The delay
A group of friends were driving down an expressway to another friend's home. They were actually enjoying themselves as they were talking and joking as the drove. So much they were enjoying themselves that they got distracted and missed their exit. By, the time they realized it, they were 15 miles away and the next exit would not be until 15 miles more. This delayed them about 45 minutes. So, a moment of distraction ended up costing them almost an hour of time. What was interesting was that they all reacted and responded differently. It was as if this delay helped display their characters.
In the book of Numbers, God told the children of Israel to go and conquer the Promised Land. They allowed their unbelief to distract them from God's Word, and refused to conquer it then. God then ordered them to wander in the wilderness 40 years. For what they could have done in a matter of months now they had to wait 40 years. It was interesting to see how this delay displayed the character of the people. Some were humble and followed God's instructions. A great number continued to rebel against Moses and God.
Ellen White said in her day that Christ could have come by then if the people had done the work God entrusted them to do. The editors of Evangelism quote what she said about what would have happened if the work might have been done,
Had the purpose of God been carried out by His people in giving to the world the message of mercy, Christ would, ere this, have come to the earth, and the saints would have received their welcome into the city of God.-- Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 450. (1900) (Evangelism 694).
I know that if the people of God had preserved a living connection with Him, if they had obeyed His Word, they would today be in the heavenly Canaan. --General Conference Bulletin, March 30, 1903. (Evangelism 694).
So it is evident from her writings that there is a delay in Christ returning. The author of the lesson suggests why. He submits "a possible diminished emphasis on the Second Coming, if for no other reason than that we expected it to have happened by now." The author adds a few lines below that,
"Things have not happened as soon as we expected, but we take comfort from the promise in Galatians 6:9, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (NKJV). The issue that confronts God's people in the twenty- first century is not "Will God be faithful?" We should know by now that He is faithful to all that He has promised. The crucial issue is, "Will I be faithful until the end?""
This seems to be the issue in the parables listed in our lesson, in the parable of Matthew 24:44-50. Notice how the evil servant changes his lifestyle when he becomes convinced that his master is not coming back as soon as he had expected. What is the message to us who feel there has been a delay in the coming of Jesus?
IN the parable of Matthew 25:1-13, notice that everyone who was waiting for the bridegroom went to sleep. When the bridegroom finally arrived and all awakened, it was too late for five of them. In what ways could we, in the twenty-first century, be in danger of doing the same thing?
We could say that the evil servant corresponds to the "foolish virgins." They were not ready for a delay. The way they reacted to the delay then displayed their character. It was not a Christ like character. It showed they lacked the source of the Christ like character – the oil which represents the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of the faith that would help endure until the end. Lacking the Holy Spirit, they also lacked this faith. This will apparently be a problem in the end time. This is why Christ asked in Luke18:8, "… Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Our character displays how we are reacting to this delay.
A Godly messenger wrote about this that as sons in God's house we are to exercise the same faithfulness that Christ did, and this we can do because He gives us His own faith. "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God" (Gal. 2: 20). Christ dwelling in the heart by faith exercises His own faith in us, by which He kept the Father's commandments, and abode in His love; so that it can be said: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." (Rev. 14: 12). This faith alone overcomes the world and helps us to endure until the end.
The faith of Christ must bring the righteousness of God, because the possession of that faith is the possession of the Lord himself. This faith is dealt to every man, even as Christ gave himself to every man. Do you ask what then can prevent every man from being saved? The answer is, "nothing," except the fact that all men will not keep the faith. If all would keep all that God gives them, all would be saved.
So, the real question is not, "Will I be faithful until the end?", but "Will I allow Him to be faithful in me until the end?"
--
Raul Diaz
www.wolfsoath.com
