Tag: God’s patience

  • Mind Of Waiting For God’s Salvation

    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

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    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.

     
  • Heavenly Citizens and Etiquettes

    In the old days, princes and princesses had to learn certain manners they should have to be royal family in those days. They had special way of talking, acting, behaving, and doing every little thing in the palace. The most prominent example was that they should not act as if they were in urgent need to do something. However they are in a hurry, they should never run around; however they are hungry, they should not gulp down food or drink. Whatever they do and whatever situation they might be in, they should act in reserved and courtly manner to show decorum and dignity. If they lost their manner in front of others, it was considered as disgrace, lowering themselves to the position of common people.

    Through this customs of the world, Heavenly Mother also told us that there are heavenly customs and manners that we should learns as citizens of heaven who are considered as princes and princess of the royal family in heaven.

    1 Peter 2:9   But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

    Philippians 3:20   But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

    As a royal priests and citizens of heaven, what kind of manner and customs should we have? How can we know what is the proper way of talking, acting, and treating each other? Just as princes and princesses had special books explaining the courtly manner in the times of dynasties, we also have guidebook and guidelines given to us so that we may learn the heavenly culture: that is, the Bible. The bible teaches us the attitudes of people of heaven. They should have love, endurance, peace, contentedness, etc…

    Mother eagerly wants to take us to our new home. But we are not ready to make the journey. Even though the appointed time is drawing near, Mother is waiting patiently for us to change.

    When Mother taught this for the afternoon sermon of the Sabbath, I came to realize how much Mother wants us to change. If it is not necessary for us to go to heaven, why would Mother told us to learn the heavenly culture and practice all the godly behaviors. She was emphasizing that it is necessary for us to learn all those good attitudes. Through this teaching I come to realize many things. Mother is still on this earth in the world of pain and suffering for her and it is because we are still not ready. We did not change our sinful and worldly nature completely and in this condition we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven and receive salvation. And Mother is waiting until we are ready to go.

    Long time ago I once read a story of a mother swallow and babies. As the winter is drawing near, all the migrant birds including other neighbor swallows left the place one by one, but one swallow family could not go back to the south to find a warmer place to spend the winter. And it was because one baby swallow was not ready to take the long travel to the south. It was sick in bed and the whole family had to wait until it got well. Finally, just before the cold wind blew and the first snow came, they could make journey to the south long after everybody left the town.

    Our Heavenly Mother is also waiting because we are not ready and still we are weak to make the journey. And because of us, our older brothers and sisters are all waiting too so that we can get ready. Now I think I should learn all the heavenly customs and make it into a habit to practice them so that I can be accepted as God’s children in heaven. Now I can feel how the mother swallow must have felt as the winter was drawing near, bringing cold wind and heavy snow. All the family could be in danger if they did not head toward south immediately. Our Heavenly Mother must be feeling the same way as the appointed time for the prophecy is drawing near. Everybody should be ready to make the journey, but Mother is worried because her children are still not ready. Now we should realize what Mother wants and comfort her by changing ourselves to resemble heavenly citizens, God’s holy sons and daughters.

    Mother does not want to leave any of us behind and that is why she is still waiting.

    2 Peter 3:9   The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

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