Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Jews of old waited long for their Messiah to come, and many said, "The days are prolonged, and every vision fails" (Ezek. 12:22).
But their Messiah came, precisely on time according to the prophecy of Daniel (9:24-26). Furthermore, Daniel had foretold His rejection and crucifixion (vs. 26). Some precious few in Jerusalem were "awake" and ready to welcome Him (Simeon, Anna; Luke 2:25-36). All might have been!
Now we have again come to a time when many say, "Every vision fails"! Ezekiel describes our time: "Son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, 'The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off'" (12:27). What is "the house of Israel"? The "angel of the church of the Laodiceans" (Rev. 3:14-21). The "times afar off?" The coming of the Lord Jesus the second time.
It used to be that those who reverence the books of Daniel and Revelation expected that the "this generation [that] will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled" was the generation that recognized the "signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars" (Matt. 24:34; Luke 21:25); they followed the chronology of Archbishop Usher who worked out the "time" of world existence to be some "6000 years." But, confused and perplexed because it seems that "every vision fails," many are trying to work out some kind of synthesis between the "short chronology" of the earth and the indefinite time periods apparently dictated by "science." Result: faith in the nearness of the Lord's return wanes.
To abandon that faith is like jumping off a precipice into a fearful black hole of despair. Let's let Ezekiel finish his paragraph: "Thus says the Lord God: '... in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it, ... the word which I speak will be done'" (12:23-28). It may be lonely standing atop a precipice; but if it's the word of God, stand!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 20, 2007.
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