Daily Bread  -  December, 2007

by Robert J. Wieland

Jesus Christ was emphatically clear about the future: this sinful, painful world is not to continue on and on ad infinitum for ages to come. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3, KJV).

Note: He receives His people unto Himself, not vice versa. He has taken the initiative all the way through: a conjugal love has motivated Him.

Love is always the desire to be one with the beloved. Jesus is no different!

The story of the second coming of Christ is a love story; there is a Bridegroom involved and a Bride. The drama is played out on planet earth in view of the vast universe of God, as though this planet were the stage. The second coming of Christ is the denouement of history, the one grand event toward which through the ages humanity has moved steadily.

The prophet Daniel describes the Last Generation as “the time of the end” ( 11:35; 12:4). Jesus told His disciples, speaking of specific events, “Then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14). There will be a Last Generation! Six thousand plus years of history cannot be for nothing!

The apostles had a clear understanding: “This we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep [not everybody is going to pass through death!]. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

The joy that Jesus will know will be unbounded, for He has personally, individually loved each one of His saints. The Last Generation will be the reunion. The long delayed wedding of two who have dearly loved each other is an occasion of great joy here on earth; think of a cosmic wedding! Four grand Hallelujah choruses with heaven’s symphony orchestras accompanying the massed choirs. “The angel said to me, ‘Write this: Happy are those who have been invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’ ... All those who hold to the truth that Jesus revealed” (Rev. 19:7-10, “the spirit of prophecy,” KJV).

You are invited; now “make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).

Who is stronger—Christ or the angel who fell from heaven—Satan?

Which is stronger, light or darkness?

Which is stronger, love (agape), or hatred? Which is stronger, that “much more abounding grace of the Lord Jesus” (Rom. 5:20, 21), or the power of our evil appetites and habits and obsessions and addictions?

Which is stronger: the power of death (that held Jesus Christ captive in Joseph’s tomb), or the resurrection power of the Father that raised Him up after three days?

We can’t say it often enough: that much more abounding grace is stronger than all the power of sin the devil can invent. In fact, there is in that grace “much more” power! “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Let’s not try to serve God with anything less than that full power of that much more abounding grace that is revealed in Christ. That grace of Christ is the enemy of sin; it condemns it, defeats it, conquers it, annihilates it, so that we might be free indeed.

Then the grace of God will be manifested in us in “newness of life” (6:4). That grace “reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Then we discover something precious: it is easy to be saved and it is hard to be lost, when we begin to appreciate that much more abounding grace! We must not conclude that the upward path is the “hard path” and the downward path is the “easy one;” it’s the opposite. All the way that leads to hell there are impediments and obstacles to hinder us in that way; God is constantly trying to tell us this. It’s like we are driving on the freeway, you’re at the wheel (because you are the boss), but the Holy Spirit is sitting beside you in the front seat. He is saying, Don’t stay on this freeway to hell; take this exit to the kingdom of God! That’s what Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would do when He gave Him the name “Parakletos,” the One called to sit down beside you and never leave you (John 16:7, 8; “para” = beside you; kletos = called).

Don’t misunderstand: you DO have something to do: it’s to make the constant choice to let the Spirit guide you. But please remember, you are not your Savior yourself: you let the Lord save you. It is you who turns the wheel on to the blessed Exit coming up that leads to eternal life. But He guided you to do it; and you praise the Lord for ever and ever.

The song of the angel at Bethlehem is the best, grandest news the world has ever heard: We already have a Savior. We don’t have to make Him become our Savior. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,” says Isaiah (9:6). He is a member of our family, forever one with us.

The question we shall each one be asked in the final day of judgment is, What did you do with Him? He was already yours: He Himself was the Father’s gift to you. With the gift came the salvation that the Father has given you in Him. The gift includes eternal life; it was not merely offered to you; over and over the inspired word says that it was a gift freely given to “all men” (Luke 2:10, for example).

In other words, each one of us either receives Him as the holy gift He is, or we reject Him. In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will at last fully understand the meaning of his own history; he will be enabled to look back at his life, step by step, and see clearly where he has resisted and despised this ultra special “gift.”

It will be infinitely better if we can see and understand that right now!

That is exactly what the Holy Spirit is called to do for us, each one—“convict of sin” (John 16:8). Without Him, we go on in darkness, throwing away the eternal life that the Savior gives us; and of all the prayers that sinners can offer, that prayer for the Holy Spirit tops the list of requests that the Father is delighted to give.

Yes, it takes courage to pray that prayer! It seems your life will come to an end as He begins to probe into your soul and makes bare the moral deformity that is there that you had not seen. But it’s the beginning of eternal life!

Take King David as an example: never was he as close to the Lord as when he prayed, “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. ... The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:11-17).

Those were words from a heart that was indeed crushed by the conviction of deep, bloody sin; He realized he had come within a millimeter of eternal loss. The Holy Spirit in infinite mercy had revealed the truth to him. But it was the beginning of eternal life for him.

You can’t keep your promises, because you have no genuine righteousness within you. Instead of promising God that you will do better, beg for His mercy and thank Him for it. Cast your soul on Him; tell Him that you’re lost unless He reaches down and saves you. You are Peter trying to walk on the water but you took your eyes off the Savior and are sinking in the waves (Matt. 14:30, 31). Cry out, Lord, save me, or I perish! He will!

At the moment it’s Christmas Eve and many millions are anticipating opening their gifts in the morning; but they are materialistic gifts, quite largely.

The Bible speaks of “spiritual gifts,” and they are the ones that are valuable beyond estimate. To covet such gifts is not being sinful, although it is sinful to “covet” material “gifts” selfishly (the last of the ten commandments says “Thou shalt not covet ...”).

There was a truth written once by E. J. Waggoner that is so obvious that I marvel that I never thought of it. I would like to preach many sermons about it: “The new birth completely supersedes the old. ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. ...’ He who takes God for the portion of his inheritance [there’s your coveting the best gifts!] has a power working in him for righteousness is much stronger than the power of inherited tendencies to evil, as our heavenly Father is greater than our earthly parents.”

Simple, but simply, profoundly true!

Rejoice in your new heavenly Father! He is infinitely more powerful in lifting you above sin than your earthly father was in passing on to you the condemnation he had received from the fallen Adam. In other words, the righteousness you now receive from your new heavenly Father (you have now chosen to believe in Him!), is stronger than your addiction to evil—of any kind.

When the angel sang his chorus over the hills of Bethlehem when Christ was born, that was his message: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10, KJV).

(1) It’s good news. (2) It brings “great joy.” Not a trace of sadness in it! (3) It’s for “all people,” a blessing universal. (4) It announces a gift that Christ gives to “all people.” (5) Paul explains it in Romans 5: he says five times that it is “a free gift” for the same “all who “sinned,” reversing that “condemnation” that the fallen Adam brought on the entire human race (vss. 15-18). Deliverance from all addictions!

The true story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is great good news! It will finally be told with “great power” to “lighten the earth with glory,” and it will prepare all who believe with all their hearts; it will prepare them for meeting Jesus when He returns (Rev. 14:1-5). That time is now.

Nearly 120 years ago the Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to the leadership of my church. It became known as “the message of Christ’s righteousness.”

Note: it was not the “message of Christ’s holiness.” There is a vast different between “righteousness” and “holiness.”

The Lord Jesus Christ was “holy” at His birth (cf. Luke 1:35); but He was “righteous” at His death (cf. Rom. 5:18). The glorious “plan of salvation” stretches between the “holiness” of Jesus at His birth and the “righteousness” of Jesus at His death on His cross.

For example, we read of the “holy angels,” but we never read of the “righteous” good angels who did not fall with Lucifer; they are always “the holy angels.”

The difference is spelled out clearly in Romans 8:3, 4, describing what happened in between Christ’s holy birth and His righteousness at His death on the cross: “God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

From His holiness at His birth, the Lord Jesus “took” upon His sinless nature (which He had brought from heaven) our fallen, sinful nature and “condemned sin” in that fallen, sinful nature; that’s how “holiness” was transformed into “righteousness.”

No angel ever performed that feat, because no angel ever took “sinful flesh” to contend with, as we must do and as Christ “took” upon Himself. The vaults of heaven rang with the praise of Jesus Christ who accomplished that mighty deed; He proved that One can take our fallen, sinful nature or flesh, live in it, and yet “overcome” sin, defeat it, condemn it, in that same fallen, sinful nature (cf. Rev. 3:21). Satan, the great Enemy of God’s universe, has been defeated forever!

Jesus Christ is an Evangelist: He wins souls. He is winning “144,000” who will “overcome” as He overcame (cf. Rev. 3:21). These people “follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes” (14:1-5). You and I are invited; let’s do something that wasn’t done 120 years ago—let’s wholeheartedly receive the most precious message.

This morning happened to be the beginning of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, loved by our pagan forbears in Europe, especially in Ireland and England. Now the dark winter days begin ever so little to lengthen; yes, there will be a spring! Time to celebrate!

By December 25 the lengthening of the day could be detected even without clocks or watches; hence it known as “the wild winter solstice.” Pagans in the Roman Empire frolicked without restraint. The celebration was taken over by the popular Church along with other pagan customs, the sincere idea being to make it easier for pagans to be “converted.” The result through the centuries: thoughtful observers have said the Church is “baptized paganism.”

But there’s some good news involved here that may encourage us in our “Global Warming” fears.

The precision and never failing repetition of the winter solstice remind us of the promise that the LORD God made after the Flood of Noah. All these thousands of years He has been faithful; His love for the human race has been revealed “in Christ.” He will not permit again any global disaster to repeat what happened in the Flood: “The LORD said in His heart I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, ... neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done” (Gen. 8:21).

No matter how severe to mankind are the results of Global Warming, there will be no more universal disaster. The Flood was permitted because “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence ... for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen. 6:12, 13). It was so bad that the Lord said “every imagination of the thoughts of [man ‘s] heart was only evil continually” (vs. 5).

As terrible as evil is today, Scripture does not repeat that analysis; Noah “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” and warned the world of the coming Flood (Heb. 11:7), but the Lord tells us in Revelation that there is now a world-wide potential for understanding and receiving the “Loud Cry” of purest gospel truth proclaimed by His repentant last-days “remnant” church (cf. Rev. 12:17; 14:12; 18:1-4). The Lord will not gloss over or despise this universal hunger in sincere hearts. “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing”(Psalm 145:14-16, KJV). Blessings are coming!

Some thoughtful persons have written suggesting that we define more clearly what “unbelief” is.

Unbelief is the most awful sin there is; we say this because it is the root of all the sin and cruelties that sin has produced on the earth. It is the reverse, the opposite of what belief is; and belief is the heart-melted appreciation of the love (agape) of Christ.

Believing is not deciding that 2 + 2 = 4 theologically, something a cold and hard heart can do. Believing is something that the heart does—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:10).

There were two kinds of people who watched Jesus die on His cross: those whose hearts were like ice (and they were the church leaders who cried out “Crucify Him!”).

One of the leaders permitted his hard heart to be melted; and he took the Savior’s dead body down and buried it in his own new tomb (Matt. 27:57-60). The centurion who had given the order to his soldiers to “crucify this fanatic who claimed to be the Son of God,” could not watch Him die without repenting and believing (“Truly, this was the Son of God” vs. 54). These men’s humanity was touched; if you could have seen them, you would have seen tears in their eyes. Their hearts were melted.

I once knew a man who in his childhood enjoyed pulling wings off of flies; when he was a grown man I tried to interest him in the gospel story, but I could not.

I have had men tell me after I had preached about the cross that they wished they could feel something, that they wished they could shed a tear, but they can’t. If that’s where you are, don’t give up in despair: cry out to the Lord to give you the new birth, to be born again with that new heart; He will hear your prayer. What you want is not emotionalism (that is shallow). You want to be a member of the family of God with your heart reconciled to the Father (cf. 2 Cor. 5:19, 20).

Don’t worry; believe the dear Lord answers your prayers, and in His own time He will make the miracle of our changed, reconciled heart in helping others.

One of the greatest preachers of the early 19th century was first a “deist,” a cold-hearted 2 + 2 = 4 upright citizen. One Sunday the pastor was away and he had asked William Miller to read the sermon for him, in his absence.

Miller did so, but he broke down in tears as he was reading about Jesus; thank God!

My wife and I have a dear friend in a distant city who is battling for her life with an enemy we all fear: cancer. She has a keen mind with rare abilities and also a warm heart that appreciates the love of Christ that constrains us to live for the One who died for us. There are thousands around the world who would lift up a prayer in her behalf, but the Great Physician does not depend on the length of the names on the petitions that are brought to Him in prayer. He loves this individual as much and more than all of us combined. Cancer is His enemy, too; He longs with all His heart to put an end to suffering on this earth. He has promised, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3, KJV). It’s the language of a long absent Bridegroom assuring His beloved of heart that He will come, and “the marriage of the Lamb” will be at last consummated.

We have another dear friend, someone from India, who has been telling us in our church fellowship of the cruel heart sufferings that women in India have to endure. And this goes on and on in Hinduism there. Pile on top of that all the agonies that people endure in Africa; and yes there are cries of agony that arise to God’s throne from the Western world, the so-called “First World.”

You and I can lay aside our burdens, go to bed at night, and sleep for a few hours; the Lord Jesus cannot enjoy that luxury (Psalm 121:3). He carries all this pain upon His heart (cf. Isa. 63:9). He longs to keep the promise He made to Caiaphas the high priest of the then-true church of that day, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64). But He has to wait until His people today long for His coming as much as He does—long for Him to come more than they long for the pleasures of this sinful world. The Lord Jesus is modest as well as Almighty: He will not enter anyone’s house unless invited (which is why daily “family worship” is so important! Husband and wife are invited to kneel together before Him in prayer).

Our dear friend’s battle reminds us all how mortal we are; if we have only a breath left to us, let us dedicate it to the One who died our second death. It rejoices the heart of the Savior of the world (John 4:42) to see people at least begin to appreciate the length, breadth, depth, and height of the love (agape) His sacrifice has demonstrated (cf. Eph. 3:14-18).

(Someone will ask, How could Christ be resurrected if He died the world’s “second death”? The answer is in Matt. 27:46 and Gal. 3:13).

We know that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (cf. John 3:16). But do you really and truly believe that Good News?

Or do you deep in your heart actually resist the goodness of the News and tend to believe the Bad News of a distorted “works gospel”? Do you unconsciously miss the joy of salvation “in Christ”?

Well, here’s a test that you can take on yourself. It’s in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, chapter 5, vss. 16, 17: “I say then, Walk in the [Holy] Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth [that means, strives] against the [Holy] Spirit, and the Spirit [strives] against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,” KJV).

Here’s the question:

What are those “things that you cannot do”?

Good things? Or bad things? Think.

I have asked many congregations, and the usual answer is, “Good things.” People think of Romans 7:15: “What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”

But they forget: here in Galatians Paul is saying, Go for a walk with the Holy Spirit and let Him hold you by the hand (cf. Isa. 41:10-13; yes, He has promised to hold your hand!), and this is the reason why you “cannot do the [evil] things that ye would.”

Those “things that ye cannot do” are not the good things! They are the bad things that your sinful nature is always trying to prompt you to do; once upon a time they were the easiest things you could do; but now that you walk with the Holy Spirit and He is holding you by your hand, you cannot do the evil things you once loved to “do.”

This “test” reveals that the true Gospel is great Good News. “The love [agape] of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14). The Lord does not force you, but His love (agape) motivates you; you discover that now your heart is changed so that what you once loved (that leads to death) you now hate, and what you once couldn’t stand, you now love!

If you will believe John 3:16!

Again we do what the distraught father did when he cried out, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24). And we can never perish while we pray that prayer.

The story of the Virgin Mary is of intense interest to all who are longing for Jesus to come again, as He promised (John 14:1-3).

She had something in common with that special group, the “144,000” mentioned in Revelation 14:1-5. They “follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes.” They do not resist or seek to evade the call. She said “yes” to the angel sent from the Father to announce to her the decision to choose her to be the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:28-37). She did ask one question which was very appropriate and did not express any unbelief: “I do not know a man?” (vs. 34).

Otherwise, she offered no resistance or unbelief. Here was a call from heaven that totally would change the course of her life from now on; her sincere question answered, she readily agreed, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (vs. 38).

We search long to find a definition of what it means to “believe.” Well, here it is. The old lady Elizabeth used Mary’s ready submission as a definition of faith. She said of Mary, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (vs. 45; the word “blessed” means to be happy).

The “144,000” (obviously a symbolic number), have in the last days replicated Mary’s happy consecration of herself to the Lord; they have done what the angel of great power says to do, “Come out of [Babylon], My people” (Rev. 18:1-4). These people are convicted of truth from God’s word, truth that their family may not believe, nor their church, nor society in general. They are willing to step out for the sake of Christ and be considered “different”(cf. 1 Peter 2:9 for the word “peculiar”).

The “144,000” maybe for a long lifetime have endured opposition and even persecution from their family, their parents, or even their children. But just as the Virgin Mary was “blessed” (made happy), so this special group enjoy the gift of happiness in their submission of self to “the Lamb.”

When the Holy Spirit speaks to you through the Word, don’t hesitate to respond with an enthusiastic “Yes.” Here I am, the child of God!

The Bible reveals considerable about the Virgin Mary:

(1) She confesses her need of a Savior, and only people who are in what the Bible says “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23) can dare to say that. Therefore they have to include the Virgin Mary. She was a member of the human race, a descendant not only of Abraham but of our fallen father, Adam. The idea that she was an extra-terrestrial import with a sinless heredity is profound error. She was human!

(2) The Bible is totally silent about any special privilege given to her at her birth; the “Immaculate Conception” theory proposed by the Pope in 1854 is extra-biblical; his “christ” has to remain for all to see, an invention.

(3) Mary’s husband-to-be had at least six motherless children after his first wife either died or disappeared. We have the names of four: “James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas [not Iscariot]” (Matt. 13:55). Then there are “sisters,” at least two. So ...

(4) Joseph was therefore looking for some woman to be the stepmother to those at least six children of his. If any woman wants a stormy life, that’s where she’ll find it—be stepmother to such a brood. God doesn’t call a teen girl to such a task.

(5) It seems obvious that if Joseph were in his right mind he would not want to be betrothed to a teenager, no matter how Hollywood-like beautiful she was. The artists who have painted their ideas of the Virgin Mary needed some biblical research first. Joseph desperately needs a mature woman.

(6) Mary is more than that—she is a woman who in her way is like her divine Son: “despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3). No village swain had sought her hand; there must have been a reason why they passed her by.

(7) Mary tells us the reason in Luke 1:46-54: She had a TAIPAINOSIS (Gr.); a self-humiliating handicap, rendered “low estate” in the KJV. In Acts 8:33 the word means (of Christ) “in His humiliation.” Mary was mature enough to know the bitterness of humiliating rejection. In becoming the Mother of “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” she knew something of the painful experience.

In Jesus we have a Savior who is rooted and grounded in our human experience. The Father sent Him “in the likeness of sinful flesh” with the job description: condemn sin in that “sinful flesh,” outlaw it, conquer it, trample on it, and deliver from it every human soul who will choose to exercise His faith (Rom. 8:3, 4). You are included.

He will have a final generation who like us all have been born in sin, and have that same “sinful flesh,” but who “overcome even as I overcame” (says Jesus, in Rev. 3:21). They are symbolized as “144,000” who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:1-5). It’s a symbolic number—plenty of room for you. Say “Yes” to the call of the Holy Spirit, as Mary “believed” what the angel said to her. It’s the same faith!

Christmas betrays its pagan origin as a holiday in that it inspires materialism never so seen throughout the year. It’s always what can we buy in order to satisfy our corporate self-centered cravings.

If you had been living in 4 B.C. and you knew (like the wise men from the East) that Jesus is born in Bethlehem, would you bring gifts to Him? Giving gifts for ourselves is foreign to the story of Bethlehem.

But it is universal, and it would not be wise to challenge it for the sake of the children whose disappointment would be almost impossible to relieve; but we can tell them the true story and ask the Lord to help us teach them so they don’t grow up egocentric materialists. The Lord will help us save our children.

There is a delightful story in John 4 that we can teach:

Jesus has gone on a long safari with His disciples having taken a short cut to Galilee that goes through Samaria (where Jews feel unwelcome). They have come to a town called Sychar. John tells us that Jesus was hot and tired, and of course, thirsty. (In His incarnation, He was forbidden to create for Himself a drinking fountain.)

He sits down at Jacob’s famous well, hoping someone will give him a drink. Here He is, the Creator of heaven and earth, helplessly dependent on some human’s generosity!

The disciples have gone to the market to buy some kind of safari food to relieve their hunger, and that of Jesus.

A lady comes at this noontime to draw water (doesn’t want to mingle with the other women; she has had an unfortunate marital problem and wants to come when there is no one else there because of the heat). She bumps into Jesus who humbly asks her for a drink instead of waiting for some Jew to give him a drink; He is not ashamed to request a favor from a Samaritan (despised by the Jews).

The disciples then come back with their groceries, and paint us a delightful little picture: in the KJV, they “pray a prayer” to Jesus that is in reverse gear from all the prayers we are so wont to pray: instead of asking Him to feed them, they pray “Master [You] eat!”(vs. 31).

It’s time we learned to think of the need that Jesus has for Himself. Principally, He longs for His Bride-to-be to repent and give Him her heart—in a corporate consecration and repentance.

For one who has loved sincerely and truly, who has been true to his/her marriage vows, to be betrayed and rejected by the one you have loved—this is a very painful experience.

Such have not asked for divorce; they have pleaded with God to spare them that humiliation and pain. And He has heard their prayers.

But He cannot force a human heart, even if many people join in prayer.

The one who is rejected will not be forsaken by the Lord, even if he/she has made mistakes; his/her prayers for forgiveness are recorded at His throne.

Christ has an especially tender regard for such because He has known the exquisite pain of such rejection by one whom He deeply loves in a conjugal sense, yes, His Bride-to-be, His church.

All through the Bible, Christ’s relationship to His people is likened to that of a Bridegroom waiting for the consummation of the wedding. Ezekiel writes of how the Lord fell in love with this attractive, delightful girl and proposed to her (16:8, 10-14). Hosea’s painful ordeal with a woman whom he loved but who was unfaithful is a classic in love literature; his sufferings are a picture of Christ’s sufferings because of His people’s infidelity. Even to this day, the “marriage of the Lamb” has been long delayed (cf. Rev. 19:7, 8). Jesus has become one of us; He has become incarnate in humanity, never to cease being human as well as divine. But therein is all the passion of His love betrayed.

The one among us who has loved and lost must not throw away his life in despair. As surely as the Father resurrected Jesus from the grave, so surely will He resurrect your life, you who have been betrayed. “Fear not,” He says especially to the rejected one, giving special assurance of forgiveness and understanding cf. Isa. 54:4, 5).

There is a special promise of forgiveness extended to people who have been healed of wounds, whether physical or emotional: “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:15).

Cherish that word: “the Lord shall raise him [her] up.” You have all the rest of your life before you in which to be “raised up.” Even in the excruciating pain of divorce there is something to thank the Lord for, some little spark of gratitude to shine on still, and to grow.

Satan was once the bright and shining light, the Lucifer, of all the heavenly angels. But he became proud and wanted to take the place of God; that meant he really wanted to kill God so he could be “God” instead. He reached the height of his ambition when he inspired the leaders of the then-true “church” to reject and murder their true Christ, Jesus of Nazareth.

Well, not yet the ultimate height of his true ambition. Paul says that he wants to squirm his way into that true church, the one of which Jesus said “I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Paul explains what’s happening: it’s a massive deception that has worked to deceive millions of sincere people: Satan “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:3, 4).

Wherever this Enemy spots a church that professes to “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17) he wants to squirm his way in, to corrupt and deceive. He wants to go to the top.

One example is the popular idea of “the moral influence theory.” It distorts the purest truth in proclaiming Christ and Him crucified.

Let’s begin with the pure truth: “The love [agape] of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead,” that is, all would be dead if He hadn’t died for “all,” or, if One died for “all,” then that means that “all died” when He died. Either way, the sacrifice of Christ on His cross affects every human on this fallen planet (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15, KJV).

Those who permit their sinful hearts to be moved or motivated by His love “henceforth” are transformed from within: it’s now impossible for them to go on living “unto themselves,” but now they are motivated to live for the One who died for them. (These are people preparing to meet the Lord Jesus when He returns.) They believe in keeping all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus but in New Covenant realism, not from fear of punishment or hope of reward, but motivated by His love (agape).

Even this powerful truth the fallen Lucifer would like to distort—“the moral influence theory.” Yes, he wants to go to the top and poison the pure gospel at its Source.

But we need not be deceived: the Lord continually sends “a most precious message” that will yet “lighten the earth with glory” (cf. Rev. 18:1-4). Join us as we pray for His blessing in our year-end get-together at Weimar College Chapel, December 28-30. We will study into the message. If you can’t come (and it’s a long ways), pray for us.

Yes, the Bible does say that this world will become very wicked in the last days just before the second coming of Jesus. He Himself asks, “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”(Luke 18:8), implying that it will be very rare.

Paul says, “In the last days perilous times will come.” Then he lists many evil things that people will do, even those who profess to worship God. “For men will be ... unthankful, unholy. ... From such people turn away!” (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

But if you are willing to turn from the Old Covenant and to welcome the New, you will see that God has not yet withdrawn completely the Holy Spirit from the world. He is still “the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9).

The Bible is clear as sunlight on two realities of human life: “(1) All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [and (2) all are] being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23, 24).

You may be ever so discouraged by the evil that is in the world; we hear tragic stories of the downright meanness and hatred of people who give their hearts and minds to Satan; but the Bible is equally clear that “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (5:20).

That means that whatever evil Satan has invented, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Source of even greater love and compassion manifested in grace.

That’s because He drained the exceedingly bitter cup as He hung on His cross in the darkness and cried out to His Father, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). The Lord Jesus actually went to hell in order to save the human race. There was no evil that He did not taste, for our sake: “we see Jesus, ... that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). The only “death” that He could “taste for everyone” is “the second death” (see Rev. 2:11; 20:14).

These eternal facts of truth underlie life on this planet which Jesus came to save; He saved us although it cost Him the last drop in total consecration of His all.

The entire world is gathered at His cross: many will curse Him as the leaders of the true church of that day, the Jews, did; but there will be those who like the pagan Roman centurion will permit their worldly hearts to melt in repentance (don’t forget, it was he who gave the order to his soldiers to “crucify Him” and it was he who confessed, “truly this Man was the Son of God,” Mark 15:39).

I bristle when I hear someone say (in all good intention), “Everybody has to die someday,” when the Bible says precisely the opposite: “Listen, ... we shall not all die” (1 Cor. 15:51, GNB; it’s a good translation; our KJV says, “We shall not all sleep”).

The inspired apostle Paul wants to make doubly sure we don’t misunderstand: “I do not want you to be ignorant ... concerning those who have fallen asleep.” He goes on to explain that there will be a generation of people who “are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord.”

They will have no advantage over those who died and who come up in the “first resurrection” at the call of Christ at His second coming, for “we [who remain alive on earth at that time] will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

Then comes what he calls “the blessed hope.” The two parties will have no advantage over each other: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:14-17).

“The blessed hope” is explained elsewhere: “The grace of God that brings salvation to all men has appeared, teaching us to say No! to ungodliness and worldly lusts. ... looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11, NIV).

In other words, we are not to look forward to death, but to meet the Lord at His second coming. This has always been “the blessed hope” cherished by the pioneers of faith in the second coming of Christ.

And Paul can’t talk about “the blessed hope” without remembering in the same breath what He endured for us on His cross: “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

This precisely is the work that Jesus as our “great High Priest” is now performing in His solemn cleansing of the sanctuary. Do we understand every minute detail perfectly? No, but our hearts tremble with excitement to contemplate it.

The last generation of those who wait for Him just before the return of Jesus will be the happiest of all time because the “marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7).

A man and a woman who are in love want the wedding day to come because they want to be united as one. It was God who made them thus, and who built in to them this attraction for each other. Each feels incomplete without the other; the woman is made to be a “help meet” as the KJV puts Genesis 2:18. She wants to be what she was “made” to be—and it’s her greatest joy. She has tasted “love.”

He feels empty and alone until he finds her, no matter how wonderful a man he has been (“no rose in all the world until you came”). No man is complete of himself. The “marriage of the Lamb” comes only in “the last generation.” Those who are ready for the second coming of Christ are not happy because they anticipate palaces in the New Jerusalem, but because they are soon to be united in “marriage” with the Lamb. Their pent-up love can hardly wait fulfillment.

A bride who loves is happy only to be with her bridegroom. I remember reading of a woman from California who loved a man, married him, and went where he wanted to go—study lions on the Serengeti plains. She slept happily on the ground only to feel a lion nibbling at her toes through her sleeping blanket. She had married this man for love and was happy to be where he was.

That’s what this kind of love does to two who love with it.

The love of His people for Christ as a wife loves a husband is the mystery of mysteries; it’s been talked about and written in the Bible all these thousands of years, but now in the final generation it becomes Reality.

All of eschatological theology that fills the library tomes can be distilled into a drop of this divine-human conjugal love. Read from Genesis to Revelation with this insight and the Bible becomes new to you.

The Bridegroom is so eager that He can hardly wait; but something has cooled His bride-to-be. Could it be an inner infidelity? Is that Laodicea’s real “lukewarm” problem? Thought through it becomes an overpowering motivation for repentance.

__________________________

“Jesus and His Last Generation of Saints on Earth”

December 28-30, 2007

Weimar Institute, Weimar, California

Speakers: Robert J. Wieland, Paul E. Penno

Call: (530) 637-4111, ext. 7933, for lodging at the Inn

E-mail: dailybread@1888message.org for more information

The Bible truth of the “last generation” tells a great story of success in God’s work. It will include the outpouring of the gift of the Holy Spirit in a full measure the world has not seen since the Day of Pentecost when Christ was ushered into His ministry as the world’s High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary.

What did the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost include?

Jesus has said that if He goes away, He will not leave us “orphans,” but He will send us “another Comforter,” whose first work will be to “convict of sin” (John 14:16;16:8).

What sin did the Holy Spirit convict the people of, at Pentecost? Answer: the awful, the terrible sin of crucifying the Son of God (Acts 2:36). There is no sin deeper, more horrible.

To the last generation of people on earth, the Lord will send the same Gift in His fullness—bringing a conviction of sin that goes deeper than He has ever gone with a “body” of God’s people, since Pentecost.

This outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be a fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10-14:

(a) The call to repentance will come first to the leadership of the church “(“the house of David, ... the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

(b) It will be “the spirit of grace and of supplications.” No high-pressure “professional” calls for superficial responses; this will be “grass-roots” in that it will go directly to the lowest layers of consciousness.

(c) It will be New Covenant in its spirit for it will be the “spirit of grace.”

(d) This means that it will be an exaltation of “Christ and Him crucified,” not just beautiful Power Point pictures, but by a clear heart-conviction of how contrary our character has been to that of Jesus.

(e) Repentance will be the direct result.

(f) But the fruit will bring glory to Christ which will be the most glorious in all time.

May the Lord hasten the day! It is to this that we dedicate our December 28-30 meeting at the Weimar Chapel.

“The Last Generation” idea has caught the interest of thoughtful Bible-lovers worldwide, which for many has become a new book.

All the grand salvation themes come together to constitute a crescendo of Bible truth like:

(1) A choir singing a “new song” that has never struck such a high note: “They sang as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the [twenty four] elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000, who were redeemed from the earth” (Rev. 14:3).

(2) Imagine the excitement that would thrill the musical world if someone were to discover the manuscript of Beethoven’s TENTH Symphony (the world has never heard more than those famous “nine”). But nothing like that has ever happened. The “Last Generation” Bible idea is of far greater impact for it will thrill seekers of truth from “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Deep convictions in hearts come together in unison.

(3) Another biblical image of the last generation movement is a forest fire in people’s hearts. No church hierarchy can put it out. Although the “elders” of 120 years ago did quench the flame then, now the Holy Spirit is unmistakably in charge, and honest-hearted people will make their way through every obstacle to grab it. The quiet, even painful ministry of gospel-lovers worldwide has at last borne fruit.

(4) Nobody has to study psychological tricks to induce people against their will. “The LORD has kindled a fire in Zion” (Lam. 4:11). The Holy Spirit will motivate them to forsake all that has held them back; the last generation idea punctuates soul-winning ministry; there is no time-setting, but there is seen the final significance of the Daniel and Revelation teaching since the commencement of “the time of the end” in 1798 (Dan. 11:35; 12:4). There is awareness that God does have a time schedule.

(5) The light that shines so brightly is the accumulated rays from millennia of growth in grace, “the path of the just” that “like the shining sun ... shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Prov. 4:18). It’s the brightest light in 6000+ years; it can not pass unrecognized. Christ will be honored.

Marriage counselors who try to help troubled couples generally advise them never to let the “D word” escape their lips. There is solid biblical or theological reason for this counsel.

Whether or not the troubled married couple are active church attendees, if they are seriously disturbed in their marriage they have very likely in some way breathed a prayer that God would save their marriage.

If, after so praying, they talk about the possibility of divorce ending it, this betrays unbelief on their part, and thus virtually nullifies their prayer.

The Lord Jesus has told us, “All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matt. 21:22). Jesus strongly implies that Satan cannot know what we say to our Father in secret prayer (Matt. 6:6); but we also know that where there is strife and bitterness, there Satan is for sure, listening in.

Now, when we talk words expressing doubt and unbelief in the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit, we are in effect inviting the Enemy to listen in.

The counsel about the “D word” applies to all our prayers. The Lord takes a special delight in His people who trust Him in the face of discouraging circumstances. To trust Him before others, before the world, is itself a form of missionary work, because people are “reading” your Christian experience before they read your tracts and books.

Jehoshaphat leading unarmed Israel by faith, with hymns of praise to God, to face a huge opposing army—this is a grand example of trusting the Lord in the face of apparently hopeless opposition (2 Chron. 20:15-22). If King Saul, even though he had sinned grievously against the Lord, had led Israel likewise to face the Philistines in humble, honest, confessing faith, the Lord would not have abandoned him (the sad story of his unbelief is in 1 Sam. 31). The Lord loves repentant sinners!

Your battle of faith is as precious to the Lord as was Jehoshaphat’s; his story is written “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come”(1 Cor. 10:11). The writing of the Bible is already finished, but your story of trusting the Lord can still encourage others and give you the joy of witnessing for the Lord.

“Jesus and His Last Generation of Saints on Earth” will be the principal topic at the Mini-Conference announced in last night’s “Dial Daily Bread” to be held December 28-30 at the Weimar Institute Chapel, Northern California (maybe some far away can plan their mini-conference nearby).

This topic has grown tremendously in interest after a congress of Biblical scholars met at Andrews University to discuss the publication of the book Questions on Doctrine 50 years ago, and the tragic false teaching that crept in.

“Last Generation” takes its place in prominence, and the interest is worldwide. The basic idea is rooted in Scripture:

(1) The honor and vindication of Christ will be enhanced by a group of His followers who lay self aside and permit the Holy Spirit to reproduce in them a character that fully reflects Christ.

 

(2) Thus it will be demonstrated that sin has never been a necessary thing; “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe” (Rom. 1:16). It has power to enable those who cherish the faith of Jesus to “overcome [sin] even as [He] overcame” (Rev. 3:21), that is, to “condemn sin” in their fallen, sinful flesh (Christ did!); they are the ones in that text who at last will “sit with [Him] on His throne”).

 

(3) Further, they will be the 144,000 “who follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever  He goes” (Rev. 14:4).

 

(4) They will be the “we” that Paul speaks of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 who “are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord ... [when] the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we [that’s the saints who follow the Lamb everywhere in that last generation] will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

 

(5) Thus “Jesus and His last generation saints” are “the blessed hope” of all ages, truth that has often been nearly forgotten.

 

(6) What will bring about this tremendous change, the most glorious in the history of the world?

 

(7) Answer: the pure true message of “Christ and His righteousness,” that has no “Babylon” confusion left in it.

This will be the principal topic that Pastors Penno and Wieland will discuss at this “last Sabbath of the year” meeting. You are invited.

The Lord does not “balance” the Good News of His pure gospel with even a drop of legalism to poison it.

If you open to Ephesians, the pure unadulterated “truth of the gospel” (cf. Gal. 2:5, 14) will soon stare you in the face:

“By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (2:8, 9). Note:

 

(1) What Christ accomplished is not a mere “offer” as is so often said: it is a “GIFT.”

 

(2) “Grace” is kindness not “offered” but GIVEN to the sinful, fallen human race “in Christ.” “God so loved the world, that He gave ... “ (John 3:16).

 

(3) You may ungracefully resist and refuse the “gift” (let us pray that you don’t!) but in the final judgment you will see the stark evidence that the Lord did GIVE it to you and you scornfully refused it. (Again, a thousand times, may the Lord save us from doing that!)

 

(4) Even the “faith” that we need in order to appropriate and receive the “gift” is not of ourselves, but again is a “free gift.” God specializes in giving goodies, not just “offering” them.

 

(5) If that were not true, then the gospel would end up telling us how to save ourselves. If our salvation depends on us accepting an “offer,” then inevitably we would have a significant part in saving ourselves.

 

(6) Two steps are clearly demarcated: (a) We “have been saved,” past tense; Christ saved us. The “we” is not a little group of Calvinist “elect,” but is clearly everybody. If it is “by grace,” that must include all the undeserving people in the world. Otherwise it is not “by grace” but is clearly “by works.” (b) The receiving of the “gift” is also “through faith,” again, a “free gift.”

 

(7) And then, you end up in God’s kingdom forever singing His praise, for He saved you from A to Z, not yourself doing it. You let Him do it.

 

If you open your Bible to Romans, there again you will hear angels singing the same melody of grace:

“As through one man’s offence [Adam’s] judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life” (5:18).

Does that mean that people will be “saved by grace” while knowingly transgressing the holy law of God? As Paul says it, “God forbid!” The heart that says “Thank You!” for “the free gift” of justification is constrained forever by the love of Christ to live a life of glad obedience (2 Cor. 5:10-21).

On this, the world’s grand antitypical Day of Atonement, the world’s High Priest is ministering that salvation to all who will open the heart to receive the blessing.

“Balance” is a popular word used in describing the relationships between different understandings of the gospel. We mustn’t go to extremes in saying that salvation is by faith, nor should we say too much it’s by works; the popular idea seems to be that we need “balance” between the two ideas. You might become a fanatic if you emphasize “faith” too much; and of course you’re already a legalist if you emphasize “works” too much, is the idea.

However, look up the word “balance” in that enormous Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance; it should be right there next to “Balaam,” but lo and behold, it’s not there. Not even once. The word “balance” is not in God’s vocabulary in describing the gospel of Jesus.

From the very beginning, the night when Jesus was born, it was pure “good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people,” according to the inspired angel (Luke 2:10).

Jesus commissioned His apostles to tell the good news “to every creature” (Mark 16:15). No mention of “balance” with legalism; no, give them the full, unadulterated “glad tidings” that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world; that’s what He was sent to do, save the world, and He did it.

The pure unadulterated gospel simply tells the world what He did; now please believe it. Don’t mix a drop of legalism in it, is the idea.

But wait a moment: aren’t we to tell people to keep the Ten Commandments? Isn’t that part of a good “balance”?

The Holy Bible does not homogenize the Old and New Covenants; the distinction is crystalline clear. The Ten Commandments metamorphose into ten wonderful promises when we believe the Preamble that should come with them (Ex. 20:2): the LORD who brought us out of “Egypt, out of the house of bondage” is Christ our Savior from sin.

He accomplished it; He did it all by Himself; our job is to believe it in its truth for us individually, 100% straight. It is powerful to save from sin. Romans and Ephesians, for example, tell it as it is. More tomorrow, the Lord willing.

Yes, the LORD loves everybody, doesn’t He? The Bible says so, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ...”

But the Bible also says that at the same time the LORD “abhors” some people!

How can He love somebody and at the same time “abhor” him?

The answer is that He can “abhor” somebody’s character and at the same time want him/her to learn repentance and be saved eternally.

The text that mentions this anomaly is Proverbs 22:14: “The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit. He who is abhorred of the LORD will fall therein” (KJV and NKJV).

Of particular abhorrence to the Lord is a pastor, an ordained shepherd entrusted with the Lord’s flock, who betrays his solemn, holy calling by yielding to the temptation to commit adultery with “an immoral woman” (well, that’s any woman who will seduce such a servant of God).

Yes, the Lord can forgive as He forgave King David; many cite David as an example of easy “forgiveness,” just say you’re sorry it happened, and everything is fine. You can go on being a pastor again. (Just get moved to another church, they’ll never know.)

But David’s experience is anything but “easy.” Read the story of the rest of his life: sorrow, pain, and deep shame. He may be saved at last in God’s kingdom, but think of the stain that never was washed out.

And think of the young people who had put their trust in this pastor, ordained of God, who was their shepherd but youth who stumbled because of his evil example never to rise again spiritually.

The Lord wants to give everyone who believes in Him an “abundant entrance” into His eternal kingdom (cf. 2 Peter 1:11); but such an unfaithful shepherd may have what Job describes as “escaped with the skin of my teeth” (19:20).

If you are a pastor who has escaped falling into that horrible “pit,” that’s something to praise the Lord for endlessly, forever.

This particular weekend millions of Christians around the world are studying what it means to praise the Lord. Why does the Bible talk so much about praising Him endlessly? For example, Psalm 150: “Praise Him according to His excellent greatness” (cf. vss. 1-6; and numerous other psalms).

What does our praise do for Him? It cannot be that He exists on the endless flattery of unnumbered sycophants; He is not vain! Psalm 22:3 says, “You are holy, enthroned upon the praises of Israel” (Hebrew).

Are we enjoined to praise Him endlessly because of His mighty power as Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Author of life?

Islam says, yes; prostrate yourself before Allah five times a day. Be physically reminded externally to do so. But the Bible goes further.

The LORD of the Bible, the God of Israel and also “the Lord of all the earth” (Zech. 6:5), is indeed the Almighty who holds the nations as dust in His hands and they are counted as “less than nothing” (Isa. 40:15-17); but is that the reason why we praise Him so much?

No, there is a far greater reason that Islam does not discern—yet. It fuels the multitudinous calls in the Bible to “praise ye the Lord.”

The LORD of the Bible is the One whose love motivated Him, drove Him, to “taste” the second death of this lost world. He “tasted death” for every one of its doomed inhabitants (Heb. 2:9). It was eternal death that He tasted, hell itself. That’s the measure of His love.

Understand that breadth and length and depth and height of His love (cf. Eph. 3:18, 19), and you too can never stop singing His praise. But that reason is way beyond Islam at the present time to grasp.