Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
For those of you who have tried to access the videos of the seminar this weekend at Valley Center, California, "Elijah: Turning Hearts," we regret that the videos will not be available until the first of the week. "Dial Daily Bread" will let you know when they become available. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.
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Why must the "Latter Rain" gift of the Holy Spirit come only at the end of history, and why has God withheld that gift all through these more than 2000 years of history?
It's not unwillingness on God's part to give, but it's humanity's unreadiness to receive. Yes, even an unwillingness to receive! Jesus Himself expressed the principle: "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12). Sinfulness has been deeper than "we" have realized. "You ... do not know," says the True Witness (Rev. 3:17).
God's infinite knowledge of mankind's unreadiness to receive the final blessing of the Holy Spirit pervades His prophetic foreknowledge. When the prophecy declares, "For two thousand three hundred days [years]; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed," it means that not until then can it be cleansed (Dan. 8:14). Human history must be allowed to work itself out through the ages. Not until "the time of the end ... [when] knowledge shall increase," can Daniel's prophecy reach fulfillment (12:4).
The sanctuary service of ancient Israel illuminated the principle: only on the final Day of Atonement could the High Priest enter the Most Holy Apartment to "cleanse the sanctuary," because only then would the people in the typical service permit a final cleansing "from all your sins" (see Lev. 16:29, 30). Thus, in the antitypical service in the heavenly sanctuary, our great High Priest has been willing all along to prepare His people for His second coming as "King of kings and Lord of lords."
He loves them and wants them to be with Him, but not until the end of history has that dilatory "Bride" "made herself ready" for the "marriage of the Lamb" (see Rev. 19:7-16).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 18, 2000.
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