May 4, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
MEEKLY WAIT AND MURMUR NOT
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.” Isa. 40:31, KJV (See verses 26-31).
The reason why our failing strength is not renewed or replenished is because we don’t wait upon the Lord, and therefore we do not have the “patience of the saints” who truly wait with long endurance. As Jesus Himself said, “He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved.” (Look that up in your Bible).
In Luke 12:34-36 Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins [of the mind] be girded about [with the truth], and your lights be burning. And ye yourselves like unto men that WAIT for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately.” (See verses 37-40).
Jesus “returns from the wedding” because this wedding takes place in heaven while Christ is “cleansing the sanctuary” and cleansing and purifying His bride “till not one spot or wrinkle” is found in her. At the end of His final work as righteous Judge of all the earth and High Priest, He “casts down the censer and says, ‘It is done!’ Then “he that is righteous let him be righteous still….’. Their sins have been blotted out, their “wedding garment of pure white linen which is the righteousness of the saints” are now eternally theirs to wear. That’s why Christ “returns from the wedding.” At His coming He will raise them up and reward them with the “crown that is immortality” and will enter the pearly gates and sit down to the grand “marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Look these up in your Bible).
But all these could not happen unless these saints first “waited” and prepared for the baptism of the Spirit and the sealing of the latter rain. Notice:
“And being assembled together with them, (Jesus) commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but WAIT for the promise of the the Father. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit [‘with fire,’ Matt. 3:11] not many days hence.” Acts 1: 4 (See verses 1-8; 2:1-47).
“The powers of darkness gather about the soul and shut Jesus from our sight, and at times we can only WAIT in sorrow and amazement until the cloud passes over. These seasons are sometimes terrible. Hope seems to fail, and despair seizes upon us. In these dreadful hours we must learn to TRUST, to depend SOLELY upon the merits of the atonement [we perhaps have not learned its true significance], and in all our helpless unworthiness cast ourselves upon the merits of the crucified and risen Savior.
“When light shines in our pathway, it is no great thing to be strong in the strength of grace. But TO WAIT patiently in hope when clouds envelope us and all is dark, REQUIRES faith and submission which causes our will to be swallowed up in the will of God. We are TOO QUICKLY discouraged, and earnestly cry for the trial to be REMOVED from us, when we should plead for PATIENCE to endure and GRACE to overcome.” E.G.White, Testimonies, pp. 309,310.
It is my prayer today that we will examine our own hearts with this message — whether we know how to “wait on the Lord” so that we really possess, not merely profess to have “the patience of the saints.” NMF