Living Between the Advents of Jesus

As we continue into the third week of Advent 2021, it is appropriate for us to continue giving thought to what Paul means for us “to wait for His Son from Heaven” from 1 Thessalonians 1:10.

The Church who believes in Jesus must be marked as a people who Wait. As a people who have hawker centres, fast food, 5G network speeds, waiting is not something we are good at. But this is a vital virtue for God’s people. Especially considering that we are a people who “wait for His Son from Heaven”. The good news is this, waiting for His Son is not the same thing as waiting for lunch; or waiting for our salary or waiting for my children to grow up so I can retire.

Waiting for lunch or our salary or our children to grow up, is a matter of time. Time needs to pass before we can have what we are waiting for. But Paul tells us that the “Son from Heaven” that we are waiting is “raised from the dead”. For someone who has died, and has been raised from the dead, time is no longer something that affects Him.

“Whom he raised from the dead”. This person we are “waiting for” is unlike anyone or anything we have ever “waited for” because whilst he lived and died in a perishable body; He was raised an imperishable and incorruptible body. As his first resurrection appearances reveal, He is very much still ”flesh and blood“. But walls and doors do not hinder Him. And his appearance to Saul on the road to Damascus is evidence that He rules over time and space. What this means is waiting for Him, is not waiting for Him to come to us, as if He is absent from us.

This is why the promise of Jesus is true -

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:18–19)

Or as the writer of Hebrews puts it… “For he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you” (Heb 13:5)

Waiting for Jesus is not the same as waiting for our lunch, or our salary or a vaccine because this One we are ‘waiting for’ has been raised from the dead, and has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. So what exactly does waiting for Him involve? Tune in next week for our final thoughts on Waiting.