1 Thessalonians 3:9-end, Luke 21:25-36

There are really three Comings of the Lord and each one in its own way is very important for us to understand.

The word Advent — it’s a Latin word, advenio — means “the coming.” Not “he came” but “the coming.”

The First Coming, of course, is the coming of the child, the coming of the Saviour, the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, and he comes in Bethlehem, and this is an historical coming. But what makes this so much more important is the longing and the hope that the children of Israel brought down through the centuries, two thousand years, beginning with Abraham and all the way to when Joseph and Mary went to the little village, the little town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

The First Coming is God comes in weakness, God comes in the quiet of the night, God comes like a helpless child, in need of men and women to take care of him, to watch over him, to feed him, to do all these unbelievable things when you think that Mary and Joseph are raising a child who is God Himself. And so this coming is well worth all the effort we put in to celebrate.

The Second Coming is more dramatic. The Second Coming is the end of the world. And we heard hoe Luke describes this in our Gospel reading. The Second Coming, when will it come? No one knows. Jesus says “Only the Father knows.” But this kind of desolation, built up over the centuries among the Jewish people of a great fearsome judgment, is the Judgment Day, the day that we come before God and are judged for what we really are. And, of course, this day is described in the Old Testament with great fearsome language as we heard: the darkness, the terror, the fear. And then, of course, Luke adds the promise of Jesus, because for all of us there is a new element.

It is then, in the midst of the darkness, when it seems that everything is lost and the whole world as we know it has been torn asunder and there’s lightning in the sky and there’s fire on the earth, Jesus says, “That is the time I will come in a cloud.” The cloud is the symbol of God. “I will come in a cloud with the angels. And I will come and begin the new world.”

The world where love triumphs over hate, the love where people really begin to understand each other and care for each other and love each other, for this is the world that God intended and this is the world that will be initiated when Jesus comes the second time. For us, this means that we are in this world waiting for that world to take place. We live in this in between time. Which means we need patience, faith and trust.

And I find this terribly inconvenient. I am not naturally a patient person. I enjoy moving things along, making things happen and waiting feels like a massive speed bump that kills my momentum and drive. No, I am not a fan of waiting.

Yet I should be, because waiting is not a pattern unique to me. Every Christian’s life is woven with spiritual, mental, and physical waiting. Waiting for God to provide, guide, move, heal, direct, answer, reveal. To lead us to the mysterious “Next Thing”—the next step, person, place, or plan. But added to the difficulty of waiting is a deep desire for control and comfort, which makes us want to earnestly prepare for the “nexts.”

Faithful preparation is not bad, but how can we do that when we’re not even sure what we’re preparing for? How do we live in the tension between waiting and preparation for the season ahead?

First, we need to recognize why God calls us to wait. He does it for his glory and to make us more like Jesus, whose whole life could be called a waiting game. He waited for his disciples, he waited for the crowds, he waited for his parents, he waited for crucifixion, he waited for glorification, and he is waiting to return. His life, death, and resurrection are pictures of faithful waiting. He is our example when waiting seems so horribly hard and contentment feels just out of reach.

Yet he is much more than our example; he is our hope. When waiting saps you of joy and you feel empty, overwhelmed, and afraid, Jesus can give you the strength you need. God’s radical love for you, as shown through his Son’s sacrifice, means he’s not going to leave you on your own, and his wisdom means he knows waiting is best for us. His empowering grace will help us persevere through the waiting, and will abound when we don’t wait well.

And so we need to learn to wait—I need to learn to wait—and recognize how God is working through the waiting.  

God doesn’t make us wait out of capricious malice but in loving wisdom, and he is working through our waiting. How? First and most foundationally, he uses waiting to increase our trust in him and loosen our perceived control. Waiting reminds us we’re at the mercy (literally) of God’s timing, and we have no power to change that. As humans, we crave control yet waiting pulls that from our grasp. Waiting pries our fingers from the ledge and confronts us with an uncomfortable question: “Will we give up on ourselves and trust God wholly?”

Second, God uses waiting to crucify our idol of efficiency. We live in an accomplishment-driven culture where value is measured and marked by productivity. How much you get done defines your worth, and we can be guilty of making that an idol. But waiting destroys that. We can’t always maximize efficiency if we’re waiting on God—and that’s okay. Are we putting our worth in our plans and productivity, or in God (Galatians 6:9)?  

As our eyes are taken off ourselves and our idols, waiting changes us. God uses waiting to make us more humble. As waiting reveals our spectacular lack of control, it exposes our weakness and vulnerability. God is in charge, and we are not. Therefore, we have no reason for pride or boasting. Instead, we should embrace our weakness in the form of humility and approach God with a proper view of ourselves (Psalm 8:3-4).

Along with making us more humble, God uses waiting to make us more patient.

I used to think I was a patient person, but waiting revealed just how impatient I was. I struggle with delayed gratification; I don’t want to be left wondering and guessing. I want what I want, and I want it now.

But waiting is like a seat belt that buckles me into being patient, a forced lesson in patience. I have no choice; I have to be patient. I can either ungratefully fight it or contentedly embrace it. Patience says we are faithfully trusting in the Lord’s timing, not our own: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14).

Realizing why God makes us wait, and what he’s doing through the waiting, is the start of trusting him in this tension between waiting and preparation for what lies ahead.

Then, as we wait, we focus on living faithfully in the present. It’s easy to let waiting distract us or pressure us to false-start before God says, “Go,” but that’s not what we’re called to. God uses waiting to test, teach, and train us for what lies ahead. We need these periods to sanctify us. And by living faithfully in the midst of them, God will use these years to transform us.

That’s how he’s always worked for his people:

• Abraham and Sarah waited for a son (so did Rachel and Hannah).
• Joseph waited for a promotion.
• Moses waited to lead the Israelites out of slavery.
• Joshua waited for the Promised Land.
• Ruth waited for a husband.
• David waited to become king.
• Elijah waited for rain.
• Job waited for suffering to end.
• Paul waited for release from prison.

In those times of waiting, these people were called to serve their families and those around them; learn about and listen expectantly to God; pray without ceasing; not grumble or complain; and fulfil the ordinary work God called them to. It wasn’t glamorous, showy, or especially exciting, but it was preparing them for what lay ahead.

In God’s wisdom, he knew Abraham and Sarah needed decades to learn that God was enough, that he deserves their trust. He knew Joseph needed years of languishing in prison to learn humility and forgiveness. He knew Moses needed 40 years as a country shepherd before he could shepherd God’s people, just like Joshua needed his 40 years assisting Moses to learn leadership and courage.

God knows what we need, and if he wants us to wait, it’s always for our good. Our calling is simply faithfulness.

And if we trust in him, we know that he will direct our steps and point us to our next destination. He will say, “Go,” when we need to go—but not before then.