Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The second coming of Jesus is wonderful good news, but there is other good news that must come first: a light that will blaze across the world. It will penetrate into the homes and the markets of both the poor and the rich. Since God is declared to be "love," He cannot leave anyone out of seeing this light of the angel's message who "comes down from heaven, having great power; and the earth [must be] lightened with his glory" (Rev. 18:1, KJV).
In the Bible, light is always something that comes from heaven. It causes the gospel to shine. This "light" will be a message in which "light" is shining. Therefore it will be truth, for "Your word is a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). That final revelation of light will therefore be the truth of God's word more clearly spread out before the world than ever seen before.
The one spot in world history where the Light of heaven shone most brightly was the cross of Christ, for it was there that a heavenly love (known as agape) was most clearly demonstrated in its " width and length and depth and height," a love "that passes knowledge" (Eph. 3:18, 19).
But how can this ever happen in our modern materialistic, pleasure-loving, godless world? That "light," which will at last shine brightly, will not be a message of terrorism (the terror will come after the light has been rejected, finally); the message will be a "lifting up" of the crucified Savior of the world. God will not scare people into His kingdom like cattle being gathered for the roundup; the world's moment of truth will finally dawn for all mankind. The love revealed at the cross will corral every honest-hearted soul who will sense the "constraint" that is implicit in that love. A totally new motivation will prevail--not fear for one's personal security, but a new concern newly realized--that which a bride can know for the man whom at last she loves (Rev. 19:7, 8).
Forget thinking about the Gospel as a static set of cold doctrines; it is an ever-growing, heart-moving experience of identity with the Son of God.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 18, 2004.
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