Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We all get tired of it--the unending news of horror and tragedy. With up-to-the-minute news coverage of earthquakes, plane crashes, terrorism, and mass shootings, we empathize or identify with the suffering victims. Their agony becomes ours. It's hard not to feel guilty enjoying the peace and security we spectators temporarily possess.
It's a morbid addiction that keeps us glued to the screen for the latest tragic details of these horror stories. But can we do something to help?
The only real solution is the setting up of the kingdom of God, which will be at the personal, visible return of Jesus, the world's rightful Ruler. This is "the stone cut out without hands" that strikes Nebuchadnezzar's image on its "feet" of iron and clay, and becomes a "great mountain" to "fill the whole earth" (Dan. 2:34-35). Every God-fearing heart cries out continually, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).
If we had the authority, we would tell Him, "Come today!" But Revelation 14:15, 16 tells us that this authority resides alone in somebody else, "another angel [who comes] out of the temple" who finally tells Christ, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap." But what "event" can move that "other angel" to decide when to give Him the signal to "come"? The answer, "The harvest of the earth is ripe."
This simplest imaginable divinely inspired illustration explains the delay in the return of Christ! But this special farm "harvest" depends on the volition of the "grain." An entire "crop" can selfishly refuse to let the Lord's warm sunshine of the gospel and refreshing showers of "the latter rain" perform the ripening process. It's a "harvest" process God cannot force upon the "field of grain."
So, after wearily processing another inexplicable horror story, we consecrate our all to the recovery and proclamation of that true Revelation 14 "everlasting gospel," which alone can ripen the grain for the blessed "harvest." Something to live for? Oh, yes!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 9, 1999.
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