Dear friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Is there such a thing as absolute truth? Pilate voiced the hard-hearted attitude of a cold-hearted world that was willing to crucify Christ when he asked in disdain, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). What he meant was, "There is no such thing as truth!"
The Bible is crystal clear that there is indeed something that is genuine truth, and God's eternal kingdom will be made up of people who reverence truth. And further, the Bible teaches genuine truth, which commends itself to every reasonable-minded, honest person. The final issue that the Book of Revelation says will catalyze humanity will be that of truth versus falsehood--the seal of God versus the mark of the beast. Today, every issue we face is related to that final one: are we searching for, accepting, welcoming, truth?
For example, those who argue for Sunday sacredness are employing cleverly stated reasons and logic (illogic?) to support the idea that Sunday is the true Sabbath of God. They reason that the seventh day was the Sabbath of the "old covenant," and Sunday is the Sabbath of the "new covenant." Thus the Bible doctrine of the two covenants is now seen to be integral to the final issue of the mark of the beast versus the seal of God.
What has been thought to be a minor theological squabble turns out to be an issue of tremendous importance. The two covenants are not matters of time or dispensation; they are timeless. There were some people in Old Testament times who were living under the true new covenant; there are people living today who are still living in slavery to the old covenant.
Where you stand depends on your understanding and your belief of "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14), or your willingness to believe non-truth, that is, the falsehood of a counterfeit, or what Paul said was "a different gospel" (Gal. 1:6, 7). Serious business! One will lead to the seal of God, the other to the mark of the beast.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 3, 1998.
Copyright © 2015 by "Dial Daily Bread."
