And so we wait. We wait for God to bring everything together, like those wonderful promises in Revelation of a time when there will be no more tears, no more hunger, no more sunburns.
We wait.
We wait for a time when swords will be turned into farming implements. We wait for the last enemy to be destroyed, which God says is death itself.
We wait.
We wait for eternity to begin, because everything just seems so temporary. We light a candle of hope, and watch as the tiny flame reminds us disciples of Jesus that a refiner’s fire purifies and makes us holy in a way we could never be on our own.
We wait.
We wait for the day when every living creature streams to the mountain of the Lord and confesses Jesus as the Messiah. Until that time, we live our lives proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah while trying to discern just what in the world that really means.
We wait.
We wait as we look for opportunities to walk in the light as he is in the light, all the while taking advantage of those times when we can have fellowship with one another in a common confession.
We wait.
From Henri Nouwen—
“Waiting patiently always means paying attention to what is happening right before our eyes and seeing there the first rays of God's glorious coming.”
From Isaiah 2:2-5—
“In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.”
We wait.
