Daily Bread: 2013

Friday, December 27, 2013

What Role Will God Play in the Final Judgment?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What role will God play in the final judgment? And in human day-by-day life? Someone is injured or dies in an accident: did God ordain that tragedy? Someone gets cancer: did God give it to him or her? Does God act in the final judgment like a judge in a traffic court--His decision is the final word? The usual answer implies that yes, God is the Big Boss. He has the power; if you're smart, you'll knuckle under; He is the Judge in the grand Traffic Court. Don't ask questions.

But there are some things that Jesus said that appear to give a different idea. Rather emphatically He said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, ... because He is the Son of man" (John 5:22, 27). You catch your breath when you realize what He said: we are all going to be judged by a human being! (Christ's divinity in no way negates the fact that He is also human, and will remain so for all eternity.) In other words, the judge and the jury are our peers! This is at last "court" where not only does justice bear sway, but mercy also.

Then Jesus threw another bomb into our theology when He said, "If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world" (12:47). That seems to indicate that the familiar evangelistic appeal is flawed: "Today Jesus is your Savior, your Defense Lawyer; if you don't get baptized, tomorrow He will be your Prosecuting Attorney and your Judge!"

Jesus makes plain how that is backwards: if you believe in Him, only then will He be your judge, and He will vindicate you! But if you believe not, He will refuse to judge [condemn] you: your judgment [condemnation] will be entirely a do-it-yourself process (vs. 48). In the end, even Satan will bow and confess the justice of his own self-condemnation (Rev. 5:11-14). Truth will help you with your day-to-day problems. Not force but love pleads, "Be ye reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:14, 20).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 26, 2000.

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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Jesus' Solution to Our Selfishness

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jesus doesn't condemn us for being born with a natural love for money; it's as endemic to human nature as the desire to live. He knew the temptation just as much as we do, even more. The devil offered Him more than any lottery could, bidding higher for His talents than for ours, because He had so much more to be bargained for.

We read that Satan took Him "up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him. 'All these things will I will give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me'" (Matt. 4:8, 9). In other words, join the human crowd in greed. In wresting with that real temptation, the Son of God learned by firsthand experience how subtle and deep is this human yearning for money, power, and things. He was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).

Jesus' solution to our selfishness is not to create a handful of Mother Teresas to shame everybody else, but to share with all of us the good news that we can enjoy a dynamic, practical victory over the love of money. How? The answer is simple, yet permanently effective. And it brings to an end our nightmares about future judgment.

The secret is a fundamental truth that underlies all human existence. No human being anywhere can claim rightful title to even one dollar as being his or hers. This principle is taught in a well-known verse: "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish" (John 3:16). Obviously, this means that "the world" was doomed to "perish" unless God gave that Gift. It's a blunt, straightforward recognition that "the world" (everyone, not just believers) owes everything to that divine Gift. No one can believe the gospel without recognizing immediately that he now relates to money and things in a new way.

Another text states the same principle even more clearly: "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead: and He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). The original language implies that a new compulsion now grips the heart, stronger than the old compulsion of selfishness.

This powerful truth lays an ax at the root of our love affair with money. If we believe that Christ "died for all," that is the same as saying that we died along with him and that if He had not died for all, we would all be dead and would therefore have nothing.

--Robert J. Wieland

From Signs of the Times, "What to Do With Money," December 1986.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Can We Dwell Too Much on the Sacrifice of Christ?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

At this holiday season, many people around the world are listening to Handel's "Messiah." One of the grandest anthems is "Behold the Lamb of God." Then there is a beautiful section that dwells on the sufferings and the sacrifice of Christ. And the oratorio ends with "Worthy is the Lamb That Was Slain" and the magnificent "Amen" chorus.

Can we dwell too much on the sacrifice of Christ? His high priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary is also important and must not be neglected. But Paul helps us understand the balance: "Every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this Man [Christ] have somewhat also to offer" (Heb. 8:3).

The content of that "somewhat" is vitally important, for if one does not appreciate what kind of sacrifice Christ made as "the Lamb of God" he cannot appreciate His high Priestly ministry; and further, Christ cannot serve as High Priest if He does not have an adequate "sacrifice" "to offer." Hence, the cross is essential to His successful High Priestly ministry. It cannot be dwelt upon too much!

Paul said he could "glory" in nothing else (Gal. 6:14). When he came to Corinth, he told the people, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:1-3). There is a "breadth, and length, and depth, and height" of the love revealed at the cross that it is our privilege to "comprehend" (Eph. 3:14-21). What's encouraging is to realize that the vision, the comprehension, of the cross cleanses our human hearts of pride, selfishness, lust, and love of the world. It makes right deep in our hearts what was wrong!

A wise man said, "When I survey the wondrous cross / On which the Prince of glory died, / My richest gain I count but loss, / And pour contempt on all my pride." As the Israelites who were bitten by the poisonous snakes looked to the serpent on the tree, so we look to the cross and we are healed. But this is not magic or superstition; it is life in a look (John 3:14-16).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 11, 1998.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

"Better Promises" Than Ours

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Our human covenants are always two-sided affairs, each party making commitments, giving mutual promises, and then sealing the deal by a handshake or signature. We naturally think of God's covenant in the same way. He makes His promise; I must make mine. He'll do His part; I'll be sure to do mine.

But the fatal flaw in this reasoning is that it puts God on a kind of equality with ourselves, as though He were the next-door neighbor. We, full of self-sufficiency, feel like shaking hands--that's a good bargain, and we'll do just what He says, toe the line, keep His commandments, etc. If such a program could somehow land us in heaven, we'd be bursting with pride. No crown of gold would be big enough to fit our heads. "See? I made it! Well, ... the Lord and I. He did His part; I did mine."

But God's covenants are always one-sided promises, for He knows we cannot keep our own. Whoever deals with Him must deal with Him on His own terms--that He is everything and we are nothing but recipients of His grace. After Noah's Flood we read that the Lord made a covenant with "the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals" (Gen. 9:9, 10, NIV), yet what promise could they make in return? All they could do was receive the promised blessings at His hand, as they still do to this day. "Your heavenly Father feedeth them" (Matt. 6:26).

The two covenants--old and new--are not accidents of time, so that all who lived before Christ were automatically under the old and all who live in our era are automatically under the new. Sad to say, sincere people today can live under the old covenant and not know it; and there were believing ones in Old Testament times who lived under the glorious liberty of the new. The difference was their faith. (The old covenant is called "old" because it was ratified first with the blood of animals; the new was ratified later by the blood of Christ, the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," Rev. 13:8.)

The "Good News" of the new covenant is that it is founded on "better promises" than ours (see Heb. 8:6, 7), "better" because they are the promises of God: (1) "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts"; (2) "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness"; (3) "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more"; (4) "All shall know me, from the least to the greatest" (vss. 10-12).

That is heaven, and it starts even now.

--Robert J. Wieland

From: Signs of the Times, "When God Fooled Everybody by Keeping His Promise," April 1984.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Miracle in the Seed

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

God must have a terrific sense of humor. All the while that people created in His image arrogantly deny His existence and the record of His Creation, they are eating bread that constantly proclaims anew the miracle of creation. Each tiny seed with its embryo and endosperm sustains the very life of God’s enemies.

Try to imagine yourself a single seed cast into the darkness of the earth. The soil around you is dry and powdery so that your bed becomes your tomb unless some precious rain from heaven falls. Only then can you awaken to fruit-bearing life.

In pre-scientific ages, people marveled at the mysterious miracle in the seed. The Creation story in Genesis tells four times of the divine miracle in every seed, renewed and extended in uncounted trillions of germinations since day three of Creation. Even today, the totality of scientific knowledge is powerless to invent one such life-giving seed.

A favorite theme of Scripture from early times compares seeds to the spoken words of God. “As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and ... watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give ... bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth” (Isa. 55:10, 11). Jesus built on this concept in His parable of the sower: “The seed is the word of God,” He said (Luke 8:11).

Without moisture in the soil, changes in the permeability of the seed coat and inner layers cannot take place. And when the embryo germinates, the little plant must have rain for its searching roots to absorb nutrients for growth.

The Bible compares the Holy Spirit’s action in the Christian life to showers of rain falling on thirsty plants. In other words, even Jesus’ brilliant sermons cannot germinate into new life in human hearts without the gift of the Holy Spirit. Mountains of seed sown in a dust bowl would be wasted.

What can really change the hard hearts of men, women, and young people? Only that gift which is just as miraculous as the life imprisoned inside the seed--heaven’s Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit, all the preaching in the world is like sowing seeds on a parking lot.

--Robert J. Wieland

From: Signs of the Times, “A Season of Rain: The Coming Spiritual Awakening,” November 1989.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Is It Difficult to Believe Good News?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Is it difficult to believe good news? Frankly, it seems like it is. According to the Bible, the root problem of mankind is that we have gotten into the rut of believing bad news so that unbelief is natural for us. Since God has nothing for us but good news, it is obvious that our proclivity for bad news (says Paul) is the result of our being both "alienated from God and ... enemies," so that our "sinful mind is hostile to God" (Col. 1:21; Rom. 8:7, NIV). And none of us are naturallyexempt, for the apostle adds that we are all "like the rest" "in our natural condition" (Eph. 2:3, NEB). Until we have met the Lord Jesus and become acquainted with Him, this alienation results in "having the understanding darkened ... through ... ignorance ... because of ... blindness (Eph. 4:18).

The main problem is that this alienation for mankind in general is the result of a wrong conception of the character of God. The history of paganism demonstrates how multitudes have entertained the feeling that God is an enemy to be feared and placate in order to propitiate His mercy. Even some so-called Christian groups have had much the same idea. A mediator or mediatrix is needed to shield us from the "wrath" of an offended Deity. For sure, having such a "God" standing over you breathing hot wrath down your neck is the worst possible kind of bad news.

Today we say that we are safely past this global state of adolescence, and it is even popular in some circles to discard all ideas of a personal God. But still the innate fear of bad news keeps surfacing, and all our modern comforts and inventions seem powerless to assuage our dark forebodings.

The "Peanuts" cartoon strip is one of many efforts to recognize this substratum of fear. We may laugh at ourselves for being so much like Charlie Brown, but the fact is that bad news has us all pretty well hyped. Modern science has not assuaged our fear of cancer, of death, of accidents, or of personal failure.

The devil is the ultimate source of all bad news. When it comes to salvation, bad news is actually a lie the devil delights to repeat. We are told that "he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). He wants us to believe bad news, like a stalking cobra paralyzes its fear-crazed, hypnotized victim into standing still until the serpent strikes. Bad news paralyzes the human soul, so that one can't do anything constructive toward solving the problem that appears so unsolvable.

Truth is invariably good news, for the reason that there is no such thing as truth except "in love" (Eph. 4:15), and love is always good news. Truth comes from God. He never gives a person a message of hopeless despair.

--Robert J. Wieland

From Signs of the Times, "The Good News Is Better Than You Think," May 1986.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

God's New Covenant Promises

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When Jesus cried out on His cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46), had the Father truly forsaken Him? It seemed so to Him. All His feelings told Him so. Everything was against Him. His "church," His nation, had turned totally against Him. The supposed guardian of civil justice, the government of Rome through Pilate had abandoned Him to mob injustice. Little things that He had said, like "destroying this Temple and I will build it in three days," were being misquoted, distorted, and used against Him, condemning Him as both a fool and a blasphemer.

His entire lifework and career were a monumental failure, it seemed to Him now. He was suffering the quintessence of an experience many Christians have come to know personally as "the Great Disappointment." The very bottom falls out of your "Christian experience" and you start descending into a bottomless pit of darkness and despair. The rent rocks in the earthquake that accompanied the darkness of Calvary were a fit emblem of the state of the mind of the incarnate Son of God--Psalm 22 tells us that He was on the verge of a final collapse of soul, a nervous breakdown (vss. 11-19).

Worse yet, Jesus felt to the core of His being the pain of being forsaken by His own intimate circle. He had called them "My friends" (Luke 12:4). The lovable Peter had cursed and denied Him, and then they all had left Him--alone. Even His faithful mother was suffering her "Great Disappointment" when that giant sword had "pierced [her] soul" as Simeon had predicted (Luke 2:34, 35). She was in the greatest shock any woman has ever had to endure. Her whole life was in ruin--the very foundations of her faith in God were shattered; it seemed that she had been deluded from the beginning. (But there was something even yet worse, but that must come tomorrow.)

Then on His cross Jesus remembered that He was "a child of Abraham," and He chose to cling to His faith in the New Covenant promises God had made to Him as Abraham's "Seed" (Gal. 3:16). Now, thank God, you can, too.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 6, 2004.

Friday, December 13, 2013

The Last Thing God Wants From His People

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Book of Daniel chapter 9 predicted the very time that Israel's Messiah was to appear. Galatians spoke of it as "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law" (4:4). There was no excuse for the leaders in Jerusalem not to have known and been ready to welcome Him.

But what happened? When that handful of "wise men from the East" came "to Jerusalem" asking, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him" (Matt. 2:1, 2), neither the chief priests nor any of the leaders knew what they were talking about.

There were a few individuals who were alert, such as Elisabeth, the shepherds near Bethlehem, old Simeon, and "one Anna, a prophetess" (Luke 2:25-38). They knew what was going on and they welcomed the Baby of Bethlehem. They understood the prophecy of Daniel 9, "the 69 weeks" or 483 years "unto Messiah the Prince" (vss. 24-26). Even old Simeon understood what even Joseph and Mary could not grasp at that time, that "in the midst" of the 70th "week" "shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself" (vs. 36). Thus he understood that the cross was coming. In tender love for Mary's soul and in an effort to prepare her, he warned her at the dedication of the Baby Jesus, "A sword [Goliath's "romphaia" sword] shall pierce through thy own soul also" (Luke 2:35).

What's the point? There were some people who understood Daniel and were ready to welcome the birth of their Messiah at His first coming. But they were pitifully small in number, and it all went right over the heads of the Israel leadership!

God has taken great pains not to tell us the very time of Christ's second coming. The last thing He wants from His people is a superficial "preparation" based on fear. In the days immediately before Christ's second coming, when the Book of Revelation will be completely fulfilled, the things of this world will pale into insignificance. When you study the Book of Daniel that's the way they will appear.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 9, 2002.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Day of Atonement in New Covenant Terms

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What does it mean, in practical day-by-day living, to follow Christ during this present, cosmic "Day of Atonement"? It is "the hour of [God's] judgment," indeed (Rev. 14:7), and to the ancient Israelites it was "Yom Kippur," the annual solemn day of fearful preparation lest one be "cut off from among his people, ... destroyed" (Lev. 23:29, 30).

Many youth have today experienced an "antitypical" fear in this grand Day of Atonement. To them, the pre-Advent judgment has triggered nightmares. But all this fear, anciently and today, has been "old covenant."

The word "atonement" means at-one-with, reconciliation. Simple. So today's Day of Atonement is joyous reconciliation with God. Heart-enmity (Rom. 8:7) is cleansed away! Nightmares are gone when one thinks of the Day of Atonement in new covenant terms.

For an ancient Israelite who believed the new covenant gospel (there were some!), the day of atonement was bliss on earth. It meant the same close fellowship with God that Moses experienced. The "one-ness" meant sharing God's love for Israel and for the world; for Moses it even meant his willingness to die forever if only Israel could be saved (Ex. 32:30-32).

For those who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" today, this cosmic Day of Atonement means just what Jesus says: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame" (Rev. 3:21). That one-ness of heart with Jesus is sharing His love for this lost world, cooperating with Him in saving people, sharing with Him executive authority in bringing to an end His great controversy with Satan.

Joy? There is none greater.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 8, 2001.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

"The Desires of Thine Heart"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you prayed and prayed for some particular blessing, and it seems the answer has never come?

In particular, you have read (and re-read) Psalm 37:4, 5, which says: "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass." And yet, year after year, maybe even decade after decade, you have not yet realized "the desires of thine heart." If that has been your experience, you are not alone (if that can be any comfort to you!). You have a serious problem--to decide what is your evaluation of the character of your heavenly Father.

The way we humans naturally think, the text is written backwards. It should say, "Let the Lord give thee the desires of thine heart, and then I shall delight myself in Him!" But the "delighting" comes first, otherwise there could be no such thing as faith. No matter how long you have waited for "the desires of thine heart," you can choose to believe that your heavenly Father is true to His word, even if you don't see any prayers answered.

This is an extremely critical point in our life: it's where we choose to believe or disbelieve. God "calleth those things which be not as though they were" (Rom 4:17), and we are privileged to share His faith--to believe in something we cannot yet see. Your heavenly Father is not being mean to you; He needs you to honor Him before the world and before the universe as one who believes Him in the dark. That was the experience your Savior had on His cross: He felt that God had forsaken Him, yet He chose to believe in the face of total despair. That was the definition of His faith.

We have the Good News that He will have a people on earth who also have chosen to believe Him even in total darkness, when everything seems to be against them. They have asked their Father for a piece of bread; Satan wants them to think He put a stone on their plate. You have the choice to be loyal to your heavenly Father. And then leave that "desire of thine heart" in His care, and thank Him in advance that at the right time you will enjoy it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 21, 2001.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

On the Shoulders of a Baby

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The prophet Isaiah belongs in a class by himself. Not only has he written the longest book in the Bible (66 chapters), he is our biblical Poet Laureate. And not only that, the Holy Spirit employed him to portray Christ in prophecy in the most intimate way. We meet Jesus personally in Isaiah. The words the poet chose in chapter 53, for example, are heart-stopping. Of inspired writers of all time, Isaiah stands at the pinnacle.

But it is in his chapters 7 and 9 Isaiah confronts us with a most profound revelation of Jesus as a Baby. Not only is Jesus born of a virgin (Matt. 1:23), but the Baby's name is "God with us." The only Baby in all eternity to be both divine and human is given to "US" for all eternity. "Unto US a child is born." All you inhabitants of other worlds who have never fallen, stand back; all you holy, sinless angels, stand back; Jesus is OURS. We fallen, sinful mortals, WE have Him. The Son of God! And we have Him forever.

Just knowing and believing this kills sin at its roots. (If you are still a slave to sin, you don't yet believe it.)

But 9:6 details an almost unbelievable truth about this Baby. Even in His infancy, as soon as He was born, the "government" of the universe was laid upon His shoulders--baby shoulders. From His first breath as Mary's Child He was set to fight in a war--the great controversy with the Enemy, Satan. If as a child, He were to "choose" the "evil" and "refuse" the "good" (as every other baby in all time has done; see 7:15; Rom 3:23), He would have marred His record and "the government" of the universe would have fallen. The plan of salvation was laid upon a Child. He couldn't be allowed to wait until what we say is "the age of accountability." He was "accountable" from His first breath. And He wasn't programmed to do flawlessly: He did so from human choice--"He knew to refuse the evil, and choose the good" (7:15).

Stand back, all human beings: your salvation as well as that of the throne of God was on the shoulders of a Baby.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 1, 2004.

Monday, December 09, 2013

God Has an Agenda for His People

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It is interesting to think about Mary, the mother of Jesus our Savior. She was as human as anyone else on this planet. The Bible makes clear: there was nothing special about her that sets her off as different from the rest of humanity, except one thing: she believed the word of the Lord. We find that when, newly pregnant, she came to the hill country where Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist lived, Elizabeth greeted her by saying, "Blessed is she that believed" (Luke 1:45).

You'd think that the mother of the Messiah would be the happiest woman ever. But she knew our sorrows, our loneliness, our pain. And she said, "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior" (vs. 47). She knew her need for a Savior from, not in, sin.

But no other woman in all of history ever had a giant sword thrust through her "own soul," as the one that the old prophet Simeon predicted would happen to her (2:34, 35). Elizabeth had said she should be preeminently "blessed among women" (that is, especially happy; 1:42), but Simeon said she must also be preeminently wounded among women by the "pierce" of that "sword." (This teaches us that God has a special regard for the sorrows women have to endure.) Seeing her son crucified was a cruel experience. You can't imagine a worse one.

But there was pain greater than her maternal pain. She knew that her Son was born to be the Savior of the world; now, what could His death (on a cross, of all places!) mean? Was this the end of the plan of salvation for the world itself? She may not have understood "the great controversy between Christ and Satan" as clearly as we do today, but it would have been natural for her to have agonized throughout that painful "three days and three nights" while her Son lay in Joseph's tomb. It seemed that the very foundations of heaven itself had crumbled, and that Satan must emerge finally victorious.

God has an agenda for His people. We are to "grow up" out of our childish concern for self so we can share the concern that Jesus has for His triumph in the "great controversy." Will this not be the loving concern of a Bride for her "Husband," the Lamb? "Abiding in Him" involves a deeper intimacy.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 7, 2004.

Friday, December 06, 2013

The News Behind All news

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is something important going on behind the scenes that the devil is determined you should not know about: the final work of Christ as Great High Priest on this cosmic Day of Atonement.

That's the News behind all news. God has devoted the entire books of Hebrews and Revelation to its importance.

For those who appreciate Christ's role as High Priest in the final cleansing of the sanctuary, He is ministering a special preparation of character for them to be ready for the final events on earth. Says Hebrews: "He is able to save them to the uttermost [perfectly] that come unto God by Him"; "let us go on unto perfection [full growth]"; "unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation"; "we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, ... let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace"; "God [has] provided some better thing for us, that they [past heroes] without us should not be made perfect"; "the God of peace, ... make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight" (Heb. 7:25, 6:1, 9:28, 4:14, 16, 11:40, 13:20, 21). Note, all this is what He does, not what we do!

Says Revelation: "the harvest of the earth is ripe"; "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him 144,000, ... without fault before the throne of God"; "another angel came out of the temple, crying, ... Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe" (14:15, 1, 5, 15).

This work of the great High Priest is going on steadily behind the scenes. You won't see it in the news media--newspapers, TIME, NBC, ABC, or CNN. It's a work as unpretentious as the birth in Bethlehem. Today, the Holy Spirit will take you by the hand and say, "Come, let's get ready; don't hinder the great High Priest in His closing work of atonement; let Him 'constrain' you by His agape to live not for self but unto His glory" (see 2 Cor. 5:14, 15). "Receive not the grace of God in vain" (6:1).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 1, 1999.

Thursday, December 05, 2013

The Core Message of the Bible

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There are times when we all are tempted to discouragement. Just being human exposes us to the onslaughts of Satan. He has a variety of ways of getting through to us, through our relatives, our spouse, our neighbors, our friends, our fellow classmates, sometimes even our church fellowship. Satan's basic temptations are always based on a common denominator: unbelief of God's promises. And the remedy for them, the means to overcome is always: To believe God's promises.

That's the core message of the Bible, and you can't imagine how zealous Satan is to shake our confidence in what it says. And how stupid we humans are to go on believing what Satan says instead of what God says.

Here are the promises, seven of them, that God made to Abraham (when he was still called Abram). By virtue of Christ's sacrifice, you have become a child of Abraham, so the same promises apply to you (they're in Genesis 12:1-3): (1) "I will make you a great nation"--that is, an important, respected person. (2) "I will bless you" (the word means make you happy). (3) "I will make your name great," in other words, He will make you worthy of people's high respect. (4) "You shall be a blessing," that is, you'll make other people happy. (5) "I will bless those who bless you." God will honor you like someone special. (6) "I will curse him who curses you." Oh yes, you'll have enemies, probably plenty of them; but God will confound every one of them and will honor you. (7) "In you all families of the earth shall be blessed [made happy forever]." A promise that Christ would come through Abraham's descendants, but a promise to you that you will share with Christ the joy of telling the world about Him.

How did Abraham, respond? Well, he stumbled and staggered for many years, unable to believe such fantastic Good News. But finally he broke through the clouds: "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (15:6). The sooner you believe like Abraham did, the better!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 20, 1998.

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Angels, Our "Ministering Spirits"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Angels are not human beings. And especially, they are not humans who have died. The Bible tells us that they were created higher than we were. Speaking of "man," it says, "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels" (Heb. 2:6, 7). They are not flesh and blood as we are, although they can assume the appearance of human beings on special occasions.

We read who they are: they are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (1:14). You can't "see" a "spirit." But angels are sent by the Father on a mission to each one of us who believes. You may never hear an angel speak to you audibly with your physical hearing, but that's not the point. As a "spirit" the angel comes to you with a message that may be deeper yet clearer than human language can put it. And it will always be in total harmony with the Bible. And it will always be to lift you up, never to cast you down.

For example, you are tempted to discouragement. You don't clearly know the reason; a dark cloud seems over you which is deeper than words. Have you ever been in that situation?

Then you remember the invitation of Jesus to come to His Father in prayer. You kneel, and you wait before Him, no rushing; just "wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14).

Let me assure you: He will send one of His "ministering spirits," an angel, to give you a message of encouragement. It may not be in words your physical ear hears, but it will be a far deeper message that comes in a conviction of truth. Your heart burden will be lifted.

You will never be proud because you have a special connection with heaven. You will never "think of [yourself] more highly than [you] ought to think; but ... think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every one the measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). You will hold your head high in self-respect, knowing you are a "servant" of everyone just as Jesus was. He came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Matt. 20:28). And then you will know your true joy in life.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 24, 2003-1.

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Atonement--Nothing Mysterious or Complicated

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The world's great Day of Atonement is the most exciting, the most joyous period of all the thousands of years of world history. Millions from past ages would have given anything just to live one day during this period of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary--what's happening right now. It's the time when the great High Priest, humanity's Savior, prepares the body of His people, His church, to be ready for the climax of the ages--His second coming in glory.

It's the time when the Bethlehem song of the angels at the birth of Jesus is finally realized: "good tidings of great joy ... to all people. ... On earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:10-14). The word "atonement" means very simply "at-one-with." There is nothing mysterious or complicated about it. (To attach the word "eschatological" to it bewilders common people.) To be "at-one-with" is to experience the joy of reconciliation, which is sweeter than honey if you have known the pain of alienation.

It's "at-one-ment" first with God, which every human heart in the world craves. We are born in a state of being alienated, separated from Him. "The carnal mind [it's natural!] is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom 8:7). Imagine the life-long misery of being on the outs with God! You look through the windows into God's house and you see the light, the joy and merriment within and feel yourself thrust out into outer darkness. You long to be in on the party, no longer alienated.

The world's Day of Atonement is when the High Priest, the Savior, takes the initiative to bridge that awful gap, to bring you in, to reconcile you. He performed this feat in Himself when on the cross He drank down our bitter cup of alienation, crying, "My God why have You forsaken Me?!" Finally, on this great Day of Atonement, we learn to appreciate what He accomplished for us. We are at last "one" with Him. Simple! Yet profound.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 15, 2002.

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