Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Satan, the fallen angel whose name was Lucifer, the highest of the created angels, claims that his invention of sin is invincible. Here on planet earth he claims he proves that human beings cannot overcome sin; just look, he says, at Christ's church--after these two millennia since the cross, the church is still "lukewarm" and worldly at heart. And the Bride of Christ still hasn't made herself ready.
The successful conclusion of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan requires that the church as "the body of Christ" "overcome … even as [Christ] overcame" and become a living demonstration of His power to save "to the uttermost."
That "overcoming" is what Christ says is the victory to be won in "the church of the Laodiceans" (cf. Rev. 3:14-21). Laodicea is the same as the "remnant" church of 12:17 and the same as those who "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" in 14:12. Obviously the triumphant Laodicea in the end will be the same as those special "144,000" of 7:1-4 and 14:1-5 (a symbolic number, we hope). They will be a corporate "Mary Magdalene," a mirror reflection of the self-is-crucified character of Jesus. Love (agape) will triumph.
The "Great Controversy" is like a war that ends with hand-to-hand, desperate fighting. The controversy is raging in each of our human hearts; it cannot be won in the corporate church unless it is also won in its individual experiences. Christ won the battle on His cross two millennia in the past; but that victory must now be demonstrated, lived out, proven effective before the world and the universe, in His people. They don't help Him save the world but they demonstrate that He has been successful in doing it (cf. John 4:42; 1 Tim. 4:10).
To this high destiny you and I have been called in these final scenes of the Great Controversy! This requires healthy self-respect "in Christ" (Rom. 12:3), which is the essence of real faith.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 13, 2005.
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