GodReflection: God’s People Wait

I wish it would happen today.

God will again break into history in a big way.

He promised—and God always keeps His word.

Jesus will descend from the sky to usher out all hurt and wickedness while ushering God’s children into a new earth and a new heaven.

Until then—God’s family grows and waits.

The essence of the Advent season is to anticipate the return of Jesus.

I think about how the New Testament’s writer-physician Doctor Luke set the stage for this final chapter of Satan’s defeat:

I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Jesus told his closes followers prior to his death, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

After 2000 years, God’s people wait.

His people—the church—wait in worship and witness.

God’s people are still awed at His majesty. So they worship. They worship in private and in assembly. The worship looks to the time when the wait will be over and worship can flow from perfect hearts to a perfect God.

God’s people use wait time as a time of witness. They live before their neighbors as the reflection of Jesus. The great serendipity of witness is God’s family grows as His people wait. I suspect this is at the heart of the reason for the Father’s delay. His loving nature wants a huge family around the table.

God’s people wait in faith with trust and expectation. By faith they see evidence of the unseen. By faith they trust God will deliver. By faith the wait causes expectation and anticipation to intensify with each passing day.

I wish it would happen today. Until it does—God’s people wait.

For God’s people the final advent will more than justify the wait.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – Reflecting on the Advent of God.

Gary@GodReflection.org