Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
During the greater part of two centuries there has been a group of Christians who see in the Bible a vast cosmic "controversy" between Christ and Satan--Christ in Daniel is spotlighted as "the Son of man," and in Revelation as "the Lamb." World history is symbolized by seven angels sounding "seven trumpets." Under the sixth, Islam is pictured as a torment and torture to apostate Western Christianity, but not as gaining a final ascendancy over it.
Under the seventh trumpet God's love is highlighted in a final message of mercy and warning for "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" just before the second coming of "the Son of man." Revelation 14 introduces the final scene as a conflict between the pure, true "everlasting gospel" and a massive counterfeit known as "Babylon." The prophetic drama is starkly simple; even a child can grasp its overall significance. The special enlightenment of the Holy Spirit is what God solemnly promises to anyone who will seek to understand (see Dan. 12:4, 10; Rev. 1:1-3).
The mysterious machinations of Islamic terrorism are seen in Revelation as simple compared with the subtle religious deceptions foisted on the world by "Babylon." It will all end with a final confrontation between "the mark of the beast" and "the seal of God."
But there is great Good News: (a) a "remnant" "follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4); (b) their "names [are] ... written in the Book of Life of the Lamb" (13:8); and (c) "those who are with Him [the Lamb, on His side] are called, chosen, and faithful" (17:14).
What does it take to be in that blessed group? You "survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died"; your heart is moved by His agape (He died your second death). As His love motivates you, self is crucified with Him. You can't help but live to His glory.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 6, 2001.
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