Dial Daily Brread: The Miraculous Repentance Yet to Come

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Does the ancient book of Jonah, and his strange story say anything to us in our modern world? Millions of Christians have long ago dismissed the book as a hopeless myth telling impossible tales: how could a fish swallow a man and he survive?

However, Jesus Christ believed the story of Jonah and referred to the book as straightforward historical fact (Matt. 12:40, 41). In the process, He told of a second miracle in the book of Jonah that eclipses the fish story in wonder: when the prophet preached his most precious message (all of God's messages are that!), the people of this very wicked pagan city actually believed his message and repented! Moreover, the highly sophisticated "king and his nobles" led out in the work of repentance, "all of them, from the greatest to the least"--a most unusual twist of human history.

Usually, it has been assumed by Christian people everywhere that any genuine revival or reformation must begin at the grass-roots level and then with the blessing of the Lord spread upwards to the leadership. But this time, it was backwards. "When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, ... and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation" calling upon the city as a whole, as a corporate body, to repent and be reconciled to God (Jonah 3:5-9, New International Version). It worked! The "city" responded! They repented!

The Father "sent" Jesus Christ, His Son, to the wicked city of Jerusalem, calling upon them to repent. But the leadership rose up in rebellion against Him, and murdered Him. And by and large, the people followed their leaders into national ruin. Imagine what a blessing it would have been to the nation (and the world) if Caiaphas, their spiritual leader, had followed the example of "the king of Nineveh," and had risen from his seat of leadership and led the nation into repentance! In that Matthew passage, Jesus appealed to the story of Jonah as an example of the kind of repentance He was calling for, from the Jewish people. But tragically, they refused.

Is there some lesson here for us? God's people can learn from the book of Jonah about the repentance of the ages, the miraculous repentance yet to come. Jonah's God still lives, still works.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 25, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Does God Ever Smile at Us?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is a simple, common word that we use all the time that amazingly is not found in the common English translations of the Bible: "smile" (the King James Versionconcordance goes from "smell" to "smite"). Smiles brighten our lives, but does God ever smile at us? If your only beloved one gives you a smile with eyes shining, your heart is lifted. But if only God would give you such a smile, how your inmost heart would sing for joy! Actually, all our yearnings for human love are in reality a longing for God's smile, to see His eyes shining upon us.

The idea of God smiling upon us (or frowning!) is in the Psalms of David: "There are many who say, 'Who will show us any good?' Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart" (4:6, 7). God's people "perish at the rebuke of Your countenance" (that is, His frown, 80:16). "How long will You hide Your face from me, ... having sorrow in my heart daily?" (13:1, 2).

When David built himself a new house, he dedicated it to the Lord. He wrote: "His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; ... You hid Your face, and I was troubled" (30:5, 7). "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous [obviously shining and smiling], ... The face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (34:15, 16). If you can't see His smiling face, you are depressed: even for the "innumerable teeming things [of creation] ... [if] You hide Your face, they are troubled" (104:25, 29).

Can you earn a smile from God by good works and obedience? "Many" think so, for in the judgment day they "will say," "Have we not ... done many wonders [wonderful works]?" (Matt. 7:22). What they thought was a "smile" for their good works only fed their complacent ego.

We are on safer ground when we appreciate that when the Father "smiled" on Jesus at His baptism ("This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased") He was smiling on us also (Eph. 1:6).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 9, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Sharing the Savior's Joy in Telling His Good News

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible mercifully does not teach an eternally burning hell where lost humans writhe in conscious torment. If you and I were safe in God's New Jerusalem, how could we be happy knowing that these people were in such agony? If we were loving people, we'd be in hell with them just through being compassionate! In truth, the whole universe would be hell itself--there couldn't be a spot free of the horrible plague of anguish felt by everyone.

We'd be utterly hard-hearted if we encased ourselves in isolation and forgot about them while reveling in self-centered "heavenly" enjoyment. Modern electronics makes us conscious of the world's agony today. Many people are virtually in a hell already, like that in which King David found himself after his double sin of sexual adultery and murder. The heart-pain was lethal: "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God" (Psalm 51:14). "My bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me." "Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord" (32:3, 4; 130:1).

In Christ, God has become one of us in bearing this same "bloodguiltiness," for on His cross Christ was "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21, King James Version). Our modern electronic age which has made us sensitive to the horror of so many people is concomitant with the Bible truth of God's cosmic Day of Atonement. That's when "the hour of His judgment has come," when the "seventh angel sounds" his trumpet (Rev. 14:7; 11:15). God feels all this agony of hell; but now we look into His sanctuary and feel for ourselves at least a little of what God feels.

The closer we come to Him (or rather, the closer we allow Him to come to us!) the more we are in sympathy with Him, and thus with our fellow men who suffer. It's a sin to live on this Day of Atonement while denying this closer fellowship with Him and with others.

But just sharing His agony is not good enough; sharing the joy of His salvation (what guilt-ridden David prayed for in Psalm 51) becomes ours, too. That means: from now on our very life is understanding and sharing that special "truth of the gospel" that comes with this grand Day of Atonement! Now we also share the Savior's joy in telling His Good News!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 9, 2006.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: God's Unwilling Messengers

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What can God in heaven do to awaken “this present evil world” in which we live? The story of Nineveh may illustrate how He works.

He cared about that wealthy pagan city (and Assyrian empire) with “more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left” (Jonah 4:11). He pitied their ignorance of truth, which Israel had “kept away from the world.” We do not read that He sent a literal “angel” to teach them (except for the angels at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, His messages have always been sent by humans under His guidance). So God chose Jonah and sent him, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it” (1:2).

But the messenger was unwilling; he did not have the compassion of heart that God had. Almost by coercion God sent him again, and his mission proved fantastically effective. “The people of Nineveh believed God, ... from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king …” (3:5-7).

For once Jesus’ prayer was answered, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”! The world’s most cruel empire was on the way to being converted! But the Lord’s messenger stumbled, staggered, and failed. Jonah could have become a great evangelist to Assyria itself, and the history of the four cruel empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, would have been different.

God also had a problem with His messenger to the Kingdom of Judah (worse than Assyria!) in Josiah its last “good” king. Almost fanatical in following the Spirit of Prophecy of his day (the books of Moses), he rejected its living demonstration in the message from Pharaoh Necho; and Josiah’s reformation failed (2 Chron. 35, 36).

But in the great final Day of Atonement, all the failures of ancient Israel and Judah must and will at last be rectified in a repentance of the ages (Rev. 3:19, 20). Then at last  “Nineveh” will be given the Lord’s message (18:1-4), and Christ will be honored.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 18, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Miracle of Unity

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible speaks of unity within the church: how Christ prayed for it (John 17:20, 21), how Paul said that Christ's agapewill produce it (Eph. 4:13-16), how the very doctrine of God demands it (vss. 2-6). But we have to face reality: churches often have disagreements and divisions, within one denomination and even within one church body.

Even after a literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2, there are powerful voices advocating evolution. There are divisions about ordaining women, about what music to use during church worship services, and on and on. And for many, "the blessed hope" of the soon second coming of Christ is receding into the background, and a materialistic earthly lifestyle is taking its place.

Why does disunion seem to flourish? And how can the church lighten the earth with glory if it is in a divided state? And what can bring the true unity that Christ prayed for?

There is a solution! If God is real and if His Bible is true, it follows that God willbring His people into unity.

What today seems impossible, the Holy Spirit will accomplish. He brought the disunited eleven apostles into unity before the Day of Pentecost. They were "all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). That was "the former rain," and the "latter rain" is promised to be even greater. God cannot use force to accomplish it. For Him to burn down churches or strike them with lightning wouldn't solve the root problem.

Ephesians gives us the solution: for those "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine" is the message of agape(Eph. 4:14, 15). Such a message tells what Christ accomplished, the pure biblical truth of justification by faith.

Christ has promised solemnly that if He is lifted up on His cross, that is, if His agapeis clearly proclaimed, He "will draw all peoples to [Himself]," and that of course is perfect unity (John 12:32). If the leadership of a church that is being fragmented receives the precious message of Christ's righteousness, the miracle of unity is as certain as day follows night.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 24, 1999.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Progress Will Become Phenomenal--In One Generation

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Is it possible that the Lord Jesus Christ in His glorified state is discouraged with the slow progress of His church on earth? Their progress, that is, in getting ready for His second coming? He says He wants to return, "that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:3). Their lack of spiritual progress delays that homecoming.

We may not say that He is "discouraged" (we are told that "discouragement" is a sin); but the word that we may use to describe how Christ feels is "disappointed." Divine "disappointment" cannot be described as a sin, but it is very painfulfor Him to endure while we go on generation after generation in a spiritual state that is childish. His "disappointment is beyond description." We should be growing up to be a bride for "the marriage of the Lamb" (cf. Rev. 19:7, 8), but generation after generation goes by with each repeating the spiritual childishness of its predecessor. In fact, it's century after century!

Can you imagine the "beyond-description disappointment" that the Lord Jesus feels?

He loves His corporate people who are His church; yes, He loves them individually. He loves youas an individual, yes you, the one-of-a-kind person you are; but He also loves His church corporately.The church has a corporate personality that in Scripture is given the female pronoun (Rev. 19:7, 8).

A teacher is disappointed "beyond description" when his student makes no progress in learning. Such was my first violin teacher's feelings about me as a student. I was working to hold the bow correctly, etc., but my heart wasn't in it. Nothing in violin music attracted me until one day I discovered an old broken Victor Red Seal record of Jascha Heifetz. My mother had left it before she died (when I was two); my father glued the two halves together on the back of another record. Heifetz was playing a Schubert-Wilhelm melody on the G-string of a genuine Stradivarius violin.

I thought, if that's what a violin should sound like, I love it! From then on my teacher saw progress.

This is a crude illustration; but when God's people learn to appreciate the kind of love (agape) that motivated Jesus to die the world's "second death," that is, when they see the "width and length and depth and height" of that love "which passes knowledge" (Eph. 3:18, 19) their progress will become phenomenal--yes, in one generation!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 15, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: When Jesus Almost Returned

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Almost 175 years ago a group of people joined a New York Baptist farmer, William Miller, in expecting the Lord Jesus Christ to return in fulfillment of His promise, "I will come again," on a certain date, October 22, 1844.

Of course, they were mistaken and their experience became known as the "Great Disappointment," for it was widely publicized. Their belief grew out of the study of Daniel 8:14, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days [which they correctly understood as literal years]; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" (King James Version). It was the general assumption in the churches that "the sanctuary" is this earth to be cleansed with fire at the second coming. The assumption was wrong but they had the date right: "the sanctuary" is the heavenly one to be cleansed by the heart preparation of a people readyto meet Jesus when He does return.

Does the genuine Holy Spirit ever permit people to be "disappointed" if they haven't studied? Yes! He permitted the Lord's disciples to suffer a terrible disappointment in His crucifixion, because they misunderstood the event. The true Holy Spirit was working in that 1844 movement, for it heralded the beginning of Christ's closing ministry as High Priest in the Most Holy Apartment ministry of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Pentecost heralded the beginning of His ministry in the first apartment.

But the ridicule heaped on William Miller has burgeoned into a dislike to think of anyone living to see Jesus return. "Everybody will die" is freely said repeatedly; but the apostle Paul boldly says the opposite: "Listen! I will unfold a mystery: we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet-call. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise immortal, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15:50-52, The New English Bible).

Now the question faces us: is the second coming of Christ near? Can we still cherish what Paul also said is the "blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ"? (Titus 2:11-14).

In our zeal to ridicule that sincere and godly Baptist minister of long ago let's not sacrifice a fundamental Bible truth for today. Jesus iscoming again--soon. And He intends that people now living will see Him come.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 29, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Christ's Prayer Must Be Answered

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Lord encourages each of us to pray to Him alone; Jesus gave us permission to address His Father as "our Father in heaven." We are to pray in the name of His only begotten Son: "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it" (John 14:14). Big promise!

But sometimes it seems that He doesn't hear us or answer us. We beg Him to tell us why. John may help: "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (1 John 5:14). "His will" is love for our souls; it's possible we are asking for something that in the end would harm us, because we don't know better (or it might harm someone else).

Then John explains further: "And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (vs. 15). The "if" is important. Some dear people spend a lifetime trying to understand, but you can "fast forward" your understanding if you will choose to believe that He loves you as an individual, that He does hear you, and that He will grant you whatever is best for you, to be realized when you need it.

But there is something about answered prayer we must not forget: "If twoof you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven" (Matt. 18:19). Praying by yourself may not be good enough! You'd be surprised how rare it is to find two individuals (even in a church) who are totally in heart unity. Not that one must be a clone of the other, but the Holy Spirit just has trouble "convicting" two people alike; one seems always to be breaking away from heart unity in some way. If only "two" could fulfill that promise "in Christ," they could turn the world upside down--let alone their church.

The prayer of Christ's heart still is for His disciples "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21). With His church fragmented, it may seem that even Christ after 2000 years can't get His prayers answered when He prays by Himself! But don't give up your faith: Christ's prayer mustbe answered, or He must lose the great controversy with Satan! Pray with Him, on His side, that His people may be brought into that true, blessed one-ness "in Him."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 9, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Savior Needs Your Willing Cooperation

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When you think about it, you marvel: whenever Jesus worked a miracle to give people food or drink, He always needed the willing cooperation of some human beings. At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, He needed the help of the servants to go get the wine jars and fill them with water. Then He chose not to wave His hand and suddenly fill all the guests' glasses with supernatural wine. Instead, working behind the scenes with the servants, He gave the party wine.

In the two miracles of feeding the thousands, it's interesting that in each instance He waited for the cooperation of the disciples before He could feed the multitudes. In the case of the "four thousand men, besides women and children" (Matt. 15:32-39), when He expressed His compassion on the people being so hungry that they might collapse on their journeys home, He first asked the disciples, "How many loaves do you have?" Apparently they went off to inquire and came back, "Seven, and a few little fish." Very well, now He can do something; "He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude."

In feeding the five thousand (Mark 6:30-44; John 6:5-14), again He was dependent on the little boy's gift of his "five loaves and two fish" (obviously the lunch his mother had made for him; he was so enthralled listening to Jesus he forgot to eat it). The lesson seems clear: although Jesus could "create" bread from nothing as He created the world in the beginning, now the rules in the great controversy require that He be dependent on willing human cooperation for something to begin with!

Astounding as the truth may be, the Savior actually needs you! Perk up, lift up your head; you are important in His great plan for the world.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 1, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: According to Jesus, There Is Only One Thing We Must Do

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

This may shock you, but it is true: as you read the New Testament, there is only one thing that we are told we must do--and that is "believe." It's clear in John 3:7-16, and in Hebrews 11:6, as well as Acts 16:30, 31.

The New Testament does not teach the heresy of what is known as "only-believism," that is, that a mental assent and confession are all that are necessary--without obedience. Romans 10:10 says that "with the heart one believes to righteousness." And if you believe with the heart, there is certainly a change in the life that leads you to obey all of God's commandments.

Put all those texts together and let them speak, and it becomes clear that the Bible meaning of the word "believe" is quite different from the usual idea held by Roman Catholic and Protestant evangelicals. To "believe" is not an exercise of selfishness, like buying a lottery ticket. Every such purchase is a hope to win a bonanza. But Bible faith is not centered in winning something, even if it is a heavenly fortune instead of an earthly jackpot. Bible faith is a heart-appreciation of the love of the Father in giving His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. According to Jesus, this is the one thing you must do.

But someone says, wait a minute--doesn't He say, "If you love me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15)? Yes, but please notice: the motive is love, not fear or hope of reward! And Jesus prefaces that remark with this: "believe ... in Me" (vs. 1). He is talking about receiving the atonement, the reconciliation (Rom. 5:9, 10). Paul pleads with us, "Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20). Why, and how? The next verse answers: "He made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us."

Let your heart contemplate what happened on that cross; then as David says, your heart will be "enlarged" (Psalm 119:32). In such faith is everlasting life. And the message about it today is the third angel's message in verity.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 28, 1997.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Confused by Conflicting Ideas of Righteousness by Faith?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Are you confused by conflicting ideas of "righteousness by faith"? Many are! It's quite likely that preachers, theologians, and writers have muddied the waters for you. Try reading the naked Bible. Yes, reading it, not merely listening to it on YouTube or on CDs to some preacher whose voice betrays his own confusion or hard-heartedness.

Here's a brief suggestion: try reading the Gospel of John. (Those who try to learn New Testament Greek usually begin there, for John's Greek is the most simple of any of the New Testament writers.) But before you open the Book offer a sincere prayer that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the apostle will condescend to inspire your mind and heart to grasp what he writes--then you and John will be kneeling together at the throne of grace!

If you have been afraid to read the naked Bible for fear you will be misled, make a choice to believe what the Savior of the world has promised: "Ask, and it will be given to you; ... What man is there of you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ... Your Father who is in heaven [will] give good things to those who ask Him," not fanatical or poisonous ideas (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 11:13 explains those "good things" to be the Holy Spirit).

It's a healthy thing to be afraid of fanaticism! Plead with the Father to save you from pride, for fanaticism is spiritual pride. A good, healthy prayer to pray daily is in Romans 12:3, "not to think of [oneself] more highly than [one] ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

Now, with confidence that the Father is not teasing you, but that He respects your humble prayer, start reading John. Remember, no commentaries for now, maybe later. By the time you get to John 3:16, much of the confusion will be cleared out of your mind, like sunshine after a storm.

You will see that it is God's job to tell you Good News, and it is now your job to believe it. That's the same as exercising that "measure of faith" God has already given you; and lo and behold, what happens? Righteousness by that faith; yes, willing and happy obedience to all the commandments of God--reconciliation of your alienated heart to Him and to His holy law. Another word for that? Salvation!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 7, 1999.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A "Student" in Christ's School

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

You'd think that if a person knew, even before he was born, that he was called of God to be a prophet, such a high honor would give him a healthy sense of self-respect. The Lord told that to Jeremiah (1:5), but here he is so down in the dumps that he wishes he could die (9:1, 2; 20:14-18). Of all the Lord's prophets, he is the most open in telling us of his inner battles with self, and of the disappointments in his relation with the Lord.

Elijah also wished he could die (1 Kings 19:4), but the Lord gave him the very high honor of being translated, and not dying. Isaiah went through an experience of deep humbling of his heart before God (Isa. 6:5), but the Lord gave him the joy of ministry to a king who appreciated him (37:1, 2, etc.).

But Jeremiah! He suffered nothing but rejection and disappointment for his entire lifetime, and even after the remnant of people who were left alive after the ruin of the kingdom saw the unmistakable evidence that he had been right all along in his ministry, they treated him like dirt (43:2-6ff.). His story comes to an end in tragedy. After he was dead, his people changed their mind about him, and they rated him the greatest of the prophets, even thinking that Jesus Christ might be Jeremiah resurrected (Matt. 16:14).

One experience in his life is of special encouragement to all of us who are "students in the school of Christ." Jeremiah prays in 10:23-24: "O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing." Do you believe the gracious, kind Lord answered that prayer? Yes! Did He bring the poor servant of His "to nothing"? No! Jeremiah tells us how the Lord kindly rebuked him, corrected him, disciplined him as a "student" in His school (15:15-21), and made a great man out of him. You are a student, too. Don't quit "school"!

--Robert J. Wieland

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

Dial Daily Bread: An Alternative to Being "Under Law"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

A man wrote of his experience as a youth when he would read the Bible every day simply because he enjoyed it. He had a Good News Bible, and was attracted to it. Then he went away to college and got in with a group of earnest-minded people who emphasized discipline. "Have you had your 'quiet time' with the Lord?" they would ask him frequently. "Are you maintaining your devotions?"

He got so he dreaded to hear the questions. Now, reading the Bible and praying had passed from a pleasant experience to a burden, an obligation imposed upon him with dreaded consequences if he slipped up. Now his "Christian" experience had become a list of "shoulds": you "should" pray more, you "should" read your Bible more, you "should" do this or do that more.

What happened? He tried to think it through and concluded that he was in the spiritual condition that Paul describes as "under law" (Rom. 6:14, 15). He was trying to do all the right things for the wrong reason. The joy was gone.

The "world" is much with us; we are enmeshed in countless activities and it seems the busy days fly by and we drop exhausted into bed at night and remember, "Oh, I forgot to pray, or I forgot to read my Bible! Now what's going to happen to me?!" That's what it's like to be "under law."

Yes, you're busy; but when you drop into bed at night do you suddenly reproach yourself, "Oh, I forgot to eat breakfast this morning! I've been too busy to eat lunch! And there was no time to eat supper! And I haven't even had a snack for a week!"? I doubt it. You have a built-in device called "hunger" that pretty well makes that impossible, at least for very long.

There's an alternative to being "under law"--being "under grace" (Rom. 6:14), under a new motivation imposed upon you by a heart-appreciation of God's loving and His giving that you might not "perish" (John 3:16). And thatproduces a "hunger and thirst for righteousness" that simply will notgo unsatisfied for long! (Matt. 5:6).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 27, 1998.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Good News in Suffering

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Have you ever known someone who was faithful and obedient to the Lord, yet who was left to suffer sickness and pain for a long time, unhealed? Yes, it does encourage us to hear stories of other people whose prayers were answered miraculously. But for some people, the miraculous answer doesn't come.

I knew of one case, a lady whose ministry blessed many people, whose love and unselfishness were unquestioned, whose life record was one of wonderful good works, yet her illness went on and on. Have you suffered and yet it seemed your prayers were not answered? Let me encourage you:

Elisha was undoubtedly a man of God, a true prophet, yet he became ill and he actually died of his sickness (read 2 Kings 13:14). Can you imagine Elisha praying for healing and wondering why the Lord did not heal him? If anybody had merit accumulated by a life of good works, he did. Why did God leave him to suffer until he died?

And then there is Paul, so sick that he almost died (2 Corinthians 12); well, yes, Paul must have been healed, but he tells us that when he begged the Lord three times to take away the "thorn in his flesh," the Lord said No. Why? Doesn't the Lord answer our prayers? Yes, He answered Paul's with a straight-out No. But that "No" brought immense joy and peace to Paul's heart and he was on Cloud Nine from then on because the Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (which means human helplessness). Then Paul said, "Most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ... For when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

The real Good News in suffering like this is that you "partake of Christ’s sufferings" (1 Peter 4:13) and that is real cause for rejoicing.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 17, 1998.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Unnecessary Prayer

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you ever read The Unnecessary Prayer in the Bible? It was offered from a sad heart that was broken with Unnecessary Sorrow. That prayer came from a very good man whose sorrow was possible only because of his unbelief (the same unbelief all of us have known, by nature).

In Genesis 37:3-11 God has chosen Joseph, old Jacob's son, to be a prophet, and has given him two inspired dreams. His father, mother, and eleven brothers would all someday bow down to him. The ten brothers hated him (just as we good church people find it easy to hate any true messenger the Lord may send to us--it's a perpetual phenomenon).

Jacob almost believes, but then disbelieves. When the ten brothers sell Joseph as a slave into Egypt, they tell the old father a lie, and he believes it instead of the prophetic Good News. "A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces" (vs. 33). Jacob believes that lie for many years. Meanwhile Joseph has become Prime Minister of the great Empire of Egypt.

He pretends to talk rough to the ten brothers who finally come down to buy grain. Don't you dare come back unless you bring your youngest brother (Benjamin)! So they tell this "sad," bad news to old Jacob who concludes (like so often we all do!), "All these things are against me" (42:36; they were actually for him!).

Finally, with reluctance he lets them take Benjamin and go back to buy some grain to save their lives. The ten have told him about that "mean man," the Prime Minister; they're all afraid of him. Jacob lets them go, and prays: "May God Almighty give you mercy before the man!" (43:14). He prays that Joseph, who loves them all with all his heart, will be merciful! The Unnecessary Prayer!

All those many years of Jacob's sorrow were needless except for his doubt of the Spirit of Prophecy. He should have believed that since God had called Joseph to the gift of prophecy He would never have let "a wild beast devour him." He should have told the ten, "You're lying!" He should have kept the faith and been happy all those long, sad years.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 17, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Our Biblical Poet Laureate

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The prophet Isaiah belongs in a class by himself. Not only has he written the longest book in the Bible (66 chapters), he is our biblical Poet Laureate. And not only that, the Holy Spirit employed him to portray Christ in prophecy in the most intimate way. We meet Jesus personally in Isaiah. The words the poet chose in chapter 53, for example, are heart-stopping. Of inspired writers of all time, Isaiah stands at the pinnacle.

But it is in his chapters 7 and 9 Isaiah confronts us with a most profound revelation of Jesus as a Baby. Not only is Jesus born of a virgin, but the Baby's name is "God with us" (Matt. 1:23). The only Baby in all eternity to be both divine and human is given to "us" for all eternity. "Unto usa child is born." All you inhabitants of other worlds who have never fallen, stand back; all you holy, sinless angels, stand back; Jesus is ours. We fallen, sinful mortals, wehave Him. The Son of God! And we have Him forever.

Just knowing and believing this kills sin at its roots. (If you are still a slave to sin, you don't yet believe it.)

But 9:6 details an almost unbelievable truth about this Baby. Even in His infancy, as soon as He was born, the "government" of the universe was laid upon His shoulders--baby shoulders. From His first breath as Mary's Child He was set to fight in a war--the great controversy with the Enemy, Satan. If as a child, He were to "choose" the "evil" and "refuse" the "good" (as every other baby in all time has done; see 7:15; Rom. 3:23), He would have marred His record and "the government" of the universe would have fallen.

The plan of salvation was laid upon a Child. He couldn't be allowed to wait until what we say is "the age of accountability." He was "accountable" from His first breath. And He wasn't programmed to be flawless: He was so from human choice--"He knew to refuse the evil and choose the good" (7:15).

Stand back, all human beings: your salvation as well as that of the throne of God was on the shoulders of a Baby.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 1, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

 

Dial Daily Bread: What It Means to "Glory in the Cross"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What does it mean to "glory ... in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" as the apostle says in Galatians 6:14--"God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ"? To "glory" in something is to revel in it, to be absorbed in it, to think of it day and night, to live for it; we do that all the time when we "glory" in our speed boat, or in our wardrobe, or in our palace-like house, or even in our garden, or in our special abilities that make people envy us. How can we learn to "glory in the cross"?

To "glory" in earthly things is idolatry; and the end is boredom. To "glory in the cross of Christ" would be a delightful experience if one knew how to do it; but what does the cross mean to us?

Christ suffered for us, but soldiers on the battlefield are also suffering; some of them lie in agony, wounded, for longer times than Jesus suffered on His cross. What is so special about the suffering of Jesus? When Paul "gloried in the cross" the world itself was "crucified to [him]" and he was "dead" to its alluring temptations; the cross of Christ had done something for him and to him. The love (agape) demonstrated there impacted him so deeply that "henceforth" he was "constrained" to devote himself to the cause and mission of Christ; he was "crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). It wasn't because Paul was a super-hero; he was a sinner by nature as much as any of us; he said he was "less than the least of all saints [sinners]" (Eph. 3:8).

What the apostle "saw" we can "see" today: the death that Jesus died on His cross was not the ordinary "death" we know; He died "theseconddeath" (Rev. 2:11; 20:14), which meant under "the curse of God," the horror of the endless darkness of hell; and Christ suffered it for every human soul on earth (Gal. 3:13; Heb. 2:9). Let the solemn truth stretch your mind and "enlarge [your] heart" as David prays (Psalm 119: 32), so you can "comprehend" its vast dimensions (Eph. 3:14-19).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 22, 2007.
Copyright © 2014 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Prayer God Has Promised to Answer With a Yes!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Would you like to pray a prayer that you know for surewill be answered? (That is, of course, if you don't resist and reject the answer God has promised to give you.) Here's the one He has promised to answer with a Yes! "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5).

Note what's involved: (1) You must realize that you "lack wisdom" (that immediately eliminates some people; they are satisfied with what they think they have). (2) Praying for wisdom is the right thing to do. (3) In response, God gives every human that gift, with no stipulation other than to ask in faith. In other words, you don't bring any merit with your prayer; unworthy people are invited. (4) Don't be afraid that God will "reproach" you, crush you with humiliation and fault-finding. He wants to build you up, not tear you down.

Psalm 25 is a perfectly worded prayer for wisdom (James may have had it in mind). No less than seven times David prays about and asks for it: "Teach me Your paths" (vs. 4). "Teach me" (vs. 5). You "teach sinners" (that's Good News, isn't it?; vs. 8). "The meek will He teach His way" (vs. 9). "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth" (vs. 10). If someone reverences the Lord, He shall "teach [him] in the way that He shall choose" (vs. 12). He teaches you "the secret of the Lord" (vs. 14).

Jesus agrees. If you ask the dear Lord to give you a piece of bread, He does not put a stone on your plate (Matt. 7:7-11). He doesn't tease you or ridicule you. (But you can be sure that Satan will tempt you to think that God has double-crossed you.)

Then why do so many people who ask God to "teach" them and ask Him for "bread," end up in disagreement as to what God's wisdom is? Often they oppose each other.

It's a call to humility, to pray again, to re-study God's word. Psalm 25 leads to Psalm 40 where you "wait patiently for the Lord" until He "sets [your] feet upon a rock, and establishes [your] steps" (vs. 2). Hang on, by faith.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 28, 2001.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Every Loaf of Bread Is Stamped With the Cross of Christ

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

A wise writer has said that every loaf of bread is stamped with the cross of Christ. But how? What does this mean? The answers are found in the following Bible verses:

John 6:33: By His sacrifice, Christ "gives life to the world." Verse 51: He has given His "flesh ... for the life of the world."

1 Timothy 4:10:He is already "the Savior of all men."

John 4:42:His name is "the Savior of the world."

Isaiah 53:5, 6:He has died for every person's sin, paid the full penalty because "the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

Hebrews 2:9:He has "taste[d] death for everyone," not the "sleep" that we humans call death, but the real thing, "the second death" (Rev. 2:11; 20:14).

Romans 5:16-18:As our second Adam, Christ has taken the place of the first Adam. The entire human race was "in him" when he sinned in Eden; now because Christ has taken his place as our second Adam, the entire human race is "in Him" in the same legal, or corporate sense. He has reversed the "condemnation" that came upon "all men" in Adam, and God has given us instead "a verdict of acquittal" in Christ (The Revised English Bible).

John 3:16-19:Therefore the only reason any soul can be lost at last is his or her refusal to believe the Good News.

Revelation 13:8:If Christ had not become "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," the entire human race would have perished in Eden; the human race "lives" because of Him; the sun shines, the rain falls, because of Him; we are all infinitely and eternally in debt to Him, whether or not we know it and whether or not we believe it. "By His stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:5).

1 John 2:2:He is "the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."

2 Corinthians 5:19:When Christ was on His cross, God imputed the world's trespasses unto Him, not just of a few.

The conclusion:John 6:51-53 applies both to our present physical life as well as to our spiritual life. No one can excuse himself from the obligation to yield all to Christ, for He has purchased all; thus His cross is stamped on every loaf of bread, and every meal becomes a sacrament--by faith. The believer "eats and drinks" to "God's glory" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 20, 1998.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Problems With Pride and Arrogance--Let's Find a "Self-starter" for Humbling Self

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There was once a man who was proud, haughty, arrogant, even cruel--a king whose name was Nebuchadnezzar; and Iraq was his kingdom. Like most kings of his day, he could have lived and died in hopeless proud self-deception except that a man of God prayed for him personally--Daniel the prophet.

Daniel discerned in the king a streak of honesty and reality. He did what the apostle John said we should do: "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He [God] will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death" (l John 5:16). The king's dream of Daniel 4 was God's answer to the prophet's prayer. The Lord permitted Daniel to be an "evangelist" to teach Nebuchadnezzar gospel truths.

The Lord loved the king so much that He gave him a special blessing--He humbled the man in the dust. The Lord gave him a form of insanity in which he thought he was an animal or a cow, and in seven years of gross humiliation the proud king learned a proper heart attitude of reverence for the King of kings and Lord of lords. You could hardly say that the king humbled himself; God humbled him, even humiliated him.

We too have problems with pride and arrogance. God has given each of us wonderful gifts that we can easily become proud over. But let's not be so stubborn that we wait for the Lord to humble us, like the king. To be humiliated is a very severe ministry of the Lord! It's too late for the Lord to resort to those extreme measures to "heal" us, for we are living in the great cosmic Day of Atonement; now we want to humble ourselves. Self-starters were a wonderful invention for old Ford Model T cars. Let's find a "self-starter" for humbling self, and not wait for the Lord to have to do it for us, as with Nebuchadnezzar!

"When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride." That's better--its self-humbling.

--Robert J. Wieland

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

Dial Daily Bread: When the Lost “Perish,” Will God Still Love Them?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

When the lost at last "perish" in what the Bible calls "the Lake of Fire," will God still love them? Or will His once-present love have changed to hatred or indifference? This may seem like a silly question, but your answer may well mean the difference in your attitude toward God, whether you are happy in His love, or uncertain of it.

There is a profound statement in Revelation that indicates that great sorrow will grip Heaven when the lost perish at last. Introducing the passage about final judgment is this statement: "When He [the Lamb] opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven ..." (8:1). We read that "God is love" (agape; 1 John 4:8), and that "agapenever fails" (1 Cor. 13:8). We read that when wicked men crucified the Savior, He prayed, "Father, forgive them." We read that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze. 18:32; 33:11). That means He takes severe pain in their death!

God's love is different than ours; it never fails. When at last the wicked realize, like Esau, how they have sold their "birthright" to eternal life, they can find no place of repentance, though they seek it with tears (see Heb. 12:16, 17) because they have burned all bridges behind themselves and rendered their own souls incapable of repentance. Their anguish will be indescribable, for at last they will be fully conscious.

Most severe will be the pain of those who at one time rejoiced in "the knowledge of the truth" but who like Judas Iscariot betrayed their sacred trusts (see Heb. 10:26-29). But does God love them to the bitter end? Yes! Will He share their sorrow? Yes. Will the "righteous" inside the New Jerusalem gloat over their anguish? No; there will be "silence in heaven ..." We can see how God will feel when we look at how He cried about ancient Israel going down to destruction. Hear Him weeping: "How can I give you up?" (Hos. 11:8).

And we see Jesus (who revealed the Father to us) as He is convulsed with sobbing anguish as He looks on the temple one evening for the last time: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ... how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37). What's the point? Think seriously about that divine love for you. Beware lest you slip into that position of "you were not willing!” Be gathered under those "wings."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 22, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."