Dealing With Delay

Is it time to give up waiting for Jesus to come, and get on with other things?

"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:45-51

During World War II, the resistance fighters in France believed that the Nazi occupation was temporary. They fought long and hard and suffered much when captured, but they continued their campaign in the face of deplorable odds, inspired onward by the faith that the allied forces would come someday soon and deliver them and their country from the cruel oppressors.

But as days turned into weeks and then months and years, some of the freedom fighters grew weary of their life of constant resistance and fighting. It seemed to some that the allies would never come—they were too busy fighting the Nazis on other fronts. It looked as though the enemy would forever be in control of France. In time, a few of the freedom fighters discovered that it was much easier to cooperate with the Germans and even began to make friends with them and betray their comrades in exchange for favors and position.

Then suddenly came D-Day! France was liberated. The freedom fighters who endured to the end were heroes and the traitors who capitulated were publicly humiliated, tortured and killed.

Could it be that final events in the church will closely resemble those in France during the war?

Last-Day Danger. One of the greatest dangers that faces God's people in the last days is not the big or little time of trouble, or threat of imprisonment or torture or hunger, but rather the apparent delay of the Lord's return that leads to a paralyzing apathy among professed believers. It will seem easier to many to join the world than to defy it.

In the opening Scripture, the evil servant says "in his heart, my lord is delaying his coming." He makes no outward announcement; it is an inward erosion of his faith. Bringing the parable into our day, this loss of faith in his master's return may be evident in everything from lax church attendance to reduced mission offerings. The evil servant begins to beat his fellow servants (whether verbally, emotionally or even physically) and to eat and drink with the drunkards—finding his friendships and amusement in the world. He is ultimately hoping his master will not come at all because the evil servant knows he is not ready.

Delay in God's Plan. The day of Christ's return has not come as soon as most had expected, but this should not surprise us. The Bible foretold not only that this would be the case but also what the general reaction would be.

"Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation'" (2 Pet 3:3, 4).

There is a connection between doubting His coming and walking after our own lusts.

On the other hand, faith in the soon return of Jesus has a sanctifying effect. "Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless" (2 Pet 3:14). Also, 1 John 3:3 says, "And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." We are in grave danger should Seventh-day Adventists ever stop believing in and proclaiming the soon return of Jesus! We must not lose faith in His promise, "I will come again."

I believe the Lord is going to allow this tarrying time to sift His true servants from the false servants, to separate the precious wheat from the worthless chaff. That's right—we should expect and prepare for the delay of His second coming! God's Word foretells this. It was written that we should be armed and ready with oil in our vessels. "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept" (Matt 25:5). "But he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matt 24:13). Only those who thoroughly "love his appearing" (2 Tim 4:8) will last through this final delay that tests "the patience of the saints" (Rev 14:12).

Much More Delay? Some may wonder, "Doug, are you saying that because a delay is prophesied prior to the Lord's return, we should hunker down and just plan on the years to roll by before Jesus comes?" Heaven forbid! I am saying that we have been in the time of delay for years now. It is almost over and yet many are about to lose heart and throw in the towel just before the last bell.

Galatians 6:9 admonishes us, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." To the Seventh-day Adventist church has been committed the most precious message of salvation ever entrusted to mortals. Now more than ever we must not lose our moorings and join this world. Jesus is about to come! This is no time to have our record read like that of Paul's fickle associate: "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2 Tim 4:10).

"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matt 24:37). In the days of Noah many at first believed his message of impending judgment and even helped with the preparation of the ark. But when the years rolled by and the predicted flood did not come, they joined with the ranks of the mockers. One hundred and twenty years to build a boat? They lost faith during the delay. "Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Eccl 8:11).

*"There are those who say, not only in their hearts, but in all their works, 'My Lord delays his coming.' They show the effect of error upon them by smiting their fellow-servants and eating and drinking with the drunken. As in the days of Noah, those who have had great light will show their inconsistency. Because Christ's coming has been long foretold, they conclude that there is a mistake in regard to this doctrine. But the Lord says, 'If the vision tarry, wait for it; for it will surely come. It will not tarry past the time that

the message is borne to all nations, tongues and peoples.' Shall we who claim to be students of prophecy forget that God's forbearance to the wicked is a part of His vast and merciful plan, by which He is seeking to compass the salvation of souls? Shall we be found among the number who cease to cooperate with the Lord, and who are found saying, My Lord delays His coming?"* (Ellen G. White Manuscript Releases, 7:182-183).

Abraham learned his lessons of faith waiting for the delayed fulfillment of God's promise of a son, Isaac. The Israelites who made it to the Promised Land are the ones who learned to follow the Lord during a forty year delay in the wilderness. Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."

Two Attitudes. Two popular proverbs conflict with one another: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," and "Out of sight, out of mind." These proverbs describe the two ways that people generally respond to a delayed expectation or return. These two attitudes are seen in the opposite examples of Saul and David.

Saul's Folly. In 1 Samuel 13:8 we read, "Then he [Saul] waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him." The Lord had told King Saul to wait for Samuel to come and present an offering to the Lord before they ventured into battle, but for some reason it seemed that Samuel delayed. The people were becoming restless from waiting and began to lose heart and desert the army, so Saul felt justified in disregarding the command of Samuel. He took things into his own hands and altered the rules by usurping the position of priest and offering a sacrifice.

Sadly, some of our churches are adopting worldly methods to gather the scattering flocks. We have rich and abundant counsel in our midst on how to grow churches, but we often go to the fallen Protestant churches to learn how to build our membership. "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?" (2 Kings 1:3). We should not use the devil's tools to do God's work.

"Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came" (1 Sam 13:10). If only Saul had waited a little longer! So many people give up just before the finish line. Many people will desert the church just before Jesus comes. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A man is not a hero because he is braver than anyone else, but because he is braver ten minutes longer!"

So Samuel came. "And Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue" (vv. 13, 14). God allowed this delay to be a test for Saul, but when the king became impatient while Samuel tarried, he lost faith, failed the test, and lost the kingdom. I fear this will happen to many in these last days.

David's Patience. Now contrast Saul's record with how David responded to delay. Many years passed from the time Samuel anointed David to be king until he was actually crowned. During these years, as David waited for God to give him Saul's crown, he had several opportunities to become impatient and take matters into his own hands. On more than one occasion David held Saul's life in his hands like a helpless bird. All he had to do was say the word and Saul would be slain; David would become king. But David waited patiently for God's timing.

"David said furthermore, 'As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed'" (1 Sam 26:10, 11). He did not understand the delay, but he trusted God's promise, "You will be king." His patience was richly rewarded.

Delay tends to leave a vacuum that must be filled with something, either with faith and patience or with personal efforts to change the situation, perhaps even to create a new god. "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, 'Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him'" (Ex 32:1). I believe this story of the children of Israel and the golden calf is one

of the most striking examples of our present trends. It is about to be repeated by God's people as we near the Promised Land. In this passage, Moses is a type of Jesus.

Moses' Delay. When Moses was called up the mountain to receive the tables of stone from the Lord, he told the people that he would return. Evidently he did not say exactly when. They never dreamed it would take so long—forty days! It took less than that for the ten plagues and the exodus from Egypt.

While he appeared to tarry, the unexpected delay was unbearable for some. "And Aaron said to them, 'Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.' So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt'" (Ex 32:2-4).

"Aaron feared for his own safety; and instead of nobly standing up for the honor of God, he yielded to the demands of the multitude. His first act was to direct that the golden earrings be collected from all the people and brought to him, hoping that pride would lead them to refuse such a sacrifice. But they willingly yielded up their ornaments; and from these he made a molten calf, in imitation of the gods of Egypt" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 317).

When the people of Israel left Egypt, they had plundered the Egyptians in payment for their years of unpaid services. Now we find them proudly wearing their money to display their wealth. The earrings were not only on the wives, but on the sons and daughters.

Sure sounds like conditions today! As I travel around North America and visit the campuses of our educational institutions, it is obvious that standards for Christian appearance are not much different now from the standards of the world. When I ask some of the leaders why this has been allowed to happen, they generally reply that we need to make some compromise to reach the young people. After all, we were wrong about the nearness of Christ's coming, so maybe we are also wrong about some of these high standards.

"As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him" (Ex 32:1). I can just hear the arguments that the people brought to Aaron. "Why, the young people are getting restless and are clamoring to go back to Egypt. We need to make some compromises or we're going to lose them!" Sound familiar?

Restlessness. In their restlessness, they began to return to the pagan worship of the nations around them. "Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play" (Ex 32:6). *"All restraint seemed to be removed from the people. They offered burnt offerings to the golden calf, and a spirit of levity took possession of them. They indulged in shameful rioting and drunkenness. They ate, they drank, and rose up to play"* (Testimonies for the Church, 3:296).

The children of Israel made a rapid transition from worship to potluck, then play. Could this happen to us? Has this happened to us? Our sacred worship service, which should be dedicated to offering reverent adoration to a Holy God and teaching the people present truth, have in many cases digressed into entertaining the flock.

"And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, 'There is a noise of war in the camp'"(Ex 32:17). War would have been preferable to what had come! What should have been a service of praise that beckoned the angels to draw near had degenerated into the confusing and disconcerting sounds of war.

"But he [Moses] said: 'It is not the voice of those who shout in victory, nor is it the voice of those who cry out in defeat, but the voice of those who sing that I hear'" (v. 18). If they had been shouting praise for the victory over sin and souls saved, that would be good; or even if they had been crying in repentance for being defeated by temptation, that would have been preferable. Jesus said, "I could wish you were cold or hot" (Rev 3:15). But to rise up and play, to throw a party at such a solemn time? Moses was preparing to descend the mountain with a contract from the Almighty written in His own hand. But God's people had grown weary of waiting and when Moses came, most of the people were unprepared. Some were executed and some were exalted.

Be Ready. Will this happen again? *"You also be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect Him"* (Matt 24:44).

Many years ago in New England, when the sailors went to sea on the merchant ships, there was always a touching scene at the docks as the sailing men bid their wives and children farewell with promises of a safe trip and return with exotic gifts from far-away ports. But the women knew these trips often took weeks or months and the exact time of return was impossible to predict. Many a wife said, "I will keep the light burning in the window until you come home." But as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, nagging doubts began to plague the wives. What if my husband has been lost at sea? How long will our money last? How long should I wait for him?

This was before the age of radio and regular mail service, so whenever any new ship entered the harbor, the wives would run to the dock and inquire, "Have you any word of our husbands' ship?" The hardest part of this separation was the silence. Sometimes the captains extended their trips to California to make a rich profit, but this was before the Panama Canal and it might lengthen the journey time from months to years! Meanwhile, some of the wives, weary of waiting, would blow out the light in the window and have their husbands declared dead, that they might marry another. Others, in despair, would cease to care for the children or clean the house. A faithful proverb states, "The wives that love their husbands most, wait the best." I read of one loyal woman who kept the light burning in her window every night for fifty years until her death, waiting for a husband who never returned from sea.

But sometimes the ship returned suddenly after an unusually long voyage. Then what a bittersweet drama unfolded on the docks. Some sailors would greet their wives and children with unspeakable joy, long embraces and many gifts, while others in anguish and tears tossed their gifts into the sea upon hearing that their wives had taken other husbands. And how awkward and humiliating for the impatient wives when they learned that their husbands had returned as promised with their sea bags full of money and treasure, only to find them in the arms of others.

Friends, how will Jesus find us when he comes? *"Then the Lord answered me and said: 'Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith"* (Hab 2:2-4).

Modern Israel. I believe the Seventh-day Adventist church today is modern Israel. It has all the same pitfalls and problems of ancient Israel, but God is still with this movement. Anyone who encourages you to splinter off to be part of a new "holier fellowship" is a wolf in sheep's clothing and an agent of the devil. "The church of Christ on earth will be imperfect, but God does not destroy His church because of its imperfection" (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 46).

The basic test in the last days is going to be the test of faith in the Master's return! We must daily place our faith in Him through prayer, study and service. "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Rev 14:12).

Keep the faith! Jesus is coming, soon! The delay is almost over.