Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
To whom did Jesus preach His Sermon on the Mount--to His disciples or to the multitudes? Many believe that God is not the Father of "all humanity" but only of those who are converted. All the rest are children of the devil. But Matthew 5:1, 2 says that when Jesus saw "the multitudes, He went up on a mountain ... and taught them" about your "Father in heaven," and "in this manner ... pray, Our Father in heaven," etc. (chapter 6).
The Muslim is told that he must make himself pure before he can come to Allah. But Jesus says, Come, and I will make you pure. He became one of us so that He might invite us to regard His Father as our Father. True, there are many who are unconverted; but why? Is it because they have finally, irrevocably, determinedly rejected Christ, or for many is it because they have never understood the gospel? Are they wolves, or could they be lost sheep who haven't been "found" yet?
We know that Jesus said, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:16). In those words He describes the soul-winning work of that fourth angel who "comes down from heaven, having great power; and the earth [is] lightened with his glory" (Rev. 18:1-4, King James Version). That "voice" will call to those "lost sheep," "Come out of [Babylon], my people, ... lest you receive of her plagues."
A wise writer says that when Jesus was baptized and a Voice was heard from heaven declaring, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" that Voice embraced humanity (Matt. 3:17).
If you have felt like you are an orphan outside the "family," please accept the Good News: The Father has "adopted" you "in Christ" (Eph. 1:5, 6), and He invites you to pray, "Our Father ..." You are as precious as that discouraged woman at Jacob's well when Jesus told her, "True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" (John 4:23). Yes, He is seeking you! Come!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 6, 1998.
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