Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
If you could hear a Voice from heaven declaring unto you, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17), and could see the face of Jesus actually smiling upon you, you could probably be happy enduring any trial or disappointment. When we long for some human face to smile upon us, what we really want deep down is to see the smile of the Son of God.
But we are so conscious of our shortcomings, our failures, and yes, our sins, that we endure unhappy days. Clouds cover the sunlight we seek. In these last days of God's great antitypical Day of Atonement, the Lord wants us to understand more clearly how good is the Good News of His "everlasting gospel" that is to be preached "to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6). And Revelation describes a further message which will "lighten the earth with glory" which obviously will make the gospel truth crystal clear to every heart that's willing to listen to truth (18:1-4).
But you don't have to worry and wish you could hear that assurance spoken from heaven to you. When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan and came out of the water, the Holy Spirit like a dove came down upon Him and the Voice spoke from heaven, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But the Father was putting His arms around you too! The Bible makes it clear that when the Father accepted His Son, He accepted us "in Him." When He "gave His only begotten Son" for us, He bought us with that Price; which means that he loves us identically as He loves His Son (compare Eph. 1:6).
You may think that is hard to believe. But wait a moment: suppose you go to a store and pay $20 for an item that you think is a good value. By doing what you did, you are declaring that you love that item equally with your love for the $20 you gave for it. The Father loves you as much as He loves His Son! He is "well pleased" with the purchase He has made. In Christ you are one of Abraham's descendants, and the seven promises God made to him in Genesis 12:2, 3 are made equally to you!
Those promises and that declaration are the New Covenant to your soul. When you come to the end of your way, the only regret you will have is that you didn't believe them as wholeheartedly as you should! Jesus believed the assurance given Him that day of His baptism; that's why He succeeded in overcoming all of Satan's temptations to Him in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11).
Get the point? That kind of faith is your victory, too. You get that faith from Him. Open your heart to receive the gift.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 6, 2006.
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