Dial Daily Bread: The “Gospel” the Apostles Preached

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The word "gospel" is a common one that has been tossed about by almost everyone. It has come to cover all kinds of ideas. But what the apostles actually preached is the only valid, authentic idea. What they said must be read in their own context, fully, not partially read and distorted to a wrong definition of that word.

Paul said that a correct understanding of the word "gospel," if it is believed, "is the power of God to salvation" (Rom. 1:16). It converted very difficult people when Paul preached it (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). What happened at Corinth under Paul's preaching will happen again on a worldwide scale in the proclamation of the Loud Cry of Revelation 18. So, let us inquire--what was the "gospel" Paul preached there?

He tells us: "When I came to you, [it] did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, ... I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). Was that a fanatical, monomaniacal trip he was on, preaching boring sermons?

If so, why did the people crowd in to hear him, and then embrace his "gospel" with "power"? There's an answer: there is something in "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14) of the cross that triumphs over all the imitation, false "gospels" Satan can invent.

"Christ crucified" meant infinitely more than anything the world's great thinkers could come up with: the apostles' idea was that He died the world's second death. That was an idea no one had ever thought of at that time; no one had imagined that there was a love anywhere in the universe so great as that.

Even today, among the vast concourse of professed Christians, there are precious few who conceive of such an idea; and Muslims have not thought of it, or Hindus. Even Jews have had great trouble embracing the idea. But it moved hearts and motivated people to take up their cross and follow Him "wherever" He led (Rev. 14:4).

What about you?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 1, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Crisis of the Ages

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Are we sure that the Bible teaches that God's "church" is a visible organization, and not an invisible number of scattered believers?

The only times we read that Jesus mentioned His "church" were twice--Matthew 16:18 and 18:17. He used the word ecclesia, which means "called out," a people designated and separated from the world, defined and denominated in a form that the world could recognize as an entity.

The apostles called ancient Israel a "church in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38, New King James Version), and we read that Israel was a visible organization that the world could see as God's denominated people. In Matthew 18 Jesus outlined what should be done if a member in the church disgraces its name--he should be disciplined. Unless the church is organized, this cannot be done.

Paul thought of a beautiful illustration of what the church is--it's a "body." "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually ... in the church" (1 Cor. 12:12-28).

Perhaps the reason for our question is the problem of apostasy and worldliness in the church, which is discouraging to a thoughtful, sincere Christian. Please think about Jesus: He is even more pained by this than you are. Be joined to Him by faith, share His heart burden for His church. It's the great crisis of the ages. He wants to lead her to repentance, not to ruin.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 25, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Hellenistic Ideas That "Watered Down" Agape

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Lord Jesus Christ loves His church on earth so much that He has sent seven special messages to His world church in seven eras of its history since the time of Jesus and His apostles. They are recorded for us in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

"Ephesus" (Rev. 2:1-7) is the first church, that of the apostles. The Lord Jesus is happy with that "church," for He commends them for enduring persecution and for thinking clearly and exercising inspired discernment ("you cannot bear those who are evil"). The Christians there have "labored" patiently. But He has one thing against that "church": "You have left your first love [agape]."

Careful scholars have detailed how the leaders of the early church step by step abandoned the truths of agape and substituted the pagan Hellenistic concepts of love. The people blindly followed them! The Dark Ages had begun with that false doctrine imported.

Even the great Protestant Reformation of the 16th century did not succeed in completely overcoming the Hellenistic ideas that had watered down agape. What happened was that there developed a superficial view of the extent of the sacrifice of Christ on His cross. The idea was lost that Jesus had not only gone to sleep for a weekend before His resurrection, but that on His cross He had actually died the "second death" for the whole world (see Rev. 2:11, and 20:6, 14). He was serious when He screamed while on His cross, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Christ endured going to hell!

In consequence of losing this great truth of what happened on the cross, the early church soon fell prey to Hellenistic ideas imported into the church, one of which was the pagan doctrine of natural immortality. Today almost all Christian churches handicap themselves by holding to that idea. Those who mistakenly received that false idea were still seventh-day Sabbath observers; but having accepted that pagan doctrine, they soon abandoned the true Sabbath and embraced the observance of the great "day of the sun" (Sunday) in place of the Lord's true holy Sabbath. Now the Dark Ages became even darker.

But there is Good News: the Books of Daniel and Revelation pinpoint the end of the Dark Ages as coming at the close of the 1260 years of papal supremacy, which began in 538 A.D. and extended to 1798 when, for the first time, the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation began to become widely understood.

Fast forwarding to the end of those Dark Ages, we find that the Holy Spirit raises up a worldwide people who distinguish themselves as those "who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17).

That is what is happening today, the world around. Come, take your place with them! The Lord Jesus has prepared a "place" for you there.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 9, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: "Bloom" Where the Lord Has "Planted" You

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When we become a bit more mature than our youthful years, we can agree with the apostle Paul: "I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (Rom. 12:3). When we overcome our pride and arrogance, that counsel becomes easier for us; but the rest of the verse is now our problem: "but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

It's comparatively easy to denigrate ourselves, to say with John the Baptist of everyone else, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). We can easily consider ourselves "less than the least of all saints" (Eph. 3:8), "unprofitable servants" (Luke 17:10), "the chief of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). All that is healthful spiritual modesty.

What's difficult is coming to where we "think soberly" about ourselves: we're neither somebody great nor are we everybody's doormat. Where are we? Who are we? Oh, God! Give us common sense! Teach us how to avoid pride yet hold our head high--to be what You have ordained us to be, and to be happy there. Not to be more, nor to be less.

Regarding that "measure of faith" that He has "dealt" to us: the Greek word is metron, a capacity for faith. It's not impossible for anyone on earth to believe (have faith) in Christ and be saved eternally. God has given you the capacity; now open the closed door of the heart and receive as much of "the faith of Jesus" as you want to have. Then hold your head high in healthful humility as you "bloom" where the Lord has "planted" you.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 6, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Counterfeits—How Can We Tell the Difference?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The inspired Bible formula has to be true: Listening to God's New Covenant promises plus believing them equals a changed heart and life (John 3:16, etc.). It's like a simple recipe in cooking: when God's promises are "mixed with faith," what comes out of the oven is genuine conversion (Heb. 4:2).

That was the miracle of "the hearing of faith" that the Galatians experienced when Paul preached Christ's sacrifice so clearly that they saw Him "portrayed … as crucified" (Gal. 3:1-5). And it was the miracle of Abraham's sour, bitter wife Sarai's melting of heart and repentance by hearing God's Good News. This made it possible for her at last "by faith" to receive the miracle from God, to be with child, Isaac (Gen. 16:2; 17:15, 16; 18:9, 10; Heb. 11:11).

But there are counterfeits, and how can we tell the difference? Why are so many preaching "love, love, love," yet the listeners sense no need to overcome sin itself? What's wrong? There's nothing wrong with love itself if they just knew the right idea of it when the Bible says "God is love" (1 John 4:8). They assume our natural egocentric human idea.

The New Testament word is agape, and it's a totally different kind of love than we humans know naturally. It's impossible for an honest heart to hear, to understand, to contemplate, to "survey" that agape displayed in the "wondrous cross," and then go on in captivity to sin.

There are many contrasts between the two loves, but the greatest is this: the agape-love of Christ led Him to choose to go to hell, to die the equivalent of the hopeless second death, because of His love for us. "He poured out His soul unto death," "for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (Isa. 53:12; 2 Cor. 5:21).

You can never understand the cross of Christ unless you understand Galatians 3:13: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree')." He voluntarily took that "curse" upon Himself, gave up all thought of life eternal, "poured out His soul" completely.

Just be sure the Good News is not distorted by an intrusion of false doctrine, such as the non-biblical natural immortality of the soul.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 10, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: We Need to Know About the Day of Atonement

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There have been no new worlds or planets created in the universe since God kept that first Sabbath. "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished," says Genesis 2:1.

How has kept God busy since then? The answer: a work of reconciling heaven and earth, because "war broke out in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought" (Rev. 12:7).

The great controversy has involved the universe as well as this fallen planet, for verse 12 says that because of the victory won in this reconciliation, "Rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!" Finally, it will be said: "The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation."* This blessed harmony will be the result of God's work on His cosmic Day of Atonement, which means simply, His Day of Reconciliation, the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, the ending of alienation.

Is your heart reconciled to God? Are you alert to realize that your natural human heart "is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7), except through the atonement of Christ? Do you still wrestle with a lingering sense that somehow you must make yourself good before He can be reconciled to you, and before He can really accept you and respect you? Do you have that nagging feeling that He cannot truly be your Friend until you are worthy? While you are sitting in the pigsty, do you wish you had a Father who would forgive and accept the prodigal?

If so, you need to know about the Day of Atonement. As never before in history the world's attention is directed to the atoning sacrifice of Christ where "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ... We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:19, 20). But you can't "be" unless you first believe He is reconciled to you! So "spend a thoughtful hour" contemplating the cross where that reconciliation was accomplished.

--Robert J. Wieland

* The Great Controversy, p. 678.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 22, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Link to the Heart of Jesus

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The heavenly Father cares about those "desires of your heart" that are buried deep therein. He put them there. And He never instills such "desires" into "your heart" without planning to "give" them to you as soon as you are ready to realize them without becoming proud (Psalm 37:4). The first step is for you to know Who put them there, and that He is the One who "satisfies" them (145:16).

King David cherished such "desires" from his boyhood. While he tended his sheep he dreamed of castles in the air, fantasies if you please. He hardly dared voice them in actual prayer--his supreme secret dream that he could someday fight the battles of the Lord (be king of Israel?). He couldn't dare to mention them to his family, for his older brothers had an inkling and despised him just as Joseph's ten brothers despised him for his "dreams" (see 1 Sam. 17:28; Gen. 37:8). David, unashamed to bare his soul in his psalms, wrote about those secret "desires of [his] heart."

Have you dared to voice those "desires of your heart" in actual prayer to your heavenly Father? Or are you ashamed to admit that you have them? Or do you think they are too trivial to bring to His attention? The Savior is sympathetic; you can voice "desires" to Him that you can't admit to anyone else. He says, "Ask, and it will be given to you" (Matt. 7:7). That's why He insists that true prayer must be a secret thing between you and your heavenly Father (6:6). Such a secret with God can begin in your childhood; tell Him those hidden "desires," without shame. He won't despise you if you voice them in actual words of prayer!

David, your prototype, had to wait and wait and wait "patiently" for the Lord to give him those "desires" (Psalm 40:1)--years and decades, in fact. He offered his "secret" prayers, and finally the "Father who sees in secret [rewarded him] openly." Finish reading that psalm! It will link you to the secret heart of Jesus Himself.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 23, 2001.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Giant Leap Forward, by Faith

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

If there is anyone out there in the world who feels unworthy of God's goodness, let him think of the thief on the cross (the eventually believing one).

His body is inert; all he has left are the functions of his eyes, his ears, his voice; so he can't "do" any good works to merit God's goodness. If he is saved at last, it must be totally "by grace." The same with us.

He sins even while he is crucified on his cross, for we read that he "reviled" the sinless Savior, the Son of God (Mark 15:32). He joined the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees and the rabble in ridiculing "the Son of God," challenging Jesus to prove that He is the Son of God by coming down from the cross. He joined his fellow thief in this bitterness, and "reviled Him with the same thing" ("cast the same in His teeth," King James Version, a vivid expression of his contempt; Matt. 27:44). "Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe," they mock; and our thief is joining in heaping this bitter ridicule on Jesus (Mark 15:32). If anybody on earth proves himself unworthy of salvation, it must be this man!

Jesus utters no word to rebuke him (or them).

But then something happens: our thief does what Jesus didn't do--he rebukes his fellow thief, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?" (Luke 23:40).

Then our thief confesses his unworthiness: "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds" (Luke 23:41). Note: he takes a giant leap forward, by faith. He does the same thing that Paul later did by faith when he said, "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20, KJV; emphasis added). He climbs up by faith to share the place of those who at last "overcome ... even as [Christ] also overcame" to "set down with [Him] in His throne" (Rev. 3:21, KJV). Some of us have spent a lifetime learning how self can be "crucified with Christ," and here this man has gotten there in a few minutes! (That should encourage us to believe that when the loud cry of Revelation 18 goes out to lighten the earth with glory, people will respond quickly and overcome.)

Our thief confesses the sinlessness of Jesus: "this Man has done nothing wrong" (Luke 23:41).

He prays to be saved from hell: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom" (vs. 42). Then he hears words that many a worldly billionaire would give anything to hear: "You will be with Me in Paradise" (vs. 43).

Take heart, burdened soul; there is no higher place than that of this thief, or greater reward. Let's join him where he is.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 4, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Reconciling the World to God

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The great Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries grossly misrepresented to the Arab world the character of the God whom Christians profess to worship. A significant portion of present Muslim hatred of Christianity can be traced to that time. The very word "Crusade" inflames them with what they consider is moral outrage.

Jesus commands Christians, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel ..." (Mark 16:15), which must be good news--or it's not truth. Its essential element is a message of reconciliation with God: "We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God," pleads His messengers (2 Cor. 5:20), but many portrayals of God's character do anything but reconcile alienated people to Him.

If an enemy sticks a pistol in your face and demands, "Love me or I'll pull the trigger!" could you be reconciled to him that way? This is not an oversimplification of the issue; human beings who have never understood the gospel (due to its being distorted to them) are not by nature reconciled to God. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). That "enmity" has been created by the lies and distortion of Satan ever since Eve was deceived in Eden. God pities these confused people who have been lied to. The Father sent His Son into the world to correct these misapprehensions, and those of us who believe in Him are to represent Him aright to the world.

Thus there are two basic approaches to the task of reconciling the world to God: (1) the method that employs fear as the principal motivation (there is anecdotal evidence that it is hugely successful, but can you trust the supposed evidence?), and (2) "the everlasting gospel" outlined in Revelation 14--the message of three special angels in the last days (vss. 1-14). This can be identified as "the third angel's message in verity," a presentation of the reconciling message of God's grace and His agape that is yet to come into its own worldwide.

God has promised that when the message is revealed to the world in its clarity, it will cut through all the confusion that "Babylon" has amassed; all the hindrances that block people's pathway to the Father through Christ will be exposed in the final message, "Babylon the great is fallen, ... Come out of her, My people"! (Rev. 18:1-4). We need to understand the message more clearly!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 28, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Greatest "Evangelism" of All Time

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The greatest "evangelism" of all time was what happened at Pentecost. It was not emotionalism, and what brought the deep conviction of truth on people's hearts was not the miracle of the apostles' speaking foreign languages, even though a "sign and wonder" indeed. The apostles proclaimed what had happened when the Son of God died on His cross.

They didn't "mince words": "You murdered the Prince of life, the Son of God!" They laid the guilt of the ages upon the souls of those Jews and Gentiles. There was no political "correctness," no attempt to make the message palatable to "win" the top leaders. It was the most direct super-confrontation that has ever been between lay people and religious society leadership (read about it in Acts 2:23, 36; 4:10; 5:30, etc.).

Ordinary people like the apostles could never have galvanized themselves to tell it like they did had it not been for the ten days of repentance they spent beforehand. They had knelt very low in self-humiliation. The Holy Spirit had eleven men in whom self had been "crucified with Christ." This made it possible for the Son of God to be exalted in them.

Why was it the prototype of all genuine "evangelism"? What Jesus had said a short time earlier happened: "On the last and most important day of the festival [Feast of Tabernacles] Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, 'Whoever is thirsty should come to Me and drink. As the scripture says [Song of Solomon 4:15] "Whoever believes in Me, streams of life-giving water will pour out from his heart.”’” Jesus said this about the [Holy] Spirit" (John 7:37-39, Good News Bible). That was the "former rain." The "latter rain" will be a re-play.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 22, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Does God Care About "Time"?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Does the great God of heaven, the Creator of the cosmos, care about "time"? Isaiah 57 says that He is "the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy" (vs. 15). Can anyone who "inhabits eternity" care about us down here who are immersed in the limitations of time? Care about us who get anxious because of delay?

To put the question a different way, Does He care when the second coming of Christ will take place? Or does Jesus have His own way of looking at "time" so that when He tells us "Behold, I am coming quickly" (Rev. 22:7), He actually means something wholly outside our perimeters of consciousness?

As one writer for a respected church paper said, could it mean another 400 years before He comes? Has God used the words "quickly" and "soon" with a meaning totally different from what we humans can understand? If a father tells a little child, "I am coming home soon," when he means 50 years, is that not being deceptive?

The Son of God stepped down low, relinquishing His prerogatives of divinity (but not His divinity!) and became one of us, "Immanuel, ... God with us" (Matt. 1:23). So, "in Christ," He has subjected Himself to the limitations of time, for our sake.

He gave us the holy Sabbath, which is "time" set apart for sanctification. He "blessed ... and sanctified it" (Gen. 2:3). Yes, He that "inhabits eternity" is immersed in time! He has given us certain specific time prophecies in Daniel and the Revelation that make eminent good sense.

Christ Himself is more desirous, perhaps anxious, for "the marriage of the Lamb" to come, than we are. Christ in His glorified state is still human as well as divine, "with [us] always" (Matt. 28:20). He is an eager Bridegroom longing for the marriage day to come! In divine/human impatience, He finds it hard to "wait."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 27, 2001.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Another Opportunity for Repentance

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We don't have to wait until the Last Day for judgment; it's a do-it-ourselves project today. Jesus made it plain in John 3:18: "He who believes in Him is not condemned [judged]; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed ... " Not "will someday be condemned," but "is condemned already."

And the previous verse, to the consternation of many church people, makes clear that it's not a vengeful Christ who condemns the lost, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." He enlarges on this assurance in chapter 12: "If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge [condemn, Greek] him; for I did not come to judge [condemn] the world but to save the world" (vs. 47).

How then is the one who rejects the gospel "condemned" or judged? The next verse explains: "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." The "word" is the gospel of what it cost the Son of God to "save" us; and the unbeliever performs his own do-it-yourself judgment by recording in his own soul his responsibility for "not receiving" [rejecting] that "word" of the Good News. When the woman taken in adultery faced her accusers, Jesus made no accusatory tirade against them. Each who looked in His eyes slunk away self-condemned, a preview of the final judgment (8:9).

Some will say, "No, in the parables of the talents and the sheep and goats, Jesus harshly berates the down-and-outers" (Matt. 25:14-30, 31-46). But Revelation 14:10 explains the apparent self-contradiction: before the world and the universe, the lost will be forced to look into the eyes of "the Lamb of God" whom they have persistently "crucified to themselves ... afresh, and put Him to an open shame" (Heb 6:6, King James Version). They will be forced to see their part in the crucifixion and re-crucifixion of the Son of God. Fire and brimstone will feel great compared to that agony.

Do you have a new day? Thank God for it. It's another opportunity for repentance.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 14, 1999.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: "Understanding"--A Key Word That Permeates the Book of Daniel

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's astonishing when you stop and just look: no less than 23 times we find the word "understand" or "understanding" in the book of Daniel! And then as if the Lord Jesus wanted to re-impress that thought on us, He uses the same word in His plea for us to read and study that particular book: "'When you see the "abomination of desolation," spoken of by Daniel the prophet,' ... (whoever reads, let him understand)" (Matt. 24:15). It appears that the Savior is capitalizing on that key word that permeates the prophetic book.

The translators of the New King James Version do some interpreting here instead of translating: by printing those five words in black instead of red they tell us that Jesus didn't say them, didn't say "read" and "understand," that someone through the ages (maybe Matthew) slipped them in to His discourse without the authority of Jesus. This has been the view of "higher critics" for many years; but since "understand" is the most prominent word in Daniel, it makes sense to take it as a personal reminder from Jesus Himself that it is our Christian duty to acquire an "understanding" of what the Holy Spirit explains to us in Daniel.

Please don't throw up your hands in despair, saying, "It's over my head!" The Holy Spirit would rather teach you to "understand" Daniel than give you a billion dollars, and you would be far more enriched. It would be wealth that no one can ever rob from you!

But don't play games with the Lord. No half-hearted dilettantish curiosity for a brief sermonette or two; the Holy Spirit is quite serious. For those who are not in dead earnest, the news isn't very good, but for those who seriously ask to be taught truth, it is very good: "Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but ... none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand" (Dan. 12:10, emphasis added).

A sincere prayer for understanding and a reasonable effort to acquire it will be rewarded--to your everlasting delight. Grab the Lord's promise and run with it!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 23, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Near Could the Second Coming Be?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How near could the second coming of Christ be? Someone will say (rightly) that it is as near as our finishing preaching the gospel in "all the world."

"The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, ... and then the end will come" (Matt. 24:14). But who knows how far it really has gone? Jesus told us to be careful how we estimate what's happening: "The kingdom of God does not come with observation" (Luke 17:20). He said it's like hiding "leaven" in flour for breadmaking. The leaven works silently, unobserved (see Luke 13: 20, 21). Even so it will be with the work of God on the earth.

We are capable of wild guesswork. It's not always the work that looks the most successful. No one can know how rapidly the work of God is progressing on earth. Even those who seek to be doing the work are unconscious of the greater part of it. The kingdom of glory will be ushered in at a time when even Christ's most faithful workers will think that much remains to be done. They cannot know what hidden agencies God has at work.

And we may misunderstand what the Lord will reckon as the attainment of His goal. The "144,000" of Revelation 14:4, 5 may be people that none of us recognize as yet. Victories may be won day by day that we know nothing of, because the media (secular or religious) just aren't tuned in to the work of Christ in the Most Holy Apartment.

This should serve to admonish us never to think that the coming of the Lord is far off, since we can see comparatively little being done. Let us be content to work in quietness and obscurity. Although some may think superficially that our work is effective, and even though we ourselves may think it is ineffective, we have the assurance that our "Father ... sees in secret" (Matt. 6:4).

All the warnings that Jesus gave us about His second coming, to "watch ... lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping," are valid (Mark 13:35, 36). They still are "present truth."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 8, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Sabbath School Today, Lesson 7, Quarter 2-18

Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Preparation for the End Time
Lesson 7. Matthew 24 and 25

 

The spiritual condition of the church worldwide is pictured in the parable of the "Ten Virgins," all of whom "slept." When the cry went forth suddenly, "The Bridegroom cometh!" five sprang awake and trimmed their lamps to go to the "wedding." The other five had carelessly neglected to get the oil of the Holy Spirit, and it was too late now; they were shut out (Matt. 25:1-10).

This oil is not the Pentecost early rain proportions of the Holy Spirit. The oil represents the latter rain message which Christ commissions the Holy Spirit to give to a receptive church. Having received the message, the church experiences the Holy Spirit. Then follows the Spirit's voice, through His messengers, heard resoundingly throughout the world, giving the "loud cry," which lightens the earth with God's glory.

As we read the parable of the virgins together with what Revelation says about the "marriage of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7, 8), it becomes clear that the five wise "virgins" sleeping is the same lethargy as the Bride-to-be neglecting to "make herself ready for the marriage." The parable does not say that the Bride eventually refused to "make herself ready." But the five foolish virgins did.

In some manner the five wise virgins do have oil in their lamps. They have been receptive to the Holy Spirit's last-day message. This receptivity serves them well for even though they too sleep, as do the five foolish virgins, when awakened by the cry, "The Bridegroom cometh" the oil is sufficient for their lighted lamps.

The Lord sent "the beginning" of the Holy Spirit's latter rain in a "most precious message" [1] delivered at the General Conference Session in Minneapolis in 1888. The essence of this message was the call of Christ to the leadership of the Laodicean church to "repent."

"[Revelation 3:14-20, quoted.] This message has not had the influence that it should have had upon the mind and heart of the believers. The true state of the church is to be presented before men, and they are to receive the word of God not as something originating with men, but as the word of God. Many have treated the message to the Laodiceans as it has come to them, as the word of man. Both message and messenger have been held in doubt by those who should have been the first to discern and act upon it as the word of God. Had they received the word of God sent to them, they would not now be in darkness." [2]

For decades the Seventh-day Adventist Church has denied her history, saying that the Minneapolis Conference was a case of mistaken identity--the 1888 message was only a "re-emphasis" of historic Protestantism, not the beginning of the latter rain and the loud cry; and whatever it was, it wasn't really rejected. There was only a temporary resistance which was later repented of and the sin of resistance was cancelled.

The message was indeed what Ellen White said it was--the beginning of the work of the fourth angel of Revelation 18; and in a great degree it was rejected, not by the church at large, but by the leadership of that era. And there has never been a true and faithful recovery and proclamation of the message. When we begin to grasp the enormity of these facts, we sense that no issue before us can compare in importance with the problem of actually insulting the Holy Spirit.

It was His plan that the General and local Conference leadership personnel not stand "aloof" or hostile to the message, but heartily receive it. Recognizing and joyfully accepting truth, the entire church leadership would have responded to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and our publishing houses and the Review and Herald would have joined unitedly and harmoniously in the glad work. The laity were ready and would have cooperated. Thus the gospel commission could have been completed in that generation. It wasn't.

What did not happen then must happen in the future. And the "scenario" will happen because the Lord Jesus has not died in vain. He will yet see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied (cf. Isaiah 53:11). He has many honest-hearted people in the Seventh-day Adventist Church who will be loyal to Him and to His truth, even unto death. Corporate and denominational repentance is the work embodied in the antitypical Day of Atonement. Satan is determined to oppose it to the bitter end. Let us make sure that we do not stand on the enemy's side.

In the hour of crisis the five foolish young women had been absorbed in self-interests, and had neglected to search for what Peter says is "the present truth" (2 Peter 1:12). What's happening behind the scenes is a wedding. The parable is clear as sunlight: "they that were ready went in with [the Bridegroom] to the marriage and the door was shut" (Matt. 25:10). The ones "ready" are the same as those who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" (Rev. 14:4). It's just that simple.

--Paul E. Penno

Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp. 91, 92.
[2] The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1051; cf. Letter S24, 1892.

Notes:
Pastor Paul Penno's video of this lesson is on the Internet at:
https://youtu.be/9KaOl-x86Ng

"Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888message.org/sst.htm

Dial Daily Bread: A Very Special Blessing Assigned to Women

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible tells the history correctly: when Adam "fell" into sin, he had someone who helped him fall--it was his wife, Eve. But the Bible does not lay a burden of guilt upon her alone. No way!

Our beloved brother Paul was not anti-feminist; he was simply a faithful servant of the Lord. He reviews the history of the fall of Adam. He reminds us, "Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. ..." (1 Tim. 2:13, 14).

On the surface, it sounds like a debit for "woman." But wait a moment, don't misunderstand: "The fall of man" was the work of both Adam and his wife Eve; they share the debit.

But the dear Lord has assigned to woman a very special blessing, which we celebrate Sunday by our Mother's Day.* It's to woman whom the Lord has granted the special privilege of being the first teacher we all have ever known; she is the one who wins our heart in infancy; it's a special privilege that the dear Lord has granted to her, worldwide.

She is the "teacher of the human race," teaching us in simplicity and tenderness; winning our estranged human hearts in infancy at our very beginning.

The dear heavenly Father has granted to her this inestimable privilege of being the first one really to teach us and to guide our infant steps; it may have been "the woman" in Eden who enticed Adam into sin; but that debit in history is vastly overcome and reversed by the privilege that "woman" has been given her of the Lord:--to be the teacher of the human race in infancy!

Thank Jesus for His tender fidelity in giving to "woman" this glorious privilege. We honor "her" on Mother's Day; and not only that, we thank the dear Lord for giving "her" to us!

--Robert J. Wieland

________________

* We realize that Mother's Day is celebrated this weekend in many countries of the world, but not all. However, the sentiment of this "Dial Daily Bread" is enduring.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 9, 2009.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Change in the “Christian Experience”

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

As we come nearer to the end, a change comes in the “Christian experience” of God’s people. Their deepest heart concern ceases to be that of saving their own souls, to a concern for the glory of Christ in the closing hours of the “great controversy between Christ and Satan.” These people of God in the last days turn away from their previous concern for their own salvation to a concern for Another—that He emerge victorious from the “battle” He is in.

This change in “Christian experience” can be described in the terms the Lord Jesus uses in John 15: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (vs. 15). As we come closer to the end, the concern of these “friends” is for that “battle” that Christ is in, and not for self.

This change in “Christian experience” orientation can also be described as graduating out of the Old Covenant “Christian experience” into the New. It’s coming out of the shadows into the bright sunlight of “present truth” (see 2 Peter 1:12). The “present truth” is New Covenant living, not Old.

This change is also passing from Revelation 18 into Revelation 19 where we find those four grand Hallelujah Choruses, each greater than Handel’s (vss. 1-17). It can at last be said that “the Lord God omnipotent reigns! ‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready’“ (19:6, 7). At last!

Although the Lord is “omnipotent,” He cannot force the nuptials. It cannot be said that He “reigns” until her nuptial devotion to Him as to a divine Husband is real. Thus there is a “woman” whose marital devotion He can only wait, and wait, to see. The good news that rejoices one’s heart is that this change in spiritual growth is actually taking place. Don’t be left behind!

—Robert J. Wieland

From the “Dial Daily Bread” Archive: July 17, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by “Dial Daily Bread.”

Dial Daily Bread: How Does One Get This “Full Assurance of Faith”?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Just how does one get this most precious “full assurance of faith” (or “full assurance of hope unto the end”) that Hebrews speaks of (10:22; 6:11)? It would be nice if we were not constantly hounded by fear lest we won’t be saved at last. And on the other hand we have enough common sense to realize that “many” in the Last Day will come up to Christ expecting entrance into His kingdom and He must say, “I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23).

How do we “balance” this important issue of true versus false assurance? Just having our pastor tell us we’re okay is not enough. Realizing that nothing could be more critical to understand aright, we tread softly:

(1) Although there are billions who must settle this issue, the Father being infinite is concerned about you as if you were the only person on earth (see Matt. 10:29-31). Come into His presence and address Him as your personal heavenly Father, just as Jesus did (6:6). This is step #1--believe it.

(2) The Father wants you to be saved eternally, and His Son “gave Himself a ransom for all,” which means--including you (1 Tim. 2:3-6). He did His job faithfully. It follows that the only way you can end up lost is to impede, resist, reject the will of your heavenly Father, and of course, of Christ. In other words, do as Esau did, the man who had the birthright already but who “despised” it and “sold” it. This is step #2--believe this truth that is such good news.

(3) This will mean that you do not trust yourself; your fear will not be that the Lord may turn away from you; your fear will be that you may forget Him. He has promised to “hold” you by “your right hand” (Isa. 41:13). You can be like a spoiled, rebellious child and wriggle yourself out of His hand. Choose to let Him hold you. Realize, you’re lost if you don’t. Step #3--believe it.

(4) It follows that “the full assurance of faith” is already yours “in Christ,” as surely as Esau had the birthright (Gen. 25:34; Heb. 12:16). As our scripture says, “draw near with a true heart” (10:22). That is, simply be honest. All the angels in heaven plus the Holy Spirit can’t make you honest if you choose not to be. The decision is yours. Step #4--“draw near.”

The devil will flash into your mind a thousand things to do instead of that. As you “draw near” let the Holy Spirit convict you of what Christ is right now doing for you. Thank Him! “Hold fast the profession of [faith] without wavering.”  “He who  promised is faithful”  (10:23), so He will deliver you from the “fear of death” which “all [your] lifetime” has kept you in “bondage” (2:15).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 12, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Tiny Inquiry Into the Gospel

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Some day yet to come those who choose to follow Jesus will be of "one accord" as were His disciples at Pentecost. May that day come soon! (cf. Acts 2:1).

Then, united in their understanding of the "everlasting gospel" (Rev. 14:6, 7) they will be privileged to take up the cross on which self is crucified with Christ and will proclaim the message so clearly that the earth will be "lightened with His glory" (18:1-4, King James Version).

Is there something about the message that even now we may be of "one accord" in understanding? Let's try:

(1) "God so loved the world" (John 3:16). Not just the good people.

(2) "He gave His only begotten Son." Not just lent Him.

(3) "That whoever believes in Him should not perish." There's something about the "believes" that is vital; that may be where the dis-accord at present is hindering the whole-hearted "accord." Is it possible that the believing is something of the heart and not just a mental affirmation like believing 2 + 2 = 4? Romans 10:10 seems to suggest that: "For with the heart one believes to righteousness."

(4) If so, then could it be that to believe is to "comprehend" something? "The width and length and depth and height--to know the love [agape] of Christ which passes knowledge" (Eph. 3:18, 19)? The text dares to suggest that when God's people do "comprehend" this passes-knowledge-truth they will be ready to welcome Jesus at His second advent. (Perhaps our "Christian" dis-accord is due to not "comprehending"!)

(5) Genuine believing resolves the centuries-long conflict re faith and works: "Faith [is something] working through love" (Gal. 5:6; "faith which worketh by love," KJV). That must mean that when someone does believe, he is reconciled to God because he "receive[s] the reconciliation" (Rom. 5:11). The atonement was made long ago at Christ's cross; but it must be "received" by personal faith. In other words, to make it simple, the true idea is not "faith and works" but "faith which works." One can't be reconciled to God and not at the same time be reconciled to His holy law; therefore it must follow that a true experience of "believing" is what the Bible means by justification by faith (Rom. 5:1), which makes the believer "keep [become obedient to all] the commandments of God" (cf. Rev. 12:17; 14:12). Even when "Babylon" will persecute him for his obedience (14:8-10).

(6) If that's true, then it must follow that what we all need is to "see" something (Eph. 3:8, 9): what "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" means (1 Cor. 2:1, 2).

(7) "Seeing" that humbles proud human hearts; now what was "gain to me [self], I have counted loss for Christ" (Phil. 3:7, 8). It's impossible for a believer to do nothing: "the love [agape] of Christ constraineth us, ... not henceforth [to] live" for self but to be devoted to the One who died our "second death" for us (2 Cor. 5:14, 15, KJV; Rev. 2:11; 20:14).

This is just a tiny little inquiry into the gospel; can anybody say "amen" thus far?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 6, 2006.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Does Christ Win the Final Battle?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What is the grand climax of the book of Revelation? It's not Bad News, but Good News!

True, the terrible fall of "Babylon" and the unthinkable "seven last plagues" figure largely. But they are eclipsed by the glorious triumph of that Lamb of God. He is "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS," who rides on that "white horse," and whose "eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself," who "was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, ... and the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses" (Rev. 19:11-14).

He wins the great war of eternity in His final battle with the "dragon," the Enemy who invented sin in heaven when his name was Lucifer, son of the morning, who made himself become "that serpent of old, ... the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world" (12:9).

And how does Christ win this final battle?

Revelation 19 discloses His triumph: He wins the heart and the hand of a difficult-to-win "woman." She finally surrenders her repentant soul to become His Bride. "The marriage of the Lamb" is the occasion for the rejoicing of the inhabitants of heaven, as heaven has never rejoiced in past eternity. John hears "as it were, the voice of a great multitude, ... the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!"

Christ is now triumphant! "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory," are the lyrics of four grand Hallelujah Choruses that ring through the reaches of infinitude, "for the marriage of the Lamb has come [at last!], and His wife has made herself ready" (vss. 6-9). Invitations to the wedding banquet are right now being accepted, and sadly, some rejected. The celebration is on! Come!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 7, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Revelation 13 Is Beginning to “Roll”

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

If your house is below a killer volcano that hasn’t erupted for over a hundred years, you go to bed at night feeling quite secure, don’t you? But suppose you know that suddenly it has started rumbling, wouldn’t common sense tell you to get out and live somewhere else? Or to change the metaphor, say you live beneath an avalanche that hasn’t moved for over a century; you don’t worry. But then you learn that very recently it has suddenly moved a foot or two, then what? Once that huge mass begins to break loose, you know it’s going to roll.

Daniel and Revelation tell us of future developments that will be cataclysmic. In particular, Revelation tells of two great world powers symbolized as the first “beast,” and then “another beast” (13:1, 11). The first has always “blasphemed” God’s “name” and made war with His true people and persecuted them for 1260 years of real time (in Bible prophecy, a day is symbolic of a literal year; cf. vs. 5; 12:6, 14; Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6).

The second starts off totally different from the first. He comes up out of a comparatively uninhabited wide expanse of land and conspicuously teaches liberty of conscience (has “two horns like a lamb”). He grows phenomenally into a world power greater than anything since the Roman Empire.

Over a century ago Senator H. W. Blair of New Hampshire introduced a bill that would have abandoned our religious liberty and forced the observance of a religious day of rest—all contrary both to the Bible and to the basic principle of the American Constitution.

Largely due to the energetic effort of two young men (E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones) who by pen and voice appealed for loyalty to the First Amendment, Sen. Blair’s project was defeated—but only for a time. This great nation continued to manifest its lamb-like spirit of civil and religious liberty (which included the principle of no pre-emptive attack in war).

Now the volcano has rumbled, the avalanche has shifted; this power has begun to roar “as a dragon.” Revelation 13 is at last beginning to “roll.” Simple common sense now confirms what God has said all along, “Come out of [Babylon], My people” (Rev. 14:8; 18:1-4).

—Robert J. Wieland

From the “Dial Daily Bread” Archive: March 12, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by “Dial Daily Bread.”

Dial Daily Bread: The Most Important Activity Going on Today

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Thoughtful Christians have one common question: "What is Jesus Christ doing now? He promised to come back; why doesn't He?"

Yes, He promised, "As the lightning ... so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ... But of that day and hour no one knows, ... As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ... They ... did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matt. 24:27-39). The angels promised the disciples, "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). That literal, personal return of Christ has not yet taken place.

The only answer that can possibly make sense is that His people are not yet ready for Him to come. The harvest is not yet ripe (see Mark 4:26-29). And what special ministry can make a people to be ready? Only the ministry of Christ as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary (see Hebrews 8-10).

There was an earthly high priest in the ancient sanctuary--so there is a divine High Priest in the heavenly; there was an earthly lamb offered in the ancient sanctuary--Christ is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). As there was an annual day of atonement in the earthly sanctuary, so there is a cosmic Day of Atonement in the heavenly when the High Priest ministers in the Most Holy Apartment, the second apartment, of the heavenly sanctuary. The specific purpose of that ministry is to prepare a people for the second coming of Jesus.

Daniel understood there is a heavenly sanctuary--all the Israelites who were true to God understood it; it is natural then that when the angel in Daniel 8:13 answered the question "How long ... ?" by saying "unto 2300 days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" (vs. 14, King James Version) it's natural that Daniel understood it was the heavenly sanctuary.

That great Day of Atonement ministry is the most important activity going on today in the heavenly universe. Keep in tune with it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 12, 1998.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Final Work of the One True High Priest

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

For 2000 years, the gospel has been proclaimed in the world. But is it being proclaimed in its fullness, in its pristine power? Jesus proclaimed it by His words, by His life and great sacrifice on His cross, and by His resurrection. His disciples proclaimed the gospel clearly, for they "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

All kinds of sinners were redeemed from sin (see Paul's list in 1 Cor. 6:9, 10); and then he adds, "and such were some of you. But you were washed, ... sanctified, ... justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (vs. 11). The gospel was demonstrated to be "the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16).

The "power" was in the message that Paul especially proclaimed. But in history an enemy arose who obscured its light. Jesus and Paul warned against his (or its) perversion of the gospel (Matt. 24:24; Gal. 1:6, 7; 2 Thess. 2:3-7). Daniel describes this great development in history as the "little horn" (8:9-25; 7:8, 20-25). Revelation describes the same power as "the beast" (13:1-17). John calls this power "the Antichrist" (1 John 4:1-3). It obscures, twists, distorts, and misrepresents the pure true gospel so that its "power" to "save to the uttermost" is compromised.

It has been the curse of history. But now in the last days the gospel is to be restored in its full pristine power to be demonstrated again as "the power of God to salvation" in the great antitypical or cosmic Day of Atonement, when the world's true High Priest "cleanses the [heavenly] sanctuary" (see Dan. 8:14). This work will involve preparing a people for translation to see Jesus come the second time.

Luther, Calvin, and the Wesleys were led by God to launch the great Protestant Reformation. But in their day they could not grasp the full light of the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, that final work of the one true High Priest. That will fully recover "the truth of the gospel" that must "lighten the earth with glory" (Gal. 2:5; Rev. 18:1-4). Let that "light" come soon!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 1, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."