Dial Daily Bread: Is There Such a Thing as Absolute Truth?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Is there such a thing as absolute truth? Pilate voiced the hard-hearted attitude of a cold-hearted world that was willing to crucify Christ when he asked in disdain, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). What he meant was, "There is no such thing as truth!"

The Bible is crystal clear that there is indeed something that is genuine truth, and God's eternal kingdom will be made up of people who reverence truth. And further, the Bible teaches genuine truth, which commends itself to every reasonable-minded, honest person. The final issue that the Book of Revelation says will catalyze humanity will be that of truth versus falsehood--the seal of God versus the mark of the beast. Today, every issue we face is related to that final one: are we searching for, accepting, welcoming, truth?

For example, those who argue for Sunday sacredness are employing cleverly stated reasons and logic (illogic?) to support the idea that Sunday is the true Sabbath of God. They reason that the seventh day was the Sabbath of the "Old Covenant," and Sunday is the Sabbath of the "New Covenant." Thus the Bible doctrine of the two covenants is now seen to be integral to the final issue of the mark of the beast versus the seal of God.

What has been thought to be a minor theological squabble turns out to be an issue of tremendous importance. The two covenants are not matters of time or dispensation; they are timeless. There were some people in Old Testament times who were living under the true New Covenant; there are people living today who are still living in slavery to the Old Covenant.

Where you stand depends on your understanding and your belief of "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14), or your willingness to believe non-truth, that is, the falsehood of a counterfeit, or what Paul said was "a different gospel" (Gal. 1:6, 7). Serious business! One will lead to the seal of God, the other to the mark of the beast.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 3, 1998.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Romans 3:23, 24—What does It Say? Or Mean?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There is something that the Bible says that is so clear it seems impossible that anyone could misread it: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23, 24, King James Version). Says the New International Version: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Says The New English Bible: "All alike have sinned, and are deprived of the divine splendour, and all are justified by God's free grace alone, through His act of liberation in the person of Christ Jesus." What does it say? Or mean?

The Good News therein is clear:

(1) The same "all" who have sinned (that has to be absolutely everybody, with the sole exception of Jesus), that same "all" who have sinned have also been "justified freely by His grace." Note: It does notsay all are "justified by faith"! The only ones who experience justification by faith are those who believe the Good News.

(2) But "grace" is never merited; it is always "free." No way can we limit that "grace" to certain people and exclude others. Therefore all are "justified freely."

(3) This work of justifying "all" has been done "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "We have redemption through His blood" (Eph. 1:7). The blood was shed for all, not just for some. "Our ... Savior Jesus Christ ... gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed" (Titus 2:13, 14). We cannot limit "the redemption ... in Christ" to some and not allow it for "all." Paul often says that "all are justified freely."

(4) We are "justified by His blood" (Rom. 5:9). The blood was shed for all, for "all we like sheep have gone astray, ... and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). As "He bore the sin of many" [all] so He is said to "justify many" (vss. 12, 11).

Then will everybody automatically be saved eternally in heaven? No, for some (sadly, many!) resist and reject what Christ has already given them, just like Esau had the birthright but he rejected it, sold it, despised it (Gen. 25:34; Heb. 12:16, 17).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 30, 2002.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: If Someone Gave You a Precious Gift …

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

If someone gave you a precious gift, your most natural response would be to say a fervent Thank you! And, further, according to the value of the gift, your most natural response would be a desire to demonstrate your gratitude to the friend for what he did. This capacity for glad, thankful response is built into your human nature, a part of the package that is you. It is almost instinctive. Dozens of times a day we will catch ourselves saying Thank you for kindnesses done, and as often will we find ourselves watching for opportunities to respond.

This simple, unaffected, uncomplicated response of our humanity is all that God has ever asked from anyone. Christ gaveHimself for us on the cross. If we don't see it, or can't sense how there was any real gift or sacrifice involved, there will naturally be no response of loving sacrifice on our part, only the self-centered desire for our own personal security, which leaves fear still intact. Such a half-hearted, lukewarm response is inevitable from anyone's heart when Satan succeeds in obscuring the reality of what Christ gave for us.

But when we see what happened at Calvary, something begins to move us. "Through death [the second death]" Christ destroyed "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and" thus released "those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:14, 15). Truly,

None of the ransomed ever knew 
How deep were the waters crossed,
Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through 
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.

But we do know a little something about it! Our search is begun. As Satan seeks more and more to ensnare us in the allurements of self-seeking, sensual or material, we shall find something wonderful happening. As "sin abounds," the stronger grace of Christ will "much more abound." As we remember the cross, Satan will be defeated continually. Many people all around the world will respond exactly as Paul did:

"We are ruled bythe love of Christ, now that we recognize that one Man died for everyone, which means that they all share in His death. He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but only for Him who died and was raised to life for their sake" (2 Cor. 5:14, 15, Good News Bible).

Now we can see what Paul meant when he said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." And now that we, too, have had a glimpse of what he saw in his day, our hearts cry out with all our being, "Yes, Paul, we're with you! We kneel, too, at the feet of the Crucified One and confess Him Lord of our lives, King of our love, eternal Sovereign of our hearts."

--Robert J. Wieland

From: In Search of the Cross,1999.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Follow Christ, or Follow the World?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

"Conventional wisdom" says that if you follow Christ, your path is difficult; and if you follow the world, your path is easy. But the Lord Jesus Himself says, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30). And for those who think they have a hard time trying to follow Jesus or had to suffer opposition and persecution, He adds, "I will put on you no other burden" (Rev. 2:24). He doesn't want us to suffer torture!

Granted, He doesn't force anyone to "take up his cross daily, and follow [Him]" (cf. Luke 9:23), but He invites us to chooseto follow Him into eternal life in the kingdom of God. He knows that we have inherited from Adam a sinful nature and how sin is contagious and habit forming; He knows that when His Father says that He "so loved the world that He gave" Him to be our Savior that we have an inward battle in learning to "believe in Him" (John 3:16). Unbelief (or dis-belief) is natural for us; we were born that way. But we can learn to believe.

The distraught father of the possessed boy in Mark 9 gives us a lesson. When Jesus told him frankly, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes," he broke down in tears and said, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (vss. 23, 24). Steeped in your natural unbelief, you can choose to believe. Then you will learn.

A new birth is needed every step of our way, but the Good News is that He loves us so much that He actually makes the path to eternal ruin a "hard" one. This again is contrary to "conventional wisdom" that says it's easy to just slide down hill into hell. An example of truth is what the Lord Jesus said to Saul of Tarsus as he was indulging his natural hatred of righteousness in persecuting the church. In love for his soul, the Lord confronted him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads" (Acts 26:14). It was a miserable life Saul was leading!

The Old Testament also teaches that God loves us so much that He has put obstacles in the downward path to ruin: "Behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns" (Hosea 2:6), "He has fenced up my way so that I cannot pass" (Job 19:8), "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" (Prov. 16:9), "He has blocked my ways with hewn stone" (Lam. 3:9).

None of these Good News texts says that the Lord forces anyone to be saved against his will; but taken together they assure us that He continually tries His best to direct us into the path of life. Let's believe Him!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 1, 2007.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Jesus Is Concerned for Busy People

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible has placed a crown of honor on the heads of a certain group of people, a crown that will glisten through all eternity to come: "These [in Berea] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Are there "fair-minded" ones today? Are you among them?

Just to make payments on the house and the car, and provide for the bills and other expenses, keeps us working almost night and day. The children must have better opportunities than we had when we were kids; there just doesn't seem to be time to "search the scriptures daily" to see if anything is really true. We are just busy doing our duty!

We don't read that Jesus condemns busy people, but for sure, He feels for them, He is concerned, for they are in danger. As kindly as He can find words to express His concern He says: "Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied ... with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you like a trap. ... Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things ..." (Luke 21:34-36, Good News Bible).

Over a hundred years ago a wise writer penned some serious words: "True love for Jesus will lead to the most close and earnest inquiry as to what is truth. ... He who is too indolent to make anxious, prayerful search for truth, will be left to receive errors which shall prove the ruin of his soul." There is no need to be caught in that "trap." Jesus was busier than you or I have ever been, but the Father woke Him up early each morning to study and to pray (Isa. 50:4, 5).

The important difference between Him and us is that He did not "rebel." Remember, He takes the initiative in maintaining fellowship with you, as the Father did with Jesus. You too can respond to His initiative. Study and learn, "daily." Don't "rebel."

--Robert J. Wieland

 

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 16, 2001.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Day of Heaven Come Down to Earth

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Most human beings know what fear is; if you don't, it's not "normal." The world is reeling with it today. What Luke says is so true right now: "On the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, ... men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth" (21:25, 26).

You can't escape this anxiety unless you live on the planet Mars. But you can escape the fear by observing the Sabbath, a day free from fear. It's a day of heaven come down to earth. God's presence is in the Sabbath day. He Himself set it apart, sanctified it, and blessed it. In the Sabbath you draw nearer, Sabbath after Sabbath, to Him. Because His presence is in the Sabbath, your heart becomes filled with peace and the fear is expelled.

You may say, "That's only for one day; as soon as the sun goes down at the end of the Sabbath, here comes all the fear again as we hear the daily news!"

No, that's not true; the peace of the Sabbath calms you and remains with you by faith as you go through the new week, until the next Sabbath. The commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath day ..." You start remembering the next Sabbath as soon as the sun goes down Sabbath evening.

And because of the joy of Sabbath-keeping you can sing, "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God" (Psalm 46:2-4).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 16, 1997.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: There Is No Pain That Any of Us on Earth Feel That He Does Not Share With Us

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We can never forget that the Lord Jesus is one of us; He is the divine Son of God, with all the attributes of divinity; but at the same time He is the Son of man, one with us for eternity. He "took" on His unfallen, divine nature our fallen, sinful nature. He loves us dearly, as His own.

Now, does the Lord Jesus, being divine, have a sense of time as we humans have? Is one of our days like a thousand years to Him, or vice versa? So, could it be that He doesn't care how much longer time goes on?

Well, He says clearly that there will be an "endof the world"! When His disciples asked Him, "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matt. 24:3), He answered their question directly, thereby making the statement that time will not go on ad infinitum.

And being one of us, forever human with us as well as divine forever, Jesus shares with us our weariness with the on-and-on passage of sinful, painful time with all the suffering there is in the world. Isaiah 63 describes His feelings: "In all their affliction He was [is] afflicted" (vs. 9). There is no pain that any of us on earth feel that He does not share with us.

Yes! A thousand times over, Jesus wants this reign of sin and suffering to end in the glad establishment of His everlasting kingdom on the earth made new.

And there is another reason why He wants the end to come soon: the end of sin and suffering will usher in the glorious "marriage of the Lamb." As a Bridegroom, He longs for His wedding to come.

The reason? He is in love with the church as a man loves a woman; no one person could be the Bride of the infinite Son of God; but when He left His throne and His status as the infinite Son of God to come down here to save this fallen race of humans, His love for us was more than your love for your pets; when you love your dog, you have not become a dog. But He became one of us whom He loved; He joined our family.

And the reason why we want Him to come soon is not because we are hungry for our "reward" and we have these acquisitive feelings for the joys of heaven; we want the divine Son of God to receive His reward!

Why this special love for Him?

Why does this desire for Him to receive His reward transcend our desire for our own reward? There has to be a special reason why we, so naturally egocentric as we are, will be able to realize this unusually non-egocentric desire for Him. We have come to understand that when He "poured out His soul unto death" for us (Isa. 53:12), it was the second, not the first that He experienced. It was saying "Goodbye!" to life forever--the embracing of the darkness of hell in His love for us.

There are not enough words to tell it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 30, 2008.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Greatest Struggle That Has Ever Been Waged in the Universe

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When we wake up each new morning, we face bewilderment and confusion all over the earth. We humans seem to cover the earth like little ants running to and fro, and yet we are the family of God. We are created in His image; the glorious Creator of the vast universe left His high and holy place and became one of us. But we are not "ants," we are sons and daughters of God "in Him." We are fellow-saints with Him engaged in the greatest struggle that has ever been waged in the universe--the controversy between Christ and Satan. We are not spectators at the arena; we are players on the field.

What's happening around us is the closing scene of this titanic war between two "spirits"--the One designated in the Bible as "Holy," and "the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" who is inspired by "the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world" (Eph. 2:2; Rev. 12:9).

How can "the whole world" be deceived? Jesus says that so terrible will be the deception that it will come "on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth" like "a snare" (Luke 21:35). It's happening now. But thank God, not everyone will be deceived.

Think what it was like when Jesus was born; the masses knew the inspired prophecies of the Old Testament or at least had ready access to them if they didn't want to be deceived, yet how many recognized the Messiah when He came as a humble Baby in Bethlehem? Some did, but only a few.

So today; there is for sure "a remnant" (Rom. 9:27), "few who are saved" (Luke 13:23), who have learned the lesson of Bethlehem, who walk "softly" (1 Kings 21:27, King James Version), who respond to the "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12) that calls them in God's word, who choose to believe every truth that the Holy Spirit teaches as "He guides [you] into all truth" (John 16:13), who "follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4-6), who are "with Him" as He takes His final stand in the struggle of the nations of earth (Rev. 17:14), who identify with "the Lamb" so closely that they pervade His thinking and His feelings as a bride identifies with her husband's deepest yearnings.

Amid earth's clash of arms and the din of its endless traffic, listen!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 14, 2004.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Heaven's Secret Service Agents

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What are "guardian angels"? Does everybody have one? Do they protect some people and not others, and if so, why? It's good for us to ask those questions. We need to know about those angels sent forth to serve us. They are more efficient than armed bodyguards or Secret Service agents. Please note:

We live in Enemy-controlled territory, his majesty the devil being "the ruler of this world" (John 14:30).

It is coming increasingly under his control, "defiled under its inhabitants; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth," not merely in a physical sense but also morally (Isa. 24:5, 6). When "the rulers of this age" expelled Christ from the world (1 Cor. 2:8) they chose a murderer in His place, and crucified Him (Acts 3:14, 15). Jesus is therefore persona non grata in this wicked world (cf. 1 John 5:19).

But although He is in exile from this earth, He has sent His vicar, the Holy Spirit, to be with those who believe in Him (John 14:16, 17; 16:7-13). His presence with God's people is equivalent to Jesus personally being with them (14:18). For centuries, the Holy Spirit has not only "comforted" Christ's loyal believers, He has also exercised a restraining power on the evil in the world (Rev. 7:1-4).

Guardian angels are to be "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation"--Heaven's Secret Service agents sent to protect "royalty," who by faith have become members of the "family of God" (Heb. 1:14; Eph. 3:15; 1 Peter 2:9).

Common sense sees that those thus protected must be people whose lives are dedicated to "the King's business," to Jesus.

We cannot hazard a guess about others, why they apparently didn't have angelic protection; good sense would tell us that when we pray "in the name of Jesus" we must sincerely be living for Him.

Ask for an angel guard; that is, "pray without ceasing," as families. Then--let us not fear but believe that "the angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear [reverence] Him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34:7).

If you can read this, that means you have their protection thus far!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 6, 1999.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

DialDaily Bread: Why Did God Deliver the Ten Commandments at Sinai With Thunder. Lightning, an Earthquake … ?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Why did God deliver the Ten Commandments at Sinai with fear-inducing thunder, lightning, an earthquake, fire, an ominous trumpet blast, and a death boundary around the mountain (Ex. 19:16-19)?

Did He frighten Abraham when He delivered to him the New Covenant? We read that He melted Abraham's heart with the revelation of His love and wrote the Ten Commandments upon his believing heart (Gen. 12:2, 3; 15:1-7; Gal. 3:8). Why this awesome display at Sinai?

Before Israel left Egypt He gave them the same Good News He had given Abraham 430 years earlier, but the people didn't listen (Ex. 6:2-9). Then at Sinai He renewed the promise He had made to Abraham (19:4-6). But the people in unbelief invented for themselves the Old Covenant idea of disregarding God's promise to them and substituting their own to Him (vss. 7, 8).

Paul in his Letter to the Galatians appears as the first Israelite to discern the meaning of Israel's history: "the law ... was added [or emphasized or underlined] because of [their] transgressions, till the Seed [Christ] should come to whom the promise was made" (Gal. 3:19). They thought they were able to do everything the Lord said to do, so now He had to impress on their minds their helplessness to obey and their need of His much more abounding grace.

In Paul's words, "the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came [in everybody's personal experience], we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the [Ten Commandment] law was our tutor ["schoolmaster," King James Version) to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith" as Abraham was (vss. 22-24).

Thus "the law" led Israel on that long detour of ups and downs in their history after Sinai. Finally, instead of believing as Abraham did, they crucified their Messiah; but now we have the opportunity to believe!

We don't need another long detour; let's "believe" today as God intends we shall!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 29, 2006.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: What Paul Saw "By Faith"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Apostle Paul was not a better person than we are, nor more heroic. He simply saw something  that made all his sacrifices easy: 

• He saw that he would be in a hopeless grave if that "One" had not died in his place.

• He saw that even his next breath he owed to Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

• He saw himself a slave bought by love, responding to the blood shed there.

• He saw that nothing he possessed he could count as really his.

He could have sung Isaac Watts' hymn:

When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my life, my soul, my all.

As easily as the believing Israelites were healed of their fatal snakebites, so easily does the new birth occur in the heart of anyone who "sees" the cross like Paul saw it.

Of course, he did not see it literally--he was not one of the original Twelve. He saw it by faith, and his experience is therefore an encouragement to us who also have never seen it literally. What he saw by faith seems to have made a more profound impression on him than the actual event made on those apostles who did see it. None of them seems to have caught its meaning as vividly as Paul did.

That means something special for us who never saw the physical happening as did the Eleven (a thousand movies can't portray it!). We are especially fortunate because that same faith-inspired devotion can be ours. Because of faith, Paul has to be better news than the other apostles! Faith has far sharper discernment than our physical eyes.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 7, 2007.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Book of Hebrews May Take Us Into the Theological Stratosphere

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The New Testament Book of Hebrews may take us into the theological stratosphere in the knowledge of God, but it is also written for the little child to learn to know the Lord who saved us on His cross.

Paul says, "We see Jesus"! (Heb. 2:9). That's what we want above all else! Not big heavy books that no one can understand, but something we can grasp.

John the Baptist said, "Behold! The Lamb of God" (John 1:29). That's the same as Hebrews says, "we seeJesus."

How do we see Him there?

"[He] was made a little lower than the angels" (Heb. 2:9), madeto be what He was not by nature.

But because He bore that cross on which He died our terrible second death, Jesus is forever "crowned with glory and honor" (2:9).

Jesus was born for that very purpose; our children grow up expecting to live; but this Boy grew up expecting to die--and not our ordinary death, but the death which lasts forever in hell.

Hebrews tells us here that Jesus "took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham" (2:16, King James Version). Thus, specifically, Hebrews tells us that the nature which Jesus "took" in His incarnation was our fallen, sinful nature.

But the glory of it all is that in that fallen, sinful nature like we all have, Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life. "We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (4:15, KJV).

If you can think of any temptation that is alluring to you, that you think it's impossible to say "No!" to, read again. "In all points like" as we are. Our salvation is not our work, it's His work.

It's great Good News: He will have 144, 000 (maybe a figurative number) at His second coming who will welcome Him in joy, "without fault before the throne of God" (Rev. 14:1-5).

It's not a legalism contest; it's the "much more abounding grace" of Jesus.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 23, 2008.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Rock-Bottom Truths That a Child Can See

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Some teachings of the Bible are so simple and clear that they are beyond theologians' "interpretation." They are rock-bottom truths that even an innocent child can see, for example: God is love.

He so loves that He has given and He gives His only Son to save us from an eternal hell; He teaches us to love others with the same love wherewith He loves us. A clear and powerful proclamation of that love is what Jesus means by "this gospel of the kingdom" (Matt. 24:14). It will be proclaimed so clearly that it is yet to "lighten the earth with glory" (Rev. 18:1-4).

God has true people who as yet don't understand the message, "other sheep ... which are not of this fold," for whom He is also their "Good Shepherd" as He is ours (John 10:11-16). These people are in "Babylon," that is, scattered in the confusion of conflicting religions around the world (Rev. 14:8; 18:3). They will hear His voice in the proclamation of that final Good News message (John 10:4).

The love of Christ will bind them all in "one body" of believers (Eph. 4:4-7) who will have "come out of great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:1-4, 14). God so loves these people that He wants to "abide" with them forever, hence the resurrection and translation at the second coming of Jesus.

Muslims as yet don't understand this, but there are some among them who will become interested when they hear it, and will "come out of Babylon" when the message is proclaimed clearly. They will leave the legalism of Islam and will embrace "the truth of the gospel," "as the truth is in Jesus" (Gal. 2:5, 14; Eph. 4:21).

Take care of your health. Live until Jesus comes. There is great history before us!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 10, 2004.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Song of Solomon and the Laodicean Message

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

In His last-days' message to the shepherds of His flock in Laodicea, Jesus says something strange in Revelation 3:20. It grips our attention--"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." He is quoting the Old Testament, but not the Hebrew text. He decides to use its Greek translation instead. And therein lies a profound revelation.

Jesus has quoted His Old Testament Bible from the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse 2. The ancient Greek translation (known as the Septuagint, LXX) has three little words that are not in the Hebrew version--"at the door" (epi ten thuran, if you want the Greek). And why this miniscule but tectonic choice on the part of this divine Author? Why does He quote the Greek version? Jesus reveals Himself here as the disappointed Lover who has just come from His safari to His Beloved. It's night; it's cold; it's raining; He is hungry; He is lonely; He wants her. But she doesn't want Him, apparently. He is hurt.

Standing outside in the cold, He says He goes on knocking, knocking "at the door." The object of His love has just gone to bed, is in that twilight zone between waking and sleeping. Then she hears Him. (You can't understand this unless you've lived in a mud hut with a cow-dung floor!). She is annoyed; why does He bother her at this hour? She doesn't want to get her feet soiled on that floor--she's comfy in bed. Finally, however, she stops thinking of her own selfish laziness, and thinks of Him outside. Belatedly she gets up to go to the door to let Him in. And, lo, He is gone. He got tired of waiting, waiting. (Yes, there is evidence that Jesus and the angels do get tired waiting.)

Hundreds of years ago a few thoughtful scholars in Europe discerned that the Laodicean message is tied to the Song of Solomon. Has it somehow eluded us? This is a love story! It brings us to Revelation chapter 19:7-9 where the long-disappointed Bridegroom is perplexed about what to do with His dilatory Bride-to-be. He can't force her to marry Him. The next move is hers.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 14, 2002.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Good News in the Third Angel's Message

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Where is there any Good News in the terrible message of the third angel of Revelation 14:9-11?

The "third angel follows" the first who tells "the everlasting gospel" to the world (vss. 6, 7). Obviously then the third alsohas Good News, even if we may be too blind to see it.

The reason for the unprecedented wrath of God is seen in the preceding chapter: for the first time in 6000 years the world unites in a decree to slay God's true people (13:13-15). Any father worth his salt gets furious if someone tries to kill his helpless children. The mark of the beast is still future; and so is this "wrath." God will not be on a temper tantrum; His wrath will be 100 percent righteous, and under full control.

Chapter 7 has detailed the proclamation of the seal-of-God message which has gone to all the world with the first and second angels' messages (and the message of His much more abounding grace will have lightened the earth; Rev. 18:1-4). This last message of grace has been despised and rejected by the world, beforethis terrible wrath can burst forth. The "beast" who plans to enforce the death decree will marshal the world to repeat the sin of crucifying Christ--this time in the person of His saints. What a response to His much more abounding grace! The Father forgave the world for crucifying His Son the first time; the second? Don't play games with Him.

This message is Good News because it tells the world there's no need for even one person to get ensnared in Satan's clever counterfeit of the gospel--the mark of the beast. For the first time in world history, "all men" will be fully cognizant of the issues in the great controversy. And therein is the Good News--salvation from that wrath.

The Greek of the expression "in the presence of" (14:10) means that those who worship the beast will have to look into the eyes of the Lamb. There is no fire hot enough to equal the anguish of those who look into the eyes of the Son of God and know at last that He died their second death, and whose love they have cruelly despised. No, Christ and the angels will not enjoy their anguish. He wants you to know all about it now.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 13, 2001.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Momentous Issue of Believing or Disbelieving

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible itself is a better source of information about Moses than any movie, and more interesting, too. If the Bible is read with unbelief, it becomes boring, because doubt short-circuits practically every statement and paralyzes the understanding. But if it is read with heart-felt belief, it grips the attention. The Holy Spirit re-creates the happenings described there and you see it all in three-dimensional realism, a vividness that can never be forgotten, as a movie can be.

The tenth plague, the slaying of the firstborn, was the final judgment on Pharaoh and the unbelieving Egyptians. When the "destroying angel" passed through the land at midnight of Passover Eve, there were two classes of people in the land: those who believed the word of God, and those who did not believe. No one was in between.

Momentous was the issue of believing or disbelieving! So today, everything depends on believing or disbelieving the truth of God. Someone may say, No, everything depends on obeying or disobeying the word of God. But outward conformity to rules (based on fear) that camouflages an unreconciled heart is not true obedience. Both the Hebrew and Greek Bible words for "obey" convey the basic idea of bending the ear down low to listen carefully. Believing the truth produces obedience, and disbelief produces disobedience. The Israelites were told to kill an innocent lamb "without blemish" and splash its blood on the doorposts and the lintel. Their doing so was an evidence that they believed what God had said.

What saved them in the Passover was their faith which worked. God had said, "When He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses" (Ex. 12:23). Not when He sees the obedience, but "when He sees the blood," the obedience being the evidence of faith in the blood of the Lamb of God.

The world today is "Egypt," and again there will be re-enacted the events of the ancient Passover and the Exodus. Let's be ready.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 9, 1999.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Old Covenant Virus

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

You are praying for someone, a loved one; your heart is drawn to that person. You find yourself willing to be "accursed from Christ" for the sake of that person (cf. Rom. 9:3). That's the genuine article that the Bible says is agape.

Moses had that kind of love, for he begged the Lord to remove his name from the Book of Life if He could not save rebellious Israel (Ex. 32:31-33).

The very intensity of your agape praying for your loved one is evidence that the Lord hears your prayers; He will not deceive you! And now you have something in common with the Lord Jesus, for He loves that person more than you have ever loved him or her. Now you two are working together!

Very likely your beloved has somewhere become alienated from "the commonwealth of Israel" (Eph. 2:12) because he or she has been inoculated with the virus of the Old Covenant, possibly in a "Christian" school or church. The Old Covenant "gendereth to bondage" (Gal. 4:24,King James Version). There are probably millions around the world in various stages of spiritual bondage because of the machinations of Old Covenant thinking.

Do not give in to despair; you may be part of the problem and not realize it, but now that you realize it you have something in common with the Lord Jesus--you are on the way to recovery. If the agape of Christ leads you to experience the love that the apostle Paul or Moses had for Israel, that means that you have begun to sense that the great controversy between Christ and Satan is an issue of greater importance than your own personal salvation. You are "growing up into Christ" (Eph. 4:15).

Now your supreme concern is not for your own salvation, but the salvation of someone else, and the honor, the vindication, the reward that the Lord Jesus deserves for His great sacrifice of dying the world's second death (Rev. 20:14). This is a "big idea"!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 14, 2007.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Fascinating Time Prophecy Set in the "Sixth Trumpet"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

That fascinating time prophecy set in the "sixth trumpet" of Revelation 9 constitutes the nearly unseen foundation on which the faith of millions in one church rests. But most have no idea of what that one-verse time prophecy means or of its historical importance in the existence of a world church that remains virtually the only Protestant church still "protesting" the claims of the Papacy.

It's verse 15: "The four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men" (King James Version). The setting is Islam and its burgeoning explosion toward its goal of world domination. It has arisen as the scourge of apostate Christianity; the book of Revelation makes clear how that is the only reason why God permits its existence.

It's the point in world history where the Ottoman Turks are putting an end to the last gasps of the Eastern Roman Empire; the world rule of millennia is nearly at an end. Constantinople with its massive stone walls still stands wherein the teetering Emperor still sits on his crumbling throne. "The seven trumpets" portray world history in relation to the work of God on earth. The Saracens have introduced the world to gunpowder and massive cannon that smash the walls of Constantinople. A time prophecy of 391 years and fifteen literal days has begun and it will end on August 11, 1840 with the collapse of the independence of the Sultan of Turkey.

"Insignificant past history, forget it!" No! This prophetic drama on the stage of world history established for all the world to see that the biblical prophecies of Daniel and Revelation are true, because they can be understood even by a child. Children will begin preaching them. This prophecy establishes the year-for-a-day principle, which is the divinely inspired key to reading them, and human life makes sense in the context of the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

A world movement of present day Christians who believe the second coming of Christ is imminent was strengthened by this remarkable prophecy of August 11, 1840. Even atheists were converted when they saw the clear evidence of the inspiration of the Bible. Now let us renew our faith likewise.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 2, 2007.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Christ Loves Sinners, for He Gave Himself for the Whole World

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible seems clear: Christ the eternal Son of God became the "last Adam," the new Head of the human race (1 Cor. 15:45-47). Being of the human race, Christ loves a bride-to-be and wants to be married to "her" (Rev. 19:7, 8). That "bride" is the corporate body of His people who respond to His wooing love, it's the church (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:23-27, 32). Christ's corporate body of believers who respond to His nuptial love seem to be the population of the "New Jerusalem" (Rev. 21:9, 10).

Christ loves sinners, for He gave Himself for the world; but there must be something special about His love for His bride-to-be--a nuptial love. They must be a people who have grown up "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12, 13) in order to stand at His side as a "bride" stands by her husband.

The Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of truth, [and] He will guide [His church] into all truth" (John 16:13). Any church that is not totally devoted to "the truth [as] in Jesus," "the truth of the gospel," "rightly dividing the word of truth," which is not itself "the pillar and ground of the truth," that does not hold "the truth in Christ"--such cannot be the "bride" whom the Savior loves with that nuptial love (Eph. 4:21; Col. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Tim. 3:15, 2:7). The true Holy Spirit specializes in convictions of truth, and truth brings the true church into blessed internal harmony and unity.

The "wife" mentioned in Revelation 19:7, 8 corresponds to the "woman" of 12:17, the last-days "remnant ... who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (King James Version). A bridegroom has no eyes for millions of other women: there is his one and only. Christ must turn from churches of "Babylon," although He fervently loves true individuals who are still in "Babylon" who wait to hear that "Voice from heaven" calling them to "come out of her, My people" (18:4). Obviously they take their part at last as individual members of that "remnant" church.

Let's stay awake. Something is going on.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 30, 2006.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: What Are the "Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises"?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's all very good to believe what Peter says about receiving and believing the "exceedingly great and precious promises" (2 Peter 1:4), but what are the "promises" themselves? They must be understood and received into the heart; then they go to work and deliver the most sinful, polluted, selfish worldly heart so that we become actual "partakers of the divine nature."

Well, let's start with John 3:16: Believe, appreciate, comprehend, the love of the Father when He gave Christ to us forever. "Whoever believes in Him" will not commit spiritual and material suicide (that word "perish" is in the middle voice of the Greek verb!). New Covenant!

Then look at the seven grand promises God made to Abraham under the New Covenant (Gen. 12:2, 3). You are His child by faith (Gal. 3:9). Therefore they are all promises God makes to you.Believethem. (Someone will tell you that you must work hard in order for them to come true; let subtle Old Covenant thinking become New Covenant: the love [agape] of Christ will "constrain" you to work hard with no thought of reaping your reward [2 Cor. 5:14].)

Then take a look at the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13). Jesus invites anyone in the world, even the most terrible sinner, to pray that prayer. The New Covenant goes to work because the one who will "cry out, Abba, Father!" receives "the Spirit of adoption" (Rom. 8:15). You can't pray "our Father" without your heart being melted!

Then read the 23rd Psalm. Anybody in the world, even the most hardened sinner, can pray sincerely, "The Lord is my Shepherd," and his stony heart will be broken in contrition. The New Covenant Psalm "works." The word itself has power (Rom. 1:16).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 12, 2006.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Can We Be Sure That Jesus Is Coming Again?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How can we know for sure that Jesus Christ is coming again, in person, literally? Someone says, "The Bible says so!" But different people interpret the Bible in different ways. Many say that the second coming of Christ has been happening all through history in the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and thereafter.

The Bible is a reasonable Book that can be understood using reasonable common sense. Jesus promised, "I will come again" (John 14:3). He promised to come literally and visibly (Matt. 24:23-27). The doctrine of His second coming is taught throughout the New Testament, in harmony and consistency.

Peter says that we are re-living the days that were before the Flood of Noah (2 Peter 3:3-14). The people in Noah's day said that it had never rained as yet, so a flood was impossible, and Noah was a foolish man to build a boat on dry land. What evidence did the Holy Spirit give the people that his message was true during those 120 years of his ministry? There were no physical signs like premature scattered rain showers to convince the unbelieving people; the sky was dry until the final storm came.

But there was one deeply convincing evidence that Noah was sent by God: the Holy Spirit gave him an understanding of "righteousness by faith" which he preached (see Heb. 11:7). It was "by faith" that Noah "prepared an ark to the saving of his household" and "condemned the world." God did not condescend to give that "world" any proof other than the gospel message, which Noah was permitted to understand and preach.

We are tempted to look for miraculous physical evidence of the certainty of Christ's return, but none of the unbelieving scientists or evolutionists can account for the miracle of agape-love, the biblical revelation of the character of God in genuine righteousness by faith. God will not "blast" people out of their self-complacency; you hear His "still small voice" speaking in the message of "the everlasting gospel" which the three angels (and a fourth!) proclaim (Rev. 14:6-15; 18:1-4). The clarity and power of this message are beyond doubt!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 17, 2000.
Copyright © 2020 by "Dial Daily Bread."