Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The Bible says that this world will become very wicked in the last days just before the second coming of Jesus. He Himself asks, "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8), implying that it will be very rare.
Paul says, "In the last days perilous times will come." Then he lists many evil things that people will do, even those who profess to worship God. "For men will be ... unthankful, unholy, ... From such people turn away!" (2 Tim. 3:1-5).
But if you are willing to turn from the Old Covenant and welcome the New, you will see that God has not yet withdrawn completely the Holy Spirit from the world. He is still "the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world" (John 1:9).
The Bible is clear as sunlight on two realities of human life: (1) "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [and (2) all are] being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23, 24).
You may be discouraged by the evil that is in the world. We hear tragic stories of the hatred of people who give their hearts and minds to Satan; but the Bible is equally clear that "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Rom. 5:20). That means that whatever evil Satan has invented, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Source of even greater love and compassion manifested in grace.
That's because He drained the exceedingly bitter cup as He hung on His cross in the darkness and cried out to His Father, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). The Lord Jesus actually went to hell in order to save the human race. There was no evil that He did not taste, for our sake: "we see Jesus, ... that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2:9), that is "the second death" (see Rev. 2:11; 20:14). These eternal facts of truth underlie life on this planet, which Jesus came to save; He saved us although it cost Him the last drop in total consecration of His all.
The entire world is gathered at His cross: many will curse Him as did the leaders of the true church of that day. The Jews did; but there will be those who like the pagan Roman centurion will permit their worldly hearts to melt in repentance. Don't forget, it was he who gave the order to his soldiers to "Crucify Him" and it was he who confessed, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 11, 2007.
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