Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Is Jesus Christ doing anything special now? Or is He doing the same as He has always done since He ascended to heaven nearly two millennia ago?
His work throughout the ages has been preparing people to die--a wonderful work. By His Holy Spirit untold millions are being prepared to come up in the first resurrection so they can inherit a place in His eternal kingdom. Thus they have prayed in their last hour, "Abide with me, ... the darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide." For those who die, nothing can be more important than to be "counted worthy to attain ... the resurrection from the dead," says Jesus (Luke 20:35).
But must sin continue to plague human life on this planet forever? Must the agony of the Middle East continue generation after generation, on and on? Remember that Jesus Himself feels all this misery (Isa. 63:9).
The Good News is that He promises, "I will come again" (John 14:3). For His sake, as well as ours! But He can't come the second time until He prepares a people, not to die as have billions, but to be translated without seeing death (see 1 Thess. 4:15-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-55; Rev. 14:14-16, etc.). What's the difference, if any? This is it: the final tests!
Who are those people? It's not our job to judge anyone. But silently, steadily, the Lord Jesus as our great High Priest in His closing work in the heavenly sanctuary is doing just that--preparing a people to endure the final tests of the mark of the beast by faith to stand unmoved when the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the earth, to be loyal. They "overcome even as [He] overcame" (Rev. 3:21). Listen!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 23, 2002.
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