Daily Bread: March 2013

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Too Great a Sacrifice to Follow Jesus?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you ever heard of the curfew that went into effect at sundown? You'd better be home by that time; and you'd better stay indoors all night. Not going out, even for a moment. This is Passover Night. Egypt has been oppressing God's people and the night of deliverance has come. Only because of the tenth plague will the government of Egypt finally relent and permit Israel to leave. The Pharoah, probably Amenhotep II according to history, has defied God to the bitter end. Now an angel of death is going through the entire land, and the firstborn of every home, from the Crown Prince of Egypt, to the firstborn even of the cattle, shall die, EXCEPT ... :

For those who believe God's plan of salvation, they can take a young lamb "without blemish," kill it, and splash its blood all over the door posts and the lintel. And when the angel of death shall pass by, if he sees the blood, he will not enter that house.

But Pharoah in his hardhearted unbelief, sacrifices no lamb; and at midnight the angel visited his palace, and the Crown Prince of Egypt dies suddenly, mysteriously. (It's interesting that Egyptian secular history records that Amenhotep's successor on the throne was not the eldest son as would normally be the case, but another son).

But what about the Crown Prince of heaven? In the Father's great Plan of Salvation, He did die. The sacrificial Passover lamb typified Him and His death on the cross. His death made our life possible, so that the angel of Eternal Death could "pass over" us.

The meaning is so simple that even a child can grasp it: you live today because He died for you. If He had not died for you, you would be dead-- eternally. Whether or not you are a Christian, the truth remains solidly true: you are in debt infinitely and eternally to the One who died in your place.

Do you think it is too great a sacrifice to follow Jesus? Think about that Passover lamb.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 10, 1999.

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.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Momentous Issue of Believing or Disbelieving

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible itself is a better source of information about Moses than any movie, and more interesting, too. If the Bible is read with unbelief, it becomes boring, because doubt short-circuits practically every statement and paralyzes the understanding. But if it is read with heart-felt belief, it grips the attention. The Holy Spirit re-creates the happenings described there and you see it all in three-dimensional realism, a vividness that can never be forgotten, as a movie can be.

The tenth plague, the slaying of the firstborn, was the final judgment on Pharoah and the unbelieving Egyptians. When the "destroying angel" passed through the land at midnight of Passover Eve, there were two classes of people in the land: those who believed the word of God, and those who did not believe. No one was in between.

Momentous was the issue of believing or disbelieving! So today, everything depends on believing or disbelieving the truth of God. Someone may say, No, everything depends on obeying or disobeying the word of God. But outward conformity to rules (based on fear) that camouflages an unreconciled heart is not true obedience. Both the Hebrew and Greek Bible words for "obey" convey the basic idea of bending the ear down low to listen carefully. Believing the truth produces obedience and disbelief produces disobedience. The Israelites were told to kill an innocent lamb "without blemish" and splash its blood on the door posts and the lintel. Their doing so was an evidence that they believed what God had said.

What saved them in the Passover was their faith which worked. God had said, "When He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and not suffer the destroyer to come in" (Ex. 12:23). Not when He sees the obedience, but "when He sees the blood," the obedience being the evidence of faith in the blood of the Lamb of God.

The world today is "Egypt," and again there will be re-enacted the events of the ancient Passover and the Exodus. Let's be ready.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 9, 1999.

Monday, March 25, 2013

How Can You Pray If You Don't Know How?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How can you pray, if you don’t know how, and you feel like you’re too unworthy to try?

The disciples of Jesus were far from being perfect, yet they came to Jesus and asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

What followed was “Prayer 101,” and we would like to join the class.

The four Gospels teach us several prayers that we can pray, unworthy as we are, which are guaranteed to be answered with a “Yes!”

(1) The poor sinful publican in Luke 18:13, “standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner” (the original Greek has it, “the sinner,” contrasting himself with the Pharisee supposedly praying next to him). You know that the Lord received that prayer and answered it!

(2) The poor distraught father in Mark 9:24 prayed, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” You know, that prayer is always answered, no matter how unworthy you may be!

(3) The prayer that Jesus prayed for us all in Luke 23:34, you know has been answered for you and me. When the wicked men were driving the spikes through His hands and ankle bones, He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!” A heart that is thankful for that forgiveness is the heart with which you and I come to Jesus in prayer, unworthy though we surely know we are.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 6, 2008.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

A Word He Will "Make Known to Us"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

God has inspired His holy word, the Bible, for "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). But He has not made the Bible difficult to understand! He has promised, "Turn you at My reproof: … I will make known My words unto you" (Prov. 1:23).

One of those "words" that He "will make known" unto us is "justification." Ask Him to! The root idea is to make something that was crooked become straight. On the sixth day of creation week God ended that work; when sin entered planet earth, He turned His infinite power into re-creating sinful human hearts. Justification by faith is the sinner receiving this mighty power of re-creation, that is, the new birth. The sinner's faith is awakened by his "beholding" the love of Christ revealed in His cross, just as the stricken Israelite bitten by poisonous snakes was healed by beholding, looking at, the brass serpent lifted on the pole.

You watch a hero or heroine in a movie; now spend your time more wisely by "watching" Jesus Christ. "Eat" the Bible story of the cross; turn off your TV, your electronics; just kneel and patiently, in prayer, read about Jesus straight from Scripture. Wait before Him. God wants to hear a sincere, honest, unhurried prayer. He responds because He loves you.

I have never heard the literal voice of God, but I want to encourage those people who also must confess they haven't either; the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life through the word, the Bible. He wants your faith to be established on the solid rock of Bible truth, not on dreams or impressions or "voices."

Will the one who is "justified by faith" live in obedience to God's word? Yes, obedience is the direct fruit of the experience of justification by faith. It has now become your joy.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 11, 2005.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Jesus' Prayer for Peter

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

During His life on earth, Jesus prayed--continually. And He prayed for people individually. Consider Peter, for example: "Simon, ... I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not" (Luke 22:31, 32). And it is good that Jesus prayed for him, because Peter came within a millimeter of losing out completely when he denied three times that he even knew Jesus. He was so heartbroken at what he had done that he even wished he could die. Such terrible grief or self-reproach has caused some people to take their own life. When in his agony Peter remembered that Jesus had said, "I have prayed for you," he had a slender thread of hope left, which in his repentance, he grasped.

But now a question: did Jesus pray the same prayer for Judas Iscariot? When Jesus prayed, the Father heard His prayers; and the angels were ready to do what Jesus asked. But I find nothing in the inspired record that says clearly that Jesus prayed that same prayer for Judas, that "[his] faith fail not" in the hour of trial. For one thing, at the time Jesus prayed for Peter, Judas had no faith to be prayed for! According to Romans 12:3, God had already given Judas (along with "every man") a "measure of faith."

But like Esau who had "despised" and "sold" the birthright which God had given him, Judas had by this time scorned all genuine faith that he once had had. He had resisted every effort of the Holy Spirit to bring him to repentance. He had refused to confess and forsake (and repay) his thieving from "the bag" which he carried as treasurer for Jesus and the disciples (see John12:6; he had probably often deprived Jesus of a meal when He was hungry!). He had refused that appeal of the Holy Spirit when Mary had washed Jesus' feet with her tears, and that last one when Jesus washed his feet. He had allowed selfish pride to bind his heart to Satan. Thus there was no "faith" left that Jesus could have prayed for.

Jesus' prayers to His Father were powerful, but there is one thing that the "Almighty" cannot do--He cannot force a single human heart. Jesus' relation with each of us is as close and tender and intimate as His with Judas; let's be very thankful today that He is still praying for us that "[our] faith fail not" when our final test comes.

Grab every slender thread of hope you have.

--Robert J. Wieland

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

Thursday, March 21, 2013

All Heaven Waits; So Does Jesus

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There's something that Jesus said that stumps Bible-believing Christians who for over 150 years have been telling the world that "Jesus is coming soon." He promised that the people who first recognized the "signs" that meant His coming was near were a "generation [that] shall not pass away" until He should come the second time (Mark 13:30). Why the delay? Unless some reasonable explanation can be given, don't blame young people for walking away.

The context is clear. Jesus has been describing the "signs" to come in the heavens that tell the world His coming is near ("dark day, 1780), "falling of the stars" (1833; vss. 24-26), and then He is to come. Jesus wants to come the second time! We must not overlook the fact that in becoming "Emanuel, God with us" He has become one of us for all eternity. He is a Bridegroom eager (as any loving bridegroom is) for His Wedding! He wants to gather to Himself His own--which is why He wants to come the second time. This important aspect of the second coming eludes many sincere people who think only of their own salvation, and not of His happiness.

The heavenly Bridegroom's Bride-to-be has selfishly delayed to "make herself ready" for "the marriage of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7, 8). There has not been that eager response to His wooing that He longs for. It's outside her door, not inside, where He stands "knocking, knocking" (Rev. 3:20; Song of Solomon 5:2, 3, from where Christ quoted that expression, in the Greek Old Testament, LXX).

Scripture postulates a change to take place in the very heart of that Bride-to-be. All Heaven awaits it; so does Jesus.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 5, 2005.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The "Birthright" Given to Us All

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is a chapter in the Bible that is clear as sunlight, but because of our fallen state our minds have confused it: Romans 5.

For some years after I was ordained to the gospel ministry and served as a pastor, I shied away from preaching about it. I too was confused! But it was never God's intention to confuse anyone. He simply wants us all to learn to share the joy of Paul who said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14).

What is the message of Romans 5 in simple, understandable terms?

(1) It is based on the principal truth that everything that our fallen, sinful father Adam passed on to us as the human race, Jesus Christ has reversed. Christ has become the "last Adam" or the second Adam (1 Cor. 15:22). Adam passed on to us all a judicial verdict of condemnation, that is, death itself. Christ has given to us all a judicial verdict of acquittal. This is the only reason that the Father can treat every man as though he has never sinned, and can send rain and sunshine "on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45).

(2) As soon as Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, the Son of God stepped in to be our Savior from that terrible, endless death. Thus Christ was "slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8).

(3) It follows that Christ died the second death for the entire human race: "We see Jesus ... that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Heb. 2:9). That's the real thing--not just a sleep for a weekend.

(4) It follows again that because He died every man's second death on His cross, Christ has given every man a second opportunity to be loyal to the government of heaven. This is a "judicial ... verdict of acquittal" (Rom. 5:15-18, REB).

(5) What Christ accomplished on His cross was to give to every man Esau's "birthright." You remember, Esau had it; not all the angels in heaven or hell could have wrested it from him; but he willfully, of his own free choice "despised" it and "sold" it for a "mess of pottage" (Gen. 25:34; Heb. 12:16).

It was by His sacrifice on His cross that Christ gave that "birthright" to us all. Now, hang on to it forever!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 14, 2008.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Why Does God Demand Blood Sacrifices?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

After all these ages, common questions people ask are, “Why does God demand blood sacrifices in order to be nice to people and save them? Is He bloodthirsty? For 4000 years He demanded untold numbers of innocent animals to be sacrificed in a bloody manner in order to forgive the sins of human beings. Now it appears that He demands the blood of His own beloved Son in order to forgive. Why this apparent obsession with blood?” multitudes ask.

We can reply with the time-honored traditional answer, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sin]” (Heb. 9:22). But why? This 6000-year-old answer appears on the surface to support the fear-driven old covenant ideas of a mysterious, vengeful God who delights in cruelty, punishing people, perpetuating an ever-burning hell fire wherewith to torture the people He doesn’t like. We know that this is a distortion of truth, but how can we make the truth appealing in such a way that it changes hearts?

(1) The first animal sacrifice was slain in the Garden of Eden not to appease an angry God, but by a tearful God Himself to provide clothing for a fearfully cold first human couple, and to cover their lethal shame. (Their leaf skirts were hopelessly inadequate.)

(2) Human hearts became so hard, so selfish that there was no way in the universe to melt them with love (agape) except to let man act out to the full his resentful hatred of God (that’s what sin is!) by murdering, torturing God’s own Son, their Savior. The legalistic lawyer’s arguments are valid, “the law demands it”; hold them. But a reason of love transcends them all.

--Robert J. Wieland

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

Copyright © 2013 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/
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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.

Monday, March 18, 2013

What the Angels of Heaven Are Begging Us to Do

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The angels of heaven are begging the inhabitants of earth to read the book of Revelation (see 1:1-3).

As we come to the end-time, the sounding of "the seventh angel's" trumpet, John the prophet sees "lightnings" and hears "voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail"--the most awful spiritual "storm" in earth's 6000 years (11:15-19).

Next he sees the panoramic history of God's true church through the ages, focusing on their final witness of truth to the world (12:1-17).

Then he sees the monstrous deception of a counterfeit "christ" and its imitation gospel that leads "all that dwell upon the earth" to worship this power except those "whose names are ... written in the book of life of the Lamb slain" (13:1-8). The world is being catalyzed into two camps.

Next the prophet sees a savage burst of persecuting frenzy wherein multitudes who think themselves following that "Lamb" will repeat the essence of His original unjust crucifixion, on His people (13:11-17).

Then the prophet sees the raising up of a group of "144,000" who share a corporate oneness "in Christ" and bring the world to a final up-or-down vote on identifying the true Christ (14:1-15). It will also involve distinguishing the true Holy Spirit from its extremely clever opposite number (18:2, 3). We're just about there now. Living now is serious business.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 16, 2005.

Friday, March 15, 2013

The Gift of Repentance

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The President [Bill Clinton at the time this was written] wants Congress to pass tougher gun control laws, hoping that we'll have no more high school massacres (referring to the Columbine school "tragedy" of April 1999). The President may have wanted to say it but couldn't: what America needs more than gun control is sin-control, or better still, sin-eradication.

Sin is the source of all the suffering and anguish in the world, and everyone is born with the problem in his/her nature. The classic definition is, "Sin is the transgression of the law," the "law" being understood as God's law (1 John 3:4). But the Greek is only one little word, anomia, which literally is, "a state of being against the law." In other words, sin is heart-rebellion against the government of God, not merely outwardly doing things that are unlawful. Another word for it is "alienation." "The carnal mind is enmity against God," heart-alienation (Rom. 8:7). And "enmity" always finds expression.

The ultimate expression of that inner hatred known as anomia is seen when the human race vented that pent-up hatred of God in their murder of the Son of God (see Acts 3:14, 15). The Murder behind all murders! And all of us were implicated (Rom. 3:23, 24; Zech 12:10). It happened because of a deep-seated principle: hatred cherished in the heart always leads to the act: "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3:15). And of course, "no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him," says the same verse.

Can this terrible sin be eradicated? The Bible says YES! and it will be. But only through repentance for that sin of murdering the Son of God. That's why we read in Revelation 12:11 that God will have a people who "overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb." Repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit, the last gift He will give before He is finally withdrawn from the earth when the seven last plagues must fall (Rev. 15, 16). Repentance is a newly gifted hatred for sin that constrains one "henceforth" to deny self and to take up the cross to follow the Lamb of God (2 Cor. 5:14, 15; Luke 9:23). Repentance includes receiving the precious gift of the atonement, that is, of being reconciled to the God whom once we hated (Rom 5:7-11).

The Good News? It's still not too late to open our hearts and receive that gift of repentance He wants to give.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 30, 1999.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Jesus Always Takes the Initiative

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Just as one can get lost at sea and not know where he is or where to get help, so one can get lost spiritually. You can even forget the Bible verses you learned as a youth; you can forget how to pray; you can't even read the Bible. You are l-o-s-t.

You begin to think of your friends and you envy them because they can still pray. You are bobbing alone in a wide spiritual ocean; despair begins to set in.

Sometimes an evil spirit can take possession of someone in despair, causing him or her to do or say things that are horrible; can't help himself or herself, has lost control.

Jesus came face to face with a man who had been through the process and was "possessed with devils, ... exceeding fierce" (Matt. 8:28). He couldn't say anything intelligent or meaningful, but deep in his heart he longed to be saved. He said something stupid: "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?" (Mark 5:7). Just the opposite of what he had wanted to say! But he had said the word--"Jesus," with a sincere desire for help. But he couldn't even bring himself to ask; the possessor-devils controlled his words (Christ's disciples assumed that he was totally hopeless, just as many today think anyone "lost" is beyond help). But Jesus quickly realized that the man, though desperate, wanted to be saved. Mark records that He cast out the demons, and set the man free.

The truth is that Jesus put Himself in this man's way, which means--He took the initiative. He made His appearance so the lost man could make a response. He always takes the initiative somehow to help the person who is lost as at sea and has wasted all his or her opportunities. In some way Jesus crosses his or her path, so make the choice to cry out even if you can't frame the words.

"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found," says Isaiah. (The word "seek" in the Hebrew means "inquire after." The Lord doesn't play hide and seek with you.) "Call upon Him while He is near." He will respond and give you grace to "forsake" your evil "way," and you can "return unto the Lord" (55:6, 7).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 4, 2004.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

"Under Grace"--What Does It Mean?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

A young pastor just out of the theological seminary came for a visit. He was sincere and earnest, and interested in preaching the gospel as Good News to his congregation. But he had a concern: is there a danger in preaching too much about the cross, and the grace of Christ, and His love, and not balance that by preaching about the law, and obedience, and duty? He doesn't want to be pastor of a lazy congregation who take advantage of "cheap grace" and clothe their religion with a thin veneer of love and grace which covers hypocrisy.

I encouraged him to believe what the Bible says:

(1) "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20). "Cheap grace" is a counterfeit message, a detour around the atonement of Christ; you can't preach too much about the genuine grace that "abounds much more" than all the sin the devil can heap upon a congregation.

(2) If what Paul says is "the preaching of the cross" (1 Cor. 1:18) is clearly presented to a congregation, sin and hypocrisy cannot flourish among them because that grace conquers sin and eradicates it. The "power" is in the gospel itself, not in the law (see Rom. 1:16). And Paul says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?" Says Paul: "That's impossible!" (See Rom. 6:14, 15.) Being "under grace" is different than many superficial people imagine: it means you are under a new motivation imposed upon you by a deep heart-appreciation of what it cost the Son of God to save you from hell itself. There is where you see the length, breadth, depth, and height of the love of Christ at His cross (Eph. 3:18). That motivation is far stronger than all the fear-motivation you can use to assail your congregation.

(3) The pure, true gospel is not a perfect so-called "balance" between faith AND works; it is a message of faith WHICH works. How many "good works"? Infinitely more than legalism can ever produce! Don't be afraid to preach salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 21, 1998.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Seven Special Messages From Christ

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Lord Jesus Christ loves His church on earth so much that He has sent seven special messages to His world church in seven eras of its history since the time of Jesus and His apostles. They are recorded for us in Revelation chapters 2 and 3:

"Ephesus"(2:1-7) is the first church, that of the apostles. The Lord Jesus is happy with that "church," for He commends them for enduring persecution and for thinking clearly and exercising inspired discernment ("you cannot endure them which are evil"). The Christians there have "labored" patiently. But He has one thing against that "church": "You have left your first love [agape]."

Careful scholars have detailed how the leaders of the early church step by step abandoned the truths of agape and substituted the pagan Hellenistic concepts of love. The people blindly followed them! The Dark Ages had begun with that false doctrine imported.

Even the great Protestant Reformation of the 16th century did not succeed in completely overcoming the Hellenistic ideas that had watered down agape. What happened was that there developed a superficial view of the extent of the sacrifice of Christ on His cross. The idea was lost that Jesus had not only gone to sleep for a weekend before His resurrection, but that on His cross He had actually died the "second death" for the whole world (see Rev. 2:11, and 20:6, 14). He was serious when He screamed while on His cross, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Christ endured going to hell!

In consequence of losing this great truth of what happened on the cross, the early church soon fell prey to Hellenistic ideas imported into the church, one of which was the pagan doctrine of natural immortality. Today almost all Christian churches handicap themselves by holding to that idea. Those who mistakenly received that false idea were still seventh-day Sabbath observers; but having accepted that pagan doctrine, they soon abandoned the true Sabbath and embraced the observance of the great "day of the sun" (Sunday) in place of the Lord's true holy Sabbath. Now the Dark Ages became even darker.

But there is Good News: the Books of Daniel and Revelation pinpoint the end of the Dark Ages as coming at the close of the 1260 years of papal supremacy, which began in 538 A.D. and extended to 1798 when, for the first time, the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation began to become widely understood.

Fast forwarding to the end of those Dark Ages, we find that the Holy Spirit raises up a worldwide people who distinguish themselves as those "who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17).

That is what is happening today, the world around. Come, take your place with them! The Lord Jesus has prepared a "place" for you there.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 9, 2008.

Monday, March 11, 2013

A Discipline That Takes Time

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Where's the person who hasn't at some time or other exploded with what he or she thought was "righteous" indignation? And then came to realize that some "self" was woven in! Rather humbling, isn't it? In fact, you can get grey with what you think are sanctified years and still make a fool of yourself.

A prime example is the Twelve, on whose heads had been laid in ordination none other than the Hands that had made the world. On the eve of Christ's crucifixion they were condemning Mary Magdalene who had been moved by the Holy Spirit Himself to do what she did (Matt. 26:6-10). Thus they made fools of themselves. They exploded with indignation which they thought was of the Lord, when in fact it was of Judas Iscariot's inspiration (John 12:4).

They didn't know what would later be written by an unknown contemporary in his Letter to the Ephesians: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (4:31, 32). But having been educated in the personal presence of Christ for some three years, should they not have known? Common sense should have taught them. But when you get angry, you are often bereft of it. The disciples, even if righteously angry at Mary's supposed extravagance, should have been "kind" and "tender-hearted" in rebuking her. They weren't. Thus they set themselves up for the most stinging rebuke Jesus ever gave them.

In the previous verse, Paul says that our emotional outbursts "grieve ... the Holy Spirit of God, whereby [we] are sealed unto the day of redemption." In other words, there is a grave possibility that we may negatively "seal" our eternal destiny by one of these sudden unsanctified outbursts.

Time to fall on our knees and beg Mary's Defender for a new heart that can be cleansed--down into its buried unconscious roots.

Just remember that the cleansing process may take longer than a day; it's a discipline that takes time, but is no less certain if you are sincere in asking for it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 4, 2004.

Friday, March 08, 2013

The Most Important Activity Going on Today

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Thoughtful Christians of all churches have one common question: "What is Jesus Christ doing now? He promised to come back; why doesn't He come?"

Yes, He promised, "As the lightning ... so will the coming of the Son of Man be. ... But of that day and hour no one knows, ... As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ... They .. did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matt. 24:27-39). The angels promised the disciples, "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner" (Acts 1:11). That literal, personal return of Christ has not yet taken place.

The only answer as to why He hasn't come back yet that can possibly make sense is that His people are not yet ready for Him to come. The harvest is not yet ripe (see Mark 4:26-29). And what special ministry can make a people to be ready? Only the ministry of Christ as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary (see Hebrews 8-10).

There was an earthly high priest in the ancient sanctuary--so there is a divine High Priest in the heavenly; there was an earthly lamb offered in the ancient sanctuary--Christ is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). As there was an annual day of atonement in the earthly sanctuary, so there is a cosmic Day of Atonement in the heavenly when the High Priest ministers in the Most Holy Apartment, the second apartment, of the heavenly sanctuary. The specific purpose of that ministry is to prepare a people for the second coming of Jesus.

Daniel understood there is a heavenly sanctuary--all the Israelites who were true to God understood it; it is natural then that when the angel in Daniel 8:14 answered the question "how long ... ?" by saying "unto 2300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," it's natural that Daniel understood it was the heavenly sanctuary.

That great Day of Atonement ministry is the most important activity going on today in the heavenly universe. Keep in tune with it.

--Robert J. Wieland

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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