Daily Bread: December 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

New Year's Resolutions or Believing God's Promises

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

New Year's Day is traditionally the time for resolutions. "I will do better in this or that way during this new year!" And in practice, these New Year's resolutions usually fail before February comes around.

A wise writer has said, "Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. ... The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you" (Steps to Christ, p. 47). Such promises and resolutions made to God are the famous Old Covenant. The children of Israel made the Old Covenant at Mt. Sinai when they responded to God's promise by saying, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8).

Sounds good, doesn't it? And some dear people understand the Lord as approving of their making the Old Covenant when He later said, "I have heard the voice of the words of this people, ... They have well said all that they have spoken" (Deut. 5:28). This is often interpreted as the Lord's enthusiastic approval of their Old Covenant promise. But those who take this position don't read far enough. In the next verse the Lord sighs, "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear [reverence] Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them." Paul says that the Old Covenant "gendereth to bondage," just asSteps to Christ says (Gal. 4:24). That "bondage" brings darkness into your soul, even though you try ever so hard to be good.

No, your New Year's resolutions will not bring you victory and happiness. The Lord does not ask you to make promises to Him; He asks only that you believe His promises to you. His promise is the New Covenant; and for us to believe His promise is what makes Him happy. And in the end it makes us happy, too.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 2, 1998.

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/dailybread/
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.

Invitation to Subscribe to "Sabbath School Today"

Invitation to Subscribe to "Sabbath School Today"

Many of you will begin studying a new Sabbath School quarterly on "Origins," with the focus on Jesus, the Creator of heaven and earth. We would like to invite you to subscribe to "Sabbath School Today," weekly essays on the lessons, which may be received at no cost via e-mail. These essays will emphasize the Good News of God’s character in light of what a wise author has called "a most precious message." Some of the lesson essays will be prepared from the writings of Robert J. Wieland, author of "Dial Daily Bread."

If you are already receiving "Sabbath School Today" there is no need to resubscribe; your subscription will continue.

To begin a new subscription please reply to this e-mail with the word "Subscribe SST" in the body of the e-mail or in the heading.

The weekly essays may also be accessed on the Web at: http://www.1888mpm.org/

On this Web site you will also find videos of Pastor Paul Penno's Sabbath School classes, and other helpful material. (Pastor Penno is one of the authors of the "Sabbath School Today" essays.)

Sincerely,

The "Dial Daily Bread" Staff

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Dial Daily Bread: Have We Neglected to Receive the Gift Already Given?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Two thousand years have gone by since Paul proclaimed to the Jews that their Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Most stubbornly resisted and rejected the message, according to Luke in Acts. If Paul was anything like we are in nature, he would have expected that the Jews most likely to listen favorably would be the “devout women,” the ladies of the congregation who were always helping people with works of mercy. But imagine his surprise and disappointment when he found that among the members of the congregations most bitterly opposed to the Good News about their Messiah having already come were those same “devout and honorable women” (13:50).

There was no need any longer for those agonizing, all night prayer meetings where the people would cry out to the God of Abraham, “Please fulfill the promise made to our fathers, send us our Messiah!” Prayer for the coming of the Messiah had now become obsolete. Now it was time to thank God for already sending Him! In fact, such prayer now became a form of blasphemy because it expressed the sin of unbelief, the refusal to recognize that God had already performed what He had promised.

Today we may pray earnestly for God to send us the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our latter rain. Sometimes churches have held all night prayer meetings for that blessed gift. Could it be that, like the ancient Jews, we have neglected to receive the beginning of that same gift already given, and it went over our heads as the truth went over the heads of the ancient Jews?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 14, 2005.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Why Hasn't Revelation 18 Yet Been Fulfilled?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When some Gentiles from Greece invited Jesus to come (probably) to Athens, He responded with His memorable words about a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying and then bearing “much fruit” (John 12:20-24). No, He must set His face steadfastly to suffer in Jerusalem and die there for the world. He made a great promise: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die,” that is, on His cross (vss. 32, 33).

That big “IF” and that universal promise of “drawing all” meets its fulfillment in Revelation 18:1-4. “Another angel” will finally “come down from heaven, having great power” (that’s the “drawing” that will be some people “lifting up Christ on His cross” as He has never before been “lifted up”). To “draw all” does not mean necessarily to WIN all. “All” will sense His drawing but not all will respond favorably; many will resist and reject.

“Precious ones” are to be called forth from “Babylon.” A compelling power will move the honest in heart and God will bring a restraint upon unbelieving relatives and friends so that they will dare not nor find it possible to hinder those who feel the work of the Spirit of God upon them. The last call will be carried even to the most downtrodden of humanity. Signs and wonders will follow the believers. God will be in the work, and every saint, fearless of consequences, will follow the convictions of his own conscience. The gospel message will close with power and strength. Servants of God will be endowed with power from on high to declare the message “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” and souls scattered everywhere will answer the call.

What will give power to the message? Lifting up “Christ and Him crucified” in a clearer way than any movie, drama, or pictures can do. Why hasn’t Revelation 18 yet been fulfilled? We can’t lift up Christ crucified while we also lift up self un-crucified. But the Holy Spirit will solve that problem (see Zech. 12:10). There is Good News before us.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 15, 2004.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Secret Root of Disunity Between Faith and Science

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There are conscientious, honest-hearted scientists who are Christians, who see the church pinpointed in Revelation to be the one that "keep[s] the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12). They have a problem that ordinary church members don't have. Their profession, their life work, is geology or paleontology--or some full-time science--and so they are deeply impressed by logical deductions that (to them) make a six-day creation week seem impossible.

In a search for unity, others quote Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God" (in six days, of course). And so here we have the "faith/science" tension in churches' colleges and universities.

The ultimate solution of course is to realize a faith that can penetrate into dimensions of true science as yet unapproachable to "scientists." The problem of the churches is a failure to grasp what true biblical "faith" is. Millions of Protestants and Roman Catholics sincerely embrace the doctrine of natural human immortality, a doctrine that automatically enshrouds the meaning of Christ's sacrifice on His cross. No way can anyone appreciate the "breadth and depth and length and height" of the love (agape) that led Christ to die there, if he holds to natural immortality. They can't believe He died for us! Consequently, those who believe in natural immortality have a restricted view of what faith is, for faith is a heart appreciation of that agape-love.

Devalue the love (agape), and automatically you devalue the faith. But if the church borrows its views of justification by faith from those who hold to natural immortality, our concept of faith will automatically be paralyzed into lukewarmness. We may sing about the cross, but fail to grasp how "by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." There's a dimension of faith we haven't yet plumbed. The resultant confusion short-changes our "righteousness by faith."

Conclusion: the "righteousness by faith" embraced by those who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" must be much more clearly defined than that held by those who hold to natural immortality. Here can be found the secret root of our bemoaned disunity between "faith and science."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 12, 2004.

Monday, December 24, 2012

A Marvelous Passage in Philippines

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is a marvelous passage in Philippians 2:5-8 to ponder. The birth of a Baby in Bethlehem made no impact on the world at that time, but the message in this passage did make an impact. Paul was the first one who clearly saw the significance of that birth in the stable! He talks about the "mind" that was in Christ Jesus BEFORE He came to this earth as a Baby. And then Paul begs us to "let" that "mind" be in us--to think and to feel as Christ did when He was in the highest place possible--"the form of God."

Take a look at the seven steps that the "mind" of Christ motivated Him to take: (1) to lay aside His equality with God with all its glory; (2) emptied Himself, gave up His reputation (what we usually fight for!); (3) "took" slavery upon Himself; (4) stepped down low so as to be made in the reality of humanity; (5) and then He humbled Himself still further (is there anyone reading this was who was born in a stable with the chickens, cows, goats, and donkeys?); (6) then He "became obedient" to the second death (the only person in all history who has done so!); and finally, (7) endured the death of the cross.

And that was not mere physical pain and social shame. It was the death that involved enduring the "curse of God" (Gal. 3:10). In other words it was the very same hell that Jesus described when He spoke of being cast into "outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 25:30).

Yes, says Paul, ponder this! Let your mind dwell on those seven steps. The Holy Spirit is right now is pleading with you--LOOK. Think about this. He's trying His best to pour into your soul this glorious truth, like you pour a delicious drink into a glass--don't cover the glass with your hand so it can't be poured in! "LET this mind be in you ..." The Holy Spirit will give it to you if you PERMIT Him! That's Good News!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 20, 1997.

Friday, December 21, 2012

A Fascinating Christmas Story

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is a fascinating Christmas story tucked away, hidden, in the most unlikely place: a book called The Great Controversy. It presents details that are not in the book on the life of Christ,The Desire of Ages.

A special angel was appointed to visit the earth to find who was prepared to welcome the long-awaited Messiah. He visits the palaces of kings, the offices of philosophers, teachers, the rabbis, the synagogue elders, the leaders of the one true church on earth of that day with headquarters at Jerusalem, even the high priest's palace. Will the angel find anyone whose humble, contrite heart is longing for the coming of the long-awaited world's Redeemer? If he finds such a person, he will give him the glad news that He is about to be born! But sadly, he finds no one, and is about to return to heaven with the shameful news when he spots a group of lowly shepherds camping in the fields. They love to think and talk about the prophecies. They are not discussing politics, buying presents for each other, worldly possessions, or pleasures; they express their longing for the coming of the world's Redeemer.

The angel cannot contain his exuberance! He tells them the glad news and directs them to "the wretched hovel prepared for cattle" in Bethlehem where they will find the One who "unto you is born this day ... a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

As that angel encircles the earth today, visiting the homes, schools, churches of the people who claim to be God's one true people, does he find anyone talking about the coming of the long-awaited "latter rain" of the Holy Spirit? Does anyone care that it has been delayed more than a century?

Does anyone wonder why? Does anyone long for its return? Or is there a secret fear that if and when the blessing comes, a lot of worldly "fun" will come to an end? Yes, it's true: the path to Bethlehem will lead on to a cross, which anyone who follows Jesus will also bear.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 14, 1998.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

There Will Be a Last Generation!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jesus Christ was emphatically clear about the future: this sinful, painful world is not to continue on and on ad infinitum for ages to come. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

Note: He receives His people unto Himself, not vice versa. He has taken the initiative all the way through: a conjugal love has motivated Him. Love is always the desire to be one with the beloved. Jesus is no different!

The story of the second coming of Christ is a love story; there is a Bridegroom involved and a Bride. The drama is played out on planet earth in view of the vast universe of God, as though this planet were the stage. The second coming of Christ is the denouement of history, the one grand event toward which through the ages humanity has moved steadily.

The prophet Daniel describes the Last Generation as “the time of the end” (11:35; 12:4). Jesus told His disciples, speaking of specific events, “Then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). There will be a Last Generation! Six thousand plus years of history cannot be for nothing!

The apostles had a clear understanding: “This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep [not everybody is going to pass through death!]. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump[et] of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

The joy that Jesus will know will be unbounded, for He has personally, individually loved each one of His saints. The Last Generation will be the reunion. The long delayed wedding of two who have dearly loved each other is an occasion of great joy here on earth; think of a cosmic wedding! Four grand Hallelujah choruses with heaven’s symphony orchestras accompanying the massed choirs. “The angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed [happy] are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’ ... that have the testimony of Jesus … for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:7-10, NLT, KJV).

You are invited; now “make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 28, 2007.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

How Could a Good God Permit that Terrible Massacre?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

This message was written shortly after the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, U.S.A., on April 20, 1999. After today's events of a school massacre of 20 young children, and six adults working at the school, the words "Columbine High School" could be replaced with "Sandy Hook Elementary School." May our prayers be with the grieving parents, families, and friends of the victims. —The DDB Staff

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

People are asking, how could a good God permit that terrible massacre at Columbine High School?

Human beings were created in the image of God, the highest order of created beings on this planet, but they are capable of being permeated with the spirit of Satan himself if they so choose. He is "the prince of this world." That's the Bad News. But humans are also capable of being permeated with the Spirit of God and to be members of the family of God, Christ the Son of God being their Elder Brother. That's the Good News. So, side by side with evil getting worse in the world, "the vine of the earth, ... her grapes ... fully ripe [for] ... the great winepress of the wrath of God," there is also developing a "harvest of the earth" consisting of people who choose to be permeated with the Holy Spirit of God (Rev. 14:14-19).

"The love of God [agape] is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us" (Rom. 5:5). That love is "manifested" in the cross of Jesus. "Herein is love [agape] because God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9). We "see" that love at the cross; we "comprehend" its "width and length and depth and height" (Eph 3:18); we appreciate it; we think of it, talk about it, marvel at it. We choose to let it enter our hearts where it is "shed abroad" therein.

We choose to react to temptation to sin the same way that Christ did in His life on earth: "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good" (Titus 2:11-14, NIV).

Let the Bad News drive you to the Good News. Satan claims this world as his kingdom; that's why these horrors happen, but Christ will wrest the throne from him. Fix your mind on that "blessed hope," and "let" the Holy Spirit come in to your heart. Then whether you face life or death, you will be on God's side in the great controversy now raging between Christ and Satan. You can be at peace, whatever may come.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 25, 1999.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Rebuilding Faith in the Lord (Psalm 57)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We, modern men and women, desperately need to live under the grace of the Lord; prayer must be the breath of our soul. There are dangers around us that people in the psalmist David's days did not have to meet--like cancers of various kinds, dangers from automobile and plane crashes, stock market crashes, and our ever present fears from terrorism. But David knew something we seldom know (unless we go hiking alone in certain remote areas)--danger from wild lions.

He says, "My soul is among lions," and he used them as representing cruel people "whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword" (Psalm 57:4). People hated him simply because he was "the anointed of the Lord." However high the honor may have been that he was to take Saul's place as king of Israel, David had to meet opposition constantly. People "prepared a net for [his] steps; [his] soul [was] bowed down; they have dug a pit before me," he says (vs. 6). Treacherous people, yet professed Israelites!

David's dwelling "among lions" was a type of Jesus living among cruel enemies; all around Him were those who "hated [Him] without a cause" (Psalm 69:4) simply because He was "the Anointed of the Lord." And you and I who "follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4) must be prepared to "rejoice to the extent that [we] partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13). We can't be glad when we shall meet Him personally unless we have tasted His "sufferings"!

Anyone who follows Christ truly today will also meet the wrath of Christ's enemy: the reason why our modern "lions" have teeth like "sharp swords" is because "the love of many [has become] cold" (Matt. 24:12). It's been a mysterious ferment like that in the days of Elijah when Israel for a century had unconsciously drifted into Baal worship; in Elijah's day the love of Christ had well nigh disappeared among God's chosen people.

David in Psalm 57 rebuilds his faith in the Lord while he is hiding in "in the cave Adullam" and "in the wilderness of En Gedi" (1 Sam. 22:1; 24:1). "My heart is steadfast, O God. ... I will sing and give praise," he says (Psalm 57:7). He believes in the goodness of the Lord when everything seems impossible (cf. Psalm 27:13, 14). Now let's do the same.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 15, 2007.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Can a Government Exercise the Principle of Agape?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Can we humans learn to treat each other as God treats us? Jesus told a parable of a man to whom the king forgave a "ten thousand talents" debt and then went out and grabbed a poor wretch by the throat who owed him a mere hundred denarii, "Pay me!" Jesus taught the principle that we must forgive others as God has forgiven us (Matt. 18:21-35). But that of course is impossible unless we understand the principle of corporate guilt--that we of ourselves have no righteousness, it is all imputed to us from Christ, its only source.

Enlightened by the Holy Spirit to understand and appreciate what Christ has done for us, we immediately look upon others in a new light. We reason from cause to effect; we sense that if our circumstances from birth had been the same (even pre-natal!), we might have turned out no better than this person we are tempted to despise or to hate. It's not a matter of superficial, transient emotion; it's a principle--the sin of someone else would be our sin but for the grace of Christ! This is not mollycoddling sinners, excusing responsibility, abolishing morality; no, it is redemptive human relations. It is "letting the mind of Christ be in" us.

Despised by the world in personal or international relationships, this heavenly principle ofagape transcends all religions and cultures. It costs far less than even one stealth bomber. And it works miracles in saving individuals and nations from ruinous violence.

Is it the same as Gandhi's Hindu principle? No, it is miles apart, because it is based on the Bible principles of objective gospel truth, on what Christ accomplished for the world. The Bible speaks of Him as "the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42), "the Saviour of all men" (1 Tim. 4:10). The rock-solid objective foundation of the gospel saves all who believe it from fanaticism or self-destructive naïveté.

Can a national or state government exercise the principle of agape? No, for it is a secular institution; but those who administer the government can personally exercise that principle. Without any union of church and state, they can, like Daniel of old, individually and personally seek wisdom from God at every step (see Dan. 9:1-5, for example). "Righteousness exalteth a nation" (Prov. 14:34). All nations need it!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 4, 1999.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Corporately One "In Christ"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Someone objects, "Why should I repent on behalf of Peter when he denied Christ before the rooster crowed once? That's his sin, not mine; I wasn't even born then!"

Here's the secret of the lukewarmness that permeates the church worldwide--the sin of not knowing. But even if we don't know, it's still ugly sin. "Thou ... knowest not" is our problem (Rev. 2:17). Evil of all kinds is buried deep where we don't know. When you get your eyes open, you will see that of yourself you are no more righteous than Peter that early Friday morning. When the Bible says of us, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," it says, "all ALIKE have sinned" (Rom. 3:23, NEB).

The one sin that is our human common denominator is the sin of hating and crucifying Christ (vs. 19). "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" asks the hymn. Yes! We were there--"in Adam." How can this be? The answer: "The carnal mind is enmity against God" (8:7). "Enmity" is hatred, and John adds this insight--hatred has murder buried within it (1 John 3:15). The human race is fallen "Adam." We share their corporate guilt at the cross.

When the inspired prophet Elisha cried tears and told the gentleman Hazael the horrible things he would someday do when he became king, he sincerely objected. He had never dreamed he could be such a monster: "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Elisha sadly said yes. Hazael went home, promptly committed unprovoked assassination, and thus began his "career" as a royal criminal (2 Kings 8:7-15). He didn't know what was in his heart.

When our Lord says, "Be zealous therefore, and repent" (Rev. 3:19), He means business; go back all the way to Calvary, yes to Eden. "The truth shall make you free," for it says that you are also corporately one "in Christ" (John 8:32; Gal. 2:20). Believe it!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 30, 2003.

Copyright © 2012 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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/dailybread/
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, December 11, 2012

God's Promise to You in Revelation

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Can the Bible be understood, just as it reads? Can a simple, uneducated person understand the Book of Revelation as he reads it? Or has our heavenly Father, Source of all wisdom, "sealed" that last Book so that we common folk need some university-trained scholars to explain it to us?

These are serious questions, because common sense tells us that scholarship of itself is not evil; God puts no premium on ignorance. But common sense also tells us that there is a vast amount of confusion about Revelation in the so-called scholarly world. You can't read very far into the Bible without meeting up with warnings against it:

"Take heed that no man deceive you," says Jesus, "for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matt. 24:4, 5). Paul tells of a vast satanic conspiracy to corrupt the teachings of Jesus within the church: "After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things" (Acts 20:29, 30). He refers to Daniel's inspired prophecy of "a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:3, 4). That's Daniel's simple "little horn" prophecy of chapters 7 and 8.

Now, what about the common man? Has God remembered him, to save him from being confused and deceived? Suppose, for example, there is a family huddled in the war-torn ruins of their bombed home, reading the Bible by candlelight. They are impressed as they read the Gospels that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the Savior of the world, that the Bible is the authentic Book of God; can they understand Revelation? Can they recognize who "Babylon the great" is (Rev. 14:8; 18:1-4)? Can they have a confident first-hand grasp of saving truth?

That last Book of the Bible says "Yes!" "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy; ... the time is at hand" (1:1-3). Believe that promise as YOU read Revelation!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 29, 2003.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Was Paul the Apostle Mentally Healthy

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Did the apostle Paul have something wrong with his emotional makeup that he was so obsessed with his weakness and unworthiness? He said he was "the chief of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15), "less than the least of all sinners" (Eph. 3:8), "one born out of due time" (1 Cor. 15:8), "not worthy to be called an apostle" (vs. 9), etc.

Then he added that the weaker and more unworthy he saw himself in his own eyes the more the Lord was able to use him in helping others (vs. 10). Even though he was less than the least of all saints, yet the Lord had granted to him a most unusual measure of the grace of God, that his preaching to the Gentiles should be so blessed by the Holy Spirit with power (2:12, 13).

What should we think about ourselves? Psychologists tell us to think big: if we think lowly thoughts about ourselves then automatically people will think lowly thoughts about us: the popular idea is that we should assert ourselves. That's the world's way of thinking.

But when the Son of God became a man, the Savior of the world, He gave up His equality with God, made Himself of "no reputation," that is, humbled Himself, took on Himself the role of a servant (slave, Greek), was made in the likeness of lowly man, not Superman, and even further humbled Himself, and did something no other human in all the thousands of years of human history has ever done--He became "obedient unto death" (Phil. 2:5-8). But He didn't stop there. He found that there is a notch down lower than "death." Terrible as that is: "even the death of the cross," that involved "the curse of God" and of the universe (Deut. 21:22, 23).

That grabbed Paul's attention, obsessed him, charmed him forever; he could do nothing else than "glory in the cross" (Gal. 6:14). He felt he had no choice but to "live henceforth not unto" self, but unto the One who went to hell and died his second death for him (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

Paul was mentally healthy!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 1, 2007.

Friday, December 07, 2012

Two Prayers the Lord Loves to Answer

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There are two prayers that the Lord always loves to answer: (1) "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11), and (2) "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation" (vs. 12). Both prayers are prayers of penitence.

The Lord does not want to humiliate us or to rub our nose in the dirt; He wants us to lift up our heads, not in proud arrogance but in the full consciousness that He is happy with our spiritual condition.

Repentance is not painful sorrow; the painful sorrow should give way to sober rejoicing that we have been reconciled to God and we are "at-one" with Him.

The word "atonement" is not a mysterious Latin word that theologians in ivory towers use in their theological stratospheric discussions. It's a simple old Anglo-Saxon word that means only to be at-one-with someone from whom you have been estranged. The Lord is not estranged from you; He needs no "atonement" to reconcile His heart to yours.

Even if you have sinned grievously (and this message is written with the prayer that it may reach someone who has sinned grievously and feels estranged from the Lord), the dear Lord Jesus says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden" (Matt. 11:28). That includes bad people. He loves sinners! Even bad ones, and worse ones.

"Prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3:10). The context has to do with tithe-paying--but the basic idea is that the Lord wants us to try Him, put Him on trial. The Lord won't forsake the one who confesses that he believes that all he has is the gift of the Lord--that's the basis of tithe paying. The point is that the Lord welcomes doubters, people who have to struggle to believe how good He is to sinners.

The Lord Jesus is the divine Son of God but He is also the Son of man; He is a Person; He is near to us; He is real; He doesn't manifest Himself to each of us visibly and personally because if He did, there would be no faith involved, and salvation is only by faith. Therefore, it's because of His love for us that He abides within the vail, so we can learn what it means to believe.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 18, 2008.

Thursday, December 06, 2012

Welcome the New Covenant

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible says that this world will become very wicked in the last days just before the second coming of Jesus. He Himself asks, "When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"(Luke 18:8), implying that it will be very rare.

Paul says, "In the last days perilous times will come." Then he lists many evil things that people will do, even those who profess to worship God. "For men will be ... unthankful, unholy. ... From such people turn away!" (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

But if you are willing to turn from the Old Covenant and to welcome the New, you will see that God has not yet withdrawn completely the Holy Spirit from the world. He is still "the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world" (John 1:9).

The Bible is clear as sunlight on two realities of human life: "(1) All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [and (2) all are] being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23, 24).

You may be ever so discouraged by the evil that is in the world; we hear tragic stories of the downright meanness and hatred of people who give their hearts and minds to Satan; but the Bible is equally clear that "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Rom. 5:20). That means that whatever evil Satan has invented, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Source of even greater love and compassion manifested in grace.

That's because He drained the exceedingly bitter cup as He hung on His cross in the darkness and cried out to His Father, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). The Lord Jesus actually went to hell in order to save the human race. There was no evil that He did not taste, for our sake: "we see Jesus, ... that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2:9). The only "death" that He could "taste for everyone" is "the second death" (see Rev. 2:11; 20:14). These eternal facts of truth underlie life on this planet which Jesus came to save; He saved us although it cost Him the last drop in total consecration of His all.

The entire world is gathered at His cross: many will curse Him as the leaders of the true church of that day, the Jews, did; but there will be those who like the pagan Roman centurion will permit their worldly hearts to melt in repentance (don't forget, it was he who gave the order to his soldiers to "crucify Him" and it was he who confessed, "truly this Man was the Son of God," Mark 15:39).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 11, 2007.