Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Some 70 times the Bible speaks of God as the "Almighty" One. Now in His resurrected state, Christ as the Son of God sits at the right hand of the Father; is He also "Almighty" now? If so, He does not need any help from His people.
Among the people who think of themselves as the Lord's, questions arise: can they "hasten" the second coming of the Lord Jesus in any meaningful way? Or is the second coming a date fixed by the Father, beyond any influence of His people—either their faith or their unbelief?
Jesus says that even He does not know that date (Mark 13:32). But one wise writer declared that His disappointment in its delay is "beyond description," and that is understandable if Christ's level of omniscience does not include knowing the actual time of His second coming which He says "no one knows ... but the Father."
What we do know is that Christ is also a "Bridegroom" eager for His marriage to take place and it has obviously been delayed (cf. Rev. 19:7, 8). Can His people do anything about that? (The church is the "Bride-to-be," and the New Jerusalem city is the "Bride" in the sense that the "city" is its inhabitants and not merely its material walls and streets; Rev. 21:10).
Jesus invites "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans" (the last of the seven of Revelation 2 and 3) to take a very responsible position "in [His] throne"(3:21). That is not an empty honor just to have one's picture taken; He invites that seventh church to share with Him responsibility for bringing to an end the pain of the great controversy between Christ and Satan.
Suppose Jesus needs you to help Him in ending "the [really] great controversy." The truth is, He does; "God is love" [agape], and for that reason Christ cannot come the second time until He has a people ready, otherwise they would be destroyed by the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2:8). Your getting ready in this great Day of Atonement will help Him; we honor Him, or we disgrace Him. Each one of us is important in His plan. There is a healthy self-respect we can know, by faith. To believe in Him is serious business today.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 10, 2006.
Copyright © 2012 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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