Daily Bread - Readings about life and the Word of God.
Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”
So many of you have written that you and others you’ve reached out to have been praying for Fred Bischoff. We thank you and know that Fred would be very appreciative. (Later we will let him know.)
His surgery was yesterday (Thursday) in Southern California, and his outlook is good. As his recovery progresses follow-up treatment will be determined.
Please continue to lift up Fred in prayer. We will try to keep you informed of his progress.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
For our happiness, our Creator and Savior has told us that "six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God" (Ex. 20:9, 10). Granted, we believe that. We gladly give Him that "seventh day."
But is there another bit of what may be seen as "holy time"? The remaining "six days" of the week are not an escape from God; seven days a week we are to "abide" in Christ and we are to invite, to welcome Him to "abide" in us (John 15:4). After the toil of each of "the six working days" the dear Lord "gives His beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2). Thus we awaken each new morning refreshed to "abide" another day in Christ, while we go about our lives. Jesus gave us an example for our encouragement about how to live those "six working days" of the week:
"In the morning, having risen a long time before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed" (Mark 1:35). This is not an example of deprivation of needed sleep which the Lord "gives His beloved," no; it's just a healthy way to live; it was His habit to go to bed early so He could do this(unless someone like Nicodemus would come and keep Him up late, see John 3:2).
In God's plan, each new day begins at sundown (Gen. 1:5). It was Roman paganism that changed this so it begins at midnight. On this cosmic Day of Atonement, those who follow our great High Priest in His cleansing His sanctuary, choose to "abide" in Him; we jealously guard that morning timewhen He awakens us (see Isa. 50:4, 5).Guard that evening hour too.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 19, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”
Suppose when you were little, your parent(s) did not know how to teach you, train and nurture you in love. So, now you have problems inherited ever since childhood. (Sometimes you even hate yourself for the way you feel or act!) Can you overcome the handicap that has been yours since childhood?
Your Father in heaven knows all about it. He does not blame you for what you had nothing to do with before you were accountable. He loves and respects you as an individual for whom Christ gave the sacrifice of His life.
Still, God cannot excuse defects of character that ruin your own and others’ happiness even though you acquired them through DNA or in less-than-perfect childhood upbringing. He has given us a Savior whose special job is to save us fromour inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil. He is the Great Physician who heals wounded hearts. We don’t need to carry around the defects that our parent(s) saddled upon us.
This promise is in Psalm 27:10: “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.” Not that they willfully abandoned you on someone’s doorstep. Your parent(s) “left” you in the sense that they didn’t know how to help you. There was a point beyond which emotionally they couldn’t give you what you needed, and it was no fault of theirs. (Perhaps they inherited weaknesses from their own childhood! The problem goes back to Adam, really.)
Therefore, you will find healing in letting the Savior write the fifth commandment in your heart which says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Ex. 20:12). “In Christ” you can “honor” them as the parents that they wouldhave been if only they had known Christ better as their Savior.
That fifth commandment is a promise more than a stern command when you see it as the New Covenant. Even if you feel like a youthful friend of mine who said he could never “honor” his alcoholic father, the principle of corporate guilt and corporate forgiveness enables you to “honor” them “in Christ”.
At the very point where your parents failed, that’s precisely where “the Lord will take care of [you].”
—Robert J. Wieland
From the “Dial Daily Bread” Archive: January 19, 2002.
Copyright © 2018 by “Dial Daily Bread.”
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
How people in a church can truly believe the same thing (unity) is important, because Jesus said that the only way the world can be brought to believe in Him is when His followers "all may be one, ... that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21). Something He calls "Your truth" is the only thing that will unite them (vs. 17).
Paul calls it "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14). The success or failure of Christ's mission for the world therefore depends on that "truth" bringing His people who profess to "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" into one (Rev. 14:12).
For example, how could a group of mathematicians come into unity unless they all believe that 2 + 2 = 4? Suppose some said it equals 5? Is that "truth of the gospel" so simple and clear that it appeals to honest hearts with a similarly powerful logic?
Take the problem of Genesis 1. Christ and His apostles accepted that "the truth of the gospel" required sincere, honest hearts to believe that God created the earth in six literal days. People who insist they are equally sincere understand the idea of six literal days to be ancient mythology; science makes such belief naive, they say.
Then there's the problem of Jesus Himself. When He became incarnate, did He "take" the sinless nature of the unfallen Adam, thus breaking the genetic line of His descent from the real Adam? Or did He accept the working of the great law of heredity and enter the stream of humanity by taking our fallen, sinful nature yet living a sinless life? Here again is disunity; the assumption is that unity is impossible. Or is it?
The kind of faith that "believes in Jesus" is not anti-intellectual, but it is enriched with something called "wisdom that is from above." Such faith can see beyond the limits of science, for it "works." It is "alive" (Gal. 5:6; James 2:17, 18; 3:17).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 10, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Throughout the world there are deep stirrings in people's souls about what Paul's term "the truth of the gospel" means (Gal. 2:5, 14). Is it maybe, perhaps good news? Or is it glorious Good News? Does God's real gospel have fine print hidden in it that ultimately means your salvation depends upon your own strength? What has Christ actually accomplished for the human race? Has He made us an offer that if we exert ourselves sufficiently we might make it?
Does He tell us that if we hold on tight to His hand like a child crossing a busy street holding on to Daddy's hand we'll be safe, or does God tell us that He loves us so much that He is holding on tight to our hand? (See Isa. 41:10, 13.) The answers mean that our walk with the Lord will be happy and triumphant, or it will be discouraging and defeatist? Can we make the Good News of the gospel too good? Is salvation really by faith, or by faith plus works?
A friend sent me a precious thought that impresses me as being genuine, solid Good News:
"Through Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection, the [human] race was encircled by God's arm and redeemed. The gulf between God and man was fully bridged, the penalty/consequence of sin was demonstrated and exhausted, humanity was restored to God's image and to His right hand, and sin and death were overcome. God could look at His Son sitting beside Him and say, 'Humanity has been restored to righteousness and life.' This corporate statement is the justification to life [of Rom 5:18]. ... The price to keep an unrepentant sinner alive for this life is identical to the price paid for the repentant sinner to spend eternity with God, the life of God Himself poured out in Jesus Christ. ... Faith is reckoned by God to be righteousness. Because of what Christ has done as the Head of the human race, God can plant the seed of this reality in each heart. ... It is not the end of the process, but it is the beginning. And it is real, not fiction."
To my friend Fred Bischoff I say a hearty "Amen!"
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 13, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
A note to readers: Please pray for our brotherFred Bischoff who was just diagnosed with a brain tumor. He will be having surgery tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 27). Your prayers will be very much appreciated.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Too many of our celebrated holidays are of pagan origin and bear those marks even today; but one is free of it--Thanksgiving. But even this one last touch of national gratitude to God is marred now by the designation "Turkey Day," so the Day is marked by indulgence of appetite.
A popular Bible text for Thanksgiving Day sermons is, "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!" (2 Cor. 9:15). The one gift above all gifts He has given us is this: "God so loved the world that He gave ..." It was all that He had in the gift (not the loan, not the mere offer) of His Son (John 3:16). The Son of God is now the Son of man; He is eternally a member of our human race, but that wasn't far enough for the Father to "give." He went further in pouring out the "gift."
The Father gave Him to take seven steps in stepping down lower, itemized in Philippians 2:5-8: (1) He gave up His "equality" with God; (2) "emptied Himself" (New American Standard Bible) like you turn a bottle upside down to drain it; (3) gave up His "reputation"; (4) was "made in the likeness of men," lower than the angels; (5) "humbled Himself," became a slave washing people's feet (John 13); (6) "became obedient unto death," the only one in 6000 years to do so (this "death" that Christ was "obedient" to is the real thing--the "second death," the "curse of the law" (Gal. 3:13; Rev. 20:14); (7) He died "the death of the cross," the curse being "forsaken" by God forever; the most horrible death one could know.
"Thanks" for that, says Paul!
The death which Christ died was far more than the physical, social agony of His cross. "The second death" is the death in which there is no hope of a resurrection (the death that Christ saved us from!). He carried with Him all His life that hope of a resurrection, until the time when "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21), when He cried out in most bitter agony, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). That point was where the "giving" was the greatest; it was a gift for eternity, an infinite gift.
Contemplating that gift of His love has a subduing effect upon the human soul; no one canbe the same after his heart grasps that! If the idea can be translated and the consciousness of its "width and length and depth and height" (Eph. 3:18) can be understood, there is salvation in the very thanksgiving, as there is salvation in faith. Such thanksgiving is close to what faith is! The human heart is moved forever.
Those heavenly beings who are still humans (the "twenty-four elders," see Rev. 4:4; 5:9) never cease to give their thanks. Neither will you, once you comprehend what that "unspeakable gift" entails.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 19, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”
We want to let you know about a new edition of Elder Robert J. Wieland’s classic book, The Good News Is Better Than You Think. It has been re-published with a new cover reflecting what Elder Wieland often talked about as “gospel sunlight,” and is appropriate to give to anyone. It also includes pages for personal notes, and a new appendix on “Acres of Diamonds,” an interesting essay referenced in the book.
For ordering information, go to:
http://www.cfibookdivision.com/good-news/good-news-sales.html
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
For hundreds of years reverent-minded Bible scholars have recognized that Revelation 9 presents the story of Islam. It is the "smoke [that] arose out of the bottomless pit" (vss. 2, 3). It has darkened the bright sunshine of the pure gospel of Christ. But professed Christianity has also not let much more of the pure gospel sunlight get through. The Crusades were not a proud chapter in our history.
The coming of the Messiah to Israel and to the world was to be the best good news; the truth of the gospel of Christ was to lighten the earth with glory. The coming of Christianity was to go forth "conquering and to conquer," symbolized by the rider on the white horse of chapter 6, verse 2. The pure gospel of Christ was so clear, so powerful, that it would sweep through the world and demonstrate its character as what Paul says, "the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16). The Messiah was to save the world, and devout Jews for many years had looked forward to this glorious climax of all human history.
But then the prophet Daniel was given a vision in which he saw an evil power arise that would pervert that pure gospel of Christ, and to his amazement and horror it would become a greater curse to the world than paganism had been. The story is in chapter 8. The great cosmic controversy between Christ and Satan was won by Christ on His cross, assuring us of its final triumph; Satan knows that he is already a conquered foe. But he is fighting with mad desperation in his hatred of Christ, trying to keep people in deception, and thus keep them from being reconciled to God.
The enemy's masterpiece has been to introduce into Christianity the key doctrines of paganism, which Muslims have from their beginning seized upon as their cause célèbre to justify them in rejecting the gospel truths of the cross of Christ and of His atonement.
Still, it's not too late to seek, like a Good Shepherd seeking His lost sheep, for honest souls among Muslims who will respond to the pure gospel (what Paul says is "the truth of the gospel," Gal. 2:5, 14). Foremost among anti-evangelism obstacles are the mistruths of double predestination, idolatry and image veneration, justification by works, and all confusion regarding what Christ accomplished for the world. The cross of Christ is the focal point of Satan's subtle enmity.
God's promise is that in these last days the pure "truth of the gospel" will emerge from the darkness of misapprehension of God--and accomplish what the apostles did after Pentecost.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 7, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Proverbs tells us that "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (4:18, King James Version). The "just" means the corporate body of God's people, which is the church that Jesus founded. In other words, the church is to grow in their grasp of the truth until the last day of world history--the second coming of Jesus.
The Books of Daniel and the Revelation come on stage here; that's where this "path" is detailed. Both describe the monstrous apostasy and deception of "the other [little] horn" of Daniel, which was to prevail against the saints for 1260 years (Dan. 7:19-26; Rev. 12:6, etc.).
But before the 1260 years should end, the light begins to grow brighter for those who are watching: the Protestant Reformation beginning in the 16th century brings what Daniel calls "a little help" (11:34). Finally, the long period of papal darkness and persecution ends in 1798 (538 A.D. to 1798 A.D. = 1260 years), and the Book of Daniel is unsealed (12:9) worldwide; "the time of the end" has begun (12:4). Then comes the beginning of the great Day of Atonement for the world--the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary (Dan. 8:14; the 2300 years end in 1844), and the complementary message in Revelation of three angels comes (14:6-12).
The result of the three angels proclaiming their message to "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" is the raising up of a new corporate "remnant" church who believe. It is specified as those who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (12:17). They are raised up for the purpose of preparing a people to be ready for the close of human probation, to endure the "time of trouble," and to witness the personal, literal, visible return of Jesus Christ (cf. John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17). It's the great "blessed hope" cherished by all who "love His appearing" (Titus 2:11-14; 2 Tim. 4:6-8).
Jesus wants to come; He is in love with a "woman," the corporate body of the church that loves His appearing. But He cannot come because there is an angel who is telling Him, No, You can't come yet. John describes that angel: "Another angel came out of the temple [in heaven], crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, 'Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe'" (Rev. 14:15). Not until that "harvest" is "ripe" can the Lord come the second time!
The message that must now go to all the world is that "Loud Cry" message of Revelation 18. It's not only a warning message; it's a winning message--it's of Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 21, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Bible is clear--God's New Covenant is His promise. Jeremiah says that the New Covenant is the same as writing His holy law in the human heart (31:31-34). Now the question of questions: When God makes a promise, is there power in the promise itself? Or is the power in your doing what's right? Is there power in the gospel itself (the gospel understood as Good News, Rom. 1:16)? Or is the power in your own obedience to the gospel?
Here's the old controversy between righteousness by faith and righteousness by faith plus works. Don't dismiss the issue; it's serious.
Sarai was the name of the lady who was Abram's wife. The best one can find is that her name meant "contentious," quarrelsome. This is borne out by what we read of her. When God says He is not accepting Hagar's child, Ishmael, as the promised "heir," she feels bad because she is the problem; she is unable to conceive a child. She blames God. Then in Old Covenant thinking she comes up with a bright idea to solve Abram's problem: she practices Old Covenant self-denial and gives her maid (Hagar) into Abram's embrace--not an easy thing for any wife to do (Gen. 16:5).
Then the affair goes sour, Hagar despises Sarai, and lords it over her--the new queen of the household, and Sarai? Cast down. So she acts out her name and berates poor Abram: "My wrong be upon you! ... The Lord judge between you and me," and she storms off in a huff (Gen. 16:5). All Abram did was exactly what she told him to do, yet now she blames him! This lady is angry with God and everybody else. Now what can God do?
He gives her some New Covenant Good News. While she is the same contentious woman, He changes her name to Sarah, which means "Princess"; and He tells her He believes in her! All the promises to Abraham are to her, too. And now, just that simple word, that New Covenant Good News, melts her proud, angry heart, and "by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age." How? "Because she judged Him faithful who had promised" (Heb. 11:11).
Sounds like there is power in the word of God. All it needs is for someone to believe it.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 25, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Isaiah 6 describes the young prophet's vision in the Temple of seeing "the Lord ... high and lifted up." It seems obvious that his vision was not of materialistic "glory"; it was a vision of the character of the Lord, a heart-humbling appreciation of His glorious self-sacrificing love. The cry of "holy, holy, holy" was a revelation of the cross. The young Isaiah was overwhelmed with a humbling sense of his own sinful selfishness in contrast. It became the foundation of his entire lifetime of service.
"Woe is me!" he cries. "I am undone!" A steamroller has flattened me in the dust. I thought I could devote my life to the Lord's ministry, he says; now I see that "I am a man of unclean lips." I have wandered into the "temple" of the Lord and I see I don't belong here; my heart is polluted in contrast with the righteousness of Christ. So prayed Isaiah.
There was another man who had a similar experience. The apostle Peter had spent some three years in the Lord's special theological seminary and had felt quite qualified for apostolic "ministry." Then when he had publicly blurted out three times his abject denial of Christ, he felt so crushed, so self-humiliated, so polluted in soul, that he threw himself on the ground and wished he could die. Lord, I'm finished! I can never be an apostle; I'm totally unworthy to be one of the Twelve; do let me die! So prayed Peter.
Sometimes the dear Lord lets us have cause to say, "All day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning" (Psalm 73:14). Then when we feel done in, another word from the Lord comes to mind, "Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. 12:6).
Isaiah could never have written his 53rd chapter about the cross of Christ unless he had experienced that self-abasement early on, in chapter 6. Someone somewhere is hungry to hear what happened on the cross of Christ. You talk about winning souls; well, if you can tell the story of the cross you'll win souls. But you'll never be able to tell it unless you have had your Isaiah 6 experience, and knelt down beside him there, and knelt down beside Peter, too.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 11, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We get a most precious little glimpse into the heart of Jesus during the moments that He was arrested in the Garden. His "loyal" disciple Peter has drawn his sword and slashed away wildly (like we do sometimes when we try to "defend" the truth thoughtlessly), and he chopped off the ear of the high priest's slave. Ludicrous accomplishment, Peter! You thought you were protecting the King of the new kingdom, didn't you; you said so proudly that you will never deny Him. This is a sorry performance to begin with.
Well, Peter meant to do the right thing. Jesus patiently endured him, this time once again; he had often done foolish things. But Jesus now told him to stop fighting and let things happen. The Father, after all, was leading.
Then our Lord uttered a brief soliloquy that tells us something profound: "How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" In other words, Jesus didn't know what was going to happen except for what He had read in the Old Testament! Moments later He told His enemies, "I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled" (Matt. 26:52-56). Jesus held in His hands the same Book you hold in your hands, and the same Holy Spirit who taught Him the word is teaching you. Study!
Jesus was the divine Son of God, but He had laid aside the prerogatives of divinity (not the divinity itself!), that He might take upon Himself our humanity and live life as we must live it, "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). He learned what He learned as we must learn--from His study of the written word. He risked everything on what that written word said. We are daily tested: will we also trust our all to it?
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 21, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”
Young David, in relation to King Saul (who hated him and wanted to kill him), was loyal to the government of Israel, but that does not mean that the government of Israel needed a "king" other than the Lord Himself. The prophet Samuel anointed Saul to be the king not because that was God's will for Israel, but because the people wanted to be like the surrounding nations, and He let them have what they wanted.
The lesson we need to learn from this history is the importance of loyalty to the organized church that the Lord in His infinite wisdom has raised up.
The prophecy of Revelation 12:17 is clear: the Lord has a "remnant" church which He sustains in a world of apostasy and "Babylon" devotion. And 18:1-4 tells of a message that will swell to a loud cry that will "lighten the earth with glory." The call to "come out of Babylon" will sound so clearly and powerfully that multitudes who have been held back by family, friends, or even jobs, will respond. A wise writer says it well:
"The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the [Holy] Spirit of God. … Many whose minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obedience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God sever the bands which have held them. Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord's side."
That time has not yet come; we are still living this side of it. The second coming of Jesus is the next great event for planet earth; but just before His return, this message must go to all the world for it would not be fair for Jesus to come in glory and power unless every soul on earth has been given the full opportunity to see the truth and to choose to be loyal to it.
Let's not wait until then to take our stand! Let's do so today!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 14, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There are many Christians around the world who are loyal to and support their church leaders. Rebellion against Moses was a sin; and the New Testament teaches loyalty to elders and pastors, and church administrators. But is there ever a time when a lowly church member should confront a leader? Is it ever possible that loyalty to Christ should supersede supporting a bishop? The Bible records many instances:
Young Joseph, by conscience, had to oppose his ten older brothers and even his elderly father, Jacob, and angered them. They were equivalent to leaders of the true church of his day! They misunderstood him.
David, only a youth, innocently found himself opposed by the anointed king of Israel, Saul. But his example of deference and loyalty to Saul is beautiful.
Elijah was forced by his conscience and by his love for Israel to pray that God would withhold rain from them for three and a half years. He withstood King Ahab to his face. He is a type of those who will be saved out of the world in the very last days, for he was translated to heaven. The Baal worship that Elijah faced is rampant in the world and in the church today. (Baal worship is the worship of self disguised as the worship of Christ.)
Jeremiah suffered persecution from the leaders of the one true church of Christ of his day. Yes, Kings Jehoikim and Zedekiah sat on David’s throne; when Zedekiah asked him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah was forced by his conscience to tell him the truth, which he didn’t like.
Jesus was forced by His conscience to tell the leaders of the one true church of His day the truth they didn’t like to hear. Yes, but there were tears in His voice! And He was loyal.
Paul was forced by his conscience to rebuke Peter to his face, at Antioch. But he did it in love, and in absolute loyalty to the organized church.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 18, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Don't we wish we had a million days, not just 365 every year, to proclaim the gospel as Good News! There's no end to the crumbs of the bread of life that can nourish our famishing souls each new day. Take for example these verses from Psalm 103: "Bless the Lord, O my soul; ... Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases" (vss. 1, 3). The Good News says that the "you" is you, even if you are unworthy, even if you are a sinner.
The Bad News says No; that promise is only if you are a church member or at least a good person who has repented and done everything just right, and your conscience is clear. Only then can you expect the Lord to hear and answer your prayers and heal you. But which is true?
We can find the answer in the story in Mark 2 when Jesus healed the paralytic who was carried to Him by four men who broke up the tiles on the roof and let him down. Jesus knew very well that this man had brought sickness upon himself by sinful living. But He didn't ask the poor man any questions, or to make any promises. He didn't even ask him if he had repented; He said straight out, "Son, your sins are forgiven!"
Does Jesus limit His healing grace only to good people? Don't bad people get healed, too? If a bad person cuts his finger, doesn't the blood clot also? Read all those wonderful promises in Psalm 103 about your mouth satisfied with good food, and your youth renewed like the eagle's, and your life redeemed from destruction, etc. Doesn't the dear Lord do this for all His children--even the wandering, prodigal sons who haven't yet gone home?? And if that's so, then doesn't it follow that He also "forgives all your iniquities"? If not, how could anybody live, even for a moment?
If the Lamb of God hadn't paid the price for our sins on His cross, how could we take even another breath? Well, the Good News is good; believe it, and sing the Hallelujah Chorus today!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 26, 1997.
Copyright © 2011 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Did Jesus preach His Sermon on the Mount to His disciples or to the multitude?
Some say 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 says that when Jesus saw "the multitudes, He went up on a mountain" and preached about "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 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 yet been "found"?
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 authority, and the earth [is] illuminated with his glory" (Rev. 18:1-4). 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.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Nehemiah was a wonderful man, if for no other reason than that he has a book in the Bible named for him. That's an honor for anyone!
The Lord blessed him wonderfully; everything he did was a success. It was his job to direct the rebuilding of the broken down walls of Jerusalem, walls that the Babylonians had broken many years before when the Lord's people had been punished for their idolatry and exiled to Babylon.
Tobiah and Sanballat were Nehemiah's enemies who opposed him relentlessly. Nehemiah stood firmly for the law of the Lord, no compromise. He led the people in the straight path of obedience to the law of the Lord. He was successful in leading them to re-build the walls of Jerusalem; he re-instituted the Feast of Tabernacles that had not been kept by Israel for hundreds of years since the days of Joshua the son of Nun.
And Nehemiah clearly perceived the deceit of those enemies of Israel. Wonderful work!
Nehemiah begged the Lord repeatedly not to forget how wonderfully he had worked. For example, "God, remember this to my credit, and do not wipe out of Your memory the devotion which I have shown in the house of my God and in His service!" (13:14). He ends his book with this plea to the Lord, "God, remember me favourably!" (vs. 31, The Revised English Bible).
Dear Nehemiah! He worked so hard for the Lord. And the Lord was "not unjust to forget [his] work and labor of love which [he had] shown toward His name" (cf. Heb. 6:10). The Lord gave him a book in His Bible! We are inspired by his devotion.
But we are blessed by the knowledge of the New Covenant. We are not even thinking of any reward the Lord will give us. We don't beg Him like Nehemiah to remember all our "good" works. We are constrained by the love (agape) of Christ "henceforth" to realize that if Jesus died for us "all," then we all died "in Him," so that we can claim nothing for ourselves but to share that grave with Jesus, and then in sheer joyous gratitude devote all our lives to Him. If some angel someday should try to give us a crown of glory, we will cast it at Jesus' feet.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 29, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Personal assurance of salvation: It's serious, because you can waste a lot of psychic energy worrying about your eternal future. All kinds of personality disorders can develop because of this deep anxiety, making not only yourself miserable, but others closest to you.
The apostle John says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). Is that like knowing you have a certain amount of money in the bank? You feel better if you know it's there in your name. Obviously, God does not want us to fret and worry.
On the other hand, He wants us to exercise common sense. The Bible does not teach the heresy of Universalism. Clearly, some people, "the number is as the sand of the sea" (Rev. 20:8), will not enter into eternal life. Christ will be forced to tell many, Sorry, "I never knew you" (Matt. 7:23).
So, how do we walk this fine line? Several Bible principles may help us:
(1) The only Person in the Bible who has ever been guaranteed eternal life is Christ Himself. God says of Him, "Behold! My servant ... My Elect One in whom My soul delights!" (Isa. 42:1). "I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame" (1 Peter 2:6).
(2) All the rest of us are chosen "in Him" (Eph. 1:4), because His new role is that of "last Adam," or second Adam. He is the new Head of the human race; and just as the human race is naturally "in Adam" by birth, so now by faith we can individually ratify His election of us "in Him."
(3) He wills that "all men" should be saved (1 Tim. 2:3, 4); you waste your time if you worry about whether He wants you to be saved.
(4) His love is so strong, His persistence is so great as "Good Shepherd" that He will continue to assure you of His search for you as His lost sheep.
(5) He claims you as His purchased possession, purchased with His blood (Acts 20:28).
(6) He says that He has you in His hand. "My sheep hear My voice ... and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27, 28). "Assurance"? Yes!
(7) But let common sense kick in right here: If you cling stubbornly to unbelief, if you deliberately choose to rebel, you can jump out of His hand. So He says, "Abide in Me," stay where I have put you by means of My great sacrifice for you (John 15:4).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 22, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Someday we will be in God's eternal kingdom of glory, thanks to our Savior. We'll look back on our earthly pilgrimage, wondering why it took us so long to overcome our worldliness, our selfishness, our sinful addictions, yes, our Laodicean lukewarmness. We will see that pure "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. 22:1).
"The Lamb"? Yes, the crucified Christ. We will at last understand why Paul said long ago that he would "glory" in nothing else "save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14), why he "determined not to know anything among [us], save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).
We will then begin to understand, "clear as crystal," how Christ as the Lamb of God "tasted" our second death; endured the horror of hell in our behalf; endured being made the "curse of God"; "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin"; experienced in Himself all the agony of the total of all our human terror multiplied by the unspeakable agony also of divine terror; and endured to the fullest the reality of every man's worst nightmares. Then at last we will sing with new understanding the anthem, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" (Heb. 2:9, Gal. 3:13, 2 Cor. 5:21, Rev. 5:12).
But what a pity if we can't begin to understand all that today! Or can we? If we could, we would find the victory over our worldliness, our sinful addictions, yes, our deep-seated selfishness, not sometime far off in eternity but now, today. True, a little child can't appreciate what happened on the cross; he or she can only laugh and coo and enjoy his superficial level of life (thank God he or she can!). But who of us is content to remain a little child forever? Is it not time to begin to grow up into Him, to "come" into "the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13)?
Ask the Father to lead you to His Son's cross so you can begin to see what happened there. You'll never be the same person again.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 12, 2009.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever built a house? Working day after day until near midnight? It leaves you exhausted!
If so, think of Psalm 127:1 (Good News Bible), which says: "If the Lord does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless." That sounds a little discouraging at first reading; as though the Lord doesn't care about all your hard work. But on second reading, there is Good News: it actually says that the Lord is building your "house" if you don't stop Him! The word "house" means "home," for everybody knows that the most beautiful palace in the world is a lonely prison without the light and warmth of family love.
What this beautiful psalm is telling us is that the Lord is working to give us that light and warmth. Verse 3 says: "The Lord provides for those He loves, while they are asleep." Now, that is not teaching laziness--only a fanatic would read it that way.
But it says we cooperate with the Lord; a happy marriage and happy home relationship is something that the Lord builds--that's what the text says. He wants us to enjoy that happiest gift on earth, a happy, stable home. We let Him "build" it. His Holy Spirit day by day, night by night, is laying a brick, a stone, a timber, in this "house," because He is constantly convicting us of our sin of love of selfishness that gets in the way.
Such blessed healing depends on self being laid aside. Or, stated more clearly, self dying with Christ. If we are rigid in our self-vindication, if self is proud flesh (so to speak) that can't be touched without a howl of protest, the Savior simply can't "build the house" for us. Someone says it's "hard" for self to be crucified, to die; sure, but identify with Christ on His cross, and it becomes easy.
As He builds your "house," don't get in His way. Don't stop Him.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 17, 1997.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."