Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Does anybody want the reign of sin to go on and on for decades, even centuries more? Jesus Christ has promised to return (John14:1-3, for example). At different times in history, sincere, godly people have set the time, hoping He would come, but they've always been disappointed.
The result: "the love of many [has grown] cold" (cf. Matt. 24:12) and some who used to say they believed in His personal coming have given up the idea; just do what you can to make the present world more livable (cf. 2 Peter 3:3ff).
But wait a moment. If we believe that Jesus Christ is a personal Being, the Son of God (and we do!), think how He must feel with this long delay and constant disappointment. He is the Bridegroom in a delayed marriage whose "disappointment is beyond description." His disappointment rather than ours deserves our attention.
Why have all the expectations of the imminence of His second coming been mistaken thus far? That in itself constitutes a "shaking" that increases in intensity as time goes on. Who will stay on board this journey of faith to its end as prophesied in the Bible? Someone inspired likened the end to swinging over a vast chasm hanging on to ropes whose support you cannot see; you can only believe because God says so.
It's nothing that our Lord has not been through; that's what His cross experience meant to Him. He had not a ray of light shining, not a word of encouragement from anyone; only the hiding of His Father's face, forsaking Him as though He were the worst sinner in the world. Nothing to hang on to except what the Bible says. Everyone either condemned Him or forsook Him.
He assures us that some will appreciate what His cross meant and "shall endure unto the end" (Matt. 24:12). They are even now being gathered out all over the world. God grant us to be one!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 23, 2007.
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