We Shall Behold Him
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
Acts 1:9-11 (ESV)
I was ten years old when I responded to an “altar call” to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. To be entirely candid, it was not the power of the truth that was being preached, that cold Christmas Eve, to which I responded. No. It was fear of the fires of Hell, which the preacher had described so well that I thought I could feel the heat.
I had become a “born again” Christian, although I had very little understanding of what that really meant. One of the things I did understand was that Jesus was coming soon, for all who believed in Him. We sang about that and talked about it ceaselessly. We lived as though it could be that very day that the clouds would part, and Jesus would appear to take us away to be with Him.
We believed the promise:
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (ESV)
We still hold the promise as certain of fulfillment, and so, as we wait we encourage each other. For me, it is almost 50 years since those heady days of childhood – still waiting. For over two thousand years, Christians have been waiting. Yet, lest we become weary in waiting, the words of Peter echo across the centuries,
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
2 Peter 3:8-10 (ESV)
What can be said about all of this watching and waiting? Just this. For the one who awaits the appearance of Jesus, our Waiting Time will one day be over. This is also true of our daily lives. According to Dutch Sheets, in his book, God’s Timing for Your Life, there are three stages of God’s timing for us. He uses the Greek words chronos, kairos and pleroma, as found in the New Testament, to describe them. Respectively, these words describe the general march of time, the right (strategic) time, and the fullness (completion or now) of time. Whichever kind of time you are talking about, it is clear that you only have so much of it. Time brackets your life, and as it passes you may have a growing sense of urgency to use it well.
Waiting is the chronos and kairos time where we follow and acquire spiritual maturity (modeling Jesus), where we seek truth and direction (purpose) for life, and where we learn what it means to trust (abide) in Christ. It is in times of waiting that we expectantly anticipate God’s response to our prayers and petitions. It is also at these times when it may seem that God is silent.
That’s where we will go in the final part of this discussion on the Great Word of God – Wait.
Strength and Honor
Bill
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