Daily Bread  -  April, 2007

by Robert J. Wieland

Over the weekend millions of Christians around the world were asked by their church leaders to memorize a prayer that Jesus prayed to His Father for us all: “Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

What does “sanctify” mean? We all can agree that there is a difference between the character and the personality of someone who is “sanctified” and someone who is not. The difference will be evident between theologians also, even they, the best in the world, can be ornery (sorry!).

We want to live in Christian harmony: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren [and sisters] to dwell together in unity!” Day after day it’s a joy to live. It was possible to live like that as far back in history as King David’s time (Psalm 133). It would be heaven on earth to live that way today!

We of all kindreds, tongues, and people can agree that a “sanctified” person will be what 1 Corinthians 13 describes:

He/she suffers long, is kind, doesn’t envy, doesn’t parade him/herself, isn’t puffed up, doesn’t behave rudely, isn’t provoked [easily, KJV ], thinks no evil (that is, doesn’t impute evil motives ), bears all things patiently, doesn’t rejoice when someone falls, believes and hopes all good things, and endures all bad things (!?), never breaks down the endurance of being crucified daily (Luke 9:23). This is being “sanctified”!

All this, but not being a wimp or a doormat; Jesus confronted some people very directly even sharply, but always His was a Christlike spirit. Oh, He could stand firm for what He knew is right (read Matt. 23:23-39)! No Christlike, sanctified person can be a wimp.

Father, Father! Please listen to Jesus’ prayer in our behalf—“sanctify [us]”!

Will the time ever come when the majority of the world’s inhabitants choose to honor and glorify Christ by believing “the everlasting gospel”?

The parable He told of the unjust judge and the importunate widow suggests the answer is No: Jesus asks, “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Abundant testimony in the Bible tells of Satan leading the world’s population into bitter rebellion against Christ with the enforcement of “the mark of the beast” (cf. Rev. 13, for example).

How then can the faithful followers of Christ honor Him and glorify Him in the close of the great Day of Atonement?

The great controversy between Christ and Satan will finally be victory for the Lamb of God, but it will not be settled by a majority vote of earth’s inhabitants, except as they vote to judge and condemn themselves. What will happen in the final events as we know them will presage the Judgment before the Great White Throne when the books at last are “opened” and all mankind are “judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev. 20:12). Those who will have come up in the second resurrection at the end of the 1000 years will be “in number as the sand of the sea” (vs. 8).

But the total number of those who in the closing of the world’s history will be totally loyal to the Lamb will be only “144,000,” says Revelation 14:1-5, although 7:9, 10 gives encouragement for those who believe that it is a symbolic number and the zoom lens reveals an actual count of “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” This sounds more like the fruitage that the sacrificed Lamb of God deserves to have!

All we know for sure is that the group who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes,” in whose mouth “is found no guile,” who are “without fault before the throne of God,” grants to Him to “see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied”(Isa. 53:11). He deserves that vindication! And those who finally choose to rebel will judge and condemn themselves; the final vote that will vindicate Christ in the great controversy will be totally unanimous—even Satan bowing and confessing that truth.

The closer we come to what the Bible speaks of as “the end of the world” (Matt. 24:3), the more intimate will the people of God become with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Their acquaintance will become like that of a couple who meet, get slightly acquainted, then fall in love, become engaged, and finally marry; no woman on earth will become the “bride of Christ,” but there is a body of people known as “the church” who will “make herself ready” for that epochal “wedding” (cf. Rev. 19:7, 8; Eph. 5:23-27).

A “paradigm shift” in understanding is a mild term to describe the upheaval that will occur in the spiritual experience of God’s people as they near when Christ closes His High Priestly ministry in the Most Holy Apartment. The grand antitypical Day of Atonement will be a reconciliation with Him that can only be described as a bride yielding herself joyously at last to her long-loved but never yet “known” bridegroom.

The tremendous spiritual upheaval will be a new motivation supplanting our old egocentric one. We have always responded to the desire to be saved—a very wholesome one, indeed; a thousand times better than acquiring worldly wealth. But it’s still the desire for a reward; we have sung the ditty, “I Shall Wear a Crown in My Father’s House,” we have contemplated exchanging “the cross for a crown,” we have widely taught that “securing our own salvation is the highest duty of life.” Again, wonderfully true; but still puerile.

In the closing up of the Day of Atonement, a new motivation begins to take over: a concern for Christ that He receive His reward, that He be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords; our concern for Him eclipses that old one of egocentricity.

This won’t be righteousness by works; it will be a new chapter in righteousness by faith. At last, “perfect agape [will] cast out fear” (1 John 4:18). A new heart-appreciation of what it cost the Son of God to die for us will be grasped.

But this will not be the prized possession of the saints; it will be their communication to the world of “Christ and Him crucified” as the world has never before heard it in such clarity since Pentecost.

The grand truths of the Bible are becoming more sharply defined worldwide as we come closer to the second coming of Christ. A great Enemy of Christ fights against truth, but “the truth of the gospel” prevails against all opposition:  

(a) Christ’s love for His church (and for the world) will motivate His personal, literal, and visible second coming to take to Himself His people (John 14:1-3).

(b) A people will respond to “the truth of the gospel” and will “overcome” sin in preparation for translation at His coming (Gal. 2:5, 9; Rev. 3:21).

(c) The motivation that will accomplish this grand demonstration of the gospel will not be egocentric fear (the basic idea of “Babylon”), but a clearer concept of love that “constrains” to unselfish devotion to Christ (agape; 2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

(d) Thus will be fulfilled the prophetic picture of a people that truthfully “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”(Rev. 12:17; 14:12; Rom. 13:10).

(e) This takes place in the biblical “time of the end,” when “knowledge will be increased”(Dan. 12:4). That time is now.

(f) It is the same as “the hour of God’s judgment” when He as well as the world is to be “judged”(Rev. 14:6, 7). It is the final victory of the ages-long “controversy between Christ and Satan.”

(g) It is also described as “the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary,” a successful completion of Christ’s ministry as the world’s great High Priest (Dan. 8:14).

(h) He is not to battle vainly against sin for endless eons yet to come, always doomed to remain “despised and rejected of men.” He is to demonstrate a huge success in His plan of salvation, before His second advent (Rev. 14:15; 18:1-4). The world will see it.

(i) Every honest heart around the world will respond to this “revelation of Jesus Christ,” even some in the Roman Catholic Curia (15:2; maybe a pope?).

(j) A significant chapter in this development of “the truth of the gospel” will be the distinction between the counterfeit “holy spirit” of “Babylon” and the genuine “latter rain” to be received by the “remnant church” (Rev. 18:1, 2). Every honest heart world-wide will be undeceived.

(k) Young people: this is something to dedicate your life for!

When you see the pictures of the huge crowds gathered at the Virginia Tech Memorial services, the 33 who had to die suddenly seem a small number; but the truth is that when they died we all died with them. Each of us has pondered, What would we have done if we had been in any one’s place? Each of us is no better, more worthy than they. Each of us lives each moment as in the vestibule of eternity. Each of us is gifted with life that has infinite ramifications, yet is painfully mortal.

In Biblical terms, the murderous wretch was possessed of a devil. At least, he did what the devil wants anyone to do. This is not a simplistic, out of date characterization; it’s present truth reality. Cho was a modern Gadarene like the maniac who met Jesus in Luke 8 who was possessed of many devils, “Legion.” But Jesus did not run from him but confronted him head on and commanded the devils to leave him—which they did. The disciples and people in general fled in terror from the various devil-possessed people whom Jesus delivered; but He never ran. He always stood His ground and confronted the personal terror face to face.

“But He was Jesus, the divine Son of God!” someone may object; “who are we?” Well, we read that Jesus said that one who “believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). Jesus never had a moment to prepare for these encounters He had with devil-crazed people; He simply had to step up momentarily to every dire emergency and assume divine authority and command the situation.

“What would I do if I met a Cho?” It’s not an idle question for any of us to ponder.

One must be and must remain a coward unless he has formed the habit of “dwell [ing] in the secret place of the Most High” (Psalm 91:1). It’s not a fear trip; that’s what we want out of, forever. It’s a personal, intimate acquaintance with “the Most High,” a sharing of the Savior’s cross with Him on which self is crucified with Him, “daily” (Luke 9:23).

Never worry in advance; the Lord has promised that the wisdom and the strength will be realized in the moment of need (Mark 13:11).

A columnist in the most recent TIME writes about Cho Seung Hui, of Virginia Tech. He says that the murderer’s problem was not guns but his narcissism, his extreme, radical self-centeredness.

Granted, yes; man’s problem is always narcissism.

But what can we do about it?

Every baby is a born narcissist, but normally it learns that there are other people on this planet and it learns to adjust, or at least to some reasonable extent, with fellow-humans. Except the like of Cho.

God has given the world one great Healer of narcisissim; as Great Mental Physician, He is able to heal even a Cho and save us from those 32 murders of the flower of our university youth. (There have been several would-be copycat Cho’s already.) But how can Jesus Christ, the most non-Narcissist of all time and eternity, make contact with the Cho’s that are out there waiting for their flare-ups?

There must be some living entity of humans who understand Him and can disclose to the world in meaningful terms what His precious anti-narcisissm is; it is reasonable to understand that the Father so loves the world that He will publish the message if that living entity of humanity can comprehend and grasp it clearly enough to communicate it.

That of course must be His church, His “body” of believers; there’s no need to berate ourselves as that “body,” but we can inquire what could any church in the area whence Cho emerged have done to reach him? He wouldn’t even say hello to his roommate, who doubtless gave up in despair trying to communicate.

But right there may be a clue to prevent the next massacre: there’s a form of love that never loses patience (1 Cor. 13:8). It can penetrate the murky depths of labyrinthine subterranean channels deep in an alienated human heart, because it has grown to appreciate that the world’s Savior has been right where Cho was, but condemned the sin in human nature (Rom. 8:3, 4). Christ cried on a cross, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” This twisted wreck of humanity at Virginia Tech was in hell; let’s not berate ourselves for our inevitable failures; but let’s seek to understand agape. By God’s grace we may someday somehow help some “Cho” somewhere.

We have a swimming pool inherited from the former owners of this house. Two Mallard ducks, a male and a female, come at the equinox, apparently on their way north or south. They stay a few days; and we know them because of their personality. They remember us from year to year—no other Mallard ducks in the world would know us like that. This has now been for some years.

What impresses me is their fidelity to each other. They have mated for life! The male has the brightest colored feathers and he is a bit larger. And he acts the part of a gentleman: when I throw them scraps of whole wheat bread (which they seem to like immensely), he will step aside and let her have first chance to get it. (Maybe she is producing some eggs and needs extra nourishment, which he seems to discern.)

The Lord created us to love each other in holy matrimony and in fidelity. Peter says we are “heirs together of the grace of life,” a beautiful little phrase (1 Peter 3:7). Our Mallard duck “husband” seems to appreciate the spirit of that kind of fidelity or deference to his mate.

I am not embarrassed to say that I believe it was the infinite creation of God that made these two Mallards to be like they are; now He has created us like we are, also. But we are free moral agents, and we can make our home a heaven on earth or a hell on earth; we need a “Savior of Our Homes,” a divine Repairer of the cracks in the lute of our marriages.

The problem that’s at the bottom of every marriage failure is what Jesus describes as “present truth” in Matthew 24:12—“the love of many shall wax cold.” It has! The word for “love” is agape, but we are not to think it’s an idea hopelessly out of reach in the stratosphere of theology: Paul uses the word agape to describe physical sexual love of husband and wife (Eph. 5:25). Husband the seeking lover, wife the responding lover.

Face the truth: the Creator, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, created us male and female, created sexual love. There have been love songs that are pure and holy; but many youth today have never heard one pure and holy love song.

My little duck friends make some kind of pleasant sounds that must be their love songs to each other. Love is never pure, holy, happy, or forever, until it is returned to the world’s Savior, from whom it was first given. Our first father Adam wouldn’t do that—he idolized his love for Eve. Love is a most precious gift; you don’t originate it. You’ll never have it forever until you consecrate it back to its Giver, the Man of the cross, in gratitude.

There are many things we don’t know, but there is one thing we do know: it is not God’s will that such horrors happen as the Virginia Tech massacre. God does not send such disasters; He tries His best to save us from them.

Psalm 91 assures those who “abide in the secret place of the Most High” that they “shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow [bullet?] that flies by day, ... nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday” (vss. 5, 6).

But does the Lord mean that those who believe in Him will never suffer? Let’s look closely: what He says is that they “will not be afraid” and they will be enabled to “trust” in Him. Their salvation is as sure as their “dwelling” in that “secret place.”

Those dear people, teachers and students, who perished this week are sleeping in Jesus, for He teaches us that people who suffer disasters like the towers in Jerusalem that fell on them were not worse than other people; He tells us frankly that we all need to walk in humility and repentance (Luke 13:1-5).

The Son of God suffered violence at the hands of wicked people; we pray we may be spared that agony; but to the extent that we are spared, let us use the blessings of life we enjoy in Christlike ministry to others, confessing that every blessing is a gift of His much more abounding grace. In ourselves, we are no more worthy than any at Virginia Tech.

We should investigate the effects of antidepressant drugs on certain already sick minds; a certain solid percentage of youth are affected by them toward insane violence. And violent video games have only a deleterious effect on young minds (God doesn’t like any form of violence, Psalm 11:5!). Our popular double-horror movies demonstrate a common love of violence like that which prevailed in the days of Noah’s flood (cf. Gen. 6:11).

We are surrounded by it; all the more reason to dwell in the secret place of the Most High!

Psalm 91 was written and was inspired by the Holy Spirit for our time from now on. Jesus told us that “the powers of the heavens shall be shaken”(Matt. 24:29), and that “men’s hearts [will be] failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26). The Virginia massacre turns us again to Psalm 91.

Let’s turn from CNN and the newspapers to this inspired word:

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (vs, 1). Your “place” where you kneel before Him is “secret.” No evil angel is allowed to intrude or listen; the Lord is your “fortress” or castle of refuge (vs. 2). He has been good to you to lead you to give up your idolatry of SUV’s, fancy houses, bank accounts, position, and through His grace He has opened your eyes to see that this world is not your home, that Donald Trump’s millions can give you no happiness. Why doubt?

And let’s be honest—we are afraid of what life will be like (here) when law and order break down as the Bible has long told us will be. Baghdad has no monopoly on mayhem.

(a) Tell the Lord “Thank You” for giving you that “secret place.”

(b) Ask Him for something He is ever joyed to give you—some comfort and encouragement you minister to others who are in increasing distress and perplexity. Souls are starving for “bread of life.” Beg the Lord to give you a morsel to share.

(c) Look at the time of disaster in a new light: “When [the Lord’s] judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9). The Lord’s hands are tied: He can’t prevent “the time of trouble” from coming; the world has given itself to the rule of “the prince of the power of the air.” In rejecting and crucifying and expelling the Son of God, the world has chosen the evil that comes: but the heavenly Father has kept that “secret place of the Most High” reserved for you.

(d) It’s the proper thing to say “we should pray,” but our psalm tells us more: we are to “trust” in Him (vs. 2).

(e) He is like a mother bird who hides her young under her wings so the hawk cannot get at them (vs. 4). The New Covenant promises are yours to cherish (Gen. 12:2, 3).

(f) If you have been dilatory in letting the Lord wean you away from an infatuation with this world, beg Him for the true kind of forgiveness—that which takes that sin away from you forever (aphesis in Greek means “bear away,” deliver you from it).

Google has searched out for us all enormous amounts of information; everybody’s computer has become a university at your fingertips.

It’s a moot question among Bible students what Daniel means in 12:4: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (KJV is simple, direct translation).

It’s obvious that the “increase of knowledge” comes in “the time of the end” when the book is unsealed; so the question is, is it knowledge of what the book of Daniel means, or is it secular Google-indexed knowledge in general?

It’s obvious that it was the Lord’s intention that people who witnessed the ushering in of “the time of the end” should also witness the “all things” of Matthew 24:33 that mean seriously that the second coming of Jesus “is near, even at the doors.”

We also believe that the Lord is faithful: “God is love” (1 John 4:8), which means He does not deceive or abuse His people who reverence His word. He won’t tease and torment them with constant exhortations “it’s near, even at the door” when He Himself has no intention that it should be. It would be cruel for Him to keep His own private dictionary that defines “near” in an opposite way that all human language means.

In other words, the language of Daniel 12:4 (and 11:33-35) and Matthew 24 is straightforward and honest: “near” does not mean century after century after century, that there should be no “end of the world” that the disciples asked Jesus about. His second “coming” and “the end of the world” are synonymous (Matt. 24:3), and He devotes whole chapters in the Gospels to telling about it.

Daniel in his “unsealed” “open” state is not hard to understand; God never intended it to be a crosswords trap of futility. Jesus plainly said that anyone who “reads” it can “understand” it (Matt. 24:15). The constant explosion of “knowledge” includes much supposedly “new light” in understanding Daniel and Revelation; but beware. Much of it may be clever ideas that appear plausible but in the end deny basic truth. Hang on to the “more sure word of prophecy,” the only “light that shines in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19).

The “gospel of self-esteem” is different than “the gospel of self-respect.” The latter is from the Lord; the former can be a snare.

Both are mentioned in Romans 12:3 where the inspired apostle pleads with us: “I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” In other words, be careful: don’t give yourself an overdose of “self-esteem” thinking! Thank God for “the grace” that was given to “our beloved brother Paul” (2 Tim. 316). He will discourage no one; all he knows how to do is to encourage people like you and me.

So, on the other hand, he says don’t dig a hole and crawl into it: you’re worth an infinite price. Paul goes on to preach to us now the gospel of self-respect: but “through the grace given to me, [I say] to everyone that is among you, ... think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure [metron, Greek] of faith.” One humble servant has spent over ninety years “in school” seeking to learn how to “think soberly” about himself. Still seeking to learn but thankful for whatever “measure” of sobriety the Lord grants.

A good place to start learning is Psalm 139:

(a) Your heavenly Father knows you in and out (but still loves you, amazing! (vss. 1-6).

 

(b) He “formed [your] inward parts ... in [your] mother’s womb” (vss. 13-15). That means He engineered the intricate mechanisms of your conscious and unconscious mental functions, the interplay of your emotions and senses of heart-appreciation.

 

(c) He put you together from a divinely-invented Blueprint (vs. 16). No one else on earth was to be or has been exactly like you. You are something special; that’s good.

 

(d) Run away from Him today and you’re back in His school tomorrow (vss. 7-10).

 

(e) Your moments of deepest depression (I wish Abraham Lincoln could have listened to this Good News!) are not dark with despair; your heavenly Father’s “hand” is on you in your darkness where faith is still working (vss. 9-12).

 

(f) It does you worlds of good to know that a friend is just thinking of you, remembering you, in your hour of deep personal trial. Think of your heavenly Father—thinking a thousand thoughts about you, all of them full of grace (vss. 17, 18).

 

(g) Now, be happy: stop being afraid to let Him search your heart (vss. 23, 24).

We, modern man, desperately need to live under the grace of the Lord; prayer must be the breath of our soul.

There are dangers around us that people in the psalmist David's days did not have to meet—like cancers of various kinds, dangers from automobile and plane crashes, stock market crashes, and our ever present fears from terrorism. But David knew something we seldom know (unless we go hiking alone in certain remote areas)—danger from wild lions.

He says, "My soul is among lions," and he used them as representing cruel people "whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword" (Psalm 57:4). People hated him simply because he was "the anointed of the Lord." However high the honor may have been that he was to take Saul's place as king of Israel, David had to meet opposition constantly. People "prepare[d] a net for [his] steps; [his] soul [was] bowed down; they have dug a pit before me," he says (vs. 6). Treacherous people, yet professed Israelites!

David's dwelling "among lions" was a type of Jesus living among cruel enemies; all around Him were those who "hated [Him] without a cause"(Psalm 69:4) simply because He was "the Anointed of the Lord." And you and I who "follow the Lamb wherever He goes"(Rev. 14:4) must be prepared to "rejoice to the extent that [we] partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13). We can't be glad when we shall meet Him personally unless we have tasted His "sufferings"!

Anyone who follows Christ truly today will also meet the wrath of Christ's enemy: the reason why our modern "lions" have teeth like "sharp swords" is because "the love of many [has become] cold" (Matt. 24:12). It's been a mysterious ferment like that in the days of Elijah when Israel for a century had unconsciously drifted into Baal worship; in Elijah's day the love of Christ had well nigh disappeared among God's chosen people.

David in Psalm 57 rebuilds his faith in the Lord while he is hiding in "in the cave Adullam" and "in the wilderness of Engedi" (1 Sam. 22:1; 24:1). "My heart is fixed, O God. ... I will sing and give thanks," he says (Psalm 57:7). He believes in the goodness of the Lord when everything seems impossible (cf. Psalm 27:13, 14). Now let's do the same.

What is the basic, bedrock difference between the Quran and the Bible? To the superficial reader, both “holy books” in their common versions use Elizabethan English, “thee” and “thou,” etc. But of course that’s a trivial detail; that’s as unimportant as the color of one’s dress.

Both books say some good things; so do the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita, the Hindu “scriptures.” Most of the world’s non-Christian “holy books” say good things, and claim inspiration.

But is there a fundamental difference with the Bible?

Yes, but it’s often overlooked by those who say they love the Bible, and maybe it’s not their fault; it’s possible it has been kept from them:

Both the Old and New Testaments teach an idea totally absent anywhere else: a love that has dimensions undreamed of by humanity—it’s agape in the Greek New Testament. It’s the story of the Son of God who descended from heaven to become a true human being, forever (yes, given to us forever!) taking upon Himself all the liabilities of fallen humanity yet living therein a sinless life of self-emptying love; self-emptying to the point of “the death of the cross” which entailed pouring out the last drop of His life (Phil. 2:5-8). For Him, the “death of the cross” meant enduring the Father’s eternal wrath against sin which meant the end of existence. He gave Himself to hell in His love for fallen humanity (cf. Acts 2:26, 27).

This very idea shocked those who heard the apostles proclaim it. The idea of agape turned the world upside down (cf. Acts 17:6). It catalyzed humanity; no pagan religion had dreamed of it. It still catalyzes us today! Some question its reality: how could Christ have died our second death if He was resurrected? His being devoid of any self-centered hope whatever is a “big idea” too big to fathom. Laodicea seems unable to grasp it. Every lamb that was sacrificed at the Passover died forever; none was resurrected. Jesus gave Himself to become the Lamb of God; that too was goodbye forever so far as His commitment meant.

Such agape is the central and unique idea of the book we call the “Holy Bible,” regardless of the diction its translators may use. Angels wonder at it; do we, as yet?

Adam was a great man but he plunged the world into rebellion against God through sin. Sin brought death, not only the death that we call “sleep,” but the real thing—the total eternal end of life, what the Bible describes as “the second death.”

The Good News of the gospel declares that a “last Adam” or second Adam has entered our dark, doomed world, and has taken over the headship of the human race (1 Cor. 15:45). As we are all by nature “in Adam” with a verdict of condemnation hanging over our heads, so now “in Christ” we have a verdict of acquittal pronounced over us. Instead of a sentence of death, we have a sentence of life!

But all through the ages during these two millennia there have been some dear souls who thought that this Good News means that everybody will be saved eternally at last; this is known as “Universalism.” But the Bible does not teach Universalism.

God would like for “all men” to be saved eternally (1 Tim. 2:3-6).

(a) He takes no pleasure “in the death of the wicked” (Ezek. 18:23). In fact, their final ruin is terribly painful for Him to have to endure (cf. Rev. 8:1). Even today He is in agony when human beings, the creation of His love, endure it (Isa. 63:9). He repented in behalf of humans who repent because He became “the Lamb of God” and was baptized in John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance (Matt. 3:11).

 

(b) When humans choose irrevocably to reject the message of His much more abounding grace, they bring upon themselves the final ruin of the death that is the inevitable result of sin.

 

(c) To His great pain of heart, those who choose at last to be lost are in number “as the sand of the sea” (Rev. 20:8). The Bible does not teach the popular doctrine that God Himself has predestined them to be lost while He predestines other fortunate ones to be saved; the Bible is clear as sunlight—He predestines ALL to be saved; and Christ gave His blood for “ALL.” He will save all who do not frustrate or reject Him.

 

(d) But those in number “as the sand of the sea:” have at last chosen to “frustrate the grace of God” (cf. Gal. 2:21), down to the last bitter end. Along with life and liberty and salvation the dear Lord has given us all the freedom of choice; all the angels in heaven cannot interfere with that or force us either way.

Oh, let us today choose life!

Out of the mist that had permeated Romans for me, something clear and positive began to emerge: the Lord Jesus Christ has reversed what Adam did to the human race; He is the Savior of the world (John 4:42).

The death that the first Adam brought on the human race has been superseded by the life that Christ has given to the world: “The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). The only life there is in the universe is the gift of Christ; and it is a gift, not a mere offer of something which He withholds until we take the first step in the initiative. He gives it, and has given it by His sacrifice on the cross.

We do not save ourselves in any way; we are not co-saviors. We can choose to believe and receive the gift that He has given, but we can take no credit for this salvation.

But the gift is a judicial verdict of acquittal in the same way that the condemnation that came through Adam is a judicial verdict: not one human soul since creation has as yet received the actual condemnation—except Christ; He alone has suffered the condemnation of the second death when He cried out on His cross, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” No one else has ever suffered that death. The death that all, even the wicked , have suffered is the first death—a sleep. They will suffer the second d death at the end of the 1000 years of Revelation 20.

Every baby has been born into the world under the blanket of that judicial condemnation “in Adam”; but at the same time every baby has been born into the world under the blanket of Christ’s verdict of acquittal, and the latter is stronger than the former. The Father has given all this gift of acquittal “in Christ,” and that’s why He can treat every person as though he/she had not sinned (see Matt. 5:45, He sends rain and sunshine on good and bad alike). He has enclosed the world in an atmosphere of grace as real as the air we breathe.

Every joy or pleasure you have ever known has been the purchase of Christ’s sacrifice, although you have not realized it. The only possible honest response is a fervent cry of thanks and a glad choice to yield our all to the constraint of His love. No price is too great to pay in our New Covenant gratitude. To decline that kind of whole-hearted response frustrates the grace of God, undoes what Christ accomplished, and is the sin of the ages.

Paul’s book of Romans, for many years of my life, was as intelligible as Albert Einstein’s nuclear mathematics. I respected it highly; Romans was simply way over my head. I knew it was part of the Bible and therefore it must be part of the word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. But Romans was for scholars, and I belonged in the kindergarten. Couldn’t I get to heaven by staying in the gospel of Mark? For example, my pastor had clearly told me not to try to read the book of Revelation—“It’s sealed,” he said, “read Mark!” For me, Revelation and Romans shared a common unintelligible status.

Then I learned that Martin Luther had declared Romans “the clearest gospel of all.” I respected him, too; think again.

Then Romans 5 began to take a little shape for me in the mist, as a bit of sunlight pierces a foggy morning. Paul was getting one of his points across to me at last, at least beginning to: all the evil that Adam, our first father, had brought upon the human race was undone, reversed, corrected, by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Man the Bible says is the “last” or second Adam. All that the human race had lost in Adam was now restored “in Christ.”

Could that soul-shaking idea really be true? Or was I being naïve in my reading Romans?

What Paul said is clear: “The gift of God is not to be compared with that one man’s sin [Adam’s], for the judicial action, following on the one offence [of Adam] resulted in a verdict of condemnation [on all men], but the act of grace following on so many misdeeds, resulted in a verdict of acquittal. ... As the result of one misdeed was condemnation for all people, so the result of one righteous act is acquittal and life for all” (16, 18, REB).

I read it and re-read it; the “all” meant “all people,” not just the ones that Calvin said God had predestined to be saved (and others lost)—no, as surely as “all people” had sinned so surely had Christ the second Adam given to the same “all people” a verdict of acquittal by virtue of His death for the world. He had died the death of the world!

Now therefore the life the world enjoys is the gift of His sacrifice. If that’s true, then it’s time we start saying “Thank You” and that implies a lot. Fear is gone; now we have a wholly new motivation.

This unworthy writer was privileged to spend some 24 years in Africa, seeking to proclaim “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Some spent in pre-Idi Amin Uganda, bloody land of martyrs. When I had learned Luganda, ate the people’s food, slept in their houses, I came to know some of the finest people I have ever met, some later martyred by Idi Amin.

I sensed the solemn challenge: how could I win their hearts to the Savior? Just to get them to profess the faith of my particular church was not good enough. I had never learned the real meaning of “Christ and Him crucified” (or maybe I was just unusually obtuse). But it was in Uganda that I finally discovered the cross, agape, the story of Mary Magdalene, what is Daniel’s “cleansing of the sanctuary” message, what is the cosmic Day of Atonement, and the message of Psalm 22. When I began to share, they begged for more.

From my childhood, revered white-haired leaders of the world church had assured me that the most important issue I would ever face is the salvation of my own soul. In proclaiming God’s “everlasting gospel” of Revelation 14:6, 7, I also pondered if “the hour of His judgment” might mean also when He is judged. Two millennia have gone by since the Son of God died on His cross; has He truly saved this wicked world?

Maybe the honor and vindication of Christ is more important than the salvation of my own poor little soul! That purely egocentric motivation was not bearing pretty fruit in the church in Africa. Could “the everlasting gospel” mean more than I had learned in college?

As I struggled to convey Day of Atonement ideas in Africa, I saw that an intimate acquaintance with the Son of God means an aroused sympathy for Him, a sharing of His heart-burden. Just as I had never thought of that before, neither had they. We’ll never feel at home with Him until we have sat down with Him on His throne in these last days of world history, and shared the executive government with Him in the closing of the great controversy with Satan (see Rev. 3:21). The Almighty One needs our help.

“Big ideas” are things that are challenging to think in Africa, and everywhere around the world. But it’s time to wake up and think as well as pray.

In case any of us has difficulty understanding how the Good Shepherd "seeks" us "until [He] finds [us]," we have these illustrations in the entire Bible: God sends Nathan the prophet to rebuke King David for his horrible crime-sin of adultery and murder—that's the Good Shepherd seeking him; He sends Jeremiah to rebuke King Zedekiah for his rebellion against God and King Nebuchadnezzar (God's temporary servant); and all the prophets and apostles were His agents in seeking to save us from ourselves.

Today the same dear Lord "seeks" the soul of the cigarette smoker, using all the warnings published against smoking; the alcoholic, through the almost daily horror stories of the evils of drinking; and of us, from the sin of abusing health reform and shortening our lives through intemperance of many kinds.

The Lord Jesus sought the soul of Saul of Tarsus while he was "persecuting" Him; all the while the Lord made his way "hard" like kicking against goads (Acts 26:12-15). Every time you go to the refrigerator when you shouldn't, He is seeking for you like the Good Shepherd seeking His lost sheep to save you from ending your life and health too soon.

The illustration fits, except that Jesus did not tell of a sheep fighting the Shepherd when He came to rescue it. Hard to imagine! But that's what we have all done, time and again (or at least, I have). That's what it means, to be a sinner—resisting the grace of God.

Saul of Tarsus learned, however, and he tells us at last that "I do not frustrate the grace of God" (Gal. 2:21). He is, at last, "crucified with Christ" (vs. 20). The Good Shepherd seeking His lost sheep and all these prophets and apostles rebuking us for our sin, even giving their lives in being "crucified with Christ" in order to be faithful, are identical with the ministry of that much more abounding grace of God (cf. Rom. 5:21).

We have some friends who adopted a cat that was headed for the pound and early death; they care for it, feed it, bought an expensive box or cage for transporting it in comfort when they go on long trips; but it snarls and hits them when they try to put him in it rather than leave and abandon him again to a pound somewhere else. The ungrateful pet "frustrates" their "grace" but doesn't know what it's doing.

The Lord says to us, "Thou knowest not" what we are doing (Rev. 3:17). It's time to become conscious.

Does God’s Word contradict itself? Jesus devotes an entire chapter (Luke 15) to say that He is seeking lost sinners, not vice versa. But there are passages in the Old Testament that seem to contradict Him, implying He hides, awaiting the sinner’s choice to seek and find Him. Is He like a doctor in his office waiting for you to seek him?

Jesus actually sought out people to heal and resurrect. For example, there was the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:13ff); the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda (5:2-9—He asked him could He heal him!). Note His fervent appeals seeking the hearts of the leaders of the Jews (5:17ff); and there’s the bereaved widow of Nain whose funeral for her son He interrupts and raises him (Luke 7:11). None of these came to Him seeking Him; He came to them seeking them. Jesus said His Father even is seeking our fellowship as though He is lonely without us (He is! It hurts Him when we leave Him; John 4:23).

But the Old Testament has commandments to seek and find Him, as though He hides from us. For example: “Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice; seek righteousness, seek humility: it may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zeph. 2:3). And, “Thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: ‘Seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire ...” to burn you up or send a tsunami to wash you away (see the threats in Amos 5:4, 8).

And there is Jeremiah 29: “You will seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (vs. 13). If we read the context we will see that the Lord is not contradicting what Jesus said: the people have come home after 70 years of captivity-exile; at last they are tired of idolatry and Baal worship and are now eager to come to the Lord. It is not a command; it’s simple future tense. It’s not a threat. In close context, the prophet tells them that the joy of New Covenant living will come instead of Old Covenant fear (31:31-34).

Amos has to speak to Old Covenant-minded people with the only appeal he knows at the time: fear. The Northern Kingdom of Israel has deeply apostatized and are soon to be exiled permanently, lost to history (722 B.C.).

But now at last here comes Jesus of Nazareth “to give light to them that sit in darkness” (Luke 1:79). He is the New Covenant. He seeks the lost sheep “until He find it.” And then comes Paul: the entire Old Testament is a “schoolmaster” (disciplinarian) that leads us back to where Abraham was, to be “justified by faith” (Gal. 3:22-25).

Millions of Christians have been studying this week about the character of God:

(a) is He Someone we must seek and find? Or

(b) is He Someone seeking and finding us?

How we think of Him is important to our present earthly happiness, and to our eternal destiny, because if (a) is the truth, we don’t know where to go to seek and find Him, which means, ultimately, we are lost.

All pagan religions are built on the premise of (a); and to many Christian people, especially children and youth, the idea is ingrained in us that God is like a doctor in his office—we can’t conceive of one with his bag of medicines going door to door, knocking, “Anybody sick here, can I help?” He stays in his office! You’ve got to go and find him.

The Bible revelation of the character of God is (b): Jesus says, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10). His parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy (Luke 15:3-32) are clear; even the story of the prodigal son emphasizes the seeking love of the father—the lost boy would never have said “I will arise and go to my father” unless the seeking love of the father had drawn him (cf. John 12:32, 33).

Our children and youth must not be given the idea that God is like a doctor deep in his sanctum sanctorum office, hard to find! The seeking love of the Father and the self-emptying love of Christ must be made plain early and through their teen years. An outward profession based on fear is empty; it’s the heart that must be won by the truth of His love.

But doesn’t the Bible say, “Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found”? Yes, but it adds immediately, “Call upon Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6). The Hebrew word “seek” is dharash (Strong, 1875, “Inquire of, make inquisition”). There are two words for “seek”: baqash (Strong, 1245) which is Saul seeking his father’s lost asses (1 Sam. 9:3). King Saul asks his servants to “seek” (baqash) him a pagan witch, “that [he] may go to her and inquire of her” (dharash). So, Isaiah 55:6 really says, “Inquire of the Lord while He is near.” The Bible idea is the nearness of the Savior, not His farness!

The Lord has taken the initiative in loving and seeking you! Now, respond.

But there are questions; let’s look further, tomorrow, if the Lord wills.

It was Jesus who taught us to call His Father “our Father.” It was Jesus who taught us to pray this prayer every morning: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:9). It’s our daily “breakfast.” It’s a prayer that we are invited to pray and which we should pray. We should be hungry for it every day.

We are like pets at feeding time lined up for what we hunger for. Yes, we are dependent on hand-outs from heaven. If we have learned a little so far in our lifetime, we know that the words of Jesus are true, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The weaker you are of yourself, the stronger you are “in Christ.”

It’s comforting and assuring to realize that even Jesus Himself had to confess that without the Father’s constant moment by moment sustenance, He too was helpless: “I can of Myself do nothing” (John 5:30). The word “do” does not mean only performing works, physical doings; it includes perception, judgment, wisdom: “As I hear, I judge” (John 5:30). It’s a marvelous spectacle: the divine Son of God, the Commander of the heavenly hosts, has taken upon Himself our nature and has become one of us, helpless of Himself. He frankly told His enemies, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (vs. 19). Whatever evil you want to do to Me, it’s to the Father that you are doing it.

Christ’s helplessness was the most vividly illustrated when He was in the hands of the scribes and Pharisees and Roman soldiers when they arrested Him. He let them treat Him roughly. They beat Him, mocked Him, took His clothes off, humiliated Him, drove spikes in His wristbones and anklebones, and then killed Him in the most humiliating execution the wicked mind of man could invent. He could not deliver Himself because He would not; He had to prove to the world and to the universe that He “could do nothing.”

You can’t get your own “breakfast” in the Father’s “house” where you are a guest; you have to tell your “Host” that you’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness (Matt. 5:6).

But suppose you’re not; what you’re hungry for is the world; the Father’s “daily bread” He wants to give you is unappetizing. You’re at square one; if you’re not hungry and thirsty for His word, you’re virtually a pagan still at heart. But don’t give up; tell Him in honest straightforward prayer the truth; the Savior has promised that “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). Oh, deeply pagan soul, come.

The apostle John was an old man when he wrote the Fourth Gospel. From his perspective of many years he discerned the outworking of a mysterious principle of enmity against God which had embedded itself in the leadership of the one true church. Up until the rejection and crucifixion of Christ, yes, up until three and one half years later, the stoning of Stephen, it was the one true church in the world. Jesus had said, “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

But in John’s gospel he details the development of that deep and bitter enmity that progressively possessed the hearts of those “men of God” until they screamed “Crucify Him!” in Pilate’s judgment court that fateful Friday morning.

The aged John is also the author of the Book of Revelation in which he speaks of a true church in the last days of earth’s history which is distinguished before the world as the “remnant church” which keeps the commandments of God and has the faith of Jesus (12:17; 14:12).

John also reports the Lord Jesus as deeply disturbed about the leadership of that same church because they arrogantly claim to be “rich and increased with goods” when in reality they lead the “seven churches” of history in pitiable ignorance of their true spiritual state: “You ... do not know that you are [the one, Greek] wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (3:14-21).

The true church leadership two millennia ago led their people to reject the Messiah whom God had sent to them; that Laodicean leadership in the last days can lead the true church again to repeat the sin of the ancient Jews by rejecting the Loud Cry message that God sends them to “lighten the earth with glory.” It’s Revelation 18:1-4 thrown into reverse gear. Instead of “lighten the earth” they can hold the message back for generation after generation while the world degenerates.

There is a blessed solution: “Be zealous, therefore, and repent,” an invitation from the “faithful and true witness” (3:19, 14).

It’s scary to read Jesus’ accounts in Matthew about the last judgment. According to Him, almost everybody is going to be surprised to discover finally where he really belongs:

(1) ”Many” who have been sure they are “saved” and have their tickets to heaven ready will hear Him say, “I never knew you.” Sorry; He represents Himself as telling them, The one you thought you knew was someone else. “Depart from Me, you who work iniquity” ( 7:23). In reading the account in Revelation 20, we see that they will want to run (vss. 12-14); one very perceptive writer has said that they will “welcome destruction.”

 

(2) Then, in contrast, those to whom “the King” will say, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” will remonstrate with Him, look behind them to see if it must be someone else He is telling to “come,” we don’t deserve this, You must mean someone else. No, He says; I mean you: “Come.” (see 25:31ff).

Neither group, widely separated in faith, expected what their fate would be.

Jesus has tried to help us get ready for that day. He says, “‘When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, “Give place to this man,” and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, “Friend, go up higher.” Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted’” (Luke14:8-11).

So, how should we feel (and speak) about ourselves? How about: “Less than the least of all saints,” “the chief of sinners,” “unworthy servants.” That will be the true language of our hearts if (a) we comprehend what our sin is—that we share the corporate guilt of the murderous crucifixion of the Son of God, and (b) we appreciate what it cost Him to save us—that He died our second death.

The word “gospel” is a common one bandied about by almost everyone. It has come to cover all kinds of ideas.

But what the apostles actually preached is the only valid, authentic idea. What they said must be read in their own context, fully, not partially read and distorted to a wrong definition of that word.

Paul said that a correct understanding of the word “gospel,” if it is believed, “is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). It converted very “difficult” people when Paul preached it (1 Cor. 6:9, 10).

What happened at Corinth under Paul’s preaching will happen again on a worldwide scale in the proclamation of the Loud Cry of Revelation 18. So, let us inquire—what was the “gospel” Paul preached there?

He tells us: “When I came to you, [it] was not with excellence of speech or of wisdom, ... I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2), I used to wonder: was that a fanatical, monomaniacal trip he was on: preaching boring sermons?

If so, why did the people crowd in to hear him, and then embrace his “gospel” with “power”? There’s an answer: there is something in “the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:5, 9) of the cross that triumphs over all the imitation, false “gospels” Satan can invent.

“Christ crucified” meant infinitely more than anything the world’s great thinkers could come up with: the apostles’ idea was that He died the world’s second death. That was an idea no one had ever thought of at that time; no one had imagined that there was a love anywhere in the universe so great as that.

Even today, among the vast concourse of professed Christians, there are precious few who conceive of such an idea; and Muslims have not thought of it, nor Hindus, nor anyone. Even Jews have had great trouble embracing the idea. But it moved hearts and motivated people to take up their cross, and follow Him “whithersoever” He led.

How about you?

It’s nice to remember that if and when we die, we can come up in the first resurrection.

But is that the “blessed hope” Paul talks about in this passage?—

“The grace of God that brings salvation to all men [margin] has appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-14).

Hardly! The “blessed hope” is that of being “alive and remain on the earth” (1 Thess. 4:15, 17) to welcome the Son of God at His second coming. Some say it doesn’t matter; we can come up in a special resurrection prior to His coming and thus “remain,” but this implies there is no real significance to “the signs of the times” we have witnessed for the past century and a half.

Multitudes of believers have died in the past 2000 years; but Daniel’s “time of the end” defines when these who cherish “the blessed hope” will be living, and that time is now. It’s Paul’s “last days” he speaks of (2 Tim. 3:1). And it’s the same time Jesus speaks of: “There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, ... men’s hearts failing them for fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. ... Know that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:25-31). Matthew adds, “even at the doors” (24:33).

“The Son of man is coming in an hour when you do not expect Him” (vs. 44). The