Daily Bread

Friday, May 05, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

With “The Da Vinci Code” movie coming up, many thoughtful people are asking, “Who was Mary Magdalene? Does the Bible give clear facts about her?” The answer is yes.

(1) The Lord Jesus Christ already has another “woman” selected for His “wife.” No woman on earth is or was beautiful enough, tall enough, great or wonderful enough, to be the Bride of the Son of God. The Bible marks out the church as His Bride (see Eph. 5:23-27; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7, 8; 12:1-17).

(2) Mary met Jesus sometime during His First Galilee Missionary trip; she ministers to Him with the other women (Luke 8:1, 2). Her problem was devil-possession (Mark 16:9). She lived in Galilee, in Magdala (see Matt. 15:39), where she derived her name apparently.

(3) Out of heart gratitude for being delivered from devil possession, she was loyal to Jesus, close by His side at His crucifixion (Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40, 47; John 19:25). She believed His teachings (Luke 10:38-42).

(4) She came from a good Judean family (John 11:1, 2; 12:2, 8); thus her residence in Magdala was evidently an exile.

(5) In devil possession she had abandoned herself to Satan, alienated from God. She “was a sinner,” unbelieving, hopeless (Luke 7:37).

(6) “Seven” times Jesus prayed for her, casting out the demons that tormented her. She had sinned “much,” and her faith enabled her to “love much” (vs. 47).

(7) She expressed this faith and love in her offering of very expensive ointment (Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8). The story in Luke 7:36ff. has to be a parallel account, for Luke would not dare to write a “gospel’ without including the story (cf. Mark 14:9).

(8) No Bible evidence links the adulterous “woman” of John 8:1-11 with Mary Magdalene; Mary was from Galilee, the adulterous woman from Jerusalem; Mary’s deliverance came early in Jesus’ ministry, the other’s near the end.

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Robert J. Wieland’s recent book, Mary Magdalene, The Bible Story: The Woman the World Can Never Forget, examines this touching story, which is like a precious jewel set between two of the worst stories ever written—the crucifixion of Christ and Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Him. A small book (64 pp.) which partially fulfills Jesus’ command that “wheresoever this gospel is preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her” (Mark 14:9). Glad Tidings Publishers, (269) 473-1888; www.1888msc.org.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

When the Lord says something, He means it; when He promises to “send” us “Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord,” He intends to do it, and He will.

But wait a moment: He sent the blessing of Elijah the first time, but the leadership of Israel excited the people against him so that Satan succeeded in shutting away from the people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them in Elijah’s ministry.

As is well known, it was God’s design that Israel be a light to the world of that day, and God had sent Elijah as His agent to help Israel communicate it, but the light that was to lighten the whole earth of that day was resisted by the leadership of Israel, and was in a great degree kept away from the world.

If Satan succeeded through Ahab and Jezebel then in neutralizing Elijah’s message and ministry in a great degree during the time of the terrible famine (“three years and six months,” James 5:17), we can expect that the same enemy of Christ will do his best to neutralize the work of that “Elijah” whom the Lord will send today.

But those who believe the most precious message that the Lord will send through “Elijah” now must not despair even though Satan seek everywhere to “kill Elijah” again. The prophecy of Malachi must meet fulfillment. Some human agent or agents will respond to the Holy Spirit as Elijah once did; self will be crucified with Christ. “Elijah” will again be willing to be a fool for Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 11:16, 23). He will honor the Lord as the prophet did long ago.

The new “Elijah” will have his “Brook Cherith” to hide by; he will have ravens to feed him, perhaps from “Ahab’s” gourmet table; the Lord will provide a “widow of Zarephath” to sustain him in abject poverty until Mt. Carmel comes.

Let’s be ready to stand with him boldly when he again challenges Israel at the new Mt. Carmel. It’ll be too late this time to stay with the silent 7000 in the crisis (1 Kings 18:21; 19:18), afraid to step out of the closet publicly.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Thursday, May 04, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Gentiles were faster than Christ’s own disciples in recognizing who He really is. At the village of Sychar, after listening to Him, the Samaritans openly confessed, “We.... know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). The idea was not that He merely wants to be “the Savior of the world,” or that he would be their Savior if people accepted and believed Him; no; He is already “the Savior of the world.”

Paul had the idea: “We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:10).

Thus there are two ways that Christ is “the Savior of all men”: (a) To everyone He has in a legal sense given the gift of salvation, and the proof of that is the fact that everyone lives. Otherwise, everyone would be held in a hopeless, endless death. He intends that this life shall be just the beginning of that wonderful eternal life, for “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and our Savior.... desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim. 2:4). But He has given “all men” the power of choice, He cannot force anyone to be saved against his will, and sad to say, many repeat the sin of Esau who “despised” and “sold” his birthright which he already had (Heb. 12:16, 17; Gen. 25:34). (b) For those who believe, whose heart responds to His love, He is in a special sense their Savior unto eternal life.

God is infinite; therefore His love for the whole world is given also to each one of the “all men” for whom Christ died their “second death”: “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,.... that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” in an obviously personal sense (Heb. 2:9).

You are actually loved by Him! You are invited to address Him in prayer as “Father.” That’s even something the angels cannot do!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The massive Latino rallies are driving people who love the Bible to re-read James 5: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you [these are words we don’t like to read]. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.” The Sacramento Bee reported yesterday how Dave Penry, a landscape business owner who has supported Senate deliberations in April, pays his Mexican-born laborers double the minimum wage and the same health-care he receives. “It’s very frustrating to hear people say I’m some cheap jerk who’s getting rich off the backs of people,” he says. Penry doesn’t want that condemnation on himself that James speaks of! Yet, Ana Avendano, AFL-CEO associate general counsel in Washington admits that a Supreme Court decision that punishes illegal immigrants “has given employers a powerful tool” to abuse workers. James 5 is truth.

Claudia Smith, attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, admits, “We want nannies. We want landscapers,” and cheap food. “There’s not a single person who doesn’t benefit from this in some way.”

That must include you and me. Every time we buy fruit and vegetables in the market we are involving ourselves somehow in James 5. Americans don’t want these jobs! If we want to be clear as Dave Penry does, we recognize that there is a portion of the strawberries we have bought cheap that we don’t deserve.

One who discerns at least something of the economic significance of the cross of Christ discerns a deeper recognition: we don’t deserve any of what we have—not even our next breath. Only the biblical teaching of the cosmic Day of Atonement in which we are now living just prior to the second coming of Christ can put our modern living in perspective, in relation to the cross of Christ. Says the holy Word, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.... Having food and raiment let us therewith be content” (1 Tim. 6:6-8). Paul’s word for “raiment” is skepasma in the Greek, which definitely does not mean Macy’s creations; it means literally “roofing,” anything that covers nakedness. His word for food is diatrophe, literally, “sufficient sustenance,” hardly gourmet. “Therewith be content”—? We have some important learning to do.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Suppose you lose someone in death, someone near and dear to you that you know up to the last breath gave no evidence of believing in the Savior; what does the Bible teach you to believe?

The apostle John has left the door open to let in a ray of hope. First, he says what he has to say, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). That appears to be a tone of finality. The word “life” has to mean eternal life; this present temporal life has been the gift of the much more abounding grace of Christ who saved the world in a legal sense and has made it possible for the Father to send His rain and sunshine on both the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). But that’s not eternal salvation, necessarily. We know that Christ came to give Himself for us all, that every loaf of bread is stamped with His cross that unbelievers eat their daily food as the gift of His grace, although they don’t know they are eternally and infinitely in debt to Him for all they have ever had. They have eaten from His hand all their life (Psalm 145:15, 16) but have never understood, that is, “known” it, or “believed” it (John distinguishes between the two verbs, 1 John 4:16).

But right here is where we must step carefully—we cannot be sure which was the case with our loved one. Only the Lord can “read” the deep recesses of that human heart. The door of encouragement that John leaves open is verses 14-16: “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” His will is this: “God our Savior.... desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3, 4). “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him”—that is, by faith to believe what we shall see in the resurrection morning; the Lord will wipe all tears from our eyes (Rev. 21:4). “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and he will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” As your loved one’s Judge, the Lord knows the reason why he has been as he has been (you don’t know!); the Savior has loved that person more than you have; your prayers may have enabled Him to do something He could not have done if you had not prayed. Cherish what hope the Holy Spirit gives you; your loved one is in His hands. And they are hands of love.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Monday, May 01, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

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 “unto 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. A group of Christians worldwide are just now spending some 13 weeks studying intensely about the Holy Spirit; one detail has become crystal clear thus far—He 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.” 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.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Sunday, April 30, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Why did God deliver the Ten Commandments at Sinai with fear-inducing thunder, lightning, earthquake, fire, an ominous trumpet blast, and a death boundary around the mountain? (cf. 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 on stage 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” (3:19). They thought 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,” KJV, disciplinarian, policeman) 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!

You and I don’t need another long detour; let’s “believe” today as God intends we shall!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Friday, April 28, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

When you even begin to appreciate that the Ten Commandments have become ten promises, life becomes a constant springtime, a mountain-peak experience. Yes, it means you will never fall into sin.

It means that the Good Shepherd has found you, the lost sheep, and is bearing you (present tense) on His shoulder back home (Luke 15:3-6).

It means that the Lord Jesus will hold you by your “right hand,” telling you over and over “Don’t be afraid!” (Isa. 41:13).

It means that on the unknown pathway of life “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left” (Isa. 30:21). That “word” won’t necessarily be an audible Voice; it’s a “word” that the ears of your soul will hear distinctly. Talk about a new navigation system for your Lexus! Believe that truth in the Preamble to the Ten and you have that system built-in to your soul from now on.

If you’re a teen, that’s a huge burden lifted from your heart; you wonder what you’re going to do in life, or who you’re going to marry: your Navigation System will guide your every step.

If you’re an old person, you can look back and sing Hallelujah that the dear Lord has already held you by the hand and saved you from innumerable pitfalls, the most horrible of which is the “dominion” of sin (Rom. 6:14; have you ever thanked the Lord that He saved you from prison?).

A galaxy of New Covenant promises is in Ezekiel 36: “You shall be clean.... from all your idols,” you are given “a new heart,” there’s “a new spirit” installed within you, the old “heart of stone” that has plagued you all your life, removed, the Holy Spirit is placed “within you,” and your greatest joy becomes “walking in [the Lord’s] statutes” (vss. 25-27).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Thursday, April 27, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

It’s true: if we read the Ten Commandments with New Covenant eyes, they become ten promises of right living by faith. But how does this transformation take place?

It’s not motivated by fear (the standard though popular Old Covenant motivation). Rather, “the grace of God that brings salvation to all men has appeared,” “grace [which] abounded much more” than all the sin Satan could throw at us (Titus 2:11, Gr.; Rom. 5:20). It teaches us “that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (“in this present world,” KJV). Grace becomes our tutor in a New Covenant school, actually trains us in total obedience to God’s holy law. And the tutelage is a joy all the way.

But how does “grace teach” us? Titus 2 explains: “Our.... Savior Jesus Christ.... gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed....” (vs. 14):

(a) Long ago, before the foundation of the world, Christ as the Son of God “gave Himself” in a solemn covenant with the Father that if sin should ever arise on earth His love would constrain Him to give Himself, that is, to die for us.

(b) Laying aside all the advantages and prerogatives of divinity as He became incarnate in the womb of the virgin Mary, Christ grew to manhood as one of us (though still the Son of God “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” Rom. 8:3), and now again He pray to His Father, “Not as I will but as You will” (Matt. 26:39). That “not as I will” included His human (as well as divine) will to live; the “death” on His cross was the real thing. No thought of resurrection crossed His mind as He cried out, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He “poured out his soul unto death,” the second and final, everlasting one. “The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a Conqueror.” His emptying Himself was total (cf Isa. 53:12; Phil. 2:5, 6).

(c) Grace is undeserved favor; when it’s of Christ, like love, it constrains to total devotion to Him (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). The old fear is forgotten.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

If you memorize the Ten Commandments but omit the Preamble, you have a stern code of law, Old Covenant in nature. If you permit the Preamble to be where God spoke it, you have a New Covenant set of Ten delightful promises.

The Hebrew scholars tell us that the “Thou shalt nots” are the simple future tense indicatives; believe this and you will never steal, for example (the Enron execs would have been saved from disaster had they known and believed the Preamble). “Adultery is a trap—it catches those with whom the Lord is angry,” says the Wise Man (Prov. 22:14, GNB). Believe this Preamble, and you will never fall into that pit, says the Lord. (Is that ever Good News!)

What does the Preamble say? It’s New Testament, New Covenant, Good News:

“I am the LORD....” That holy name of infinite mystery; the Israelites were afraid to say it, but now we know He is “our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9), your intimate best Friend who’s on your side.

“Your God....” He’s yours; He actually gave Himself to you.

“Who [past tense] brought you out of the land of Egypt.... ,” in other words, out of darkness of soul. The Father brought you into the light; the Son has saved you from hell, having taken the darkness of your second death; and the blessed Holy Spirit ministers the sunshine of grace upon your soul 24/7.

“Out of the house of bondage.” “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom..6:14; sums up the Ten Commandments!). Christ redeemed you before you were born; the Father accepted you then “in Him.” As He gave Esau the birthright, so He has given you the gift of salvation (Heb. 12:16, 17; Gen. 25:34; Rom. 5:15-18). The Holy Spirit is telling your heart about it—don’t despise or sell it.

Now, believe the Preamble.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There is to be in Washington a great convocation the first Sunday of May in celebration of the Ten Commandments. In anticipation, various versions are being published. In our ever present hurry to condense, we humans have devised one version that entirely omits the second commandment (forbidding “to bow down to graven images”) but splitting the tenth to make up the coveted “ten.” Protestants vigorously oppose this version.

Another truncated version of the Ten Commandments omits most of the fourth, leaving humanity helplessly adrift in identifying the Lord’s day (or Sabbath day). This will probably become the favorite version celebrated that first Sunday in May.

But there is another version that has suffered a more sophisticated and therefore more clever mutilation: it faithfully reproduces the “ten” but omits the Preamble. But the Preamble is expressly declared in the original to be part of “all these words” that “God spake” (Ex. 20:1). Leave out the fluff, is the idea; let’s get to the real stuff—the “obedience” that God requires under pain of consignment to hell.

But.... leave out the Preamble and what you have is an Old Covenant code of law. The “I am the Lord” is the Lawgiver, but the idea of His already being a Savior is muffled. Face it, the Old Covenant is immensely popular, both outside the church and inside; Old Covenant ideas are what we humans naturally gravitate to. They have been our obsession for 6000 years. There’s an almost irresistible gravitation of thought toward the idea expressed as “obedience.” The deception is fantastically clever because obedience is indeed required; but the deception lies in the idea that hard work and painful self-denial will produce it.

This particular truncated version is the favorite used for children to memorize. They are imbued with Old Covenant ideas from their kindergarten years. Read the Preamble; grasp what it says. Maybe we can look at it tomorrow, the Lord willing.

[Robert J. Wieland's book, A New Look at God's Law: How the Ten Commandments Become Good News, points us to the importance of the Preamble to the Ten Commandments—that the Lord has already brought us out of the land of Egypt. In addition to the Introduction ("The Powerful Good News of the New Covenant"), ten chapters, one on each of the commandments, bring these ten "promises" out of the darkness of legalism into the sunlight. Timely reading for the current discussions on the commandments. Available from: Glad Tidings Publishers: (269) 473-1888; www.1888msc.org.]

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Monday, April 24, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

How do we explain baptism to children? In order for it to be meaningful they need to understand.

What is the great pre-requisite? “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). Believes what?

Paul’s explanation in Romans 6 (“we are buried with [Christ] by baptism into death”) is connected with Romans 5; that’s where he makes clear what to believe. It’s this:

(a) The love that God has to us “while we were still sinners” (vss. 5-8).

(b) We were “justified” by His dying for us (vs. 9).

(d) The “wrath” that we are “saved from” is not the Father’s (vs. 9; He loved us so much He gave His Son for us! Some modern translations insert what is not in the original Greek). The idea that the Father is mad at us and Jesus pacifies Him is not biblical.

(e) The Father didn’t need to be reconciled to us; we were reconciled to Him (vs. 10). The apostles “implore” us to let our angry hearts be reconciled to Him (2 Cor. 5:20).

(f) From now on life is “joy” (Rom. 5:11).

(g) Adam passed on to us our fallen, sinful nature; but the much more abounding grace of Christ is “out of all proportion” to the evil that Adam did to us (vs. 15, NEB).

(h) Over and over Paul says that what Christ did for us is the “gift” of salvation—not its mere offer (vss. 15, 16).

(i) The “believing” that Jesus says is necessary for baptism is a heart-felt thanks for this “gift” (6:1-13).

(j) Children can appreciate the love of Christ.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Friday, April 21, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Have you ever wondered why Jesus asked John to baptize Him? Wasn’t He sinless? Wasn’t John sent to baptize only people who had repented? (Matt. 3:11). Why this anomaly?

True—Jesus was totally sinless.

True—John was sent to baptize sinners only, and then only if they repented (pastors have no right to baptize people who have not repented!).

When Jesus asked John, he “forbad Him” because he knew He was sinless (vss. 13, 14). It makes more sense for You to baptize me, John said.

As Matthew writes, Jesus gave John a Bible study, extensive, thorough. He explained how the Father had sent Him to be the Lamb of God. As sinners at the sanctuary placed their hands on the head of an innocent lamb and transferred to it their sins, so Jesus was taking upon Himself all the sins of the whole world, “made to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), “made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). He put Himself in the place of every sinner, took the guilt upon His own heart (it wasn’t the nails in His hands and feet that killed Him).

Carrying this load, Jesus experienced repentance in behalf of every sinner. Without joining in our sin, He felt how every sinner feels. He prayed for us all, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” So terrible was the weight of our sin that He hardly felt the physical agony of the crucifixion. He was terribly tempted to conclude that His Father had forsaken Him. That cry of despair was no TV actor’s script: “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The death Jesus died was the equivalent of our second death (read Psalm 22). He didn’t go to sleep “three days and three nights; “Christ DIED for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3, 4), was resurrected from the DEAD, not from mere sleep, went to hell itself in order to save us from hell itself (Acts 2:27).

All this Jesus had to explain to John, until the prophet could see in Him “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (as he said the next day, John 1:29).

The repentance Jesus experienced in our behalf was not personal, for He had no sin of His own. It had to be a corporate repentance. As we grow closer to Him, we identify with Him. We learn that we have no righteousness inherited by our DNA; the sins of others would be our sins—but for the grace of a Savior, and then we can forgive others as we have been forgiven by Him. We will be like Him—experiencing a corporate repentance.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

How can we believe in “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” unless we also are loyal to “His wife,” who must “make herself ready” for “the marriage of the Lamb”?

Can we trust “the Lamb” (which means the crucified Christ) if He ultimately suffers shame and defeat in His nuptial choice? We read in Revelation that “the marriage of the Lamb” has been long delayed for the obvious reason that “the Lamb’s wife” has not yet “made herself ready” (19:1-8). “The Lamb” wants to return in His grand second coming, and “take [her] to [Himself], that where [He is, she] may be also” (see John 14:3).

There is no shame a man can suffer quite as painful as to be “stood up” at his wedding. All the guests have assembled, and to his embarrassment the woman he loves is a no show; she is not “ready.”

Why? She proclaims loud and clear that she doesn’t want to say “I do.” What will they think of him as a bridegroom? He may be great in his career whatever it is, but failure to win his bride is an embarrassment he can never overcome. Is our “Lamb of God” unable to woo and win the “woman” of His choice? What reason can she have for not making herself “ready” except that she has not been “won”?

That’s “her” problem, and He cannot force her to “make herself ready.” When Abraham Lincoln gave Mary Todd a ring inscribed, “Love is eternal,” he was recognizing the nature of true love; Christ’s love for His Bride-to-be is eternal—He can’t flippantly select another; He doesn’t dare compromise in the eyes of the world and of the universe the very nature of love itself.

Faith in the Lamb of God must also require confidence that “His wife” (His church) will “make herself ready” through accepting the gift of repentance appropriate for her (cf. Acts 5:31). Don’t give up on the church!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Bible is clear (Mal 4:5, 6):

(a) “Says the LORD of hosts,.... I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD....” That means now.

(b) His main agenda: not beheading modern “prophets of Baal,” but “turning” hearts in a grand, cosmic ministry of heart-reconciliation.

(d) The greatest “heart” that needs “turning”: the heart of “the Lamb’s wife”-to-be, His church (Rev. 19:7, 8).

(e) The “Lamb” (which means the crucified Christ) loves her and wants to marry her, but she has delayed “the marriage of the Lamb” by remaining un-ready as a Bride, alienated in that deeper conjugal maturity. Egocentric concern has been her primary motivation.

(f) That means that “she” is holding back from the total surrender of heart appropriate for any bride to give to her husband-to-be.

(g) In other words, the “Lamb’s” wooing has thus far been unsuccessful.

(h) The greatest “prophecy” of the end times declares that she (His church) will repent as a Bride, give her heart to Him in a corporate, nuptial love. This surrender of heart worldwide will release the pent-up Hallelujah Choruses of all eternity when she “makes herself ready” for the “marriage” (cf. Rev. 19:1-7).

(i) This being un-ready has involved the Bride-to-be in shameful, painful rejection of the Bridegroom, which has naturally humiliated Him. She, not He, has created a cosmic lovers’ split.

(j) Thanks to “Elijah’s” ministry, a healing of her heart must and will come. It will be the “repentance of the ages.”

(k) Those who would be loyal to the Bridegroom-to-be will also in deep contrition remain in the loyal fellowship of the bride-to-be. They will fulfill Hosea’s appeal to “plead,.... plead” with her (cf. 2:2, 13-15, 17-20).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Who was Moses? How would he fit in with our 21st century world? Could he relate?

These questions are not irrelevant because he is alive, somewhere. “The dead in Christ” are all asleep, awaiting the first resurrection at the second coming of Christ (Rev. 20:6; 1 Thess. 4:14-17; John 5:28, 29). But Moses was granted a special resurrection (Jude 9)! He would doubtless have been granted translation without experiencing death as Enoch (Heb. 11:5), but Moses brought shame and disgrace on the Lord by losing his temper at Kadesh (Num. 20:7-13). In anger he struck the rock twice to bring water to the people rather than speak the word as the Lord had commanded him. In so doing he had given the people the impression that he—not the Lord—was providing their water.

But after he was especially resurrected, one would think that Moses would be lonely in heaven (for human companionship, except for Enoch and Elijah who were translated), for all the others who have believed in the Lord are “asleep.” But surely God would give Moses something meaningful to do to relieve his celestial boredom. And we have a brief glimpse in Matthew 17 of his assigned work; God sent him to minister encouragement to the Savior of the world in the conference on the Mount of Transfiguration (vss. 1-3).

Moses had an experience that enabled him to come close to Christ. His heart had been “enlarged” (cf. Psalm 119:32, KJV) in his appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ. He was qualified to minister to Christ. He and Elijah shared this deeper insight so that the two of them were sent on this unique errand. In his love for God’s people (“the church in the wilderness,” Acts 7:38) Moses asked for his own name to be blotted out of the book of life if thereby he could save Israel (Ex. 32:32, 33). That is a rare love—it’s agape! It motivated Christ.

The love that Moses knew did not precede the love that moved Christ; Moses learned it from Him, for Christ was first. But what’s important is that he did learn it! He opened his heart; he did not resist it. Moses had a point of intimacy with Christ. He was qualified to attend the conference on the Mount and speak words of encouragement to Jesus. Thank God that he did!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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