PATIENT ENDURANCE

Hebrews 10:35-56

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised.

James 5:7-8

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.

Planting root vegetables is the hardest thing for a young child helping in the garden. They can’t see the progress of growth in the carrot, potato, onion or garlic. More than one kiddo has grasped the green top of a growing carrot and pulled it out of the ground to see how it’s doing only to be told that they need to be patient.

Hundreds of years transpired between the Canon of the Old Testament and the coming of Messiah. It seemed that heaven was quiet, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The Word of God written was still speaking to all who would be still and listen. Promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were still fully reliable promises that God’s people could put their full weight on, even when they couldn’t grasp fulfillment yet. Every God-breathed bit of history, poetry and prophetic utterance written down were pointing beyond themselves to the fulfillment of each promise of God in Jesus Christ. As my friend Sally Lloyd-Jones wrote, “Every story whispers His Name.”

The beginning of the “Last Days” started on the Day of Pentecost when the church was empowered to live out the New Life it had been given by God’s gift of grace and faith. St. Peter wrote that we need to remember that one day with the Lord is like 1,000 years and 1,000 years is like a day. God is not being slack in fulfilling His promise of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s timing is eternally perfect. The Incarnation of God the Eternal Son was done in the fullness of time, right on time and not a second late nor a second early, just right on time.

And so it will be that the return of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, in the fullness of time. God is patient, not slow, wanting all to come to repentance and to become recipients of His gift of eternal Life. Their sins have already been paid for; redemption is waiting to be received. God has taken the initiative to rescue us from sin, death, hell, and the grave. That Good News is being proclaimed to all people. The Lord IS coming soon.

Followers of Jesus Christ must not lose heart. Our waiting for the fullness of time, for Jesus’ return, needs a patience that is anticipating, hopeful, preparatory; an active patient waiting. God always provides the wherewithal to do what He asks of us. In His command is a promise of His power working in us to do far above and beyond what we could ever ask for or imagine. Patient endurance is needed. He will provide the strength to patiently wait and endure.

The world will get darker, St. John wrote about it in the Revelation the Lord Jesus gave to him. Jesus Christ, Himself, told us that some of the signs of His soon return read now like the morning newspapers of today. The spiritual warfare against God’s people is growing in intensity. The power and Presence of the Holy Spirit living in a believer is infinitely greater that all the combined evil and malevolence of satanic hatred and might. Greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world. We have no need to give in to fear. Nothing can separate us from the Covenant love of God in Christ Jesus.

We have no need to “pull up the carrots” to see if things are really working. God has made a Covenant with us. His promises that can never fail to be fulfilled. Our hope has never been in circumstances, politics, economics, education, or influence. Our Hope is God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Be patient like a farmer who knows the harvest will come…in fact it is very close at hand.