All throughout the bible, one of the most important characteristics of God’s people is waiting. God made his plan of 6000 years for salvation and since then all God’s people who received the words of God are waiting for the day of redemption. Since God revealed his knowledge to Adam to start the salvation work, 6000 years has passed up to the present time and that is why many say mockingly, “Where is his coming?” and they deny the words of God in the bible. But the bible teaches we should wait patiently until everything is fulfilled according to the pleasing and perfect will of God and then God will finish his salvation work by saving his people and leading them to the kingdom of heaven.
Some Testimonies of the Forefathers and Their Waiting
Again and again the bible says that the forefathers of faith led the life of waiting until God fulfilled everything according to his promise as we can see in Noah, in Abraham, and all others in the bible. They received the promise of God and believed the promise. Despite many difficulties and hardships they endured and waited patiently until the promise of God fulfilled since they believed God and his words.
Isaiah 8:16 Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.
They trusted in God and his words, and therefore, they waited patiently until God fulfilled the promise. It is the same with us. God already gave his promise of salvation, and therefore, we must trust in his word and wait until the time of fulfillment.
Isaiah 25:9 At that time people will say, “Here is our God! He is the one we have been waiting for. He has come to save us. We have been waiting for our Lord. So we will rejoice and be happy when he saves us. (ERV)
Here again we can see the most important characteristic of God’s people: waiting until the time of salvation. King David poetically describes the waiting for God:
Palms 130:5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
How eagerly he had been waiting for God to come and grant salvation to his people by giving them forgiveness of sins. He believed in the promise of God and he now believes there is only one thing left for him to do, that is, waiting patiently until God fulfills his promise.
The Mindset of God’s People
According to the bible there would be people who deny the power of God and do not believe the promise of God in the last days.
2 Peter 3:3 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
In the same way, there are people nowadays who says, “Where is his coming? Everything is the same day by day, and there is life in peace as usual. Let us eat, drink and be merry.” They speak and act as if this world will go on and on forever. But it is not true God already declared the destruction and disasters for the earth in the end. Even though this word has not been fulfilled yet, just like other words of God this will be fulfilled at God’s appointed time.
Then what is the mindset we must have as God’s people? Who is God pleased with and grant his salvation? Peter continues to say:
2 Peter 3:11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. 14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
The present heaven and earth is going to be destroyed by the disasters and God is leading his people to a new heaven and new earth, that is, the kingdom of heaven. Then who are those who can enter into the new heaven and earth? They are the ones who live holy and godly lives and make every effort to make themselves spotless and blameless. God teaches us that we must make effort to make ourselves holy and righteous while we are waiting for him. This is the life God’s people must lead as the ones who believe in the words of God in the bible.
God gave his promise and he said that I will destroy everything that belongs to this world and only those who are righteous will inherit the new heaven and earth I am going to establish for them. Up until now this promise has not been fulfilled for the last 6000 years. That is why many say that this is not true and deny the promise God gave us, saying, “Where is the end? Where is his coming? Where is the new heaven and new earth? Isn’t it just a story?”
Abraham received the words from God that his offspiring will be like the sand on seashore and they will inherit the Promised Land. Even though this promise was not fulfilled in his life time, but later in the time of Moses it came true and the Israelites conquered Canaan, the Promised Land. How about Noah? He received the words of God, and started to build an ark which was almost impossible to build in terms of its size and the effort they should have made to build it. It is said to have taken 40 to 100 years to build an ark of that size with the technology of the time. He must have been mocked and ridiculed by the people around him as crazy old man who is building a ship when there was no rain at all (Genesis 2:5) and they must have said, “Noah, when would it rain?” But what happened in the end? All the mockers got destroyed by the flood.
Mind of Waiting
That is why the bible testifies that all God’s people have been waiting patiently even though they did not receive inheritance promised in the words of God. About all the forefathers of faith, Paul says that they did not receive what was promised for them. It was because the time of fulfillment of promise has not come yet for them.
Hebrews 11:39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had be promised.
Even though they did not receive what was promised to them in their life time, but they waited patiently and kept their faith in God because they knew God’s word would surely be fulfilled at God’s appointed time. That is why throughout all the ages one of the most important characteristics of God’s people is patience. Since they trust in the words of God and they know that God will surely do as he promised, they have waited until the time of fulfillment. This should be our own attitude too.
Romans 8:19 Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when he will show the world who his children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen. ….22 We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain like a woman ready to give birth to a child. 23 Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children. I mean we are waiting for our bodies to be made free. 24 We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don’t hope for something they already have. 25 But we are hoping for something we don’t have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently.
God’s creation work will finish when the children of God are revealed. Until the time God’s children are made perfect and righteous enough to inherit the kingdom of God, God’s creation is in labor pain to give birth to His children. That labor pain started at the moment when God revealed his knowledge to the first man Adam 6000 years ago, and since then God was working to make his children holy and perfect so that they can receive salvation. That work of God has been in progress up until now. Now is the appointed time of God when he finishes his creation work and all the true children of God is to be revealed soon.
In this age of fulfillment, what kind of mindset should we have? We have HOPE which is given through the words of God and we have not received what has been promised in them. In this situation, the only thing we can do is “waiting for it patiently” since we believe in the words of God.
Conclusion
There might be times of trials and hardship. But we know God and we know that he will do whatever pleases him in his due time.
Isaiah 14:24 The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
Hebrews 6:17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
God gave promise of eternal life and the kingdom of heaven and to confirm the promise God gave his oath. Just as the bible says, God cannot lie and all the promises are “YES” in God, what we have to do is to wait patiently. Let us wait with excitement in our heart for the glorious day of redemption. Paul said nothing can separate us from the love of God: no hardships, no difficulties, no physical things or materials, no worldly fame or honor, no wisdom or knowledge of the people.
When we overcome the world and wait to the end, we will be able to see the glorious day when the birth pain is over and the promised eternal life is given to all the children of God. On that day, we will go back to the eternal home, praising our Elohim God Father and Mother.
Hebrews 9:28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
