THE WAITING CHRISTIAN

1 Thessalonians 1:10

Morning Meditation 7/19/2014

"And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

The Thessalonian Church had turned to God from idols to serve the living God, and to "wait for His Son from Heaven." On the Great Day of Atonement the High Priest went within the veil--not without blood and the congregation waited without looking for his reappearing. Now Christ, our Great High Priest, has gone within the veil with His own blood, and the Church without is waiting and looking for His appearing according to His promise.

I believe the Church has lost its urgency of expecting the Lord's return. I have to discipline myself on this subject. We as Christians are baptized in worldliness all around. We can't watch the news without it affecting our attitude. Most of the commercials on TV sell their product by displaying sex in some form or fashion. It would be amusing if it were not so serious to see some of the commercials and the porn they use to sell their products.

Matthew 24:37, "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." How was it in the days of Noah? Genesis 6:5, "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

What are we looking for as we wait for His return?

WE ARE WAITING FOR HIS SON FROM HEAVEN

Philippians 3:20, "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:"

The word "conversation" in this verse translates "politeuma" and means, "the constitution of a commonwealth, form of government and the laws by which it is administered." It means that Christians operate under a different government and political system than the world. Next--

WE ARE WAITING FOR THE COMPLETION OF OUR SALVATION

Philippians 3:21, "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

Hebrews 9:28, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

The Lord promises that we will live in heaven forever. We have eternal life now but the enjoyment of that life is constantly being disturbed by our failures. We look for Him because that is when we will experience the full blessings of salvation. Next--

WE ARE WAITING FOR THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY

Romans 7:24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

Romans 8:22-23, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."

This will take place according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

I am looking forward to the day that my body will be changed into one like His. When we wait on His coming because this is what His coming means to the Christian. Next--

WE ARE WAITING FOR THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH

2 Peter 3:13, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

We also look with Abraham in Hebrews 11:10, "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

"Even so come quickly Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20). May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White