Dial Daily Bread: Can We Follow Christ and Not Be in Warfare?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Can anyone follow Christ truly and not be engaged in warfare? He Himself is heavily engaged in a war known as "the great controversy between Christ and Satan." He says to us, "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ... Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ... He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:24, 34, 38). No room here for couch potatoes!

One area of conflict that has raged in minds and hearts for hundreds of years is "justification by faith." Yes, the battle has been going on for most of the 2000 years since Christ. One entire book in the New Testament is devoted to the conflict--the Book of Galatians. There was no way one could be a Christian then and not take a side either for what Paul declared is "the truth of the gospel" or for the false teachers who came from "Jerusalem" to oppose him. And the battle has not subsided even today! Bring up the subject in almost any church or Bible class, and you will see the sparks fly. Must the conflict go on and on forever? Or can those who choose to believe in Christ resolve the conflict and come into genuine and lasting heart unity? Is the Bible clear? Or is the very source of our faith itself muddled and confused?

God invites you to come to Him and get the issue settled once for all, so that your mind and heart are clear and your feet are set on the solid rock. David said, "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps" (Psalm 40:1, 2),

Give God a day of your life and (on your knees) prayerfully read Galatians and Romans all the way through. Not somebody's paraphrase or "commentary" in which he has exercised his supposed "hermeneutic" privilege to twist poor Paul into subtle legalism; read an authentic translation, maybe more than one, for perspective (you have two eyes for perspective!), and make your choice to believehow good the Good News is.

Yes, read the Bible itself, and let the fog be blown out of your mind and heart. Don't be proud and jump to conclusions; test and re-test your convictions. We can trust the Bible! Just read it with simple common sense. Blessings!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 28, 2000.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: "A Remnant" Will Receive the Full Gift of Repentance

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Lord has a special love for the Jewish people, according to Paul's Romans (chapters 9-11). The apostle's idea is not mere personal national or ethnic pride on his part; it's theological. That is, he sees the Jews as God's chosen descendants of Abraham who were called to win the world to reconciliation with God, and thus put an end to the misery that sin has caused to the human race.

But the Jews did what all of us have done--they sinned against God. The divine call to Abraham and his descendants did not abolish the sinful nature that they, along with all of us, inherited from the fallen Adam. That "carnal mind," says Paul, "is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7).

In God's special call to the Jews, He allowed them to demonstrate what that carnal mind can do when it does what it wants to do. The Jews were left on their own to act out to the full that enmity in that they crucified their God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

No pagan people have ever fallen that low. Jeremiah asks, "Has a [any other] nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit" (2:11). They have led the world in "enmity against God" and raised a cross on which they crucified Him in the most public manner possible.

Nevertheless, He has forgiven them, for when their leaders incited the Romans to drive the nails through His wrists and ankle bones, the Messiah prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). That means He has forgiven all the Jews in a corporate or legal sense; but they as individuals can never receive the blessing of that forgiveness until they realize what the sin is (not only was, for it continues), and open their hearts to receive the gift of repentance which will always lead to confession and recovery of what they threw away.

Paul says that "a remnant" will come to realize the truth and will receive the full gift of repentance(Rom. 11:5). They will lead out in the last gospel task of lighting the world with the glory of "the everlasting gospel" which will be "the third angel's message in verity." Those who were called to herald it to the world have refused to do so, "just like the Jews" who refused to evangelize their world for thousands of years.

Thank God that repentance is possible. God has faith in human beings that they will eventually respond appropriately. But why must we delay that wondrous time any longer?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 14, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Luke's Intimate Details of the Birth of Jesus

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you ever noticed how many intimate details of the birth of Jesus that Luke tells? Neither Mark nor John say anything about His birth; yet Luke, a Gentile, gives us a clearer picture than even Matthew. Do you suppose in later years he sought out the Virgin Mary and interviewed her as a reporter would? If so, thank God she told it all to him! And could it be that Luke wants us Gentiles to feel welcomed into God's family?

(1) He alone tells the story of the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25);

(2) and of Gabriel's announcement to Mary (vss. 26-37). Very intimate details.

(3) Luke alone tells of Mary's ready faith-response, and of that giant sword of Goliath yet to be thrust through her heart (vss. 38; 2:35). Let your heart be pained in sympathy for her!

(4) Luke alone tells of Mary's almost breathless journey up the hills to Elizabeth's home, so she could confide her gigantic secret with her closest friend (vss. 1:39-45).

(5) We thank Luke for sharing her exquisite poem of thanksgiving (vss. 46-55), that seems so like the heartbroken Hannah's psalm of gratitude (1 Sam. 2:1-10). Mary shared some special "humiliation" with Hannah that made them kindred spirits. Luke discloses a very literate, sensitive, and polished lady of exceptional abilities.

(6) Only Luke provides us a fitting entrée to the thrilling story behind the birth of the world's Savior. A totally selfless man must prepare His way (Luke 1:57-80; John 3:28-30; only a selfless people can prepare the way of His second coming; Rev. 14:1-5, 14, 15).

(7) Only Luke tells the beautiful story of the shepherds ready to welcome Him (2:1-18). It humbles our pride just to think of it.

The din of the Season almost drowns out the precious story. Linger over it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 21, 2003.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Has Anyone Thought About the Innkeeper in Bethlehem?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Has anyone thought about the poor innkeeper in Bethlehem who said he had "no room" in his inn for Joseph and Mary and the Baby Jesus?

"I couldn't help it! I didn't know who Joseph and Mary were or who the expected Baby was!" he may wail. Ah yes, Innkeeper; but you could have given them yourroom! If you had done so, you would have gone down in history as the most blessed innkeeper ever.

The Innkeeper in fact is "us"; we never know from one day to the next what opportunity may suddenly be ours.

The Lord Jesus teaches us the significance of the most lowly opportunity that may confront us when we least expect something important. He says, "Inasmuch as you did it [anything good or bad] to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Matt. 25:40).

The Lord is not trying to compile a list of all the bad things we have done or said in an effort to make a case against our entering His kingdom; He wants to amass a host of good things so that He can say to us individually and sincerely, in the presence of the universe, "Well done, good and faithful servant! ... Enter into the joy of your Lord!" (vs. 21).

There is nothing that gives the Lord Jesus more pleasure than saying this to humble people who feel like they don't deserve any honor in God's kingdom.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 21, 2008.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Beginning of Eternal Life “in Christ”

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

That grand day when “Jesus stood and cried out” so all the world could hear Him (and heaven too), “If anyone thirsts, ... come to Me and drink” (John 7:37), He knew that some people are not “thirsty.” Even He cannot force them to drink. They go through life bereft of a drop of the “water of life.” They may be billionaires, but don’t envy them.

There’s much being said about how important it is to drink more water for our health. We should drink it even if we don’t feel thirsty, doctors tell us. Maybe we can learn to develop a thirst mechanism that will keep us healthy (?).

Suppose you’re not “thirsty,” but in cold logic you sense that you are spiritually dry; you know that your heart is into worldly pleasure, self-seeking, empty vanity: can you make a life choice that involves doing what Jesus said—“cometo [Him] and drink” even if you don’t feel like it?

You cannot save yourself; and no, you cannot come to Him on your own for He said, “No one cancome to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). The “drawing” is a very real tug on your heart; the Spirit of God is active. He is working even when you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after a disturbing dream; “come” right then! Get out of bed onto your knees and thank Him from the depths of your soul that it was only a dream.

You read about people who never stop thanking and praising the Lord. It’s our eternal choice. Isaiah reminds us that we don’t “own” an iota of character perfection; “’their righteousness is from Me,’ says the Lord” (54:17).

Yes, begin where you are with a prayer of thanks that you have been saved from a hell on earth; just that, nothing more profound. (It’s the truth!) That will be for you the beginning of eternal life “in Christ.” That choice will be “the right action of your will,” for it will make an entire change in your life, for eternity.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 10, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Fascinating Christmas Story Hidden in a Most Unlikely Place

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is a fascinating Christmas story tucked away, hidden, in the most unlikely place: a book called The Great Controversy. It presents details that are not in the book on the life of Christ, The Desire of Ages.

A special angel was appointed to visit the earth to find who was prepared to welcome the long-awaited Messiah. He visits the palaces of kings; the offices of philosophers, teachers, rabbis, the synagogue elders, the leaders of the one true church on earth of that day with headquarters at Jerusalem; even the high priest's palace. Will the angel find anyone whose humble, contrite heart is longing for the coming of the long-awaited world's Redeemer? If he finds such a person, he will give him the glad news that He is about to be born! But sadly, he finds no one, and is about to return to heaven with the shameful news when he spots a group of lowly shepherds camping in the fields. They love to think and talk about the prophecies. They are not discussing politics, buying presents for each other, worldly possessions, or pleasures; they express their longing for the coming of the world's Redeemer.

The angel cannot contain his exuberance! He tells them the glad news and directs them to "the wretched hovel prepared for cattle" in Bethlehem where they will find the One who "unto you is born this day ... a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

As that angel encircles the earth today, visiting the homes, schools, churches of the people who claim to be God's one true people, does he find anyone talking about the coming of the long-awaited "latter rain" of the Holy Spirit? Does anyone care that it has been delayed more than a century?

Does anyone wonder why? Does anyone long for its return? Or is there a secret fear that if and when the blessing comes, a lot of worldly "fun" will come to an end? Yes, it's true: the path to Bethlehem will lead on to a cross, which anyone who follows Jesus will also bear.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 14, 1998.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Can We Actually Open or Lock the Gates of Heaven?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Jesus said something both wonderful and terrible when he said to His disciples, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23). It was a parallel statement with the one in Matthew, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (16:19).

As authority figures to other people (that is, parents, teachers, preachers and pastors), can we actually open or lock the gates of heaven to people? Jesus says Yes!If in a fit of temper a parent tells a child, "You are lazy! You'll never amount to anything!" that child will have to carry that burden all his life unless somehow he finds the true gospel that gives him relief from that "burden."

If a preacher or pastor tells his congregation similar Bad News, he can close the gates of heaven against children and youth. We may wonder why they drop out of the "family" when they reach their teens, but that was the reason. In a fit of anger, a husband or wife can tell his or her spouse words that wound forever: "There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword" (Prov. 12:18). Sometimes the words are so painful that they are like a barb--it hurts even to draw them out in repentance. You are indeed an authority figure even to your spouse!

But there's another half to that verse: "But the tongue of the wise promotes health." Yes, don't forget the Good News side to what Jesus said: we can say Good News to children and youth, yes to spouses, words that will be the opening of the gates of the New Jerusalem to their souls.

Let us thank God for a new today wherein we can apply some healing balm to the wounds we have made, and we can tell someone some precious Good News. There is nothing to thank God for more earnestly than that we have another day in which to receive His precious gift of repentance with another opportunity to use those "keys" the right way.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 18, 1998.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Biblical Picture We Have of Jesus

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The biblical picture we have of Jesus is of Someone always happy, always on top of the world, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, cuddling children in His arms, healing Peter's wife's mother of fever, raising the dead son of the widow on her way to the funeral, calling Lazarus out of his tomb, miraculously feeding five thousands--here's the one Man on earth living in the bright sunshine of His heavenly Father's blessed approval, "in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). We want to live like Him!

But never has there been anyone so plunged into the horror of deepest depression, as this Jesus. From the highest top He must be cast down to the lowest bottom. Writhing in the agony of the darkest curse of God, He cries out in anguish, "Why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). This is no Hollywood acting; the cumulative pain of the entire world's horror of despair is penetrating His deepest sense of feeling and conviction. Not only is the burden of the world's guilt of sin being laid upon Him, He is being "made … to be sin" (2 Cor. 5:21) in His own deepest soul. At last we see what it's like for a man to be in real hell where the last ray of hope is gone.

The crucified wretches that the pagan Romans torture by the thousands are given a sedative so they can black out; not Jesus. He won't taste it (Matt. 27:34). Every cell of His being must remain conscious to know the utmost horror of hell.

But wait: "You will not leave My soul in Hades," He says (Acts 2:27). Before the resurrection can come the third day, He must believe His way out of hell on His cross; His soul must be resurrected there in spirit, so He can die in glorious triumph, shouting so heaven can hear Him, "It is finished!" Take your Bible and read Psalms 22 and 69.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 17, 2005.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Impossible to "Backslide," Unless ...

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When Jesus was about to leave His disciples alone in this unfriendly world, He encouraged them with a promise: He would send the Holy Spirit as His Stand-in, His Replacement, a "Comforter" (says the King James Version), yes, His very Presence. In John 16:7-11 He describes how it's best "for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you."

The Holy Spirit is Jesus Himself "abiding" with us, living with us as our Companion, unseen but no less real than when Jesus walked personally with the disciples by the Sea of Galilee. He walks with us "unseen" as verily as the resurrected Jesus walked with those two disciples Sunday evening on their way to Emmaus, when their eyes were "holden" and they did not see Him (Luke 24:13ff.). He talked with them along the way. So He does with us.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is determined that we shall not "backslide"--ever! Jesus, as the Holy Spirit, takes the initiative day by day, prodding us, reminding us, yes, "convicting" us of sin (John 16:8, The New King James Version). More than that, He personally reminds us of "righteousness" which means He won't let us forget the way we should live; at every crossroad we come to He "convicts" us of the right way to go.

He never abandons us to wander in a fog! And if we listen to that prodding, that reminding, that "conviction of sin and of righteousness," and we don't beat Him off and insult Him, then He graciously "convicts [us] of judgment," meaning, "the prince of this world" [Satan] is "judged" [cast out] of our lives (John 16:11). He "convicts" us of triumph over sin; we see His power in our lives.

In other words, in plain language, it's impossible for us to "backslide" unless we do what Stephen said the scribes and Pharisees did: "you always resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51). The Holy Spirit says He will take you by the hand as a father leads a little child, or maybe the Hebrew means, take you in His "arms," but He says we squirm away from Him (see Hosea 11:3, 4, Good News Bible). There's no need for backsliding--it's time to see it as sin!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 15, 2004.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Greatest Sin of All time

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

The righteousness of Christ now can cleanse the one greatest sin of all time. According to John's profound statement in 3:14-19, it's the sin of unbelief, not the mere passive ignorance of never knowing truth, but the active sin of disbelieving truth. "He who believes in Him is notcondemned ..." That "not" discloses the darkest guilt of sin.

But what is unbelief, this sin of disbelieving? It's the sin committed by the most righteous people on earth, those to whom God's Messiah was sent (the Savior of the world). They made the eternal Prince of glory become the slain "Lamb of God" by the people who slew Him. The cross of Christ extends its arms over the universe of God--the truth of eternity encapsulated in time at Calvary for us to "see."

Unbelief is the sin of cherishing hard hearts that cannot be melted, of eyes that cannot shed tears of repentance, of souls that "survey the wondrous cross" with callous disregard. It's the sin of hearts unmoved by the love (agape) that "constrains" any believing heart to total consecration to the One who died our second death for us. It's poisonous sin, the most subtle and deadly of all time.

Unbelief is the sin that infiltrates the great world church of Laodicea, the "seventh" and last of all time, the church that torments the resurrected Son of God to the point of acute nausea (Rev. 3:14-21). Each individual professed believer in Christ is a microcosm of the world church, no one holier than everybody else, all sharing a corporate sin of unbelief, all desperately needing a corporate repentance before God, all awaiting the long-promised Elijah who will proclaim a heart-reconciliation, the final atonement.

Let's not cap off history by crucifying the Lamb of God afresh. Let's overcome where ancient Israel failed.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 20, 2005.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: What Is the Cause "Backsliding"?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What is the cause of "backsliding"? From time immemorial it has been the problem of God's true people. Jeremiah says they have been "slidden back, ... in a perpetual backsliding" (Jer. 8:5). God says through Hosea, "My people are bent on backsliding from Me" (Hosea 11:7).

Their backsliding was apparent as early as the time of the Judges, just after the time of Moses--the story is up and down continually, mostly down, right on through the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament. Finally in 586 B.C. the kingdom of Judah (God's true people) suffered massive destruction. But even in Babylon and ever afterward, the "backsliding" went on until they rejected and murdered the Son of God.

God continually has invited His people to "return" to Him (Jer. 3:12, 14), and He has promised to "heal your backslidings" (3:22). The word does not occur in the New Testament, but the word "lukewarm" is there, just as bad, maybe worse, describing God's true people in these last days (Rev. 3:17).

Why is it that so often after we have had a wonderful series of "revival meetings" and our hearts have been stirred, that after a few weeks we find we have begun backsliding again? The world has crept in; we have gotten too busy to keep our promise to give the Lord quality time in Bible study and prayer and witnessing, and again we lose that plateau experience. Is it possible that there is a fundamental reason why this problem has gone on for thousands of years?

The problem began at Mount Sinai, from the time of Moses. From that truly "mountain-top" experience in meeting the Lord and hearing Him speak His holy law with His own voice with fire and thunder and earthquakes, in only a few weeks the people had backslidden to worshipping idols (Ex. 32:1-6). The problem: they had fastened themselves under the Old Covenant (19:8). We need the New!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 14, 2004.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Let's Make the New Covenant Clear to Our Children

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Parents who believe “the everlasting gospel” don’t want to be misled into “the mark of the beast.” They sincerely want to “follow the Lamb wherever He goes,” long to receive the “seal of God,” and are burdened for their near-teen daughter who loves to read. They’ve been reading the Bible. Yes, also books about the Bible, but they’ve been reading the Book itself, and that includes the Old Testament.

The child is curious; she doesn’t want anything held back. But they’re confused: sometimes the true God comes through as kind and merciful, forgiving, and loving; but there are also times where He seems hard, threatening severe punishment on His people who seem bent on rebelling against Him. Much in the books of the Old Testament prophets seems frankly difficult reading for a sensitive child.

But how can one understand the way God so often threatens His people of old? Why that seemingly endless conflict? Why the almost constant unpleasant tension between God and His people? Actually, you don’t see it until you come to Exodus 19. In Genesis there’s a pleasant relationship between God and His people, for example, God making those fantastic promises of “blessings” to Abraham and his descendants, and His tender dealings with Isaac and Jacob. He writes His holy law on their hearts.

Then suddenly, a change: He must write it on tables of stone amid thunder, lightning, trumpet blowing, earthquakes, and a fearful death boundary around Mount Sinai. And almost from then on, rebellious people slipping back into pagan worldliness right into the Book of Malachi, until finally we get to Matthew where they crucify their Lord of glory.

What happened in Exodus 19? The people themselves formed the Old Covenant (vss. 4-8), whereas Abraham had believed the New Covenant. The New one is the one-sided promise of God; the Old is the "faulty" promise of the people. That's why a major portion of the Bible is the "Old Testament" (or covenant), leading us back to where Abraham was to be "justified by faith" under the New Covenant (Gal. 3:24). Let's make the New Covenant clear to our children!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 1, 2001.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Pearl Harbor Day Has Something in Common With the Fall of Babylon

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The history of Pearl Harbor Day (Dec. 7, 1941) has something in common with the history of the fall of Babylon. Cyrus conquered that greatest city and empire of the ancient world when they were reveling. While the city of Babylon was given over to drunken feasting and partying, his soldiers stealthily diverted the water of the Euphrates River into a swamp, allowing his soldiers to enter the city at night. They found the river gates open and easily took the city.

Pearl Harbor Day found our military and naval defenses virtually "asleep." That "day which will live in infamy" has a built-in warning attached to its history: "When they [we] say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them" (1 Thess. 5:3).

This great nation has enemies today. It gained its independence over two centuries ago by a war of attrition in which at Christmas time when the British military were celebrating, George Washington led his rag-tag soldiers in a surprise attack, a minor incident that was symbolic. Hopefully it will never be forgotten.

Now, thanks to the security guaranteed by our Constitution, we enjoy unprecedented "peace and safety" with almost obscene prosperity. These are "the last days [when] perilous times shall come: For [people] will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:1-4). Entertainment, movies, sports, novels, sensuality, wild materialism--these are the obsessions. It's like a tidal wave of ungodliness pouring over a nation. And of course, as the Holy Spirit is steadily resisted, more and more, violence and cruelty become commonplace.

But there is Good News: where sin abounds, grace is seen to abound "much more" (Rom. 5:20). There are people still who keep alert, in tune with Heaven. Especially among youth, the thoughtful, sensible ones "come out of Babylon." They swim upstream against the corrupt-flowing tide of popularity, and permit their hearts to be deeply influenced by the Holy Spirit who reminds them of the Son of God who remained unmoved by the world's temptations. In a world of sin, they cooperate with Heaven. You can be one of them!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 8, 1998.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Jesus and John Standing Together in Ministry

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jesus taught us to visit people who are unjustly persecuted and imprisoned (Matt. 25:34-46). But there is no record that He visited His faithful but persecuted forerunner, John the Baptist, whom King Herod had unjustly imprisoned in a dungeon (Mark 6:17).

At this time Jesus was free to travel about Galilee and preach; in fact, he was enjoying tranquil days with crowds following Him. Poor John, whom Christ had designated as the greatest of the prophets (Matt. 11:11), at this time was languishing in his dungeon, alone, virtually living on the meager reports his disciples were able to bring him of the work Jesus was doing. John longed for Jesus to assert His Messiahship. When it should happen of course would also mean John's release and he would join the Messiah in the grand work to be done.

But the weary days dragged by without a visit from Jesus, not even a letter. Was the Messiah oblivious of the lonely suffering of His servant?

No, but John was still cooperating with Jesus, though he didn't realize just how he shared that honor. Jesus thought of the unnumbered believers in Him who in centuries to come would suffer alone in prisons, tempted likewise to think themselves forsaken and hopeless. Surely He thought also of those who would lie on beds of illness, tempted to think that they had been forgotten by Heaven.

The truth was that while Jesus was enjoying those bright days of ministry in Galilee before "the shadow of a cross arose upon a lonely hill," He did think of John suffering in his dungeon; He appreciated his loyalty. The lonely prophet has been a comfort to all the apparently forsaken sufferers ever since. Behold them--Jesus and John standing together in ministry! Now may we accept gladly our fellowship with Him in ministry!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 2, 2005.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Shall We Understand Romans?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

How shall we understand Romans? Paul's Letter stirs up a lot of controversy; the issue of course is righteousness by faith, and it is not a side issue, quibbling about non-essential trivia. It's about the very heart of the gospel, "the third angel's message in verity." Luther said Romans is the clearest Gospel of all. Can you explain it to someone else, verse by verse?

For today's "Dial Daily Bread," we’re simply including a passage from Romans, as it is found in Eugene Peterson's paraphrase (The Message). He may not be perfect in his rendition (no translation is perfect!), but he certainly grasps the heart of what Paul is saying:

(This is Romans 4:10 and onwards): "Now think: was that declaration [that Abraham was justified] made before or after he was marked by the covenant rite of circumcision? That's right, before he was marked. That means he underwent circumcision as evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him into this acceptable standing with himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life.

“And it means further that Abraham is the father of all people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on the 'outs' with God, as yet unidentified as God's, in an 'uncircumcised' condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called 'set right by God and with God'! ...

“That famous promise God gave Abraham--that he and his children would possess the earth--was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered [experienced] when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust [faith] completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise--and God's promise at that--you can't break it."

Yes! this rendition understands the New Covenant correctly!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 8, 1997.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Abraham Got Out From Under the Old Covenant

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What good does it do to promise that you will be good? Does it help for you to promise God that you will never sin again? Does He want you to make any such promise?

If you have ever tried to get an alcoholic to stop drinking, or a smoker to stop smoking, or gamblers to stop gambling, you probably have learned that our promises are like "ropes of sand."

It may surprise you that God has never asked us to make promises to Him. He has asked us to choose, yes; to make a commitment, yes; but never has He asked us to promise to keep His Ten Commandments. Rather, He has asked us to believeHis promises that are in those ten.

James calls the Ten Commandments "the law of liberty" (James 2:12). Correctly understood, the Ten Commandments are ten promises that if we will believe that the Lord has brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, He promises that we shall never tell a lie, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, etc. And if we believe the glorious Good News of His deliverance, we shall "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And we shall honor our father and our mother; and we shall never take the Lord's name in vain.

Abraham got out from under the Old Covenant when "he believed in the Lord," and his faith "was accounted to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). The Lord made seven wonderful promises to him in Genesis 12:1-3, but Abraham made no promises in return. He simply "believed in the Lord." That's all God wanted him to do; that was the New Covenant; and all the obedience and the works followed. But Abraham's descendants, coming out of Egypt 430 years later, made a promise to the Lord in Exodus 19:8, "all that the Lord has spoken we will do." That was the Old Covenant. It's that simple!

Are you living under the New Covenant or the Old? If you're in "bondage," the reason has to be the Old Covenant. Come, get under the liberty, the freedom, the joy, of the New Covenant!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 23, 1998.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Question Important to Understand

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

"Why did a God of love order all the killings in the Old Testament?" It's important to understand because one's future life may be shadowed by unbelief and confusion. How can you love a God who orders killings, even of little children? We have only a short time to consider a problem that has filled lifetimes of scholarship. God help us:

We don't have two different "Gods" in the Old Testament and the New Testament, but we have two different ways of looking at one true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The dividing line comes at Mount Sinai, and those two different ways become the Old Covenant versus the New Covenant (Ex. 19:3-8). Two ways of looking at God!

Please note: there were no such "killings" before Mount Sinai--only the God of love revealed in His seven grand promises to Abraham and to his descendants (Gen. 12:2, 3). He promised to givethem "all the land which you see ... and to your descendents forever" (13:15). "The Lord your God," not their sword, will drive out the pagans before them (Deut. 4:36-39; 9:4-6). Like in His promises to Hezekiah to "drive out" the Assyrians, and to Jehoshaphat, "The battle is not yours, but God's. ... You will not need to fight ... stand still and see the salvation of the Lord" (2 Kings 19:20-35; 2 Chron. 20:15-17).

If Israel would believe the New Covenant promises of God, He would be able to send "the hornets" to drive out the Canaanites (Deut. 7:20). Sometimes (few!) the people temporarily believed and actually saw it happen (Joshua 24:12). 

In Israel, "all the families of the earth [were to be] blessed," not killed (Gen. 12:3); only when pagan nations tried to destroy His people did God destroy them--in love to the world, for they were a curse that would corrupt the earth as in the days before the Flood.

Even today, confusion permeates the church over the Old and New Covenants. Is salvation by self-centered faith plus works of obedience? Or is it by heart-melting "faith which works by agape" (Gal. 5:6, King James Version) and itself produces obedience? And still today the Old Covenant followers "persecute" the New, as Paul told the Galatians (4:22-29). This is serious business!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 17, 2002.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."