Daily Bread

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: A Marriage Without a Bride?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Yes, there is indeed a "great controversy between Christ and Satan." And those who believe in Christ believe that He will win, in the end. This is called "the blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).

Can human beings help Him win that great controversy?

Many will say, "No, God is sovereign; He is almighty; He is the Captain on this ship; we are only passengers." And in one sense that is true.

But there is another truth that is begging for recognition: the long delay in finishing the great controversy is not God's fault, but the fault of His people who have delayed His will. When one compares Christ's message to "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans" in Revelation 3:14-21 with chapter 19:1-8, it becomes readily apparent that the Bride of the Lamb should have "made herself ready" long ago.

The great controversy cannot be finally concluded until she does make herself ready, because you can't have a marriage without a bride having made herself ready!

Yes, Christ needs the cooperation of His people, because "the Head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you" (compare 1 Cor. 12:21). One's feet are very lowly in comparison with one's head; but no one wants to lose them.

The time must come when not only is Satan defeated at Christ's cross, but Christ's people must also defeat him. "Our brethren ... overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:10, 11). Only then can the final chorus of rejoicing break out in heaven (vs. 12).

You are important; all Heaven is watching you on their TV cameras. And the Savior's "much more abounding grace" is GIVEN to you, not merely offered. Rejoice and thank God for the privilege of having an important part in the final battle of the great controversy.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 23, 2002.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

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" messages are availalbe 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.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: What Happened in Exodus 19?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

A parent who believes "the everlasting gospel," doesn't want to be misled into "the mark of the beast," sincerely wants to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth," longs to receive the "seal of God," is burdened for her 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, doesn't want anything held back from her. They're perplexed: sometimes the true God comes through as kind and merciful, forgiving, loving; but there are also places where He seems hard, severe, threatening most 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. We've sensed the problem in our own "family worship time" when we've read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and even Hosea--yes, "balanced" with New Testament reading.

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 Him 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" galore 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, backsliding people slipping back into pagan worldliness right up into 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!

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 1, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Storm Is on the Way

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Every rainy winter we in California see the same heart-breaking pictures: luxurious homes built on shifting foundations sliding down, even into the Pacific Ocean. (But yes, while they lasted, the owners had glorious views.)

This must have been a common sight in Jesus' day for He draws a lesson from it. He likens those who build a house of religious belief on falsehood to those who build a mansion on a sand dune with an ocean view. They are "foolish," He says (Matt. 7:24-27). Note, He doesn't call them "wicked."

This introduces us to one of the most pathetic and tragic aspects of church life: sincere, devoted people who can't tell the difference between Bible truth and fanaticism. They are not wicked people, they don't rob banks or commit adultery, but they spin wild theories out of Bible texts wrested from common sense contexts. Almost every church, no matter how small, seems to have one (or more) of these fanatics who keep beating their drum. They hit their pay dirt mostly in misconstruing Daniel and Revelation. There is a solid-rock, common-sense understanding of those prophecies, and it developed in the Great Second Advent Movement of over a century ago. The rain and the storms of opposition have "beat upon that house" and it has "fallen not."

But every departure from that clear-cut prophetic truth has resulted in a "house built upon the sand," and as "the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; ... it fell." It has left the fanatics looking "foolish." But fanaticism is a psychosis that doesn't mind the acute embarrassment of appearing naked and foolish before the world and before heaven!

To change the metaphor, Revelation 16:15 says, hang on to your clothes; all those nightmares you've ever had about appearing naked in public will be fulfilled unless you study Daniel and Revelation and know for sure what is that bed-rock foundation of truth. Heaven's Weather Service says the storm is on the way.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 9, 1998.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Fruitage of Christ's Work as Great High Priest

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How is justification by faith more fully grasped in these last days, than it was by Luther and Calvin in the 16th century? Didn't they proclaim it clearly?

Yes, they did--for their day. But they lived BEFORE "the time of the end" when "knowledge shall be increased" (Dan. 12:4). Their work, which the Lord gave them, was to prepare a people to die and come up in the first resurrection--a wonderful work indeed (see Luke 20:35; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17). And they were faithful to the light they saw.

But now in this "time of the end," we are living in the great cosmic, antitypical "Day of Atonement." God is preparing a people to be "accounted worthy ... to STAND before the Son of man," to be translated at His second coming (Luke 21:36). And there is no power in heaven or earth that can accomplish that objective except "the gospel of Jesus Christ." It alone "is the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16). It's what Peter says is "the present truth" (2 Peter 1:12). That clearer understanding of "the everlasting gospel" (Rev. 14:6) will teach God's people to "sing a NEW song" that "no man" can "learn but the 144,000, which [are] redeemed from the earth," in whose "mouth [is] found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God" (vss. 3-5). There is not a progression of truth involved, but there is a progression in the comprehension of truth. "Knowledge shall be increased."

That will be the fruitage of Christ's work as the world's great High Priest in His closing work in the Most Holy Apartment of His heavenly sanctuary (see Heb. 4:14-16; 7:25; 9:23-28; 10:18-25; 11:39, 40; 13:20, 21).

"But what change in character is involved?" someone may ask.

The legally imputed righteousness of Christ becomes His practically imparted righteousness, when the Bride of Christ "has made herself ready" for the long-delayed "marriage of the Lamb." For the first time in the long ages of the great controversy, she is "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the [imparted] righteousness of saints" (19:7, 8; Greek). Now the Bride is more concerned for His honor and glory than even for her own salvation; that's biblical justification by faith. She "overcomes even as [He] overcame" (3:21), self at last crucified with Him.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 13, 2004.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: How Do You Make the Chef Happy?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Could it ever be that something good that God Himself gives can turn into something bad?

The answer is yes, and an example is the manna that God gave the people of Israel in their 40 years of wilderness wandering. From its description that we read in Numbers 11, it was an appetizing and nourishing food. Scholars variously describe the language as cakes "fried in good oil," "as food newly baked," or like "wafers made with honey." Perhaps it was like delicious freshly baked bread; evidently it could be prepared in a variety of ways as a well balanced diet, and for a healthy appetite it was always appetizing. The Psalmist describes it as "angel's food" (78:25). Since God gave it to them, it was undeniably "good."

But the people had to eat it on the very day that it "fell" on the dew each morning. Moses told them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. ... Let no one leave any of it till morning. ... But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank" (Ex. 16:15, 19, 20). Something very good became very bad! It had to be eaten when God gave it. The reason: it was very nutritious, but like whole-grain flour that attracts bugs.

The manna is a symbol of the spiritual nourishment the Holy Spirit gives us day by day if we are willing to "eat" it. It's Bible truth, "fresh" each morning (Isa. 50:4, 5). The hungry soul finds things "new and old" in God's word that constantly invigorate him (Matt. 13:52). We are told to "bless the Lord"--in other words, make Him happy (Psalm 103:1, for example). How do you make a chef happy? You tell him his meal was super-delicious.

Now, ask the Lord for a second helping; tell Him you're hungry. That will make Him happy! There's nothing He loves more than to feed hungry people and watch them enjoy His cuisine. Eat His "manna" today. Learn to love it. Don't lay it aside until tomorrow!

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 4, 2005.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: A Lesson From the Fig Tree

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jesus said in Luke 21:26 that just before His second coming "the powers of heaven shall be shaken." That, together with "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." It's only the superficial, non-thinking people who are not fearful of what is coming.

What has always been thought to be solid biblical teaching is being "shaken." Once Sabbath-keeping pastors now powerfully advocate Sunday-keeping; and there is a shaking of the very idea that the second coming of Christ is near at hand. Prominent Adventist voices are saying that there has been no delay in the time of Christ's second coming, so more than 150 years of waiting since the pioneers believed His coming was "even at the doors" only seems like a delay when it is not.

"Soon" doesn't mean what human language and concept understand it to mean. Young people reared in the church say they have no idea that Christ will return during their lifetime. The "signs of the times" that have long been understood to indicate that we are living in a clearly demarcated "time of the end" were pseudo-exegetical exercises in immaturity strewn like wreckage on the sands of time. Now we are told that there is an "immanence/distance tension of the Advent" that soft-pedals any time prophecies of Scripture and affirms that in Matthew 24 "Christ offers no sign by which the 'when' [of the second coming] can be calculated. ... What Christ explains is not the 'when' but the 'what' that will characterize the waiting time." The implication is clear: the second coming was as "imminent" in the time of the apostles as it is today.

Well, take a little time to read (on your knees) Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you grace to believe what He is saying to us. Yes, and also read the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, just the naked Bible. What do they actually say? See for yourself. I count 13 "whens and "thens" and time indicators in Matthew 24; 7 in Mark 13; and 7 similar time indicators in Luke 21. Yet we are told that Christ does not explain any "whens."

Doubtless many will be "shaken" by this erudite philosophy. Hang on tight to what Jesus says: "Let the fig tree teach you a lesson. When ... it starts putting out leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, you will know that the time is near," "even at the doors" (GNB, KJV).

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 18, 1999.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: A Troublesome Text About the Second Coming

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's a troublesome text, and if it hasn't troubled you it's because you haven't thought about it. For many serious-minded people, it threatens the belief that the second coming of Jesus is imminent. In Matthew 24:33, 34, Jesus says to those who live in the last days, "When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

The problem is that for more than 150 years Adventists have believed that the coming of Jesus is so near that it is "even at the doors," and the stalwarts who pioneered what is known as the Great Second Advent Movement steadfastly believed that the "thousand years" of Revelation 20 would for certain be the next millennium. God's people who are ready for Jesus' coming would spend it in heaven. But now the world seems set on spending it here on earth.

The problem with the disturbing words of Jesus is this: What are those "all these things" that "this generation" sees? The answer is clear: the "signs" in the heavens, the end of "the tribulation of those days" when "the sun shall be darkened," "the stars shall fall from heaven," and "upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ... men's hearts failing them for fear" (Matt. 24:29; Luke 21:25, 26). The last of "the signs in the heavens" was the falling of the stars of 1833, and the generation that saw that has for over a century been sleeping in their graves.

There has to be an answer, or for thoughtful young people, the idea of imminence will crumble away. The answer is: the unbelief of God's people has delayed the Lord's coming, even as that of Israel delayed their entrance into the Promised Land. But there is Good News, for the solution is repentance; and repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit that CAN be accepted!

Jesus also told us to pray, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Let's stop hindering the fulfillment of that "will."

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 14, 1999.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Jesus' Last Prayer (Part 3)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When one reads Jesus' last prayer with His disciples in John 17, it flows easily and serenely, as if He were utterly calm and unperturbed as He faced His horrible death. Reading it with the unimpassioned spirit of reading a scientific lecture deprives us of the true meaning of this prayer. It cannot be truly understood except in the light of Hebrews 5:6-8. In fact, if we say John 17 is the "High Priestly Prayer," then it becomes obvious that this passage in Hebrews describes this particular prayer! "A high priest forever ... who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him [the Father] who was able to save Him from death …"

The John 17 prayer was prayed with "strong crying and tears"! The thought of dying under the curse of God (Gal. 3:13) filled the soul of Jesus with dread, infinitely more so than any criminal who faces death by injection on Death Row. The latter kind of death is only a sleep with the sense of God's forgiveness; the death Jesus faced was the sum total of all hopeless deaths under that "curse of God." He was in the process of being "made to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). In a few minutes He would be pleading, agonizingly, with the Father, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" (Matt. 26:39). In other words, Oh Father, please find some other way for Me to save the world short of dying on a cross! And then, another convulsion of tears.

Perhaps this might help us make sense of His repeated request about being "glorified" in John 17:1, 4, 5, 10, 22, 24. He isn't begging to be a "show-off"! When He pleads with the Father to "glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee," He means, "Please enable Me to demonstrate agape throughout the terrible trial that faces Me! Hold Thou My hand! Don't let Me stumble and fall! Save Me from letting self mar My witness! Teach Me to be patient when they beat Me, pull out My beard, spit in My face, revile Me, lie about Me, mock Me, strip Me, exhibit Me, and nail Me to a tree!"

We read that the grace of God was upon Him throughout His life on earth (Luke 2:52); never did He need it and beg for it more than now. If He can endure, that will be "glory"! And this brings us to the same "glory" that He "has given" those who believe in Him (John 17:22). They need unity! Is there any other way that they can learn to "be one, even as [He and the Father] are one"?

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 18, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Dial Daily Bread: Jesus' Last Prayer (Part 2)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When Jesus the night before His death prayed His last prayer to His heavenly Father in John 17 in the presence of His few disciples, He clearly distinguished between two classes of people: (1) The "all people" which are the same as the "all flesh" mentioned in 17:2. He says that the Father sent Him into the world so that He might "give to them everlasting life." (2) The second group is the people whom the Father gave Him who are "OUT OF THE WORLD" (vs. 6). To them He says He "has manifested Your name, and they have observed [or received]" the blessing which the Father has given to the world "in Christ."

The fact that many "in the world" don't want to receive the gift God has given them does not mean that the gift was not given to them. If a person refuses to believe in Christ, that does not mean that Christ did not die for him. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" long before you or I chose to believe or disbelieve!

Our unbelief cannot annul the faith of God, says Paul in Romans 3:3. In the final judgment before the Great White Throne at the end of the biblical millennium (Rev. 20:11-15) the lost will realize that their life-long unbelief was a rejection of the "everlasting life" which the Father had GIVEN them "in Christ." They will see themselves as Esau who "despised" and "sold" the birthright that God had given (not merely offered) him (Gen. 25:34; Heb. 12:16). Oh, may the realization of the gift GIVEN move our hearts out of our collective lukewarmness today!

Jesus has a burden on His heart that last night: the disunity that has plagued His followers through the ages. Could it be that the root of that tragically persistent disunity is the unconscious refusal of "Christian" hearts to appreciate that the gift was GIVEN to the world? Could it be that in our "lukewarm" hearts we want to circumscribe or limit the love of Christ and reduce salvation to a mere offer? Do we want to glory in our own initiative to receive? When we enter the New Jerusalem do we want to say, "I'm here because I believed! I grabbed the offer! I took the initiative in my salvation!"

It seems very likely that those who enter will beat upon their breasts and say, "I'm unworthy! I'm here only because of the grace of God, not because of my taking the initiative to believe. To Him alone be all the glory! I thank Him for all the troubles He allowed me to have so that unbelieving I might learn to believe!"

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 17, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Seminar Invitation From "Dial Daily Bread"

—Invitation—

A Spiritual Day of Study

Appreciating the
BOOK OF ROMANS
Through the 1888 Message Perspective (Part 6)

February 27, 2010
Sabbath, 2:15 p.m. — Saturday Night

An 1888 message oriented sermon will be delivered during the regular
Worship Service at 11:00 a.m.

Cave Springs Home, Pegram, Tennessee
(Off Interstate 40 westbound from Nashville, exit 192–turn right, left on HWY 70,
1-1/2 miles to Cave Springs Road, two rights and follow the signs.)

Speaker & Bible Study Leader
Chaplain Craig Barnes

Children's Programs
• Special Sabbath School Class for Children
• Separate Children's Program During the Afternoon Meetings

Sabbath Dinner and Light Supper
Plant-based meals will be served at Cave Springs Home
on a donation basis.
Please E-mail or call to reserve a meal ticket.

BOOK SALE (After Sunset)

LODGING
• Lodging Is Available on Site
• Commercial lodging available in the nearby town of Belleview

Phone: (615) 646-6962 (if no answer, please leave a message)
E-mail: cjmb@comcast.net

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

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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: Jesus' Last Prayer (Part 1)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jesus prayed His last prayer with His disciples (John 17). He offered it the night before He was to die the most horrible death known, rejected, despised, hated, and worst of all, left fearfully alone to feel forsaken by His heavenly Father. Yes, the Father permitted a great wall to come between Himself and His Son, so that Jesus was abandoned to suffer on a cross the agony of hell--the death that Moses told everybody meant that God curses you forever (Deut. 21:22, 23; Gal. 3:13). It was the ultimate horror--"made to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21).

But the prayer Jesus offered was one of triumphant conquest, claiming the grandest victory possible in God's great universe: "I have finished the work You gave Me to do" (John 17:4). And what was that "work"? "I came not to judge the world but to save it" (12:47). Chapter 3:17 explains more fully: "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

But did Jesus actually "save the world"? Today it looks quite sinful, doesn't it? Like it's still lost! Was He mistaken? Should He have prayed, "Father, I am about to die; I wish I could have saved the world, but, look, they've rejected Me! It's not My fault! I tried to do what You sent Me to do, but Satan wouldn't let me save the world! I've succeeded in saving only a tiny minority! And even they will forsake Me!"

No, His claim to have "finished the work" the Father gave Him to do is true. He DID save the world!

(1) He became the second Adam, a true human being, took into Himself in a legal sense the entire human race, restored what Adam lost, took upon Himself as our Representative all our sins and died our death which is "the wages of sin" (Rom. 6:23), and thus "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9), and forever "condemned sin" in the fallen, sinful flesh of mankind (Rom. 8:3).

(2) That "death" was not the "sleep" that we all experience: it was the real thing, "the second death" (Rev. 2:11; 20:14). The only reason you or I can take another breath is because He has redeemed us from that second death. That's why God can treat "every man" as though he were innocent (which of course we aren't!). Only because Christ "finished the work" He was given to do can God "send His rain on the just and on the unjust" alike (Matt. 5:45).

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 15, 2001
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

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

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Explaining the Gospel to the Muslims

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There are about a billion Muslims who are turned off by what many of them regard as two obstacles against their becoming Christians: (1) the Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries demonstrate openly for all time that "Christianity" is a cruel and unjust religion (they say); and (2) the doctrine that one man's righteousness can substitute morally for another man's unrighteousness. In fact, their theologians connect the Crusades to that doctrine of vicarious moral substitution. It's unjust, and unfair, they say.

We know first: the Crusades were not true, biblical Christianity. Second, could the doctrine of a vicarious substitution be explained to Muslims more clearly? Does the Bible also teach the truth of a shared substitution?

In His first lesson on the cross Jesus told us, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him ... take up his cross, and follow Me. ... Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matt. 16:24, 25). Paul understood this idea of shared substitution: "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). "As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death. ... We were buried with Him through baptism into death. ... We have been united together in the likeness of His death. ... Our old man [the love of self] was crucified with Him. ... If we died with Christ we believe we shall also live with Him" (Rom. 6:3-8--but not otherwise!). If "our" Crusaders had understood this, world history would have been different! Praying for the Muslims is good, but not good enough: we must tell them the gospel clearly, truthfully.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 6, 2005.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Are We Asking the Wrong Question?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's a question millions of Christians have been pondering: Why has the second coming of Christ been so long delayed? He told us clearly that there would be "signs" that when we "should see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." For a long time now, "we" have seen the "signs." And then Jesus adds, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Matt. 24:33, 34). The question is, What does "near" mean? What "generation" did He mean?

According to Daniel 11:35 in the context of his prophecies, "we" have been living in "the time of the end" ever since the close of the Dark Ages of persecution (the "wearing out of the saints," 7:25; 11:33, 34). It's this age of "increase of knowledge" and worldwide missionary activity. The Books of Daniel and Hebrews are complementary and make clear that we are living in the cosmic Day of Atonement, the antitypical time when the great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary is performing His final work of preparing a people for the long-awaited second coming.

So, when we ask the question, How soon is "near"? we are really asking, How long will the Day of Atonement last? And when we ask that question, we are really asking a deeper one, "How long will it take the High Priest to cleanse the sanctuary from the sins of His people" (see Dan. 8:14)? And the answer has to be, Not long, if His people will let Him do it. He cannot force them to be reconciled to Him. The cleansing of human hearts must precede the cleansing of the sanctuary, according to Leviticus 16:29, 30. That is as true in this antitypical Day of Atonement as it was in the Levitical typical day of atonement "on the tenth day of the seventh month."

And so our ultimate question must be, How "near" is the time when God's people will permit their great High Priest to do His work in their hearts that He longs to do? According to Hebrews 7:25, "He is able" to do His part "perfectly." So, in the final analysis, we started off asking the wrong question. It's not for us to ask God "how long," but He is asking us, "How long?"

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 6, 2000.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Bible Formula for a Changed Heart and Life

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The inspired Bible formula has to be true: Listening to God's New Covenant promises + believing them = a changed heart and life (John 3:16, etc.). It's like a simple recipe in cooking: when God's promises are "mixed with faith." What comes out of the oven is genuine conversion (Heb. 4:2). That was the miracle of "the hearing of faith" that the Galatians experienced when Paul preached Christ's sacrifice so clearly that they saw Him "crucified before them" (3:1-5). And it was the miracle of sour, bitter Sarai's melting of heart and repentance (Abraham's wife) by hearing God's Good News that made it possible for her at last "by faith" to receive the miracle from God, to get pregnant with Isaac (Gen. 16:2; 17:15, 16; 18:9, 10; Heb. 11:11).

But there are counterfeits! How can we tell the difference? Why are so many preaching "love, love, love," yet the listeners sense no need to overcome sin itself? What's wrong? There's nothing wrong with love itself if they just knew the right idea of it when the Bible says that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). They assume our natural egocentric human idea. The New Testament word is agape, and it's a totally different kind of love than we humans know naturally. It's impossible for an honest heart to hear, to understand, to contemplate, to "survey" that agape displayed in the "wondrous cross," and then go on in captivity to sin.

There are many contrasts between the two loves, but the greatest is this: that agape-love of Christ led Him to choose to go to hell, to die the equivalent of the hopeless second death, because of His love for us. "He poured out His soul unto death," He "was made to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (Isa. 53:12; 2 Cor. 5:21). You can never understand the cross of Christ (it's something far greater than a gold or silver symbol!) unless you understand Galatians 3:13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." He voluntarily took that "curse" upon Himself, gave up all thought of life eternal, "poured out His soul" completely. Contemplating that love plants it in our hearts; and lives are changed. Just be sure the Good News is not distorted by an intrusion of false doctrine, such as the non-biblical natural immortality of the soul.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive:
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: God's Challenge to His Remnant Church

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There’s a fascinating link between the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John that intrigues many people. The former tells of God’s final “Voice from heaven” that will sound in the heart of a vast number around the world to “come out of Babylon, My people.” They will respond in that last hour, symbolized as “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” who hear the Voice because in some way they already “follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes” (18:4; 7:9; 14:4). They are already responsive in their confusion to each nuance of divine leading they can sense. They love truth.

The link with John’s Gospel is in 10:1-16 where Jesus lets us in on His secret: He has people everywhere who are His hidden “sheep” who “know His voice” and respond whenever He can find a human agent to proclaim the truth so clearly that honest people recognize that “Voice.” To borrow Luther’s rude phrase, these who proclaim the gospel don’t “taste of the dish” (would you serve your guests from a dish that still has the remnants of its former cooking sticking to it?). When our preaching is marred by “self,” we repulse rather than attract these “sheep.”

The presence of self-love seen in the agent constitutes the “messenger” “a thief and a robber” “climbing up some other way” into Christ’s “sheepfold.” His true sheep run as fast as they can the other way (they “flee from a stranger”). And possibly the church wonders why they are not winning more souls, and why their efforts to “lighten the earth with glory” seem so stymied.

The picture in the Bible is clear: God has faithful people buried in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, yes, maybe all the “isms” of the world, including (it must be!) atheism who are not heart-satisfied where they are; they hunger for something they haven’t yet found. When truth and that truth-seeker meet, nothing in earth or heaven will keep them apart forever after.

The challenge to God’s “remnant church” of these last days is: clear away the self-confusion that muffles the sound of that “Voice from heaven.” What’s on God’s agenda for His church is thrilling.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 21, 2004.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The GIFT of "Righteousness by Faith"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It seems like a fantastic idea but it's like a golden thread throughout both Old and New Testaments of the Bible: proud, sinful, selfish, lustful, wicked human hearts (ours!) are changed by simply believing what the apostle Peter says are "exceedingly great and precious promises"!

And they're not man's "promises." They are the Lord's. Can it really be true that there is power in something as simple as believing God's promises (that appear to be so wild and extravagant)? God virtually promised Abraham the sky. And the old man is "the father of us all."

For instance, in the Old Testament we read that He picked up this only monotheist He could find in the ancient world, called him into exile to "a land that [He] would show him," promised it to him "for an everlasting possession." Paul got the idea: it was almost infinitely more than that tiny little strip of land known as Canaan; it meant the whole earth! (Rom 4:13). And no way could the "possession" be "everlasting" for Abraham unless this "exceedingly great and precious promise" included the gift of eternal life, which Abraham couldn't enjoy as a genetic inheritance for he was born a sinner under condemnation like all of us. And further, no way could he be "the heir of the world" unless it became the "new earth." And again, no way could he be "the heir" of such a new earth unless he was given the gift of "righteousness," for Peter insists that only "righteousness dwelleth" there (2 Peter 3:13).

So, it all ends up full circle: God's "exceeding great and precious promises" mean the out and out GIFT of "righteousness by faith." And that was the meaning of those seven promises the Lord made to Abraham in Genesis 12:2, 3, and then later swore to in chapter 15--staking His very existence and His eternal throne on His keeping them.

Now, we return to our question: does it make sense that we, sinful selfish people by nature can be changed, converted, purified, transformed, even "sanctified," by believing those "promises"? Believe it or not, that is Peter's idea: "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, ... exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:3, 4).

"Escape" is what we desperately need, for we face the second death without it. The "corruption" of lust surrounds us and would permeate us. Our modern "culture" is steeped in it.

I tremble to write it, but it's true: our "escape" is only in believing those "promises." Join me in my own heart-felt prayer: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:23, 24). We are told we can never perish if we pray that prayer.

Dial Daily Bread: "More Abundant Life"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

To endure poverty that is thrust upon you unwanted is one thing; you grumble at your lot and wish you had more money. But to be content with poverty, actually to enjoy its discipline and privation, is another. And that immediately makes us think of Jesus--a hard-working peasant who in later life said He had not where to lay His head. And He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit …" meaning, they are the truly happy people.

Wealthy people are seldom happy. It's not poetic fancy but hard truth that "godliness with contentment is great gain." I could take you to many homes in East Africa where I know people who have very little of this world's goods; they barely have the "food and raiment" wherewith to be "content," but they have the sunshine of happiness in their homes.

There's a beautiful hymn by Anna Waring that was in the old Hymnal, but it's been left out of the new one, probably because its sentiment goes too much against the grain of modern American philosophy. She says: "I have a heritage of joy / That yet I must not see; / The hand that bled to make it mine / Is keeping it for me. / There is a certainty of love / That sets my heart at rest; / A calm assurance for today, / That to be poor is best."

Wow! Of course! Such an idea must never be promoted in the richest nation on earth! But it's Bible teaching. No, not that abject, grinding, painful poverty is good--of course not; let's be reasonable. "Food and raiment" are necessary; and the One who had not where to lay His head doesn't want you be like that--He wants you to have a roof over your head, yes, that doesn't leak, and a bed to sleep in. And He wants you to have the necessities of life, which today probably mean a car and a refrigerator.

My friends in Africa probably don't have those things. But the principle is the thing: "a person's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he/she possesseth" (Luke 12:15). "More abundant LIFE": the Good News is not that Jesus merely offers it to you; He GIVES it to you. Receive it! Don't resent it!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Christ Is a Savior FROM Sin

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

At the bottom of each devotional message you will now see the date when the message was originally sent to DDB readers. To many of you, as new or recent subscribers, these messages are fresh "bread," as they are to those of us who have read them before. Elder Wieland sends his greetings to all of you, his faithful readers and friends, and asks that you join us in prayer that he will soon be able to write these messages again. Please feel free to write him at the following e-mail address. Your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Sincerely, Robert J. Wieland and the "Dial Daily Bread" Staff

dailybread@1888message.org

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To what extent was Jesus in His incarnation tempted like as we are, from within? We cannot dare to go beyond what the Bible says. But neither do we dare to deny or come short of what it does say, regarding our Lord's experience with our temptations. What Scripture does say clearly is: "We have ... an high priest ... touched with the feeling of our infirmities, [who] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15; the double negatives mean a firm positive). We dare not say that there are some temptations we must endure which Jesus never had to meet! With great respect to them, some Christians teach that when the virgin Mary was in the womb of her mother, the little embryo was miraculously separated from the heredity of all other descendants of the fallen Adam, so that she was born with a sinless nature so she could give to her Son Jesus a sinless nature. That is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Specifically, this doctrine teaches that Mary was never tempted as we are, for example in sex. This denies what Scripture says.

The word "all points" in Heb. 4:15 is a Greek term that means exactly that--"all." "Infirmities" is the word that means "weaknesses." And the word "like as" in the Greek means "identically," not merely in a similar way.

Only one conclusion seems possible: In His incarnation, Christ had to endure every temptation that we have to meet. Some object, "Was He tempted to watch TV? Eat ice cream? Drink Vodka? Etc. These things were not invented in His day!" The answer has to be yes, He was tempted in principle. He had to meet the temptations of appetite as must we, and also of sensuality, as must we. Hebrews 2:18 in the Greek quite clearly implies that only "in that wherein He Himself hath suffered being tempted, is He able to succor those who are tempted." If we can find some temptation to sin that He never had to meet, in that respect we do not have a Savior from that sin!

His temptations on His cross were certainly from within: His cry, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" was from deep within His soul. We must accept the Good News that indeed Christ is a Savior FROM sin. We can come "boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in [every] time of need" (Heb. 4:16).

All I can do is encourage you to believe how good the Good News is.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Lessons From Job (Part 3)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Could you be as important a person in God's great universe as Job was? You may say, "I don't want Job's job! Give me an easier witness assignment!" But you may already have that important witnessing assignment. Both Job and Jesus chose to be loyal to God, to hold on to their faith when there seemed to be no hope whatever; and that was wonderful. They both honored God.

But there must be another development in the great controversy between Christ and Satan before the end can come. There must be a people, a corporate body of "saints," who before the world and the universe demonstrate that they "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12). The same chapter identifies them as "144,000" who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" (vss. 1-5). They are a distinct group who are new on the stage of the world in view of the universe who have been watching this grand drama unfold, because they "sing as it were a new song [that] no man could learn but the 144,000" (vs. 3).

That means that they will have a new experience, because no one in the Bible sings a song carelessly or thoughtlessly; each is sung out of deep experience. And if they sing a new experience then they must have a new comprehension of what it cost "the Lamb" to save them. They have identified with Him experientially more closely and deeply than any other corporate body of God's people through all time. Revelation says that they will grow up to a maturity that qualifies them for a unique place in the plan of salvation: "the Lamb's wife."

These people must not come from only one culture or language or society; they are expressly said to be from "every nation, and kindred, and tongue," every tribe on earth. Each must demonstrate that the grace of Christ has been "sufficient" for one from the most sinful, depraved culture on earth, who believes, to "overcome even as [Christ] overcame."

If only "143,999" overcome, the line will be broken. That last one must hold the line. He/she is tremendously important. That one is YOU.

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

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Lessons From Job (Part 2)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There are many links that bind Job on his dung heap with Christ on His cross, and yes, links that bind him to God's people today.

(1) Job had to endure his trial alone. Even his wife told him to "curse God and die." His three best friends turned against him because they couldn't understand him, and in their supposedly orthodox "Christian" way tortured him even further.

(2) So Christ was alone in His agony on the cross. His closest friends, His mother and His eleven disciples left (one had betrayed Him), couldn't understand Him and fled.

(3) So will His people in these last days each one stand alone, people of "every nation, and kindred, and tongue" will each be placed in circumstances where his/her faith will be tried as each is forced to stand alone as a witness for Christ.

(4) In total darkness, with Heaven closed against him, no answers to his prayers, bereft, apparently forsaken by God and by loved ones on earth, Job maintained his loyalty to God.

(5) So Christ with everything against Him, enduring what He knew was the "curse" of God, remained loyal all by Himself.

(6) So will those "144,000" (whether a literal or a symbolic number doesn't matter so far as this principle is concerned) will "follow the Lamb whitherseover He goeth" in their darkest hour of trial when again Heaven seems closed against them and no visible or perceived answer to their prayers comes.

(7) The honor of God, the stability of His throne, His credibility, depended on Job choosing to be loyal in his total darkness and despair. As an individual, Job was God's last hope. If he had taken his wife's advice and cursed God and died, God would have been proved a liar and a failure, and Satan would have won the great controversy. Job was supremely important.

More tomorrow (God willing) about how important YOU are, yes YOU in your tiny sphere.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Welcome to "David's Club"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you ever been opposed, misrepresented, misunderstood, and as a result, pained? Welcome to "David's Club"! The Holy Spirit has provided for you David's "Prayer Book" wherein you can find encouragement ready-made for every problem life brings to you.

You know that you are unworthy to pray David's prayers as though they were your own, for he was "the anointed of the Lord," and you have this deep feeling that you are not. But God invites you to do exactly that--to identify with David in his prayers. And here's the reason why it's so:

King David had a Son, a distant Descendant, who so immersed Himself deeply in David's Psalms that He earned the title, "The Son of David." And it is He who invites you to identify with David and pray his Psalms as though they were your own prayers, because that is what He did and they became His prayers. God has "predestinated [you] unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, ... wherein He hath made [you] accepted in the beloved" (Eph 1:5, 6). Jesus invites you to pray in His name, so that all the encouragement He Himself derived from the Book of Psalms He wants you to absorb also.

You will find this difficult to grasp, that one so unworthy as you know yourself to be should be thus exalted, but you ever afterwards "walk softly" before the Lord and before your fellow humans. David suffered opposition, misrepresentation, even hatred from the people who prided themselves as being God's people, David's fellow-Israelites.

You may suffer problems in your family (so did David, and so did Jesus), or at work, or even (could it be so?) in your church--the place where you expected peace and harmony. A wise writer has reminded us that there is a "supreme court of the universe, from whose decision there [can] be no appeal" (Christ Triumphant, p. 176). David often appealed to that Supreme Court, and so can you. Then you can find rest unto your soul, confident in the decision of that "court."

Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Dial Daily Bread: Lessons From Job (Part 1)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Of all the 66 books in the Bible, Job is the one that most vividly reveals the problem all of us face in life: how to understand suffering. And that problem always resolves itself finally into one great, perplexing, painful question: who is this who hates me? Who is bringing on me this undeserved calamity? Is it God, or is it Satan?

Your mind may have the correct answer, but what about your heart? If you are like I am, your heart in its natural, unconverted state, is "enmity against God" (Rom 8:7), and you're only kidding yourself if you think you are an exception. "Why me?" is the universal question we ask when great calamity strikes us, whether by an accident, or cancer, or loss of a human love, or bereavement. Job is I, and you; he is standing in for us. He couldn't figure out what "sin" he was guilty of that provoked God to curse him so terribly with the loss of everything he held dear, even his basic health.

Job is the first Christian book ever written; there are links that bind him on his dung heap wailing out in despair, "Why?" with Christ on His cross in total darkness wailing the same "Why?" God was forced to stake His throne and the stability of the universe itself on this one poor, weak, human man, Job. God had claimed that Job was true and righteous. Satan ridiculed the idea; he wagered that if God were to permit enormous affliction to come on Job, he would turn traitor and "curse God." And God couldn't back out; one human being in supreme wretchedness was holding the line in this great conflict with Satan, and God had to hold His breath in anticipation of what Job would do.

Today there are"144,000" individuals of "every nation, kindred, tongue, and people," each of whom is so important that he/she is holding that same line all alone, like Job did. And, as with Job, there is a link that binds each one to Christ on His cross asking,"Why Me?"

Monday, January 25, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Truth Is Utterly Essential

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was the greatest spiritual blessing since the apostles --an unfolding of justification by faith that can never be overthrown until the end of time; it was what Paul said is "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5). Truth is utterly essential. Jesus said He is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6); He has always been the "Lord God of truth" (Psalm 31:5). "Truth in love" is vitally important because it's "the power of God unto salvation" (Eph. 4:15; Rom. 1:16). It's the revelation of the very character of God.

But does that mean that our understanding of the "truth of the gospel" was frozen in the 16th century so that no later generation can ever perceive a clearer grasp of it? One thing we know for sure--sin has "abounded" since the time of Luther and the Reformers; has the grace of God been restricted so that sin has developed more than our understanding of the gospel can develop? The gospel is "everlasting," but our understanding of it is finite.

To freeze it would be tragedy. The Bible unfolds a greater development in the great controversy between Christ and Satan, for "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20). In the 16th century, God was on top of the situation; He still is in this 21st. "The everlasting gospel" will yet "lighten the earth with glory"--a still clearer grasp of saving truth in these last days (Rev. 14:6; 18:1-4). God assures us that He will not permit Satan to out-think the Holy Spirit, for He has more truth to reveal: "The path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day" (Prov. 4:18).

The great Protestant Reformation of justification by faith has prepared untold numbers of precious souls to die prepared to come up in the "first resurrection" (see Rev. 20:6). They can be happy in the kingdom of God forever. Now we've come to the time when the Holy Spirit will reveal a clearer understanding of truth that prepares people for translation at the second coming of Jesus (see 1 Thess. 4:16, 17)--something to do with the "Elijah message."

This means even deeper, clearer understandings of justification and righteousness by faith.

Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Dial Daily Bread: One of Satan's Sharpest Arrows

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

One of the most bitterly painful sufferings Christ had to endure at His crucifixion was the charge of megalomania leveled against Him. As He hung there on His cross naked, in agony, the people, especially the rulers of the nation, ridiculed Him for His delusions of grandeur as they put it. He's a fool! He thinks He is somebody! "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God" (Matt. 27:43). Wouldn't it have been great if the Father had spoken audibly from Heaven declaring, He IS the Son of God! But there was no such voice. The Sufferer was left alone with Heaven's silence and cried out in His agony, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

His experience has fitted Him to sympathize with everyone who has been forced to endure ridicule for his/her faith. Ridicule and the charge of delusions of grandeur are painful. "So you think you're right and everybody else is wrong!" Often in families when one person discovers new truth from the Bible, such as the Sabbath truth, he/she has to endure such ridicule.

In fact, ridicule has been one of Satan's sharpest arrows with which he assails God's people. Noah had to endure it as he built the ark on dry land. You can almost hear the people making jokes about him. His relatives probably thought Abraham was fanatical for leaving his fine house in Ur of the Chaldees to go out and live in a tent the rest of his days. And when he was old and had never owned even a foot of land ("not so much as to set his foot upon," Acts 7:5), hear them discussing the simple-minded "old man," and chuckling. Hear the Egyptian royal family talking about what a fool poor Moses was to give it all up to go with a bunch of slaves. And hear wealthy Nabal ridiculing young David as an outlaw. And Jeremiah--what pain he had to endure as the priests, rulers, and people laughed at him. Hear him pray, "Know that for Thy sake I have suffered rebuke" (15:15).

Among the most bitter of all experiences humans have suffered is Peter chafing under the ridicule of what must have been a flippant teenage girl, "You talk like one of Jesus' disciples!" And then her contemptuous laughter. To endure such ridicule in one's childhood and youth is particularly painful. But it is possible to endure, and Christ is near at hand to encourage and to strengthen. If you KNOW that God is with you, you CAN endure it! And Christ will truly appreciate your loyalty. Make Him happy, and you be happy too.

Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Most Depressed Person in the Bible

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Can you name who is the most depressed person in the Bible? Job sitting on his dung-heap scraping his sores with a potsherd? Or Jeremiah weeping while he writes his Lamentations, or surely Elijah in his cave at Horeb, praying the Lord to let him die? But no, there's Another--Jesus Himself hanging on His cross in the darkness crying out, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" He is the Prince of depressed people.

If you are tempted by despair--everything has gone wrong, disappointments and misfortunes seem to shout in your ears that God has forgotten you, and to top it all off you are keenly aware of your own sinfulness--please remember Jesus. It would not be fair for you at last to "sit down with [Him] in [His] throne" (as He promises in Revelation 3:21) unless you have at least tasted a little what He went through. Some "fellowship with Him in His sufferings" (see Phil. 3:10) is a great blessing to you in the end.

If we remember Jesus, we can see how depression is not necessarily sin, even if some well-meaning people rub that in to make your sufferings worse (Job had his three "friends," remember).

Step #1 of course is to remember and believe God's New Covenant promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:2, 3) and see yourself as a "child of Abraham" (Gal. 3:29). But Step #2 is important: learning how to believe those promises. Perhaps (in fact, quite likely) you are unwittingly hindering your ability to believe. Many, when they get depressed, gorge on food--the worst thing they can do.

Step #3 is to fast for a while; yes, eat nothing. Give your stomach a rest; let your mind be cleared so you can hear the "still small voice" Elijah had to listen for (1 Kings 19:12).

Step #4 may be to do something that gets your blood pumping (remember the depressed man who wanted to die but didn't want to leave his family a mess to clean up after his suicide, so he got out and ran, thinking he could keel over in a convenient heart attack; and lo, his depression was gone!).

Step #5 can be a good night's sleep (without drugs if possible).

And best of all, #6, a good long quiet visit alone with that Prince of sufferers--all TV, cell phones, iPods turned off. And when you pray, step #7, choose even if you don't feel like it, to believe His promises.

Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: The Time Has Come for the "Latter Rain" Gift

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

"The day of the Lord" is a day when truth comes into its own and is recognized by honest people all over the world. It's the common possession of those who form a "body" of God's people; it unites them and motivates them to action. The result: a "church" which is related to Christ as a "woman" whom He loves and wants to wed in His "marriage of the Lamb."

Thoughtful followers of Jesus worldwide are coming together in a conviction: their understanding of Jesus Himself has been infantile, childish, immature, and it has blocked the way for the Holy Spirit to bless this dark world as the heavenly Father wants to do. His people have been content with the "former rain" gift of the Holy Spirit when the time has come instead for the "latter rain" gift. To delay the right thing at the right time is tragedy!

It's the same as a girl whom a true man loves telling him, "I'm not ready; let's wait until maybe we're 90 years old." It's being content not to do the right thing at the right time. No wonder a very wise person said one critical time that in a cosmic sense "the disappointment of Christ is beyond description."

That's the problem that surfaces in Revelation 19--a worldwide church, the object of His nuptial love, in that capacity has rebuffed Him. She says, "I like you as long as you're at arm's length; but stay there."

Could a man laugh and joke like nothing has happened if the one whom he loves treats him that way? Time means the world to him; "now" is it.

There's a book in the Bible that tells exactly how such a true man would act: Song of Solomon 5:2-8. Jesus has read it and believed it, for He quoted it in His last words to the "angel of the church of the Laodiceans" (Rev. 3:20; He quoted the Greek translation which has "at the door").

Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Dial Daily Bread: Healing at the Sheep Pool--Illustration of the Cross

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When Jesus healed the paralytic who had been sick for 38 years at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem, He asked him no questions or to make no promises. In fact, we do not read that Jesus even preached to the sufferer first. But after He had healed the man, He found him again, in the temple. Then He said something very surprising: "'Now that you are well again, leave your sinful ways, or you may suffer something worse'" (John 5:14, NEB).

Why didn't Jesus tell this man to "leave his sinful ways" BEFORE HE healed him? That's what I would have done, if I had the power to heal. I would give the sufferer a good lecture and get him to sign on the dotted line that henceforth he would "leave his sinful ways" before I went to the trouble and expense of healing him. Why waste your resources on someone who doesn't make good use of the blessings you give him?

But, that was not Jesus' way of healing people. He gives the blessing FIRST, and then asks for a response of reformation and repentance. He heals the ten lepers when only one will come back and say thanks. And thus He treats the entire human race, sends His rain on the just and on the unjust, asks for no commitment first, just freely pours out His blessings. He does not make bargains with people (unless in the old covenant!), but in true new covenant manner gives His great gift of salvation, and then asks for a response of gratitude. We mustn't read John 3:16 backwards; the truth is that He took the initiative to "so love the world that He gave" His Son and all His blessings FIRST, then asks us to believe.

The healing at the Sheep Pool in John 5 illustrates what Jesus accomplished by His sacrifice on His cross. While we still followed our "sinful ways," He died for us, redeemed us, justified us in a legal sense, died our second death; put His arms around us, and gave us, not merely offered us, a "forever friendship." Nothing short of a total response of eternal gratitude can rightfully be labeled as "faith."

Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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