THE WAITING TIME
H. W. Knauss
Peter’s word in this section of Scripture would have a bearing upon us at the present time, because we are in the waiting time that he alludes to here, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus, waiting for the Lord’s appearing. Surely we all love the appearing, the time when Christ shall be vindicated as to every right that belongs to Him, to God the Father’s glory. We long for that time to come. So the waiting time would be a test to us. Peter is seeking to help us in this passage to make use of the time, that it might not be wasted. It is a time provided by God when there is to be moral growth with each one of us, so that we will be ready when the Lord Jesus comes to claim us for Himself. Think of the delight the Lord will have at that moment when He will present the assembly to Himself without spot or wrinkle or any of such things. How it will delight His own blessed heart! But, thank God, His operations are going on.
God is making use of the waiting time to help us to develop morally. I wonder if we appreciate the feelings of God in this waiting period. What a test it is to go through it! It is a test for us brothers anyway, we can say that; I am sure it is a test for the sisters, because Peter would include us all in this passage. We are all in this time. But think of the feelings of God, that God is making use of it. It speaks of it here—“The Lord does not delay his promise, as some account of delay, but is longsuffering towards you”. Think of the feelings of God in this time, that none should perish. That is the thought of God. He does not want any to perish; does not want anyone to die in his sins; but he “desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”, 1 Timothy 2: 4. Therefore God is long-suffering. Think of the feelings of God at this time. Can we convey these feelings through our feelings? Do we have feelings for men as we wait for the Lord’s coming? Would we desire anyone not to be available to the Lord Jesus when He comes? Oh I think it would exercise us, what Peter is bringing before us in this section, as to whether we can convey to men the true feelings of God as we wait for the Lord’s coming.
Think of the operations of God in the first creation as He could look upon the scene that He had created, to bring man into, to represent Him here on the earth. It says. God looked upon it and it was good. And then think of God creating man in His own image and likeness, and placing man in this scene. But then we know that sin came in to mar the first order of creation. But God has not given up, He is going on; God has the thought of new creation before Him. Peter has that thought here in this passage, that the present heavens and earth are going to pass away, are going to be dissolved. But God is working, He is working in the hearts of men, that man might be preserved alive; “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5: 17), alluding to the personal work of the Lord Jesus in each one of our souls. I think we can see it, the elements of the new man, as we look around. Where you see two or more assembled together, you have the expression of it, the thought of new creation, reconciliation seen expressed in persons who represent God here in testimony and have a link with the Lord Jesus, and are in Him; there is new creation.
So that one just thought that we might be exercised by Peter’s word in this passage that we should not waste the present moment, but accept it as a provision of God. God would wait; it is not that God would not fulfil His promise—the promises of God are assured; the will of God is absolute. When God wills something it will take place. It may take time for it to be seen working, but it will take place. With ourselves we will something and it may or may not take place, according to the power that we have in our links with God; but the word of God is absolute and sure, and the promises of God are sure, and the coming of the new heavens and the new earth is linked with the promises of God which are sure to take place.
The world does not understand this. It baffles the mind of natural man. Think of natural man without Christ waiting at the present time for what? They know not what. But we wait according to the promise of God; we have the surety of God’s word that there will be the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Everything there will be in line in perfection with the mind and the will of God. We are waiting for that time, but God desires in the interim, in this waiting period, to finish His work with each one of us in order that there might be the moral side, completion, seen in us. Think of God working, you might say differently from the way He worked in the beginning. In the beginning God brought in the sphere first, and then brought man into this sphere that He had created. But in new creation God works first with man, to bring man morally into alignment with His thoughts, and then He brings in the sphere. What a sphere it is!—wherein dwells righteousness; everything there is in accord with the holiness of God and the perfection of God.
So God is working to that end. You can see how the completion of that work will produce what Christ can present to Himself. The Lord is longing for that time, but one just thought that in this passage Peter would exercise us at the present time, as we are found in this period, not to waste it. God is not wasting it; He is working; but we are to allow the work of God to reach finality and completion in our souls that we might be morally all that God would desire of us.
So may we be encouraged through this passage of Scripture in the waiting period. We are tested naturally; God test us, you know, every day. What are our links with God? What are God’s thoughts for today? Are we justifying God in His selection of us? We are left here at this time. Why are we left here at the close of the dispensation? Why has God left me here?
Why has God left each one of us here? I think He desires that there might be the expression of the completion of His work seen in men, in persons, at the close of the dispensation. So while we wait, let us allow the work of God to reach completion and finality with each one of us, that there might be seen publicly expressed the idea of the new man as we merge together as brethren, that as we are here the new man is seen expressed livingly amongst us. May the Lord help us on this line and encourage us that we might not waste the present time, but might allow God to finish His work in our souls, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Redbridge
12 October 1976