Why Isn’t He Here Yet?!
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
- 2 Peter 3:9
Perhaps it seems odd to read this passage on patience and waiting for the ‘day of the Lord’ as we’ve just celebrated his coming in Christmas. Hasn’t the day of the Lord come? Aren’t we joyful for that? Yes, but we practice patience in Advent each year, because we live in a time of awaiting Christ’s second coming. It’s this coming that Peter is concerned about here.
I’ve never been much for patience. It’s a fruit that needs more care and growth in my life. I’ve taken steps to cultivate it, even going so far as to purposefully taking a longer commute to work or standing in a longer line at the grocery story (the jury’s still out on the results of my efforts… or maybe not, ask Bethany). Too often I’ve thought of patience as doing nothing while waiting for something else to happen. That’s a very passive thing. But it’s clear that patience is much more dynamic than that. Patience has much to do with the willingness and ability to endure. It has to do with having a vision of a better future that requires some sacrifice now.
In this letter, Peter warned of scoffers who mocked Christians for waiting upon Jesus’ return. “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation” (vv. 4). Even in Peter’s day, some lost patience waiting for the future coming and forsook belief. There may be times when we feel similarly anxious and unsure of Christ’s return. Why isn’t he here yet?
But this text really isn’t about our patience. It’s about God’s patience. The day of the Lord is only delayed, because God is patient. Not in some passive sense, as if he watches idly as the history of the world unfolds in front of him. God’s patience is not idleness, but mercy. Peter says in verse 15 that “our Lord’s patience means salvation.” God has been patient with us in our sin. He patiently draws his people to himself to find salvation in him. And if patience has to do with the willingness to endure and to sacrifice now for a better future, then perfect patience is on display in Christ. Jesus had both the willingness and ability to endure all the sin of the world, bearing it on the cross. He envisioned a future of reconciliation between humanity and himself; he was willing to be the ultimate sacrifice for that future.
Perhaps as we anxiously await the return of Christ and we pray, “Maranatha, come quickly” we might also give him thanks that his patience means salvation for his own. If we really do want him to come quickly, let us join him in mission. Let us be active in our own patience, waiting for his return. Let us participate in his kingdom by sharing his Gospel truth with the lost.
~ Pastor Tim