time will NOT go on ad infinitum.
And being one of us, forever human with us as well as divine forever, Jesus shares with us our weariness with the on-and-on passage of sinful, painful time with all the suffering there is in the world. Isaiah 63 describes His feelings: "In all their affliction, He was [is] afflicted" (vs. 9). There is no pain that any of us on earth feel that He does not have to share with us.
YES! A thousand times over, Jesus wants this reign of sin and suffering to end in the glad establishment of His everlasting kingdom on the earth made new.
And there is another reason why He wants the end to come soon: the end of sin and suffering will usher in the glorious "marriage of the Lamb." As a Bridegroom, He longs for His wedding to come.
The reason? He is in love with the church as a man loves a woman; no one person could be the Bride of the infinite Son of God; but when He left His throne and His status as the infinite Son of God to come down here to save this fallen race of humans, His love for us was more than your love for your pets; when you love your dog, you have not become a dog. But He became one of us whom He loved; He joined our family.
And the reason why we want Him to come soon is not because we are hungry for our "reward" and we have these acquisitive feelings for the joys of heaven; we want the divine Son of God to receive His reward!
Why this special love for Him?
Why does this desire for Him to receive His reward transcend our desire for our own reward? There has to be a special reason why we, so naturally egocentric as we are, will be able to realize this unusually non-egocentric desire for Him. We have come to understand that when He "poured out His soul unto death" for us (Isa. 53:12), it was the second, not the first that He experienced. It was saying "Goodbye!" to life forever--the embracing of the darkness of hell in His love for us.
There are not enough words to tell it.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 30, 2008.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
We can never forget that the Lord Jesus is one of us; He is the divine Son of God, with all the attributes of divinity; but at the same time He is the Son of man, one with us for eternity. He "took" on His unfallen, divine nature our fallen, sinful nature. He loves us dearly, as His own.
Now, does the Lord Jesus, being divine, have a sense of time as we humans have? Is one of our days like a thousand years to Him, or vice versa? So, could it be that He doesn't care how much longer time goes on?
Well, He says clearly that there will be an "end of the world"! When His disciples asked Him, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Matt. 24:3), He answered their question directly, thereby making the statement that time will NOT go on ad infinitum.
And being one of us, forever human with us as well as divine forever, Jesus shares with us our weariness with the on-and-on passage of sinful, painful time with all the suffering there is in the world. Isaiah 63 describes His feelings: "In all their affliction, He was [is] afflicted" (vs. 9). There is no pain that any of us on earth feel that He does not have to share with us.
YES! A thousand times over, Jesus wants this reign of sin and suffering to end in the glad establishment of His everlasting kingdom on the earth made new.
And there is another reason why He wants the end to come soon: the end of sin and suffering will usher in the glorious "marriage of the Lamb." As a Bridegroom, He longs for His wedding to come.
The reason? He is in love with the church as a man loves a woman; no one person could be the Bride of the infinite Son of God; but when He left His throne and His status as the infinite Son of God to come down here to save this fallen race of humans, His love for us was more than your love for your pets; when you love your dog, you have not become a dog. But He became one of us whom He loved; He joined our family.
And the reason why we want Him to come soon is not because we are hungry for our "reward" and we have these acquisitive feelings for the joys of heaven; we want the divine Son of God to receive His reward!
Why this special love for Him?
Why does this desire for Him to receive His reward transcend our desire for our own reward? There has to be a special reason why we, so naturally egocentric as we are, will be able to realize this unusually non-egocentric desire for Him. We have come to understand that when He "poured out His soul unto death" for us (Isa. 53:12), it was the second, not the first that He experienced. It was saying "Goodbye!" to life forever--the embracing of the darkness of hell in His love for us.
There are not enough words to tell it.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 30, 2008.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Monday, April 25, 2011
"Knocking at the Door"
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever been despised and rejected by someone important in your life, whom you deeply loved? You remember the pain was wrenching.
Can we conceive of Jesus Christ experiencing that? On an infinitely grander scale? For millennia our human souls have been concerned for our own salvation; in my youth I remember sincere, grey-haired ordained elders declaring to me that the most important issue in life is the salvation of our own souls. This is almost universally accepted as the essence of orthodoxy. "Evangelism" is crafted on that premise. But there's a more important issue.
In undertaking the salvation of this world, Jesus took our humanity upon Himself; He knows how we can love; the "one" so deeply loved by Him as His bride-to-be is His church.
Has He known the bitterness of unrequited love, as we can know it--only on a cosmic scale? Can the companionship of multitudes of holy angels compensate for what His heart yearns for in the absence of His church's response to His love?
The pain of Calvary was for only a few hours (we think); indeed, it was intense. But the Hosea-like pain of extended nuptial alienation is Calvary's pain extended.
Christ declares Himself as endlessly "knocking on the door" of His Beloved (Rev. 3:20), waiting for a "certain one" (tis, Gr.) to respond as a satisfaction to His own lonely divine-human soul. He is still the One "despised and rejected." He wants to be with His people on earth even though earth rejected and expelled Him; heaven is simply no longer "home" for Him.
On this grand Day of Atonement, a change has come: the most important question in life is now for us to honor and vindicate Him. He deserves His reward; it is He who must be "crowned," no longer we who seek that honor.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 15, 2006.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Have you ever been despised and rejected by someone important in your life, whom you deeply loved? You remember the pain was wrenching.
Can we conceive of Jesus Christ experiencing that? On an infinitely grander scale? For millennia our human souls have been concerned for our own salvation; in my youth I remember sincere, grey-haired ordained elders declaring to me that the most important issue in life is the salvation of our own souls. This is almost universally accepted as the essence of orthodoxy. "Evangelism" is crafted on that premise. But there's a more important issue.
In undertaking the salvation of this world, Jesus took our humanity upon Himself; He knows how we can love; the "one" so deeply loved by Him as His bride-to-be is His church.
Has He known the bitterness of unrequited love, as we can know it--only on a cosmic scale? Can the companionship of multitudes of holy angels compensate for what His heart yearns for in the absence of His church's response to His love?
The pain of Calvary was for only a few hours (we think); indeed, it was intense. But the Hosea-like pain of extended nuptial alienation is Calvary's pain extended.
Christ declares Himself as endlessly "knocking on the door" of His Beloved (Rev. 3:20), waiting for a "certain one" (tis, Gr.) to respond as a satisfaction to His own lonely divine-human soul. He is still the One "despised and rejected." He wants to be with His people on earth even though earth rejected and expelled Him; heaven is simply no longer "home" for Him.
On this grand Day of Atonement, a change has come: the most important question in life is now for us to honor and vindicate Him. He deserves His reward; it is He who must be "crowned," no longer we who seek that honor.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 15, 2006.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
The Victor of Eternity
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
How did Jesus die? The Muslims say He died broken and defeated, and some Christians apparently agree. Yes, He experienced the unspeakable horror that His Father had forsaken Him forever: "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He was as low in despair as a common sinner. For One who had always lived in the sunshine of His Father's acceptance, this indeed was hell.
Yes, never was a human face so contorted with agony, "His visage ... so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isa. 52:14). The horror of an eternal hell of darkness, separation from God, from life, from heaven, from His fellow mankind, produced such mental and spiritual agony that He hardly felt the physical pain of the Roman crucifixion. Never had any human (or divine One) felt the full burden of the world's total accumulated guilt.
Yes, the death on the cross was pure, unmitigated hell. Neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, nor John give us a hint of any light penetrating that darkness, other than the repentant thief's prayer. All they say is, "They crucified Him," which meant--a Roman crucifixion. Hell itself.
But wait a moment. Scholars agree that Psalm 22 is a transcript of the prayer that Jesus prayed on His cross, from the moment the darkness enveloped the land (and His soul!) to when He breathed His last.
There in the middle of verse 21, the Holy Spirit reveals that a glorious change came: "Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the wild, treacherous African buffalo" (margin). In His last extremity, feeling tossed on those vicious horns, the darkness of His soul is lifted. "You have heard Me!" You have not forsaken Me! You have answered My cry! My faith has penetrated this impenetrable darkness of hell. I have triumphed! The great controversy with Satan is won!
From then on Psalm 22 is a paean of praise. His soul is filled with delight--not in anticipating His own resurrection and return to glory, no. He is dying the second death "for every man" (Heb. 2:9), the death in which there is no personal glory, no egocentric hope. But what makes Him so happy is that He has won the victory for us: "YOUR heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord" (vss. 26, 27).
Psalm 22 closes with a glorious cry of eternal victory--one Hebrew word that proclaims, "It is finished." A light like the sun shines in His face. From His broken, crucified human larynx, like a trumpet comes His shout of victory that shakes heaven and earth. Then He bowed His head, and died. The Victor of eternity.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 27, 2004.
Copyright © 2011 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.
How did Jesus die? The Muslims say He died broken and defeated, and some Christians apparently agree. Yes, He experienced the unspeakable horror that His Father had forsaken Him forever: "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He was as low in despair as a common sinner. For One who had always lived in the sunshine of His Father's acceptance, this indeed was hell.
Yes, never was a human face so contorted with agony, "His visage ... so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isa. 52:14). The horror of an eternal hell of darkness, separation from God, from life, from heaven, from His fellow mankind, produced such mental and spiritual agony that He hardly felt the physical pain of the Roman crucifixion. Never had any human (or divine One) felt the full burden of the world's total accumulated guilt.
Yes, the death on the cross was pure, unmitigated hell. Neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, nor John give us a hint of any light penetrating that darkness, other than the repentant thief's prayer. All they say is, "They crucified Him," which meant--a Roman crucifixion. Hell itself.
But wait a moment. Scholars agree that Psalm 22 is a transcript of the prayer that Jesus prayed on His cross, from the moment the darkness enveloped the land (and His soul!) to when He breathed His last.
There in the middle of verse 21, the Holy Spirit reveals that a glorious change came: "Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the wild, treacherous African buffalo" (margin). In His last extremity, feeling tossed on those vicious horns, the darkness of His soul is lifted. "You have heard Me!" You have not forsaken Me! You have answered My cry! My faith has penetrated this impenetrable darkness of hell. I have triumphed! The great controversy with Satan is won!
From then on Psalm 22 is a paean of praise. His soul is filled with delight--not in anticipating His own resurrection and return to glory, no. He is dying the second death "for every man" (Heb. 2:9), the death in which there is no personal glory, no egocentric hope. But what makes Him so happy is that He has won the victory for us: "YOUR heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord" (vss. 26, 27).
Psalm 22 closes with a glorious cry of eternal victory--one Hebrew word that proclaims, "It is finished." A light like the sun shines in His face. From His broken, crucified human larynx, like a trumpet comes His shout of victory that shakes heaven and earth. Then He bowed His head, and died. The Victor of eternity.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 27, 2004.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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, April 22, 2011
Were You There?
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Paul tells us, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2 Cor. 13:5). So, let's take a little self-help quiz. Maybe we can anticipate the final judgment in a sober, healthy way (it would indeed be a good idea):
(1) If you had been living in Noah's day, would you have faced the ridicule of the crowd and walked up the gangplank into his ark, all alone?
(2) If you had been living in Abraham's day, would you have left your family and kindred in Mesopotamia, and followed him in his visionary journey to a land that he (and you) had not seen, in response to God's call?
(3) If you had been living in Elijah's day, when he stood on Mount Carmel facing an angry king of Israel and 450 leaders of the popular religion of the day, would you have stepped out from the crowd and joined him when he stood there alone? (Not one did!)
(4) If you had been living in Jeremiah's day when King Jehoiakim and the princes, the priests, and "all the people" wanted to execute him as a traitor to the nation, would you have been brave enough to defend him before them all? (Read Jeremiah 26!)
(5) When King Zedekiah had him thrown into the dungeon, and put down that muddy deep well, would you have risked your life to pull him out like the black man, Ebedmelech, did? (Read Jeremiah 38.)
(6) If you had gathered on the plain of Dura with the multitudes before Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, when the symphony orchestra struck up the national anthem, would you have bowed also to avoid going into the burning fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
(7) If you had been there that Friday morning before breakfast, gathered before Pilate, when the multitude shouted, "Crucify Him!" would you have told His Excellency the Governor, "Sir, if you crucify this Man, you crucify me, too!"
Were you there, whey they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, ... tremble!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive:
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Paul tells us, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2 Cor. 13:5). So, let's take a little self-help quiz. Maybe we can anticipate the final judgment in a sober, healthy way (it would indeed be a good idea):
(1) If you had been living in Noah's day, would you have faced the ridicule of the crowd and walked up the gangplank into his ark, all alone?
(2) If you had been living in Abraham's day, would you have left your family and kindred in Mesopotamia, and followed him in his visionary journey to a land that he (and you) had not seen, in response to God's call?
(3) If you had been living in Elijah's day, when he stood on Mount Carmel facing an angry king of Israel and 450 leaders of the popular religion of the day, would you have stepped out from the crowd and joined him when he stood there alone? (Not one did!)
(4) If you had been living in Jeremiah's day when King Jehoiakim and the princes, the priests, and "all the people" wanted to execute him as a traitor to the nation, would you have been brave enough to defend him before them all? (Read Jeremiah 26!)
(5) When King Zedekiah had him thrown into the dungeon, and put down that muddy deep well, would you have risked your life to pull him out like the black man, Ebedmelech, did? (Read Jeremiah 38.)
(6) If you had gathered on the plain of Dura with the multitudes before Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, when the symphony orchestra struck up the national anthem, would you have bowed also to avoid going into the burning fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
(7) If you had been there that Friday morning before breakfast, gathered before Pilate, when the multitude shouted, "Crucify Him!" would you have told His Excellency the Governor, "Sir, if you crucify this Man, you crucify me, too!"
Were you there, whey they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, ... tremble!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive:
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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, April 20, 2011
Living in the Book of Psalms
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Many of the Psalms of David are intensely interesting because they are prophetic of the life experience of "the Son of David"--Jesus. Sometimes today's tabloid newspapers get hold of scraps of news that the sedate papers don't tell us; they are called "scoops." The Psalms of David have "scoops" about the personal life of Jesus that the four New Testament gospels don't tell us. One is Psalm 22 that tells us of His secret prayer He uttered while He was hanging on His cross; another is Psalm 69, likewise. The Holy Spirit inspired David to write these Psalms that enable us to "see" Jesus like He was our next-door neighbor. They help us realize how human He was as well as divine (His name is "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us," Matt. 1:23).
Reading Psalm 55 in Peterson's The Message has become a revelation: it tells about Judas Iscariot! Here we have intimate glimpses of Jesus wrestling with a pain almost unbearable. He has come to save His own people, and their leaders hate Him and make His days keenly painful. John's Gospel does tell us of the deep underground hatred that Jesus had to contend with in Jerusalem, that broke His heart; but Psalm 55 opens a window into how Jesus felt when one of His close Twelve secretly sided with the scribes and Pharisees, and day by day was preparing to betray Him. "Get Me out of here on dove wings; I want some peace and quiet," we hear Jesus praying (vs. 6). "This isn't the neighborhood bully mocking Me--I could take that. ... It's you! My best friend! ... And this My best friend, betrayed his best friends [the Eleven]. ... His words, which were music to My ears, turned to daggers in My heart" (vss. 12-14).
Did Jesus love Judas? Of course; He loved all Twelve. Was this cancer of disloyalty and betrayal growing within the Twelve, painful for Jesus? Of course! Christ's divine foreknowledge did not lessen the pain of His human suffering. You can be sure that today as your High Priest Jesus feels the pain you know when someone close to you turns against you! He "lived" in the Book of Psalms; you must do so, too.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 22, 2003.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Many of the Psalms of David are intensely interesting because they are prophetic of the life experience of "the Son of David"--Jesus. Sometimes today's tabloid newspapers get hold of scraps of news that the sedate papers don't tell us; they are called "scoops." The Psalms of David have "scoops" about the personal life of Jesus that the four New Testament gospels don't tell us. One is Psalm 22 that tells us of His secret prayer He uttered while He was hanging on His cross; another is Psalm 69, likewise. The Holy Spirit inspired David to write these Psalms that enable us to "see" Jesus like He was our next-door neighbor. They help us realize how human He was as well as divine (His name is "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us," Matt. 1:23).
Reading Psalm 55 in Peterson's The Message has become a revelation: it tells about Judas Iscariot! Here we have intimate glimpses of Jesus wrestling with a pain almost unbearable. He has come to save His own people, and their leaders hate Him and make His days keenly painful. John's Gospel does tell us of the deep underground hatred that Jesus had to contend with in Jerusalem, that broke His heart; but Psalm 55 opens a window into how Jesus felt when one of His close Twelve secretly sided with the scribes and Pharisees, and day by day was preparing to betray Him. "Get Me out of here on dove wings; I want some peace and quiet," we hear Jesus praying (vs. 6). "This isn't the neighborhood bully mocking Me--I could take that. ... It's you! My best friend! ... And this My best friend, betrayed his best friends [the Eleven]. ... His words, which were music to My ears, turned to daggers in My heart" (vss. 12-14).
Did Jesus love Judas? Of course; He loved all Twelve. Was this cancer of disloyalty and betrayal growing within the Twelve, painful for Jesus? Of course! Christ's divine foreknowledge did not lessen the pain of His human suffering. You can be sure that today as your High Priest Jesus feels the pain you know when someone close to you turns against you! He "lived" in the Book of Psalms; you must do so, too.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 22, 2003.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Passover Lamb
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
When we talk about "child evangelism," what do we mean? Merely persuading children to profess to be Christians? Nominal church members? Go through the rite of baptism? Have their names on a record book? The temptations to life-hypocrisy today are enormous.
Jesus was a child of 12 when He witnessed His first Passover. Like all children, He wondered what the killing of the Passover lamb meant. No one could help Him, not even His mother. But His sinless mind was gradually able to grasp the truth--the blood of billions of Passover lambs could not wash away even one human sin. He sensed the meaning of Psalm 40:6-8, "Lo, I come ... to do Thy will, O My God." Someone holy, undefiled, must give Himself to be "the Lamb of God."
Through His young human soul there surged a great desire: "O Father, let Me be the world's 'Passover Lamb'!" From that moment, the divine/human Messiah in His childhood grew to be absorbed in "[His] Father's business" (Luke 2:49). John the Baptist caught Christ's total consecration at the age of 30 when he cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:29).
The age of 12 is still very significant. The Holy Spirit today is often forced to by-pass older people because they quickly become full of themselves and stay that way; children are sensitive to the call of heaven to give themselves to the One who gave Himself for them--if only someone can be humble enough to step aside and let Christ be revealed to them.
May God give you and me the grace to reveal Him as He is in His agape love, to children.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 30, 2005.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
When we talk about "child evangelism," what do we mean? Merely persuading children to profess to be Christians? Nominal church members? Go through the rite of baptism? Have their names on a record book? The temptations to life-hypocrisy today are enormous.
Jesus was a child of 12 when He witnessed His first Passover. Like all children, He wondered what the killing of the Passover lamb meant. No one could help Him, not even His mother. But His sinless mind was gradually able to grasp the truth--the blood of billions of Passover lambs could not wash away even one human sin. He sensed the meaning of Psalm 40:6-8, "Lo, I come ... to do Thy will, O My God." Someone holy, undefiled, must give Himself to be "the Lamb of God."
Through His young human soul there surged a great desire: "O Father, let Me be the world's 'Passover Lamb'!" From that moment, the divine/human Messiah in His childhood grew to be absorbed in "[His] Father's business" (Luke 2:49). John the Baptist caught Christ's total consecration at the age of 30 when he cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:29).
The age of 12 is still very significant. The Holy Spirit today is often forced to by-pass older people because they quickly become full of themselves and stay that way; children are sensitive to the call of heaven to give themselves to the One who gave Himself for them--if only someone can be humble enough to step aside and let Christ be revealed to them.
May God give you and me the grace to reveal Him as He is in His agape love, to children.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 30, 2005.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Monday, April 18, 2011
How to Accept Defeat Graciously
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Bible tells how to accept defeat graciously. It's a precious achievement! Joseph was "defeated" when his ten brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt. Thoroughly humiliated, brought to near despair by this "providence," he endured with fidelity and honor, and was eventually "reimbursed" by "providence."
David was forced to endure ten long years of being hunted as a wild beast by King Saul. He too was eventually "reimbursed" by "providence." Jeremiah's humiliation was lifelong. He never was granted any kind of "reimbursement," and had to die in humiliating exile, his entire life apparently a total failure. His bitter cup to drink was never sweetened.
And of course we don't want to make an awkward comparison, but we can't help but think of the Master Loser of all time and eternity, the One who suffered the final humiliation of being rejected by His own nation, who had to hear them shout "Crucify Him!" and who had to die with that cry of hatred ringing in His ears. Not a trace of "reimbursement" was His, except a reawakened faith in His own dying heart--that pierced the total darkness of His despair.
For many who wrestle with personal problems, your tension may seem like a lifetime. Find comfort and encouragement in God's Word where help for losers is abundant.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 14, 2000.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
The Bible tells how to accept defeat graciously. It's a precious achievement! Joseph was "defeated" when his ten brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt. Thoroughly humiliated, brought to near despair by this "providence," he endured with fidelity and honor, and was eventually "reimbursed" by "providence."
David was forced to endure ten long years of being hunted as a wild beast by King Saul. He too was eventually "reimbursed" by "providence." Jeremiah's humiliation was lifelong. He never was granted any kind of "reimbursement," and had to die in humiliating exile, his entire life apparently a total failure. His bitter cup to drink was never sweetened.
And of course we don't want to make an awkward comparison, but we can't help but think of the Master Loser of all time and eternity, the One who suffered the final humiliation of being rejected by His own nation, who had to hear them shout "Crucify Him!" and who had to die with that cry of hatred ringing in His ears. Not a trace of "reimbursement" was His, except a reawakened faith in His own dying heart--that pierced the total darkness of His despair.
For many who wrestle with personal problems, your tension may seem like a lifetime. Find comfort and encouragement in God's Word where help for losers is abundant.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 14, 2000.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Falling Off a Cliff?
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We've all heard the story of the town that was located on a cliff. People would often fall off the cliff and get hurt. So the good townspeople who were "caring" people built a hospital and sent an ambulance to pick up these hapless people who fell off the cliff. This went on for a long time until somebody thought of a better idea: why not build a fence at the top of the cliff to keep people from falling over?
I attended a prayer meeting where the faithful "caring" church members prayed for young people who used to attend church and Sabbath school who have now given up church and are out in the world. They used to attend Sabbath school, and the church school and academy. Some reliable estimates say that nearly three-fourths of such children turn away from the church by the time they are 18. And parents weep their eyes out. Every effort is made to send a spiritual ambulance to bring in these casualties.
But why not build a fence at the top of the cliff? Why not give these children and youth the pure gospel, the genuine Good News? The apostle Paul guarantees that it will work! It's "the power of God unto salvation," he says (Rom 1:16).
And what is the Good News? Most of the time when these sad tragedies take place, the root cause for it is legalism. And what is legalism in contrast with the gospel? Wherever you find the teaching that (#1) salvation is due to man's initiative and man's works, you are in an atmosphere of legalism. And when you find the teaching that (#2) our salvation is initiated by God, and is His work, you are in an atmosphere of the gospel. #1 leaves the human heart cold, discouraged, in spiritual despair; #2 captures the heart, holds its affections, and motivates to faithfulness to God, because it is the essence of the "atonement," reconciliation to God through the blood of the Lamb of God. Let's give somebody the gospel today!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 16, 1998.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
We've all heard the story of the town that was located on a cliff. People would often fall off the cliff and get hurt. So the good townspeople who were "caring" people built a hospital and sent an ambulance to pick up these hapless people who fell off the cliff. This went on for a long time until somebody thought of a better idea: why not build a fence at the top of the cliff to keep people from falling over?
I attended a prayer meeting where the faithful "caring" church members prayed for young people who used to attend church and Sabbath school who have now given up church and are out in the world. They used to attend Sabbath school, and the church school and academy. Some reliable estimates say that nearly three-fourths of such children turn away from the church by the time they are 18. And parents weep their eyes out. Every effort is made to send a spiritual ambulance to bring in these casualties.
But why not build a fence at the top of the cliff? Why not give these children and youth the pure gospel, the genuine Good News? The apostle Paul guarantees that it will work! It's "the power of God unto salvation," he says (Rom 1:16).
And what is the Good News? Most of the time when these sad tragedies take place, the root cause for it is legalism. And what is legalism in contrast with the gospel? Wherever you find the teaching that (#1) salvation is due to man's initiative and man's works, you are in an atmosphere of legalism. And when you find the teaching that (#2) our salvation is initiated by God, and is His work, you are in an atmosphere of the gospel. #1 leaves the human heart cold, discouraged, in spiritual despair; #2 captures the heart, holds its affections, and motivates to faithfulness to God, because it is the essence of the "atonement," reconciliation to God through the blood of the Lamb of God. Let's give somebody the gospel today!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 16, 1998.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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, April 15, 2011
Has God Withheld the Latter Rain?
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Someone asked a deeply thought-provoking question: "Why must the 'Latter Rain' gift of the Holy Spirit come only at the end of history? Why has God withheld that gift all through these 2000 years of history? In other words, what's the difference between the 'Early Rain' and the 'Latter Rain'"?
I belong in God's kindergarten but let me try to respond:
(1) It's not unwillingness on God's part to give, but it is humanity's unreadiness to receive. Yes, even an unwillingness to receive! Jesus Himself expressed the principle: "I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" (John 16:12).
(2) Sinfulness has been deeper than "we" have realized. "Thou ... knowest not," says the True Witness (Rev. 3:17).
(3) God's infinite knowledge of mankind's unreadiness to receive the final blessing of the Holy Spirit has informed His prophetic foreknowledge. When the prophecy declares, "Unto 2300 days [years]; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," it means that not until then CAN it be cleansed (Dan. 8:14). Human history must be allowed to work itself out through the ages. Not until "the time of the end … when knowledge shall be increased," can Daniel's prophecy reach fulfillment (12:4).
(4) The sanctuary service of ancient Israel illuminated the principle: only on the final Day of Atonement could the High Priest enter the Most Holy Apartment to "cleanse the sanctuary," because only then would the people in the typical service permit a final cleansing "from all your sins" (see Lev. 16:29, 30). Thus, in the antitypical service in the heavenly sanctuary, our great High Priest has been willing all along to prepare His people for His second coming as "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (He loves them and wants them to be with Him!), but not until the end of history has that dilatory "Bride" "made herself ready" for the "marriage of the Lamb" (see Rev. 19:7-16).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 18, 2000.
Copyright © 2011 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.
Someone asked a deeply thought-provoking question: "Why must the 'Latter Rain' gift of the Holy Spirit come only at the end of history? Why has God withheld that gift all through these 2000 years of history? In other words, what's the difference between the 'Early Rain' and the 'Latter Rain'"?
I belong in God's kindergarten but let me try to respond:
(1) It's not unwillingness on God's part to give, but it is humanity's unreadiness to receive. Yes, even an unwillingness to receive! Jesus Himself expressed the principle: "I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" (John 16:12).
(2) Sinfulness has been deeper than "we" have realized. "Thou ... knowest not," says the True Witness (Rev. 3:17).
(3) God's infinite knowledge of mankind's unreadiness to receive the final blessing of the Holy Spirit has informed His prophetic foreknowledge. When the prophecy declares, "Unto 2300 days [years]; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," it means that not until then CAN it be cleansed (Dan. 8:14). Human history must be allowed to work itself out through the ages. Not until "the time of the end … when knowledge shall be increased," can Daniel's prophecy reach fulfillment (12:4).
(4) The sanctuary service of ancient Israel illuminated the principle: only on the final Day of Atonement could the High Priest enter the Most Holy Apartment to "cleanse the sanctuary," because only then would the people in the typical service permit a final cleansing "from all your sins" (see Lev. 16:29, 30). Thus, in the antitypical service in the heavenly sanctuary, our great High Priest has been willing all along to prepare His people for His second coming as "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (He loves them and wants them to be with Him!), but not until the end of history has that dilatory "Bride" "made herself ready" for the "marriage of the Lamb" (see Rev. 19:7-16).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 18, 2000.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://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.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Unsatisfied "Hunger"
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
A man wrote of his experience as a youth when he would read the Bible every day simply because he enjoyed it. He had a Good News Bible, and was attracted to it. Then he went away to college and got in with a group of earnest-minded people who emphasized discipline. "Have you had your 'quiet time' with the Lord?" they would ask him frequently. "Are you maintaining your devotions?" He got so he dreaded to hear the questions. Now, reading the Bible and praying had passed from a pleasant experience to a burden, an obligation imposed upon him with dreaded consequences if he slipped up. Now his "Christian" experience had become a list of "shoulds": you "should" pray more, you "should" read your Bible more, you "should" do this or do that more.
What happened? He tried to think it through and concluded that he was in the spiritual condition that Paul describes as "under the law" (Rom. 6:14, 15). He was trying to do all the right things for the wrong reason. The joy was gone.
The "world" is much with us; we are enmeshed in countless activities and it seems the busy days fly by and we drop exhausted into bed at night and remember, "Oh, I forgot to pray, or I forgot to read my Bible, today! Now what's going to happen to me?!" That's what it's like to be "under the law," under the gun, if you please.
Yes, you're busy; but when you drop into bed at night do you suddenly reproach yourself, "Oh, I forgot to eat breakfast this morning! I've been too busy to eat lunch! And there was no time to eat supper! And I haven't even had a snack for a week!"? I doubt it; you have a built-in device called "hunger" that pretty well makes that impossible, at least for very long. There's an alternative to being "under the law"--being "under grace" (6:14), under a new motivation imposed upon you by a heart-appreciation of God's loving and His giving that you might not "perish" (John 3:16). And THAT produces a "hunger and thirst for righteousness" that simply will NOT go unsatisfied for long! (Matt. 5:6).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 27, 1998.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
A man wrote of his experience as a youth when he would read the Bible every day simply because he enjoyed it. He had a Good News Bible, and was attracted to it. Then he went away to college and got in with a group of earnest-minded people who emphasized discipline. "Have you had your 'quiet time' with the Lord?" they would ask him frequently. "Are you maintaining your devotions?" He got so he dreaded to hear the questions. Now, reading the Bible and praying had passed from a pleasant experience to a burden, an obligation imposed upon him with dreaded consequences if he slipped up. Now his "Christian" experience had become a list of "shoulds": you "should" pray more, you "should" read your Bible more, you "should" do this or do that more.
What happened? He tried to think it through and concluded that he was in the spiritual condition that Paul describes as "under the law" (Rom. 6:14, 15). He was trying to do all the right things for the wrong reason. The joy was gone.
The "world" is much with us; we are enmeshed in countless activities and it seems the busy days fly by and we drop exhausted into bed at night and remember, "Oh, I forgot to pray, or I forgot to read my Bible, today! Now what's going to happen to me?!" That's what it's like to be "under the law," under the gun, if you please.
Yes, you're busy; but when you drop into bed at night do you suddenly reproach yourself, "Oh, I forgot to eat breakfast this morning! I've been too busy to eat lunch! And there was no time to eat supper! And I haven't even had a snack for a week!"? I doubt it; you have a built-in device called "hunger" that pretty well makes that impossible, at least for very long. There's an alternative to being "under the law"--being "under grace" (6:14), under a new motivation imposed upon you by a heart-appreciation of God's loving and His giving that you might not "perish" (John 3:16). And THAT produces a "hunger and thirst for righteousness" that simply will NOT go unsatisfied for long! (Matt. 5:6).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 27, 1998.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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, April 13, 2011
BEFORE You Pray
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever prayed for something good, and gotten "No" for an answer, or received something disappointing in answer? I am intrigued by a promise Jesus made in Matthew 7:9: "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" We've heard much about parental abuse, but where is the father so hard-hearted as that? He would not even be human! Yet our arch-enemy wants us to believe that when we beg our heavenly Father for something good, something we want that would be good for us, He either won't listen or He gives us something disappointing.
Jesus knows how we are tempted; He Himself once cried out, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Psalm 22 goes on to say that He complains because it seems God wouldn't hear or answer His prayer. And because Jesus knows how we are tempted, He assures us in Matthew 7:11, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them, that ask Him?" And please note, He says that to everybody--the beginning of this Sermon on the Mount says, "And seeing the MULTITUDES, ... He taught them" (Matt. 5:1, 2).
You don't have to earn His favor by doing good works BEFORE you pray to the One that Jesus says is YOUR heavenly Father, any more than a child must earn the piece of bread he begs from his earthly father.
But then you ask, Isn't there a catch somewhere? Some fine print? Yes, and here it is: "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). THAT'S what you have to do BEFORE you pray!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: Oct. 23, 1997.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Have you ever prayed for something good, and gotten "No" for an answer, or received something disappointing in answer? I am intrigued by a promise Jesus made in Matthew 7:9: "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" We've heard much about parental abuse, but where is the father so hard-hearted as that? He would not even be human! Yet our arch-enemy wants us to believe that when we beg our heavenly Father for something good, something we want that would be good for us, He either won't listen or He gives us something disappointing.
Jesus knows how we are tempted; He Himself once cried out, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Psalm 22 goes on to say that He complains because it seems God wouldn't hear or answer His prayer. And because Jesus knows how we are tempted, He assures us in Matthew 7:11, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them, that ask Him?" And please note, He says that to everybody--the beginning of this Sermon on the Mount says, "And seeing the MULTITUDES, ... He taught them" (Matt. 5:1, 2).
You don't have to earn His favor by doing good works BEFORE you pray to the One that Jesus says is YOUR heavenly Father, any more than a child must earn the piece of bread he begs from his earthly father.
But then you ask, Isn't there a catch somewhere? Some fine print? Yes, and here it is: "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). THAT'S what you have to do BEFORE you pray!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: Oct. 23, 1997.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
What God Does NOT Say
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There's a vast encyclopedia of loving knowledge in the silence of God--in what He does NOT say. For example, when He warned our first parents in Eden not to join the fallen Lucifer's rebellion against God's principle of love, He told them not to eat of the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Note what God did NOT say: He did not say, "In the day thou eatest thereof I will surely kill you." No; He said, "thou shalt surely die."
"Well," says someone, "that means He will kill them, for didn't He destroy almost the entire human race in the Flood of Noah?" Yes, He did. "And didn't He destroy almost the entire population of Sodom and Gomorrah?" Yes, He did. But ... look again:
Note what John 3:16 does NOT say. It does not say, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, who will torture anyone who does not believe in Him." Again there is a holy silence. The text says, "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light" (vss. 18, 19). We are quite capable of condemning ourselves in the sight of the universe without God's help.
A wise writer has said that "God does not stand toward the sinner as an Executioner of the sentence against transgression." He will not coerce by fear what He would win only by love. He does not want to pack Heaven with fear-driven people motivated by the desire for reward. If we insist on giving fear a 51 percent share and love (agape) 49 percent in motivation, we shall perpetuate a lukewarmness of devotion in our churches, a sterile paralysis of heart that makes our sermons and worship services as "dry as the hills of Gilboa" were of rain and dew.
But if we accord God's love (agape) its full 50 percent share, then Paul will be proven right: agape will win out as "the greatest of these" (1 Cor. 13:13). It's time "children" "grew up" to appreciate what Christ accomplished on His cross.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 13, 2002.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
There's a vast encyclopedia of loving knowledge in the silence of God--in what He does NOT say. For example, when He warned our first parents in Eden not to join the fallen Lucifer's rebellion against God's principle of love, He told them not to eat of the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Note what God did NOT say: He did not say, "In the day thou eatest thereof I will surely kill you." No; He said, "thou shalt surely die."
"Well," says someone, "that means He will kill them, for didn't He destroy almost the entire human race in the Flood of Noah?" Yes, He did. "And didn't He destroy almost the entire population of Sodom and Gomorrah?" Yes, He did. But ... look again:
Note what John 3:16 does NOT say. It does not say, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, who will torture anyone who does not believe in Him." Again there is a holy silence. The text says, "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light" (vss. 18, 19). We are quite capable of condemning ourselves in the sight of the universe without God's help.
A wise writer has said that "God does not stand toward the sinner as an Executioner of the sentence against transgression." He will not coerce by fear what He would win only by love. He does not want to pack Heaven with fear-driven people motivated by the desire for reward. If we insist on giving fear a 51 percent share and love (agape) 49 percent in motivation, we shall perpetuate a lukewarmness of devotion in our churches, a sterile paralysis of heart that makes our sermons and worship services as "dry as the hills of Gilboa" were of rain and dew.
But if we accord God's love (agape) its full 50 percent share, then Paul will be proven right: agape will win out as "the greatest of these" (1 Cor. 13:13). It's time "children" "grew up" to appreciate what Christ accomplished on His cross.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 13, 2002.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Let's Stay Awake; Something Is Going On
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Bible seems clear: Christ the eternal Son of God became the "last Adam," the new Head of the human race (1 Cor. 15:45-47). Being of the human race, Christ loves a bride-to-be and wants to be married to "her" (Rev. 19:7, 8). That "bride" is the corporate body of His people who respond to His wooing love, it's the church (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:23-27, 32). Christ's corporate body of believers who respond to His nuptial love seem to be the population of the "New Jerusalem" (Rev. 21:9, 10).
Christ loves sinners, for He gave Himself for the world; but there must be something special about His love for His bride-to-be--a nuptial love. They must be a people who have grown up "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12, 13) in order to stand at His side as a "bride" stands by her husband.
The Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of truth, [and] He will guide [His church] into all truth" (John 16:13). Any church that is not totally devoted to "the truth as in Jesus," "the truth of the gospel," "rightly dividing the word of truth," which is not itself "the pillar and ground of the truth," that does not hold "the truth in Christ"--such cannot be the "bride" whom the Savior loves with that nuptial love (Eph. 4:21; Col. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Tim. 3:15, 2:7). The true Holy Spirit specializes in convictions of truth, and truth brings the true church into blessed internal harmony and unity.
The "wife" mentioned in Revelation 19:7, 8 corresponds to the "woman" of 12:17, the last-days "remnant ... who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." A bridegroom has no eyes for millions of other women: there is his one and only. Christ must turn from churches of "Babylon," although He fervently loves true individuals who are still in "Babylon" who wait to hear that "Voice from heaven" calling them to "come out of her, My people" (18:4). Obviously they take their part at last as individual members of that "remnant" church.
Let's stay awake. Something is going on.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 30, 2006.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
The Bible seems clear: Christ the eternal Son of God became the "last Adam," the new Head of the human race (1 Cor. 15:45-47). Being of the human race, Christ loves a bride-to-be and wants to be married to "her" (Rev. 19:7, 8). That "bride" is the corporate body of His people who respond to His wooing love, it's the church (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:23-27, 32). Christ's corporate body of believers who respond to His nuptial love seem to be the population of the "New Jerusalem" (Rev. 21:9, 10).
Christ loves sinners, for He gave Himself for the world; but there must be something special about His love for His bride-to-be--a nuptial love. They must be a people who have grown up "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12, 13) in order to stand at His side as a "bride" stands by her husband.
The Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of truth, [and] He will guide [His church] into all truth" (John 16:13). Any church that is not totally devoted to "the truth as in Jesus," "the truth of the gospel," "rightly dividing the word of truth," which is not itself "the pillar and ground of the truth," that does not hold "the truth in Christ"--such cannot be the "bride" whom the Savior loves with that nuptial love (Eph. 4:21; Col. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Tim. 3:15, 2:7). The true Holy Spirit specializes in convictions of truth, and truth brings the true church into blessed internal harmony and unity.
The "wife" mentioned in Revelation 19:7, 8 corresponds to the "woman" of 12:17, the last-days "remnant ... who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." A bridegroom has no eyes for millions of other women: there is his one and only. Christ must turn from churches of "Babylon," although He fervently loves true individuals who are still in "Babylon" who wait to hear that "Voice from heaven" calling them to "come out of her, My people" (18:4). Obviously they take their part at last as individual members of that "remnant" church.
Let's stay awake. Something is going on.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 30, 2006.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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, April 08, 2011
Upsetting Our Assumptions
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
After more than two millennia, Jesus Christ continues to upset our assumptions and contradict them. We think that those who are always smiling are the happy ones, the self-esteemed, the purpose-driven saints, the always-on-top Christians, like corks that can't sink. He says, "Blessed [happy] are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). Frankly, He sounds heretical!
Is something quiet and unobtrusive going on behind our backs--peopling the New Jerusalem with quiet, sober, even troubled people we haven't thought will get through?
Then Jesus drives the thorn in deeper: "Blessed [happy] are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (vs. 4). He even sounds like disappointment and pain and heartbreak are good experiences! How apparently backward can His thinking get?
He sounds like real lasting "comfort" can only follow being acquainted with grief first. The "mourning" He speaks of is not losing loved ones in death; it's heart-sorrow for the sin that the Holy Spirit has convicted us is buried deep in our hearts. As the "Son of David" Jesus reveled in the psalms of David, learning as we must learn. Obviously He had read 126:5, 6: "Those who wept as they planted their crops, gather[ed] the harvest with joy! Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come back singing for joy as they bring in the harvest" (GNB). Could this have inspired His Beatitude?
Another of our popular assumptions He pricks like a balloon: "Blessed are the meek [not the "success-stories"]: for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). The "meek" are those who always manage somehow to get trampled on, because they react to contingencies like the One who said He was "meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29) and ended up on a cross.
If you follow Him you get so you can't even exist another day unless you believe what He says. That's how "the just shall live by His faith" (Hab. 2:4).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 9, 2006.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
After more than two millennia, Jesus Christ continues to upset our assumptions and contradict them. We think that those who are always smiling are the happy ones, the self-esteemed, the purpose-driven saints, the always-on-top Christians, like corks that can't sink. He says, "Blessed [happy] are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). Frankly, He sounds heretical!
Is something quiet and unobtrusive going on behind our backs--peopling the New Jerusalem with quiet, sober, even troubled people we haven't thought will get through?
Then Jesus drives the thorn in deeper: "Blessed [happy] are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (vs. 4). He even sounds like disappointment and pain and heartbreak are good experiences! How apparently backward can His thinking get?
He sounds like real lasting "comfort" can only follow being acquainted with grief first. The "mourning" He speaks of is not losing loved ones in death; it's heart-sorrow for the sin that the Holy Spirit has convicted us is buried deep in our hearts. As the "Son of David" Jesus reveled in the psalms of David, learning as we must learn. Obviously He had read 126:5, 6: "Those who wept as they planted their crops, gather[ed] the harvest with joy! Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come back singing for joy as they bring in the harvest" (GNB). Could this have inspired His Beatitude?
Another of our popular assumptions He pricks like a balloon: "Blessed are the meek [not the "success-stories"]: for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). The "meek" are those who always manage somehow to get trampled on, because they react to contingencies like the One who said He was "meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29) and ended up on a cross.
If you follow Him you get so you can't even exist another day unless you believe what He says. That's how "the just shall live by His faith" (Hab. 2:4).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 9, 2006.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Two Special Books
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There are two books in the Bible that the Lord Jesus has especially appealed to His followers to "read" and "understand." And very likely, no matter what church you may attend, you probably never hear a sermon that explains those two books. The appeal of Jesus seems to be almost universally disregarded, even among His professed friends who say they're the church that keeps the commandments of God and has the faith of Jesus.
Those two special books are Daniel the prophet in the Old Testament (see Matt. 24:15), and the last book of the Bible, the Revelation (see 1:1-3).
The problem is that "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen" (Rev. 18:2), but Babylon is what the world loves; and what the world loves is often what we love, too.
The great user-friendly mega-churches soft-pedal Daniel and Revelation. The Enemy in the great controversy between Christ and Satan has two methods of attack on this truth: (1) minimize attention, neglect the two books, make people think the prophecies are impossible to be understood; (2) inspire fanatics to invent ever new and fantastic "interpretations" of the books that are senseless and self-contradictory.
Let the Lord deliver you from both of these heresies: (1) Daniel declares that his prophecies were unsealed as "the time of the end" began (cf. 11:35; 12:4); (2) Christ Himself pronounces a special "blessing" on the one who either reads or listens to someone else read, the prophecies of the book of Revelation (1:1-3).
Both Daniel and Revelation make clear that "the time of the end" began at the end of the 1260 years of the Dark Ages, the time of papal oppression, in 1798. It was then that Daniel's prophecies were unsealed. The understanding of these prophecies of Daniel and Revelation that was held by those who emerged from that darkness is the understanding that Jesus declared would confirm God's people unto the end. He said: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Matt. 24:34). The glorious light of that "other angel" of Revelation 18 was a gift that God gave to "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans" and the gift was within the lifetime of those pioneers; but the light was in a great degree kept away both from the church and from the world.
The truth of why Christ has not come yet is so simple that even a child can understand!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 5, 2007.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
There are two books in the Bible that the Lord Jesus has especially appealed to His followers to "read" and "understand." And very likely, no matter what church you may attend, you probably never hear a sermon that explains those two books. The appeal of Jesus seems to be almost universally disregarded, even among His professed friends who say they're the church that keeps the commandments of God and has the faith of Jesus.
Those two special books are Daniel the prophet in the Old Testament (see Matt. 24:15), and the last book of the Bible, the Revelation (see 1:1-3).
The problem is that "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen" (Rev. 18:2), but Babylon is what the world loves; and what the world loves is often what we love, too.
The great user-friendly mega-churches soft-pedal Daniel and Revelation. The Enemy in the great controversy between Christ and Satan has two methods of attack on this truth: (1) minimize attention, neglect the two books, make people think the prophecies are impossible to be understood; (2) inspire fanatics to invent ever new and fantastic "interpretations" of the books that are senseless and self-contradictory.
Let the Lord deliver you from both of these heresies: (1) Daniel declares that his prophecies were unsealed as "the time of the end" began (cf. 11:35; 12:4); (2) Christ Himself pronounces a special "blessing" on the one who either reads or listens to someone else read, the prophecies of the book of Revelation (1:1-3).
Both Daniel and Revelation make clear that "the time of the end" began at the end of the 1260 years of the Dark Ages, the time of papal oppression, in 1798. It was then that Daniel's prophecies were unsealed. The understanding of these prophecies of Daniel and Revelation that was held by those who emerged from that darkness is the understanding that Jesus declared would confirm God's people unto the end. He said: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Matt. 24:34). The glorious light of that "other angel" of Revelation 18 was a gift that God gave to "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans" and the gift was within the lifetime of those pioneers; but the light was in a great degree kept away both from the church and from the world.
The truth of why Christ has not come yet is so simple that even a child can understand!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 5, 2007.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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, April 06, 2011
If Your Faith Is Tried to the Utmost
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Lord loves to "turn the captivity" of people who have suffered, and bring them out of the painful shadows of rejection into the bright sunlight of His favor.
Take Joseph for example. We think of the text that says "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth" (Eccl. 11:9, KJV). Boys should be full of fun. But Joseph at the age of 17 or maybe 18 is crying his eyes out one night in an agony worse almost than death--he has just been sold as a slave to some hard-hearted Midianites. A life of torture is before him, when he had thought that God's favor was on him.
And those who sold him? His fellow church-members, his ten brothers in the faith. No, they are more than that--they are the church leadership of his day, for they were all older than he, the heirs of the glorious promises God made to Abraham's descendants. Condemned to Egyptian slavery, Joseph appears to be God-forsaken, and he feels like it except for the little glimmer of faith he has.
His slavery goes from bad to worse and he ends up in a dark Egyptian prison. At least 12 or 13 years of this "chastisement" discipline go on; the Lord must have loved him enormously, for "whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. 12:5-9).
The Lord gave Joseph a little sunlight when he was made prime minister of the realm of Egypt and he realized that his painful suffering had prepared him to become the famine "savior" of the Middle East civilization of his day.
But still the years of soul captivity dragged on; his constant temptation was to think that the prophetic dreams of his boyhood were a deception; no one can suffer a deep, private pain more agonizing than the fear that the Lord truly has betrayed your trust. You can't talk to anyone about it. Not until his ten brothers come and kneel before him in fulfillment of his prophetic childhood dream is Joseph finally led out into the bright sunshine of the heavenly Father's vindication.
There are little Josephs all over the world today, people whose faith is tried to the utmost (it seems to them) when everything seems to shout at them that God has forgotten them. In some cases as in the life of the prophet Jeremiah, the pain goes on and on until death is the final release from it (then the Jews realized that he had been the prince of prophets).
If you must look through tears, remember that "God is love"--your "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15-17) who has adopted you into His family. Remembering brings joy.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 12, 2007.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
The Lord loves to "turn the captivity" of people who have suffered, and bring them out of the painful shadows of rejection into the bright sunlight of His favor.
Take Joseph for example. We think of the text that says "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth" (Eccl. 11:9, KJV). Boys should be full of fun. But Joseph at the age of 17 or maybe 18 is crying his eyes out one night in an agony worse almost than death--he has just been sold as a slave to some hard-hearted Midianites. A life of torture is before him, when he had thought that God's favor was on him.
And those who sold him? His fellow church-members, his ten brothers in the faith. No, they are more than that--they are the church leadership of his day, for they were all older than he, the heirs of the glorious promises God made to Abraham's descendants. Condemned to Egyptian slavery, Joseph appears to be God-forsaken, and he feels like it except for the little glimmer of faith he has.
His slavery goes from bad to worse and he ends up in a dark Egyptian prison. At least 12 or 13 years of this "chastisement" discipline go on; the Lord must have loved him enormously, for "whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. 12:5-9).
The Lord gave Joseph a little sunlight when he was made prime minister of the realm of Egypt and he realized that his painful suffering had prepared him to become the famine "savior" of the Middle East civilization of his day.
But still the years of soul captivity dragged on; his constant temptation was to think that the prophetic dreams of his boyhood were a deception; no one can suffer a deep, private pain more agonizing than the fear that the Lord truly has betrayed your trust. You can't talk to anyone about it. Not until his ten brothers come and kneel before him in fulfillment of his prophetic childhood dream is Joseph finally led out into the bright sunshine of the heavenly Father's vindication.
There are little Josephs all over the world today, people whose faith is tried to the utmost (it seems to them) when everything seems to shout at them that God has forgotten them. In some cases as in the life of the prophet Jeremiah, the pain goes on and on until death is the final release from it (then the Jews realized that he had been the prince of prophets).
If you must look through tears, remember that "God is love"--your "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15-17) who has adopted you into His family. Remembering brings joy.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 12, 2007.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Waiting for the Absent Bride
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Christ will return at the time appointed by the Father. But what is that "time"? Has the Father pre-determined a "time" that no one else knows, not the angels nor even Jesus (see Mark 13:32)? Or is "the appointed time" the ripening of the grain "for the harvest," as we read in Mark 4:26-29 and Revelation 14:14, 15?
That's an important question! There are several reasons why: (1) the Lord wants His people to "grow up" to the point that they can share with Him executive authority in bringing to a triumphant close this "great controversy between Christ and Satan" (see Rev. 3:20, 21); (2) the "marriage of the Lamb" is that great triumphant close; but it can take place only when "His wife hath made herself ready" (19:6-8). The secret reason why Satan wants to keep all of us engrossed in worldly matters or even conflicts and strife within the church is that he wants to prevent that "harvest" from ripening, and wants to allure the Bride-to-be into infidelity.
We've heard the story of a wealthy bride who spent a lavish sum on her wedding preparations and catering, only to wait for hours at the church for an absent bridegroom, until the best man showed up and announced that he had backed out. With wit and a little devilish glee, the bride announced that the party was still on, and invited the media to tell the story.
Now, what will happen if the Bride in our Bible story never "grows up," never "makes herself ready"? Will "the marriage of the Lamb" still take place? It's time for some serious thinking! Our old egocentric motivations are as badly out of date as an oxcart. It's time we begin to sense a concern for the Bridegroom--who's still embarrassed, waiting for the absent Bride to "make herself ready."
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 29, 1997.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
Christ will return at the time appointed by the Father. But what is that "time"? Has the Father pre-determined a "time" that no one else knows, not the angels nor even Jesus (see Mark 13:32)? Or is "the appointed time" the ripening of the grain "for the harvest," as we read in Mark 4:26-29 and Revelation 14:14, 15?
That's an important question! There are several reasons why: (1) the Lord wants His people to "grow up" to the point that they can share with Him executive authority in bringing to a triumphant close this "great controversy between Christ and Satan" (see Rev. 3:20, 21); (2) the "marriage of the Lamb" is that great triumphant close; but it can take place only when "His wife hath made herself ready" (19:6-8). The secret reason why Satan wants to keep all of us engrossed in worldly matters or even conflicts and strife within the church is that he wants to prevent that "harvest" from ripening, and wants to allure the Bride-to-be into infidelity.
We've heard the story of a wealthy bride who spent a lavish sum on her wedding preparations and catering, only to wait for hours at the church for an absent bridegroom, until the best man showed up and announced that he had backed out. With wit and a little devilish glee, the bride announced that the party was still on, and invited the media to tell the story.
Now, what will happen if the Bride in our Bible story never "grows up," never "makes herself ready"? Will "the marriage of the Lamb" still take place? It's time for some serious thinking! Our old egocentric motivations are as badly out of date as an oxcart. It's time we begin to sense a concern for the Bridegroom--who's still embarrassed, waiting for the absent Bride to "make herself ready."
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 29, 1997.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
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.
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